Goldie [Pyrate's Treasure 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)
Pyrate’s Treasure 1
Goldie
The last thing Caleb Slattery wants is to spend the summer as the law on Pyrate Island. That is, until he meets wolf shape-shifter Goldie Pyrate. He is instantly pulled toward the woman who keeps the truth of her life from him until it's too late and she has claimed him as her mate.
Goldie falls for Caleb at their first meeting on the ferry to Pyrate Island. Not sure how the alpha human will take the news, she hesitates in sharing that not only is she a shape-shifter, but also the alpha-to-be of the Pyrate pack.
Can she convince him to submit to her authority when they are with the pack? Can she fight her own dominant tendencies and submit to him in bed? Can they work together to keep the pack's secrets from being discovered when someone trespasses on the pack's private lands?
Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 24,407 words
GOLDIE
Pyrate’s Treasure 1
Cooper McKenzie
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
GOLDIE
Copyright © 2012 by Cooper McKenzie
E-book ISBN: 1-61926-603-2
First E-book Publication: April 2012
Cover design by Jinger Heaston
All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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Regarding E-book Piracy
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DEDICATION
To all the wild wenches!!!
GOLDIE
Pyrate’s Treasure 1
COOPER MCKENZIE
Copyright © 2012
Chapter 1
“Who the hell did I piss off to deserve this?” Deputy Sheriff Caleb Slattery asked as soon as he closed the door to his boss’s office.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Sheriff William Thomas looked up from the stack of reports on his desk.
“I’m being exiled to Pyrate Island for the season. Who the hell did I piss off?”
Instead of sitting as he usually did, Caleb paced the small clear area between the door and William’s desk. He was known throughout the department as laid-back, calm in every situation, and able to deal with just about anything that came his way, but this transfer was not something he wanted.
“From what Packer said, a summer out on Pyrate Island is the next best thing to a five-month paid vacation. You work too hard and need the break.” The sheriff leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his broad, well-muscled chest.
That was one reason Caleb had signed on as a deputy for Carteret County. The sheriff led the way in keeping physically fit. No matter how many hours any of the men spent in the car, none of them carried the extra forty or fifty pounds that a large number of North Carolina patrol deputies did. It was not allowed. And if anyone started in that direction, he was encouraged and challenged by the others into extra workouts.
Before Caleb could refute William’s statement, the sheriff uncrossed his arms and leaned forward. “Why didn’t you put in for the assignment? You’ve heard how it is out there. Your own vacation cottage, you’re on call but there is no real crime to speak of, and lots of pretty, young women to liven up the scenery. Why wouldn’t you want to go? Hell, if Rebecca would let me, I’d go out there for the summer.”
“So why don’t you? Take Rebecca and have a summer of sun and fun.”
Even before he finished speaking, William was shaking his head. “I can’t. I’m the big cheese, and as such, the county expects me to stay here and shuffle papers. Besides, the mayor of the island demands we send a single male between the ages of twenty-seven and thirty-two years of age. Except for Micah and Joseph, you’re the only one who qualifies. Micah’s too green to be on his own out there. Joseph went last year and had too good a time from what I understand. So that leaves you. Congratulations, Caleb, you are the new deputy covering Pyrate Island for the season.”
Caleb blinked. He opened his mouth to refuse, but then reasoning kicked in. He needed this job. He was too old to try and return to the Marine Corps, even if they would take him, and the only job he had ever held longer than three months was military and this one. And he was good at his job.
But a tourist season stuck on an island that was serviced only by a twice-a-week ferry where there was no crime? He was used to running and driving and keeping active even when he wasn’t working. What would he do on an island for six or seven months until he could return home?
Taking a deep breath, he huffed a sigh. “All right, but I’m going under protest. You’d better season Micah up so he’s ready to go next year.”
William smiled, as if he knew Caleb would give in. “Who knows, maybe you’ll met some sweet little islander and decide to stay.”
“Ha,” Caleb snorted. “I’m not a beach bum. I’ve never been a beach bum. I’d rather be patrolling the county than the beach.”
William chuckled. “Yeah, come back and talk to me at the end of the season. Take the rest of the week, get packed, and take care of your personal business. You’re to head out on the three-o’clock ferry Friday afternoon. When you get there report t
o Mayor Edward Pyrate at the Pyrate’s Treasure Pub.”
“Mayor Pyrate, huh? Do they dress up like pirates and sing old sea shanties, too?”
“You can tell me when you come back at the end of the season. Now get out of my office,” William said before turning back to the paperwork before him.
“If I don’t die of boredom first,” Caleb muttered as he opened the door and walked out. He tried to ignore the small seed of excitement taking root that pushed aside the small seed of resentment he had walked into the office with.
* * * *
Goldie Pyrate sniffed the cool sea breeze. She blinked and sniffed again, her body snapping to attention. In a heartbeat she realized life as she knew it was about to change forever. Engine exhaust, fish, and the great outdoors almost masked it, but her nose, and her clit, twitched at the unmistakable scent of her mate. Orange and spice. Mate. Taking an even deeper breath, she released it on a sigh as her pussy filled and overflowed.
“Mine,” she murmured.
The single word was just loud enough for her cousin, Silver, to hear over all the noise around them as the first weekend guests of the season boarded the ferry. They would be departing in a few minutes for Pyrate Island for the first “Singles Only” weekend of the year, and from the looks of the other passengers, it was going to be a busy weekend.
“Your what?” he asked. His tone remained soft as he looked around for a threat before turning back.
Goldie turned her head and met his questioning gaze. She raised one eyebrow as she continued to stare at him until his eyes widened with shock and understanding.
“Your mate? Really? Which one?”
His head swiveled wildly as he looked around the flattop ferryboat. The weekend’s guests milled around them. The electricity of their excitement was nearly tangible. Some stood at the railings admiring the views across the Cape Fear River and out toward the Atlantic Ocean while others hurried to the central passengers’ lounge to get out of the brisk, cold breeze that blew.
“I don’t know,” she said.
Instead of tracking his scent to find him, Goldie turned and grabbed hold of the railing. She watched the seagulls cawing as they flew aerobatics off the side of the boat, hoping someone would throw them a treat. As with each trip she made to the mainland, their antics made her smile and wish for a brief moment that she could fly with them. Instead, her special talent was the ability to change forms, from human to that of a black wolf.
Silver surprised her when the ferry eased from the dock to begin its two-hour trip to Wolf Island a few minutes later. Instead of going inside out of the wind as he usually did, her cousin remained by her side, ever the loyal Beta to her Alpha. Though she had yet to be confirmed and installed as her grandfather’s replacement as head of the Pyrate Island pack, her family already treated her as such.
After all, she was the oldest of the six cousins brought to Pyrate Island eighteen years earlier to be raised by their grandfather, pack Alpha Edward Teach Pyrate. Goldie had been ten at the time. Before that, she and her seven-year-old sister Emerald had lived in Raleigh, hiding the truth of their dual existence from the world and feeling very isolated because of the secret they could tell no one.
All that changed when Edward’s three sons, John, William, and Henry, decided to take their wives on a group skiing weekend in the mountains. A freak avalanche swept their van off a mountain road and crushed it at the bottom of the gorge. Everyone inside was killed instantly. Each couple left behind two children—Goldie and her sister Emerald, Silver and his sister Ruby, and Diamond and her brother Cash.
The children had been staying at Goldie and Emerald’s house during the weekend with several sitters keeping watch over them. Their grandfather had arrived the day after the accident with what seemed like an army of helpers. After a public memorial service later that week, the helpers packed up the children’s belongings and everyone traveled halfway across North Carolina to Pyrate Island. It was that first trip to the island when Goldie fell in love with the feel of the wind on her skin and brushing through her hair.
Within days of their arrival eighteen years before, Edward began her training as Alpha. He taught more by example than by word that an Alpha had to be just, caring, strong, and in control of mind, body, and emotions when faced with opposition, as well as nurturing while protective of those weaker than herself, both shifter and human.
“I’m going inside for some hot chocolate. You want me to bring you some?” Silver finally straightened from the rail, his hyperactivity kicking in.
Goldie smiled without turning her head. He was not going in just for the hot chocolate, but the extra marshmallows Tesla always gave him. He would also be checking out the female guests to try and find one he could play with for the weekend.
“That’s okay. I’ll come inside in a few minutes,” she said.
She did not understand why she hesitated going after her mate, but she could not release the chest-high railing. Was she afraid to find him? She was the next Alpha of the Pyrate Pack. She had nothing to fear from a human male.
Except rejection, her sensible side snarked. What if he doesn’t want to submit to you? You are a woman and a shifter. What will you do then?
“Shut up,” she muttered to herself, hoping Silver had not heard.
But, as usual, he had.
“If I knew which one was your mate, I’d lock him in the head for you,” he said, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Goldie chuckled. “Maybe I’ll have you stand guard after I find him. After all, this is a two-hour trip without much else to do but claim my mate.”
“It would be my pleasure,” Silver said, patting her shoulder before turning and crossing the wide, flat deck to the lounge door.
Closing her eyes, Goldie lifted her face to the sun and wind. She breathed deep of the cool, crisp breeze that brushed over her skin. Between her duties as Edward’s heir apparent and her job as head bartender at Pyrate’s Treasure, one of the two pack-run pubs on the island, she rarely had time to stop and just be.
Her body fought her mind’s need to be still for a few more minutes. Her wolf snarled and shook with the need to go inside and check out all the men until she found him. The one Fate had destined to be hers alone.
She heard the lounge door open and then soft footsteps approach. With a deep breath, she forced herself to stay still and enjoy nature. Whoever it was stopped beside her at the rail without saying a word. When she did not turn and greet him, he remained still and silent for nearly a minute before speaking.
“What’s a beautiful woman like you doing standing out here all alone?”
The deep voice resonated with something deep and primal in her spirit, sending a shiver of want racing through her. But instead of her nipples tightening and her clit throbbing, she just felt a clenching just above her stomach in the area Grandfather called her gut. It had been nearly two years since she had been with any man, but she had never felt sick just from being near a man before. Was this how she was supposed to react to her mate?
Goldie thought about his words and could not help but smile. Without opening her eyes, she asked, “Does that line work often?”
The man chuckled. “It did sound corny, didn’t it? Sorry, but I’ve never been good at this sort of thing.”
Goldie opened her eyes, blinking several times before turning her head to look at him. His body did not match up to his voice. He was only a few inches taller than she was with lank, dirty-blond hair already going thin on top. Even his eyes were just a medium brown with no spark to them. He was ordinary and completely forgettable. He also smelled like french fries and chicken wings.
This man was not her mate.
“It did, but that’s okay. Unfortunately I’m not looking,” she said gently, hoping not to hurt his feelings. “I work on the island and already have a boyfriend.”
“Oh, okay,” he said, turning and heading back to the lounge where he had no doubt already been struck down by the beautiful peop
le who normally came to these special singles weekends.
Goldie remained at the rail a few more minutes before she followed the man inside. Now that they were moving away from the mainland, the winds were sharper and colder, cutting through the skirt, T-shirt, and light jacket that she wore.
Stepping into the lounge, her nose twitched as a dozen different perfumes mixed to create a toxic cloud for someone whose nose was as sensitive as hers. How could Silver stand it in here without sneezing his head off?
Looking around the large room, she wondered how she should start her search. Crisscross the room until she picked up his scent? Or just wander around aimlessly and hope she got lucky?
She shivered as the warmth of the room wrapped around her and penetrated her clothes. First, she would get something to drink. Then she would circle the room and see if she got lucky. If all else failed, she would…she would…
With a sigh, Goldie admitted to herself she did not know what she would do. After all, she had never had to search for her mate before. She had always put that in the hands of Destiny, knowing one day Fate would bring them together.
Scanning the room as she headed to the refreshment bar, Goldie saw that the guests were already matching themselves up. As usual on these singles weekends, there were more women than men, but even Mr. Ordinary who had approached her out on the deck was talking to not one, but two women. She just hoped that the beauty queen wannabes hanging all over several of the very hot men were not touching her mate. The last thing the pack needed was for her to tear apart some innocent human who happened to be flirting with the wrong man without realizing she was poaching on Goldie’s territory.