Osiris: The Wolves (King Lake Shifters #1)

Chapter 1

Juliette stared critically at the display table and moved the bookstand a little to the right, adjusting the carefully gift-wrapped book.

Juliette had put together a “blind date with a book” display, wrapping each novel in brown paper and tying them with ribbon, adding handwritten notes to tempt readers to take a chance on something new.

A vampire romance had a tag that read: He bites.

A shifter romance promised: One look is all it takes.

She smoothed her fingers over the green bow and stared at the shifter romance novel. “This is a little intense, maybe?”

“You read it,” Emery said. “Didn’t you say it was an intense story?”

“Yeah, but all shifter books are like that. I mean, imagine a guy who can turn into an animal deciding you’re his forever girl the moment he smells you?

That would be intense under any circumstance, let alone this poor girl who is being hunted by vampires for her unique blood type. I wonder if that ever happens.”

“Vampires aren’t real.”

“But shifters are.”

In fact, across Pine Run River was a town full of shifters, but there were no shifters in Mill Creek, where Juliette had lived her entire life.

“True. I guess you could go ask one of them.”

Juliette snorted. “Pass.”

“Are you keeping the book in the display?”

“Yes. It’s a good one, even if it might be a little out-there.”

She turned from the table and walked to the counter, watching as Emery fixed easily removable labels on the covers of new books. “I guess we wouldn’t know if it’s out-there or not, since we’re not shifters. But you’re a little jaded,” Emery said.

“What? I am not.”

“Yes, you are. You told me you don’t think love is real. How can you have a romantic name like Juliette and not believe in love?”

Juliette scoffed. She’d heard all the jokes about her name her whole life.

She’d learned to just ignore them. “First of all, I do believe in love, romantic name or not. People fall in love all the time. What I said was the love at first sight, have sex immediately kind of love in romance novels doesn’t happen in real life.

Real life is more like a slow burn romance. ”

Emery finished fixing the last sticker and pushed the stack of books toward Juliette. “I think fast would be good with the right guy.”

“Fast burns out. Slow and steady, baby.”

She took the books and turned from the counter.

“Slow and steady sounds boring!” Emery called after her.

The bell over the door chimed, and she glanced over to see her best friend Cassidy walk in with a carrier of coffees from The Coffee Shop Next Door where she worked. The two businesses side by side were a match made in heaven.

“What’s boring?” Cass asked.

“Your bestie,” Emery said.

“Hey!” Juliette huffed out a laugh.

She found the right shelf and placed the books, keeping one to look at. It was a mystery with some romantic elements, not quite her style, so she tucked it next to the others and went back to see what Cass had brought.

“It’s May Day, so I brought you May themed coffees.”

“What is a May themed coffee?” Juliette asked, taking the offered cup.

“It’s a honey lavender latte. It smells like a candle, but it tastes pretty good.”

She sniffed it and smiled. “It does smell like a candle. I’m a little suspicious, but I need some caffeine.”

She took a sip and hummed. “It’s not bad. Not something I’d get regularly, though.”

“That’s what I said. I think they could have gone with a fruit tea for spring.”

“I like it,” Emery said, taking another drink. “Thank you.”

Cass knocked twice on the counter. “I’ve gotta get back. Talk to you later.”

“Thanks for the coffee,” Juliette said.

Juliette took a drink of the interesting latte and looked around the small shop. Somewhere in the back, a patron flipped through pages. Another sat near the window and looked over the books she’d bought.

Her gaze stopped on the blind date table.

Was Emery right and love at first sight was a real thing? Did shifters really see someone and know at first glance that they were in the presence of their mate?

Well, she’d read enough romances to know that real life wasn’t so sweet. She’d been disappointed enough to not have high expectations. Because real life Prince Charmings didn’t live in Mill Creek and didn’t come to Willow & 2nd Books to sweep a woman off her feet.

Taking another sip of latte, she got back to work and put the thought of high-speed romance out of her mind. She was no romance novel heroine, after all.

After flipping the sign to closed, and saying goodnight to Emery, Juliette grabbed her bag and headed outside into the warm evening.

She and Cass walked home together to the split-double they shared on 3rd street, right behind their jobs.

Unless it was pouring rain or very cold, they always walked together.

Cass wasn’t waiting for her, so Juliette took her phone from her bag and opened Instagram.

The first thing she saw was a post about a burger.

It had white cheese melting down the sides with fries piled next to it. The caption read: Burger of the Week – The Blue Monster – 1/3 lb. all beef patty with blue cheese crumbles and Muenster cheese on a brioche bun with seasoned house-made fries. One week only. Get your monster on.

“How was work?”

“Holy crap!” Juliette pressed her hand to her chest.

Cass grinned. “Scared ya? I called your name twice.”

“Geez. I was just reading a post about a burger.” She showed her the post.

“That looks good. You like blue cheese more than I do, though.”

She looked at the post again and realized why the restaurant’s name sounded familiar. The Amber Howl was in King Lake, the shifter town across the river.

She didn’t follow the account, so she wasn’t sure why the post showed up. Maybe her phone was listening to her talk to Emery about shifters.

“I think I’ll go tomorrow night. Come with me,” Juliette said.

“I can’t. My niece has a play, and I promised my sister I’d be the very best aunt ever and suffer through a third-grade play about a farm. You should come to that with me.”

“Absolutely not,” Juliette said. “The last time I went to one of Lucy’s school plays, it was a three-hour snooze fest and I was trapped in the middle of the row and couldn’t leave.”

“We can go Wednesday.”

Every Wednesday, they went out to eat, and normally to the Creekside Diner for some of Ma’s home cooking. But suddenly, Juliette didn’t want to wait.

“I think I’ll go tomorrow.”

Cass gave her an arched brow. “By yourself?”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

“You’ve never done that.”

“First time for everything.” She looked at the photo and clicked the little tab to bookmark it. It wasn’t far. Just across the river. “If it tastes as good as it looks in the post, we can go again on Wednesday.”

“All right.” They headed down the sidewalk to the corner and took a left. “I can’t believe you’re abandoning me to the school play because of a social media post. That’s it. You’re out of the will!”

Juliette grinned. “You say that so often it’s lost all meaning.”

The topic changed to a crazy customer Cass had to deal with. By the time they’d parted ways at their front doors, Juliette hadn’t been able to think about anything but the tavern across the river in King Lake.

The Amber Howl.

Wolves, maybe. But that didn’t really matter. The tavern’s account said all were welcome – shifters and humans.

But she was probably over thinking things. After all, it was just a burger, just dinner out by herself.

Right?