Chapter 1
Owen
I haven’t been in love since the eighth grade, and that ended with my hand in a cast and a restraining order against a Harpy.
Long story. Don’t ask.
Point is, I’m not the type to get hearts in my eyes over some pretty face or start writing poems in the margins of my ticket book.
I’m not soft like that. I can’t be. Not in this town.
See, Arrhythmia, Texas, ain’t your average backwater.
On paper, we’re an experimental zone—a dumping ground for supernatural beings who don’t quite fit anywhere else.
Monsters with management issues. Exiles with nowhere to go. Magical misfits, and people with powers that basically scare the hell out of the rest of the world.
In practice? We’re barely holding together with duct tape and denial.
And I’m the one holding the roll.
Fifteen years ago, I swore an oath to protect this town and everyone in it.
I meant it then.
And I sure as shit still mean it now.
Doesn’t matter that I’m a Lone Wolf with a temper and a past no one dares ask about.
Doesn’t matter that half my residents are one magical misfire or bad moon away from becoming front-page tabloid fodder.
Doesn’t matter that the rest of the world barely remembers Arrhythmia, Texas exists.
This town is mine.
Every inch of it.
The people, the land, the weird little crossroads where ley lines hum and ghosts sometimes dance at midnight.
They’re mine to watch over.
Mine to fight for.
Mine to keep safe.
They anchor my Wolf. Ground him.
When the darkness creeps too close, when the old rage rises, it’s this town—the porch lights left on, the scent of mesquite and magic in the air, the sound of kids laughing at the diner—that keeps me from going feral.
So when I got the call that a DPCA Special Agent was coming to “evaluate our viability,” I didn’t flinch.
Not on the outside, anyway.
I listened. I nodded. I hung up the phone.
Didn’t growl. Didn’t snap.
Didn’t punch a hole in the wall like I wanted to.
But inside?
My Wolf lost his goddamn mind.
Snarling. Howling. A wild, territorial fury rattling my bones.
Because I know what evaluation really means.
It means someone’s decided we might be a problem. A liability.
That we’re worth more dismantled than left to thrive.
And I’ve seen what happens when the government gets nervous about supernaturals.
They don’t ask twice.
They don’t care what we’ve built or how hard we’ve worked to make this strange, magical town into something good.
They’ll bulldoze it.
They’ll cage us, drug us, or worse—relocate us to some shithole like Fangborn Prison or worse—until there’s nothing left of the heart that makes Arrhythmia what it is.
So, no, I’m not flinching.
But I am watching. Waiting. Planning.
Because if that agent comes in here and thinks they can break apart what we’ve made?
They’re in for a goddamn rude awakening.
This town is mine. And I don’t fuck around with mine.
So yeah, I’m ready to show this pumped up agent the door—but then she walked in.
Agent Megan DiNapoli.
Short, curvy, no-nonsense, lethal in combat boots.
Hazel eyes flashing lightning like storm clouds.
Mouth like a blade, and tongue so sharp I swear it leaves a scar every time she lets another scathing reply slip.
I should steer clear, but I can’t.
I won’t.
See, I’ve been a Lone Wolf as far as I can remember, Don’t get me wrong.
I have family—well, a mom, and she’s great.
She even followed me to Arrythmia.
But my Wolf is nothing like typical Wolf Shifters, and well, I’m just not meant to follow the rules of a Pack. That’s why I’m here.
I never expected to feel this way about a person. Much less a stranger.
But this woman? Well, she’s no stranger.
Still, I didn’t expect her presence to hit me like lightning.
I wasn’t ready for it.
For her scent to make my heart thunder.
For her smile to sneak under my ribs.
And I sure as hell didn’t expect the Wolf inside me—the one I keep on a very short leash—to sit up and take notice.
It happens like that sometimes—or so I’ve been told.
Fated mates. destiny.
Whatever.
All I know is that something happened—something mysterious and fantastic just snapped into place—pop!
And it all happened the very second that I saw her.
Nope. This is not a crush. Not a maybe. Or a someday.
Mine, my inner beast snarls.
Of course, this isn’t easy. This isn’t boy meets girl, girl falls for boy, and they live happily ever after.
Nope. Not for me.
Because Fate has a fucked up sense of humor.
Agent Megan DiNapoli? She's not here looking for love or a mate or a fucking puppy dog to follow her to and fro.
She’s here to do her job.
To see if this town—my town—is worthy of sticking around.
Really, she should be my enemy.
But all I can think about is how much I want to kiss her.
I want to nibble on the cute as fuck little dimple that peeks out at me now and then, just beside her plump lips.
You know, that sneaky little one that only shows itself when she’s pursing her lips, deep in thought.
Fuck. I have to stop thinking about that or I’m likely to pop a boner right here.
Not what I need—like at all.
Anyway, it’s been like ten seconds since she’s stormed into my life, and I already feel like I’m walking a tightrope made of secrets, lies, and something that feels a hell of a lot like destiny.
My Wolf wants her. My town needs saving.
But it’s like I’m one wrong move away from losing both her and my town—and yeah, that motherfucking calendar is mocking me with that stupid holiday that sets my beast to growling every fucking year.
That’s right. February 14th is almost here again.
Happy fucking Valentine’s Day.
But the real mindfuck?
It’s that, for a second, I think maybe this year it will be.
A Happy Valentine’s Day, that is.
And I have no idea what to do with that.
Gulp.