Free OtherKin: Tranquility by Anya Bast

Tranquility
     
    By Anya Bast
     
     
    SMASHWORDS EDITION
     
    PUBLISHED BY:
    Anya Bast on
Smashwords
     
    Fury © 2008
Anya Bast
    All rights
reserved.
    Unedited –
Please excuse any typos.
    Cover Art by
Croco Designs.
     
     
    This story is a
work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical
event or existing locations, the names, characters, places and
incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are
used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or
dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely
coincidental
    *~*
    A Note from the
Author:
    Hello, fair
readers, I am New York Times bestselling author, Anya Bast. This is
a free story I’ve offered on my web site for some time and am now
making available in a wider format. If you have found this short
story after reading my Elemental Witches or Dark Magick series, you
may find this story more erotic. If you’re not eighteen, please
return when you are.
    I hope you
enjoy the Wolven.
     
     
    www.anyabast.com
     
     
    -----------------------
     
     
Tranquility
     
    Roane looked
out the window of his second story apartment. Below him spread the
Main Street of Tranquility Minnesota. Like Fury, it was another
small town made up of wolf shifters. Non-shifters might move
in—there was no way to stop them—but they didn't stay long. Anyone
with a shred of sensitivity could sense on some level that this
wasn't a place for normal folk. Anywhere a pack congregated became
an area like that. It gave shivers of fear to humans. Made them
feel they were trapped in some corner with a bunch of predators
closing in on them.
    He'd left Fury
to make room for his brother, Merrick, and Merrick's new mate
Nikki. Fury's elders had named Nikki queen. That meant the pack
male who mated with her would be Fury's leader. Since Merrick was
also a natural alpha, that meant trouble—competition for Nikki.
Roane had known that Merrick and Nikki already had the chemistry,
so he'd stepped aside.
    So here he was
in Tranquility, making all the locals nervous as hell.
    He couldn't
help who he was. He couldn't help that others sensed who he was.
The current pack leader, Marcus, was unhappy Roane had taken up
residence here. It was only a question of time before trouble
started.
    Truth was, he
just wanted to be left alone, to live among his kind but not be
bothered. Maybe that was impossible, but he had only two other
options. He could go live among humans and be forever cut off from
his kind, or he could go deep into the woods and live utterly
alone.
    Neither were
attractive options.
    He'd hoped to
find tranquility in Tranquility, but judging by the look in Marcus'
eyes he'd doubted he'd find it.
    A blue car
pulled up in front of the bar below his apartment. The door opened
and long-legged brown haired woman got out. Roane straightened and
watched her intently. She glanced up at the window, scowling, and
then walked across the street to the bank. He watched her hips with
every step and her long hair sway in the slight breeze.
    And then there
was Scarlet.
    Scarlet was
Marcus' sister, damn it all to hell. Roane hadn't seen a woman who
intrigued him as much as Scarlet in a long, long time.
    "Fuck," Roane
cursed under his breath as he took a step back from the window. The
woman had the capability to set every nerve in his body on high
alert with just a glimpse of her.
    It was about
twenty minutes later when Roane heard someone knock on his door.
Scarlet stood on other side when he opened it, her clear blue eyes
snapping with undisguised animosity.
    "You want to
come in, Scarlet?" he asked with a grin. "You looked like you have
something you want to say to me."
    She eased past
him, teasing Roane's nose with her rose scented perfume, then
turned. "Why did you come here?" she asked.
    Roane closed
the door and turned toward her, taking his time answering. "I came
here to live," he said evenly. "I didn't come here with any agenda
other than that. I