Chapter 1
If you want a happy ending, you have to make it yourself.
Rose Swanmay silently chanted the phrase in her mind like a mantra, focusing on the words to quell the butterflies in her stomach. She’d wasted enough time on regrets and might-have-beens. It was time to take matters into her own two hands.
Steeling her nerve, she rang the bell on the end of the bar.
“Time, gentlemen!” she announced in a loud, firm voice.
Mutters and groans rose from the men scattered throughout her pub, even though she’d given them the ‘last orders’ warning fifteen minutes ago. Most of the Sunday-night crowd had already finished up their drinks and left, but a couple of her regulars had clearly been hoping she hadn’t really meant it when she’d announced that she was closing early.
“Aw, come on Rose,” wheedled Wayne, one of Rose’s most long-standing customers. He normally spent so long in the pub, he was practically a resident. “You can’t kick us out. Where are we supposed to go?”
“There are literally hundreds of other pubs in this city.” Rose folded her arms, giving him a stern look. “Not to mention bars, clubs, and drinking dens. I’m sure you’ll find somewhere else that can serve you a beer.”
“You know it ain’t about the beer, Rose.” Wayne attempted to give her puppy eyes. Given that he was a grizzled, grimy, half-drunk wolf shifter, this was not entirely successful. “There’s no place like the Full Moon.”
This was true. The Full Moon was the only pub in Brighton that catered exclusively to shifters. No ordinary humans were allowed in unless specifically invited. It was the one place in the city where all shifters, no matter what their animal, could relax and truly be themselves.
Even though shifters were secretly part of all levels of society throughout Great Britain, they still always had to be on their guard in public. No matter how powerful they were individually, they were still massively outnumbered by regular humans. The safety of all shifter-kind depended on ordinary people remaining happily oblivious to the hidden world running alongside their own.
“This ain’t just our local,” Wayne continued. “It’s the only safe neutral territory in Brighton. You wouldn’t kick an old lone wolf out into the cold, would you?”
Rose smiled, touched by the slightly slurred declaration. She’d worked hard to make her pub a welcoming haven for all shifters. It was nice to have it appreciated.
Nonetheless, she plucked his nearly-empty pint glass out of his hand. “Sorry, Wayne. You can have a free drink on me tomorrow. But I’m still closing early tonight.”
“You got a hot date, Rose?” one of her other regulars called out teasingly from the other end of the bar.
Rose’s heart skipped a beat, but she managed to keep her expression unruffled. “Just booked for a private engagement, you cheeky beggar. Now be off with the lot of you.”
Wayne paused in the doorway, shooting her a curious look over her shoulder. Rose’s empathic sense caught a surge of sudden interest from him, like a wolf pricking up its ears.
“Private party?” Wayne’s gaze slid sideways, to a particular corner booth. “Is it Alpha Team? They’re normally here by now.”
“Nothing to do with Alpha Team,” Rose said, which wasn’t entirely true. “And mind you keep that long nose out of other people’s business, Wayne, or I might forget about that free drink. Shoo.”
It wasn’t the first time she’d had to remind the old wolf to respect Alpha Team’s privacy. And Wayne wasn’t the only shifter she’d had to slap on the muzzle that way. More than a few people came to the Full Moon in the hopes of getting a glimpse of one of the famous firefighters of Alpha Fire Team.
It wasn’t just that Alpha Team saved lives everyday, although that was impressive enough. It was what they were as much as what they did that attracted curious tourists from far and wide.
Dragon, griffin, pegasus, sea dragon, unicorn…even among shifters, they were rare and powerful.
And their leader was the rarest and most powerful of them all.
He was also, unfortunately, the most elusive. Which was exactly why Rose was closing her pub at the most profitable time of the week.
Shooing out the last few stragglers, Rose flipped the sign outside the pub to CLOSED. She waited, tapping her foot, until her innate empathic ability told her that there was no one lingering hopefully outside. Then she opened the door again, spun the sign back to OPEN, and dashed for the bar.
She barely made it in time. Even as she slid back into her usual position behind the taps, the door opened softly. For everyone else—even Rose—the old iron hinges always squealed, but somehow he never made a breath of noise when he entered.
And there he stood, on the precise stroke of eight o’clock, as always. Straight-backed, contained and controlled, formal in his day uniform of charcoal trousers and pale gray shirt. The warm light from the pub’s scattered lamps caught the gold thread in the East Sussex Fire and Rescue badge embroidered on his sleeve.
Fire Commander Ash. The Phoenix Eternal. The most powerful shifter in Europe.
Rose’s heart thudded against her ribs, so loud that she was certain he’d be able to hear it in the silent bar. As ever, Ash made the whole world tilt and refocus around him.
It wasn’t his physical looks. Oh, he was well-built enough, especially for a man in his late forties, but still nowhere near as big or burly as many shifter males. There wasn’t anything unusual about Ash’s coloring, either. Slightly tanned, weathered skin, gray streaking his short sandy-brown hair—there was nothing out of the
ordinary about him at all.
Except for the intense, leashed power burning behind those deep brown eyes.
He was the Phoenix. Not a, but the. Rose didn’t know exactly how it worked, but there was only ever one Phoenix at a time, in all the world.
Even ordinary humans could sense the raging inferno hidden in the heart of that quiet, unassuming figure. To Rose’s shifter senses, Ash blazed with alpha power. He was so bright, she could hardly bear to look at him, yet so compelling that she couldn’t bear to look away. He was the most magnetic man she’d ever met.
Not our mate, whispered her inner swan.
“Ash!” Rose said brightly, drowning out her animal’s unwelcome comment. “Come in, come in!”
He normally moved with utter assurance, but tonight he hesitated on her doorstep. His piercing gaze swept the deserted room, pausing briefly on the corner usually occupied by Alpha Team.