The Fighter Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  The Fighter

  Sylvan City Alphas - Book 3

  Reina Torres

  Copyright © 2018 by Reina Torres

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  BAD Alpha Dads

  Acknowledgments

  Reina Torres

  Also by Reina Torres

  Sylvan City Alphas 1 - The Tiger’s Innocent Bride

  When he saw his mate for the first time, her life was in danger. Keeping his Tiger a secret was no longer an option.

  Every day was a struggle for Tiger Shifter, Devlin Kerr. Booted from one Police Department due to his ‘questionable attitude,’ he’d landed in Sylvan City determined to give the career another go. What was an Alpha to do?

  Three weeks of even more bull and inside politics was already souring him on law enforcement all together when his Captain suckers him into working extra security at a society event.

  A society event that ends in gunfire and blood.

  And smack dab in the middle of the crosshairs? His mate.

  Secrets be damned, Devlin did what it took to save her and suddenly danger is coming at them from everywhere.

  Death, he could handle. Mayhem? Sure, just another walk in the park.

  People going after his mate? That wasn’t going to fly. He was going to do whatever it took to keep her safe from danger…

  …but who was going to keep Paige Lundin safe from him? Less than a day after they’d met, she was The Tiger’s Innocent Bride.

  Sylvan City Alphas 2 - Too Much To Bear

  Boone Wayland was a shifter, a problem solver, and a protector, not always in that order. When he decided he wanted to find his mate, there was only one place to go… the Paranormal Dating Agency masterfully run by Gerri Wilder. He’d visited the website in the few minutes that he’d managed to wrest control of his computer from the teenaged shifters he fostered and read a number of her reviews… okay, all of the reviews. He contacted the Agency because it was the boys that he’d been thinking of.

  Mostly.

  Partly.

  Okay, not really.

  He wanted a mate.

  Hungered to hold her to him, make her smile, lose himself in her eyes and her body for the rest of his life.

  But, finding a mate when he had a store to run and a houseful of boys to raise made the traditional model of ‘dating’ nearly impossible.

  It seemed like a Hail Mary pass one might make in a sporting game, but if there was one thing Boone didn’t have in his life it was time. So, he picked up the phone and asked Gerri for her special brand of help.

  Willa Barnes wanted a family so bad she could almost taste it. The future would be as sweet as the fruit pies that she was known for at her boyfriend’s Diner, and it was all within her grasp.

  But that was before Charlie ran off with the hostess at the diner, leaving Willa to watch the shop while he was on his honeymoon in Las Vegas.

  Hearing her woeful story, her favorite customer has a crazy idea. It turns out he knows a matchmaker and that feisty matchmaker just might know the perfect man for Willa.

  Only, he’s not just a man.

  Willa’s fascinated by the idea of meeting a bear shifter, but it’s not just becoming a wife that’s the offer on the table. He’s got a whole bunch of teenaged shifters that are waiting for her too.

  Is this ‘insta-family’ just what Willa wants or will the reality of it be Too Much to Bear?

  Sylvan City Alphas 3 - The Fighter

  Chapter One

  Cage pulled up his collar around his neck and climbed the steps to the side door of the police station. When he got up to the top he knocked on the door a few times and stepped back to wait.

  His body ran hot all the time, but the bitter winter winds that blew in off the frozen lake were just cold enough to freeze even his hot-blooded-shifter hide.

  The peep hole went dark for a moment and then the tumbler-lock clicked open.

  It took another half a minute before the heavy iron door swung inward.

  Cage puffed a hot wave of his breath over his cupped hands and stared at the man standing just inside, letting some of his frustration bleed into his words, “Sorry to interrupt your evening, Officer.”

  “No worries,” giving him a smile full of bullshit, the uniformed officer stepped back into the warmth and gestured for Cage to step inside, “I just needed a minute to hide the still and the pot plants in the back room before I let you in.”

  A quick cough of laughter was all the officer heard in return until the heavy door was closed behind them.

  “Are you sure you’re not going to get in trouble for this, Boyd?”

  The officer waved off the thought. “I think I’d get into more trouble if I didn’t.” A habitual wince ended in a smile. “Having my wife as the District Attorney makes for really interesting dinner conversation. Well that’s when I manage to actually get home for dinner.”

  “Well, if your wife needs any kind of assurances, I’ll be happy to put up everything I own.”

  Boyd blew out a low whistle. “You taking this ‘dad’ thing seriously, eh?”

  Cage shrugged and cleared his throat. “I don’t know what the ‘dad’ thing is. So far I’m just making mistakes.”

  The officer looked back at him with a sympathetic smile. “It may seem like that now, but you’ll get the hang of it.”

  Shaking his head, Cage sighed. “I don’t want to fuck this up, Boyd. I don’t think I could look myself in the mirror if I didn’t get at least this much right.”

  Boyd nodded. “One day you’ll come over to the house for dinner and Caroline will make us come of her salsa and guac and you and I can have a few beers and steaks.” Boyd’s grin was almost infectious. “I’ll even let you eat yours raw if you want.”

  Cage muttered a few choice words under his breath. “Now I know why you get into trouble with your wife so much.”

  “You’ll understand someday,” he shrugged.

  “Not likely.” Cage reached up his hand and knocked back the hood from his sweatshirt and scrubbed his palm over the short military issued cut that he hadn’t quite lost the taste for since he’d come back stateside years ago. “I don’t see myself… getting married.”

  “Well,” Boyd shrugged, “married or mated, whatever you folks call it. Don’t say never. I told myself the same thing and almost missed out on the most amazing woman I’d ever met.”

  A text notification sounded from Cage’s pocket and he knew it was from the Colonel asking after Frances.

  Boyd understood the sound and swept his hand toward the back door. “Holding is back
there,” he rushed on when he saw Cage’s nostrils start to flare, “she’s the only one back there. I wouldn’t put her with criminals.”

  Cage eased up a bit. “Even though she is one?”

  The officer winced again.

  “What? A little too much reality?”

  The officer shook his head. “If I didn’t know you cared for her I’d be calling you a total prick… silently, behind your back… ‘cause you’d be a prick, but you’re also strong as an ox.”

  Cage snarled at him. “Now you’re treading on thin ice.” Snatching the keys out of Boyd’s hand, Cage walked toward the door to the holding area. “Ox my ass.”

  The door touched the wall and made an ominous echo off the concrete. Maybe it was the stiff upper lip thing that the Brits pride themselves in, but Frances didn’t move a muscle at the noise. She just stayed seated at the corner end of the bench, propped up by the bars on either side of her.

  The only sign of life as he approached was a long-suffering sigh that fell from her lips.

  “At least I know you’re conscious,” he drawled as he stepped up in front of her cell. He started to reach for the keys but a well-placed elbow against the cell door slid it open.

  “What?” Frances lurched to her feet, outrage lending her a little speed. “You mean it was open all this time?”

  Cage tossed the keys up and caught them in his other hand. “I guess.”

  She stalked forward toward him and when she was face to face with him he tried to ignore how tall she looked standing before him, growling more like a lion than he was comfortable with. She certainly was fierce enough to be Todd Billings’ little girl. “Did you plan this?”

  He was stunned. Staring into her furious gaze he managed to breathe and keep his jaguar deep inside. “You think I planned for you to get arrested for vandalism?”

  She whirled around on her Doc Marten’s and kicked the wall only to recoil with a yelp of pain. “Dammit! Ow!”

  “Frances-”

  “Stop!” She swung around again and poked her finger into his chest. “Wow.”

  “Wow?” He turned his head to look at her through another vantage point. “What’s the wow for?”

  She let her head roll back on her neck and gave him a long, peeved sigh. “It’s to tell you how much of a… of a…”

  “An asshole that I am?”

  Her hands lifted up in a helpless gesture. “Really? You can’t ever let me… let me-”

  “I ‘let you’ do a bunch of stuff and you got yourself thrown into jail, young lady.”

  Her eyes narrowed at him. “Wow, you sound really, really old.”

  She turned and snatched up her bag and nailed him with a look.

  Cage gestured for her to precede him out of the room. He watched her sashay out of the room, all spit-fire and vinegar. As she turned the corner in the doorway she was all smiles for Officer Boyd and that left him feeling even more defeated. “I feel really, really old.”

  The entire way home the ride was punctuated by huffs and sighs from Frances and stoic silence from himself. He could talk himself blue in the face, but he knew Frances wasn’t going to talk to him. She was still mad about the door being open and to top it off, she knew she was due in Juvenile Court the next afternoon.

  At the fight venue, he’d barely pulled the car into his parking space when Frances sprung her seatbelt and flung open her door. He wasn’t worried about her falling and hurting herself. As a lion shifter, she had uncanny balance and advanced physical prowess unnatural for her age if she were merely a human.

  But he was still just seconds behind her as she mounted the stairs, stomping her way up to the door. When she swung it open, he called out to her. “There’s a plate in the fridge for you. If you want something else, we can go out.”

  “I was out,” she glared at him over her shoulder, “you dragged me back here.”

  He wanted to correct her comment and tell her he would have offered on the way home, but he was afraid that she’d sharpen her claws on him, just for fun. So, he held his words in check. “Well, think about it.” He stepped inside and closed the door behind him sliding the bolt home. “I think we should talk sometime before-”

  She slammed her bedroom door and as he stood there staring at the blank surface he heard something thump against the door. If he was a betting man, he’d say that there was now a ladderback chair shoved under the doorknob.

  “Okay then.” He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. With her shifter hearing she could likely hear him whispering outside the front door. “I guess I’ll take a shower. We can talk after I’m done.”

  Ducking into his room, he snatched up the pile of clothes he’d left behind when he’d been called down to the police station and stepped into the bathroom. He needed a little time to clear his head before trying to talk to Frances.

  Staring at the long line of feminine products that had taken over the little shelf above the sink he felt a little more of his sanity bleeding out of his ears. “She’s going to drive me crazy.”

  “I’m already there!”

  He froze with his hand on the hot water knob of the shower and let his jaguar try to soothe his anger. The large cat paced back and forth, his tail waving back and forth in a calming rhythm. Cub, it told him, cub. Friend’s cub. Ignoring the need for finding the right temperature for the water, Cage dropped his clothes on the ground and stepped in under the punishing heat of the spray.

  Hanging his head, he felt the scalding hot water hit the back of his neck. Cage braced his hands on the wall and felt his forehead touch the tile. “Damnit, Todd. I don’t know if I can do this.”

  Maggie sighed out loud as she saw her father shoulder in through the swinging door. “Dad, here, let me take that.” She reached for the box in his arms and saw his gaze harden at her. She was stubborn, but not as stubborn as her father, so she backed up and gestured to the counter. “Thanks, Dad.”

  She could see his smile in the reflection of the industrial toaster on the counter.

  “This is the last box from the back of the car. Do you have anything left in the trailer?”

  “I don’t think so,” she leaned back against the counter and quickly counted the boxes scattered about the room. “If there is, I can get it out tomorrow before I take the trailer to the rental company. Don’t worry.”

  “I always worry, Margaret.”

  She tensed at the name and she knew he saw the gesture.

  “Sorry, I’m still not used to calling you Maggie.”

  “It’s okay, Dad. I’m just not a big fan of the name.”

  She saw him open his mouth and she knew what he was about to say. Margaret was the name that her mother had picked out. The same mother who had left them when she was just a child.

  “Yeah,” her father cleared his throat, “I should know better, but it’s just what I’ve called you since the first time I held you and-”

  “Dad,” she cleared her throat, “I wanted to let you know that I don’t need one of your guys to come with me to the rental place tomorrow. I’ve downloaded the map. I have GPS in my phone and my car, and the guy at the rental agency said they’ll have someone there to unhook the trailer.”

  “Sounds like you have everything taken care of…”

  “But?”

  “But you don’t know Sylvan City, Mar- Maggie, and this area,” his shoulders tensed up and something that looked like a sunburn painted his ruddy cheeks, “isn’t the safest neighborhood for a single woman to walk about alone.”

  “I’m a single woman,” she joked, “but even if it’s just a matter of me being alone when I’m driving around, you can’t expect your guys to volunteer to chauffer me around like a princess.”

  “Would it change your mind if I said you were,” he swallowed, “my princess?”

  They both looked at each other and then burst out laughing together.

  “Really, Dad?”

  “Okay, so the princess thing is a stretch.”

 
; “You think?” She sighed. “Maybe if you called me Wonder Woman and got me an invisible jet, we could settle things, but seriously, I drove across four states without an issue. I’ve been living on my own in Chicago for over a year. You don’t need to worry.”

  “I’ll always worry, Maggie. Always. I’m just glad you’re close enough now that I can do more than pester you with phone calls.”

  Her smile twisted a little at the corner. “Don’t make me go back to Chicago. I already gave up my apartment.”

  He held up his hands in surrender. “Fine. Fine.” He shook his head. “I think I understand it. I just don’t like it.”

  “I’ll be fine, Dad. It’s only a few blocks from here, maybe a mile?” Before he could argue about her not having the route memorized, Maggie continued on. “How many of your men are still working in the area?”

  She could tell by his knowing smile that he knew what her aim had been when she’d asked the question.

  “I have half a dozen working for me at the gym in different capacities, and Cage has two of the guys working for him at the club.”

  “Club?” That caught Maggie’s attention as she cut open the packing tape on the box before her, almost losing her grip on the boxcutter. “Cage runs a club? Does he dance?”

  She could see the spark of humor in his eyes.

  “I’ve never seen Cage dance. The club is a fight venue.”

  The news didn’t sit well with her. “Does he fight?”

  Her father waved a non-committal hand in the air. “I’d assume so. That’s what he’s been trained for.”

  “So, he boxes?” She was fishing for information and being quite shameless about it.