The Secret Mate Society - Signed Paperback -- mm paranormal shifter romance

Ethan Murphy moved to the misty streets of Portland, Maine to outrun his past. He wasn't looking for love, and he certainly wasn't looking for the truth behind the "wild animal attack" that killed his father.

Then he meets Calder Thorne.

Calder is a mechanic with grease on his hands and secrets behind his flashing gold eyes. He's also a werewolf living under a century-old code of silence. Never reveal the pack, never get too close to humans.

But when a rogue shifter starts leaving a bloody trail across town, Ethan's investigation brings him dangerously close to exposing the entire supernatural world. Calder knows he should stay away. Instead, he finds himself torn between protecting his people and saving the inquisitive human who smells like his fated mate.

Expect: MM shifter romance, small-town murder mystery, investigative journalist hero, grumpy mechanic wolf, slow burn, and a love worth breaking every rule for.

Excerpt from Chapter One: Ethan
Inside the cabin, I spread out my research on the rickety kitchen table. The missing person flyer joined the mess of newspaper clippings, blurred photos, and research notes. An article printed from the local library caught my eye. “The History of Shifters” it was titled. It was one of the most intriguing pieces of evidence I’d found so far. What had begun as a fairly vague online encyclopedia entry turned extremely interesting toward the bottom. There was mention of an event that brought strange creatures into the public eye. But the further down I read, sections started being redacted before the page itself completely errored out in front of my very eyes. Some quick thinking made me hit the print button to catch what I could. But by the time the pages were on the printing tray, the entire article had been deleted. I’d never been able to find it again.
Something weird was going on. I was sure of it. And the pile of photos, notes, journal entries, police reports, and eyewitness accounts told me I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people knew creatures like the werewolf existed. It wasn’t just me and I knew, for a fact, that I wasn’t crazy. Therapy wasn’t the answer. What I needed was answers.
A loud thunk on the side of the cabin made me jump nearly out of my skin. I walked over to the window, glancing out at the early autumn forest surrounding me. The trees were swaying heavily in the wind, the twilight coming on fast as the sun sank further down toward the horizon. But there was nothing out of place from what I could tell. A branch had probably just scraped against the cabin or something. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. But between losing my job and not sleeping for three days, I was on edge.
Shaking my head, I headed back toward the kitchen. There was some stale pizza in the fridge and a flat two liter of soda in the fridge that had my name on it. But as I reached for the fridge handle, another thud echoed through the cabin, this time from the front door. My heart leapt into my throat. That definitely wasn't the wind.
"Who's there?" I called out, my voice cracking. Silence answered me.
I crept towards the door, grabbing a heavy flashlight from the counter as I went. Part of me wished I’d gotten that handgun I’d been eyeing a week ago, but it was far too late for that now. Instead I grabbed one of the iron pokers from the fireplace, wielding it like a sword. My hand shook as I reached for the doorknob. Taking a deep breath, I yanked it open, brandishing the poker like a weapon.
The porch was empty.
Relief flooded through me, followed quickly by embarrassment. I was letting my imagination run wild. I stepped outside, shining the flashlight into the gathering darkness. The trees cast long shadows, their branches swaying in the wind. As I was about to turn back inside, something caught my eye.
There, at the edge of the clearing, was a figure. Tall and broad-shouldered, it stood motionless, half-hidden behind a tree. I froze, my breath catching in my throat. The figure didn't move, but I could feel its eyes on me, watching.
"Hello?" I called out, my voice barely above a whisper. "Who’s there?”
The figure shifted slightly, and I caught a glimpse of gleaming golden eyes in the darkness. My heart pounded so hard I could hear it in my ears. I took a hesitant step forward, the iron poker shaking in my grip.
"Who are you?" I demanded, trying to sound braver than I felt. "What do you want?"
A low growl rumbled through the air, raising the hair on the back of my neck. The figure emerged from behind the tree, moving with an eerie grace that was decidedly inhuman. As it stepped into the beam of my flashlight, I gasped.
It was a man... sort of. He was tall and muscular, with shaggy dark hair that cascaded over his entire body. His limbs were too long and his legs looked almost… broken. My gaze lifted to the glowing eyes, expecting to see a face. Instead I saw nothing but dark fur and a long muzzle filled with gleaming yellow teeth. But those eyes weren’t just animal… something about the way they moved, the way they studied me… it felt… human. As I watched, frozen in shock, his lips curled back into a snarl, the growl reverberating from his chest rattling me down to my very bones.
"Oh my God," I whispered. "You're real. You're actually real."
The creature - the werewolf - tilted its head, regarding me with an unsettling intelligence. It didn’t speak, but only stood taller, its claw-tipped fingers reaching up to pull the fur away from the left side of its chest. There, shining in the flashlight beam, was a long jagged scar.
My heart nearly stopped. It was the same place my father had cut with his hunting knife when he was attacked right in front of me. Suddenly I was transported back a decade, my father screaming for me to run as his throat was torn out by some dark monster that I couldn’t explain. Nobody believed me, not the police and not even my own mother. When they found my father’s body half eaten in the woods, they said it was a bear attack and closed the case. But here the monster was, standing before me with a cruel grin on its lips. And it sure as fuck wasn’t a bear.
Fear filled me from head to toe, the flashlight shaking harder than ever before.
"You... you killed my father," I whispered, my voice trembling with a mix of fear and rage.
The werewolf's grin widened, revealing more of its razor-sharp teeth. It took a step towards me, its massive form casting a long shadow across the porch. I stumbled backward, my back hitting the cabin wall. The iron poker slipped from my sweaty grip, clattering to the wooden boards at my feet.
"Stay back!" I shouted, but my voice cracked, betraying my terror.
The creature paused, tilting its head as if considering me. Then, with another low growl that sounded far too much like laughter, it tipped its head back and let out a long, low howl.
My blood went cold in an instant. I knew, should the creature want to kill me here and now, it could. I stood no chance against it. My hand slipped down to my pocket, searching for my phone. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to call the police, my mother, or try to snap a picture of the beast. Either way, my fingers found nothing. I realized, with sinking dread, that my phone was still on the kitchen table. I was all on my own with nothing but a flashlight to defend myself.
The long howl came to an end and the creature’s vicious gaze settled on me once more. It’s body tensed and for half a moment I thought it was going to spring forward and rip my throat out just like my father. But, with another cruel chuckle, it turned toward the woods, and cantered away on all fours, leaves crunching underfoot.
As soon as it was gone, I dropped down to my knees, the fear draining all the energy I had left from my body. I collapsed onto the front porch, my heart pounding so hard I thought I would die. Gasping for air, I stared out at the darkening woods, the wind chilling me to the bone.
I’d seen a werewolf. The same one that killed my father. He was out there still. I hadn’t been making it up after all.
Despite all the fear and the exhaustion, I felt a warm sense of pride flow through me. The werewolf was real and I wasn’t crazy.
And I was going to catch that motherfucker if it was the last thing I did.