Caught in Heat [Half-breed Shifter Series Book 1] by Miranda Stowe

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Prologue
     
    The four creeping toward the house from the rear hadn’t come calling to sing Christmas carols. Darkness lit their path, and the forest lining the property concealed their ill intent.
    Secluded and vulnerable, the dwelling sat on the outer edges of a suburban quarter a good distance from its neighbors. The snow-thatched roof with smoke gracefully billowing from the chimney leant it a peaceful, comfortable look. With the woods surrounding it on two sides, leaving the immaculately manicured back yard tucked neatly into a thick alcove of trees, it permeated a snug, content atmosphere.
    Breeching this unknown family’s sanctuary would be easy.
    “Like stealing candy from a baby,” one of the four crooned, licking his chops.
    The woman next to him rolled her eyes. “God. You’re so clichéd it’s boring.”
    He ignored her, the hunger in his gaze targeted on the house; he probably hadn’t even realized he’d been lambasted. “Looks like the perfect little family nest. Makes me just want to mess it up.” He laughed, the sound resembling something more like a sick hyena than anything human.
    Not that the four invaders were pure-blooded human.
    “Let’s go,” the leader of the pack instructed, his voice low and authoritative.
    When he stepped forward, the three around him followed, each footfall in sync. But as they reached the edge of the yard, a car pulled into the drive. Headlights scanned across the lawn, and together, the four paused, crouching down into the underbrush just under the beam of light.
    They watched and waited as a dark sedan parked in front of the garage. The headlights died and the driver’s side door opened. The man who exited whistled softly under his breath. The scent of sex and KY wafted on the breeze away from him, making the clichéd one fidget, his eyes burning with a fevered glow.
    Unable to control the anxious hunger raging through him, he rushed forward, ready to attack, but his leader held him back with a stay of his hand. “Not yet.”
    Whining, the beta stopped even as his body twitched with an unearthly need to fillet.
    The light in a window on the first floor came on. The human male who’d just unlocked and entered the back door paused, his hand halfway to the switch on the wall. He snapped his face up and swung around to see who had lighted the kitchen.
    Slouched against an inner doorway that led to the rest of the house, a woman wearing a bathrobe, her dark hair pulled into a sloppy ponytail, glared at him. She held a glass full of amber liquid loosely in her hand, the drink sloshing toward the rim.
    “So, who were you fucking tonight?” Her shrill tone made the four outside wince and shy away from the irritating pitch.
    “Melissa.” The man’s sigh was exhausted, fed up. “Keep your voice down, will you? Do you want the kids to see you drunk? Again.”
    Melissa sauntered into the kitchen, walking a crooked line. “I don’t know, Dan. Do you want them to see you stinking from another woman’s cunt? Again.”
    Obviously not up for a confrontation, Dan made to move around her. “I’m not going to talk to you when you’re like this.”
    But she dodged into his path, blocking him. “Talk like what? The truth? Who was it this time? Sarah? Rebecca? Janet?”
    He threw his hands up. “You know what? As long as it’s not you, I don’t care who she is. My dick is satisfied.”
    “Why, you lousy son of a bitch. I shoulda never married you.”
    From that point on, the fight escalated. The four observers exchanged wry glances.
    “Looks like we found trouble in paradise.”
    “Yeah. I guess we get dinner and a movie.”
    “Score.”
    “I want the woman,” the quiet one said, speaking for the first time. “I always did like alcohol with my meal.” The woman seemed to be well pickled in her liquor.
    As the marital fight picked up volume and the woman’s glass smacked against a wall, shattering, a light upstairs flickered