may I help you?”
“I need these dresses cleaned and I’d like to pick them up in two days.”
“No problem.” Trina zoned out as she wrote up the order.
The woman looked around the shop nervously as Trina keyed the information into the system.
“How will you be paying today?”
There was a spark of gold around the woman’s irises. It wasn’t a natural reaction, but Trina had witnessed this type of response before. Her non-human customers were always very wary of their surroundings, just like the woman standing here. Before Trina could stare anymore, the woman averted her gaze, looked down at the counter, and held out her credit card. “Credit, please.”
On the card was an emblem in the corner unique to the non-human population in America, which confirmed Trina’s suspicions. The woman was a shifter.
Trina didn’t play favorites when it came to customers. Money was money, and it didn’t matter between which hands it was exchanged. But not everyone in the country had the same beliefs and formed their own opinions about shifters.
Thirty years had passed since it had been discovered that shifters lived among them.
To this day, no one could determine if the discovery of two wolf pups and a human-like baby left inside a bassinet outside of a church was by accident or intentional. Many concluded that some poor mother couldn’t care for her child, so left the responsibility with the church. At the time, no explanation as to why the wolf pups were in the bassinet with the baby—except to keep it warm—was given.
The wolf pups were released to a wild life conservation center, but the baby was taken into the custody of Child Protective Services. When doctors investigated her DNA in an effort to find the parents, the results revealed some not-so-human qualities. The information was leaked by a scientist and the government had no choice but to reveal that non-humans lived among us.
Shifters. Just like the woman standing in Trina’s dry cleaning store.
The woman cleared her throat and thrust the card toward Trina again. “Don’t you still accept our payments?”
“Sorry, yes I do.”
Trina completed the transaction at the cash register.
When the shifter left the store, she grabbed her cell phone and thumbed through the phone log in search of the number to her retirement fund servicer. The last time, she’d told herself she wouldn’t take another distribution, but if she didn’t do something she and her father could end up living on the streets.
Chapter Two
Dane Magnus slid into a booth the moment it became empty and picked up the menu. Breakfast and lunch had been missed courtesy of the lengthy business he’d had to tend to at the bank. His stomach had growled the whole time he was there scanning through pages and pages of documents. Although he was tired as hell, sleeping on an empty stomach never did him any good.
He scanned the various entrees listed on the menu and tried to drown out the sounds of the quaint little diner situated on the outer edge of town. Not only were the kitchen staff working furiously in the background trying to keep up with all the orders being shouted at them by the waiters, the place was jam-packed and the noise level was high. On any other day the crowd would have been an unusual occurrence but for this time of night, which was nearly midnight, both the city and town had received plenty of guests courtesy of the big business convention held here every year.
The Hot Spot Diner catered to all, both human and shifter alike, so there was a mix of bodies in the place tonight. His belly rumbled on, reminding him that he wasn’t here to check out the scenery.
“Magnus.” Sharon, the waitress, appeared by his side and set a glass of ice cold water down on a coaster. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”
Sharon Stetson was born and raised a small-town girl—a small-town shifter for that matter. Her uncle had owned the diner before he’d handed it over to the eldest son.
“I need these dresses cleaned and I’d like to pick them up in two days.”
“No problem.” Trina zoned out as she wrote up the order.
The woman looked around the shop nervously as Trina keyed the information into the system.
“How will you be paying today?”
There was a spark of gold around the woman’s irises. It wasn’t a natural reaction, but Trina had witnessed this type of response before. Her non-human customers were always very wary of their surroundings, just like the woman standing here. Before Trina could stare anymore, the woman averted her gaze, looked down at the counter, and held out her credit card. “Credit, please.”
On the card was an emblem in the corner unique to the non-human population in America, which confirmed Trina’s suspicions. The woman was a shifter.
Trina didn’t play favorites when it came to customers. Money was money, and it didn’t matter between which hands it was exchanged. But not everyone in the country had the same beliefs and formed their own opinions about shifters.
Thirty years had passed since it had been discovered that shifters lived among them.
To this day, no one could determine if the discovery of two wolf pups and a human-like baby left inside a bassinet outside of a church was by accident or intentional. Many concluded that some poor mother couldn’t care for her child, so left the responsibility with the church. At the time, no explanation as to why the wolf pups were in the bassinet with the baby—except to keep it warm—was given.
The wolf pups were released to a wild life conservation center, but the baby was taken into the custody of Child Protective Services. When doctors investigated her DNA in an effort to find the parents, the results revealed some not-so-human qualities. The information was leaked by a scientist and the government had no choice but to reveal that non-humans lived among us.
Shifters. Just like the woman standing in Trina’s dry cleaning store.
The woman cleared her throat and thrust the card toward Trina again. “Don’t you still accept our payments?”
“Sorry, yes I do.”
Trina completed the transaction at the cash register.
When the shifter left the store, she grabbed her cell phone and thumbed through the phone log in search of the number to her retirement fund servicer. The last time, she’d told herself she wouldn’t take another distribution, but if she didn’t do something she and her father could end up living on the streets.
Chapter Two
Dane Magnus slid into a booth the moment it became empty and picked up the menu. Breakfast and lunch had been missed courtesy of the lengthy business he’d had to tend to at the bank. His stomach had growled the whole time he was there scanning through pages and pages of documents. Although he was tired as hell, sleeping on an empty stomach never did him any good.
He scanned the various entrees listed on the menu and tried to drown out the sounds of the quaint little diner situated on the outer edge of town. Not only were the kitchen staff working furiously in the background trying to keep up with all the orders being shouted at them by the waiters, the place was jam-packed and the noise level was high. On any other day the crowd would have been an unusual occurrence but for this time of night, which was nearly midnight, both the city and town had received plenty of guests courtesy of the big business convention held here every year.
The Hot Spot Diner catered to all, both human and shifter alike, so there was a mix of bodies in the place tonight. His belly rumbled on, reminding him that he wasn’t here to check out the scenery.
“Magnus.” Sharon, the waitress, appeared by his side and set a glass of ice cold water down on a coaster. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”
Sharon Stetson was born and raised a small-town girl—a small-town shifter for that matter. Her uncle had owned the diner before he’d handed it over to the eldest son.
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