Blackstone Ranger Charmer - Alicia Montgomery
Chapter One
Gabriel Russel woke up that early spring morning with an urge. Urge to do what exactly, he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he was terribly hungry, and there was only one thing that could satisfy him.
His inner lion, usually the one to protest when he wanted to get up from bed, nosed at him in an attempt to hurry him up. Somehow it knew where they were headed, and seemed to want to get there sooner rather than later.
“So, chipper today, huh, buddy?” he told the lion. It only chuffed at him. “All right, all right.”
Not many shifters talked out loud to their animals, but he and his lion had always been tight. Maybe because growing up, he’d felt lonely, and it was always there for him. Most people might have thought he was crazy—after all, growing up in a household with five siblings meant he was never alone. However, there was a loneliness that came with being the youngest and the only male in the family that few people would understand.
Springing up from bed, he headed straight to the bathroom to get ready for work. Contrary to popular belief, it didn’t take hours for him to do his hair. Perhaps it was magic or just plain luck that his shoulder-length dark blond hair was easy to manage and seemed to come out looking perfect when he got out of bed in the morning. Of course, if anyone asked his sister, Giselle, she would say it was because she had ingrained in him the importance of good hair care products. In any case, on days he worked, he usually kept his hair tied back as the first time he went on patrol, he ended up with sticks, dirt, and leaves in his hair, which neither he nor his lion appreciated.
Work didn’t start until nine, so that meant he had time for a bite of breakfast before he had to make the nearly one-hour drive up the mountains to the Blackstone Rangers Headquarters. So, after getting dressed in his khaki uniform, he grabbed his hat and headed down to the garage. Though most of his fellow rangers lived up or nearer to the Blackstone Mountains for convenience, he simply preferred his modern loft in South Blackstone. From there, he was near almost everything in town, plus, he liked the collection of shops, cafes, and restaurants that had been popping up around the growing area.
It only took him fifteen minutes to get to his destination—Main Street—and in particular, Rosie’s Bakery and Cafe. As always, the smell of fresh pastries hit him with a nostalgic note. This was one of the places he’d go to with his father when he was still alive. Howard Russel would bring him here, and they would sit together in a booth, just the two of them, away from the chaos of the house. Those memories with his dad would be ones he would treasure forever.
In the last few weeks, however, coming in here gave him a different feeling. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it was as if he needed to be here, like this morning. After his father had passed, Gabriel would come to Rosie’s maybe every other month or so, and on Howard’s birthday.
But now he was here three or four times a week. Not that it was a problem burning all those calories; he was a shifter, after all, and his job involved a lot of physical activity. Rosie gave him strange looks, but didn’t question him on why he was here so often. Honestly, even if she did ask, he wasn’t sure he could tell her because he didn’t know himself. He only knew that he had to be here, not to mention, those new pies Rosie had been serving were irresistible. Just thinking of them made his mouth water.
“Good morning, Gabriel,” Rosie, the owner of the cafe, greeted. As usual, the seemingly ageless fox shifter was clothed a vintage dress, her vibrant red hair pinned up in curls around her head.
“Good morning, Rosie my love,” he replied. Most people thought he was a shameless flirt, but he’d known Rosie since he was a kid, so there was no malice there, just deep affection for the older woman who had been serving Blackstone’s best pies for nearly three decades.
“First one here, as always.” Rosie gestured to the dining room. “Go ahead and sit anywhere. I’ll grab the coffee, and you can tell me what you want.”
Whistling as he