Blackstone Ranger Charmer - Alicia Montgomery Page 0,2

hand on the door.

“What the—Gabriel Russel, get away from there—”

He ignored those words as blood roared in his ears. Something made him push the door open and stepped inside to see—

Nothing.

The kitchen was empty.

What the hell is wrong with you?

His lion protested with a yowl, then lifted its head to sniff the air. It smelled like butter, flour, pastry, and sugar, plus something else in the air he couldn’t quite name. Something sweet and seductively exotic.

“Gabriel?” Rosie dashed into the kitchen, hands on her hips. “What in the world are you doing in here?”

“Huh?” What did he do? “Er, sorry, Rosie.” He scratched at his head. “Didn’t, er, sleep much last night. I’m still a zombie, and the caffeine hasn’t quite kicked in.”

Rosie looped an arm through his. “How about I refill your mug, then?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” As the fox shifter gently led him out of the kitchen, he glanced back at the door as it swung close. A strange feeling came over him, like an emptiness that he never realized was inside him. Huh.

Shaking his head, he allowed Rosie to bring him all the way back to his booth. “Thanks, Rosie my love,” he said.

“I’ll get you that coffee, kiddo. It’ll fix up whatever’s ailin’ you.”

His lion once again protested.

With a last glance back at the kitchen door, he couldn’t help but feel like there would be nothing that could help fill this void that had somehow buried itself in his chest.

Gabriel didn’t go back to Rosie’s again after the day he barged into the kitchen. His lion didn’t like that very much, but with winter behind them and spring in full bloom, he was just too busy. As a Blackstone Ranger, his work involved protecting the mountains and the forests in the area, but also, the people and shifters who came to visit, since it was a park. With the snow melting on the more popular paths, the mountains were busy which meant every one of the rangers had to be on alert for hikers or campers in distress, or even shifters who may have gotten too overconfident in their abilities and needed rescuing.

But aside from that, being deep in the forests meant he could avoid—or ignore—calls from certain people and blame it on the lack of reception. Even now, as he drove to Main Street after working overtime, his phone started ringing the moment it pinged the nearest cell towers.

Glancing at the screen, he saw the caller ID flash his oldest sister’s name and blew out a breath. Genevieve was the last person he wanted to talk to right now. He knew what she wanted, but he was too tired to deal with her.

When the call went to voicemail, he let out a relived sigh, which was short-lived because his inbox now started blowing up. Checking the name of the sender, he groaned audibly. Vicky Woolworth. He’d rather talk to Gen and get a root canal and an appendectomy all at the same time than deal with Vicky. She was, as they said, twenty pounds of crazy in a five-pound bag. While he’d broken up with her years ago, she’d pop up every now and then. He had to keep blocking her and change his number whenever she got a new number or account, but that didn’t seem to stop her from trying. Looks like I have to call my cell company again.

As he stopped at the light, he turned his phone off, glad for the silence. Today was supposed to be his day off, but he got stuck working overtime after helping search for a lost panther cub who had wandered away from its mother. His plan had been to sleep in and meet J.D. and Anna Victoria at Rosie’s after they did wedding stuff. Instead, he had to shower at work and drive straight to Rosie’s. When he got there, Damon was already seated at one of the booths.

“Hey, Chief,” he greeted as he slid into the seat across from Damon. “Girls aren’t here yet?”

Damon Cooper, who was his best friend and boss, shook his head. “Probably running late. Rogers filled me in about last night. Good job finding that panther cub.”

“Yeah, she was pretty rattled, but once we got her back to her mama, everything was fine.”

“I appreciate you guys staying and getting it all handled,” he said.

“Of course, man. You know you can trust us for stuff like that.” He patted Damon on the shoulder. “You’re gonna be a married man soon; can’t