Wolf shifter and loner Navy Amana doesn’t want much out of life. A few good books and a quiet place to read to his heart’s content. When his family sends him on business to San Diego, Navy isn’t pleased. But a chance meeting with his dream woman changes everything…

Karina Sai is furious that her father is selling their family business. She seeks solace in her beloved bookstore only to meet the most intriguing man. Ever. After an incredible day – and night – with Navy, her luck seems to change for the better. But, of course, things aren’t that simple.

Navy and Karina might be fated mates, but their connection is severed by misunderstandings and family jealousy. Someone is out to stop their happily-ever-after before it can even begin.

Chapter 1

Navy

Navy Amana was sure of three things.

First, he hated his older brother for sending him to San Diego.

Second, he really didn’t want to be in this city.

Third, he really wanted to be in his own apartment back in New York City, probably in his study, sitting in his favorite leather armchair with a tumbler of bourbon and a good book in his lap.

There was little he could do about all that now. He was actually in San Diego, far away from his study and his brother. There was little for him to do but to enjoy his glass of bourbon and pretend the rest. But, of course, the bar was all wrong for really sinking into the novel he was trying to finish. The music was too chipper, the surrounding conversations too loud, and the sun just a bit too bright. Shit, even the people around him were too happy for him.

He had to be the only asshole in the world who would complain about San Diego being too sunny and too beautiful. 

Other people would’ve loved to be there, but not him.

If the whole lone wolf was an actual thing, Navy was the one it would be based on. People made him nervous. Always had. Maybe it was growing up in such a blusterous family that made him so averse to loud noises. 

Maybe it was his shifter senses.

Though, if that were true, his family would be just as affected as him, wouldn’t they? Navy toyed with the knot of his tie, suddenly feeling like the damn thing was suffocating him. If he was honest with himself, Navy could admit that he felt like an outsider in his family.

Hell, in his very life.

Banks was the golden boy of the family. The one Mom and Dad placed all their faith to run the family business. Jewel was a constant presence, solid as the base of a tree. She was a wonderful mother too. Even if her growing brood made her a little bit of a scatterbrain.

Then there was Iver.

The baby of the family was quintessentially the bad boy. The entire Amana pack fawned over his younger brother, whether because of his fun ideas or because he was doing something exasperating.

Navy tried to think what he brought to the fold — and came up empty.

Unless it was being quiet and shy and preferring the silence of his condo to read, there wasn’t much he could do. Probably because there wasn’t much he wanted to do within the Amana Industries conglomerate.

Navy shuffled on the high stool of his seat as his dream, his very secret wish, whispered in his heart. He shut it down and locked it tightly. So tight, in fact, his wolf roared to life with a growl.

If you didn’t try to be something you’re not, life would be a hell of a lot easier for both of us. You can’t be the business head like Banks. You can’t be the absolute fuck toy that Iver is. You can only be yourself. Now stop moping and find us someplace to shift. Who knows, maybe while we’re out of the hotel, we’ll spot some place where we can — 

“Excuse me,” Navy waved over the bartender to interrupt his wolf.

It would be so much fucking easier to keep his secret wish actually secret if he didn’t share his head with a wolf.

I heard that, the animal huffed out haughtily.

You would, Navy barked back, since you’re in my head.

So yeah. Maybe Navy was a jerk for not wanting to be in San Diego, but at least he could admit why the city’s charms were lost on him. He just preferred to be with his own things, in his own space.

And to think that in the morning, he had to make his way to a family-owned business and finalize a merger. Navy could only hope that it was a smooth transition. That everyone in the company wanted to sell. He’d been to a few mergers with Banks and his father where the transition was less than friendly.

He didn’t know how to convince people to do his bidding. That was more Banks’s style. Maybe even Iver’s too. 

Navy wasn’t that much of an oddball. Other people were also very much threatened by the idea of change, and nothing screamed change like a bigger umbrella company sucking up all the other smaller businesses on this side of the ocean.

“What can I get you, handsome?” The bartender, a young woman who smelled too strongly of booze and perfume, batted her eyelashes at him.

He had been considering another drink, but now that the bartender was eyeing him like that last ice cream cone, Navy knew he had to change venues. He asked for the bill and paid before heading back to the reception desk. You’d think that a luxury hotel such as this would be ready to accommodate his schedule change, but no such luck. Navy had hopped off the plane, made his way to the hotel only a few hours before he was set to check-in. The penthouse suite wasn’t ready.

That gave him another reason why he knew he should never leave his beloved New York. His condo was always clean and always ready for him. Not having a place of his own made his skin itch and crawl. Even his wolf agreed that it was uncomfortable to be so far away from his roots. If Banks was known to be grumpy around chaos, Navy knew that change was his grumpy button.

At least, the receptionist announced that the suite was finally ready for him. She apologized profusely before offering to take him up to his room herself. Navy frowned as he assured her that he could very well ride an elevator to the top floor all by himself. 

The woman seemed disappointed, and Navy couldn’t understand why. It bugged him all the way up to the penthouse where his luggage was waiting for him. The room smelled strongly of cleaning products, too much for his shifter nose. He walked to the patio door and threw it open.

Of course, the room had a view of the beach. The water, a crisp blue, was quite pretty, but the crowd of people assembled there basically guaranteed that Navy wouldn’t be going to explore.

If Banks were here, he’d go on and on about how Navy wouldn’t be able to find his mate while reading a book in a single room.

Good, Navy thought to himself. 

Who even wanted the hassle of being mated? He knew that a mate would only want his attention, which would limit his reading time even more. He already had a job that did that. But, of course, his brother and the rest of the family didn’t understand that Navy had a life goal that had nothing to do with mates and children or with the renowned Amana Industries.

Navy’s goal was a bit more complex — and a lot more impossible. He wanted to read all the books in the world. At least, the ones that interested him. There was a lot of stuff out there he wouldn’t be reading because of lack of interest, but there were some real gems he couldn’t wait to get his hands on. 

He couldn’t help himself from reading thrillers over again. With the second read, knowing the resolution, he tried to find all the clues he missed in the first go in hopes of guessing the culprit earlier in the next book he read. 

His secret wish — one he would never ever, but ever share with his family for fear of what they would do with the information — was to find a mate that would share this quirk with him. In fact, he would love to meet a woman who would read the same book as him and then challenge each other to find the bad guy before the other—sort of a reading to the resolution race. 

That wouldn’t happen.

Not because Navy was misogynistic enough to believe that women didn’t read thrillers, but because he didn’t actually want the rest of the stuff that came with a mate. Oh, steady sex would be fun enough. It was more of the other things that would get him running for the hills. 

Things like friends and outings. Family obligations and — forbid the fucking thought — having kids. Navy loved his nieces and nephews, but he was also terrified of them. Being responsible for the intellectual and emotional development of another living thing was… 

Navy shuddered as he dug through his luggage for the pile of books he packed for his three-day stay in San Diego.

He didn’t even want to think about what kids would do to his reading time.

He was sure Jewel and Takis hadn’t read a book since college unless it was a cheesy bedtime story book for one of the thousand children they had. Okay, so they only had a fourth on the way. That still seemed very daunting.

His pocket vibrated, announcing an incoming call. He reached for it, figuring he would have to ignore a call from Banks. Seeing Jewel’s name on the screen, he clicked on the call.

“Jewel,” he said in greeting.

“Navy Amana. You didn’t text me to say that you landed safely.”

He rolled his eyes. “Sorry, Jewel. I forgot that you needed a breakdown of my day, minute by minute.”

“Do not sass me. I get that enough from my teenager. Are you at the hotel? Have you stepped outside? Gone to the pier?” She continued firing off questions at him without letting him get in a word. “Navy, you’re not answering me.”

“I can’t, Jewel. You’re talking too much.”

“Oh, ha-fucking-ha. You are so funny. Are you okay?”

“Yes,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Good. Promise me one thing,” Jewel said, using the same tone she did when she was trying to coax a smartphone away from her teenage daughter. “You’ll explore the city. I would give anything to be in the sun right now, so long as I wasn’t twenty years pregnant with this massive bowling ball.”

Navy chuckled. For a woman in the final stages of her fourth pregnancy, she sure hated being pregnant. It was like the woman lied to herself about the nine-month ordeal to get the final product: a pink screaming thing that turned into a screaming toddler that then turned into a screaming teenager.

It was a lot of screaming.

“I need to get back to my room and go over Banks’s notes for the meeting tomorrow.”

“What if I told you that I have a better suggestion for you? I know there’s a charming little bookstore a fifteen-minute walk away from your hotel.”

He perked right up. “Oh?”

Jewel giggled. “I knew that would get your attention. But I will tell you what the store is called if you promise to walk there.”

He scrunched up his face as if his sister could see him. “I can just look it up for myself.”

“Sure you could,” she answered. “Thing is the owner is a tiny old couple. They don’t own a computer. The store doesn’t have a website.”

“How is that even possible? How did you even hear about it?”

“I’m a mother of four. The FBI ain’t got nothing on me if I’m looking for something. Now, do I have your word that you’ll go exploring?”

Navy considered this for a few seconds. A small bookstore that wasn’t online? He nearly drooled at the thought of all the hidden book gems he could find in such a place. If Jewel had found it, he could too, but that would cut into his reading time.

“Okay, Jewel. I promise to explore,” while reading a book.

“I’ll know if you lie to me, Navy Amana. I want photographic proof.”

“Sure thing,” he said, knowing there were a few ways around that for sure.

“The store is called The Shopkeeper’s Library.” She rattled off the address, which Navy scribbled quickly on the hotel notepad laid out on one of the many tables in the big living room. “Go geek out.”

He would do just that, all alone, just like he preferred.

Just a man, his wolf, and the peaceful joy of a good book.