Ryan The Sons Of Crosby Release Day

Melody Harmony had had a rough start. Mel had lost her parents young, and she fell in love hard and fast only to lose both her new husband and her unborn child to a drunk driver. As a result, Mel didn’t have much use for many people.

Mel loved kayaking on the river. On her morning run, she found a floater and called it into her friend at the sheriff’s office. The mayor showed up instead and cut the body loose and proceeded to fire her and her friend for their troubles.

Ryan Crosby was one of the two remaining Crosby brothers who hadn’t found their mates. When good friend and family, Jamie Nash, told Ryan his friend Mel was in need of a good attorney, Ryan was more than happy to help.

But when Mel showed up for the meeting, expecting to get things underway with the attorney, she was floored when his handshake nearly took her to her knees. The man uttered several times that they were mates. She wasn’t entirely sure what that entailed, but she was sure she wanted no part of it.

With the mayor harassing her daily, and a new mate sniffing around, Mel had some decisions to make fast. The only problem was, it might be too late to do anything about either one of them….

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Spencer Graham had been trying to get a hold of Jason Crosby for weeks, but he didn’t seem to answer emails, mail or the telephone. She had an idea that would make them a great deal of money, but she needed him to invest in her project before it was too late. So, barging into his home at 4 a. m. was the only solution as far as she was concerned. She didn’t, however, expect him to answer the door naked and proposition her as soon as she walked in the door. Spencer did the only thing that came natural to her, she knocked him on his ass….

Jason Crosby was nearly two thousand years old, and in all his days as a vampire, he’d never seen anyone quite like her, not that he thought that was a good thing. He didn’t. She was his mate, and he was only going the tolerate her because he had to….

Chase Crosby didn’t know what he wanted right now. He was trying to get a grip on who his new mate was. He was told she was an ice dragon, but that wasn’t right either, she was a protector of the ice dragons. He had so many questions, and all he could do was sit there while she was locked away in his freezer to recover from her injuries.

Emerald was a warrior, and she had no idea what she was going to do with a mate. Even though the vampire appealed to her, she was worried the people chasing her would hurt him or his family to get to her, and she couldn’t allow that.

A Homeland Security Agent had gone rogue and he was after Emerald. He didn’t know exactly who or what she was, but he was going to prove she’d been around for centuries, and it didn’t matter who he had to go through to get to her.

Elliot knew the little boy, Cody, was in trouble. When he found the boy hiding out in his greenhouse, he could see that he was starving and battered. The boy’s little dog didn’t look like he was faring any better. When the boy’s father, Duncan, busted down the door of the greenhouse, Elliot had had enough.

Hannah didn’t have much use for her idiot brother, Duncan. And when she heard her brother had murdered his wife, and her nephew Cody was on the run from his father, she wasn’t surprised. She was surprised, however, and elated to find out her sister, Julia, was alive. Julia’s slimy ex-husband, Nathan, had Hannah believing Julia was dead.

Elliot was sent to bring Hannah back. Nathan had learned that Julia had left town and taking Hannah would be his leverage to make Julia do as he wanted. Elliot knew Nathan was on his way, and they had to hurry to keep Nathan from finding her. What he wasn’t expecting to find was his mate.

Hannah had had enough of men telling her what to do and finding out Elliot was a vampire didn’t make the situation any easier. He would take it slow and tread softly, or she would stake him, simple as that.

Finding out Nathan and Duncan had banned together spelled trouble for everyone. Even though Hannah was now immortal, Elliot still worried about her because she could still be hurt, and no one touched his mate if they wanted to live.

Misty Quartermain met Sean Crosby in college. One night, before they’d met, he’d saved her from a vicious vampire attack and after that they become close friends. He’d shared his family secrets with her and took a little of her blood so that they’d always share a connection. Sean knew Misty wasn’t his mate, but he’d always felt protective of her. A few years later, when Misty and her family were in trouble and on the run, Sean enlisted his family to come to their aid.

Grayson Crosby had always been somewhat of a loner. He mostly kept to himself but was there for the family when they needed him. Sean said he needed help to keep his college friend safe so Grayson was there for him, maybe not enthusiastically, but there. He heard Sean making the family introductions and came out of the kitchen. His beast suddenly had the poor woman backed into the wall.

“You said that she knows all about us?” Sean said that she did and that he was terrifying her. “Yeah, I know, but my beast, he won’t let me go enough to help her.”

“Well, let me help you then. I’m sick of men running over me.” Misty doubled up her fist and hit Grayson square in the nose. Then, when he was going back, she swung her leg around and did a round house slap with her foot to his head. He went to the floor in a thud, breaking the end table behind him.

With the mayor harassing her daily, and a new mate sniffing around, Mel had some decisions to make fast. The only problem was, it might be too late to do anything about either one of them….

The Sons of Crosby Series
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4.Grayson https://amzn.to/2zGRO0E

Teri Bellville

Joyce Mirabello

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Leigh Smoak

Ann Ivey

Donna Steppig

Heather Angalet

Anna Russell

Kris Queroz

Jessica Foufos

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Homer watched the young miss. He’d not learned her name on this journey and hadn’t asked her. She was a great deal stronger, not just physically but also mentally, than he’d been led to believe. She didn’t talk all that much either. That, he thought, was sad. Someone had hurt her badly. The walking wasn’t so bad. He’d have to give her a little strength towards the end of the day, but not overly much. Twice she’d fallen. He’d bent to help her up, but she was up and going again in no time. “Why am I going here? Do you know?” He told her that he didn’t. That he’d only been there to escort her to the Crosby family. “I have a feeling we’re close. The thing, this mark, it’s getting itchy. Like it’s doing something to my insides.” “May I see it?” She nodded and lifted up her shirt for him to see. Homer knew that she wasn’t able to see it well. He told her what he observed. “It’s bigger, my lady. And in full color. Before it was just a tree. Today it is the colorful tree that Queen Killian has on her own crown.” “I’ll not ask you again ‘why me.’ I’m guessing that your answer will be no different than it was before.”

He only smiled at her. “I’m on the run, as you probably have guessed. I knew why before I fell a while back, but no longer. I think I hurt my head. Do you know my name?” “I do not.” She nodded and continued walking. “Do you know anything about your past? How you were hurt that first day I saw you, miss?” “Nope. I have these little…I guess you could call them little thoughts on what happened, but they’re there and gone too fast for me to catch. My dreams, as you know, are bad ones. But almost as soon as I wake, they’re not there for me to analyze any longer.” He knew that too. Her screams of terror had awakened him and Sky every night since they’d started out. “Do you suppose that I’m a bad person and the police are after me?” “Nay, I do not. The mark on you shows that you have a good heart, or the lady Killian would never have given you such. You must believe that you have a good soul too.”

She didn’t say anything more, so he didn’t either. There were things about her that he could have told her, things that he’d figured out on his own. Homer considered himself a good judge of character, and he was sure that he wasn’t wrong on what he’d observed about the young woman. If he didn’t miss his bet, she was of faerie blood. Homer also thought that she was perhaps in a pretty high position as a faerie, like perhaps a child of royalty and something else. He’d not quite gotten what the other part of her might be, but he had a feeling that she was stronger than he even thought that she might be. He’d also noticed when she didn’t care for something that they’d cooked, it would change. Meat would be added to whatever they’d found while they were looking. Sky had noticed that she could bring things to her when she might need them.

Then there was the packet she wore around her waist. It was a great deal like his own pockets—putting things in it, no matter the size or the weight, would not slow him down. Also, he had the ability to put a great many things in his pocket that he could pull out when he needed them, such as the table they were using to have their meal on. She knew her herbs as well. Even when they might be buried deep in a thorn bush for protection, she’d be able to locate them with nary a nick to her hands. He’d also saw that she thanked the good earth for what it had given her. Homer thought that she might not even know that she did it, her voice lower than that of a cricket rubbing his legs. Setting up their little camp, he made sure he used the magic that he’d been gifted so long ago that he could not remember who had given it to him. Putting a spell around the three of them, he knew that they’d all be safe for the night. “Do you know much about the people in Ohio that I’m to go to? I mean, other than that they’re vampires?” He said that he’d heard only through Mother Earth that they’d be the nicest people. “One of them, I think, will come to mean something to me. A mate. I don’t know what to think about that.” “You don’t care much for vampires?” She said that she didn’t have any idea. “Then what makes you think that you’d not like to be mated to one of them?” “I think it’s the simple fact that I had no say in it.” She turned on her side and looked at him.

The ground around her seemed to glow in that moment, and he was a little feared about that. He didn’t know why, but her magic—or whatever it was— seemed to be gearing up for something. Or maybe she was coming in to her own. “Do you believe me?” “I was thinking of something a mite too long there, miss. Can you tell me what it is you were asking me about?” She told him again. “I don’t know about all that. The queen, she’d not be sending you there unless she knew you’d be safe. And I was just thinking on how, not only is your mark a good deal prettier, but you seem to be having a bit more magic surrounding you too. Can you do me a favor, miss? Can you dig your fingers into the ground and tell me what it is you feel?” Her fingers glowed as they were buried deeper in the nice warm dirt. As it— whatever the glow was—moved up her arm to her face, he could see that she was enjoying whatever she felt. Not only that, but she seemed to be getting brighter for doing it. “There’s a town nearby that is gearing up for a day of fun. Everyone is making something to take to the picnic. There is a fire too, a large one that is roasting a pig.

I can almost smell the meat as it sizzles and pops to get done.” He nodded, keeping his thoughts to himself while she searched. “I’m seeing the family now, the one that you said I was to find. The Crosbys. There are a good many of them, aren’t there? Some of them, however, are not vampires, but more.” “I don’t know who you might be seeing, but there are a few of them that are special, even to those of us that work and live in the woodlands. There is the king and queen of dragons. I know of her, Emerald Crosby. She is said to be as old as any stone or tree that lives around here. One of the couples is the leader of their kiss. His name, I think, is
Jason. He’s a powerful vampire, but one that deals out justice with a good hand.

He has a group of vampires that answer to them. Also, the prince and princess of the faeries. They are very strong.” She asked him why he knew so much about them. “Around these parts all the earth knows about them. And all the faeries and brownies about. The trees told me that they’ve never been so cared for before. Also, the princess of the woodland creatures, Fairaday, she lives there. Have you heard of her?” “I don’t think so, but there is something there.” He nodded. “I think that we’re about to get a visitor. One of the Crosbys, I think.” When the young miss looked in the direction they’d been headed these past days, she stood up. Homer could see deep into the woods because of what he was, regardless of the time of night, and could see no one as yet. It wasn’t until Sky, his best friend and faerie, came to stand on his shoulder that he could see the man as he came at them. “Hello.” Homer moved to stand next to the young miss. The man, he thought older than him by a few hundred years, looked at them all before he smiled. “I’m Franklin Crosby. You’ve made it.” “We’re on Crosby land?” He said that they had been for a couple of days now, but he had to make sure. “I can understand that. The miss here, she was to be brought here for you to protect. The ladies, are they around so that I can introduce her to them? Queen Emerald and Queen Killian, they’re expecting her.”

“We’re all expecting her now. There is a man about—his name eludes me at the moment, but it’ll come to me. He’s a man of worth, I’m told, but he is down on his luck.” Homer thanked him. “Jefferson. His name is Jefferson Quinn. Don’t know much more than what I told you. But Emerald, she wants you to watch out for him. He’s going to need help.” Most humans did in Homer’s opinion. Homer cleaned up their mess. He’d been taught that you leave a place cleaner than you found it. That was a motto to live by. Taking out a few seeds, he planted some trees and two flowers. They’d be growing up to be fine trees even before he got too far away. His magic was something that few had, the ability to grow a full tree in a matter of tics on the clock he had in his rooms. Lord Franklin talked a great deal. It was hard for him to keep up with the large vampire. But the young miss didn’t seem to be having any such difficulties. When Sky landed on his shoulder, he asked her if she was all right. “I am. The young woman, her name is Brook. I don’t know her last, but that is what the faerie Rain said. She is my sister. We were brought to the queen on the same day.” Homer was created the same way. However, because he’d fallen from his blossom, he’d become a brownie and not a faerie. He was bigger than any faerie because of that, and he didn’t fly all that much. “She is faerie as well, Lady Brook. But because her father was a leader of a tiger leap, and her mother a faerie female in the human world, Brook has powers that we’ve not seen before.” A tiger and a faerie were her parents?

With her father being a leader of his leap, he would have had special powers to begin with. Mated to a faerie, it would have only enhanced both their magic. The child before them, Brook, she would be even more powerful than her sires.
He was proud as could be to be able to watch over someone so great as this one would become. ~*~ Sean knew that she wasn’t his mate. That only left Ryan to be mated with her. He didn’t know if he was more disappointed than he was happy for his brother. As he helped Jason moving things around in the front of his house, Sean asked Jason what he thought about her. “I don’t know, to be honest. I was thinking more about how she might fit in with us. Homer said that she has a faerie mother with a leap leader tiger as her dad.” He’d heard that too. “Are you going to help me with this, or do you want me to leave you to it?” After getting the couch where he thought it should go, Sean looked around. He was glad now that he’d gotten three of the sofas rather than just one of them and a love seat. The room needed a great deal of furniture. “It looks good, don’t you think?” Jason said that he did, and asked what else they had to do.

“Just the dining room table and chairs. I have already had help getting it off the truck. You’ll be happy to know that it’s on the deck outside the room. Brandy picked it out, so if you think it’s not right for the room, don’t tell her.” “I won’t.” Even before they took it into the house, Jason said that he loved it. “I especially love that it has leaves to go in it even though it’s huge now. And having this nice hutch in here means that setting the table will be easier too.” “I do too. Brandy said that it would match well, yet not be too much.” They got the table and the fourteen chairs in quickly. There were other things to be brought in, but nothing like the furniture. Jason helped him bring in the boxes of dishware that he’d picked out, as well as the new kitchen appliances, including a coffee and tea maker. With the help bringing it in, he had more time to unpack the stuff. “Thanks, Jason. I didn’t know what I was going to do when Ryan bailed on me.” “He and Misty are doing well together as partners, don’t you think? I mean, even if they weren’t taking on the cases at the shelter, they’d still be busy. Did you know that we’re going to help expand the building and the other areas so that they can have more room? And a place just for children.” Sean said that was what Elliot had told him. “She’s not your mate, then?” “No. When she and Homer arrived I was in the yard with Dad. Dad wants to make sure that the fire doesn’t go out overnight with the hog we’re roasting for tomorrow.” Jason said that he’d hired some pack to come in and chop some wood for it. “Joey, their master, was asking me the other day if we had some extra work for his pack. I guess they’re trying to get some money gathered up for some of them to go to college. Did you know that?” “I didn’t. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll have to find them more things to do if that’s the case.” Jason would too. He had a big heart since he’d met and married Jewel. She’d had to knock him around a little, but Sean was sure that Jason had gotten the point. He was a better man for it. “They’re coming to the picnic too. I’ve also invited that guy that’s been around town. Do you know any more about him?”
“I have a little information, but not a great deal. I’m sure that Emerald told you all that I knew.”

He said that she had, but it wasn’t much. “No. Dad has talked to him a few times. He said that he doesn’t talk much. I think that it’s because Dad talks so much. His name is Quinn, by the way. First name is Jefferson. Last time I spoke to the women, they were doing a deep check on him. I don’t think that they’re going to find much. I have the feeling that whatever is going on with him, it’s not of his doing.” “I’ll let you know what I find out. I’m sure that you’re right about him. I just wish that he’d open up some about what it is that we can help him with.” Sean thought that was a good idea too, but he’d also learned over his life that there were some people that could not be rushed into anything. “I’ll expect you over to the house early tomorrow. I have to get those tables set up and all the chairs out. I don’t have any idea why she did it, but Jewel ordered two thousand chairs to be delivered today.” “Christ.” Jason laughed. Almost as soon as the last box was in the house, Jason said that he had to get going. It was great to have had the help with the furniture, but Sean was excited to get to set up the boxed stuff on his own. He started in the dining room to unbox the dinnerware set he’d purchased. Sean had had another home up until a week ago. He’d not gotten a very large one when he’d first bought a home. It had never occurred to him that he’d need a bigger one for a mate and children. Right now he had a lot of nieces and nephews, but his dad was forever telling them that the more he had in the way of grandchildren, the better. Sean wondered if Dad had been as mushy with their mom as he was his new wife Brandy. After Sean got the plates unwrapped from the bubble wrap, Ryan showed up with two large pizzas and a box knife.

Sean was glad to see him. He told Ryan that while it was fun unpacking in his home, he hadn’t thought of how much of a mess it would be. Together not only did they get the dishes in the cabinet where they belonged, but they managed to get the kitchen set up as well. Ryan spoke about what he’d done yesterday as they worked “I put a bid in on the Humphrey house yesterday. I don’t know if you bought this one in the hopes of having a big family, but that’s what I did with my new home.” Sean told him that was just what he’d done. “I wondered. Also, I did what you did. I had the pack go in to clean and paint my current house from top to bottom so that it can be sold quickly. If I get the other house, I’ll have them do the same. Jason was just telling us that we should help out the pack more. With all this going on, I think we should be able to generate a good deal of businesses with the lands that Jason was able to get for us.” “I was thinking that too. I did notice that he was having one of the two hotels that he bought from the bank renovated. He and Dad went over the place a few days ago, and it’s a solid building.”

He and Jason played around with the fridge and were trying to figure out how to hook up the water to make ice when Emerald entered the room. “Christ, don’t you ever knock?” In answer to his question, Emerald knocked her fist against his head. She was smiling when she did it, and Sean was thrilled when she didn’t knock his head off. He knew that she could, but perhaps she thought that he’d been frightened enough of her. He was too. All of them were afraid of all the women in the family. “I have something to tell you both. It’s to go no further than the two of you.” They both told her that she could trust them. “I know that, or you’d be shit out of luck. The woman, Brook, she’s not either of your mates. I’m sorry.” “I’m sorry too.” Sean was glad to hear that from Ryan. Even with the look of disappointment on his face, he smiled at Emerald. “If she’s not either of our mates, then won’t everyone be able to figure that out as soon as we’re in the room with her?” “Yes, but that’s not why I’m telling you this. I want you to keep a very close eye on her for me. Her magic—and there is a great deal of it—is yet untested, and might get out of hand.

She has been using it, but not very much. If you see her in a spot where you think she might need magic, you two are to help her out. I don’t want her blowing up the pack master.” Ryan asked if she was going to. “No, I was just using him as an example because I just left his home. Did you know that he is retiring soon from the police department? I only found out because the town is going to give him his retirement gift at the picnic.” “No. Do they have a replacement yet? I don’t want the job, but I would think that they’ve had plenty of time to find someone if they were able to get him a gift.” Emerald just stared at him. Sean smiled back at her. “All right. When you have your poker face on, I know that you know but are keeping it to yourself.” “That’s the plan. Will you keep an eye on her for me?” They both agreed that they would. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this as yet, but your house sold this morning, Ryan. The couple that bought it were in the agency when you called it in. After the agent showed them a couple of pictures that he had on hand, they bought it right away.

I guess that it only leaves Sean’s house now.” Sean told her what he had planned on doing with his old home. He was going to see if it could be used when businessmen came to town, or simply for visiting relatives as needed. Emerald asked him if he’d been able to empty it out yet. Nodding, Sean said that he’d take her through the old house later if she would meet him there. She told him that she might have someone to come in and have a look at it with them when they did. “There are several businessmen coming in from out of town on Monday. If you’re finished with it completely, I’ll have some of the pack go over to the warehouse and put some of those things in it for now, if that’s okay with you.” Sean asked Ryan if he might need some help. “I don’t think so, but I’ll keep that in mind. They won’t need much. I was going to put them in a hotel in Columbus, but this will be so much better. Thanks for doing this.” “My pleasure.” After she left, the two of them polished off the pizzas and sat around on the new furniture while watching television. Sean looked over at Ryan when he’d not spoken for a while. Asking him if he was all right, Ryan nodded, then shook his head. “I was actually looking forward to having a mate. I didn’t think that I’d be this disappointed about Brook not being her.” Sean said that he’d had the same feelings when he’d met her yesterday. “I wonder what she’s doing here then? I mean, we were both prepared for her to be with one of us.

But I have a feeling that she’s here for another man, don’t you?” “I guess so. I mean, why would Emerald go to all this trouble if…?” Sean thought of something else. “Do you suppose that she’s telling you that she’s not your mate to throw you off? I mean, that would be just like her, don’t you think? To get you all disappointed, only to surprise you with her being the one?” “Nah. I mean, she could, I guess, but for some reason I don’t think that’s it. Why would she make sure that we both watch over her? I mean, that would get one of us killed if she were our mate.” There was that, something that he’d forgotten about—the jealousy that would be between the six of them. “Also, I’ve been thinking about this guy Quinn. Do you suppose that he’d going to take over the job of police captain? We don’t know that much about him either.” They talked about the different people that could take over the job in the station house. He even brought up that Brook might be the one that took the position. It could happen. As they joked and kidded about it more, Sean ordered four more pizzas. It was very hard work putting a home together. Smiling, he was glad that the place would deliver. Neither of them were ready to move off their respective seats.