O'Malley: Summer (Shifter Seasons Book 7)

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Shifter Seasons

  Foreword

  Chapter One – O’Malley

  Chapter Two – Hannah

  Chapter Three – O’Malley

  Chapter Four – Hannah

  Chapter Five – O’Malley

  Chapter Six – Hannah

  Chapter Seven – O’Malley

  Chapter Eight – Hannah

  Chapter Nine – O’Malley

  Chapter Ten – Hannah

  Chapter Eleven – O’Malley

  Chapter Twelve – Hannah

  Chapter Thirteen – O’Malley

  Chapter Fourteen – Hannah

  Chapter Fifteen – O’Malley

  Chapter Sixteen – Hannah

  Chapter Seventeen – O’Malley

  Chapter Eighteen – Hannah

  Chapter Nineteen – O’Malley

  Chapter Twenty – Hannah

  Chapter Twenty-One – O’Malley

  Chapter Twenty-Two – Hannah

  Chapter Twenty-Three – O’Malley

  Epilogue

  Also By Harmony Raines

  Get In Touch

  O’Malley

  Summer-Shifter Seasons

  Book Seven

  ***

  All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written consent of the author or publisher.

  This is a work of fiction and is intended for mature audiences only. All characters within are eighteen years of age or older. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, actual events or places is purely coincidental.

  © 2020 Harmony Raines

  Shifter Seasons

  Hex

  Winter-Shifter Seasons Book One

  Beck

  Winter-Shifter Seasons Book Two

  Mac

  Winter-Shifter Seasons Book Three

  Kelos

  Spring-Shifter Seasons Book Four

  Shawn

  Spring-Shifter Seasons Book Five

  O’Malley

  Spring-Shifter Seasons

  Book Seven

  A silverback seasoned shifters romance

  O’Malley’s mate walks into a bar... No, it’s not a joke, his mate is right here in front of him and she needs his help.

  Why does Hannah come to O’Malley for help? Because her brother, Karl, told her they were best friends in the army.

  Only they weren’t friends. The two men could hardly stand each other.

  That doesn’t stop O’Malley from agreeing to go with Hannah even though his new bar is about to open.

  When the heart, or his mate, calls a shifter must answer, no matter the personal cost. After all, nothing is more precious than love.

  Hannah’s brother is lost in the mountains. When she goes to O’Malley for help, the last thing she expects to find is the love of her life. However, she quickly realizes that is exactly what she’s found. A man who would risk everything for her.

  Even his heart.

  As they track Karl over the mountains, they discover he took the pilgrim’s trail, a route taken by those who are seeking a path toward a new future while leaving their past life behind.

  As they begin to unravel the mystery surrounding his disappearance it becomes clear Karl might not have survived the pilgrim’s trail.

  Can O’Malley and Hannah work together to bring her brother home?

  Chapter One – O’Malley

  “The bar looks great.” Shawn looked around the freshly painted bar, with its new tables and chairs, just waiting for people to spill in to eat and drink at O’Malley’s.

  O’Malley swelled with pride. “It’s taken some hard work and a few sleepless nights, but it’s nearly finished. If everything goes to plan, we should be ready to open on schedule.”

  “I, for one, hope that’s the case.” Shawn ran his hand across the newly polished bar. “Now I have somewhere to escape to.”

  O’Malley grinned broadly. “That might wash with someone else, but I know you too well. You love your home life. You have a mate and a daughter. Who wouldn’t?” His grin slipped off his face.

  “It’ll happen for you,” Shawn assured O’Malley, just like everyone had been assuring him for the last few weeks. It was hard to shake off the feeling that you were the last bachelor in town.

  The last bachelor in all the towns, his cougar reminded him, since many of their friends who had found their mates lived in Bear Creek and other surrounding towns.

  I can always count on you to make me feel better, O’Malley told his feline side.

  I’m just stating a fact. His cougar was right. His friends, both old and new, had all found their mates. All except him.

  It was as if O’Malley was their lucky charm. But that luck was not meant for him.

  “I’m okay,” he told Shawn. “I have this place, no room for love in my life right now.”

  “You tell yourself that but we both know it’s not true.” Shawn pulled out a barstool and sat down as O’Malley took two bottles of Bear Creek Honey Beer out of the fridge and passed one to his friend. “Thanks.”

  “It’s true. What time would I have to put into a relationship when I’m opening this place?” He held out his hands and glanced around the bar. The once drab building had been transformed. Not that he’d ripped the character out of the place, but he had made it lighter and brighter and replaced the old kitchen so that O’Malley’s could offer its customers good, fresh, healthy food. With a few unhealthy dishes and desserts on the side.

  “You would find time, believe me.” Shawn took a slug of his beer. “When your mate walks into your life, everything else gets put on hold.”

  “Are you trying to make me feel better, or worse?” O’Malley asked as he walked around the bar and took a seat next to Shawn. “Whatever. You’re right. I would like to find out.”

  He’d be lying if he said otherwise and O’Malley had always prided himself on his honesty. It was part of his military training, honesty and loyalty were the two things he held most dear.

  And love, his cougar replied. You do love the people around you.

  And love. His heart seemed to squeeze in his chest as if it longed to expand and grow and encompass the greatest love of all, that for a mate and, if he were truly blessed, a child.

  Or two. His cougar licked his paw thoughtfully.

  Or two. Or more. But O’Malley was no spring chicken.

  Thank goodness, his cougar replied. I like my sleek fur and long tail. I would not look good in feathers.

  “I’m not doing a great job of cheering you up, am I?” Shawn asked. “Maybe I should have sent Joanna instead.”

  O’Malley chuckled. “You’re doing just fine. Anyway, seeing you two so happy makes me happy. Joanna deserves a man like you. And a daughter like Jane. And a child of her own.”

  “You know,” Shawn began, and his voice caught in his throat. “Sometimes I think I’m the luckiest man alive.”

  “Sometimes I think you are, too.” O’Malley took a long drink of his beer and then turned around to look at his bar. “I just have to find my own luck. Since I think you all have rubbed it away.”

  “We’ve what?” Shawn asked.

  “I’m a lucky guy, I’ve always had luck on my side, and since I walked into your lives, one by one you have found your mates. Remember when you called yourselves The Bachelors Three?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Shawn laughed and nearly choked on his beer.

  “And now you all h
ave mates, you are all happily settled, and I’m left all alone.” He stuck out his bottom lip and pouted. “Poor me.”

  Shawn laughed so hard he nearly spilled his beer. “Some woman out there does not know what is in store for her when she finds out you are her mate.” He tipped his bottle of beer up and drank down the rest of the amber liquid. “I need to get going. Jane is anxiously trying new recipes for you. She is taking her job very seriously.”

  “Ahh, did I make a mistake asking her to bake a few things for O’Malley’s?” he asked.

  “No, she’s incredibly proud of herself. It was a nice thing to do. She’s now decided to open a bakery when she’s all grown up.” Shawn’s expression faltered. “Which I hope is a long, long way away. I want to enjoy all the childhood years first.”

  “And the teenage years?” O’Malley asked as he took the two empty bottles around the back of the bar and placed them in the bin under the counter.

  “I’m not thinking of those. I want to bury my head in the sand and believe Jane is never going to grow up.” Shawn waved as he headed for the door. As it swung closed behind him, O’Malley was left alone in the bar.

  He sighed, a big, sorrowful sigh. He loved the place he’d created here in Cougar Ridge. He moved here from the city to find peace, to find a quiet place to call home. But would he ever be genuinely happy if he never found his mate?

  Taking the empty bottles out to the back, he grabbed a broom and swept the entryway leading from the bar into the paved back area where the empty beer barrels and empty bottles would be stored until they were collected. It didn’t really need sweeping, but he needed something to do something to keep his hands busy.

  His cougar itched to be free. Maybe that would be the best idea, go for a run across the mountain. One of the many reasons he’d moved here was for his cougar to have more freedom. All their lives, the feline side of him had been kept hidden. First when he served in the Special Forces, then when he opened his first bar, catchily called O’Malley’s, in the city.

  Who would have thought we’d have two bars? his cougar asked, sharpening his claws. Does this count as a chain?

  Perhaps when we open the next one, we can say we have a chain, O’Malley answered.

  He paused mid-sweep and lifted his head. Someone was in the bar.

  O’Malley propped the broom against the wall and headed back inside As he walked, his head throbbed and he reached out a hand and pressed it against the wall as the world spun around. He felt as if he’d drained his bar dry, his thoughts were incoherent, his legs were not his own. Yet he was consumed by a need to reach the bar and meet the person in there.

  Our mate, his cougar’s words penetrated the fog in his brain.

  O’Malley figured it must be some trick. You didn’t talk about wanting your mate and wish for your mate and she just showed up right in front of you. That wasn’t how these things worked.

  Did they?

  There were no rules, there was no schedule that fate stuck to. He’d seen enough shifters find their mate to know exactly what was happening to him. Unless he’d been drugged. Was there something in the beer?

  His cougar chuckled. Of course, that is a much more plausible explanation. Our mate isn’t waiting for us in the bar, we’ve been drugged by some unknown person for some unknown reason.

  But maybe there were reasons, O’Malley thought as he reached up and opened the door into the bar. As a member of an elite Special Forces team, he’d brought down his fair share of bad guys. Sure, that was a decade ago, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t been targeted. He could be at the end of a long list of people someone wanted to take revenge on.

  “Hello. O’Malley?” The woman standing in front of him looked vaguely familiar, but he could not recall ever meeting her and if he had met her, she would have been indelibly etched onto his memory.

  “Yes.” He pushed himself upright and straightened his shirt, wishing he weren’t dressed in work-worn jeans and a T-shirt splattered in cobalt blue paint. He needed to appear normal. Failing that, he needed to at least appear as if he wasn’t drunk. Or high.

  Even if he was kind of high. The image of his mate in front of him had done something to his brain. It was as if he was alive and seeing things clearly for the first time.

  “I went to your bar in the city…” She paused, her gaze shifting to the polished wood floor before she raised it to look at him again. “They told me I could find you here.”

  “And they were right.” He swallowed hard as he tried to keep a hold on his emotions which threatened to spiral out of control. If this woman, his mate, needed help then he had to focus. Focus on her face, focus on her voice, on her lips as she nervously ran her tongue over them.

  He wanted to rush forward and pull her into his arms and kiss those lips so badly he had to grip the counter to stop himself.

  “I know it makes me sound like a stalker or something.” She cleared her throat and took a deep breath. “I need your help.”

  O’Malley arched an eyebrow as he stared at her. He was about to say, hey, yeah, I’ll help you, whatever you need. But he didn’t know her, he didn’t know why she was here in his bar. Why she’d gone to a lot of trouble to find him when he had no idea who she was.

  Had fate slipped her a note that said, if in trouble, please find O’Malley at O’Malley’s Bar?

  “I’m sorry, have we met before?” he asked diplomatically.

  Her cheeks colored and she took a jolting step forward with her hand held out in front of her. “Sorry, stupid me. I’m Hannah. Hannah Norton.”

  O’Malley turned his head to one side and looked at her carefully while he slid his hand into hers. A jolt of recognition struck him, and his eyes widened. As he watched her face, the same shock played out across her features, but she quickly smoothed her expression.

  “You’re Norton’s sister.”

  She nodded and it was as if her facial features shifted a little and he could finally see the resemblance to one of his fellow soldiers from his days with Special Forces. “I am.”

  So why is she here? his cougar asked. We were not exactly friends with Norton.

  No, we were not exactly friends. O’Malley and Norton had clashed on more than one occasion,

  “I haven’t seen or spoken to Norton for years. The last I heard, he’d gone backpacking around the world. I often wondered if he ever made it back or whether he set down roots in some distant land. I always thought maybe one day he’d walk into my bar and tell me about all the adventures he had and all the places he’d seen.”

  You mean boast about all the adventures he’d had and places he’d seen, his cougar said sourly.

  O’Malley’s eyes narrowed. “Instead, his sister walks into my bar asking for help.”

  “He talked about you a lot. Which is why I thought…” Her eyes misted with tears and she rubbed her hand over her face before she continued. “I couldn’t think of anyone else I could ask for help.”

  “He talked about me?” He motioned to one of the tables as he hid his surprise. “Shall we sit?”

  She nodded and sat down at the table, her hands clasped in front of her. “I’m sorry. For just showing up like this.”

  “No problem at all.” How could it be a problem when she was his mate? However, she had no idea what she meant to him and no idea that he would do whatever she asked him to do.

  I sure hope it’s not illegal, his cougar said.

  I sure hope the guy isn’t setting us up, O’Malley added. But the woman before him seemed totally genuine. The fear and worry in her face were real, he was sure.

  But why would Norton’s sister come to him? They were not friends, they barely kept in touch after they both left the Army, only seeing each other at reunion dinners when they often traded barbed remarks.

  “Coffee? Something stronger?” O’Malley asked before he took his seat across the table from her. “If you’re hungry, I could rustle something up in the kitchen.”

  “Coffee would be fine, thank
s.” She smiled at him, looking relieved.

  “No problem.” He put his hands up and pointed his index fingers at her. “Stay right there, I’ll be back with the coffee.”

  As he left his mate, he slid around the bar where the coffee machine stood empty. He only hoped by the time he returned with fresh coffee, his mate would not have vanished from his life as her brother had.

  Chapter Two – Hannah

  When O’Malley had told her to stay right here, was she fooling herself to think that he was scared she might run out on him? Like really scared?

  She shook her head and reminded herself he’d been best friends with her bother when they served together. O’Malley was scared something had happened to her brother, Karl.

  “Here.” O’Malley returned with two cups of hot coffee and set them down on the table before he slid into the seat across the table from her. He’d also brought a plate of cookies. “Help yourself.”

  “Thanks.” She took one, needing the sugar rush. “Homemade.”

  “I’m not responsible.” He grinned as he waved his hand at them.

  “You have a wife? Or a girlfriend? Am I keeping you from them?” Why did she feel the need to ask? Why was she hoping the answer would be no? She was here about her brother, not to find the husband who had eluded her so far.

  She longed to settle down and have a family, but she always seemed to get caught up in worrying about her brother or her father. Since her mom had passed when Hannah was barely in her twenties, she’d taken on the role of housekeeper, and more often, peacekeeper. Her father and brother had a volatile relationship and often argued over the stupidest of things.

  Add in her father’s recent poor health, there had been no room for a life of her own let alone a love of her own.

  “No, I’m single.” He looked her squarely in the eye and the look he gave her spoke of something she had yet to fathom. There was a connection between them, she was sure. She’d felt it the moment she walked into the bar. Or maybe even before. On the drive over here, she’d experienced an unusual frisson of excitement at the thought of finally meeting O’Malley, who her brother had spoken so warmly of.