Penpals With An Alpha Werewolf

Feline Shifter Henrietta is a refuge of war, one of the last of her kind. As such, she is not allowed to join in the fight. She works at a bakery and sends cookies and brownies to the troops to make up for her inability to help in any other way.

When she learns about a penpal program, she is quick to fill out an application. She's assigned Sergeant Jason Theodore, an Alpha Werewolf who writes in beautiful proses and makes her feel like she's someone special. As romance blossoms with each letter, something else is brewing around them; a war at the borders that threaten the peace that Henrietta has learned to take for granted.

Henrietta is hiding a secret from him, however. She hasn't told him that she wasn't a werewolf and she is afraid of how he would react when he finds out the truth about her. Little does she know that he is hiding a secret from her as well… one that is going to tear her world apart.

~~~~~ Excerpt ~~~~~

Henrietta started towards the figure. At first, he didn't move at all. But after she had taken a few more paces, he twisted sharply on his feet and strode away, the coat hem swirling around at the abruptness of the movement.

“Hey!” she shouted, trying to get the man's attention even though she didn't really know what she would do after. That was a problem for after she had caught up with him.

The man didn't flinch, didn't turn, just kept walking away in a brisk pace that was just short of a run.

“Wait up!” she picked up her pace and started to run, but the figure had turned the corner. The snow slowed her down, but she sprinted down to the end of the block in pursuit. She didn't know why it was important for her to find out the identity of the man and his purpose for being there, only that it was vital.

Her heart pounded in her ears, a crazy pulse of fear and intrigue.

She turned the corner and-

Nothing.

Empty street greeted her. It was completely deserted, which was to be expected seeing how late it was, but she had seen the man turn. How was it possible? She wanted to run, but there was nowhere obvious to run to. The snow was so heavy now that her vision was getting impaired.

Continuing to stand there would be just a waste of time.

She should go home and get some rest. Tomorrow's a new day and she had more baking to get done. She wasn't sure if Mrs. Carlton was going to come into the shop tomorrow either. She told Jay that she just needed rest, but honestly, she wasn't sure if Mrs. Carlton was going to make it.

She had insisted on helping out in the initial phase of eliminating the contaminated flour, but had fallen ill very quickly. The fumes were detrimental even to healthy werewolves and she was far from.

Henrietta regretted not making her leave earlier, but none of them were sure if the poison would do the same to her. It wasn't identified until a few days later and thankfully, her physiology was so different from a werewolf's that she wasn't affected at all.

Her mind completely distracted from the shadow figure she saw, she headed back to the bakery and upstairs to her apartment.

Perhaps, if she had had enough sleep, she would be more vigilant. She would have checked around the bakery to see that the man had not merely been lingering around, but had left something behind. Several things, in fact.

She did not think about it as she slept through the fire alarm and the smell of smoke and continued not to think about it as the smoke inhalation drew her deeper into it's warm embrace.

The thing that finally woke her up was the sound of her wall bring kicked down and a shadow barreling with the debris. She opened her mouth to cry out, but smoke filled her lungs and she coughed instead…