Amber's Ace (Black Hills Wolves #51)

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Amber’s Ace

Copyright  2016 by Taryn Kincaid

ISBN: 978-1-68361-056-4

Cover art by Fiona Jayde

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC

Look for us online at:

www.decadentpublishing.com

Dear Readers

I hope you love Amber and Riley as much as I do. Writing them, especially Amber, was definitely a challenge. If you do, I hope you’ll also check out WOLF’S SONG, the story of Amber’s brother Brick; and ANOTHER CHANCE, the story of Amber’s brother Chance.

And be sure and let me know if you think Amber’s twin sister, Garnet, needs a story of her own. You can find me on facebook and twitter and email me at taryn@Tarynkincaid.com . I love hearing from readers!

Black Hills Wolves Stories

Wolf’s Return

What a Wolf Wants

Black Hills Desperado

Wolf’s Song

Claiming His Mate

When Hell Freezes

Portrait of a Lone Wolf

Alpha in Disguise

A Wolf’s Promise

Reluctant Mate

Diamond Moon

Wolf on a Leash

Tempting the Wolf

Naming His Mate

A Wolf Awakens

The Wolf and the Butterfly

Infiltrating Her Pack

Omega’s Heart

Rebel’s Claw

Claiming the She-Wolf

Worth Fighting For

Dangerous

Uncaged

Promiscuous Wolf

Disquieted Souls

A Cougar Among Wolves

Long Road Home

A Mate’s Healing Touch

Another Chance

Broken Silence

A Wolf’s Contract

A Mate’s Redeeming Touch

A Cougar Among Wolves

Pleasure Me

Craving His Love

Jasmine Moon

Winter Solstice Run

Wolf’s Holiday

Winter Magic

Winter Secrets

Winter Solstice Ménage

Wolf in Winter Clothing

Murder in Los Lobos

Scent of Murder

Scent of the Hunt

Scent of His Woman

Scent of Madness

Coming Soon

Secrets of the Hunt

Salvaged Souls

His to Protect

Also by Taryn Kincaid

Sleepy Hollow

Lightning

Thunder

Frost

Blizzard

Heat Wave

In From the Cold

Wolf’s Song

Rain

Another Chance

Her Captain

Amber’s Ace

Riley Morgan, the all-star ace pitcher of the world champion New York Kings, has long hidden his secret from his adoring fans and the clamoring metropolitan press. But when a long-distance mate call distracts Riley on the mound, he suffers a freak, career-ending injury that sends him back to his South Dakota wolf pack to heal.

Stolen from her family along with her twin sister years earlier, Amber Northridge has been held prisoner and abused by the crazed former alpha and his henchmen since she was a teen, managing to survive through her resourcefulness and wit. Now, at long last, the pack has located them and set them free.

Home in Los Lobos, Amber recognizes the hunky baseball player she’s seen on TV as her mate, but she doubts she can be with any man after all she has suffered.

Can the romantic machinations of Los Lobos’ four renowned matchmakers unite the damaged pair?

Amber’s Ace

A Black Hills Wolves Story

By

Taryn Kincaid

Chapter One

Mine.

The word echoed like thunder in Riley’s head. Shocked and shaken, he slipped off the rubber on the pitcher’s mound, releasing the full-count ball before he had a good grip on the seams. Like a slo-mo replay, the baseball wobbled toward the batter’s box. The crowd sucked in its collective breath. The horsehide sphere flew high and wide, soaring over the catcher’s head.

Ball four! The umpire’s left arm shot out to signal the walk. Riley’s teammate ripped off his catcher’s mask and scrambled to recapture the errant pitch bouncing off the backstop.

Shit and shineola. His perfect game, down the crapper. He hadn’t thrown a wild pitch in his last five outings and now he’d dealt three balls in a row, capped by the last frickin’ doozy. If he couldn’t concentrate better than this, he could kiss the New York Kings’ play-off hopes good-bye.

The batter at the plate shrugged and trotted down the base path to plant himself on first. The crowd groaned, commiserating with Riley and disappointed at missing the chance to witness history in the making. The guy on first smirked at him and made a big show out of exchanging his batter’s helmet for his Philly Phantoms cap.

The afternoon sun beat down on Riley, the dog-day, end-of-August temperature rising steadily from balmy to way past uncomfortable. Sweat trickled beneath the brim of his cap and dripped from his brow to the bridge of his nose. He took a swipe at the droplet, adjusted his cap, and glared into the television camera broadcasting his every move. What the fuck was wrong with him?

Only four fricking outs away…then this. Beyond sloppy.

He’d carried the perfect game into the bottom of the eighth inning, his stuff so strong and potent, even the other team’s superstar sluggers couldn’t touch him. His fastball had smoked over the plate at ninety-six miles an hour. He’d painted the corners of the plate like an artist with his slider and had great movement on his breaking ball, his location precise. His curveball sailed down and away from the batters at the last split second, barely catching the outer edge of home plate. He’d seemed unbeatable. In the dugout, his superstitious teammates had moved away from him on the bench, not talking to him or mentioning the perfect game he had going. No one wanted to jinx the miracle in the making.

And then he’d let this meathead on?

Maybe he’d been a tad too pumped. As the scoreboard ticked off each inning, more and more adrenaline had flooded through Riley. Making him too jazzed. Too strong. Too wild.

That was the reason for the errant pitch. Had to be. Jittery excitement coursed through his veins, making him ready to jump at shadows and causing him to throw a little crazy. He had to regain control before he blew it.

How could he hear anything over the roar of the crowd?

Mine. Sheesh. He couldn’t have really heard that.

A mate call? With fifty thousand fans in the stands, stomping, whistling, and cheering his name for all they were worth? No frickin’ way. They took up their chant with renewed vigor, trying to help him brush off the ruination of his perfect game.

Ri-ley! Ri-ley! Ri-ley! Clap, clap, clap.

He tried to shake off the error. The catcher came out to talk to him. Then the manager. A few ass and shoulder pats later, he stood alone on the mound again.

He smoked one over the plate at ninety-six mph with satisfaction. Nothing was wrong. Even if he’d blown the perfect game, he still had a no-hitter going and, of course, a shutout if he could force the weird auditory hallucination out of his head and concentrate. All was not lost. The Kings were leading 3-0. He could still pick the runner off first or get this guy to strike out or hit into a ground ball double play.

But jeez. A mate call? Really? In the heart of freakin’ New York City? After all these years? Yeah, the Big Apple was a celebrated melting pot and all, but how many wolves wandered around the teeming metropolis, anyway?

Certain he’d heard something, Riley narrowed his eyes and looked toward the stadium crowd behind the dugout, searching out his most recent starlet girlfriend in the team’s family box. No way she was a wolf. Maybe he didn’t know much about pack or being a wolf, but he’d definitely have sensed her eligibility as a soul mate. He would have lolled in her scent when they tangled sheets together, absorbing it into his skin and wrapping the warm sense of homecoming and well-being around himself like a baby with his blankie. That’s what it