Gruff: A Fox Hollow Novella - MM Shifter Romance Suspense by Morgan Brice

Author:Morgan Brice [Brice, Morgan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Darkwind Press
Published: 2021-08-04T16:00:00+00:00

Cowboyland turned out to be something of a bust. The “Wild West” theme park wasn’t haunted, and no tales circulated about unexplained deaths or disappearances at the location. Nothing they found suggested a shifter or supernatural angle.

“I hope you’re getting good pictures because there isn’t much that helps with my research,” Adiel said as they trekked back toward Joel’s SUV.

“There’s more left of the structures than I thought there might be, so I’m glad I brought both cameras—digital and film,” Joel replied. “I can get some different effects with film, and honestly, I like playing with the old tech.”

The park had given visitors the chance to experience the Old West, complete with a jail, general store, chow wagon, and nightly campfire. Bandit gangs rode into town for a showdown with the sheriff at high noon and five o’clock, and the saloon served dinner accompanied by a nightly revue of dancing girls and a choreographed bar fight.

Cowboyland closed twenty years ago, left to the elements while insurance and estate claims worked their way through the courts. The wooden buildings with their Dodge City storefronts were still standing but growing more dilapidated and dangerous every year. A few roofs had collapsed, and some of the boards in the raised sidewalk bowed disturbingly under their feet.

“I know it’s hokey and completely inaccurate, but man, I would have loved this when I was a kid,” Joel said, more excited about the outcome of the trip than he had expected. “I can’t believe they left that train to rust! And the old mill’s paddlewheel still worked. How cool is that?”

He’d snapped hundreds of pictures of the buildings—and snuck dozens of Adiel when the other man wasn’t paying attention. The area had been relatively untouched by vandals, and it didn’t take much imagination for Joel to picture it in its glory, especially after he had pored over old photos and brochures online the night before.

“I don’t know what I thought I’d find,” Adiel replied. “We know that the man who founded the park back in the 1950s was a shifter, and he ran an ‘underground railroad’ of sorts for shifters and supernatural creatures who were hunted but didn’t pose a threat to humans. He’d hire them to work at the park, had a bunkhouse where they could live, and protected them.”

“We found what was left of the bunkhouse,” Joel said. “But any clues about the type of people who stayed there are long gone. There are plenty of pictures from the park’s heyday, and now my photos can provide witness to the inevitable end.”

“I guess I hoped we’d find something to tie it all back to the shifters,” Adiel admitted. He kicked at a vine that tangled around his boot. Weeds and saplings had overtaken the wide Main Street of the old-fashioned “town.” Despite being a movie set version of history, Joel couldn’t shake a sense of desolation seeing it abandoned and decaying.

“You’ve found former employees who are willing to be interviewed,” Joel prompted. “I think that’s exciting.

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