Shifters Forsaken: Shifter Romance Collection Bks 1-5

by Mia Taylor

  Someone was with his dogs. With renewed vigor, Vaughan crashed through the trees and found himself at the side of the road leading toward his cabin.

  His blood ran cold at the scene before him but simultaneously he was consumed by relief. The same woman he had seen in his dream was standing on the road, her arms extended in fear as Murphy and Chase advanced on her.

  She was not dead or mauled in some ditch as he had dreaded. And she was also not a dream. In fact, she was much more beautiful in real life than when he had seen her in his mind’s eye.

  But what the hell is she doing out here at this hour? At any hour? This is a private road and she obviously doesn’t belong here.

  Her short, auburn hair, although stylishly cropped to accent her pretty face, was unkempt as if she had just been roused from sleep. Mascara smeared around her eyes and judging by the quality of her blouse and wrinkled skirt, Vaughan got the impression she was not the kind of woman who often went anywhere without looking perfect.

  “Are these your dogs?” she demanded, her face pale, creating a haunted look in her blue-green eyes. “Please, call them off.”

  “What are you doing back here?” Vaughan demanded but his voice was a lot softer than it should have been, given the situation. A stranger nosing around his part of the backwoods was cause for alarm, not curiosity.

  “I ran out of gas,” she told him quickly, her eyes still trained on the dogs. “Please. I was just looking for help. My cell phone has no service around here.”

  Murphy yipped again and Vaughan whistled. Instantly, both dogs dropped their interest in the woman and retreated to Vaughan’s side.

  It was only then that she looked up and met his eyes.

  It was as though there was a magnet between them, drawing their gazes to one another, and for a second, she looked stunned when she saw his face.

  Did she recognize me from the road?

  Vaughan’s own breath caught in his throat but whether it was because of his fear of being caught or the surprising loveliness of his unexpected guest, he couldn’t say.

  Or wouldn’t say.

  “You shouldn’t be on this road,” Vaughan told her gruffly. “It’s private and the locals don’t take well to strangers.”

  She parted her rosebud lips but seemed to reconsider her original statement before offering something else.

  “I didn’t mean to find myself on this road,” she told him. “And I’ll happily be on my way once I call for help but until then…”

  She threw up her hands helplessly and Vaughan got the distinct impression she wasn’t being honest. It didn’t matter now—she was there and she needed gas. She wasn’t going to find it on that lonely road. Moreover, if she stayed there, she was liable to get hit by a drunken mountain man on his way home from town, even at that hour.

  “Well, you aren’t going to find a gas station around here,” he told her. He hesitated as disappointment filled her face.

  “Can you direct me to where my cell might get some service?” she asked hopefully. “I can call Triple A for help.”

  A look of uncertainty crossed her face and Vaughan wondered if she had an auto club membership. He couldn’t be sure that Triple A would find her even if she did. He didn’t answer immediately as he debated what to do with her and a look of exasperation crossed her face.

  “Please, Mr…?”

  “Cell service is choppy up here,” Vaughan told her, ignoring the question. “It’s hit or miss.”

  He didn’t add that his cabin was a good place to try because he didn’t want to invite this strange woman back to his home. For all he knew, she was another government agent.

  She’s not a government agent, a voice in his head sighed. She’s a lost city brat looking for help. You can’t leave her out here. She’ll get eaten by wolves.

  “Okay…” she sighed and Vaughan groaned to himself. He had no choice but to bring her back with him. If something happened to her, it would be on his conscience forever.

  You know now that you didn’t kill her. This is a sign from the mountain gods that you need to make sure she doesn’t get herself killed.

  He had gas for the generator in his shed which he could bring to her car. Anything to get her off the mountain faster.

  Or so he pretended. He didn’t want to admit to himself that the thought of bringing her back to his cabin was more exciting to him than anything he’d experienced in ages and he hated himself for feeling that way.

  Get it together, Vaughan. She’s beautiful, yes, but what do you want to bet that she’s a pain in the ass? The pretty ones always are.

  Vaughan mused how he’d come to that conclusion.

  Too many 80s movies on Netflix, he determined, sighing. He turned away and whistled again for the dogs to follow him, trekking through the woods away from the road. He paused to glance back and saw that she remained on the path, glancing around helplessly.

  Oh for Christ’s sake…

  “I’m not an axe murderer,” he snapped. “You can come with me. Or do you expect me to wait on you hand and foot?”

  She widened her eyes and blinked twice, her face twisting into a smirk.

  “I didn’t realize that was even an option,” she retorted. “I thought you were leaving me out here but if you are offering man-slave services, a palm frond and grapes would be lovely, thank you.”

  Vaughan guffawed before he could stop himself and spun back toward the trees. He didn’t want to encourage her.

  “You better be able to keep up, princess. Try not to slow me down.”

  He heard he snort and to his shock, she passed him in seconds, her long legs crossing over the leafy terrain seamlessly. She clearly wasn’t new to the outdoors.

  “How long have you been out there?” Vaughan heard himself ask.

  “A couple hours. I was at that diner off the I-80 in Blacksburg and I think I took a wrong turn somewhere looking for a motel.”

  Again, the story didn’t ring true with Vaughan but he didn’t say a word, eyeing her through his peripheral vision as they hiked back through the thick toward his home.

  As he had expected, a mist of rain began to fall on them before they reached the small clearing which led to his cottage but the woman stopped, apparently unfazed by the sprinkling.

  “Is that your place?” she asked in amazement.

  “Well, it isn’t the neighbor’s,” he replied. “There isn’t one for miles.”

  She whipped her head back to look at him. He couldn’t immediately identify the expression on her face.

  “You live here all the time?”

  Vaughan scowled slightly, his brow creasing.

  “What about it?”

  She shook her head and stepped forward. Above, the clouds darkened and the rain grew harder, catching in her hair like small diamonds.

  Vaughan found himself staring at her in wonderment for a moment, forgetting his resolve to remain detached. Her awe was infectious and Vaughan found himself staring at his own place as if for the first time.

  What is she seeing?

  To him, it was the same log cabin he’d lived in for a decade, simple and nondescript, but the look in the stranger’s eyes told him that she saw much more than that.

  She bounded through the rain in almost a childlike fashion toward the front entrance and laughed, peering into the front window.

  If that was anyone else, I would be flying off the handle right now, Vaughan realized, slowly making his way toward her. Why am I letting her look inside my window without feeling angry?

  He had no answer to his own question but he didn’t stop her from peeking through the panes of glass, marveling at the innocence she seemed to possess.

  Suddenly, he saw no trace of the city princess he had seen on the road. In its place was a guileless, happy girl who seemed to have found paradise by accident.

  Maybe she’s crazy, too. We can swap insane stories. It’ll be romantic.

  She spun her head toward him, her smile growing wider.

>   “This place is amazing!” she told him. “I’m jealous that you live away from everyone. I wish I had that option.”

  There was an undeniably wistful note in her voice and Vaughan could sense there was a story there.

  “I’m Vivian, by the way.”

  He studied her face closely and nodded curtly.

  “Vaughan.”

  Her face brightened more.

  “Hey! We’re both ‘V’ names. That has to be a good sign, right?”

  He couldn’t resist smiling at the silliness of her words. He’d never met a woman so willing to shed her own skin and show her inside so willingly.

  “Maybe it is,” he conceded.

  She cocked her head to the side and stared at him for a long moment, the rain driving down around them. It had turned very cold but Vaughan didn’t notice it beneath the warmth of her stare.

  “So, Vaughan…”

  He waited for the other shoe to drop, for her to tell him that she was really an FBI agent or a PI working for his parents but nothing of the sort came out of her mouth. Instead she laughed and pointed at the sky.

  “Any chance we could go inside and warm up for a few minutes before heading back to my car?”

  Vaughan exhaled with relief and nodded.

  “Yeah,” he replied. “Yeah we can.”

  Chapter Five

  Secret Sources

  While it was true that Vivian had run out of gas, it was completely false that she had found herself on Mt. Rogers by accident.

  A quick Google search had told her everything she needed to know about the legend of Kodiak, the elusive, massive creature who seemed to have appeared in the Virginia backwoods in the past decade.

  It was a fantastical tale but despite Vivian’s deep cynicism, she had to admit that the range of witnesses was eclectic. It was not merely locals who had seen the strange creature but workmen and even a state politician had a story even though he told it with sheepishness and not a lot of conviction.

  There were, of course, theories that it was simply an overly large bear although some swore it looked more like a goat (Vivian chalked that up to the religious nuts seeing the devil).

  But there were also stories of mangled animals in the woods being killed for no reason other than to be slaughtered, mauled by enormous claws too large to belong to any beast known in those parts.

  Vivian knew the story was a long shot but it was the only shot she had at that moment in salvaging the little bit of integrity she had managed to cling to in the past six months.

  I don’t need to work at a third-rate newspaper nor do I need a cheating, good-for-nothing husband. I have a whacky conspiracy theory story in the making.

  It wasn’t the kind of thing that Vivian would have ever envisioned herself venturing into but it was journalistic and it was all that was being thrust in her face at the moment.

  It’s not like I have something to put out the Trumpster Fire grinning at me like this. Beggars can’t be choosers.

  It seemed that most of the sightings had been during camping and hunting trips on Mt. Rogers and Vivian knew that was as good a place as any to start. She was far too pumped to consider settling into a hotel room.

  I’ll just poke around on the mountain for a while, she decided, driving up toward the blackened mountainside. Maybe I’ll get lucky and see it again.

  For her part, she couldn’t even be sure if that was what she’d seen but now that the idea was in her head, she couldn’t seem to shake it loose.

  Her reception was touch and go up the mountain and she had yet to call her parents and inform them that she wasn’t coming home that night. She wasn’t particularly looking forward to the conversation, not to mention the stab of guilt she felt for brushing off Justin for dinner.

  And she had completely forgotten to fill up on gas, a fact she became painfully aware of halfway through her aimless driving. Coupled with the knowledge that she was lost, her GPS useless in those parts.

  It’s lucky this guy found me or else I’d be bear-man food.

  She could hardly believe her good luck. She had no idea how many people lived on Mt. Rogers but if she had to bet, she wouldn’t wager that many. Vivian was grateful that she’d only been stranded a couple hours before Vaughan had found her.

  And just look at this place. It’s incredible!

  Growing up in an upper middle class family, Vivian had wanted for nothing, as her mother had so crudely expressed, but that did not mean that the woman did not appreciate the simplicity of the self-sustaining cabin.

  It was four rooms, from what she could see, an open-concept kitchen/living space, what Vivian assumed was a bathroom behind a closed door and a half-visible bedroom.

  She was surprised at how neatly kept it was, considering the man appeared to live alone, but she was only guessing based on the lack of feminine touch she noticed in the place.

  It screamed man-cave in every sense of the word, with the darkness, despite the windows on every wall, and the musky scent of male pheromones tickling her nose.

  Sure, she had heard about mountain men, people who had escaped the real world and lived off-grid, but she’d always envisioned a bunker filled with canned goods and an armory. It had never struck her that someone could live in such cozy serenity, away from the stresses of life, embraced by the trees, cradled in the mountains.

  This feels like a dream or a fairy tale.

  The sound of the rain tapping relentlessly against the roof only enhanced the heady feeling which had captured her and she wanted to relish the sensation forever. It was the first time in months that she felt at peace and even if it wasn’t hers to keep, she wanted to hold onto it for as long as possible.

  The furniture was sparse but big, blocky and demanding to be used. There was not so much as a lacy tea towel in sight and for that Vivian was grateful.

  Inexplicably, she was embarrassed at her hope that Vaughan was single.

  Just because his lover doesn’t live here does not mean he’s single, she chided herself, perching on the edge of a thick couch cushion. Instantly, she was enveloped in an earthy smell, one which she knew was purely Vaughan.

  Her heart skipped slightly at the realization and she hoped her blush wasn’t perfectly obvious on her cheeks.

  Jesus Christ—I’m blushing. How long has it been since I’ve blushed?

  “We can’t go anywhere while it’s like this outside,” Vaughan announced, breaking her awe-filled gaze around her cozy surroundings. “I mean, unless you’re in a big rush to find your hotel. I can probably find another rain slicker around here somewhere.”

  Vivian shook her head quickly.

  “I’m in no rush,” she told him. “I’m just on vacation, doing some sightseeing.”

  She was surprised by the lie as it left her lips but instantly she knew why she’d said it—self-preservation.

  If I tell this handsome, rugged stranger that I’m investigating the elusive bear-man, he’s going to think I’m a damned lunatic. He won’t wait for the rain to stop—he’s bound to throw me outside without a second thought and sic the dogs on me.

  Vivian reasoned that living up in the mountains, Vaughan had probably heard stories about the beast but she didn’t know what his stance was on it.

  There’s time enough to find out without telling him why you’re really up here. If he’s a believer, you can tell him the truth. If not, no need to alarm him.

  “You came here on vacation?” he asked skeptically and Vivian got the feeling that he could see right through her. Her flush deepened and she nodded quickly.

  “Well, yes and no,” she replied quickly. “I just moved back to Virginia and…”

  She trailed off, eyeing him nervously.

  He doesn’t need to know my life story but I feel like he thinks I’m lying to him. If I’m sitting in his house, I should give him an explanation.

  “I moved back home with my parents. I’m taking a vacation from them.”

  A look of understanding crossed ove
r Vaughan’s hazel eyes and for the first time, Vivian realized how gentle they were, despite his huge exterior.

  When she had first seen him, she had been fascinated and slightly scared by his size. For a ridiculous moment, she’d seen him as a caveman exiting the woods, ready to club her over the head and drag her back to his dwelling.

  Maybe that was just wishful thinking, she thought wryly.

  “I know the need to escape your parents,” Vaughan said quietly. There was something in his tone that did not encourage questions and it sent a twinge through Vivian’s heart.

  Vaughan shifted his gaze away and peered out the window in the living room. As if on cue, a flash of lightning pierced through the sky.

  An inexplicable shiver of apprehension fluttered through Viv as she watched him watch the yard, almost like he was expecting someone.

  Wait. Isn’t this how every horror movie starts? she thought, suddenly very conscious of the position she found herself in—alone in a place where no one knew she was, unarmed with a huge, scruffy stranger in a backwoods cabin…

  But when Vaughan finally turned back to her, the doubts she felt evaporated as she was once again sucked into the longing heat in his eyes.

  What’s your story, mountain man? she thought, her pulse quickening. What brought you out here in the middle of nowhere?

  “How well do you know these parts?” he asked her gruffly and she shrugged her shoulders.

  “I don’t. Honestly, I was going for a drive and I ended up here.”

  “Where did you come from?”

  “Richmond.”

  His shock was almost palpable.

  “That’s five hours away,” he told her as if she didn’t know. Vivian shrugged.

  “I wanted to put some space between me and my parents,” she reiterated and Vaughan laughed.

  “I’d say. You almost put an entire state between you and them. Aren’t they wondering where you are?”

  Vivian tensed.

  “Probably,” she replied lightly. “Considering I took one of their cars.”

  “Well, if the urge should strike you, you should have no problem getting cell service here,” he told her. “Or Wi-Fi.”