Shifters Forsaken: Shifter Romance Collection Bks 1-5

by Mia Taylor

  “Yes, there is a way,” he agreed. “Through suggestion, but even if I wanted to do it, I couldn’t. It’s unethical.”

  “Screw your ethics,” she cried. “I’m talking about my life.”

  She whirled, her fingers clutching the cash in hand, but before she could hurry out of the office, Dr. Philips called back out to her.

  “Fallon, wait!”

  She paused.

  “Come back here, please?” Her impulse was to run, to flee, but where? She had enough money to hop a train almost anywhere.

  Like back to Louisville. It’s not too late. I can reclaim the boys. Five grand can take us… nowhere. Beatrice is watching you. She’s watching you. Even as you stand here, she knows where you are and what you’re doing.

  She knew she was babbling inside her own head.

  “Fallon.”

  She turned reluctantly and stared at him.

  “What do you want to forget?” he asked her, staring at her through his spectacles.

  “What does it matter if you won’t help me?”

  “Because I can help you find peace, even if it’s not the way you’re expecting.”

  Fallon highly doubted it.

  “So, tell me. What is it you want to forget?”

  She sighed heavily and lifted her head.

  “My children,” she intoned. “I want to forget I ever had children.”

  Chapter Three

  Present Day: Chloe

  She gnawed on the skin of her cuticles, a nervous habit she hadn’t entertained in years, but somehow, she couldn’t stop herself from doing it.

  “You’re making me uncomfortable,” Holly announced. “Seriously, get your hands out of your mouth. This is supposed to be a joyous occasion and you’re acting like it’s a funeral or something. I didn’t fly here from Seattle to watch you consume your fingers.”

  Chloe looked at her apologetically and smiled weakly.

  “I know. You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  “What is up with you? You’re supposed to be in a good mood. Instead you’re acting like the world is about to end.”

  Chloe didn’t know how to respond to that. To her, she felt like that might be the case. There was a heaviness in the air which had not been there before she had announced her pregnancy to her husband.

  Does he resent me for asking him to drop this search for his mom and brother or is it just my hormones making me think so?

  She couldn’t be sure but she felt like Cypher was more distant somehow.

  “Hello? Earth to Chloe?”

  “Hm? Oh no, I’m great. I’m happy,” she insisted with more cheer than the sentence required. “I’m going to be a mom!”

  “Are you trying to convince me or—”

  The doorbell rang, punctuating her question, and Chloe leapt to her feet, grateful for the interruption.

  “That must be Berlin.”

  She hurried toward the door and flung it open.

  “Welcome to the club,” Berlin chirped, ushering Stella inside.

  “Hi, Aunt Chloe!” the seven-year-old chirped. “Yay! I’m finally getting a cousin!”

  The little girl’s bright blue eyes lit up and she cast her mother a mischievous smile.

  “Although what I’d really like is a little brother.”

  “Get inside, Stella,” Berlin grunted and the blonde angel skipped off, giggling.

  “God, she’s so big,” Chloe sighed. “I can’t believe how fast time flies.”

  “It gets worse once you’re a parent. Trust me. How are you feeling?”

  Berlin turned her eyes on Chloe with concern, her blue-grey eyes shadowed.

  “Why do you keep asking me that?” Chloe demanded. Ever since she had told Berlin about the baby, her sister-in-law had been unusually interested in her, a fact which troubled Chloe endlessly.

  Daily she got texts and emails from Delaware where she and Briar had moved, particularly to steer clear of the other bear shifters.

  “I can’t be worried about my sister-in-law?” Berlin asked defensively.

  “You’re beyond worrying about me,” Chloe sighed. “You’re acting like my mother.”

  “Well, someone needs to,” Berlin told her gently and Chloe felt a pang of sadness.

  I’m an orphan now. No mother or father.

  She shoved the melancholic thought out of her mind and offered Berlin a quick smile.

  “Where’s Viv? Tell me she didn’t bail.”

  “No, she didn’t bail. She’s working. She’ll be here later.”

  “That woman and her leads,” Berlin sighed. “More champagne for me. Please tell me you have champagne.”

  “My husband is a rock god,” Chloe reminded Berlin unnecessarily. “There’s every type of alcohol you can imagine in here.”

  “I guessed as much.”

  “I’ll live vicariously through you,” Chloe sighed, leading Berlin inside toward where Holly and Stella sat.

  “Holly, this is Berlin.”

  “Yes, we met at the wedding,” Holly reminded her. “Nice to see you again.”

  “You too. Where’s the liquor?”

  Holly laughed and rose to accommodate Berlin’s request but Chloe was still distracted by her sister-in-law.

  “Berlin, can I ask you something?”

  “Hm?”

  Chloe lowered her voice and looked toward where Holly was standing at the bar, talking to Stella.

  “Does my pregnancy bother you?”

  Berlin’s eyes widened. “Bother me? How can you even ask something like that?”

  “I don’t know. I mean… I feel like you’ve been concerned more than you should be.”

  Berlin darted her eyes toward the others and she sighed deeply.

  “You shouldn’t be able to get pregnant,” she muttered. “You’re an anomaly.”

  Chloe blinked. “What?”

  “Our kind,” she murmured softly so that her daughter and Holly didn’t hear. “We can only breed with our own.”

  Chloe felt herself growing defensive.

  “What are you suggesting? That the baby isn’t Cypher’s?”

  Berlin laughed shortly.

  “Normally I might suggest something like that, yes,” she conceded. “But I’ve seen you two together and I have no doubt that you have some Jack and Rebecca Pearson love happening there. No, I think this has more to do with the way our men were born into their shifter state. I don’t think they were bred. I think they were given the gene.”

  “What?” Chloe was having a hard time wrapping her mind around anything that Berlin was saying.

  In truth, she had done very little to learn about how Cypher had come to be the way he was. She now knew that Berlin was also a shifter and that in all likeliness Vaughan was also. She had only met the second to youngest brother months earlier and had not bothered to ask about his abilities.

  She would be lying if she said she wasn’t afraid of what she would learn.

  I thought that ending Cypher’s search for Ryker and his mother would distance us from who he is but is that fair to him? To our baby? What do we really know about these brothers? The only one who might be able to shed light on who they were was their mother, wasn’t it?

  Suddenly, Chloe was regretting her decision to remain ignorant. Berlin knew everything there was to know about the bears. Vivian investigated everything.

  I’m the only one who has chosen to stay in the dark. What will my baby be like? Will he or she have these same abilities?

  “Whoa, you’re pale!” Holly declared, thrusting a glass of juice into her hands. “Your blood sugar probably just hit the floor.”

  But Chloe knew it wasn’t her blood sugar which was the problem.

  “We’ll talk about this later,” Berlin promised her and Chloe nodded, pressing the cup to her lips quickly. Her hands splayed over her stomach and she felt the swell of her womb beneath the elastic of her pants.

  In three months I’ll know everything there is to know about this baby
… or will I?

  “Oh! Man in the house!” Cypher called, entering the foyer. “Sorry for crashing the party. I’m just getting changed, giving my wife a kiss and heading out so you can keep this wild party going.”

  He appeared in the doorway and smiled, running a hand through his thick black mane before dropping down to peck Chloe on the mouth.

  “Uncle Cypher! My friends think you’re hot, you know?” Stella yelled and Berlin glowered.

  “He’s your uncle, Stella. Have some respect.”

  “He’s my hot uncle!” Stella insisted. “All my friends say so.”

  “Holy hell. She’s seven,” Chloe muttered. “When I was seven, I got a rock stuck up my nose.”

  “I’m praying for a boy for you,” Berlin grunted in agreement.

  “You tell your friends to study and stay in school,” Cypher intoned and Chloe had to smile. She knew her husband was fighting back a grin of his own but he dared not show it when Berlin was glowering at her daughter.

  “I will,” Stella promised.

  “Babe, can I talk to you for a minute?” Chloe asked as he turned to leave the front room.

  “Of course.”

  They ducked into the hallway and she pulled him out of earshot entirely.

  “Did you know that it’s impossible for someone like you to impregnate someone like me?” she whispered. Cypher’s face darkened slightly.

  “Who told you that? Berlin?”

  “Is it true?”

  “Obviously it isn’t… unless there’s something you want to tell me.”

  Chloe looked at him, her jaw locking slightly despite his amused look.

  “I think I made a mistake,” she murmured.

  Instantly, Cypher’s smile faded. “What do you mean? About the baby?”

  “No!” Chloe was aghast he would suggest such a thing. “No, about your search for your mother and brother. I think I was just worried about what would surface if you kept looking but now…”

  “Now you’re worried about our kid,” Cypher finished, his mouth becoming a line of disapproval. “So what if he’s like us? Will you love him less?”

  “Of course not!” Chloe cried. “What is wrong with you to say something like that?”

  “You’re making it sound that way,” Cypher growled.

  “I’m saying the opposite.” Chloe stared at him and a pang of regret touched her heart.

  I never should have said anything to him about abandoning his search. Now he thinks of me as the enemy or that I’m embarrassed by him or something.

  They had never bickered before this and Chloe desperately longed for things to go back to the way they were.

  “I want you to keep looking for your brother and mom. I think that it will be good for everyone.”

  Cypher looked at her uncertainly. “At the risk of being hit, is this your hormones flipping on me or do you mean it?”

  “I’m not even offended by that question because I know I’ve been wishy-washy about things but I think our child deserves to know where he comes from.”

  “Or she,” Cypher chimed. Chloe’s eyes trailed toward where Stella was entertaining the small group who was gathering in her front room.

  “Let’s hope it’s a he,” Chloe muttered and Cypher laughed. She turned her attention back toward him and sighed heavily.

  “I’m sorry, Cypher. I… I’ve had a hard time with all this because it’s nothing I could ever imagine being involved in, you know? I just…”

  “You don’t have to explain. I’ve been living it for decades and I still don’t understand any of it. Even with Berlin’s help.”

  Their eyes met and they shared a half-smile.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be enjoying your baby shower? We can talk about this later but they’re going to be clamoring for you soon.”

  “I love you,” she told him softly, placing a kiss on his lips.

  “I know,” he laughed cockily and she laughed, smacking his butt when he turned away.

  “You two are disgusting,” Vivian sighed.

  “Vivian! You made it!” The women embraced and Vivian smiled brilliantly at her.

  “Of course. Sorry I’m late. I didn’t know boys were invited. I might have managed to drag Vaughan out.”

  “I have no idea why you insisted on staying at a hotel,” Cypher griped. “You could have both stayed here. There’s enough room.”

  Vivian laughed. “It’s like you have learned nothing about your brother in the past few months, Cypher. He’s a recluse. He likes his solitude.”

  “We’ll break him of that yet,” Cypher grumbled.

  “Misery loves company,” Chloe chirped and the women chuckled.

  “Go,” Cypher insisted. “Have a great time. I hope you got that baby bath.”

  He stuck his tongue out and Chloe giggled again. For the first time since telling him about the baby four months earlier, she felt better about things between them.

  “Come on,” Vivian said, yanking on Chloe’s arm. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

  “Oh? Should we wait until after we open the presents?”

  “It is a present,” Vivian told her confidentially. She stopped before the doorway and cast a look over Chloe’s shoulder to ensure no one was listening.

  “Well?”

  Vivian’s aqua eyes glimmered with excitement.

  “I’ve found the fourth brother,” she breathed. “I’ve found Ryker.”

  Chapter Four

  Twenty-Five Years Ago: Fallon

  “You’re Leah, right?”

  Fallon looked up, her back instantly tensing as the well-dressed stranger sat at her side in the pew uninvited. For a moment, she considered ignoring him but she didn’t want to attract attention to herself.

  “Yes.”

  She didn’t elaborate nor look directly at him, her head focused on the pulpit as Pastor Rogers waited for his congregation to settle. She wished the minister would start his sermon so she would have just cause to ignore the man at her side who stared at her with bright blue eyes.

  It had been ten years since she had left her sons in front of the nunnery in Louisville but the paranoia, the fear and the suspicion did not lessen an iota despite the time which passed.

  She hadn’t stayed in one town long enough to make an impression or lay roots but she had figured out quite early on that binding herself to the nearest church was the fastest way to ensure survival in any town, particularly one in the bible belt.

  It seemed impossible that a decade had gone by. Had she been on the run that long, hoping for an escape from the watchful eyes of Beatrice, expecting to run into Daniel at every turn?

  She knew now that Beatrice had probably long since given up hope on her finding the boys. It had been a long while since Fallon had the feeling that she was being followed but that didn’t mean it was over. She couldn’t believe that Beatrice would have given up on her so easily.

  Unless she found someone else to take my place.

  Wherever Cypher, Briar, Vaughan and Ryker had gone, she prayed every day that they were safe and happy.

  And not missing her as terribly as she missed them.

  The pain of losing them had not diminished for one moment in the time she had been apart from them. Sometimes, when she tried to sleep, she thought she could hear them crying out for her the way they had that fateful day.

  It’s a small wonder I haven’t gone crazy.

  This had been the longest she’d stayed in one place since beginning her run but she was getting tired, so tired of it all. But now, someone was nosing around her, asking questions, and Fallon knew it was time to move on again.

  She didn’t have any friends. Friends asked questions and questions led to dangers which Fallon did not want to track her again.

  Ideally, she wanted to leave the US and hunker down in some unknown town in Europe or Australia but she had no passport to make that happen and Fallon didn’t know the kinds of people she had known when she’d lived on the streets
of Ashbridge.

  It had occurred to her to return either to the home she’d shared with Daniel or just to find some of her old contacts in the slums but the peril was far too great. She wasn’t even sure if the house had burned down that day or not.

  Maybe I’ll find a way to sneak across the border to Canada one day, she’d promised herself in those earlier days but the idea of being so far away from her children made her gut split in agony.

  She still believed that one day she would be reunited with the boys, that she would hold them in her arms and tell them how sorry she was that she had to leave them, but time was the enemy.

  Fallon was sure they had no idea who she was anymore. She wasn’t sure she knew who she was anymore either.

  Maybe Fallon Rusholm never existed. I know Fallon Wexley never did. Maybe I really am Leah Danvers.

  “I’m Kevin Davies,” the man said, offering his hand. “I’ve heard you sing at choir practice and you have the voice of an angel.”

  Fallon did not even crack a smile and she ignored his hand. His beam faltered.

  Dammit. It was the only thing I did for myself and now I have a stalker watching me. Does he work for the Wexleys?

  He was certainly well dressed enough but there was nothing pretentious or cold about the man. He had an easy-going mannerism about him but he seemed ill at ease also.

  Because I’m making him uncomfortable, she realized and the thought pleased her.

  “I, uh, I’m new to Dalhousie,” he continued as if she had not blatantly snubbed him. “I never thought I’d live in a small town but this is where my dad kicked it so…”

  Fallon jerked her head up and she peered at him, an unexpected pang of sympathy touching her.

  “Your father died?” she asked and he nodded. She turned her head back toward the front, wishing she hadn’t engaged him but it was too late.

  “It’s all right. He was really old,” Kevin chuckled. “He had me when he was sixty, so…”

  Fallon cast him a sidelong look but she didn’t speak.

  “Anyway, I’m setting up my firm here and commuting for a while, it seems,” he chuckled dryly. “At least until the estate is settled.”

  “Your firm?” she echoed before she could stop herself, her spine tensing. “What kind of firm?”