by T. S. Joyce
Claws dug into her sides, and his sharp teeth latched deep onto the back of her neck. Shit, shit, shit!
Nicole twisted to try and unloose him, but he was on her tight. And just as she knew he would sever her spine, the smoke thickened around him and he was ripped from her body.
Time slowed. His black eyes were wide, his bloodied fangs exposed as he screamed, his arms thrust forward with the force of whatever was pulling him backward.
Evan appeared out of the smoke and slammed him to the ground. With a sharpened limb, he laid his weight on Vlaric and murmured, “I’ll see you in hell,” as he ran the splintered wood deep into his chest.
Vlaric arched and shrieked as his torso smoldered and billowed smoke. Evan stood and smiled down at him, never breaking eye contract as the evil vampire gasped for air and screamed in pain. Vlaric gave a last arch of his back against the forest floor and then disintegrated into a pile of burning ashes.
Evan’s hand was smoking where he held the stake. He dropped it to the ground and dragged his black gaze to Nicole. He didn’t have a shirt on, and his skin was red with angry burns from the sunlight earlier. His chiseled face was monstrous with anger, and those eyes…those eyes…she would never forget the fury in those eyes.
And then they softened.
Around them stood the coven—Sadey and Dawn’s snow leopards, Aric, Garret. Through the trees, Nicole could see Wyatt’s bear standing stock-still. The Novak Raven and the snowy owl sat on a low-hanging branch in a tree.
Nicole stood frozen here, so different now. She wasn’t human anymore. She was a grizzly, panting, shaking…shocked.
It was over.
The pile of ashes at Evan’s feet said as much, but this moment was loaded.
Nothing was the same.
Nothing would ever be the same again.
She was no longer human, and any eternal life Evan had planned was now altered. She was a shifter, unable to be turned into a vampire. She was mortal.
For a moment, she thought he would be upset. She thought he would be frustrated or sad that her humanity had been taken.
But…
As he stood there, every muscle tensed, his eyes on her new monstrous form for the first time ever, a slow smile stretched his lips.
And then he told her something that settled the way she would feel about herself and her new form from here on out.
He put her fears at ease with two simple words.
Barely audible over the breeze, he murmured, “Beautiful badass.”
Epilogue
Nicole cuddle the little Alaskan puppy closer.
She was black and white with one blue eye, one brown eye. Her name was Bingo, and Nicole had known about her since the day she was born. Her breeder had been kind enough to give her all the update pics as she’d hit her milestones—opening her eyes, walking, first time on grass, first time eating solid food…
She’d kept it all to herself, all this time, because she’d been wanting to give Evan this moment.
Evan was sitting on the front porch, waiting for her to get home from a late-night counseling session, when she pulled up. She hadn’t been at a counseling session at all, though. She’d been driving all day while he slept to pick up this precious baby.
He stood on the porch and gave a wave, looked so happy that she was home, and Nicole had a moment as she put her car in park. The last few months after the final death of Vlaric had been a whirlwind. The Bloodrunners were now in friendly contact since their alpha, the Bloodrunner Dragon, allowed peace between their crew and the Winterset Coven. They’d become allies. In a way, the coven felt bigger already as they grew friendships with shifters that they had warred with before.
Everyone was capable of change. That’s what the last few months had taught her.
She had changed so much, too. She was dealing with her new life as a bear shifter, sure, and that was difficult to navigate and adjust to sometimes, but that’s not what she meant.
Her heart had changed. It had grown and encompassed a man who made her feel whole. And in return, he kept her safe, too. She knew, to the depths of her soul, that he loved her just as deeply as she loved him.
In the beginning, when Vlaric had destroyed her life, she hadn’t understood why. She hadn’t understood the point. But Fate had a plan all along, and Nicole just had to get through rock-bottom to see how high the heavens could really be.
She scooped up the sleepy puppy and pushed the door open, hesitated as Evan jogged toward her. She came out from behind the door, and the stunned look on his face as his gaze drifted down to the pup filled her heart completely.
“What have you done?” he whispered reverently as he slowed and approached with his hands outstretched for the puppy.
“I know you miss the sled dogs. And I think you gave them up because you were afraid to feel for your old life, but you’re ready now.” She dipped her voice to a whisper. “I know you’re ready now. We’re ready.”
His eyes were so raw, so full of emotion, as he glanced back to her and to the pup. “She’s for us?”
“She’s ours, and no one will ever take her.”
When he pulled Bingo into his arms and held her close, the little pup scrambled upward and licked all over his face.
Evan looked so happy Nicole lost it. Tears streamed down her cheeks. This is what love was. It was feeling happy when Evan was happy. It was Evan feeling happy when she was.
On the front porch, the coven was gathering. Aric and Sadey, Garret and Dawn. They poured down the porch stairs toward them and went to pieces over the new addition to their little makeshift family.
And then Nicole had another moment when Evan slipped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her tight against his side, kissed her with a silent thank you that meant the whole world to her. She’d thought all along that her life was meant to be steady. Easy. Vanilla. But that’s not what fate had in store for her. She was meant to be a bear shifter, bonding to a coven that had become her family. That had become her home. Her safe place, her steadiness, and at the pinnacle of it all?
Evan was everything she’d never known she wanted.
No matter what they faced from here on, they would face it together.
They had one lifetime to really live. To appreciate the simple moments, to take stock of every kiss, every I-love-you. One lifetime to build a life, and she had never imagined being this happy.
As she watched the coven—Sadey and Dawn stealing the puppy from Evan’s arms, making cooing sounds…Garret and Aric standing close, talking with easy smiles, and Evan…her Evan…staring at her like she was the sun and the moon…and his stars…
She knew that she had ended up exactly where she was always meant to be.
Up Next from T. S. Joyce
Quickdraw Slow Burn gets his story in the finale of the Battle of the Bulls series
Quickdraw Slow Burn (Battle of the Bulls, Book 3)
Coming November 2020
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More Series by this Author
Kaid Ranch Shifters
Steal Her Heart (Book 1)
Make Her New (Book 2)
Lift Her Up (Book 3)
Love Her Better (Book 4)
Keepers of the Swamp
Swim Deeper (Book 1)
Dig Deeper (Book 2)
Bite Deeper (Book 3)
Daughters of Beasts
Novak Grizzly (Book 1)
Beck Bear (Book 2)
Ash Bear (Book 3)
Sons of Beasts
Son of the Cursed Bear (Book 1)
Son of Kong (Book 2)
Son of the Dragon (Book 3)
Red Havoc Panthers
Red Havoc Rogue (Book 1)
Red Havoc Rebel (Book 2)
Red Havoc Bad Cat (Book 3)
Red Havoc Guardian (Book 4)
Red Havoc Bad Bear (Book 5)
>
Harper’s Mountains
Bloodrunner Dragon (Book 1)
Bloodrunner Bear (Book 2)
Air Ryder (Book 3)
Novak Raven (Book 4)
Blackwing Dragon (Book 5)
Kane’s Mountains
Blackwing Defender (Book 1)
Blackwing Wolf (Book 2)
Blackwing Beast (Book 3)
Bears Fur Hire
Husband Fur Hire (Book 1)
Bear Fur Hire (Book 2)
Mate Fur Hire (Book 3)
Wolf Fur Hire (Book 4)
Dawson Fur Hire (Book 5)
Chance Fur Hire (Book 6)
Saw Bears
Lumberjack Werebear (Book 1)
Woodcutter Werebear (Book 2)
Timberman Werebear (Book 3)
Sawman Werebear (Book 4)
Axman Werebear (Book 5)
Woodsman Werebear (Book 6)
Lumberman Werebear (Book 7)
Fire Bears
Bear My Soul (Book 1)
Bear the Burn (Book 2)
Bear the Heat (Book 3)
Gray Back Bears
Gray Back Bad Bear (Book 1)
Gray Back Alpha Bear (Book 2)
Gray Back Ghost Bear (Book 3)
Gray Back Broken Bear (Book 4)
Lowlander Silverback (Book 5)
Last Immortal Dragon (Book 6)
For More from this Author
Check out her The Official Reading List of T. S. Joyce
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About this Author
T.S. Joyce is devoted to bringing hot shifter romances to readers. Hungry alpha males are her calling card, and the wilder the men, the more she'll make them pour their hearts out. She lives in a tiny town, outside of a tiny city, and devotes her life to writing big stories. Foodie, bear whisperer, ninja, thief of tiny bottles of awesome smelling hotel shampoo, nap connoisseur, movie fanatic, and zombie slayer, and most of this bio is true.
Bear Shifters? Check
Smoldering Alpha Hotness? Double Check
Sexy Scenes? Fasten up your girdles, ladies and gents, it’s gonna to be a wild ride.
For more information about T. S. Joyce and her work, visit her website here.