by Maia Dylan
The Shifters of Freedom Springs 1
The Wolf and His Earth Goddess
What would you do if you featured in a prophecy that if left unsolved meant the end of the world? Casey Rika went camping! Despite being a powerful Elemental, she got shot twice, left for dead in the middle of the forest, and ended up in the arms of the wolf from her dreams.
As the Earth Elemental chosen by a goddess, Casey had until the first day of summer to solve her part of the prophecy, and start the journey to save a goddess caught in the Otherworld, and defeat a God. How hard could that be?
Micah Winters rescue mission into the national park where he worked as a ranger, became personal as soon as he realized it was his mate he was rescuing. Now, Micah really only had one goal—help his mate solve the prophecy and keep her alive.
Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, Shape-shifter
Length: 41,829 words
THE WOLF AND HIS EARTH GODDESS
The Shifters of Freedom Springs 1
Maia Dylan
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
THE WOLF AND HIS EARTH GODDESS
Copyright © 2015 by Maia Dylan
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63259-382-5
First E-book Publication: May 2015
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2015 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
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Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to friendship. In particular the friendships forged during times of stress and hardship, where people show their true colors and strength of character that allow you to lean on them. I am very lucky in my life to have a small group of people who definitely tick that box for me. You all know who you are! Margarita’s on me!
And to my husband, who gets my humor when most don’t.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
About the Author
THE WOLF AND HIS EARTH GODDESS
The Shifters of Freedom Springs 1
MAIA DYLAN
Copyright © 2015
Prologue
Our lady Olwen, on lilies she treads
Hides in the Otherworld, from a fate that she dreads
When Carnage threatens to overwhelm
The Elementals must rise to save this realm
Earth comes first, as spring takes hold
To altar the future and watch it unfold
A key must be found to unlock the door
Or Aeron and carnage will reign once more
Fire comes next, as summer descends
With a heat and a rage that may never end
Fire takes two to calm the beast
And extinguish the fire that burn’s in the east.
Air is third when the autumn leaves fall
The power of blood could win or lose all
A champion must rise and bring forth a shift
To hold them in light and close off the rift
Water is last as winter sets in
To fight in a battle they all must win
Carnage will know his chances are done
When Spirit and Water are united as one
The night was no different from any other. The moon stood vigil over the forest, casting shadows through the trees, the animals and birds the only sound heard through the night. The wind was softly rustling through the trees and stirring up a whirlwind of leaves in its wake.
Just as the moon reached its highest point, there was a shift in the air, and the wind turned cold. All noise slipped away. Suddenly a lone figure raced steadily through the forest, footsteps silent and the air thick with the scent of lilies in her wake. As she ran, her waist-long blonde hair came loose from a purple ribbon to fly out behind her. She ran as if the devil himself was at her heels, and she cast terrified looks over her shoulder.
The sheer white of her dress stood out starkly against the black curtain of night and pressed tight against her body as she ran. Still she made no sound. Her eyes, a brilliant sapphire blue, were wide with terror and shimmering with tears. A mist suddenly rolled in behind her, and she sobbed silently, pouring on as much speed as she could.
But she was no match for the mist and as it wrapped itself around her and she disappeared within it, her agonized screams could be heard echoing through the forest.
Chapter 1
“Freedom Springs Sheriff’s department.” Sheriff Ryan Winters answered the phone distractedly as he focused on pecking his way through the traffic incident report in front of him. The sooner he got an administrator hired, the better off he’d be.
“Um, is that the police department located closest to the Bighorn Canyon National Park in Montana?” a woman asked, a hint of an accent with an origin he was unsure of. The caller’s hesitation immediately grabbed his attention, but the voi
ce itself had triggered an entirely different physical response. It was a voice made for sin and sex. Ryan felt his pulse speed up and his cock thicken in an instant. Holy hell, who got a hard-on over a voice for fuck’s sake!
“Yes, ma’am, well at least to the northeastern corner of the park.” Ryan noted that his own voice had dropped an octave as he answered. He thought he heard a quick inhale at the end of the phone. Perhaps she had the same reaction to his voice that he had to hers. He waited with anticipation for the sexy voice to speak again.
“Thank God.” Ryan heard the obvious relief in Sexy’s tone. “Officer, this is going to sound very strange, and to tell you the truth, I am not really sure how to even begin to tell you why I am calling.” Ryan grinned. There was a very broad spectrum of strange in this world, and Ryan having the ability to shape-shift into a wolf would score very highly on any one’s weird-shit-o-meter.
“Well, I have always been a firm believer in just telling it like it is. Why don’t you start with the hardest part and we’ll take it from there,” Ryan answered dryly.
He heard a deep courage-gathering breath on the other end of the phone. “Okay, I believe that my sister Casey is in the park and that she is in trouble.” Ryan immediately sat straighter and reached for his handheld radio. Early spring in Montana was beautiful, and the park attracted a lot of people this time of the year to view the changing of the seasons.
Ryan cast his eyes to the clock on the wall. It was only three in the afternoon, but due to the rain that had set in around lunchtime, it looked a lot later. His concern heightened when he thought about the overnight forecast, which called for rain and temperatures dropping to where hypothermia would become a very real possibility for anyone. If there was someone lost or hurt in the park today, he was going to have to move fast and call in Search and Rescue.
“Where is she? How long has she been out of contact with you? Did she log into the park through Parks and Rec?” Ryan asked, urgency edging into his tone. Too many times over the years he had been a part of a rescue that had turned into a body recovery. People overestimated their own skills and underestimated just how quickly things could turn to shit.
“I am not entirely sure where she is. I was unable to get all the details of her surroundings before I…um…well, before we lost contact, but I do know that she needs help.” She hesitated. “And here is where we get to the strange portion of our programming. I don’t know if she signed into the park or not. Hell, I can’t even tell you what she looks like.” Ryan frowned as he listened, taking note of the fact that her tone had become urgent and her words flowed faster.
“All I can tell you is that she is cold, wet, scared, hurt badly, and she is lying under what looks like an outcropping of rock, and there is a stream nearby. Above the tree line in her direct line of vision is what looks like a layered rock formation that kind of looks like a cactus with the prong on the right taller than the one on the far left. But it is huge and should be instantly recognizable to anyone who knows anything about that park. Do you know the area I speak of?”
This time the hesitation was Ryan’s. Was this chick for real? Who the hell didn’t know what their sister looked like? He was confident that she was describing an area of the park that locals called Devil’s Rock. A sedimentary rock formation that did in fact look like a three-pronged cactus, and if the right-hand formation was taller than the left, then you would be standing on the eastern side of the rock. It was about a two-hour drive into the park from Freedom Springs, and from the nearest road entry at least another two hours on foot.
Ryan frowned as he struggled to maintain his objectivity and to comprehend what he was hearing. Was this a practical joke?
“Okay. What is your name, ma’am?” Ryan tried valiantly to keep the disbelief out of his tone, but he wasn’t sure how successful he was.
“Look, I realize you don’t believe me”—apparently not successful at all—“I know it sounds like something straight from an episode of The Twilight Zone, but I am telling you the truth. She is hurt and she needs help. Please, you have to help her.” Ryan’s heart clenched at the sob he heard over the phone line. “I’m begging you, please help her.” Hearing the obvious distress in her tone brought Ryan’s protective urges to the fore, big time! He did not like hearing pain and distress in this woman’s voice, objectivity be damned.
“Look, I need you to take a breath and calm down for me? My brother is a ranger in the park. Let me call him and get him to have a look around Devil’s Rock. I’m sure he won’t mind.” Oh, Micah was going to mind, all right. He was going to mind a lot and this was going to cost Ryan in more ways than one. He was not looking forward to the ribbing his three brothers would no doubt give him. Coming to the aid of a stranger because of a sexy voice down the phone line? What the hell!
“Oh thank God! Thank you, Officer, thank you so much!” Ryan heard the relief in her tone, and then he heard muffled voices as she must have placed her hand over the receiver and was talking to someone else. Ryan reached for the radio on his desk and keyed the mic five times in quick succession. A sign for any of his brothers who were near their radios to go to their private channel so they could speak freely.
“Ma’am, are you still there?”
“Yes, yes, Officer, I’m still here! I was just telling my father that someone over there was listening and at least open to looking for her.” Over there?
“I’m going to put you on hold for a moment and get in touch with my brother. I want you to stay on the line and I’ll be right back to you.” Not waiting on an answer, Ryan placed the call on hold and turned his radio to the channel he needed.
“Ryan here.” He spoke into the mic. “Who’s on the line?” Ryan wondered how many of his brothers would be near a radio this time of the afternoon.
“Cole here, bro.” No surprises there—Cole was a member with the local fire department and his shifts often mirrored Ryan’s.
“Micah too, Ry.”
Travis was still serving his last tour with the Marines and wouldn’t be back until the summer, so he knew not to wait for him.
“Micah, are you anywhere near Devil’s Rock?”
“I could be there within the hour. Why, Ry, what’s up?” Ryan thought about how large the park was and how remote the chances were that Micah would have been as close to Devil’s Rock as it seemed he was. If Sexy’s sister was actually out there, she was one lucky lady.
“I’ve had a call advising that there may be a missing woman on the eastern side of the rocks. I was hoping you could go check it out for me,” Ryan said, not wanting to go into too much detail.
“Hell, Ryan, why the fuck haven’t you notified search and rescue?” Ryan heard the sound of Micah’s truck accelerate through the radio behind his brother’s voice. How to answer that without giving too much away?
“It’s not confirmed, Micah, just a tip from a member of the public. One I wasn’t prepared to ignore. Just head over to the eastern side of the rock, get down into the gully, and follow the stream. Look under rock ledge’s along the river’s edge.”
“That’s pretty specific information, Ry.” Cole’s voice came over the radio. “Who did you say the information came from?”
“Just a member of the public. Micah, make sure you take your satellite phone with you.” Ryan employed his usual tactic for distracting his brothers, avoid and divert.
“Yes, Mom. This ain’t my first fuckin’ rodeo, you know. I’ll get there soon, about forty minutes tops, and then I’ll shift and see if I can’t sniff her out. I’ll be in touch,” Micah grumbled into the radio.
Grinning, Ryan set the radio aside and then took the phone off hold. As a wolf, Micah would be able to scent her and find her a whole lot faster than by just walking the area Sexy described. Damn, he hadn’t used the word if in that thought, which meant he was starting to actually believe that there was a woman out there who needed their help. I’ll be damned.
“Ma’am?”
“Yes, yes, I’m her
e, will your brother look for her? Is he anywhere near the area I described?” Her voice trembled a little, and Ryan felt another pulse of need spike through him. Damn, this woman’s voice did a number on him! He reacted physically every damn time she spoke.
“Yes, ma’am, Micah is heading into the area you described as we speak. He should be there within the hour. We are very lucky that he just happened to be near that area today. The park is quite massive. I’ll start driving into the park now as well. If she’s there, we’ll find her. Give me your phone number and I’ll call you as soon as I hear anything.” Ryan grabbed a pad and pencil from his draw.
“Okay, the country code is sixty-four—”
“Wait, country code?” Ryan’s heart sank. That meant—
“Yes, Officer, the country code for New Zealand is sixty-four.” Huh. That explained the accent then. Ryan wrote the number down. He couldn’t explain why, but he felt a sudden ache in his chest at the thought that she was literally on the other side of the world.
“I’ll hit the road now and be in touch when I can.” Ryan stood and started to pull on his jacket.
“I can’t tell you what this means to us. We’ll be—I’ll be indebted to you. I’ll wait right here by the phone for your call. And, Ryan”—her voice dropped to a soft whisper that had Ryan closing his eyes in pleasure at hearing her say his name—“my name is Ariana.” She had a way of rolling her Rs that had him biting his lip to stifle a moan. There was a click on the line as she disconnected.