Daddy Shifter's Fake Fiance (Stonybrooke Shifters)

by Leela Ash

  Andrea felt the two small stones stored safely within her pocket.

  “And Alex is not the real Alexhander. He is not your brother. The truth is that you two were not even of the same blood.”

  Throwing back her dark hair, Helena laughed out loudly.

  “Aha, so Miss Prim, and how do you know of all these details?”

  “Geraldine told me, and I believe her.”

  Helena was silent for a moment, the name of Geraldine sobering her for a second.

  “The young nun and the old woman; she talked too much. Well I soon stopped her idle tongue. You should have seen her face when I sat with her at the Hotel. She knew her time had come. She was strong, but not strong enough. I only had to touch her to cause an embolism in her brain. It was fun to watch her frail form slip away before me, the spittle dribbling from her mouth like an imbecile.”

  Alex could take no more. At the mention of his poor grandmother he lunged at Helena and felt his hands upon her throat. As he touched the pale skin he was almost knocked to the floor by a sudden surge of energy. The lights seemed to flash in front of his eyes and when he opened them again Andrea was standing before him with the child.

  “You have seen sense Alexhander. You must come with me now as we regain our rightful place.” She held out her hands towards him.

  “Alex, don’t!”

  A voice rang out clear and loud from the darkness behind him. It sounded familiar but his head was foggy.

  “Alex, it’s me Andrea, don’t be fooled by Helena.”

  He looked at the woman standing before him. The face of his beloved Andrea, he was confused.

  “Alex, it’s me Andrea, don’t go with her, it’s a trick.”

  A figure stepped out of the darkness, the dark hair and the green eyes, it looked like Helena.

  Helena struggled with her emotions. She must stay calm, but the young woman was annoying her. The spell she had cast over poor Alexhander would not last for too long and she needed him to take her hand willingly. She also must have the two runes that were in Andrea’s possession to give her absolute power.

  “Alex, listen to me. You must fetch me the two runes from Helena. She is keeping them from me and stopping the both of us from gaining the powers which are rightly ours.”

  Alex looked at both women; he was confused. Something was not quite right.

  Helena was becoming bored with the charade. Soon the spell would wear off and she could not afford to wait.

  “Alexhander, if we do not get hold of the runes then we will have to sacrifice Elizabeth to the Gods, it is the only way to appease them. Do you want to see your daughter slaughtered?”

  He looked at the woman’s face. It looked like Andrea, yet the words she was speaking were not those of his wife. She would never harm one hair of her own daughter’s.

  The lights shone once again in his head and he could barely think.

  “Alexhander, fetch me the runes, I must have them!”

  Her voice was shrill and demanding in his ear and he had no other option than to obey. He approached the woman standing in the darkness. She was calling his name over and over again.

  “Kill her, Alexhander. Get the runes. Quickly now!”

  His head told him to kill the woman. She looked like Helena but there was something in her eyes, and his heart was telling him something different.

  He could feel his hands upon her throat, the pleading look in her eye.

  “Alexhander, can you hear me? Take the runes, do what you wish, but you must save the girl, save our daughter Elizabeth.”

  It was then that he knew, and the image of his beloved Andrea, of Andra and all that had been before merged into his head.

  His Andrea, the mother of his child, would not talk about sacrificing her own daughter. The eyes, although they looked like Helena’s, did not have the same cold stare. He could see the fire burning deep in their depths. The woman he was trying to kill was not Helena, but his beloved Andrea. Forcing his hands from her throat, Alex summoned all of his strength to throw his body away from her and onto the ground. As he did the spell was broken and he reached out his hand to his Andrea; love had brought him to his senses.

  Helena was livid and stood angrily at the altar. The spell seemed to have been broken and she held Elizabeth tightly by the arm as the girl reached out and sobbed for her parents. Helena had drawn a great knife from her belt and was pointing it at the child’s heart.

  “Give me the runes.”

  Alex could feel the pains behind his eyes, but they were nothing to the anger he felt within his chest. His wife, his child and his grandmother, he had to be strong for all of them.

  Rushing forward he grabbed at the string of ancient stones that were strung around Helena’s neck, the source of her so called power.

  The leather cord stretched in his fingers and she shrieked as the strong twine dug deep into her slender neck, before he felt it finally give and the ornament snapped in front of her. The sudden release pushed him back and Alex found himself reeling across the ground, knocking his head against a sharp stone plinth. He was out for the count.

  The ancient stones scattered across the floor and around Helena’s feet, striking the slabs with a sharp click as stone met stone. As she scrabbled to retrieve them, she released her grip on Elizabeth who fled quickly, sobbing into her mother’s arms.

  Without delay, Andrea bundled the girl against her cloak and fled quickly down the aisle and out into the storm.

  Her arms ached with the weight of her daughter but she could not stop. The rain was still torrential and dragged down at her clothing, her feet slipping and sliding in the mud below.

  Andrea could feel the other woman hot on her heels and she turned her head to see Helena almost upon her. She had tried in vain but it was all too late and as she reached for the gate her feet slid from underneath her body and she and the girl were sent crashing onto the muddy grass.

  Helena was standing over both of them, a look of triumph on her face. She held the sacred stones in her hand and Andrea knew she would now stop at nothing to retrieve the runes. Everything had been in vain; all of their efforts useless. Everything that she, Geraldine, Alex and her grandma Betty had been through was all for nothing.

  Helena lifted the knife from her belt and held it high, the blade glittering against the night.

  There was a cry from the Abbey and Helena hesitated for a moment and looked around. It was Alex, but he was too late. He could not save Andrea or the girl now.

  Raising the blade she stood in victory, ready to deliver the death blow. Andrea looked her enemy in the eye; like Geraldine she would meet her end with dignity, and she drew the girl closely towards her.

  A great crash of thunder roared from the heavens as a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, lighting up the shimmering steel of the blade in Helena’s hand.

  The smoke swirled into the atmosphere as her pale flesh fizzled and crackled in the damp air. Andrea had thought that she heard a woman’s voice laugh out shrilly into the night as a second bolt of lightning hit the ground. For a moment she was blinded by the light.

  ***

  An eerie calm settled on the Abbey grounds. Andrea opened her eyes slowly, afraid of the sight that would greet her. She was lying on the grass and the sky above her was blue. It was a cold day and yet the sun was shining; she could feel the warmth upon her cheeks.

  There was a murmuring beside her and she glanced to see Elizabeth happily stirring in her buggy.

  “Andrea!”

  His voice rang through her head and she looked up into his eyes.

  “You OK? I think we made it.”

  Taking her hand, he pulled Andrea gently to her feet and kissed her. They were home; all three of them had made it back to safety.

  She could see that the ferry had just arrived into port and that the tourists were disembarking. They would soon be making their pilgrimage, down towards the Abbey.

  There was so much to say, so many questions to ask, b
ut for now they walked back home in silence, step by step into the Future.

  THE END

  Bear Shifter Romance

  Marked as the Alpha’s Mate

  Pamela Avery

  Copyright ©2015 by Pamela Avery. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Thank you so much for your interest in my work!

  PROLOGUE

  2012

  Lisa Fuller jogged, her strides lengthening along the path in time to the music blaring over her earphones. She had decided to take the scenic route today, jogging down the forest path that was least popular among most joggers in Fidelity, Philadelphia.

  It was quite early in the morning and the air was dewy, fresh, and invigorating. The smell of fresh pines tantalized her nostrils and she inhaled deeply as her feet pounded along the path. Her red hair was done up in a simple bun atop her head and she was clad in a skin-fitting exercise outfit that accentuated the generous curves of her waist and hips.

  A noise like thunder rumbled overhead and she almost lost her footing as she looked around in amazement. It was still a bit too dark to tell but the skies didn’t seem to be cloudy. With a shrug, she resumed her jogging, humming in time to the music as a slight wind began to rustle the leaves of the trees lining the forest path. Lisa picked up her pace a little, almost running now.

  She had gone almost a half mile along the forest path when she suddenly got the unmistakable feeling of being watched. Her eyes widened with irrepressible panic as she scanned the tall pine trees on either side of the path, extending in every direction as far as the eye could see. She saw no one. Fear coursed through her veins and almost automatically she started running, her breath burning in her lungs as she ran faster than she had ever run before.

  Then she saw him. A huge, brown, absolutely beautiful, and deadly, bear with chestnut brown fur with flecks of gold. Its teeth were bared as it raced towards her. She almost froze in her terror. She couldn’t remember … are you supposed to freeze when you see a bear, or play dead, or run? While she tried to figure it out, he kept coming right at her in long lopping strides.

  Raw fear clotted her blood in her veins and adrenaline burst through her in a rush as her terror took over and she faced forward and chose the “run away” option. He caught up to her effortlessly, his large paws closing about her waist as he lifted her in his great big paws and roared loud enough to wake the dead. She didn’t have to speak bear to recognize a roar of triumph when she heard it. His scent assailed her nostrils, surprisingly clean and nice. There was something strange about this bear. Why wasn’t she dead already? Her eyes fastened in fascinated horror on the pink inside of his mouth as he roared anew. The sound so loud she was almost afraid it would break her ear drums. Goosebumps erupted all over her hands and sweat poured down her body in rivulets. His paw encircled her entire waist effortlessly as he held her closer to his face and studied her.

  Then things got even stranger as some deep survival instinct took over. This was a wild animal, but there was something different about it. There was an intelligence behind its eyes. Rather than scream she chose to speak.

  “Please, please,” she panted, barely breathing through her fear. “Please don’t. I have little kids depending on me! Please don’t kill me!”

  She was talking to a bear, her subconscious screamed. But even knowing that it couldn’t understand a word of what she was saying – or at least shouldn’t be able to, didn’t deter her as she continued to cry and plead for her life. Every nerve in Lisa’s body strained to breaking point as the beast kept her on level with its shiny white teeth, the size of small tusks.

  Lisa struggled weakly in its arms, tears coursing down her cheeks as the animal stopped roaring long enough to look right at her out of strangely beautiful grey eyes flecked with bits of golden color. The animal seemed to freeze as it looked into her clear turquoise eyes. It blinked its great big eyes as though in confusion and Lisa wished desperately that she had a gun or tranquilizer.

  The bear shook her slightly staring at her as though in wonder and she screamed anew. Then it extended one paw and  unbelievably  stroked her cheek gently. Lisa’s eyes widened in terror; was that the signal to begin eating her?

  The beast made a low sound deep in its throat, its pale gaze fastened on hers. They stared at each other for a while and then with a grunt, it gently, almost reverently, with a deftness she did not think a bear could possess, placed her on her feet back onto the ground.

  Lisa stared up at the immense bear, almost afraid to believe this was happening. The beast, as though understanding her disbelief, poked her slightly with one claw on its paw. She jerked backwards, almost falling over. Then with one last glance back at it, she turned and began to run, expecting every second to hear its feet thundering after her and the large furry paws closing around her neck again.

  But with every step that took her farther away, the bear just stood watching her, an almost wistful expression on its face.

  It let her go.

  She ran for all she was worth, gasping as she stumbled and fell. Her alarmed gaze flew over her shoulder again and then widened in disbelief; the bear was gone! In its place, she saw a naked man walking away.

  He turned for one last glance over his shoulder, the distance masking his features, and then he himself disappear. She fainted on the spot in mid-stride.

  CHAPTER ONE

  2015

  Lisa Fuller grinned down at three-year old Emily, sharing the little girl’s happy laughter as they both threw more bread down to the swans floating around in the pond.

  Emily was a little girl with a tangled mop of blonde hair, deep-set dimples, and the bluest pair of eyes she had ever seen on anyone. Emily had the sweetest smile possible and whenever she grinned at Lisa it felt as though all was immediately right with the world. You wouldn’t know it to look at her but she had known so much tragedy in her short life it was a wonder she even knew how to smile. Children really were resilient, Lisa decided.

  “Lisa?” Emily chirped, in her little girl voice.

  “Yes hon?” Lisa said, tossing a particularly large piece of bread to a giant swan at the far end of the pond.

  “Who’s that man over there?”

  “What man?”

  “Over there. He’s been staring at us,” Emily said, pointing in the direction of another bench with the typical innocence of children.

  “What man?” Lisa repeated craning her neck. In today’s world, a staring stranger could spell more danger than a rabid dog. “Stop pointing Emily,” she scolded gently as she finally saw the man who had caught the girl’s attention.

  He was at least five-eight, slim with straggly strands of greasy black hair that fell all over his face and sunken cheekbones and hungry eyes that spelled ‘addict’. Lisa swallowed, her hands knotting together in her lap as a slight tendril of fear worked its way down her spine.

  His gaze shifted imperceptibly to Emily and Lisa jerked to her feet immediately. She clutched the girl’s hand in a protective grasp as she turned and began to walk away.

  The man followed immediately, a nasty grin on his face. Lisa quickened her steps automatically; so preoccupied with getting them both away from the man that she didn’t realize they had wandered into an almost deserted section of the park.

  “Are we playing a game Lisa?” Emily chirped conspiratorially, her cheeks shining with good health.

  “Yes sweetie. We need to walk as fast as possible so that that man can’t catch us.”

  “So why don’t we just run?” Emily suggested happily, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.

  Lisa tried not to roll her eyes. Emily had only one speed; run! But on occasion, running was just what the doctor ordered. She bent a little at the waist as they walked and leaned down towards t
he little girl.

  “Okay listen Emily, when I say ‘run’ I need you to run and hide okay? You remember where Coby hid the last time we were all here and no one could find him?” Emily nodded, her pigtails bouncing. “Okay sweetie. Run!” Lisa whispered to Emily and the little girl took off like a light.

  Lisa also began to run, risking a quick glance over her shoulder. The man had also begun to run after her, his gaze trained on her. It wasn’t Emily he wanted then, she thought with relief as she picked up her pace, running in an almost opposite direction to lead him away from the little girl.

  The man was closing in on her now. In fact he was so close his rank smell hit her nostrils almost choking her.

  Just as the stranger was about to grab her from behind, someone dived at him and tackled him to the ground. Lisa slowed, unable to believe her eyes as the new man punched her pursuer right in the face, then flipped him effortlessly and tied his hands behind him with a trip of wire. She had never seen anyone move so fast in her entire life.

  The cops showed up almost immediately and carted the man away. As he left, he spat contemptuously in Lisa’s direction, hatred burning in his eyes.

  Lisa drew back, alarmed. What had she ever done to the man? She was certain she didn’t know him.

  “Ex-boyfriend?” someone asked casually from behind her. She whirled; it was the man who had saved her. He stood about six feet away, his hands in his pockets as he stared after the police car.

  He had to be thirty if he was a day, with chestnut brown hair with flecks of gold in it, a long aristocratic nose, thick-set eyebrows that gave his face character, a firm jaw and a wide, mobile mouth. He stared straight at her, with grey eyes that seemed strangely familiar; she felt an insanely magnetic pull.