Her knight placed himself before her. Most of his mortal life had been spent in the time of knights and damsels in distress. Tales of Camelot and honorable men.
To be honest, Jade intimidated the hell out of her. Elle could shift, but that was the extent of her powers. She wondered if she had latent elemental gifts like Benedict. Either way, she wasn’t a match for the witch before them.
“I can’t let this continue,” Jade warned them.
Alistair tightened his grip on her hand. “As far as I’m concerned, you don’t have a say in the matter. I have committed no offense since the enchantment ended. You’re just being spiteful. The curse has ended. Just think of what your coven could have accomplished over the years and you wasted your attention on me.”
She didn’t want to rehash what she’d already said to the woman. It would be a waste of time. Jade had a strange obsession related to Alistair. For the life of her, Elle couldn’t figure out how to resolve the issue.
“I have found my soul mate after all this time,” Alistair stated. “Unlike your behavior toward her, I won’t do anything to harm her. I’ve embraced her eldest as if he’s mine. Perhaps if we’re blessed, we’ll have more children. But I will spend the rest of my mortal years with her. Anything you do, you’ll be the guilty party.”
“You know nothing,” the witch shouted. “You stood for centuries as an example of what would happen if anyone dare harm a member of our coven. An eternal beacon.”
A small group of party guests congregated on Marc and Annie’s driveway. They listened, but didn’t interfere. She recognized a number of the witches in the crowd.
She’d had enough. She moved to stand beside Alistair and stopped his actions to prevent her.
“I assume the most powerful among your coven created the spell,” Elle said. “In her wisdom, she left the possibility open for the enchantment to end. A man who’s been redeemed and a woman who loves him, regardless of how he looks. Can’t you look past your own hatred and prejudices? You of all people shouldn’t throw stones. I won’t sink to your level and share with the community your own sins.”
She might as well have thrown gasoline on a fire. Jade’s face reddened. In a cartoon depiction, steam would have been coming out the witch’s ears. How could she find humor in the situation was beyond Elle’s comprehension.
Fear of the woman no longer existed. Maybe the ever-growing group bolstered her self-confidence. She gathered strength from the man who stood beside her. Benedict had talked of balance earlier. Now she understood what he referred to.
Elle looked into Alistair’s eyes. A tempest once again brewed within them. She knew he gathered power to defend them against whatever Jade had planned. The woman would’ve been insane to do anything now that there were witnesses.
Jade reached into her bag and pulled out a vial. She threw the bottle on the ground, causing it to break, and began to chant. Her scream startled Elle. When she quieted, an energy ball flew in their direction. Elle pushed out her arms as Alistair did. Whatever elemental gift she possessed joined his to counteract the attack.
Chapter 18
Elle’s eyes were glued to the bright emerald green wave of power rolling toward the muddied red one generated by Jade. She’d never seen anything like it. The energy that allowed her to shift stood before her in another form.
Perhaps good and evil fought before her. She couldn’t conceive of an instance where Jade could create anything but a negative force. The colors didn’t blend but swirled together, fighting for dominance.
Their hands still pushed energy forward, but they were at a stalemate.
Topper and a couple of the other witches she recognized came to stand next to them. They had chosen which side they’d support. Each of the women whispered chants of their own. Shiny gold energy joined the whirlwind before them.
“What will happen when the wind dissipates?” Elle leaned over and asked Topper.
“Balance will return,” Topper replied.
She didn’t want to show her ignorance, so Elle didn’t ask for Topper to elaborate. Like her son, she decided to study elemental magic if they made it through the encounter with Jade. She felt as if a new world had opened to her.
Whatever she contributed to the fight weakened her. “How long is this going to last?”
“Haven’t you noticed the red has become muted?” Topper replied. “It’s just a matter of time. I seldom get to see elemental magic in play. I’m thrilled Magic has two new mages.”
She gave the witch a questioning look. Topper had overestimated her abilities. Anything she’d just produced had to be a bi-product of Alistair’s magic. Their hands clenched together may have given Alistair additional power. A transference of her shifter gift.
Topper had been correct, the red continued to fade until only the green and gold remained. The swirling wind gathered back into a ball and hit Jade in the chest. One minute she was there and then she disappeared.
Elle caught her breath, not sure if she should cry or celebrate. She wanted Jade out of her life, but not harmed.
No corpse lay where Jade formerly stood.
Too stunned to move, Elle asked, “What happened to her?”
“She’s in a dimension where the aura power had been generated,” Topper replied.
“Another dimension, like from where Danyal is from?” Elle felt stupid. She didn’t have a clue. She’d met Danyal but hadn’t really internalized where he came from. A discussion of String Theory and the existence of infinite dimensions only caused her mind to spin.
Alistair placed his arm over her shoulders. “Space, time, our elemental world, there is so much beyond what most of us can comprehend. Scientists have tried to prove String Theory for years. Wizards in my day could do amazing things because we weren’t educated to disregard what wasn’t theoretically possible.”
People disbanded and headed inside Marc’s home. The citizens of Magic had seen and done amazing things and what they just witnessed reeked of normalcy in their minds. She still struggled with what had occurred.
“I think I need a stiff drink,” Elle said. “We might as well have one with a vampire couple who can feed off each other, walk in daylight, and eat food. Frankly, I don’t think anything is impossible in this town. It will take some getting used to.”
He brought his other arm around her and cradled her to him. “Does that mean you’re staying?”
“I found a home with you. A completeness I never realized possible.” She looked into his now calm gray eyes. “Fate had you cursed in order to bridge time. But I don’t want to look at or live in the past. From this point forward, we look toward our future.”
They entered Marc and Annie’s home. A glass of Chardonnay awaited her. A number of the women she’d met in Magic came to toast their new beginning. She’d have to find out whether they played bridge.
The End
A Cougar’s Longing
Enjoy The First Chapter of ‘A Cougar’s Longing’, The Shifters of Eclipse: Book 1
Samantha Harper threw her playing cards on the table in frustration. Her bridge hand was crap, just like her non-existent love life. She only had one face card, a queen of hearts. How ironic! Her reaction was born out of the fact that at forty-two, she was still alone.
Her eyes explored Elle Thomas’s living room. She had been there hundreds of times and always considered how she’d redecorate it, if given the chance. The room contained a mismatch of furniture purchased over the years, no piece seeming to go with the other.
“Pass,” her hostess said. “The Franklins are divorcing. She told me yesterday when we ran into each other at the grocery store. I thought wolves mated for life.”
Shocked by the news, Samantha hesitated in retrieving her cards. Beverly Franklin was a substitute bridge player and she considered her a friend. She was closer to her bridge friends than the extended family she had in the area.
“They do,” Nancy Simpson replied. A tinge of frustration was evident in her voice. �
��We should never have opened our town to outsiders. One club.”
Eclipse, California, had been settled by a pride of cougar shifters in the late nineteenth century. Samantha was a descendent of one of the original settlers. The remote community had given the cats the ability to run free in their animal forms without fear of being shot by an unsuspecting human.
In the early twentieth century, a wolf pack settled in the area. Rather than running off the dogs, the town embraced them. The pride leader believed their strength would help safeguard the community in a quickly changing world. No one saw the invention of motorized vehicles and the intrusion of roads, even into mountain communities.
“Gerald Franklin was having an affair with his secretary,” Elle Thomas informed the group. “I know it’s so cliché. Beverly didn’t have a clue.”
Samantha sighed, yet again, disgusted by her pitiful hand and the disturbing news. “Pass. Isn’t his secretary a bear shifter?”
Although a variety of shifters called Eclipse home, the multiple species didn’t interbreed. Each shifter community throughout the United States and Canada coordinated events to bring together young adults in order to expedite the joining of mating couples and prevent isolated communities from interbreeding. Samantha had attended numerous events, but never found a boy she was interested in. She had never been willing to settle to pacify her parents or the pride.
In college, she lived in a house populated by cat shifters. She became good friends with a number of the boys, but there was never a connection between anyone in particular. When she experimented with sex, it was with human boys. A shifter would have read too much into the act at that age. They were under as much pressure to mate as the girls.
Nancy’s face reddened. “Are we going to play cards or talk?”
The wolf shifter was clearly angry. Nancy and her husband Dave were against the continued growth of Eclipse. They lobbied against new restaurants and inns that continued to attract tourists. Each new establishment received great reviews on tourism websites, driving more people to Eclipse. The newfound wealth dominoed into more popular ventures starting up.
If Samantha had a best friend, she figured it was Nancy. Samantha’s business and Nancy’s growing family had caused them to drift apart over the years. Nancy’s once brown hair was now gray. Her golden brown eyes were still bright and welcoming. Samantha always felt Nancy’s eyes were her finest feature. The triplets she gave birth to inherited her friend’s eye color.
At one time, she had spent every holiday with the Simpsons. She loved the boys, particularly Barry. He was a mischievous little devil. Over the last twelve years as her business grew and she traveled so much, she no longer attended holidays with Nancy and her family.
“I have a crappy hand,” Bernice Andrews announced. Color drained from her face, making her appear ill. “That affair did more than destroy the Franklin’s marriage. The secretary, Francine Clark, is married and has two small cubs. Our den is in turmoil. I thought playing cards was going to be a welcome break.”
An awkward silence fell over the group. Samantha squirmed in her chair, unconsciously trying to get comfortable. She tried to think of a positive subject to bring the group back together.
Nancy laid down her hand. “Barry is back home. He has two weeks before he starts his residency. I’m hoping he becomes attached to his nieces and nephews and forgets the insanity of becoming a doctor. Eclipse has too many medical professionals as it is. He would be better off working with Dave and his brothers at the hardware store.”
Although Samantha hadn’t seen Barry in more than a decade, she respected his decision to break free of Eclipse. Shifters could live anywhere in the world where there were ample forests to allow their animals to roam free. Even as a child, he had the type of personality that required distractions beyond what a small town could offer.
Samantha kept her mouth shut. There was no sense in alienating Nancy on a subject she had no business involving herself in. She hadn’t even taken the time to see the grandchildren her friend fawned over.
“Are there any eligible wolves who could tempt Barry to stay?” Bernice asked. Her now rosy cheeks indicated she appreciated the change in the topic.
A sly smile blossomed on Nancy’s face. “A matter of fact, I’ve invited Lara Jacobs to dinner tonight. She’s six years younger than Barry, but she is adorable. The girl has completed two years of community college, which should impress my son. I can envision the beautiful pups they’ll have together.”
How many times had Samantha imagined the children she would produce? Her twin sister had met a lovely boy at one of the retreats and had moved to Idaho. They had six children and Lynda had just become a grandmother. She rarely visited her sister. There was little she shared with her twin. The last time they were together, there was a palatable awkwardness between them.
“Are you seeing anyone?” Elle Thomas asked.
Elle was a horse shifter who became a widow a year ago. Her husband had died in a car accident. Beverly Franklin substituted in their weekly bridge game for the six months after Elle’s husband’s unexpected death.
Samantha had been blindsided by the question. She hated when people assumed women couldn’t be happy without a man in their lives. Men took too much time. Her work fulfilled her, but a couple of children would have been nice.
Besides, every relationship Samantha had ended in disaster. If there was such a thing as a weak male magnet, she was it. She needed a man who wasn’t threatened by her success.
“I’ve been too busy,” Samantha answered. There was an edge to her voice. It annoyed the hell out of her to be asked that particular question.
“What about Ian Perkins?” Obviously, Nancy hadn’t gotten the hint she didn’t want to continue on this subject.
Samantha’s eyes widened in disbelief. “That two timing bastard?”
At one point, Samantha had actually convinced herself she was in love with Ian. She looked past his explosive moods and excessive jealousy. They had even moved in together.
Their relationship ended when Samantha came home from a job early and found Ian in bed with another woman. In her bed. The creep had even blamed his infidelity on her. She kicked the bastard out of her house and told him to never come near her again.
“You get a ring around his finger and Ian will be faithful,” Elle replied. “My Jeffrey was the same way. But once we were married, he didn’t so much as look at another woman.”
Samantha bit her tongue. There was no reason to bring up the rumors surrounding where Jeff was returning from when he had the fatal accident. The last thing she wanted to do was strike back in anger a poor Elle. The widow still hadn’t bounced back to her old self.
“I’m too old,” Samantha finally replied.
Nancy grunted loudly. “Now you’re thinking like a human. Samantha, you are a beautiful woman in the prime of your life. You will be fertile for another twenty years. What I wouldn’t give to have your honey blonde hair and your tall, lean figure. I imagine you still experience heat.”
Samantha blushed at those last words. Yes, her body still went haywire every month with the desire to reproduce. The uncomfortable burn was upon her now. Her Friday afternoon card games were a welcome distraction when she entered this phase of her monthly cycle.
However, today, her friends only brought to light she didn’t have a mate to help her through what she now viewed as nature’s punishment. It reminded her of what she didn’t possess. All her professional successes now dwarfed to her biological need.
She needed to get laid and relieve the inferno building inside her. For several months she had been toying with the idea of online dating. Shifters had their own sites and she had already received the necessary password from her alpha.
It was time to take the bitter pill and admit she didn’t want to be alone any longer. Nancy was right. She was capable of reproducing for another two decades. All she had to do was find a man to father a litter and she’d be set.
W
hen she returned home, she was going to do something she swore she’d never lower herself to do. Internet dating was a means for busy professionals to quickly find a comparable partner. She didn’t want to admit the life she had built for herself was less than perfect.
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A Cougar’s Longing
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About the Author
When Evelyn Lederman retired from her career as an insurance executive, she cheerfully anticipated the freedom to finally spend as much time reading as she’d always wanted. The twist in her story came when as-yet unwritten characters started cropping up in her thoughts, asking her to tell their stories. Thus, The Worlds Apart series was born. Now, she spends her days in Florida on the beach…with her laptop.
Evelyn is the author of the fantasy romance The Worlds Apart series, paranormal romance Nightshade Saga, The Laurent Blood Legacy, The Shifters of Eclipse series and science fiction romance The Outer Worlds Passion trilogy. She initially explored the science fiction genre in the Young Adult Zaratan Trilogy. Evelyn also writes in The Worlds of S.E. Smith’s Magic, New Mexico.
She loves writing escapism, taking her readers to worlds they couldn’t travel to otherwise.
Visit her website to sign up for her monthly newsletter: http://www.evelynlederman.com
You can contact her at [email protected]
Amazon Links
Outer Worlds Passion Series
An Uncontrollable Passion: Book One
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An Unleashed Passion: Book Two
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A Shifter's Yearning Page 9