Legends: Bloodline Book 2

by Michelle Bredeson

  LEGENDS

  Bloodline Book 2

  Michelle Roxanne Bredeson

  Also by

  Michelle Roxanne Bredeson

  Legacy – Bloodline Book 1

  Copyright © 2018 Michelle Roxanne Bredeson

  This book is a work of fiction.

  The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to any actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Cover Design — Michelle Roxanne Bredeson

  Published by Little Dog Press • Langdon, ND

  www.michellebredeson.com • books@michellebredeson.com

  ISBN: 978-1-948809-03-0

  Second Ebook Edition

  Printed in the United States of America

  Table of Contents

  one

  two

  three

  four

  five

  six

  seven

  eight

  nine

  ten

  eleven

  twelve

  thirteen

  fourteen

  fifteen

  sixteen

  seventeen

  eighteen

  nineteen

  twenty

  twenty-one

  twenty-two

  twenty-three

  twenty-four

  twenty-five

  twenty-six

  twenty-seven

  twenty-eight

  twenty-nine

  thirty

  For Betsy

  one

  Carly Morneau sprinted through the forest near her home in Sterling, Minnesota, the trees a blur around her as she headed for the labyrinth of caves hidden among them. But it wasn’t feet that carried her. Carly was a shapeshifter—a supernatural being able to change form between human and animal. In her primary form as a white fox, her paw pads took her across the December snow much faster than human feet would ever allow.

  Carly reached the caves with ease, stopping just as a large, gray and white wolf crossed her path. She circled the wolf, hoisting her petite muzzle in the air to sniff at him. For some reason she kept expecting him to smell different in his primary form, but he didn’t smell different at all. He smelled just like—

  “Gabe,” Carly spoke as she shifted human. She raised her eyebrows as she stared down at the wolf. This was the only time she was taller than him, and she had to admit—she enjoyed the advantage. “What was all that stuff you said about wolves being faster than foxes? If you’re right, how come I always win when we race?”

  In a split second, in less than the blink of an eye, Gabe Hutchinson supernaturally shapeshifted from the large, gray and white wolf into his human form as a six-foot-three, dark-haired sixteen-year-old boy. He stepped up to Carly and gave her a generous kiss on the mouth, looking quite pleased with himself as he pulled away. “Wolves are significantly faster, Carly. In nature, anyway.”

  “Well, nothing about you is natural,” she teased, her gaze landing on his pale blue eyes—the palest hue of blue she’d ever seen. Gabe had been her boyfriend for a couple months now, yet she was still caught off guard every time she met those icy eyes of his. That particular feature had been the first thing about him she’d appreciated, although the list of reasons she liked him so much had gone up exponentially since then.

  “And?” Gabe asked, his eyes sweeping over every inch of her.

  “And what?”

  “I don’t know. It sounded like you weren’t finished.”

  “There was one thing I wasn’t finished with,” Carly informed him, and brought her lips to his again. Gabe wasn’t just her boyfriend, he was her best friend in the entire world, and she wouldn’t trade what she had with him for anything.

  “Are we interrupting?” Abel Crawford questioned as he joined them at the mouth of the cave. Like all their close friends, Abel was also a shapeshifter, and modeled the race’s notorious good looks. He was tall, built, and blond—not to mention, the envy of Sterling High.

  “I thought we were meeting here to play hide and seek,” Crystal Spencer pointed out as she swept a long mane of red hair over her narrow shoulder. She stood nearly as tall as the shifter next to her and rivaled his beauty. Being attractive certainly had its advantages, and Crystal was more than equipped to take advantage of any man who crossed her path. “I’m not really in the mood to watch you two make out all night. Again.”

  Carly’s face flushed as she pulled away from Gabe. Perhaps their public displays had gotten a bit out of hand. “Sorry, we were just…”

  “Apparently,” Crystal quipped.

  “Where’s everyone else?” Gabe asked as he rested a hand on Carly’s shoulder.

  “Esther and Jeremy are almost here,” Abel answered, his fingers dancing on his thigh as he looked to the cave. “I think they’re up to the same thing as you two were. I guess I should be thankful I didn’t have to break them up, too. Jeremy’s cool and everything, but I don’t like him spending so much time alone with my little sister.”

  “Are they dating?” Carly wondered, something she and Gabe had long speculated but never confirmed.

  “Not officially,” Crystal answered. “They’re just hanging out all the time. But you two know how that goes, right?”

  “What did we miss?” Esther Crawford, Abel’s younger sister, asked as she and her maybe boyfriend, Jeremy Spencer, appeared from the forest.

  “Are we going in the caves or what?” Jeremy questioned as he stepped up to his big sister, Crystal. He rested his elbow on her shoulder, and added, “Or are you afraid you won’t be able to track me down? We both know how fast I can make my way through those caves when I’m in my primary as a wolverine.”

  “Teams?” Gabe proposed, glancing around the group. They always went in teams now that Carly had started playing, and she and Gabe always won. She hadn’t been shifting nearly as long as the rest of them, which made some things difficult, but did nothing to slow her down.

  “No teams this time,” Abel protested, shaking his head. “No way. It’s not any fun when you and Carly win all the time.”

  Gabe wrapped his arm around Carly’s shoulders, and whispered, “Sounds like they’re afraid of us.”

  “Sounds like it,” Carly agreed, focusing on Abel. “Although we do appreciate you admitting your defeat now. It makes the game that much easier to win.”

  Abel groaned in reply, his dark eyes flickering away.

  “Okay, we will play in teams,” Crystal conceded, tugging on Gabe’s arm. “But how about we change it up a bit? You can stand to be away from your girlfriend for a few minutes, can’t you, Gabe?”

  He eyed Crystal, who’d been more his sister growing up than his friend. Carly wasn’t too surprised that Crys had been the one to come up with a solution that should satisfy everyone. “You want to be my partner?” Gabe teased. “Are you sure you can keep up?”

  “I can’t sprint like Carly, but I’m still pretty damned fast. Besides, I think you and I will make a good match for Carly and Abel. What do you say?”

  Gabe looked from his girlfriend up to the blond beside her. He scowled as he met Abel’s dark gaze. There was constant tension between them that Carly had yet to understand. Whatever problem Gabe had with Abel remained well hidden in his thoughts, and he certainly hadn’t offered up an explanation. “Sure,” Gabe replied. “Let’s get started then—”

  “Not it!” Esther shouted.

  “Not i
t!” Carly echoed, itching to get a good head start on everyone else. It was the only way to beat Gabe.

  “I guess that means we’re it, Gabe,” Crystal sighed. “I hate being it.”

  “I guess so,” Gabe said. “You’d better run fast, Carly. You know you can’t hide from me very long when you smell so good.”

  Carly gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’ll have to catch me first.” She grabbed onto Abel’s hand, dragging him into the black mouth of the cave—but the cavern wasn’t dark to her shifter eyes. What had once been a muddled, frightful maze was now a playground. She bubbled with excitement as she pulled Abel along beside her. He wasn’t necessarily as fast as Gabe, but he shouldn’t slow her down too much. “We’re going to have to sprint if we have any hope of a true head start. Are you up for it?”

  “We both know Hutchinson will smell you from a mile away,” Abel pointed out, although he followed along without protest. “I at least had a chance at winning before you started playing.”

  “Are you saying you don’t want me to play anymore?”

  “Of course not. I love that you can keep up with us.”

  “Good, because I’m going to make sure we win,” Carly determined, and without a second thought made the supernatural shift into her primary form as a small, white fox. She led Abel around this corner and that, the scent of sulfur growing strong as she pulled him down, down, down into the deep darkness of the maze. She didn’t stop until they’d reached the lowest point of the caves, an area she knew Abel didn’t favor. Without the aid of their superior vision, it would be entirely black down here—so she didn’t blame him for his apprehension.

  We’re going to have to be tricky if we want to outsmart Gabe, Carly telepathed to Abel as she shifted into her human form once again. Shapeshifters had such refined hearing that they were able to perceive another’s thoughts, especially if they had a close relationship. The group of eight friends spent so much time together that they often communicated this way. Of course, that didn’t mean they could hear everything the group was thinking. They could block their thoughts from anyone they chose, giving them their privacy when needed.

  Abel swallowed, and Carly realized something must have scared him. She rested her hand on his shoulder and an electric spark ignited between them. She jumped away, not sure what had just happened. Abel, what’s wrong?

  Carly, you… I… He took a step back as he gaped at her, nearly losing his balance. She’d never seen him so off guard. This wasn’t the cocky, arrogant Abel she’d first met—this was someone else entirely, and she wasn’t sure what to make of him.

  “What is it?” Carly insisted in a whisper, no longer caring if they won or lost the game. The alarm in Abel’s dark eyes informed her she had bigger things to concern herself with—if she could just get him to talk.

  two

  “Carly, when you shifted, you… You took me with you—into your shift,” Abel confessed, a strange gleam in his eye as he looked her up and down. “I don’t know how, but you did.”

  “What do you mean, I took you with me?”

  “I didn’t shift—you shifted, and I somehow became a part of you in the process. We… It’s like we became the same person or something. Like our beings were intertwined somehow. Hell, I think we did become the same person. I was a part of you, Carly, and I’ve never… I’ve never shared something like that with anyone. I know you felt it, too.”

  “You shifted with me?” she asked, fighting the warm tingling in her limbs as she stumbled back from him. She was definitely feeling something, all right—electricity pouring throughout her entire body. She lifted her eyes to Abel’s and sensed a tug at her heart. She’d never looked at Abel and felt what she was feeling right now. Hell, she’d never looked at anyone and felt what she was feeling right now. Not even Gabe.

  Carly forced her eyes away as she attempted to sort out her thoughts. She may have been new to this whole shapeshifting thing, but it was understood that pulling another person into her shift like that just didn’t happen. Two live beings couldn’t become one—at least, she’d never heard of it happening before.

  By the shocked look on Abel’s face, neither had he.

  Carly realized she was gawking and twisted around to hide her reaction. She’d seen through Abel right from the start, and despite his pretty face, had never given him a second thought. But now, it was all she could do not to think about him that way.

  Carly sensed Abel behind her, waiting for her to turn around. But she couldn’t turn around. She didn’t know what was happening, why she was on such a high, but Abel had something to do with it. And that would hurt Gabe.

  Carly’s head felt light as her knees began to buckle.

  “Whoa,” Abel gasped, swooping in to scoop her up in his arms. “You okay, Carly?”

  She shook her head. They’d become one being when she’d shifted, both of them inhabiting her primary form—sharing the supernatural switch into a small, white fox. He had become a part of her, and she of him. It was the most intimate thing she’d experienced in her sixteen years.

  She looked to Abel’s lips, licking at her own as she pushed her eyes closed. There were tiny little electric charges sparking where their skin met, and the intensity building between them was almost too much to bear. The world blackened for a moment, Abel’s face coming into view as the colors returned.

  Carly’s breath caught, and she panted, “I… feel really weird.”

  Footsteps echoed on the cave floor, and Gabe appeared in the cavern. Shadowed with rage, he stormed toward Abel and yanked Carly from his arms. “Keep your hands off her.” Gabe brought his mouth to Carly’s ear, his tone lightening as he asked, “Are you all right, baby?”

  Carly buried her face in Gabe’s neck and let whatever it was that had just happened with Abel melt from her thoughts. “Yes, Gabe, I’m okay.”

  “Then let’s get you out of here,” Gabe said, pulling Carly along with him as he started back toward the entrance.

  “Hutchinson,” Abel grunted, following after them. “You should let her explain what happened.”

  “I know what happened,” Gabe hissed. “I felt it, too, okay? Carly can’t hide anything from me, so don’t go thinking she can.”

  “I didn’t say—”

  “Good, then we’re on the same page.”

  Carly chose to focus on the incident itself rather than how it had made her feel connected to Abel. “Gabe, have you ever done that before? Have you ever shifted with another person and become one form?”

  “No, Carly,” Gabe admitted. “I’ve never known anyone who’s done that before.” I just don’t get why you did it with Abel instead of me.

  “It’s about time one of us figured it out, don’t you think?” Crystal piped up as she fell in line beside them, saving Carly from having to come up with a reply. “We can take objects with us into our shift—our clothes, our jewelry, even my purse—so why not other shifters? I’d say this is a pretty massive accomplishment, Carly. Is it something you think you could do again?”

  “You’re assuming that was just Carly?” Abel challenged. “That I didn’t have anything to do with it?”

  Crystal dropped her chin as she shot him an unimpressed look. “I’ve known you seventeen years, Abel, and you’ve never done anything like that before. So yes, I’m assuming it was all Carly.”

  “Even if it was, I don’t know if I could do it again,” Carly spoke as daylight shown up ahead. “It was probably just a fluke—because I’m full blood. That would make sense, wouldn’t it?”

  Gabe waited until they were free of the enclosing cave walls before he responded, “I’m full blood, too, and I’ve never done that with anyone before—nothing even close to that.”

  Carly’s heart drummed in her ears as she found her balance. Her gaze flitted from Gabe to Abel, who had his hands shoved in his jeans pockets as he stared at the grass around his feet. The strange, intense connection she’d shared with Abel just minutes ago had seemingly vanished
. Which was probably for the best.

  “I should take you home, Carly,” Gabe suggested, his eyes narrowing as he glanced at Abel. “We’ll watch a movie in your room, just the two of us. How does that sound?”

  That was Gabe’s code for make out. It would be nice to talk and kiss and not worry about anything else, but it would also be nice to finally go swimming in Lake Superior with her friends like they’d planned. Gabe had been talking her out of it for weeks now, not considering her a strong enough shifter to take on the brutal water. But last night she’d talked him into it, and she didn’t want him to back out now.

  “What about swimming?” Carly asked, lacing her fingers in his. “Sharla and Kyle are meeting us at the beach.”

  “Sharla and Kyle will understand that you need a break.”

  “And why do I need a break?”

  “We don’t know what happened in that shift,” Gabe answered, tugging his fingers out of hers. “We don’t know how it affected you. Maybe some rest wouldn’t hurt.”

  Carly didn’t appreciate the jealousy brewing in his thoughts, nor was she in the mood to appease him. “Or maybe I feel great after that, and I want to meet our friends at the beach like we planned.”

  “You heard her,” Abel said. “She feels great after that.”

  Gabe gave him a weary glance, but didn’t argue any further.

  “I’ll go find the lovebirds,” Crystal volunteered, nodding toward the mouth of the cave. “Unless you’d like to interrupt Esther and Jeremy’s make out session, Abel?”

  Abel rolled his eyes. “Have at it.”