He heard the crunch of feet on the gravel and felt the others standing closer to him. “You need to leave here,” he said. “There’s nothing here for you; the magic of this valley lives inside everything around you—in the trees, in the building, and it’s inside us, the people who love and respect this place. You’ll never capture it, never rule over it, and the sooner you leave, the better it will be for all of us.”
Richard had been stony-faced through his speech, but as he spoke, Trevor could feel the power building between the eight of them. It made the air around them crackle and sparkle, felt it fueling his other side, waking the animal inside him.
“That’s a nice little trick; did you practice it long?” he asked, but Trevor could hear a tremor of doubt in his voice. Then he grinned and said, “I might have a little magic of my own.”
The air next to him shimmered, and before he could blink twice, a woman was standing next to him. “I’d like you to meet Rachelle; she’s an old friend of Serendipity,” he said.
“Sarah and I have already met,” she said, grinning at Sarah, who reached out and took his hand. “We used to be very close. Too bad she turned her back on us. You know, I almost believed you when you called the other day, but I should have known you were lying. You never were a very good friend.”
“There’s nothing here for you either, Rachelle,” Sarah said. “Melissa is gone, and her demon with her. I won’t bring her back, and I don’t want your magic.”
Rachelle and Richard looked at one another. “I’m getting rather bored with all this,” Rachelle said, waving her hand in the air. “Let’s finish it so that I can find Melissa, then you can do whatever you want with this horrible place.”
Richard waved his arm in the air, barked out an order, and his men shifted. Fiercer than Trevor remembered them, they bared their huge fangs at them, as they slowly crept forward, so he pushed Sarah behind him. He turned to face the snarling pack of giant wolves, their red eyes glowing in the darkness, telling him that they were ramped up on Richard’s potion and wouldn’t stop until they’d tasted blood.
“Take Maggie and go inside; you know what to do,” he said over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off the danger creeping closer to them.
“I don’t want to leave you, Trevor,” she said. “I’m scared you won’t be here when I get back, and I’ll never have a chance to tell you that I love you.”
Trevor couldn’t help the grin that split his face nearly in two. “You love me?” he asked turning to face her. “Because I love you too. I don’t know when it happened, but I love you, Sarah.”
Sarah still looked a little shocked, but she said, “I love you, Trevor. I never thought I’d find someone who I’d love this much, but I have, and I’m scared to lose you.”
He looked deeply into her eyes and said, “I’ll be right here when you come out. I’m never going to leave you.”
“If you two are done, we have a little problem here,” Jake hissed at them.
Sarah grinned at him, then turned and ran into the lodge, looking over her shoulder at him until she disappeared inside. When he turned, the wolves were almost on them, but from the trees, he heard the howls of the Serendipity pack, and next to him, the rest shifted, lifted their heads as one, and returned the howl. He let his power flow, a picture of Sarah and Gabe in his head as his body changed.
Filled with the power of the love he carried in his heart and the blessing of Serendipity, he raised his head and added his voice to the others. Then Maggie came flying out of the huge wooden doors, followed by a sight that froze them all in their place as one after another, spirits came streaming out of the lodge. They swept past them, bringing a blast of cold air, and then an ear-splitting scream, and Rachelle was blown backwards.
Trevor raised his nose to the air and howled again, then sprang at the nearest wolf. They tumbled to the ground, and he sunk his teeth into its neck, then sprang back to his feet, ready for the next one. He saw Sarah come out of the lodge and wished she’d go back inside, but she headed straight for Rachelle, who was just getting up off the ground.
“Leave this place before you end up with Melissa,” she said, pointing to the road out of Serendipity.
“This place belongs to me,” Rachelle said, lifting her hands up into the air and beginning to chant a spell. “My ancestors have been searching for it for years, and tonight, it will finally be mine.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Marley said, stepping up next to Sarah. “Serendipity belongs to no one.”
They joined hands, and together began to recite the spell they’d worked so hard on, and soon a big hole opened up in the ground under Rachelle’s feet and, screaming, she sank into it. The hole closed with a huge clap of thunder, and then rain began pouring down on the valley. Lightning lit up the sky, and Sarah turned to search for Trevor.
She saw him across the clearing from her, his wolf form as familiar to her as his human form, and her heart nearly burst with joy at the sight of him. But then she saw that he was facing a wolf twice his size, with bright red glowing eyes, and knew that it was Richard. Trevor didn’t stand a chance against the bigger animal, and it took all her strength not to scream out his name.
Instead, she calmly walked toward them, gathering her strength and hoping that her magic would be there when she needed. Raising her arms in the air, the rain pouring down on her, she began to recite a spell she’d long ago forgotten but had just popped into her head. When Richard sprang for Trevor, she said the last line of the spell and opened her palms to the skies, calling down a bolt of lightning that struck the wolf and killed it instantly.
Trevor shifted and ran to her side, turning her away from the smoking lump that had been Richard, then slowly lowered her to the ground. He wrapped his arms around her and held her, rocking her back and forth until she found her voice.
“I was so afraid I was going to lose you,” she said.
“You are the bravest woman in the world, and I’m the luckiest man in the world. Marry me, Sarah; stay with me for the rest of our lives,” he said.
“I’ll have to be brave if I’m going to marry you,” she said.
“Then that’s a yes?” he asked, his eyes locked on hers.
“That’s a yes, but I want a big wedding,” she said. “And I want to stay here in Serendipity forever.”
“You, my love, can have anything you want,” he said, then lowered his head and kissed her.
Inside the lodge, the eight paintings slowly vanished from their canvases, leaving only a white, pristine surface. But on the walls, the murals glowed with new life, the paint as bright as the day it was applied. Serendipity, finally free of the evil that had been stalking it for decades, sighed happily and made plans for the next generation of shifters and witches that would protect it.
Also By Serena Meadows
Daddy Wolves of the Wild Series
Mountain Wolf’s Nanny (Book1)
Mountain Wolf’s Curse (Book2)
Mountain Wolf Playboy (Book3)
Mountain Wolf’s Courage (Book4)
Dragons Secret Society Series
A sinister mastermind and his coven of witches are determined to annihilate the world’s shifters, once and for all. Facing impossible opposition, courageous alphas and their clans fight claw and fang to protect their innocent kin. But the only antidote to death is new life, and the only force greater than evil, is love. In this heart-stopping series, virile alphas and their men must learn to seduce instead of slaughter and bare their hearts along with their weapons.
Dragon’s First Shift (Book1)
Dragon’s Forbidden Mate (Book2)
Dragon’s Flame (Book3)
Dragon’s Prophecy (Book4)
Dragons Secret Society Box Set
Wolves of Gypsum Creek Series
The tiny town of Gypsum Creek is home to a high number of brooding, sexy-as-sin men that disappear with each full moon. The heroes in this boxset of steamy, standalone stories will get your heart racing�
�and tongue wagging. But you’d better watch out. The howling has started, and no lady is safe when the wolves of Gypsum Creek go on the hunt.
Third Time a Charm (Book1)
Triumph (Book2)
Young Love (Book3)
Restoration (Book4)
Her White Wolf (Book5)
Wolves of Gypsum Creek Box Set
Fairplay Shifters Series
Sexy shifters who desire more than power… Bold, sassy witches who want to take control of their own lives… What is stronger: love, or the forces of darkness that threaten to destroy everything they hold dear?
Justin (Book1)
Jake (Book2)
Quinten (Book3)
Steven (Book4)
Dalton (Book5)
Daniel (Book6)
FairPlay Shifters Box Set (Books 1-6)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Serena Meadows has always been obsessed with writing short stories since she was in junior high school. She writes paranormal romance stories of all types but writing about sexy steamy alpha shifters is her passion. She lives in Denver with her two dogs. On her downtime (which is rare), she enjoys hiking and camping in the mountains or riding her bike with her own alpha male to keep her safe and warm. Typically she enjoys an evening curled up buried in a good book or watching Netflix. She also enjoys time with good friends.
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Serena Meadows
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Mountain Wolf's Courage (Daddy Wolves 0f The Wild Series Book 4) Page 13