Falling for Shifters: A Limited Edition Autumn Shifters Collection
Page 94
“Ever!” Leo whisper shouted. “You’re alive?”
She walked towards us, having appeared out from under a cloud of fog, as if my magick.
“Of course, I’m alive,” she said and frowned. “They’re hunting me down because of what I did, aren’t they?”
“I’m sorry, Ever,” I said. “But if you abdicate and step away from the Winter Court, they’ll go easy on you. I mean at least you’ll be alive.”
“You mean I’d be exiled?”
“Better to be exiled than to be dead,” Leo said.
“Maybe for you,” Ever said. “But you didn’t spend your entire life being schooled for a role that was so great that when you finally stepped into it, you screwed up so badly, that they threaten to take it all away.”
“No, but I don’t want to have to bury you on account of your stupid, stubborn pride either,” I said.
Ever sighed. “Guess I have no choice but to abdicate then. Any idea if I still get to choose my successor?”
“Only one way to find out,” I said, trying to keep my voice light.
“Wait!” Leo said abruptly. “What if we could convince the council that the only reason Ever went through with killing the wolf pup was because she feared for her life? Ever said earlier Pax had a knife to her throat.”
“I guess it couldn’t hurt,” I said with a small shrug. “I mean it can’t possibly make things any worse, right?”
“For it to be any worse the council would have to be lurking just beyond the fog,” Ever said.
Her attempt at a joke didn’t stick and neither Leo nor I laughed.
“Maybe we should head back,” Leo suggested.
“Why rush the inevitable?” Ever asked. Her buoyant mood hadn’t lasted long.
“Because Leo left Piper behind,” I answered.
“You didn’t?” Ever gushed.
“I did,” Leo said glibly.
“I bet Tristan was pissed!” Ever exclaimed.
“Understatement of the century,” I replied. “But who knows, with all this worry over you, Leo’s tryst with a wolf shifter might not be such a big deal, after all.”
“Hey!” Leo shouted. “Don’t talk about Piper like that. You make it sound like I don’t care about her.”
“Before today, you didn’t,” I quipped.
“Damn,” Leo stated. “That’s cold, Fox. Really cold.”
“I know,” I deadpanned.
“You two are utterly hopeless, you know that?” Ever asked.
“Yeah, we know,” Leo grinned.
It was then Ever drew in a deep breath before slowly exhaling, squared her shoulder and turned her horse back towards Herne’s cottage.
“Race you!” she called.
“You’re on!” Leo let out a cry of delight before he and I turned our horses and gave chase.
* * *
* * *
* * *
Enjoyed this story? Be sure to leave a review!
About the Author
Bestselling author Stacey Jaine McIntosh was born in Perth, Western Australia where she still resides with her husband and their four children.
* * *
Although her first love has always been writing, she once toyed with being a Cartographer and subsequently holds a Diploma in Spatial Information Services.
* * *
Since 2011 she has had over one hundred short stories and twenty-two poems published.
* * *
Stacey is also the author of Solstice, Morrighan, Lost, Le Fay & Pendragon and she is currently working on several other projects simultaneously.
* * *
When not with her family or writing she enjoys reading, photography, genealogy, history, Arthurian myths and witchcraft.
* * *
Want to hang out with the author, win prizes, see the cool covers first, and support Stacey’s books on social media? Join Fae Hollow, Stacey’s street team on Facebook!
* * *
You can also sign up for Stacey’s newsletter here.
* * *
Join Stacey Online
* * *
Bookbub
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
* * *
Read More of Stacey’s Books
The Camelot Series
* * *
Stacey Jaine McIntosh writing as Anastasia Avarice
Join Anastasia Avarice's Facebook page here for information about upcoming publications.
Join Stacey Online
Website
Bookbub
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
* * *
Read More of Stacey’s Books
The Camelot Series
* * *
Stacey Jaine McIntosh writing as Anastasia Avarice
Join Anastasia Avarice's Facebook page here for information about upcoming publications.
The Kidnapping
The Wildwood Wolves – Short 1
Sharon Rose Mayes
Ellis Moody meets Riley Spencer
Six Months Before
* * *
"Why were you forced to be here?" I asked the girl to my left.
I looked over at the girl with long dark hair that was pulled into a ponytail. I smiled at her while we scooped the soup into the bowl for one of the soup kitchen's patrons.
"Just giving back to the community." she insisted while she placed a roll onto the tray of a woman who looked like she had seen better days.
"Right," I agreed though her raised eyebrow told me differently.
I looked over at the girl; she was on the thin and short side, and her green eyes definitely told a more in-depth story than she would like. She had secrets and a look that said she had seen things. My guess was that she was around my age, but her faux leather leggings and simple white t-shirt said she was trying to seem more grown than she was. Her black and chucks told her age, though.
She sighed, and I could tell that she was thinking about why she was here.
She had seen some stuff, but she was probably here for shoplifting.
"Miss?" a man was trying to get her attention.
"Huh?" she asked.
"A, roll please," he nodded to the roll she was holding by tongs over his plate.
She smiled, "Oh yes, I'm sorry," and she gave him the roll.
"I think that's it," I told the girl next to me as she passed one last person a roll.
"Yeah, I guess," she nodded.
"Riley and Ellis, would you two mind starting on the dishes in the kitchen?" Kate, the soup kitchen organizer, said.
"Okay," I told her and started for the kitchen.
"No problem," Riley told her and followed me into the kitchen.
"I'll wash," I told her as we walked in, "you rinse," and I threw her a dishtowel.
"Not your first time?" she asked.
"No," I smirked, "you?"
"Yes, I'm pretty sure I will be very familiar with this place before the summer is over."
I laughed, "Yeah."
"You totally don't look you should be," she told her.
"Well," I said slowly, "I could say the same about you, but there's just something about your eyes."
"What's that mean?"
"Nothing," I shook her head and started scrubbing a plate.
She shrugged.
"I beat up a man at the mall near my house," she told me, breaking the silence in our wash, rinse, and dry routine.
I looked at her, my mouth wide open, "you're kidding, right?"
"No," she shook her head as she looked down at the plate she was drying, "he was drunk and wouldn't take no for an answer. Luckily, I'm only sixteen, and they consented to give me community service."
"Wow."
"What about you?" she asked while she dried the next dish.
I paused and stared blankly in the distance; I always dreaded talking about why I was here. But it was part of my therapy, and I had to talk about it every week w
ith my therapist.
"It's okay," she told me and went back to drying what had already been washed.
"Do you get along with your parents?" I asked her after washing another dish.
She looked over at me and watched the water as I washed the next dish.
"I only have a mom," she told me, "and we get along most of the time."
"That's good," I nodded.
"Do you?" I prodded because it was an odd question that she had asked me.
"With my dad, and I thought my mom," I shrugged and looked over at her, "and that's why I am here."
"Oh," she frowned.
I had no idea what had possessed me, but I just felt the need to tell her about my life.
"You see, my mom's boyfriend is a jerk, and well, he beat my mom up," I explained, "so I attacked, him and well, my mom chose him over me."
"I'm so sorry," her eyes were wide, "I honestly couldn't imagine, and that's terrible."
"It's okay, though," I smiled, "I get along with my dad and his people better anyway."
"That's good, then," she smiled, but her eyes had a confused look.
People! Why did I say that?
"The plus side," I smiled at her, "I get to live with my dad now, and her boyfriend is in jail."
"Those are pluses," she agreed.
"Now that we have gotten our community service sob stories out of the way," I told her, going back to wash dishes, "let's talk normal things."
The awkwardness was gone, and we were soon talking about our schools and the things that we liked. We both enjoyed reading and spoke about the newest vampire novel that had just come out.
"I totally prefer the fiction ones to the real thing," she said while drying a plate.
"What?" I looked at her.
She rolled her eyes and laughed awkwardly, "you know if they were real, they would be terrible, right?"
"Yeah," I agreed, and I gave her an odd look, "if they were real."
The weirdness soon went away, and we were talking about school and friends.
"Could you girls take this trash out to the dumpster?" Kate, the kitchen organizer, asked, sticking her head into the kitchen.
"We can," Riley said.
I nodded to her, and both began to gather the trash from the cafeteria and the kitchen.
"I told you I smelled some yummy young morsels," a voice said as we tossed the last bit of the trash into the dumpster.
"Dammit," Riley muttered, and I could see her turn around out of the corner of my eye.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"Well, my friend and I were hoping the two of you could help us with a little snack," one with slicked back blonde hair and a smirk that I would love to wipe off of his face.
"Kitchen is all closed," Riley told them.
The first one that spoke started laughing, "we don't want a snack from the kitchen."
"I know," Riley said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
They started to walk toward us, and she glanced over at me and raised her eyebrow.
"Why don't you go ahead inside," she told me, "I'll run these two off."
I looked at her like she was crazy, "No," I whispered.
"Go," she hissed, "I can handle this."
I gave me a sideways glance, "screw it," I muttered, "just stay back."
I closed my eyes and began focused. My body began to change, and it was time to help Riley.
She had just killed one vampire, and another was coming up behind her, and I let out a growl.
They both froze in their tracks, not expecting me to turn into a wolf.
I pounced on the vampire and grabbed him by the neck.
"Wow," Riley whispered, "that's not something you see every day."
My claws were digging into the chest of the vampire, and my fangs dug deep into his neck. His blood had to be the most disgusting thing that I had ever tasted.
Suddenly he turned into dust.
I turned my attention to Riley.
"Nice wolfy," she held my hands in front of my chest.
If I could, I would have laughed at her.
But instead of going toward her, I sat down and started to turn back into a human.
"Holy crap," she whispered.
The hair on my body began to disappear, and the hair on my head lengthened, and my brown long brown curls were back in place, and I began to rub my eyes.
Riley looked like she had a thousand questions.
I stood up and walked toward her.
It was evident that she knew about vampires and had trained to hunt them. But girls who turned into wolves seemed to confuse her.
"So, you hunt vampires?" I asked as I stood in front of her back in my human form.
"You turned into a wolf," she said instead of answering.
"Yeah."
"Cool," was the only thing she could say.
I started laughing.
"I'm sorry," she told me, "I've known about vampires my whole life and even witches, but not werewolves." I could tell that she was sincere, "that's what you're called, right?"
"Yeah," I said, "it's so cool that you aren't panicking."
"I tend to not do that," she told me, "it comes with the territory," and looked at where the vampires used to be.
I began to tell her about my people and our small town outside of the national forest. And that I had to serve community service in the city because that is where my mom had brought me after she left my father. I told her about we wolves had roamed and hunted wild animals in the forest since they had come over to the country from Europe.
I was really fascinated when she began to tell me about how she had been training to hunt vampires her whole life. It was a family affair, and her family had been involved in it for generations. Her friends, she told me was basically a vampire hunting squad.
"Are you girls, okay?" Kate said from the door.
We both jumped and looked at each and laughed.
"Yes," I answered her.
"Good because your rides are here," she smiled at the two of us.
"We are coming," Riley told her, and begrudgingly we both went inside of the building.
Riley and I exchanged phone numbers as we walked outside.
"Did you make a new friend?" my dad asked as I got into his truck.
"Yeah," I told him, looking out of the window, "we had a bit of a situation," I told him carefully, "and we kind of were there for each other."
That got his attention, "what do you mean?"
"Well, dad, what do you know about vampire hunters?"
"Vampire hunters?" he frowned, "not too much."
"There are people who are organized, and they hunt vampires."
"Oh yeah, I know who they are," he mused, "when I was younger, we worked with them quite often."
"Hmm," I mused and proceeded to tell him about what had happened behind the soup kitchen.
"You were just going to turn into a wolf in front of a girl that you don't even know," he said when I paused.
"That's the only thing you got from that?" I questioned, "I met a girl that is a vampire hunter."
"So," he said, "I've met hunters plenty of times."
"How come I've never heard about this?"
"Well, mostly because we've kept you guys shielded from it, and we all have a common enemy."
"Vampires?"
He agreed, "Yeah, some vampires in the past thought it was sport to hunt young werewolves for their blood."
"Ah," I frowned, "that's terrible."
"Yes," he explained, "so when I was younger, they would help us out with some of the threats."
I sent Riley a text message; I had to thank her for not freaking out when I changed in front of her, "I just thanked her for not freaking out," I told him.
He grunted, "I'm glad you two were able to help each other."
I sighed.
"How long is she in for?" He laughed.
"Ha, ha, funny," I said as she pulled into the driveway.
Chapt
er One
Six months later…
"You guys want anything," Ryan asked Molly and me as he got out of the car at the gas station closest to our school.
"I'm good," Molly called out.
"Ellis?" Ryan questioned me.
"No, I'm good," I answered as I watched a van pull in.
It was a white panel van that was probably used by a repair service, but all evidence of a logo was faded.
"Who are those people?" I wandered out loud to Molly.
Our town was relatively small, and we literally knew everyone who lived there except for the occasional passer through. They mostly just stopped for gas and food and were usually on their way to Houston.
Molly looked over at the van and watched with me as two men and a woman got out. One of the men pumped gas while the other two started walking over to the store, "probably on their way to Houston," she shrugged.
I nodded in agreeance, "probably," but the pit of my stomach tingled.
The man who was pumping gas had shaggy red hair and was acting casual, but the way he was watching everyone just didn't feel right.
He was observing.
Suddenly he turned in my direction with his cold brown eyes. I turned my head quickly, but it didn't stop me from feeling a chill down my spine.
With my curly brown hair curving my face, I rolled down the window of the car a tiny bit.
I lightly sniffed the air.
He was human.
I glanced up at Molly in the front seat.
She was longingly looking at the front of the store.
Forgetting about the strange man, I smiled, "when are you going to tell him how you feel?" I asked her.