Ed pointed out his girlfriend Penelope sitting at a table. Livy left the two guys to hang out and sought out her old high school friend whom she always called Penny. They hugged as Livy sat down beside her. Penny began to share the latest gossip.
The afternoon went by quickly. This was her first public outing since she’d moved in with Rylan and Livy realized she liked socializing. Penny and the friends she met today were in different groups from those who hung out with Drake. Ry brought her a plate of food which she picked at; her stomach upset again. Still, she didn’t let some discomfort hinder her enjoyment.
By the time the cake was rolled out and cut, Javier made a speech, and had to depart to catch a flight, Livy was able to eat half a hamburger. She particularly enjoyed the pink center.
Many of the guests had left and Ry was talking to his siblings at another table. Penny had run in to use the restroom. Livy was alone.
“Are you finished, miss?” A server came over to clear the plate and empty glasses. He waited for her reply before moving.
“Sure,” she said.
I call first dibs on her. She’s a babe.
The voice came out of nowhere. “Excuse me, did you say something?”
The server placed glasses on a tray. “No, miss.” His dark brown eyes roamed across her body before settling back on her face.
She aimlessly ran a finger across the side of her small bag, not interested in looking at her new cell phone. That voice had bothered her. She swore it was the server, but his mouth hadn’t moved.
Someone sat down across from her, their shadow darkened her spot at the table momentarily. The person cleared their voice. Livy peered over, thinking it was someone she knew. It wasn’t. A dark blond-haired man sat across from her. His handsome face reminded her of someone.
“Hello, young lady. Someone as lovely as you shouldn’t be alone. I’m Lawrence.” He leaned across the table and extended his hand to her. With all the people she had run into today, not one had shaken her hand, even those she didn’t know. Most hugged or kissed their greeting.
“Hi.” She shook his hand and then went to sit back, except he would not release his hold.
Your mother was Rachel. I thought so. I’d heard her daughter had died that night. I took my love’s body. I wonder if Greg wondered his mistake. He always was hotheaded. The fool.
There, it happened again. Livy glanced around. There were mostly servers clearing tables in this section of the yard. Where was everyone? she wondered.
The man stood up and came around the table. He sat in Penny’s chair.
Her chest began to ache. There were more voices having various conversations that she could hear. Or were they? They seemed to be talking about…her.
Livy twisted around in her chair, trying to figure out where it was all coming from.
The man reached over, his long fingers cool on her forearm. “You seem nervous.”
When she went to move, she realized she couldn’t. She was, in effect, frozen, in her seat.
“Here, let me help you awaken, little one.” His fingers had made their way under the collar of her dress, shoved down one side of her camisole to locate her scratches. Her eyes widened when something sharp opened up the skin again.
Pain flared up, but she could not scream. The voices laughed and cooed, and she picked up one word they repeated over and over.
Welcome, little Livia. He will make you a princess.
Sweat beaded across her forehead, many droplets had already soared down her back and chest, drenching her underclothes and dress. Olivia thought she’d faint. What type of hell was this?
He pressed farther in. She swallowed hard, tears falling from her eyes. Where was Rylan?
The stranger removed his fingers, except they weren’t digits, they were claws. Dark, long, nasty and just like Greg’s, except longer and with a more defined curve.
Still, she couldn’t move.
He calmly dunked them into someone’s water cup and proceeded to wipe them on a napkin the server from before held out. Then he sliced his other palm open. As blood pooled, those nails scooped some up.
What was he doing? Livy shook in her chair. Unable to make a sound, she wished for her sais, for a gun, a knife, anything to make this beast stop.
In a flash, the pointy nails pressed into her freshly opened marks. Intense pain the likes of which she’d never experienced before shot across her body, and she jerked in her seat. As quickly as it hit, it disappeared.
“Here, miss.” The server offered her a glass of iced water.
Parched, she gulped it down, not stopping until the liquid had been consumed.
You killed Greg. We will be seeing each other soon. For now, goodbye, daughter.
With a smirk, that smarmy server took the glass out of her hand. As he walked by, he whispered in her ear, “I was your biggest fan. I have your entire collection of HOC’s hunter series. I learned to jerk off to your images.”
What madness is this? When Livy calmed down a short while later, she grabbed hold of the nearest butter knife and stood. She scanned the area, but he was gone. Vanished.
“Baby, who was that guy sitting next to you?” Rylan stood behind her chair and tousled her hair. Dot said he looked familiar.”
She shook her head. “I-I don’t know.” Was that her voice, weak and trembling?
“What did you talk about? He left his business card on your bag.” Ry picked it up and turned it over. She heard his string of curses. Anyone in the vicinity did.
“Eddie! Dad! Call security! Larry is on the grounds!” Ry shouted, taking Olivia by the arm.
“Who’s Larry?” Livy asked.
Rylan hadn’t heard her. “Call a pack meeting now,” he barked at some of his father’s men.
“Pack?” She repeated. Those men were dressed identical in black pants, shirts, and jackets. Like a uniform. A security detail?
“Baby, what did he say?” Ry touched the sides of her face before noticing how her clothes stuck to her. He placed his hand across her forehead and quickly removed it. “You’re burning up here, but your cheeks are clammy. What did that man do?”
“He, um, hurt my marks and then they didn’t hurt.” This was all surreal to her. The voices. The man. The claws. Pain. Olivia felt trapped or maybe it was stuck in a small room. The walls had begun to close in on her. Breathing turned hard.
“Livy, Livy….”
She mumbled, “He called me daughter.”
The last thing Olivia saw before she blacked out was the business card: Pearson Motors. Lawrence Aldrich, co-owner.
Epilogue
Rylan
The aftershocks of what had occurred at the end of the barbecue lasted three weeks. The first week Doc quarantined Livy in some state-of-the-art secret lab. I wasn’t allowed to see her. Instead, I relied on Dad’s daily updates. Livy’s marks had changed, the skin had turned brown and appeared dead.
They allowed me to see her the second week. She hadn’t spoken to anyone the first seven days. Dot was concerned Livy was catatonic or something worse. I think she freaked from Larry’s magical act that her mind took a vacation.
Livy spoke to me on the second day. They put her in a wheelchair, and I pushed her around the grounds of the private lab. The trees were in full seasonal change, all yellows and reds and various shades in between of their autumnal splendor.
The words Livy said to me. “Bring me my sais. You can’t save me.”
Scary? Nah, those two sentences terrified me.
Whatever that damned Lycan did to her has been changing her, but Livy is a fighter. Somehow, she talked Dot to remove that ugly skin and apply skin grafts in its place. Esmeralda suggested they add something to her medications and now Livy has new skin where the marks of the bastard Lycan and his uncle had tried to rip her away from me.
What does it all mean?
We are past scared. I bugged my Dad to have her leave that place. We moved into my family’s home a week ago. My siblings have been very nice to her. I thi
nk Livy likes them. She’s safe. The witch is here too.
Dot was placed into a guest room on the first floor. Dad made her take time off.
Yesterday, my father told me to take Olivia on a boat ride. To the island. Our island. I agreed.
He wouldn’t tell me why. We scheduled the ride for nine o’clock today.
Livy appeared healthier. Everyone in the pack knew her story and they sympathized.
We hadn’t been out on the water all summer. Her family didn’t own any boats. The sky was clear, only a handful of small clouds like cotton balls accompanied us on our trip. With a wide brim hat protecting her face, it took us twenty-five minutes to reach Santiago Island. It’s not on any maps. I drove my boat close to the dock and turned off the engine.
Livy stood beside me. We held hands and stared out, waiting. I didn’t see anything. What was my dad talking about?
“It’s beautiful out here. Your family owns this?” she said excited. She pointed to the trees which were nearing the end of their transition for the season, but still pretty. Paired with the briny air, the image became ingrained in our minds.
Who doesn’t want to remember any level of beauty which makes you smile?
“Yes,” I answered her, the wind shoveling my hair into my eyes and against my cheeks. “This island has been our for generations. We love being nearing the water. We’ve adapted to this way of life.”
I dropped her hand and moved behind her. She automatically leaned her head on my chest.
“There are wolves out here?”
“Yes, Livy. This is where my family, all my family, goes when we want to be truly free. The Santiago Pack is a pack of sea wolves. Our cousins belong to another pack over in British Columbia.”
“Sea wolves? I never knew. The term is new to me, but it’s awesome.” Livy turned around to kiss me. The errant breeze tried to rip her hat away and she held fast. One hand on the brim, her lips busy with mine. We haven’t been able to simply kiss anymore. Something always seems to steal us away. But we vow to begin again now. I coax her lips apart and delve in to begin my claiming of her. Her little moans embolden me.
With cheeks chapped by Mother Nature, we pull apart and giggle like kids.
Once again, I profess my love for her, and she happily lets me know I’m her universe. How freaking wonderful is that?
That’s when we began to hear it. A howl.
One wolf.
Followed by another. And another.
And many more.
The gorgeous howling continues and finally I figured out where they were. “There, Livy, look up.” I slipped my sunglasses down from where I’d perched them on top of my head. “See them?”
“Yes!” She pointed over to a cliff made by beach erosion. A line of wolves stood looking majestic. I couldn’t have been any prouder.
“The members of my pack, of which my father is Alpha, meaning the leader, are here today to welcome you to our family.”
“I learned about werewolves, Ry,” she snapped.
I pinched her behind, and she responded by grinding into me. Clearing my throat, I said, “Olivia Masterson, you are officially a member. You don’t have to worry about Larry or any of his progeny. We have your back, baby.”
From her silence, I knew she’d begun to cry. “It’s beautiful,” she managed minutes later. “Thanks.”
I kissed the side of her head. “You are my mate. Would you like to meet my wolf?”
Livy wiped her face and nodded. The wind had picked up, assaulting my senses with an overload of scents. After I helped her onto the dock, the howling stopped. My people began to race over to us.
I yanked off my shirt and Livy took it. She reached up and kissed me on the mouth again.
My wolf urged me to hurry. I pulled off my shorts and briefs, laughing as Livy ran around to block the view of my body from the others. “Livy, they’ve seen naked before. We’ve all seen each other in the buff.”
She gathered my things in her arms and grinned. I let her hold onto a piece of the human me. “To think I was so wrong about beasts.” Her eyes dipped down as a blush crept up her cheeks.
“Soon, Livy. We’ll mate soon.” My parents will be sending out invites for a special party in a few days. The date is for three weeks away.
I heard her following behind me as I ran along the dock, the change happening in seconds.
Livy gasped and exclaimed, “He’s gorgeous!”
As Wolf took over, he reminded me of my vow to my grandfather. Once the Lycan issue was taken care of, I needed to find whoever took his life. Behind me was my mate who would gladly help me in the search, along with the wolves waiting for me on the beach.
I let go and let the animal take over.
* * *
THE END
About the Author
Award-winning author Laurie Treacy, a former newspaper layout artist and reporter, writes paranormal, fantasy, and contemporary romances. Living in New York's supernaturally steeped Hudson Valley, she is fascinated by the history of forgotten places, buildings, and the people who inhabited them. Fond of urban exploring and photography, the scenes captured by her lens are frequently re-imagined into her stories.
* * *
When not writing, Laurie's a proud Whovian, Studio Ghibli fangirl, and K-drama addict. She's also a member of the SCBWI, Romance Writers of America (RWA), and their chapters for Young Adult writers (YARWA) and Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal writers (FF&P).
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http://www.laurietreacy.com
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Family Ties
Margo Bond Collins and Erin Hayes
About Family Ties
When demon-hunter Cassidy Irons' boyfriend is kidnapped by Winter Court fairies, she has no choice but to call in her estranged cousin, Blaize Silver. But Blaize shows up with a werewolf companion, and she and Cassidy discover that although they still work well together, their childhood ties might not be enough to overcome their differences.
Chapter One
Cassidy
“I think it would get confusing for bear shifters in San Francisco.”
I snorted at my boyfriend Drake’s comment as we walked down the chilly streets of the Mission. We walked arm-in-arm, our shoulders brushing up against each other. I soaked up his warmth and his scent, sighing happily that he was with me. After all, I needed something to take my mind off Gracie.
“Why do you say that?”
He turned his dark, amused eyes toward me and gave a nonchalant shrug. “Imagine—you’re a bear shifter, and you’re new to the area, so you go onto some forum looking for other bear shifters and you find someone else…who may have a different idea.” He waggled his eyebrows at me suggestively.
I poked him in the arm. “I think bears have their own forums.” Surely. But now that I was thinking about it, I wondered if there has been confusion between the bear-shifting community and the bears of the LGBT community—those who were often larger, hairy men. The mental image I had was completely different than Drake’s tall, wiry build, his dark hair mussed on purpose, his skin a pale shade that stood out against his dark coat.
Yep, he’s completely different than bears.
But he brought up an intriguing point. And I ran through all the possibilities. Maybe cougar-shifters had problems with cougars. Maybe...
“Watch out!” Drake said sharply, just as a car drove by too closely and nearly splashed me with water. He flipped them off before looking down at me like some sort of protector, checking to make sure that I was dry and all right.
“Assholes,” he growled under his breath before glaring back down the dark road.
“I don’t think they did it on purpose.”
His brow furrowed. “Most people are assholes, Cass.”
“Oh, and fairies aren’t?” I teased. “Remember, you and Orin got into it the other day.”
A muscle twitched in his strong jaw. He knew I had a point. After all I’m dating two other fairies, just like Drake, and I don’t mean the Tinkerbell-kind of princes. Three strong, powerful fairy princes who would otherwise be at war with each other.
If they weren’t dating me, that is. I was the glue that held them together, that kept the fairy realm from splitting apart at the seams. They had to tolerate each other because they were all with me.
But that didn’t mean that life was always easy. I was up to my neck in constant fairy-drama all the damn time.
And Drake knew it, too, which is why he shut up without further comment. I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
Men.
That particular brawl ended up with Orin heading home to the Spring Court to cool off. Avery, the prince of the Summer Court, was home as well for some family function, leaving Drake and me to have a week to ourselves, something that is hard to do when you have three boyfriends. On this particular Friday night, we decided to go to dinner at Foreign Cinema for a meal and a movie. The movie was forgettable, the food divine, and the company tall, pale, and handsome.
My Autumn Court Fairy Prince.
It wasn’t too late at night, which meant that we had plenty of time to catch up, just the two of us.
The stoplight ahead of us turned red, and we stopped, waiting for the pedestrian signal to turn back to white.
“You know, I could just change the light with magic,” Drake mused, sticking his hands in his pockets.
“You know, you could at least pretend to be human,” I told him wryly, and his only response was a wicked smile. Another couple stopped at the light, giving us a curious look. I ignored them as best as I could, but it was admittedly hard.
I always felt out of place, no matter where I was. That’s what happened when you were basically a nomad, traveling around the American West because of a curse. I never felt like I was at home, and only two people understood that feeling.
Falling for Shifters: A Limited Edition Autumn Shifters Collection Page 125