Fearing The Fall (Shifting Seasons Book 2)

by Sammie Joyce

  Fearing the Fall

  Shifting Seasons - Book 2

  Sammie Joyce

  Copyright © 2019 by Sammie Joyce

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Did you know there’s a prequel?

  Sammie Joyce

  Fearing the Fall

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Sammie Joyce

  Preview - The Depths of Winter

  Chapter 1

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  * * *

  Abiding love honors the past and provides a legacy that will live on forever.

  Aspen, a bear shifter, is happy running through the woods with her best friend, Locklear. The wolf shifter loves her with all he has and ever will be. One day as they run through the forest together, they meet a stranger. Soon this stranger becomes important to them both.

  * * *

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  Fearing the Fall

  Shifting Seasons - Book 2

  Sammie Joyce

  1

  Lowell

  “Oh my GOD!” Hailey screamed. “I LOVE THIS SONG!”

  I tried not to cringe outwardly as the driver, grinning almost maniacally, leaned forward to blast the already obtrusively loud music to hideous proportions.

  “Me too,” Alex agreed, casting the girl in the passenger seat a sly look of approval. I could read the attraction between them without any effort at all, despite the pounding headache that had formed at the base of my skull.

  I was sandwiched between two other high school seniors, each one slightly more annoying than the other although I couldn’t quite pinpoint why I found them so obnoxious. I was a teenager, too, so…

  Madison was a tall, perky blonde with a bright disposition. In another life, I could’ve been her, but of course, she had been blessed with stability and roots whereas I… well, I was me.

  She was the one who had reached out to me in the first place, inviting me along on this excursion into the woods, even though I could have done without it. Even as I eyed her though my peripheral vision, I wondered what I was doing there.

  On the other side of me, Parker didn’t say much, his eyes following the winding tree-line as we delved deeper into the forest. There was a look of awe on his face, like he hadn’t been born and raised in the wilds of Alaska all his life.

  Despite their very different personalities, I didn’t like either of them.

  If I were being honest, I knew it had nothing to do with their personalities at all. It had everything to do with me and my crappy attitude. I knew this because it was something my dad told me all the time.

  Even through the pulsating bass of the pop song and throbbing in my head, I could vividly hear my father’s voice.

  “Why don’t you make more of an effort, Lowell? Why don’t you try to get along better with the kids in your classes?”

  I smothered a grimace.

  Well gee, Dad, maybe because you keep whisking me off from one place to the next every time I get attached to anyone, I thought bitterly, as if I was arguing with the man in my own head.

  “What’s wrong, Lowell?” Madison asked, sensing my darkening mood. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid.”

  She was teasing me but I wasn’t in the mood to be messed with. Instead, I sneered slightly, my teal eyes flashing at the stupidity of the idea.

  “Afraid of some trees?” I shot back before I could stop myself. “I’ve lived in war-torn countries. Mosquitoes don’t really worry me if they’re not carrying malaria.”

  Madison’s smile faded and Parker piped up.

  “You forgot she’s an Army brat,” he offered, his voice barley audible over the music. I shifted uncomfortably, looking away as I realized I’d gone too far with my words and my attitude.

  I knew I should apologize for being so crusty, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I missed Delaware and the friends I’d made there. It was the longest we’d been in any one place and I wished my dad had left me there, instead of dragging me into the literal middle of nowhere. As nice as Madison and the others were, they didn’t compare to what and who I’d left behind.

  Or maybe you’re just not giving them a chance…

  Oh, how I loathed that inner voice of reason in my head.

  I was saved from having to answer as the car slowed toward a small clearing and stopped. It was a place that only the locals would know, I was sure of it. Despite my desire to be sullen, I found myself warming to the scenery. Whatever had brought me out there, I had to admit that it was breathtaking.

  Parker seemed just as relieved to fall out of the now-silent car and I tripped after him, slamming the door behind me. I winced as the sound echoed through the peaceful woods, but no one else seemed to notice. Alex and Hailey lit a cigarette each from a shared pack as Madison hiked forward up into the thick of trees.

  I hadn’t known what to expect when Madison had approached me after last period. Sure, I’d talked with her on occasion since starting at Novak High but the invitation had been unexpected all the same. At first I’d been suspicious of the bright-eyed blonde, wondering why she’d singled me out, but I quickly understood that I was being paranoid.

  Of course they were interested in the new girl. I was probably the only person who hadn’t been bred in their rural area of the state. I was likely the most exciting thing that had happened to them since their own births.

  And maybe, I knew going off with them to whatever place they called “The Landing” was better than going home either to an empty house or to Dad’s disapproval.

  At least this way, I can say I made an effort, I thought silently. I can say I tried and I still didn’t get along with any of them.

  The trouble was that there wasn’t anything wrong with any of them, not really. I couldn’t find faults in them, no matter how hard I tried—and trust me when I say, I genuinely did strive to find something I disliked.

  Madison paused and when I joined her side, I saw why—she’d reached the edge of a cliff, overlooking a massive, swollen river. I wracked my brain to remember what body of water it was, but there were so many streams and rivers in those parts, it was impossible to know without a map. Still, it was gorgeous and I found myself sinking against one of the boulders that seemed to naturally frame the section.

  “Welcome to the Landing,” Hailey chirped, taking a deep inhale of her smoke.

  “Queen’s Landing,” Madison quipped an
d the boys groaned.

  “For the last time, it’s not being renamed Queen’s Landing,” Alex grumbled and Madison laughed. Then, to my utter shock, she pulled a joint from inside her jacket pocket.

  I had not expected that from her. She had struck me as the kind of girl who followed all the rules, but I watched with appreciation as she sparked the marijuana and passed it off to me, winking her blue eye conspiratorially. Without a word, I accepted it and nodded, willing myself not to be such a jerk.

  Maybe Dad is right after all. Maybe I just need to stop sulking and make an effort.

  I inhaled deeply and handed the joint to Parker who was almost salivating.

  It made sense that Parker was a pothead. The quiet ones always were, in my experience.

  I settled back to take in the scenery, allowing the heady sensation of the herb to do its job. I hadn’t smoked enough to do any real damage, but that didn’t stop it from lightening my mood and hazing my vision ever so slightly. It certainly had taken the edge off and suddenly, Alex and Hailey’s loud bantering didn’t irritate me as much as it had before.

  “We don’t bite, Lowell,” Parker called out suddenly. I eyed him from where I sat, noting that the others had gathered into a flock, near the edge of the cliff. “You can come closer.”

  “I’m good,” I replied lightly but Hailey giggled, her arm extended toward the river below.

  “Oh no, honey,” she laughed. “You’re going to want to come and see some of this Alaskan wildlife.”

  Alex followed her eyes and his mouth puckered into a scowl but Madison’s own face lit up in appreciation.

  Curiosity got the better of me, and I pushed myself off the rock at my back and inched toward the cliff to see at what they were looking. Instantly, I understood why the girls were so impressed while the boys didn’t care.

  A shirtless man stood below, seemingly unaware of us, while fifty feet above, a group of girls were watching his movements with interest.

  Even from the distance between us, I could tell he was attractive although how I knew that, I couldn’t say. Silently, I willed him to look up at me, to notice me, but whatever he was doing on the riverbank seemed to consume his full attention.

  “Who is that?” Hailey asked in such a way that made me wonder if everyone in those parts didn’t, in fact, know everyone else. The idea made me shudder. There would be no anonymity for someone like me. Alex’s frown deepened. I could see he didn’t like the idea of sharing Hailey’s attention with anyone, least of all a handsome, ripped stranger.

  “No idea,” Alex muttered. “But I’m sure he wouldn’t want a bunch of teenagers gawking at him.”

  “Not gawking,” Madison demurred. “Appreciating.”

  I grinned, stepping forward.

  “Careful!” Parker barked but I wasn’t paying attention. With my eyes fixed on the man below, I felt a peculiar change in the air temperature, a cool breeze suddenly taunting my neck. Without knowing why or how, I could say with absolute certainty that something was about to happen.

  It didn’t make any real sense and before I could hone into my instinct, a collective gasp filled my ears. Whatever it was I was sensing was coming to fruition, even if I didn’t understand it yet. My eyes were still trained on the bronze-skinned man below, my heart beginning to pound as I watched the events unfold.

  “What the hell…?” Hailey squeaked but I barely heard her.

  “Are you seeing this!?” Parker breathed.

  “Uh…guys…” Madison whispered.

  I was seeing it and so was everyone else, but as they backed away from the impossible scene before us, I inched closer, my toes grazing the line of the cliff.

  “LOWELL!” Madison yelled, spinning to run. “COME ON!”

  But I wasn’t going anywhere, not until I understood what it was I was seeing.

  I wanted to know how, right before our eyes, the man below had gone from a flesh and bone man to a huge, towering bear of fur and fangs.

  2

  Davis

  I’d done it a hundred—no, a thousand—times before without so much as a second thought. It was more natural than parading around in my human skin, after all and there in the wilds of the Alaskan backwoods, I was truly free. Shifting was the only way I knew, and I wasn’t going to let the confines of any society tell me otherwise, no matter how much they tried to oppress me.

  Throwing my head back, I allowed the feeling of my mortal form to strip away from my body and unleash the inner beast that I’d spent far too much time suppressing, in my opinion.

  The sensation of my muscles expanding to create the great grizzly I’d learned to hide overwhelmed me and in mere seconds, my furry snout parted to unleash a feral howl into the afternoon sky. It felt good to unhinge the sound, the ferocity of it reverberating through the trees to stun the birds who roosted. Suddenly, I was enveloped in light brown fur, my onyx eyes darting skimming over the water, nose sniffing intuitively. It was just that simple.

  I lowered my majestic head and dove into the river before me, pulling out a mouthful of fish with one easy scoop. It was almost child’s play, fishing. It was as easy as breathing, it seemed.

  The wriggly salmon flopped around in my mouth for a few fleeting seconds,, but I put it out if its misery, devouring it in one gulp. It did little to sate my appetite and again, I went in for another.

  After the fourth round, I’d had enough and I sank back on my haunches to enjoy the feeling of my newly filled stomach. In my bear form, I knew I could eat a hundred of those things, but when I relented and returned to my human skin, I would be uncomfortably full. It was all about finding a balance.

  That was the brilliant difference between shifters and humans, I’d always thought. Shifters adhered to the laws of nature, never taking more than we could use. We respected and gave back to our communities and environments. We loved the land as much as we loved one another. Humans, on the other hand, were a disgrace to the world. How could they call themselves the apex of evolution when they destroyed the very planet on which they lived? It was hardly a shock that our world was dying with the mortals at the helm. All they did was take, take, take and refuse to give—unless it was somehow fiscally beneficial.

  If everyone in the world planted one tree, cut out single use plastics, bought locally, oh, how much of a change could be made.

  But oh no, the stock market, I thought with bitter sarcasm. What would happen if the stock market plunged?

  I didn’t remind myself that I, too, was sometimes guilty of mortal indulgences. After all, I was still a twenty-year-old male who enjoyed some of the earthly pleasures that the world had to offer. But for the most part, I prided myself on being more shifter than human. I loved my world, my distance from the pollutants and noise that plagued the rest of humanity.

  Particularly on days like this.

  Everything felt so in sync, so right and in tune.

  The rush of the river’s water, the light of the fading sun dappling through the still-green leaves of the trees. Soon they would all be afire with color, announcing the impending winter, but not before we had a glorious autumn, unsurpassed by anything else, I was sure. Other places didn’t experience fall the way we did and I pitied them.

  True, I didn’t have a lot of experience in other places, being born and bred in the wilds of the north, but somehow, I knew that there couldn’t be anywhere as untouched as Alaska.

  And if there was, I had no interest in seeing it anyway. I was home with no desire to leave in the least.

  I ran my tongue along the ridges of my fangs, tasting the remnants of the fish and debated taking one more for the road. I’d have to get back to work soon, and it was much easier to work on a full stomach. I’d been procrastinating most of the day as it was.

  One more and I’m getting back to it, I decided. I lumbered forward on all four paws and prepared to grab one more jumping salmon but as I neared the water’s edge, I froze. All the hairs on the base of my neck seemed to rise at once and I felt a p
eculiar sensation wash over me.

  Something was off.

  Abruptly, I whipped my massive head around, eyes glittering behind me as I looked to see if I was being watched. It certainly felt as if I had eyes on me but when I glanced behind me, I saw nothing, not even a brazen jackrabbit.

  A prickle of apprehension shot through me. I knew better than to ignore my senses. I’d been raised to trust my animal instincts implicitly. If I thought someone was there, they more than likely were but my eyesight was excellent, particularly when I was in bear form. The light was good enough for me to observe the most minuscule detail around me and yet, I couldn’t see anyone.

  Even though I was sure someone was there.

  With a low growl, I forsook the idea of another snack and fell back onto my haunches, snout raised to the air. A slight, cool breeze mocked me as my head moved about, searching the area like I was scanning a “Where’s Waldo” picture book. I didn’t want to miss anything.

  Which one of these things doesn’t belong? I mused. Which one of these things is not like the other?

  My eyes darted over the trees, rocks and finally up the escarpment toward the high cliffs above until I was straining my eyes. The feeling was odd, uncomfortable but I didn’t want to let the idea go—not until I had explored every option.