Melissa And The Cowboy (Western Night Series 1)

by Rosie Harper

  They lay together afterwards in a stunned silence, staring up at the stars.

  “I felt good about that,” Marnie said finally. “I felt like it was supposed to happen.”

  Neil said nothing, but he didn’t have to. He put his arm around her and held her close, burying his face in her hair in order to memorize her scent. Even if the curse couldn’t be broken, Marnie at least had this, this wonderful secret. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep listening to the soft breathing of Neil beside her.

  Chapter 4

  The cave was old and covered in moss, but Neil didn’t understand how Marnie could differentiate between that and any other cave they had found in the countryside. But there she stood, her beautifully freckled face determined, as she nodded to Neil and gave a grand, sweeping gesture.

  “This is it,” she said.

  “Is it?” he didn’t feel very convinced by this, but something told him that he would follow Marnie anywhere.

  How could he not have seen? How could he have confused what he felt for her as anything but what it was? She was incredible, and he wanted to keep fighting with her until the end of time. It had been terrifically awkward in the beginning, full of a little too much strangeness for his taste. What should he do? This was his sister’s best friend, but the more he thought about it the more he loved the idea of it. A Mackenzie. His father would be furious.

  Or would he? He eyed the cave warily, a little afraid to enter, but knowing that he had to. They had walked for two days in order to get here, even though this cave had looked like any other cave one would find. He studied Marnie’s face again. So sure of herself, and he decided to trust.

  “Hello!” Marnie called, and Neil wasn’t fully sure that this was any proper way to greet a witch.

  Once again he was proven wrong as a small, hobbling figure limped out to the cave’s entrance. She seemed impossibly old, that sort of old that strips a person of the gender they once had, disappearing in a wave of wrinkles, sunken eyes, and long tangled hair. She dressed in rags, but the sort of rags that were layered enough to look outrageously comfortable. Leaning heavily on a stick, she blinked her deep eyes at the two of them.

  “About time,” she said.

  Marnie looked stricken, as though she was unsure of whether or not she should curtsey or not. Neil watched her as she clenched her hands to her skirt and gave a small bob. He figured it was a better idea than doing nothing at all, given the fact that they were facing down a potentially incredibly magical person. Neil could feel something, a nagging feeling, an awareness that he had first felt around Marnie. It didn’t affect him as much as Marnie did, but the flavor was distinctly the same. It was a little shocking to realize that the nagging feeling he had felt around Marnie all this time was magic.

  “Hello, ma’am,” Marnie said nervously. “We’ve travelled long and hard to seek your wisdom.”

  The witch huffed, and it took a moment for Neil to realize that she was laughing.

  “A Mackenzie and a Campbell, finally you want to swallow your pride.”

  Marnie and Neil exchanged glances , their faces stricken.

  “How did you know?”

  The witch looked slightly put off, and Neil looked to Marni with a panicked look. A wolf he could handle, but did he want to be turned into something worse? Like a frog? He would absolutely not want to be turned into a frog. Marnie looked calm, and he tried to take strength in that, but her family wasn’t the family with the nasty habit of turning into different animals.

  “Of course, you have the look of your grandmother, little Marnie,” the woman broke into a wide toothless smile, and Marnie couldn’t help but smile back.

  “And you,boy, you’re a Campbell if I ever saw one. Not that I see many. Have you come to ask me to break the curse?”

  Marnie nearly jumped with excitement. “Oh yes! We’d love for you to do that. If you need to make a potion to do so or anything we’ll even go and get the ingredients for you, but we can’t keep living like this with our families hating each other, and we don’t even know why.”

  The witch smiled at the girl’s exuberance, “Once upon a time, a Mackenzie girl fell in love with a Campbell boy. The two clans lived in relative peace until the horrible happened, and the Campbell boy broke his engagement with her to love another.”

  Neil frowned at this story. Was that it? A broken engagement had led to this? The witch laughed as though she had read his mind.

  “I know, but the Mackenzie girl was young and impulsive and had far more magical talent than she thought she did. She cursed him to become the dog that he was, but unfortunately she was a little off the mark.”

  “Unfortunately?” Neil said with a raised eyebrow. Marnie tried not to laugh.

  “Ashamed of their use of witchcraft, the poor girl was banished, and all mention of our power has been wiped from the records of our clan’s history. But it’s not all the way gone, now is it my girl?”

  Marnie’s eyes grew wide. “You’re the girl!”

  The witch laughed. “Slow, but you get there in the end. Yes, I am. Unfortunately the curse had taken on a terrible life of its own, I’m afraid, leading to a horrible hatred between the two that neither can explain. I’ve waited for generations for a Campbell and a Mackenzie to come to me and asked, with no hint of selfishness, for the curse to be broken. Finally, after all these years, I’ll be able to rest.”

  Marnie looked confused as she glanced up at Neil. “It’s done? That’s it? All we needed to do was…” She blushed.

  “You needed to fall in love, yes. A true love, and by god your love is as true as anything I’ve ever seen.”

  Neil whooped and picked Marnie up by her waist, spinning her around with a glee that surprised him. The wolf in him felt as though it was gone, and part of him was sad about that, but he could just picture his father feeling the same, realizing that his hatred towards the Mackenzies had been foolish all alone. He could imagine his father calling Bridget back, Bridget’s relief at being normal, and the peace between the two clans once and for all. More importantly, he could look down into Marnie’s green eyes and realize that no matter what they were going to do, they were going to be allowed to do it together.

  He kissed her, and she threw herself into it as though it were the last kiss she would ever receive. Once they finished, he placed Marnie back on her feet properly and turned to thank the old woman.

  She was gone.

  “Just as well,” Marnie said. “If I was finally allowed to rest after a few centuries, I wouldn’t wait to say good-bye.”

  Epilogue- Three Months Later

  Neil hated to admit it, but he did miss the wolf within. It seemed as though he was the only person in the village who did, but at the same time he couldn’t allow himself to feel too terribly about it, especially given the fact that a warm and rosy peace had descended on the two clans of Mackenzie and Campbell.

  Within two weeks of the truce, Bridget had been returned to much happiness and fanfare from Marnie, who openly admitted to the friendship. Bridget was happy to be home, but not nearly as happy as she had been to hear that Marnie was going to become her sister-in-law. She jumped up and down and clapped her hands, and stood beside Marnie at their wedding. Neil had been nervous about marrying so quickly, what if old animosities resurfaced? But Marnie had insisted in that adorably stubborn way of hers, saying that if they put it out much longer the witch was going to get annoyed with them and recast the curse all over again, simply over the fact that they were stalling.

  They were blissfully happy...except for the fact that Neil missed his wolf.

  One night he sat in front of the house that him and Marnie now shared on the edge of the heather meadow, staring up at the moon that was round and full, slowly realizing that this was the first time he had not had that jittery nervousness about it.

  “You’re up late,” Marnie said behind him, her voice thick with sleep.

  “I’m coming to bed soon,” he told her. “I’m just...r
emembering.”

  He felt Marnie move to his side, kneeling beside him and touching his shoulder. He turned to look at her and gave her a kiss, only to be surprised by the mischief he saw in her eyes.

  “What?” he asked.

  “I have a surprise for you,” she replied.

  “What is that?”

  “Looks like magic in our clan isn’t dead…”

  Before he could ask her what she meant, she leaned over and blew a secret into his ear...and then it happened. The familiar pain, now dulled a little bit, flared in his bones, and he looked at her with a surprise and love he never thought that he would be able to share with anyone.

  He twisted and transformed and ended it in a howl, only to turn to his wife, his wonderful and magical wife, to see a beautiful she-wolf with a dark brown pelt and large green eyes. She winked at him and ran off ahead of him, nipping at his ear and howling merrily as the two scampered off to play in the night.

  THE END

  PARANORMAL SHIFTER BOOKS

  Just Menaged To Escape

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  By: Jodie Springer

  Just Menaged To Escape

  In the middle of the night, a panicked woman raced through the forest as if her life depended on it. Still in shock, her mind refused to acknowledge what she had clearly witnessed no less than a couple of minutes ago.

  Fighting for every breath as if it were her last, she propelled herself forward, one stride at a time. With every hurried step, the leaves and branches scratched at her jiggling sides, reminding her just how unfit she was for this endeavor. Still, the fear had done its part, and all the brambles in the world wouldn’t have prevented the woman from fleeing the motel that, up until just now, seemed like a great place.

  Feeling another slap against her inner thigh, this one close to her nether region, she gritted her teeth and proceeded onward. By now, every second felt at least a hundred times longer, her heart and lungs worked up to their limits.

  No! Don’t stop! She screamed inside her own head, forcing her meaty thigh into another heavy step. Then, just before letting herself realize how difficult that was, she moved the other leg forward as well.

  Yes! That’s the way to do it! The woman kept trying to press herself onward, despite the dark blur that kept expanding around the edges of her vision; a clear indicator that loss of consciousness was near.

  Have to keep breathing, Kate!You know what’ll happen if you don’t! Yet, with each unintentionally swaying step, the forest became a little bit darker, until suddenly it all went black. That development, however, didn’t prevent the woman from taking a couple more wobbly steps before a stray tree root met with her toes, sending her to a quick meeting with the ground.

  Face full of dead leaves, Kate tried to lift her body, but all she succeeded in doing was to rotate to her right. Wheezing and panting, her sight still not recovered yet, the escapee blankly stared into what she assumed was the night sky.

  Or worse. For an indeterminable amount of time, the woman laid like that, forcing the air into her lungs, trying her best to remain conscious. By the time Kate’s eyes started working again, her wildly beating heart had caught a glimpse of relief: nothing stood above her head. No animal, human, or anything in-between.

  Oh, God, am I losing my mind? Frantically, she scratched the earth around her sizeable form, trying to stand up again, and causing significant pain to spread around her chest area. Immediately, she aborted that attempt. A heart attack is the last thing I need. There was no way around it; she had to allow her body to rest.

  Minimizing her movements, Kate turned her head around, scanning her surroundings as well as she could while maintaining the pace of her breathing. If anything had indeed followed her, it was very good at hiding its presence.

  Immediately following that thought, the woman’s thoughts wandered back to earlier today, as if they rejected her current situation. Even though she tried to resist what her mind was trying to do, the tide was overpowering. This place, this forest, this night; she was not here anymore.

  Instead, Kate Walker found herself back home, a pretty yet sizeable place, much like its owner. It was six in the afternoon. The work week had ended, and the doctor had no active duty this Saturday. The weekend was hers, and she was determined to make the most of it.

  But first things first, the plump woman thought, chuckling, as she made her way toward her favorite part of the apartment: the fridge. Enticingly, Kate’s backside jiggled with every step she took, as if she was intent on seducing the kitchen. When her swaying image came up on the reflective surface of the refrigerator, however, it became clear that she had every reason to move the way she did: Kate was gorgeous.

  Her perfectly round, smooth face, framed by rows of thick, auburn curls, crowned a body that exaggerated every curve a female could possibly possess. The layers of bulk on her belly that popped up from time to time appeared completely insignificant when compared to the woman’s immense hips and bosom, which stretched her already generously sized clothing to its limits.

  But the doctor had no time to admire her voluptuous reflection, and swiftly jacked the fridge door open, feasting her eyes on a decidedly different eye-pleaser: cakes, chocolates, ice-cream, and variations of the three lay inside it, arrayed in large quantities and organized immaculately. There was also some actual food in there, but Kate had already eaten immediately after work, and now was the time for pleasure, not sustenance.

  I think today I will have… a bit of everything, the woman decided, eyes raced over her impressive collection of sweets.

  Licking her lips, the doctor chose a combination vanilla custard cake, caramel-filled white chocolates, and topped it off with a pack of tiramisu-flavored ice cream. Eagerly, she carried her choices to the table, setting it up in a hurried manner before sitting and digging in.

  Exquisite, Kate mused, taking bite after bite, allowing every little bit of sweetness to expand across her taste buds, taking her to heaven and back again repeatedly. For a little more than half an hour she delighted in the sensations, so that when the final little piece of ice cream disappeared between her puckered lips, the woman felt thoroughly satisfied.

  At least as far as that’s concerned, the doctor chuckled, eagerly considering her options for the upcoming weekend. Enthusiastically, she swung her left arm to her side, reaching into the handbag that was left lying on another chair, and pulling a magazine out of it.

  “Fun places,” she read the paper’s name aloud. “Letting you know about the finest spots you’ve never heard about” she continued reading, visibly interested. Swiftly, she flipped the front of the magazine open, skimming through the pages with great speed. Time was precious, and the doctor knew exactly what she was after.

  No, not today, no, maybe next time. Kate dragged her index finger over the name of every hotel, hostel, motel, and rest resort that caught her attention. For several minutes she did that, before finally stumbling onto something that seemed a cut above the rest.

  “Primal,” the place was called, a slightly backwater combination of motel and roadhouse, barely a state’s distance away. There was no description, merely a picture of a somewhat decently maintained, two-storied building with an oversized parking lot, brimming with bikes and trucks. The doctor might as well have skimmed over it, had her keen sense of detail not made her notice a single logo emblazoned on most of the parked vehicles: that of a stylized, angry bear face.

  A meeting place for some kind of biker/trucker gang. Perfect. Carefully, Kate folded the page before ripping it out of the magazine so that the vital information remained intact. Slowly, she pushed her chair away from the table, straightening herself slowly, so as not sour the pleasant experience this desert provided to her.

  “I have a feeling that this will be amazing,” the doctor spoke, picking up the dishes before carrying them up to the sink. After making sure that they were as clean as they could be, she made her way toward the bedroom and her latest destination: the clos
et.

  Yanking it open in a single motion, the woman dug through its contents, pulling out every piece of clothing she judged appropriate. Leather jackets, miniskirts, fishnets, and the like quickly formed a sizeable heap on the bed behind her.

  There, Kate concluded, shutting the cabinet and turning toward the pile. Now comes the fun part. Her walk taking on a seductive wiggle again, the doctor took a couple of steps toward her bed before proceeding to ravage what was on it as if it were a living person.

  Some ten minutes later, everything was in its place: the things she would need during the weekend got neatly folded and in a somewhat larger travel bag, while what she intended to wear tonight laid spread around and over the bed, as if it waited to get put on.

  Damn! Having almost forgotten that she needed to take a shower, the doctor hurriedly turned away from the bed, walking in a less than graceful manner this time while practically tossing layers of clothing away. “Don’t go anywhere,” she jokingly said to the collection of garments on her bed before she disappeared through the door.

  While Kate is generally liked to take her time when taking a bath, tonight was different; the time she spent in the shower was as minimal as it could be. Before long, a nude, curvy body, waving seductively with every move, stepped out of the shower and back toward the bedroom.

  You naughty girl, you, Kate told herself as she picked up the initial part of tonight’s getup: a black, silky brassiere. When fastened properly, it covered just enough of her bosom to keep them in a gravity-defying state while leaving very little to the imagination, which is just the way she put it on.

  Next up was a dark, crotch-less body stocking. Carefully, the woman stretched the webbed garment over her hands, before proceeding to enter it, pushing her immense bulk in piece by piece.