BOX SET: Shifter 4-Pack Vol 2 (Wolf Shifter, Dragon Shifter, Mafia, Billionaire, BBW, Alpha) (Werewolf Weredragon Paranormal Fantasy Romance Collection)

by Candace Ayers

  CHAPTER 19

  Francis Mitchell volunteered to sit atop Mike Kepler’s house on West High Street. It was the last house on the street before the town ended going west. He was their lookout, and though he was an expert flute player, he had with him a trombone that had belonged to his father. He promised to blast it at the first sight of the wolves. Edward Linden, his bandmate, was up there with him.

  “If the crazy fool wants to die, he’s not going to die alone,” Edward said. He did not take his drum with him, but rather went up with a short sword and a shield.

  Dunstan was still unconscious in the wagon. There were debates on whether they should hide him or keep him nearby in case he woke up. Amber surprised everyone by supporting the latter argument.

  “Really?” Jessica asked. “Are you sure?”

  “If he’s out of this, we’re dead. We need him if we are going to survive. None of us can take on the alpha, not without his help. She was stronger than him without being turned. He heals fast, it’s only a matter of time now.”

  “If they find him and none of us are around to protect him, he’s dead,” Jessica said.

  “He needs to be nearby,” Amber said. “If he wakes up to find us dead—”

  “You dead, you mean,” Jessica said.

  “He’ll do something to himself. I know he will,” Amber finished.

  “Well, let’s put him beside the school,” William said. “Out of way, inconspicuous— not that many wagons park beside the school, but it won’t look as obvious as if he were right before Town Hall or in the middle of Town Square.”

  Mrs. Sadler was kneeling in the wagon beside him, trying a variety of herbs to lull him from his sleep. None of them were having any effect.

  Martin came up beside Amber and whispered, “What about Spratling? Shouldn’t he be back by now?”

  Amber looked at Old Abbie. She had been quiet since the middle of the night. She was clearly wondering the same thing.

  Amber went to her. She was still standing on the platform the mayor stood on, looking out across West High Street towards Bowland Mountains. “Abbie, I’m sure—”

  “Don’t, love,” Abbie said. “No disrespect, but I don’t want your comfort right now.”

  “Surely we would have heard him,” Amber said. “Like we did when he was turned.”

  “No, don’t fool yourself,” Abbie said. “An’ he and I both knew what ‘e was getting into. He’s gone. I can feel it. At full strength he couldn’t defeat ‘er. Wounded an’ still limpin’, he never stood a chance. No, my beloved is gone.”

  “Have hope!” Amber pleaded. “He may come yet. You don’t know that he’s dead!”

  Abbie turned to Amber and said, “Amber, we have slept in the same bed for seventy years now— hearts beatin’ in unison every night as we did. You’re young. Ye’ don’t understand the connection two people can develop, livin’ together, lovin’ one another. My heart ‘as grown weak this night. Et knows he’s gone— et doesn’ ‘ave ‘is strength to lean on any longer. I would fight my mind, try to out-logic and outwit myself into believin’ otherwise, but I cannot fight my heart— et tells me without words that ‘e is gone.”

  “If he’s gone, why are you here? Go somewhere and be safe! You don’t have to be here. None of us ever expected you—”

  “You act as if I ‘ave nothing to fight for!” Abbie snapped. “Et wasn’ just ‘im I loved. I love this town, Amber. All the little gray haired children in this town I myself ‘ave helped raise. An’ I will fight for ‘em, no matter what my age may be!”

  Amber backed up. Here was strength. True strength.

  “Aye,” Amber agreed. “Aye you will.”

  “An’ without Dunstan or Cletus!” Abbie roared. “We don’ need ‘em! We’ll show this little lunatic how strong we are, an’ that we don’ need demons within us to frighten the gods above or below!”

  *

  It began with Francis’s horn roaring and echoing through Bruton. Everyone stood at attention and got in position. They had trained themselves to look up, but no wolves were jumping across the rooftops.

  William shouted, “Francis! Report!”

  But Francis didn’t have to speak. It was immediately apparent why he had blown his horn.

  Nora, fully garbed in her red hooded cloak, was walking ahead of her small army of wolves, carrying a staff.

  A staff with Spratling’s head on it— still turned as a wolf-demon, but it was clear to everyone whose head she had.

  She held the staff up high for everyone to see and threw it to the ground.

  “Didn’t like that as much as I thought I would,” Nora said and wiped her hands on her cloak. “But I just wanted you to see that your ‘town hero’ is gone.”

  No one replied, not even Abbie, whom Amber saw was gripping the crossbow strapped across her shoulders.

  “I know that might be seen as an antagonizing first gesture,” Nora continued, “a far cry from an olive branch and whatnot, but that isn’t what I was going for. I’m only here for Dunstan. Give him to me and my army and I walk away— cross my heart and hope to die. I won’t even put his head on a staff of mightiness. No really, I felt stupid doing that to the older one. Like I was twelve again or something, but if I hadn’t I’d still be wanting to, so it’s still best I did and got it out of my system.”

  William sauntered towards her, stopped halfway, shook his head and said, “Nope. Uh-uh.”

  Nora looked at him aghast. “Nope? That’s all you say is nope?”

  William shrugged and said, “I’m a man of few words.”

  A lot of men behind him chuckled.

  Nora pursed her lips. She turned to the wolves behind her and said, “Light the roofs on fire. Force everyone that’s not here to come out and enjoy the show. Battling’s not just for men anymore.”

  The wolves leapt into the air and scattered across the town.

  Nora stood on the street alone facing William and the army behind him.

  “I might put your head on a pole,” Nora said to him. “I like you.”

  An arrow suddenly whizzed by Nora’s head, missing it by only a foot. Jessica walked to William, another arrow already locked, loaded and aimed at Nora. “Back off of my man.”

  Nora laughed and shifted into her wolf form.

  She seemed to be coming straight for them, but jumped away before getting close enough to hit.

  Jessica cursed. “I will have your head on a staff before today is through!” she yelled into the air. “I promise you that!”

  Amber realized what Nora’s plan was and ran to William and Jessica. “Guys, she’s going to burn down the town to get all of the woman out into the streets; that way she can blend in with us. While we’re fighting, she’ll be on the lookout for Dunstan!”

  “Crap!” Jessica said. “She’s right!”

  “Well, the main threat is still the wolves,” William said. “If we spot anyone near Dunstan, we go to them. We can’t take the risk. Gods, I hope he wakes up soon!”

  The roofs lit up and muffled screaming started.

  “Here we go!” Martin shouted. “Get ready everyone!”

  The wolves descended, immediately causing havoc.

  “Come on, Amber!” Jessica said and started running. Me, you, and Abbie. We girls have got to stick together!” Amber picked up a spear like Martin, and ran with Jessica to Abbie, who was still standing atop the platform.

  “I don’ need your protection!” Abbie yelled as she fired an arrow at a leaping wolf.

  “Not giving it” Jessica yelled. “But if you want to protect us, that’s fine!”

  Amber saw her father and Dylan Hobbs taking turns swiping at a wolf demon in front of Town Hall. Each carried a shield, and whatever attack one missed, the other blocked for him. They fought in unison, and soon had the ferocious wolf was lying in its own blood.

  Martin and William were working together in a similar way. Martin would lunge with his spear, and as the wolf recoiled, William would sneak in and
strike it with his axe. She noticed them kill three wolves this way.

  Amber then realized just how flawed Nora’s attack on them was. The longer she attacked them, the more alphas she might potentially be making. Surely someone was going to get wounded today and survive. And no one in this town that was fighting was doing so reluctantly. None of them would probably impress the demon as much as Nora had, but together, as a whole army of alphas, well that was another thing entirely— which was why Nora had been calculating her attacks like a game of chess. She had power, that was obvious, but she was vulnerable. The only thing that needed to happen for all of her plans to fail was for people to stop being afraid.

  And they no longer were.

  Which meant Nora’s only recourse was to kill them all.

  Old Abbie sure knew what she was doing. It was her plan that had riled them all up from the beginning, the way she forced them to fight for themselves. Dunstan and Cletus had helped, but in the end, everyone realized it was their battle to fight.

  The people of Bruton were strong. Their strength had been hidden, but now it was at the surface— rising like a field of saplings and turning into a deeply rooted wooded forest.

  Amber jumped out of the way just in time to avoid a wolf pouncing her. It roared furiously and then dropped down to the ground dead— one of Abbie’s arrows sticking between its eyes.

  “Not too bright, that one!” Abbie hackled.

  Jessica pulled her to her feet.

  “Here comes another one!” Jessica shrieked and pushed Amber out of the way before being pounced on by the wolf. Amber screamed and suddenly Jessica’s attacker was thrown off of her by a large white wolf.

  “Dunstan!” Amber yelled.

  Dunstan raised his ears and made eye contact with Amber before leaping after Jessica’s attacker.

  “Keep yer eyes open!” Abbie hollered. “If he’s up, then their alpha will be coming for ‘im!”

  Amber scanned the crowd, knowing that her earlier theory of Nora trying to sneak in among them as a woman would be correct.

  Women were running to and fro, torn between trying to help their husbands, fathers, and brothers, and getting each other’s children well away from danger. Bruton was ablaze. Danger was everywhere. Alongside the wolves, fire raged.

  One woman ran by whose curls were a little too curly, her hair a little too shiny. Amber pointed her out to Jessica.

  “Got her,” Jessica said.

  Abbie was slowly pulling up the lever of her crossbow to get another arrow in when Jessica tore it out of her hands, quickly aimed, and shot a bolt straight at the curly haired woman, striking her in the shoulder. She neither growled nor fell to the ground. She simply turned to find her attacker.

  “William!” Jessica shouted. “She’s over here!”

  Nora shifted and walked slowly towards Jessica and Amber. It was getting hard to see from all the smoke, but Amber could hear Dunstan alive and well tearing into a group of wolves.

  Amber lunged her spear at Nora repeatedly to keep her at bay and to distract her. So preoccupied with Amber and Jessica, she didn’t see Martin and William get on the other side of her.

  Martin lunged his spear into Nora’s back right leg, and she lashed right back at him, narrowly missing.

  William, now with a broadsword hacked at her back left. He didn’t break through, but she was too injured to jump away.

  She roared in anger and pain, and Amber lunged her spear into her chest, almost going all the way through before being backhanded into the mayor’s platform. Jessica swiped her sword at the hand that struck Amber and managed a deep cut before she herself was backhanded away. From the back, Martin pulled his spear out of her knee and lunged it into her back, narrowly missing her heart.

  They were almost there. They knew it.

  Nora collapsed to the ground and snapped her jaws at Amber.

  “Here, Amber!” Jessica yelled and tossed Amber her sword.

  It bounced out of her hands, and she had to quickly roll to avoid Nora’s claws. She reached for the sword, and her fingers narrowly caught an angle on the hilt and drew it in to her. She raised the sword high and brought it down hard across Nora’s jaws. A quick yelp, and it was suddenly over.

  What happened next, none of them saw coming.

  All the remaining wolves leapt back to Town Square and encircled William, Martin, Jessica, and Amber, guarding them.

  Jessica, Amber, Martin and William had become alphas.

  CHAPTER 20

  Jessica and Amber helped each other with their dresses. They thought about doing a double wedding, but decided against it. “This town needs parties,” Jessica said. “Let’s give ‘em as many we can.”

  Amber was going to go first, but Dunstan asked if they could wait until the fall.

  “Why?” Amber asked.

  Dunstan hesitated to answer. “It’s my favorite time of year,” he said. Amber didn’t believe him. He was up to something, but knowing Dunstan, it just meant he was up to something good. She decided to give him his time. Whatever he was up to, he required both William and Martin to help him.

  “What are they up to?” Amber asked Jessica one evening while they worked on each other’s gowns. Her parents had since hired a cook to help out at Starlight Tavern. She helped out when she wanted, but she was otherwise a free woman.

  “I don’t know!” Jessica answered. “But whatever it is, those boys come back stinky and dirty every night. I just hope it’s good.”

  Amber had no idea what they were up to. If she had allowed herself to think about it, she probably could have figured it out, but she really didn’t want to know. Dunstan wanted it to be a surprise, and she could do that small thing for him.

  They got married at the tail end of summer— mere days before the official start of autumn. Amber questioned Dunstan numerous times, and he assured he would be ready— with whatever it was he was doing.

  The church said it could accommodate the whole town, but later recanted. As with all great things that happen in Bruton, their wedding took place in Town Square, and it couldn’t have happened on a better day.

  Bruton, never known for particularly hot summers nor frigid autumns, chose to not surprise them. The weather was perfect, and the breeze wistfully gentle.

  But before their wedding could happen, they had one thing they needed to do. One thing they had forgotten all about.

  Old Abbie found them at noon the day before and told them to meet her at the storage shed behind her parents’ pub at twilight.

  “It’s important. Town tradition. An et’s my job to carry it through. Ye better be there if ye know what’s good for ye.”

  They looked at each other realized what Old Abbie was up to.

  Lovers’ Tree.

  “Go on in,” she said once they reached the tree. “Ye know what I want ye to do. Carve your initials into the tree. Not how they are now, Amber, but how they will be after tomorrow.” She then handed them a small, black blade.

  “It’s not bad luck?” Amber asked, taking the knife from her. “I don’t want to jinx us. We’ve gone through so much already.”

  “No, love. You’re putting in the energy who you intend to be. Your stating your intentions to the gods and universe. They like things like this. An’ this is how we used to get married in these parts before the church came in. If it makes you feel better, no one’s ever had any bad luck from doing this.”

  Amber nodded. She had never been superstitious, but her wedding was a big deal to her and she and Dunstan had been through a lot to be together.

  They tried to crawl in together and could only laugh. Dunstan was so much bigger than he was when he had first showed her the tree! He hung outside while Amber slouched over. Amber pointed out the box he had hidden candles and matches in when he was a boy and teared up. If only she could have taken better care of him then!

  Dunstan saw her and knew where her mind was. “Stop,” he said. “We’re both OK now. That’s what matters.”

&n
bsp; “Where do you want to carve our initials?” Amber said, sniffling.

  “Can we go beside my parents?” Dunstan asked. It was clear he had thought about it already.

  “Of course,” Amber said.

  “Both of you must hold the blade!” Abbie shouted from outside.

  Amber and Dunstan smiled at one another as they carved their would-be initials beside his parents’.

  *

  It wasn’t so much a wedding as it was a fair, Amber would later think after everything had settled. Everyone brought gifts for them, and sat still during the ceremony, but when it came time to eat, it turned into a ruckus affair. It was a potluck wedding since the whole town was there, and everyone drank and ate to their heart’s content. Children ran and played. People sang and danced at random moments— so essentially another night at Starlight Tavern, except people were bringing her things and being polite to her.

  Alice Gorman, Francis Mitchell, and Edward Linden played the music, there was really no option there, but they could only be heard so well during all the commotion. If you weren’t within twenty feet of them, you couldn’t hear them.

  After they ate cake and received final congratulations from everyone, the two climbed into a carriage Dunstan had had built and went south down Hythe Street until it turned into Ivyleigh Road. Amber had no idea where they were going, and she said as much.

  “I have no idea where you’re taking me,” she said. “Where are we going? You once promised to take me to the beach again. Is that where we’re going? We’re just going far enough out of sight, and then you’re going to whisk me away aren’t you?” She was a little tipsy, but she was abundantly happy.

  “We will,” Dunstan answered. “But first, I want to show you something. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.” Amber was suddenly struck with the realization that this boy who had held her heart since they were small was now a man who she was wedded to till death.

  “I know, I trust you. But I can’t take the suspense. Why are we on Ivyleigh Road?”

  Dunstan didn’t answer.

  The descent from Bruton was slow and steady going south, unlike how it was on the south-eastern slopes, and so their horses were able to clip along at a comfortable pace. But Amber had half a mind to tear the reigns from Dunstan and spur them on. Wherever they were going, they could sure as hell get there faster.