by Jasmine Walt
We had conceived a child.
Even though Dion had offered to drive me to the doctor, I insisted on going myself. I went to the doctor's office only to confirm what I already knew.
Three months along. I couldn't believe it. The doctor couldn't believe that I had waited that long to see her. After the ultrasound and seeing that little bean that would eventually turn into our baby—something inside me stirred.
I remembered Hera's slight nod as she left the warehouse that day. She was the Goddess of Fertility and she knew. She had known that I was pregnant.
Perhaps that was why Lamia had left the God Gun for me. Had she known I was pregnant too? Had she seen something of herself in me? Maybe she was letting me go to live the life she'd never had.
Or maybe someone had given her a better offer to leave the God Gun for me to get. I tended to suspect that's what it was. I guess I'll never know.
Leaving the doctor’s office, I put my hand across my stomach, feeling a fluttering sensation. Could I do it? Could I raise the child of a god by myself? Was my baby even half god? Or was it going to be a mortal since Plutus was mortal at its conception?
I sucked in a deep breath. I could do it. There was no question. No matter what happened, I was going to raise this child. My baby’s father wasn’t dead. He was alive and well and waiting for me. There was no point in me mourning the time we were going to miss together…he was waiting for me. And what was sixty years when you had an eternity after that to spend together?
I nearly laughed. I’d known that I was pregnant for twenty minutes and already I was devoted to the little life living inside me.
Still, I closed my eyes and sighed. “I miss you,” I whispered to one person in particular. I knew that he had heard me.
It was going to be a rough road ahead. My mom raised me by herself after Dad died and I saw how hard it was on her. The thought of going back to the police force was absolutely unappealing after I'd quit. I suppose I could become a private investigator. The pay would be better, and the hours wouldn’t be as long. It would certainly be safer too.
It would be enough.
I reached in my purse to fish out the keys to my car. The God Gun gleamed at me, hidden in my purse in case I needed to defend myself. I had picked up the gun before leaving the warehouse with Dion on that fateful day. I kept it to myself and no one had asked about it.
Still needed a holster for it though.
I stopped rummaging in my purse, seeing a yellow slip of paper. I pulled it out in disbelief. It was a lottery ticket. I hadn’t bought a lottery ticket, knowing that my odds of winning were the same as someone coming back from the dead. I had already done one, so I had figured that my odds were shot when it came to winning the lottery. This had to have magically appeared here. I didn’t have to check the numbers to know that they matched the winning numbers from two nights ago.
I had just been given twenty-four million dollars.
“Plutus,” I said with a laugh and a shake of my head. I looked around, but I knew I wouldn't be able to see him. I sighed in disappointment, and looked back at the ticket.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
The wind fluttered my hair as confirmation that he heard me.
“Better hold onto that,” a familiar voice said. I looked up to Tisiphone leaning against the car. Her green skin was transformed to light skin, making her look like a normal redhead to blend in with mortals. Otherwise, she looked like her same, snarky self. “Wouldn't want to lose it.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked playfully.
She raised an eyebrow. “Word has it that you have a bun in the oven.”
I grinned. “And?”
She shrugged. “I figured you needed a babysitter.”
“Wouldn't that get in the way of doing your job?” I asked. I unlocked the door and got in. She sighed, came around to the passenger's side and got in.
“Not really,” she admitted. “I haven't had a vacation in over three thousand years. Might be time to take one. Since Barnabas died, I need something to take my mind off things. And Minos thought our date went so well, we're now an item. Besides,” she added with a wicked grin, “I'm good with kids.”
I laughed. “Doubtful.”
“I'll help too.”
I looked in the mirror at the backseat and saw my familiar partner sitting in the back. “You too, Dion?”
He smiled widely. “You betcha.”
I turned on the car and it shuddered to life. “I guess we have a deal.”
I was going to be happy, even if I had to fake it for the first few years. I knew that I was going to be reunited with my true love, I only had to live life to the fullest until then. I was going to start by loving my baby with everything I had.
Happy endings don't happen to everyone. I was going to make it one.
He watched the car leave from his spot on the rooftop, his sightless eyes still able to follow the vehicle pulling out of the parking lot. He smiled grimly, fighting the urge to go down and do something, to say something to her.
She wouldn't be able to see him, which would be kinder for her than it was for him at this point. She had smiled, her first smile in a long time, and he didn't want to ruin that. He'd been watching her, true, which was something akin to torture. It was worth it just to see her smile today, even though it still hurt him.
“A baby,” he said aloud, still in shock.
He had suspected it, even before he really knew about it. He was going to be a father. There had been a time long ago when he had slept around with lots of women, yet he had always been careful not to get his lovers pregnant. For other gods and goddesses, it was a game to be as prolific as possible. Not him. Back then, he didn't want to have children who would be ashamed of their father for being what he was.
And now...
Something twisted inside his gut, as he acknowledged the fact that he wouldn't be able to be there to raise it. Would their child resent that fact? Were they going to create the same cycle that had created Stephen?
No. He knew Callista. She was going to be a great mother. It was his guilt that he was feeling right now, which contributed to him giving her a winning lottery ticket. There'd be hell to pay when his family found out, but it was worth it.
She was worth it.
“Until we see each other again, Callista,” he murmured. “My love.”
He pressed two fingers to his lips and blew slightly to the wind.
Then he was gone, and the wind blew the lonely bit of leaves left behind.
The End
Continue The Elysium Legacies in book two, Life is but a Nightmare, coming soon.
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About the Author
Sci-fi junkie, video game nerd, and wannabe manga artist Erin Hayes writes a lot of things. Sometimes she writes books, like the fantasy mystery novel Death is but a Dream, the sci-fi middle grade book Jacob Smith is Incredibly Average, and the Her Wolf paranormal series.
She works as an advertising copywriter during the day, and she moonlights as an author. She has lived in New Zealand, Texas, and now in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband, cat, and a growing collection of geek paraphernalia
You can reach her at [email protected] and she'll be happy to chat. Especially if you want to debate Star Wars.
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Power Shift
Hunting the Bounty Hunter beneath Haunted Alaska Skies
Calinda B
Published by Sumner McKenzie, Inc.
Kingston, WA, 98346
Ebook Edition
Copyright ©2015 Calinda B
All Rights Reserved.
Cover art copyright by The Art and the Writing
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Editing by Tina Winograd
License Notes: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people, but it can be lent according to the retailer’s coding. If you would like to give this book to another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to an online retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Created with Vellum
About the Book
Power Shift
A mystery hovers around the Haunted Bear Glacier near the remote town of Charming, Alaska. Town manager Chia Petit is determined to solve it.
There's nothing Chia loves better than a good Alaska adventure--when she's not obsessed by her sexual needs or her obedience to rules, that is. Hindered by her annoying practical joker vampire roommate, helped by her happy-go-lucky dog shape shifter best friend, Chia has more than a few challenges ahead.
Saddled with six stupid ghosts - the demons of past transgressions - as her constant companions, keeping the town of Charming safe and law-abiding should be her only worries. Not so. When Hung Durand, ultra-sexy bounty hunter and shape shifter extraordinaire comes to town, with romance on his mind, all bets are off. His tantalizing presence makes her adherence to rules vaporize as she contemplates shameless, naughty acts with the outlaw.
The sharpshooting gal is prepared for bloody battle, the likes of which neither Hung nor Red Mountainbear, a blowhard, money-grubbing conservative from Fairbanks, has ever experienced. Her mission is to keep the peaceful, shape shifter refuge out of the clutches of those that would just as soon destroy it as they would mine it to fatten their wallets.
Will Chia lose her town to those with dollar signs clouding their judgment, or will her undeniable, wanton attraction to Hung distract her efforts? Or, worse yet, will her vampire roommate take his crazy pranks too far, resulting in her untimely death? Find out in this humorous, Alaska paranormal adventure.
Limitless love and thanks to the Official Sweetie Pie, my loving partner, and truly honest guy, John. Thanks to Tina Winograd, the boss-dog editor of editors! Thanks to the most awesome street team in the world, the Wicked Hot Street Team.
And thanks to Ron and Brandon, as always, just because.
1
“Stop!” yelled Chia Petit as she raced through the heart of town along the pre-dawn, street-lighted road. Few were up at this time. “This is a violation of city ordinance six two seven.” Like he cares what law he’s violating.
Her “weather inappropriate” sneakers pounded the icy road, the sound bouncing back and forth between the vacant buildings.
In the distance, the outline of Haunted Bear Glacier was barely discernable in the moonlight. That’s where he’s headed. I’ll bet my life on it. She’d been summoned less than an hour ago, and told an unregistered bounty hunter was making his presence known in area.
Bounty hunters had to register…state their business before they rolled through town, get business done posthaste and move along. As town manager, she made the laws, earning her the nickname Charming Queen of Rules. She tried her best to enforce said laws. All townsfolk usually complied. That’s how she knew who to look for—the male who refused to follow the rules.
The slick, frigid road made it nearly impossible to gain any speed—not that it would help—the person she pursued was extremely tall, very fast, and very male. She, on the other hand, stood a mere five feet if she stretched tall. “Hung Durand, you son of a bitch, stop!”
A faint laugh, low in the vocal register, sexy as hell, met her ears in response.
The six ghosts who were her constant companions…more like constant pains in the ass…swirled around her head. They chattered and laughed excitedly in ghost-speak—ethereal high-pitched sounds to which she’d become accustomed. She batted at them—not that it would help—as they darted in front of her eyes. “Get away from me!” As usual, they obscured her vision of the blurred form in the distance, growing increasingly smaller by the second.
Eager to share in the excitement of the pursuit, no doubt alerted by her cries, the local dog pack raced around the corner, tongues lolling, eyes bright.
“No, no, no, no, no!” she lamented, too late. One of the dogs, a border collie named Peaty, with no flock to tend, nipped at her heel. She lost her balance and flew into a pile of cardboard boxes on a corner, awaiting breakdown for the recycling truck. The dogs circled her, licking her face, barking, and adding to the mayhem. “Dag nab it,” she yelled, struggling without success to get to her feet. “You mess of mongrels made me lose him.” Like I would’ve caught him, anyway.
Another dog, a huge, beautiful brown and white husky, with a thick, lush coat, licked her face extra vigorously, his glacier blue eyes glimmering.
Chia pushed him away with her palm, disgusted. “Stop it. I hate having my face licked.”
Undeterred, he began humping her leg, his tongue dangling from his mouth, his eyes practically rolling back in his head with ecstasy.
She shoved at him, appalled, letting out a few choice curse words.
And then, with a burst of light, he shifted into Cecil Carpenter, the town drifter and barhopper, his hairy human legs trapping her jeans covered thigh.
“Get off of me, Cecil! And cover yourself!”
Cecil laughed, rolled to his side and stood, stretching. “Great game, Ms. Manager. Who were we chasing?” He scratched at his crotch, seemingly unaware of his naked form.
The rest of the pack, real dogs, sat and nipped at fleas, chewed, licked, rolled on the sidewalk, or rooted in the boxes for something to eat.
“I can’t un-see what I’ve just seen, you moron. I said, cover yourself.” Chia put her hand in front of her face, trying to shield her view of him. She raised her sleeve to her cheek to scrub off his slobber.
He picked up a piece of cardboard and held it over his hips. “Settle down, captain. Haven’t you ever seen a male body before?”
“Of course I have.” Just left a fine one this morning to race after Hung Durand. And my ovaries are pissed at me for leaving. “I prefer to choose the male whose body bits I’m viewing.”
“Hey! These are no bits, I assure you.” He shifted the cardboard, cupped himself and shook the flesh in his palm, still slightly turgid.
“Ack! Stop with the show and tell!”
He quickly covered himself with the cardboard. “Sheesh. Calm down. Here, let me help you.”
She accepted Cecil’s hand and easily got to her feet, prompted by the tug of his strong arm. Suddenly remembering he had just jingled his junk with the hand she held, she jerked away, thinking, Ew! Brushing herself off, she answered his previously asked question. “The bastard I was chasing was none other than Hung Durand.”
Cecil whistled. “Dang. You’ve been trying to snag him for years.”
“Ever since I became town manager. He’s the only one who’s ever evaded me, the son of a bitch.” Her ghosts calmed and draped themselves across her torso like wet paper. She plucked at one of them, the ghost of sexual transgressions, peeling it away from her and flinging it into the sky.
It spun, startled, eye sockets wide. Then settled back on her torso, letting loose whiffs of pheromones and the scents of hot, tawdry sex.
“Go away!” she protested, her loins beginning to ache in response. At the “prime breeder age” of her mid-twenties, or so her shifter friends said, she often found herself following the directive of her hormones, rather than the task at hand. In other words, she often felt consumed by horny, lusty thoughts and sensations. She longed for a boyfriend or two but pickings were slim in these parts. If she
were honest, she’d admit she hungered for Hung, but she refused to allow that pesky little fact to get near her head.
Cecil chuckled. “Can’t get rid of em, can you?” Being a canine shifter, he was one of the few who could see her ghosts.
“Oh, I can, but it means reliving and sorting through pieces of my past I’d rather forget. It means dealing with emotions. I’m too busy for that,” she said, thinking, mind your own beeswax.
She walked gingerly along the frozen sidewalk, her breath forming white clouds with each exhale. Sneakers are so not appropriate for this weather, she muttered inwardly. She tugged her winter parka around her body. At least I managed to find my coat this morning. Whoever took my winter boots is going to pay. “Can I buy you a cup of coffee? Coffee shop should be opening in about fifteen.”
“Sure, thanks.”
“Can you find some clothes first? You know how touchy people get when a naked shifter appears in their line of sight.” She glanced at his bare-assed form, the cardboard once again clutched to his hips. A hairy chested man wasn’t on her list of turn-ons but Cecil had a nice covering of dark blond hair…nice pecs…fine abs…and… She blinked rapidly. What are you doing? The man humped your leg, for God’s sake. And he’s a town drifter—No job. No goals. Not even a house to call his own. Only a guy in search of a good time.
His eyes danced as he regarded her, as if he’d spied on her thoughts.