by Lisa Ladew
Table of Contents
Title Page
Glossary
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
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Notes from Lisa xoxo
One True Mate 4; Shifter’s Innocent
by Lisa Ladew
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons or organizations, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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 permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Copyright © 2016 Lisa Ladew All Rights Reserved
Book cover by The Final Wrap <3
Cover model: Matthew Hosea
Photographer: Shauna Kruse
Muse by The Blurb Diva. My online bff. Hearts and unicorns and peen dreams.
As always, I must mention *Kristine Piiparinen for general awesomeness in the steamy romance world and Amanda Quiles for shifter guru-ness. Thank you both for your help.
No book thoughts would ever be complete without mentioning OTM’s readers. I love that you get what I’m trying to do here, and that you dig this world as much as I do. I appreciate you so much. <3 <3 <3
Of course, I must mention my husband, John, for many things, including being a massive PITA, but of course, you’ve always supported me, always loved our boys, always had crazy ideas, and never backed down from a challenge, even when I say stuff like, “Ok, the bad wolf has to say something mysterious that makes the good wolf realize x, y, and z. What should that something be?” ha ha. Thank you.
Glossary
Bearen - bear shifters. Almost always work as firefighters.
Citlali - Spiritual leaders of all Shiften. They are able to communicate with the deities telepathically, and sometimes bring back prophecies from these communications.
Deae - goddess.
Dragen - dragon shifter. Rare.
Echo - an animal with the same markings as a shiften. Usually seen as a harbinger of bad things, but could also be a messenger from The Light.
Felen - big cat shifters. Almost always work as mercenaries. They are also the protectors of Rhen’s physical body and a specially-trained group of them can track Khain when he comes into the Ula.
Foxen - the Foxen were created when Khain forcibly mated with female wolfen.
Haven, The – final resting place of all shiften. Where The Light resides.
Impot – a shiften that cannot shift because of a genetic defect caused by mating too close to their own bloodline. Trent and Troy are not thought to be impots because they were born during a klukwana.
Khain - also known as the Divided Demon, the Great Destroyer, and the Matchitehew. The hunter of humans and the main nemesis of all shiften.
Klukwana – a ceremony where a full-blooded shiften who mates another shiften does so with both in animal form, then the mother stays in animal form during the entire pregnancy. The young in the litter are always born as their animal. Wolven from a klukwana always come in at least 4 to 7 young. Bearen are always two cubs, and felen are unpredictable, sometimes only one. Shiften born from a klukwana are almost always more powerful, bigger, and stronger than regular shiften, but many parents don’t try it because of the inherent risks to the mother during the (shorter) pregnancy and the risk that the shiften young may choose not to shift into human form. A lesser known possibility is that the shiften young will have a harder time learning to shift into human form, especially if no one shifts near them in the first few days after birth.
KSRT - Kilo Special Response Team, or Khain Special Response Team. A group of wolven police whose primary goal is to hunt down and kill Khain, if that can be done.
Light, The – The creator of the Ula, humans, Rhen, Khain, and the angels.
Moonstruck - Insane. Shiften who spend too long indoors or too long in human form can become moonstruck slowly and not even realize it.
Pravus - Khain’s home. A fiery, desolate dimension that sits alongside ours.
Pumaii - a small group of specialized felen tasked with tracking Khain when he crosses over into our dimension.
Renqua - a discoloration in a shiften’s fur which is also seen as a birthmark in human form. Every renqua is different. The original renquas were pieces of Rhen she put inside the wolves, bears, and big cats to create the shiften. Every pure-blooded shifter born since has also had a renqua. Half-breeds may or may not have one. Some foxen acquired weak renquas when they mated with shiften. Also called the mark of life.
Rhen - the creator of all shiften. A female deity.
Ruhi – the art of speaking telepathically. No humans are known to possess the power to do this. Not all shiften are able to do it. It is the preferred form of speaking for the dragen.
Shiften - Shifter-kind. Beings who could transform into animals on command.
Ula – earth, in the current dimension and time. The home of the shiften.
Vahiy – end of the world.
Wolfen - a wolf shifter. Almost always works as a police officer.
Wolven - wolf shifters, plural.
Zyanya - When a wolfen dies, the funeral is for the benefit of humans, but the important ceremony is the zyanya. The pack mates of the fallen wolfen run in wolf form through the forest, heading north to show the spirit the way to The Haven. When they reach a body of water, they all jump in and swim to the other side, then emerge in human form.
Chapter 1
Six weeks ago. Just beyond the city limits of Serenity, Illinois.
Cerise bent over Zeus’s neck, the fingers of her right hand digging into his mane as he sped through the forest. From behind her, Kaci dug her heels into Zeus’s side, trying to urge him faster still, but he didn’t respond. They both knew they were racing the yellow glow just barely starting to show in the east, because they might not have another chance to hit this house until it was too late. Tonight, or maybe never.
Cerise leaned forward to speak into Zeus’s ear. “Faster, Zeus, if you have anything left.” She barely needed to speak the first word and he showed her he did have a bit left. His hooves flew, causing the wind to whip faster in her hair, streaming it behind her like a strawberry blonde flag.
Kaci giggled, threading her arms tighter around Cerise’s waist. Cerise felt like laughing herself, imagining they were flying, weightless, carefree, far above the problems of earth-bound creatures. She tightened her knees and laid her body forward to move with the big horse.
Zeus’s hooves pounded against the forest floor, occasionally punching through cru
sted snow that had fallen through a break in the boughs and collected in tiny white drifts. Ahead of them, the edge of the forest drew close. Cerise could see the house they were heading to. An old farmhouse, well taken care of, and miles beyond it, the first stirrings of the subdivisions that crept up to the edge of Serenity.
She spoke to Zeus again, rubbing his neck. “You can slow down now, big guy. Thanks for the ride. It was fun.”
They broke through the trees and Zeus obediently dropped to a trot, then a walk. He swung his head and Cerise and Kaci both sat up straighter, Cerise feeling like swinging her head also. A bareback gallop through the forest in the dark and cold was exhilarating She hadn’t slept so far, and she didn’t feel tired at all.
Zeus maneuvered to the end of the driveway and stopped directly in front of a blue and white mailbox shaped like a tiny barn, then looked around, nickering softly, his ears flicking ahead, then behind. Cerise watched the house, wondering if anyone were inside gazing back at her. She was almost positive the only person who lived here worked nights and did not come home until nine or ten in the morning, but she did not know the man’s days off from work. She could not escape from home often enough to do that kind of surveillance without Myles getting suspicious. She and Kaci took great care to only sneak out when he was at his most drunk, guaranteed to sleep for hours.
Cerise looked up and down the street from her high vantage point on Zeus’s back. This house was one of the few left that hadn’t sold off its land to developers. If no one were inside, there were no other houses close enough to see them. Forest lay on one side, open pasture on the other. The encroachment of Serenity, the closest city in any direction, was still a mile or two away to the east, the same way the sun would soon be shining from.
Cerise felt Kaci let go of her death grip on Cerise’s hips and lean back confidently. Cerise swung a leg over to turn around on Zeus’s back and face her little sister. Not really her sister, but Cerise would forever think of her as such. Cerise had raised Kaci like her own daughter, but was only ten or eleven years older. Unfortunately, she didn’t know exactly how old either one of them was.
Kaci’s eyes were tired, but no matter. They’d had a good night. Cerise hadn’t been able to count their haul yet, but she thought they had at least a hundred dollars. Which put them much closer to making their escape. It would have to be soon. Myles looked at Kaci with more interest every day, and Cerise would never let that happen. She would steal Kaci out of the trailer as soon as they had $550. Enough so they could make it to California without hitchhiking. She hoped. Away from her dad forever. Ugh. She hated to think of him as that, preferring to use his given name, Myles. Disowning him in her mind. Dis-fathering him.
Cerise rubbed her temple lightly, fear creeping in with a pounding in her temple. Back when she’d been sick, she’d had migraines daily, and knew they meant a dark room, quiet thoughts, Kaci on her own in their tiny home, trying to cook food for Myles, if he was eating, and taking the beating if she got it wrong or if Myles simply felt like lashing out. Cerise pressed her lips together and took a deep breath, determined to hold off the migraine. She hadn’t had one in months, had been getting better every single day. She had to stay functional.
Kaci’s freckled face tightened as she watched Cerise put the hand to her head. Kaci knew exactly what it meant. Cerise winced as her probing fingers touched a fading bruise on her cheek that still hurt. Now Kaci’s eyes traced the bruise and Cerise snatched her hand away. She didn’t need to give Kaci anything more to worry about.
Cerise took a deep breath and rolled her shoulder muscles. “I’m going in alone but I’ll call you if it’s clear. What do you do if I’m caught?”
Kaci rolled her eyes. “Saaah-reeece,” she said, butchering the pronunciation of Cerise’s name for emphasis.
Cerise rolled her eyes right back. “Just tell me, Lemon. What do you do if I’m caught?”
Kaci sulked but answered. “Ride Zeus to the school and tell them Daddy beats me.”
Cerise winced. It wasn’t a lie, although Cerise tried to take most of the blows. She eyed the jagged cut of Kaci’s hair and the too-large faded sweatshirt and too-small shoes she wore, everything full of holes and fraying at the edges. She had hope school officials would put more stock in the story than the police had the two times they’d already tried to escape their parents. “That’s not strong enough by itself. What else does he do?”
Kaci rolled her eyes again and spoke in a huff. “He touches me. He makes me touch him. He makes me do stuff to him sexually.”
Cerise ground her teeth together. Not if I can help it. “Good. And they are going to ask you exactly what he’s done. You have to make it convincing.”
Kaci shuddered. “Yuck. Why can’t I just tell them the truth?”
Cerise swung a leg between her and Kaci and slid to the ground, then turned to stare back up at her little sister who really was no blood relation to her at all. “Because they won’t believe it.” She grasped Kaci’s knee. “Now, ears open, eyes open, remember the signal, and pay attention.”
Kaci nodded. Cerise turned and began to walk down the driveway. She would like to tell Kaci to ride Zeus under the cover of the forest, but Zeus didn’t listen to Kaci very well. If Cerise was around, he wouldn’t listen to Kaci at all. She could only pray that if she really did get caught, Zeus would somehow sense it and let Kaci take the reins for once. Ha ha. Reins. Good one. Like they weren’t riding bareback and trying to steer him with their knees and fervent wishes.
Cerise walked straight to the house like she belonged there, but at the last minute, instead of mounting the steps to the front door, she swerved to the left and made her way down that side of the house, old snow crunching under her feet. A small white garage sat there and she peeked in the window. Empty. Perfect. Heading to the rear of the house, she picked the most-recessed and dark basement window, then knelt and tried to push it open. It was locked, but she could see the lock through the glass. A finger-pull kind, and very easy to open by breaking just one tiny pane of glass. Within moments, she was sliding inside quickly and decisively. She hated breaking into houses, but she’d learned months ago that if she was going to do it, hesitation never made it easier, better, or more legal.
Great. Just what she wanted to be good at. Being a criminal. Cerise rolled her eyes as her shirt hiked up to her breasts with the slide, then she landed neatly on the floor, pulling her ratty shirt down where it belonged.
She looked around in the almost nonexistent light to see an unfinished basement with boxes stacked from floor to ceiling against every wall. Cerise prowled toward the staircase leading upstairs, then stopped in the very middle of the room. Standing as still as possible, barely breathing, she listened, listened hard, finally deciding that the house sounded and felt completely empty. To her right, a box called to her, but she ignored it. She would check it on the way out.
She strode up the steps quickly, not careful at all. The sense she had about enclosed spaces hadn’t been wrong yet. If it told her no one was in the house, no one was in the house.
At the top of the steps, she pushed open the door and peeked around at the dark house, then strode to the front door and unlocked it, opening it and motioning for Kaci to come in. Kaci nodded, sliding to the ground and enticing Zeus to follow her to the back of the house with a piece of apple she fished from her pocket.
Cerise watched her for a moment, her heart hurting at the snow pouring into the holes in Kaci’s shoes as she walked. No jacket. Socks for gloves. Kaci didn’t deserve the absolute nothing that she had. But Cerise had no way to give her more. For now. Cerise looked down at her own ratty tennis shoes and knew they weren’t any better. Someday they would have nice things. Someday they would have coats and gloves to stay warm in the winter. Someday they would have a warm house and days of work and love and laughter. Someday soon.
Cerise walked slowly around the house, waiting for the money to call her. She’d discovered most people kept at least some mone
y hidden in their house, and also that she was very good at figuring out where it was. She let her eyes slide over everything in the living room and the open kitchen beyond without settling on anything. A bookshelf called to her, but in a different way than money did and she tried to ignore it. She only wanted the books, but she needed the money.
Kaci pushed in the front door and sighed in relief as the heat from the house hit her. Cerise spoke to Kaci over her shoulder. “Money, only money. We aren’t looking for anything else.”
“What about DVDs?”
“Money, Kaci! Only the necessities.”
Kaci said nothing but Cerise could sense her disappointment. Kaci moved to the stairs and Cerise felt a pang of fear, then stomped it down. Trust yourself. Only yourself. You know you’re right, and this house is empty.
Unable to stop herself, Cerise drifted closer to the bookshelf. No money was calling to her, but the books were screaming. She ran her fingers over their spines, not looking at any of the titles. She didn’t care what the titles were or what the words inside were about. Books were magic, all books, and she’d not seen many in her life.
Her fingers closed around a book at random and she drew it out, then lifted it to her face. It was fat and she loved that. Pocket Encyclopedia of World History. She sounded out the second word as best as she could, trying to figure out what sound the two Cs made. En-sy-slo-pee-dee-ah? Or En-kye-klo-pee-dee-ah? She’d never seen the word before and it fascinated her. It had to mean something exotic and amazing. Desire to know more gripped her, curling her fingers around the book. She had to have it. Which meant Kaci would get her DVD, if any were found.