by T. S. Ryder
Ana rolled her eyes, and they shared a long-suffering look between them as Mr. Medina tried to convince his wife to leave Joseph alone. Ana's parents had insisted that they come for dinner today.
Not that Joseph didn't enjoy spending time with her parents. They were nice people and balanced one another out nicely. He was feeling a little tired of the energy levels here, though, and wanted to go home to have some relaxing time with his mate.
Well… relaxing might not be the right word for it. If they were careful, then the right position didn't strain his knee at all and they could take part in other activities…
Ana's father sat beside him and turned on the television. The news flickered on showing a picture of Seth Fischer.
"He's getting out of the hospital today," Ana commented. "Full recovery. Well, the doctors told me to make sure that he doesn't overdo it. It'll be hard, though. Seth's more determined than ever."
So was Ana. And so was Joseph. Crystal's mental breakdown only highlighted the need for change to happen. How many other shifters were out there, suffering like she had?
Ana and her mother hurried over to the couch when the news switched to a live broadcast from Seth outside of the hospital. The shifter looked pale, but he stood firm and his voice was powerful as he spoke into the microphones as cameras flashed at him.
"Our deepest sympathies go to Crystal Scott and her family," he started. "This is a painful time for us all, but especially for those who loved Crystal. The events of these past few weeks have only strengthened my resolve to see change come to our country. We have seen how the hatred of shifters cost a bright, compassionate young woman to lose her mind. This is why I do what I do. So that shifters will not have to hide, so they will not suppress themselves.
"It is a fact that when shifters does not feel free to be themselves, when they are shamed into thinking there is something wrong with them, when they ignore or, worse, try to cut out that part of them that makes them a shifter, it damages their mental health. The time has come for shifters to stand up and say "I am here. I am proud of who I am, and I will not be silenced." But in order for this to happen, our laws must be changed. Shifters are legally discriminated against in this country that is meant to be the home of the free. I ask you, free for whom?"
Joseph felt a well of pride rise in him as he listened to the senator. Maybe change was possible. It would take voices crying for change, though, and his would be among them. No more hiding his shifter side from his coworkers. Buck would be proud of him, finally taking a stand on his own identity.
After Seth's speech was over, Ana's father nodded. "I always liked Seth, even when he was a little boy. When are you going back to work with him, sweetheart?"
Ana slid down next to Joseph, squeezing his hand. "I'm already back working with him. Just not as much. But Seth has me doing a bunch of research to use in his arguments against the Shifter Registry. We're hopeful that it's not going to pass. A lot of shifter rights groups have gotten more vocal since the news about Crystal broke. She was adopted by anti-shifter parents and when her husband found out she was a shifter, he accused her of raping him. The poor girl never had a chance."
"Hopefully, it works out in our favor," Joseph agreed. It would be all too easy for anti-shifter groups to point to Crystal and claim that she was proof that they needed a shifter registry, but thankfully Seth had seized it right away and was turning it into a cry for shifter rights. "Using her tragedy as a way to better inform the public was a stroke of genius."
"That’s Seth," Ana replied proudly. "He's a master at this sort of thing."
Joseph glanced at her. His mate. His heart swelled with a happiness he never thought he would ever experience. Maybe he was turning into one of those gooey-eyed men who lived for his mate, but he wouldn't trade it for the bland life he had led before. Ana was everything he could ever want.
"And what about you?" Ana's father looked at Joseph. "When are you going back to work?"
"As soon as this knee's fixed up." Joseph tapped the offending joint. "Cap is pairing me with a new recruit. I'm… hopeful we'll get along."
The new guy reminded him of Buck. He had a lot to learn, though.
"I don't like your line of work." Ana's mother frowned. "I don't know how your poor mother sleeps at night, knowing that you are getting shot at every day."
Joseph laughed. "I rarely get shot at, Mrs. Medina. In fact, most of a detective's work is done behind a desk. The movies make it look a lot more glamorous than it actually is."
"Well, you'll have to tell your parents to come over someday soon, anyway," Ana's mother said. "I'd love to meet them. I know this wonderful lawyer that might be able to help your mother get her medical license back."
Joseph inclined his head towards her. "That would be great. I'm sure they'll love to meet you. But right now, I think we had better get home. This knee needs some rest."
"Of course."
They said their goodbyes, including more hugs than Joseph was entirely comfortable with. Soon, however, they were on their way, Ana driving while he stretched out his leg. She kept giving him glances and smiles that had his heart beating faster.
"Ana, I love you," he blurted.
"I know. I love you, too. But I know what you're up to."
Joseph rose a brow.
She parked the car outside the house and gave him a long, slow kiss. What she meant was all too clear, and Joseph grinned. He had to resist the urge to carry her inside–his knee couldn't take it. Ana broke the kiss and slipped away, her eyes twinkling.
"Come and get me, my wild Bear," she whispered and disappeared into the house.
Joseph grinned and followed his mate.
*****
THE END
Bonus Book 2: The Billionaire Dragon's Mate
Description
A curvy witch helping her best friend PLUS a gorgeous billionaire with a secret PLUS a conspiracy to take his wallet and break his heart.
Jesse Barrett is a superhot billionaire businessman and celebrity. His rich lifestyle looks like a dream and women are ready to drop their panties instantly when they see him. But secretly, he longs for a woman who loves him for who he really is, and for the dragon inside of him.
Ella is a curvy, down-to-earth witch who isn’t interested in money or a new pair of Louboutins. What she is interested in is her BFF Charlotte who is in tears because Jesse just broke up with her. She’ll do anything to make her feel better.
Charlotte is out for revenge. She wants to hurt Jesse as badly as he hurt her. And she needs Ella and her magic for it. They want to blackmail Jesse for money with a plan that involves faking a pregnancy, revealing his deepest secret and breaking his heart.
But when Ella meets Jesse to put their plan into action, she finds out that all the magical spells in the world cannot save her when she looks into his eyes.
Can she go on with this game of trust and betrayal? Will the truth come out? Will she have to choose between Jesse and Charlotte?
Chapter One
Ella glanced at her ringing phone, which was sitting on her coffee table. She could have used her magical powers to see who was calling, but she was tired and it was easier just to reach for the device and pick it up. The screen said “Charlotte”. She answered the call, always ready to have a conversation with her best friend. And since Charlotte had started dating the super hot billionaire Jesse Barrett, her conversations had been filled with juicy gossip about her rich lifestyle.
“Spill,” Ella said.
But instead of gushing with joy, Charlotte was sobbing. “Ella—he—he—”
“What’s wrong? Did Jesse do something?”
“Yes—” More sobs and indecipherable words.
“What?”
“He—broke—”
Ah. That was all she needed to hear. “He broke up with you? Why?”
“He—”
“Okay. Stop. Where are you right now, and what are you doing?”
“Home.”
; Ella had no idea what Charlotte said next, but it didn’t matter. “I’m getting ice cream and wine, and I’ll be right over.”
She hung up and jumped into action. Her evening had just gone from Netflix in her pajamas to a night of consoling and crying and bad-mouthing another loser man who didn’t know how amazing Charlotte was. Ella threw on her yoga pants and a less-stained shirt, grabbed a few calming potions and slipped into flip flops.
On her way to Charlotte’s apartment, she stopped at the convenience store and picked up the double chocolate chunk ice cream and Merlot that were their typical comfort foods for a night of wallowing. Charlotte pulled open her door with puffy, red eyes and a wadded tissue in her hand. She threw her arms around Ella gratefully.
“Tell me everything.” Ella set the bottle on the table and grabbed two spoons from the kitchen, then joined Charlotte in the living room.
Charlotte held a box of tissues on her lap and she blew her nose one more time before she snatched the potion from Ella’s hand, gulped it down and started.
“He ended it,” she said simply, her tears gentler now. “After six months, that’s it.”
“What happened? Why did he end it?”
“He’s an ass. I should have known. How could I think someone so hot and rich wouldn’t be a complete jerk? Do you have another potion?”
“You can’t drink another one yet. Wait for that one to work. So what was his reason?” Ella asked, pouring some wine into the glasses. “Like, what did he say to you?”
“A bunch of lame lines. I’m not ready for a serious relationship. I don’t think this is working out. Nothing concrete. He basically wants to sleep around.”
“Really?”
“That’s the only thing that makes sense. Why else wouldn’t he want to be in a serious relationship? And if there was nothing specific, then he’s just an asshole.”
Ella took a deep breath. “I’m so sorry. I know you wanted it to be more.”
“I thought I was going to marry him, you know? Have this amazing life of being rich and going to fancy restaurants and events and wearing designer clothing all the time.” She broke into sobs again. “I’ll never have Louboutins now!”
“Does all that really matter, though, if he didn’t love you? I mean, would you want a loveless marriage?”
“Who said it would be loveless? I loved him!”
Ella took a long sip of her wine. “Did you, though? Or did you just love his money? You complained about him a lot. And”—she took another gulp—“you said he wasn’t very good in bed.”
Charlotte shrugged. “I loved him enough. And the sex thing? No one who’s that rich doesn’t have yearly affairs anyway. We probably wouldn’t have sex that often.” She sighed and downed a glass of wine in one long pull. “If I were a witch, I’d just cast a spell on him and make him love me.”
Ella rolled her eyes. “I’ve told you a million times, it doesn’t work like that. Don’t you think if it did, I’d be married by now? Hello?”
“I’m sure you would have been able to cast some spell on him to make him want you. What good is being a witch if you can’t make people do things they don’t want to do?”
“And that would be exactly why the universe made me a witch and not you, dear. It knew you would use magic for evil.”
Charlotte downed more wine and set her glass on the table. “Well, we have to do something. Ooh, you know what would make me feel better?”
“More wine.” Ella filled their glasses.
“Well, obviously, but also revenge. We should get back at him for dumping me. There has to be some spell or something.”
“Revenge? Like, make him grow warts or slash his tires?”
“That’s child’s play. I’m talking revenge for real. I want to mess with his head and his heart.”
Ella raised her eyebrows. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well, first, let me tell you his secret.”
Chapter Two
“He’s what?!”
“I know. Can you believe it?” Charlotte said. “The first time I saw it, I was kind of freaked out.”
“I’m surprised he even showed you if he has all these commitment issues,” Ella said. Though it was pretty obvious to her that Charlotte was exaggerating the problems they’d had.
“Well, who knows? So, I think the plan should be that we go and catch him in the act. We take pictures and use that as blackmail.”
“Okay.” Ella finished off her wine and set the glass down, reaching for her spoon and the ice cream. “But what’s the point of blackmailing him exactly?”
“Money. Obviously.” Charlotte rolled her eyes. “I want to hurt him worse than that, though. How can we really mess with his head?”
“Make him fall madly in love, then break his heart?” Ella was feeling a little warm and tipsy from the wine, and after hours of talking about Jesse’s worst features, she was starting to feel the desire for revenge right with Charlotte, as if she’d been the one who’d had her heart broken by him.
“I like how you think.” Charlotte pointed at her with her spoon before diving back into the double chocolate chunk. “But you said love potions don’t work like that.”
“They don’t. But there’s a spell that’ll heighten whatever feelings he has.”
“Then why don’t we cast it on him for me?” Charlotte nearly shrieked at her.
“Umm, hello? It heightens whatever he’s feeling. He just broke up with you. If I did the spell now, whatever negative things he’s feeling towards you would be heightened. Is that what you want?”
Charlotte stuck out her lower lip. “No.”
Ella gave her a mischievous grin. “But, if we convince him to like me, we can cast the spell and make him love me.”
Charlotte leaned forward and dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “And then you can fake a pregnancy and really mess with him.”
Ella scrunched her eyebrows. “There is a spell that does that, but what’s the point? We’ll have the photo for blackmail money and the love spell to break his heart. Why bring my pretend future child into this?”
“Because more than anything, Jesse wants to be a dad. If you get him to love you, then he thinks you’re having his baby, when you tell him the truth, it will shatter him.”
Ella poured the last drops of the wine into her mouth. “Well, I guess that’ll show him that you were the one for him all along.”
“Exactly.” Charlotte stuck a huge spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, then started to cry. “Why did he have to break up with me? I love him!”
Ella patted her hand. “I know. I know. It’ll be okay.”
Charlotte sniffed and wiped her eyes. “Yeah. When we get back at him, then I’ll feel better.”
“And I’m going to make it happen.”
Charlotte leaned forward and wrapped Ella in a tight hug. “Thank you. I love you.”
***
The next day, once she’d slept off her hangover and pumped herself full of aspirin, Ella drove to Charlotte’s. She was anxious to see if Charlotte was right and Jesse’s secret was for real. If it was, then that would be huge for the magical world. She was also a bit curious about Jesse. Charlotte had talked about him plenty in the months she was dating him and before. It was enough to make Ella interested in him as a person, and part of her just wanted to know if this was really possible. Could she actually make a billionaire fall for her, fake a pregnancy, then have the freedom to walk away from it all? That seemed like a great deal of power.
She figured the temptation level was low, anyway. She had no interest in the lifestyle Charlotte craved. Ella didn’t need expensive bags and clothing or fancy dinners. As a witch, she had power beyond whatever money could buy. Most witches and wizards had a carefree attitude when it came to money. If she got desperate, she could always turn to alchemy and make some aluminum into gold.
Ella wasn’t used to getting a ton of attention from men. She felt good in her body and didn’t have a problem
with her curves, but some men did. She wasn’t the perfect image of skinny glamor that Charlotte was. If Jesse was into that sort of thing, he might not go for her. Maybe she’d cast a spell to appear thinner since he seemed to like that sort of thing.
“Okay, so where are we going?” Ella asked.
“This is where he does it.”
Ella nodded and continued to follow Charlotte’s directions until they reached a part of the highway with a deep shoulder.
They parked and started walking, coming to Jesse’s car about a mile down the road.
“See, I told you he would be here!” Charlotte pointed at his car. “There’s something about Wednesdays. He always comes on Wednesdays.”
They walked farther into the woods until any hint of the road was obscured from sight. They followed a worn path for a long way.
“Shh. We’re getting close,” Charlotte said. “Get your camera ready.”
Ella took out her phone and opened the camera app. Charlotte crept along, making her movements slower and quieter. Ella did the same. They came to a flatter patch of ground, something of a clearing with fewer trees than the surrounding woods.
And there, in the middle of the clearing, was a huge silver dragon. He stood tall, eating some sort of green plant. His long tail, covered in spikes, lay behind him. He held the plant in large paws with long, clawed ends. He was a little scary. From this angle, they could just see his razor teeth chewing the plant.
Ella snapped several pictures. “Aren’t dragons meat eaters?” she whispered.
Charlotte shrugged and whispered back, “Did you get the photo?”
Ella nodded and turned her phone to show Charlotte the best shots.
“Let’s go.”
“Wait,” Ella whispered. “This isn’t proof that it’s him, though. We need to see him change.”
Charlotte thought for a moment. “I’m going to run out there and get his attention. If I say I need to talk to him, maybe he’ll change back. Just start a video and keep it going, okay?”