by J. L. Weil
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Storm Shift
Nine Tails Series Book Two
J. L. Weil
Dark Magick Publishing, LLC
Contents
Also by J. L. Weil
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
Read more by J. L. Weil
About the Author
Also by J. L. Weil
THE DIVISA SERIES
(Full series completed – Teen Paranormal Romance)
Losing Emma: A Divisa novella
Saving Angel
Hunting Angel
Breaking Emma: A Divisa novella
Chasing Angel
Loving Angel
Redeeming Angel
LUMINESCENCE TRILOGY
(Full series completed – Teen Paranormal Romance)
Luminescence
Amethyst Tears
Moondust
Darkmist – A Luminescence novella
RAVEN SERIES
(Full series completed – Teen Paranormal Romance)
White Raven
Black Crow
Soul Symmetry
BEAUTY NEVER DIES CHRONICLES
(Teen Dystopian Romance)
Slumber
Entangled
Forsaken
NINE TAILS SERIES
(Teen Paranormal Romance)
First Shift
Storm Shift
Flame Shift
Time Shift
SINGLE NOVELS
Starbound
(Teen Paranormal Romance)
Dark Souls
(Runes KindleWorld Novella)
Casting Dreams
(New Adult Paranormal Romance
Ancient Tides
(New Adult Paranormal Romance
For an updated list of my books, please visit my website: www.jlweil.com
Join my VIP email list and I’ll personally send you an email reminder as soon as my next book is out! Click here to sign up: www.jlweil.com
Storm Shift © copyright 2018 J. L. Weil
http://www.jlweil.com
All rights reserved.
First Edition 2018
Edited by Kimberly Huther, of Wordsmith Proofreading Services
All rights reserved. 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 written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Chapter One
My fingers drummed on the kitchen table, waiting as patiently as I could for Mom to say what was on her mind. This wasn’t a conversation either of us was looking forward to. A million questions swirled around in my head, but I wanted to hear her say it.
I wanted her to tell me she was a Kitsune, a shape-shifting fox—like me.
At this rate, it would be Christmas before she got the words out.
Her thin fingers fumbled with the handle of her teacup. There was this sense of guilt inside me when I looked at her, seeing the mother I adored slowly slipping away, and knowing her fate rested on my shoulders. It was an enormous responsibility but, then again, if she hadn’t run away from her birthright she never would have gotten sick to begin with. And I wouldn’t have been born into this world.
It was an interesting and frightening thought, imagining my life without Hannah or Jesse. I’d grown up in this house. Seaside Heights was the only home I’d ever known.
Mom had chosen love above duty, and I couldn’t fault her for that, because I couldn’t imagine my life without my father or in another world. It was her connection to Katsura making her sick, a dying land in another realm.
She brushed strands of her long dark hair behind her ears. “Wow, this is so much harder than I ever thought possible. I’ve had this conversation in my head a dozen times over the years, yet here I am, at a loss for words.”
I reached across the table and lay my hand over hers. “It’s okay. You can tell me anything. We always have.” Except the huge secret about being from another world. Oh, and a shapeshifter. Other than that, she’d been an open book.
Or so I’d always believed.
Now, I wasn’t entirely sure how many other dark secrets Mom might have buried.
“I knew this was bound to happen sometime, but it didn’t stop me from wishing it otherwise,” Mom said.
I could see the visible distress in her face, and all I could think was this tension couldn’t be good for her health. If she couldn’t say the words, then I would. “Why didn’t you tell me I’m a Kitsune?” It might have made my whole transition a bit easier, instead of the disaster it had been.
She exhaled, tense lines in her expression lightening. “So, you have shifted? I wasn’t sure, but there has been something different about you lately”
I nodded. “It was quite the surprise.”
“I wanted you to have a normal life for as long as possible, and I wasn’t even sure you would inherit the gene. There was always a slim chance you would be only human,” Mom said. “You’re not even eighteen yet.”
“What does my age have to do with anything?”
“Typically, a Kitsune doesn’t shift until they reach adulthood. I assumed I would have a few more months, and when I got sick I knew I was going to have to tell you soon. I’m sorry, sweetie. Sorry I waited so long. Sorry you had to go through it alone, unaware. It wasn’t fair to you.”
“I wasn’t alone. Devyn was there.” Good thing, too. If the sexy Shaman hadn’t shown up, I’d probably be dead. Best to leave that part out. Mom’s guilt already weighed heavily on her. No need to pile it on.
“Devyn is your shaman?”
I nodded. “He helped me. It was pretty intense, and freaked me out.”
Mom gave me a funny look. “He?”
I blinked, wondering if this was too much for her. “Yes, Devyn is a guy,” I replied, studying her face.
“Oh.” Her mouth formed a perfect shocked ‘O’.
“Is that a problem?”
Confusion tinged her smile. “No. It’s unusual; quite unusual, in fact.”
I leaned forward in the chair, tucking one of my legs underneath me. “I don’t see what the big deal is. So, it’s uncommon to be paired with the opposite sex. It’s not like the veil between worlds is going to rip open.”
Mom’s finger tapped rapidly on her teacup, lost in her thoughts.
“Is it?” I repeated, suddenly worried maybe hell was about to be unleashed on my world.
“What? No.” She waved a hand in the air. “The veil will be fine as far as I know.”
“Good,” I exhaled.
“But, there must be a reason why you were paired with a boy.”
“To annoy me to death,” I mumbled under my breath.
Mom’s lips twitched, and it dawned on me, she had heightened abilities like me—sight, hearing, scent, and sound—my whole life. All those nights Jesse snuck into my room. Chances were, she knew.
My cheeks flushed.
“Does Devyn have a last name?”
I rolled my eyes. “St. Cyr.”
“St. Cyr,” she repeated.
I waited patiently for her to explain why she looked as if she’d seen a ghost.
I was about to usher her upstairs and demand she lay down when Mom reclined in her chair. “Of course.”
I could only stare at her. “What?” I prompted, having no clue what had suddenly made sense to her. I knew only bits and pieces about the Second Moon. “Besides having a tail and having strange creatures try to kill me, I don’t know much else about being a Kitsune.” My hand flew to my mouth. Oops. I hadn’t meant to blurt out the part about my life being in danger. Me and my big mouth.
Mom’s eyes sharpened, her lips tipping downward. “Okay, we’ll circle back to the killing part in a minute,” she said, seeing the surprise leap into my eyes. “But to answer your question, Devyn’s mother was my Shaman.”
I was pretty sure Devyn had mentioned that, and I wasn’t positive why the knowledge puzzled her. “What happened to her when you were banished?” I asked.
Mom’s eyes got misty. “I don’t know. She wasn’t allowed to come with me, and when my powers were stripped from me our bond was severed. She could no longer protect me, and wasn’t allowed to follow me through the veil. It was like losing a limb.”
I gasped.
“Trust me, the horror you’re feeling is only a fraction of what I felt being torn from Cersa. She was more than my protector. She was my best friend, and I loved her deeply. Being separated was an agony I have never forgotten. A piece of me has always been missing.”
I had mixed feelings about Devyn but, truth be told, I depended on him. It was strange. As much as the Shaman rubbed me the wrong way, he also intrigued me. I wasn’t even sure if rubbed the wrong way was the right expression.
“Now, tell me about these creatures.”
There were so many other things I would rather talk about. My mind was brimming with a million questions, but I recognized that glint in my mom’s dark eyes. She wouldn’t be derailed. I sighed. “It’s not a big deal,” I tried to downplay. “Devyn has it under control.” So I hoped.
Mom slowly got up from the table to refill her tea. “I’m sure he does. If he’s half the Shaman his mother was, then I know you’re in good hands.” She returned to the table with two cups and set one in front of me. “But I would like to meet the Shaman who is Baransu.”
“Barnaseu-what?” I mumbled, butchering the foreign word.
“It means balance,” she explained. “That’s what a Shaman is to a Kitsune. Someone who stabilizes the power inside us, and the outside forces that might wish us harm.”
I rested my hands around the mug, letting the heat seep into my fingers, and inhaled the scent of jasmine tea. It had a calming affect I could do with in large doses. I wasn’t positive Devyn stabilized me. He definitely enticed emotions. “Is it wise to have Devyn over? Did your dad grill your Shaman?”
Humor glinted in her dark eyes. “There was no need. Besides, my father was a busy man. He didn’t have the time to worry about who was protecting his daughter, only that I was.”
But maybe if he had worried more about my mom, she might not have run off as she had. I kept my lips pressed together, not voicing the thoughts in my head. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”
“There’s no harm in meeting him.”
Then why did I have such a bad feeling? Explain that. Something told me to keep Devyn and Katsura separate from my normal life. I wasn’t sure why, other than to protect them. “I guess,” I agreed, slipping the heel out of my shoe and back in as I fidgeted. “Does Dad know what you are?” I asked, tactfully moving the topic off Devyn.
Mom shook her head, a chunk of her long silky hair falling forward over one shoulder. “No. I never told him. There was no reason after I found I was pregnant and stripped of my powers.”
What would have happened if I had accidently shifted in front of him, not knowing what I was? I wanted to ask, but again I bit my tongue. My father had no idea who he was married to, or where she was really from. Sadness and a tinge of anger flared up inside me on his behalf. I tried to imagine how I would feel having been cheated of the opportunity to truly know the person I’d married and the deceit that lay between them. It wasn’t my place to judge, but I couldn’t help feel as if my father deserved more—deserved the truth, just as I had.
“You don’t agree with my decision,” Mom said, reading the emotions I hadn’t done a good job hiding.
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. I don’t know what I would have done if I had been in your place.” And that was the truth. I’d only been a Kitsune for a few weeks. Mom had known her whole life. Maybe she did know what was best, but it didn’t change the fact she should have at least told me.
“It wasn’t a choice I made with a light heart. Your father was a surprise, a twist of fate I never saw coming. When I crossed over, I never expected to fall in love. It just happened as matters of the heart often do, and I haven’t regretted a second of it. Given the choice I’d make the same decisions again, except one.”
I didn’t have to ask which one that would be. It was in her face. She wished, as I did, that she had told me about her past, about what I was, years ago. “Well, for obvious reasons, I’m glad you did.” I wouldn’t be here, or have had the amazing life I had, if she hadn’t. Up until Mom getting sick, I’d pretty much had the picture-perfect, white-picket-fence, all-American childhood. There wasn’t a moment I could complain about until this year, when she fell ill.
Then everything went to shit.
“Why did you decide to leave Katsura?” I asked.
She exhaled. “Wow, it’s been so long since I’ve heard that name.” A series of emotions crossed over her face. Fondness. Sorrow. Remorse. Longing. I couldn’t help but wonder if she missed it terribly, or how hard it had been to leave everything she knew behind to come and live in a strange place. She had to be incredibly brave, and I already knew she was. “Things were complicated with my family. I was born with a responsibility I’d been prepared for my entire life, and it didn’t matter what I wanted. There was only one choice for my life, and it suffocated me. I was never given the chance to figure out who I was, what I loved, or what I wished for my future. Every detail was strategically laid out from me, down to who I should love.”
My mouth gaped open. That explained why Mom had always pushed me to be my own person, to own my decisions and explore my options. “That’s horrible. So, you leaving was an act of rebellion?”
“In a way, I guess it was. I never thought my father would banish me. It hurt him to do so, but he had to set an example for his world. Your grandfather is a man of great power and duty.”
Grandfather. She rarely ever talked about him, and after years of her dodging my questions, I finally gave up asking about the extended family I never saw. Papa and Nana Lang had given me more than enough love and attention. I never noticed part of my life was missing. This would have been the ideal opening to tell her that her father had passed away, but the sadness I could see beneath the surface of the smile she tried to keep on her lips stopped me. “Maybe another time you can tell me about him, about it all. I’d like to know where you come from.”
Her lips lifted into a small smile. “I’d like that. A girls’ night.”
We hadn’t had one of those in forever. What had once been a monthly occurrence had ceased when she had taken ill. I’d forgotten how much I’d missed our girls’ nights: popcorn and a movie in front of the fire, Saturday morning shopping to beat the crowds, or afternoon tea parties when I was little. I had so many fond memories of us together.
“So, getting back to this threat on your life…”
I groaned, dropping my head into my hands. “It was nothing. Just a misunderstanding,” I muffled.
“Uh-huh,” she replied, not believing a word. “I know the kinds of dangers lurking in the otherworld. If you’re in danger, Karina, you can tell me.”
“I know,” I insisted, forcing myself to look her in the eye and not fidget, as I was prone t
o do when lying. She didn’t realize why she was sick, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was because her father was dead, at least not today. It had already been an emotionally draining day for her. I could see she was exhausted and barely holding on.
Mom reached out and touched the amulet at my neck. It glowed softly under her touch, a gentle hum of power as if it recognized another Kitsune of the same blood. “Our power comes with even greater responsibility. I’ve forgotten what it was like, but there was never a day I regretted my decision. You were the only thing that mattered to me. I did what I thought was best for you.”
“I know, Mom.”
She released the charm, weariness etched on her face.
“I should probably start on my homework, and I have a mountain of laundry I need to do,” I said, standing up and making excuses to head up to the solitude of my room. This little talk had taken a toll on us both, and I could see she needed to rest.
I walked to the doorway of the kitchen leading into the hall. “Karina?” Mom’s call stopped me.
Spinning around I faced her, lifting a brow.
“Why don’t you have Devyn come over for dinner this week? I’d like to meet him.”
I groaned, my hand pausing on the doorframe. Was that a good idea? A part of me wanted to keep my Kitsune life separate from my normal world. Mixing the two seemed dangerous, especially considering the danger I was in, but I couldn’t find it in me to say no. I glanced over my shoulder and smiled. “I’ll ask.”
Wonderful.
My worlds are about to collide.