by Thorne, Elle
Chapter One
Black panther shifter Laken Araya shoved the notice back in the envelope and turned to her sisters Cadence and Carina. “I have to. It’s the right thing to do.”
Damn it.
“You can’t do this, Laken. You need to tell them you can’t serve. We never get to see you. This vacation…” Cade’s olive complexion was shaded with an angry red hue, her black eyes glittering. “When will you come home? To stay?”
True. Laken was hardly ever home. She spent most of her time overseas in one country or another, serving as a doctor. How could she not? She had a cause. She knew firsthand the devastating effects of land mines. She couldn’t bear the idea of not helping others.
What I don’t want now is a lecture on my life choices.
She studied the return address stamped on the envelope in bold black letters. SSC. New York, New York.
Every shifter knew what SSC stood for—Shifter Supreme Court. Well, maybe not every shifter, but for certain the ones that were in the database of the SSC.
Laken jammed the envelope in her purse. “We can reschedule the vacation, Carina. Cozumel isn’t going anywhere.”
“Yeah, but you are. You’re leaving right after you do this thing with the SSC, right? Where to this time?” Carina turned away, looking out the window.
Laken knew this was Carina’s attempt to keep her emotions hidden. She followed her sister and put her arm around her.
This thing was Laken’s summons to serve as a judge on the SSC for a case.
“Africa,” Laken whispered, answering Carina’s question about where she was going. She and her sisters had no one else in this whole world but each other. Laken felt like shit for leaving her sisters behind, but she had to go.
Cade fisted her hands, raised them chest level and dropped them. At the same time she exclaimed, “I knew it!” Her hair had loosened from its ponytail and cascaded around her face, tendrils sticking to her skin. She was still in her yoga outfit, and a light sheen of perspiration shone on her face.
Carina turned away from the window overlooking Central Park, her obsidian eyes sparking with anger. “You’re not going to get out of serving on the SSC? Not even try?”
The Shifter Supreme Court was nothing like the judicial system in the human world. It was based on hearings, and was designed to resolve matters peacefully between shifters and shifter clans. After many years of battles between clans over territories, rights, and other matters, the shifter community had formed the SSC.
Judges for the SSC were pulled from a bank of names of those who had offered themselves for the cause. Not all shifters opted for this route; several still elected to use violence to resolve disputes.
Laken Araya had put her name in the bank for serving when she returned from her service in the Middle East. She’d seen enough violence against humans and shifters. She and her sisters had lost their parents to violence of shifters on shifters. And these days she saw way too much violence in war zones. No, there was no way in hell Laken wasn’t going to do her duty.
“No. I’m serving. I’m not going to try to get out of it.”
Cade stomped her foot. Carina turned back toward the window. Both her sisters were disappointed. Laken got that.
She exhaled. Her younger sisters didn’t understand it. Maybe they never would.
They hadn’t lost a leg.
Afterword
Check out ellethorne.com for more of the Shifters Forever Worlds! There are more than forty shifter stories with their wonderful happily ever afters! And wait until you meet the witches of New Orleans, and the elementals of Colorado, not to mention the polar bears of New York and Russia. So many shifters! So many love stories! Enjoy!
The Shifters Forever Worlds
SHIFTERS FOREVER SERIES
Are you ready for it?
I have a whole world full of shifters to share with you. I’m listing them here, in the suggested reading order, though I’ve tried to make it so that you can pick up anywhere in the series as we all have probably done that at one point or another.
Many of these are organized in box sets for savings. Be sure to visit ellethorne.com to see which box sets are out!
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Where’s the best place to start? Well, probably with Shifters Forever.
SHIFTERS FOREVER starts the series off with grizzly bear shifters and their mates that steam up the pages in these swoon-worthy paranormal romances. From trespassers with hidden agendas to curvaceous women who are ready to take a chance, the stories in this collection will capture your heart.
•Protection
•Seduction
•Persuasion
•Invitation
•Temptation
•Attraction
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ALWAYS AFTER DARK is a spinoff with the white tiger from Shifters Forever: Vax, born Vittorio Tiero. He’s the one that helped Kane out during a shifter battle. Follow the Tiero family, a group of white tiger shifters, as they head to America to find love... and heart-stopping danger. Full of romance, suspense, and gritty drama, this red-hot collection is sure to entertain!
•Controversy
•Territory
•Adversary
•Sanctuary
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NEVER AFTER DARK is another spinoff that takes place in Europe. Here we visit cities along the Mediterranean and meet the old school Tiero white tiger shifters who are resistant to change.
•Forbidden
•Forsaken
•Forgotten
•Foreplay
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ONLY AFTER DARK takes place in New Orleans. The Arceneaux shifters, led by Lézare, Vax’s white tiger cousin—on his mother’s side. The Arceneaux are the black sheep of the family. Lézare doesn’t cave to public opinion. He dictates policy in the area he rules and he shuns old school European rules and regimes.
•Desirable
•Insatiable
•Combustible
•Undeniable
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MORE ONLY AFTER DARK takes place in New Orleans. The Arceneaux shifters and the Matthieu witches wreak havoc and find love within this city set on the steamy Louisiana coastline.
•Inevitable
•Inescapable
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BITTER FALLS FOREVER features Mae Forester’s nephew Dane Forester, a freewheeling, sexy, successful, movie star who uses every role and every woman to escape and forget the heartbreak he left in Bitter Falls.
•Unbound
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BARELY AFTER DARK features more of Mae Forester’s nephews! Grizzly bear shifters steam up the pages in these swoon-worthy paranormal romances. From trespassers with hidden agendas to curvaceous women who are ready to take a chance, the stories in this collection will capture your heart.
•Cross
•Lance
•Judge
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Ever After Dark introduces us to the white tigers you learned to love in Always After Dark, Never After Dark, and Only After Dark. See their heritage. Visit Giovanni Tiero and his brothers Federico and Tito. Get reacquainted with Isabel Tiero and meet her sister Capriana Valenti.
•Stonebound
•Formidable
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Shifters Forever After follows a group of polar bears in New York. Russian and rumored to be mobbed up, they are a powerhouse of shifters, determining the fate of many on the East Coast. Mikhail Romanoff, Layla’s father, runs this outfit with an iron fist. Layla’s sexy cousin Malachi features prominently in this series.
•Complication
•Fascination
•Motivation
•Captivation
•Flirtation
•Infatuation
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Forever After Dark takes place in Denver, Colorado. Enter a world of secrets and forbidden love. Panther shifters who who share their worlds with elementals must decide who they can trust—and who they can’t live without.<
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•Notorious
•Scandalous
•Delicious
•Perilous
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UPCOMING SERIES:
Shifters Forever More
Finally After Dark
I do hope you’ll be able to join me on this wonderful journey with our Shifters Forever Worlds Shifters and their mates!
Hugs, Elle!
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Elle Thorne Newsletter
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Thank You!!!
For sales and news, sign up for the newsletter! Thank you for purchasing and downloading my book. Words can’t express what it means to me. If you enjoyed this read, please remember to take a second to leave a review. I’d love to know what your favorite parts were.
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Have you fallen for these wonderful characters?
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The fun isn’t about to stop. Make sure you sign up for the link to the newsletter.
Hearing from you means the world to me. The Shifters Forever Worlds would not be possible without you and your love for reading.
With much gratitude, I thank you!
About Elle
Elle Thorne spent almost as much time denying that she wrote romance as she has writing it. It took her a few years to stop being a closet romantic.
Originally from Europe, she wouldn’t dream of living anywhere else but Texas. Unless it was another southern—translation: warm!—state. A southern European by birth, she wants to be near the water and the Mediterranean temperatures if possible.
Where does she like to hang out? Near a lake, a beach, preferably with a latte—extra shot of espresso, please! She’s inspired by the everyday men who make dreams come true. She loves a roughneck, especially one with a callous or two on his hands. A man who knows how to fix a car, please a woman, and protect what’s his. Nothing less will do.
For Elle’s Newsletter put this in your browser: www.ellethorne.com/contact
www.ElleThorne.com
Elle’s Newsletter
To receive exclusive updates from Elle Thorne and to be the first to get your hands on the next release, please sign up for her mailing list.
Elle Thorne Newsletter
If you can’t click, just put this in your browser:
ellethorne.com/contact
My personal guarantee:
This will only be used to announce new releases and specials. And to give my wonderful special readers a little gift.