FALLEN FOR SHAME
A Glacial blood SERIES NOVEL
Anna Edwards
Copyright © 2018 by Anna Edwards
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.
www.AuthorAnnaEdwards.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Warning: This book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. This book is for sale to adults only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase.
In addition, this book may contain content which could cause triggers to certain readers. You read at your own discretion.
Disclaimer: Please do not try any sexual practice, without the guidance of an experienced practitioner. Neither the publisher nor the author will be responsible for any loss, harm, injury or death resulting from the use of the information contained in this book.
Cover Design by www.CharityHendry.com
Logo Design by Charity Hendry
Editing by Tracy Roelle
Proofreading by Sheena Taylor
Formatting by Charity Hendry
Fallen for Shame/ Anna Edwards – 1st Edition
ISBN: 978-1981662104
“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity.”
Dale Carnegie
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
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
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
EPILOGUE
PARANORMAL BOOKS BY ANNA EDWARDS
PREVIEW OF THE TOUCH OF SNOW
CONTEMPORARY BOOKS BY ANNA EDWARDS
DEAR READER
PREVIEW OF SURRENDERED CONTROL
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CONNECT WITH ANNA EDWARDS
MEET ANNA EDWARDS
PROLOGUE
Prejudice is a trait that lives within everyone. It can’t be helped for it’s inherent. A fight against what we perceive as the norm. In its most horrific state, it’s racial and sexual, leading to violence and often death. In its simplistic regard, it’s the sneer that you give the person next to you for the coffee they drink when tea is your choice. We can't deny that we have discriminated against someone in our life, even for something mundane. An adult shows intolerance towards a child, as they lack experience. A child levels the same back to the adult for they have forgotten all that must be learned to achieve their lofty status. We can’t help it. But, it’s when that prejudice destroys lives that we need to be ashamed.
The Holocaust and Apartheid are two devastating examples of prejudice at its most violent and deadly. Millions have died as a result of policies by leaders who did not want something that was different. Who gave them the right to choose?
A woman's ability to vote only came about in the early part of the twentieth century. In fact, prior to this she was property to be bought and sold. Indeed, there are still many countries where this is the case. The prejudice here is against the sex. Women are perceived as weaker, and thus cannot be allowed to make their own decisions or even walk alongside a man as an equal.
Parts of the world are becoming more tolerant places. Education is the greatest asset in our fight. There will always be people who cannot rise above the darkness that twists within them, to show kindness and tolerance to what they don’t expect. Teagan and Tyler are about to discover this, as they fall for shame.
CHAPTER ONE
Dawn was Teagan’s favorite time up in the mountains of the Glacial National Park, in northern Montana. The wisps of fog swirled around the peaks of the snow-capped tops. All the while the sun rose from its slumber to shine in colorful rays through the clouds. It was peaceful and serene. She’d brought her camera up here a few times, and the resulting pictures now adorned the walls of the Glacial Blood mansion. She couldn’t have been happier in her new home. Well, it wasn’t that new. She’d lived here for about three months now, but because everyone was so friendly it felt like years. She was excited about what would be happening in the next few weeks. Emma, her lioness friend, was pregnant with cubs. Her belly was already rounded, and Emma often lamented the loss of her toes. Scott, her lover, was devoted to her though and always made her feel better. It was wonderful to see how close they were especially after all the bad business with Emma being arrested a few months back. A very nasty time indeed. Teagan hadn’t lived here then, but they were all still recovering when she moved in. Selene, the multi-shifter also intrigued her. She’d never seen someone so excited to turn into a wild dog. Apparently it was a creature that Selene hadn’t encountered before. After Selene had touched Teagan for the first time they’d run around in the park for hours. Selene’s partner, Brayden, had looked at her like she was mad, but it was nice to have a friend who didn’t mind being like her. Now wasn’t the time to think about that though. She’d come here for a fresh start and that was exactly what she was going to do. Starting with making sure all the traps were empty and ready for whatever prey may stray too far up the mountain.
Teagan skipped over the rock formations. She never walked anywhere because, well, that was boring. Plodding along was like a slow march to death. Skipping meant that you could walk with a song in your heart, it filled you with joy. It was one of the reasons though that her boots were spiked. She was probably the clumsiest person on the planet. She could fall over just getting out of bed. She’d have the sheets all twisted around her, and she’d end up flat on her face with her ass in the air. She was a nightmare. If she didn’t have spikes on her boots she’d find herself sliding, all the way back down the mountain, on her backside. It had already become a joke at the mansion: Scott with his laziness; Zain, the brown bear, with his unhealthy honey obsession; and her, with her ability to fall over her own feet.
She arrived at one of the traps and put down the heavy rucksack that she wore on her back. It was filled with all the utensils she needed for her job as the Park Ranger: maps, torches, first aid kits, protein bars, and most importantly, fresh water. The traps were set not only to catch prey for them to eat but also to keep away unwanted visitors. These parts of the mountains were off limits to general human ramblers. The unwanted visitors she was talking about were the horrible Nuka’s cronies. She’d never met her alpha’s twin brother because he’d disappeared after the incident with Scott and Emma. Kas had taken over his lands again and was helping to ensure that the people on them had everything that they needed. It seemed that Nuka was a selfish overlord who hadn’t shared his wealth with anyone else. Hopefully, he was now rotting in a gutter somewhere.
God, she was never going to get any work done today if she spent all her time reflecting and daydreaming. Time to knuckle down and focus. She wanted to finish early and hopefully get back in time to help Tyler, the wolf,
in the kitchen. Her heart skipped a little. Damn it Teagan, she scolded herself. If you get started on fantasies about him it will be gone midnight by the time you get home, and he will have gone to bed. Unless it was a full moon, in which case he would probably be out howling at it. Was it a full moon? Was it only werewolves who howled at the moon? She was pondering the answers to life’s questions so much that she forgot about the massive trap, a hole in the ground for an animal to fall through, and went straight into it herself. She fell down through the wet leaves and branches, that covered the hole, and landed with an agonizing thud on the floor. Her ankle was twisted, and she didn’t need to look at it to see that it was broken. She had felt the bone snap. She took a long inhalation to settle herself against the pain. As a shifter, it would heal quickly but she needed to wrap it in a makeshift splint to ensure it healed correctly. Thank God for the twigs that had lain over the trap. She found a few that she deemed to be straight enough and not snapped into a million pieces by her fall. She ripped off a piece of material from the checked shirt, that she was wearing, and started to form the splint. Fuck it hurt. She was close to being sick, such was the pain. Yes, when they shifted their bones broke and re-formed as those of an animal, but this was different. This was excruciating. Shifting pain, on the other hand, meant that she was going to be an animal and enjoy herself. She finished bandaging her ankle and leaned her head back against the wall of the hole. It was no more than a meter wide and two and half meters deep, but it would be impossible for her to get out. That was the whole purpose of its design. She wished she had her backpack as it held a handset which she could use to radio back to the mansion, but no, her bag was above her sitting neatly on a rock. She was so damn stupid sometimes. All she could do was wait until someone came looking for her. She hoped that it wouldn’t be too long, but at this time of day most of the rest of the pack were eating and then would go about their tasks. She surmised she could be down there for a few hours. She didn’t have any food, but thankfully she kept a flask of water strapped to her just in case. She unattached it and flicked the cap to take a long swig. Not too much or she would need a pee, and there was no way she was going to be sitting down there in a puddle of her own urine. She really needed to concentrate on her surroundings in future. Fantasizing about a sexy wolf only led to trouble. Her eyes glassed over again as she pictured Tyler, in his apron, serving up a plate of freshly made sausages. He was a genius at turning the wild boar, which they often caught, into a pile of heaven. Her mouth watered and she let out a pleasurable moan.
“Not the sort of noise I was expecting to hear when I saw you fall.”
She looked up. Tyler was looking down at her with a frown on his face. She almost burst into tears of relief that he was there. “How badly are you hurt?”
“I’ve broken my ankle and bruised my pride, but other than that I’m ok.” She couldn’t even look at him when she spoke. The embarrassment of how much of a klutz she was dawned on her now.
“No chance of you climbing out then if I send a rope down? Ok. Wait there.”
He disappeared, and she called up after him. “I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.’
She heard him laugh. He was obviously opening her bag because she heard the rustle of the fabric.
“You got any rope in here?” he called down. “I know Kas packs it in all the starter kits.
“Should be in the main compartment at the bottom.” She remembered using it last week to help a baby deer that had been caught in amongst some branches. She just hoped that she’d put it back.
“Got it.” She let out a sigh of relief. As well as being clumsy, she wasn’t always exactly organized either. It came from being rather excitable. Kas had already told her off once for losing half of her bag’s contents. He’d made her replace it at her own expense and then bought her a new winter jacket to the exact same value, because he felt guilty. He was a good alpha but strict.
“Watch out below,” Tyler called out. She covered her head and the end of the rope came tumbling down. “I’ll just find somewhere to tie the rope to, and I’ll be back.” He popped his head over the side again. She smiled up in response. Everything went quiet for a few minutes except for his heavy boots clomping around on leaves heavy with frost.
“I’m coming down. Move over to the side if you can.” She scooted along on her bottom to give him room to land. Her ankle smarted with every movement she made. He pushed himself off the wall and slid down the rope to her. Relief flooded her body that someone was with her, and she wasn’t alone in the dark, damp hole any longer. If anyone did trespass on their lands, then they deserved to rot down here.
“Not your wisest move ever?’ Tyler bent down to check her ankle. He was wearing gloves and removed the left hand to check the makeshift splint she’d made. The warmth trickled through her wound and up her leg to settle between her thighs. She chastised herself again. Thinking like this is what got you into this mess in the first place. Tyler sniffed.
“Let’s get you home and healed first. We can address your arousal another day.”
She flushed bright red. Damn shifters and their strong sense of smell.
“It’s probably a concussion.” She tried to offer an explanation.
“Hush clumsy girl, let’s get you out of here.”
He pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her.
“Thank you,” she whispered up to him. She was just five foot four, and although he was shorter than some of the others at only six foot, he still towered over her.
“You’re lucky I needed some mushrooms for my sausages or you’d have been out here a lot longer.”
“At least I’m lucky on one score today.” He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. It was just reassurance, that she would be alright, she told herself. She was being such a foolish little girl with a crush. But Tyler was one fucking sexy wolf. He was muscular and lean. Dressed in the casual manner that she liked: tracksuit bottoms or cargo pants paired with a computer geek t-shirt, normally. When he removed the t-shirt he had tattoos on his chest, and one of them was of a wolf sitting at a computer with a chef’s hat on. Most people would probably think he was nuts if they saw it, but it summed him up perfectly: he was a wolf, a chef, and a computer geek. But most of all he was gentle. Unless he had to fight he generally avoided it, and he cared for everyone. That was probably where she was going wrong, because she was mistaking his caring nature for him being interested in her.
“Get out of that little head of yours. I need you to concentrate.” Damn it, she’d disappeared again. He probably thought she was the craziest wild dog on the planet.
He tied the rope around her.
“Tyler, Teagan?” Brayden’s voice came from above.
“Down here,” Tyler called out. “I need you to pull Teagan up.”
Brayden leaned over the hole with Zain by his side. “Will do.”
She froze, “Come up with me.”
“I’ll come up in a minute. The rope may break with both of us. I’d hoped Selene or Jessica would be around, so we didn’t have to climb to get you out of here but unfortunately they’re on an errand. Teleportation would have been so much easier.
“Being at the mansion, and tucked up in the warm sounds good. Teleportation is a lot less painful as well,” she responded.
Tyler checked all the knots on the ropes. “Ok, pull.”
It didn’t take Brayden and Zain long to get her out and resting on the frost covered ground. Brayden undid the rope and went back to retrieve Tyler from the trap.
“Hungry?” Zain held a honey sandwich for her. Her tummy rumbled.
“Thank you.” She took it.
“It’s Manuka honey, as well, so it will help fight any infections that you may have.” She hadn’t thought of that. She had some scratches from the branches that struck her as she fell. They would need looking at.
“Thank you.”
Tyler came to her side looking none the worse for wear for his trip down the hole.
“Warm sounds good.” He bent down and scooped her up into his strong arms. “Thank you, Tyler,” she offered.
“Not a problem my clumsy little butterfly.”
“Why butterfly?” she questioned.
“Because of your inability to sit still for long.” He laughed, and they set off back down the mountain.
CHAPTER TWO
He was so glad that he’d been on his way to the McDonald valley to get the mushrooms, the whole place was covered with the spores, or Teagan would have been sat down in the trap for hours. As it was, when they got back to the house, she was shivering so much from the shock that he’d helped Katia dress her in warmer clothes. They had bandaged her ankle again and placed her, tucked up in a cocoon, in her bed. Teagan had fallen asleep immediately. After sitting with her for a while he got sick of Scott popping in and complaining about the lack of sausages for his pregnant mate, so he’d left. Emma herself didn’t seem that bothered about food. She was more upset that she couldn’t paint her own toenails any longer. The sausages ended up being minus the mushrooms, but Scott didn’t seem that bothered and devoured ten of them in one sitting. After a late breakfast he’d checked on Teagan again. She was still sleeping. He then settled down to do some work on the computer. Kas, his alpha, had wanted him to try and track Nuka, Kas’ twin brother. Jessica, the witch of the pack, was trying to do it magically with Selene, but he’d been given the task of doing it via the magic of the computer network. Kas had even allowed him to upgrade a lot of his apparatus and software to do so. He wiped his hand over the fingertip recognition security. Only he could access this computer. If anybody else tried it would throw them out and shut down the system. Using the touch screen computer, to his left, he brought up the search that he’d left running the previous night. It was on credit card activity for Nuka’s cards. Nothing. Damn it. He set up a new search running on Ciaran’s cards. The druid was Nuka’s beta. Hopefully that would turn something up. Ciaran was known for his habit of purchasing expensive magical components to develop one half-brained spell after another. He brought up the computer screen on his right. This one had been tracking facial recognition for sightings. He had a positive match on it. Yes! He flicked to the location: Paris, France. What was the polar bear doing there? Surely it wasn’t for a romantic weekend. Tyler couldn’t see Nuka being passionate if he tried. Especially not after he tried to force Emma into being his wife. He googled the location. It was close to the Champs Elysees. What was Nuka up to? He widened the picture to see who was with him. Ciaran was the first face that he recognized followed by Jackson Gates, Nuka’s head of security. The third man he did not recognize though. The middle computer screen was opened this time. He transferred the picture to it and pressed search on yet more facial recognition software. He leaned back and rocked on his chair while he waited. The computer screen flicked through millions upon millions of pieces of data while he watched. This was the bit he hated. It all seemed so slow, even though he was checking most of the population of the world in a matter of moments. The screen flicked black for a second. He thumped it. The tried and tested way of fixing a computer that didn’t involve turning it off, and on again. When it turned back on his world fell apart. His chair was kicked backwards, and he scrambled along the floor until his back hit the wall. She was there in front of him: her name, her picture, the eyes that he’d last seen lifeless, the body that he’d seen mauled, the blood that had flowed over his hands.
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