Palm Haven Shifters: Complete Five-Part Series

by Sennah Tate

  He’d have given in to his animalistic urges, too, if she hadn’t interrupted him.

  Not Sonya — Esther.

  The elderly witch appeared to him again in a shimmery apparition and José froze in his tracks, wondering how the hell she did that. Did she have to know his precise location to project to him?

  A low growl ripped from his throat before he could rein it in and Esther gave a short breathy laugh that sounded completely devoid of any joy.

  “Now, now, is that any way to greet an old friend?”

  “We’re not friends,” José snarled, his top lip drawing back in canine-like sneer.

  Esther sighed and clasped her hands in front of her. “After I gave you that little hint about our mutual friend, this is how you treat me?”

  José’s hands balled into fists so tight that his nails dug into his palms until he felt a trickle of sticky blood. He couldn’t strike the witch directly, so he’d might as well listen to her crazy-ass plans. Use that knowledge to fight her and Diego both.

  “What do you want?”

  She pulled a face, her wrinkles nearly hiding her eyes. “Well, you see, I seem to have run into a snag.”

  José perked up. That certainly sounded like good news to him.

  “You failed to take care of my problem and now you’ve prevented me from enlisting the help of another.”

  “I haven’t done anything. And I want you to leave me and my pack out of whatever nonsense you’re conjuring, do you hear me, witch?”

  Esther laughed that hollow tinkling sound again that made José’s hair bristle and stand on end.

  “You haven’t done anything?” She chuckled. “That’s rich. It really is. If you wanted to stay out of it, you shouldn’t have brought another Alpha’s cub into your pack. He’s looking for his son and… I don’t know,” she feigned a thoughtful look, “I just can’t stand to see happy families separated.”

  “You manipulative hag,” he cursed, forgetting himself and lunging at her, running into a thick oak instead, knocking the wind out of himself.

  All pretenses faded from her expression and Esther looked at José with all the contempt and seriousness in the world. “You know what I expect of you. Take care of it or I’ll get someone else that will… by any means necessary.”

  He growled another curse and Esther dissipated into the air once more, leaving José with a sick sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  Maybe the old witch was right. Maybe he never should have gotten involved in all of this. Maybe he shouldn’t have brought Sonya here.

  He should’ve stayed out of it. Left Sonya and Manuel to fend for themselves. His wolf growled at that, clearly saying coward.

  No. That was never an option. They were innocents and Diego was a sadistic bastard. He never could have left them to that madman’s whims, no matter how much trouble he was bringing upon his pack to help them.

  His pack was healthy. Competent. They could take care of themselves… he hoped. Sonya on the other hand…

  Damn if that woman didn’t light him on fire from the inside out. Made him burn with this intense need he didn’t even know possible.

  The whole night he’d been close to her. She’d been broken, vulnerable, available — hell, she’d basically thrown herself at him.

  But as bad as José wanted her, as much as he dreamed about tasting her, teasing her, touching her and hearing her cry out as he made her come undone, he couldn’t bring himself to take advantage of her in this unguarded state.

  She deserved a gentler touch, more patience, and time to heal and trust again. That would never happen if he just bent to the will of his horny wolf.

  She needed time to adjust and he needed time to figure out this Diego Rivera thing. Without killing an innocent Coven witch.

  With his mind running a million miles a minute, unable to focus on any one thought longer than a few moments, José knew he needed to clear his head and shake off some of his aggression.

  Instead of dwelling on his problems any longer or debating his next course of action for the next handful of hours, he shifted, taking the form of his great white wolf. He shook happily, ridding himself of stray hairs and generally getting settled back into this body.

  And then, he trotted off into the forest for some blissfully thoughtless wolf-time.

  Chapter 7

  SONYA

  Sleep was nowhere to be found for Sonya; between the new place, the excitement and worry of the day, and her still-crackling magic, she didn’t stand a chance.

  By the time morning came Sonya’s nerves were frayed to their breaking point. She listened to the voicemail too many times to count and each time felt a lead ball of worry settle deep in her stomach. José seemed to think they’d be safe here, but Sonya knew better than to underestimate her ex. Diego was capable of some truly terrible things.

  A knock on her door was enough to draw a death glare from her. Hadn’t there been enough knocking going on in her life lately? Who even knew she was here amongst wolves?

  Maybe it was José. That thought perked her up enough to get her out of bed with a groan and a stretch. It was going to be a long day at work with no sleep, but she was excited to have a job to go to.

  She opened the door to find a fresh-faced girl, only a few years younger than herself, smiling on the other side and she instantly felt guilty for being angry. Long black pigtails framed the girl’s freckled face.

  “Hi! I run the daycare for all the little cubs around here and I heard that we had a new addition recently,” the girl said with enough enthusiasm to launch a rocket.

  The announcement took Sonya by surprise. She’d heard? From who? José?

  “I… I didn’t know there was a daycare here,” she answered, trying to keep her tone neutral. She didn’t like the idea of strangers looking after her child, but it could do him some good to be around other kids like him. She was always afraid that Manuel might mix wolf and boy play-styles and end up biting an unsuspecting toddler.

  She glanced back at his door; could she set her paranoia aside to let him have a normal childhood experience?

  “Of course we do! There are three other care-givers plus myself. We all understand what a handful little cubs can be and have tons of experience in tiring them out before Mom and Dad pick them up,” she said, wrinkling her nose as she smiled.

  Sonya nibbled her bottom lip thoughtfully for a moment.

  “Mom, can I go? Pleeeeeease?” Manuel said, peeking his head through the crack in his door. He didn’t ask where they were or why they’d moved in the middle of the night. Poor kid was used to it. Guilt gnawed at her insides as she looked from Manuel’s hopeful expression to the cheery wolf girl in her doorway.

  She sighed. “Well, okay, I’ll get him dressed,” she answered finally, letting the girl inside.

  By the time she got him dressed and ready to go to daycare, Manuel was pretty much jumping out of his skin. It wasn’t often that he got to play with others his age and he was such a social kid. He needed this kind of experience. Even if it meant she’d be worried about him all day.

  Once she got to work, Sonya settled into a groove of cleaning and organizing things for Emily and made them both a lunch of sandwiches and salad, carrying a plate into Emily’s office.

  “Knock knock,” she said.

  Emily looked up from her cluttered desk, startled, eyes wide. “Oh, hey! I almost forgot you were here.”

  Sonya smiled. “I don’t know how, I’ve been making a racket all day. I brought you something to eat.”

  Emily grinned. “Looks awesome, but I can’t eat it in here. If I eat in my office I might as well just live in here. Let’s go to the kitchen. We’ll chat,” she said brightly.

  Sonya shrugged and led the way back into the kitchen. They made idle chit-chat while eating their lunches and afterwards, Emily put on a pot of tea. Sonya was starting to really like her new boss, even with her frenetic energy.

  “So, you said you have a kid?” Emily prompted.


  Sonya nodded. “A son, Manuel. He’s four. He just started a new daycare today and I’m kind of a mess about it.”

  Emily’s face split into an even bigger grin. “I’ll bet you have some really adorable pictures, don’t you?”

  “Guilty as charged,” Sonya chuckled.

  “Don’t hold out on me!”

  Sonya whipped out her phone and they scrolled through the pictures together, sharing stories, laughing and cooing. They lost track of time, the hours fading away like they were old friends and Sonya decided she liked this new normal life she was building.

  Well, normal-ish. She was still living amongst shifters and employed by a witch. But it was far more normal than anything else she’d had in years. By the end of the day, she was a little sad that it was time to go home, but more than anything she was ready to pick up her son and see how his first day at the wolf daycare had gone.

  Though she’d missed it the night before when they came in, in the daytime it was impossible to miss the primary-colored building next to the lake. Bright colorful murals of letters and numbers graced the outside of the building and a colossal playground was surrounded by a short fence, a handful of kids scrambling all over it.

  “Mama!” Manuel spotted her before she spotted him — his wolf senses were already getting stronger even at his young age. He ran over to her, dark curls bouncing as he ran right to the fence and lifted his arms to her.

  “Hey baby,” she said walking over to the gate guarded by the friendly pig-tailed girl. Manuel trotted alongside and the girl let Sonya in the gate where she promptly scooped her son into her arms.

  “Did you have fun?”

  Manuel’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Yeah! I made a bunch of friends and they taught me this really cool game and…”

  Sonya laughed, all her worries melting away. She’d been so worked up about him being in a strange place, but he’d adapted as he always had. “That’s great, sweetheart. What do you say we go home and have dinner?”

  “Okay,” he said before launching into another story about the activities of the day.

  So much for tiring him out.

  But Sonya didn’t mind his boundless energy. At least he was having a good time.

  “So do you think you’ll like living here?”

  “Are we going to stay?” He asked, making her heart clutch with guilt.

  “Yeah, baby, I think so.”

  “Cool.”

  A few days went by like that and Sonya finally felt like she and Manuel were settling in somewhere. He loved his daycare and his friends and she was still trying to adjust to having only one deadbolt on the door.

  The only thing she missed was José. He was nowhere to be found during those few days and Sonya tried to tell herself that he was just busy. It didn’t have anything to do with the way she’d blatantly thrown herself at him.

  Alphas always had plenty of work to do — even more so since José seemed to actually take care of his pack. She shouldn’t read too much into his absence. But she shouldn’t read into his generosity, either, still ashamed by her wanton actions a few nights ago. José was a generous man and she shouldn’t try to look for ulterior motives other than what it appeared to be on the surface.

  After nearly a week, Sonya still hadn’t been to visit Juan and she felt a little guilty about it. Juan was the only man — or wolf — that she could even begin to trust and Sonya thought she should give her old friend a visit.

  Heading to the clubhouse for the first time, Sonya was impressed with the sheer size of the building. It was a massive log cabin structure with huge open windows and dozens of chainsaw carvings of wolves made so realistic they made her heart beat a little faster.

  After asking a friendly-looking older woman about Juan, she was pointed down a hallway to a large room. The door was already open a crack and she knocked on the door frame before pushing it open.

  “Come in,” Juan said.

  A smile flitted to her face at the familiar voice and Sonya entered the room, surprised to find José there, too.

  “Sonya!” Juan cried happily, sitting up in his hospital bed. He was scruffy and unshaven, skinnier than the last time she’d seen him and looking nearly a decade older.

  “Hey, you,” she said softly, walking up to give her friend a big hug.

  “I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve thought about you and Manuel so many times, hoping you were safe.”

  “Likewise,” she chuckled as he squeezed her even tighter.

  “Well,” José said clearing his throat, “I’m glad to see you’re recovering. I’ll leave you two…”

  As he walked out of the room, Sonya wrinkled her nose. It definitely seemed like José was avoiding her.

  “Do I smell or something?” She asked Juan.

  He laughed and shook his head. “I don’t think so, but my wolf senses aren’t fully up to snuff yet. I’m practically useless.”

  Sonya frowned, still looking toward the door. Manuel liked living here. Hell, she surprisingly liked living here. She didn’t want to ruin that by making the Alpha feel uncomfortable.

  “José is a good fair Alpha,” Juan said. “Not at all like Diego. You can trust him.”

  She turned to her friend with wide eyes. “I… don’t know what you’re—”

  Juan waved a hand at her dismissively. “Oh, you don’t need to play that charade with me. Go ahead.”

  A small smile found its way to her lips and Sonya gave Juan a kiss on the forehead, “Thanks.” She stood and took a step toward the door before turning to him again. “You should come see Manuel when you’re feeling better. I’m sure he’d love to see his Uncle Juan.”

  “It’s a deal,” he said.

  Chapter 8

  JOSÉ

  It shouldn’t have bothered him so much to see them together. It shouldn’t bother him at all. But it did. The sight of Sonya in another man’s arms was too much to bear for his snarling possessive wolf.

  She filled the room all at once with her bright floral scent and made José’s fingers itch to touch her. And then Sonya had gone right into an embrace with Juan.

  He didn’t know why, but that simple gesture made José’s heart hurt.

  Well, he knew why, but he didn’t accept that explanation. She couldn’t be his. No matter what his wolf thought or wanted. Sonya and Juan clearly had very tender feelings for one another and he couldn’t stay there to witness it.

  He found himself leaving the room, barely able to stop his wolf from breaking free and challenging the still-recovering man. That was not rational behavior for any man, especially not an Alpha. He couldn’t just shift and take what he wanted. Then he was no better than…

  Diego.

  That’s why, even though it had been killing him, he hadn’t tried to see Sonya. José knew he didn’t have a claim to her but he desperately wanted to, and that was the problem. He was trying to keep Sonya and her son safe, but the closer he got to them, the more of a target they had on their backs.

  He stood in the hallway for a moment, reveling in the brief moment alone to his thoughts. No one to ask him a million questions, give him a litany of grievances or a report on new threats. Just… peace.

  His eyes drifted closed for the briefest moment and he filled his lungs with a deep inhale, catching the faintest whiff of… Sonya.

  Damn it all. He couldn’t get her out of his head.

  When he opened his eyes once more, the object of his desires stood right before him.

  “Hi,” she said.

  “Hello,” he answered, his voice brusquer than he intended.

  She made a little face at his tone, but soldiered on with whatever seemed to be perched right on the tip of her tongue. “Um… Look, I wanted to apologize for… the other night.”

  José’s pulse quickened just from being so close to her, her silken hair was within reach. Though boundless curves only inches away from him, begging to be pressed against his body, explored with his hands and mouth.

/>   “I obviously made you uncomfortable,” she continued, “and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I don’t normally… I mean…”

  Her caramel-colored skin flushed with embarrassment and José had to stop her.

  “It’s not that, Sonya. It’s not you…” Well, that wasn’t entirely true, but it wasn’t her fault. She certainly didn’t need to be apologizing to him.

  Sonya’s apology ceased and her mouth formed a little surprised o, waiting for him to explain, surely.

  Instead of pouring his heart out to her, José decided to change the subject.

  “Look, there’s a bonfire down by the lake tonight. Good food, some dancing maybe… the whole pack’s gonna be there. I’d be honored if you’d be my personal guest.”

  Her brow raised in surprise and José saw the gears working behind those kaleidoscope hazel eyes that never ceased to mesmerize him.

  “Manuel…” She muttered.

  “Will be well taken care of. All of the gals from the daycare will be there with plenty of activities to keep the kids busy. So, what do you say? You’ll get to meet everyone and make this grouchy Alpha’s night.” He offered his arm for her, mentally crossing his fingers that she’d say yes.

  A smile played on her lips and she nodded, slipping her arm through his. “Okay. Sounds fun. I’m still trying to learn that not all wolves are like Diego.”

  José felt the familiar simmering rage bubble up at the mention of her ex, but with Sonya on his arm, he couldn’t latch onto the anger long enough for it to even darken his expression.

  “I promise we’re not,” he said with, what he hoped was, a charming grin as he escorted her out of the clubhouse.

  Chapter 9

  SONYA

  Long before they reached the lakeshore the smell of smoky spicy meat made Sonya’s mouth water. As they continued walking, the lake came into view, illuminated by a huge crackling bonfire.

  She felt her heart race at the sight of so many wolves, but they were just so normal. How could she be scared of them? Near the bonfire couples danced, further out there was a ring of grills from which all of those delicious smells emanated, and scattered amongst all of this were groups of people talking and laughing.