by Jones,Skye
“So will these Warriors be coming to the village?”
“Yes. The Seer has ordered them to find the female in the US and bring her here to meet the pack. The Seer envisions danger for her.”
I hoped to God my visions were correct. “What if what I’ve seen is wrong? Will I be in trouble with these Warriors? They sound scary.”
“Gods, no. They’d have to come through me to get to you. And the pack will stand with me. Warriors or not, they won’t do well against a whole pack of us. Don’t worry, Laura, you’re safe. We’re grateful to you, more than you can know. If it turns out this female is not there, or is not in danger, it’s okay. At least we tried. You tried. It will be much worse if we do nothing and leave a female in possible danger.”
I sighed. How many empathines and other men and women were at risk out there? Including those like me, who saw things but weren’t trained or perhaps even aware of their powers?
Boyd looked at me then, and his gaze sharpened. “You know, Adam says the Seer was asking about you. She may want to come and meet with you. Maybe even see about training you. How do you feel about it?”
“I don’t know anything about her.”
“She is our most powerful Seer. A true Cassandra. One who sees the future, the past, and things beyond this realm. It’s a great honor that she’s expressed interest in meeting with you. I’d be there, too. To make sure you’re okay. But if you don’t want to, it’s cool.”
“Do Adam and Drew want me to meet her?”
Boyd nodded. “Yes, they do, but you don’t wish to, and I’ll stand with you. You’re the most important thing to me. Not them. Not the pack. You.”
I swallowed hard, hit deep in my soul by his words.
I’d been back here at the village with him for three months now, and things were good. Great, in fact. I fit in well with the pack, better than I expected. It helped having Cait here. She’d become great friends with Izzy and Brooke, and their little group welcomed me with open arms.
I found I even liked the gorgeous Reba. She patrolled regularly with Boyd, but as Cait pointed out to me, they’d been pack mates for years, decades, and he’d never shown any interest in her. I’d been the only female to catch his eye since he lost his mate.
I’d handed my notice in at work, and they were fine about it. They seemed a bit relieved, and I secretly wondered if now that I had a scar—and some extra pounds—they weren’t quite as keen to have me representing the company.
I worried for Gemma. She didn’t know the truth of the situation, so now she believed both Cait and I had become hippie chicks. But we still managed to see her regularly, as Boyd and Jake made sure she got to visit the village often while we were on lock-down. Once things settled down with the rogues, I was looking forward to weekends in Edinburgh with Cait and Gemma. So, yeah, things were good. I’d finally found my place in the world, and I didn’t miss my old life at all.
Except, as good as they were, Boyd hadn’t made any move to take things further. When we’d arrived back, I’d happily taken the tincture to stop the burning that can occur when humans and wolfen bond. I wasn’t ready at that time for the other cure, which basically would have meant us mating there and then. And neither was Boyd. I didn’t want to push him. So I’d taken the drink, and physically, I’d been okay. Except, emotionally, I began to fall hard, yet Boyd seemed content as we were. He made love to me almost daily. Held me every chance he got. Complimented me all the time, and I’d often look up to find him gazing at me. But he never pushed for things to move on—and from what I’d learned from Cait and the other girls, these guys normally wanted to bond and mate straightaway. So the fact that Boyd hadn’t asked me to partake in the bonding ceremony with him worried me.
I’d fallen head over heels in love with him. Whatever hormones and shifter magic made me want him from the start all still existed, but now they came with an added layer. A human level of feeling and emotion. One based around real love.
“I want to go for a walk. Will you come with me?” Boyd stood, and I gawped at him. The wind howled outside, and the snow fell thick and fast.
“Now?”
“Yes. We’ll wrap up warm.”
I shrugged and gave a nod of my head in acquiescence. After getting myself suited and booted in a warm winter coat and boots, I followed Boyd out the door and into the awful weather.
Head down, I trudged through the snow beside him, letting him lead me by the hand. We were heading toward the boundary of the village. Past a few of the fields we grew crops in and toward the area where some of the woods lay within the village walls.
We finally came to a stop, and I froze. I recognized this place. Two small stones side by side. One on top of a mound, the other next to it. My awful dream of Boyd screaming at me to leave from months ago came back to me, and a wave of nausea washed over me. Christ. Was it about to come true?
“These are their graves.” Boyd’s deep voice reached me, calm and sad but not angry. Not like in the dream at all. “There’s only one mound as there was only one body, but I lost two people that day, hence the second stone. My mate and I, we were to name our little one Millie, if a girl. Angus for a boy. At the time they were taken from me, this area of land was not within the village boundaries and walls. In fact, we had only a small wooden fence protecting us, as for a long time before the attack, the rogues had gone to ground. We’d been lulled into a false sense of security.”
I squeezed his hand but didn’t speak. I wanted to give him space to say what he needed.
“I thought it only right you come to meet them if I am going to ask you to be my mate.” He turned to me, and his eyes held a wariness as he watched me.
I gasped and dropped his hand in shock. I stood for a moment, unable to speak. Despite my surprise, his words warmed me against the blasts of cold wind snapping at my skin.
Boyd watched me, but he still didn’t say anything more. After a long moment, he sighed and took hold of my hand once again. “Let’s head back. It’s freezing.”
We walked a way through the woods in silence. I wanted to scream out “Yes, yes, yes”—but the shock of it all took away my ability to form words. That and the intense cold taking my breath away.
We reached the place where the houses began, and Boyd stopped us.
“Will you take me as your mate, Laura? It’s a much bigger commitment than a human marriage. It really is forever, and with us, forever can be quite a long time. So I would understand if you don’t want to. I am sorry if it upset you, me asking you by their graves. I just…I wanted to let you know that I still honor them, but I want you. Truly want you, for my mate.”
“It didn’t upset me.” Finally, I found my voice. “I’m shocked is all. Part of me thought you might not want this.”
“I do want it. Have done for the longest time, but I wanted to make sure we were happy. That you were settled here. So…what do you say?”
“Yes.” I blinked back tears. “Of course I will. Yes!”
“The thing is, she would have liked you. Ali, I mean. A lot. In many ways, you’re similar, although different in others. I think you’d have been friends. I’ll never forget her, but I’m ready to move on. You’ve done that for me.”
“I’d never expect you to forget her. In fact—” I gave his hand a squeeze “—I have a present for you back home.”
My heart beat unsteadily as we neared our small wooden house. I hoped he’d like the gift I’d gotten for him. Boyd possessed an old sepia photograph of Ali. One he’d taken down from the dresser in the bedroom when we’d come back from America. It had peeling edges, and some areas of the print had worn away. He’d put it away in a drawer and I didn’t say anything at the time, but I always thought she shouldn’t be put out of sight.
So one day a few weeks ago, I’d hunted through the bedroom chest of drawers and found the photograph. I’d asked Cait if, on one of her trips to Edinburgh with Jake, she’d take it to be restored for me. She’d done so, and now it sat in a new
silver frame, wrapped in tissue paper, taunting me for not daring to give it to Boyd.
We reached home and kicked the snow from our boots. Once inside, Boyd headed into the kitchen to make us a warm drink, and I ran upstairs to get the photograph from where I’d hidden it in my bedside table.
I carefully unwrapped it and smiled when I saw Ali’s beautiful face looking at me from a photograph, which no longer had parts of it missing or faded. I returned back downstairs and placed it on the mantelpiece above the fire. Next to it, I placed a drawing of angel’s wings, to represent their lost child. Then I waited, nerves eating me alive while Boyd took forever to make us hot chocolate.
He walked into the room and handed me my mug, setting his own on the coffee table while he talked about the mating ceremony. Despite the subject being one of deep importance to me, I didn’t hear a word he said.
Finally, he stopped talking and looked at me, brows furrowed. He followed my gaze to the mantelpiece, and I heard his sharp inhalation of breath.
Slowly, as if unsteady on his feet, he got up and walked over to the picture. He brushed his thumb over the photograph of his mate and then over the smaller painting of the angel wings. Turning to me, he smiled and crooked his finger at me. Tears shone in his eyes, and I blinked my own away. I’d never seen Boyd show such depth of emotion before, and it warmed me to think I’d given him a gift that moved him so much.
“Do you like it? I didn’t think she should be put away in a drawer, but I thought the photo needed some tender loving care. The angel wings—”
“I know who they represent, and I love them. Love them both. I love you. I love you so damned much, Laura. You’re a truly amazing female. You’ve changed my life.”
“It makes us even, then, because you’ve changed mine.”
“When we are mated, if you wish it, we can try for a child? I want that. I never thought I’d be able to face trying for a child with anyone. The fear of losing something so precious all over again has kept me in chains. But now…now I want to try. With you.”
And then I couldn’t stop the tears. I’d love nothing more than to create another life with this amazing man.
“Is it possible between humans and shifters?”
“Of course, look at Izzy and Louis.”
I nodded. “But she’s empathine, and I’m not.”
Boyd kissed my cheek, my nose, my forehead, and then my lips before he spoke again. “It is possible, according to our writings. Rare, but possible, and we’ll only know for sure if we try. But as with wolfen females, human women who get pregnant by a wolfen male nearly always birth males. So I hope you’d be happy to have a boy? We will see how it goes for Louis and Izzy and check with Marissa. But I’m sure it will be okay to try. Would you like to?”
“More than like!” I gave a little squeal of excitement. “Oh, my God. Just imagine a mini Boyd running around.”
He laughed and pulled me in close. “If we can’t, and it’s just the two of us, I’ll still be the happiest male alive. Hey, you feel cold.” He rubbed my arms with his hands.
“I am a bit. I know of one way to warm up.”
I pulled back and waggled my eyebrows at him. He gave a low growl in his throat and swept me up into his arms.
I sighed into his neck and breathed in his gorgeous scent. I was about to be made a happy and satisfied woman. And once we’d made love, we could start to plan our future together. As mates.
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Keep on reading for a sneak peek at Adam’s story, Wolf at the Beach, the next in the Shifters of the Glen world. This snippet is *not edited* and may change when published.
Wolf at the Beach
Prologue
Adam:
Adam stared out across the water. The sea was azure blue, the sand the whitest white. It looked like something out of a tropical travel brochure, but if he stepped outside, he’d need his jumper, even on a sunny day like this.
The Scottish Highlands held some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. But they weren’t renowned for their warmth.
Despite the beauty of the place. Despite the lulling waves and the cries of gulls. Despite the gorgeous white cottage, clinging to the grassy slope of the dunes with a view out over the bay, he didn’t want to be there. Leaving the pack right then, with all the threats they faced, felt all kinds of wrong. But he’d been gifted the break as a surprise from his two sons and their mates, and he didn’t feel he could say no.
He understood their best intentions. Lately, he’d been moody, he supposed. More terse than usual. Stressed, even, one might say. Who could blame him, though? The pack faced a lot of new threats. Rogues seemed to be coalescing around their small territory, and the thought terrified him deep down. Adam remembered things from the bad old days only too well. Vivid memories of when the rogues would attack and take their females, killing the young males. Most of his pack either hadn’t been alive then, or the memories had faded. Not for him. The only other pack member who probably had memories as strong as his was Boyd. The pack enforcer who’d lost his mate to a rogue many, many years ago. But now Boyd had a new mate. The bright and vivacious Laura. And she’d given him a new lease of life.
Maybe that right there was his problem. All the males around him seemed to be bonding…pairing up. Adam often thought of the boys’ mother. He missed her to this day, but he’d never wanted another mate. Not felt the need. Besides which, he didn’t know how his sons would take it. They might talk of him finding himself a mate, but when the reality hit, he had an inkling they wouldn’t like it. Wouldn’t like whomever he found because, frankly, she wouldn’t be their mum. They also didn’t know the truth of his mating with their mother. They’d been more of a political union than anything else. At the time they mated, the Frith pack had been low on numbers and needed new blood. Ruth, his mate, had brought a group of thirty young shifters with her when she’d joined Adam. Of course, once they’d bonded and mated, he’d cared for her. Deeply so, but it hadn’t been the headlong, physical rush he’d heard describe bondings made on a true physical match. Part of him wanted that. The moment when someone’s scent hit you and your senses went wild.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He was far too old for such foolish, romantic thoughts. But maybe, he ought to at least have sex. Find someone to scratch the itch with. These days, female wolfen often had sex before they finally bonded with their true mate. Times were changing.
Really, whatever he decided, right now, he ought to do something other than simply standing in this tiny kitchen, looking out over the sea and ruminating. The small village at the top of the dunes had a tiny pub. Maybe he ought to go and pretend to be human for a short while. Sit in a corner and down a few pints. It might do him some good.
He couldn’t change into his wolf here. Didn’t dare risk it. Why the boys thought he’d want a week by the sea he had no idea. To be honest, he guessed the idea came solely from their mates, and his sons were both too in love to tell then no. Shifters didn’t go on vacation. They didn’t need to. Whenever they needed to recharge, they didn’t change location. They changed form.
Oh well, only a few more days and then he could head home. At the thought of Mac Tire Collie, he once more felt anxiety gnaw at him. He hoped to hell the place was okay. He probably overestimated his own importance. After all, he’d left the pack in Drew’s capable hands many times before when he’d had to go to some boring meeting or another for a few days. But he couldn’t shake the gnawing sense of unease.
Perhaps he ought to listen to his instincts and go home. He huffed out an annoyed breath and made a decision. He’d go to the pub. Play at being human for a couple of hours. Drink some good beer, do the crossword, that sort of thing, and if he still felt uneasy once he returned to the cottage, he’d head on back to the pack. Manners and the feelings of his sons’ m
ates be damned.
Chapter One
I stared at my reflection and sighed at the way I’d aged in the last couple of years. I turned away from the small mirror covering the bathroom cabinet and walked out of the room.
The day outside seemed lovely, but I felt too weirded out to go walking on the beach alone. Not another soul disturbed the pristine view, and frankly, that fact terrified me. My mum bought me this holiday, thinking it would help. Thinking that a week with my bestie in a stunning setting would help heal my shattered heart. And it might have. If she’d turned up. But she’d let me down at the last moment.
Even without her company, I might have enjoyed myself. Before. Back then, I’d been confident. Capable. The sort of woman to head up a team of consultants in any one of a number of demanding roles. Now, I was a wisp of a woman. As insubstantial as the breeze whipping the waves on the beach.
I’d become a nobody. And inside, I was terrified. I quaked with fear when I thought of the future. I trembled when I thought of the past. And yet, the present terrified me most of all. What should I do in the still of the moment? In the here and now, to try to keep on living, keep on being for another day longer.
Breathing was good. My therapist liked to tell me, “One breath in and one breath out, Pamela. Then one foot in front of the other.” Easy for her to say. I was sure her breath didn’t play hide-and-seek, preferring to lodge itself in her tight and tense chest cavity rather than finding its way back outside to mingle with the fresh air and to make space from some more lovely oxygen. With my tense jaw and tight throat and painful chest, breathing normally seemed like a luxury.