Fated Mates: The Alpha Shifter Boxed Set (12 Book Bundle) (Insatiable Reads)

by Hunter, Adriana

  “Yes, it will. I will have to re-activate it at every full moon, with a fresh human virgin. That won’t be a problem. Killing is surprisingly easy after the first time.”

  “It doesn’t work perfectly. These people here are still fighting you. If anyone saw them out in public, they’d know something was wrong.”

  “It takes time. The longer I have people under my control, the weaker their minds become. I’m still experimenting, learning my way around these icons. But the day will come when I control all of the shifter leaders in the nation. And now…it’s your turn.”

  He pointed the stone icon at Ginger and said the words again. She froze in place.

  “Let go of her,” he said to Richard. Richard released her arm.

  He pointed at the table. “Go sit down,” he told her. She walked over to the table and sat down, staring at Tallulah’s body. The smell of blood was overwhelming, threatening to choke her.

  How long had it taken Tallulah to die? She wondered, blinking back tears. What had her final thoughts been?

  He walked up behind her, and ran his fingers through her hair.

  “I’m going to make you watch while I fuck your fated mate,” he told Loch. “She’s going to suck me dry. She’s going to howl like a dog for me. Then I think I’ll have her fuck every panther shifter under my control, all at the same time. We’ll have a big, delightful orgy. I might even make you join in.”

  Ginger felt fear and nausea swirling inside her. She was so terrified that she was light-headed, her heart pounding in her chest. She could feel her lunch roiling in her stomach and struggled not to vomit on the table in front of her.

  Loch quivered, but couldn’t move.

  “Isn’t this fun, Ginger?” Professor Reese grinned, bent down, and ran his tongue up her neck. She sat frozen in place.

  The professor turned and started to walk away.

  Ginger’s hand shot out. She grabbed the blood-stained knife that lay next to Tallulah’s body, and leaped through the air, knocking the professor to the ground. He hit the floor with a surprised oof.

  Big girl power, she thought.

  Before he could move or bark a command to his enslaved thralls, she’d slashed the leather cord holding the stone icons, and yanked it from his neck. The icons scattered and bounced on the wooden floor.

  “What? How?” His eyes were wild with fright and shock.

  Her fangs sprang out, and her eyes blazed with rage. “I’m only half shifter,” she snarled. “So the spell didn’t work on me. Stay down, or I’ll kill you.”

  Something black appeared in her peripheral vision, and the next thing she knew, two huge panthers who had been Jason and Richard knocked her away and sent her rolling on the ground. And then Loch and Jax joined them, in wolf form, huge and gray and howling with fury.

  She heard roars, and claws rending flesh, and horrible, horrible screams that grew higher and higher in pitch. She covered her face with her hands; there was nothing that she could do to stop the enraged shifters.

  The screaming turned to wet gurgling.

  She felt strong hands on her. Loch was in human form again, kneeling next to her.

  Loch pulled her to feet and she collapsed into his arms, weeping, her knees trembling so hard she could barely stand.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Loch asked for the millionth time.

  “Fine. I’m fine.” Ginger’s voice was steady but her hands were still shaking.

  She was sitting in the sheriff’s office with Winifred, Loch, Lola and Marigold crowded around her. Lola had bought her an ice pack which she pressed against her temples; she had a throbbing headache from the whole ordeal.

  “I just heard from Marcus Running Horse, who was the Panther Nation’s second in command. He’s temporary leader while they convene and figure out what to do next,” Loch said. “This is unprecedented.”

  “What about the icons?”

  “They’re going to modernize their security. Build a massive vault to store the icons in.”

  “What about Tommy Deerkiller?”

  “He’s still going to be prosecuted for dealing in stolen property. He’ll likely get a few years in prison. Obviously he didn’t kill anyone. It appears that the professor, disguised as Montgomery is the one who framed him, put the bloody clothes in his house and called us from a disposable phone to tip us off.”

  Ginger nodded, wearily. “I still can’t believe Tallulah’s dead. That poor, silly, naïve girl. Have you notified her parents?”

  “Yes.” Loch’s face was resigned and sad. “The part of my job that I hate the most. They’re flying in to claim the body.”

  “At least this hideous ordeal is over with,” Marigold said.

  “Most of it. We’ve still got the Wolf Shifter Council gunning for us,” Ginger pointed out.

  “No, you don’t. You didn’t stick around at the barbecue to see what happened,” Willie said. “I told Aurora that I’m planning on making an immediate challenge for her council seat. You should have seen her face. She went white as a sheet.”

  “You can do that?”

  “Yes. It requires 90 percent of the vote to pass, and normally it’s just about impossible to unseat a council member, but Aurora’s very, very unpopular, and she knows it. Her family’s been throwing their weight around for years. And everyone knows that she tried to replace Loch with Jax. After what Jax pulled, openly attacking the panthers and nearly starting a war, that makes her look like a fool. She’s going to lose her council seat, big time.”

  “I can stay?” Ginger’s eyes lit up, and suddenly she felt as if she could breathe again.

  “I was never going to let you go,” Loch’s voice came out in a growl.

  He went down on one knee and took her hand in his.

  “You’re going to ask me to marry you, right here and now?” Ginger asked.

  “No, not now. What I am going to do is, I’m going to tell you that I’m going to ask you to marry me, when a little time has passed, when we’ve put this day behind us. I love you. When you’re not with me, I ache for you. You are my fated mate, and you are here where you belong.”

  “Oh.” Ginger’s voice was husky with emotion. “Well, when you ask me to marry you, I will say yes. Because now that I’ve met you, I believe in fated mates. I never did before, and I fought it every step of the way, but I can’t fight it any more. I love you so much it hurts. You are the one for me. And I will dance with you any time that you ask.”

  Epilogue

  “You’re sure that you want to do this?” Loch said, as they pulled up in front of the battered metal shell that served as the Arbuckle residence.

  “Rather than have Cletus’ family taken away and placed with strangers? Yes,” Ginger said firmly. “You know what that would do to him. He’d fight you like crazy, and it would be horribly traumatic for everyone, and then he’d probably quit work and fall to pieces. I think he’d be okay with me stepping in as foster parent until he turns 18. He likes me. I’m the best alternative.”

  She’d stalled Loch as long as she could, but Loch had finally put his foot down. He had to uphold the law. He couldn’t leave four young children living in a house with only a minor to supervise them, and Cletus was still a minor.

  “It’s too bad,” Loch said, shaking his head. “The house looks the best I’ve seen it in years. He’s obviously doing a pretty good job keeping it up.”

  The house actually did look as if someone was taking the best possible care of it. The lawn was mowed, there were fresh geraniums planted out front in a bed of mulch, and someone had washed the metal exterior recently and slapped a fresh coat of paint on the shutters.

  The door swung open, and Cletus walked out. When he saw Ginger and Loch, his face lit up in a smile, to Ginger’s surprise.

  “You heard about my ma?” he asked.

  A woman appeared behind him, and walked down the steps, holding a broom in one hand, which she set down on the stairs. She was olde
r, with a weary, lined face and brown hair shot through with gray and pulled back in a bun. She wore a faded dress and had holes in her dirty sneakers.

  “You’re back?” Loch’s jaw dropped.

  “I went away to rehab. I haven’t had a drink in a month now,” she said proudly.

  Loch peered at her. “By god, you’re right. If you had I could scent it on you. You should have told someone where you were going, though. You should have arranged for care for your kids.”

  She looked down at the ground, ashamed. “I know I should have. I was just so afraid I’d screw up, and let everyone down again. But I’m back now for good. That man at the community center, where Cletus works, he gave me a job cleaning up.” She smiled proudly. “He said Cletus is a real hard worker. Best one he’s got. He said any family of Cletus, he’d be proud to have on his payroll.”

  Loch nodded slowly. “See that you stay clean this time, Emmaline. You pretty much are out of second chances.”

  She bobbed her head earnestly. “I know. I know.”

  Ginger pulled Cletus aside. “That was your wish, wasn’t it? At the wishing well? You wished for your mother to come back?” she said in a low voice.

  He nodded, his eyes suddenly glittering with tears that he blinked away quickly.

  “It worked, didn’t it?” he said proudly.

  “It most certainly did. Because we’re in Blue Moon County, where wishes come true.”

  THE END

  YOU’VE REACHED

  “THE END!”

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  First Edition March 2014

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