Ranger Trent (Shifter Nation: Werebears Of Acadia Book 2)

by Meg Ripley

  “Won’t they want revenge or something?” Sera asked.

  “They likely want all of this to go away,” Seth said. “We’ll continue to be cautious, but I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”

  But Sera disagreed. They had a lot to worry about. She was growing bigger by the day, and it was only the reality of her child that kept her grounded to earth, kept her eating, kept her sleeping, kept her sane.

  “What do you think happened?” she asked Seth one night.

  “I think Aiza stole money or drugs or guns from the Brotherhood. Or maybe Dwight did and she was his accomplice. Maybe she even took the fall for it and that’s why they went through all the effort to fake her death.”

  “Did you kill her?”

  “I don’t know.” Though the words were inconclusive, she knew they were honest.

  “I hope she’s still out there. I hope…”

  “I know. Thank you, by the way.”

  “For what?”

  “For putting your life at risk to save mine.”

  Sera snorted. “I nearly killed us all with that stunt. I should have stayed home and sat tight, like you said.”

  “Maybe. But you know what? Nobody’s ever loved me enough to risk their life for me. You thought I was mad at you, but I wasn’t.”

  “You weren’t mad?” Sera asked.

  “Of course not.” He kissed the back of her neck and she felt herself relax against the heat of his mouth. “I mean, I wasn’t happy that you would blindly stumble into a dangerous situation, but...I felt better when you were there. I feel good knowing you have my back.”

  “I’ll always have your back,” Sera said. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” His hand went to her stomach. “And I love this little pup. When will you let me make it official?”

  “Official? Are you asking me to marry you?”

  “I am. I can’t imagine my life without you, Sera.” He paused for a moment, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. “Well, what do you think?”

  “I think…” Sera took a deep breath. “I think I’d love to be your wife.”

  “So that’s a yes?”

  “It’s a definite yes.”

  “Perfect. Just tell me what you want and it’s yours,” Seth said. “Your dream wedding.”

  “My dream wedding?” She could never have her dream wedding, because her dream wedding would include her entire family, but with this man, she’d have the wedding that she never dreamed was possible. And with him at her side, she would have the foundation for a new family. A close family full of love and support and kindness. A family like she never knew before. A pack. “Just as long as I have you, all my dreams will come true.”

  As she said the words, she realized how true they were. For as much as she lost, she’d gained the world.

  THE END

  Alpha's Howling Desire

  "Son of a bitch!”

  Forgetting that she was in public, Ariel quickly sank down in her seat, pulling the large book she held in front of her face, cringing. She heard giggling beside her and reached out to smack Daniel on the leg to stop him from laughing at her. She could feel the eyes of everyone in the library staring at her and she had the sudden fear that a skeletal librarian would come in and toss her out by the back of her shirt for defiling the sanctity of the public library reading room.

  "Tell me again why I'm sitting here with you," she hissed toward Daniel, still holding the book up in front of her even though she had just finished reading it.

  "I need moral support," Daniel replied.

  "Moral support to get through your history final?"

  "Yes."

  "Do you know how much longer I'm going to need to be supportive because all of these people are still staring at me and I'm fairly certain that those ones over there in the corner are planning to kill me."

  "We can go as long as you bring me back to your place and give me some of the good stuff."

  Daniel lifted his eyebrows at her and Ariel smiled back, nodding as she helped him gather up his papers and books and carry them toward the circulation desk.

  Twenty minutes later, Ariel walked into her living room carrying two bowls of ice cream. Daniel was sitting on the floor with his back against the couch and she placed one of the bowls in his lap. She settled onto the couch behind him and grabbed a jar she had tucked under her arm. Twisting off the metal top, she dipped a spoon down inside and reached around Daniel to drizzle a long golden stream of homemade caramel sauce over his ice cream.

  "Oh, yeah. That's the stuff," he murmured.

  "I know how you like it," she said, digging the spoon down into his ice cream so that his first bite would be mostly rich, buttery caramel.

  "I'd totally marry you if we didn't have sex, I could see other people on the side, and you made me caramel every day."

  "I'll keep that in mind."

  Ariel curled into the corner of the couch and spooned some of the caramel over her own ice cream.

  "So, do you want to tell me why you decided to shout obscenities in the presence of old ladies and innocent library books?"

  Ariel dropped her head back against the couch with grunt of frustration. She swallowed her mouthful of ice cream as she reached for the book on the edge of the coffee table.

  "The stupid cliffhanger at the end of this book," she said, holding the book so close in front of Daniel's face he had to lean back away from it.

  "Don't all of those books end with a cliffhanger? I thought that was the whole point of having a series. You hang, then they scoop you back up, then you hang, then they scoop you back up," he turned his attention back to the bowl in his hands and took another bite of ice cream, "It's all really exhausting, honestly."

  "You don't understand. This was like…" she groaned with exasperation, unable to come up with exactly the right words to explain why she was so angry at the book, "The books have been leading up to a war between the two rival tribes of wolves. There was a standoff with the Alphas of each of the packs and this book ended right as Lazar leapt into the air and shifted while the other was shooting a crossbow at him."

  Daniel looked back at her with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

  "Lazar?"

  "Yes. He's the good Alpha who has been trying to get a bloodthirsty pack away from his pack's lands."

  "Lazar?" Daniel repeated.

  "Yes," Ariel said emphatically.

  "And he's a wolf?"

  "When he shifts, yes."

  "So, he's Lazar…the wolf."

  Ariel chose to ignore the comment and turned the book over in her hands, staring down at the picture of the author on the back of the cover as Daniel sang "To Life" under his breath.

  "He's so beautiful," she murmured.

  "The wolf?" Daniel asked after a resounding L'chaim to finish out his song.

  "The author," she said, tilting the book to Daniel so that he could look at the black and white picture on the cover.

  Ariel had stared at that picture more times than she could count. Max Grimsley's dark eyes burned into her from the covers of more than a dozen books tucked on the bookshelf in her bedroom, and, though she wouldn't admit it, she often turned whatever book she was currently reading over on her nightstand so that she could look at his picture before going to sleep.

  "Well, pretty soon you will be able to look at the real thing," Daniel said, a hint of teasing in his voice.

  Ariel sighed, part of her hating how it made her feel to have a moony-eyed crush at her age while the other part loved the tingle through her body each time she read his name or saw his picture.

  "I know. I can't wait."

  She indulged the moony-eyed side by letting out an excited squeal. It had seemed like the months leading up to the convention were multiplying and sliding by with all the vim and vigor of a pot of day-old grits, but it was finally only a few days away. Max Grimsley would be there, signing copies of his books and giving a panel on fiction writing.

&n
bsp; "So, which are you more excited about, having him sign your book, or getting the opportunity to yell at him for dangling you so precariously over his literary cliff?"

  She had told people she was going primarily for the workshops that she hoped would further her own burgeoning writing career, but she knew she was going for him. The ache inside her when she looked at his picture was intense and she couldn't wait to be near him, even if it was only long enough for him to scrawl his name across the cover page of her book and flash her an obligatory smile. Even that may satiate her.

  "We'll have to see how I feel in the moment," she said, taking another bite of her ice cream and letting the slowly melting vanilla ice cream and rich caramel swirl across her tongue.

  ****

  "Where are we?" Daniel asked, scanning the already bustling auditorium.

  "It's general seating. We’ll sit wherever we can get a seat," Ariel told him, gripping the hem at the back of his shirt to make sure she didn't lose him in the relative chaos of the convention’s opening day.

  "So, run like hell is what you're telling me?"

  "Yes."

  Daniel took off running down the aisle, shoving past other attendees, and Ariel scurried after him, still holding onto his hem and sending up a prayer that Max Grimsley was not in the room at the time to see her completely undignified display of seat snagging.

  "That felt vaguely unethical," Daniel panted as he dropped into one of the two remaining seats in the front row.

  "But we got amazing seats."

  "You are such a nerd," he muttered.

  "I don't want to hear it, medieval history major."

  Ariel shifted impatiently in her seat for the next half an hour waiting while others filtered in and filled the rest of the seats around them. There was an excited, electrified buzz through the room as people whispered and flipped through the books, brochures, and other swag tucked in their welcome bags. Daniel stared directly ahead at the empty stage and Ariel felt a wave of thankfulness roll over her. He would not be one to identify as part of the fandom, but he had come along with her so she wouldn't have to attend alone.

  Silence moved through the room like a wave, settling people from the back forward and Ariel turned to the stage to see a silver-haired man approach the podium. There were a few scattered applause and Ariel knew most of the people didn't know who this man was, but she recognized him as Max Grimsley's agent. He smiled out at the crowd, watching them silently as if reveling in their anticipation. Finally, he started speaking.

  "It's good to see so many fans out here today," he said, scanning the full seats. There were a few more claps and he chuckled, obviously accustomed to being the lackluster lead-in that few had any excitement to see, "I guess it's still a little early in the morning for enthusiasm."

  "It's 9:30," Daniel whispered and Ariel shushed him.

  "He's trying to break the ice."

  "Consider me still frozen."

  Ariel shushed him again and Daniel complied, sitting back sullenly and looking up at the speaker with an expression on his face that dared him to become charming and entertaining.

  "I know that all of you are excited to get the convention underway and we are all just as excited to introduce our keynote speaker, who is also one of the panelists and will be signing books at this evening's literacy gala." Out of the corner of her eye Ariel could see Daniel cover his face with his hands and shake his head, but her heart was beating too hard from the nervousness rolling through her to pay attention to him, "How many of you have read his most recent book?"

  There were shouts and cheers from the crowd and the agent looked pleased to have finally gotten a bit of a rise out of them. He grinned wider.

  "Excellent. Well, there isn't really anything else for me to say other than let's welcome Max Grimsley."

  He stepped aside and held out a hand dramatically. The green velvet curtains fluttered and a darkly clad form strode out onto the stage. Max stepped behind the podium and looked out over the crowd. His eyes swept the rows and then fell on Ariel, meeting her gaze and holding it intensely. There was a moment of strange, suspended stillness. Though the audience around her erupted in screams and applause, it was as though Ariel couldn't register the sound.

  She didn't know how long they had been staring at each other when Max broke the connection, leaving her feeling slightly breathless and gripping the arms of her seats so hard her knuckles hurt. Daniel squeezed her thigh and she looked over at him. He lifted his eyebrows and she nodded, trying to smile but so taken aback by Max that she couldn't seem to control her expressions.

  Max spoke with the reserved confidence and calm she had expected from him, never glancing down at his notes. Instead, he looked out over the audience and spoke as if he was just having a conversation. Every few moments his eyes fell back to Ariel and held her. Each time, his voice dropped slightly and he seemed to lean subtly forward. It made her breath catch in her throat and she wondered if she was just imagining the connection, if every woman in the audience was envisioning the same looks and cues.

  The picture that had fueled countless fantasies had in no way done him justice. She had avoided looking up other pictures of him, contented by the sexy black and white picture that graced every book, his website, and the advertisements for every appearance he made. Now as he looked at her, his lips soft and full as he spoke, she wished she had put forth a little more effort.

  His hair looked thick and silky as it fell just to his collar and the eyes she had expected to be dark were actually the color of her caramel sauce. She licked her lips when he glanced away from her, feeling her body respond exactly how she had anticipated it would. It was never a good idea to tempt a curvy girl with caramel.

  ****

  "What exactly is a literary gala?" Daniel asked later as he walked beside Ariel down the distressingly cold hallway toward the elevator, pulling at his tie.

  Ariel swatted his hands away from the knot and hooked her thumbs into the low bodice of her gown to adjust it.

  "It's essentially a charity fundraiser to benefit literacy programs. We go, we eat, we buy books…"

  "We seek out beautiful authors."

  "Yes, and they donate the proceeds after the convention."

  Daniel pressed the elevator button and sighed.

  "It just seems strange to me that the same group of people who will happily parade around in loin cloths and steam punk alien saloon girl costumes during the day feel the need to put on formalwear at night to spend time with the exact same people."

  "Steam punk alien saloon girls?" she asked incredulously.

  "It's a thing. I saw it happen."

  "It's not about the formalwear. It's about the money going toward literacy."

  The elevator door opened and Ariel and Daniel stepped inside. When the door slid closed and she realized they were the only ones in the car, she turned her back to the small camera positioned judgmentally in the corner and reached down into her bodice to lift her breasts higher in the dress.

  "That was classy," Daniel said when she turned back around.

  "Thank you."

  "Alright," Daniel said, stepping out of the elevator when the doors slid open and presenting his arm to her, "Let's do this."

  Ariel took Daniel's arm and smiled at him as she let him guide her across the lobby toward the ballroom that had been set up for the gala. Music streamed from the open door and she could hear blended voices rising over the notes. As they stepped inside her eyes scanned across the room, taking in the elevated tables set up with appetizers around the perimeter, the bar on the far end, and the live band playing on the opposite side of the dancefloor.

  At that moment, no one was dancing. Instead, those in attendance were a glitter and organza flock around several long tables laden with books. As soon as she saw them, Ariel's heart fluttered a little. Just seeing the books made her think of Max and remember that he was there, likely in the room although she couldn't see him. Daniel led her over to the books and she examin
ed them carefully, trying to decide which to buy. She already owned nearly every title available and those she didn't have were by authors whose names she didn't recognize.

  Ariel reached forward and picked up a copy of her favorite of Max's series.

  "I thought you already had that one," Daniel said, poking at the books with one finger to sift through them in hopes of finding something that interested him.

  "I do. I already have everything that he has written. This one, however, will be special. He's going to sign it."

  Daniel finally picked up a book, skimmed over the cover copy, and gave a little sound like he was surprised he had found something appealing. When he looked up at her Ariel saw his eyes land on the book she held to her chest.

  "Oh, lord. You're going to sleep with that thing under your pillow, aren't you?"

  "Absolutely. If I can't have him in my bed, at least I can have his name there."

  Daniel put his hand over his mouth to muffle a laugh and Ariel turned around. She hadn't been paying attention as she talked to Daniel and didn't realize that the crowd of people who were around the table choosing books were then walking directly from that table to the row of smaller, individual tables where the authors sat to sign the copies. Now she was standing at the first table, staring down at Max Grimsley.

  He looked at her with the same focused intensity that he had at the keynote speech. She stumbled over her words, unable to come up with anything that could possibly make up for what he had just heard her say. Daniel gave her a gentle shove from behind, jolting her out of her humiliated trance. She handed the book to Max in a jerky movement and he took it from her slowly, letting the tips of his fingers graze hers as he pulled it from her hand.

  "What's your name?" he asked softly, his voice as luscious as the caramel of his eyes, but low as though he only wanted her to hear him speak.