Deep River Shifters 4 Book Box Set

by Lisa Daniels

  Silas smiled as Alaric stepped forward, the street lamp shining full on his face. “Who are you calling shorty? I’m taller than you. And Silas needs my help about as much as a polar bear needs to be protected from sponge.”

  Jamie’s eyes went wide. “Aren’t you that tech guy? You ditched your company to do something stupid.”

  “Really, Alaric, you don’t need to be so…” All heads turned a little up the street to a pair of figures walking toward them, “…obvious.” The man’s voice was low and steady.

  “Polar bear? Really?” The woman on his arm was looking at Silas with a bit more interest. Naomi grabbed his arm, causing the woman to laugh.

  Jamie looked at the new arrivals. “Really, you have to bring someone else into this? Naomi, you really want someone this pathetic?”

  The man walking toward them laughed loud so that it echoed down the street. “Him? You are calling Silas pathetic? The guy who has been charged with doping yet again thinks this upright young gentleman is pathetic? How many times does this make? Three? Oh, and given what we are witnessing, I think that you are screwed this time.”

  Jamie balled his hands into fists. “Who the hell do you think you are? That’s slander! It’s libel!”

  “No, it’s stating a fact in a very personal, private conversation between a growing crowd of rational humans and one pathetic guy who is washed up before he made it anywhere with his career.” Ryland and Serenity stopped beside Alaric, leaving plenty of room for Silas and Naomi to face Jamie on their own.

  The rage on Jamie’s face fell away and his eyes widened. “You’re Ryland, the actor.”

  Ryland arched an eyebrow, a movement that Naomi realized was something the three of them shared when they were amused.

  Jamie began to splutter, “Why are you two here? This has nothing to do with you guys. I have no problem with you, just this loser who has stolen my girl. She’s mine!” He stepped up toward Silas, but kept from swinging at him again.

  Ryland laughed again, “If you have a problem with him, then you have a problem with me. He’s my cousin, and we take family matters very seriously.”

  Alaric narrowed his eyes just a little, then said, “And he’s my little brother. Since you just assaulted him, something that will have been recorded on those cameras,” he pointed up to a couple of places on the surrounding buildings, “I don’t think we need to wait for you to fail your tests to end your career.”

  Ryland cut in, “But that isn’t nearly as entertaining as watching you think that you have a chance. I need a distraction because I’m going to have to spend a few days down in LA. Watching an inept, small-brained monkey fall from grace would be fantastic.”

  Jamie’s mouth opened and closed. “What have I ever done to you?”

  Naomi stepped out from behind Silas. “You used me. You lied and tried to tell me that you love me, while you were sleeping with how many women? No, actually, I don’t want to know how many women.”

  “This is your fault. I loved you, and you threw me away in my hour of need, all because of a misunderstanding. I still love you. I can overlook this, just come back to me.”

  “You know, Jamie, you never stooped quite so low as to physically hurt me, but tonight you proved that it was a possibility. I think it is from the stuff you have taken; it has made you less of a man. I feel sorry for you, and I will not take pleasure in your decline, but I will no longer let you use me.”

  “I’ll tell your parents! If you don’t come back to me, I will let them know that you have slept with me, and how many other guys? How shameless are you?”

  “Just Silas.” She took his hand. “I don’t think that I’ll need any other man. You are everything he isn’t, like a horrible human being.” There were a few chuckles from behind them, but she kept going. “When I am with Silas, I feel comfortable, relaxed, whole. I don’t have to prove anything. And better yet, I know that he cares. A lot. He doesn’t do things for himself because when he cares about someone, there is nothing he won’t do for them. He never expects anything in return, which means there isn’t a chance in hell that I would ever consider going back to the misery that was being your fake girlfriend.”

  Jamie gritted his teeth. “You will regret this. I’ll make sure of it.”

  An amused voice behind her caused Naomi to turn around a little. Alaric was typing something on his phone as he spoke, “Not at all likely. This whole interaction has been recorded and uploaded to my security team. Anything happens to her, and you will be facing jail time. Not that you are going to have a chance to do anything to her. There isn’t a person alive who can keep her safer than Silas there.”

  “Just go home, Jamie. Your parents will love to see you, and you can start thinking about moving back home. Maybe in a few years you can start over at another school, although I daresay your swimming career will be over long before that. You can still get into another school with the grades I got you. You’ll just have to learn to do the work yourself from here on.” Naomi tried to sound optimistic. The idea of completely flattening the guy was too much. She couldn’t stand him, but she wasn’t interested in destroying him. That was too much work.

  “And here’s your car.” Alaric spoke as a vehicle pulled up near them. “One of my pilots is on standby, so you will be able to go in comfort.”

  “You will have to pay me back for the cost of my flight. And hotel room.” Jamie seemed to be throwing out anything he could so that he could declare some kind of victory.

  This time Naomi laughed. “You missed at least two flights out here, and I told you not to come. No one owes you anything for you wasting your own time. You’ve lost this time. Accept it and leave. It’s the first step to becoming a decent human.”

  Jamie clearly wanted to say more, but even he knew that he was outmatched. Glowering, he opened the car door, got in, and slammed the door shut. They could see the driver reprimanding him for being too rough with the door.

  Silas turned. “What are you doing here, Ryland?”

  Ryland pointed toward Alaric, “He said he needed to talk to me and that we needed to meet here.”

  Silas got a look on his face and turned to glare at Alaric. Then he closed his eyes and a smile spread across his face. “Ah, finally going to do it?”

  Alaric smiled back, “Yeah, it’s long past time.”

  Ryland looked between them. “What are you two talking about?”

  Alaric patted him on the arm. “Glad you brought Serenity. She’s going to love what I have to say.”

  Naomi could see even from her spot, in the dark, with a broken lens, that the beautiful woman was very excited. “Do you mean what I think you mean?”

  Alaric smiled, “Come on. This is not the place to talk, and I think that we are in the way of those two.”

  Alaric opened the driver’s side and hopped in as Ryland walked around to the passenger side.

  Serenity stood there for a moment. “Polar bear, huh? Maybe I should have been more responsive when you used to hit on me.”

  Silas laughed, “You wouldn’t have been happy with me. I’m too clingy.”

  Serenity laughed, the sound echoing around them like soft music. “Yeah, you are probably right. Besides, you couldn’t take me to Kyoto for a weekend where I can just nerd out.”

  Silas laughed, “I should have realized you were too much of a nerd, but you are incredibly beautiful. It short-circuited my brain a bit.”

  “And you were always so sweet and helpful, it’s really obvious how much I took you for granted. I’ll make sure to join you guys the next time you go somewhere. I could use a little more knowledge about a couple of guys.”

  Naomi squeezed Silas’ hand. He looked at her, then back at Serenity. “I think it’s going to be a while before I have time. We are going into the last phase, and there will be no time for fun for a while.”

  Serenity nodded knowingly. “Maybe the four of us could go out some time, just for an hour. Ryland is going to need some help transitioning.”
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  “Of course.” Silas was grinning.

  “Are you coming, Serenity?” Alaric was leaning out the open window of the van.

  “Yep.” She hurried around to the passenger side.

  Alaric waved at the couple as they held hands on the sidewalk.

  They watched as the van started up and headed down the street.

  “What now?” Naomi asked.

  Silas looked at her. “It’s up to you.”

  “How about we go back to your place, have a very late snack. I’ll cook.”

  He gave her a sad look. “You don’t like my cooking?”

  “I love your cooking. You are much better than me. But I want you to rest up for the remainder of the evening.”

  Silas was confused for a moment, but it was obvious when he realized what she meant. His cheeks flushed, and she giggled as she pulled him down the street.

  The End

  Rescued by Alaric

  Deep River Shifters – Book 4

  By Lisa Daniels

  Chapter 1

  A Flight, an Incident, and a Surprise

  Eva stepped off of the plane, enjoying the feel of movement in her legs after several hours cramped into Economy like a sardine. She adjusted her glasses, making sure they were still recording. Eva had perfect vision, but she had been testing the new glasses for a friend who was trying to combine online interaction and something similar to a GoPro. Plus, she enjoyed the feel of the glasses. They made her feel like someone else, and she had played it up at the start of the trip. Then things had gone a little sour. Still, nothing was going to ruin her trip out west to visit Serenity. Not even the really unpleasant incident on the plane. It was just her luck to be seated next to a business man who “accidently” brushed up against her breast three times, until she called him out on it. When he had started yelling at her for making such an accusation, a flight attendant had tried to get him to calm down. It was only when the air marshal stepped in that the guy shut up, and Eva had gotten a small sense of satisfaction as he was arrested as soon as they arrived. Now she had to deal with that.

  Nothing is ruined. This is going to be fine, and we are going to have a great time. She wanted to feel good about the guy being arrested, but she knew that there would be no punishment for his behavior. Well, most guys wouldn’t get punished, but then again, most women didn’t have someone like Rebekah to make sure that there were repercussions for their misbehavior. There was the immediate satisfaction of knowing that the pervert was going to miss his very important meeting because he would be in jail. With any luck, there would be some repercussions at his job if they found out why he missed it, something that Eva could almost guarantee they would learn. It was a small compensation for him continually making her feel uncomfortable in an already uncomfortable situation. Normally Eva would have just put up with that kind of crap, but certain actions were beyond even her ability to ignore. Her naturally happy personality and shyness completely disappeared in the face of such blatant disregard for her personal space and body.

  Stepping to the side, Eva pulled out her phone.

  Hey Serenity, going to be a little behind schedule thanks to some douchebag. Will let you know when I’m done here. Go enjoy yourself in the meantime, just don’t get too lost in your coding.

  Backing out of the message to Serenity, Eva started a text to her sister.

  Hey Beck. Just got groped a couple of times on the plane. Got the footage and will send it along a little later.

  She flipped back to read the message from Serenity that had appeared far too quickly, a clear indication that Eva’s friend was ticked off by what had been vaguely alluded to in the short text. Kicking herself for having provided any information beyond just saying she was going to be delayed, Eva knew that Serenity would want to press her for details so she could do something. It was difficult to upset Eva enough to say anything bad about someone else, and Serenity was always one of the first to step in when Eva was upset enough to say something. It was really what had made them friends all those years ago. And it still bothered Eva as much now as it had back then. She hated reliving the unpleasant aspects of her life, not that there had been too many. Trying to come up with something to neutralize Serenity’s displeasure, Eva furiously typed with her thumbs.

  Don’t worry about it, nothing my sister can’t handle. I don't want the trip to focus on that annoyance, so just keep yourself occupied for now, and I will let you know when I am ready for pickup. Then we can forget about the incident and the months where you abandoned me for the west coast.

  Her sister responded while Eva was replying to Serenity, but that was something Eva knew she wouldn’t need to reply to. A simple message of “Got it” let Eva know that her sister would be on it as soon as she had the information. As a Harvard Law graduate, Eva’s sister was incredibly efficient and very aggressive when it came to protecting her little sister. Growing up, this had been incredibly painful because Rebekah had driven away several guys that Eva had liked. Then she learned what kinds of guys they were (thanks to Rebekah’s investigation and interviewing of previous girlfriends), and Eva had learned to appreciate everything that Rebekah did to keep her safe. With the kind of hands-off parenting that their folks practiced, it was nice that someone was looking out for her and helping her deal with issues that most kids never experienced. Growing up wealthy but going to public school attracted the wrong kinds of attention and had taught Eva to be incredibly gun-shy when it came to getting close to people.

  Not that it had stopped her from dating. Spending a little bit of time with a lot of guys was nearly as fulfilling as finishing a project for school. As long as it never got too serious, Eva knew that she would be fine.

  Setting up a reminder to send her footage and a few details to her sister, Eva headed over to the desk. The next hour or so wouldn’t be any fun, but she would need a few more details for her sister to do what she did best.

  About an hour and a half later, Eva stood outside of the airport admiring the skyline. Serenity had certainly been right about how unique it was—it was almost impossible to see anything for the cloud coverage. While they had flown in, Eva had noticed a white cap mountain, but had been too distracted to enjoy it. Now that she was on the ground, she had hoped to get a better view, but there was nothing to see besides clouds.

  An unfamiliar car pulled up in front of her, and Eva ignored it for her determination to detect the volcano in the mess of clouds.

  “Really? That’s how you say hello?”

  Eva’s eyes quickly shifted in front of her as a tall figure slammed a car door shut. Letting out a little squeal, the visitor ran forward, her bags falling to the ground where she had been.

  “Serenity!” She threw her arms around her friend and did a little dance. Pulling back, she gave Serenity a hard look. “Just as I thought, having a steady boyfriend has really made you even more beautiful. I take it back. You should stay single forever.”

  “It’s fantastic to see you, too. Come on. Let’s get your stuff and get you packed up into the car.”

  “Who’s driving if you were the passenger?” Eva looked back at the vehicle and noticed that the windows were a lot more tinted than what she was accustomed to. Looking at her friend, she moved back to her bags.

  “My boyfriend, of course. I don’t have chauffeurs at my beck and call.”

  “Shut it, Miss Sunshine. You know that I don’t allow that any more. Wait,” she grabbed Serenity’s arm and forced her friend to look at her, “you didn’t tell him about my family, did you?”

  “What?” Serenity looked offended. “Why would I do that?”

  “Well, those windows are very tinted.”

  Serenity let out a loud laugh that attracted the attention of the few people not already staring at her. “Don’t worry, it’s not for you.”

  “Oh, well,” Eva looked back at the vehicle then at the people around them. The way they were looking at Serenity made Eva draw the very logical conclusion that it was to keep
people from staring at Serenity while on the road. Eva had known more than one guy to get too distracted staring at her friend, but they were usually on bikes or on foot. Perhaps living out here walking was a lot harder given how far apart things were. “Ah yes, the spacious west.” She was amused as she leaned over and picked up the only bag her friend had not taken. “I can carry the big one, too, you know. Did it at the airport and for the first layover.”

  “Yeah, I know you can, but I want to get this moving. We have way too much catching up to do.”

  “Well, I guess I can yell at you guys from the back seat.” Eva meant it as a jab that Serenity had brought her boyfriend along for the reunion, although it had also meant that Serenity had arrived much faster than Eva had anticipated. It had meant the programmer had not had time to get too trapped in her work and missed the text.

  “What are you talking about? I’m sitting in the back and he can be our chauffer.”

  Eva rolled her eyes, “You jerk.”

  “Oh, I think you will find it as amusing as I do.” Serenity placed Eva’s luggage in the trunk. “Go ahead, you won’t need it.”

  With a shrug, Eva put her book bag into the trunk and followed Serenity around to the passenger side. Sitting down, she closed the door and the car immediately pulled away. Eva took a look at the driver, but was quickly accosted by a barrage of questions.

  “So, how have you been? Any interesting dates lately? How is class going, still on track to get both majors finished on schedule? And what is with the glasses?”

  A strange thought tickled Eva’s mind as she looked at the man in the front of the car, but she did not get to focus on what she thought she saw as she turned to face Serenity. “I have been incredibly busy thanks to that fantastic app you finished. I told you it would continue to come in handy. No interesting dates, which was a disappointment because I thought two of the guys had some potential—”