Shifters Hallows Eve

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Shifters Hallows Eve Page 1

by Lori King




  Shifters Hallows Eve

  Audra Hart

  Bethany Shaw

  Bryce Evans

  Candace Blevins

  Elle Boon

  Julia Mills

  KD Jones

  Lori King

  R.E. Butler

  Sydney Lea

  Melissa Bell

  Melissa Snark

  Contents

  The Tiger’s Bride by R. E. Butler

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  About the Author

  Other Series by R. E. Butler

  Mate Hunt by Sydney Lea

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  About the Author

  Also by Sydney Lea

  Haunted by Love by Lori King

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also By Lori King

  JOKER’s Trick or Treat by Audra Hart

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also By Audra Hart

  The Haunted Mate by Bryce Evans

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  About the Author

  Also by Bryce Evans

  Hunter’s Mark by Melissa Snark

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  About the Author

  Also by Melissa Snark

  Tears for Her Dragon by Julia Mills

  Acknowledgments

  Index of the Original Language of the Dragon Kin

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Julia Mills

  Dark Lovers by Elle Boon

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  About Elle Boon

  Other Books By Elle Boon

  Once Upon A Hallow’s Eve by KD Jones

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  KD Jones Book Series, Book List

  The Wolf’s Ghost by Bethany Shaw

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  About the Author

  Also by Bethany Shaw

  The Valley of the Shadows by Melissa Bell

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  About the Author

  Also By Melissa Bell

  Hallowed Destiny by Candace Blevins

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  About the Author

  Also by Candace Blevins

  Text Copyright © October 2016 Romance Rebels Publishing

  Art and Logo © October 2016 Romance Rebels Publishing

  All rights reserved.

  Collection Creator: Romance Rebel Publishing

  Cover by: Sinfully Sweet Cover Design

  Formatting by: Stacey Price

  EBooks are not transferrable.

  This book is intended for the purchaser’s sole use. Sharing, or downloading to other individuals or devices is illegal.

  This work is fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, places, or events is purely coincidental. All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  The Tiger’s Bride by R. E. Butler

  Necklace Chronicles Three

  As the last golden-furred tiger shifter in existence, Charisma knows that the only opportunity he has to find his soulmate is to wait for the All Hallows’ Eve full moon. With an enchanted medallion in hand, Charisma casts the spell for his soulmate, hoping that the necklace will find the one woman meant to be his. Unless he finds his other half, his beast will slowly take over, and he’ll go feral. What he doesn’t expect is interference from the very Wiccan who helped him, and for his soulmate’s life to be on the line.

  * * *

  Much thanks to Bryce Evans for inviting me to the set and for being such an amazing person.

  1

  Valerie Winters settled onto the poolside lounge at the hotel, her e-reader in her hands. The latest delicious paranormal offering from her favorite author had hit the virtual bookshelves early that morning, and she hadn’t been able to keep from downloading it immediately. This book centered on a group of lion shifters as they looked for their mates. The hero was all alpha-male and demanding, and the heroine was a plucky young woman who tempted man and beast. It was exactly the so
rt of book that she adored reading, and she was already envious of the heroine in the story, who was seduced by the fiercely handsome alpha.

  A shadow covered her, and she looked up to see her best friend and bride-to-be leaning over the lounge. “What are you reading, Val?” Bethany asked, settling into the vacant lounge next to her.

  “Myra James’ latest, Come Sweet Lion.”

  Bethany rolled her eyes. “You’re so silly.”

  “Maybe, but I like being silly when I can read about hot, sexy men who shift into big old cats.” She wiggled her brows, and her best friend laughed lightly. Waving at one of the servers who bustled around the hotel pool, Bethany ordered mimosas and they chatted about her wedding that night.

  When their drinks were done, they headed to the hotel’s spa to get ready for the early evening wedding, which was taking place in one of the hotel’s grand ballrooms.

  Valerie and Bethany had been friends since high school, when they both took Home Ec to escape gym. Bethany was tall compared to Valerie’s short stature, lean where Valerie had curves. Blonde to her golden brown. Underneath their physical differences, though, were two women who loved shopping for shoes, watching Lifetime movies, and dancing on the weekends.

  But that was about to stop, wasn’t it? Married women didn’t club.

  “Aw, you look bummed, woman. What’s up?” Bethany closed her eyes with a yawn as the masseuse worked on her shoulders.

  “I’m gonna miss the hell out of our kickass weekends,” Valerie grumbled, squeaking when her masseuse hit a tender spot in her back.

  One robin’s-egg-blue eye opened. “I’m getting married, not dying. Gerald travels a lot; we’ll still get to hang out.”

  Valerie brightened at that thought. She wasn’t ready to lose her best friend at twenty-three.

  The day passed quickly as they were pampered, plucked, and polished in preparation for the small wedding. At six-thirty, Valerie put her hand on the arm of Gerald’s nephew Troy, a gangly seventeen-year-old who hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her cleavage since the rehearsal dinner the night before. He escorted her clumsily down the aisle, taking too-long strides and having to stop to wait for her to catch up. When they parted at the end of the aisle, she had the urge to dunk her hand in a large tub of hand sanitizer, because the kid was just that creepy.

  Turning her attention to the other end of the aisle, she watched as her bestie stepped into view with her father. She was a vision in ivory, her golden hair shimmering as she moved down the aisle. Valerie envied Bethany her close relationship to her parents. Valerie’s own parents had divorced when she was a teenager, and she’d stayed with her mother. Her father had remarried quickly and settled down with a woman a few hours’ drive away. The weekly phone calls from him became monthly ones, and then drifted further and further apart.

  He was busy with his new family, his wife’s children from a previous marriage, and then their own children. Valerie became a footnote in his life, receiving a birthday card and a Christmas gift, but nothing more. She’d become far closer to her mother, who was a combination best friend and super-mom wrapped in one petite package. Her mother had never remarried.

  She turned her attention to Bethany and Gerald. Gerald was a thirty-two-year-old marketing executive who worked in the same office building in Philadelphia as Bethany and Valerie. Bethany worked for a large cell phone company’s executive staff, and Valerie was an assistant at a collections agency.

  When Bethany handed her rose and lily bouquet to Valerie, her teary face showed just how happy she was she’d found Gerald, and Valerie was happy for her. Her own love life was pretty sparse. She dated frequently, but always seemed to find flaws in the men she went out with. They were too lazy, or too focused on their careers, or not good in bed. Now, if she could find a man like the ones in her paranormal romance novels, she’d be in heaven. It sounded like a tall order, though; handsome, powerful, protective, and shifting into a furry beast on the full moon. She thought she could get used to a man going furry once a month, if he was everything else she wanted.

  She wiped a stray tear from her cheek as Bethany and Gerald kissed, then handed the bouquet back to her best friend and clapped with the guests. As she took Troy’s arm and he escorted her down the aisle, she hoped that her best friend was truly happy and would have a wonderful life, and that someday soon she’d meet the man of her dreams, too.

  2

  Charisma Gains rubbed the back of his neck as his beast rolled inside him. He could feel fur prickling against his skin, and the sharp pain of his canines and claws trying to break free. Every time the sun rose, he was that much closer to losing himself completely to the beast. Cracking his knuckles, he rolled his shoulders and snarled at the pacing tiger in his mind. The creature was slowly going crazy because they’d been unable to find their soulmate, and it was taking Charisma straight into the abyss with it.

  He climbed out of his truck and shut the door firmly, pushing back the pacing creature in his mind as he stared at the cottage that served as the hub for the local Wiccan coven. He’d lived in Littlewood, Pennsylvania his entire life, and although he knew of the small coven, he’d never had to meet with them before. Things were different now; time was running out.

  Striding to the door with the homey Welcome sign hanging from the knob, he pulled it open and stepped inside. Immediately his senses were assaulted by the heavy scent of herbs that saturated the air, stinging his eyes and making his nose itch.

  “May I be of help to you today?” a high, soft voice spoke.

  A woman approached him with a friendly smile. Her blonde hair was tied in a long braid that brushed the wood floor as she walked toward him. He could feel how powerful she was as she reached out to him supernaturally, testing him even as he evaluated her in turn.

  “I’m in need of a spell,” he said after introducing himself.

  “I’m Gretel, eldest in the coven. What spell do you need?”

  “A seeking spell, so my soulmate will be brought to me.”

  She met his gaze for a long moment and said, “This coming full moon occurs on All Hallows’ Eve. That changes the strength of the spell.”

  He nodded. A shifter could perform a seeking spell for their soulmate during any full moon, but the All Hallows’ Eve full moon occurred only once every eighteen years. The spell would become much more powerful due to the rise in supernatural power on that night.

  “I’m twenty-five. I’m not sure I’ll make it to another full moon. I understand that the spell will be exceptionally powerful, but I must find my soulmate.”

  “The spell will drain you physically. You’ll be forced into your shift to protect yourself.”

  “I’ll do whatever it takes. Aside from the simple fact that I don’t want to become feral, I’m the last golden-furred tiger in existence. I owe it to my family line to have a child.”

  It wasn’t just that he wanted a child – he wanted a family. His parents had died when he was a teenager. He felt like he’d been grieving their loss for the last ten years, all by himself. He’d never had anyone to share the burden with. He’d just…been alone.

  “The seeking spell isn’t a guarantee. While the necklace will go where your soulmate is, it’s up to fate whether she puts it on.”

  “I understand.”

  “Follow me,” Gretel said, turning gracefully and walking through an open door at the back of the room.

  Charisma followed. For the first time, he felt a stirring of hope. Countless times he’d traveled to human cities in the hope that he’d find his soulmate, but his efforts had been fruitless. This was his “Hail Mary” play. If the seeking spell didn’t work, then he was doomed.

  Gretel stepped into a room and smiled at him. “Charisma, this is the coven. Ladies, we have a guest, the last golden tiger in existence.”

  When Charisma stopped in the doorway, he found himself looking at a large circular table with eleven women seated around it. They varied in age and style of dress, from the ve
ry conservative high-necked dress that Gretel wore to the more modern, gothic style that some of the younger women sported.

  The women all greeted him as they closed the leather-bound books they were using. Gretel said, “Charisma has asked for a seeking spell for Sunday evening. Louise, you’re very adept at enchantments.”

  Louise opened her mouth and then closed it.

  “Is everything well, Louise?” Gretel asked, her brow arched.

  “Of course.” She cleared her throat as she stood and said, “I’d be happy to help.”

  She smiled at Charisma as she moved toward him, stopping and extending her hand. He took it, and his cat chuffed in his head. There was something off about the woman, but he couldn’t place what it was.

  “You know where the supplies are,” Gretel said. “If you have any questions, do not be afraid to ask for help.”

  “This way, Charisma,” Louise said.

  “Thank you,” he said to Gretel, nodding his head to the other Wiccans. He followed Louise down the hall to another room, which looked like a cross between an old library and a laboratory.

  Louise hummed as she walked along the bookcases that graced two of the walls from floor to ceiling, the shelves stuffed with books. Pulling a thick book from a lower shelf, she laid it on a long wooden table and opened it, turning the pages slowly as she scanned them.

  “Do you understand the seeking spell?” she asked.

  “My parents told me about it when I was a cub. After the spell is cast, my soulmate will be brought to me when the moon has risen on All Hallows’ Eve.”

  “You know about the time frame also?” She moved to the other side of the room and began to pull vials, boxes, and fabric sacks from cabinets with glass doors.

  “I have twenty-four hours to consummate our mating, or she’ll be returned to her home.”

  What was far worse, in his mind, was that if he did fail to convince her of their bond as soulmates, she would forget him entirely. Once the moon rose on Monday night, if they hadn’t been intimate, then she would disappear from his life forever, and he’d lose himself to his beast.

 

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