by Ellie Pond
“I can do lots of things you can’t comprehend.” Violet stood straighter and tied her silk robe shut. “Lots and lots of things.”
“True. But doing it would hurt you and it’s not something I need. I can continue on like I am for as old as I get. And as long as I don't go back to the big island, I’ll be fine.”
Violet humphed.
“Don’t humph at me. It’s true.”
“I can make all the noises I want. Now tell me about Aurora. Is she going to be what we need?”
Violet’s visions of Aurora were spotty. She was important, and her mating would bring a change, and that change would be good in a way. But that was all. They had spent many sushi-filled hours talking about how maybe one or both of them were too entwined in the vision for them to see. And that worried Sam.
Violet turned and headed back to her bedroom. “I’m heading for a shower. I smell like a national forest. All pine and bear.” Violet laughed. A buzzer rang from the computer. “That’s the council again. Don’t pick it up. I don’t want to listen to Giselle rattling about nothing again and deep diving into why my visions are so bad. That witch can pick up a lie from across the world. Best to not talk to her at all. It might take a little more time, but I will convince the captain to let me see the vision that is blocking me. I need more time from the council. I am going to have to finesse him—blunt force would make Matthias go all fire-breathing dragon on me.”
“I could say you’re out.”
“Can’t tell a lie, remember? It’s like she’s a puma shifter.”
Sam opened her mouth.
“She’s not.”
“She can tell I’m online. Just leave the room. I can handle Giselle.” Sam gulped.
Violet’s door clicked shut. Sam took a breath and sent the video call live.
Giselle stood far from her camera so that Sam could see all six feet of her pacing her office. She wore a long black linen vest embroidered with flowers, a black turtleneck and red pants, and she looked amazing. Her eyes beamed at the camera when she finally noticed that Sam had picked up.
“Samantha.” Her round South African accent rang across the feed.
“Madame Giselle, it’s so lovely to hear from you.”
“Cut the bullshit, Samantha. Where is Violet? I told her to call me two days ago. I want to know how her visions are progressing.”
“She’s not in the room.” That should work. No lie there. Violet wasn’t in the room. She was … yes, Sam could hear the shower. She was in the shower.
“Ah, the technicalities. But you know where she is. Go get her.”
“She’s in the shower. Is there something I can help you with?”
“Are her visions better?”
Shit, no finessing out of this one. “No.”
“And she will call me when about this?”
Sam shook her head. Giselle stopped pacing and came close to the camera. Her face filled the frame. “You will have her call me. I won’t ask you if you know what is going on. Because I know you do. And I will not have you disobey your mentor. At least not yet. Have her call me.” Giselle stared into Sam’s core.
“Yes,” was the only answer she could give. So much for handling her.
The shower stopped, and Violet came out not long after wearing a different robe, her hair damp at her shoulders. “I assume that was as shitty as I thought it would be?”
“Yup.”
“Did she make you spill?”
“Nope. Said that she wouldn’t make me tell on my mentor but that if you didn’t call her, she would in the future.”
“Sounds about right.”
“She wants you to call.”
“I need more time to get the captain to agree. Stay off that computer.” Violet flicked her wrist at the counter cord, but Sam saw it coming and made a binder fly off the table to stop Violet from unplugging the computer. “Oh. Good one, Sam. Stay off the computer.”
“I can, but let the system run in the background. You would have cost me a week of data.”
Violet shrugged and headed back to the bedroom.
Epilogue 1: Violet
“Captain. You can stop right there. I need to talk to you.”
“No time, Violet. I am on my way to the bridge. FO Laurit called.”
“Laurit is having dinner in the Garden dining room right now, so you can cut the bullshit. The visions are getting stronger. We must talk about it.”
“Violet, I will not talk about it now or tomorrow. Pretty good chance that I will never talk about it or any of your visions that concern me. You’ve been nothing but helpful in building the business of the ship. You are making things happen for my ship, my crew and most importantly for my guests. But you need to stay the hell away from my personal life.”
“You know that’s not how my visions work, and the longer we wait, the less time you will have to prepare for what will come. But you know better.”
The captain stormed down the corridor. She sauntered back to her room and her coven’s space. The wide-open room didn’t appear like any other on the ship. Nor did it look like the back-end of a gypsy trailer. Rather it looked like a science lab furnished by a Scandinavian furniture designer with an eye for minimalism and extreme taste.
Violet closed the door to her space. Sam sat on a stool next to the porthole window. She sighed and crossed the room to Sam.
“How did it go?”
“Infuriating, as always. He won’t listen. At all. He won’t consider letting me out of my oath. If the damn oracle would just show up— Good news is: I’m driving him crazy with asking.”
“You should ask for something else, like when you want a dog, but you ask your parents for a pony.”
“But I need the pony.”
Sam laughed. “I bet you could get him to add a stateroom into your space if you stopped accosting him about it.”
Violet laughed. “One, what fun would that be? And two, I can’t stop the visions from coming, and the sooner he agrees to see me about them, the sooner I will quiet them. And the more rest I get—”
“The less cranky you will be.”
“Let’s not get too carried away. Cranky is my favorite personality trait.” Sam uncrossed her black legging-covered legs, stood and went over to the large, sleek computer on the birch standing desk. “Are you ready to get some work done?”
Violet pinched her nose. “A little.” Sam tossed a large steel blue pillow into the middle of the bamboo floor. Violet got down onto the pillow, sitting on her heels, her palms resting up on her knees over her orange and black printed maxi dress. Sam turned down the lights and closed the blind over the porthole. She turned up a fan next to the computer that blew over a plateful of what appeared to be rocks. But the rocks scented the room with pine, honey, and hibiscus smells.
“You don’t have to do this today if you’re not ready. You could let me try again?”
“I am ready as I can be. If I wait any longer, my skin will crawl with it. And you’re not ready for the well, not after what happened last time.”
“All right, then.” Sam adjusted the lights, blinds, and temperature using the console on the computer screen. Within minutes, the well brought sweat to Violet’s temples. Her head tilted back; her eyes closed. Images flashed bits and pieces of people, smells, shifted animals. All of their emotions crashed down on her. It was getting harder and harder to focus on any one of them because the conduit was being bombarded by the images of a massive black dragon. Images that she had been explicitly told she wasn’t to look at. Each session, it became more painful to not look. Violet breathed, focusing on her breath as she pushed past the dragon, his great neck whipping and pulsing at her as she rushed by. The images eased, and she focused on one: a large bear. She recognized that bear. A striking blonde with a purple dress and ruby lips.
Violet whispered, “Kellen, a blonde, purple dress, a distinctive nose.”
She observed and focused. But the images didn’t move. No names. Not even a partial name.
And they faded. For people she knew, it could be harder to pull out their future.
A black wolf with a chestnut wolf came into vision. These were harder—when both were shifters. Their names were harder to draw out. She whispered what she saw to Sam so that no detail would be forgotten. In her vision, the black wolf shifted. She saw a male shifter with a dolphin tattoo on his right shoulder and the Da Vinci hand from the Sistine Chapel wrapped around his back. Violet watched, but the chestnut wolf didn’t shift for her. The images continued with twenty other couples. But they weren’t as clear from before, not with the dragon in her visions. She closed her eyes.
“That’s it. I can’t get any more.”
Sam brought the lights up a little. “It’s good. It’s enough to work with.”
“It’s not good. It’s painful. If that SOB of a dragon would let me find his mate, then I wouldn’t be in so much agony.”
Sam opened her mouth, but Violet cut her off. “Don’t you think I’ve tried? I explained to him how it is blocking me.”
“But did you tell him it’s ripping up your insides? That your gift will cause you damage if you don’t use it?”
“I tried, but the SOB won’t listen.”
“That’s SOD if you must. I won’t have you talking about my great aunt that way.”
“Samantha, darling, I am sorry. I didn’t mean to insult your family.”
“Well, it was over ten generations ago.” She smirked.
“Oh, you’re horrible.”
“No, that would be my family. You’ve read our history.”
“I’ve seen your history, and it’s not as bad as you think.” Violet pulled Sam in for a hug.
Epilogue 2: Matthias
He watched the monitor of the newly mated couple on the security camera at the front desk. The desk agent activated a new band and handed it over to the wolf’s mate. He sighed. Hopefully his sister would be happy with only one band.
Matthias unlocked the safe in his office. He pulled the orange band out of his pocket and locked it up.
Maybe he could get the other one from them. But it would be a lot harder now.
Dear Reader
Dear Reader:
Dear reader, thank you so much for reading Aurora and Duncan’s story. I’ve had the Dark Wing ship sailing around in my head for such a long time, it feels like a real place to me.
Next up is Tad and Elizabeth’s story. It was a great one for me to write. They definitely didn’t start off on the right foot, but Tad’s coming around. Hopefully, Elizabeth doesn’t use herself as a guinea pig and get out of her fated mating with Tad. Brilliant Heart is up for pre-order now.
I can’t thank you enough for coming along on this journey with me. If you would take the time to join my mailing list, the Koi Pond, I would be so grateful. And I’ll send you an extra epilogue of what’s going on with Duncan and Aurora. But the best thing about the Koi Pond is that I’m writing an episodic book and you’ll get one episode every month that features the crew. In the first episode, lynx shifter Naomi’s hobby gets her into deep water with the captain. And wait, there’s more—monthly, you’ll get an interview with a crew member by our lovely cruise director Rebecca Vane. She’s still working out how the whole reporter thing works, so be patient with her if she drops the mic or asks a too personal question of her fellow crewmembers and guests. If you would like to get signed up for the Koi Pond and the first episode of Crew Mates. Visit elliepond.com
As with any new series, it is so helpful if you would take the time to give Hidden Heart a review. Thanks, and I can’t wait to talk to you in the Koi Pond!
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I am thankful for all of the assistance I’ve had making this book a reality. I would like to thank: Aquila Editing for the copy edits. Moonstruck Cover Designs for a fantastic cover. Mary DeSantis for her insightful comments in beta reading my manuscript. And Erin Grey for her proofreading and overall cheerfulness.
I would also like to thank- door locks- they’re what keeps the teenagers out of my office while I write. I couldn’t have done it without you. And a hearty thank you to my husband and sons for mostly tolerating me talk about my characters like they’re real people.
Have a questions about the book? Please email me at [email protected].
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The Doctor thinks she’s immune to hot shifter pheromones, but she has never met her fated mate before…
Tad Larsen was perfectly happy being a brilliant billionaire in the city. Until he ended up babysitting his adult cousins on a shifter cruise ship. Now his bound magic has been let loose and he’s no longer only a wolf shifter—he’s a mutt. But does the mutt need a mate?
Dr. Elizabeth Cottage doesn’t need a guy; her research and patients consume her precious hours. But she never expected to find a fated mate. Now what will she do? Give up her beloved ship and follow him, or give up on the love she didn’t realize she wanted?
Can Elizabeth and Tad get out of their own heads long enough to see what their hearts really want?
Brilliant Heart is the second book in the magical Dark Wing paranormal romance series. If you like fated mates, undeniable attraction, and magical intrigue, you’ll love Ellie’s entertaining Happily Ever After romance.
Buy Brilliant Heart to set sail for shifter passion today!