by Fox, Piper
“Let’s hope so. I really don’t need that to happen again.”
“Oh, I think you can cope.”
Kat smiled, feeling the power of her magic coursing through her, “So do I. Although, I don’t know why my magic didn’t work before desperate measures were called for. It was so obviously there all the time.”
“I know. I was thinking about that and I think you have defensive magic that can reflect back whatever power is thrown at you. That’s what happened with the demon in the kitchen, anyway. But that doesn’t mean that’s all there is. I don’t know a lot about it, but people’s magic develops and grows over time, so give it a month or two and you might be able to do a lot more.”
Kat nodded. That made complete sense and she knew she’d keep learning and finding out what she could do.
There was just one problem. After all that had happened, she realised that there was nothing left to do now, maybe no reason for Ethan to stay. He’d stayed to protect her, but that was over now, and she didn’t know if everything that had happened between them had been just because of the heat of the moment.
She cleared her throat awkwardly, wondering what to say.
“Well,” she said at the same time as he did.
They both laughed. “No, you go first, he said.
“Ah, well, I was, uh, just going to ask, uh, if you were okay.”
Ethan smiled and cupped her cheek. “No, you weren’t, sweetheart. You were wondering if I was going to stick around now all this over, and the answer is ‘yes’. You’re my mate, Kat, so of course we’re going to see each other again.” He drew her close and kissed her gently on the lips. “In fact, how about we start right now?”
He kissed her again, sliding his hand into her hair and neither of them noticed the rather confused firemen who’d driven hell for leather to reach what looked like a three-truck fire at least, from all the billowing smoke, only for them to arrive and find a perfectly innocent, pristine house, and a couple who obviously wanted to be alone.
Chapter 5
One year later
Ethan patted the unicorn shifter’s mane, soothing the last of its panic as Kat laid waste to the trio of harpies that had been taunting it for months.
The last of the harpies dove to attack her from behind, and Kat didn’t even turn before casually blasting it out of the sky, just like she’d done to the other two.
His jaguar purred in approval and then turned its attention to complaining about the distinct lack of food in its belly for the whole hour they’d been out here. Typical cat.
Kat turned to face him, grinning, her eyes bright with excitement and happiness.
Badass. He’d married an absolute badass of a woman. And how far she’d come in such a short time.
She strolled over, taking the time to talk softly to the frightened unicorn shifter, patting its side and stroking its soft nose. “It’s okay, beautiful boy. They’re gone, and they’ll never bother you again. I promise.”
The unicorn whinnied and cantered off, quite happily.
Kat linked her arm in Ethan’s, and they set off, ready for their next big adventure. It was a busy job being a supernatural guardian, but they were more than up to it.
The End
* * *
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About the Author
Lillia Hunter writes paranormal and fantasy romance, with kickass heroines, gods, goddesses, hellcats, shifters, and more worlds than you can shake a dangerous artifact at, along with a dash of humour, a sprinkle of magic and, of course, a happy ending.
She also writes warm and witty sweet romance as Gill Fernley.
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Twisted Fate
A HOLLOW RIDGE PACK STORY
Laurie Treacy
About Twisted Fate
She’s a lone wolf, tossed from her pack.
He’s a powerful Alpha’s son.
When they meet, there’s an intense connection tying them together. But can two wolves accustomed to lying about their true selves ever be totally honest with one another?
Leigh
Deepening shades of somber purple and burnt orange of the setting sun provided the perfect backdrop for this Friday night. Leigh Miller hurried over to join the sixty or so other members of the Redwood Grove pack streaming inside the converted barn. The bells had rung, indicating their Alpha demanded an assembly. She nabbed her favorite spot in the last row, left back corner. Attendance for any high schooler and adults, like herself, was mandatory. Anyone younger she considered lucky. Those kids stayed home—either in their cabins, houses, or tents on pack land, whatever ‘home’ might be.
Until two years ago, she had parents and a home. Not anymore.
The silver bullets of a raid team of hunters saw to that when they killed her parents.
Mason mumbled a greeting while he claimed a place next to her. Soon their row filled. All attendees remained on their feet. Pockets of light chatter died down.
Just in time.
Everyone scented his arrival scant seconds before the Alpha slammed the two large front doors shut. The collective group flinched at the explosion of sound. Leigh did too. Every head dipped while a palpable tension froze them in place.
Hunched shoulders indicated none besides a select few knew the reason for the gathering. Not even Mason suspected. Leigh knew all too well but like everything else she endured; she kept her mouth shut.
Owen Sanders sauntered down the main aisle with the pompous air of royalty. His tight blue tee, the material liquid-like, emphasized every muscle and plane of his perfect physique. Even his jeans seemed glued on. Every reddish-brown hair on his head in place. While members tended to the land and various other jobs, he worked out and spent his nights doing unofficial pack business.
Leigh’s lips tightened as she restrained her hatred. As he continued to the front, she thought all he needed to complete his look was a crown and scepter.
Unlike most pack leadership, their Alpha had no pureblood and no true lineage. It was no secret that he employed dark magic practitioners to help him drug their previous leader. Trickery enabled Sanders to kill their beloved Alpha and his family so a nobody with demented dreams could seize control and power of their pack. Then Sanders rewarded his buddies with high-ranking positions. Together they openly ran his gambling, drugs, and prostitution businesses from buildings located on the back end of pack property.
No one had been strong enough to try and take him on. Instead, they lived in fear of him and of being exposed to the humans living outside their fences.
But being wolves, their animal side knew scents carried the truth behind what went on inside that section of dense California woodlands and who their Alpha really was.
Sanders ruled with brute force and reveled in his dark ways.
“Evening, pack members.” How he savored the way his voice boomed inside the confining space. While many cowered from his harsh tone, Sanders beamed.
Everyone continued to focus on the ground, out of respect. Sanders also thrilled at any opportunity to inflict pain on any member who dared defy his role or his rules. A glance at him would cost that individual a day outside The Hall tied to a tree after being whipped.
Through her overgrown bangs, Leigh snuck a peek. With her hoodie pulled on, she blended into the dark recesses of the barn.
Sanders’ eldest son and Beta, Aaron, entered from t
he back, followed by his middle-born sibling, Lincoln. Derek, the youngest, was last to take his place behind his father on stage. All openly smirked. The Alpha’s mate and their mother, Jemma, remained bedridden. Those who had participated in the pack’s full moon run three nights ago, reported how in her human form, she’d tripped and rolled down a hill.
All knew Jemma had never fully recovered from the hunter’s attack. The Alpha’s mate had taken three silver bullets in defense of her family.
Leigh would have let those spoiled brats fight for themselves but considering how she’d lost her own parents; she kept those opinions to herself. Due to her orphan status, the others abandoned her.
Mason had become her only friend after his mother and pack midwife, Harlyn, took her in. She’d lost her mate, Ezra, in that battle. As compensation for taking in another mouth to feed, she took Leigh with her on visits, first to have another set of hands, and then to apprentice to provide the teen a useful skill. Harlyn stayed back to oversee the labor of Aaron’s mate.
“We are here to witness the momentous event of two of our young members.” Sanders paced around the front, a predator seeking any reason to drag a member before the others for ridicule.
The Alpha knew nothing about real families. He only knew about pain and punishment from his own broken upbringing. Sanders coveted power. Finally, after noting no disobedience, only submission as usual, he lowered his hands. The gesture made them act like puppets as they lowered themselves onto the wooden benches.
The Sanders’ sons sat on ornate wood chairs set on either side of the Alpha’s huge seat. Each one with their father’s broad build and mother’s blond hair.
“The Calling makes a boy a man. We welcome only those with strength into our family.”
Instead of rolling her eyes at Sanders’ sexist comment, she tried to close them until she noticed Derek’s intense scan of the crowd. He searched for her.
Derek targeted Leigh after she lost her family. Every opportunity he could find, he made her life miserable. At every pack function he isolated her somewhere to overpower her. With whispered threats, his fingers freely groped, pinched, and prodded. Demented and twisted, she bet, he proudly followed in Dad’s footsteps.
No matter how much she wanted to, to defend herself went against pack rules. Due to his status, Derek could do whatever he wanted except have sex with her.
The taking of a virgin wolf would be a declaration of intent to mate.
When Derek spotted her, he sat straighter and had the nerve to wink. Did her many pleas to let her go make him think she enjoyed his warped attention? She looked away. In response, her fingers curled, and something hummed inside her. Not time for her wolf to debut.
To provide a necessary distraction, she focused on the jerk in front. Still unmated at twenty, Derek tread upon a dangerous path. Leigh felt his physical response whenever he grabbed her. She witnessed his eyes change to yellow gold while his beast sought release.
No Alpha family wanted an orphan. Her low hierarchical status was one rank above the most dreaded position—lone wolf—an excommunicated shifter, one unwanted by a pack.
But faced with her increasing concern that one day soon Derek would lose control, rape, and then kill her, the idea of being alone didn’t seem so bad.
Despite her clothes or far away seat, she couldn’t keep out of his sights. Not tonight.
“Connor Brand and Leigh Miller, your presence is demanded here.” Sanders folded his meaty arms and waited.
From his seat in the third row, Connor quickly made it up front. Mason murmured, “Tomorrow I will declare you as my mate. My mother suggested it. Good luck.”
Mason might be a nice guy, but he wasn’t her type. Plus, he didn’t shower every day. She fought off a shudder and hurried up the aisle.
Derek stared and openly licked his lips with hunger.
Some girls thought him hot. Not Leigh. Unable to understood why he terrorized her, she hated him for it.
Too bad she couldn’t control lightning. How she’d love to have a bolt hit him in the backside. Bet that would wipe away his cruel smile.
Another bolt could zap Sanders in the chest. Let him experience the pain he’d made so many others endure. He had even interfered by changing her name. Mom revealed how he detested her choice of birth name, Presley Hadleigh Divan Miller. Sanders decided on something appealing, Leigh Miller.
But Presley was a cool name.
One day she would get out and become who she was meant to be.
Finally, she climbed the steps onto the stage where the two teens then faced the pack.
Connor, a quiet jock, stared forward, his Adam’s apple occasionally moved as he nervously swallowed.
Sanders came up behind them, his earthen scent mixed with burning wood filled her senses. He knocked her hood off before he slammed a hand onto each of their shoulders. “Today is the anniversary of your birth. Now eighteen, the pack will witness The Changing. In your appropriate circle, call forth your wolf. You have ten minutes. If you fail, you leave the pack tonight.” His fingertips dug into her skin. Like father, like son.
He leaned in and whispered, “If you fail, I might let my son have some fun with you, before we toss your ass out.”
Another Sanders rule she hated: pure females could not have sex until their mating. Males did whatever they wanted. In this pack, Mates were created by a male’s first formal declaration of a female as ‘his,’ followed by his Alpha’s consent.
Leigh overheard girls at school gossip about wealthier packs. Pureblood shifters arranged pairings between other similar families. In a shifter lore book her mom owned, Leigh learned of another type of mating where one wolf called to another was considered a ‘true mating.’ Those were rare and had never occurred in this pack. Leigh found the concept romantic but fictional.
She cleared her mind of stray thoughts and fought to keep her heartbeat steady. To show weakness would be stupid. Even deadly. Her father used to stress not to display emotions to anyone. A calm countenance and strong stance meant more to a shifter’s survival above all else.
Sanders shoved them off the stage. They fell onto chalk-marked circles inches away from the first rows of curious eyes.
All the audience’s attention riveted to Connor. Of course, the male. In Redwood grove, females had three roles: to satisfy their mates, keep a home, and birth pups. That burned her, especially since the male/female ration in this pack was seventy/thirty. Shouldn’t the ladies be treated better?
Sighing, she dusted herself off before walking to the middle. There, as she’d witnessed many others do, she crouched.
Her jeans stretched with her movement while her sweatshirt provided a small degree of comfort. No preparation or practice was allowed before one’s initiation. Every eighteen-year-old had to participate. Planting her palms onto the dirt floor, she hung her head and closed her eyes.
Sanders clapped his hands together. “Begin!”
From a distance, someone set a time clock. The old-fashioned ticking sounds gave the initiates some form of control.
Leigh called her wolf. Immediately, a tingling began far inside her, as though from on a spiritual plane. In seconds, sweat beaded along her scalp line and down her back. Her long-braided hair jerked as she flexed her arms, willing the animal forward.
Tick tick.
She knew her wolf existed. Two weeks ago, when Derek found her alone in the General Store, he’d forced her into the storage room and her wolf growled inside.
But now that she needed her, where had she gone?
Tick tick. Tick tick.
“Two minutes in,” Sanders declared. “Activity on Connor’s side. Miller, nothing.”
Leigh hardly heard him; her concentration so immense. She worked out every day. Her mind and body were ready. Let’s do this.
Wolf, now, come forward.
A ripple shuffled under her skin. Her mouth went dry, she swallowed. Come on, girl.
Tick tick. Tick tick. Ticktick.
<
br /> Connor cried out. Teeth gritted before bones began to pop. Crack. Break. He cursed, his voice now deep a mix of boy, man, and beast. His family urged him to continue with vocal support.
“Six minutes remain. Connor’s wolf is beginning to show. Good. Good.”
With Sanders’ excited proclamation, interest grew. After completion of the rite, the pack celebrated with free food and drinks and revelry into early morning.
Leigh shook from exertion. Begging wasn’t easy. Please, wolf. I want to see you. Show them who we are.
Ticktickticktick.
Bones broke and reassembled themselves. Connor’s scent changed.
The Alpha carried on with his countdown. “Check out the brown fur. Hey Brand family, your boy’s doing well. Miller, you awake?”
In response, Leigh dug deeper. The skin of her fingers scratched by pebbles and rock in the rough earthy layers. Come forth, where are you?
The silence from her animal side unnerved her. What happened?
Ticktickticktick.
Sanders laughed. His sons cheered. “Excellent job, Mr. Brand. Welcome to the pack.”
Thunderous applause.
Sweat dripped down the sides of Leigh’s face. Through her mind’s eye she sensed a natural inner energy build up into a ball. Wolf? Her other self called for it to merge with her essence. Go ahead, she urged. Do it!
A fur coat shook exuberantly, and paws pounded the ground. Congratulations, Connor, now it’s our turn.
Tickticktickticktick
Gritting her teeth, Leigh’s inner persona attempted to pull on that translucent string they both viewed. When touched, the impact burned her spirit version and made her retreat. What the? Wolf, show yourself and take over!