Shifter Secrets

by T K Eldridge

  T.K. Eldridge

  Shifter Secrets (Sid & Sin #3)

  First published by Graffridge Publishing 2020

  Copyright © 2020 by T.K. Eldridge

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  T.K. Eldridge asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  T.K. Eldridge has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

  Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.

  Cover by Lizzie Dunlap of PixieCovers.com

  Edited by Donna A. Martz of martzproofing.com

  First edition

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  If those who came before us could see what we’re doing with what they bequeathed,

  would they be happy or horrified? I like to think they would be proud of the strength and determination, and wary of the ways and means.

  “In the absence of memory, a person becomes like an animal. They know not where to go, how to act or who to be. They become lost. Like wandering sheep, hungry for truth.”

  ― Ezinne Orjiako, Nkem

  Chapter One

  Sid

  Life had been interesting since my cousin Micah returned home. We thought it would be just Micah who needed a place to crash for a bit. Oh, no. It wasn’t just Micah. It was also his stepson, Nicodamas, or Nico as he preferred. That sexy excuse for a “cousin” – and yes, that is in quotes for a reason. He’s legally my cousin, but there’s zero blood connection. Thank gods.

  It all started the night of Sin and Mira’s engagement party. My great-grandmother, Queen Margaret of Faery; my cousin, Prince Finn MacCumhaill; my parents, my Grandma Fortin and Grampa Walsh – eh, let’s just say everyone who was anyone was there. Including Stumpy, also known as Detective Patrick Clancy with the Belle Cove PD and my dad’s childhood friend. Stumpy showed up with another cousin of mine that I’d never met, Micah Harpur. He was around my Mom’s age and a totally arrogant dick. I’ll be honest, when I first met him, he gave me a creepy, ‘something’s not quite right’ feeling. I don’t know why I got that feeling, but I did.

  Mom and I had been sitting out on the steps, taking a few minutes to catch our breath while the party slowly died down inside. I hadn’t seen Mom in months since she and Dad had gone on a world tour. We were chatting when Stumpy’s cruiser pulled up to the house and he hauled Micah out, then uncuffed him and told us he’d pulled him out of a fight at Belle’s, the brothel on the outskirts of town.

  Micah went into the house with Mom, and Stumpy followed to get a drink. I stayed outside for a minute, not eager to go back into that seething mass of emotion called family.

  That’s how I got to meet Nico first.

  About three minutes after everyone went inside, a rusted red pickup pulled up behind Stumpy’s cruiser. I stood and watched as a man got out. When the light from the porch reached him, I sucked in a breath. “Who are you?” I asked.

  “I’m Nico Lamontaine. Who are you?” he replied.

  I knew right then he was with Micah. The Cajun accent was thicker on Nico’s tongue than it had been on Micah’s.

  “Sidonie Boudreau. I live here. You must be with my cousin, Micah Harpur?”

  “Dat I am, chere. He’s my Papa.”

  Well, that I wasn’t expecting. “Uh huh. How do you think that?” I could see that Nico was a shifter, not a witch. Unless Micah had somehow been a shifter and then turned back into a witch, this wasn’t going to fly with me.

  Nico laughed, and the sound curled low in my belly. Yeah, I’d had way too much wine and champagne tonight. That had to be it.

  “He’s my step-papa. He married my Maman and raised me as his. I don’t call him step anything though. He’s my Papa, and I’ve known no other.”

  “Ah, well that makes more sense then. I was going to say, you’re a shifter and he’s a witch. I know you could be half and half, but you’d at least have some witch in you if you were his.”

  Dark hair that reached to his shoulders, dark eyes that caught the light and gleamed green-gold, skin a couple of shades darker than mine, broad shoulders and narrow hips - he was built like a swimmer or a triathlete, and he moved with an arrogant grace that made my mouth go dry. Faded jeans and a soft t-shirt clung to him like a second skin, leaving very little to the imagination. A slight scruff of beard lined his chiseled jaw and high cheekbones, and I wanted to run my fingers over it badly enough that I took a half step forward before I realized what I was doing.

  “Looked yer fill, have you, chere? Mind showing me where everyone is? I could use a bathroom and a fresh coffee that isn’t from a gas station.”

  I blushed and nodded. “Sure, come on in. Bathroom is to the left when you step inside. Everyone’s in the main room. Just follow the noise when you’re done.”

  I watched him walk down the short hallway to the bathroom, then turned away to head into the kitchen. I needed to stick my head in the freezer or something. No, it wasn’t a Chosen bond kind of feeling. More of a ‘haven’t had sex in forever and he’s a hottie’ feeling.

  “Oh, good, are you getting more ice?” Grandma Fortin asked as she saw me with my head in the freezer.

  I groaned, opened my eyes, and pulled out the bag of ice. I let the door fall shut as I turned to face my Grams.

  “Cooling myself down,” I muttered to her.

  “I thought it was nice outside?” Grams asked.

  “Oh, it is, but Micah’s son is here and…”

  “Micah’s what?” Grandma screeched.

  Grampa came around the corner at a run. “Lissa, what’s wrong?”

  Grandma shook her head, sucked in a breath, and I slapped my hands over my ears.

  “Micah Kian Harpur, get your ass in this kitchen right now,” was shouted through the house.

  Everyone fell silent, then the whispered mutters began.

  Micah sauntered into the kitchen and gave Grandma a coy smile. “Yes, Maman, what can I do for you?”

  Grandma’s hands landed on her hips as she glared at Micah. “Not only do you show up to my house, after however many decades, handcuffed and in the back of a police cruiser – you also showed up with a son that I know nothing about? My own flesh and blood?”

  “He’s my stepson, Maman. He carries none of my blood and all of my heart,” Micah replied, tone gentle. “Nicodamas Lamontaine is the son of my wife, Richelle.”

  Just then, Nico stepped into the kitchen. He walked up to Grandma, offered her a polite bow, and spoke. “Grandmere, it is an honor to meet the maman of the man who raised me. I have heard the stories and am pleased to finally meet such greatness.”

  I didn’t know if I wanted to gag or swoon. It was way over the top, but i
t was sweet at the same time. Grandma seemed as hesitant as I, so she gave him a polite smile, reached up, and patted Nico’s cheek. “That was well-rehearsed and very sweet, but I’m not the kind of lady that swoons over sweet words. Show me that Micah has raised you well, and we’ll be just fine.”

  And just like that, my grandma showed me once again how to be strong, classy, and take no bullshit.

  Grampa offered his hand and introduced himself, then moved the two men with him back into the party. Grandma turned to me when we were alone in the kitchen. “Is that why you were needing to cool down? I could feel the sexual tension the minute he walked into the room.”

  I tried to shrug it off. “He’s sexy and he’s not really related. Oh, and his mother isn’t here with them. It’s just him and Micah.”

  That did what I had hoped. Derailed Grandma – temporarily, of course.

  “I wonder why the boy never told me he was married. I know nothing about this woman or her son, or anything. This is unacceptable,” Grandma said and hurried out of the room.

  I leaned back against the refrigerator with a thud. By the skin of my teeth I’d avoided that conversation. Then Sin walked in and gave me a look, and I sighed. “Don’t. Just don’t.”

  My twin smirked at me, nudged me out of the way and opened the fridge to grab a beer. “Want one?” he asked.

  “Sure,” I replied.

  “So, what’s going on with you and Cousin Nico?”

  “Shut up, Sin. He’s our cousin by marriage, not by blood.”

  Sin opened the two bottles of beer and handed me one. “We’re not in a backwoods mountain town, sis. You can’t be getting the hots for a relative. People won’t let you live it down. Reputations are kind of important, now that we’re in the SPD.”

  “For the love of the goddess, Sinclair! I thought the guy was sexy. That doesn’t mean I’m about to climb into bed with him. Take a breath, for fucksake.” Yeah, I was angry. Annoyed even. “There is no Chosen bonding hotness going on here,” I said and swirled a finger around in front of myself. “I’ve got my own life to live before I worry about all of that.”

  “Uh huh. And I felt that attraction, sis. It’s not just some ‘hey, he’s hawt, wink wink’ emotion. You need to go take a cold shower or something.”

  “Sin, enough. I’m not looking for some dick with limbs attached to make my life more complicated. It was a drunken appreciation for pretty. That’s all. Please, let it go.” I drained about half the beer in the bottle, set it down and moved towards my brother, reached up on my toes and kissed his cheek. “Congrats on your engagement, Sin. You found an awesome one. Give everyone my love, would ya? I’m going to go find my bed.”

  Sin, blessedly, stayed silent as I left the kitchen and slipped into my apartment. I locked the door behind me, checked my doors and windows, then got into the shower. Sin was right about one thing. I needed to wash those thoughts right out of my head. I even added some of the lavender water Grams and I had made the last full moon. It was supposed to rinse away any spells or remnants of spells that someone might have picked up. I felt a little lighter, but not enough to blame my reaction to Nico on a spell. Dammit.

  Wrapped in my terrycloth robe, my hair twisted up in a towel, I reached for my phone and scrolled through the numbers. After realizing that the people I wanted to talk to were either busy at the party in the other part of the house, or probably out on a date with someone other than me, I tossed the phone back on the table and finished drying my hair. I felt restless and out of sorts, and pacing my living room wasn’t what I needed. I pulled on a pair of shorts and a tank top, braided my damp hair and found my running shoes. My phone and key went into a belt pouch and I sent a text to Grandma that I was going for a run, so someone would know where I had gone. I used to just go run with no worries, but that was before bombs, booby traps, and kidnappings happened. Now I made sure someone knew when and where I went running, just in case.

  I took the time to stretch, foot up on the railing of my little porch, before I stepped off and headed across the field to the trees.

  I loved to run in the forest. It fed something in my shifter half. Oh, yeah, that’s the other thing. Sin and I are not just twins, we’re hybrids. We grew up knowing that we were half shifter and half witch, but over the past year we learned that we’re more. Our Mom is a witch with fae blood and our Dad is a shifter with mythic blood. No, they didn’t know either. Yeah, it’s made for some interesting family dinner conversations.

  The thud of my sneakers went from the sound of treads on dirt to the sound of treads on pine needles and leaf debris. Nearly silent now, I measured my breaths and moved through the trees. The trail had been marked by magic, warded and protected, so I let myself sink into the rhythm of footfall, breath, and heartbeat.

  I wove my way around the trees and into a clearing that edged on the stream that ran along the property line of Grandma’s farm. The stream was always cold as it ran from the snow line in the mountains through town down to the ocean. I paused and stretched, then pulled my sneakers and socks off and set them on a rock. It was near midnight, but the moon was bright and I used my shifter sight to make sure I could find the spot where the bank sloped and the stream bed was less rocky.

  I sucked in a breath as the icy water made my toes curl in the silt and rocks. My ankles started to go numb and I waded a few steps deeper. The cold was starting to fade so I swirled a leg in the water and turned to look upstream. The moon played on the surface, painting the water into a silver pathway that tempted me to follow it.

  I didn’t.

  I stood there a few more minutes, then turned to head out when I heard a low growl from near where I’d left my sneakers. My fingers curled toward my palms as I whispered a spell.

  “I suggest you move along, or you’re going to be sorry,” I said. I held the ball of lightning in my hand, ready to shoot it at whatever was trying to be threatening.

  A soft whoosh sound and I heard a voice. “Relax, cher. It’s just me, cousin Nico. I saw you go for your run and decided to see where it took you.”

  “Fuck off, Nico. I came out here for solitude, not another go-round with you,” I said. He confused me and my emotions were all over the place already anyway.

  “Why did you reach for magic instead of shifting?” Nico asked.

  “Why do you care?” I replied. Inside, though, I could feel his judgy comment stabbing at that insecure part of me. The part that never chose shifting first. Thanks, Grandpa Boudreau.

  “You should be bringing the appropriate response to the situation. While magic might have been effective, the correct response should have been to shift into your most fierce predator form.”

  “Keep talking and I’ll fry your ass with this lightning ball,” I said. I mean, really, what was he? Professor of all things shifter?

  “As you wish, chere. I had heard that hybrids were weaker in one of their bloodlines. I guess we know which is yours.”

  Before I could reply, he’d shifted again and raced off into the trees.

  My hands curled into fists and I let the magic dissolve. I climbed out of the stream and wiped off my feet, pulling socks and shoes back on. Anger flared alongside shame and awe. He’d shifted so quickly, so effortlessly. Not even Benny, the local shifter Alpha, could do it like that.

  I wiped my hands on my shorts and let my senses stretch around myself. No one other than the normal wildlife surrounded me. I took a slow breath and let the shift flow. My clothes disappeared and feathers wrapped my body. Within a few heartbeats, I was airborne in my hawk form, soaring over the trees. I flew a few laps around the farm before I landed on my porch and shifted back. Once inside, I locked up and headed to the shower. At least I didn’t have to worry about running into Micah and Nico in the middle of the night. They were, apparently, staying in the trailer on the other side of the barns. Used to be the home of the old foreman, but when he retired it was cleaned up and used as a guest residence.

  As I lay in bed and listened to
the sounds of the house as it settled, I wondered about Nico and my reaction to him. I probably just needed to call up my friend-with-benefits and I’d be fine.

  I hoped.

  Chapter Two

  Sin

  Mira slept curled against my side, her breath warm on my skin. I stared up at the ceiling, exhausted but unable to quiet my mind enough to join Mira in sleep.

  The engagement party and welcome home for my parents, Micah, Nico, and my great-grandmother Maggie, the Queen of the Fae, had been last week. Since then I’d been buried at work, to the point I hadn’t even found a chance to corner Sid and get the low down on her lust/hate thing going on with Nico. I really hoped she didn’t end up jumping in bed with him. There was something about him that just set my teeth on edge, and while he wasn’t blood related, he was still related and eww.

  In fact, Sid used to come over at least every third day or so, to have dinner with us and hang out. Nothing since the engagement party. No dinner nights, or six pack hangout on the porch nights – nothing. Now that I thought about it, that was suspicious. Either she was pissed at me for something, or she was hiding something and didn’t want me to figure it out. The longer I lay in bed, the more it bugged me, so I carefully got up and pulled on some clothes.

  I got to her place and noticed a light on, so I tapped on the door. Sid opened it, gun in hand, and I gave her a faint smile. “What’s up, sis? You expecting trouble?”

  “Get in here. What’s wrong? Mira and Ethan okay?”

  “Yeah, they’re fine. I’ve been worrying about you, and couldn’t sleep, so I came by to try and talk.”

  Sid shut and locked the door behind me, the gun set on a table near her bedroom door. Her place was small, but perfect for one person.

  “I’m okay,” Sid said, then stepped into the kitchen. “You want a drink? I’ve got tea, beer, juice…”