by Helen Scott
Her Shifter Kingdom
House of Wolves and Magic Book Five
Helen Scott
Contents
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
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Epilogue
Also By Helen Scott
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Copyright
1
Nina
"Just focus, Nina." Roman's voice was cool and calm, which didn't do anything to assuage the frustration burning through me like a wildfire. "Let your wolf come to you."
"She won't! I don't know what happened before, but she's back in her cage and won't come out." I growled at him in frustration.
"You shifted, Nina. We all saw it. I know you can do it again," Micah encouraged.
"Your wolf is just another part of you. All you have to do is be yourself—be whole. Stop thinking of your wolf as separate and instead think of it as an extension of you, like an arm or leg." Tate was trying to be helpful—they all were, and I really appreciated it, but I also just couldn't seem to manage what they were asking.
For a split second after Denver had kissed me, I'd shifted. Okay, so it wasn't just for a split second—more like a couple of hours, during which time my wolf had completely freaked out and acted feral. She'd almost taken Blake's arm off.
I glanced over at my injured mate and winced inwardly at the pain I'd caused him.
He just glared at me and said, "It's not your fault, and it's not a big deal. I'll heal in no time. She was just scared."
She had been. I had been? Whatever. I hadn’t been fully aware of what was going on, since I’d just felt like I was in pain, but I'd known I was scared. Whether that fear was because of the pain or not. I wasn't sure. Which was precisely why we'd come back out to the woods. The hope was that I could shift again, and since we wouldn't all be locked in a hotel room together. she might be calmer—less feral and terrified.
The problem was, I couldn't get her to come back out.
If I could, I'd smack her upside her head. Since we were the same being though, that wasn't really going to work.
"Let's start again," Roman said, his voice maintaining that same calm, even tone that was infuriating me. "Take a deep breath and mentally connect with your wolf. Once you do, coax her to the surface and give her control."
I was sitting cross-legged on the forest floor, the scent of pine filling my nose as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Everything was fine; my wolf and I were one and the same. If that was true though, then why had she always felt like a separate entity in my head? It wasn't uncommon for shifters to refer to their animals as other beings or entities, but mine seemed especially...strong? Unique? Special? There was just something about her that I couldn't control, which made me scared to shift in the first place—and this whole trying to convince her that we were one and the same was totally not working.
Maybe the control thing would work though. If I could convince her that she'd be in complete control. then she might actually give this a shot. Who knew my wolf was a control freak? I supposed it made sense, since I struggled with the same shit.
I felt for her in my mind and found her back in the cage I'd created for her so long ago. When I mentally placed myself in front of her, I felt her confusion. I need you. I need your help figuring everything out. You can have complete control. I'm willing to go all wolf. I'm all in; you just have to take over or tell me what to do so you can.
My wolf wasn't convinced. so I shut up and waited. She needed to know I was serious. I wasn't completely sure what would happen next—all I knew was that I would wait her out if I had to.
When my mind went blank, I knew something was happening. This time, instead of fighting it, I relaxed into it—something I'd learned during my martial arts training. If I could keep my body loose, then whatever was happening wouldn't hurt as much. I knew it was true, because I'd experienced it first hand before. I just wasn't sure how it would apply to this situation. It wasn't like I could talk to my instructor about shifting into my wolf.
My body was changing and morphing around me. I could feel the bones breaking and realigning, but this time it didn't hurt. Okay, it hurt a little—something along the lines of stubbing my toe or trapping my finger in a door—but the pain was brief, and once I was in my wolf form, I was able to stretch and shake the pain away. Getting comfortable in my new body wasn't an issue, because I wasn't the one in control.
Just as I'd promised, I let my wolf take over completely. I was just a passenger, and she had come out to see what was going on. My mates had all frozen and were watching me with wary eyes. I could feel the difference this time though. The fear was gone, and I only sensed curiosity.
My wolf carefully padded to each of them, smelling them, and I could feel the satisfaction that coursed through her as she got a chance to take them in. They each greeted her as though she were her own person, which I supposed after having my two halves be separate for so long, she was.
"Do you want to go hunting?" Roman asked.
I could feel my wolf perk up at the idea. The loamy earth cushioning her footfalls as she chased after her prey, filling her nose with the scents of the forest that it had been far too long since she'd smelled? Yeah, she was on board with that.
Something in her body language must have told him that she was excited, or maybe he could just feel it through the bond, because the next thing out of Roman's mouth was something I didn't expect. A question. "Do you mind if we shift so we can all hunt as wolves together?"
She considered the question and decided that she trusted them enough to allow it. I had the sense that it was partially because of me—because of how much I trusted and cared for them, which was saying something, since I hadn't trusted anyone in a long time until I met Roman.
My wolf didn't snarl or make it seem like she wasn't on board with the idea, so the guys quickly stripped and shifted. Since my wolf was in charge, her gaze didn't linger on their naked human forms the way mine would have, but she was interested in their wolves. As soon as her eyes landed on the massive wolf that was Roman, who was the first to complete his shift, it felt like she grinned and took off running, wanting them to chase her.
She was feisty, much more so than I remembered, but it felt good to let loose. Everything about her was different from my memories. The only thing that was the same were the white paws I saw flashing in the corner of my—our—vision as she ran. I knew my wolf was striking to look at. I remembered my parents telling me that I'd catch anyone's eye in wolf form, which was part of why I had to be so careful growing up.
Now, though? Now I didn't care. Let them look; let them see her in all her magnificence. This part of myself had been shut away for too long, punished for just existing, and I wasn't going to do that anymore. That was a thing of the past.
We ran full out until her muscles start
ed to ache, and even then, I knew she would have kept going if it hadn't been for the scent of deer that caught her nose. She abruptly changed course and went after her prey.
The guys followed. I could sense them behind us, but my wolf wasn't paying them any mind. This was her time to play and shine, and I wasn't going to try and dim that just so she could interact with the others more. We would have plenty of time for that later. I hoped.
All kinds of scents were filtering through her mind as she ran, and I could only keep up with some of it. Everything was being processed too quickly, relying too much on instinct for my preference, but that was her choice. It was the way she wanted to live while she was in control, and I'd respect that. After all, I wanted to be able to shift again more easily and for it not to have to take hours of meditation in the woods to accomplish.
Being able to slip in and out of my wolf form would be living well. Doing that while living with my mates and not being hunted? That would be living the dream.
Just the thought of being hunted brought Jax to my mind, which made my wolf stumble and slow slightly before pushing me out of her thoughts once more. I was fine with that, though. As much as I wanted the two of us be one, the idea of killing a deer with my teeth still icked me out a little. She was welcome to that part.
I couldn't help but enjoy the freedom she felt as she was experiencing the world for the first time in years. Everything felt new and special, and I knew she wanted to experience as much as she could before I took control once more. I was fine with that. Honestly, it was nice having some of the pressure taken off me since I couldn't make any decisions while she was in control. Unless the decision was about whether to catch that deer or go after a groundhog instead.
Something distracted her, and she slowed, which gave the guys a chance to catch up. As soon as they did, they launched a full scale attack, play-nipping at her heels and trying to wrestle her to the ground. She wasn't having any of it though, and was snarling and baring her teeth at them, though I could tell they were just playing.
I'd never experienced anything like this before. The memories of being in my wolf form when I was younger were just snatches of images and feelings, from my white paws to the knowledge that I was one of the fastest wolves in the pack. At the time, at least, I was also one of the smallest.
I wasn't sure if any of that was still applicable, except for the white paws, but I was sure the guys would tell me later. When she looked at them, my mates didn't feel excessively larger than my wolf, but she could be bigger in her own mind than she was in reality. As though she could sense my thoughts, she huffed. I was pretty sure it was at me, even though it was between tumbles with our mates.
Each one was trying her, testing her as they played together and raced each other. It felt like they were trying to show off for her, in a way, to help her see that they were good choices for mates. She was loving the attention and giving them hell right back. Everything felt natural and free: movement, play, hunting—it was all instinctual, and I was loving it. Having the opportunity to just sit back and observe was interesting, and I wasn't sure what it meant in terms of my wolf and I being different entities, but I'd take what I could get.
As she ran and played and bonded with my mates, my mind was calculating and trying to figure out what our next course of action should be. I wasn't sure, though.
Jax was still out there hunting me, that much I knew, but I didn't know what his next tactic would be. He'd tried most things; the only thing left was wholesale slaughter of anyone who got in his way until he got to me or I gave in to save the innocent lives that would be lost through his violence. Just the thought sent a chill through me mentally, and I knew we would have to come up with some way to stop that from happening.
The only thing that came to mind was what Roman had said a few days ago. We had to kill Jax. The trouble was that it was easier said than done. How do you kill someone who never leaves their territory? How would we get past the guards and other soldiers he'd created within his pack? There was so much to figure out—enough that it made my stomach twist with nerves when I thought about it, even in my wolf form. One question seemed to swim up from the depths of my mind, and it made me anxious to even think it. Was I capable of killing him?
2
Denver
We'd run in the forest as wolves for long enough that we were all exhausted by the time we got back to the motel. Roman and the others had gone to pick up their stuff from their old motel room, and they were all going to come back to the room I'd rented and crash. We had barely even talked about next steps, but we all knew we couldn't get away with staying in this room for any longer than a couple of nights. I really didn't want to know how much they'd try and charge us if they found out there were six people in the room.
All I really cared about in that moment, though, was that something was bothering my mate. It was weird to think that I had one, let alone that I could tell when something was bothering her already. It also hadn't escaped my attention that we'd been given some alone time, no doubt with the idea of cementing the bond behind it. I also didn't fail to notice the trust they'd put in me by leaving her with me as her only protection—not that she couldn't handle herself, because she could, but having backup never hurt.
As much as I wanted to cement our bond, and that was a whole helluva lot, I didn't want to force it if Nina wasn't into it—if she wasn't in the mood. Plus, I had no doubt she was exhausted from all that running. After kissing her and watching her have a brutal shift the night before, I wasn't sure if she would even be interested in me again physically for a while. And I couldn't blame her. We weren’t quite sure what, exactly, had triggered Nina’s shift, but the guys had explained that she hadn't been able to shift for years. Now, suddenly, she could.
That first time though?
I'd never seen anything like it. The whole thing had seemed to happen in slow motion. The magic that usually washed over us like water, helping us shed whichever form we were in for the other, had seemed to creep over her skin like frost. We could hear her bones restructuring themselves, accompanied by screams that had chilled me to the bone.
Not knowing her that well yet, I wasn't sure how to approach her. So, I figured blunt was best. "Want to tell me what's on your mind?"
Those big blue-gray eyes of hers peered up at me from where she sat on the edge of the bed as I pulled a chair over from the small table by the window. If I was honest, I was somewhat surprised that it wasn't bolted to the ground, since everything else seemed to be stuck down. I wasn't sure whether she trusted me yet or not, and hell, maybe she didn't even know. All she did was watch me sit opposite her and wait for a while.
I knew it wasn't a test; she didn't seem like that kind of woman, but I wanted to be someone she could turn to. I was sure I wouldn't be the only one, and the others had been with her longer, but I was here now, and that had to count for something.
"I have all five of you now, but nothing feels like it's changed, other than my wolf coming out to play. I don't know what to do about Jax. All I know is that he's still an issue and will probably remain that way until he finds out I have all five of my mates—and then probably for a little longer as well. I mean, he could never give up like he claims, so what options am I left with? Killing him? Somehow, it doesn't sit well with me, at least not yet. I know that makes me sound weak, like I don't have the stomach for it, but the idea of killing someone to make my life easier just isn't okay with me." She sighed heavily.
"What if you killed them to protect people? Jax will kill me and the rest of your mates without hesitation if he thinks it will help him. Or maybe think about the members of his pack who are being tormented by him and his soldiers? Or the people he's killed trying to get to you already? Weren't they innocent in all this? Don't they deserve some kind of justice?" I asked.
"We all deserve justice," she said with a growl that went straight to my cock. "It's not like there aren't people who’ve suffered before now. I just can't..."
/> "No one said you have to strike the final blow," I said gently, pausing briefly before adding, "We aren't fully mated yet. There's nothing rushing you to make a decision."
"Other than the fact that he's hunting us like we're squirrels in the woods," she grumbled before biting at her thumb nail.
"Squirrels are harder to catch than you might think. Trust me, when your pack relies on you for hunting. you learn which animals are worth the effort and which aren't. Squirrels almost never are. If you want, we can wait on all of this. We can find somewhere to hide out and not come out until he's given up looking for us. I know you'll figure it out. We will together, and until we do, I know how to hide—believe that," I chuckled.
She watched me intently for a moment. "I don't want us to be the weak link in our pack, though. I don't want to be responsible for leaving an opening Jax can exploit."
"What are you saying?" I asked, needing to be sure I understood her completely.
"I'm saying let's have sex, unless you don't want to, which is totally okay." She seemed to panic suddenly at the end, and all I could do was laugh softly.
"Believe me, there's nothing I wouldn't want to do with you, sexually or otherwise," I replied. It was true. The mate bond was there, and even without consummating our mating, I knew that I would move heaven and earth for this woman. I'd pluck the moon from the sky and give it to her if I could. I'd make her a necklace out of stars if she asked and it was within my capabilities. Anything and everything was hers, including me. Hell, I'd already given up my pack for her because I couldn't stay away from her. If she wanted to run off to California, Florida, Mexico, or wherever, then that's what we'd do. And if she wanted to stay and fight? Then that's what we'd do too.
