Heart of Five: Part One: Reverse Harem Serial (Divinity Saga: Meg's Story Book 1)

by LA Kirk

  They stop at the edge of the other dock and watch the boat speed away. I don't take my eyes off them for fear they'll focus on this side. I've never known anyone to have a pet wolf, but the animal stands by the man's side without moving, barking, or challenging him. The wolf seems well trained.

  As I watch, the air around the wolf shimmers, and when it returns to normal, a man stands in the wolf's place. I throw my hand over my mouth as a gasp escapes my lips. Both men swing their heads in my direction. My hiding place does nothing to protect me as they march this way.

  I consider jumping into the lake, but I wouldn't make it across. They would just follow me along the edge until I was too tired to swim anymore, or worse, they would jump in after me. I don't want to struggle with someone in the water.

  Standing, I square my shoulders to meet them. Both men stride up and stop a few feet in front of me. I stare at the wolf man. Nothing seems out of the ordinary. His gaze sweeps over me and lands on my eyes. My contacts! It's too late to do anything about them now. At least I'm not the only one with something strange about them.

  The wolf man reaches toward me, and I step back, my back pressing against the wooden rail of the dock. His hand drops as he glances over at his partner. "I didn't mean to scare you. We won't hurt you."

  The blond has something in his hand, and he rubs his thumb over the top of it. My head feels fuzzy, but it quickly passes. His brow furrows as he watches me. "It can't be."

  My mind swirls with what I've seen. I want to get back to my book to read up on wolves. "I think I should head back to my cabin. Have a good evening."

  I move to step around the men, but the wolf man steps in front of me. "We should talk, but not here. It isn't safe."

  Before I can stop myself, I agree with him. "There are wolves out there, and I heard gunshots." I want to slap my hand over my mouth. This guy was probably one of the wolves I heard.

  Wolf man raises his eyebrows and smirks at me. "The wolves out here are the least of your worries. We need to head to our cabin. Did anyone see you tonight?"

  He continues to stare at my eyes, which makes me uncomfortable. "You're the only two that have spoken to me. I don't know if anyone has seen me though."

  The blond lets out a breath I didn't realize he held. "Call Red and have him check out the area. He should be able to see well enough with the full moon."

  Wolf man takes out his phone and dials Red. "Hey! They got away, but we have another situation." He shakes his head as he listens to Red. "No, I can't explain it over the phone. We're at the south dock. We need you to do a sweep of the area between here and the cabin. Once you give us the all clear, we're headed back that way." He hangs up the phone and puts it back in his pocket.

  Do these guys have access to satellites? How would anyone see anything at this time of night?

  "I appreciate the help, but my cabin isn't far. I'll head there now." I try to move around the blond this time, but he just grins at me as he steps in my way.

  "Red won't take long. We need to talk to you about what you saw." The blond casts a sidelong look at the wolf man.

  I throw my head back and sigh. This new development might give me some answers. The wolf man looks at me like he understands what my eye color means. If they want to hurt me, they would have done it already since there's no one around to stop them.

  I nod as I agree to go with them. "I need to stop calling you wolf man in my head and you the blond. I'm Meg, Megan, or Megs, depending on who I'm with." I hold out my hand to shake theirs.

  "Ha! Wolf man." The blond elbows the wolf man before taking my hand. "I would use that from now on, but he would rip my head off. I'm Archer." After shaking my hand, he takes my fingers and places a small kiss on the top of my hand before winking at me.

  "Stop flirting," Wolf Man directs at Archer before turning to me. He gently takes my hand, mine getting lost in his. "I'm Mitch. Sorry about all this, but we need to make sure we're careful now that you've seen things most people haven't."

  "I understand. I just don't want to be a burden on anyone. If you're worried I'll say something, I won't." I take my hand back and shove them both into my pockets.

  "Can—" Mitch starts to ask me something, but a loud screech interrupts him. A few seconds later, the bird of prey swoops past us to land on the rail beside Mitch.

  "Shit!" I scream. First the panther and wolf, now a hawk. Already against the railing, I have nowhere to go but into the water. Wait. The wolf from earlier today. I spin to look at Mitch, keeping some distance between me and the bird.

  I point at Mitch. "You! Was that you earlier today at the picnic grounds?" I glare at Archer and wonder if he could be the panther, but then I remember the man with the amber eyes at the diner. "Why are you following me? Which one is he? Shit, is that Red?" My mind spins as it puts the pieces together. It can't be a coincidence that I've run into them three times now.

  The bird squawks again, but Mitch already has his hands up, trying to placate me. "It's not what you think. I promise we will explain everything when we get back. We just need to hurry."

  Just then, the air around the bird shimmers, and Red hops off the rail. He shakes his head before turning his concerned eyes on me. "Wow, clearly I've missed a lot." He turns to Mitch. "We aren't safe here. There are men coming around the east side. They'll cut off our escape to the cabin."

  "I'll try to buy us some time. You three move as quickly as you can. Call Brock and Quinn to let them know you're on the way so they can be on the lookout." Before I can ask him any more questions, the air shimmers, and Mitch transforms into a wolf once more.

  Mitch lopes off to the end of the dock where he stops and howls. Answering howls sound from all sides as Mitch runs toward the eastern part of the woods.

  While I stare after Mitch, Archer takes out his phone. He hits a few buttons and listens for an answer. "Brock, Red said we're going to have company soon. We have Megan—" He stops talking, and I hear muffled yelling from the phone. After a few seconds, it stops. "Megan is the woman from the diner." This time, Archer holds the phone away from his ear.

  Red whispers to me, "Brock isn't always this grumpy."

  "Stop!" Archer yells into the phone. "We can discuss this later, but for right now, we only have a limited amount of time. Mitch is gathering some help to distract the people wandering around, but we need to get Megan out of here. Just be ready for us." He hangs up the phone without waiting for a response.

  Red grabs my hand. "I know this is a lot to take in, but we need to hurry. Can you run?"

  I take a deep breath as I assess my ability to keep up with them. Luckily, adrenaline pumps through me, so as long as we don't go far, I can try to keep up. "I should be all right. If I have to stop, you guys go ahead without me."

  "No!" comes out in unison as they both shake their heads in refusal.

  I walk forward. "Fine, let's go."

  We don't start out at a run but a light jog. I've always hated running, but my years of cycling have helped me build endurance and strong leg muscles. We pick up the pace once we hit the paved entranceway. Thick trees and brush line both sides of the road. I can't see deep enough to know if we're being followed, but I don't feel panicked, yet.

  The main highway remains empty, so we dash across. Red still has my hand and pulls me along. "I don't like to be exposed. We need to make it to the tree line."

  "We can stop at my cabin. It's right there." I point with my free hand to my cabin, which sits only a dozen or so yards from the end of the parking lot. I don't want to admit that I'm getting winded, but they probably heard it in my voice.

  "No, Brock and Quinn are waiting for us. We can take you back after we discuss everything you've seen." Archer comes up on my other side and takes my hand, the two of them nearly dragging me across the street.

  Once we come up to the path, they slow some, and a wolf, who I assume is Mitch, joins us. He doesn't transform but matches our strides as we weave our way up the path. About ten minutes into the wo
ods, glowing amber eyes meet us. Even though I know it has to be either Brock or Quinn, I still freeze, pulling Archer in front of me before letting go of his hand to hide. I keep my grip tight on Red, tugging him closer to form a shield on one side.

  Archer turns to look at me. "Brock won't hurt you. I promise. Let's just make it into the cabin before someone finds us."

  My instincts tell me to believe Archer, but the idea of a large cat deciding he doesn't like me as I walk by scares me. Giving myself a few seconds to compose myself, I see the shimmer around Brock as he transforms back into his human form. My tense shoulders ease as he walks toward us.

  Brock stops ten feet in front of us. "I'm sorry if I scared you. It's easier for me to scout when shifted."

  Nervous energy rolls off him as I step out from behind his friend. "It's just a lot to take in. This isn't how I expected my day to go."

  "Let's get you inside, and we can talk about it." Red releases my hand to place his on my back, urging me forward.

  Their cabin sits around the corner from where I met Brock. Still a box shape, it's double the size of mine. Brock opens the doors for us and steps to the side to allow me to enter first. The last man in their group, who must be Quinn, stands behind a small kitchen counter washing dishes.

  "You didn't have to clean up for me," I joke, trying to break some of the tension surrounding us.

  "Oh, I did. Mitch would have my head if I let a lady in here with the way it looked." Quinn shuts off the water and comes around the corner of the counter, drying his hands before he shakes one of mine. "Nice to meet you. I'm Quinn."

  "Megan." I return the handshake. "The place looks unlived in. Either you are really fast, or the place wasn't that dirty."

  "Brock is a neat freak, and Mitch is bossy." Quinn ducks down to hide behind me.

  "If I wasn't bossy, you would leave stuff everywhere." I turn to see Mitch back in human form as he walks into the cabin. He shuts and locks the door before checking to make sure the back door is also locked. "Let's sit over here"—he points to the couches—"and talk about what happened at the picnic area and the docks."

  I sit in the lone chair, a rocker recliner, pull out my phone, and realize that it's one in the morning. My body, having already used up its second wind, melts into the chair. I force myself to focus on the others.

  "Do you mind if I ask you some questions?" Mitch paces in front of a fireplace while the others sit on the two couches in the room.

  I shrug. The only thing I have to hide, they've already seen.

  "How long have your eyes been like that?"

  How did I know they would start there?

  "I didn't wake up to have them this color. Since my twenty-fifth birthday two months ago, they've slowly changed. I started wearing contacts last month because the color change was becoming obvious." I rub my eyes, hoping to wash the color away.

  "Did you notice anything else?" Mitch crouches in front of me as he asks.

  I shrug. "Not really. As the color got brighter, I become more paranoid. I worried that people were staring at my eyes." Mitch starts to ask another question, but I hold my hand up. "My turn." He nods, so I continue, "Were you following me earlier at the picnic area?"

  "We were at the picnic area, but not because of you. We saw you pull in and watched as you ate. We only became involved when we thought you were in danger." Mitch puts his hand on my now shaking one. I hadn't realized I started to tremble.

  "Someone was following me? Why would I be in danger?" I clench my free hand to calm myself.

  Red walks over and kneels by the arm of my chair. "We can't answer that, but we don't think so. We were already tracking someone in the area. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

  "There is more to this, though." I direct my statement to Red.

  He just nods and glances at Mitch.

  Mitch sits on the coffee table and folds his hands. "I don't know what to tell you or where to start. I'm sorry to say, but your life will never be the same."

  I bite my lip, realizing I knew this was coming. It's why I followed the fantasy encyclopedia and not a medical one. I'm not ready to hear about me, though. I want to know about them. "Tell me about the five of you. Can you all shift into something?"

  Mitch smiles, so this must be an easy question. "No. Archer is Sorcerer. He casts protection and other spells for us. Brock is a cat shifter, specifically a panther. I'm a gray wolf shifter, and Red is a red hawk shifter." He pauses for a second as he looks back at Quinn. "Quinn is a…snake shifter. His form is a water moccasin."

  My eyes widen and swing to Quinn. "Are you venomous? Are you venomous when not in snake form?"

  His eyes shift down. I feel bad for asking now. "I'm only venomous in snake form."

  My heart breaks a little at how sad he sounds. "As long as you keep the biting to when you are in human form, we'll get along just fine."

  Quinn snorts and looks over at me, his grin showing off the dimples in each of his cheeks. "I'll remember that."

  "Please don't take this the wrong way, but you seem like an odd bunch to have together. Does your animal side not shape your human side in any way? I'm not explaining that right. Like, cats are typically solitary creatures, but you're more like part of a wolf's pack." I flounder my way through my question, hoping they'll understand.

  Mitch leans forward, steepling his hands under his chin. "It's a fair question. It leads back to some of our history. I'll answer you first and then give you some background. Yes, our animal side influences our human side and vice versa. I'm drawn to be the leader, or alpha. Brock likes to go alone, so he is normally our scout. We also carry some of the animal traits with us like Quinn swims well even in human form, and Red has great eyesight in either form."

  "And I only bite cute girls when in human form." Quinn's cheeks blush as he peeks at me.

  I giggle before responding, "I'll remember that," throwing his words back at him.

  Mitch snorts and rolls his eyes. "How we got together is a little tougher to explain. The supernatural world consists of pure and tainted councils. Although, if you ask the dark creatures, they feel they are justified in their actions, just like those of us in the light. To them, it is fine to kill ten people if ten others can be healed of an ailment. They get paid to use their dark magic to enhance their world.

  "The Council of the Pure has teams that police the supernatural world. Newer teams monitor supernatural exposure. We would have been in trouble had you been a human and saw me shift—"

  "What? I'm human." My head starts to pound as his words sink in.

  "Well, not entirely. I'll get to you in a minute." He waits for me to acknowledge with a nod that I won't interrupt again. "More experienced teams, or those that volunteer, watch for the tainted. They'll steal wolf shifter cubs and warp them into what you would call a werewolf." Mitch snarls before continuing. "As soon as the council hears about these acts, teams like ours are brought in to investigate. It takes months to prep for some of the rituals required for the transformation, so if we work fast enough, we can save the children."

  I put my hand over my mouth to hold back a sob. Who could be so cruel as to steal a child and do that to them? "I'm glad people like you are out there helping."

  "It's why people like me volunteer. My baby brother was taken when I was little. He was rescued. I wanted to be able to do the same for others." Mitch puffs his chest slightly at the admission.

  Red speaks up, "My reason is similar, but I wasn't as lucky. My cousin was taken. We found out later that she was merged with a snake shifter to form a type of bat. We don't call them vampire bats, but that would be the equivalent. They are poisonous flying creatures that hunt at night. They like to prey on campers and hikers. Many of the tainted live off blood, so the creatures find and stun the prey until a larger creature can carry them off."

  "Horrible. I'm so sorry." Tears stream down my cheek as he tells his story.

  "We all have reasons to hate the tainted. The council was
seeing a trend in activity in this area. All the experienced teams were out on assignment, so they asked for volunteers from the probationary teams. The five of us were chosen by a seer, who told us our mission would start here and lead us to places she can't see yet, once we found the heart of our team."

  When Archer narrows his eyes at me, I quickly look away.

  "Do you know what that means?" I ask Mitch, still unnerved by Archer's scrutiny.

  Mitch glances at his teammates before coming back to me. "Not yet, but I think we are getting closer."

  About the Author

  LA Kirk is a writer and editor. When not hard at work in front of her computer, her time is spent with her husband and two children, watching them play soccer, or chasing after the family puppy. LA loves working with other authors to help build their stories and brands.

  Find LA Kirk on Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Newsletter, and Goodreads.

  If you enjoyed this book, read on for other books from

  In the war against demons, Evie's father stands against all things supernatural, including the Surmata, a race of beings that want to coexist with humans while they wage their own war against the demonic race. Raised in the Resistance, Evie struggles to stay true to herself and not fall under her father's brainwashing.

  With everyone around her a possible spy for her father, Evie's sole relief from camp life comes from her best friend Maximilian. When he introduces her to his friends outside of the Resistance, Evie discovers a whole new world and possibly a place to belong.

  But forces inside the camp are determined to keep Evie in her place, even if it means destroying who she is.

  Kindle

  After Caitlyn's life falls apart, can she trust her old racing competitors to help her build a new future?