Storm Watch (Woodland Creek)

by Welsh, Hope

  Luke could hear voices in the room now, and his anger intensified.

  “You should have never run from me, bitch. Don’t you know who I am?” Samuels was saying.

  “I know exactly what you are,” Storm replied harshly. “A monster.”

  Samuel’s laughed. “Perhaps. But your lover is dead, and no one knows you’re here with me. Once we leave here, you’ll disappear. But first, you have something that belongs to me.”

  Storm glared at him. “I have nothing that belongs to you.”

  Samuels gave a mock sigh. “That child you are carrying is mine. As you saw, I am the one with the connection to the fetus. I can take him in an instant,” he said with a snap of his fingers.

  Storm screamed as a wave of pain coursed through her. The baby! He was hurting the baby. “Stop it! How can you do this? It’s your child!”

  “Of course it is my child. His powers come from me. I will not allow you to corrupt him.”

  Storm felt heat building in her hands. They’d removed the cuffs and had tied her to a chair in the center of the room. She willed her heat to burn through the rope on her wrists.

  Her heart raced frantically. She needed to free herself and find a way to get to Luke. He’d been so hurt, and she was terrified that Samuels was right—that he was dead. If he was, she was going to become the murderer Samuels was, and kill him herself. If he hurt the baby, she’d kill him. Whatever it took.

  The ropes fell away and even through her pain, she smiled as she looked toward the door. She saw Luke! He was alive!

  “Why are you smiling?” Samuels snapped, pointing his stolen .45 at her. “Do you want to die so badly?”

  “Because you’re a dead man,” she said quietly just as Luke pounced. She scrambled to the ground, out of the line of fire just an instant before the gun went off. If she’d still been in the chair, she’d have been dead.

  “Luke! Stop, he’s not worth it!” she cried as she took in the scene before her.

  Luke had Samuels’ throat between his jaws. Samuels was frantically trying to bring the gun around toward the tiger—all two hundred and fifty pounds of irate predator.

  Luke lifted his head and glanced at Storm. Other than bruises on her face, she didn’t seem harmed, thank God. He growled and used one large paw to get the gun from Samuels’ hand. It skidded across the floor.

  Once the gun was out of his hands, Luke shifted back to human form. His hands wrapped around Samuels’ neck. “I warned you not to go near her again,” he growled. “You should have listened.”

  “Luke, look out!” Storm cried.

  Luke rolled instinctively to the side just as a shot rang out. The other man had come back. Luke heard a gurgling and realized that it was Samuels. The bullet had hit him in the throat. Luke had seen enough mortal wounds to know that Samuels was a dead man.

  He shifted back to the tiger and took a leap across the room to shield Storm in case the bastard shot again. He felt a sharp pain in his hip just as he covered him with his body. With a growl, he turned to the man. Before he could pounce, he heard a shot and saw him fall to the ground just before TJ came into the room.

  Dead or not, it was over. It was finally over. Samuels was dead—or soon would be—and he and Storm were alive. He turned to Storm and gave her a purr, then shifted back to human form.

  His hip burned, but it wasn’t a serious wound. He looked down at her. “Are you okay?”

  “I am now,” she said. “I’d just managed to use my Fire thing to get my hands free.”

  Luke brushed the bruise on her cheek. “I’m sorry I let him touch you. I wasn’t fast enough.”

  Storm reached up and caressed his face. “And I thought you were dead. We’re alive. Is Raymond dead?”

  “He’s dead,” TJ said. “Good riddance.”

  “The other man?”

  “His name is Wilson,” Storm supplied. “Believe it or not, he’s Raymond’s attorney.

  “Is he going to make it?” Luke asked.

  TJ knelt beside Wilson. The bullet had entered the side of his chest. He was unconscious, but breathing. “I’m not sure. I’ve got the medics on stand-by.”

  Luke stood and helped Storm to her feet. “The baby?”

  “I think it’s okay, but we should go make sure. He had some connection to the baby that let him hurt me through it.”

  Luke had never heard of that kind of thing—but whether it was simply a spell to cause pain, or some supernatural connection didn’t really matter just then. Samuels was gone, and they were safe. “We will.”

  “Okay, Steele. Put some clothes on,” TJ said. He went to the hall and picked up a small overnight bag. “I’ve learned to keep an extra outfit in the car. I had a feeling you might need it after I spoke with Mercedes.”

  Luke wasn’t one to be self-conscious about his nudity, but it would be a bit difficult to explain to the other officers when they arrived. Thankfully, TJ had come alone. “Yeah, thanks, man. Is Arnold okay?”

  “Yeah, the bastards knocked him out cold, but he’s tough old bird. He’ll be fine.”

  Luke nodded, relieved.

  It was over.

  Finally over.

  He looked at Storm. “Wanna get married?”

  Christmas morning dawned bright and clear. Luke rolled over in bed and smiled at Storm. “Morning,” he whispered in a sleep-roughened voice.

  Storm smiled. “Morning.”

  “We don’t have to get up today,” he said with a teasing light in his eyes.

  “We don’t? Of course we don’t.” She paused. “Why don’t we?”

  He hugged her, then lowered his head and kissed her gently, and rested his hand on her flat stomach where their baby rested. “Because I found my Christmas gift in the snow storm.”

  Storm snuggled against him, and reached her hand down between his legs, caressing him softly. “I want mine still,” she whispered.

  Luke gave a shaky laugh and rolled her onto her back. He entered her in a smooth thrust. “Is this what you want?” he teased, kissing her, loving her.

  “Oh yes,” she purred. “This is what I want.”

  It was much later before they climbed from the bed, exhausted, to shower and get ready for the day.

  Later, as she sat on the couch with the man she loved watching the tree lights, she smiled. She’d gotten her present, too. He was sitting right next to her, an arm wrapped around her shoulder as she rested her head on his chest.

  “I love you, husband,” she said softly.

  “I love you, too, my Storm. Forever. Happy Birthday,” he said, sticking a small box into her hand.

  Storm lifted her head and smiled. She opened the box and laughed. It was a snow globe.

  ~The End~

  Thank you so much for taking the time to read my novella from Woodland Creek!

  All reviews are appreciated.

  If you would like to read more from the Woodland Creek series, please click on the link below:

  Woodland Creek Website

  About the Author

  I’ve always been addicted to stories with a happy ending. Whether I’m writing fantasy, romantic suspense, paranormal or urban fantasy, my books will always have that Happily Ever After.

  I’ve been writing as long as I can remember. I wrote my first play in the third grade. My school put it on at Christmas time. I was furious with my sister for getting married that night. I missed my own play.

  Over the course of time, I’ve worked in several careers. I was a police officer, an EMT, and a teacher. I even worked as a journalist/photographer for a small-town newspaper. I’ve lived all over the US and Canada. I’m a born wanderer. When I can’t travel in real life, I travel in my books. I hope you enjoy the trip.

  My website has links to my other books that are currently out. More to come. I also encourage you to sign up for my monthly newsletter; the link is on my website. You can also reach me at any of the below sites:

  Amazon Author Page

  Twitter @hopewel
sh

  Facebook

  Goodreads

  Blog

  hopewelsh.net

  Current Releases (All Available on Amazon)

  Linked (Prophecy Book One)

  Holding the Link (Prophecy Book Two)

  Once Forbidden (The Hunted Series Book One)

  Once Bitten (The Hunted Series Book Two)

  Love’s a Witch (Karma’s Witches Book Two)

  Healing Karma (Karma’s Witches Book Five)

  Sharp as Steele (Karma’s Witches Book Six)

  Karma’s Coven (Witches of Karma: Rose Circle Coven Book One)

  Dream of Me (Remember Book One (writing as HS Welsh))

  Getting the Edge (Betrayed Book One)

  Storm Watch (Woodland Creek Series)

  COMING SOON!

  Forbidden Link (Prophecy Book Three)

  Unlinked (Prophecy Book Four)

  Karma’s Steele (Karma’s Witches Book Eight)

  Once Hunted (Hunted Series Book Three)

  Witch Way to Run (Witches of Karma: Rose Circle Coven Book Two)

  Karma’s Steele

  by

  Hope Welsh

  Witches of Karma (Book 8)

  (Subject to Revision)

  Even after a night’s sleep, it was hard to believe that I might actually have sisters I’d never even known existed until a few months ago.

  The plan to get my powers back had, of course, backfired. Apparently, the women I’d thought had taken them were just as innocent in this whole mess as I’d begun to suspect within hours of taking Amethyst Samms. It still surprised me that she’d forgiven me for that. She was a woman that I knew I’d like to consider a friend. The jury was still out on that man of hers. Shawn did not forgive quite so easily—not that I could blame him. After all, I’d held the woman he loved for hours—and at gunpoint to boot.

  I cringed. I still was surprised that I could have done something like that! I was raised better than that. My poor aunt would have turned over in her grave if she’d seen what I had done.

  My brothers were a different matter. I still had no idea what to say to them—if anything more than, ‘it didn’t work’. I just wasn’t sure they’d believe me if I tried to explain that our father was very likely the reason we had no physical powers. Of course, we could still cast spells, thankfully.

  I’d called and arranged to have some time off from the Service I worked for as a physician. My heart was just too…broken right now. I needed time to adjust.

  Ever since the night my father had told us that the women had our powers, I’d been on a single-minded mission to get those powers back. I’d believed the man. But now, I was almost sure that he’d been manipulating my brothers and me from the start.

  He’d had no intentions of letting us get our powers back. If I was right…he’d been hoping all six of us would be at the circle on the night of the eclipse. I think he’d planned on coming and taking all the powers. I didn’t want to think of what else he might have had in mind.

  It was a sobering thought to realize that your own father had betrayed you on the most basic of levels—because trust was everything to me.

  I would never trust him again.

  And now, it was possible that the man was also the father of the three women I’d met, Amethyst, Amber and Topaz. Sisters. Triplets—just like Flint, Ian (or Obsidian as we called him when we wanted to get a rise out of him) and I. Our mother had also passed away under suspicious circumstances, though nothing had yet told me that her death had been anything more than a terrible accident.

  I hoped that it was just that. I didn’t want to think that it was possible that the man had actually killed her. Just like I didn’t want to believe that he’d been responsible for the death of the women’s mother all those years ago.

  I needed to reach out to him. Needed to hear his side of the story. Because if it was true, if he’d been responsible for the death of the mother, and of our mother, I’d stop him. Whatever it took.

  Look for Karma’s Steele (Karma’s Witches Book 8) coming in January, 2016.