Healing Hands: A Wolf Shifter Romance

by E. V. Winter

  By the time he reached India’s house, he was dead on his paws. He did not have the strength to transform so laid down at the fence, hoping someone might find him. He lay, realizing perhaps that journey was too much for him. But he could not wait. There was no time to lose. He wanted to ask for her hand in marriage and getting the old man’s permission was essential. He lay in the wet grass, listening to the pigs and chickens, his throat sore, his limbs aching, and he waited for her to find him.

  When she found him, many hours later, he was too weak to even move. They cut a hole in the fence and pulled him through. Eve could not believe her eyes, he looked exhausted and trembled. They laid him in a wheelbarrow and got him to the surgery, where India laid him on the floor and inserted an IV of saline and antibiotics. The stitches were torn and infected. India tended to them right away. He opened his eyes. India cried and touched her forehead to his snout.

  “Why?” she was asking, over and over. “Where did you go? Where have you been?”

  He was not ready for answers yet, too tired. Rex was proud to be a wolf, proud of his pack, his brotherhood. He was proud to still be a Linney, a true royal, but he was ready for his own son or daughter to be part of both him and India. If that meant the end of the Linney dynasty, he was fine with that. He went to his core, feeling the IV and antibiotic working, his exhausting lifting enough for him to concentrate. He transformed in front of India and Eve on the floor.

  “Get blankets,” India yelled. Eve raced out the door to do as she asked.

  India took him in her arms, rubbing her hands all over his body to warm him up. She brought his face close to his, her tears falling on him.

  “I’m sorry. I had to do something. There was so little time.” He whispered.

  “What? Whatever it was, it could have waited.”

  “It couldn’t wait. I’m Royal. I had to do the right thing.”

  “You could have died.”

  She held him so tightly that breathing became harder. She sensed it and released her grip.

  “My God, Rex. Please, please don’t do that again. Where were you?”

  “I have permission to marry you from my father,” he said. He smiled, his eyes rolling in his head. “I am yours.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The woods looked resplendent as a backdrop and a lot of money was spent on wild flower arches, for the bride to walk through with her bridesmaid. A trail of tiny heart-shaped lights, either side of the path led to the altar where Rex waited for his bride to make her appearance.

  He could not believe an entire year passed since he asked her to marry him. He’d almost died before he asked her. Some updated wolf traditions needed more discussion. Maybe it was the fastest proposal ever. Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy asks girl to marry him six days later. It was not romantic either. She was cleaning the remaining pieces of stitches from his throat with a gauze wipe and antiseptic. He would always associate the smell of antiseptic with him getting down on one knee.

  Maddox was his best man and did most of the arranging. When Maddox called to say India could work with them to be their physician, he almost jumped for joy. What a smart idea. His own doctor did everything, so it was a weight off his workload and it meant India could be there after the hunt, no matter what.

  “She looks so beautiful.” Maddox said to him. He saw India and Eve come through the wild flower archway and enter the lit walkway. The guests all stood up. His father, disappointed at first by his son’s decision, admitted, perhaps he picked the perfect mate.

  Rex felt like the luckiest man alive. He almost died in that attack and this woman, this wonderful woman, saved his life.

  “I love cake.” Eve said, taking an enormous slice once they cut it. The first dance lay in wait and so far, all India did was walk and talk to strangers and friends with Rex. They wanted to be together, to be close together, like they always were. She looked at him, so cute in his suit, but with his pecs practically bursting out of his shirt.

  “I can’t wait for later,” he whispered, as he took her to the dance floor. “I love you so much. This is the best day of my life.”

  “We will get close here,” she said. “Let’s enjoy every second.”

  They stood close to one another for the dance, her hand in his. His muscular arms enfolding her. Their faces so close that he gave her gentle kisses throughout the song. She felt so beautiful today. Her make-up girl worked wonders with her scar. She was sometimes still self-conscious but today, she felt like a prettier version of herself.

  “Can you believe it?” he said. “I married the vet who cared for me when I was a wolf. It’s a hell of a story.”

  “And I married a man who howls at the moon and I love him so much.”

  They caressed at the end of the dance and, the DJ put on some dance music from the eighties, and everyone got on their dancing shoes. They made their way through the throng where Kyle stood, holding a gift for them at the side of the dance floor. It was the first time Rex saw him since that night.

  “I’m sorry I’m late,” he said. “Thanks for the invitation. It meant a lot to me.”

  India sat down. She knew it was time for the men to talk. There was nothing she could say to add or detract from the conversation. Kyle, in his own strange way, may have saved her life, but she could not thank him for it, because he turned up with his pack to finish her business and kill Rex. He changed everything that day with his own bravery and courage. He gave up his past for an unknown future for all of them, but it cost him a lot. He was a nobody now, leading a straggling pack of betas, none of them as good as him. He accepted it all with good grace.

  “This is a brilliant day for you.” Kyle said. “She’s a lovely girl. She saved your life.”

  Kyle could still see the tiny white scar on Rex’s throat. He’d inflicted it but he regretted it every day since then.

  “After this, come and see me.” Rex said to Kyle. “I have some thoughts on how we might move forward together on the eastside.”

  “Oh yeah? And it even includes a bunch of guys from Quarry Hills.”

  Rex nodded. “The past can’t hold us back now. We need to look forward to better times for all of us and I want to increase my pack. I need help.”

  “What about Maddox? He’s your alpha now you’re backing down a little.”

  “Yes but there’s always room for someone who’s red in tooth and claw.”

  Kyle smiled. He knew it was a compliment. “I’m Quarry Hills born and bred.”

  “And you still will be but I’m talking about a protector for Hale County woods. A proper protector. I will raise my children there, and my wife has her business there. If I needed an alpha, I could call you right? It’s a vast area with too many animals and not enough predators.”

  Kyle stood, frowning. Was Rex offering him more territory? Territory Blaine ignored, because it was too much work, and he hated humans being there?

  “You’ll let me know if you’re interested, right? Now go get some champagne Kyle and let’s only talk about future plans. The past is dead and gone.”

  He rejoined India at their table. She kissed him and sipped champagne. “You’re so hot,” she whispered. “I wish we were all alone.”

  He ran his hand up the inside of her leg, the soft stockings barely bearing the scrape of his calloused hands. He reached the satin garter at the top of her thigh. It gave way to her soft, warm skin. He touched it, grazed the line of her panties with his fingers, and took his hand back out of there before he got them both into real trouble.

  “You’re so naughty,” she whispered in his ear. “And you married such a square.”

  He laughed, their foreheads rubbing together as they often did. She was his, his square, his love, his sweetheart.

  “Say it again,” she whispered. “Say the thing I love you to say.”

  He kissed her gently, touched her scar lightly with his thumb, brought his thumb down to her chin, he brushed his fingers around the outline of her lips. �
�I love you forever India and, forever, I am yours.”

  Her heart swelled again, just as it always did when he said it. She knew how much the pack meant to him and what brotherhood meant too and the bonds he shared with those men would never break but to her he brought something else, a devotion she could never measure and it filled her up with love and joy.

  She smiled, their eyes latched onto one another. “And I am yours.”

  The End

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  On the next few pages is the first chapter of my first stand alone novel, The Mermaid’s Choice, another clean wolf-shifter romance.

  I hope you like it. It’s available on Amazon!

  Chapter 1

  1921

  A ragged woman crossed the beach, the rough sand gathering between her toes. A need rose in her chest, a desire to set herself and her little one free. Free from a unique curse. In the small basket in her hand, lies a tiny baby, swaddled in a blanket. The babe is asleep.

  The couple chosen had lost their young son in the war. He was Peter Dockery, a dark-haired, strapping lad with a smile always hovering on his lips. Dead at nineteen, they were lost without him. She looked again at the quiet mite in the basket and made a silent blessing to them.

  She placed the basket on their doorstep and looked down at her daughter. She pressed her cold hand gently to the baby’s mouth.

  “Goodbye little one, forgive me.”

  She knocked quietly on their door before running away, barefoot, back towards the beach. There was a place to hide called Augur’s Cave and it would do as a retreat in this twilight.

  Bobby Dockery opened the door and looked out. Visitors to their home were rare, with maybe only Sarah’s sister, Helen, calling but once a week. Helen, though, would not call at this hour, in this darkness. He looked down and was taken aback at seeing a basket on the step. A tiny baby, wrapped safely in a thick brown blanket, lay inside of it. He reached down and picked up the basket, taking it inside the house.

  “Sarah, what do you make of this then?” He asked his wife, who sat knitting by the fire.

  Sarah looked towards him and he drew closer to her and the warmth from the fire, placing the basket down beside her, knowing that some of the fire’s warmth would reach the infant.

  “’Tis a baby,” He said, astonished. ”Take it, I’m out to see who’s rushed away.”

  He left the basket beside his wife and grabbed his coat, running out of the door towards the beach. Bobby looked all along the shoreline for their visitor but there was nobody to be seen. A thin mist hung in the air and visibility along the coast was poor. He shook his head, wondering at the fate of the poor soul, ready to hand over their own child. He walked back home with a sense of sadness for the child’s parents.

  Sarah leaned into the basket and picked up the tiny bundle. She held it close, still it never murmured. “It’s no more than hours or a day old, I reckon.”

  Her husband nodded. “I’ll make some milk, shall I?”

  She stood close to their roaring fire and warmed the baby through. Sarah touched the infant’s face, which was still chilly to the touch.

  “We’ve no bottles or teats, Sarah.”

  “Then I’ll create something with muslin and cotton until we can get teats. Use a milk bottle for now, it will have to do.”

  He nodded, watching his wife cuddling the child close. It pained him to see this, the memory of their own son, still hollow in his heart.

  “I’ll have to take the child to the police station Sarah, you know that.”

  Sarah cuddled it closer, billing and cooing into its face. “Don’t do anything yet, Bobby. Let us see how things go...please?”

  He nodded. Sarah was a good woman and had been a very good mother. Peter was their pride and joy and he was gone forever, no body to bury and only that last visit of his to sustain them; in his uniform but already scarred from his experiences on the front.

  “Alright, we’ll see how things go,” He agreed.

  The baby emitted a gentle cry and Sarah talked to it whilst rocking the tiny bundle, from side to side. They had waited so long for their boy to come along; Sarah was almost forty when he was born and she was sixty now. A baby in the house at their ages seemed a foolish thing to consider.

  “Look how pretty it is Bobby, beautiful blue eyes and fair haired I see.”

  He went to the scullery to boil some milk. Everything inside him told him to hand the baby over to the authorities, but where would this baby go, without people like them to help? Sarah walked through and watched him stir the milk with a wooden spoon.

  “When it boils, let it rest until it cools enough. I have some clean muslin in there,” She said, pointing to a drawer. “Take it and boil it for me in clean water. That will do. I think this little lady is hungry. She’s fretting a little now.” Bobby smiled, a girl then. He saw her now, without swaddling, in a simple, pink dress.

  He walked over and held his wife closely, looking at the baby again.

  “What shall we call her then?”

  Sarah smiled and touched the baby’s face. “Anna, after my dear sister. She was gone at six years old and now she’s reborn.”

  “Yes, I think she looks like an Anna.”

  He kissed his wife and returned to the milk. They were going to be very busy again, and he was glad of it.

  DEDICATION

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  Author Notes - Author

  E.V. Winter is a paranormal romance writer who falls at the feet of other paranormal writers like Alex Liddell and loves the stories, the shifters and the sometimes edgy, quirky women who fall for them. She took her own stories in a slightly different direction but hopes readers will like her books, in spite of her sometimes going off ‘script’ with them.

  Personal info: She is left-handed, Gemini, likes Indian food (and pizza) and watches lots of comedies on TV. She is married with a daughter, who denies all knowledge of her mother’s writing and refuses to ‘support’ her writing on Instagram and elsewhere  Oh well, you can’t win ‘em all.

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  Author’s other books

  Belonging

  Three Brothers, One Desire

  The Mermaid’s Choice