“I am going to have to have a talk with Kate.”
“With Kate? My Kate? Why do you need to talk to Kate?” Craig eyed him suspiciously.
“Because the way you flinch every time you say a swear word is driving me fucking nuts. I suggest the two of you get a swear jar and just add money. Cause if you keep flinching every time you use a word Kate doesn’t like I am going to start hitting you myself and it won’t be some delicate as a flower petal hit. I will lay you out. So stop it.”
“Marcus, it ain’t my fault man. It is all Kate’s fault.”
“I know that, that is why I am going to talk to her. Go home Craig. I told Jason I would help him clear his house up next so go find something useful to do. But elsewhere.”
“Fine I will tell Kate what you said. Got a few things to do myself. When will the guys have all the info on the next hit?”
“Mission and I don’t know. Right now it is a waiting game. We can’t rush in until we have enough intelligence to succeed and we can’t wait or the children will suffer untold horrors.”
“Fine, if you think of any way Kate and I can help you call us.”
Marcus just nodded.
Chapter Twenty-six
“So there is no way to break the curse at all?” Kate narrowed her eyes and stared from her mother to Nathaniel.
“Not that I know of. The curse was meant to kill off the shifters if they could not keep their females safe. In a way it worked but at the same time females are still born to packs who can keep them safe. I mean, the curse was obviously not worded the best for what Miranda wanted to accomplish. She was narrow minded in her thoughts sometimes and she genuinely never thought the shifters would be able to change the way she perceived them and keep their packs safe. She didn’t see the things as they were but only as she wanted to believe they were. The amount of villages back in the old days killed by rivals and their people taken as slaves or just killed to gain land and possessions wasn’t something just shifter villages suffered. They had their fair share of villages wiped out when the wrong person would witness a shift or when one landowner wanted more land, but over all the safety of a shifter village was better than a human village.”
“So what can we do?”
“Honestly Kate, I don’t know. You are the one with the power to change things and I would say the power to change the curse, if it can be changed rests with you. But I don’t know if you can change anything even with the power you can wield once you learn your limits.
“So train. That is your ultimate suggestion? Train train train, why doesn’t anyone have answers. What have you people been doing for the last few hundred years if not getting answers to all the questions?”
Nathaniel looked up at the ceiling in exasperation before looking back at Sibeal, “That one is definitely your daughter. Alright Kate you want to know what I suggest you do above all else? Take a fucking vacation. You have in the last year seen two of your closest family killed, been kidnapped, held prisoner, felt your mate dying, been bonded to a male you had never seen, watched him on his deathbed fight for survival, fought to understand your new power, destroyed your grandmother and became head of the clans. You want answers? You need rest so you can think about everything that has happened. Take your mate and go back home. Give him a tour of Australia, show him your home, introduce him to your favorite foods and your favorite places. Relax and enjoy being mated and don’t worry about people sneaking up on you and always being on guard. You have a guardian wolf who will not allow harm to come to you. Don’t be stupid and go waltzing into a gun fight or tangle with a kangaroo but go have fun. Because if you don’t you are going to get more and more wore down trying to solve all the problems and failing to enjoy life and you will end up a bitter old woman like your grandmother. I mean, not that she was old but you get my drift. Go be young and free for a little while. A couple of weeks go visit that friend you mom said left here last week for Australia.”
Kate turned shining eyes toward her mother, “Oh mum, do you think Marcus would mind if we did that?”
Sibeal laughed, “Mind, sweetheart he would probably hug your neck and fall down on his knees thanking you for removing one of his headaches for a while. No, he won’t mind. Why don’t you head back to your house and start packing a few things and talk to Craig when he gets home later about it. You can even tell him you got the advice from someone high in the clan who told you it was necessary after everything that had happened lately.”
Kate whirled around laughing and headed for the door, “That is a great idea.” She stopped and ran back to hug her mother and then surprised Nathaniel when she leaned down and kissed his cheek, “Thank you uncle.”
He reached up to hold his cheek where she had kissed it and watched her run from the house. Moisture filled his eyes as he thought about how much of her life he had missed. He smiled up at Sibeal, “She is just as beautiful inside as you. You did a great job with her.”
“I know. I had wonderful models to follow on how to raise a child with love.” Sibeal leaned down to kiss his other cheek. “Thank you for showing me so much love when I was growing up. You helped mold me into the person I became.”
“Gammon be careful and come back to me safely.”
“Mia love, I always come back to you. You are the reason my heart beats. Come now, quit worrying. I may not run mission like Marcus’ crowd does but you have to remember I have been keeping a pack safe against others for more than a little while.” Gammon tilted he head up to kiss her on the end of her nose. As he did he smelled a faint whiff of something he could not put his finger on.
“Did you change soap?”
“No. Why?”
“I don’t know, you smell different somehow. You have this kind of sweet smell, like a little extra something. Did you cook something sweet earlier?”
Mia laughed, “No. I can’t believe you can smell something different about me.”
Gammon stroked his finger down her cheek, “Darling you are the other half of my heart, the reason I live, of course I can smell something different about you. I just can’t figure out what you changed. Did you start using a new detergent?”
“No, but now I am wondering how many things you will go through before you figure it out.”
“So you won’t tell me?” Gammon reached out as though to stoke her arm but as his hand got close he slipped it under her arm and tickled. She squealed and tried to squirm away but he pulled her closer with his other hand. “Now let me see, was it new toothpaste I wonder, no? Quit laughing I can’t understand what you are saying.”
“Quit, nooooo Gammon, that tickles,” Mia continued to squeal in laughter as Gammon named one item after another trying to guess what had changed. Finally when she could stand it no longer she squealed.
“A baby, it’s a baby.”
Gammon stopped so abruptly he had to catch her when she lost her balance. “A baby?”
“Yes. I wanted to surprise you when you came back from your trip, meany. I was going to have the room all decorated for a nursery, but yes, are you happy? You don’t look happy. Gammon? Are you alright? Should I call someone? Gammon? You look a little pale, maybe you should sit down.” Mia pulled and tugged on him until she got him near a chair and just sort of shoved. He went down like a tree felled with an ax. When she would have stepped away to get a wet cloth he stopped her and pulled her close. Taking one hand he cupped her stomach before he leaned his head against her.
“A baby.” He whispered.
The End
But you know it isn’t. Not for the Safe Haven Wolves.
Someone has been kidnapped and Gammon is not going to let that fly. He may have a baby on the way but somewhere out there is two little kids who need his help and their big sister Nik Nik.
If you want to stay up to date on what is happening in the series join me on face book at
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Author Notes
Another month has gone by since the last Safe Haven Wolves book was released. When I first started the series I didn’t know how many books I would have but I thought no more than three. Boy was I wrong. Every time I get to the end of one the next book starts bouncing around in my head. I have to say though Miranda was by far the hardest book I have written. I have a great JIT team who were impatiently waiting for the book to come out and I can not thank them enough for their patience. When I finally sent the book to them I was on pins and needles. The book had been so hard for me to write because none of the characters seemed to fall into place like I wanted. Would they like it? Would they tell me I had screwed up? You see, this book was a bit different in that all the books that came before were clear in who the book would focus on and who the female shifter would be, it was in the title. But this book, I wanted a bit of mystery. Could I keep the main character hidden from the readers till the end of the 14th chapter or the beginning of the 15th chapter? Would they hate that? Would the love story pull them in enough they overlooked the fact they did not know who the main characters were from the beginning?
I had one confused reader who seemed concerned about how I started with Casey and then went back in time. But she was on board by the time she got to chapter 15 and ended up loving the book. The team did recommend I clearly state the time jump, so I changed that bit to show the reader that for 13 chapters we would be telling the beginning of the story.
It snowed where I am. I was concerned. You see I am from the southern United States where we don’t get snow. Well, we do. I remember it snowed Jan. 3rd and 4th back in the 80s and I was so excited I marked it on my calendar. But a few months ago the man I am seeing took a job at the top of the United States and I have never been in such cold weather in my entire life. The temps went into the negative numbers as in negative 14 but feels like negative 41. Those are not survivable temperatures for a woman from the south. But I managed to get a lot done with his encouragement. It is so amusing to watch his face as he patiently listens to me bounce ideas off of him when he has no idea what I am even talking about.
If you loved Miranda please leave a review on Amazon for the book and if you haven’t left a review for Gabby please do that also. I say Gabby because she is the first in the series and I screwed up on that book so badly in the beginning. Reviews help other readers decide whether they think the book is worth reading or not, and new readers help the author decide whether they should keep going on a particular series or start a new one. (As of this writing Dawn only has one tiny 3 star review. Did everyone hate that book and you are too nice to say so?) Too low of a star rating and the author knows they either need to fix something (I did on Gabby) or quit and do something else. I don’t want to quit this series.
Nicole will be the next book. Those children have to be rescued somehow and, well, you know the little one said NikNik couldn’t fit in the hole her daddy placed them in to keep them safe. So we have to go find NikNik and see about getting her free. We also have to find some way to break the curse once and for all.
I also have to get the next 3 books out in the Deyarian Universe series along with three other series I have bouncing around in my head. Exciting times ahead for the characters in this series and I hope you stick around and keep reading. I am always open to suggestions and ideas (not books ideas - I have far too many of my own). So if you have a particular character in the books you would like to know more about feel free to drop in on the facebook page and send me a message. If you think I screwed something up, drop in and tell me.
Thank you for reading.
Miranda Page 13
