Shifting Fates

by Aubrey Rose

  It left a thought behind… one little thought, the most dangerous of all to an officer.

  ...the thought that maybe, just maybe, I’m wrong.

  I have to obey the Major’s orders. There’s nothing left without order, and I can’t be the one to break file. She won’t relocate to Central Park quietly,won’t ever submit to the military’s demands—I can tell that in an instant—so I have to kill her.

  My gun levels at her head as she kneels before me, eyes closed, awaiting the inevitable. Just pull the trigger and be done with it. Pull the trigger, Cage. Pull it and you’re done here. It’s so easy… you’ve done it plenty of times in training.

  Plenty of times in training against monsters, not against gorgeous young women who just kissed me…

  That’s why I have to do it. I have to shoot her because if I don’t, order is shattered and I’ll have ruined everything. I can’t let my confused emotions decide my actions.

  I close my eyes, my teeth grinding as I try to pull the trigger. Just pull it!

  I raise the gun above my head and fire straight up into the air, breaking a good ten gun laws in the process.

  Her whole body convulses as the gunfire echoes deafeningly through the alley, and then her eyes fly open. She stares up at me in terrified incomprehension, and I drink in her gorgeous aquamarine eyes as I lift the radio to my lips.

  “It’s done, sir,” I tell the Major. “Civilian’s down. Commencing cleanup.”

  Lying may be a sin, but I bet God will understand this time. Even if he doesn’t… well, I bet it ranks a hell of a lot lower on the charts than the summary execution of an innocent woman.

  “Okay, let’s get you somewhere safe. I ain’t gonna take you to Park Sector North, but the military’s reclaiming Harlem, so you won’t be able to stay here anymore.”

  “No. I’m not going anywhere with you.” She shakes her head and looks away as she climbs to her feet.

  Damnit.

  “Look… just come with me, will you?” I ask as exasperation builds up inside me. “By this time tomorrow, Harlem’ll be crawling with grunts. It’s either relocation today on your own terms or relocation tomorrow on theirs.”

  “I’ll take my chances,” she says, taking a step back from me.

  “Are you crazy? They’ll shoot you!”

  Just like I almost did before your eyes broke me…

  “So shoot me first,” she says. She lifts her chin and stares up at me, her deep blue eyes boring holes straight through me as if they’re digging deep into the darkest recess of my mind. “We’re all dead here, anyway. Nobody escapes from this city. Not me… not you.”

  She takes another step back, and somehow that second step finally gets the message through my head.

  She’s not coming with me. She really means it. She’d rather take her chances out here with a damned shifter on the loose than end up corralled with the other civilians.

  Either I shoot her or she goes free… and I can’t shoot her.

  Sounds like she’s made up my mind for me.

  I turn away and start walking toward the end of the alley, but then turn back to her again.

  “Hey… before I go, do me one favor, okay?” I ask.

  “What?” She raises an eyebrow inquisitively.

  “Tell me your name.” I’ve wondered since the first time I saw her, and I’m not leaving without it this time.

  The corner of her mouth turns up in the faintest hint of a smile, and then she pulls her hood down so that her face is masked in shadows.

  “Bindi,” she finally answers.

  “Good luck, Bindi. This is twice now I’ve let you go. I can’t do it a third time.”

  She says nothing, and I quickly turn away and start walking.

  She’s on her own now, I tell myself. She doesn’t need my help, doesn’t want it anyway.

  How’s she going to make it in this sector? The military’s moving in tomorrow, and who knows what the grunts would do to her if they found her. Central Command ain’t exactly sent the best and brightest out here to Ground Zero.

  She’s got a little girl, Cage.

  I shake my head and keep walking. It’s not my problem anymore. I tried to get her to leave and she refused. Her problem now.

  Right.

  I keep walking. I’m almost to the end of the alley now. A few more steps and she’s out of my life… just like she’d have been out of my life if I’d pulled the trigger.

  Ben would’ve knocked my teeth out twice by now for pretending this is her problem, for acting like this is her fault. She’s not the one evicting people at gunpoint.

  Don’t look back at her. Don’t you dare turn around. She’s on her own now and...

  I turn around.

  I halfway expected her to be gone just like on Christmas Eve, but she’s standing tall, motionless, in the middle of the alley. Between her oversized, hooded brown coat and the shadows cast by the buildings, she looks like she stepped straight out of either a nightmare or a fairy tale, simultaneously both terrifying and beautiful.

  A gust of wind blows through the alley and kicks up a thick cloud of ash, and I spin on my heels and hurry out back onto Amsterdam Avenue.

  She’ll be fine on her own. I don’t know what’s got me so convinced, but I’m sure of it.

  Chapter Eleven

  Bindi

  The soldier leaves, and I am alone in the alleyway. At my feet the puddle of blood is already clotting into a dark red.

  I’m alive.

  A noise shakes me from my stupor and I fall into a crouch. The rat jumps from the trash onto the cold asphalt and scurries away through a hole in the brick wall. Was it a shifter or not? I don’t know.

  “You’d better be careful, little guy,” I say to the dark hole. Those unfortunate enough to shift into small animals get killed sooner rather than later.

  Then I think of how close I came to death, and I laugh hoarsely.

  I slink back to the subway entrance and walk up the dark tunnel, stepping along the train ties. I pass by the den and look in, but there is nobody there.

  I walk on.

  Down near the last stop before the tunnel splits off, I see the sewer drain just under a thin beam of light from above. The grate has been welded on, and the silver flashes bright in the light, the rays reflecting off of the watery ground here.

  “Good work, Logan,” I whisper.

  The dim light is surprisingly bright after the pure black of the tunnel. The beams of light take any chance they can to bounce, reflect, stay alive, before being eaten by the darkness.

  I knock the special pattern on the grate. The sound echoes through the sewer. From inside the darkness I hear a low squeal, followed by hushes. Then the eyes peer out from the dark and Kit runs forward. I kneel down into the dampness.

  “Bindi!” she cries. “You’re back! You’re back!” She flings her small arms through the sewer grate and I clutch her hands, kissing her tiny fingers.

  “Thank god!” Lily says. Logan follows her forward with a huge smile on his face, and Nim follows silently.

  “No, don’t cry, don’t cry,” I say, when I notice Kit’s sobbing. “We’re okay. It’s fine. Everything is okay.”

  “I missed—I thought—” she whimpered.

  “Are they gone?” Logan asks. He has a welding torch ready to go, and I nod.

  “Yes, the sweep is over. We’re safe.”

  “Come on, Kit,” he said, putting a hand to her shoulder and guiding her out of the way of the grate. “Let’s get out of here and back to the den, okay?”

  “Okay,” Kit says quietly. Logan tousles her hair before setting to work, but her eyes never leave me.

  “It’s disgusting in here,” Lily says. “Down at the bottom, it’s completely flooded. With shit.”

  “Don’t say shit, Lily.” My admonishment is weak, and I can’t even pretend to care about her cussing. “Or else Logan will weld you back in for the night.”

  “No!” Lily cries out, but a smile i
s cracking through her face already.

  “I totally will,” Logan said. “You’ll have to sleep here. And your pillow will be a pile of poop!”

  “Ewww!” Kit says, laughing. I’m glad he can make her laugh. It’s more than I can do right now. I feel so tired.

  “We’ll be out soon,” Logan says, lowering his torch. “Like, maybe five or ten minutes.”

  I look at Nim through the bars. He’s the only one who isn’t smiling, not even a bit. His mouth is pinched at the edges. He coughs, and swallows, and meets my gaze.

  “How’s the guy?” Nim asks. His eyes flicker down to Kit, who’s sucking on her pinky finger. “The one I... the one I fought.”

  My eyelashes flutter against my cheeks, and I can’t look at him. I press my tongue against the top of my mouth and take a deep breath.

  “He’s fine,” I say. I can’t say anything more. My throat is closed tightly shut and I think I might cry.

  ***

  Back in our den, in bed, I am lying back against the rough pillow. Kit is curled up against my side, her soft snout nestled in the crook of my elbow. She kicks in her sleep, and I pat her head absentmindedly.

  Thoughts swim through my mind in the darkness, but when I close my eyes the only thing that I see is the face of the soldier, his light hair and golden eyes. I feel the press of his lips on mine, the hot taste of his breath, the electric ache that sent my body reverberating with desire.

  I don’t know his name, and that’s for the best. I shouldn’t have told him mine. Dangerous, too dangerous. I promise myself to do everything I can to forget him. He is a soldier, and a human, and nothing but a threat to me and to my family.

  But as I drift to sleep, my control weakens, and there is only one thought running through my mind:

  I wonder if I will ever know his touch again.

  ***

  Did you like Shifting Fates?

  If so, please consider leaving a review at your favorite bookseller or on Goodreads. Independent authors desperately need our readers' support since we can't advertise the way that big publishing houses do, and every little bit helps. Thanks so much for reading Shifting Fates, and we hope you love what's coming next!

  Sign up for our mailing lists and be the first to know about the hottest new releases, giveaways, advance review copies and much more!

  Aubrey Rose: AubreyRoseWrites.com/Subscribe

  (Signups get a free copy of Blind Wolf!)

  Nadia Simonenko: List.NadiaRomance.com

  (Signups get a free copy of Lost!)

  Be sure to find out what happens to Bindi and Cage next!

  Shifting Fates Book Two: Uncaged

  From New York Times bestselling author Aubrey Rose and Nadia Simonenko comes a darkly erotic shifter romance series that will thrill you like never before.

  An unlikely shifter romance blossoms in the middle of a terrible war...

  Bindi can’t stop thinking about the nameless soldier who kissed her and saved her life. She knows that he could never love her if he knew who she truly was—a wolf shifter leading a pack of shifter children. When she gets thrown in prison for stealing rations, she must decide if her freedom is worth telling the truth... and losing Cage in the process.

  Cage has vowed to follow orders – that’s what a military captain does. But if the military’s orders are to kill a woman whose only crime is stealing food for her family, maybe it’s time to break a rule or two.

  When Cage finally realizes the truth about Bindi, he must search his heart to forgive her. And when his own dark secret comes to light, it will change the way he looks at the world... forever.

  From werewolves to werebears, this new book in the paranormal romance series Shifting Fates will take you on a wild and emotional ride that gets steamier with every chapter!

  *** A Shifter Romance Series that will pull at your heartstrings ***

  When he finally discovers her secret, Cage must decide what’s more important to him – finally avenging his brother, or saving the woman he’s come to love. And Bindi will learn a lesson about humanity... and about love.

  ***

  EXCERPT:

  His hand is so hot it feels like it’s burning. Almost unconsciously, I lean back into his touch, closing my eyes.

  “You feel it too, huh?”

  I can only nod my head. His fingers run along my shoulder, across my collarbone. Every place he touches tingles with an electric energy that I can’t understand. The desire in me knots up my chest and stomach. It twists me until I’m burning hot between my thighs.

  One of his hands kneads my neck, his fingers massaging the tense muscles there slowly, deeply. My lips fall apart in a silent moan. It feels so good. Is this how it would feel, to have someone love me? To have someone there to protect me, cradle me in his arms?

  His other hand is still moving, and I can only let out a small gasp as his fingers slip over my shoulder and run across the top of my chest, pressing lightly against my collarbone. Every touch is electric, and when I close my eyes I can see the shocks as he touches me, the sharp tingle that starts at my skin and runs down deep inside of me.

  There. Spikes of pure white energy. They pulse in a soft static fuzz along the places his fingertips drag. They penetrate, moving along my nerves as he strokes me. White fireworks exploding in the sky behind my eyelids. Bright white shocks crashing through my system when he touches me with his thumb on the soft patch of skin behind my ear.

  His fingers run up my neck. One finger brushes my earlobe and I shudder with pleasure. He takes my chin in his hand and tilts my head back toward him. I open my eyes and see him watching me with an expression that is predatorial, but, strangely, I don’t feel danger. I can see that he wants me just as much as I want him.

  “Bindi.” His voice is raw with desire. “Can I...”

  I don’t know what will happen. I don’t know what I want to happen. But I nod anyway. Tonight, after learning so much about him, I can’t help but give him my trust.

  He turns me to face him, taking me in his arms, and he gently presses his lips to mine...

  Available now!

  Check out Aubrey’s #1 shifter romance series!

  Blind Wolf

  "I needed a story to get lost in and this was the perfect choice."

  -Hermosa Writer

  Julia has never been on a date in her life. She's a curvy girl with no money, no education, and no way out of the town she works in as a library assistant... until Damien shows up. He's just like the prince charming Julia always imagined would sweep her off of her feet. There are just a few things standing in the way of true happiness: he's blind, he's dating someone, and he's WAY out of her league.

  Oh, and he's a werewolf.

  Damien lost his eyes two years ago in a wolf battle. Ever since then, the straggler pack of disabled wolves he leads has been searching for a place to call home. One house seems like the perfect choice, but Damien realizes too late that the person who lives there is the girl he met at the library. The human girl. Damien is torn between loyalty to his pack and raw lusting desire for the girl who haunts his dreams day and night.

  She's a human. How could she be his true mate?

  From NYTimes and USA Today Bestselling author Aubrey Rose comes a new shifter book that's as wild and hot as anything. This werewolf shifter BBW romance novella is 25,000 words long, has some naughty language, and a lot of naughty sex. Be warned!

  EXCERPT:

  She stood up and so did he. He held out his hand and she pressed his palm in a handshake. Without letting himself hesitate, and buoyed by her warm response to his jokes, Damien raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss onto her fingers.

  It was a mistake. The connection between them before that moment had been tenuous, if intense. He could feel the separation between her emotion and his, and could untangle them if he needed to. Now, though, with his lips against her skin, he sensed the passage between them open up, widen, and take over his mind. He could no longer tell the differen
ce between a feeling coming from his own mind or hers, and her thoughts reverberated through him.

  Not just emotions, this time, as he had sensed before. The emotions were there, to be sure: desire, curiosity, and a hint of fear. But his lips fell apart slightly and he breathed in a sharp breath as he now heard clearly the words that she was thinking:

  ...the one. He's the one. It's him...

  Available now!

  Pick up Nadia’s contemporary romance novel!

  Chasing Wishes

  "Sexy, gritty, dreamy and all around fantastic!"

  -Helena Newbury, NYT Bestselling Author

  For sixteen-year-old Nina Torres, it feels as if life is nothing but a dead end. Despised by her rich classmates and afraid that she'll become just like her drug-addicted mother, Nina's future seems to get dimmer every day.

  There is one bright spot in her life though...

  Sitting beside her one night, the only person in the world who cares about her makes a promise. No matter what happens—no matter how much Isaac's wealthy family disapproves—he and his girlfriend Nina will be together forever.

  Fate plays a cruel trick on Nina, though, and a visit from Child Protective Services the next morning turns Nina Torres into Irene Hartley, a woman with a future but who will never see her beloved Isaac again.

  Nine years later, a blind and incredibly handsome young entrepreneur hires Irene to be his personal assistant. Terrence Radcliffe reminds her so much of Isaac that she can hardly believe her eyes, and she's falling for him fast. Irene knows that fairy tales don't come true, but she allows herself one last wish. She wishes that she could finally say goodbye to Isaac and let herself take a chance on Terrence.

  What she doesn't know is that Terrence is also searching for someone: a shooting star who streaked through his life nine years ago, and he won't give up until he finds her...