The Touch of Snow

by Anna Edwards

  "I would say you are talking about your ability to shift, but I feel there is more."

  "I once loved someone, a woman I believed to be my mate. She was beautiful and enigmatic. She was my gift; she made me a better person, a better leader. I wanted to show her off to the world as my wife one day, but I had to set her free to save her from a fate she could not have lived with."

  "What happened to her?"

  "She married another and started a family. She was happy."

  "I'm sorry. I can see she meant a lot to you."

  "She always will." He bristled like he was shaking his fur and the feeling of sorrow from his body. "That is why I want to give you and Brayden a chance to have what I never did. Whatever the reason you have these powers we will discover it, but in the meantime, you can be normal."

  "Normal is what I dream of."

  "Jessica is downstairs, she is prepared and ready to do the spell if that is what you choose. We'll be waiting in my office."

  "Kas," She reached out and touched his hand, her body instantly starting to shift. "Pass me my robe please. I want to do it."

  ***

  Brayden had shifted to a snow leopard the second he left the house, his big fluffy feet and razor-sharp claws propelling him further up the mountain. Jumping from rock to rock, some as far as fifty feet away. This was when he was at his most peaceful: alone, as dawn approached. A rabbit caught his eye, and he pounced. It was a little snack to give him the energy to climb back down the mountain. After devouring his catch, he sat and cleaned himself. He always took pride in his white fur.

  He wondered if Selene would clean him in snow leopard form. His beautiful Selene.

  He leaped to his feet and started back down the mountain. Prey scattered in front of him but he was not interested, his only thought to get back to the angel he'd left sleeping. He shifted back to his human form at the front door and took the stairs two at a time. If he woke anyone, so what? Lazy buggers could do with getting up early. He was in love. He did, however, push the door to her bedroom open quietly. He wanted to watch her wake slowly, not in fright. Her eyelids fluttering open and looking at him with a hazy recollection before focusing and realizing he was there for her. The early rays of dawn were starting to flood into the room.

  The bed was empty. He'd left Kas on guard, and he wasn't there either. In an instant, he was running back down the stairs,

  "Selene?" He inhaled deeply, she had walked this way recently. He followed the scent to Kas' office. What was going on?

  He thrust the door open in a fury.

  ***

  "Akasha binding, Goddess restricting, Grant this spirit's release."

  The flash of white light held her floating in the air before dropping her down to the floor. Jessica's eyes returned to normal.

  "It is done." She too collapsed, the power of the magic she had used rendering her momentarily weak.

  "Selene?" Brayden's voice filled the room. He stood in the doorway. "What have you done?"

  "Give them a moment." Kas stepped forward.

  "You bound her powers?" Brayden yelled out.

  "It was her choice." Jessica’s reply was short and to the point.

  "You forced her to do it when I was away. What lies did you spin her?" Brayden pulled his fist back and sent it slamming into Kas' face. The polar bear did not move.

  "No. Stop it. It was my choice." Selene called out and tried to stand. Her legs were still weak from the spell. "I want to be normal." Her wobbly legs took her over to Brayden. His fists were still balled and ready to lash out but they gradually relaxed. "Kiss me. Please."

  "You did this for us?"

  "Yes." She couldn't wait any longer, she had to touch him. She leaned in and pressed her lips against his, they were soft, but the stubble on his face reminded her that he was all man. It was perfect. No thoughts entered her head from his mind, no fur...no fur.

  Her body started to tingle.

  No. No. It couldn't be happening. She was changing. She felt the hair growing down from her lips, her neck, across her shoulders and lower. No. No. This wasn't supposed to happen. Brayden released and pulled away.

  "It didn't work." Kas looked at them in shock. Her body shifted back to human.

  "I don't understand." Jessica was frantically checking her notes and all the magical paraphernalia on the floor. "Everything was done right."

  "We can't touch." Brayden's voice was broken. He'd stepped back from her, the distance between them again. How could they be mates when they couldn't be intimate?

  "You told me this would work!" She turned on Kas. "You said that I could have a life. You knew this would happen. You lied." She'd never been a violent person, but something inside of her snapped. She lashed out at Kas, a rapid succession of punches to his face and body. "Make it work! Make it work!"

  "Selene!" Jessica's loud call stopped her mid punch. “You're not changing."

  "What?" Selene looked down at her hand, Kas' astonished gaze was on it as well. She should have a polar bear paw, but she had only a human hand. "I'm not changing." She placed her hand on Kas' bare arm. Nothing happened. "I don't understand."

  "Jessica?" Kas had no answers either. Selene hoped the witch would.

  "Touch Brayden again, maybe it took a few seconds to work?" Jessica held her hands out in a fumbling explanation.

  Brayden rushed for her, but the second they touched she started to shift to a snow leopard.

  "No, no, no!" Brayden cried out. He pulled back again and shrank into the corner of the room, as far away from her as he could possibly get.

  "The others." Selene remembered the other members of the pack and fled the room. Brayden, Jessica, and Kas were following closely as she broke into Zain's room. The black bear was sound asleep with a pot of honey tucked under his arm. Selene touched him, nothing. Next was Scott's room. They found him wrapped around a lioness who was busy taking care of his morning wood.

  "What the fuck? Get out!"

  "Shut up. We'll only be a minute." Brayden venomously responded. Selene touched Scott, but nothing happened. She even touched the skanky lioness, but the same occurred, nothing, no shifting. The story was no different with Katia, Emma, and Tyler. Each time she didn't change. It was only with Brayden. She slumped down to the floor in the hallway bringing her legs up to her chest in defeat.

  "I made the wrong decision. I tried to change who I am. This is my punishment: to never touch the man, I love."

  "I'll do the spell again. Maybe I did something wrong?" Jessica knelt down beside her.

  "No, it will be the same outcome. It will always be the same. Brayden and I can never touch as humans. That is our destiny.”

  "I won't accept that." The loud growl echoed through the high-ceilinged room.

  "We have no choice." She was defeated.

  "You’re going to give up?" Brayden said.

  She nodded.

  Without so much as a word, Brayden shifted and left.

  CHAPTER TEN

  "Lynx, bring me some breakfast, and make sure it's seal blubber." Nuka had been out all night with a group of whores, and now he was in a foul mood. He stormed through the corridors of the Banff packs’ expansive cabin towards Ciaran's room. He kicked the door open. The place stank of herbs again. He was sure Ciaran just had them around to annoy him. They didn't seem to serve much purpose. Yesterday had gone well but whenever he saw his self-righteous brother it always resulted in a bad mood. The hangover and poorly sucked dick didn't help, either.

  "Nuka," His druid and beta greeted him. His room was strewn with magical books and paraphernalia. Ciaran was his right-hand man, and he trusted him implicitly. Ciaran was more powerful than most people imagined. "Did your mission go well?"

  "If you are asking whether or not I put the spell on the girl? Then yes. It was transferred when I touched her and she shifted." Nuka grumpily replied.

  "Did she react in any way to it?" The druid placed the spell book down, that he held, and focused on him.

&nb
sp; "Not that I noticed. That was a good plan of yours, to transfer the magic by her shifting." He chuckled.

  "Your brother is a mistrusting man. That makes him vulnerable to the underhanded type of attack because he is too focused on the obvious. You'll need to kill the snow leopard first, for our plan to work though. She has to be at her weakest and want to give up her powers before my spell will work."

  "I never had the misguided affection for him that my brother seems to have. It won’t be a problem." Nuka shut his eyes. “What happens now. I’m impatient. I want her powers.”

  “I’m afraid we have to wait for Jessica to put the binding spell on Selene, it’s the only way I can see the plan working.” His druid beta cackled. “She will be prevented from shifting for everyone bar Brayden. We swoop in and play the heroes. Remove my spell so she can touch the snow leopard without changing. Then the fun can begin.”

  Nuka settled into a chair, feet propped up on the stool next to it. Lynx strode in, dressed for a run. She laid the tray of food over his lap.

  "Is there anything else?" She pursed her lips together seductively.

  "No, although I'd like you in my bed later," he growled.

  "Say please," Lynx teased.

  "Say ‘do you want to find somewhere else to live?'" Lynx, and others like her, were what they termed a 'maid' to the pack. They had two others as well. Their basic duty was to ensure that the male shifters’ priorities were all met.

  "I'll do my run and then I'll be waiting for you."

  "Bring Shauna and Lily as well. After last night, I want women that know what they are doing."

  Lynx left them alone with a shake of her backside. Yes, he would enjoy tapping that later.

  "Your brother sees him as key to the pack's continued success," Ciaran continued, unfazed by the sexual liaison being planned.

  "Brayden's father was my brother's beta. When he died, Brayden took his place. He is only a hybrid though, not pure blood. He will be weak and destroy the pack. There are better people to lead it."

  "Like you?"

  "Amalgamate the two packs, and we will contain most of Montana and Banff. We can head out West and East, defy the Council and take over the lands that were once taken from us. Show ourselves to the human faction and rule the Americas, if not the world.” Nuka banged his fist down on the table next to his chair.

  "World domination?" Ciaran was always on board with his plans, if a little skeptical about them coming to fruition.

  "Taking back what is rightfully mine."

  "You never did tell me about your grandfather. What happened?"

  "It seems like a lifetime ago. I was ten. The twenty-six years since then have aged me. My family owned lands in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana south of here, and Alberta, Nunavut and Saskatchewan above. Nunavut is the part that hurts the most, that was our ancestral land. That was where our forefathers roamed wild in their natural form. Though the Inuit blood has diffused into a more western genetic thanks, in part, to the diversification of the southern breeds. Our pack was always mixed. We were not elitist. A hybrid of two shifters is a lot better than one of a human and animal, so no humans were allowed. If you took one as a mate, then you left the pack. It was when they elected the first human-cheetah hybrid on the Council that things started to change for everyone. He didn't like the amount of land that we, my grandfather, was responsible for. We’d won that land fair and square, not just through fights but also through marriages. My own mother's lands in Glacial Park came into my grandfather's hands with her marriage to my father. I guess that is why Kas has it now. He always was a mommy's boy." The snigger that left his mouth showed the contempt that he had for his brother.

  "Surely the Council couldn't take it away if you could prove it as being yours? In Scotland, the Council wanted my family seat shared with distant cousins in New Zealand. Their territory had been encroached on by the humans, and it was impossible for them to practice magic anymore. They could not take the land, though. It was fairly won and maintained by us. Handed down by the rules. We agreed to give my cousin's family a home and a place within the inner magic circle. But they would not rule in our place."

  "No, they couldn’t just take it. He was the ruler of the lands in all legal ways. A war of words started with the Council but that war turned physical. A significant number of shifters died protecting what was theirs, but the Council eventually won. They killed my father and grandfather within days of each other."

  "And that is when Kas took over?"

  "Yes, he is the elder by a matter of minutes."

  The druid passed him a drink of malt whiskey. He downed it in one mouthful, the burning liquid tempering his anger so that he could finish his tale.

  "Kas and my mother met with the Council. I was ordered to stay behind; such was my rage against the deaths. They brokered a deal which would stop the bloodshed but meant breaking up our lands,” he said, bitterly. “Idaho went to my cousins, the Evans; they had always sat on the fence during the fighting and were rewarded with riches. Wyoming and Saskatchewan went to the Council who split them between several tribes; all of whom were loyal to the Council. My brother gave me Alberta; he knew I had an affiliation with it since I had been young. I was to be hemmed in by the Holland’s in Jasper Park though.” He turned and spat at the floor. “Kas took Montana and retained a small proportion of Nunavut, where our families are buried. The rest was given over to a pack of polar bears who had formed during the fighting to protect the lands there from damage. The Council will not win. I'll rule one day as my grandfather did. I’ll get back what is rightfully his." On that he was adamant. Kas was weak, he was strong. He would be King.

  Nuka slammed the glass down on the table next to him. It shattered into a myriad of razor sharp pieces, but he simply shifted his hand to a bear's claw to protect his skin.

  Ciaran waved his hand and the glass reformed and settled down on the table in front of them.

  "Your brother is a traitor to his people. He’s a coward who would not continue the fight. He will suffer for his treason. We'll see to that."

  "I'm lucky to have found you, my friend." There was genuine warmth in his affectionate words.

  "We should thank the witch for that."

  "Oh yes, your ex-lover, Jessica. She won’t sense your spell on the girl?" he questioned.

  "No, my magic far exceeds her abilities. She could’ve been the greatest, but she gave that up for your brother's pack. A mistake she will rue when I strip her of all her abilities and cast her into the realm of nothing for eternity."

  "Sounds a cheery place." Nuka could feel the sullen mood lifting. There was nothing like planning revenge to lighten his spirits.

  "I can send your brother there as well."

  "Oh no, I have a much better plan for him. One that involves lots of pain for his betrayal. Pass me another whiskey. I feel the need to celebrate."

  Before his beta could do so, his eyes turned white and rolled into the back of his head. Nuka took the flask from the comatose druid, poured his own whiskey, and resumed his seat while he waited.

  Eventually, the returned to the here and now.

  "Jessica is as predictable as ever." Ciaran mercilessly laughed. "The spell is done. The girl is vulnerable. They are ready for the taking.

  "Good. That is certainly something to drink to." He held his glass up. Revenge would be his, and it’d change the face of the shifter world forever.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Brayden slumped and shifted back to his human form. He wasn't sure how long he'd been running, but he was near the Harrison Glacier, his place of peace and tranquility in the frozen hills. It was where he could be alone and silent. A few tourists walked the trail, but the majority left him to the shadows.

  He should find one of the packs of his clothes that he left lying around for emergencies, but he just didn't have the energy to move. No, it wasn't a lack of energy it was a lack of motivation. Whatever previous life he had lived, the gods of nature must really hate him.


  He rolled onto his back and felt the sun warm his face. If he lay here long enough, maybe he would melt like the ice around him; slowly eroding over decades.

  "You better have lotion on that pale skin of yours, or you'll burn in no time. It's not tough like my old puma skin." Miss Molly’s voice entered his head and the shadow of a puma came over him. She was a part of their pack, but not one they saw often. She spent all her time high in the mountains in her natural form. She had been involved in the fighting with Kas' grandfather and lost her leg. She preferred to be shifted as she said that it was easier to be on three legs rather than one. He had to admit she was kind of sprightly still and when she ran, you wouldn't even know she had only three legs.

  "I'll roll over again in an hour. Should prevent burning in anywhere I don't want it."

  "I don't know. The place I'm worried about could get a lot closer to the sun if you keep thinking of that cute girl of yours."

  "Miss Molly!"

  "What? You're a big lad. Just like your father was."

  "I don't need to think of him that way, thank you." Brayden cringed.

  "I remember many a time catching him after your mother up here. For a human, she could move pretty fast. It was impossible for him to hide how much he loved that woman even with his two big hands. He was a great man. It wasn't right what happened to him. Nuka had no business..." She trailed off.

  "Nuka had no business what?" He sat up sharply; suddenly motivated.

  "Nothing."

  "Tell me!" he demanded.

  "Nuka had no business being on Kas' lands that day." She frowned as she spoke.

  "Did he kill my father?" That seemed to be the question that he was endlessly asking people.

  "It is not as simple as one person killing your father. What happened that day runs so much deeper. You must understand that. When the time is right to tell you, Kas will."