by Lib Starling
Roxy shook her head. “What’s this all about?”
Katrina stepped forward and wrapped Roxy in a hug. “Now that we can be sure Scarlett is gone, we all agreed with Chase that the time was right.”
At mention of the dark witch’s name, Roxy reached up instinctively for her stay—which wasn’t there, of course. Several days ago, Chase had asked to borrow it. Roxy had been jittery ever sense, missing its comforting presence and the security it provided. But Scarlett hadn’t been seen or sensed anywhere near Jackson Hole since the night of the battle months before, and Katrina assured them all that the Powers showed no sign of twist or stain. Roxy trusted Chase, and knew he would never do her any harm. So she’d handed her medallion over, and had been waiting curiously ever since to learn exactly what Chase wanted with it. Now, it seemed, her questions would be answered.
Katrina nodded to Darien. He opened his box and pulled out a delicate, silvery chain. A round medallion hung from it, rotating slowly, glinting in the gathering light. At once, Roxy felt her inner fox lunge, reaching for the stay that was as familiar to her as her own skin—and yet, the medallion was somehow different—somehow not hers.
She took it cautiously, rubbing the metal in fingers that had gone stiff and clumsy. Where the stay had once been gold, it was now an odd, warm-tinged platinum shade, and the round medallion itself felt thicker, heavier—not physically, but in some way she could only sense with her totem. She felt the lines of the fox-head engraving under her thumb—and then, slowly, she turned the stay over.
A wolf peered up at her from the medallion’s opposite side. All at once, she knew exactly why it felt so different.
Roxy gasped and stared up into Chase’s dark eyes.
He smiled and reached out his hand. Darien produced another stay from his box, exactly like Roxy’s—fox on one side, wolf on the other.
“Katrina made them,” Chase said.
“Darien helped me,” Katrina was quick to add.
Roxy closed her eyes and clutched her new stay tightly in her fist. Her fox gave a yip of excitement and recognition, and deep inside, below her fast-beating heart, Roxy could feel fox and wolf dancing together, twining their bodies around one another, brushing fur with sensitive muzzles and drinking in the intoxicating scents of their closeness. Chase’s totem was inside of her now, as surely as her fox was. And when she opened her eyes and looked at Chase, she could tell by his grin of joyous wonder that he, too, was growing accustomed to the new presence of her totem, curling warm and contented beneath his heart.
“You melded them together,” she said to Katrina and Darien. The witch nodded, and Darien shrugged as if it was nothing spectacular—as if shifters did this sort of thing every day.
“Once I’d figured out how to bond Alexander as my familiar,” Katrina said, “it was simple enough to work the spell on you two. Darien walked me through the logistics of the stays themselves.” She looked from Roxy to Chase and back again, taking in the wolf-shifter’s awe and Roxy’s glow of gratitude with a smile of satisfaction. “I take it my spell was a good one, and it worked?”
“Yes,” Roxy laughed. “It worked.” Tears of a happiness filled her eyes with a pleasant, welcome sting. She had never known such contentment before. She had never known such completeness before. “It definitely worked. Thank you, Katrina.”
Alexander clapped Chase on the shoulder. “What are you two going to do now? You haven’t been back to Alpha House, or to Blackmeade, in all these months. Are we ever going to see you again, Chase?”
“Oh, you’ll see me again. Roxy and I are going to settle down here in Jackson, so we’ll be close.”
“But no more school for you.” Alexander sounded disappointed.
“It’s not my path,” Chase said thoughtfully. “But I’ll be celebrating your graduation this summer almost as much as you do. And whatever you do after that—wherever you go—I’ll be happy for you, brother.”
He reached out to shake Alexander’s hand, a gentlemanly gesture. Alexander clasped Chase’s hand with a solemn expression on his pale, angular face. Then, impulsively, he pulled Chase into a rough but warm hug.
“We’re going to throw a big party at Alpha House right after the graduation ceremony,” Alexander said. “You’d better be there.”
Chase eyed Roxy cautiously. “I don’t know. Rox isn’t all that fond of wild frat parties.”
Roxy laughed and tucked herself under Alexander’s arm, squeezing him close. “I think I can stand one more party. But only one more.”
The End
Of
Alpha House:
A Shapeshifter/BBW Serial Novel
Thank you for reading!
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Read on for more books by this author, as well as Contact and Copyright Information.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lib Starling is new to paranormal romance, but not new to writing books. Her historical and contemporary (non-romantic) novels, written under the pen name Libbie Hawker, have been delighting readers since 2011. Lib’s paranormal romances tell tales of love in the midst of chilling supernatural circumstances. Find more information about Lib Starling, including ways to contact the author, at RunningRabbitBooks.com
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MORE BOOKS BY LIB STARLING
PARANORMAL ROMANCE
Rain City Hunters
This series of short novellas chronicles the creepy and sexy adventures of Seattle’s premier paranormal research team.
A Sense of Shadows
Ghostlight
HISTORICAL FICTION - WRITING AS LIBBIE HAWKER
The She-King Saga A sweeping epic of Ancient Egypt, this popular four-book series follows the lives of the Thutmoside family, including the rise and fall of Hatshepsut, the woman who would be Pharaoh.
Book 1: The Sekhmet Bed
Book 2: The Crook and Flail
Book 3: Sovereign of Stars
Book 4: The Bull of Min
Or get The Complete Saga in the four-ebook set, and receive the first and last books in the series FREE!
The Book of Coming Forth by Day A brand-new series for lovers of ancient historical fiction!
Part 1: House of Rejoicing
Part 2: Storm in the Sky
Part 3: Eater of Hearts (March, 2016)
Tidewater
Baptism for the Dead
Daughter of Sand and Stone
Mercer Girls (May 2016)
BOOKS FOR WRITERS:
Gotta Read It!: Five Simple Steps to a Fiction Pitch that Sells
Take Off Your Pants!: Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing
Making It in Historical Fiction
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ALPHA HOUSE:
A Shapeshifter/BBW Serial Novel
Copyright 2015
Lib Starling
All rights reserved.
Running Rabbit Press
San Juan County, WA
First Ebook Edition
Cover design and interior formatting by Running Rabbit Press.
290 ½
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