The Shifter’s Nanny

by T. S. Ryder

"Don't worry," she whispered to her baby. "Mommy and Daddy will always protect you. Always."

  Chapter Ten – Stephen

  Stephen hung up his phone, hopefully for the last time that night. He rubbed his left temple. A headache pounded through his skull. Even with the advanced healing that Shifters had, spending hours dealing with politics and the legal system took a toll on Wolves like him, who weren't and never wanted to be Alphas. He was only glad that it was Iduna and not him that was studying law to fight for Shifter rights within the courts. He'd never survive it.

  He smiled as he thought of his mate. In the seven months since the birth of their daughter, she had not only begun studying to become a lawyer but had also put together a plan to protect Shifters. The attacks on her community of Bears, along with the police involvement, had been brought to national attention. It invoked a significant outcry from across the world, with many countries calling for more police accountability. All the hunters that had been involved in Christianson's scheme had been found and were awaiting imprisonment. The BC government had been quick to round up and prosecute the other hunters.

  As good as the action that the government had been taking against those directly involved, there were even more positive things happening. Stephen had returned to his community of Wolves and told them what was happening to the Bears, and they had been horrified. Now there were programs being put into place to heal the fractured relationship between Bears and Wolves. It wasn't perfect, but Stephen thought it was helping.

  Still, there was a lot of work to be done going forward, and Stephen found himself in the middle of it. But he was happy to fight if it meant a better future for his daughter.

  He heard Tiff gurgling and turned to see Tyson coming down the hallway, holding the baby. She burst into a grin at the sight of her father. She was just starting to grow some fuzz on her head, but with her big black eyes, exactly like her mother's, and toothless grin she was still adorable.

  "Oh, Daddy needs a smile like that right now." Stephen took Tiff and kissed her. "Have you been a good girl for Grandpa?"

  "She's an angel." Tyson beamed at his granddaughter. "She reminds me so much of Iduna when she was that age."

  Stephen responded with a smile. Iduna's parents had finally accepted him as their daughter's mate. Carrying her miles out of the bush into a human town and not leaving her side even after they arrived had something to do with it. They got along in any case, and Stephen didn't feel unwelcome in their home.

  He and Iduna were living with her parents right now, while his house back in the Wolf community was being sold, and the place they would be moving into in the Bear community was being built. There really hadn't been any question about where they were going to live. Stephen could keep in touch with friends just as easily here as there. Iduna, on the other hand, had everything here, where she had grown up. It was just natural to stay in her community.

  "So did I hear some howling from Tiff last night?" Tyson asked.

  Stephen grinned and nodded. "She's starting to show signs of shifting. Not just Wolf, though, a little bit of Bear as well. She seems to favor the Wolf, though. We'll see when she gets older."

  Tyson nodded. "Of course. I think my daughter is trying to research a new type of evergreen while studying for her law exams. You may need to go rescue her from herself.

  "Will do." He adjusted Tiff in his arms and went upstairs.

  Iduna was in the study, her web browser open, a litany of papers strewn before her. Stephen smiled affectionately, watching her as she switched between the two things, her head moving like a bobble-head doll. It was amazing that she got anything done, the way she tried to do everything at once. But that was Iduna, and that was one of the reasons he loved her.

  He crept up behind her and put Tiff in her arms. "Okay, Mommy, you're done studying for tonight."

  Iduna gave him a vague smile while she kissed Tiff's bald head. "Just a few more minutes."

  "I'd say yes, but a few minutes for you means a few hours." He kissed the top of her curly head. "Run away with me, my love, if only for tonight. You need to give that beautiful brain of yours a rest once in a while. Let's go to a restaurant or for a walk around town. An increase of blood flow and oxygenating your blood helps with brain functions."

  His mate frowned but nodded. "That's a good point. How cold is it? Do I need a coat?"

  "It's beautiful out. We may want to bundle Tiff up a bit, though."

  "How long has it been since she ate?"

  "She was eating when I took my call, and that was half an hour ago."

  Iduna shook her head and muttered something about time being stupid. Stephen's smile widened. He couldn’t help himself. He leaned forward and planted a firm kiss on her mouth. Iduna responded with a moan, opening her lips to allow him entrance. Her hands wrapped around the back of his neck. It was only Tiff giggling at the sight that broke them apart. Iduna smiled at her daughter.

  "I'm glad I didn't listen to everybody who told me that I was too young to think about getting pregnant, that I needed to wait until I found my mate and that getting myself artificially inseminated was a bad idea."

  Stephen stroked her cheek. "I'm glad, too. You and Tiff are all I want."

  "And I found more than what I was looking for when I met you." Iduna stood. "Did you know that playing in dirt can actually help bolster a child's immune system? When Tiff is old enough we'll have to arrange dirt playdates or something. Socialization is important for a child's development. Do you know about brain development between the ages of one and two years old?"

  "No." Stephen wrapped an arm around her. "Tell me all about it."

  *****

  THE END

  Paranormal Shifter Romance: The Billionaire Dragon's Mate

  Description

  A curvy witch helping her best friend PLUS a gorgeous billionaire with a secret PLUS a conspiracy to take his wallet and break his heart.

  Jesse Barrett is a superhot billionaire businessman and celebrity. His rich lifestyle looks like a dream and women are ready to drop their panties instantly when they see him. But secretly, he longs for a woman who loves him for who he really is, and for the dragon inside of him.

  Ella is a curvy, down-to-earth witch who isn’t interested in money or a new pair of Louboutins. What she is interested in is her BFF Charlotte who is in tears because Jesse just broke up with her. She’ll do anything to make her feel better.

  Charlotte is out for revenge. She wants to hurt Jesse as badly as he hurt her. And she needs Ella and her magic for it. They want to blackmail Jesse for money with a plan that involves faking a pregnancy, revealing his deepest secret and breaking his heart.

  But when Ella meets Jesse to put their plan into action, she finds out that all the magical spells in the world cannot save her when she looks into his eyes.

  Can she go on with this game of trust and betrayal? Will the truth come out? Will she have to choose between Jesse and Charlotte?

  Chapter One

  Ella glanced at her ringing phone, which was sitting on her coffee table. She could have used her magical powers to see who was calling, but she was tired and it was easier just to reach for the device and pick it up. The screen said “Charlotte”. She answered the call, always ready to have a conversation with her best friend. And since Charlotte had started dating the super hot billionaire Jesse Barrett, her conversations had been filled with juicy gossip about her rich lifestyle.

  “Spill,” Ella said.

  But instead of gushing with joy, Charlotte was sobbing. “Ella—he—he—”

  “What’s wrong? Did Jesse do something?”

  “Yes—” More sobs and indecipherable words.

  “What?”

  “He—broke—”

  Ah. That was all she needed to hear. “He broke up with you? Why?”

  “He—”

  “Okay. Stop. Where are you right now, and what are you doing?”

  “Home.”

  Ella had no idea what Charlotte s
aid next, but it didn’t matter. “I’m getting ice cream and wine, and I’ll be right over.”

  She hung up and jumped into action. Her evening had just gone from Netflix in her pajamas to a night of consoling and crying and bad-mouthing another loser man who didn’t know how amazing Charlotte was. Ella threw on her yoga pants and a less-stained shirt, grabbed a few calming potions and slipped into flip flops.

  On her way to Charlotte’s apartment, she stopped at the convenience store and picked up the double chocolate chunk ice cream and Merlot that were their typical comfort foods for a night of wallowing. Charlotte pulled open her door with puffy, red eyes and a wadded tissue in her hand. She threw her arms around Ella gratefully.

  “Tell me everything.” Ella set the bottle on the table and grabbed two spoons from the kitchen, then joined Charlotte in the living room.

  Charlotte held a box of tissues on her lap and she blew her nose one more time before she snatched the potion from Ella’s hand, gulped it down and started.

  “He ended it,” she said simply, her tears gentler now. “After six months, that’s it.”

  “What happened? Why did he end it?”

  “He’s an ass. I should have known. How could I think someone so hot and rich wouldn’t be a complete jerk? Do you have another potion?”

  “You can’t drink another one yet. Wait for that one to work. So what was his reason?” Ella asked, pouring some wine into the glasses. “Like, what did he say to you?”

  “A bunch of lame lines. I’m not ready for a serious relationship. I don’t think this is working out. Nothing concrete. He basically wants to sleep around.”

  “Really?”

  “That’s the only thing that makes sense. Why else wouldn’t he want to be in a serious relationship? And if there was nothing specific, then he’s just an asshole.”

  Ella took a deep breath. “I’m so sorry. I know you wanted it to be more.”

  “I thought I was going to marry him, you know? Have this amazing life of being rich and going to fancy restaurants and events and wearing designer clothing all the time.” She broke into sobs again. “I’ll never have Louboutins now!”

  “Does all that really matter, though, if he didn’t love you? I mean, would you want a loveless marriage?”

  “Who said it would be loveless? I loved him!”

  Ella took a long sip of her wine. “Did you, though? Or did you just love his money? You complained about him a lot. And”—she took another gulp—“you said he wasn’t very good in bed.”

  Charlotte shrugged. “I loved him enough. And the sex thing? No one who’s that rich doesn’t have yearly affairs anyway. We probably wouldn’t have sex that often.” She sighed and downed a glass of wine in one long pull. “If I were a witch, I’d just cast a spell on him and make him love me.”

  Ella rolled her eyes. “I’ve told you a million times, it doesn’t work like that. Don’t you think if it did, I’d be married by now? Hello?”

  “I’m sure you would have been able to cast some spell on him to make him want you. What good is being a witch if you can’t make people do things they don’t want to do?”

  “And that would be exactly why the universe made me a witch and not you, dear. It knew you would use magic for evil.”

  Charlotte downed more wine and set her glass on the table. “Well, we have to do something. Ooh, you know what would make me feel better?”

  “More wine.” Ella filled their glasses.

  “Well, obviously, but also revenge. We should get back at him for dumping me. There has to be some spell or something.”

  “Revenge? Like, make him grow warts or slash his tires?”

  “That’s child’s play. I’m talking revenge for real. I want to mess with his head and his heart.”

  Ella raised her eyebrows. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Well, first, let me tell you his secret.”

  Chapter Two

  “He’s what?!”

  “I know. Can you believe it?” Charlotte said. “The first time I saw it, I was kind of freaked out.”

  “I’m surprised he even showed you if he has all these commitment issues,” Ella said. Though it was pretty obvious to her that Charlotte was exaggerating the problems they’d had.

  “Well, who knows? So, I think the plan should be that we go and catch him in the act. We take pictures and use that as blackmail.”

  “Okay.” Ella finished off her wine and set the glass down, reaching for her spoon and the ice cream. “But what’s the point of blackmailing him exactly?”

  “Money. Obviously.” Charlotte rolled her eyes. “I want to hurt him worse than that, though. How can we really mess with his head?”

  “Make him fall madly in love, then break his heart?” Ella was feeling a little warm and tipsy from the wine, and after hours of talking about Jesse’s worst features, she was starting to feel the desire for revenge right with Charlotte, as if she’d been the one who’d had her heart broken by him.

  “I like how you think.” Charlotte pointed at her with her spoon before diving back into the double chocolate chunk. “But you said love potions don’t work like that.”

  “They don’t. But there’s a spell that’ll heighten whatever feelings he has.”

  “Then why don’t we cast it on him for me?” Charlotte nearly shrieked at her.

  “Umm, hello? It heightens whatever he’s feeling. He just broke up with you. If I did the spell now, whatever negative things he’s feeling towards you would be heightened. Is that what you want?”

  Charlotte stuck out her lower lip. “No.”

  Ella gave her a mischievous grin. “But, if we convince him to like me, we can cast the spell and make him love me.”

  Charlotte leaned forward and dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “And then you can fake a pregnancy and really mess with him.”

  Ella scrunched her eyebrows. “There is a spell that does that, but what’s the point? We’ll have the photo for blackmail money and the love spell to break his heart. Why bring my pretend future child into this?”

  “Because more than anything, Jesse wants to be a dad. If you get him to love you, then he thinks you’re having his baby, when you tell him the truth, it will shatter him.”

  Ella poured the last drops of the wine into her mouth. “Well, I guess that’ll show him that you were the one for him all along.”

  “Exactly.” Charlotte stuck a huge spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, then started to cry. “Why did he have to break up with me? I love him!”

  Ella patted her hand. “I know. I know. It’ll be okay.”

  Charlotte sniffed and wiped her eyes. “Yeah. When we get back at him, then I’ll feel better.”

  “And I’m going to make it happen.”

  Charlotte leaned forward and wrapped Ella in a tight hug. “Thank you. I love you.”

  ***

  The next day, once she’d slept off her hangover and pumped herself full of aspirin, Ella drove to Charlotte’s. She was anxious to see if Charlotte was right and Jesse’s secret was for real. If it was, then that would be huge for the magical world. She was also a bit curious about Jesse. Charlotte had talked about him plenty in the months she was dating him and before. It was enough to make Ella interested in him as a person, and part of her just wanted to know if this was really possible. Could she actually make a billionaire fall for her, fake a pregnancy, then have the freedom to walk away from it all? That seemed like a great deal of power.

  She figured the temptation level was low, anyway. She had no interest in the lifestyle Charlotte craved. Ella didn’t need expensive bags and clothing or fancy dinners. As a witch, she had power beyond whatever money could buy. Most witches and wizards had a carefree attitude when it came to money. If she got desperate, she could always turn to alchemy and make some aluminum into gold.

  Ella wasn’t used to getting a ton of attention from men. She felt good in her body and didn’t have a problem with her curves, but some men did.
She wasn’t the perfect image of skinny glamor that Charlotte was. If Jesse was into that sort of thing, he might not go for her. Maybe she’d cast a spell to appear thinner since he seemed to like that sort of thing.

  “Okay, so where are we going?” Ella asked.

  “This is where he does it.”

  Ella nodded and continued to follow Charlotte’s directions until they reached a part of the highway with a deep shoulder.

  They parked and started walking, coming to Jesse’s car about a mile down the road.

  “See, I told you he would be here!” Charlotte pointed at his car. “There’s something about Wednesdays. He always comes on Wednesdays.”

  They walked farther into the woods until any hint of the road was obscured from sight. They followed a worn path for a long way.

  “Shh. We’re getting close,” Charlotte said. “Get your camera ready.”

  Ella took out her phone and opened the camera app. Charlotte crept along, making her movements slower and quieter. Ella did the same. They came to a flatter patch of ground, something of a clearing with fewer trees than the surrounding woods.

  And there, in the middle of the clearing, was a huge silver dragon. He stood tall, eating some sort of green plant. His long tail, covered in spikes, lay behind him. He held the plant in large paws with long, clawed ends. He was a little scary. From this angle, they could just see his razor teeth chewing the plant.

  Ella snapped several pictures. “Aren’t dragons meat eaters?” she whispered.

  Charlotte shrugged and whispered back, “Did you get the photo?”

  Ella nodded and turned her phone to show Charlotte the best shots.

  “Let’s go.”

  “Wait,” Ella whispered. “This isn’t proof that it’s him, though. We need to see him change.”

  Charlotte thought for a moment. “I’m going to run out there and get his attention. If I say I need to talk to him, maybe he’ll change back. Just start a video and keep it going, okay?”