His face softened, and he lowered his face to her neck, breathing her in, his shoulders slumping.
“Have faith in me,” she whispered. “I need you to.”
He raised his eyes to hers again. “I do. I promise you right now, Sophie… I promise I'll feed you when you're hungry, I promise I'll walk to the ends of the earth to get you enough water to drink if that's what it takes to relieve your thirst. I promise I'll love you as often as you want me. I'll hold you every second you want it, and when you need me to back off, I'll do that, too. I can't believe you did this for me,” he finished, and he swallowed hard, as if trying to get his emotions in check. “I love you,” he whispered, eyes locked onto hers. “I will love you until the day I die. I always have, and I always will.”
“I love you,” she whispered. “Always.”
He did as he promised, loving her until she dozed back off, exhausted. When she woke, it was to find a warm apple pie, milk, and tea waiting for her on the table. She got up, not even taking time to dress, and began devouring it all as Calder looked on. He got up and stood behind her, pulling her hair up and clipping it behind her head so it would stop hanging down over her food. She tried her best not to be out of control. She even stopped at two slices of pie, though she could have devoured the whole thing with no problem. She wouldn't let him see her out of control. He'd protected her from the worst of what he'd gone through, and she promised herself that she'd do the same for him.
“You're still hungry.”
“It's enough. I'm going to get so huge if I keep eating like that.”
He knelt in front of her, took her hands in his. “You'd still be gorgeous, too. But that won't happen. You feel all of that insane energy running through your system, like if you don't move, you'll go nuts? Your skin practically crawls with it.”
She nodded.
He nodded back. “You'll run it off. It's impossible not to. And when you want to run, if you want company, I'll run with you.”
“I'm not a shifter, though,” she said.
“Doesn't matter. You'll still need to run. That amount of emptiness, you can only distract by doing stuff. Which was why I stated tinkering with cars. You'll need to find things to keep your mind and body occupied, keep your hands busy.”
She nodded. Then she forced herself to smile at him despite the emptiness threatening to drive her mad. She ran her fingers through his beard. “Have you run yet as a bear, now that you can do it without being worried about what your beast will do?”
He shook his head. She smiled again, stood up, pulled on her jeans and his t-shirt. She held her hand out. “Come on, Calder. I want to see you run.”
“I should stay here with you,” he argued.
“It would make me feel better. And you know you need it, too.”
A hint of a smile curved his lips, and he took her hand and let her lead him out the back door and toward the woods.
“Go on. Run,” she said, laughing a little as he rushed to get out of his clothes, so full of anticipation he reminded her of a kid on Christmas morning.
He kissed her, pulling her toward him, and she backed away before she pulled him down to the ground to take care of her again. “Go,” she murmured against his lips, laughing a little through the hunger.
He grinned, turned, and blurred, shifting from magnificent man to equally magnificent bear, and she watched him run, bounding toward the woods, a lightness in his gait she hadn't seen before.
As she watched him walk into the woods, Layla came up to her, stood at her side.
“It's done, then,” Layla said, watching Calder with her.
“It is.”
“I think this was a huge mistake.”
Sophie glanced at her. “If I get bad, you're going to end me.”
Layla crossed her arms, an angry look on her features. “I already said I would.” She put her arm around Sophie's waist, rested her head against Sophie's. “I can't believe you did all this to save him. God, I hope he's worth it.”
“He is. And I didn't just do it to save him. I mean, that's great, but I did it to save myself,” Sophie said, turning and meeting Layla's eyes.
“How so? You're suffering now.”
“I'm stronger than I was. His curse makes me dangerous, strong. I would have lost everything if I'd let things go on as they were. Marshall will regret ever finding me again. He gave me all the tools I need to destroy him and free myself. All I need is the time to figure out how it all works.”
“Can you work your way back to the Light?”
Sophie stood silently, feeling the cool, clean autumn air on her face, smelling Calder on her skin. “I'll find my way back, if it's the last thing I do. This is far from over, and I am just getting started.”
Layla sighed. “Some of my mom's macaroni and cheese, then? I grabbed a few pans of it.”
“Excellent idea,” Sophie said, and they headed back into the cottage, arm-in-arm.
The End
Sophie returns in Shadow Sworn,
the second book in the Copper Falls series.
Available Now!
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Letter from the Author
I hope you enjoyed this beginning to the Copper Falls series! Sophie has solved one major problem, but she's managed to make her life more complicated.
This is, after all, one of my books, right? My heroines never have it easy.
Shadow Witch Rising was a scary book to write. As you've seen, it's fairly different from the Hidden series. I absolutely loved writing it, though, and I hope you loved reading it.
So many people offered their help during the writing and publishing process for this book, and I want to take a moment to thank them.
First and always, thanks and love to my husband Roger, who is my tech guy, my designer, my therapist, and my biggest fan. I love you.
Thank you to my awesome kids. You guys make every day an adventure, in the best of ways.
Many thanks to the phenomenally talented Elizabeth Hunter for reading through the book and giving me her (often hilarious) feedback, as well as for bearing with me through all of those moments of “oh my god I completely suck at this.” You are amazing.
Thanks to the lovely, ridiculously talented Grace Draven, for reading through Shadow Witch Rising and assuring me that I had something good here. That is huge praise from an author I admire so much. Thank you.
Once again, I had a great group of beta readers, and this book is much stronger thanks to their feedback. Thanks and chocolate to Susan Cambra, Shawna Cerda, Jo Dawson, Jennifer G., Ginger Garff, Amber Hegarty, Brenda Hopkins, Sarah Leenart, Jayna Longstreet, Kathie Littlemore, Katherine Peters, Rachel Scott, and Sarah Wicks.
Finally, a huge, huge thank you to my readers. Thank you for giving this book a chance. Thank you for the amazing enthusiasm you showed for the Hidden series. I could not do what I do without you, and I appreciate every single one of you. Thank you, from the very bottom of my heart. Your emails, tweets, Facebook posts, and reviews are always appreciated. You are the absolute best.
Colleen Vanderlinden
Detroit
February 23, 2015
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For backstory material, news, and upcoming events be sure to check out http://www.colleenvanderlinden.com
About the Author
Colleen Vanderlinden is the author of the Hidden and Soulhunter urban fantasy series, as well as the Copper Falls paranormal romance series and the StrikeForce Sci-Fi/Romance series. The third Hidden novel, Home, was a finalist for RT Book Reviews’ Editors Choice Awards for best self-published urban fantasy novel of 2014. Her books have con
sistently received positive reviews, and RT Book Reviews has called her storytelling “electrifying.” She lives in the Detroit area with her husband, kids, demonic Basset hound, and two lazy cats. You can find out more about Colleen’s books at colleenvanderlinden.com, or follow her on Facebook, or on Twitter, where she’s @C_Vanderlinden.
* * *
The Copper Falls Series
Shadow Witch Rising
Shadow Sworn
The Hidden Series
Book One: Lost Girl
Book Two: Broken
Book Three: Home
Book Four: Strife
Book Five: Nether
Hidden Series Novellas
Forever Night
Earth Bound
Hidden: Soulhunter Series
Guardian
Betrayer
Zealot
The StrikeForce Series
A New Day
One More Day
Darkest Day
Day’s End
The Exile Series
Exile
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Shadow Witch Rising (Copper Falls Book 1) Page 26
