by Olivia Arran
Cade
Heartsridge Shifters
Olivia Arran
Arran Publishing
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Epilogue
Sneak Peak: My Curse to Bear
From the Author
Copyright © 2017, Olivia Arran.
All rights reserved worldwide.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Please note that this work is intended only for adults over the age of 18 and all characters represented as 18 or over.
Edited by CM Editing
Cover Design by Ravenborn
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Chapter One
Cade
“What do you mean I can’t fucking go?”
I ignored the snarling psychopath that was my team mate, leaving him for our Alpha to deal with. Not my problem. Kicking back on my chair, I waited for the volcano to erupt.
Austin—the aforementioned Alpha—unsuccessfully bit back a sigh, a pained sound escaping through clenched teeth in a strangled whistle. “Jake. You’re not the right man for—”
“I was the one who fucking found him.” Jake was shaking, green eyes flashing to silver, then back again, in a rapid succession that was giving me a headache from watching. Pacing the length of the small, beige room that served as our team’s rec room and headquarters, he shook his arms out, swinging them back and forth and flexing his fingers. Back ramrod straight and jaw clenched, he let out a low growl.
It was hilarious. Jake, trying for control. The man loved to brawl, didn’t need a reason or a clue, because he loved to fight. Fast to fly off the handle, he was the loose cannon on our team. I didn’t know why Austin put up with his shit, but he did. Every single goddamned time.
Damn. Jake must really want to come on this little outing. Then again, he had a point. He’d been the one to track the fox shifter to his home. The guy who’d bitten a human woman and changed her into one of us against her will. Plus, Austin’s head wasn’t in the game right now, and who could blame him? The woman who’d been bitten was the sister of his new mate, so he obviously had some strong feelings about the matter. And he was newly mated and, most likely, had other, more interesting things on his mind. Not to mention he probably wasn’t getting a whole lot of sleep at the moment. Yup. Austin had a whole lot going on.
“What are you smirking at?”
His snarl had my smirk widening. Uh huh. Not getting much sleep at all. Lucky bastard. “Nothing. I’ll take him with me.” And you’ll owe me one. The message passed unspoken through the air.
A sharp nod from the Alpha. “If he doesn’t behave, you have my permission to pound his ass.”
“I’m right fucking here,” Jake snarled, but he didn’t move a muscle.
Fuck me. If I hadn’t already been sitting down, I’d have fallen on my ass at the sight of Jake employing restraint. He must really want to go on this little outing.
“Right,” I swung my legs down off the table and fished my phone out of my pocket. A quick check of the details and I pushed up to standing, “We’re moving out.”
Austin caught my shoulder at the door. “Find the bastard who did this to Harper,” he growled.
I understood. Harper was now his sister-in-law, in shifter terms, and was moving into one of our cabins up at Casa del South-One. Otherwise known as, Team South-One, the name of our team of bear shifters. She was one of us now and we protected our own.
There was talk that the fox shifter might be underage, but, either way, he still needed to come here and face up to what he’d done. “On it.”
“And watch him.” Austin’s eyes flicked to Jake, who was storming down the corridor and doing a good job of scaring the staff at the municipal building.
I cracked a smile. “I not a fucking miracle worker.”
“He’s got his reasons,” my Alpha paused, as if trying to decide whether to share, but shook it off, “Like we all do.”
My story was an old one, and I didn’t use it as an excuse to hate the world. “Yeah, but some of us aren’t born assholes.”
Austin’s laughter followed me down the corridor. “Damn straight.”
It had been a long drive. The truck skidded to a stop and we piled out, the second truck nearly kissing our bumper as it shuddered to a halt, the engine dying on a splutter. Waiting for the rest of the guys, I leaned a hip against the hood, surveying the area with a critical eye. The land was all rolling hills, fields stretching out as far as the eye could see and melting into the skyline. The summer sun had scorched the ground, the crops wilted and crumbling beneath my fingers as I plucked up a stalk, twisting it around in my hand. Wheat. Or, at least, I thought it was.
The air was thick with humidity, still heavy with the heat of the long dry summer we’d had, but promising a refreshing downpour in the not too distant future. Insects buzzed and zipped in circles as the sun dipped low in the sky. They’d be gone soon, the cold snap of winter chasing them away.
“Thoughts?”
I continued canvasing the landscape instead of turning to the man who’d come up beside me. “Nowhere to hide.”
Grant chuffed in agreement. As an enforcer for the wolf shifter pack in Heartsridge, one of the few shifter-only towns where registered shifters could choose to live, and the place I called home, he was a good man to have at my back. Running a hand through his hair, he tugged at the short, silver tipped spikes as if trying to force his brain down a certain path. “Something doesn’t feel right,” he muttered.
“Agreed,” a deep voice murmured from behind us.
Damn. It was a day for surprises. “Tiny, you talk!”
The huge form of a wolf shifter stared at me, his face set in impassive lines. With boulders for fists and tree trunks for legs, he was a giant, and I wasn’t a small guy at six foot four.
This was the first time I’d heard him speak. I had a sneaking suspicion it would be the last.
The rest of the group crowded around us, scuffling for space and position in our makeshift team. It wasn’t often that a multi-shifter operation was put together, and I was being painfully reminded why. We didn’t play well together.
“Enough!” I wanted to roar, but I didn’t want to give away our position, so I kept it to a low snarl. We were like Noah’s fucking arc. Two bears, two wolves, and two cats. “The target is over there,” I pointed across the south field, at a low slung fa
rmhouse, framed by a large barn that towered over it. “I want three to change and three to stay as human. Volunteers?” Nobody questioned my right to run point on this operation; they all knew our team had a personal interest in how this played out.
The two cat shifters exchanged glances, then the one called Tio backed away and began shrugging out of his clothes. Within seconds, a huge leopard stood in his place, tail twitching back and forth as he eyed our group.
Harry, a tiger shifter, shrugged. “We flipped a coin in the truck.”
Surprisingly, Grant was the one who changed, his wolf coat tipped with silver and flashing in the waning sunlight. Tiny crossed his arms and gave me a look, as if to say what?
Whatever. That just left Jake. I had a bad feeling about this. Did I leave Jake as human and let him do the talking, or risk having him roam free as a bear? Fuck.
Harry met my gaze and shook his head. He wasn’t changing.
I scrubbed a hand over my face. Okay. “We’ll go like this.” I would have to work with what I’d got.
The door swung open silently, revealing a woman stooped with age. Wrinkles dug grooves into her skin, creeping out like spider webs from the corner of her eyes and tugging her mouth down into a frown. Or she could just be frowning. Who knew? Her silver hair was piled up on top of her head, stretching her height up to an impressive five foot nothing.
“Ma’am,” I began.
“We don’t want any,” she snapped out in a clear voice. Her eyes locked with mine for a brief second before she slammed the door in my face, and in that instant I knew. She was scared. She knew why we were here.
At my low whistle, Tio and Grant stalked around the house, their furry bodies disappearing out of sight.
“What next?” Harry sounded like he was trying not to laugh.
Taking a deep breath and reaching for the self-control I was famous for, I knocked again. I could hear her shuffling around behind the door, hear her breathing. “Ma’am. It would be better if you opened the door. We promise we’re not here to hurt anyone.”
“If you say so,” Jake muttered.
I shot him a look that promised to separate his balls from his body if he uttered another word.
“We’re not going to hurt you.” If she really listened, as a shifter, she’d be able to hear the truth in my words.
The door swung open. The stoop was gone, but the wrinkles remained. “Promise you’re not going to hurt my grandkids, either.” She jabbed a bony finger into my chest. “Say it; I want to hear you.”
“I promise we won’t hurt your grandkids.” I hadn’t promised we wouldn’t take one of them with us, but the omission sat heavy in my gut.
She shuffled out of the way. “Well, come on in then. What are you all waiting for? And tell the cat and the wolf to get their nosy snouts away from the windows and use the front door.” With a huff, she turned her back on us and disappeared into the house, skirts twitching and silver topknot bobbing.
“You heard the lady,” I muttered, filing in behind her. Grant and Tio appeared and shouldered me out of the way with their huge bodies, their fur sweeping the sides of the small entrance hall as they padded into the depths of the house.
I rounded the corner and came face to face with the business end of a rifle.
Chapter Two
Mina
My finger tightened on the trigger, squeezing down on the well-worn metal.
“Mina, he made his promise. Now, let’s hear him out.” Granny sounded completely reasonable—to an outsider—but I didn’t miss the hint of warning hidden behind the old lady bravado she’d laid on in spades.
I relaxed my finger, but held it steady. I hadn’t actually been about to fire; it had been an involuntary twitch—something that hadn’t happened since I was a young girl and had accidentally shot myself in the foot. It had been the man.
Oh, sweet thunder clouds, one minute he was only a deep, gravelly voice, coaxing Granny to let him in, then he was there. I’d stopped breathing. Not on purpose, that would be idiotic. This was the kind of gasping for breath, going to have to sit down kind of seizure that could only signal bad news—of the worst kind.
He was tall, with sandy brown hair and light hazel eyes that hadn’t let go of me for a second. Broad across the shoulders, he filled his shirt and then some, the thin cotton clinging to a muscular chest and skimming a set of abs I was busy trying to convince myself weren’t lickable.
And he was a bear. No doubt about it; I could almost see his animal beneath his skin, the large furry beast rearing back to get a good look at me.
He hadn’t moved an inch since spying my rifle, his body tensing. A small smile had played on his lips at first, inching into a frown as he skimmed my face, then settling into confusion.
What? He didn’t like what he saw? Screw him. I made sure my grip was light and steady, backing away so they had space to file into the room. Other men spilled in around him, but I didn’t spare them a second glance. This one was in charge, and I was keeping him in my sights. “Granny?”
The corner of his mouth twitched, though I couldn’t tell if it was meant to be a smile or a frown. The man was definite eye candy, that’s for sure. “You’re one of the grandkids?”
Damn, his voice was designed to get under a woman’s skin. I stifled an inappropriate shiver. “I am. What’s it to you?”
The man standing next to my target stepped forward, apparently having a rifle pointed at his chest not bothering him one iota. “Where is he?” He bristled with tension, his eyes darting around the room searching for his prey.
Fear tightened its grip on me. Liam. They were here for my brother.
“Back down, Jake,” eye candy growled.
“It’s me they want.”
At the sound of Liam’s voice, I nearly died. Pushing the rifle into the man—Jake’s—chest, I hardened my voice, praying it didn’t break. “Liam, go back upstairs.”
“No.” Jake snarled, his body tensing to attack. His eyes never left mine; it was as if he was asking for it.
I dug in a little harder, bracing my knees. “Call him off or I’ll blow a hole in him so large that he won’t have a chance in hell of healing it.” Beads of sweat trickled down my spine, dampening my shirt. Blowing my bangs out of my eyes, I risked a glance at the man who still commanded my attention. It was like every damn cell in my body was reaching out to him, begging for his touch. “I mean it,” I added, stroking my finger over the trigger and holding my breath.
A huge wolf padded over from where he’d been crouched in the corner. He was gorgeous, black as night and tipped with a silver that matched his eyes.
“That’s close enough,” I warned. I was getting a headache trying to watch all of them at once. What the hell had Granny been thinking letting this many dominant shifters into our home?
The wolf didn’t hesitate. Using his large head, he pushed into the small gap beneath the rifle and snarled.
At Jake.
Huh? Looked like I wasn’t the only one who thought this guy had a problem.
Jake’s eyes flicked over to Liam for the first time. There was no disguising the shock that covered his face. He leaned away, the tension draining from him in an instant. “Shit.” It was a low mutter.
“Is this everyone?” Eye candy’s gravelly voice dragged my attention back to him.
“Yes.” No point in lying. “You?”
“Tiny is in the corridor; it’s a little crowded in here for him to squeeze in.” His mouth quirked up into a grin, despite the seriousness of the situation.
“Tiny’s here?” Liam piped up from where he had frozen at the bottom of the stairs.
Shit in a sandstorm. Despite my misgivings, I lowered the rifle. “Liam, do you have something you need to tell us?” Like why a group of male shifters have descended on our home?
Up until now, Granny had sat quietly in the corner, watching and taking everything in. Pushing herself out of her seat, she surveyed the crowd. “Tea?” Not waiting for an answer
, she shuffled off in the direction of the kitchen, pointing at the couch and chairs dotted around the room in silent command. Surprisingly, the large men did exactly what they were told and each took a seat. Apart from Jake, who of course continued to prop up the wall and glower at everyone.
A huge man shouldered his way into the room. By shouldered, I mean he had to twist one way to fit through the gap, then twist again to bring his other half through.
“Tiny!” Liam skidded across the room and bounced over to the mountain. Sorry, man. But, what the ever loving…?
A throat cleared, sounding suspiciously like it was covering a chuckle.
I dragged my attention away from where Tiny had crouched down to greet Liam with a soft shoulder punch, the older man obviously pulling in his strength as he greeted my brother, back to eye candy himself.
“I’m Cade Ayers, by the way. I just realized we never actually got introduced before my teammate over there lost his shit.”
“No cursing under my roof!” Granny called from the kitchen.
Cade winced, mouthing an apology. Sprawled on our old, sagging couch, his denim clad legs were spread wide and his arms rested along the back of the seat, pulling his shirt tight and revealing a glimpse of tanned skin at his neck. He looked comfortable. At home. Not worried one little bit.
“Sorry, she insists on clean language inside the home.” I glanced around. Every spare seat—apart from Granny’s to which they’d given a wide berth, and who could blame them?—was taken.
Cade patted the arm of the couch with a wink, introducing the rest of the gang one by one.
Uh … nope. Uh huh. No way. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust myself, but no way was I putting myself within arm’s reach of someone who could possibly still be the enemy. That’s what I was going with, anyway. I perched on the edge of the table.
