Sere from the Green (The Shape Shifter Chronicles Book 1)

by Lauren Jankowski

  She slapped her hands on the arm rests and pushed herself out of the chair. “This has been a treat, but if you don’t mind, I think I’d like to find my lover and spend some time with her.”

  Sly left the room, shutting the door behind her, and Jet turned his attention back to the window. Lilly moved closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder and he gently kissed the top of her golden hair.

  “I worry about her too,” she whispered, placing a hand on his chest. “They are a good team and they will do great things.”

  Jet smiled and rested his cheek against his wife’s soft hair, trusting her wisdom as he always had. Whatever the future held for them, they would get through it.

  *~*~*~*~*

  In a small dark room, hidden away from all eyes, one man sat hunched over files on a small desk. Studying the gruesome images from the woods, he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. It was going to be another incredibly long day. The door opened, drawing his attention, and he almost groaned when he recognized the lean man in the hoodie who entered. His brother, his ally, his foe.

  “Where oh where to begin,” his brother began, pushing his hood back. “Your piss poor plan to retrieve Adara utterly failed, which of course means we didn’t get the valuable information on the Grenich Corporation that she probably had. Said corporation now has complete control of the assassins in this territory as a result, meaning the protectors are in even more danger. And if all that weren’t bad enough, Coop has left town and is now who knows where. So, we also don’t have an experiment helping us anymore. Bravo, brother. Bra-fucking-vo.”

  His brother clapped slowly and the man narrowed his eyes as he glared at him, not appreciating his sarcasm.

  “Coop is a free man and therefore allowed to do whatever he wants. If he believes he can do more good for them elsewhere, more power to him,” the man muttered. “Shouldn’t you be wearing a mask or something?”

  “Took it off before I opened the door,” his brother replied, pulling a small portion of the mask he used to conceal the lower part of his face out of his collar to show the other man. He leaned forward, resting his knuckles on the desk. “Look, if you stay on the defensive, you’ll never accomplish anything. You sure as hell won’t do any good, hiding in dank corners like a little mouse.”

  “And what, pray tell, is your solution? Just keep shooting until you run out of bullets? Sorry, this isn’t the Wild West,” the man scolded, not attempting to hide the harshness in his tone.

  His brother leaned forward even closer, anger blazing in his eyes. “If you don’t do something soon, they will get her. He’s already using assassins, like Blackjack, as pawns. They completely upended the assassin hierarchy in this state practically overnight. That doesn’t concern you at all?”

  The man shook his head and turned his attention back to the file in front of him, trying to figure out if he should do anything in response. It was much too soon and he didn’t have near enough resources, but the temptation was there. The man studied a picture of the woman’s slit throat. The Corporation heads would never be so bold and the man was certain one of their sons was behind the gruesome act.

  His brother snatched the picture away from him, slapping it back on the desk. “They almost have you in a checkmate and I won’t let you play this game with her. If Carding gets her, so help me, I’ll—”

  “You’ll what?” the man challenged, closing the file and putting it off to the side for the moment. “Kill me? Please. You couldn’t do it then and you can’t do it now. Your threats are empty and mean absolutely nothing to me. You’ve already taken away everything that ever mattered in my life. Need I remind you again that it’s your goddamn fault we’re in this situation in the first place? You certainly helped the Corporation for long enough. So, don’t come in here, throwing a temper tantrum, and making demands.”

  “I know you don’t believe in change—”

  “Oh no, see that’s where you’re mistaken. I believe most people can change. I don’t believe you could ever change. There’s a big difference.”

  His brother faltered, the man knew which sensitive parts to strike when dealing with him. He slumped in the chair across from the desk, anger and hurt swimming in his eyes.

  “You’re never going to forgive me, are you?” he whispered. The man was quiet, watching his brother.

  “Can you blame me?”

  His brother didn’t respond and turned his eyes to the floor. For a moment, the man’s coldness slipped. He wanted to forgive his brother — so much that it hurt sometimes — but he just couldn’t. Not after all he had done, not after all he had taken from him. Some things were simply unforgivable.

  “So what’s our next step?” his brother asked, looking up and returning to his “work as usual” mode. Now the first man smiled. He opened one of the plain green drawers, which his brother insisted on describing as vomit-colored. He pushed aside a small flashdrive and a couple plain photographs from an old abandoned warehouse, which had once captured the scene of a murder. He pulled out a single rancid-smelling flower, rolling it lazily between his thumb and his index finger. His brother stared at him, a faint trace of horror in his bright green eyes. He shook his head a little.

  “No. Not yet, it’s too soon,” he protested. The man tossed the flower to his brother, who easily caught it.

  “Here I thought you’d be happy with the next step. You’re going to be reunited with the love of your life.”

  His brother shot him a look of skepticism. “Oh yeah. I’m sure she’ll be positively thrilled to see me.”

  “Nobody ever said redemption was easy,” the man paused, “or free.”

  The younger man put his feet up on the desk, smiling at the irritated eye roll it elicited from his older brother. “So, what’s the plan? I just appear in the Meadows and let them take me to the dungeons?”

  The man nodded, twisting his chair. His eyes never left his brother.

  “And how exactly is this going to help us accomplish our goal?”

  “Everything is on a need-to-know basis. Trust me. You owe me that much.”

  “Fine,” his brother relented and stood from his chair. “I’m going for a drink. I’ll Appear there—”

  “When I tell you to,” the man interrupted. “Enjoy your last days of freedom. It’s going to be a long time before you get any more of them.”

  His brother snorted. “Freedom, please. You and I both know that’s a fantasy, a fairy tale told to humans so they can sleep better at night.”

  “As much as I’d enjoy getting into this pessimistic philosophical chat, I’ve got work to do,” the man stated as he turned back to his files. The last thing he wanted to deal with was one of his brother’s childish nihilistic moods. He was neither in the mood nor had the patience for it.

  “I’ll await your call then.” His brother turned to leave, but hesitated, stating darkly, “He’s not going to lay a hand on her. He’s not going to turn her into one of those mindless drones in that prison he calls a state of the art laboratory.”

  “No, he won’t. We won’t let him,” the man reassured his brother, looking up to meet his gaze. “If all goes well, no other shape shifters will suffer at his hands.”

  His brother twisted and looked at him, nodding once. It was an indication that he trusted the man’s word. He slunk out the door, leaving the man alone with his work. The man sighed and turned back to his files.

  “Another day, another fight with a ruthless, power-hungry lunatic with too much money and influence,” the man muttered to himself as he ran his hands over his scruffy face. Just a regular day in the secretive hell on Earth. Oh Isis, I hope my brother and I can spare you this grief.

  To be continued in

  Through Storm and Night

  Book Two of The Shape Shifter Chronicles

  available now from Snowy Wings Publishing!

  There is a race that lives among humans, unbeknownst to them, called shape shifters, those that can shift from human to animal at will
. Many protect the innocent on Earth and act as the eyes and ears of the guardians, divine beings similar to gods in ancient myths.

  BOOK TWO: THROUGH STORM AND NIGHT

  When an old alliance is reforged, the Four are thrown into another mystery. Who are the strange shape shifters known only as the “glowing-eyes,” and what is their connection to the odd symbol and vanishing bodies?

  Available now

  BOOK THREE: FROM THE ASHES

  The protectors find themselves on a collision course with a mysterious woman, known only as Blitz. Hers is a tale of revenge and death, of blood and violence — and she holds the answer to the mystery of the glowing-eyes.

  Available now

  BOOK FOUR: HAUNTED BY THE KERES

  A brutal attack on the rebel Lair signifies an escalation in the war against Grenich, and the shape shifters must reforge old alliances with other species. But old feuds are not easily forgotten. Can experiments learn how to be protectors, even when it goes against all their instincts?

  Available now

  BOOK FIVE: THE DWELLING OF EKHIDNA

  An attack from Grenich releases a deadly virus that afflicts only healers. The only cure to the virus is hidden in the Seelie Court, in a location that only one knows: Eris, a legendary trickster, locked away in the dungeons of the Pearl Castle for her crimes against the peoples of Earth. When the Four are forced into a temporary alliance with the unpredictable Eris, their journey becomes more perilous than anyone expected.

  Available now

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thank you so much to my friends and family, who are continually supportive of me. Thank you to my parents for their endless patience, love, and support. Thank you to my brother, Michael, and Mom for being great proofreaders. Thank you to my amazing godmother, Leandra Torres (Aunt Punkey), a woman who I very much admire and who is always there with an encouraging word.

  Thank you to my amazing editor, Rose Anne Roper. Thank you to my cover artist, Najla Qamber. Thank you to my always awesome beta reader, Taia Hartman.

  Thank you so much to Snowy Wings Publishing for helping me achieve a dream and providing support, as well as helping immensely with marketing. I must give a very special thank you to my good friend, Lyssa Chiavari, who invited me to join Snowy Wings and for being one of the absolute best people in the world. It is truly an honor to know you and call you a friend.

  Thank you so much to all the wonderful professors in my life, who have taught me and continue to teach me to this day. Thank you so much, Alex and Jess Hall for your continued knowledge of all things concerning mythology. It is an honor to know you both. Thank you, Marco Benassi and Alexander Bolyanatz, for never giving up on me and providing advice when needed. Thank you Ángela Rebellón (the best ASL teacher there is). Thank you to all the professors and teachers who I’ve thanked in previous novels. If you enjoyed this novel, it is thanks to them. Any success I’ve experienced is thanks in large part to the dedicated professors and teachers I’ve had the privilege to learn from.

  Thank you so much to all the incredible asexual artists who I have met through Asexual Artists. Thank you to my dear friends, Joel Cornah, Darcie Little Badger, and T. Hueston. You put such beautiful art into the world and it inspires me so very much. I love you all.

  Thank you so much to my family and friends for providing me with the support I need to continue on the rocky path that is writing. Thank you, Billy Payne, for coming to my first reading and making the experience a lot less terrifying. Thank you Robyn Byrd, Emily Kittell-Queller (extra special thanks to you and your housemates for being a safe haven on the holidays), Julie Denninger-Greensly, Ryan Prior, Leigh Hellman, and anyone else who I’m forgetting (and will undoubtedly feel just awful about later). Your love, kind words, encouragement, and support make a world of difference in my life.

  A special thank you to Becca (who gave me the most wonderful compliment a writer can ever hope to hear) and Susan Sandahl, who continue to be active on my author page and are some of the most awesome people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. You’re both my favorite readers and I apologize for the ridiculously long wait.

  Again, I must thank all my readers. Thank you for your kind words and gestures. Thank you for getting lost in the crazy world I created. Thank you for continuing to be so generous with your time. I cannot begin to express my gratitude to you all. You continue to humble me and I hope this book lived up to your expectations. Thank you all, so very, very much.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Lauren Jankowski, an openly aromantic asexual feminist activist and author from Illinois, has been an avid reader and a genre feminist for most of her life. She holds a degree in Women and Genders Studies from Beloit College. In 2015, she founded “Asexual Artists,” a Tumblr and WordPress site dedicated to highlighting the contributions of asexual identifying individuals to the arts.

  She has been writing fiction since high school, when she noticed a lack of strong women in the popular genre books. When she’s not writing or researching, she enjoys reading (particularly anything relating to ancient myths) or playing with her pets. She participates in activism for asexual visibility and feminist causes. She hopes to bring more strong heroines to literature, including badass asexual women.

  Her ongoing fantasy series is The Shape Shifter Chronicles, which is published through Snowy Wings Publishing.

  If you enjoyed Sere from the Green, you might also enjoy these other reads from Snowy Wings Publishing!

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  Since the outbreak of the phoenix fever in Drothidia, Tori Kagari has already lost one family member to the fatal disease. Now, with the fever threatening to wipe out her entire family, she must go against everything she believes in order to save them—even if that means making a deal with the enemy.

  When Tori agrees to join forces with the unscrupulous Khadulians, she must take on a false identity in order to infiltrate the queendom of Avarell and fulfill her part of the bargain, all while under the watchful eye of the unforgiving Queen’s Guard. But time is running out, and every lie, theft, and abduction she is forced to carry out may not be enough to free her family from death.

  Coming November 28, 2017 from Snowy Wings Publishing!

  *~*~*~*~*

  Orbit by Leigh Hellman

  Ciaan Gennett’s world is cold—the cold of space, where seven housing project-planets have been orbiting Earth for close to a century after a population crisis spurred politicians to start looking up to the skies. The cold of her metal housing p-planet Toi and the cold of her resentment towards everything but the mother who disappeared when she was a child.

  After one too many run-ins with the law, Ciaan is assigned to work duties at Toi’s port facility and given an ultimatum: Prove that your life is worth believing in. And after a chance encounter during a routine cargo ship refueling reveals a horrifying secret, Ciaan finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy that spans centuries of Earth’s erased history. Joined by her best friend (and reluctant accomplice) Tidoris, an Earth captain of questionable morality, and his stoic Artificial first officer, Ciaan must uncover the truth before the authorities close in on them.

  Coming in 2018 from Snowy Wings Publishing!