by C. D. Hersh
Donaline peered under the sheet again. “The babe ’tis coming! I can see the wee bairn’s head.”
The women rushed to the foot of the bed, jostling for a view, and Eli moved to Alexi’s bedside.
Donaline climbed onto the foot of the bed. “Push, lassie, push. Our babe ’tis anxious tae come intae his world.”
As Alexi pushed, groaning and grunting, Rhys looked around the room, not wanting to see her pained expression. As he did, the shifters gathered around the bed vacillated between their alter egos and animal egos. The whole thing freaked him out. No wonder Alexi had gone ballistic. He held his wife’s hand as, with a final push, their child came into the world with a lusty wail.
“’Tis a laddie,” Donaline said, with a voice so full of awe Rhys thought she’d never seen a baby born before. “A perfect wee laddie.”
A collective aw sounded in the room and then the midwives began arguing who would hold him first, nearly coming to blows over the issue.
“Lassies,” Eli said. “Ye’ll all get yer chance.”
Donaline cut the umbilical cord, wiped the baby’s face, wrapped him in a blanket, then handed him to Alexi. As Rhys touched the baby, a flash of gold appeared on the child, then he saw his son’s animal ego. A golden hawk. Then the image changed into a bear, and then a coyote. Startled he pulled back. Three animals? One for each blood line?
“Quick, Eli.” He motioned for the old man to touch his son.
Eli leaned over and coochy-cooed the child with the sappiest smile on his face Rhys had ever seen. Then his expression changed to one of wonder, and his smile became broader and a contented expression flooded his face.
“Did you see it?” Rhys asked.
“Aye. The laddie is right bonny.”
Uncertain of what Eli had seen, Rhys pressed harder. “Not his looks, the other thing.”
“What I see, laddie, ’tis the answer tae what I’ve been searching fer all these centuries. He’s the child I’ve been waiting fer.”
In spite of Eli’s positive answer, Rhys could not shake the image of his son’s coyote ego. Coyotes were tricksters. They still had unfinished business with another coyote . . . in Cleveland. His son’s grandfather.
“What ’twill ye be naming the laddie?”
“Baron,” Alexi and Rhys said together.
“Baron Jordan Eli Temple,” Rhys added.
Eli beamed as bright as a lighthouse. “Yer uncle ’twould be proud, and I’m honored ye thought o’ me.”
“He carries the three blood lines. His name should reflect that,” Alexi said.
The midwives swarmed the bed like worker bees to the queen bee, still squabbling about who would hold the baby and change his diapers and be his nanny.
“Ladies,” Rhys said, flashing them a disarming smile. “You can all help us. I’m sure Alexi has need of advice from such wise women as you.”
The squabbling stopped as quickly as if he had shut off a water faucet, and they beamed at him and little Baron.
Alexi cast a questioning look at Eli. “Want to tell us what’s happening here? They’re acting like he’s England’s bonny Prince George.”
“Tae them, he ’tis, and yer the king and queen. Get use tae it. Your reign has just begun.” He laid a piece of his family tartan over Baron’s blanket. “Long may yer sovereignty be blessed.”
The Turning Stone Chronicles - Book Four
The Mercenary and the Shifters
Fiona Kayler’s hands shook as she opened the book she’d found hidden in the floor board in her mother’s old bedroom in the mansion she’d inherited from her father. Twelve months had passed since her new-found brother, who promised to help her, had fled the country without so much as a good-bye, leaving her alone to deal with shape shifters and the threat of a hostile takeover of her shipping company.
Seated in one of the wingback leather chairs, where her father had brokered many a deal in his book-filled library, she turned the pages covered in her mother’s left-slanted writing. Writing that revealed all the things she had wondered about her brothers and the sadness she’d always seen in her mother’s face. She twirled the gold ring with the red streaked dark green stone on her left ring finger. Now that she finally had the incantation which would open the shifter world to her, she wasn’t certain she could actually read the words.
Rhys was the only shifter she’d ever known, except for the man from OmniWorld, and she didn’t really know him. She’d just been warned by Rhys to stay away, because the man had a very dark aura, which meant he was a rogue shifter.
But OmniWorld had money she needed to keep the business afloat. The one thing Dad had taught her was if you can’t beat them, join them. Exactly what she planned to do. Join the rogue shifter world and take down the SOB trying to steal her company.
Also by C.D. Hersh and Soul Mate Publishing:
THE PROMISED ONE
(BOOK 1 of THE TURNING STONE CHRONICLES)
In the wrong hands, the Turning Stone ring is a powerful weapon for evil. So, when homicide detective Alexi Jordan discovers her secret society mentor has been murdered and his magic ring stolen, she is forced to use her shape-shifting powers to catch the killer. By doing so, she risks the two most important things in her life—her badge and the man she loves.
Rhys Temple always knew his fiery cop partner and would-be-girlfriend, Alexi Jordan, had a few secrets. He considers that part of her charm. But when she changes into a man, he doesn’t find that as charming. He’ll keep her secret to keep her safe, but he’s not certain he can keep up a relationship—professional or personal.
Danny Shaw needs cash for the elaborate wedding his fiancée has planned, so he goes on a mugging spree. But when he kills a member of the secret society of Turning Stones, and steals a magic ring that gives him the power to shape shift, Shaw gets more than he bargained for.
Available now on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/nenshjz
BLOOD BROTHERS
(BOOK 2 of THE TURNING STONE CHRONICLES)
When Delaney Ramsey is enlisted to help train two of the most powerful shape shifters the Turning Stone Society has seen in thousands of years, she suspects one of them is responsible for the disappearance of her daughter. To complicate matters, the man has a secret that could destroy them all. Bound by honor to protect the suspect, Delaney must prove his guilt without losing her life to his terrible powers or revealing to the police captain she’s falling for that she’s a shape shifter with more than one agenda.
The minute Captain Williams lays eyes on Delaney Ramsey, he knows she’s trouble. Uncooperative, secretive, and sexy, he can’t get her out of his mind. When he discovers she has a personal agenda for sifting through all the criminal records in his precinct, and secretly investigating his best detective, he can’t let her out of his sight. He must find out what she’s looking for before she does something illegal. If she steps over the line, he’s not certain he can look the other way for the sake of love.
Available now on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/p7nrsn9
