by Golden Angel
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Epilogue
Night of the Wild Stags
A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance
By Golden Angel
© 2018 Golden Angel LLC
Acknowledgements
I have a lot of people to thank for helping me with this book.
Marie for all her help with catching small errors and the continuity issues I occasionally struggle with (I swear, she remembers all the things that I can’t). Karen for catching my lack of commas and commas in the wrong places, mixed-up words, and my overuse of certain words and phrases. Katherine, for her ever-lasting support, encouragement and suggestions. Michelle for her comments, questions, and suppositions, which always end up changing the way the plot and character development flows. Sir Nick for providing the much-needed male perspective, requests for clarification when my writing is confusing, and making me aware of continuity issues.
Lee Savino for being my author-sensei.
Miranda for her quick editing skills, words of support, and general awesomeness.
My husband for his continued loved and support.
And, as always, a big thank you to all of you for buying and reading my work… if you love it, please leave a review!
Thank you so much for picking up my book!
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Epilogue
About the Author
Chapter 1
The knowledge of her inevitable doom crept up Kiara's spine as she forced one foot in front of the other, shivering despite the warm afternoon. She'd been walking for miles down this road without seeing another living creature. There were a few in the woods, she could smell them, but they were all regular animals.
Not other shifters. Not even humans.
No help.
Dismay rose up inside of her, choking her with the unfairness of it all.
A few months of freedom, a few months of glorious independence and autonomy, of making her own choices and living her own life... had the elders been right? Was this the price she would pay for leaving the herd?
No.
No dammit.
Kiara hadn't given in to their warnings. She hadn't given in to the mating she hadn't chosen. She hadn't given in to being smacked around for the rest of her life.
If she died here and now of this sickness, it would be because of biology and chance. It wasn't a punishment or a judgment, even if she knew the elders would claim it was.
But she didn't want to die. She wanted to live.
She could barely feel her animal anymore, but she felt the tiniest bit of agreement pushing through from the back of her mind.
Neither of them were ready to give up.
So even as her body was wracked with spasms, even as she dry-heaved every ten feet or so, she kept forcing one foot in front of the other. Only one thought was on her mind: her destination.
Lakewood.
******
"Ahhh... vacation..."
Dorian glanced in the rearview mirror of the car to see his cousin Alec spreading out his arms and legs so that he nearly took up two seats just by himself. Alec's older brother Riley, who was sitting next to him, glanced up from the tablet he was reading on and gave Alec a pointed a look. Unperturbed, Alec just grinned and made sure he wasn't quite touching Riley's space.
"What do you all want to do when we get to the cabin?" Gavin, Dorian's twin asked. He was sitting beside Dorian in the front seat of the car and he looked just as excited as Alec. "I think I might just nap for the whole first day."
"Not until we're done unpacking," Dorian said sternly.
Even though he was only three minutes older than Gavin, that still made him the oldest of their herd of four and he usually took the unofficial 'alpha' position. Since they were soldiers at Lakewood and technically considered part of Eli Mansfield's pack they didn't actually have need for a real herd alpha, but when they were on their own for a few days (or a week, like now) Dorian always found himself assuming the role. None of the others seemed to mind. Hell, Alec encouraged it, preferring to have less responsibility, especially when they weren't at the Lakewood compound.
The four of them looked alike, but they were all very different.
Dorian and Gavin were nearly identical twins. Gavin's hair was a shade lighter than Dorian's, which was nearly impossible to decipher unless they were standing right next to each other. Dorian had finally grown a goatee just to help differentiate them. Gavin was definitely a prankster though, he and Alec were often pulling practical jokes—mostly on each other, fortunately—whereas Dorian thought the two were idiots for wasting their time on the elaborate setups which had no real effect on their lives.
He and Riley spent more time together, tending to pair off while their younger brothers ran wild. Riley and Alec both had dark hair like Gavin and Dorian, but Riley's eyes were hazel green and Alec's were more amber than hazel. Alec also often had stubble on his face, although he never grew out his facial hair like Dorian did. He was just too lazy to shave most days.
"Unpack?" Alec snorted his derision. "I'm just going to go naked or stag the whole time we're there. I don't need to unpack."
All of them were red deer shifters and they were very much looking forward to spending some serious time in their other forms. They didn't need to constantly take stag form in order to placate their inner animals, but they all enjoyed being out in nature as their animals, and indulged whenever possible. Inside Dorian's head, he could feel his own stag lifting his majestically antlered head in anticipation.
"Then what's in that big bag taking up half the trunk?" Riley asked, looking annoyed at his younger brother. Dorian had to admit, he was curious too.
"Carefully wrapped booze bottles, a box of cigars, and some magazines," Alec said carelessly.
Dorian shook his head. He was sure there were probably some clothes in there as well—cushioning the glass bottles probably—but it would be just like Alec to pack the bare minimum for human living. The magazines were probably either naked chicks or barely clothed chicks on motorcycles and hot rods.
"Dude, I don't want to be staring at your junk all week," Gavin said, groaning with disgust. "We're going to be on vacation. How am I supposed to enjoy myself if I'm constantly swamped with pity for you?"
"Hey, my junk is amazing," Alec said, sitting up straight and reaching down between his legs to cup the equipment in question. "It's bigger than yours."
"It sure as hell is not."
Sometimes Gavin and Alec seemed more like brothers than cousins, Dorian reflected, wondering if he was about to have to take the fatherly position.
"You're just jealous because Sheila didn't want to get down and dirty with you."
"That's enough," Dorian said sternly, deciding to head the argument off early. Mostly because he couldn't take five more minutes of this crap from them, much less twenty.
"What are you going to do, pull the car over?" Alec asked, jeering. "Hey... wait... seriously?"
"Shut up, this isn't about you." Dorian put the car
in park, only slightly amused at the timing, and peered into the rearview mirror. Not at his cousins, but out the back at the splash of white and brown on the side of the road. He'd thought he'd seen the pile of cloth moving as they'd driven past it, but maybe it had just been the wind—no, there it went again. That wasn't just fabric, there was something alive and moving. "I'll be right back."
******
As Dorian got out of the car and started walking back along the road, Riley twisted in his seat, frowning as he watched his cousin walk back down the road. Dorian’s behavior was extremely unusual, to say the least. His strides were purposeful, quick.
“What is he doing?” Riley murmured.
"There's something back there," Alec said, not even opening his eyes. He looked like he was on the verge of falling asleep right there. "You know how cautious Dorian is, he probably just wants to check it out."
"I’m going to see what it is," Riley said. He was disturbed by Dorian’s unanticipated actions and he hated being cooped up in a small space anyway. Even though the sedan was plenty spacious, all four of them were big guys and being in the back meant less leg space than the front. Inside his head, his stag was urging him to get out of the car. Both of them preferred more open spaces.
Neither his brother nor his cousin responded, which he took to mean they didn't care what he did. He undid his seatbelt and hopped out of the car. Closing the door behind him, he stretched his arms up towards the sky and then dropped them down. Dorian was nearing what looked like a small pile of old clothes on the side of the road, about fifty yards back.
Shrugging his muscles loose, Riley did a little half jog to catch up. He’d rather see what had caught Dorian’s interest than hang around the car.
Dorian's sudden tension alerted him that something was wrong as his older cousin circled around the small pile, and Riley picked up his pace, his stag lifting up its head and looking for danger. Coming closer, it became clear the bundle wasn’t just a pile of clothing—there was a woman wearing the pile. There was way too much clothing for such a warm day, but she appeared to be shivering.
"Is she hurt?" Riley asked, coming up behind Dorian then passing him and dropping to his knees, his hand going to the female’s forehead.
"Riley, wait!" Dorian reached out his own hand to stop him, but it was too late. He heard the aggravated noise Dorian made but ignored it.
"She's burning up!" Riley said, concern shooting through him.
The woman was very petite, slender, and her pale, nearly white hair had been pulled back into a braid. He smelled chemicals around her head, which likely meant the color was dyed—especially taking into account her dark eyebrows. Although there was a fair amount of dirt on her face, her delicate bone structure made her look almost ethereally beautiful underneath the grime.
Beneath the chemicals used on her hair and the odor of sweat and unwashed flesh, he could also smell her animal. She was a shifter. Some kind of doe, although her scent was a little different than any other doe he'd met before. His stag wanted to take a deeper whiff, ignoring the rest of her smell, curious about the peculiarity of her scent.
"Dammit, Riley, you don't know what's wrong with her," Dorian said, scolding him. "What if she's contagious? Look at her hands, look at the spots!"
“Spots?” Riley frowned, lifting up her hand to examine it more closely. Yes, just as Dorian said, she had lesions on her skin. He hadn’t been able to initially see them under the grime on her skin. “That makes no sense. She smells like a deer, she can’t…”
His voice trailed off and then both he and Dorian looked at each other, alarm in both of their expressions.
The only disease which effected shifters and also caused symptoms like this was the Scourge. But the Scourge was not a disease which caused this kind of reaction in adults. It was a childhood illness which they all grew out of. Riley hadn’t heard of a single large shifter adult having the Scourge, ever. The only adult shifters it ever effected were small animal shifters.
There were quite a few diseases which ravaged the smaller shifter population, making many of them extinct, but which barely effected larger shifters other than as bad colds. With smaller shifters the Scourge caused extreme nausea and vomiting. The victims couldn't keep down any food and ended up slowly starving to death as they wilted away with fever. The slightly blueish spots covering her were impossible, and yet there was no denying the evidence of his eyes.
“A mutated variation of the Scourge?” he said, his voice lilting up to make the statement a rhetorical question. Obviously Dorian wouldn’t know any better than he did, although they could hypothesize. His tone turned grim. “Perhaps large shifters are no longer immune.”
In which case, they were all in danger.
“I’ve already touched her,” Riley said, his voice hardening. He looked up at Dorian. “You should stay back. If it’s airborne you might already be contaminated, but if it’s not…” His voice choked slightly.
They both stared at each other.
Riley was uncertain how long they might have stood there, staring at each other in silence, both of them trying to decide exactly how to proceed next, if it wasn’t for their impulsive and immature younger brothers.
He saw the stags jumping out of the forest behind Dorian, and his eyes went wide, but before he could even begin to shout a warning to stay back, both were jumping forward in an attempt to startle Dorian.
It was a game they often played, but they’d never succeeded.
They did today.
Alec’s shoulder bumped into Dorian from behind, sending his cousin sprawling. Jumping up, Riley managed to catch Dorian before he fell on the woman—but any hopes of keeping the other two from being exposed to whatever contagion the woman was carrying had just died. Gavin was already sniffing at her hair, his buck obviously both interested and confused.
“You fucking idiots!” Dorian roared as he straightened up, face red with both fear and fury. “Stay back!”
“It’s too late now,” Riley said pragmatically, sighing, even as he felt the same fear. Alec had already shifted and was touching the female’s leg, crouching naked beside her, his face concerned.
“What’s wrong with her?” Alec asked.
“We think it’s the Scourge,” Riley said, causing Gavin’s stag to jump back. Too late. Obviously Gavin understood the implications, although Alec didn’t immediately.
“But that’s impossible,” Alec said, still frowning as a grim-faced and silent Dorian scooped the woman up into his arms.
“Apparently not,” Dorian said. He turned and started back to the car, the woman cradled in his arms. “We have to go back to Lakewood. Call it in, Riley, and let them know what’s coming.”
******
Her doe prodded her, rousing her.
Someone was holding her. Loud voices. Warmth. People.
Hope.
Lakewood.
"Lakewood."
"What was that, sweetheart?" A male voice in her ear. Deep. Soothing in a rumbling way. She didn't recognize it. Probably not Sebastian or anyone from home then. She knew all of their voices.
"Lakewood," she begged, her mouth was so dry she could barely rasp the word.
"She's asking to go to Lakewood," the man said, more loudly. Speaking to the others who were there.
Lakewood.
Hope.
Please... let me live.
******
Well this wasn't how he'd expected his vacation to go. Twenty minutes into the drive and they were already turning back around to Lakewood, this time with an extra passenger. A possibly contagious one carrying a possibly deadly disease.
Not a very nice death either, if there was such a thing.
Still, if Alec had to choose how he was going to die, vomiting to death was not high on his list of preferences. It sounded fucking awful.
Too late though. He and Gavin had decided to try and sneak up on Dorian, give him a scare—something they’d never managed before.
Wel
l his older cousin was plenty scared now.
Alec looked down at the shivering female deer shifter resting her head on his thigh. Her feet were on Riley's and he wasn’t sure who had gotten the better end of the deal. She did look like she might clean up nicely but she obviously hadn't bathed recently and they had to keep the windows closed because of her possible contagion, which didn’t help.
Alec's stag was much more interested in their unexpected passenger than Alec would have expected. Normally his stag couldn’t care less what female Alec occupied his time with. Why the animal was so interested in this one, he had no idea.
"Why do you think she was on foot?" he asked, glancing at Riley’s lap where he could see her well-worn sneakers. They had definitely seen better days.
"That's a good question," Dorian said grimly, his hands tightening around the steering wheel, making the leather squeak a little. Yeah, he was still pissed.
"I guess she must not have a car," Riley said, looking down at her with an odd expression on his face. He'd been acting a bit odd since they'd found her actually. Like he was drawn to her.
She tugged at Alec’s heartstrings too. How could she not? She was obviously suffering but strong enough to have made it all the way from regular civilization halfway down the long road to Lakewood on foot. He admired her strength, even as he worried over the lightness of her weight. Was it normal to feel so protective so quickly? His stag didn't seem bothered by it. If anything both of his sides felt unusually intrigued by her.
As a soldier, Alec had protected many people—men, women, and children, but he'd never had quite this reaction before. There was just something about her. He spent the rest of the drive back to Lakewood worrying over both her and his brother and cousins.
A little bit himself too. He really didn’t want to die by vomit.
Riley had called ahead to the compound and let them know what was happening, so when they arrived the guards recognized their car and waved them through the entrance. More than one peered curiously through the windows but didn’t attempt to get too close to the car. Dorian pulled around to the side entrance of the hospital where several people dressed in hazmat suits were already waiting for them.
