First Shift

by J. L. Weil

  First Shift

  Nine Tails Novella Series

  J. L. Weil

  Dark Magick Publishing

  Contents

  Read More from J. L. Weil

  First Shift

  A note from Karina

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  About the Author

  First Shift © copyright 2017 J. L. Weil

  http://www.jlweil.com

  All rights reserved.

  First Edition 2017

  Edited by Allisyn Ma

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, 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 notice of the publisher. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights are reserved. No part of this may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.

  Created with Vellum

  Read More from J. L. Weil

  http://tinyurl.com/zpnhlt6

  THE DIVISA SERIES

  (Full series completed – Teen Paranormal Romance)

  Losing Emma: A Divisa novella

  Saving Angel

  Hunting Angel

  Breaking Emma: A Divisa novella

  Chasing Angel

  Loving Angel

  Redeeming Angel

  LUMINESCENCE TRILOGY

  (Full series completed – Teen Paranormal Romance)

  Luminescence

  Amethyst Tears

  Moondust

  Darkmist – A Luminescence novella

  RAVEN SERIES

  (Full series completed – Teen Paranormal Romance)

  White Raven

  Black Crow

  Soul Symmetry

  NINE TAILS SERIES

  (Teen Paranormal Romance)

  First Shift

  SINGLE NOVELS

  Starbound

  (Teen Paranormal Romance)

  Dark Souls

  (Runes KindleWorld Novella)

  First Shift

  Something wicked is shifting in Seattle.

  Karina Lang has enough on her mind dealing with college applications, her mother’s ailing health, and busting her butt after school at the café she works at. Forget about boys. With all that is going on the last thing she needs in her busy schedule is to be mugged by a band of thugs before work.

  Her destiny is more important than she could ever imagine.

  Out of the shadows, a mysterious stranger emerges—her rescuer. Coincidence? Not for him. Devyn St. Cyr reveals a startling truth about Karina—she is a Kitsune—a fox shifter, and she must befriend him to gain the answers she needs. However, uncovering the secret of her heritage threatens more than just her worldview, but also her life. Regardless of her feelings for the dreamy, steamy Devyn, Karina finds herself on unsure footing with him and a hot target for every ambitious otherworldly creature.

  Falling in love won’t keep her alive.

  As she struggles with her rare gift, Devyn supports her, protects her, and challenges her. But in order for Karina to survive, she must do what no other Kitsune in a century has accomplished: acquire nine tails.

  A note from Karina

  From one innocent, blissful moment, my world shifted to a nightmare in a blink. Literally. It amazed me how fast life changed.

  A split second was all it took and everything I knew got flipped upside down: who I thought I was, who my mother was, what the world was. I found out I knew nothing, regardless of the straight As on my report card. What I discovered about my life wasn’t taught in schools. The truth was kept hidden from the mortal world: another, secret realm exists—the Second Moon.

  Creatures crawled into our world that weren’t always friendly, as I would soon find out once my eyes had been opened.

  I’ve learned many lessons, but the most important were the ones I learned about myself. Pushed to the limits, I could do things I never even imagined, never thought possible. But more than anything, I wished I could have gone back and done things differently. I should have listened to Devyn. I should have talked to my mom. I should have told my friends I loved them.

  But most of all, I wished … well, it was pointless to wish. Nothing would change my future. I’d made my choices.

  Chapter One

  Two months. Forty-two days to be exact. That was how many days I had left until I graduated from high school and got out of Washington. Not that I was counting or anything.

  I slammed my locker shut and spun around, slinging my backpack stuffed with twenty pounds of books over my back. My friend Hannah talked nonstop, babbling on and on about her weekend plans, but my mind was on the hundred other things I had to do before the day was over. Forty-two days, I reminded myself.

  “You coming to the game tonight?” Hannah asked.

  “I can’t. I’m working.”

  Hannah’s cornflower blue eyes sparkled with excitement. “Come on, K. You work too much. You deserve a little fun.”

  And Hannah Tisdale knew all about fun. She didn’t have any responsibilities, didn’t know what it was like to have to work hard for everything. Still, she’d been my best friend since third grade. We couldn’t be more opposite. Hannah was blonde with big boobs and a big personality to match, yet we somehow complemented each other, rather than clashed. “Fun is a luxury I don’t have time for.” I checked my watch. “I’ve got to go.”

  She followed me, matching my hurried strides. “Please? Please, K? Don’t leave me hanging.”

  “Take Jesse with you,” I suggested, giving her a way to go to the game without me as her sidekick.

  She rolled her pretty eyes that made most guys do double-takes. “He’s on the team. Besides, it’s not nearly as fun ogling the lacrosse team’s ass cheeks without you,” she pouted.

  I smiled. “I imagine not.”

  “Speaking of Jesse. When are the two of you going to admit you have the hots for each other and get it on?”

  This time, I rolled my eyes. “He’s one of my best friends, Hannah. Our best friend,” I reminded her. Jesse Hart and I had been neighbors since diapers. Our parents were friends. We hung out all the time and went on family vacations together. I loved him, just not in the way Hannah was constantly suggesting … or so I told myself.

  Truthfully, I wasn’t sure if I felt something more for Jesse. My life was chaotic right now. There wasn’t time for me to think about feelings. With everything going on at home, school, and at the café, I barely had time eat and sleep, let alone dwell on boys.

  “You could call in sick. No one at the café would even question it. I mean, when was the last time you took a day off? Or you could say you hit a deer.” Melodramatic should have been Hannah’s middle name, which made her perfect for drama club. She could think up a hundred different lies without batting an eye.

  “But I’m not sick. Nor do I want to hit anything with my car. And I really need the money.” I countered her idea, walking out the double doors of Seaside Heights High School.

  Hannah scrunched her nose and stopped at the curb. “I’m not changing your mind, am
I?”

  We’d reached the parking lot. I turned around and walked backwards down the curb. “Nope. Text me later.”

  Hannah made a face, and I knew what she was thinking: that I work too hard and needed a life outside of school. What was wrong with wanting to get good grades so I could go to college somewhere far, far away from this small, coastal, Washington town? I’d rather be inside studying than stuck at some lacrosse game where all the jocks are idolized and every girl in school shakes her pom-poms.

  Ugh. No thank you.

  “Fine! Go to work and make coffee all night, but you better text me back!” she ordered, yelling across the parking lot.

  I held my hand in the air, waved, and kept on walking to my car. I tossed my bag into the passenger seat of my white Nissan Maxima and slid behind the wheel. Turning the key, I waited for the engine to kick over so I could get the heck out of here.

  Nothing happened. Well, not nothing. It sputtered—a pathetic and miserable sound.

  “No. No. No,” I said. “Don’t do this to me.” I tried again and a third time with the same disastrous result. “You stupid hunk of junk.”

  This was the last thing I needed.

  My eyes glanced at the clock on the dash. I was going to be late for work. “Shit,” I muttered, my head hitting the back of the seat as my throat closed, tears stinging my eyes. Why today of all days did my car decide to act up? Didn’t I have enough to deal with at home? Ever since the night of my eighteenth birthday, my mom had been ill. That had been months ago. The doctors were of little help. They hadn’t been able to pinpoint what was wrong, meaning they didn’t know how to treat it. As the days went by, I was starting to lose hope they ever would.

  I hit the steering wheel, taking out my frustration, anger, and sorrow on the car. “Please start. Please. I promise not to call you names ever again or threaten to drop you off at the junkyard. Cross my heart.” I closed my eyes and turned the key.

  The engine purred to life.

  I exhaled, a slow grin curving my lips, and kissed the steering wheel, not caring who saw me. “I swear I’ll wash you this weekend.” Yes, I talked to my car. Doesn’t everyone?

  The drive from school to Sugar and Spice Café was picturesque—a view tourists gawked at but I grew tired of. The mountains were almost always visible in the distance, the air smelled of the sea, and hills and valleys were covered in miles of vineyards that bordered the small town.

  I’d been working at the coffee shop after school and during summers since I was a sophomore. It had become an escape, a home away from home. The owner, Naomi, was like a second mom to me and the other high school and college students that worked for her. There were four of us that dedicated our weekends and after-school hours to Naomi Clarke, and she created a fun and safe environment. A fierce, independent, successful businesswoman, Naomi was someone I strived to be—a woman who didn’t need to depend on a man. Never married, my boss put everything she had into making the damn best coffee and baked goods in Seaside Heights.

  I managed to pull into the employee parking lot with one minute to spare. Talk about cutting it close. If I was anything, I was dependable … and predictable, a punctuation queen. Boring, Jesse and Hannah would say, but boring gave me job security and a bright future. I had plans. Big ones. And this job was going to help me pay for college. Unlike Hannah’s parents, who knew the importance of saving money, mine hadn’t started a college fund, and any savings they had was spent on Mom’s health. I was relying on scholarships and hard-earned cash to get me through veterinarian school.

  Grabbing my work clothes from the backseat, I raced across the street and into the alley, a shortcut that led to the back entrance of the café. My hurried footsteps echoed off the buildings lining either side of the empty street. Black garbage bags overflowed out of dumpsters along one wall. I didn’t even let my mind think about the critters scurrying about.

  A trickle of unease dripped down my spine, and I reached to finger the pendant around my neck. The ancient pearl had been in my mom’s family for generations and had been given to me the day I was born. I always wore it, and the weight of it comforted me.

  Seaside Heights is a safe place, I repeated to myself, picking up my pace. Just when I thought my day couldn’t get any worse, two figures appeared from the shadows, blocking my entrance to the café. My eyes volleyed between them, and I seriously regretted my decision to take the shortcut. I stopped, looked around, and then cursed. Time to get out the pepper spray. Too bad it was lip gloss in my pocket.

  A dull ache took up in my gut as I slowed my pace. I guessed they weren’t here for the coffee. My legs continued to move forward regardless that my brain screamed to turn and run. Most often your instincts are right.

  Both of the figures stood a few feet away and wore suits like the Men in Black with slicked back silvery hair and skin that was a tad too pale, but it was their eyes that chilled my blood. There was something not right about them. Where the color should have been in their irises there was none, just a milky white. Freaky.

  I stopped dead in my tracks.

  They had to be high. What other explanation was there for the eyes and the unusually white skin?

  The taller one angled his head to the side, eyes narrowing. “Karina Lang?” His comrade cracked his knuckles beside him.

  Whoa. Didn’t see that coming. How did they know my name? My gaze narrowed as I eyed the pair with suspicion, racking my brain. Did I know them? I was positive I didn’t. They had faces I wasn’t likely ever to forget. The very last thing I expected was for them to know my name. “Depends. Who’s asking?” I was shocked my voice didn’t shake and that it came out with a lot more bravado than I was feeling.

  The taller one smiled as he eyed me, and that smile made me think of all the horrible situations I’d ever read about a girl alone in an alley. My fear spiked. His gaze dropped to my chest, and I let a startled gasp. My worst nightmare rolled through my head. Were they going to hurt me? Violate me? I was rendered immobile with terror.

  His eyes flicked back to mine. He seemed to enjoy the horror he saw on my face. “You have something I want.”

  “Uh, I think you have me mixed up with someone else. I don’t have anything but a work uniform, a granola bar, and my cell phone.” I tended to ramble when I was afraid. “And a knife,” I added, my hand flying to the back pocket of my jeans, pretending to grab onto an invisible blade.

  His buddy’s form rippled like liquid, making him go in and out of focus.

  I squinted.

  Crap on a graham cracker. What were these guys? Aliens?

  Either that or I was hallucinating.

  He gave a sardonic twist of his lips. “Give us your soul.”

  So they didn’t want my body, just my soul. In that moment, I realized they intended to kill me. How else would they get my soul? I took a step backward. “You guys aren’t from around here, are you?”

  Neither of them found my sense of humor funny. Their faces remained stoic. Enough of the chitchat. I dropped everything, turned, and ran. Behind me, I heard them both lurch forward and give chase, but I pushed myself harder. I darted to the side around a corner, but I wasn’t quick enough. I didn’t know what these two guys were or what kind of steroids they were popping, but no human could move that fast.

  A beefy arm whisked around my waist. “Gotcha,” one of them said with victory in his voice. He grasped a handful of my hair, wrenching my head back against his chest. His grubby fingers fumbled with the front of my shirt. “Let’s see what we have here.”

  Panic flooded me, and like a wild cat, I clawed and scratched anywhere and everywhere I could reach. I didn’t care that he still clutched my long dark hair or the agony every moment cost me. I just wanted to break free and save myself from whatever horrible fate they had in store for me. One of my swipes landed across his face, deep enough to draw blood, but not the kind of blood I expected. The cut along his cheek oozed black liquid, bubbling out of the wound like hot tar.


  WTF.

  My astonishment lasted two whole seconds. He gave a growl that rattled my bones. I’d pissed him off, and my punishment was a backhand across the face, hard enough that it sent me flying. Pain exploded down my face as I hit the ground, shooting through my limbs.

  With nowhere else to run, no strength to fight, I curled into a ball against the brick building, huddling into the shadows. Suddenly, I felt something strange. I couldn’t explain what happened inside me, maybe I was bleeding internally, but there was tension in my muscles as if they were morphing, stretching, and changing. Tiny needle pricks of heat traveled throughout my body. It wasn’t exactly painful, but foreign, a sensation I’d never felt before. But I didn’t have time to worry about what bizarre sickness I was coming down with. I had bigger problems.

  “Great. She shifted,” the one I called Ike said.

  What did he mean by shifted?

  I scurried backward on my hands and feet, except … they weren’t hands or feet.

  My eyes popped.

  What the—

  White fur covered my entire body from head to … tail? Holy shit. I had a puffy tail, which might also explain why I stood on all four paws instead of two legs. My long obsidian hair was gone. What had they done to me? Turned me into some kind of animal?

  My butt bumped into the wall, and I tried to scream, but all that came out was a low growl that sounded like a warning. My teeth were bared.

  Okay, this was going to send me over the edge.

  “Easy,” Mike said, crouching. “Just give us your powers and we won’t hurt you … again,” he added.

  I tried to tell him I didn’t have any powers, but instead a whine came out of my throat.