Palm Haven Shifters: Complete Five-Part Series Page 15

  As she pulled up alongside the curb, hoping beyond all hope that Callan wouldn’t be working on the manor house today, she was greeted with an altogether different unpleasant surprise. Sarah waited for her, and next to Sarah was Sloan. Ashley muttered a curse under her breath. Did he know the kind of message he was sending to the other shifters? There were already rumors that the tigers and witches were allies because of their relationship. Now he showed up at the Coven’s meeting house? He was fucking nuts.

  “What are you doing here?” She hissed, getting out of her car and quickly stalking over to him.

  Sloan simply shrugged, looking every bit the calm confident executive in his expensively tailored suit. She ground her teeth together.

  “You can’t be here. The Coven won’t approve.”

  He shrugged again, “I don’t approve of their actions, so we’re even.”

  She rolled her eyes and huffed in annoyance before noticing the nervous way Sarah hung back, fidgeting with her bracelet.

  “Are you ready?” She asked the librarian.

  Sarah’s eyes shot up like she’d only just realized Ashley was there. “I… um…”

  Her face drained of all color and Ashley could sense her magic buzzing around nervously.

  “You’re going to do just fine,” she reassured the other woman.

  Sarah wasn’t convinced; her blue eyes sparkled with unshed tears and Ashley realized how cavalier she’d been about the whole thing. This was Sarah’s life at stake. If someone else took control of the Ley Lines, she’d lose her spark. That one thing that made her, her. Of course her mate would be worried. Of course she’d be worried. They both needed words of encouragement, so Ashley dug way down deep to push aside her own apprehensions to find those words.

  “Look, I’m going to let you in on a little secret,” she said, looking from Sloan back to Sarah, making sure the tiger shifter was listening in, too. “The Sage tied our magic together. She thought to cripple me by linking us, but instead, she helped you. She made you stronger. I’ve got your back and I’m not going to let you fail, okay?”

  Sarah worried her bottom lip before nodding silently. She wrapped her arms around Ashley in a brief hug. “Thanks.”

  Ashley turned to look at Sloan, hoping to see the same relieved expression on his face. Instead, he still scowled, his eyes even darker than before.

  “Can I speak with you for a moment?” He asked, pulling her out of Sarah’s earshot.

  “What? I meant what I said. I won’t let her fail,” she said defensively, hands on her hips.

  Sloan nodded. “I’m more concerned about why you reek of bear. What have you been getting up to, Ashley? I trust it won’t interfere with your focus today?”

  Her jaw fell slack. She reeked of bear? What the hell was he implying?

  Memories of Callan sprang to mind unbidden; the woodsy smell of him, the reaction of her magic, his teeth nipping at her neck as he made her whole world shatter…

  No. He couldn’t be a bear. Could he?

  She felt suddenly sick. But she couldn’t freak out too much. Not here. Not now. There were more pressing matters. Like making sure she and Sarah both walked out of the meeting with their magic intact.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said simply before turning to his mate. “Sarah, are you ready?”

  Whatever Callan was or wasn’t, she’d have to think about that later. For the moment, Sage’s tests would require all of her focus.

  The entire Coven was present for the harrowing event.

  Sage wasted no time in administering her first test, no doubt an attempt to catch Sarah off-guard, but the Guardian fended off the attack with surprising ease.

  Ashley offered her stores of power to Sarah willingly and together they were stronger than any of the witches had anticipated. Sarah navigated through Sage’s challenged with deft acumen and grace, silencing even the most ardent naysayers in the Coven.

  “Well,” Sage said finally, “I’m most certainly impressed,” she rasped in her paper-thin voice.

  Sarah stood proudly before the Coven, her confidence boosted and her chest swelled with pride like the cat that caught the canary.

  “Thank you, I—”

  Esther lobbed a fiery ball of energy at Sarah, pulling no punches. Ashley just barely caught the surprised look Sage sent Esther’s way before she stepped in front of Sarah to block the attack.

  “I believe the Guardian has sufficiently shown her mettle,” Ashley said coolly, more to Esther than Sage.

  Beneath Sage’s hood, Ashley saw the ancient woman pull a face at her second before she turned her attention back to Sarah. “I agree. I’m comfortable with leaving the Guardian under your tutelage until the time we deem fit for another test.”

  Sarah’s eyes went wide. “Another test? But I thought—”

  Ashley held up a hand, as if to say ‘don’t push our luck, kid’ and Sarah’s protests fell from her tongue as she cast her eyes downward.

  Sage seemed intent to make them squirm with her unwavering gaze, but she finally nodded and said “You’re dismissed.”

  Ashley urged Sarah to get out while she still could, but her own escape was stopped by her best friend Monica.

  Monica grabbed Ashley by the wrist and dragged her up the stairs of the manor house to an out-of-the-way bedroom on the second floor.

  She pushed Ashley onto the chaise seated by the bay window and leveled a stern look at her friend.

  “Spill,” she said.

  Ashley’s gaze traveled out the window to the construction work happening on the scaffolding below. Was Callan there today? Her heart beat a little faster at the thought.

  “What do you mean?”

  “What’s gotten into you?” Monica hurled her way, flyaway red curls framing her angry expression in a fiery halo.

  Ashley’s mouth opened and closed around silence like a fish gulping for air.

  “Or should I say who has gotten into you? You’ve never had that kind of power before,” Monica’s hands flew to her hips and Ashley felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment.

  “I… Well, I knew I would need to refill my stores to face Sage and…”

  “Ash,” Monica said through clenched teeth, clearly losing patience.

  “I may have… inadvertently… kind of… maybe…”

  “Ashley Lynn Montgomery, spill.”

  Ashley cringed at the use of her full name. Monica never played fair.

  “I hooked up with a bear!” Ashley said in one rushed breath, all the words running together.

  “Are you out of your ever-loving mind?” Monica screeched.

  Out of all the crazy things Ashley had done through the years, she knew this took the cake.

  “Will you just hear me out? I’m not even 100% sure that he is…”

  “Absolutely not. Can you imagine what would happen if anyone found out? If the Coven found out? You’re going to get us both excommunicated.”

  “You’re so dramatic,” Ashley said with a roll of her eyes.

  “No, for once, I’m not being dramatic at all, you know you can’t do this.”

  Ashley sighed, “I know. I know. I wasn’t planning on seeing him again.”

  “Good,” Monica said, her expression softening just a hair. “You know shifters can’t be trusted and Sage already seems to have it out for you.”

  So Monica noticed that too? It wasn’t just paranoia on Ashley’s part?

  “This anger isn’t about Brad, is it?” Ashley tested the waters, bracing herself for the impact of Monica’s renewed rage.

  “You know damn well it’s not. Brad was… different.”

  It was Ashley’s turn to level a harsh look at her friend. Monica hadn’t had any qualms about hooking up with a shifter when she was doing it. But then Brad betrayed her for his clan, left her by the wayside and cut her off without notice. Mon was still understandably bitter about the treatment.

  “What the hell were you thinking hooking up with a s
hifter?” Monica hissed under her breath like she was afraid they’d be overheard. “With everything going on… with the Clans so close to war. You’re insane.”

  Ashley blanched again, “Look, I didn’t know, okay? I kind of pieced it together before the test this morning.”

  Monica didn’t appear to be appeased in the least. “You can’t see him again,” she reiterated.

  “I know that,” Ashley ground out, getting annoyed with her friend’s demands. She knew she couldn’t see Callan again. She knew there was no chance in hell that anything could happen between them.

  And yet… Guilt and disappointment gnawed at her insides as she reached that conclusion.

  “I’m obviously not going to see him again. He’s a bear.”

  Monica nodded, seemingly satisfied with Ashley’s resolve at last.

  Ashley was anything but satisfied. Her magic faded with her resolute declaration; it seemed to shrink away, dimming with her denial. Even though she knew it was the right decision to forget all about Callan and the magic between them, she couldn’t help the unending chant of wrong wrong wrong deep down inside.

  Chapter 8

  CALLAN

  Callan waited for the next day to arrive before he called Ashley. He spent the entire night up, thinking about the possibility that she was a witch and what that meant for their prospects.

  It didn’t matter. He didn’t care what she was — he just knew she should be his.

  The phone rang half a dozen times before her voicemail picked up, “This is Ashley Montgomery. If you’re calling for an appointment please leave your name and number and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

  An appointment? For what? He hadn’t the faintest idea what she did for a living. He hung up and called again immediately.

  Again she didn’t answer.

  By the fourth call, Callan strongly suspected she was ignoring him… or she knew the truth about him.

  He perched himself at the front window and returned to the little raccoon he was carving. He should just forget all about her. She clearly didn’t want anything to do with him. She thought their little meeting had been a mistake and maybe she was right.

  His bear roared at the thought, rearing up, claws and teeth bared.

  Down, boy, Callan chided the beast.

  Okay, one more try. If she didn’t answer this time, he’d give up for good.

  His heart sank a little and his finger hesitated over the redial button. He didn’t know how he’d ever get her out from under his skin if he couldn’t at least talk to her again.

  Well, here goes nothing, he thought, dialing her again.

  “Hello?” Her voice was enough to make his heart stop.

  “Hey, Ashley, it’s Callan,” he tried casually.

  Silence hung in the air thick like fog. Callan fidgeted, waiting for her to respond and after a minute he checked his phone to make sure the call was still connected.

  Then she sighed.

  “I thought it might be you. You shouldn’t call me anymore.”

  Her words were a gut shot; he nearly doubled over from the immense feeling of loss.

  As he opened his mouth to respond, his heart hammered double time.

  “Ash, wait…” He had to tell her… What?

  He couldn’t very well tell her how he felt. How she made him feel like he was wading in cool water. How his bear reared up and itched to claim her at just the mere thought of her tilted green eyes and honey blonde hair.

  He couldn’t just tell her that she was his destined mate; if nothing else freaked her out, that certainly would. The sudden intense need for her startled him, and he’d gone his whole life knowing it could happen. He couldn’t just spring that kind of thing on someone unwittingly. It wasn’t fair.

  Shit.

  She sighed again as whatever words he scrabbled for fell out of his grasp.

  “No. You’re a shifter,” she practically hissed and Callan felt the knife twist in his stomach. The contempt in her voice scalded him. “You should have told me. I never would have… We never should have… You should have told me,” she finished with a steel edge to her voice.

  “Like you told me you’re a witch?” He countered, testing his theory. When she didn’t protest, his heart fell through the floor. “What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey, just so you know, there are magical entities that can change into bears at will and I’m one of them. Wanna head back to my place?’”

  He regretted the angry tirade the moment it stopped. The words had come spilling forth too easily, his hurt fueling the sarcasm dripping in his tone.

  He heard her sigh again and could practically see the heavy weight of the situation pressing on her. In his mind’s eye she nibbled her lip thoughtfully, stared at him with unblinking eyes and stiffened her shoulders. It was only a minor solace to think that she struggled with this decision as much as he was.

  “Just… don’t call me anymore,” she said. Then the line was dead and Callan growled at it, hurling the phone across his room.

  After years of hoping and dreaming about the fairytale love that came with destined mates, never sure if it would ever even happen to him, it seemed like a cruel joke that he was meant to be with a witch that wanted nothing to do with him.

  The bear inside of him reared to life, seething, ready to destroy any and everything in its path. Denying the beast its mate made it throw a temper tantrum.

  Callan didn’t even want to try to fight the bear any more. Being a bear was simpler. Less stressful. He could romp through the forests and forget all about curvy witches with coy smiles and sexy little whimpers.

  He barely had the forethought to leave his house and find the cover of a shady pine grove before he shifted, letting the bear take over, his mind blissfully unburdened once he was on all fours.

  The world came alive in a brand new way as the bear. He could smell everything, from the damp soil underfoot, to the pine trees overhead. In the distance he heard running water, birds chirping and squawking, and as a breeze ruffled his fur, he shook happily, freeing himself of the worries of a human consciousness.

  It was easier to be a bear. To forget his worries and troubles and just be for a little while. Callan knew he couldn’t run from his problems forever, though. He knew he’d eventually have to sort it all out, but for now? He wanted to be a bear.

  He loped through the sparse wooded area aimlessly, pausing now and again to scratch his back against a tree trunk or sink his claws into bark to mark his passage. Being a bear was easy. Being a bear was good.

  There was a rumble in his stomach and, rather than shift back and run through a drive-thru, Callan searched around for some berries.

  He found a particularly abundant patch of black huckleberries, swollen with sweet juice, and began to gorge himself on the irresistible fruit. He used his long curved claws to prick them from the bushes, shoving great pawfuls into his mouth, sticky juices matting his fur. Without knowing why, he suddenly froze, his nose pointed in the air as he rose to two legs.

  Sometimes, the bear knew something that took Callan a little longer to figure out. He couldn’t readily identify the smell, but it was out of place. The winds shifted and carried with them a new noise… voices? Humans.

  The voices were hushed, but clearly terse and measured. Bear instincts told him to run, to be afraid, to get the hell out of there. Human curiosity won out and he creeped a little closer.

  There was a whisper of a name, the only thing he heard amongst the other unintelligible words: Ashley. Ice seized his heart and he took another step forward, tilting his head to hear better.

  As he grew closer to the voices, he noted there were two — one male, one female. Even more unsettling to his skittish bear, it wasn’t any man; he was finally able to identify the strange smell as tiger. What was a tiger doing saying his mate’s name? He suppressed a growl, not wanting to be noticed.

  “The Guardian will destroy herself,” the cloaked woman said.

  “But the other w
itch… she’s troublesome,” the tiger said with a hint of a growl in his voice.

  “Leave her to me, I will see that she doesn’t interfere with our plans.”

  Callan didn’t dare get any closer. If he could smell the tiger, surely the tiger would be able to smell him, even with the disadvantage of being human at the moment.

  The tiger offered another harsh whispered argument as Callan slowly retreated and the woman responded in kind. He couldn’t risk being discovered. Once he was a fair distance away, the bear turned and ran at top speed through the woods.

  Someone was threatening his mate. He had to tell her. Warn her. Protect her. Even if she didn’t want to listen to him. Even if she thought he was making it all up. He had to make sure she was safe.

  Chapter 9

  ASHLEY

  Ashley tapped her fingers on the table impatiently as her phone lit up with Callan’s name again. What part of ‘don’t call me again’ did he not understand? She’d made a huge mistake going to that bar the other night.

  Except… no matter how many times she told herself that, Ashley couldn’t find it within herself to regret the evening. It didn’t feel like a mistake, even if she knew it was.

  She silenced the phone and turned it upside down so she wouldn’t have to see him keep calling. Right now, she didn’t have time or brainpower to devote to thinking about Callan. She’d gotten a call earlier that morning from a potential client.

  “Hola. My name is Estrella and I’ve heard that you help people. I need… help,” the message had said cryptically. When Ashley returned the call, the older woman still didn’t tell her much; she just asked for a meeting and they agreed on a local coffee shop and time.

  Beggars can’t be choosers, Ashley thought ruefully. Clients had been few and far between recently and her meager savings were all but gone. Maybe a nebulous title like ‘Life Coach’ had been a mistake. Maybe she should think about getting a real job. But she liked helping people. It was the one thing that made her feel… complete.

  Her phone vibrated this time and she sneered at Callan’s name. Maybe not the one thing.

  Ugh. Don’t go down that road right now.