Westmore Wolves Series: Shapesifter Collection Bks 1-5 Page 16

  Today was supposed to bring things back in line. Did it bother her that she had to nag the living mess out of him to get him out here?

  Yep.

  But she’d done it and here he was. Sort of. When she turned her head to see if he was following her, instead she found him once again talking to the pretty polar bear shifter. Kally was a blond bombshell, completely opposite to Violet’s black hair and curvy form. And lately, Kally always seemed to be there. Just like Violet’s dreams.

  Damn it.

  The whole thing was freaking her out. Of all the lame powers to get. Why couldn’t she have a nice wiggle your nose and get a ray of ice to come out of her finger kind of power? Stupid dreams that made her paranoid were not helping.

  Violet sped up, her movements taking her to the other side of the lake. Far away from the truth staring her right in the face. The wind bit at the points of her ears that stuck out from beneath her hair.

  Her relationship was over.

  And the thought distracting her, she didn’t notice the tiny cracks in the ice until her foot slid out from underneath and she tumbled. The ice gave and before she could react, she had fallen through, the freezing water taking her over.

  It was all in slow motion. The images from her dream merging with the reality of what was happening to her.

  Why in the Goddess’s name didn’t she stay home?

  Joseph’s muffled voice sounded above the surface, but it soon vanished as she sank into the frigid water. Her magic choked even worse in her panic and she descended, helpless against the elements. Clawing at her throat, she panicked until she understood there was no other way. It was done. Joseph wouldn’t be able to save her. Not then and sure as hell not now.

  Her body stilled and she stopped struggling, letting the current drag her down beneath the frigid depths.

  Joseph didn’t love her and her heart was breaking. Maybe it was better this way. Hell, her parents only wanted to manipulate her out of the way so they didn’t have to contend with the truth. She was a fae without powers. An anomaly. Drowning would be easier than what lay in store for her on the side of the lake or back at her parents’ house when they found out about the soon to be broken engagement. She would be once again paraded through the social functions and married off to the first widower they could find.

  No. This seemed like the best option. Enough was enough. No more struggle. No more being second best with no shot at ever getting it right. Not powerful enough. Not thin enough. Not pretty enough to hold the interest of the one man who had vowed to marry her.

  Tears slipped from her eyes and she choked back a sob, the cold, dark water taking her tears as soon as they came.

  Her chest hurt. Darkness slid behind her eyes and she knew without a doubt that she was going to die. It was a hollow feeling, but once she got over the fear, she relaxed her arms at her sides and let the water in.

  Death could have her. No one else seemed interested.

  Then a ruggedly handsome face swam into view. A figment of her overactive imagination, she was sure. Dark eyes snapped in her direction, angry as the blue devil.

  “Live. You have to live.” His voice rumbled and heat slid through her cold body, giving her a start. The kind of heat she’d never felt with Joseph. Panty melting scorchy heat that made her groan out loud. Then the bastard was gone.

  Shit.

  Who the hell was that?

  Now she was seeing a strange man underwater. And fantasizing about him. She started to feel guilty and remembered why she was here.

  Faithless motherfucking bastard.

  She didn’t want to die. She pushed along the current, possibly hopeless but she had to try. Her brain seemed to shut down from lack of oxygen. She started to drift again and heard a sound above her. The muffled sound of ice breaking drifted through her foggy awareness. A pair of arms wrapped around her, dragging her up from the murky recesses and the tangled plant life reaching for her from the bottom of the lake. With a gasp she realized someone was transporting her up toward the surface.

  Did Joseph come for her then? Hope lit her insides if only for a moment.

  She opened her eyes to find a mysterious blond haired man looking at her with intense gray eyes, his lips twisted into a mischievous smile. He wore a simple black sweater and jeans, boots winking out from beneath the denim. Not a bit of it was wet from their underwater excursion.

  What the hell was happening?

  Exactly.

  The voice that sounded between her ears was masculine.

  Shit.

  Violet blinked. He’d answered her thought. In her own head.

  Shocked, it barely registered that he’d burst through the ice barrier and hauled her up onto the frozen surface. The glacial air went right through her drenched sweater, jeans and coat.

  Her useless magic sputtered in reaction to the cold and her teeth chattered, her pointed ears freezing as they poked through her sopping hair.

  “You’re going to catch your death.” With a wink, the man turned and there perched on the surface of the icy water was a fishing shanty.

  “Whhheeerrreee’s Joooossseeph?”

  She couldn’t very well ask about the nameless hunk.

  “Oh, your lumbering idiot is across the lake, likely mourning you for dead. Now come on. Up. If you think I’m carrying you any further, you’re crazy.” He lifted her onto her feet and helped her toward the small wooden fishing shack.

  What the hell?

  The man winced. “Wrong side of the tracks, there, sunbeam. You forget I can hear every word. Now come on.” He urged her forward, guiding her steps to the doorway of the cabin.

  “Who are you?” Her lips and every other part of her body were numb and she could hardly speak, let alone walk. She squeezed her eyes shut, convinced she had to be dreaming. A human would be dead now, she realized. As fae, she had survived, but only just.

  “Ah. Forgive me. I’m Seth.” He led her inside, filling the doorway with his bulk. He bowed, a shadow of dark wings filtered by and she felt the air rush over her face.

  Her jaw fell open and she scuttled backwards against the wall of the shanty, her limbs still stiff from the cold. “Jesus.”

  “Not exactly.” Seth sighed and pulled his face. “You were going to die. I couldn’t let that happen.”

  “Why not?” She’d been ready. Maybe.

  “You want the long answer or the short one?”

  “Surprise me.”

  His wings faded and Seth stepped inside the small enclosure. “I’m one of the Grimare. To you, I guess an Angel of Death wouldn’t be far from a good description. We’re not supposed to get involved in the dealings of mortals and fae but when you went down in the drink back there, it…let’s just say it wasn’t right. I couldn’t let that slide. Not this time.” His lips twisted into a grimace.

  Violet scrunched her face and narrowed her eyes. “Why do you even care? I don’t know you. As good as my powers are I might as well not be fae at all. I was probably switched at birth.”

  That would explain a few things too.

  The angel laughed, a rich sound that went straight to parts of Violet she didn’t want to think about. Not right then anyway.

  “Oh. You are a pip, aren’t you?” Seth chuckled. “The Fates are always at it, deciding people’s paths for them. Watching what happened with a friend of mine recently taught me that. Wrong place, wrong time and you’re cursed forever. It wasn’t fair. If she could find love, then so can you. And no. You weren’t switched at birth either.”

  Dang.

  “So what are you? Cupid?”

  He did have the wings.

  “No.” He scowled at her. “I’m just putting a few things right.”

  Whoa. Touchy.

  “What things?” The man was insane, savior or not. And the wings…it was probably lack of oxygen or something. Wings on fae? Okay sure. Most the summer fae had them. Winter…not so much. She was lucky enough not to have them. Violet knew plenty of girls who had a h
orrible time finding new clothes. Frankly they just got in the way.

  But angels? Now that was just downright weird.

  “Like I said. The Fates are always up to no good. If they can twist a thread or two to entertain themselves, they’ll do it. We typically collect those who die and bring them back to be rewoven back into the tapestry.”

  “Who’s we?”

  “The Grimare. Angels.”

  “But why did you save me? I’m not even remotely special.” Violet’s throat was thick with unshed tears. She’d almost died.

  “You are.” Seth gave her a tender smile and brushed some hair out of her face in a brotherly expression of affection. “You just need someone to tell you that once in a while. And I think I may have a line on just the right person for that, but first I need your help.”

  “But I just told you…I can’t help you with anything.”

  “Oh, ye of little faith.”

  “Ugh. Are you serious? It’s not some horrible job like luring people to their deaths or something, is it?”

  He stared at her, horrified. “No!”

  “Okay.” Violet swallowed and bit her lip.

  “It’s a good thing. Trust me. Those dreams of yours are about to be put to good use.”

  “My dreams?” Her dreams sucked. They just showed things she didn’t want to see most of the time.

  “Unfortunately for you, yes. Or fortunately, depending how you look at things.” Seth shrugged, an awkward grin sliding across his face. “The Fates got a little snag in their tapestry today and you appear to be the lucky bit of hot mess that got dumped in my lap.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means I have a task for you. Accept it and live. Refuse it and Death will come calling again soon enough.” Seth’s face was grim, his expression becoming wistful and even a little boyish. “Besides, you kind of owe me and I’d rather not lose you. That water was cold.” He shivered and shook out his wings. “If I have to go in again after you, somebody is going to find their wings clipped in the middle of the night.”

  He stared up in the direction of the sky and Violet could swear she heard the echo of laughter.

  Not weird. No. Not weird at all.

  “Hmmm. Well there you are. So, what’s it going to be? Are you going to come along, help some people and do this, or am I going to have to throw you back in?”

  “Ugh…yeah. Sure. I don’t suppose you’d consider sharing just what it is I’ll be doing? Just talking about my dreams doesn’t seem very big on the scale of things.” Violet blinked and a wave of dizziness slid over her, images of people searching for her glided through her thoughts like a movie. Her stomach lurched and she bent over, trying like hell not to barf all over the Angel of Death’s shoes.

  Seth stepped back with a yelp.

  “What was that?” She struggled to speak, the sheer number of pictures flipping through her mind making her head spin.

  “That would be your dreams…er…visions. Probably should be a warning label. May cause dizziness and vomiting. Just a natural extension of what you’ve already experienced at night, I’m afraid.” He made a face and took another strategic step back, out of the line of fire.

  “What?” It came out in a gasp and Violet closed her eyes, willing the influx of outside people and thoughts to stop. She absently twisted the ring around her finger and the unwanted visage of Joseph holding a willing Kally in his arms invaded her mind. And her parents. They stood in a stark field of green with headstones dotting the landscape. Silent except for the lonely call of a bird, they moved to comfort each other and Violet was able to see the headstone of the grave. A chill slithered through the deepest parts of her.

  If she thought the dreams were a pain in the ass, the visions took on a whole new level of creepy and terrible. Violet felt like she was right there, feeling whatever the people in the visions were experiencing. Joseph’s joy at being in Kally’s arms…and not dealing with their impending breakup. Her parents’ sadness-and her mother’s unabashed relief at not having to find her a suitable husband after all as she took in Joseph and Kally and their poorly disguised effort not to show how much they meant to one another.

  Ugh.

  She was dead.

  Thank the Goddess. If she had to be around those fake assholes one more day she was going to lose it. Permanently.

  Wait. Or was she? Her mind was trying to process what it was the angel was saying and what she was seeing.

  Shit.

  “Wait. That was real?” Violet blurted out, holding out her hand and interrupting him. She rubbed at her eyes, then wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered. It was too much. The images were so lifelike she could reach out and touch the people in them.

  Seth hesitated, his face solemn. That was all the answer she needed.

  “He’s really with her? Right now.”

  “He is. And yes.” Sadness clouded his features. “Your family believes you’ve died.”

  “Oh.” A tear slid down her face and chills wracked her body. “Now what?”

  “Now you either take my hand so I can get you started or you can go back to your life and try to pick up the pieces. But make no mistake, Death will call again soon.”

  “How long have I been gone?”

  Seth considered her question. “Two weeks.”

  “You’re kidding.” It only seemed like an hour at most. “But how is that even possible?”

  The angel raised an eyebrow and she caught the faint shimmer of his nearly invisible wings. “Do you really have to ask me that?”

  Violet pursed her lips and tried to still the churning in her gut. What did she really have to go back to? Her family was better off without her and her fiancé hadn’t even waited for her to fall into the ice before he started scoping out a new girl.

  Wow.

  She hoped his dick froze and fell off.

  In pieces.

  Her fingertips tingled and she grit her teeth once more at her failure at being a real winter fae. The kind that could zot the frozen bejeezus out of a guy at twenty paces. Maybe she should ask the angel for some mojo while she was at it. Maybe he could pull some strings.

  She twirled the ring on her finger once more and drew it off, the cold weight of it almost nonexistent in her palm. She took Seth’s hand and rose, marching past him outside into the cold. There, a few steps away was the black hole in the ice where he’d pulled her up.

  Throwing back her arm, she tossed the ring into the dark waters, immediately walking back to where Seth stood waiting. She was done. There was nothing left.

  “I see you’ve made your choice.” A wry smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

  There was no other decision to make.

  “I have. But I don’t suppose you can tweak my powers any…so I can maybe, oh be a tad more effective at wading through my hereditary gene pool?”

  “Um. No.” Seth ran his hand down the back of his head and gave her a chagrined look. “Sorry. Look, you’re going to have your hands full. Trust me.”

  Damn.

  “How long will I do this for? Will I still be fae or am I an angel?”

  Seth snorted through his nose and coughed into his hand. “Oh, I’d say you’re no angel, princess.”

  “Wow. That wasn’t smart assed at all. What kind of angel are you anyway?”

  “The kind you want, trust me.” He gave her a wistful smile. “We have two weeks. Time moves a little different here. But you can’t go back. Even if you want to.”

  “I could try.” Violet stuck her chin in the air.

  Seth shrugged. “You could. But you’d be going back to what you just saw and do you really want that? A life where you were a fish out of water? I’m trying to save you from that, not stick you back in.”

  “But why?”

  She really wanted to know. No one in her life cared about her enough to even fish her out of a frozen lake and this…this stranger not only did that, but was trying to untangle some crazy thread she was su
pposedly tangled in.

  The angel looked down and pulled his lip between his teeth in an exasperated sigh. “Look. I watch people. And you don’t deserve what happened to you. No one should be invisible. Not like that. I want to give you a chance but I also need your help.”

  Oh.

  “So, now what? Do I stand here and freeze for another two weeks while you fill me in or is there a warmer place we can have this conversation?”

  A loud burst of laughter erupted from Seth’s lips and he ran his hand through his mane of blond hair. “And here I was worried you’d try to go back to that cheating ball of fur.”

  Violet snorted. “Not on your life.”

  “Not on mine, sweet cheeks. On yours.” Seth grinned and beckoned her forward. “Come on. If you’re warmed up a little we have places to go.”

  Violet gasped as Seth tugged her out of the small fishing shack, his wings rising up into the night.

  Chapter One

  Violet sat cross-legged on the hotel room bed. The comforter had seen better days and she kicked it off, letting it hit the carpeted floor with a whomp. Seth had gone to meet one of his secret angelic sources and she was left to her own devices. Again.

  “You wait here. I’ll be back later.”

  They’d gotten into town late last night and, as per normal, he’d procured a room key and a fast food burger for her to eat out of thin air and had promptly disappeared. She woke bleary eyed in another strange room and sighed.

  Wandering around and saving people sounded good when he’d first explained everything to her. But now that they’d been bouncing around for a week, it was getting old, fast. It reminded her of that Michael Landon angel show she used to watch in reruns. Just endless wandering. Highway to Heaven? Yeah. That was it. Only it felt more like a highway to random hotel hell.

  Violet had had enough.

  She yanked on some jeans and a tee shirt from the small suitcase Seth had presented her with at their first stop and smoothed some lip gloss on. Where and how he came up with the things he brought her, she had no idea but she didn’t see any evidence of a MasterCard sticking out of his back pocket. Running a brush through her mane of dark hair, Violet shrugged on some sandals and exited the room. She needed some food. She still had the twenty bucks from before in her pocket and now seemed as good a time as any to spend a little of it.