Authors: Vella Day
Tags: #Paranormal Werewolf Romance, #Paranormal Erotica
Even though Anna
told her therapist she didn’t need to have weekly sessions anymore, James insisted she return one more time. As far as she was concerned, no amount of talking or counseling could erase what happened to her. One thing he said rang true. Her future was up to her. Either she could walk around in fear or embrace the challenges of life and move forward. Anna’s whole life had been one battle after another, and moving forward had always been her motto. First, her parents had given her up at birth, and then her first foster home failed to take care of her properly, putting her back into the system until she was adopted at the age of six. Unfortunately, her new parents were only supportive when it suited them. All in all, she’d been dealt a raw hand. Until a few years ago, she’d allowed self-pity to guide her decisions. If nothing else, James had shown her there was a lot of good in the world, and it was there for the taking—if she had the courage to grab it.
Her thoughts shot to Dalton who personified good. He’d been there for her when she needed him, which was more than she could say for anyone else in her life—except for maybe Elana and Jillian. When she questioned James about Dalton, he just shrugged, claiming he didn’t feel comfortable telling her about another person. James was after all a therapist whose role it was to respect a person’s privacy.
It didn’t matter. She wasn’t in therapy to discuss her lack of a love life anyway. She was there because Frank Whitlaw had kidnapped her. With much work, James had finally convinced her that involvement with the man had been a fluke. Not only had James helped her put the trauma in perspective, he’d been a font of information, especially when it came to what she’d seen the night of her capture. Anna hadn’t wanted to believe that her friend had shifted from a human into a white tiger, or that her boss’s brother Brian had transformed into a bear right in front of her eyes, but apparently they had. For weeks Anna had been positive she’d lost her mind, but James had explained she had been mistaken.
Apparently, people who could shift from an animal into a human were appropriately called shifters. He even went on to say that Silver Lake was full of these shifter-like creatures. Now that was scary. Every time someone came into the flower shop where she worked, she tried to decide if they might be one. Of course, she was unable to detect if they were, but it was interesting to guess nonetheless.
After a week of deep reflection on the topic, Anna dredged up the courage to ask James for more info on shifters. He seemed happy to oblige and explained such concepts as a shifter’s mate, and then what happens after a shifter bites the human he was destined to be with. The whole idea of a fated mate still freaked her out though she did like the concept that when a shifter found his fated mate, he would protect her at all cost and would be totally devoted to her. Now that she could get used to.
Sadly, who was paired with who was not up to the shifter or the person he was mated with. The gods decided it—or rather one goddess in particular did. Talk about another paradigm shift! Because of being in the system, she wasn’t brought up with a religious background. Still, the idea of gods and goddesses was hard to get used to. According to James, she had no control over this part of her destiny. She might be mated with a shifter or she might not.
Regardless of whether she had any control over her fate, she still dreamed of Dalton. Then the underdeveloped rational side of her brain told her the gods wouldn’t be that cruel. They’d never pit someone who was so straight-laced and uptight with someone like her. He’d balk for sure. Anna loved art and all things relating to nature, and she bet Dalton feasted on spreadsheets and logic.
It was silly to even dream about something like that since she wasn’t buying the concept of a destined mate. However, no harm ever came from a little make believe.
Just in case she was wrong, at the next session she asked James how someone could tell if two people were destined to be together. All he would say was that the answer would be in the shifter’s eyes.
Great. The whole window of his soul thing didn’t help her at all.
Bottom line, she needed to push the whole idea aside and let nature take its course. Truth was, the whole biting stuff scared her, despite having the end result worth it. If a shifter bit his human mate, she’d become a shifter too. Having power like that would go a long way in being able to protect herself.
James did stress that the shifters and Wendayans worked together in Silver Lake, and that the shifters protected their fellow witches. In the end, it didn’t matter if her mate turned out to be a shifter or not. Someone would be there to protect her. Anna got great comfort from that fact.
For weeks after that talk, her head didn’t stop spinning from all the information James had so casually tossed out at her. But weird shit like that wasn’t all they discussed. James and she talked about her life growing up as well as her need to find her birth parents. She’d always believed that knowing why they’d given her up might help heal her belief that she’d somehow been unlovable. James told her that she personally had nothing to do with her parents’ decision. Circumstances might have dictated that they give her up. While probably true, she’d come this far in her search and would like to learn their identities.
So here she was at his house for the last time. Anna had finally put to rest what had happened to her, yet a bit of melancholy had seeped in. She liked talking to the old man. Not only was he was wise and so sure of himself, he possessed an aura of pure knowledge. What she wouldn’t give to unlock what made him tick.
Anna smiled thinking back to the first time she’d arrived at the ancient looking stone house. It had given her the creeps for sure with its dark interior, but after a few weeks she began to feel safe inside. It might have been because James didn’t judge her or because he was the only person she’d never been able to get any kind of reading from when she touched him. No, that wasn’t true. She hadn’t been able to get a reading off of Dalton either. Both of them seemed to be able to block her talents. While she’d never asked James, she wouldn’t be surprised if he too was some kind of Wendayan like Dalton.
Anna knocked on his door and James answered quickly. “Anna, nice to see you again. Please come in.”
The smell of freshly baked cookies caused her stomach to grumble. As soon as she entered the main room, she spotted a plate filled with chocolate chip cookies on the table.
“My wife baked them,” he said answering her unasked question.
“She did?” Anna had assumed the woman had passed. Never once had she been around when Anna visited, though it was possible she worked the night shift at a hospital or perhaps was a waitress at an all night diner.
“Yes, last night, but Naliana had to leave today. Otherwise, the two of you could have met.” She didn’t need to touch his arm to feel his pain.
“I’m sorry.”
He smiled but the joy didn’t reach his eyes. “Thank you. She’ll return in a month.”
“A month? That must be tough to be separated for so long.”
“Indeed. Shall we begin?”
PACK WARS
(Paranormal)
Training Their Mate
(book 1)
Claiming Their Mate
(book 2)
Rescuing Their Virgin Mate
(book 3)
Box Set
(books 1-3)
Loving Their Vixen Mate
(book 4)
Fighting For Their Mate
(book 5)
Enticing Their Mate
(book 6)
MONTANA PROMISES
(Full length contemporary)
Promises of Mercy
(book 1)
Foundations For Three
(book 2)
Montana Fire
(book 3)
Hart To Hart
(book 4)
Burning Seduction
(book 5)
Montana Promises Box Set
(books 1-3)
ROCK HARD, MONTANA
(contemporary novellas)
Montana Desire
(book 1)
Awakening Passions
(book 2)
HIDDEN HILLS SHIFTERS
(Paranormal)
An Unexpected Diversion
(book 1) –
FREE
Bare Instincts
(book 2)
Shifting Destinies
(book 3)
Embracing Fate
(book 4)
Promises Unbroken
(book 5)
SOUTHERN SHIFTERS KINDLE WORLDS
WERES & WITCHES OF SILVER LAKE
A Magical Shift
(book 1)
Catching Her Bear
(book 2)
A Surge of Magic
(book 3)
The Bear’s Forbidden Wolf
(book 4)
Her Reluctant Bear
(book 5)
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