The Mercenary and the Shifters (The Turning Stone Chronicles) (29 page)

“Good. I’ll be in touch.” Then he dialed Ewan. “New orders,” he said when the Scottish rogue answered. “Forget Rhys and Alexi Temple. I have more interesting plans for them.”

“And the mither LJ?” Ewan asked.

“Dead. I’m sending you the name of my second-in-command. I want you to work with him while I’m gone.”

“Yes, sir,” Ewan said. “Ye can count on me.”

“Good.”

“Where to, sir?” Pete asked as the helicopter lifted from the compound hangar.

“Canada.” Falhman turned to the rogue manning the helicopter gun. “If they try to follow us, shoot them.”

“You don’t want I should just kill them now, boss, before they shoot us?” the man asked as he aimed the gun at the ground. “I could pick ‘em off real easy.”

“They won’t shoot and risk the child’s life. Besides, what fun would there be in that?” Falhman asked. “No. I want them to squirm knowing I, too, have a powerful child.” He stroked Drystan’s soft hair. “We’re going to have such fun, little one. I’ll teach you things that would curl your mother’s toes, while she’s lying in her grave.

“When your training is done, even Chance won’t be able to stand against you. Then, together, we’ll take down Eli McCraigen and his band of despicable shifters. After that, the world is ours for the taking.”

Falhman’s face lifted toward the sky and he laughed, the sound degenerating into a howl. His shifters joined the chorus, adding their yowls to the cacophony. The noise set Drystan crying, his wails joining in the dissonance.

Falhman stopped howling, beaming instead at the child in his arms. “Yowl, little jackal, yowl. Daddy is going to make you into one big, bad boy.” Then he rejoined his underlings in their animalist yelping.

Eli and his cohorts had better watch out. Things were going to be very different now that he had a son of his own.

Chapter 43

They buried LJ in the Riverside Cemetery. Across from him, Mike noticed Alexi’s unrest as they stood beside the gaping hole where LJ would be lowered to her final resting place. On his right, Fiona stood close enough he could touch her, yet he still couldn’t. She had finally forgiven him for bargaining with her against Falhman but nothing else was settled.

“Doesn’t Alexi like graveyards?” he whispered to Mary Kate, who stood on his left.

“She was buried here,” Mary Kate replied.

Shock must have registered on his face, because Mary Kate quickly amended her statement. “Not her, but everyone thought it was her.” She pointed across the grass. “I think her grave was over there.”

“Must be weird standing so close to your own burial site,” Mike said.

“Aye. We’re lucky there aren’t more of us going in the ground today.”

Mike glanced around at the sober-faced funeral attendees. All people who barely knew LJ, from what he understood. Had he died in the fight, there would probably be no one attending his funeral either, except for the people gathered around LJ’s grave, and maybe George. The kind of job he held, and the life he’d chosen, didn’t allow for many friends. The one true friend he’d had—Hugh—had blown himself up trying to protect the woman they buried today.

Guilt stabbed him. He’d failed—again—in rescuing someone in need. Mike lowered his chin and scrubbed at his forehead trying to gain control of emotions that threatened to overtake him.

“Ye can’t blame yerself, Butch.” Mary Kate gently touched his arm.

“She’s right, Mike,” Fiona said. “You did everything you could to save her. LJ’s own rash actions caused her death.”

“It was my obligation,” Mike said. “My duty. I failed them.”

Fiona leaned into his shoulder. Her touch obviously meant to comfort him did the opposite, sending a shiver up his spine. Did either of the women notice?

“I know if she had stayed with Donaline in the boat, things would have been different,” Fiona said.

“The fight was turning in our favor,” Mary Kate added. “Those attacking the Keeper had no chance of winning. With Falhman afraid to shoot, we’d have won hands down. LJ, not ye, is to blame for what happened. She was a headstrong, rash woman. The Keeper should have tied her in the attic like he threatened.”

Mike’s gaze cut between the two women. Women who had professed feelings for him. Women who’d want to soothe his raging guilt. Or were they being truthful? Did LJ’s rash actions cause her death and not his blasted curse on altruistic motives?

“What you say makes sense, but I don’t know.”

“Time,” Fiona said. “Give it time.”

The funeral director intoned some words of comfort. Then Eli threw a handful of dirt on the casket as they lowered it into the grave.

The sound of the muddy clods hitting the lid reverberated in Mike’s chest. He wasn’t sure time would heal the pain he felt over the failure.

The others slowly moved away. Fiona tossed the rose she held into the grave. Turning, she stared at him with eyes filled with sadness.

Mike’s heart swelled with love. He couldn’t let the darkness in his soul keep him from the woman he loved. Somehow, he had to find a way to move past all of this. For their sakes.

Fiona started to leave and he stopped her.

“We need to talk.”

“About what? You’ve said it all. You hate shifters, liars, deception, and you hate me.” She tried to move around him.

He wrapped his arms around her. “I can’t let you go.”

“You can’t stop me.” She pushed against his chest.

He kissed her. The pressure of her hands on top of his pounding heart lessened. Encouraged by her response, he slanted his mouth over hers, deepening the kiss. Heat shot from their lips to the core of his being as he pressed her closer. His hands roamed over her body, showing her exactly how he felt about her. When he finally released her, Fiona gasped for breath.

“I haven’t been totally truthful with you, Fiona. I am the marrying kind, now that I’ve met you. I love you.”

He searched her eyes. They overflowed with love. They also brimmed with uncertainty.

He kissed her again, pouring all the passion he had into the kiss. He wanted to leave no doubt about his feelings.

“Do you believe me now?”

“I want to but−”

“You’ve opened my heart to love. Restored the humanity I’d lost fighting wars. I don’t want to go back to the person you pulled your gun on the first time we met.”

“But you hate shifters.” Confusion filled her voice as she arched away.

He drew her in tighter, determined not to let her get away again. “Not the one I’m holding in my arms.”

“But what about−”

“Trust me. We’ll work it out.”

Chapter 44

Six Months Later

“Are you certain this is what you want?” Kyle asked as he held out the check to Fiona.

“Positive. Mike and I are going as far away from Cleveland as we can get. Maybe buy a deserted island somewhere in the Caribbean.”
Where there would be no shifters
. After the year she’d been through, she couldn’t get away fast enough. “I want to escape from everything and everyone.”

Kyle gave her an obvious mock hurt expression and slapped his palm on his chest. “And here I thought you really liked me.”

“I do, and you’ve been great, considering everything I put you through. All the secrets, the lies, and half-truths. Yet you forgave me for it all.”

“Hey, you saved my family’s company. Probably my life, considering OmniWorld wanted to kill me.”

She reached for the check, and he yanked it away. “I can’t make you change your mind? Tempt you to stay here, marry me for real, and run our companies together?”

She plucked the check from him. “You’ll do fine without me, and so will WK Shipping under your management. When we’ve settled somewhere, I’ll send a bank address where you can deposit my stock interest.”

“Seriously, Fi, if you ever want to leave this guy, just call me.”

Fiona smiled at Kyle. “Thanks, but I think I’ll stick with him.” She moved into Kyle’s personal space and gave him a hug.

Behind her, Mike growled, obviously displeased at her show of affection. Kyle returned her hug in spite of Mike’s macho objections.

“Take care, Kyle.”

“You, too, Fi.”

As she and Mike left Kyle’s office, Mike wrapped his arm around her waist. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“Easy for you to say. You’re not leaving a place that has been your home all your life.” She stopped and faced him. “Did Rhys tell you how he and Eli fixed everything?”

“No.”

“They convinced the Port Authority to drop my case. OmniWorld, after giving back the companies they forced out of business, seems to have just disappeared off the face of the earth. Even the Cleveland cops have cleaned up their act. Who has the kind of power to make entire organizations bend to their wishes?”

“Besides Falhman?” Mike asked with an arch of his eyebrow. “Considering who, or should I say what, we’ve been dealing with the past few months, I think it might be best to not ask too many questions.” He urged her forward. “Curiosity killed the cat, Fiona. Probably a few more animals—if you get my drift. We’re better off not knowing.”

He lifted her left hand where his engagement ring rested next to her Turning Stone ring, which she now wore on her middle finger. “Are you going to take your brother’s advice and throw this in the ocean?”

She rubbed the magic ring with her thumb. “I know it’s brought me a lot of heartache, but it’s all I have left of my mother, now that I’ve turned WK Shipping over to Kyle. I don’t think I can part with it. At least not yet.”

“Promise me one thing then.”

“What?”

“Destroy the pages of your mother’s journal with the inscription written on them. I don’t want our children finding the incantation after we’re dead. You reading the incantation caused enough shifter trouble to last a lifetime.”

“Hey, it wasn’t all me. Rhys and Falhman played a big part. Not to mention your involvement with shifters as well.”

Hurt filled his face, and she regretted adding him to the list. Losing both LJ and the baby had nearly destroyed him. He’d failed Hugh. Not something he was likely to forget, even though she knew he’d been trying.

“I promise.” She gave him a half smile, her heart filled with unease. She knew they had not seen the end of the shifter problems. Rhys had warned her. She pulled Mike to a stop, and searched his face. “If there is a war, like Rhys predicted, he might ask us to help him. What will you do if he does?”

Mike held her hand, rotating it until the two rings on her left hand faced him. He touched the diamond on the engagement ring. “This ring means I love you, and I will protect you with every ounce of my being.” Then he touched the Turning Stone ring. “I don’t like what this ring represents. The magic. The evil that has sprung from it. But I’m a soldier, and fighting wrong is part of who I am. So . . .”

She held her breath waiting for him to complete his sentence. She knew he loved and accepted her human side, but he hadn’t fully accepted the shifter world, at least he hadn’t told her so.

“Maybe you shouldn’t throw this in the ocean. It might come in handy if your brother enlists us.”

“Then you don’t mind that I’m a shape shifter?”

“It’s not going to stop me from loving you.” He drew her to him and kissed her. When he released her, he leaned his forehead against hers. “Someday we may both shape shift,” he whispered.

She inhaled loudly, then stared at him. “You’d accept a ring?”

“Not a magic ring,” he said with a laugh. “Someday I won’t be strong and muscular. You might not be as shapely. We’ll grow old together and transform shapes as our bodies fall apart. But it won’t change how I feel about you, Fiona. I’ll always love you, shape shifter or no.”

He lowered his lips to her and kissed her again. For the first time in over a year, she was content. Looping her arm in his, she tugged him toward his motorcycle. “I’m holding you to that, Mike Corritore.”

Her phone buzzed, and she answered it.

“Where are you?” Rhys asked.

“On our way.” She thumbed the phone off and climbed onto the bike behind Mike. “Hurry. We’re late for our own wedding.”

Also by
C.D. Hersh
and
Soul Mate Publishing
:

THE PROMISED ONE

(BOOK 1 of THE TURNING STONE CHRONICLES)

In the wrong hands, the Turning Stone ring is a powerful weapon for evil. So, when homicide detective Alexi Jordan discovers her secret society mentor has been murdered and his magic ring stolen, she is forced to use her shape-shifting powers to catch the killer. By doing so, she risks the two most important things in her life—her badge and the man she loves.

Rhys Temple always knew his fiery cop partner and would-be-girlfriend, Alexi Jordan, had a few secrets. He considers that part of her charm. But when she changes into a man, he doesn’t find that as charming. He’ll keep her secret to keep her safe, but he’s not certain he can keep up a relationship—professional or personal.

Danny Shaw needs cash for the elaborate wedding his fiancée has planned, so he goes on a mugging spree. But when he kills a member of the secret society of Turning Stones, and steals a magic ring that gives him the power to shape shift, Shaw gets more than he bargained for.

Available now on Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/nenshjz

BLOOD BROTHERS

(BOOK 2 of THE TURNING STONE CHRONICLES)

When Delaney Ramsey is enlisted to help train two of the most powerful shape shifters the Turning Stone Society has seen in thousands of years, she suspects one of them is responsible for the disappearance of her daughter. To complicate matters, the man has a secret that could destroy them all. Bound by honor to protect the suspect, Delaney must prove his guilt without losing her life to his terrible powers or revealing to the police captain she’s falling for that she’s a shape shifter with more than one agenda.

The minute Captain Williams lays eyes on Delaney Ramsey, he knows she’s trouble. Uncooperative, secretive, and sexy, he can’t get her out of his mind. When he discovers she has a personal agenda for sifting through all the criminal records in his precinct, and secretly investigating his best detective, he can’t let her out of his sight. He must find out what she’s looking for before she does something illegal. If she steps over the line, he’s not certain he can look the other way for the sake of love.

Available now on Amazon
:
http://tinyurl.com/p7nrsn9

SON OF THE MOONLESS NIGHT

(BOOK 3 of THE TURNING STONE CHRONICLES)

Owen Todd Jordan Riley has a secret. He’s a shape shifter who has been hunting and killing his own kind. To him the only good shifter is a dead shifter. Revenge for the death of a friend motivates him, and nothing stands in his way . . . except Katrina Romanovski, the woman he is falling in love with.

Deputy coroner Katrina Romanovski has a secret, too. She hunts and kills paranormal beings like Owen. At least she did. When she rescues Owen from an attack by a werebear she is thrust back into the world she thought she’d left. Determined to find out what Owen knows about the bear, she begins a relationship meant to collect information. What she gets is something quite different-love with a man she suspects of murder. Can she reconcile his deception and murderous revenge spree and find a way to redeem him? Or will she condemn him for the same things she has done and walk away from love?

Available now on Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/guphz45