Outcast (Supernaturals Book 2) (28 page)

“Melissa?” I asked, pulling away from Ryan and jerking my shirt up. “Is my baby okay?” I didn’t see a wound or any mark whatsoever, only a band of some sort. Martin had shot me in the stomach; I knew he had, so I tried to move the band to see if the wound was under it.

“She’s just fine. Don’t move that. That is how the doctor is monitoring her,” he said and pointed to a machine that showed a heart rate. From the machine, I could hear a faint noise.

“Turn it up,” I ordered. My mother complied, and in seconds, my daughter’s heartbeat filled the room. I immediately relaxed and lay back on the bed.

“The shirt saved you,” Ryan said. “Remind me to do something special for Abby and Sam. If you hadn’t been wearing it…” I took his trembling hand and pulled him to me.

After a long moment, I asked about what happened after I passed out and what was going to happen to us now.

“Dave rushed Martin when he saw the man had a gun. He didn’t kill him, and the Regent has him now. They showed up at that moment, had Serena fly you into town, had their guards round up everyone we had taken into custody, and ordered everyone in Pine Hollow to the center of town. Daniel sent most of his pack back home, but Dimitri and Abby are here. Abby is waiting to see you. I’ll bring her in when you are ready.”

Most of Pine Hollow supported Dave and Danielle’s claim to the pack, and surprisingly, they supported Ryan and me as their seconds, especially since we had the Regent’s backing. I wish I had been awake to see the Regent. They were ancient creatures, the oldest of their species, and they radiated power unlike anything anyone had felt, or so they told me.

They sent each Councilperson and their families to live with other packs, then they stayed to watch every person in Pine Hollow swear fealty to Dave and Danielle and listened as the couple outlined their plans for the town. We were going to join the movement to reveal ourselves to the humans. We were no longer going to be breedists. Dave and Danielle decreed that they would allow pack members to marry outside of the pack, though they had to live on pack territory. Once they had made their intentions known, members swore a blood oath to them to follow their lead. Those few who did not the alphas allowed to leave the pack. They remained under the watchful eye of the Regent, though. Sofia and her family were some of these people, and I wasn’t sad to see them go.

I was unsure of my new role in the pack, as I didn’t know much about pack law, but most people accepted me easily enough, and I spent a great deal of my time in the weeks after Dave took over the pack learning what most pack children are taught from birth. I didn’t give up on my own plans, so when I wasn’t preparing the home Ryan had built for us and the baby and studying, I was with Abby, finalizing my paranormal romance based on Ryan’s and my relationship and secretly writing one based on Abby and Dimitri’s.

Epilogue

~~~Leigh~~~

“How does it feel?” Dakota Landry asked from across the table opposite Abby and I. Abby had introduced me to the woman who wrote paranormal romances under the pin name Destiny LeShae—and who happened to be one of my favorite authors—after she had read the second draft of my novel. Abby did some freelance editing for the woman from time to time. Dakota had been reluctant at first to read it, but Abby had insisted, so she relented and ended up greatly enjoying the novel to my shock and relief.

Dakota in turn introduced me to her agent, Haley Braxton, who also enjoyed the novel and offered to take me on, especially when I reluctantly told her that I had a second book in the works, thinking this would help sway the woman in my direction. I was scared to tell Abby about the second novel, but to my surprise, she said she knew I was writing it, which was why she found excuses to talk about how she and Dimitri met and about their subsequent relationship whenever possible.

“I’m excited. I mean, a publisher hasn’t picked it up yet, but Haley said she didn’t think it would take long,” I said, feeling both happy about it all and worried that we were celebrating too soon.

“If Haley says so, then that means she has some good leads. Any day now, you’ll get the call. My publisher is small, but you’ll like working with them if they take you on. Be happy,” Dakota said, raising her glass to me before taking a sip.

“To your success,” Abby said, holding up her wine glass. Dakota and Danielle held up theirs, I held up my virgin daiquiri, and we clinked glasses. Instead of taking a drink, though, I sat my glass down and stared at Abby with a shocked looked on my face.

“What? I promise you, I made it without alcohol,” Abby said, nodding to the pitcher on the table.

“That isn’t it. I… I think my water just broke,” I said, sliding my chair back from the table and looking down.

“Oh shit,” Dakota exclaimed, doing the same with her chair and leaning over the table to look at me.

Abby had her phone out in seconds calling her mother-in-law while Danielle called Ryan, then our mother. I guess it was a good thing that Ryan convinced us to stay home and celebrate. I had wanted to get out of the house, out of town to be exact, and Ryan’s compromise to this was to spend the weekend with the Sullivan pack. He must have sensed the baby was ready to come. I hadn’t had a clue she would arrive this weekend.

“Dimitri’s mom is waiting for us at the clinic,” Abby said. “I’m sorry, Dakota, but we are going to have to cut ts party short.”

“No, I understand. Good luck, Leigh,” she said, waving to me as Abby and my sister helped me from my seat and out of the house.

Dakota didn’t know about shifters, but she knew that the family was very private about things. The baby wouldn’t come out in animal form, but there was a chance that with the stress of the birth one or more of my immediate family members might shift against their will. Dakota couldn’t be around if that happened. That was the same reason that I discouraged Nichole and Margi from being at the birth. Nichole’s mother was too sick for her to fly down, so she hadn’t been too upset when I told her we were keeping the birth private, but Margi hadn’t been pleased. Holding onto my old life and friends has been hard since Ryan and I came together, but I was doing my best to keep at least small parts of my old life near me.

“Thank you,” I said, and then the first real contraction hit. Ryan was at the door the second the scream escaped my lips. He swept me into his arms and rushed me to the clinic.

Four hours later, I was propped up in bed nursing a beautiful little girl. Ryan was sitting at the foot of the bed watching her suckle. The muscles in his arms flexed, and I knew he was itching to hold her, but he couldn’t do that part of the job.

“She’ll go back to sleep in a bit, son,” Melanie said as she bent down to wrap her arms around her son. “When she does, you’ll get to hold her all you want.” She kissed him on the cheek and left the room. I was hungry, and she was going to help my mom cook a large celebratory meal. Danielle followed her after kissing the top of my head.

When we were alone, I looked up at Ryan and mouthed, “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he whispered and leaned over to rub our daughter’s cheek with the back of his hand.

Please turn the page for an exciting sneak peek at Jennifer Reynolds’ upcoming novel, Destined: The Supernaturals Series, Book Three.

Chapter 1

“You have got to be kidding me,” I said, looking up from my laptop to my boss and best friend, one of the most popular supernatural romance authors to date, Destiny LeShae, also known as Dakota Landry by those of us who grew up with her, as she came around my desk with a cup of coffee in hand. “You want me to do what?” The incredulity in my voice was more than evident.

“You read the email,” she said, smiling sadistically at me before taking a sip of her grande, nonfat, sugar-free, pumpkin spice latte.

“Yeah, I read it. I just didn’t think you were being serious. Why me? Your publisher is asking you to do it.” I pointed to the spot on the screen that showed that this was a forwarded email originally meant for Dakota.

“And I’m asking you to do it for me. You are the one who offered to be my personal assistant.” The annoying smirk on her face was aggravating me more than her request. She knew this was an opportunity I dreamed of, but would have never seriously thought would happen.

“This is a bit more than research, basic editing, and social media maintenance. I mean…” I turned back to the screen to read the email again.

“Well, technically it’s research,” Dakota said, pulling my focus back onto her. That was true, but more research than I ever thought I would do for her. She did the more hands-on stuff. I just searched Google for her.

“But don’t you want to be the one to go? You are the author after all. I mean, I don’t mind going with you, but one would think you would prefer getting the information firsthand.” My insides were shaking at the thought of what Dakota was asking me to do in her place. Every wet dream I’ve ever had either while lying in bed or in a daydream, told me how bad I wanted to do this, but…but…I couldn’t do this. I wasn’t the type of girl who did something like this.

“Okay, look, Talia. I really don’t want to do this,” Dakota said, pulling her chair over to my desk and taking a seat. All amusement left her face, and for the first time, I saw a bit of fear in her eyes. Her tone was also serious, telling me she wasn’t going to budge on this. I could say no, but she was going to be upset with me if I did, because she would have to go, and she wasn’t going to be pleasant to anyone for a long time if she did. I didn’t think my not going would destroy our friendship or anything — at least, I hoped it wouldn’t—but it would mean she would give me the cold shoulder for weeks, and her cold shoulders burned.

“I know I write about the supernatural and all,” she said after taking a deep breath, “but I’m not ready to meet one of
them
.”

“But you’re friends with Abby and…” I started confused by her fear. I’d never seen this side of her before…ever. Abby Sullivan and Leigh Hart were human women who’ve fallen in love with supernaturals and who’ve helped the supernatural world come into the human one.

“I am, and I love them dearly, but she and Leigh are human…and the shifters are different from the weres, or, at least the packs they live with are. They’re mostly humans who can turn into animals. Despite that, I’m not ready to spend more than a few hours on Sullivan territory or in Pine Hollow, let alone live amongst them for a month.”

“What makes you think that I am?”

She just looked at me as if I’d said the stupidest thing she’d ever heard. “You’ve done nothing but talk about them since they came out of the closet, so to speak. You’ve researched them more than any person I know. I see the way you moon over the photos of the men who’ve come out. You want to do this. We both know you do, you are just too scared to admit it.”

“But you’re the writer not me.” My protest was feeble, and we both knew it.

“You don’t have to do anything more than record their stories, take notes, and maybe photograph a few things. Bring it all home, then I’ll compile it and write the story. Look sweetie, I have another piece that I would rather work on at this moment. I really don’t have time to do the research.”

I sighed and looked over the email again. A representative from the supernatural community, Abby probably, had approached the publishing house that Dakota wrote for about doing a series of creative non-fiction pieces about the supernatural community. Abby and Leigh were writing stories for the shifters, and they wanted Dakota to begin the series about weres. They would use real stories, but would ramp up the romance side of things to make them more appealing to their target audience. The idea was all part of the supernatural communities PR plan to ease their integration into the human society.

“Are you sure your editor won’t mind me going in your stead?” I asked, growing more and more comfortable with the idea the more I thought about it. I’ve kind of always wanted to be a part of one of her stories. No, I didn’t believe that I would meet my soul mate amongst whatever pack I was going to be spending time with and get to write an erotic tale about it, but I did want to be a part of the world. Ever since they’d come out, I’d felt connected to them in a way I couldn’t and didn’t explain to anyone else.

“Nah. As long as I write the story, she doesn’t really care how I go about obtaining the information for it. So does this mean you will do it?”

“Yeah, I’ll do it.” I couldn’t control my swiftly shifting emotions that had me both elated and terrified at the same time.

“Good. I’ll send you the information and the arrangements.” She wheeled her chair around and went back to her desk.

Five minutes later, my inbox held a number of emails from both Dakota and her editor, Stacy. I had basic information on the coyote band I would be staying with and the members I would be interacting with, transportation and lodging, estimated length of stay and deadlines for when each person wanted certain pieces of information.

I forwarded all the information to my personal email so that I would have them for future references, then I went back to the first email and began to read them all again very carefully, not believing any of this was happening.

According to the emails, I would be spending a month with the Coldwater Falls coyote band in east Tennessee. I had to up load all of the data I would accumulate each day and send it to Dakota so that she could begin planning each story. Everything seemed straightforward, simple, and interesting. That didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous and worried that I wouldn’t get the information she needed. Although, I figured that she could always supply me with questions she needed answered if I didn’t.

In all honesty, the trip was just what I needed to escape the whirlwind that had been my life for the last year or so. I never thought I would find myself jobless and husbandless in one fail swoop, but sometimes life liked to sucker punch you like that. I didn’t need the cheating bastard, but had needed the job. With the economy the way it was, I could understand why the bookstore I had worked at throughout most of my adult life had closed. I just hated it had because that store was all I had ever known.

I had started working at the store right out of high school and had worked my way up to store manager. I was happy. I had not needed anything more out of life than my job, my home, and my husband. In less than a month’s time, though, I had none of the above. Luckily, I had family and friends who were there to help me. Family and friends who wouldn’t be happy with what I was planning to do. My parents especially would not easily accept living with supernaturals for a single night let alone a month.

Yes, I’m an adult, and shouldn’t need my parents for anything, but since the divorce, I’ve leaned on them a bit, which has reverted me back to a small child in their eyes, no matter how much I tried to show them that I could take care of myself. Living in one of their rental properties for half of what the small house was worth was not what I called being self-sufficient, and didn’t help the way they saw me, but it was better than living on the street. My parents hadn’t wanted to charge me rent at all, but I had refused to move in until they agreed to a payment, stating that I would sleep in my car if they didn’t.

A month after the bookstore closed and my husband left, I found a job working part time at a used bookstore making half of what I was making before. Two months after that I found a ten hour a week job working at The Dollar Store. And three months after that, Dakota came to me with a job offer. Again, it would be part time and something that I wouldn’t always have to be at her house to do, but it was something on my long road to independence.

At first, I had accused her of making the job up for me because we were friends and she knew of the problems I was having. She had tried to convince me that wasn’t true, but I wouldn’t listen. Finally she admitted to part of it, saying, “You are part of the reason, but not all of it. I do need someone. I’d been thinking about hiring an assistant for nearly a year now. I can’t pay you much and it won’t be something that will take up all of your time, but I can’t manage all of this myself.”

She wrote for a small press. Because they were so small, Dakota had to do most things on her own. I kept her followers on all of her social media sites up to date on what she was working on, where her next event was, and what she had for lunch, and she paid me fairly well to do so. I was there for her to bounce ideas off. I went with her to book signings and events just so she didn’t have to be alone, as she wasn’t married either. I ran errands for her and even did some editing work. I enjoyed working with her and really wished she had enough work and could afford to hire me full time, but I took what I could get.

Looking at the payment amount listed in the email, I knew that the supernatural world were the ones splitting the bill for this little adventure. I lived paycheck to paycheck with barely anything left out of each week’s check to do things like go to the movies, but at least I could say I was taking care of myself, which was more than those who sided with my ex-husband thought I would be able to do. The money the supernaturals were paying though, would keep me from worrying about anything for a little while. I was surprised that Dakota had even offered me the job after seeing that, or maybe that was the real reason she had offered it to me. Every morning, I thanked God that I hadn’t had children with my ex, so my divorce was cut and dry, and I didn’t have anyone but myself relying on my meager income.

“Did you get all of that?” Dakota asked, breaking into my thoughts.

I looked up from the computer I worked on while at her home and nodded. “I’ll have to take a leave of absence from my other jobs and pray I still have them when I return,” I said, letting that realization slam into me. I hoped I hadn’t gotten excited for nothing. “If they don’t let me off, I may not be able to go.”

“You don’t work that many hours for either place. Surely, they can fill your spot for a month,” she said dismissively. “If they don’t, don’t worry. This trip will pay you more than either of them will in six months. That will give you plenty of time to find something else.”

I gave her a questioning look, then searched for that information in one of the emails she had sent to me. I knew the shifters had offered financial compensation for this project, but I hadn’t thought it was that much until I read that the payment was for each couple I interviewed and not for the entire trip as a whole. The total I read wasn’t a fortune, but Dakota was right, it would keep me comfortable for a few months upon my return to allow me time to find another job.

Couple that with the fact that I would still have a job with her when I returned and my financial worries were shoved aside for the time being. And, a hopeful part of my brain added, if you do this right, they might ask you to do more. There are hundreds of different types of supernatural beings, all with their own stories to tell, and I could be the one to gather these stories. That thought perked me right up.

I could see myself loving a job like that. I could go from one group to another, gathering their stories, getting to know the people, experiencing lives that I would otherwise never get to experience. It would be like reading a new book every day, but better because I would be able to see these people firsthand.

Yeah, Dakota and others would add more drama and flare to the stories once they got a hold of them and possible make them even better than the originals, but I would be able to see and experience some aspects of it all firsthand, something few other people would get to do.