Bearly Dated (The Enigma Shifters) Read online

  Bearly Dated

  The Enigma Falls Shifters

  Eliza Gayle

  Gypsy Ink Books

  Contents

  Be The First To Know

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  Also by Eliza Gayle

  Books writing as E.M. Gayle

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  1

  Violet Raye stared at her sister as if she’d grown a second head and horns. That’s how crazy this all sounded. We were expected to develop actual psychic powers? Was she for real?

  Maybe it was time for the therapist to seek therapy. What else could explain the story she had just spun? Shapeshifters are real, and the three of them might not be quite human either?

  “Dragons and bears? Seriously?”

  Her sister nodded. “Cougars and wolves too, although not here. I understand there are different clans located around the mountains, and the bears chose to settle here, putting some distance between them and the others. It’s all very political and kind of weird. And they don’t want humans to know about them, so there’s that too.”

  She blinked at the overload of information hitting her all at once. Jami sounded so matter-of-fact about it all, and she wanted to shake her sister until she woke up from whatever nightmare she’d stepped into.

  “Vi, Savi say something,” Jami implored.

  Violet turned to Savannah to see if her other sister had any thoughts on this nonsense, but the look on her face gave nothing away other than shock.

  When Savannah said nothing, Violet felt obligated to do something. The look of desperation on Jami’s face unnerved her.

  “I’m not sure I know what you want me to say here, Jami. Well, that’s not exactly true. I want to ask you if this is some kind of joke, because what the hell else could it be? But I can clearly tell you think this is serious, which is even more disturbing.”

  “It is serious. I am serious. Trust me, I know how outrageous this all sounds. I had trouble with it, too, and if I hadn’t seen it all with my own eyes I probably wouldn’t believe it either.”

  “You’ve seen someone turn into a dragon? A real life, covered in scales, fire-breathing, bigger-than-a-house dragon.”

  Jami glanced over at her new husband before she returned her attention back to them. Violet didn’t know what the heck that look was supposed to mean, but her discomfort grew worse. She had a feeling this night had just turned to shit. Screw the night, maybe the entire visit.

  “Yes, I have. And you will, too, when the time is right.”

  Violet jumped from her seat and paced across the room. “When is there ever a right time for something like that? This is nuts.”

  “I probably shouldn’t have led with that. It was too much information all at once. I just thought ripping the Bandaid off and getting it all out on the table was the best way to go about this.”

  “Yeah, if you want me to take this even remotely seriously, I’m going to need proof,” Savannah finally said quietly.

  Violet stared at her normally wild sister and wondered how she was so calm. Didn’t she realize what was going on? They were triplets. Their DNA wasn’t just common, all three of them were linked. If Jami was having some sort of mental break, they were all going to be affected. They’d proven their triplet connection so many times over the years, they no longer bothered to question it. But this? They were going to have to draw the line.

  “I get that,” Jami said. “I demanded proof as well. Unfortunately, Maxim is the only shifter currently here, and forcing his dragon out sometimes comes with dangerous consequences. So we’ll have to wait for one of the others…”

  Violet’s entire body jerked at that startling revelation. Fear for her sister jammed up her throat. If this was the kind of nonsense the Russian billionaire had filled her sister’s head with, then he was far more dangerous than she’d originally thought. This wasn’t just about Jami getting her heart broken, this could be life and death.

  Maybe it was some sort of cult brainwashing thing. It wouldn’t be the first time some rich, eccentric guy made his followers believe some outlandish things. Maxim Drago could be one of them.

  “Is this what you were talking about?” Savannah said looking at her.

  Vi swallowed thickly. Ever since Jami had called with the news of her upcoming nuptials and the insistence that they come to Enigma Falls as soon as possible, nightmares had plagued her sleep. Some she remembered, and some she didn’t, but all of them made her skin crawl with the sensation of impending doom.

  How in the world could she explain the red, glowing eyes of a creature she couldn’t explain? Or the skull-crushing pain she’d felt in her head when a man she didn’t recognize looked at her with an expression of pure hatred and evil? Not to mention, she was pretty sure she had died in that dream. What else would explain the sensation of not being able to move or talk as those around her went about their lives while she screamed for help?

  She’d shared only a fraction of what she’d dreamt with Savannah and none of it with Jami. Because it had been too crazy.

  Just like this…

  But that didn’t mean—

  “What does that mean?” Jami turned to her. “What are you talking about?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “Bullshit,” Savannah coughed.

  She glared at her big mouthed sister. So much for hoping she would have her back when it came to the sanity of this little family meeting.

  “Someone needs to tell me what is going on right now,” Jami demanded. “This isn’t a joking matter.”

  Violet frowned. “Do you see anyone laughing?”

  “Maybe we should take a break.” Drago moved closer, and Jami stared daggers at him.

  However, no one else said anything right away. Sometimes, we were all on the same wavelength and talking wasn’t necessary. That was not the case now. For her, she was tired of listening. Her lack of sleep on top of her sister’s troublesome fantasies had taken its toll. She needed to escape.

  “I don’t think we need a break so much as we all need to lay our cards on the table for all to see. Everyone seems to be measuring their words or deliberately keeping secrets. This isn’t like us. Since when can we not be honest with each other?”

  Savannah’s words poked at her guilt. Easy for her to say. As far as Violet could tell, Savannah had nothing to hide. She wasn’t the one having weird dreams or the one being brainwashed about paranormal creatures that couldn’t possibly exist.

  “Can we have a moment to talk this over alone?” She didn’t look at Drago when she asked the question, but she figured she didn’t have to. There wasn’t anyone else in the room. Jami and her husband had gotten them alone and then ambushed them. If they had any hope of having a serious conversation it needed to be without him present.

  Jami nodded at him, and Drago quietly disappeared into a private room just off the main living space. She doubted they’d have any real privacy in a hotel room, even a fancy one, but she’d take what she could get.

  When the door closed behind him, it felt like they’d all taken a breath of relief. Or maybe that had been just her. Th
at man had an intimidating aura and it exhausted her. No matter how well intended. Or not.

  She wished she’d brought her crystals with her—that man called for a reading to get to the bottom of this. Although maybe she could scare up some tea leaves. That might tell her something—anything. There had to be an explanation beyond what Jami believed.

  “Look Violet, I can see this is stressing you out, but we have to work through this.”

  “Is that you or your husband talking?” she asked, getting straight to her point.

  Jami frowned, but didn’t appear to let it deter her. “You know better than that. Since when have I ever let anyone put words in my mouth? I have plenty of things to say on my own.”

  “But have you truly thought through the nonsense you’re spouting? You are talking about the impossible as if it were real.” She shoved her hands in her hair and tugged hard. “I don’t know how else to put this, and delicacy isn’t my strong suit, anyway, but you sound crazy. Like crazy crazy.”

  Savannah was nodding, but she remained unusually quiet. Normally she’d be having a conniption by now.

  “I know. Maxim is going to see if one of the shifters from Enigma will come by. You will just have to see it to believe it I guess. If Lily was here, I’d ask her. But with her pregnancy and all, I’m not sure how that works. Her mate is being extra protective right now.”

  “Lily. As in your friend we were all hanging out with not that long ago?” Savannah asked.

  Jami nodded. “Yes. She’s a bear shifter. A big, beautiful grizzly that will take your breath away. Although it wasn’t that long ago she was having a bit of trouble controlling that bear of hers. But that’s a long discussion for another time. She had some serious extenuating circumstances.”

  “Okay, let’s just say for the sake of the argument, that what you are telling us is true. I am NOT saying I believe it, but let’s just pretend for a minute. How did we get mixed up in this? We aren’t from here, and we have no connection to this place, other than you. And yet, we somehow have some sort of cloud of danger around us? You need to explain this to us, maybe in small words that even a child could understand, because that’s what I feel like right now.” She didn’t know why Savannah was taking this so mildly, or what Jami hadn’t told them yet, but she’d bet all she had that they’d barely touched the surface.

  “You should probably sit down,” Jami said. “What I told you was the easy part. The rest is really going to suck.

  Easy part? Was she freaking kidding?

  “So dramatic,” Savannah complained. “I thought you’d be over that by now.”

  Jami shrugged. “Comes with the territory. Since until recently my job was my life and my job is all about drama…”

  She didn’t finish the rest, but she didn’t need to. That had been the truth. They’d all questioned her sister’s choice of occupation many times. Being a therapist was one thing, but specializing in addiction? That was just asking for trouble if you asked her.

  “Did mom fill you in on what little she knows about our father?”

  She and Savannah both nodded their heads. The subject of their missing father had always been a touchy subject and one their mother never wanted to talk about.

  Jami continued. “He wasn’t human, and I think our mother knew that but was afraid to tell us. Whatever happened between them here scared her, so she hid us in Texas, so that the people here couldn’t find us. And then my dreams started. Dreams about him, about someone hunting me, and a winged creature surrounded by fire. It was scary as hell, but I believe it’s that connection to our father that drew me here in the first place. I think I was meant to come here and find our truth. I told you some of this before I left, you just didn’t want to hear about it.”

  “In our defense, you ramble about a lot of things. We have to tune it out or we’d be in a constant state of overload.” Savannah jumped to her feet and started to pace. It wouldn’t be long now before she reached the end of her rope.

  Violet looked away. She hadn’t tuned her sister out, but she had chosen to ignore the information. She saw no point in digging up information on a man who wanted nothing to do with them, and her mind had not changed since then. She believed if her mother chose to not talk about, then there was a reason.

  “You’ve opened Pandora’s box, haven’t you?” Violet’s voice rose as she looked at both Jami and then Savannah. “That’s it. You had to dig and dig until you found something, and whatever it is, it’s so bad you can’t put it away again, and now all of our lives are going to suffer for it.”

  “Vi,” Savannah warned. “Now you’re being dramatic. What the hell? If she’s found our father it doesn’t have to mean anything to you. No one is going to force you to do anything.”

  “But that’s just it. If any of this is true, that’s exactly what is happening. We are being forced into a world where we do not belong. We should have all stayed in Texas.”

  She didn’t care that she sounded hysterical now. The dark vibe of evil in her nightmares scared her.

  “I guess you’re right.” Jami flopped down onto the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table. “Doesn’t change anything, though. Our dreams aren’t just dreams. They’re visions. And they are getting stronger and will continue to do so. It’s kind of like a puberty thing. Once it hits, everything changes.”

  She rolled her eyes at her sister. “We’re way past puberty.”

  “True. We’re well past human puberty. But apparently, and the details are quite sketchy, people with these powers, like us, go through life changes at a different rate and in different stages of our life. Like right now. And not everyone makes it through…”

  2

  Carter Stone moved through the cave tunnels that led to the clan offices as silently as he could. The last thing he needed right now was for his brother to find him with another assignment.

  These last few weeks had been, well, a bear. For any other man, that crack might have made them smile, but his sense of humor had fled the building and was nowhere to be seen at the moment.

  For a long time, policing Enigma Falls had been limited to normal things like drunk drivers, domestic disputes, the occasional B&E, and making sure the humans were blissfully unaware they lived among shifters.

  That was no longer the case.

  A serial killer had taken up residence, a dragon shifter had moved in, and one of their newer part-time residents had a psycho family of grizzlies from Alaska who’d threatened war if she wasn’t turned over immediately.

  They might have calmed the storm for now, but he had a feeling their troubles were far from over. The wind was blowing outside again, the heat had turned oppressive, and his bear was pushing him harder than ever to get out.

  So much for living an easy life in a sleepy little southern town.

  “There you are. I’ve been looking for you. You forget how to answer your cell?”

  Carter winced at the sound of his brother’s voice from behind him. So much for going home early. If Jax had been looking for him it was definitely because he had another assignment for him.

  “No, but I was looking forward to a single quiet night with a beer or two, an extra-large pizza, and maybe a game on the television.” Hence why he’d ignored his phone every time it vibrated in his pocket. He deserved one quiet night before the next bomb dropped in his lap.

  Hell, they all did.

  “That’s going to have to wait. I need you to locate one of the Raye triplets.”

  Carter arched a brow. He definitely didn’t like the sound of that. What a surprise.

  “Why? Are they missing?”

  “Not exactly.”

  His brother handed him a sheet of paper, which he turned over and examined. It looked like some sort of data sheet on an abandoned piece of property down by the river.

  “I don’t get it. What is this? And what does it have to do with those women.”

  “Those women are a damned handful, and that is our latest problem. Apparen
tly, the youngest sister has taken it upon herself to buy that cabin at auction over in Summer Cove without telling anyone, and has moved in.”

  “This cabin?” He studied the photos on the listing again, all while shaking his head. “Calling that a cabin is a little generous, wouldn’t you say? It looks like a hodgepodge piece-of-shit assembly about to crumble any minute. Why would someone buy that, let alone move into it?”

  “Exactly. No sane person would. So, I’m going to need you to drive out there, talk some sense into her and bring her back. Preferably before it gets dark.”

  And he’d bet his next paycheck it would be just that easy.

  Not.

  “I thought you decided there wasn’t much of a threat anymore around them. Did something happen?”

  Jax shook his head. “No, not yet. The formal inquiry we made with the psy clan for information was met with silence. Apparently, that clan is notoriously private and rarely cooperates with others. Which leaves us nothing but rumors and sketchy information about what to expect from them, or even how they operate. That lack of detail makes me assume the worst. Plus, ever since one of their kind mated with one of the cougar enforcers, there’s been a lot of speculation that they are more dangerous than they let on. At this point, it wouldn’t surprise me if they tried to snatch one or both of them. Either way, I’ve got a hunch that trouble is coming, and it burns like a mother fucker.” He rubbed at his neck “I don’t yet know what it means, but for now, let’s just call it a precaution. Either she stays with her sister under Drago’s protection or one of us is going to have to babysit her until I figure this out.”