Unbound: Shifters Forever Worlds(5)

He knew what the leopard meant when he said “what he did,” because every time Dane was involved in a one-night stand, his leopard would leave him, going far away, to some place Dane didn’t understand. It would leave a void in him and it wouldn’t be until the leopard returned that Dane realized how much it would wound him if the leopard were ever to leave for good.

“I can’t make it to the will-reading, Aunt Mae.” I can’t see Woodland Creek again. “I’ll send my attorney.”

“Dane Mark Forester.” She was taking the big guns out, using his full name.

He had no chance now.

She continued, “Frank was murdered. Don’t you dare say you won’t go. He did everything he could for you after your dad and Brad died.”

His anger with Uncle Frank, with Glory’s deception, with the world, had nothing to do with Mae. She’d been good to him after his father had died. She’d even offered to take him in when he’d gone to visit. She had a falcon shifter named Fiona there who’d become close to Dane. But Dane couldn’t stay. Fiona’s hair color was too close to Glory’s. Seeing Fiona every day reminded him he couldn’t see Glory. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Go seek the answers yourself. Find out what happened to Frank. He was a good man. He deserved better than he got.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Dane—” Her voice choked.

He heard shuffling then a male voice said, “Dane. This is Doc.”

“Doc Evans?” Why was the town’s shifter doctor with her? “Is she okay, Doc? Why are you there?”

“She’s fine. She’s my mate, son. And she can’t talk anymore. She’s tore up by this. She’d appreciate your help. She and I are making the trip as soon as we take care of a few things that need handling.”

Dane blew out a big breath. “Okay, Doc. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks, Dane. It’d be good to see you again, sometime.”

Dane vaguely remembered Doc. The last time Dane saw him, he’d been mated and had a little girl — or was that his stepdaughter? Astra, it seemed her name was. Dane didn’t ask how his wife was. If Doc was with Mae now, his wife was either dead or gone.

“It would be good to see you too.”

Why did I just make it sound like I’m going?





4





Glory’s cousins had gone to town and she was blissfully alone at home. She was not new to solitude. After her parents were gone, she’d remained in Woodland Creek alone. She hadn’t come out of her isolation for years, and still when she went into Woodland Creek, she kept to herself. She would shift into her ivy and live in the walled-in garden, the same one where she’d met Dane.

A smile crept to her face at the memory. He’d been so aggravated that he, a snow leopard shifter had been compared to a common house cat. He’d scratched her. She looked at her hand. The scratch mark was still there, just like the indelible mark he’d left on her heart.

More like a crater-sized hole.

The next few years had passed quickly, it seemed. Her sister Honor, Glory, and Dane had spent every day together. She’d learned Dane was Frank Forester’s nephew.

Dane had seen her house in the woods, a modest cabin where her parents made a home for themselves, Honor, and Glory. A modest cabin in the middle of a gazillion acres. More acreage than Glory and Honor needed to play in as children. The two sisters had been content in their little garden.

Then one day, out of the blue, Dane was gone.

No word. No contact. Nothing.

Months later her parents and Honor had been taken from Glory’s life.

Glory heaved a sigh.

Rovers. Rogue shifters who traveled in packs and inflicted harm on other shifter types.

Glory was saved because she’d been in the walled-in garden, in her ivy form, where she spent every day, grieving Dane’s loss.

She’d never told Honor about Dane — not the full extent of it. Honor thought Dane was simply Glory’s teenage crush, nothing more.

Dane had been her first… her first everything.

He’d also been her last.

She thought of that day…

Her first. Her last. Her only.



That day, years ago…



She’d been in the hidden garden, alone, enjoying the sun on her leaves. Her family had gone on a day trip. By now, she’d known Dane for several years, so having him enter the garden was nothing new.

Except today, for some reason, there was something different about Dane.

Her friend Dane no longer looked like the boy next door. Almost as if it happened overnight, he looked like a man. Gray eyes were somber as he approached in his snow leopard form. He stood still for a moment, shifted, and remained before her, shirtless.

Her leaves rustled, the tendrils reaching toward his body, tan, muscular, a wide chest that dropped to a V. A sprinkling of hair that made a trail downward.

Her ivy branches shivered as if caught in a breeze.

She shifted into her human form to keep him from seeing the change he’d created in her. Confused, she pushed her wild hair back, away from her heated face.

“Where’s your shirt?” She stared at his body. She’d seen it before, they’d been swimming several times every summer in the lake.