Wild Prince: Takhini Shifters #4: Northern Lights Shifters, #14

By Vivian Arend

A light-hearted, STAND ALONE paranormal by NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR Vivian Arend

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Wolf shifter Cole Masterson has been waiting impatiently for his future to arrive. The prophecy declared at his birth seems like pure gibberish, but he's still spent the past thirty-three years trying to prepare for whatever's coming. When his mate finally arrives, her appearance—on a skidoo stolen from him, no less—triggers a cascade of events he's not sure he's ready for.

 

Dani Neville thought the covert training offered by the leader of an ultra-secret shifter association was her only escape from being stuck forever on an isolated island with her bear-shifter clan. But when her first assignment goes awry, and she ends up being chased through the wilderness by the sexiest, growliest wolf she's ever met, Dani begins to wonder if her goals were big enough.

 

Suddenly Cole's got to deal with the most delectable thief he's ever had the misfortune to meet—a woman who's also his fated mate, and years younger than him. Dani's got to figure out if being a ninja wannabe is her true desire, or if the chance to stay with her growly wolf is worth fighting for. Meanwhile, a prophecy that's been waiting for years steamrollers them toward their ultimate destiny.

 

Not everything is as it appears…not even fated love.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arend Publishing Inc
• Release date: Jan 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781941456545

Book preview

1

The narrow sliver of darkness outside the shop gave Dani Neville barely enough room to press herself out of sight. One hand on the doorknob, one working the lockpick, she pressed her ear against the heavy paneling and trusted her lookout to watch for suspicious glances their direction.

Fifteen seconds later the third lock slid open with a soft sigh, and Dani was through the door with her partner in crime, safely hidden from curious eyes. Before them lay the empty retail section of the Wolf Brothers Wild Adventures shop, neat rows of shelves loaded with outdoor camping gear and clothing.

Ignoring the distraction, although she did appreciate adventure toys, Dani stuck to her task, glancing around for security cameras.

One in each of three corners—only two were fakes, which anyone in the know could tell at a glance. And someone who was basically a princess of the shifter world shouldn’t know, but hey, everyone had to have a hobby.

Dani flicked a finger toward the live feed, and Michele rushed ahead, crossing the floor like a shadow until she was directly under the security camera. She leapt skyward, and a second later the camera was covered.

Michele landed catlike, turning to snap a bubble in her gum. She flashed a thumbs-up then the two of them headed toward the back of the building.

Less than a minute had passed since they’d arrived at the front of the shop. After all the work it had taken to get to this point, for the first time things were going their way.

I can smell them. Michele spoke quietly. Two wolves, two bears…and there’s a third wolf who hangs out here occasionally, but she’s not here right now.

Dani scanned the walls for the next thing that was going to help them. I’ve been tracking my sister forever, it seems. It’s time we find the truth.

Don’t jump the gun, Michele warned. You know what Charlene says.

The reminder to follow the rules poked Dani the wrong way. She didn’t want to pull back her eager rush forward. Not after so long, but…Michele was right.

Dani fought a grumble of discontent. It’s important to meet your objective, but more important to get out alive.

Michele joined her in front of a wall full of keys, pulling two off and tossing one to Dani. "I was more thinking along the lines of her ‘hey, chicks, don’t get caught’ advice, but if you want to have every single thing she’s ever taught you memorized word for word, you go girl. Overachiever."

A grin slipped free. You ready for this?

I was born ready.

Sheesh. Cheesy. I would gag, but you’d probably spit up a hairball just to top me. Dani fought down a horde of butterflies cavorting in her belly. It was a strange sensation, to be so close to potentially meeting one of her biggest goals. I’m serious, Mich, this is the best chance we’ve had to date. I’m ninety percent sure we’ve found my sister, but if anything happens, regroup at the rendezvous point, then contact Charlene and see what she suggests.

Michele offered a high-five before prowling over to the row of immaculate skidoos.

Dani opened the garage door before picking her machine. The engine vibrated with power as she guided them out the door and into the alley. She wove her way through the back roads of the small northern town of Chicken toward the mountains, following the trail left by three skidoos. Her targets had departed not even an hour ago.

A true thrill of excitement rushed her veins.

For years Dani been searching for information about what had happened to her sister Amanda after she’d accepted an arranged marriage and left their home on Kodiak Island. The island was inaccessible to outsiders to protect the secretive and rare ghost bears who lived there, but the layers of security made it difficult to get a lot of news in or out.

The useless bits of information leadership allowed to trickle in were so frustrating, Dani had finally taken matters into her own hands. She’d built a ham radio, and that one stubborn act triggered a chain reaction of events. While silently listening to conversations from around the world, Dani noticed too many overlapping coincidences. Names, events, code words even. At first she thought it was her overactive imagination, but eventually the puzzle pieces fell into place.

She’d stumbled into a hidden collective of shifters.

Not just hidden from the human population, but hidden deep even from their own clans and packs. Wolves, bears, cats and others, working together in the shadows in the hopes someday they could make a better world for those who needed help.

Those nights spent huddled secretly by the radio, talking with others in Russia and the Scandinavian countries, had changed Dani’s life forever. She’d been young, barely fourteen when she’d broken into their ranks, but they’d opened up a world of possibilities to her outside her isolated upbringing.

And then came the call from Charlene.

Head of an ultra-secret task force designed to do covert work within the shifter community, Dani’s youth didn’t seem to bother her. Charlene sent mentors on the sly to Kodiak Island to train her, and Dani had thrived at the challenge. She’d worked tirelessly between training sessions, learning all sorts of new skills. None of them had treated her as if she was too young. They’d sensed how much she wanted to learn, which was why she was ready to take her full place on the team.

She banked the skidoo sharply, headed farther up the snowy landscape. Snow flew skyward, cold air rushing past making her cheeks tingle.

This first excursion was for her—Charlene had given her the resources to ensure the recent rumours regarding her sister were true. If they were, Dani would be free to travel the world.

But first she had to know one hundred percent that her sister’s horrible situation had been fixed. It had taken too long to discover Amanda was in danger, and then too long to trigger events to make her safe, but Charlene assured her it was now accomplished.

Even as Dani gripped the wheel tighter, she felt a smile tug her lips. Her future was opening before her, and she couldn’t wait.

After thirty-three years Cole had decided prophecies were the stupidest invention ever.

After all, it hadn’t been anything he’d done that had caused a magical-guru-pixie-whatever to show up at his and his twin’s christening to spout off mumbo-jumbo. Nope, the spooky geas that had been laid upon his brow had a whole lot to do, he figured, with the roll of the dice and being in the wrong place at the right time.

But the absolute worst thing was when said mystical woo–woo didn’t come true beyond in the most annoying, irritating way.

He was coming at it from a perspective of never quite believing in the first place, but when a shifter grew up in a very remote pack, most of whom were quite superstitious, the arrival of one of the rarely spotted northern-mystics at the most inopportune moments kind of packed a punch.

It was bad enough the wolverine had shown up at his and his twin brother’s birth. But when the mystic had also attended their pack acceptance, and their first shifts—aiming her pointed attention at Cole like a laser-locked missile—after all that even a stoic like Cole could be excused for having begun to believe the unbelievable.

The only clear thing in the prophecy had been the instruction to learn, so Cole had. Anything. Everything. Physical disciplines like fighting and tae kwon do. More scholarly pursuits.

Learning just about anything came easy to Cole—with one exception. By the time he’d finished high school, he knew human and shifter political divisions from around the world as well as he knew his local territory. He had a smattering of languages he could speak with some skill, and could take apart any engine and rebuild it. He knew enough chemistry to make everything from explosives to medicinal remedies.

As long as his task didn’t involve cooking to provide edible food, he was more than competent.

For whatever reason his twin, Caden, hadn’t been included in the prophecy. Still, when his brother bumped into his mate only days after turning twenty-one, a very welcome and unusual situation, Cole had hoped it was a sign that he too would finally get more answers…

Now, twelve years later, fuck the fairy tales.

Well, actually, not, but come on. He was tired of waiting. Tired of learning, because his training was getting wider and wilder as he looked for new, unexplored topics—heck his latest certification was as a Reiki therapist.

Running the adventure shop with his brother was the only saving grace in his unending state of limbo.

Lead the way, his brother ordered, grinning briefly before gunning the engine on his snowmobile.

Cole gripped the handles and increased his speed, guiding their small group out of the remote town of Chicken and onto the wintry mountain swells just out of town. He adjusted his headset, clicking open the radio connection between himself and his brother. You’re a brave man.

Caden’s soft chuckle echoed over the line. Because…?

You’ve got a woman riding with you who, if anything happens, a certain oversized bear is going to perform an appendectomy on you, and he’s going to go through your throat.

Their guests for the day on the little skidoo adventure were visiting bigwigs. Cole didn’t need to know the details, but he’d been warned by town leadership and the enormous grizzly competently riding beside them that their lives were on the line if anything so much as ruffled a hair on the petite female shifter’s head.

Yada yada. Cole wasn’t scared, but the threat did make the day more interesting.

His brother was just as nonchalant about the situation. Hey, this isn’t anywhere as bad as the time we had that set of triplets who managed to get us lost in that freak blizzard. We’re only going for a short ride.

Still say you’re a brave man, Cole muttered. He adjusted the receiver, the cool wind against his cheeks brushing away a little of his ever-present frustration. How’s she doing?

Pretty good. Shutting off the headset so I can let her take the controls for a bit.

Roger that.

Cole signed off. The little bear his brother was escorting was a particularly fine guest for Wolf Brothers Wild Adventures to have scored. The big lumbering grizzly bear by her side was obviously more than a bodyguard, and Cole cracked a smile even though it hurt his cheeks. Yeah, it was clear the two of them were going to be cozying up sooner than later, and that wasn’t a prediction