The Cat Lady of Yellowstone: Supernatural Yellowstone

By Debbie Mumford

Grace's family has lived and worked in what is now Yellowstone National Park since before recorded history. When men of European descent first arrived in the region, Grace's people simply melted into the forest, maintaining their culture and keeping their supernatural secrets to themselves. Even now, generations later, their abilities remain unknown except to those who belong to the land. The women of Grace's lineage form life-long psychic bonds with animals, like Grace's bond-mate, Faith, a female cougar. But the physical world of modern humans still impinges on Grace's people, hidden though they may be in the wilds of Yellowstone. When the apocalypse comes, will Grace and Faith be able to withstand its terrors?

• Language: English
• Publisher: WDM Publishing
• Release date: Jun 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201995393

Debbie Mumford

Debbie Mumford specializes in speculative fiction—fantasy, paranormal romance, and science fiction. Author of the popular Sorcha’s Children series, Debbie loves the unknown, whether it’s the lure of space or earthbound mythology. Her work has been published in multiple volumes of Fiction River, as well as in Heart’s Kiss Magazine, Spinetingler Magazine, and other popular markets. She writes about dragon-shifters, time-traveling lovers, and ghostly detectives for adults as Debbie Mumford and contemporary fantasy for tweens and young adults as Deb Logan.

Book preview

The Cat Lady of Yellowstone

The Cat Lady of Yellowstone

A Supernatural Yellowstone Tale

Debbie Mumford

WDM Publishing

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Also by Debbie Mumford

Her Highland Laird sample chapter

About Debbie Mumford

Chapter One

The world as we knew it ended on a Friday afternoon in July, during the height of tourist season. But since we live off the grid in a secluded mountain valley in Yellowstone National Park, we weren’t aware of the devastation until Sunday morning.

Our homestead consisted of two log cabins, built of native pine logs of varying sizes with chinking made from local clay, sand, and good old Yellowstone mud. Both homes rested on thick foundations of large river rocks. The roofs were shake-shingled and the chimneys were also fashioned from smooth, rounded river rocks. A wide porch fronted the original cabin, and boasted a matching pair of log chairs. A wrap-around porch graced the newer cabin, built when Jason and I married. We had a sturdy porch swing on the front and two willow rockers on the side facing the forest.

A paddock in the back abutted a sturdy shelter for our horses, and a weathered barn with long, low rooflines stood guard over the rest of our livestock: six goats, a dozen chickens, and a few ducks. We’d had cows and pigs at one point, but had lost them to predators and hadn’t yet replaced them.

Our gardens were in full bloom. A herb garden outside the kitchen door of the original cabin lent gentle fragrances of rosemary, thyme, and oregano to the sweetness of the flower beds lining the walkways between the cabins. A large vegetable garden teemed with life. Squash, beans, and potatoes crowded up against tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, and celery, while asparagus and marigolds guarded the borders.

On that fateful Sunday, Jason and I saddled our favorite horses and made the two hour ride from our home near Mary Lake on Yellowstone’s Central Plateau to the Visitor Center at Fishing Bridge on the north shore of Yellowstone Lake. We had made this ride every Sunday since our daughter, Ruth, left home to study veterinary medicine at Colorado State University. Now that she had taken a job at the Denver Zoo, the tradition continued.

Thanks to long years of friendship between my family and the park rangers, we were allowed to use the computer