Shifting Magic (Shifted) Read online

  SHIFTING

  MAGIC

  Book 4 in the Shifted series

  Author’s note: I don’t spend a lot of time rehashing the previous books in the series. I recommend reading them in order. Book 1: Shifted, book 2: Second shift and Book 3: Double shift

  Copyright © by Lynn Leite

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead events or locals is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including informational storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the copyright holder, except for brief quotations in a review.

  1

  Xavier felt the cell phone in his pocket vibrate as he searched the aisles for canned artichoke hearts. “Pregnant women and their cravings,” he groaned. Shaking his head, he looked to the caller ID. “What? Did you forget to ask me to pick up peanut butter to go with the artichokes?” he said sarcastically.

  He was on ‘sister-in-law watch’ while his brothers and their mates went after Howland, a crazed Alpha that was trying to take over the Shifter world. He was a purest who had kidnapped his sister and threatened the lives of both his sisters-in-law.

  Rory had been left behind because Maverick, his oldest brother, and future Alpha of the Cheveyo pack, didn’t want his pregnant wife fighting.

  “Xavier, I need you to come back,” Rory said in response.

  “I’m going as fast as I can Rory.”

  “No, I need you to come back now. My water just broke.”

  “What … oh my god!” Xavier nearly dropped the jar he had finally found. “You’re not due for three weeks!”

  “Tell that to the baby. Look, it’s okay, I probably have hours but I need to get to the clinic.”

  Xavier’s head was spinning. He had wanted to go with the others. He had a stake in the outcome as much as the others. They had drawn straws to see who would stay behind. He would never tell Rory that was how they had determined who would stay in town just in case. Just in case this happened. “Oh god, I don’t know the first thing about babies,” he thought to himself.

  “I’m on my way, just hold on,” he yelled. Slamming his phone shut, he ran out of the market to the parking lot where he had left his truck. Peeling out of the driveway he willed himself to calm down. It wasn’t going to help if he had an accident on the way to get her. Maverick and the others were a hundred miles away looking into a sighting of Blake Howland. They were reasonably sure, due to her sister Willow’s psychic abilities, that Rory was safe from Howland at the moment. The baby coming early hadn’t been a consideration.

  Xavier hit Rte. 5 and floored it. There was no one on the rural road at that time of day so it would be smooth sailing. His cell phone rang again. Answering it on the first ring, he pushed down the panic that Rory was in even more trouble. She had said she had hours, right?

  “You okay,” he asked, putting the phone to his ear.

  “I’m fine. I contacted the others. They are on their way back. Willow said you were driving too fast. Slow down.”

  Willow had known from a hundred miles away that not only was Rory going into labor but that her youngest brother-in-law was driving too close to the edge.

  “Okay, I’m slowing down,” Xavier assured Rory. He didn’t bother to point out he was slowing from 90 to 60 but he was still in a 40 mile an hour zone.

  Nina Blackwell sat in her squad car cursing the fact that she had the shit duty of sitting on Rte.5 with a radar gun. Hour upon hour of nothing stretched out with no end in sight. She had been taken off regular patrol recently when her partner retired. The stupid police force in this backward town thought it was unsafe for a woman to patrol alone. Little did they know she could probably take down any one of the huge macho idiots that made the decisions. It wasn’t like Howard, her former partner, would have been much help if something had gone down. He was almost sixty years old and about fifty lbs. overweight.

  The radar gun indicated that the oncoming truck was about thirty miles an hour over the speed limit. She usually didn’t bother if they were five, even ten, over, but this she couldn’t ignore. At least it gave her something to do.

  Tossing the radar gun in the back, she pulled out of her hiding spot behind the Wilsons Diner sign and took off. She had to go faster than the sixty miles per hour the truck was going to catch up.

  Her heart was pumping. She loved going fast. Ever since she was a kid, she had a need for speed. Her father called her an adrenaline junky. She had to admit he was right.

  “Pull over, asshole,” she yelled as she caught up with the truck that hadn’t even slowed.

  Xavier saw the flashing lights in his rearview mirror. He was pretty confident that the cop wasn’t going to shoot out his tires or anything, so he continued. Rory needed him, and failing Maverick was not an option. The cop would understand when he saw a woman in labor.

  Skidding into the driveway of Maverick and Rory’s expansive home, he wrenched the door open, oblivious of the fact that the squad car had roared in right behind him.

  Taking huge strides to reach the porch, Xavier felt a sudden pull.

  Nina was pissed. Not only had he not stopped, he had the nerve to try and run into his house. The man was big, but little did he know he was not big enough.

  She took his collar and yanked back as she swept the man’s legs out from under him. Swinging one leg over his supine body, she pinned his arms. “Listen asshole, didn’t you see the lights?”

  Xavier was stunned. Not only was the cop a woman, she was a petite woman, yet there he was on his ass unable to move.

  “How?” he questioned trying to struggle out of her grasp. This was beyond humiliating. To add insult to injury, she wasn’t even a Shifter.

  “How what? How long will you be locked up for evading a police officer?”

  Xavier smiled at her sarcasm. “No, how the hell are you holding me here?”

  “The how is not important. The why is what you should concern yourself with? You were doing 60 in a thirty mile an hour zone. That might have been a five hundred dollar fine. That is, if you had stopped.”

  “Rory, I had to get to Rory,” he huffed while feeling the woman press one knee into his chest. It felt like she weighed a ton yet she was small. The math just didn’t add up.

  “Okay, I’ll bite. Who’s Rory?”

  “My sister,” he said not adding the in-law part he didn’t have that much breath. “She’s in labor.”

  Nina sat back. She still wasn’t letting him up, but she couldn’t ignore the sincerity of his concern. “Where is this sister?” she asked letting up only slightly.

  “Right here,” Rory said from the porch. “New girlfriend, Xavier?” Rory said jokingly. The joke would have been far more effective if she hadn’t been hit with a sudden pain. “Okay, that was a strong one,” she huffed.

  Nina immediately let the man his sister had called Xavier go. She rushed to help the woman at the top of the stairs.

  “Jesus woman, who taught you to fight like that?” Xavier asked rubbing his chest.

  “My father. It’s Rory, right? Maybe we should get you to the hospital,” Nina said taking her arm. “And you, you’re not completely off the hook. You ran from the police. That is immeasurably stupid.”

  “I couldn’t stop. She called and I …”

  “He panicked. Please try and go easy on him. I think maybe getting beaten up by a girl might be punishment enough.”

  Nina smiled at the woman. She didn’t know if she could joke at a time like this. She had every intention of letting him o
ff the hook. Rushing to your pregnant sister’s aid is a good reason to break the speed limit. There wasn’t anyone else on the road. She hadn’t called the chase in. So no harm, and no foul. She would, however, let him sweat that out a bit.

  “Okay. I’m driving. Speed racer here is in no condition. Do you want to lie down in the back?” Nina said pointing to the squad car.

  “No, I think I can sit, but I’ll mess up your seats.”

  “Not my seats. They are the Haven’s Port PD’s seats.”

  Rory winced again. The pain was becoming a familiar one. This kid wanted out and the back of a squad car was not where she pictured that happening.

  “My husband runs a clinic about five miles from here. If you could just take us there … Um…”

  “Nina, Nina Blackwell. You sure you don’t want the hospital?”

  “I’m sure. My husband has made all the preparations necessary.” Rory knew she couldn’t say “We’re werewolves and we don’t normally use the hospital because they might notice we are different”.

  “It’s your call. Who am I to argue with a pregnant lady?” Nina radioed the station telling them she was in transport, explaining that she had a pregnant woman in the car. She was sure the men on the force were grateful the woman in labor had fallen on her doorstep instead of theirs.

  “Do you know how to deliver a baby?” Xavier asked. Turning to watch Rory, he groaned actually wincing with his own pain at her expression.

  “I know how. I can’t say as I ever have though. Your husband, will he be there?” she asked wondering why the woman hadn’t called him instead of the hysterical man next to her in the front seat.

  “He was out of town. He’s on his way back now.”

  “You said he was a doctor?” Nina continued. She was making small talk to distract Xavier as well as herself.

  “Yes.”

  “Oh good, I’ve had enough of hysterical men today.”

  “Hey, I’m not hysterical, just worried.”

  “Don’t forget embarrassed. You got your ass handed to you by a girl,” Rory laughed.

  “I don’t suppose we can keep that between the two of us, can we?”

  “No chance at all.”

  2

  Xavier directed the officer to the clinic’s parking lot before realizing that she would probably insist on going in with them. The brick faced building looked more like a lawyer’s office than a medical facility. There was no way he was going to be able to stop the five foot nothing Amazon from following them in. His main concern had to be with Rory.

  “Are you sure this is the place?” Nina turned to check on the woman in the back seat. She had always thought that someday she would like to have children of her own, but seeing the woman writhe in agony had her thinking twice.

  “This is it. Thank you,” Xavier jumped from the car and scooped Rory out of the back seat.

  “I’ll get the door.” Nina was running to beat the man. Xavier gave an exasperated sigh. She was coming in, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

  “Faith,” Xavier roared to the woman behind the desk. She was one of the nurses that usually manned the reception area.

  “Oh shit, did she fall?” Faith hit the emergency button before running to the hulking Alpha that held the Chosen one in his arms. She and Rory had a history of meeting this way.

  “No, my water broke. For god sake Xavier, put me down. I can stand.”

  “Any labor yet?” Faith said reaching out to feel Rory’s pulse.

  “Yes, they are about three minutes apart,” an unfamiliar voice answered. Faith hadn’t noticed the woman in uniform that had followed Xavier and Rory in the door. She couldn’t worry about the fact that the woman was not a Shifter at the moment. Three minutes apart meant the baby was coming sooner rather than later.

  “You two can wait in here,” she ordered while taking Rory by the hand to a wheelchair June, another of the nurses, had wheeled into position. “Has Maverick been contacted?”

  “Maverick, your husband’s name is Maverick?” Nina asked. It was an unusual name but one she had heard before.

  “Yes, and trust me the name suits him. Thanks for your help Nina.”

  “No problem. If you don’t mind, I’ll hang around just to make sure you’re alright.”

  “I’m fine, but thanks,” Rory said wincing again.

  “Okay, enough chit chat. This baby wants out. Xavier, sit down. You look a little green,” Faith said tossing him a sly grin. Men were such babies.

  Nina sat next to the hulking man and looked at him for the first time. He was huge and built. No wonder he had been surprised she had been able to get the best of him. Nina had confirmed her own suspicions when Rory had said her husband’s name was Maverick. Werewolves. No wonder the man’s ego had been bruised. Werewolves were among the most powerful species of Shifters. She smiled to herself. Not as powerful as she was apparently. Sure, she had caught him off guard and used a little bit of magic to hold him there. He might have bested her if he had had any idea of what she was.

  Her father didn’t much like Shifters, but he did respect them. She could see why. They were strong, and the rumors of their total devotion to family had just been confirmed.

  “You might want to put your head between your legs, Xavier.”

  “I’m fine. You don’t need to stay.”

  “And miss all this fun? No way!”

  “Fine, stay. I don’t even care.” Xavier just sat looking at the door Rory had gone through. If he looked any harder, he might burn a hole in it.

  Nina knew she should let him off the hook. He obviously thought she was just some little human. She was just about to tell him who and what she was, feeling just a little sorry that she had deceived him, when the doors came crashing open.

  Xavier stood to greet the sea of impossibly handsome men that flowed in the door. Nina counted six in all. Damn, why hadn’t she noticed how fine Shifters were before this? Two women, one blonde and about her size, followed by one that was taller, with caramel colored hair, came in the door as well. Both women exuded a power that matched that of the men.

  “Faith took her into the back.” Xavier was speaking to the man she assumed was Maverick Cheveyo. The name had been tossed around the dinner table enough. Her father had been wondering what a change in the Alpha status would mean for the community. He held a great deal of respect for the Alpha, but word was his oldest son was taking the Alpha role so that his father could join the council.

  She watched as the blonde followed Maverick without asking through the doors and the other men relaxed.

  Nina sat back and felt the energy that had amped up in the room. It was delicious. A full rich power that energized her. She absorbed it like the sun’s rays.

  “Nina, is that you?” Nina snapped her eyes wide open at the sound of a familiar voice.

  “Sam?”

  “Yes, what are you… how did you…?”

  “She drove us here,” Xavier admitted while shaking his head.

  “Okay, sounds like there’s a story behind that. Why did you drive them here?”

  “Well when hotshot here blew by me doing 70 on Rte. 5, I chased him. The rest is history.”

  Xavier was surprised Nina had cut the story short. He was grateful she hadn’t elaborated on the fact that it was only after she dressed him down like a Christmas turkey that she realized he was rushing to an emergency.

  “Well, okay then.”

  Willow came out to give the men the update. Rory had kicked her out of the delivery room by saying that she was making her nervous. Willow didn’t understand what exactly it was that she was doing to make her nervous. Rory was snapping at every one so she didn’t take offence. Reluctantly, she followed her sister’s request to give the others an update.

  “She’s fine. Maverick says it won’t be long,” Willow felt Ryder pull her in next to him.

  “Oh, and get this, she said that a cop kicked Xavier’s ass,” Willow grinned at Xavier. It was the
n that she noticed the cop. A woman no bigger than she was, with raven black hair, was still there in the waiting area standing next to Sam.

  “Nina?” Sam asked, trying to withhold a laugh.

  “I thought he was resisting arrest,” she shrugged.

  “Nina is it?” Royal, the Alpha of the Cheveyo pack, moved toward the woman he hadn’t noticed in the chaos. “How is it you managed to kick my son’s ass, as Willow so delicately put it?”

  “Magic,” she answered honestly. Reaching out confidently, she took the man’s offered hand.

  “Magic is a myth,” Royal looked at the woman who stood only as high as his chest. This little thing had downed one of his sons?

  “Werewolves are a myth as well, sir,” she replied. The room fell silent.

  Royal held the woman’s gaze as she stared back, waiting. Her pulse didn’t quicken. Her breathing remained steady and calm as he tried to formulate a response.

  “You do have a point,” he finally said. He was suddenly unsure if it was wise to continue the conversation.

  “Royal, this is Nina Blackwell. We served together on the force.” Sam wasn’t sure that that bit of information helped, but he felt the need to defuse the situation.

  “Blackwell?” Royal raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes.”

  “Malcolm Blackwell’s daughter?”

  “That’s me.”

  “Dad?” he heard one of his son’s question.

  “Malcolm Blackwell, he’s a Mage. Correction, he is the Mage. She wasn’t kidding when she said she used magic to take him down.”

  “That would explain it,” Xavier chimed in. “I seriously thought I was losing my touch.”

  “No, I would imagine she had the advantage,” Royal smiled. “Thank you for assisting my family. Rory is very precious to all of us.”

  “I didn’t know you were part of the Alpha’s family Sam,” Nina smiled. She had always suspected he was a were.

  “My wife is Royal’s daughter.” Sam was flanked by both Emory and Hank. “This is Emory my wife, and Hank our husband,” he added, acknowledging his unconventional relationship with pride.