Shay's Shifters [Mountain Men of Montana 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

Mountain Men of Montana 1

Shay’s Shifters

Free-spirited, voluptuous Shay Mathews isn’t afraid to strut her stuff and live life on the edge. But when she crashes her car then wakes up slung over the back of a hot, naked man, she thinks she’s either hallucinating or dead.

Werewolves Rosh and Renkon McClain and Walker Ramirez fall for the feisty Shay and want her to stay with them in a mystical world for supernatural beings, but she’s set her mind on getting back to the real world outside the secluded paradise of The Hidden. Not heeding her lovers’ warnings, Shay is abducted by the leader of the wretched creatures called The Cursed to become his mate.

Can they find her before she’s changed by The Cursed? If they’re too late, will they be forced to kill her, thus saving her from a life of misery?

Note: There is no sexual relationship or touching for titillation between or among cousins.

Genre:
Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Vampires/Werewolves

Length:
53,433 words
 

Mountain Men of Montana 1

Jane Jamison

MENAGE EVERLASTING

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting

SHAY’S SHIFTERS

Copyright © 2012 by Jane Jamison

E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-028-5

First E-book Publication: December 2012

Cover design by Les Byerley

All art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

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All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

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Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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Shay’s Shifters
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SHAY’S SHIFTERS

Mountain Men of Montana 1

JANE JAMISON

Copyright © 2012

Shaylyn Mathews knocked on the front door of her friend’s home. The quick trip from California to Montana and then up the treacherous road that wound around the mountain to Willa Schutte’s cabin had left her dazed and weary. But she’d had no choice. After getting Willa’s frantic, garbled cell phone message begging her to come, she’d rushed to her aide. Her friend had needed her, and that’s all she’d needed to know.

Everything outside the home appeared peaceful. Willa’s SUV as well as Bill’s Jeep sat in the driveway. Holiday lights were strung along the porch railing as they were for most of the year. She smiled, remembering the discussions she’d had trying to convince Bill to take them down after the holiday season.

She knocked again and wondered if she should see if they were around the back of the home. If Willa and Bill were outside, they might not hear her knocking. For the hundredth time, she wondered why Willa had begged her to come. It wasn’t like her friend to act that way.

She was about to head toward the back when Willa, her mousy brown hair clinging to her face, cracked open the door. Her glassy eyes looked at Shay as though she didn’t recognize her. She was unkempt, dressed in a soiled nightgown, and, judging from the grime on her skin as well as the body odor, Shay assumed that her friend hadn’t bathed recently.

“Willa, are you all right? Can I come in?”

Her friend’s gaze darted around the yard, making Shay look again to see if she’d overlooked something. But she couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. Or at least in terms of how it had looked the last time she’d visited.

“Sweetie, let me in.” She kept her voice low, her tone soft. “You have to let me inside, okay?”

Willa shook her head. “No. Go away.”

“But you told me to come.”

“Go away.” For a second, she saw her friend in the glassy eyes sunken in the haggard-looking face. “Please, Shay.”

What had happened to her? Was she pleading for her to leave or to help her? She was shocked when Willa made a small cry and slammed the door.

What the hell?

The small knot in her stomach that had started with the phone call tightened. If she didn’t get to the bottom of things soon, it would grow to softball size.

“Willa, what’s wrong? Bill? Are you there, Bill? Will one of you please open the door?”

After several attempts to get them to open the door, Shay couldn’t stand it any longer. “I’m coming inside.” She turned the doorknob and was surprised to find it unlocked.

Pushing the door wide, she stepped over the threshold of what she’d once declared the tidiest home in America and into a nightmare.

The house looked like a hurricane had whipped its mighty tail around the interior. Furniture lay strewn and broken everywhere, along with leftover food and broken dishes. Torn curtains clung to their rods by strips of cloth. In their place, aluminum foil was layered over the windows, blocking the sun’s rays and giving off a shiny, eerie glow.

Neither Willa nor Bill was in sight. “Willa? Where are you?”

Red slashes on the walls brought her attention away from the chaos of the room. At first, she didn’t understand that the scribbles were words. But as she continued to stare at them, she finally made out the scrawled messages.

Stay away

Leave us alone

Evil

Die Die Die Die

A crash to her left startled her and she let out a yelp, pivoting quickly to face the dining room that led into the adjoining kitchen. Shards of a broken plate lay at Willa’s feet. Blood trickled down the front of her legs and spread outward from cuts on the tops of her feet.

“Shit, sweetie.” She moved toward her friend then stopped as Willa shuffled away from her, putting the table between them.

Oh, my God. She’s terrified of me.
But why?
I have to help her, but how?

She edged around the table, but Willa kept moving, dodging first one way then the other. Shay faked her out, caught her, and latched on to her arm. Willa struggled a moment, then dropped her chin and stared at the floor.

She led her into the living room and forced her to sit on the sofa next to her. A ragged, nasty scratch ran down her arm, but at least it didn’t look like it was infected. She pulled off the scarf she wore and dotted the wounds on her friend’s legs and feet.

“Willa, please tell me what’s wrong.” Shay took another quick look around, still not believing her eyes. Had they suffered a home invasion? Had they contracted a horrible disease? Even if the latter was true, she still couldn’t help but take her friend’s hands.

Willa shook her head before lifting it to give her another blank stare. “I don’t know.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. At least Willa seemed more coherent now.

“Did someone hurt you?” When Willa didn’t answer, she readied herself for the worst possible answer to her next question. “Is Bill okay? Is he here?”

With the mention of her husband’s name, Willa glanced toward the hallway that led to the large master suite. “He’s in bed.”

She’d check on Bill once she was sure Willa was all right. “What happened to the house? To you?”

Again, Willa shook her head. “I’m not sure. The last thing I remember is walking in the woods with Bill.”

“Did something happen in the woods?”

The diminutive woman squeezed Shay’s hands so hard that she had to bite back a cry. Willa let out a fearful and horrifying whine.

“Some
thing
jumped us. Bill cried out, and when I turned toward him…” She yanked her hands away and dug her fingers into her hair. “Nooo. I don’t want to think about it.”

A knot closed around Shay’s heart. Despite her size, Willa was a strong, independent woman. She was a woman who had faced hardships in her life and had come out on top. Whatever had happened had to be more than Shay could imagine and obviously more than Willa could handle.

She pulled her friend into her arms then stroked her hair, trying to soothe the agonized woman. “It’s okay. I’m here now. Nothing’s going to hurt you. I promise everything’s going to be fine.”

Willa’s thin arms wrapped around her and hugged her, clinging to Shay like a lifeline. “I can’t remember what it looked like. I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.”

“Shh. You don’t have to.”

They sat on the sofa for several minutes. Shay comforted her as best she could, saying reassuring words like she would to a frightened child who’d screamed in the middle of the night about monsters in the closet.

At last, Willa calmed down enough to turn her loose. Shay stood and, still gripping her hand, took Willa along with her. Hoping she’d find Bill alive, Shay pulled Willa down the hall and into the master bedroom.

Bill lay on the bed, his chest heaving as he struggled to breathe. She pried Willa’s hand from hers and rushed to his side. His eyes were closed, and his shirt and hair were soaked with sweat and plastered against his skin. Three deep scratches ran down his cheek. The jeans he wore looked like they were two sizes too large, and yet she knew Bill would never wear baggy clothes. Had he lost so much weight in the months since she’d last seen him?

“Bill, can you open your eyes? It’s Shay Mathews.”