Unbound

  The shrill sound of her cell phone made Sadie jump. The Grey’s Anatomy ringtone was her twin, Samantha, probably calling to wish her a happy fortieth birthday.

  Or maybe she had sensed something was wrong.

  Sadie and Samantha weren’t identical twins—Sadie had brown hair and brown eyes and Samantha was blonde with blue. Sadie was a respectable five foot seven while her sister barely topped five three. Sadie, while never exactly skinny, was still more on the slim side, while Samantha was what she liked to call “curvy” with a defiant light in her blue eyes.

  Because of their physical differences they’d never been able to switch places with each other and they didn’t have a secret twin language or anything weird like that, but they were pretty close.

  Sadie could usually tell if something was wrong with her sister and Samantha seemed to know if there was anything amiss in her life as well. She’d called Sadie not five minutes after Jeff had shoved the divorce papers at her and stalked out of the house to be with his new girlfriend. Likewise, Sadie had called her sister just moments after their mother’s fatal car crash. Somehow they just knew.

  “What’s wrong?” Samantha asked, the moment Sadie picked up the phone. “What’s going on with you?”

  “Nothing. I mean, I’m fine.” Sadie didn’t want to worry her twin—or tell her about the embarrassing incident with her neighbor seeing her naked.

  “Bullshit.” Samantha was always frank and to the point—a byproduct of being a woman in a male-dominated field. “You’re freaking out about something—I can hear it in your voice. And, well, I felt it.”

  It was the closest that the practical, down-to-Earth Samantha would come to talking about their invisible connection.

  “I, uh…” Sadie didn’t know how to say it. Finally she asked, “Is there any kind of disease that makes you look younger?”

  “A disease that makes you look younger?”

  “I know it sounds weird,” Sadie said quickly. “It’s just…I woke up this morning and all my gray hairs are gone—just gone. And my wrinkles and stretch marks—they’re gone too. Not to mention my chest looks like I got a boob job and my tummy is flat for the first time in years.”

  “So you lost some weight and you’re looking better? Sounds like a symptom of an ex-asshole-ectomy to me.” Samantha sounded like she was smiling.

  “Stop it, Sammie—I’m being serious!”

  “I am too! Of course you’re looking better—you finally got rid of Jeff! That asshole has been dragging you down for years.”

  “Actually, he was the one who got rid of me,” Sadie reminded her. “Traded me in for a younger model.”

  “So you do the same,” her sister shot back. “Look around for a little action in that tiny one-horse town you’re living in.”

  “Sammie, I’m forty,” Sadie protested.

  “So am I,” her twin reminded her dryly. “Forty isn’t dead. Why don’t you find somebody and have some fun? Aren’t there any hot guys around there?”

  For some reason the image of Mathis and his intense stare popped into her mind but Sadie pushed it quickly away. Besides being a grumpy loner, her neighbor was also at least ten years younger than her. At least she thought he was—it was hard to tell with the wild black hair and the beard.

  “Some,” she admitted. “But the ones my age are already married and taken. And all the rest are too young.”

  “Please—who cares about age?” Her sister made a raspberry sound on the other end of the phone. “It’s just a number.”

  “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?” Sadie asked. “Besides, you’re one to be talking about finding a guy—you’re married to your work. I bet you can’t even tell me the name of the last guy you slept with.”

  “It has been a while,” Samantha admitted. “But that’s only because I’m always so busy. You, on the other hand, suddenly have some time to get busy.”

  “I came out here to heal,” Sadie pointed out. “Not find a hot young guy to screw my brains out.”

  “Who says they’re not the same thing?” Samantha laughed. “So how’s the cabin mom left you? I still can’t believe she kept it secret from us for all those years.”

  “It’s nice,” Sadie said, looking around the bedroom. “It’s kind of old and antiquey but not in a bad way. And it’s really quiet—at night you can hear all the animals moving around in the woods outside. And…” She winced. “There are, uh, plenty of windows. Lot’s of natural light.”

  “I bet it’s gorgeous.” Samantha sounded wistful. “You almost make me want to cancel the hip-nailing I have scheduled today and come see it.”

  “Come any time,” Sadie told her sister. “You know mom didn’t just leave it to me. She said in the letter that came with the deed it was for both of us, if we ever lost our husbands and needed a place to stay.”

  “She’d probably be disappointed I never got a husband to begin with,” Samantha remarked.

  “No, she wouldn’t! She’d be incredibly proud of you for fulfilling your dream instead of getting pregnant before you even got through college.”

  It was an old sore spot with Sadie. She loved her sister dearly but she couldn’t help being a little jealous sometimes. They had both had big plans after high school but Samantha had made hers a reality while Sadie had wound up staying home to raise the kids. She had gone back when they were teenagers to get a degree in accounting, but being an accountant was a far cry from the high-powered corporate attorney she’d dreamed of becoming.

  “Are you kidding?” Samantha said. “She’d love you for giving her grandkids instead of wasting your best baby-making years in school.”

  “It’s not too late if you want to start a family,” Sadie pointed out. “Women are having babies into their forties now—you know that.”

  Samantha snorted. “Not this woman. You know I love Graham and Anna but being the cool aunt is as close to motherhood as I ever want to come.”

  “I don’t know…rocking them to sleep, soothing them and feeling them snuggle up in your arms…” Sadie sighed. “Babies are sweet. It’s just too bad they grow up so fast.”

  “You sound like you want another one yourself,” Samantha remarked.

  Sadie shook her head, even though her sister couldn’t see her.

  “Nope, my baby-making days are done. And so are my man-chasing ones. I just want to settle down in this little town and make a new life for myself. One without any trauma or drama or craziness—you know?”

  Of course, she hadn’t made a very good start to her resolution—flashing her neighbor before breakfast—but that had been an accident. And what she told her sister was honestly what she wanted—just a quiet life by herself.

  “I can do without the drama but without the trauma I’d be out of a job,” Samantha said. “Speaking of which, they just brought in an emergency trauma consult. Looks like another kid jumped off a trampoline and landed wrong—might be a broken femur. I’d better go.”

  “Okay. Well thanks for calling. And happy birthday,” Sadie said.

  “Happy birthday to you. Go have fun for both of us—looks like I’m going to be in the OR all day.” Samantha didn’t sound unhappy about it. She loved her job with a passion.

  “Talk to you later and come up to see the cabin anytime,” Sadie told her.

  “Soon, I promise. But not until after my lecture at the Trauma Surgery seminar in Las Vegas. Sin City, baby—whoo-hoo! I might see action before you do after all.”

  “I have no doubt you will,” Sadie said flatly.

  Her twin laughed. “Either way it’s always fun to get away for a while—I’m looking forward to it. Oh, they’re calling me—I really have to go.”

  “Have fun in Sin City,” Sadie told her, but her twin had already hung up.

  With a sigh, she put the phone back down on her night table. She’d gotten up early with the intention of getting some exercise but the grandfather clock in the corner of the bedroom let her know it was time to get ready f
or work.

  There was no time for breakfast either, but it wouldn’t have mattered if she had all the time in the world. She hadn’t wanted to bring perishables on the long move up from Florida so the only food in the house was an ancient, dusty box of Count Chocula breakfast cereal and a pack of Gatorade gum. Both items looked like they had been left over from the late seventies or early eighties, which was presumably the last time the cabin had been inhabited.

  Sadie fully intended to go by the only grocery store in town—which happened to be a Piggly Wiggly—and do a full shop to stock up later. But for now, she was focused on her first day of work.

  Going to the closet, she pulled out a modest business skirt and jacket combination. It might be overkill for her first day on the job but she wanted to look nice.

  She frowned as she tried on a bra that no longer fit exactly right. Well, maybe Samantha was right and her body was just reacting favorably to her recent divorce from her ex. Maybe it was a—what did you call it? One of those things that happened to your body because of your mind? Oh right—maybe it was a psychosomatic reaction to getting away from Jeff.

  Deep down, she had doubts about that but she refused to let them bother her. After all, she was looking and feeling better—why complain? Better to just try to make a normal life and routine for herself in Cougarville.

  “No drama, no trauma, no craziness. Nothing but smooth sailing from here on out, Sadie,” she said, addressing her image in the mirror as she finished getting dressed.

  Though she didn’t know it, she had never been more wrong in her life.

  Chapter Two

  Mathis Blackwell let out an irritated growl as he stomped back to his cabin and dumped the load of firewood he’d been carrying onto the neatly stacked pile on his front porch. Goddamnit—why couldn’t he get the image of his new neighbor out of his head?

  He snorted. Like she was a real neighbor and not just a plant by Keller. The leader of the local Den was getting too fucking big for his britches lately but this was a completely unexpected tactic.

  The cabin next to his land had been vacant for years—since before he’d bought the land, built his own cabin, and moved in. It had been held in trust by some unknown person who didn’t seem likely to ever appear, which was just the way Mathis liked it. The empty cabin and nonexistent neighbor had been one of the main selling points—the reason he’d bought his property in the first place, ten years ago after his mate had died.

  Mathis winced. The thought of Kathleen was still painful, even after all this time. Remembering her was like poking a half-healed wound with a sharp stick. Some might say it was his own fault—that he never allowed the wound to heal. But his kind mated for life and he wasn’t about to forget his wife and his love for her just because she’d been gone for a while.

  Which was one reason he was so pissed off about the show his neighbor had been putting on that morning. Damn it, he didn’t need to be thinking about that when his love had died with Kathleen.

  Unbidden, his mind showed him the scene that was burned into his brain. His new neighbor’s full, lush curves and the long dark hair that fell in a rippling waterfall down to the small of her back… her big brown eyes… the way she’d been cupping her full breasts, almost like she was offering them…

  He shook his head, trying unsuccessfully to push the image away. This was it—the last straw. Keller had been angling for a fight for a long time, trying to find a way to annex Mathis’s land, which bordered the other Alpha’s hunting grounds. But this…this was a really low blow.

  Mathis had always stoically ignored the other male’s goading, no matter how Keller needled him. Bucks were patient and slow to anger, unlike the yowling Cats overrunning the town. But damn it, this was too much. Planting a Juvie in the cabin right beside Mathis’s land to antagonize him was going a step too far.

  At first he’d thought he could ignore her. And the two times she’d tried to speak to him, that was exactly what he had done. Just turned his head and kept on walking, even when she called his name.

  Which was probably what had made her decide to put on that little “display” this morning. Just remembering it made his cock throb angrily in his jeans, like a clenched fist.

  Probably wasn’t her idea. Keller probably put her up to it.

  The little Juvie had probably told the other Alpha she was getting nowhere with Mathis, so Keller had told her to step up her game. Hence the little peep show, just at the time when he gathered firewood every morning.

  The timing couldn’t have been worse. It was only days until the full moon and worse, it was early Autumn.

  Rutting season.

  Well, it’s not going to work., With angry movements, Mathis stripped off his jacket and stomping to clean his boots before walking into the snug bachelor cabin he’d built with his own hands. I don’t care how gorgeous she is—no fuckin’ Juvie is gonna mess with my head.

  He walked through the living room and kitchen and headed straight for the bathroom with its huge soaking tub and stone walls. The tub in particular came in handy. Nights when he changed were always strenuous—shifting was painful and hard on the muscles. Come sunrise after he cantered home, he liked to draw a steaming hot bath and soak until he felt like himself again.

  But it wasn’t a bath he was after now. Going to the medicine cabinet, Mathis opened it and took out a brown bottle half filled with gel capsules containing a brownish green powder. He dry swallowed one and then, after considering a moment, took another.

  There—that should take care of business.

  He leaned against the sink and waited for the anti-rut meds to work. Fiona ShadowTree, Cougarville’s resident pharmacist slash medicine woman, made them in her compounding pharmacy over on Main Street. The woman was half Irish, half Cherokee, and all witch, if you believed the rumors.

  Mathis didn’t. Fiona might be a little mysterious at times but she was a damn fine pharmacist—the meds she’d made him had never failed. Not in the ten years since his Kathleen had died had he gone into rut. And he didn’t intend to break his record now.

  Unfortunately, his cock had other ideas. An hour later, it was still hard, distracting him from the work he was trying to do on the latest project in his woodworking studio. It was a custom built rocking chair and the order was due soon—he had to get it done. But his damn libido kept distracting him.

  Mathis laid down his tools and stared at his crotch, frowning. Fiona’s medicine had never failed him before. In fact, it usually took only about ten minutes to work. What the hell was going on?

  He went back to the medicine chest and looked at the plain brown bottle. Well, these were left over from last season. Maybe they’d lost their effectiveness.

  Only that had never happened before. What if they weren’t going to work this time? Fiona had warned him repeatedly about flouting the will of Lady Moon but Mathis had always ignored her—he didn’t believe in that mystical mumbo-jumbo. Sure, a lot of shifters believed there was a higher power—usually connected to the moon—that watched over them but he’d never seen any evidence of such an entity.

  If there was a Lady Moon, where had she been when his Kathleen got sick? When the doctors couldn’t save her? Where was the miracle he’d begged and prayed for? The moment his mate had died, any faith he’d ever had had died with her.

  And I’m not going to start being superstitious now, Mathis shoved the pills back. It’s that damn Juvie—she’s the reason I’m having this fucking problem.

  He thought of her again—her firm, high breasts and long brown hair. And most of all the enticing scent that wafted from her cabin to his, calling to him like a genie let out of a bottle, promising to grant his every sexual wish. God, it was fucking indecent the way she paraded around, letting her scent out in public like that. And it was only getting worse—stronger as the full moon got nearer.

  It was enough to drive any male crazy and it was all Keller’s fault.

  Well, if it didn’t let up, Keller was going t
o get the fight he’d been spoiling for. The Cat had better beware. Giant Elk might be herbivores and thus slower to anger than carnivore shifters, but once you got one roused, you were calling down the wrath of God on yourself. Or at least, the wrath of a nine foot tall, fifteen hundred pound Buck. Add razor sharp hooves and a twelve foot rack of antlers into the equation and you had a threat not even the most intrepid predator would care to face.

  As Mathis threw another log on the fire and watched the sparks fly upward, he swore to himself that Keller was going to be sorry he’d pulled this move.

  Very fucking sorry indeed.

  Want more yummy Shifters and rejuvenated heroines? Of course you do--you can preorder Buck Naked NOW and it will show up on your reader on April 4th. Cougar Bait is also available for preorder NOW and it will show up in early May. And if you want to know more about the Shifter Gene and how it works, here's a little explanation…

  Cougarville Series Blurb…

  Ladies, how would you like to have the body you had back in your early twenties? Would you like to watch your wrinkles magically disappear and your stretch marks fade away to nothing? What about losing that last ten pounds of baby weight or getting rid of those pesky bifocals?

  Well you can have all this and more…if you have the Gene.

  The Shifter Gene, that is. It’s extremely rare—only one in ten thousand women have it. Fewer still will actually manifest it. That’s because the Shifter Gene is completely dormant until a female reaches her late thirties or early forties. Even then, if she has a husband or a boyfriend she’s sleeping with regularly, the gene will lie silent and undiscovered in her DNA.

  But in cases of death, divorce, or desertion, with no male influence to stop it, the Gene becomes active in a big way. Within weeks breasts become firmer and higher, aches and pains fade away, and all signs of aging disappear. The female with the activated Gene becomes Rejuvenated—what Shifters call a “Juvie.” She’s now incredibly fertile and desirable—every male Shifter who gets close enough to smell her scent will crave her.