A full moon, a dark forest, eerie glowing eyes, and…pretty pink hair?
Deep in the sheltering mountains and trees of Pine Peak National Park, an earth witch seeks refuge from a disconnected urban life.
After Pansy survives a physical attack outside her city apartment, she decides to follow her life dream by moving to a rural place where she can create a small, sustainable, organic farm, far from the city’s dangers. She assumes she’s drawn to Pine Peak because her magic is tied to nature, and hidden away inside its dense forests, she will be safe, and able to personally grow the plants she needs for her hand-crafted, magic-infused candles, oils and spell-bound sachets she sells online. Unfortunately, something far more dangerous than a purse snatcher awaits her in the forest.
He’s not interested in leading or following.
After years of drifting around as a lone wolf, rogue shifter Ash has made Pine Peak his home. He’s made a few shifter friends and joined a loosely organized pack of mostly independent wolves. Still, he hasn’t managed to shake the lonely feeling of his previous solo status. When a beautiful, pink-haired woman moves into the pack’s territory, his mating instinct promptly goes on high alert, driving him to distraction. Discovering the woman is a witch is an unwelcome surprise, considering his history, but when danger lurks, threatening her safety, all his possessive alpha traits rise, along with his need to mate with the witch.
This short story appeared in an earlier anthology that is no longer available. It’s a light-hearted 50-page paranormal tale, perfect for a chilly Halloween night.
“Think I’ll head out for a midnight run.”
Ash Gray drained his beer, planted it on the battered bar top, then thumped his pack brother and fellow firefighter, Dev, on the back.
“Looking for company?” Dev stood up and tossed a couple of bills down to cover the tab.
“Nah…need to clear my head.”
Dev frowned. Probably worried that Ash was reverting to his old patterns.
“You’ve been taking off more than usual the last couple of weeks. Anything up?”
Ash shook his head. “Not sure.” Something strange, but nothing he was ready to talk about. He forced a grin for his friend. “Something’s ruffled my fur. I’m sure it’ll pass.”
Dev cracked a brief smile at his lame pun, but accepted Ash’s turndown without argument. Better than anyone, he understood that Ash’s steady loyalty to their adopted pack rode loosely on the back of his preferred lone wolf status. Likeminded, Dev spent a lot of time prowling through Pine Peak’s National Park solo himself. Both of them had grown up isolated from most forms of society, under the jurisdiction of poor and poorly managed packs, until early adulthood.
They already shared space at the small town’s fire station while on duty these days, as well as attending weekly pack gatherings and meeting a couple of times a week. Outside of those obligations, neither introvert had much interest in socializing with humans or fellow shifters.
“I’ll see you tomorrow night at Carmen’s BBQ though, right?” Dev had the next day off so they wouldn’t be at the station together.
“Yeah. I’ll be there after work.” Ash and his one-time lover Carmen had stayed friends—obviously without the side benefits—despite her mating to their new pack leader, Rich, last autumn, when the three of them had decided to join the Pine Peak pack. Rich still snarled at Ash whenever he showed up for pack events, but the growling had died down significantly as he’d realized Ash wasn’t jealous, and that Ash and Carmen’s sexual history was just that, history.
Carmen and Rich were head-over-heels in love, an experience Ash doubted he’d ever experience himself. His sexual encounters with Carmen, and every other woman he’d bedded, had always been about meeting basic physical needs, not connecting on a deeper, emotional level. They certainly had never broached mate status. He only wished the newlyweds well. Carmen was a great gal who deserved a loyal mate, and Rich led the Pine Peak pack with moral, ethical fidelity. Their joined leadership was one of the reasons Ash had finally committed to stay and sink in roots.
Ash strode out of the smoky lounge and into the crisp spring night air. Again, he scented a haunting perfume, something light and sweet, that had invaded his senses for a month now, its pervading power increasing by the day. His slumbering wolf instincts sharpened into heightened alertness, pulling him away from his normal routes in the rugged, uninhabited north end of the valley and towards the gentler, rolling farms located in the south. He needed to run, hunt. For what, he wasn’t quite sure.
***
Pansy Dodder undid the scarf she’d used to tie back and cover her long hair while she worked at clearing out the barn. Her own barn. An errant curl flipped into her face and stuck to her cheek. Her sweaty skin was layered in dust and grime. It had grown late, and her very own personal country clawfoot tub waited to be filled and used. Swiping at the grit on her forehead, and brushing her hair back, she couldn’t help but stop first to admire the fruits of her day’s labor: a tidy home for her prospective animals. The interior of the barn glowed warmly under the high yellow lights she’d had installed.
The building, which was fully wired for electricity, had enough light to allow her to work into the night, and would shelter her future menagerie well indeed. The previous owners had raised animals and consequently lots of kids and colts had reportedly been born inside the building in the middle of the night, over the decades, creating an energy flow of fertility and positivity. Soon, it would be home for her own animals—a couple of horses, a milk cow, and, out in the adjacent shed, a few chickens and rabbits.
She sighed half in happiness and half in tiredness. Muscles she didn’t know she had ached. She turned off the lights, closed up the barn and trooped towards her equally charming little farmhouse. She’d only found and bought the rural Pine Peak property a month ago, and moved in two weeks later, but already the place felt like a permanent home. The house porch light guided her path across the dark, patchy yard, but she still stumbled over a dense clump of Cenchrus spinifex, which would need to be dug up and disposed of in a purifying fire.
“Ooh, you’re a troublesome little plant,” she scolded it. She didn’t like to call plants weeds. Still, some plants were more beneficial than others. “I’m sorry, but you’re not going to be able to stay. Nothing personal.” She frowned. Maybe she could transplant the weed out beyond the edge of her property.
She believed strongly in the benefit of speaking directly and honestly to plants. Surveying the overgrown yard in the moonlight, she decided she needed to hire someone in to mow the weeds and grasses down sooner than later. When she had the money, she planned to own all the equipment required to manage the property on her own. Until then, she would need to depend on locals to help tame the property into her vision for an organic source of herbs and concoctions for the spells that she planned to sell over the internet.
Her helpful new neighbor, Don, had already plowed her one-acre field earlier in the day and she couldn’t wait to dig into the dirt with her bare hands and plant this week. The soil was dark and rich, neatly tilled into rows. The back bedroom of the house was full of pots and flats of green budding plants—flowers, herbs, vegetables, most of what she needed to make her spells and concoctions, as well as food—and they all needed to go into the ground before they became root bound and the outdoor temperatures spiked up.
Her friend Lailah had almost finished Pansy’s commercial website, through which she would be selling her special products. Her life felt fresh, new, and bright. She couldn’t suppress skipping her last few steps to the front of the house. At the door, her familiar, Hecate, sat waiting at the top step, her tale flicking in impatience.
“Ah, sweet kitty cat, have I kept you waiting on dinner?”
The animal sniffed and shifted. Behind her lay a gift of a big, fat mouse.
“Oh, you’ve been busy,” Pansy squeaked. When they’d lived in the city, she’d kept Hecate housebound to prevent anyone hurting the black cat, as well as to keep the regal creature from getting hit as she crossed a street. Hecate expected others, including cars, to stop for her. Pansy hadn’t really thought of how Hecate might hurt other creatures once she had access to the outdoors.
“Guess your hunting urges are intact. No birds though.” Pansy shook her finger in warning. “We don’t kill birds. Ever.”
Hecate turned her back on Pansy and gazed up at the door handle, obviously not interested in following any of Pansy’s rules.
“Okay,” Pansy huffed. Clearly, they’d need to have this conversation at another time. She gingerly flicked the mouse aside with her toe. As she reached to open the door, she thought she heard something rustling behind her. She turned and scanned the dark shadows of the yard. Her breath caught and her skin prickled. Something or someone was out there watching her. She squinted towards the farther side of the barn where the grasses were tallest. Were there dark eyes staring at her? A shiver traced down her back and she opened the door and hustled Hecate inside.
Peeking through the gingham curtain, she watched the shadows and weeds for several minutes, until Hecate began to yowl indignantly for her dinner from the kitchen. Pansy made sure to flip the deadbolt into place. Maybe her home wasn’t quite as cozy as she’d been thinking. There might not be any troubled, knife-wielding men in this small township, but country living came with its own dangers.
***
Wolf Ash sat still as stone staring at the source of the sweet, delicate floral scent that had been haunting him for a month. A woman. A woman with long, bright, beautiful pale pink hair that bounced in the moonlight, its natural waves swinging down around her shoulders and to her waist. She’d been dressed in a pair of baggy overalls, a long-sleeved Henley and chunky boots, but he could still make out a set of sweet feminine curves under the bulky clothes. Even more unsettling, this woman was a sorceress. Fuck.
His wolf let out a long, deep howl at the moon.