Noreen’s Choice
Wolf Clan
Shifters
Book 2
Ann Gimpel
Publisher: Liquid Silver Books
Release Date: 11/4/13
Genre: Paranormal romance
Snared by the mate bond, Noreen risks everything for the men she loves.
Book Description:
It’s 1936 in Calgary. After a terrifying experience, Noreen is frantic
to escape the Garden of Eden cult, so she catches the night train north out of
town. An ominous stranger and a farmer who’s furious she slept in his barn
remind her just how alone she is in the world.
Wolf shifters, Les and Karl, eke out a primitive existence on the
flanks of the Canadian Rockies. Between Hunters who want to kill them and a
wildfire raging out of control, they’re relieved when their clan leader, Jed,
shows up.
Jed has a surprise in his car, though. While passing through the
nearest town, he spied Noreen by the side of the road picking straw out of her
hair and offered her a ride. Before Jed’s car even stops rolling, Les and Karl
know she’s their mate. So skittish she’s barely willing to exit the car, Noreen
busies herself helping Jed and his pack mates unload supplies.
Can Les and Karl convince her to stay? If she does, will the risks she
faced as a cult member pale in comparison to being mated to shifters?
Chapter 1
Autumn, 1936
The swish of
tires on wet pavement drove Noreen deeper into the shadows of a band of oak
trees. She pulled her black wool cloak tighter against her body and set her
teeth to keep them from chattering. Maybe running away from the Garden of Eden
cult hadn’t been such a hot idea, but staying didn’t work either. Not after
what she’d witnessed last night. When she’d joined the group two years ago,
they’d been warm and welcoming. The rituals were a bit risqué, but harmless all
in all. She squeezed her eyes shut to block out the image of a cheering mob
that had segued from chanting while scantily clad to blood sacrifice. Exposing
her body was one thing, a thirst for human blood quite another…
She pried
her eyes open. No one would save her except herself and there wasn’t much she
could do by playing ostrich. Escape was essential, the only thing that
mattered. Never mind she’d be walking away from what little she owned, since
her things were in one of the cult’s many apartments.
Noreen took
another step backward. One boot sank into sticky mud; cold water ran into it.
Reality hit home and terrified her. She couldn’t go back to work. Nearly
everyone she knew at the insurance exchange was related to the cult in some
way. Or to another similar group. Occult fervor had risen during the twenties
in the wake of World War I. By the middle of the nineteen thirties, it had a
well-established toehold. Fascination with the supernatural ran high and had
grown like an out-of-control weed. Most spiritual cults were rooted in the
States, but it hadn’t taken long before Canadians picked up the banner,
enthralled by the unseen world.
Despite
Noreen’s best efforts, shudders racked her body, and her teeth banged against
one another uncontrollably. October in Calgary meant the air was dry and crisp.
She’d seen frost on the roofs this morning. Tonight would likely see another
freeze. It didn’t take much of an imagination to realize winter would set in
soon.
Somehow,
she’d sat at her desk all day. When co-workers commented she seemed subdued,
she’d just said she wasn’t feeling well. It was the only way she’d gotten out
of mandatory attendance at tonight’s cult meeting. Midday, she’d slipped out of
the office and stopped by the bank. Closing her account would have engendered
suspicion, so she’d withdrawn two hundred dollars, half of what she had saved.
Even that earned her a stern lecture from one of the bank vice presidents.
Likely afraid she’d fallen for some scam, he drew her into a side office intent
on discovering why she needed such a vast sum of money. Noreen rolled her eyes
at the memory. She’d fabricated a story about a mythical aunt who had
unexpected medical bills.
“Yes, and
I’m wasting precious time standing here,” she muttered, the words barely
discernable against her chattering teeth. If she was going to follow through
with the plan she’d hatched during the day, she needed to be out of town and
well-hidden before someone looked for her. If she got really lucky, that
wouldn’t be until after she didn’t show up for work tomorrow.
Or they might send someone to my place
tonight to see if I need anything.
That last
thought galvanized her into action. Noreen broke into a shambling trot and
ducked into a coffee shop. She needed something hot to drink, and then she’d
head for the train station and catch the evening express north toward Edmonton.
“Looking
pretty wet there, hon.” A smiling waitress hustled over to her. “We’re closing
soon, but I can get you some soup.”
“Just
coffee,” Noreen managed. “And I promise I’ll drink it fast.”
The
waitress, a buxom blonde with gray roots, cocked her head to one side. “You
okay, sweetie?” Her brown eyes flickered kindly.
“Fine.” She
dug a nickel out of a pocket. “Here’s for the coffee. I like it black.”
The waitress
frowned and then shrugged. “It’s six cents now, but seeing as how we’re just
going to toss what’s left in the pot, keep your money. Looks as if you need it
worse than we do.”
Tears
threatened at the woman’s unexpected thoughtfulness. Noreen blinked them back
and murmured, “Thank you.” She sank into a red leather padded chair at the
counter and waited while the waitress poured steaming liquid into a heavy,
white ceramic mug. The heated crockery felt heavenly when she cradled it
between her hands. The coffee burned her tongue, but the jolt from the caffeine
was instantaneous and welcome.
Noreen
glanced at her watch. How had it gotten to be nine p.m.? Her train left in an
hour; it was a thirty minute walk to the station, and she needed time to
purchase a ticket once she got there. She didn’t have extra money to waste on
streetcars or taxis. Setting her cup down, she nodded at the waitress and
hurried out of the café. The streets weren’t exactly deserted, so she pulled
the sodden wool of her cloak’s hood over her bright hair. She didn’t want to
have to explain why she hadn’t been at the meeting if anyone recognized her.
After all, her excuse had been she was too sick to leave her home that night,
and it would be blown to hell if she were seen wandering around in marginal weather.
Stop that! She lectured herself. Everyone else is at cult headquarters. No one’s out and about who might
recognize me.
Brave words. Too bad I don’t believe them.
Her heart
thudded so hard, she was afraid everyone she passed could hear it. Noreen
counted off blocks as she walked through the heart of Calgary’s business
district. Her wet sock squished in her boot. She wished she had time to take it
off and wring it out. Another café, this one advertising it stayed open until
ten, looked inviting, but she walked on by.
I’ll take care of my sock problem at the
station. I’m cutting the timing close as it is.
Noreen felt
ill. The coffee she’d welcomed going down ate at her stomach like acid. If she
met up with anyone from the cult at the train station, she’d be finished. Cult
members signed on for life. There weren’t any early out clauses that she knew
of. A tear dripped down one cheek; she brushed it aside. No point in feeling
sorry for herself. She’d made a bad decision and didn’t have any fallback
position. There was no family to run home to—or call for help. They’d all died
in the flu epidemic of 1918. She’d been seven at the time and had ended up in
the Calgary orphanage.
“Even if I
had relatives,” she mumbled, “they’d be the last place I’d go. Wouldn’t want to
implicate them.” There hadn’t been anything truly wrong with the orphanage, but
there hadn’t been much right there, either. Noreen understood perfectly why
she’d been so attracted to the cult. For the first time in her twenty-five
years, she felt as if she belonged somewhere. Like she had a family.
What a joke! Noreen castigated herself for
being a fool, and a gullible one at that, and then gave it up for wasted
effort.
The station
lights shone through ground fog that had misted out of nowhere during her
flight across town. A few more steps and she pushed the door open, walking into
warmth so welcome it took her breath away. She didn’t realized how cold she’d
gotten. Not just body-cold; her spirit was frozen to the core of her soul.
Noreen gazed
around the station. A few people milled about, but not many. Resolute now that
she was here, she marched to an open ticket counter and said, “Edmonton,
please. Economy coach.”
The man
didn’t bother to look up. “How many?” In his fifties or sixties, he was rail
thin with sparse, gray hair.
“Just me.”
“Name?”
“Noreen
Galen.”
His fingers
shook as he wrote out her ticket. “That’ll be a dollar-fifty, miss.”
“Oh.” She
bit her lower lip and fished in her handbag.
He glanced
at her, rheumy blue eyes shrewd. “You got a problem with that?”
Noreen
swallowed hard. It went against the grain, but she spoke up for herself. “Since
you asked, yes I do. I don’t have much, and I thought the advertised fare was a
dollar. I, um, called today and asked about it.”
He shrugged.
“You got a buck?” She held it up so he could see. “Okay, missy. Here’s your
ticket.” He stamped it and held it out to her, but Noreen was still nonplussed
he’d tried to overcharge her, so she didn’t reach for it. “Ain’t you going to
take your ticket?” He sounded annoyed.
“Uh, sure.”
She pushed her money under the bars and took the ticket.
“Gate seven.
She boards in twenty minutes.”
Noreen
scuttled away, not wanting to deal with the clerk who’d tried to cheat her. If
she wouldn’t have said anything, he would have pocketed the extra fifty cents.
Outrage flooded her and left a bitter taste at the back of her mouth. Someone
really should report him.
Yes, someone should, but not me. The last
thing I need is to draw attention to myself. Following the signs, she settled in to wait
near where the train would come and bent to unlace her boot. Her sock had
soaked up most of the water. She wrung out what she could and put it back on
before the wool could cool off and become clammy. Some strands of her
white-blonde hair had escaped from beneath her hood; she tucked them back out
of sight and drew in a shuddery breath. Fifteen more minutes and she’d be safe
on the train. Well, maybe safe, though it seemed unlikely she’d run into any
Garden of Edeners on the night train to Edmonton.
She’d
studied maps during the day and decided to get off around Red Deer. Buying a
ticket all the way to Edmonton was a hedge in case anyone tried to find out
where she’d gone. From Red Deer, hopefully she could hitch a ride west into
some of the smaller communities dotting the Rockies. Maybe, if she were really
lucky, she could land a job before her money ran out. Insofar as she knew, cult
activities were limited outside major cities.
Wonder how much trouble they’re going to go
to to find me?
The
loudspeaker announced her train; after a final glance around the station,
Noreen strode toward the door and out onto the platform. The steam engine’s
headlamp lit the night. With a whoosh and a roar, the train clattered to a
halt. She waited until a flood of travelers disembarked, went up the steps, and
found her way to a nearly deserted coach.
Her seat was
soft and the train car warm. Before the train had even pulled out of the
station, her eyes felt heavy. Noreen pinched her hands. Sleeping, at least
until they got underway, wasn’t an option. She had to stay alert and keep an
eye on the few passengers entering her car.
It wasn’t
easy to stay awake. She’d barely slept the night before as her mind replayed
the horror of a man she’d known and respected chopping off two of his fingers
while lost in cult-driven zeal. If it had just been him, acting by himself, it
might have been one thing, but hundreds of other cult members were screeching,
cheering, and egging him on. They’d put his fingers in a brass bowl and used
the blood to lure a spirit guide. Two men had gone into a deep trance after
that. Noreen had excused herself, barely making it to the ladies’ room before
her stomach rebelled. She hadn’t returned, but the cult was so high on
bloodlust, she figured no one even noticed her absence.
Finally, the
wheels squealed against the rails and the train chugged northward. Her car was
still mostly empty. As she sank deeper into her seat and drew her hood low over
her eyes, Noreen dared to let herself hope. She’d made it this far. Maybe, just
maybe, she’d escape to start a new life, one where she’d make better choices.
* * * *
The phone
jangled again. Loud and strident, it made Les’ sensitive lupine hearing ache.
It took him a moment to realize he needed his human form to make the noise go
away. He’d tried to ignore the damned thing, but whoever was calling wouldn’t
give up. Every time he ventured near the house, it was ringing. With an
aggravated snort, he commanded his body to shift. As soon as he had feet rather
than paws, he strode through the door of his cabin deep in the woods, jaw tight
with annoyance. His remote location a few miles outside Rocky Mountain House
often lost phone service for long periods of time.
“Yes and too
bad this isn’t one of them,” he muttered, snatched up the receiver, and barked,
“Yes, I’m here.”
“It’s about
damned time. I’ve been trying to get hold of you for days.”
Les’ eyes
widened. “Jed?”
“Who the
hell else?”
Les brayed
laughter. “Good point. It’s not as if very many people have this number. What’s
up, boss? I thought you were coming my way months ago. The boys and I wondered
what happened.”
“Now that I
have your attention, hang up.” Jed’s voice had a sharp edge that Les remembered
all too well. “We’ll do this a more private way.”
“You got
it.” Les dropped the black receiver back in place. He kicked the door shut to
keep the cold breeze out. It didn’t bother him as a wolf, but he was naked and
the air had a chill edge to it. He trotted into the bedroom and had begun to
dress when Jed’s voice sounded in his mind.
“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been
trying to reach you for a week.”
Les sank
onto the bed and pulled a quilt over his still-bare legs as he considered where
to start. Jed was clan leader for wolf shifters. He needed all the information Les
could provide. “First off, we’re all
still okay.”
“That’s a relief. When I couldn’t raise you,
I was afraid Hunters had killed everyone. Made me half-crazy not to know
anything. Anyway, we pulled into Calgary last night.”
“With your new mate?”
“Affirmative. Bron, Terin, and Alice are with
me.” Jed blew
out a breath. “You may have heard through
the grapevine, we’d originally decided to come north as part of our wedding
trip, but Hunters nabbed half a dozen of us in northern California. It took a
major offensive to free our people. Even so, we lost a couple.”
Les nodded,
and then realized Jed couldn’t see him. “Yes,
I know. We’ve had problems of our own. First it was Hunters. They almost got
your cousins Ron and Chris. I’m still waiting for the fallout on that one since
we killed the whole posse that came after us. All five of them.”
“Was there any choice?” Jed’s voice was stern.
“No.” Anger tightened Les’ muscles. He’d like to kill every goddamned
Hunter in the universe, but he wasn’t about to tell Jed that. And there hadn’t
been any choice, not really. They’d been surrounded. The only thing that saved
them was taking a firm offensive position.
Jed broke
into Les’ thoughts. “What’d you do with
the bodies?”
“Don’t worry, boss. No one will ever find
them. We dragged them to the very bottom of a cave system where there’s a vent
to an upper cave and burned them.”
“How long ago?”
Les thought
about it. He’d spent much of the last month as a wolf which skewed his time
sense. “Maybe a week.”
“You still haven’t told me why you weren’t
answering your phone.”
“We’ve all been in our wolf forms. There’s a
fire burning out of control between our pack and the crest of the Rockies. A
couple of the cabins farther west incinerated—”
“Hmph,” Jed interrupted, obviously not concerned
about an out-of-control wildfire. “Any of
you find mates yet?”
“What do you think? It’s not as if the odds
are in our favor.”
“Maybe Alice can change that. Women trust
her. She’s actually scared up three mates since she joined Bron, Terin, and
me.” A hesitation.
“How close did you say that fire was?”
“My cabin’s not in any immediate danger. It’s
fall and I’m expecting it to rain soon.” Les scratched at month-old beard growth on his chin. “It’s pretty primitive here, boss. Nothing
like your digs in Hollywood.”
A different
voice sounded in his head, rich, vibrant, and definitely female. “I’ve been listening in. Shameless of me not
to have said something earlier. Don’t worry about me. My life was a whole lot
simpler before I met up with Jed and my other two mates. Besides, I’m looking
forward to meeting the clan members here in Alberta.”
Les’ mouth
twitched into half a smile. “You must be
Alice. We’ve heard a lot about you. Are you really six feet tall?”
Alice
snorted; it made Les wish he’d kept his mouth shut. After all, Alice was mated
to his clan leader. “How about if we
leave the details open and you can see for yourself when we get there? Jed says
it’s a four or five hour drive and we should arrive sometime tomorrow. Is there
anything we need to bring from the big city?”
Les gazed
around his one bedroom cabin as if he expected a grocery list to materialize.
He cleared his throat before remembering he didn’t need his actual voice. “Um, we’ve been pretty much living off the
land this past month, so anything you bring would be welcome.”
“I get the picture.” Jed broke in with a laugh. “We’ll fill up the trunk and the rest of the
back seat.”
Les couldn’t
help himself. “Who gets to sit next to
Alice?”
Female
chuckling made his heart lighter than it had been in a long time. “Oh, they fuss and snarl a bit, but they
sort of take turns. It’s nice actually, to have three doting mates.”
“I’m sure it is.” Les brushed a wave of sadness
aside. He’d love to have a woman to fuss over, alongside Karl, his pack mate.
They’d hunted for years for a female to grace their lives without success. A
few promising candidates had crossed their path when they’d lived in Edmonton,
but Hunters had driven them out of the city fifty years before.
“We’ll be there by tomorrow afternoon.” Jed’s voice was gruff, and Les
figured his clan leader could read his mind.
“I’ll alert the troops, boss. Everyone will
be really glad to see all of you. And to meet your mate.”
Les waited,
but a certain emptiness told him Jed had signed off. He shoved the quilt aside,
finished dressing, and called Karl through their telepathic link. It didn’t
take long before paws scrabbled against the door, and Les remembered he’d shut
it. By the time he crossed the small space and pulled the door open, Karl had
found his human form and stood shivering, arms wrapped around his tall, spare
frame. Black hair hung to his waist in tangles. “Thanks. Damned cold out here.”
The wolf shifter bounded into the room, giving the door a shove as he passed
through it. “What’s up?”
“Jed’s here.”
Les spread his arms wide and rolled his eyes. “Along with his lieutenants and
their new mate. We’ve got to clean this place up.”
“Why? It’s
always been good enough for us.”
Les slugged
him in the arm. “You weren’t listening. Jed’s mate will be here.”
“Oh, I get
it.” Karl chortled, dark eyes gleaming with glee. “Maybe if we didn’t do
anything, she’d take pity on us and—”
“Right. Find
some clothes and we’ll get to work. I don’t think Jed, Terin, or Bron will want
their new mate waiting on the likes of us.”
Karl
sprinted for his sleeping alcove toward the rear of the log cabin’s main room.
Drawers banged open. “Fire’s getting closer,” he called over one shoulder.
“Maybe it would be better for all of us to get together in Red Deer.”
Les
considered it. “Nope. Too soon since we axed those Hunters. That’s where they
were from—there and Edmonton. I don’t want any friendly sheriff asking
questions if they discover we live out here. Are you sure the fire’s closer?
Maybe the wind just shifted direction.”
“It’s definitely
closer. The smoke’s thicker, and I can actually hear it burning from the rise a
couple miles west of here.” Karl slid his legs into trousers and pulled a
sweater over his head before shoving his feet into an ancient pair of sheepskin
slippers. He turned to Les. “Where do you think we should start? Come to think
of it, when do you want to alert the rest of the clan, or should I do that?”
“We can take
care of that later tonight. How about if you work on the dishes? I’ll sweep and
get the kettle going for laundry.”
Karl strode
to the sink and pumped the handle for water. “Eww.” He wrinkled his nose. “How
long have these plates been here?”
“Does it
matter?” Les lugged a large, cast iron kettle in through the back door and
hefted it onto a wood-burning stove. He opened the firebox door, levered a
pocket knife out of his pants, and started shaving tinder. “Let’s warm some
water. That should help.” As he worked, Les dialed in his lupine senses and
scented fresh air coming through the back door. It was indeed tinged with
smoke. What bad timing for a major fire. If it drove them into one of the
nearby towns, they’d risk discovery because Hunters could scent them.
“Les?”
He looked up
from his half-built fire. “Um-hum.”
“Maybe it’s
time to move on.”
“No!” Les
banged a fist down on his thigh. “I’m sick of running. If the fire gets this
far, we’ll come back when it’s over and rebuild.”
“But we’ll
never find a mate out here.”
“Just do the
damned dishes. We’ve got enough problems without adding to them.”
My Review: 4 stars
Usually I'd rate this higher, however, I'm thinking that Ann laid out most of the background for this in the first book of the series. I enjoyed the storyline, Ann always has a unique perspective on things, and her characters are wonderful and her writing is always entertaining and fun. I enjoyed Ann's little twist on shifters and mates. It made for some unusual scenes that were quite unique. I really enjoyed the telepathic thing that the shifters and their mates had with each other and other shifters also. The timeframe that Ann set this in was an interesting choice also. I never did quite get how the Hunters could smell the shifters on others. I thought they were human. I just felt like I had missed an important part of the story. I guess I'll have to go back and read the first book to get it. I did like that Alice along with her mates rescued Noreen and brought her to the men who would like to be her mates; Les and Karl. Then it was up to Noreen to either make the choice to be their mate or have all memories erased and go back to running from the cult she had left. Her choice was good, and still came with plenty of action and adventure for everyone involved.
About the Author
Ann Gimpel is a clinical psychologist, with a Jungian
bent. Avocations include mountaineering, skiing, wilderness
photography and, of course, writing. A lifelong aficionado of the
unusual, she began writing speculative fiction a few years ago. Since then her
short fiction has appeared in a number of webzines and anthologies. Full length
works, Psyche’s Prophecy, Psyche’s Search, and Psyche's Promise are small press
publications available in e-format and paperback. To Love a Highland Dragon, Fortune’s Scion, Earth’s Requiem and Earth’s Blood are urban fantasy
romances available in e-format. A number of paranormal romance shorter works
are also available. Check out Ann’s website or blog for a full listing of her
fiction.
@AnnGimpel (for Twitter)
