Shifter's Legacy Read online

  Shifter’s Legacy

  A Louisiana Shifters Novel

  Vivian Wood

  Contents

  Author’s Copyright

  Hot New Release News

  Louisiana Shifters Series

  Shifters, Shifters, Shifters…

  Prologue

  1. Chapter 1

  2. Chapter 2

  3. Chapter 3

  4. Chapter 4

  5. Chapter 5

  6. Chapter 6

  7. Chapter 7

  8. Chapter 8

  9. Chapter 9

  10. Chapter 10

  11. Chapter 11

  12. Chapter 12

  13. Chapter 13

  14. Chapter 14

  15. Chapter 15

  16. Chapter 16

  17. Chapter 17

  18. Chapter 18

  19. Chapter 19

  20. Chapter 20

  21. Chapter 21

  22. Chapter 22

  23. Chapter 23

  24. Chapter 24

  25. Chapter 25

  26. Chapter 26

  27. Chapter 27

  28. Chapter 28

  29. Chapter 29

  30. Chapter 30

  31. Chapter 31

  32. Chapter 32

  33. Chapter 33

  34. Chapter 34

  35. Chapter 35

  36. Chapter 36

  37. Chapter 37

  38. Chapter 38

  39. Chapter 39

  40. Chapter 40

  41. Chapter 41

  42. Chapter 42

  43. Chapter 43

  44. Chapter 44

  45. Chapter 45

  46. Chapter 46

  47. Chapter 47

  48. Chapter 48

  49. Chapter 49

  50. Chapter 50

  51. Chapter 51

  52. Chapter 52

  Introducing The New Alpha Guardians Series Listing!

  Shifters, Shifters, Shifters…

  About Vivian Wood

  Introducing Amelie Hunt

  All The Amelie Hunt Presents Series

  Copyright Vivian Veritas Publishing 2014

  May not be replicated or reproduced in any manner without express and written permission from the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to author and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Hot New Release News

  Click here to get all the latest details on giveaways, discounts, and hot new releases from author Vivian Wood.

  For 100% FREE access to all of Vivian’s latest stories, head over to Romance ARCade, an exchange of FREE paranormal romance stories for honest, thoughtful reviews.

  Louisiana Shifters Series

  Shifter’s Ascent

  Shifter’s Legacy

  Shifters Vignettes: Maddie and Jasper

  Shifters Vignettes: Rose and Mason

  Shifters Vignettes: Ian and Jeanne

  Shifters Vignettes: Emma and Connall

  Louisiana Shifters Super Collection

  Shifters, Shifters, Shifters…

  Prologue

  “Where are you going today?” came Jasper’s teasing voice. Maddie snapped her beloved book closed, leveling him with a glare.

  He’d found her sitting on the top step of the cottage they’d nicknamed The Orphanage, where Madeline and Jacques Copeland and their friend Jasper Craig lived with their revolving list of pack caretakers.

  “I’m reading about Prague,” she sniffed, setting aside her copy of Great Cities of the World. It was one of the only things she had left from her parents, dead now for half a year. Like Jasper’s parents, they’d been killed in the so-called ‘Atlanta Massacre’, the night that the Legion forces had destroyed almost an entire pack of wolf Shifters. Many of the adult Shifters had sacrificed themselves to allow the children time to escape, Maddie and Jasper among the lucky children.

  “Sounds fancy. What stop is it on your trip?” Jasper asked, his teasing vanishing.

  “Six. New York, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Prague,” Maddie recited.

  “Sounds pretty good,” Jasper said, coming over and sitting on the top step with Maddie. He’d grown a lot in the past year, so much that they almost couldn’t sit on the wide step together comfortably.

  “You can pick some stops, too,” Maddie said, looking down at her own awkward limbs. Maddie wasn’t yet a teenager like Jasper, but she’d had quite a growth spurt this year. Jasper always teased her that the only job she could get would be as a supermodel like Cindy Crawford, which made Maddie frown. She was going to be an astronaut like Sally Ride, not some girly-girl who walked around in fancy dresses all day.

  “That’s nice of you to say,” Jasper said, the teasing returning. “But I bet you’ve already got our whole trip mapped out, haven’t you?”

  “Only the first half,” Maddie defended herself. “We could change it if you really wanted to.”

  “Nah. I’m sure it’s a good plan, Madd.” Jasper reached out and ruffled her hair, probably making it look wilder than ever. Maddie didn’t mind what her hair looked like as long it was out of her eyes, so she just ran a hand through her hair to push it back from her face.

  “You ruined my masterpiece!” Jasper said, pretending to be hurt. Maddie opened her mouth to respond, but heavy footfalls downstairs interrupted her thoughts.

  Maddie craned her neck, spotting their current caretaker entering the kitchen with the alpha of their pack. Both men sat down, continuing their discussion as they settled around the kitchen table.

  “We can’t send Jasper to the Alabama pack,” Shaw Geaudreaux said, frowning intently at the older male sitting across the table from him. Shaw’s arms were crossed, his whole demeanor radiating an intimidating anger. Everyone in the pack knew that Shaw couldn’t stand to think of a child in trouble, and his inflexible sense of justice combined with a nasty temper was often the cause of fights amongst the pack’s younger males. He caught caretaker duty at the Orphanage more than anyone else, and Maddie thought it was probably as much to keep Shaw out of trouble as it was to watch over the kids.

  From their perch at the top of the stairwell, Maddie and Jasper peered down into the kitchen of the tiny cabin. From there they could see both the dark-haired twenty-something Shaw and Spade Fortray, the alpha of the Louisiana Shifter pack. Spade was in his forties, just beginning to go gray at his temples but still more than spry enough not to be put off by the younger male’s ire. Spade gave Shaw a long look, gathering his thoughts.

  “I don’t see how we have a choice,” Spade said finally, apparently deciding not to take offense at Shaw’s clipped tone. “The kid came to me and offered to go. Wouldn’t explain why, just made the offer and then took off again.”

  Despite being able to see them perfectly, Maddie decided that she must have mistaken Spade’s words. Jasper would never do that to her. They were so close that her brother always joked that they were ‘joined at the hip’. She always giggled at that, imagining her and Jasper tied up like they were going to run a three-legged race.

  “Did they just—” she started to whisper to her grim-looking companion. Jasper’s go-to expression was usually dark as a thundercloud anyway, but today he was outdoing himself with the brooding looks. Her brother Jace was often just the same, so Maddie assumed that all teenage boys just liked to frown all the time.

  “Shh!” he said, elbowing Maddie to cut her off.

  Shaw glanced up from the table toward the
stairs, but luckily he was distracted by what the alpha was saying. He looked back to the other man, a tic pulsing in his clenched jaw.

  “He’s a kid. He has no idea what he’s signing up for, Spade. You know that.”

  “Again, we don’t exactly have a choice. McDonough’s upset that Alabama wasn’t given custody of one of the Atlanta orphans, and he’s not going to give up easily. And truth be told, he has equal rights to take in one of them,” Spade said with a sigh.

  “The boy’s got enough problems as it is. Jasper’s hard put to string together two sentences, and he’s completely unwilling to talk about his parents’ murder. The Alabama pack is cutthroat. The Shifters they take in never turn out right, and everyone knows it,” Shaw insisted.

  Maddie suppressed a giggle; Jasper may not talk to Shaw, but he practically talked his jaw off to Maddie. It had taken her months to break through Jasper’s hard outer shell, but inside the young man was bright and thoughtful.

  Spade sighed and crossed his muscular arms, leaning back in his chair. The alpha’s icy blue eyes raked over his young protégé, but his expression remained neutral.

  “I’m glad to see you taking my advice about caring for your pack mates, but there isn’t anything we can do about this particular situation. You’re taking this too personally,” Spade said.

  “And you’re not taking it personally enough! Jasper is our responsibility, and we can’t just skip out on that,” Shaw said, leaning forward to stab a meaty finger into the table.

  “He’s not your brother, Shaw,” the alpha replied, keeping his voice calm and quiet.

  “Don’t bring Jameson into this. This has nothing to do with him,” Shaw said, his eyes narrowing.

  “Every damned kid you see is just an echo of him. You can’t run around trying to rear everyone else’s kids just because you lost your brother. You have enough stuff going on in your own life,” Spade said.

  “Nothing that’s more important than standing up for this kid,” Shaw replied. He inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself down.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

  “We’re completely off-topic here. My point is that there are other orphans left behind after the bombing of the Atlanta Den. Let him take one of them,” Shaw said, slapping a huge hand down on the table with a BANG.

  Spade cocked his head, annoyed at Shaw’s display.

  “Tough shit. We’re the ones he’s hassling, and we only have three of the kids. Should we break up the brother and sister? Or better yet, should we send them both? How long do you think that little girl would last in that pack? I can’t remember the last willing female to join the Alabama pack, and there’s definitely a reason for that.”

  Shaw scowled, unsure how to respond. Maddie’s heart skipped a beat, stumbling over Spade’s mention of her weakness. She’d eavesdropped on some of the Louisiana females talking about the Alabama pack earlier this week. She hadn’t even understood half of what they were describing, but she knew enough to for her gut to churn wildly. Maddie flushed with shame, but she prayed that Spade wouldn’t decide to send her to live with those bad men.

  She snuck a glance over at Jasper to find him giving Spade a murderous glare, jaw tensed with anger. He must not want to go either, despite Spade’s declaration that Jasper had offered to go. Maddie reached and slipped her hand into his. He didn’t turn to look at her, but he didn’t withdraw his hand either.

  “No, of course we can’t send Maddie. And Jace goes wherever his sister goes, he’d never allow them to be separated. Not that anyone would want that,” Shaw said, shoulders slumping.

  Maddie could sense his defeat, and she wanted nothing more than to tell him off. Grownups were dumb as rocks sometimes, she thought. If they didn’t want to send Jasper to Alabama, they shouldn’t. None of this back and forth crud.

  “Jasper’s stronger than he looks. And besides, all those rumors about the Alabama pack are just something for the females to gossip about, nothing more. If I really thought Ennis would do the boy harm, I wouldn’t even consider this. ”

  Jasper’s hand clenched tight against Maddie’s for a brief moment, then he slid his fingers from hers. Tears stung Maddie’s eyes as she looked at her best friend, not bothering to disguise her distress. The grownups had decided to send him away, just like that. How could they do that?

  Spade stood, and Shaw mirrored his action.

  “I suppose I’d better go call McDonough and let him know when to pick up the boy. Will you find Jasper and bring him to my office? I’d like to be the one to tell him,” Spade said, suddenly looking exhausted.

  As angry as Maddie was at Spade, she couldn’t help but think that being alpha must be pretty tough.

  Shaw’s gaze traveled up to where Maddie and Jasper sat huddled, pinning them uncomfortably. Maddie’s breath caught, surprised. He must have known they were there all along, but for some reason he hadn’t called them out. Shaw looked very sad just then, and almost as tired as Spade. Alpha-in-training must not be a walk in the park, either.

  Maddie let out a deep breath and threw herself on Jasper, who coolly accepted her embrace. He rolled his neck to the side, producing a sharp series of pops. Straightening and pushing his shoulders back, he seemed to come to a decision.

  “It’ll be okay, Madd,” Jasper said, turning his aquiline gaze upon Maddie. His bright blue eyes were carefully clear of emotion, something she knew he worked at constantly. Maddie bit her lip and shook her head furiously, already seeing in his face that Jasper was simply going to accede to Spade’s request. Just like the older men, he wouldn’t even put up a fight to stay at Maddie’s side.

  “You don’t have to go. We can run away, Jas. Like we talked about,” Maddie said, her voice wobbling. “Remember? We had a plan. We can go right now before they even know we’re gone.”

  Jasper’s eyes flashed, but the emotion was gone too quickly for her to identify. He really was getting good at keeping his feeling to himself, Maddie thought. Jasper gave Maddie a fake smile, nothing more than a lift of his lips. Disentangling himself from her hug, he stood up. He offered Maddie a hand and pulled her to her feet, but carefully stepped back as soon as she was upright.

  “We can’t really do that, Madd. Where would we go?” Jasper asked.

  His gaze wandered downward into the cabin, telling her he was already planning how best to pack his things. Jasper was a rigid neat freak, and he would surely have some kind of method in mind. Maddie grabbed his sleeve and tugged, trying to bring his attention back to her.

  “We can live in the woods! And, and we’ll catch our own food! You can already shift into your wolf, and I’ll be able to soon and we can just…” Maddie trailed off with a shrug.

  “And what about Jace? Are you going to just leave him here by himself?” Jasper asked, his eyes boring into her own. His tone was cold, almost mocking.

  Maddie caught her lip between her teeth, brow furrowing. She hadn’t thought about Jace. She’d have to convince him to run away, too; she could never leave her sad-eyed brother by himself.

  “He can come, too,” Maddie said stubbornly. Jasper just shook his head, that sad smile still on his face.

  “I’m going to go to Alabama, Madd,” he said, turning and starting down the stairs. Maddie was right on his heels, half-tripping as she hurried to keep up with him. He was already tall and fast at fifteen, where Maddie’s younger frame was still all knobby knees and elbows.

  “But you can’t leave!” she exclaimed, grabbing for his hand once more.

  If he’d only look at her, he’d see that she needed him to stay. Maddie just had to say the right words the right way. Jasper sighed and stopped, pulling his hand away from hers. He turned and pinned her with his cool blue eyes, frowning.

  “Of course I can leave. You heard Spade, there’s no choice,” he said. Those eyes bored into Maddie’s, but she refused to back down.

  “You can’t!” she repeated, bristling.

  “Why not?” he asked, his mocking expressio
n returning. “Because you’re my best friend! We’re supposed to live together, and when we grow up…” she said, trailing off.

  Jace raised a brow, taunting her.

  “We’ll what?” he prompted.

  “We’ll be mates,” Maddie said, her face flushing.

  “Maddie, you’re nine. You’re practically a baby. You don’t even know what being mates means,” he said, crossing his arms with obvious irritation.

  “I know enough. Juliet was only fourteen when she eloped with Romeo,” Maddie replied, thinking of her cassette tape of Romeo + Juliet.

  She could picture it now. She’d grow up to be pretty like Claire Danes, and Jasper was already as handsome as Leonardo DiCaprio. Maddie had planned it all out already.

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Jasper asked.

  “No,” Maddie snapped.

  “Don’t they both die at the end of that movie, Madd?” Maddie opened her mouth to reply, but she couldn’t think of anything clever to say. Jasper was always two steps ahead of her, and she could never win an argument with him. He was lucky they were friends, because it was pretty annoying.

  “That’s what I thought. I’ve got to start packing my stuff back up, so why don’t you go find something to do with Jace?” Jasper suggested, moving off toward his bedroom.

  “But Jas…” Maddie said, her eyes and voice filling with tears. Jasper turned to look at her briefly, and then dropped his gaze.

  “What, Madd? There’s nothing else to say,” he said.

  “Don’t you… I mean… I love you, Jas. Don’t you love me?” she asked, her voice pleading. Jasper’s entire body stiffened, and he turned away from her.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice sad.

  Maddie’s lip quivered and her tears broke free. She felt a flash of shame, and proudly held back the sob threatening to emerge from her mouth. Turning, she ran outside and straight to the garage where she knew she’d find her brother. At least Jace would never say he didn’t love her. Jace would never leave her, not ever.