Healing in Paradise Read online

  Locking her doors, she pocketed her keys and made her way up the weed-strewn path to the front steps. She stared at the steps warily for a moment, wondering if she should trust them to hold her weight. The house was in a state of disrepair after all.

  “What are you waiting for? They won’t break.

  Come on up here, girl and tell me what you’re selling.”

  13

  Startled, Anna looked up and saw a little old woman dressed in coveralls, wearing large earphones of some sort and carrying a chainsaw.

  Good grief, she’d gone and walked up the front walk of some chainsaw wielding crazy woman.

  The old woman squinted down at her, her gaze glued to the right side of Anna’s face, then she grinned and set down her weapon. “Anna? Is that you?” Reaching up, the woman pulled the large mouse-ear type hearing protection off.

  Swallowing thickly, Anna nodded though something told her the woman had known who she was all along. “And you must be Tilly?” Please say no. Please say no. Please say, As a matter of fact, I’m Tilly’s crazy cousin, Marge. It’s been nice to meet you, Anna. I’ll just go in, grab my sister for you and head on back to the funny farm now, if you’ll excuse me.

  The woman grinned. “Yep.” She stepped farther away from the saw and headed for the front door. “Come on in. I’ve been waiting a cons age for you to show up. You had me worried with your being on the road alone and all.” Tilly took off the thick gloves and safety glasses she wore and set them on the hall table near the door as she entered.

  “Come on in. I’ll show you your room so you can bring your things in, then we’ll head into town. I’ve spoken to Sarah Browning at the diner 14

  and she said she could use some help. I figured you could meet her today and start work tomorrow if you like.”

  She looked down at Anna’s gloved hands.

  “Everyone needs to stay busy, especially those of us with demons to lay to rest.”

  Anna didn’t have demons. She had the very hounds of hell after her. They tried to drag her back into the burning pits of hell whenever she slept. Nightmares plagued her every night and she only hoped that she wouldn’t keep this poor, sweet old woman from getting her much-needed sleep.

  After storing her things in the large, surprisingly pretty and well cared for room, Anna let Tilly drive her into the town proper in her large diesel crew-cab pick-up truck. Somehow, she just didn’t imagine a woman who proudly told everyone she was four-feet-eleven-inches tall would drive such a large vehicle.

  “This is a…nice truck. How long have you had it?”

  “I’ve had it for about three years now.” She laughed. “My nephew thinks I should be driving one of those dinky electric cars that putz around town going no faster than thirty.” She snorted. “I have wood to haul and sculptures to deliver.” She glanced at Anna. “How would I fit blocks of wood large enough to be a nine-foot tall grizzly 15

  sculpture into the back of one of those ridiculous little cars?”

  The old woman had a point, she supposed. Still, she looked rather odd sitting there with a pillow bolstering her up and the seat pulled nearly to the steering wheel. Looking down, Anna almost grinned when she saw the blocks of wood attached to the pedals.

  The Beat the Clock Diner situated on Main Street was like almost any other small town restaurant she had been to. With an entirely glass front, she would have been able to see into the building if not for the darkly tinted glass. Inside, the bar sat facing the inner wall that separated the kitchen from the dining area. Surrounded by chrome stools with bright red seats and seatbacks, it looked like something out of a fifties movie.

  Booths sat against the outer walls while tables and chairs filled the centre of the room, surrounding a large, colourful carousel horse that sported a large clock on its back. The walls were what distinguished it from other diners she’d frequented throughout the years. Covered in antique paintings, horse tack and musical instruments, they gave the diner character, along with the model planes, gliders and kites that hung haphazardly from the ceiling. It seemed the owners past or present were whimsical people.

  A woman exited the kitchen through a 16

  swinging door, a tray full of sugar dispensers in her hands. She looked a bit frazzled. Her salt and pepper hair escaped her otherwise severe bun and her little white cap stood askew. It was obvious that the older woman didn’t look this way all the time. Her light blue uniform dress and matching apron were pressed with military precision and her utilitarian black shoes appeared old, but well-polished.

  Looking up, the woman smiled at Anna’s companion and blew a stray lock of graying hair out of her face. “Hello, Myrtle. I’m surprised to see you here today.” She glanced at Anna and her eyes widened. “Nina, what did you do to your hair? I love it!” The woman’s easy manner and smile were not difficult to like, even if she did mistake Anna for someone else.

  “I’m sorry, but you must have mistaken me for someone else. My name is Anna.” Anna gave her a shy smile, then purposely drew her hair back away from her face. One thing was certain, the woman would see that she had the wrong girl as soon as she saw the burn scars.

  “Oh, my, child.” She set the tray on the counter quickly. She probably almost dropped it after seeing

  Anna’s

  fire-ravaged

  face.

  “What

  happened?” Immediately, she covered her mouth for a moment. “I am so sorry. It’s none of my business.”

  17

  She turned to Tilly. “Is this the help you promised me?” She smiled a genuine smile. “You wonderful old woman, bringing this child home on your own.” She glanced back at Anna and brushed her hand over her nametag. “I’m Sarah Browning.” She held out her hand and frowned when Anna grasped it with her gloved one for a moment before releasing it. “I’ve worked here for…” she paused. “Well for years. It seems like forever sometimes.” Smiling, she sat down on a stool. “I can’t tell you what a welcome sight you are. I’ve needed help here for some time and can’t seem to find anyone who wants to stay longer than a week or two.” She glanced back at Tilly…Myrtle, whoever she was and smiled.

  “Something tells me that this one will stay awhile.” She turned back to Anna. “You will at least give Paradise a chance, won’t you?”

  Anna couldn’t promise the woman more than that. She’d come here to hide from her friends for a while. She hated that they pitied her while moving away from her. They still invited her out, but not nearly as often and they usually sounded relieved if she declined. Leaving the area permanently would be best for all of them. They wouldn’t have to feel bad for not wanting to include her and she didn’t have to constantly wonder which get togethers they really wanted her to attend and which ones they didn’t.

  18

  Chapter Two

  “The drive home always seems longer than the drive out. I wonder why that is,” Tucker said from the back seat as they continued to drive North.

  “It’s because you’ve already seen this country before. On our way down, things were interesting.

  Now they’re just something we’ve already seen before,” Ryder said from the driver’s seat.

  Blake rode shotgun, drumming his hands against the side of the door as he listened to whatever music he had stored on his tablet PC and ignored them. As the oldest of the three, Ryder usually called the shots when they were out, but this time he had no qualms with following Blake’s lead about his aunt. They all loved the woman.

  Tucker hadn’t known her nearly as long, but he’d come to care for the diminutive whirlwind himself. After years of living on the edge, with no one to care about or to care about him, life in Paradise with an adopted aunt was just what this retired Army Ranger needed.

  19

  Pulling his computer from his bag, he plugged in his wireless 4G internet device and searched the internet for clues as to where they could searc
h next for Nina’s missing sister. They’d looked everywhere they could think of and no one could find her. It was as though she had fallen off the face of the earth after the accident that caused her parents death.

  It was too bad they hadn’t stayed together though finding, a set of twins would have been too easy for the old council, especially a set of twins with bright red hair. As far as he knew, no one in Paradise knew what had happened to the girls and they were presumed dead until Nina returned home and entered into a True bond relationship with the alpha.

  Nothing could have shocked or pleased the townsfolk more than to have the true alpha mating with one of the descendants of the co-ruling clan.

  All of this was still relatively new to him.

  Apparently, when his ancestors left their people for whatever reasons they had, they decided to let go of their shifter heritage and live like humans.

  Until recently, Tucker had had no idea that shape shifters were anything more than legend.

  Then Merrick Hunter called in his favours and brought them all here for a Christmas almost three years ago and all of them decided to stay.

  20

  Here they could be themselves. They didn’t have to worry that others would think them strange because the heat or cold didn’t affect them like it did others. They didn’t have to worry if they displayed better eyesight or more strength than the average man. If any of them regretted staying here in Paradise or letting the doctor inject them with shifter DNA, none of them voiced any trepidation. As far as Tucker was concerned, being a full shifter had more pros than cons. And shifting into his animal self was something he would never get tired of doing. He only hoped that when he found a mate, he could keep her to himself for a little while.

  While the thought of sharing his chosen woman with another man was intriguing, he knew that he had a jealous streak a mile wide and wasn’t sure he would be able to control his inner beast if he had to share her right away. Sharing a one-nightstand was a different story. The three of them had done that on more than one occasion, but Tucker wasn’t sure how he would feel once his heart was involved.

  Then again, if you keep her to yourself first, it may be more difficult to share her later.

  Leave it up to Ryder to pick up on his thoughts.

  Sometimes he wondered if Ryder was the man with whom he would share a mate, but Blake was certain that he was Ryder’s True bond mate. Tucker 21

  sighed. He only hoped that whomever he ended up with would be able to stand his ground if he couldn’t control the jealous urges he felt boiling up inside him at just the thought of sharing his mate with another male.

  Will you stop worrying about it? What if we are both your bond mates? Just because Blake cannot or chooses not to read you doesn’t mean we would not suit. What it all boils down to is if we all find ourselves lusting after the same woman and feeling the heat for her.

  Tucker closed his laptop and set it on the seat beside him. Ryder was right. There was no use worrying about such things when he had no idea when or if they would even come to pass.

  Leaning his head back against the seat, Tucker closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep. Since they were driving straight through and in shifts, he needed to rest before his turn behind the wheel.

  * * * *

  “I thought you said Tilly was sick.” Ryder frowned as he watched the old woman attack a large block of wood with her chainsaw. “She doesn’t look very sick to me.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the fender. “I wonder what she’s making this time.”

  Blake shrugged. “Hard telling. You would 22

  think that she’d be over Uncle Wally’s death by now.”

  “Maybe it’s not his death that upsets her so much. Didn’t she have a second mate that was murdered before her eyes?” Ryder slid out of the back seat of the truck and stretched.

  “Yeah. I never knew him. The council had him on the run years before I was born.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I never did figure out why they went after him when it would have been easier to kill Uncle Willy. He stayed here in town with her.” His brow furrowed. “A lot of people thought that perhaps Uncle Willy cut a deal with the council. All of those suspicions were laid to rest when he fought on the side of the true alpha and died protecting him.”

  The three of them continued to watch the old woman for a bit before walking over to where she worked. Myrtle Connor looked so strange in her coveralls and tiny sneakers, wearing large mouse-ear type hearing protection and wielding a large chainsaw almost half her size.

  They waited until she paused and put the blade in safety before Blake stepped in front of her.

  Reaching out, he pulled the large apparatus from her head and scowled down at her. “You said you were sick and needed me here.”

  Aunt Tilly set down her chainsaw, rested her hands on her hips and faced him scowl for scowl.

  23

  “And you said you would only be gone two weeks, then be back for a visit.” She checked her watch as though it were a calendar. “You’ve been gone nearly two months with no word on how you were, where you were or when you were coming home.” She sniffed. “You may not be my son by blood, Blake, but you certainly are my son of the heart and if you can’t at least check in with me once in a while to let me know you’re alive, then you aren’t the boy I thought you were.”

  Ryder nearly laughed at that. He covered his mouth and coughed, hoping that neither of them would realize he really wanted to laugh. It was such an odd sight to see the tiny woman glaring up at Blake and reading him the riot act.

  She turned her attention to him and waggled her finger. “Don’t you laugh at me, young man. I can still turn you over my knee no matter how big you get.” With a hmmph, she turned her attention back to Blake. “The three of you go traipsing off to who knows where, looking for trouble—” she held up her hand when Blake would have interrupted.

  “Don’t deny it. You guys go looking for trouble every time you all go out in search of people. You know what’s left of the Tudra are looking for them as well. Their sick minds won’t allow them to breed or turn humans so you know damn well they’re looking for any shifter woman they can find.” She paused to take a deep breath.

  24

  “Now, Aunt Tilly,” the three of them said simultaneously.

  “Don’t you Aunt Tilly me. You aren’t getting out of the mess you’ve gotten yourselves into this time. I almost had a stroke when I heard you three got yourselves cornered by that group of insane bastards.”

  Holy shit! She heard about the battle they’d gotten into in that mountaintop fortress. None of them had been seriously injured, but Blake did almost lose an eye.

  Blake bowed his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to worry you.”

  “Don’t you think not knowing was worry enough? I wanted to know you were all alive and well, so sue me as Nina is always saying. Besides, I have a guest and I need your help.” She peered at them through her thick safety glasses. “All of you.” She glanced back at her house. “I needed help getting that ramshackle roost ready for a guest, but it’s too late to worry about what she’d think now. She’s already here.”

  Oh, great! Now, we’ll have two crotchety old women to look after. Ryder was not a happy camper. He loved Aunt Tilly as much as Blake even though there was no blood between them. Hell he wasn’t even leoparo. He was tyglon. His animal side wasn’t a leopard, it was a tiger. Being blood was an impossibility, considering most of both sides of 25

  that particular coin thought the other didn’t exist.

  Hell, until sixty years ago, he didn’t know the leoparo people existed. Why should anyone else be different?

  It didn’t help that the perverted council that had been in power for a good many years perpetuated the myth that most other shifter breeds were extinct.

  Ryder could believe some of them were, like the bigfoot shifter that legend said had contr
ol over the elements through magic. Somehow, he just didn’t see them still existing. He knew if he could control the weather, he would keep it seventy-two degrees year round. To hell with ice storms and heat waves.

  He turned his attention back to Blake’s Aunt Tilly and their forgotten conversation.

  “…And the roof needs repaired, the floors resurfaced. There’s just too much for one old woman to do.”

  Ryder eyed the wood she’d been carving suspiciously. “What’s this supposed to be?” he walked around the large chunk of wood, obviously trying to discover her vision in the piece.

  “It’s a bear. It’s going to be so big that I’ll need to do it in two pieces.” Her eyes misted over. “I’m doing it in remembrance.”

  “You knew a grizzly shifter?” Ryder felt his 26

  mouth drop open.

  Tilly turned and looked at him through misty amber eyes. “I didn’t just know him. I was mated to him.”

  “Uncle Willy wasn’t a grizzly…” Blake paused and Ryder could see when realization dawned.

  “Why did no one tell me you were mated to a grizzly?” He frowned down at his aunt.

  Tally’s eyes narrowed and she pressed her lips together for a moment before answering.

  “Because, he wasn’t supposed to exist.” She turned away and took a deep breath, most likely using the time to get her emotions in check. “They hunted him and killed him to make certain he didn’t.”

  Unexpected rage filled Ryder. Surprised, he looked at the other two and wondered if they felt the same. Who had those men thought they were to decide who had the right to live and who should die? He stood watching an old woman remember one of the loves of her life with so much pain and grief, he wanted to hunt down the dead Tudra leaders and kill them all over again.