For Her: A Malsum Pass Novel Read online

  For Her

  A Malsum Pass Novel

  By

  Kimberly Forrest

  “For Her”

  Selected, Compiled & Edited by: Kimberly Forrest 2017

  Copyright © May 2017 by Kimberly Forrest

  ISBN 9781521284025

  This book is a work of fiction. Any reference to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Design by RL Ortiz. Images used under license from Shutterstock.com

  Also by Kimberly Forrest:

  Paranormal Romance

  Malsum Pass

  Until You

  For Her

  Historical Romance

  Forget Me Not

  Special thanks to Masha Sibil who helped me figure out the Russian bits.

  For Her: A Malsum Pass Novel

  Daisy Munroe had always been a failure as a shifter. Her entire life she’d been told she was weak, that she didn’t have good instincts; useful only as a breeder as long as she was paired with a strong partner so that her unfortunate genetics wouldn’t be passed on to future offspring. While the distinction hurt, she had had little choice. That was the way things were in her pride and she’d never known anything different.

  Now living in the wolf territory of Malsum Pass, Vermont Daisy was in for quite a surprise. Women here had a voice and weren’t afraid to use it. They had jobs, they followed their dreams, and they were even treated as equals… This mountain territory felt like freedom, but it was all an illusion. After all, Daisy and her sister were fugitives wanted for murder.

  Aleksandr Stepanov had been hired to find the two runaway females and return them to their pride. So why was he hesitating when he had them in his sights? Maybe the cold mountain air had affected his brain, but he was intrigued by the female whose story didn’t match up to the one he’d been told and he was definitely more attracted to her than was strictly appropriate. His need to protect her even surpassing his need to seek vengeance on the monsters that had created him.

  Prologue

  High on a ridge overlooking the shifter town of Malsum Pass, Vermont, Aleksandr Stepanov trained his high powered binoculars on the cabin where his current mark was hiding out. The sun was just beginning to make its climb, washing away the heavy gray of dawn with streaks of pink, lavender, and gold. The sight should have been appreciated, enjoyed, even savored, but he kept his focus on the cabin waiting for his prey to step outside.

  The rock ledge he was lying on was icy, the chill seeping through his clothes. Most people would have been shivering, but he had barely noticed the cold. Actually, it reminded him of his childhood and was a welcome change from his last mission where the sun had been so hot he was sure his skin was going to melt off his bones. But here in Malsum Pass, it had snowed the night before, covering everything with a clean blanket of white, dampening noise, and adding a distinct bite to the air. He’d had to dig himself out from the abandoned coyote den he’d been using for shelter. Just outside of the pack territory markers, it afforded proximity and concealment without drawing the attention of the wolves.

  His muscles tensed in anticipation as the door to the cabin opened. Lillian Kramer stepped out, a travel mug of what Alek assumed was coffee gripped in her hand. She was easy enough to recognize with the telltale scars marring her face from above her right ear down to her chin. She had been Lillian Munroe until she’d mated and married the pride leader’s son Hank Kramer, and it was the pride leader who wanted her and her sister Daisy Munroe returned to Florida. Alek had been hired for the job.

  One of his associates, a wolf shifter named Devon, had been originally contacted for the job, but he’d had other obligations and had asked Alek to attend the meet. The pride leader had been skeptical, not because he had doubted Alek’s ability, but because he had wanted a wolf shifter that would be better able to infiltrate the town whereas Alek was feline and would be easily sniffed out. He snorted at the memory; scent masking was a skill he’d learned as a juvenile. Granted, he wouldn’t be able to stay in town, but he hadn’t needed to anyway, his targets may be on pack lands but they were residing outside of town and relatively easy to get to.

  Their presence had come as a surprise. He had been informed by the pride leader that the night the Munroe sisters had vanished, a male from their pride had also disappeared. It was assumed that the three had run off together. The male’s body was later returned to the pride for burial after he’d been killed by a bear. The town was only supposed to be a starting point for tracking the females; instead he had found them still living here in wolf territory. It hadn’t taken more than a day to realize that this wolf pack had accepted not only the felines into their fold but a bear shifter as well, probably the very bear that had killed the male feline, yet the ladies had stayed. It didn’t make any sense to Alek. If their kinsman had been killed, why would they remain? Even stranger, why would the pack allow it? Wolf packs were notoriously territorial and exclusive to their own kind.

  Alek felt his satellite phone buzz in his pocket and he pulled it out, grunting when he saw the display. He could barely keep the growl out of his voice when he answered with a surly “Yeah”.

  Keeping his binoculars trained on the female who was sipping her morning coffee on the stoop of the cabin as she watched the sunrise, he listened with half an ear. “Mr. Stepanov, have you had any progress in locating my females?”

  Alek’s hackles rose. He didn’t like this male. He had noticed it at the meet. Even though the male smiled and said all of the right words, there was something devious behind his eyes and Alek didn’t trust him. Perhaps that was why, even as he continued to watch the female below, he said, “I’ve picked up a possible trail but haven’t located them yet. You knew from the onset that a trail this cold will take some time. I’ll call you when I have them.” He disconnected the call and returned the phone to his pocket. He was too intrigued by the mystery surrounding the Monroe sisters to settle for a quick snatch and run, especially if they could lead him to bigger prey.

  Just then a tan streak barreled past Lillian Munroe, knocking her sideways before the large sleek cat leapt off the porch to pounce on the new snow. Even from this distance Alek could hear Lillian’s shriek. He couldn’t hear the words that followed but he was excellent at lip reading as she yelled at her sister, “You’re lucky the top of my coffee was on tight, Daisy!”

  Oblivious to her sister’s temper, the young cat bounded through the snow, pouncing on snow drifts and hopping about like a kitten. Alek surprised himself when a chuckle escaped his lips. He rarely felt amusement, and when he did, he never actually showed it.

  She was a pretty thing in her feline form. Small for a shifter, her bone structure delicate and obviously feminine, with large gold eyes. Her coat was a darker tan than the usual tawny color of her cougar relatives with only a bit of white around the mouth leading down to her underbelly.

  He continued to watch the female as she batted at low hanging tree branches so that the snow would rain down on her until a flash of light, probably a reflection, in the distance caught his attention. He lifted the binoculars to see into the thick spread of trees. There was definitely movement, but it was too far away even for his powerful gear to make out exactly what it was. What he did know, however, was that it was it was moving in the general direction of the felines’ cabin.
Alek decided he would check it out. The movement was coming from the wrong direction for it to be anyone in town. It was a dense area of uninhabited forest that led higher up the mountain and even though it could be an animal, his senses were on high alert. He’d long ago learned to always trust his gut.

  Taking one last look at the females, Alek slid backward on his belly until he dropped off the rock ledge and ran to his den. There, he shed his clothes and shifted to his feline form. A form that was large enough to make exiting the den a tight squeeze. Keeping to the trees, he headed in the direction where he’d last seen the movement. It didn’t take long for his senses to pick them up: two human males carrying rifles. He growled low as he stalked them.

  He’d done enough reconnaissance on the town to know that the entire area was posted and shifter towns never gave permission for hunters to enter their territory. He easily leapt up into a tree they would eventually be passing under and listened.

  They weren’t very stealthy, their boots crunching on the snow, the sound of their breath labored from their exertions, and their voices loud in the stillness when they spoke. “That bear is huge, Fred. Can you imagine John’s face when I bring him that big bastard to stuff?”

  There was a chuckle before the other one said, “Well, you can bag a bear but he’ll shit a brick when I bring him a cougar. I’ve seen sign of at least one around here.”

  Alek had to resist the urge to roar with rage. He had no problem with hunters who were looking to fill their freezer with meat, hunting for food was the natural order of things, but these were trophy hunters. He narrowed his eyes as they continued to approach the tree he occupied but his mind drifted back to his childhood. He’d been nine when the fur traders had attacked his village. People were screaming. The loud report of gunfire filled the air. He’d seen his father’s body on the ground unmoving when his mother had turned to him and told him to run. Then she had shifted and thrown herself at the oncoming men. All to buy him time so that he could escape, but more had been waiting on the other side to ambush those who had fled. He’d almost run straight into them before he’d changed direction and continued to run, his arms and legs pumping as hard as he could manage, his labored breathing all he could hear. A strong arm had snagged him by the waist and lifted him from the ground. The man’s laughter ringing in his ears. He’d screamed. It was the worst thing he could have done. His mother had always been overprotective, but hearing her cub scream had made her take her attention from the hunters to look for him. It was the advantage that the traders had needed and they’d gone in for the kill.

  Rage at the memory filled him just as the hunters passed beneath the branch he occupied. Teeth bared and claws extended, he dropped from the tree, letting his great weight take both men down. He was no longer that weak child and the hunters were dead in mere moments. Unfortunately, one of them had been able to slice down Alek’s side with a knife. He growled. The cut was deep and his blood was already marking the ground. He would have to leave the territory; at least until he was healed. There was no masking blood scent and the wolves would have it now.

  Chapter One

  Daisy Munroe felt warm sun on her face as she came awake. She quickly sat up in bed and excitedly looked out the window. She blew out a disappointed breath and collapsed back to the mattress. Snow. Even more snow it seemed then when she had gone to bed. Just how long were winters in Vermont anyway? This was getting ridiculous. Oh, at first it had been fun. Growing up near the Everglades snow was a new experience. It had been wonderful at first to play in the cold, white fluff. It had also been nice to enjoy her first white Christmas, well, her first Christmas period, actually. Her pride celebrated the solstice with a day of festivities; games of strength and endurance followed by a run to bring down the game that would feed the pride for the feast. To most of the members it was fun, for Daisy, it seemed designed to once again demonstrate what an utter failure she was as a cat. It had been a pure pleasure to miss it this year.

  However it hadn’t taken long for the novelty of snow to wear off and now she just wanted it gone. She was sick of having to wear so many heavy layers and boots on her feet. She was tired of shoveling snow until her back ached and her hands were blistered. She was tired of lugging wood out of the little lean-to and bringing it into the cabin daily to feed the wood stove and she was tired of lifting the long pole of the snow rake over her head to pull snow off the roof of the cabin. Winter, she decided, sucked. She longed for spring time, wildflowers, and green grass. Old Man Winter seemed to have other ideas though, as he kept a chokehold on this part of the country.

  Daisy rolled her head to the right and saw the neatly made matching twin bed on the other side of the room. Lily had an early shift at the diner this morning. Daisy felt a small knot twist in her chest. Her sister had had no problem slotting herself into town life. One day they’d been at the diner and Lily had seen how busy it was, how frantically Lucy, the waitress, was working, so she’d gotten up, grabbed the pot of coffee and started making herself useful. When they’d left at the end of the day, Lily had had a job.

  Things hadn’t happened so naturally for Daisy, however. Especially in a small town where jobs were already taken by the wolf shifters that had lived here all their lives. The grocery store had taken her on during Thanksgiving and Christmas to help with the rush but she hadn’t been needed past that. Currently she had a “We’ll let you know if we need you,” agreement with the manager. The same was true with The Powder Keg, a small sporting goods store in town. The Cedars, the town’s bed and breakfast, occasionally needed her to come in and help clean rooms, but it rarely held an occupancy that required extra help, so again it was on an ‘as needed’ basis. The town offices had had an opening for a clerk, but because of the sensitive information that passed through she hadn’t been considered. She was a feline after all, and not pack. Obviously she couldn’t be trusted.

  Daisy rolled out of bed to get dressed for the day. She had been terrified when they had run from the pride. She had been in shock when Hank, Lily’s husband had died. It hadn’t been planned, the hit over his head was intended to keep him from killing Lily, but Daisy certainly wouldn’t mourn the bastard. Lily had taken his abuse for years. But that night he had been coming at Daisy and Lily had acted to protect her. Hank Kramer had died as a result and since he was the pride leader’s son, there was no doubt that both Lily and Daisy would have paid the ultimate price for his death. So they had run, as fast and as far as they could. It wasn’t only fear of their own pride that kept them moving north rather than west, but of all feline territories; any one of which would have felt honor bound to return them to their kin. Finally, when they had been too tired and hungry to continue, fear had given them the courage to enter the wolf territory to beg sanctuary. The pack would have had every right to execute them as spies since they hadn’t had permission to be there, but they had also scented a bear shifter. Surely if a wolf pack would accept a bear then may provide safe harbor for two felines, at least temporarily. They had taken a gamble and it had paid off. They may not be pack, but they were safe for the time being.

  Once the initial fear of the unknown had passed, Daisy had made a wonderful discovery. Not all shifter communities were the same. Growing up in her small pride in Florida she had had one expectation as a female. The only responsibility females were given. To be a good mate to the male that was chosen for her, protect their home, and make babies. That was it. That was the sum total of a female panther’s life. They were given the bare minimum in education. They were trained to fight to protect the pride, and then they were handed over to a mate to breed. She hadn’t been opposed to the idea of taking a mate and having babies; it was all she’d ever expected to do with her life because it was all she had ever known. She would have liked to have been part of the process and at least choose her mate, however. That wasn’t how things worked in the Everglade pride though. Kramer, the pride leader, had absolute authority and part of his job was matching the mates and creating str
ong bloodlines to assure their survival. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that something obviously wasn’t working considering the decline in their numbers. Florida Panthers, as far as Daisy knew, had the smallest feline shifter population in the states.

  Malsum Pass was nothing like her community. Here, women held jobs, they had a voice, and they were more than just breeders. Sherry Pierce was a successful lawyer, Margaret Tully ran the bed and breakfast, and Lucy was co-owner at the diner, just to name a few. These women had been allowed to pursue their dreams and receive the education necessary to do so. They had never been stifled or denied. They had never been told they couldn’t have aspirations beyond family. When Daisy had made friends with Constance Tully, a young wolf who was also a hairdresser in town, Connie had laughingly sat her down in front of a laptop and told her, “You, my dear, need to be introduced to the twenty-first century. Hell, the way you talk, your pride never even entered the twentieth century!”

  Opportunity seemed to have fallen into her lap and Daisy had never been so excited. That is until she’d come home and told Lily that she had decided she wanted to go to school and get a degree. She hadn’t really known what she wanted to do yet, but she knew she wanted something. A career, a life without boundaries, maybe she’d find something where she could travel and see the world. The possibilities were endless.

  Lily had looked at her. Those dark green eyes moving over Daisy’s face, taking in every detail of her excitement. Her sister had grimaced and then shook her head. “I’m sorry, Daisy, but that’s just not possible. At least not right now.” Then she’d sighed. “Maybe not ever.”