Complication: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Shifters Forever After Book 1) by Elle Thorne
Authors: Elle Thorne
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1
B lack panther shifter Laken Araya shoved the notice back in the envelope and turned to her sisters Cadence and Carina. “I have to. It’s the right thing to do.”
Damn it.
“You can’t do this, Laken. You need to tell them you can’t serve. We never get to see you. This vacation…” Cade’s olive complexion was shaded with an angry red hue, her black eyes glittering. “When will you come home? To stay?”
True. Laken was hardly ever home. She spent most of her time overseas in one country or another, serving as a doctor. How could she not? She had a cause. She knew firsthand the devastating effects of land mines. She couldn’t bear the idea of not helping others.
What I don’t want now is a lecture on my life choices.
She studied the return address stamped on the envelope in bold black letters. SSC. New York, New York.
Every shifter knew what SSC stood for—Shifter Supreme Court. Well, maybe not every shifter, but for certain the ones that were in the database of the SSC.
Laken jammed the envelope in her purse. “We can reschedule the vacation, Carina. Cozumel isn’t going anywhere.”
“Yeah, but you are. You’re leaving right after you do this thing with the SSC, right? Where to this time?” Carina turned away, looking out the window.
Laken knew this was Carina’s attempt to keep her emotions hidden. She followed her sister and put her arm around her.
This thing was Laken’s summons to serve as a judge on the SSC for a case.
“Africa,” Laken whispered, answering Carina’s question about where she was going. She and her sisters had no one else in this whole world but each other. Laken felt like shit for leaving her sisters behind, but she had to go.
Cade fisted her hands, raised them chest level and dropped them. At the same time she exclaimed, “I knew it!” Her hair had loosened from its ponytail and cascaded around her face, tendrils sticking to her skin. She was still in her yoga outfit, and a light sheen of perspiration shone on her face.
Carina turned away from the window overlooking Central Park, her obsidian eyes sparking with anger. “You’re not going to get out of serving on the SSC? Not even try?”
The Shifter Supreme Court was nothing like the judicial system in the human world. It was based on hearings, and was designed to resolve matters peacefully between shifters and shifter clans. After many years of battles between clans over territories, rights, and other matters, the shifter community had formed the SSC.
Judges for the SSC were pulled from a bank of names of those who had offered themselves for the cause. Not all shifters opted for this route; several still elected to use violence to resolve disputes.
Laken Araya had put her name in the bank for serving when she returned from her service in the Middle East. She’d seen enough violence against humans and shifters. She and her sisters had lost their parents to violence of shifters on shifters. And these days she saw way too much violence in war zones. No, there was no way in hell Laken wasn’t going to do her duty.
“No. I’m serving. I’m not going to try to get out of it.”
Cade stomped her foot. Carina turned back toward the window. Both her sisters were disappointed. Laken got that.
She exhaled. Her younger sisters didn’t understand it. Maybe they never would.
They hadn’t lost a leg.
2
S hifter Malachi Romanoff —Ky, to his family and close friends—knocked on Uncle Mikhail and Aunt Miriam’s front door.
The monthly Sunday dinner. Each week, his brothers and aunt and uncle all gathered to share a meal. When their cousins were in town they joined in too, but all of Mikhail and Miriam’s offspring lived out of town. It was interesting that the ones who’d stayed in New York were Ky and his brothers.
His polar bear shifter hearing picked up the sounds of merriment on the other side of the door and a smile crept to Ky’s face. His aunt and uncle were the closest thing he and his
B lack panther shifter Laken Araya shoved the notice back in the envelope and turned to her sisters Cadence and Carina. “I have to. It’s the right thing to do.”
Damn it.
“You can’t do this, Laken. You need to tell them you can’t serve. We never get to see you. This vacation…” Cade’s olive complexion was shaded with an angry red hue, her black eyes glittering. “When will you come home? To stay?”
True. Laken was hardly ever home. She spent most of her time overseas in one country or another, serving as a doctor. How could she not? She had a cause. She knew firsthand the devastating effects of land mines. She couldn’t bear the idea of not helping others.
What I don’t want now is a lecture on my life choices.
She studied the return address stamped on the envelope in bold black letters. SSC. New York, New York.
Every shifter knew what SSC stood for—Shifter Supreme Court. Well, maybe not every shifter, but for certain the ones that were in the database of the SSC.
Laken jammed the envelope in her purse. “We can reschedule the vacation, Carina. Cozumel isn’t going anywhere.”
“Yeah, but you are. You’re leaving right after you do this thing with the SSC, right? Where to this time?” Carina turned away, looking out the window.
Laken knew this was Carina’s attempt to keep her emotions hidden. She followed her sister and put her arm around her.
This thing was Laken’s summons to serve as a judge on the SSC for a case.
“Africa,” Laken whispered, answering Carina’s question about where she was going. She and her sisters had no one else in this whole world but each other. Laken felt like shit for leaving her sisters behind, but she had to go.
Cade fisted her hands, raised them chest level and dropped them. At the same time she exclaimed, “I knew it!” Her hair had loosened from its ponytail and cascaded around her face, tendrils sticking to her skin. She was still in her yoga outfit, and a light sheen of perspiration shone on her face.
Carina turned away from the window overlooking Central Park, her obsidian eyes sparking with anger. “You’re not going to get out of serving on the SSC? Not even try?”
The Shifter Supreme Court was nothing like the judicial system in the human world. It was based on hearings, and was designed to resolve matters peacefully between shifters and shifter clans. After many years of battles between clans over territories, rights, and other matters, the shifter community had formed the SSC.
Judges for the SSC were pulled from a bank of names of those who had offered themselves for the cause. Not all shifters opted for this route; several still elected to use violence to resolve disputes.
Laken Araya had put her name in the bank for serving when she returned from her service in the Middle East. She’d seen enough violence against humans and shifters. She and her sisters had lost their parents to violence of shifters on shifters. And these days she saw way too much violence in war zones. No, there was no way in hell Laken wasn’t going to do her duty.
“No. I’m serving. I’m not going to try to get out of it.”
Cade stomped her foot. Carina turned back toward the window. Both her sisters were disappointed. Laken got that.
She exhaled. Her younger sisters didn’t understand it. Maybe they never would.
They hadn’t lost a leg.
2
S hifter Malachi Romanoff —Ky, to his family and close friends—knocked on Uncle Mikhail and Aunt Miriam’s front door.
The monthly Sunday dinner. Each week, his brothers and aunt and uncle all gathered to share a meal. When their cousins were in town they joined in too, but all of Mikhail and Miriam’s offspring lived out of town. It was interesting that the ones who’d stayed in New York were Ky and his brothers.
His polar bear shifter hearing picked up the sounds of merriment on the other side of the door and a smile crept to Ky’s face. His aunt and uncle were the closest thing he and his
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