Animal Nature: A Paranormal Romance (The Animal Sagas)

By Susan Charles

©2013 Susan Charles

Preface

The one thing humans and animals, and even shape shifters have in common is a never ending search for love, companionship and family, as well as a place to feel a part of something larger than themsleves.

So this book about a group of shape shifters is dedicated to each and every one of us, the world over, and to the many animals, 2 legged, or 4 legged, that constantly yearn for this most universal of emotions – love!

©2013 by Susan G. Charles All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including scanning, photocopying or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder.

Chapter 1

6 Months ago -

It had been a hard couple of weeks for the sisters. Hell, it had been a hard year thinking back on it, what with the sisters parents dying so unexpectedly in an auto accident just over a year ago. Since then the sisters had been through a lot of new experiences – a lot of crying, yelling, fighting and compromising too. And that just covers what had been going on here at home between her and Sonya. It was Lynda that had been suddenly thrust into the role of head of household – a lot of new responsibility now sat firmly upon her small shoulders.

She didn’t want to think another minute about all the legal stuff,  financial crap and the seemingly endless phone calls and letters from people with their greedy hands out wanting to pick at her piece by piece, penny by penny, during this terrible time of loss and evolution. Lynda was glad the weekend was over though. Since she became a bartender at the local dive on the weekends she was always happy to see Monday morning come – a strange feeling since in the past she had always dreaded it’s arrival. Funny how things can change so drastically, seemingly in an instant.

There were just too many drunk pain in the rears to deal with on a regular basis for her though so she only opted for the weekend shifts. Weekends were just about too much for her as it was, and her hot temper could get her into trouble in an instant if she didn’t watch it. One too many comments about her boobs, butt or drink pouring skills and she was ready to come out swinging. And most drunks in these parts had no idea exactly what they were risking in pissing her off one time too many.

But it was a steady check, tips were fair and for the time being they needed the extra money, so she was thankful for it. If she could just find the will to hang in there a little longer she hoped things would keep on changing for the better. Her sister Sonya had just recently finished taking some classes at the local community college, but just didn’t really seem too interested in anything in particular. Even though they were only six years apart in age, it may as well have been a thousand – they were just so different in so many ways it was almost hard for Lynda to believe they were really kin sometimes.

Up until her parents accident last year Lynda had been out on her own, working in the “real world”, for about 3 years as a marketing wiz in an advertising agency two states over. She was self sufficient, a hard worker and surprisingly good at what she did given the fact that she only had “on the job” training. But she was a natural at it they soon realized and fought to keep her on. Her degree in college had been in music performance if you could believe it, and she had gotten the job at the ad agency, completely by chance, through contact with a close college friend.

When she got the word about the accident, though, she rushed right home as fast as she could. She knew Sonya needed her and never realized what other responsibilities would soon fall upon her tiny shoulders. She never really understood what kind of financial bind her folks were in – they had never said a word. As far as she knew they were doing fine. That is until after the funeral, about two months later, when all the “Final” notices started flooding in from places all over the world it seemed.

Her once large and powerful family clan had dwindled dramatically over her own short lifetime. When she was a young child she remembered having relatives scattered all over North America – primarily on the west coast and up into Canada and even up into the Alaskan wilderness. But she also had fond memories of visiting cousins as far away as New York state and even down into the Appalachian mountains one humid summer. Needless to say the peoples of the Yukonias were once powerful and many.

And as it were, the women of the tribe were responsible for “hosting” the tribes magic. It was always passed from mother to daughter, normally manifesting itself around the time the girl hit puberty, but that did vary for some extra special individuals. And sometimes boys got it too but she had never met a boy with the powers. She had heard of tales of a few male cousins in areas far away with it, why were they always in far off territories she often wondered off topic, but as a general rule this was a “girls only” magical club. Shifting was the magic women in her family kept secret from the outside world.

Now some girls, such as Lynda, were well blessed with the magic, and got their powers extra early. Lynda herself was extremely strong magically speaking and the ability to “shift” came to her when she was just over six years old. Needless to say, her parents weren’t quite prepared for that when it happened – just imagine leaving the room for one second,  with your little girl happily watching the Mr. Rogers, to come back and find a spitting mad cougar cub ready to rip your ankle off the next! Yeah, that was quite a transition for Mom and Dad!

Mom was good at explaining things to Lynda though and told her all about the magic in stories and in response to thousands of questions that Lynda had right after that experience. Dad tried to help too as best he could but Mom was the source of all her shifter knowledge and Dad just filled in where he could. Dad wasn’t a shifter but his mother was, so he knew a lot about the experience if only through second hand knowledge. Plus he could be extra comforting in that Dad kind of way and she always loved him for that.

Chapter 2

6 months ago -

But something happened to the Yukonia clan around the time she became a teenager – she didn’t exactly know the real reason, her folks never discussed it as far as she knew – it might have been genetic, or environmental, or maybe it could have been something as simple as disease or accident – maybe even something in the water, who knows for sure, but their clan numbers dropped off fast. In fact, there were very few babies born to her relatives starting around ten to fifteen years ago and many that were did not make it past being a toddler.

It was almost as if the Yukonia’s had been contaminated with some sort of paranormal shifter “pest control” – kind of like the stuff you put on your pets so the fleas can’t have babies. Once treated the shifters can’t have babies either. Hmmm? It made her wonder and worry too! But as far as she remembered her mother or father never really discussed it – at least not when she was around.

Come to find out, herself and Sonya, an unexpected “miracle” her mother often called her, were the only living Yukonia relatives left right now. At least that she knew of. She had reached out to several relatives she hadn’t seen in years when she came home after the accident while making funeral arrangements but none had replied. Not even one and she thought this super strange!

For a group once as powerful as the stories of the Yukonia she was told as a child, she now felt very alone. So as far as she could deduce, she and Sonya were the last of their line. She tried not to dwell on that though, for one thing because she had so little spare time to herself,  but also because it made her really sad. She now felt a surprising kinship with that character from “The Last of the Mohicans”.

But their family home place, a simple log cabin several miles outside of town complete with about 100 acres of land, a little farm equipment, a few head of cattle, goats and chickens was quickly heading toward foreclosure if she couldn’t turn this ship around – and fast. It was still a lot like she remembered it as a child – except much more worn down than in her memories. And just over the time period of the three years she had been moved out, the place had really gone down hill.

How could this have happened so quickly, she now wondered to herself? But her parents never said a word – “They were too proud to ask for help – so that’s where I get it,” she chuckled as she mumbled to herself, under her breath. A smile formed on her face as she fought back any tears that may have wanted to share at that moment.

And then the moment was gone. There was no time for tears right now. And she was about all cried out any way. She took a quick swipe at her eyes so no one else would ever see. The reality of it was that cabin needed work, and major work at that, all totaled – the roof had seen better days, the gutters were down in a couple of places, there were a few electrical “issues” and the plumbing screamed if you didn’t get the water pressure just right when you turned the water on.

But just add all that to the list – the barn needed work, the garden needed to be tilled and planted, the tractors and dad’s old truck needed repairs, fences were down in a few places, the animals needed to be fed and livestock kept turned up missing quite frequently now – and that was just the top of the list. She stopped thinking about it because the more she did, the more things she added to that imaginary list – and by now she imagined it to be about a foot long.

She wasn’t sure if the dwindling livestock numbers were due to the animals just simply  wandering off the property through the holes in the fences and their inability to find their way back, or if something more desperate, such as cattle rustling (and chicken rustling, and goat rustling – you get the idea) was going on. The thought of someone actually taking their animals bothered her a lot more than them just wandering off though. She hated thieves like the plague!

Either way Lynda had to get this situation under control asap or she and Sonya were going to be living out on the streets soon, and she didn’t plan on letting that happen. Her family had owned this place too long and worked on it too hard to have that happen to them now. She would not allow their family home to be taken from them.

So Lynda had been repairing things as she could – one job at a time. She had already used all the money she had saved up in her 401k fixing everything that she could, first on the cabin and then on the fences. Plus she had to do what she could to stop the livestock turning up missing. So that was her next top priority. That was money just walking off the farm as far as she was concerned. Not to mention food. Food for them and food for their animals as well.

If it all kept going as it was right now she was thinking of adding a few flock guardians of some kind, maybe a Great Pyrenees or perhaps a Kuvasz, to the family as well to stop the animals going MIA. It might be a few more mouths to feed, but at least that, and maybe a few pats on the head from time to time, would be the only salary these farm hands would expect. Good enough for her!

As it turned out, the night time bartender job she had now was good for tips most weekends even if many of the customers really pushed her buttons. And that money had come in handy many times over, the past few weeks especially, in helping Lynda keep everything above water. There were a few good customers that she loved seeing every weekend – but they were sorely outnumbered by all the butt-heads who loved to show up and aggravate the hell out of her!

She often just wanted to yell, “Chill the hell out!” to all the patrons at the bar – but she just kept it all to herself so she could keep the job. She didn’t want her temper and an ill-fated comment to blow it for her now. Most days she really missed her corporate job though. They still sent her some projects to do as freelance work as often as they could since they really hoped she would come back one day. And that was a miracle as far as she was concerned.

Chapter 3

6 months ago -

The Seron sisters, as they were known about town, were about as different as two sisters could be. Lynda, the oldest by only six years, was a very to-the-point kind of person. She said what was on her mind and was not afraid to get her hands “dirty” if necessary in the midst of any under taking in which she became a part of. She was a doer – not a talker,  and had a hot temper if crossed. But she was also loyal to her friends and family, super intelligent, brave and, invariably, somewhat of a loner too. Most people just annoyed her to no end so she grew accustomed to spending a lot of time by herself. And that was fine with her – must be due to her catamount alter ego she often mused.

As far as Sonya, the baby Seron sister, was concerned, she was much more of a “girly” girl. Just the opposite of Lynda in so many ways. Lynda’s younger sister was much more of a free spirit with a happy-go-lucky kind of personality. She had lots of friends and loved to talk on the phone or type whatever on Facebook.  As the baby in the family she had been doted on her entire life and had almost come to expect things to be handled for her with very little work on her end. The act of having her parents pass on suddenly like they did had definitely slapped her with the reality paddle! Unfortunately the effects of said paddle didn’t last very long.