Shawn: Spring (Shifter Seasons Book 5) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Shifter Seasons

  Foreword

  Chapter One – Shawn

  Chapter Two – Joanna

  Chapter Three – Shawn

  Chapter Four – Joanna

  Chapter Five – Shawn

  Chapter Six – Joanna

  Chapter Seven – Shawn

  Chapter Eight – Joanna

  Chapter Nine – Shawn

  Chapter Ten – Joanna

  Chapter Eleven – Shawn

  Chapter Twelve – Joanna

  Chapter Thirteen – Shawn

  Chapter Fourteen – Joanna

  Chapter Fifteen – Shawn

  Chapter Sixteen – Joanna

  Chapter Seventeen – Shawn

  Chapter Eighteen – Joanna

  Chapter Nineteen – Shawn

  Chapter Twenty – Joanna

  Chapter Twenty-One – Shawn

  Chapter Twenty-Two – Joanna

  Chapter Twenty-Three – Shawn

  Chapter Twenty-Four – Joanna

  Chapter Twenty-Five – Shawn

  Chapter Twenty-Six – Joanna

  Chapter Twenty-Seven – Shawn

  Chapter Twenty-Eight – Joanna

  Epilogue

  Also By Harmony Raines

  Get In Touch

  Shawn

  Spring-Shifter Seasons

  Book Five

  ***

  All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written consent of the author or publisher.

  This is a work of fiction and is intended for mature audiences only. All characters within are eighteen years of age or older. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, actual events or places is purely coincidental.

  © 2020 Harmony Raines

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  Shifter Seasons

  Hex

  Winter-Shifter Seasons Book One

  Beck

  Winter-Shifter Seasons Book Two

  Mac

  Winter-Shifter Seasons Book Three

  Kelos

  Spring-Shifter Seasons Book Four

  Shawn

  Spring-Shifter Seasons Book Five

  Shawn

  Spring-Shifter Seasons

  Book Five

  A silverback seasoned shifters romance

  He’s found his mate, at last. Can she stop him losing his daughter?

  Cougar shifter, Shawn, has been a father to Jane since she was a baby. He didn’t know her past, he was only interested in giving her the best future possible—and keeping her safe.

  Now her future is in jeopardy as secrets are revealed and unknown enemies unmasked.

  But he’s not alone when it comes to keeping Jane safe. His mate is by his side every step of the way.

  Joanna, gorgeous, strong, and funny, she is the perfect woman for him. The perfect mate and, if given the chance, Shawn knows she will be the perfect mother.

  She’s also a very capable police detective. Surely, the bad guys don’t stand a chance. But they soon find out there is more than just Jane at risk. As the stakes are raised, will they ever find their happy ever after together?

  Joanna is a wolf shifter who had given up all hope of ever finding her mate. Instead, she poured her energy into bringing bad people to justice. Including the man who was responsible for killing her father.

  But just as she is starting to move on, Shawn enters her life.

  Smart, sexy, and a loving father, he is the mate of her dreams. However, she is soon drawn back into the corrupt world that ended in her father’s murder.

  Only this time she intends for everyone to come out of it alive.

  When two mates join forces, nothing can stop them. Of course, it helps to have a dragon shifter fighting alongside them. Even one as cantankerous as Fiona.

  Chapter One – Shawn

  “Can we go and explore along the trail?” Jane caught hold of Shawn’s hand and swung it back and forth as she twirled around.

  “As long as you don’t go too far.” Shawn loved seeing his daughter so carefree and happy.

  It makes it all worthwhile, his cougar said sadly.

  It does. Shawn watched Jane run across the backyard to her new friends Lauren and Elliot who had recently moved to Bear Creek.

  “You look like a man who needs a beer.” Joey passed Shawn a bottle of Bear Creek Honey Beer. “Here, we can drown our sorrows together.”

  “And what sorrows are those?” Shawn asked as peals of laughter reached them from the trail.

  His cougar grinned at the sound of the children playing. Jane might not be their biological child, but they loved her more than anything else in the world. They would protect her with their lives.

  “I don’t suppose you feel it so acutely since you have a daughter.” Joey took a long swig of his beer. “But those of us who live alone.” He sighed heavily. Not in a theatrical kind of a way but an accept-my-fate kind of a way.

  Shawn looked over Joey’s shoulder at the rest of the people assembled in Kelos’s backyard. “Ah, I get it. We’re surrounded by couples.”

  “Yep. Couples with children. Couples expecting children.” Joey shook his head.

  “And I have a child and no couple.” Shawn’s brow creased and he took a solemn drink of his beer. “We are the bachelors two now.”

  “We are.” Joey glanced at Martha who was cradling baby Evangeline in her arms. “I’m going to go console myself by asking Martha if I can hold the baby. I already offered to babysit whenever they need me. And by the time Beck and Mac have their babies, I’ll be so busy with other people’s babies that I won’t get a chance to mourn for my mate who never was.”

  “Hey, Joey, where did this mood come from?” Shawn asked. His friend was unusually morose today.

  “Polly is pregnant.” Joey’s mouth turned down at the corners.

  “You liked her a lot.” Shawn’s sympathy was evident in his voice. Joey had dated Polly for a few months. It had started out as a friends-with-benefits relationship.

  Or shifter with benefits, Shawn’s cougar suggested.

  Yeah, a shifter with benefits. Shawn sighed. Only Joey and Polly had acted like a normal couple who were dating. They’d gone to the movies, shared intimate dinners, and genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. Until Polly found her true mate.

  Joey had been dropped like a hot rock.

  “When I was with Polly I got a small glimpse of what it would be like to have a mate.” He frowned and shook his head. “I knew it wasn’t real. But it was nice pretending for a while.”

  “And now she’s having a baby.” Shawn nodded, completely understanding how Joey felt but was unable to say anything that might help. Because there was nothing to say. He couldn’t tell Joey he’d get over it, or that one day he’d meet a mate of his own because there were no certainties in this world. The truth was that neither Shawn nor Joey might ever find their mate. They might be destined for a life alone.

  “And now she’s having a baby.” Joey nodded. “And I’m torn between being so happy for her I could burst and so jealous I could explode.” His forehead wrinkled and he took a long drink of beer.

  “That’s natural,” Shawn assured him. “For a shifter, I think those feelings are totally natural.”

  “I tell you what doesn’t f
eel natural,” he said a little forlornly, “is being alone. No mate, no family.” Joey scanned Kelos’s backyard and all the people in it. “I feel like the odd one out.”

  “It’s not as if I have a mate.” But Shawn had Jane.

  Who fills a large hole in our heart that only a mate could completely heal, his cougar replied. Joey doesn’t have that.

  “I’m going to sound like a frickin’ jackass, but I’m glad I’m not alone in being lonely.” Joey raised his beer bottle and Shawn did the same. “Here’s to bachelorhood. May it die a fiery death.”

  “Amen to that,” Shawn replied.

  Now I’m depressed, his cougar shook himself from head to foot as if trying to shake off the melancholy mood Joey had cast over them.

  “Now, I’m going to go and coo over the baby.” Joey grinned, his unhappy mood forgotten at the thought of baby Evangeline. “Or maybe I might drool.” Joey winked and then swung around, heading across the grass to where Martha was cradling her new daughter while talking to Amber, Kelos’s mate. The dragon shifter had sure gotten lucky, but he’d also waited an incredibly long time for his woman to come along.

  As if hearing his thoughts, Amber lifted her head and looked at him. Shawn waved at his old friend and she drifted over toward him as Joey began cooing to the baby.

  “How are you doing?” Amber asked as she reached him.

  “I’m okay. Busy at work as always. How about you?” Shawn’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her face. “There’s something different about you.” His forehead creased and then his eyes widened.

  Amber took hold of his hand and led him farther away from the others. “Big announcement coming up.” She looked at him sternly. “Please don’t say it out loud.”

  “I won’t.” He broke into a wide grin and fought the urge to hug her. “Congratulations.”

  “Thanks.” She grinned like a fool. “It’s all happened so fast. But I’m so happy.”

  “And I am happy for you.” He sighed in exasperation. “Damn, I want to hug you. But people will talk.”

  “Later. When everyone is here, we’ll make the announcement and then you can hug away.” She smothered her smile as she glanced back toward the house. “I’m content, Shawn. I never thought this was for me but it’s what I want, and I think it’s what I always wanted. I just didn’t know it before I met Kelos.”

  “I know what you mean. Raising Jane has been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.” He paused. Raising a child alone had never been his plan but you make the most of what life sends your way.

  “That’s quite a statement coming from a doctor. You’ve saved lives and helped countless people over your career.” Amber tilted her head to one side. “You know I’m going to be calling you at all hours for advice.”

  “Call away…” His voice trailed off as his attention switched to something in the distance.

  “Shawn?” Amber touched his arm and he jumped. “Are you okay?”

  “Someone is coming.” His brows knitted together as a fog seeped into his brain. “Are you expecting someone else?”

  “Yeah.” Amber swung around and stared in the direction of the road. “We’re waiting on Joanna and O’Malley.”

  “Joanna. The police officer who helped you find the evidence that got Roman Ostabell arrested for murder?” Shawn swallowed down the lump in his throat. He didn’t feel right. He didn’t feel right at all, but he couldn’t perform his usual self-diagnosis because whatever was wrong with him appeared to have affected his cognitive thought process.

  “Yes, we invited them both. Since they helped so much with the whole Ostabell thing.” She tapped Shawn on the chest. “O’Malley is looking forward to meeting you.”

  “He is?” Shawn asked. Did Amber think he was gay?

  “Yeah. He doesn’t meet many cougar shifters in the city. Apparently, they are a secretive bunch. The opposite of the inhabitants of Cougar Ridge. I told him you would invite him to Cougar Ridge some time.” She grinned. “I think he likes the idea of being free to shift in the street. City living must be hell if you are a shifter.”

  “Sure.” Shawn nodded absently and took a couple of steps forward as if he were being reeled in like a fish on a hook. “And Joanna?” he asked in a dreamy voice.

  “Joanna.” Amber let out a small cry of surprise that got everyone’s attention.

  “Amber, is everything okay?” Kelos strode toward them, his fists clenched at his side.

  “Everything is just fine.” She put out her hand and placed it on Kelos’s chest. “Shawn is just having a moment.”

  “A moment?” Kelos asked, his body language remained tense as he readied to protect his mate.

  His mate, Shawn’s cougar said.

  Shawn switched his focus inward. Yes, Amber is Kelos’s mate. He didn’t understand what his cougar meant.

  And whoever is approaching in this car is our mate. His cougar’s words hit him like an avalanche of snow hurtling down from the top of the mountain.

  Mate. His brow furrowed as he searched to find the knowledge inside himself. If his cougar felt it then so should he. There. He jerked his head up, his attention fixed solely on the car approaching the house.

  Stumbling forward, he left Amber and Kelos staring after him as he headed around the side of the house needing to get the first glimpse of his mate so he would know this was real.

  Of course, it’s real, his cougar told him.

  “Shawn?” Amber trailed behind him and Kelos followed. “Are you okay?”

  “Of course, he’s okay. He’s about to meet his mate,” Kelos said, all tension gone from his voice. Whatever threat he’d perceived in Shawn was now long gone.

  “So why does he look as if the world is about to end?” Amber asked as she leveled with Shawn’s shoulder.

  “He’s in shock.” Kelos didn’t hide the amusement from his voice.

  The approaching car slid to a stop and the passenger door flew open. There she was. A vision of loveliness in her skinny jeans topped by a T-shirt and leather jacket. She stared at Shawn and he stared right back at her, oblivious for the moment of all the people crowding around them.

  “You never said there was entertainment,” Hex said from somewhere behind them.

  “Great, Shawn has a mate. Now I’m not just a sad bachelor, I’m a lonely sad bachelor.” Although to be fair, Joey did sound happy for his friend. Even though he could not mask the longing in his voice.

  “I’d ask what everyone is staring at,” O’Malley said as he got out of the car. “But since Joanna went all googly-eyed as we drove up to the house and this fella looks as if he’s punch-drunk, I’m guessing we are watching the newest mating in town.”

  “That just about sums it up.” Amber stepped forward and waved her hand in front of Shawn’s face. “Earth calling Shawn.”

  He blinked a couple of times, still not really seeing anything other than his mate. “I…” He lifted his hand and pointed at Joanna.

  “You need a few moments.” Amber turned away from him and began herding everyone else back toward the house. “Let’s give these two some alone time.”

  “Sure.” O’Malley glanced toward Joanna. “If that’s okay with you?”

  Joanna blinked a couple of times and it was as if she’d been woken from a dream. “Yes. You go on.”

  “Could you keep an eye on Jane for me, please?” Shawn asked Amber as the rest of the group walked away talking to each other in excited hushed whispers. “She’s gone along the trail.”

  “Sure. I won’t say anything, though. About this.” Amber glanced at Shawn and then smiled softly at Joanna. “I think that is a job for her father.”

  Shawn nodded. “Thanks, Amber.” He watched them go, terrified of meeting his mate’s eyes in case she was disappointed in him.

  Why would she be disappointed in us? his cougar asked.

  We have a child. Not every mate would be happy about that. He took a deep breath. There was no putting off the inevitable.

  Th
is is supposed to be the happiest day of our lives, his cougar purred.

  It is. Shawn shook his head imperceptibly. Or it would be. If Joanna wasn’t a police detective.

  Oh, his cougar’s fur stood on end as if he’d come face to face with a big slobbery dog. Now I understand.

  Why does life have to be so complicated? Shawn asked his cougar. Detectives like to ask questions and there are some questions even we don’t know the answer to.

  Jane. His cougar’s tail twitched from side to side.

  Exactly. There is so much we don’t know about where she came from. Shawn had never outright lied about where his daughter came from. But he’d often allowed people to believe what they wanted to believe. He’d sidestepped the truth so many times the people around him had no idea what to believe. All for good reason. He’d promised to keep her safe and that had meant keeping the truth to himself.

  At least the part of the truth he knew.

  We would never be without Jane, his cougar answered.

  Never! Shawn agreed. But I doubt Joanna will not ask about Jane’s mother. And that will open a whole can of worms we have spent years keeping a lid on.

  Why does life have to be so complicated? His cougar sighed then his expression cleared. We must trust in fate. Joanna will be there for us. As much as we want to protect her, she will want to protect us.

  She is a shifter. The weight pressing down on Shawn’s chest lightened. He needed to trust in fate more than ever. It was fate that had given him a daughter he adored. He wasn’t ready to believe that fate would give him a mate at last and then rip Jane away from him.

  Fate was not that cruel.

  Was it?

  Chapter Two – Joanna

  “Are you going to stand there and stare all day?” Uncertainty gripped Joanna. He was her mate. The man standing right before her. The man she’d waited her whole life for.