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    Wolf's Winter: Fated Mates Paranormal Romance with Shifters, Witches and Magic...
    Wolf's Winter: Fated Mates Paranormal Romance with Shifters, Witches and Magic...
    Wolf's Winter: Fated Mates Paranormal Romance with Shifters, Witches and Magic...
    Ebook106 pages1 hour

    Wolf's Winter: Fated Mates Paranormal Romance with Shifters, Witches and Magic...

    By Lisa Kessler

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    It’s Christmas in Salem, and Winter Allen isn’t just playing the Ghost of Christmas Past in the community theater’s production of A Christmas Carol, she’s actually seeing them. And this spirit is worried that the people responsible for her murder are now after her daughter. Somehow the ghost knows Winter is a witch, and her ice magic may be the key to saving the ghost’s daughter.


    Jackson Walker is a PI in Salem, but he’s also a werewolf, and his heightened senses give him an edge. When a witch from the Coven of Light contacts him asking for help in finding a missing woman, he’s quick to agree. The last thing he expects to discover is that Winter is his one true mate.


    With a nefarious law firm hunting for witches, the holidays have never been more dangerous, but Winter can protect herself. Her real fear is losing her heart, and one kiss with Jackson under the mistletoe just might seal her fate…



    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBryant Street Publishing
    Release dateJul 18, 2023
    ISBN9781094460260
    Author

    Lisa Kessler

    Lisa Kessler is a Best Selling author of passionate, page-turning paranormal fiction. She's a two-time San Diego Book Award winner for Best Published Fantasy-Sci-fi-Horror and Best Published Romance. Her books have also won the PRISM award, the Award of Excellence, the National Excellence in Romantic Fiction Award, the Award of Merit from the Holt Medallion, and an International Digital Award for Best Paranormal. Her short stories have been published in print anthologies and magazines, and her vampire story, Immortal Beloved, was a finalist for a Bram Stoker award. She also publishes horror and thriller novels under the pseudonym, L.A. Kessler. When she's not writing, Lisa is a professional vocalist and tarot card reader. You can learn more at http://Lisa-Kessler.com

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    • 5/5
      Love this series. Fated mates, witch and werewolf action, with a mystery running through the series that the pack and coven need to solve.

    Book preview

    Wolf's Winter - Lisa Kessler

    1

    Winter

    Achill shot through me, but it had nothing to do with the snow falling outside. I rolled over, squinting at my cell phone. Three o’clock in the morning. The witching hour. A figure glowed at the foot of my bed.

    As a child, the apparitions used to terrify me. Today?

    It was all part of my so-called gift.

    The ghost appeared to be a woman, cradling a baby in her arms. She lifted her head and met my eyes. You have to save her.

    I could communicate with the dead in my mind, but other than Mouse, my white cat, the house was empty, so I asked aloud, Who?

    The infant faded as the woman dropped her hands to her sides. Ashley. They’re looking for her. They’ll hurt her.

    I cleared the sleep from my throat. Your baby is alive?

    Yes. We kept her hidden. Her form flickered. Projecting their image so the living could see them took massive amounts of spiritual energy. Please help her.

    With only a first name, the chances of finding her child inside of social services was slim. And why me? She didn’t look familiar. I’ll try.

    She came closer to the foot of my bed. You must.

    I arched a brow. I’m not a detective.

    But you’re a witch. She started to disintegrate in front of me. My daughter has witch blood too. That’s…why…they want her.

    And she was gone.

    I sat up, wide awake, pulling my hair back from my forehead as Mouse hopped up on my bed and walked across my lap, dragging his long white tail under my chin.

    I’m too busy tomorrow to be up at three in the morning, I whined to my cat.

    Mouse answered with a meow.

    Maybe some tea would help. I got up and grabbed my robe off the back of the door before heading into my small kitchen. I refused to call it a kitchenette; who even came up with that word? I put the pot on the stove and went over to my laptop on the table. Ruby asked me to head up the planning for the joint Christmas party for the Coven of Light and the Salem Pack. Our previous coven leader, Lillian, started the tradition with the previous Salem Alpha, Mathias, over a decade ago. It had been their attempt to unite our supernatural groups as allies. Lillian had visions with flashes of the future, and she’d seen a new coven conjuring blood magic.

    In the past two years, the Coven of Shadows emerged and werewolves were being hunted. We needed allies.

    This year’s Christmas party was going to be a little bigger than usual. This year Ruby was leading our Coven and Zeke was the new Alpha in Salem. Not to mention they were a couple. Wolf and witch romances had been forbidden, but Ruby was Zeke’s one true mate, so apparently fate had another plan.

    Now he and Ruby were raising two little werewolf boys, Carson and Cade.

    And they both carried their mother’s witch blood. Shifters with magic.

    Life didn’t usually change so fast around Salem.

    The kettle whistled and I poured it into my mug, adjusting my little silicone kitty steeper hanging on the edge. Mouse circled my ankles as I sat in front of my computer. This year we had reserved the Howling Wolf Taqueria restaurant for the night. It had been pricey, but Mathias insisted. He wanted to celebrate the new life in the pack and the coven, and he was willing to cover the cost.

    As long as he was footing the bill, I didn’t care.

    The holidays were usually tough for me. That’s why I agreed to organize the party. Anything to keep busy. I lifted the steamy mug to my lips without thinking. The hot tea burned my lips and my gasp froze the liquid inside.

    Damn it.

    I set the now cold mug on the table with a sigh. The joys of being an ice elemental.

    If only my mother had been around to raise me, so I had better control over my magic. I shoved the thought aside and tried to focus on the quotes from the deejays.

    …

    I jolted upright as my cell phone vibrated next to my head. I blinked, finding myself at my tiny kitchen table. Then I remembered my visitor from the night before. I glanced at my phone and let out a tired sigh when Ruby’s name lit up the screen.

    Hi Rubes.

    Winter? Did I wake you?

    I chuckled. I had a visit from a ghost last night. I guess I just dozed off again. What’s up?

    I didn’t usually tell people about my ghost visitations, but Ruby was used to my interactions with spirits. We’d become fast friends in middle school, bonding over our lack of parents. Hers had died in a fire, but at least she had memories of them. I’d never met mine. My mother left me in the ER of Salem Hospital with a note pinned to my onesie.

    Please take care of Winter.

    I love you, baby.

    She didn’t sign it, but social services kept it in my file. After two failed adoptions, I bounced around the foster system for years, and my final foster mother gave it to me when I turned eighteen.

    Babies wailed in the background and Ruby sighed. Just a second. She set the phone down and cooed in the distance. Finally, the little ones quieted again. She came back to the phone. They’re already sitting up. Can you believe it?

    A wistful smile curved my lips. Mathias said werewolf babies grow much faster than humans.

    I know, but at this rate they’ll be walking by Christmas.

    Mouse jumped up on my lap, sensing my discomfort with the current conversation. What’s up?

    I wanted to see if you needed any help on the party planning. Zeke mentioned that one of his pack members could pitch in, so it’s not all piled on you.

    I rolled my eyes, grateful she couldn’t see my expression. The last thing I need is a hulking werewolf at my kitchen table, trying to design centerpieces.

    It doesn’t have to be one of the guys. They have mothers too.

    I hadn’t thought about the elders. All this mom talk brought the memory of the panicked ghost back to me. I rubbed my temple. Isn’t one of your pack members a private investigator?

    Yeah, Jackson is, why?

    Jackson? High school came flooding back. Jackson Walker? The football player?

    Yeah. That’s him.

    I blinked. Did you know he was werewolf? I jotted his name down.

    Yes. Ruby chuckled. You would too, if you ever came to the Christmas party.

    Ouch. My jaw dropped even though she couldn’t see me. Wait, is that why you made me the party planner this year?

    It was your turn. But I could almost hear her smile.

    Fine. I stared at Jackson's name and number.

    He had been the star wide receiver for the Salem High School Witches. I never attended a game, but his athletic prowess had permeated the student body. No wonder he was such an amazing athlete. He was a werewolf.

    He was also built like a god, with a smile that could make your knees weak.

    Not that he’d ever smiled directly at me. I’d never actually met him. We went to the same school, same graduating class, but he was a jock, and I’d been a theater geek. Our paths had never crossed.

    Ruby snapped me out of the past. Why do you need a private eye?

    That ghost last night. She’s worried about her daughter and asked me to find her. Apparently the person or people who killed her might be coming for her daughter now.

    Zeke has Jackson digging into Hinterland and Bloodstone to see if we can find the connection with Sienna from the Coven of Shadows. She paused. "He

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