Rescued by Emery, page 1
part #2 of Deep River Shifters Series
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Table of Contents
Rescued by Emery
Bonus Books Section
Annora’s Dragon
Bree’s Dragon
Frey’s Mate
Luelle’s Mate
Captured by Kazak
Preview of Taja’s Dragon
Rescued by Emery
Deep River Shifters – Book 2
By Lisa Daniels
Chapter 1
Lingering Guilt and a Loving Deception
Cora tossed her phone on the bed as she hurried into the bathroom. “Of all the damn days to decide that he wanted to act more like my brother.” Cora watched the way her purple hair flipped after batting it with the brush a couple of times in a sad attempt to give the damp strands life. “Of course. Of course! Why would anything go right today?” She was very nearly screaming at the mirror. Disgusted with her failed attempt to fix her hair, Cora knew that there was nothing that she could do with the little time she had to prepare. She yanked the drawer open and threw the brush into a pile of hair bands, clips, and scrunchies. Several of the items flew out as she tried to slam the door shut. With a barely contained yell, Cora spun and hurried out of the bathroom.
“Slow down or you are going to get hurt.” A man’s voice emerged from a bedroom as she passed it on her way back to her own.
“Shut up, Jason. I wouldn’t have to rush if you would have been considerate enough to tell me yesterday.” The words were muttered and nearly unintelligible.
“Are you muttering? Should I not have told you about it?”
With a sigh, Cora stopped and walked back to the door where the voice was coming from. Trying to give him a smile, she responded, “Of course not, Jason, I just wish you would have given me a little more notice than 30 minutes. I mean, you didn’t tell me you were coming to visit either, but it’s not like I needed to prepare for that. Climbing takes a bit of prep time. You taught me that. So not giving me more than a few minutes seems a bit irresponsible. For you.”
“It slipped my mind. Sorry.” The man had short, sandy blond hair that curled, making him look more like a Greek god than her brother. It still took Cora by surprise because for the longest time Jason had kept his hair long. After graduating from college, he had decided to cut it after his long-time girlfriend had dumped him. They had been together for six years, but he had not been ready to commit to marriage. She had dumped him and moved on to some guy who was a few years older and was established in the financial industry. One thing she had always tried to get him to do was cut his hair. Cora approved of his petty vindictive move, partly because she had always hated her brother’s girlfriend, and partly because he really did look a lot better with short hair.
She flashed Jason a toothy grin that could have been interpreted as either thanks or annoyance. “I’ll be ready in a minute, just need to grab some of the gear.”
“Take your time, sis.”
Cora turned to go into her room before stopping and poking her head around the door frame. “It really is good to have you back. It was a little quiet around here without you.”
Jason laughed in response, “I really wish I had gotten you on record admitting it.”
“Yeah, enjoy it while it lasts because that won’t be happening again.”
“Of course not. Hurry, I’m leaving in 5.” As if to emphasize the time crunch, Jason stood up and started heading toward the door. Cora gave a little yelp and hurried into her room. There was no point in pointing out the contradiction – he had just told her to take her time, and then had turned around and told her to hurry up. Then again, that was her brother – and she wouldn’t want him to act any differently now. Throwing some gear into a large backpack, she slung it over her shoulder, catching her short purple hair in the process. “God damn it!” she yelled, trying to yank the bag off of her hair as carefully as she could. It took several seconds and she was near tears from the effort. Cora hurried back to the bathroom and picked up a couple of clips and bands that had flown out earlier. Stuffing them in her pocket and bag, the young woman hurried down the hall. It was more than she could possibly need, but she wasn’t sure how she wanted to do her hair yet – better to have options than to regret leaving any option behind.
She reached the door just as Jason was opening it. “Ah, it looks like you will make it after all.”
Refraining from sticking her tongue out at him, Cora slid her feet into a comfortable pair of sneakers.
Jason frowned, “You can’t wear those to climb.”
Slipping under his arms as he held the door and picked up his wallet, Cora said over her shoulder, “My boots are in the bag.” She gave her shoulders a jolt to emphasize where the footwear was.
“You sure you aren’t forgetting anything?”
“I’m sure I am forgetting something, but I don’t know what. Thirty minutes really isn’t enough time to prepare for a climb. And–”
“Then take a second to think about it.” Cora was about to reply as she approached the car when Jason said, “Alright, time’s up, let’s go.”
Cora was already at the car and pulling open the passenger door when he finished locking the front door. “Shotgun.”
“Really? You are going to make me drive? You know how much time I spent driving over the last week?”
“22.75 hours. You’ve told me several times. But I have to do a few things to prepare for the climb, and I don’t think you want me doing that and holding up the group.”
Jason sighed and slid into the driver’s seat. “Fine, but I want to go on record saying that I am not happy about it.”
“That’s okay, I’m not happy that I barely got any time to get ready. We are both unhappy, which is a very sad way to begin our trip.”
“Honestly, I thought you were going to decline.” Jason looked over at her before backing out of the driveway. “You have turned down three different trips so far. I admit that I am pleased you agreed to tag along for this one. By not giving you much time to consider, you didn’t have enough time to back out of it.”
“Well,” Cora looked down at her hands as images flashed through her mind. Images of being pulled back into the raft only to find that two other members of the group were gone. She closed her eyes. “I have to get over it at some point.”
“Yeah, you do.” He patted her shoulder as they stopped at the stop sign at the end of the street. “You will get there. It just takes time. And getting out of the home a bit for something other than school.”
Cora’s eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute. How did you know that I have been skipping out on the trips? Or that I have been staying home more?”
Jason shifted a little in his seat. “Well, there has been some talk. Some people were concerned about you and how you have been a bit reticent lately. Ryland said that getting you out of the house would help get you back to normal.”
Cora’s eyes narrowed further as she looked at her brother. He was pursing his lips, which showed that he had just said something he wasn’t supposed to say. “Which part did he think would help? The part where you give me no time to plan? Or the part where you take time away from your studies to take care of your sister?”
Keeping his eyes on the road, Jason simply responded, “Yes.”
With a groan, Cora slipped down in her seat, no longer interested in making sure she had everything she needed. “You can just drop me off up here at the light and I’ll walk back.”
“What happened to all of the excitement?” Jason glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Everything turned out fine. And if you take a look at Ryland and Serenity, I don’t think that they are at all unhappy with the way things turned out.”
Cora mumbled something unintelligible under her breath.
“Good lord, Cora. Don’t tell me that you still have a crush on him.”
“You know, you can just let me out right here.”
Jason locked the door. “I came all this way up here to spend time with you, and you are going to bail on me at the first sign of something you don’t like?”
Cora looked out the passenger window. “It has nothing to do with that. I’m not 15 anymore, Jason.”
“Oh, right. 20 years old, so much more mature.”
“We are not having this conversation. If you want to talk to me, do it on your own terms instead of doing what your friends tell you to do. Here I thought you were interested in hanging out and having fun, but you are just here to act like a parent because people told you I wasn’t well. Screw that.” With that, Cora pulled the handle on the passenger side and before her brother could relock the door she opened it.
He quickly slammed on the brakes. Jason didn’t even look at her as he said, “It doesn’t matter that you have physically aged. You are clearly still the child I remember.”
With one foot out the door, Cora turned back to look at her brother.
He faced her, a stern look reminding her that this was the man who had
Cora snorted at this revelation, but she pulled her leg back in the car and closed the door. It was so like Silas to interfere, even though he didn’t know exactly why Jason was so overly protective of her. Her friend had learned when they were 13 to bug Jason when something seemed off about her. Her brother’s reaction was always predictable, even if her friend didn’t know why. It wasn’t surprising considering they had all grown up together – although there were some things that only Jason knew about her.
Her brother gave her a smile. “Thanks. I promise, it’s going to be a memorable trip. And not in the same way your last one was. This time it will be worth it and fun will be had by all.”
“Even if it has a terrible start?” Cora glanced over at him.
He smiled at her, then took his foot off of the brake. “Especially because it had a terrible start. It means I’ve neglected you too long and now I’m really going to have to work to make it fun. Even if you are making me drive, I will accept that as punishment for my sins.”
Cora giggled a little as he began to drive again. Jason fought back the urge to mention her reckless behavior in nearly jumping out of the car. Knowing that he was going to have to work to make her smile, Jason focused on the road. “It’s been a few weeks. There’s no reason for you to be so upset about it still. Why are you so hung up on it? If you don’t have feelings for Ryland, then things worked out incredibly well. Don’t know how long he’s going to be able to keep her a secret, though.”
Cora sighed, “Yeah, glad they are happy, but he’s going to have to give it up now if he really doesn’t want to share her with the rest of the world. It’s amazing that Serenity isn’t a model already with her looks.”
Jason gave her a sympathetic smile, “I haven’t seen her, but I doubt she’s as pretty as my little sister.”
“Eww,” Cora bunched up her nose. “I know you are trying to make me feel better, but that just… ewww.”
Jason laughed, “Hey, that’s what I'm here for.”
“You’d fall in love with her, too. I can’t even look her in the face now.”
Jason pulled onto the highway before glancing at his sister. “Why? Everyone says she doesn't blame you, and from the way you’ve talked about her, she doesn’t sound like she is just saying that to get attention. Why are you the only one still bothered by it?”
Cora turned away and pressed her face against the window. “I don’t know. It feels like it was all my fault. We should never have taken her. Things could have turned out so much worse, and I just can’t get this… sense of guilt out of my head.”
Jason glanced over at her, an understanding smile on his face as he patted her shoulder. Cora looked at him and knew it was supposed to make her feel better, but it didn’t. She just felt guiltier. Turning to watch the world passing by her window, Cora tried to hide her face as she answered, “I’ll be fine. I mean, nothing ended up happening, so I just need to get through it. You guys should let me do that in my own time. Luring me out of the house was entirely unnecessary.”
“You know why I’m worried. And anyway, it worked.”
Cora shook her head and turned to face her brother, a look of annoyance just barely hidden. “No shit, Sherlock.”
“Hey! Language.” He frowned as he looked at her for a second.
Cora couldn’t help but smile. “Hey, I’ve said so much worse.”
“Not in front of me, you haven’t.”
“Get used to it.”
“No, I don’t have to.”
“Are you threatening to stop visiting? Because that isn’t going to work. This is the first time you’ve been here in a year and a half, so that threat has lost its teeth. And you didn’t even come because I asked you to come – you are here because other people asked.”
He reached over and messed up her hair. “My little sister is starting to use logic.” With an exaggerated sigh, Jason sped up to get around a slow driver. It was then that Cora realized he had set the GPS. Jason had always been good about hiding what he was doing, so it wasn’t a surprise that in her excitement and sudden anger she missed that detail. Still, it was strange that he would need help getting where they were going – they had driven there so many times. It seemed impossible that a year and a half was enough time to completely forget the way there.
“Why on Earth are you using the GPS? I know that you know the way there. School couldn’t have pushed that information out of your head.”
“We aren’t going to the usual place.” His comment was offhanded as if he thought she already knew.
“Wait, what?” She sat up and looked at his profile. “What do you mean we aren’t going to our usual place? It’s too late in the year for the cooler places. After what happened a couple of weeks ago, I am not willing to do anything risky.”
“It was a part of the plan we had cooked up to draw you out. Apparently, that wasn’t necessary, but no point in changing the plans now. Since you were so eager to join me, I figured it would be a nice surprise. Should have known you would notice long before we got there, though.”
“Well, it’s not like I’m an idiot, even if you guys all treat me like I am.”
He frowned, “No one thinks you are an idiot. You just don’t think things through. And yeah, I knew you would notice something was up, just thought it would take a little longer. Still, this does give you time to mentally prepare for something a bit more challenging.”
“I need more than just to mentally prepare. We haven’t done anything more strenuous than the regular climb in a couple of years. And like I said, this is a bad time of year for pretty much anywhere else.”
Jason frowned, “Are you trying to tell me you and the gang haven’t been to Primitive Peak since the last time I was with you guys?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. It’s a long drive and it just didn’t feel right doing it without you there. I’ve never gone without you.”
Her brother chuckled, “Still sentimental about the strangest things. Well, I’m glad I could do something special. Beyond coming up here unannounced.”
“So you plan to do Primitive Peak today?”
“Yeah. Unless you still think that it’s too risky.” He gave her a sideways look that conveyed his skepticism.
“No, if you are there, I’m sure it will be fine.” Cora was beginning to get antsy again, this time with excitement. She pulled the bag up into her lap and began pawing through it. “I can’t believe we are going to do that. I mean, it is a bit risky, but we are all experienced. I’m sure we’ll be perfectly fine.” It almost sounded like she was talking herself up as she muttered into the bag.
Jason smiled at her, his concern starting to wane. Silently he promised his sister that he would make sure to be there for her more going forward. It had been a mistake to let school and work engross him so much. There had been a time when he had been somewhat resentful about having to take care of his kid sister, especially when he was just starting high school. Then he had almost lost her. It was the real problem with Cora – she appeared to be so bouncy and lively, the kind of person who could get over things quickly. But the truth was that she was just much better at hiding things than anyone else he knew. Every time he forgot that, she paid for it. For all the time they had spent with their parents, the two may as well have been orphans. Their parents had taken research jobs that meant they were virtually never home ever since he was nine and Cora was six. For the first year or so, Jason and Cora’s grandparents had been there, but eventually, they had decided to move elsewhere. Since it was a small town, both their parents and grandparents figured that the kids would be alright with just the occasional help from neighbors, but that had not been how it worked at all.
