The Alpha's to Share: A BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance (2 page)

It was a cold, wet, miserable day as Callie Reynolds huddled under the soggy newspaper – the only thing she currently had to shield her from the elements. She couldn’t help but wonder how she got here. How someone who had once had it all together, someone with a college education and a great job, could now be living on the streets like a vagrant and hiding from society.

It wasn’t her fault. She’d either been set up or it was all some horrible mistake. To think that she would risk everything she’d worked so hard for, everything she’d fought and clawed and scratched and scraped to get… it was preposterous.

But not only did society at large think she’d embezzled millions from her employer – her closest friends and even her family did, too. Her own family! They’d turned against her as if they’d never known her at all! Disowned her.

Everything she owned was now loaded into a storage unit that she was afraid to go anywhere near, for fear of being discovered. The police could be watching every single place she might go, waiting for her, stalking her. No, she couldn’t risk that.

But where could she go? Her bank accounts and credit cards had all been frozen. Her car was impounded. She had no friends or family that hadn’t turned their backs on her like she was a leper. She was truly alone.

Callie gritted her teeth and huddled into a tighter ball underneath the newspaper, listening to the pitter-patter of the rain on the soaked newsprint above her. Her stomach growled fiercely. The scent of warm soup wafted from the soup kitchen nearby, but she couldn’t risk going in because someone might recognize her from her picture, which was plastered across every news broadcast for miles around.

“Excuse me, dearie, but do you need some help?”

The sound of a human voice startled her, and she glanced up at a frail old woman peering down at her with a friendly smile. She was hunched over underneath an umbrella and extending her hand warmly.

“N-no,” Callie said. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine, dear,” she said. “Come on. Come with me and let’s get you somewhere warm, out of this rain. Maybe a bite to eat?”

She’d always been told not to trust strangers. Her parents drilled that into her from the time she was first learning to walk. But she couldn’t trust them anymore. They’d disowned her and threatened to turn her in to the authorities if she so much as contacted them. So maybe a stranger was the only one she
could
trust.

“I really shouldn’t,” Callie said.

“Listen, dear,” said the old woman. “I know who you are, and I know you’re in trouble. I can help you if you’ll let me. I know it’s not your fault. I can help you find a brighter future if you’ll only trust me.”

“Please… don’t turn me in,” Callie begged, the bitter sting of tears welling in her eyes. “I didn’t do what they said I did!”

“Shh,” whispered the old woman soothingly. “I know you didn’t. I can see it clearly. You’re not meant to be here. You’re not meant to be caged up like some poor animal in a zoo. Come with me. Let me help you!”

Slowly, cautiously, she slid her trembling hand into the gnarled, wrinkled one the woman had extended to her, and the woman, surprisingly strong despite her apparent frailty, pulled Callie to her feet. She hooked her arm protectively around Callie’s waist and brought her under the safety of the umbrella.

“There, now let’s get you home and get you something to eat,” said the woman.

She pulled Callie down the street to a parked car and opened the door for her. Against her better judgment, but having no other real option, she slid into the passenger’s seat and the old woman slammed the door behind her.

The car was an old beater. It must have been at least forty years old. The doors creaked loudly, rust covered nearly every part of the exterior, and the interior smelled of… fish?

The old woman smiled as she got into the car, thrusting the key into the ignition and turning it, bringing the car, coughing and sputtering, to life.

“Cold?” she asked Callie, whose teeth were chattering loudly.

Callie only nodded, unable to form words through the clatter of her teeth. The old woman turned on the heat, and a rank, musty smell flowed through the vents.

“It takes a while to warm up,” the old woman explained. “But once it does, it’s nice and toasty.”

The woman pulled away from the curb and Callie stared out the window, wondering if perhaps she’d just made the worst decision of her life. There was still time to jump. Flinging herself from a moving vehicle seemed to pale in comparison to the other available options in her life. But if she did that, she might survive, and if she ended up in the hospital, someone would definitely recognize her from the news.

She leaned her head against the icy glass of the window and watched the blur of the sidewalk whiz by. The vibrations of the rickety old car were somehow soothing, and they almost began to lull her to sleep.

The car puttered its way out of the city, turning onto a long, winding country road that led toward the mountains. Just before they reached them, the woman turned down a tiny dirt drive, which was mostly mud due to the rain, and they drove through a wooded area into a clearing at the base of a mountain.

“Here we are,” said the old woman, turning off the car and getting out.

Callie opened her door with a loud metallic screech and stepped out into the muddy yard, slamming it behind her. The view, despite the gloominess caused by the evening storm, was breathtaking. She froze, devouring every inch of her surroundings.

“What’s the matter, dear?” the old woman asked. “You act like you’ve never seen the mountains before!”

“I haven’t,” Callie muttered. “I’m a city girl.”

The old woman clucked her tongue and said, “Those days are over. You’re about to be a mountain woman.”

“Huh?”

“Come inside out of this rain this instant!” snapped the old woman. “Let’s get you into some dry clothes!”

The interior of the cabin was small, but cozy. The woman had a fire blazing on the hearth before Callie knew it, and she began rifling through an old wooden chest. She pulled out a long white dress and said, “Here, try this on.”

Callie held it up to herself and it seemed as though it would fit. She couldn’t imagine this had ever belonged to the old woman, though. Callie was a little on the plump side, and the woman was a tiny thing.

“Hurry up before you catch your death of cold!” the woman demanded.

Callie peered around, looking for a bathroom or bedroom in which to change. But the cabin was a single room, and she clutched the dress to her body instinctively.

“There’s no one here but us women! Now get out of those wet clothes this instant, young lady!”

Her face flushing, she slipped out of her soaking jeans and peeled away the clothes that stuck to her body like cling film. She slid the dress over her head, and it fit perfectly.

“There! Now, Callie, let’s get you fed!”

“How did…”

“Hush, girl! I told you, I can see the future. I know a lot more about you than you think. Your name is Callie Reynolds, and you’re being accused of something you didn’t do. Your friends and family all think you did it, and you’ve lost everything. But there’s something much better in store for you.”

“You could have gotten most of that information off the news,” Callie pointed out skeptically.

“True,” the woman allowed. “But I also know your favorite color is olive green, your favorite food is roast duck because your grandma used to make it every Christmas, and until this week you
loved
the rain.”

“Ok, impressive,” Callie admitted. “You’re either a real fortuneteller or your stalker level is legendary.”

The old woman chuckled and said, “I’m Madge. And I’m about to tell you something that you’ll believe, even if you know you shouldn’t.”

“Huh?”

“I’m a raccoon shifter,” said Madge. “I can shift my body into that of a raccoon and back again.”

Callie stared at the old woman, her head tilted sideways as she sized her up. It was uncanny. She was right. Callie actually believed her, though she knew the whole idea was ludicrous.

“See?” said Madge. “I told you you’d believe me!”

Madge turned her back and began gathering things from a shelf in the corner. She piled everything onto the small table and began to hastily peel and chop vegetables, throwing them into a large cauldron that was heating in front of the fire.

“Have a seat, dear,” said Madge, pointing with her paring knife to the chair directly across from her.

Callie laid her rain-soaked clothes neatly across the back of the chair and plopped onto it.

“Can I help you?” Callie asked.

“No, dear, your knife skills leave a lot to be desired,” said Madge.

It was true. Not only were her kitchen skills in general sorely lacking, but she seemed to cut herself anytime she got anywhere near a blade of any kind. She’d taken to getting her legs waxed because she cut herself shaving so many times.

“So, you said I have a brighter future,” Callie said. “Can you tell me about it?”

“Not yet,” said Madge. “But it’s on the way.”

“On the way,” Callie parroted. “What does that mean?”

“You’ll find out,” Madge said slyly, winking.

Once she’d peeled and chopped the vegetables and added them to the cauldron, she added various seasonings and topped it with water. Then she opened a jar of what appeared to be dried meat and added some.

“This will take about an hour,” Madge said. “Until then, why don’t we play a game of cards?”

“Uh, sure.”

Ok, so she was sharing a one-room cabin with an old woman who claimed to be able to turn herself into a raccoon and knew more about her than just about anyone. She was wearing clothing of questionable origin. And she’d lost everything practically overnight. But things could be worse, right?

As she began to smell the heavenly scent of cooking stew, she began to relax. Maybe Madge was right. Maybe something brighter
was
in her future. She could only hope, because surely it couldn’t get any worse.