Twisted: Bitter Harvest, Book Two Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One: That’s Impossible

  Chapter Two: Just Like Old Times

  Chapter Three: Collateral Damage

  Chapter Four: Weirdness Squared

  Chapter Five: Evil’s Not Dead Yet

  Chapter Six: Best Laid Plans

  Chapter Seven: Bargains

  Chapter Eight: A Newer Evil

  Chapter Nine: The Sea Keeps You Humble

  Chapter Ten: A Cat’s Tale

  Chapter Eleven: Hell’s Gateway

  Chapter Twelve: The Only Good Vamp is a Dead Vamp

  Chapter Thirteen: Love’s not on the Menu

  Chapter Fourteen: Chances and Changes

  Chapter Fifteen: Warnings

  Chapter Sixteen: Monsters on the Loose

  Chapter Seventeen: Let Me Go

  Chapter Eighteen: As Green as Shifters Come

  Chapter Nineteen: An Honorable Death

  Chapter Twenty: Affair of the Heart

  Chapter Twenty-One: Hijacked by the Future

  Chapter One: Borrowed Trouble

  Also by Ann Gimpel

  Alphas in the Wild

  Hello Darkness

  Alpine Attraction

  A Run For Her Money

  Fire Moon

  Bitter Harvest

  Deceived

  Twisted

  Coven Enforcers

  Blood and Magic

  Blood and Sorcery

  Blood and Illusion

  Demon Assassins

  Witch's Bounty

  Witch's Bane

  Witches Rule

  Dragon Lore

  Highland Secrets

  To Love A Highland Dragon

  Dragon Maid

  Dragon's Dare

  Earth Reclaimed

  Earth's Requiem

  Earth's Blood

  Earth's Hope

  Earth Reclaimed Series

  GenTech Rebellion

  Winning Glory

  Honor Bound

  Claiming Charity

  Loving Hope

  Keeping Faith

  Rubicon International

  Garen

  Lars

  Soul Dance

  Tarnished Beginnings

  Tarnished Legacy

  Tarnished Prophecy

  Tarnished Journey

  Soul Storm

  Dark Prophecy

  Dark Pursuit

  Dark Promise

  Wolf Clan Shifters

  Alice's Alphas

  Megan's Mates

  Sophie's Shifters

  Standalone

  Red Dawn

  Marked by Fortune

  Shadows in Time

  Alphas in the Wild Collection

  Midnight Magic

  Heart's Flame

  Icy Passage

  Dark Storm, Soul Storm Books Collection

  Warin's War

  Shadow Play

  Melis's Gambit

  Rubicon International Series Bundle

  Coven Enforcers Series

  Edge of Night

  Twisted

  Bitter Harvest, Book Two

  Dystopian Urban Fantasy

  By

  Ann Gimpel

  Copyright Page

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © July 2017, Ann Gimpel

  Cover Art Copyright © July 2017, Fiona Jayde

  Edited by Kate Richards

  Copy-edited by Nanette Sipe

  Names, characters, and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or people living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, e-mail, or web posting without written permission from the author.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One: That’s Impossible

  Chapter Two: Just Like Old Times

  Chapter Three: Collateral Damage

  Chapter Four: Weirdness Squared

  Chapter Five: Evil’s Not Dead Yet

  Chapter Six: Best Laid Plans

  Chapter Seven: Bargains

  Chapter Eight: A Newer Evil

  Chapter Nine: The Sea Keeps You Humble

  Chapter Ten: A Cat’s Tale

  Chapter Eleven: Hell’s Gateway

  Chapter Twelve: The Only Good Vamp is a Dead Vamp

  Chapter Thirteen: Love’s not on the Menu

  Chapter Fourteen: Chances and Changes

  Chapter Fifteen: Warnings

  Chapter Sixteen: Monsters on the Loose

  Chapter Seventeen: Let Me Go

  Chapter Eighteen: As Green as Shifters Come

  Chapter Nineteen: An Honorable Death

  Chapter Twenty: Affair of the Heart

  Chapter Twenty-One: Hijacked by the Future

  Twisted, Book Description:

  A small group of Shifters sails south from Ushuaia, determined to assess what’s left of the world. A Vampire attack, a possessed priest, and a gateway to Hell mean fallout from the spell gone bad that pinned them in Ushuaia for years is far from gone.

  Back on a ship again, Juan reconstructs what’s always been a comfort zone. The sea is the only life he’s ever known—if you don’t count the ten years he spent as a Vampire. His new magic, fueled by a bond with a mountain cat, brings its own set of challenges, but they pale in comparison with the white-hot need knifing through him whenever Aura is anywhere close.

  A historian by trade, Aura deals in prophecies for her Shifter pack. Attraction for Juan ignited when they fought the Cataclysm, but she figures he left a string of broken hearts during his years as chief navigator on cruise ships. They have to work together. A self-indulgent affair could ruin everything. She does her damnedest to keep distance between them, but the ship’s not big enough to escape yearning for a future together.

  Chapter One: That’s Impossible

  Aura Mackenzie rolled her shoulders to get the kinks out of her back. She hadn’t had much space to roam in Ushuaia, but Arkady, a sturdy Russian research vessel that once ferried tourists through polar waters, was smaller by far than any other place she’d spent much time.

  She’d retreated to her cabin to shower since the vessel wasn’t pitching and rolling quite so much. The journey south from Ushuaia had grown rough once they left the Beagle Channel and turned southeast. If it hadn’t been for a healthy dose of magic, she’d have been horribly seasick right along with several of the dozen female Shifters aboard. As it was, she’d been queasy the entire time.

  Four men traveled with them. Men who’d once been Vampires but were now Shifters, courtesy of a powerful spell that had nearly killed them all. Viktor and Juan had worked together for years, and this was their ship. Pre-Vampire, Recco and Daide had been veterinarians in Ushuaia, and both men had a hell of a time with the transition from animal healer to animal killer. For whatever reason—maybe some leftover Vampire juju—the seasickness gene had bypassed the men, and she was jealous.

  Until about two months ago, they’d all been trapped in Ushuaia, and she still couldn’t quite believe their gambit to escape had paid off. The wicked enchantment holding them prisoner had lasted ten years, and she’d been certain they’d all die in the remote location at the tip of South America. Between increasingly toxic water and a lack of food, their fate didn’t require her skill with prophecies to predict.

  Yet, they’d broken free.
Whether it was permanent or a momentary respite remained to be seen.

  Back home in Wyoming, she’d been a historian. Unlike many tenure-track faculty, she’d enjoyed her comfy academic position where the hardest thing she had to do was deal with unruly graduate students. A cat Shifter, she was bonded to a mountain lion, and it missed Wyoming’s mountains and the forests where they’d roamed. She did too. Ushuaia had mountains, but they were nothing like the Rockies towering above her erstwhile home.

  She rolled her eyes. It would be a long time before she saw Wyoming again. And a strong possibility existed she never would. The reason they’d left Ushuaia was to explore the Southern Ocean in gradually widening arcs to determine if the Cataclysm—the wickedness that had held them prisoner—was wreaking havoc elsewhere.

  Or if their counter spell had wiped it out for good.

  One thing was certain. If the Cataclysm lived anywhere, it would be out for blood. The evil was sentient, and it knew good and well who was responsible for its destruction around Ushuaia. A shiver tracked down Aura’s spine.

  “Yeah,” she muttered half aloud. “Not much point pining for home. Maybe I’d do well to label wherever I am home and call it good.” The thought pleased her, and she chuckled. It was an improvement over the fear that gripped her whenever she thought about the Cataclysm. She’d survived those years in Ushuaia by leveraging denial and cunning, useful traits she’d do well to keep front and center.

  “Get moving,” her cat urged. “Don’t you want off this boat?”

  “You bet,” she told her bond animal.

  Aura tucked her blonde hair under a thick, wool cap and grabbed a pair of gloves. That done, she slipped into a waterproof jacket and popped out of her quarters. Bundled to the gills in warm clothing, she was already sweating, but the momentary discomfort was worth it. They’d pulled into a sheltered bay a little while ago, and Viktor had activated the PA system to announce that anyone who wanted could go ashore.

  Ketha, a wolf Shifter and Aura’s closest friend, rattled down a nearby staircase, buried in her own pile of winter gear. Her long, dark hair with red and gold streaks was covered by her parka hood, and her golden eyes shone with excitement.

  Ketha beamed at Aura, cupped a hand around her mouth, and addressed the empty corridor. “Anyone else want to go?”

  “Me!” Rowana shuffled into the passage. Strands of silver hair had resisted her efforts to cover everything with her hood, and her brown eyes sported dark circles beneath them. “Sheesh. I’ve never had to wear so many clothes. My eagle wanted to fly, but I didn’t figure it would be any warmer than me outside this ship. They’re not usually cold weather birds.”

  Ketha shot an indulgent smile Rowana’s way. “You’re overprotecting your bondmate. Eagles live in Alaska.”

  Rowana puffed out her chest. “Next to the Chilkoot River because it runs warm all year, which means a ready supply of salmon. I wouldn’t presume to tell you how to take care of your wolf—”

  “Fine.” Ketha waved the other woman to silence. “I apologize.”

  “Where exactly are we?” Aura cut in. All of them were edgy from the rough transit of the Scotia Sea. It had taken six days, three more than normal according to Viktor and Juan.

  “A deserted whaling station on South Georgia Island called Grytviken,” Ketha replied.

  Aura sent a speculative glance at her friend and sister Shifter. “I’m going to bet you read up on it.”

  Ketha shook her head. “Nope. My secret weapon is Viktor. He adores this part of the world and regales me with stories.”

  Rowana snorted, her eyes sparking with mirth, and her usual good humor apparently restored. “And here I thought all you did was paw at each other.”

  “Oh, we do plenty of that too.” Ketha grinned.

  “Don’t leave without me,” Karin called, slamming her door behind her. Once plump, her face showed the ravages of the hell they’d lived through, but her shrewd copper eyes didn’t miss much. Today, her snow-white hair was covered by a wool cap and a hood. “Good news! I found a stock of promethazine in the infirmary.”

  “What’s that?” Aura asked. “I wish you MD types would speak English.”

  “We do.” Karin leveled her gaze Aura’s way. “It’s trade name is Phenergan, and it’s a seasickness medication, among other things. Means I won’t have to use as much magic once we get underway again.”

  “Don’t those things have expiration dates?” Rowana asked.

  Karin made a noise between a grunt and a snort. “Yes, but they mean nothing. The pharmaceutical industry wants to make sure you keep spending money, so they slap ‘use by’ dates on everything.”

  “Good to know,” Rowana muttered.

  Aura tossed her shoulders back and tried to forget how miserable she’d been. “Maybe I won’t need anything next time.”

  Karin shrugged. “We’ll see.”

  “Come on, gals. Let’s go.” Ketha headed down the corridor toward a door leading to one of the outside decks and a gangway. “Viktor told me two of the rafts are still seaworthy.”

  “What happened to the other ones?” Rowana asked.

  “They’re rubber. They rotted.”

  Aura’s cat made a low, hissing noise inside her and said, “We can swim to shore. Let’s do it.”

  “Maybe you could,” Aura countered. “I’d drown wearing all these clothes. They’d drag me right to the bottom.”

  “What was that all about?” Ketha asked and latched the door open. “I only caught the tail end of it.”

  Cold air blasted through, bracing after the warmth of the ship. “Just my cat weighing in. Not sure it liked the idea of a partially rotten raft.”

  Ketha trotted the length of the ship to where a metal staircase led down to water level. “This one isn’t rotten, silly.” She ran lightly down the swaying stairs.

  Aura followed, but she held onto the handrails. When she reached the bottom, she gazed across an expanse of water at falling-down buildings and the hulls of wrecked ships partially submerged near shore. Ketha had identified it as a deserted whaling station, and it certainly looked the part.

  The whine of an engine caught her attention. Viktor motored around the side of Arkady, standing in a large, black raft with pontoons curving around every side. He helped Ketha aboard and then Aura. She sat on one of the pontoons while the two other women got in.

  A large-bore rifle was propped next to Viktor. “What’s the gun for?” Aura tipped her chin at it.

  “Never know what we might run up against,” he replied. “It was my weapon of choice to guard against polar bear attacks in the Arctic.”

  “What are you expecting?” Rowana asked. “There aren’t any polar bears here.”

  “I’m not expecting anything, but I like to be prepared.”

  “Thanks for taking care of us.” Ketha glanced fondly at her husband.

  “Welcome. No one else wanted to go?” Viktor furled his tawny brows. Tall and broad-shouldered, he still held the ungodly beauty common to Vampires. Aura guessed he’d always been movie-star stunning with brown-gold hair and eyes the shade of uncut emeralds. Defying the chill, he’d tossed his hood back, and his hair blew every which way in a stout breeze.

  Ketha shrugged. “Guess not. I put out the call in the corridor.”

  “Seasickness can be a real bitch,” Karin spoke up. “Between all the magic I ran through some of you and not having the stomach to eat anything for a few days, my bet is everyone else is sleeping.”

  “I wanted to make sure we weren’t waiting for anyone.” Viktor sat next to the idling engine and engaged the throttle. They hit the wake dead center as they motored toward shore.

  “Do you suppose we’ll find anyone here?” Ketha eyed him. “I meant to ask you before I got all duded up to spend time outside.”

  “I have no idea. The far end of this cove”—he pointed—“has barrack buildings built by the Brits after the Falklands War. They’re substantial, like everything British. Big enough
to house maybe five hundred men. As I recall, they were reasonably self-sufficient, with solar-powered desalination machinery and solar electricity generators.”

  “What about in the winter?” Rowana asked. “When there isn’t any sun?”

  “No one lived here in the winter,” Viktor replied. “The war only lasted a couple of months, and it’s been over since 1982. As I recall, Argentina didn’t exactly roll over and agree to British sovereignty, hence the barracks to house enough men to discourage further hostilities.”

  “Winter,” Rowana prodded.

  “Yeah, winter.” Viktor smothered a snort. “Thanks for the redirect. There used to be a skeleton force in the barracks and people to man the post office and museum during tourist season. That was about it. They all went home to the Falklands around April, so I’d be surprised if we found anyone here. Anyone alive, that is.”

  Aura chewed her lower lip. “Mmph. Let’s see. The eclipse was in late November, which is the Antarctic summer, so the Cataclysm hit this part of the world when there were likely folk here.”

  “True enough,” Viktor said. “We can hope for something beyond corpses, but I don’t expect we’ll find anyone.”

  Karin frowned. “Maybe I should have brought the medical bag I cobbled together from supplies in the ship’s infirmary.”

  “Nah.” Ketha shook her head. “If we find anyone and they’re in such bad shape they require your services, we’ll haul them into the raft and—”

  “Maybe,” Karin broke in. “The Cataclysm created isolated pockets of humanity. We all developed the same immunity to the bacteria and viruses that incubated in Ushuaia. The place we’re about to step out of this raft is its own petri dish of bugs, and we’d do well to take normal biohazard precautions. Our Shifter magic will help, but it’s not a guarantee we’re protected from everything.”

  “But I never had any problems,” Viktor protested. “And I’ve spent months on South Georgia Island. Hell, I spent three weeks here, once, when a bad series of storms blew through and it wasn’t safe to leave.”

  “That was before the Cataclysm,” Karin said and turned to Ketha. “Feel like providing a microbiology lecture about mutation and natural selection?”