Redemption: Moon Fever Book Three (Redfern Shifters 3) Read online

  From the Back Cover

  Announcing the thrilling conclusion of MOON FEVER, a wolf shifter romance trilogy by Olivia Concord.

  Redemption: Moon Fever Book 3

  They’ll have to fight treachery, curses, and fate itself to stay together.

  Stella knew it would be hard to live with the fated mate who’d rejected her, but she’d underestimated just how pleasurable it could be. Every day since returning to their pack, she’s fallen deeper in love with him.

  But soon she uncovers secrets that suggest their fate is more complicated than either suspected. Unless they destroy the hidden threats, their mate bond could be broken forever. She can’t let that happen.

  Just as he realizes the depths of his feelings for Stella, the obstacles between them multiply. A rival pack is playing a long, violent game. Generations of bad luck might be an actual curse. And internal struggles continue threaten his young command as alpha.

  Confident he’ll win in the end, Jasper gathers his allies and launches a plan. He’ll do what’s right for his pack, his mate, and his heart. Whatever it takes.

  Both Stella and Jasper are prepared to do anything to stay together. But what if their biggest enemy is fate itself?

  Redemption is a rejected mate shifter romance filled with page-turning action, steamy love scenes, and a satisfying enemies-to-lovers romance.

  Please note: This is the third and final book in the Moon Fever trilogy. You'll enjoy it much more by starting with the first book, Rejection.

  Redemption

  MOON FEVER BOOK THREE

  REDFERN SHIFTERS

  OLIVIA CONCORD

  ETON FIELD

  Redemption: Moon Fever Book Three

  Copyright © 2022 by Olivia Concord

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Design: Olivia Concord

  Cover Photos: Depositphotos

  v.20221108

  www.OliviaConcord.com

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  Chapter

  One

  Jasper knelt next to Stella’s chair and held her hands. Although her face showed plenty of emotion—pain, confusion, longing—it wasn’t moon fever.

  She hadn’t been moon called again as he had.

  He released her and got to his feet. “I’m going to find out what’s going on.” His aunt Ruby, working incognito as the family cook, had witch blood. Maybe she’d done something to break them apart. And even if she hadn’t, he’d make her help him and Stella no matter how much she resisted.

  Stella jumped up. “Wait, we can’t be sure you’re being called again—”

  “I am.” It was just like eight months ago when he’d been at college and had felt the unmistakable summons to return to Redfern for Fever Night and be matched with one of his own kind.

  The Fates had given him Stella, and although he’d been stupid enough to reject her at first, he’d fought to get her back. He wasn’t going to lose her again.

  He forced himself to walk to the door, an agony when every atom was telling him to stay and make love to—

  He froze with his hand on the doorknob. Every atom was telling him to stay and make love to Stella. The moon fever was supposed to make him desire only his fated mate. So did this mean there was no reason to panic? The Fates did want them together?

  Stella strode over to him and caught his arm, turning him to face her. “Jasper, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. It must be the witch’s tea.” She was blinking back tears. After he’d rejected her, she’d gotten herbs from the witch to release her from the compulsion to be with him. “It’s my fault. I broke the bond between us.”

  Being close to her made him shake with repressed desire. He lifted a hand and stroked her soft cheek with his knuckles. The intensity of his feelings suddenly made it impossible to believe anything between them was broken.

  It wasn’t the same feeling as before, but he still wanted her desperately. Not just any woman—her.

  If the Fates were trying to split them up, they wouldn’t succeed. He wouldn’t let them.

  “Everything is going to be all right,” he said. “I’m sorry I… I overreacted.” He never should’ve said anything. Now she’d worry and might try to do something about it. Although the pack had nicknamed her Poodle, they didn’t know her the way he did. Appearing meek and harmless was a defensive ruse. She was independent, brave, and—a trait he both loved and feared—impulsive.

  She grabbed his hand and held it against her cheek. “Don’t lock me out. Tell me what you’re feeling. You said your chest hurts. Did something happen?”

  “Everything is going to be fine. I want you, you want me. Nothing’s the matter.”

  “Tell me about your chest,” she said.

  The pain under his sternum continued to blaze. For him, it was a sensation unique to moon fever. “Heartburn,” he said with a shrug. “Forget it.”

  She squeezed his hand. “Hey, don’t do that. Talk to me.”

  Her cheeks were flushed, making her eyes seem even brighter than usual. All the years growing up in the same small town, he’d never noticed the beautiful green flecks in the warm brown of her irises.

  And how her right eyebrow arched higher than her left when she was being inquisitive. Or the way she licked her lips before she spoke.

  “I love you, Stella,” he said. “Nothing else needs to be said.”

  “But just a second ago you were saying the Fates wanted to break—”

  “False alarm. It has to be.” He grabbed her shoulders and kissed her. Heat flared inside him, and from the way she melted against him, he could tell she felt it too. He broke away and gave her the biggest grin he could manage. “See? We still got it.”

  “But—”

  There was a knock on the door, followed by Rafe’s voice. “Jasper, hate to interrupt, but I think you’ll want to see this. Chef told me and Dee about a history of the Hart pack. Somebody in their family did a genealogy thing online. Brody is on there.”

  Jasper was relieved by the interruption. Just the night before, they’d learned the Harts were conspiring against them, trying to kill them off and take their land and homes. They’d abducted Stella, but she’d escaped with his help. Over the hours when she’d been missing, he’d been in agony, fearing the worst, realizing how essential she was to his life.

  That was all that mattered. Although he was part wolf, first he was a man—with free will and a moral compass. The Fates couldn’t make him deny what was most important to him.

  Jasper called out to Rafe. “I’ll be out in a second.” Then he put his arms around Stella and buried his nose in her hair, inhaling the scent of the woman he loved. “Sorry,” he whispered. “I need to go.”

  “Yes, of course you have to.” Stella tightened her arms around his waist. “But I’m going to come with you. I’m part of this too.”

  “No. You can’t.”

  She snorted and looked up at him. “Excuse me?”

  “Please. I won’t be able to think straight if you’re there. I’m… I’m suffering here.” He kissed her again, this time gently pushing her away. Their lips were the last to separate.

  She took a step back but held his gaze
, frowning. “If the Fates are trying to split us up, we should fight to be closer.”

  “They won’t split us up,” he said.

  Obviously unconvinced, she was frowning at him as he pulled open the door and escaped into the hallway with Rafe. He slammed it shut and rested his back against it, inhaling deeply.

  He was still shaking. “Rafe, I need you to do me a favor.”

  “Sure, Alpha. Name it.”

  “Grab my arm and drag me downstairs with you.” Jasper closed his eyes, tasting Stella on his lips. His body demanded release. “I don’t think I can make myself walk away on my own.”

  His friend Rafe was over six feet tall and built like most shifter males—broad and heavily muscled. If anyone could move Jasper, built the same way, it would be him. And only if Jasper was semi-willing.

  Rafe laughed. He’d been joking about Jasper’s never-ending moon fever since Stella had returned to Redfern. “You got it bad.”

  “Yes,” Jasper said, taking another breath. He’d let his friend continue to believe it was just the enthusiasm of the newly matched. “Yes, I do.”

  Chuckling, Rafe clamped a hand on Jasper’s forearm and yanked him away from the door. “Let’s go, champ. You’re going to like this. This website has names for the last few generations of Harts. You can see when they started having trouble. They went from at least five pups per family to two, then none. Lots of sons, no daughters, just like you said. They’re in deep shit.”

  Jasper gritted his teeth and made himself listen as he followed Rafe, his extended claws digging into his forearm, down the stairs of the sprawling Cross mansion to the office on the ground floor.

  Putting distance between him and Stella relieved some of the pressure in his chest, but it was still there. The moon was calling him again.

  Well, he’d ignored it once. If he had to, he’d ignore it again.

  For Stella.

  Mate, his wolf said.

  Chapter

  Two

  Stella paced back and forth in the bedroom, mad at herself for letting Jasper get away before they’d finished talking.

  And for leaving her behind again.

  Right after telling her he was being moon called again—and she wasn’t. After declaring the Fates wanted to match them with other partners.

  And then suddenly deciding it wasn’t a big deal after all, he loved her, they’d talk later, bye.

  She growled into the empty room. Their relationship was in its early days, but that wasn’t okay. An alpha and his mate needed to form a close, unified bond to lead their pack. Redfern hadn’t had that for a generation or more, and their dwindling numbers showed how much bad leadership had hurt.

  And she didn’t believe it wasn’t a big deal he’d been moon called again.

  It was a disaster. They couldn’t just kiss and pretend the Fates weren’t fucking with them again!

  She stopped pacing and decided she had to do something. Jasper had told her his aunt Ruby was probably a witch. She’d detected what herbs Stella was taking and had told Jasper about them.

  Stella would go to the kitchen and find out what else Ruby knew about the herbs. Could they have prevented Stella from responding to another moon calling? The cook hated her and wanted her gone, but Ruby wasn’t in charge. And although she was related to Jasper by blood, the connection was a secret. Maybe Stella should try treating her as the servant she was.

  Stella shoved her feet into her shoes, tucked her short hair behind her ears, and checked her reflection in the mirror, fighting down nerves. Ruby was intimidating and would try to dominate her, so she had to be prepared.

  A few minutes later she was walking across the carpeted ground floor, headed for the kitchen at the back of the house. On impulse, she backtracked a few steps and peeked down the hall where Jasper had his office. As tempted as she was to go and insist Jasper include her with Rafe and Dee in the pack’s plans, she knew he’d stop her from talking to Ruby if he knew about it. So it was a good time to confront her.

  Confirming his door was closed, she turned, heart pounding, and went to the kitchen.

  Ruby stood at a cooktop in the center island, stirring a large, steaming pot. Very witchlike, Stella thought. She was apparently over one hundred years old but looked barely seventy—straight-backed, firm-footed, and hard-eyed. Until recently, Jasper hadn’t known her real name.

  “Chef, I’d like to talk to you,” Stella said.

  The woman glanced up from the pot but didn’t stop stirring. Her short, spiky hair was black with streaks of pale lavender, a dramatic contrast to her white chef uniform. She changed her hair color almost daily. “I’m not sure that’s wise. Jasper might get the wrong idea.”

  Stella walked over and took an apple from a bowl on the counter across from Ruby. “What idea is that?”

  “That I’m attempting to sabotage your bond.”

  “And you’re not?” Stella demanded.

  “You’re doing that all by yourself,” Ruby said. “You brought those herbs into the house. You chose to consume them. I did nothing but inform Jasper of your treachery.”

  Stella felt her teeth begin to sharpen in her mouth. “Treachery?”

  “You snuck around behind his back.”

  “I started taking the herbs in Seattle, months after he rejected me at Fever Night.”

  “But you continued taking them here in this house,” Ruby said. “In his bed. How is that not a betrayal?”

  “We need to know we’re together because we want to be, not because the Fates are making us. This pack has a pretty shitty history with their so-called fated mates.” Stella gritted her teeth to stop herself from saying more. She didn’t have to explain herself to anyone but Jasper and the moon.

  “Humph,” Ruby said, continuing to stir.

  Everyone knew about Jasper’s mother, abused and abandoned, living feral in the mountains. And Mrs. Dixon, who’d just given up on her own husband to join her. Stella’s mother, too, who had died before her thirtieth birthday, had been miserable with her fated mate, Stella’s father.

  “Unhappy matches from Fever Night are more common than happy ones here in Redfern,” Stella said. “Forgive me for not trusting the Fates on their track record for romantic bliss.”

  Ruby dropped the spoon and brought her hand to her forehead in a C shape. It was a good-luck gesture, one Stella thought was superstitious—an appeal to the power of the moon. “Your father would be horrified to hear you blaspheme like that.”

  Stella took a large, noisy bite of the apple. She hadn’t eaten lunch and was hungry. Someday she’d have a kitchen that didn’t contain a woman who hated her so she could eat what and when she wanted without having conversations that made her queasy.

  She took another bite, trying to look cool and calm by eating, even though her sharp teeth were anticipating a fight for her life. It took effort to swallow.

  “Do you think I’m wrong?” Stella demanded. “You think Jasper’s mom enjoyed her time being married to the alpha? Don’t tell me they were a loving couple at home, because everyone in the pack saw the way he treated her, how miserable she was.”

  “Of course they were unhappy. Your family saw to that.”

  An undeniable shame made Stella flush. Jasper had told her that her father had raped his mother and had never been held accountable. “Whatever my father did, and I have to believe it was as horrible as Jasper says, it didn’t create the problems between them.”

  “I’m talking about the actions of your family before your father. Before your father’s father.” Ruby slammed a lid over the pot, walked around the counter, and bore down on Stella, her pale blue eyes flashing. “The Nightrocks have been a cancer on Redfern for generations. Their bad luck spread throughout the entire town. I saw it happen.”

  Dropping the apple, Stella lifted her hands in a defensive stance, letting the claws extend past her fingertips. “That’s a lie.”

  “You’re too young to know what I’m talking about,” Ruby said, scoff
ing. After a pause, she sighed and took a step back. “Everyone but me is too young to know what I’m talking about. I can’t expect you to know.” She sighed again and leaned against the counter, pressing her fingers into her temple.

  Stella was thinking furiously. Her father had never talked about his past, leading her to assume he’d come to Redfern as an adult. Many wolf shifters in a new pack wouldn’t talk about their personal history to avoid conflict with the alpha. A subtle hint that your previous pack was better in any way might lead to you being rejected as a member and driven out of town.

  “You’re talking about ancient history, but I’m talking about right now,” Stella said, fighting away her curiosity. “The living are responsible for their own actions.”

  “This so-called ancient history, which, by the way, I experienced myself, explains everything that’s going on today.” Ruby crossed her arms over her chest. “You and the damn herbs, what Jasper did to you on Fever Night, even the killings last week of the older generation.”

  Chapter

  Three

  Stella flung her hands up, fed up with Ruby’s games. “What are you talking about? What explains everything? You think my family has the only bad guys in Redfern?” Stella thought of Old Sutton, who’d enjoyed torturing smaller animals to death—and how she’d rescued them. Somehow, even though she’d done more than anyone in town to be a good person, it was all her fault?

  Talk about blaming the victim.

  Frowning with arms crossed, Ruby said nothing. Stella was suddenly aware of a burning smell and glanced at the stove. The lid on the pot was rattling, dislodged by the contents boiling over.