Copyright @ 2021 by Aria Winter & Jade Waltz
Ella and Her Shifters. All rights reserved under International and Pan American Copyright Conventions.
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No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the written permission of Aria Winter and Jade Waltz except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Published in the United States by Purple Fall Publishing. Purple Fall Publishing and the Purple Fall Publishing Logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Purple Fall Publishing LLC.
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data
Names: Winter, Aria, author. | Waltz, Jade, author.
Title: Ella And Her Shifters : A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance / Aria Winter & Jade Waltz.
Series: Once Upon a Shifter
Description: Purple Fall Publishing, 2021.
Identifiers: ISBN:
978-1-64253-004-9 (pbk.)
978-1-64253-512-9 (ebook)
978-1-64253-004-9 (audiobook)
Subjects: LCSH Shapeshifting--Fiction. | Magic--Fiction. | Man-woman relationships--Fiction. | Love stories. | Paranormal fiction. | Paranormal romance stories. | Science fiction. | BISAC FICTION / Romance / Paranormal | FICTION / Romance / Science Fiction
Classification: PS3623 .I6675 E45 2021 | DDC 813.6--dc23
Cover Design by Samantha Rose at Rose Cover Designs
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Dedication
To my husband: Thank you for all your love and support. You are not just my husband, you are my best friend and my rock. I love you more than anything.
-Aria Winter
To My Husband,
Thank you for being my support and rock during this writing journey. I love you!
-Jade Waltz
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Epilogue
Chapter 1
Ella
Shifters are myths—the villains of every cautionary tale told to children. But not according to my father. He used to claim he knew them, and they were real. He convinced me he could speak to them in their animal forms.
We used to picnic in the forest, and he would pretend to talk to birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits. I was completely captivated by the tales he’d weave as he supposedly communed with them. I suppose that’s why the forest sitting on the estate has always been a place of wonder and magic for me—a forbidden sanctuary I was no longer allowed to wander.
Once, I even imagined I saw a fox shift into a human, but in a blink of an eye, they were gone.
Now that I am older, I realize that was simply the product of an overactive imagination because I believed in my father’s wild stories of mythical creatures and the humans that had befriended them.
He told me that on my eighteenth birthday, I’d inherit the gift that’s passed down through our bloodline and that I’d be able to speak with them too. It’s been several years since my father passed, leaving me with my stepmother and her two daughters: Mary and Beth. They would think me foolish for coming here today, but they don’t understand the pain of loss like I do.
I suppose I should thank them, however. With all the hard labor they’ve forced me to do over the years, I’ve had very little time to lose myself to my grief. It’s only on days like today where it is especially painful and reminds me that I was born into this world to people who loved me. The only ones who cared, but are now gone.
As I make my way down the overgrown path, following it to the clearing where we used to have our picnics, I do not expect to be able to magically communicate with animals just because today is my eighteenth birthday. No. I come here today simply to honor and remember my father, knowing that if he were alive now, he would probably insist upon us coming here too.
I wore my finest dress. The one made of pale blue fabric that matches my eyes and a golden sash to compliment my light blond hair.
As I pass beneath the great trees of the forest, I speculate that they have been here hundreds of years from their sheer size. Branches thick with leaves weave together overhead, creating a dense canopy that blocks most of the light from the sun.
Some would think it is romantic, being able to hide from the world with their significant other. Perhaps even taking the time to carve their initials in one of the nearby tree trunks. I often wonder how it feels to be in such a relationship like I’ve read in books, to have someone love you so much that they are willing to do anything to make you happy.
But that isn’t my life, nor do I have time to daydream of such things, not when my time is filled doing chores.
Despite the canopy’s near darkness, I am not scared, unlike my stepsisters who fear going even near the forest line. In a way, I feel safe, knowing that they won’t follow me here.
Smiling brightly, I watch the wildlife as they continue with their daily routine as I press on, knowing the clearing is just up ahead.
Although it has been several years, it is precisely as I remember. The wild grass that blankets the ground is spongy beneath my feet from the almost constant rains we’ve had over the past several days. Small, purple flowers dot the landscape. Their sweet fragrance drifting on the cool breeze as
