Sealed With A Kiss (Virtue Shifters Book 3)

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  A Note from Zoe Chant

  Sneak Preview: Timber Wolf

  Landmarks

  Contents

  Start of Content

  Cover

  Sealed With A Kiss

  Copyright © 2021 by Zoe Chant

  All Rights Reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Artist: Ellen Million Graphics

  Sealed With A Kiss

  A Virtue Shifters Bite

  Zoe Chant

  CHAPTER ONE

  By state-wide standards, the Virtue town fair was a modest affair, but by Missy Clark's, it was just the right size.

  The fair rolled around every year in late August, just as the crops were coming in, and for a few days, the whole town quit what they were doing and came out to the fair. Missy had started helping her parents sell fried dough funnel cakes at the fair when she was eleven. When they had decided that the weeks of prep, the early mornings, and the late evenings were too much effort, she'd taken over the booth and kept going herself.

  She was running late this morning. Not very late, but late enough that things were already warming up properly, a real scorcher of a day anticipated. Late enough that she was sweating and ready to consider jumping into the dunk tank next to where her food booth was. Late enough that the earliest arrivals to the fair would probably have to wait a few minutes for the oil to finish heating before they could have their funnel cakes.

  Well, they could stand to wait a few minutes. It wasn't like a plate-sized chunk of fried dough counted as a well-balanced breakfast anyway, even if they put Missy's own homemade strawberry jam on it instead of chocolate syrup. Supplies bouncing along in a cart behind her, Missy hurried through the fairgrounds, avoiding hay bales and waving hello at people wrestling giant pumpkins into place for the vegetable competition.

  She was halfway across the fairgrounds from the farming competitions like that one, and from the quilters and the jam-makers whose wares she didn't even want to try competing with. Her food cart was between the dunking booth and the shooting range, and not far from the racing field where everything from bumper cars to egg tosses took place. She liked it, as a space: people were always hungry after they got dunked, and after they ran a bunch of silly races.

  Besides, her best friend Becky ran the dunking booth, which was an annual fundraiser for a seal sanctuary in the southern part of the state. Being close to each other meant they could chat back and forth to each other at the top of their lungs while things were busy, and take turns watching each other's booths during the quieter parts of the day. That way they each got to spend at least a little time seeing the fair itself in full swing. Those were Missy's favorite things about working near friends.

  She hurried around the last corner and came to a complete stop. The dunk tank was nearly ready, six feet of clear water with cameras on all sides to get pictures of people going in the drink. A bulls-eye target sat safely to one side, where it would be almost impossible to hit the guy on the seat, even with the worst throw in the world.

  And there was a guy on the seat right now, about six feet above the dunk tank, leaning on one of the seat's ropes and kicking his feet rather gleefully.

  Except he was not a guy, to slightly misquote Drax. This…was a man. A handsome, muscular man, with incredible shoulders and a long swimmer's build. His black hair fell around his face in shoulders in unkempt waves that should have looked messy and instead looked like she needed to sink her hands into them right now. He had a bit of a chin-scruff beard, and if he didn't look like a pirate and an angel had had a baby, it was only because he wasn't sporting an eyepatch.

  And every glorious inch of him was on display.

  Well. Almost every glorious inch. A pair of red Speedos did very little to hide the inches that weren't on display, but technically, he met the expectations of modern modesty.

  Despite that, Missy actually blushed, looking at him. He was almost unbearably handsome. He had a silver ring in one nipple, and a leather cord necklace with something or other as the pendant. His mouth was gorgeous, and he was laughing with Becky, who stood beside the tank in a swimsuit and shorts of her own.

  In fact, at a glance, Becky and The Man had a very personable relationship. Missy considered the possibility that Becky was not her best friend at all, because how very dare she be hiding a guy like that from Missy. If The Man and Becky were dating, Missy just flat-out didn't know what she'd do.

  Be happy for her friend, obviously, but also oooooh myyyyyy goooood soooo jealous because holy moly. Missy actually said that out loud, "Holy moly," and although she thought it had been pretty quiet, Becky looked her way, then waved frantically.

  "Missy! Hey! We're testing the dunk tank! You wanna give it a try?"

  The Man looked toward Missy, looked her up and down, and clearly came to a conclusion he liked. Missy bet that conclusion was 'oh, she's tiny, I'm in no danger,' and smiled as The Man said, "Please, be my guest."

  Missy made a quick show of looking at her phone to check the time, then said, "Sure, I can spare a minute," even though she was already late. Becky lobbed a softball at her, and Missy caught it easily.

  "Be gentle with me," The Man said with a sparkle in his eyes. "It's my first time."

  "Oh, sweetheart, that's too damn bad for you, because I promise, this is not my first rodeo." Missy wound up a pitch, and just before she let it go, said, "Or didn't Becky mention that I'm the all-star pitcher for the softball league?"

  The Man's eyes widened, and Missy's softball slammed into the center of the target with a reverberating clang!

  To her surprise and delight, he screamed like a little boy as he fell, and then to her astonishment, he turned into a seal when he hit the water.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Ryan O'Connell had never accidentally shapeshifted in his whole life. Not once. Not ever. Not since he was a baby, anyway, but there was a reason shifter parents kept their kids out of the public eye until they were two or three and able to understand that we don't do that in public.

  So he had no excuse. No excuse what-so-ever. No way to explain himself.

  No way except the fact that the most adorable woman he'd ever laid eyes on had an arm on her that could send a softball spinning through the air at seventy miles an hour.

  Ryan had about enough time to say something quippy, meet her eyes, and get…wet. Very, very wet. Water went everywhere, and there he was, a seal, staring at the perfect girl through the side of the glass tank.

  He got hold of himself immediately, of course. Shifted back so fast that the woman who'd dunked him did a hard double-take, like she wasn't sure she'd seen that.

  She had, though. He'd just exposed the whole town's secret to her, and he didn't even know her name.

  Well. Maybe he did. His cousin Becky had called he
r Missy, just before she dunked him. Missy of the most perfectly blue eyes he'd ever seen, and the softest, fullest, most kissable mouth he'd ever noticed, and magnificently muscular arms exposed by the pink tank top she wore, and a figure that clearly wasn't ever going to quit. Muscular thighs, snugged into her blue jean shorts. She wasn't tall, but she was perfectly proportioned. She was a delectable sight, the most compelling vision he'd ever laid eyes on.

  And none of that was enough to excuse shapeshifting in front of her.

  Finding your mate is, though, his seal said placidly. It's important for her to know right away. The seal was a very calm, if cheerful, personality, and it, unlike Ryan, was not at all bothered by having shifted in front of this gorgeous young woman.

  Mate? If Ryan's internal voice could squeak, it did.

  To be honest, finding his mate was the only thing that he could imagine that might excuse accidentally shifting in front of a stranger. But he hadn't come to Virtue to find a mate. In fact, from the way Becky talked about the town, he'd gotten the impression there were absolutely no potential romances to be found there at all, in fact. Which was fine, because he'd only wanted to go to a fair, and Becky had gotten him in for free on the promise that he'd do the dunk tank for three hours every morning.

  Ryan pulled himself out of the pool, shaking water off himself and nodding his thanks as Becky handed him a towel. Her eyes were bugged wide in horror. Becky, like Ryan, was a seal shifter, and she had clearly never mentioned that little secret to Missy-from-the-softball-team. He gave his cousin a cheesy grin and she grimaced back at him, gesturing at Missy like she expected him to explain things.

  Ryan steeled himself to look into those gorgeous eyes again, and turned to face the woman who'd dunked him. Who'd exposed him. Who was, if his absolute and sudden obsession was correct, his fated mate.

  He had to make a good first impression, if that was possible after turning into a seal in front of her. He could do this. He was Ryan, Becky's cousin. Or maybe he should say he was Becky's cousin Ryan. Something to establish a link to Becky, anyway. That might get him in Missy's good books.

  "Hi," he said, much too loudly. "Hi, Missy, I'm Becky, Ryan's cousin."

  Ryan's seal stopped being cheerful and mellow and said, Oh no instead. If a shifter animal could just swim away from its human in despair, his did. It sank down into his mind like it was too embarrassed to be associated with him, and Ryan wished he could follow it.

  Missy's big blue eyes were wide and she was—he thought—trying not to laugh at him. Maybe she was trying not to scream, since he'd turned into a seal in front of her.

  "That's not right," Ryan said weakly. "I mean, uh, I mean, I'm Ryan, Becky's cousin?"

  Missy said, "Uh huh," in a very high, very strong voice, and in that same high strong tone, said, "Becky? Sidebar, please?" and dragged his cousin away from the dunk tank entirely.

  Ryan, mortified, sank down on a chair beside the dunk tank, and put his head in his hands.

  CHAPTER THREE

  It was only about twenty steps to Missy's food both from the dunking booth. That was just about enough time for her to figure out what to say to Becky, whose entire body practically writhed with guilt once they were inside the booth and Missy could face her.

  "Becky?" Missy's voice still sounded too high to her, like she'd swallowed helium but also was trying to shout. "Becky, is there something you would like to tell me about all those state swimming records you set in high school? Or why you do a fundraiser specifically for the seal sanctuary every year?"

  Becky, who was red-haired, freckled, and cute as a button, blushed all the way from inside her swimsuit to the crown of her head.

  Missy yelled, "Oh my God!" and threw her hands in the air. "So I just saw that! I really just saw that! And you've known all along and you didn't tell me!"

  "It's hard to explain!" Becky protested in a squeak. "People don't just believe it!"

  "They do if you turn—" Missy dropped her voice all the way into a hissing whisper, suddenly suspecting she shouldn't shout about a shapeshifter in front of the whole world. Even if 'the whole world' was, at the moment, about fifteen people spread out over a quarter acre. "If you turn into a seal in front of them!" she hissed.

  "I'm sorry," Becky wailed. "I didn't know how you'd take it! I was afraid you'd freak out and be mad at me!"

  "Well—it's—he—why?!?" Missy pointed impotently toward The Man Who Was Also A Seal, out there by the dunk tank.

  Ryan. His name was Ryan. She remembered that now. She'd almost laughed, when he'd messed up his introduction. He'd been trying so hard, and he was so wet and cute and incredibly well-built. Water had been dribbling down the lines of his abdomen. She wondered how inappropriate it would be to go back and offer to lick them off.

  Very. Very inappropriate. She should not do that.

  She should definitely not do that.

  She really wanted to do that.

  "I don't know what that was about," Becky said incredulously. "I've never seen a shifter do that. It's obviously crazy dangerous to just go around shifting in front of strangers. Not that you're a stranger to me, but I…oooh."

  "Oooh? What's oooh?"

  "Nothing!" Becky sounded bright. "You better get your oil heating! The fair opens in twenty minutes!"

  "Oooh what, Becky? Becky! Oooh what? Ugh!" Missy stomped a foot, but Becky was gone, scurrying back across the distance between their booths to finish setting up for the day. Her gorgeous cousin stood up as she spoke to him, and cast a dismal glance toward Missy's booth.

  Either he hated her, or he was embarrassed he'd messed up telling her his name, or, most likely…

  Most likely he was terrified she would be some sort of tattle-tale who would expose the fact that he could turn into a seal. A very cute probably-fluffy-when-it-was-dry seal that Missy sort of wanted to hug, but a seal, for sure.

  Maybe she should go tell him she wouldn't expose his secret. Of course, Becky was probably telling him that right now. Which meant Missy didn't have any excuse to talk to him. All six feet of slim sleek swimmer-shaped handsomeness of him. He looked her way again, then said something to Becky that made her laugh and made him look even more dismal.

  Missy could think of at least five ways that she could cheer him up, right off the top of her head.

  None of them, however, had anything to do with getting the oil heated and the batter mixed and the jams and syrups ready or any of the other forty things she had to do in order to have the booth prepared for opening.

  She spent the next half hour trying to do everything at once and mostly succeeding. Probably if she hadn't kept looking mooningly toward the dunk tank she would have entirely succeeded, but Ryan The Seal Man was busy, too, and she couldn't even gaze longingly at him.

  Life, Missy decided, wasn't fair.

  Once the doors opened, though, she was genuinely too busy to moon over a gorgeous guy who couldn't even remember his own name. She dropped batter into hot oil, splattering both, and served up delicious hot fried dough as fast as she could. Friends and strangers both stopped to talk as they ordered their treats, catching her up on the gossip, and she hardly ever got the chance to look up and watch Ryan being dunked into the tank.

  He didn't ever turn into a seal again. Missy guessed that had been a pre-show special just for her.

  There was a lull during the first round of the vegetable judging. Missy, sweating, hung a 'back soon' sign in her window and staggered out to half-jokingly ask Becky if she could have a go in the dunk tank.

  "Only if I get to drop you in," Ryan said from right beside her all of a sudden.

  His grin was hopeful and disarming and she wanted to hug it. Or him. Or both. Or at least to say something cute and charming. Instead she said, "Oh, so you think you can out-throw me?"

  That was not cute or charming at all. She sounded like an aggressive linebacker. No one liked that. She didn't like that!

  Ryan, however, laughed. Somehow. Amazingly. And lifted his hands a
nd shook his head, which made his long damp hair fall over his shoulders in wonderfully appealing ways. "God, no," he said cheerfully. "No, I'd never even try. Becky was telling me that you'd been hoping to sign up for the mixed matches pitching contest this afternoon, though, but that you hadn't found a partner. Maybe you'd take me? I can make you look good. By being terrible," he added, like he thought maybe that needed to be clarified.

  Missy had never once even considered signing up for the pitching contest. Not even when there were singles contests going on. She'd always been too busy working the booth to even consider it.

  Despite that, she said, "Yes!" She sounded to herself like she'd spoken through a megaphone. "Yes, that would be swell! I would like that very much!"

  Scratch that. She sounded like a robot speaking through a megaphone. If Ryan actually agreed to this nonsense, it was probably because Becky had put him up to it.

  For someone who was being put up to it, though, his smile looked awfully genuine. "Great. That's amazing. That's great. I'd like that. Let's do it!"

  Missy, brightly, said, "Okay!"

  They stood there beaming at one another. Missy couldn't think of a single thing to say. He was so cute. He was so tall! He was so built.

  He was a seal.

  None of those things seemed like a good topic of conversation, especially with other people crowding past them.

  Other people! Crowding past them! The first wave of the vegetable judging was over! People would want fried food now! Missy, still feeling terribly mechanical and ridiculous and totally unable to talk to tall gorgeous shapeshifter Ryan, said, "Oh no! The crowds are back! I better get back to my booth!" and actually walked off like a robot, all stiff-legged and stiff-armed and ridiculous.

  Tall gorgeous shapeshifter Ryan laughed out loud as she walked away, and Missy knew in her soul of souls that he thought she was the biggest dork who had ever lived.

  CHAPTER FOUR