Shifters Forever Worlds Mega Box- Volume 3

by Elle Thorne

  And the girls were almost always under his feet.

  Why didn’t they trust anyone but him? Why did they follow him when he left the room, if only to get more butter or syrup for their pancakes?

  What hold did he have on them?

  She got that he could have a hold on women. He was just that type. The kind of guy you let your guard down with, and fell in love with, quickly. Not that she would. Ever.

  No, Camden had learned how to be around men at the heels of Circe. She didn’t need a man, just like Circe hadn’t.

  The midafternoon sunshine was making her lazy—scratch that, it was making her sleepy.

  Camden stretched, and put the book down, glancing at Eden. In the matching wing chair in Camden’s room, Eden’s eyes were closed, clearly napping.

  Maybe some caffeine would help. She set the book down slowly and rose with stealth from her chair. Slipping out of the room and down the stairs, she made her way to the kitchen.

  And damned near had a heart attack.

  “Tyler!” she hissed his name out, her hands outstretched against his chest.

  She’d practically ran into that wall of man chest—correction, sexy, hard, muscled man chest.

  Cam let a breath out. There was no denying her panther was attracted to his bear. But by damn, did she have to be attracted, too?

  Down, girl, she cautioned her panther.

  In return, her panther snarled her disagreement.

  “Sorry. I didn’t expect anyone else to be roaming around. Figured you two were napping.”

  “I almost did, decided to come get a caffeine fix,” she smiled sheepishly, almost feeling guilty for poking around his house, though she wasn’t even really poking. Not that she wasn’t curious.

  She was overwhelmingly curious about his life, his home, his habits, his work, any women that might be lurking.

  Safe to say, Camden was curious about anything and everything that pertained to Tyler O’Reardon, and it wasn’t all strictly professional.

  “I was going to make one for myself, but figured I wouldn’t be able to finish half a pot, and making a cup at a time—” He shrugged, his dark eyes twinkling. “Well, that just seems wrong. Come on.” He inclined his head and stepped aside to let her precede him in the kitchen.

  With the aroma of fresh coffee brewing in the air, Camden leaned against the counter, suddenly feeling like a middle schooler at her first school dance, waiting—no, more like hoping—that the cute guy she had a crush on would talk to her.

  No sooner had that thought crossed Camden’s mind, she became instantly angry with herself for being such a typical girl. What was worse? Being typical or being a grown-ass woman behaving like a girl.

  She fought to keep the scowl at her own behavior from showing.

  She and Tyler had not been alone together, not once, since she’d agreed to stay. Hell, they’d never been in the same room without the girls being with them.

  He cleared his throat.

  “I wanted to thank you.”

  She nodded, waited.

  “For staying and helping with the girls.”

  “It’s what we do.” She wondered if she should push on, then decided: what the hell, why not? “But you see—” She picked up her empty mug, dropped a teaspoon of sugar, then another, and added a healthy pour of milk. Yeah, she was stalling. She added a little more milk, eyeballed the amount, wondered if it would be enough when coffee was added. “—there’s so much more to what we do.”

  Tyler frowned. “Like?”

  “Like we need to talk to their elementals. Find out why they’re having their…” she paused, searching for the right word, then opted for the one he seemed to like, “tantrums.”

  He nodded. “So, how do you talk to their elementals? What’s that all about? I’ve got zero experience in this.” He pulled the coffee carafe off the brewer and poured until her cup was full, then poured one for himself.

  She studied his profile while he returned the carafe to the burner. He was incredibly handsome. But beyond that, there was something in the set of his jaw, the way he carried himself. It was as if honor was ingrained in him, as if pride was a part of his very soul.

  She pulled herself away from her thoughts about him and returned to the topic at hand. “It’s not ever the same, exactly, but for the most part, it involves the girls letting their elementals out enough to talk,” she exclaimed.

  He shook his head. “Yeah, I don’t even understand what you mean. Do their spirits come out? Are they even spirits? Will the girls be in danger?” His brows drew down into a concerned frown.

  “Elementals are more or less like spirits.” She absently stirred her coffee, the tiny tinkling sound of the spoon against the ceramic was like a comforting wind chime. “They’re housed in us, but are their own beings. They have their own voices, they don’t even sound like us, and they usually can’t just make a random appearance without our allowing it.”

  “Usually.” He scratched at his jaw, his gaze focused on the mountains in the near distance.

  “Yes. There are no definites when it comes to elementals. And it’s not like it’s an exact science.” She shrugged. “I wish I could give you more assurances…”

  “No, I get it. I do. But I must protect Tessa and Trista, yanno?”

  “I know.” She blew on her coffee, the steam pushing away from her face. “We aren’t here to hurt the girls. Please understand that. We’re here to help. But sometimes, in the process of helping, things can go…” She sighed. “…things can go off.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Things can go off.

  Tyler didn’t like the sound of that phrase. Didn’t like it at all. In fact, the understatement of it pissed him off. He was so angry, he wanted to explode. Hell, his bear wanted to erupt into a rage just as much as he did. “Let’s take a walk. Down to the creek.”

  He reached into the pantry and pulled out two travel mugs, and without waiting for her okay, he dumped his into one, hers into another and secured the caps.

  “Ready?” He smiled and tried to act nonchalant, though his concern for the girls was making his fury rise.

  Things can go off.

  Those were her precise words, and since he knew the power of elementals, and he knew they could be lethal to shifters, which would mean that Tessa and Trista would be in danger…

  He gripped the mug with enough pressure to make the metal protest beneath his fingers.

  She looked confused, and probably understandably so, but said, “Sure,” and grabbed her jacket from near the door.

  The air wasn’t chilled. And he didn’t plan to keep her out when the night’s cool temperatures hit. “Don’t think you’ll need your jacket.”

  She gave him a patient smile. “My elemental is ice.”

  “I remember.” But he was still confused.

  “I get cold easily.”

  That explained it. But now he had a question. “So, Eden’s is fire, and does that mean the same for her?”

  “Yes, Piria—her elemental, gets warm easily.”

  He laughed. “That must have been hell growing up in the same household. What with one of you being warm, the other one cold. Who got final say with the thermostat?”

  “I carry a jacket. Seems easier that way.”

  “Clarify, elementals have names? And hers is called Piria? That’s her name? And yours, does yours have a name?”

  Her lips curved into a smile. “Avala is my elemental’s name.”

  He found himself staring at those lips. For the last week, he’d behaved. In fact, he’d have to admit that he and his bear had both behaved. He’d kept his distance from Camden, made sure he was never alone around her.

  Until now.

  Yeah, he reminded his conscience, but he didn’t orchestrate being alone with her. He wasn’t responsible for her coming to the kitchen.

  His bear reminded him that it wasn’t something he should have avoided anyway. Yeah, his bear kept insisting that Camden was the one for
them. That her panther was his fated mate. But Tyler wanted to be sure. It wasn’t enough that the bear felt it. It wasn’t enough that Tyler himself was attracted to her—okay, greatly attracted to her, he had to be sure that not having her in his life meant it wasn’t worth living.

  He pushed those thoughts aside, hoping that her panther wasn’t intuitive enough to pick up his emotions, and not just the increased heartrate he had when she was around.

  She leaned over to pick up a fallen twig, then sat on a log and traced patterns in the dirt.

  “So, have you seen Avala? Has Eden seen Piria?”

  Glancing up at him, she shook her head. “No one can see their elemental unless they go to their elemental’s world.”

  What the—what? “You lost me,” he confessed.

  “Our elementals live within us, we are hosts to them—”

  He interrupted her before he lost his train of thought. “Willing or unwilling?”

  She laughed and went back to tracing.

  He frowned. Was that an answer?

  “Unknowing.”

  He did a double take. That wasn’t Camden’s voice, but she was looking up at him. She blinked, slowly, almost lazily, and when her eyes opened, a deep blue color suffused their depths.

  He stared at her. Even her expression changed. Then it hit him. “You’re not Camden.”

  Camden nodded, and that same voice that had just spoken said, “True.”

  His bear roared in Tyler’s brain. Tyler tried to calm his inner beast while he processed this change.

  “You’re…” He struggled. What was that name? Then he remembered. “You’re Avala.”

  “I am.”

  Holy hell. If anyone had told him of this, he’d have never believed it was possible. Then again, if anyone who’d never been a shifter was told of shifters, they’d not believe it either. What did he say now? Nice to meet you? That didn’t feel right.

  “So, can you hear the same things Camden hears? Can she hear us now?”

  “Of course. I don’t lock her in a padded room when I take over.”

  “What did you mean by unknowing? How can the host be unknowing?”

  “They can’t be willing or unwilling because we don’t ask permission before we enter.”

  He took a seat on the log next to her and studied the patterns in the dirt. They didn’t seem random. “Do those mean anything? What are they?” He pointed to her etching.

  “It’s my language. A language long forgotten, long unused, and not recognized today.”

  Shit, there was a lot to process, and every answer she provided spawned a dozen more questions. “So if you don’t ask for permission, then what happens when you enter?” He studied the drawings in the dirt, wondering if Camden knew how to read them. If they worked together, what it was like having an elemental—another being—living within.

  “Depends.”

  Great. He looked up and locked gazes with her.

  “So how does her panther feel about you? How do you feel about her panther?”

  “I tolerate the beast.” Avala’s tone was haughty.

  Tyler’s bear roared at the disdain in her voice.

  Tyler studied the trees so she couldn’t read the expression in his eyes. It must suck to have a being inside you that hates the other half of you. But he couldn’t give voice to the words that might cause injury to be spoken. He didn’t want to burn his bridges with Avala. Not yet.

  Maybe not ever, a part of him whispered, and he knew it was true.

  He’d been falling for Camden. Hard. And fast. The feelings had started the first time he saw her. There was something about her, as if something deep within her reached into his heart and soul and wrapped them up tightly. Snagged his bear at the same time, she captured his heart and soul.

  “How does her panther feel about you?” He stayed on topic, but kept his tone light.

  Her brow rose. “I don’t care what an animal feels about me.”

  “You know that our shifter halves are a part of us, don’t you? You can’t have one without the other.”

  Camden cocked her head, as if considering his statement. Her eyes flickered, amber, gold, blue and dark brown merging, ebbing and flowing.

  Was she considering his comment? Or was she having a conversation deep within?

  “I realize if the shifter part dies, the human dies.”

  His brows knit together. “It’s more than that. If the human side of us is dying, the shifter half can save us.”

  “Yes, I’m aware of hibernation healing.”

  “How can you sound so cold and detached from a part of you?”

  She rose to her feet, began to pace the small area, creating a circle of a path in front of the log. Finally, she paused before him. “I’m not cold.”

  “You sure seem pretty indifferent to Camden and her shifter animal.” That was putting it mildly. He wanted to say that it didn’t seem like she gave a damn if Camden’s panther died.

  “I have a relationship with Camden. Not with her panther.”

  He heaved a large exhale, frustration getting the best of him. “You don’t have a clue, Avala. You don’t get the relationship between Camden and her panther.”

  “This is the first time I’ve been in a host that had a shifter animal,” she said, her voice changing, no longer arrogant.

  Was she jealous? Was it difficult to accept being a third instead of a half? Damn. Could he even ask her these questions? Should he even push her any more than he already had?

  “You travel from one body to another? Right?”

  She nodded.

  “How many—” He had no idea how to phrase it. He didn’t want to call them bodies. Might as well go for blunt. “How many hosts have you been in?”

  She shrugged, a small gesture, not so much one that said she didn’t know as one that seemed to indicate she didn’t want to say. “Too many.”

  “You leave one when it dies?”

  “Dies. Dying.” Another small shrug.

  Seems she wasn’t going to expand on the process. “Do you ever get attached to your host?”

  “Of course.” A tiny smile played on her lips, as though remembering a fond memory, then vanished. “And sometimes, we are in a host we don’t particularly care for.”

  “Like when? And what do you do when that happens? Has it happened to you?”

  She laughed.

  Her laughter didn’t even sound like Camden’s. Eerie. “Cleopatra.”

  Tyler tipped his head to the side, confused. “Cleopatra, what?”

  “She should not have had Arsinoë killed.”

  “I’m lost.”

  Her eyes alit with passion, Avala explained. “Cleopatra’s sister, half-sister, to be precise. Cleopatra whispered to Marcus Antonius—your history books refer to him as Marc Antony—that Arsinoë was to be killed. Paranoid woman that she was, Cleopatra was threatened by Arsinoë. And so, the deed was done. Before I could do anything about it.”

  “What did you care what happened to Cleopatra’s sister?”

  Camden-Avala whirled on him. “Because my own sister was hosted by Arsinoë. And when Arsinoë was killed, there was no one about for my sister to travel to. No one for her to take as a host. Arsinoë died. And with that, my sister went with her.”

  Shit. Who’d have thought? “I’m sorry.” He processed, then asked to verify. “So, you were in Cleopatra?”

  She nodded. “And so, I exacted my revenge,” Avala spat the words out through the bitter line of Camden’s lips.

  “Her suicide?” Tyler asked.

  “Indeed.” Her smile was not one of joy, but one of satisfaction with revenge, even after all these centuries.

  “And your sister? You never saw her again?”

  “Never.”

  He knew a little about history. He knew that Cleopatra had committed suicide. Something about a snake—an asp—biting her. The idea that elementals could push their hosts to kill themselves… that bothered him. Could the elementals h
urt T ‘n T? Could they hurt Camden? He was beginning to hate elementals and was fighting hard to keep his pulse from giving him away.

  At the same time, it was easy to see things from Avala’s perspective. Cleopatra didn’t just kill her sister. She killed Avala’s sister at the same time. He’d come unglued if that shit happened to him and Sean.

  He studied the woman before him, and the woman within the woman before him.

  Avala was keeping her emotions veiled now, but deep within, Tyler could see Camden. See her soul. And for some reason he couldn’t explain, he found himself missing Camden fiercely.

  His bear snarled his agreement.

  “Mind if I talk to Camden again?”

  “Of course,” Avala said.

  Seconds later, Camden was at the forefront. It was clear to see that it was Camden—and only Camden—from the flickering hues in her eyes.

  “Unbelievable,” Camden whispered.

  Ty frowned. “What’s that?”

  “She has never—and I do mean, never, ever—spoken to anyone else. She barely discusses anything with me.” Camden shook her head, a quizzical, confused expression settling on her face. “She just doesn’t do that.”

  Tyler didn’t know what to say to that.

  Camden continued, “I didn’t even know about that… her sister, Cleopatra, any of it.”

  “Do you two talk?”

  “Rarely. And it’s usually me giving information, not her.”

  “How long has she been with you? In your body?”

  “Since birth as far as I know. Or at least, as long as I can remember. I don’t know of a time when Avala wasn’t a part of me.”

  From the near distance came the sound of their names being called. Eden was heading their way, a twin attached to each of her hands. Even from where she stood, it was clear that the twins had been crying.

  Chapter Twelve

  As they came close, both little girls ran toward Tyler’s waiting arms. He leaned down and gave them a hug.