Shifters Forever Worlds Mega Box: Volume 1

by Thorne, Elle

  Spent and breathless, he pulled her up and sat on the rock, taking her in his lap, kissing her lips with tenderness.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “About your dreams. Can you share them with me now?” Rafe tilted her head and placed his lips against the tiger on the back of her neck. The tattoo was warm against his lips. He thought of the way it had glowed for him.

  “It’s hard to talk about because of the ridicule I’ve gotten. I quit talking about it. The only ones who remember it are my parents, and they don’t seem to let it go.”

  “It’s me. You can tell me anything.” He kissed the tattoo then let his tongue follow the trail down her spine, tasting the delicious flavor of her sweat and the passion they’d shared.

  “That’s not it. It’s just difficult to break a habit.” She turned her head, and their lips met. She kissed him, her tongue entering his mouth slowly, as if with trepidation, exploring and learning.

  He let her search for whatever she was looking for, knowing that what she wanted was only symbolized in this kiss. Jax pulled away and rose. She walked the cave from one end to the other, pacing in loose circles. Her body was tinged rosy from their passion.

  Rafe marveled at the curve of her breasts, the rosy nipples that were peaked and ready for him. He bit his lip to keep from reaching out and taking her in his arms and claiming her again. The line from her hip to her waist beckoned for him to hold her while he made love to her.

  He loved the lush curve of her ass as it flared from her waist and merged with her thighs. He wanted to lick that crease, then let his tongue trail between her legs.

  He groaned, holding back his passion.

  She turned toward him, her face resolute.

  “The dreams began the same time you drew that.” She shook her head in wonder. “It was the Christmas holidays. A dozen years ago. I was thirteen.”

  She sucked a deep breath in and put her hands on her hips—his favorite stance, the stance she’d adopted in the café when she’d approached him to help.

  “I dreamed of the tiger every night. I’ve never stopped dreaming of him. I can’t sleep well until he joins me in my dreams, watching over me.”

  A tear made its way down her cheek. He hadn’t even known she was ready to cry.

  She was such an amazing warrior woman.

  He wanted to get up, hug her, and wipe the tear away, but he didn’t want to interrupt her.

  “I began to sketch then. I sketched then painted him. I filled books with images of him. One of those images is now on me. I have his image forever with me, even if I don’t have my books.”

  “Where are the books?”

  “I was going to burn them. I was tired of being an object of ridicule every time someone saw them…”

  Rafe exhaled his anger. His tiger snarled at her pain.

  “I didn’t, though. I found a place and hid them, and they’ve been hidden there ever since. I check on them whenever I’m in town.”

  “Why don’t you have them now?”

  “I wanted them to be safe.”

  “Where are they?”

  “There’s an old church in Baton Rouge. I put them under a loose floorboard in the library. I used to go there to read and have some alone time.”

  “Baton Rouge, Louisiana.” Rafe scratched his jaw, thinking. “How far is that from New Orleans?”

  “About an hour and a half. Why?”

  “I have cousins, distant cousins in New Orleans.” He thought of Lézare and his sisters. “We should visit them and make a run to Baton Rouge. It’s time for you to not be separated from your tiger, in any way at all.”

  “That’s my secret. My family thought I was obsessed. They took me to a counselor. He encouraged my drawing, said it would let me get it out of my system. He was very wrong. But it was good for me.”

  “Tell me about the psychic.”

  “I was nineteen. One of my friends had grown up in the backwoods swampy areas. She said her great-aunt could see things. Things that others couldn’t. We went out there.” A shudder washed over her.

  Rafe rose to his feet and put his arms around her.

  “It was night and scary. All I could think of as we went there in this rickety old aluminum boat was that I was going to be some alligator’s dinner.”

  He pressed his lips to her forehead, right at the hairline where the tiniest hairs tickled his lips. “What did she tell you?”

  Jax let herself lean into his embrace. His nude body was warm and comforting against hers. It was—

  She gasped.

  Rafe pulled back, his eyes studying her face. “What’s wrong?”

  “This.” She hesitated. “Wait. No. I don’t mean this is wrong. I mean this…this feeling that just went through me.” She shook her head. It was so surreal. “I just had the same feeling that I have whenever I’m dreaming of my tiger, of the way he’s wrapped around me, surrounding me, protecting me, keeping me warm.”

  “What did the psychic say?” Emotion charged his voice, but she couldn’t say what it was.

  “She put herself in a trance. Her eyes got really glassy, and she said my life would be tied to a white tiger. Forever. Then she said something else, but I wasn’t sure exactly what. She wouldn’t keep talking, though. She was done, and she came out of the trance. Wouldn’t talk anymore.”

  Rafe was still, looking off in the distance, except there was no distance because they were in the cave.

  “Rafe?”

  An amber light flared in the back of his dark eyes.

  “Yeah?” His voice was husky, almost gravelly. He sounded so different from his normal self.

  She wanted to get worried, but there was something very familiar about him right now. “What’s going on?”

  “Thank you for sharing your secret with me.”

  “What about yours?”

  “Do you trust me?”

  What an odd question for him to ask. She wondered if it would sound crazy if she told him she trusted him completely. “I do trust you.”

  “You won’t hate me?”

  She tried to think of the worst thing he could tell her, something that would make her reject having him in her life in any capacity at all.

  Jesus. Is he a mass murderer?

  * * *

  Rafe had no choice. He had to show her who he was and risk losing her. Surely, if she saw who he was, she’d understand the dreams. She’d understand what the psychic had said, the special bond, and the current that flowed between them. Would she be able to accept a shifter?

  “Promise you won’t be afraid.” He took her hand and led her to the rock.

  She sat, put her elbows on her knees, her chin on her hands.

  Rafe took a deep breath.

  It’s all or nothing.

  His tiger snarled.

  This could be it. He could lose her. He tried to imagine what it would be like if she wasn’t in his life to add spice, laughter, even a little bit of frustration.

  And a whole lot of passion.

  His tiger roared.

  I don’t want her to see my face go through the change.

  The change was uncomfortable. He knew his face would show some of the pain of shifting into his tiger.

  He turned away from her and faced the wall.

  I don’t want her to be scared.

  What if she was afraid of his tiger? Was that possible? After everything she knew and what she’d said? What if it all vanished when she saw the tiger he could become? A massive white tiger with huge canines and paws that could kill a man with one bite, one swipe?

  “Rafe?”

  Her arms were warm on his back, snaking around to the front of him, wrapping around his abs. He held his breath.

  “Do you trust me?” Her breath traveled over his back.

  The same thing he’d asked her. He could give her no less.

  “I don’t think you want to be so close to me. Not this first time.”

  “You would never hurt me.” Her voice was firm. �
��I’m staying right here until…”

  Rafe’s tiger took over, not giving Rafe a chance to stop the change.

  With Jax holding on to his back, his body transformed, morphing, changing, and growing. Within seconds, and with very little sound save a slight creak and a crunch, his tiger was in his skin.

  Rafe paused. He didn’t want to see the horror on her face. He didn’t want to deal with the rejection, but his tiger had more faith than he did, for he turned to face Jax.

  Her arms hung by her sides. Her eyes were wide. Her pulse had risen but didn’t indicate fear; it was something else.

  Tears flowed down her cheeks. She cupped his face, burying her fingers in his fur, her eyes locked on his. She wrapped her arms around his thick neck. “You’re real.”

  He shifted back. When he was human again, he said, “I am. You’re not afraid? You’re okay with this?”

  “I feel like you’ve always been a part of me.”

  “You’re not freaked out? Not in the least?”

  He was confused. He’d have been running out of the cave in fear. That’s what non-believers did.

  “I’ve always known something would have to happen. I’ve known it deep in the very essence of who I am. I just had to wait for my white tiger to arrive.” She put her head in her hands. “I sound crazy. I can’t even explain it. It’s a relief, not a surprise.”

  “My tiger knew the minute he saw you.”

  “Knew what?”

  “That you were destined to be mine.”

  “What about your father? My parents? Your family? How does this work?” She did a double take. “The rest of your family? They’re…like you?”

  “Yes, they are. And when we take a mate who’s human, we couple bond.”

  He explained to her couple bonding would mark them as mates for life, and things would change for her. She wouldn’t be a shifter, but she’d be different. She’d have better senses, and she wouldn’t have the same short life span.

  “Are you saying…?” She paused. “Is that what you want for us?” Her eyes searched his for an answer.

  “Do you think we are any less than that?”

  “No. But it’s scary.”

  “Scary?” He pulled her tighter against him. “I don’t think it’s scary. I think it’s powerful. Where’s the woman who demanded I help her?”

  “She’s just a girl who dreamed of a white tiger every night.”

  “She’s so much more.”

  “So, this couple bonding thing. When do we do that?”

  “We’ll know when the time is right. I need to be sure you’re on board.”

  “Oh, I’m on board, alright.”

  “It’s a forever thing, Jax.”

  “This is a forever thing, Rafe.”

  His phone rang, bringing them back to reality.

  “I’m not answering it.” He looked away from the phone sitting on the rock.

  “What if it’s important?”

  “You’re right.”

  The phone stopped ringing. He glanced at it.

  “Let’s go back to the house.”

  “Is everything okay?”

  “It’s the house line.” He pulled his pants on then picked up her clothing.

  “But what if…what if anyone’s there? They’ll see my clothes. They’ll know.”

  “You’re my mate. It’ll be official when we make it so. Let them think what they will. I run Tiero Europe.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  There was something very different about Rafe. The moment he said he ran Tiero Europe, Jax picked up on it. Was it the nature of their relationship?

  She slipped her clothing on, and he put his hands on his knees.

  “Your chariot awaits, my lady.”

  With a laugh, she hopped onto his back. He made the trek back to the house with more haste and greater purpose than he had made the trek to the cave.

  They passed the gazebo, and Rafe set her down on the paved patio around the pool.

  “Is it that unusual to get calls from the house line?” she asked him. “What do you think it is?”

  “No clue. Yeah, pretty unusual, because we all have cells.”

  He opened the French door for her and picked a pine needle out of her hair as she passed him. He smiled. “Next time we can take a blanket out there.”

  The living area was empty. They moved toward the kitchen.

  Kitchen. Damn, she was hungry. As if responding to her thought, her stomach grumbled.

  “We’ll need some food, won’t we?”

  “No rush.” She was more curious about this phone call business.

  Rafe pushed aside the double doors that opened to a kitchen that would be able to feed an army.

  “Gio.” Rafe greeted a man who barely looked old enough to be his father.

  That must be the shifter aging thing in action. The man wore a suit that was clearly custom-made and a perfect fit. His hair was immaculate, not a single strand out of place. More darkly olive-skinned than Rafe, he had a slight touch of gray at the temples, but he was every bit as fit and muscled as Rafe.

  “Raphael.” Gio had an accent, definitely Italian.

  Jax was no expert on Italian, but she’d picked up enough during her time here in Italy to understand when Gio told Rafe that he wanted to talk to him in private. She didn’t react or show any emotions, though his tone clearly indicated an insult.

  Rafe responded in English to his father. “Let’s go to the living room.” He kissed Jax on the cheek. “I’ll be right back.”

  She heard it all. She didn’t want to, but she heard every bit of their argument. Some of it was in Italian and it was spoken far faster than she could understand, but she got the gist of it. It involved the family fortune. Maybe Gio was threatening to take it away from Rafe? She heard Gio say something about her not being their kind, and Callie not being their kind.

  She wasn’t welcome. Bottom line.

  Next to the sink was a windowed door leading out to a garden. She didn’t want to hear any more of this, so she slipped outside.

  Herbs grew in pots and troughs under the window. A bench in the corner beckoned to her, and tears began to cloud her vision before she managed to sit. She put her heels on the bench and pulled her legs up under her chin, tucking herself into as small a package as she could.

  Time passed quickly, and, eventually, her tears dried. She knew what she had to do. She had to leave Rafe. She couldn’t destroy his life.

  She flinched when the door opened then closed. She drew in a deep breath, hoping to steady herself for the task of telling Rafe she couldn’t be with him. She turned to look at him.

  It wasn’t Rafe.

  “Hi.” Callie rubbed her back, her belly pressing outward even more.

  “Hi.”

  “Rafe’s looking for you. He took his car and headed toward your apartment. He figured you’d left.”

  “He knows me too well. I’m planning to.”

  “You can’t.” Callie put her hand on Jax’s shoulder for support and eased herself onto the bench.

  “Why’s that?”

  “You can’t leave me alone like this. Me, just me, and no one else but all these shifters.” Callie laughed.

  “I think you’re pretty good at holding your own.” Jax forced a smile to her face even though her heart was breaking at the idea of a life without Rafe.

  When did he start meaning so much to me?

  He always had, she realized. And then she’d met him and things had become… It was like she had a new lease on life, that she’d become a new Jax.

  “You can’t leave Rafe.” Callie mirrored Jax’s thoughts. “He needs you. You’re the other half of him.”

  Jax gave her a sideways glance. “How do you know?”

  “I heard him tell his father to go to hell, that you were his mate. Gio stormed out, and Rafe couldn’t find you. He thought you might have gone back to your apartment. Jeez.” Callie started to wriggle. “Help me get up. I need to tell Vax t
o call Rafe. He’s probably going out of his mind, unable to find you.”

  Jax stood and gave Callie a hand.

  “Rafe told Gio he hoped he was happy now, because he was losing both sons and was going to be a lonely old man with no family around.”

  “Ouch.” Jax felt sorry for Rafe’s father. She went inside with Callie.

  Callie told Vax to call Rafe then took Jax by the hand. “Let’s go have some girl talk.”

  They sat in the spacious living room where the wood floor gleamed beneath furniture upholstered in expensive fabrics.

  Jax sighed. “It’s like I’ve never known anyone else but him.”

  “When I first met Vax, I thought he was this gorgeous, completely out of my league, amazing guy. I couldn’t talk to him. He was the boss.”

  Callie rubbed her belly, a slight groan giving away the discomfort the baby was causing her. Then she continued, “But I became really close to his tiger because I met him in Sanctuary. That’s a habitat the Tieros have set up in Tiero Towers. I’d sneak in every night I could and visit with this giant white tiger. He was like my best friend. No, he was my best friend. And it was Vax all along. The man I was attracted to, the man I wanted, was also my best friend, but in tiger form.”

  “That’s beautiful,” Jax said.

  “That’s what you and Rafe are.” Callie put her hand on Jax’s. “You can’t leave him. You can’t thrive, either of you. You can’t make it without the other one, not now that you both know what you are to each other.”

  “How do you deal with Gio?”

  “Gio is Gio’s problem.” Callie shrugged. “He isn’t a part of my relationship with Vax. He doesn’t want to be a part of our lives.”

  “Maybe one day?” Jax had to have hope.

  “I haven’t given up hope,” Callie told her. “And if Mae ever gets her hands on him, she’ll make him see the light. We’re going to ask her to be godmother to the baby. And Doc and Rafe to be the godfathers. That would include you, if you’ll join our family.”

  “Mae? Doc?” Jax had no idea who they were.

  “You’ll meet them sometime, I’m sure. When you visit us in Dallas.”