Not My Shifter/ Sinfully Cursed (Shifter Paradise) (Volume 1)

by Kate Allenton

  He rolled to his back and glanced up at the ceiling. “I’ve seen the signs. I get it now.”

  And the truth was he did. The light behind her face when he’d come back around from meeting with the king in his dreams. The light from the sun peeking through the curtains. There’d been several times he’d turned around to end up glinting through the light to find Parker’s smiling face.

  “You get what?” Parker grumbled as she turned out of his arms and snuggled with her pillow out of the sun’s wakening rays.

  He leaned over and kissed her. “That I’m going to be your last first date.”

  She rolled to face him, her eyes wide open as if doused with cold water. “Excuse me?”

  “Time will tell.” He swatted her butt. “But don’t worry. I’m still not ready to confess my undying love.” He slid out of the bed, and she lifted on her elbows.

  “Sex, no matter how great, is just sex. It isn’t love, Quinn.”

  He turned before entering the bathroom.

  Her gaze flew to his morning hard-on, and she licked her lips. He grinned. “I’m willing to wait and help you figure it out.”

  He winked before disappearing into the bathroom. He chuckled behind the closed door. He’d seen the panic on her face. He knew he was pushing his luck, but it was what it was. She was a smart fairy…she’d eventually figure it out.

  ****

  An hour later she stood next to Quinn outside the Crystal Ball. The walls around her heart were closing in, crushing her in an almost unbearable pain. The red closed sign dangled from the center of the door.

  Parker pulled out her phone and dialed her friend. Carrie picked up on the first ring. “I’m parking around back right now.”

  “How did you know?”

  “Quinn’s mother won’t shut up and go away. She’s been bugging me since midnight last night.”

  Parker turned her back to Quinn. “Sore subject, please don’t mention it.”

  Parker heard the car door shut and started walking around the building toward the back parking lot. Quinn followed at a slower pace.

  “Oh I know… I’m telling you, this woman is a pain in my ass. She’s got messages for both of you…”

  The last word trailed off as Carrie clicked the end button on her phone and waved. Carrie picked up a brown package that had been sitting on the doorstep. “I had plans today, plans that included I get a good night’s sleep last night… But nooooo, your mother kept me awake singing nursery rhymes until I agreed to help you two.”

  “My mother?” Quinn asked while both followed behind Carrie into the dark shop.

  Carrie turned off the alarm and flicked on the lights. “Your mother is a pain in the ass.”

  “And a liar,” Quinn grumbled.

  Carrie stopped in the hall and spun around. “She only wanted what’s best for you.” Carrie put her hand on her hip. “So cut the woman some slack. She left you the answers you needed. It’s not her fault you haven’t gotten them.”

  Carrie spun around and walked farther into the shop before she dropped the package and her purse on a nearby table. She flicked the rest of the lights on in the two-story building. “You’re looking for a book, am I right?”

  Parker set her car keys down on the same table. “A book about the past Fae kings, their ancestors and their descendants. Anything you’ve got on the subject.”

  Carrie nodded. She patted Quinn on the chest. “Romeo, let’s get you started upstairs where the older books are. There is a complete section on the Fae. Maybe you’ll find something there.

  He nodded.

  “And, Parker, I’m going to show you to the Fae lineage section. That way we hit it from both angles.”

  Carrie walked with him upstairs and pulled several books for him to look through before she met Parker back by the table. Carrie tore into the box that had been out by the door and grinned. She grabbed a nearby lead lined towel from the shelf behind her and carefully pulled out a stone still wrapped in paper. Just one touch to the crystal and she’d be a dead woman if there were any dormant powers inside. Not taking any more risk than what was necessary; Carrie quickly laid the crystal down on the table. She turned to Parker who’d been watching from the corner of her eye while trying to decide which books were best to look through. “Is that…?”

  Carrie nodded. “There are gloves behind the counter. You’re going to need them.”

  Parker moved behind the counter and pulled out the equivalent of black leather driving gloves. “Are these…?”

  Carrie nodded again. “Yep, those will work. They’ve got the lead sewn in. I keep those nearby for my shipments. I’m funny that way.”

  Parker slid the gloves on and rounded the table. She reached for the crystal and held it up to the light. “It’s beautiful.”

  “Power stealers to you Fae but their lethal to my kind.” Carrie tossed her a small towel to wrap it up in. “The towel has the same properties as the gloves, just in case.”

  Carrie grabbed four books off the shelf where Parker had been looking. She set them on the table while Parker wrapped the stone and shoved it in her front pocket with new hope for Quinn. She was at the bottom step when Carrie stopped her.

  “Why don’t you start looking through these incase the crystal is tainted and you still need a backup plan. I’ll go get Quinn in just a few minutes.”

  Carrie gestured toward the hall. “Just let me grab a quick cup of coffee. I’m dead tired today, Quinn’s mother kept me up all night.”

  “I’m sorry she didn’t let you sleep,” Parker said as she moved back to the table.

  Carrie lifted a thumb, gesturing to the darkened hallway behind her. “I’m going to start the coffee, so maybe it will help me function enough to help.”

  Parker grinned. “I’ll be in here looking.”

  She pulled out a chair closest to her, her back facing the hall leading to the back door. She glanced over to the stairs and wondered if Quinn was making any progress. She flipped the book open and rested her cheek in her palm as she flipped through the pages. It had been over one hundred years since an actual king had sat on the throne. She wasn’t sure if the section she was looking in was going to help them or not.

  “Any luck?” Carrie hollered down the long hallway.

  “No, but did you know that each king can only assume the throne in the fall?”

  “Is that right?”

  A black-gloved hand grabbed her from behind and lifted her out of the chair. The book fell open to the floor. She reached for the hand covering her mouth and couldn’t get it to budge.

  The man whispered, “If you don’t want me to kill her or lover boy, then you need to stall her from coming out here. We’ve broke through her wards and if you don’t want me to shoot them, then she best not step foot in that hallway. I swear I’ll kill them both.”

  He lifted his hand but kept one arm around her waist and the other around her throat, completely immobilizing her.

  “His mom is back, and she isn’t making any sense. She’s talking so fast that I can’t understand her. It’s almost like she’s trying to warn me about something.” Carrie’s voice sounded closer and a bit confused.

  “Does she ever? Do you mind making me a cup of coffee? Creamer and sugar,” Parker hollered down the hall. Carrie had manners. Even if she was headed in Parker’s direction, she’d turn around and make the coffee. It was the southern thing to do.

  The hand moved back over her mouth. “You cause me any trouble, and not only will I kill them both, I’ll burn down the damn shop.”

  She nodded and steeled herself from reacting until she knew whom she was dealing with and what the hell he wanted.

  He pulled her down the hallway and out the back door before throwing her into another pair of muscular arms that quickly moved with her into a waiting black van. Her shoulders relaxed that the man had kept his promise. No one had gotten hurt while she was being abducted.

  She glanced around the nondescript van while being jostled ar
ound, pressed in the muscular arms. The hand across her lips fell away, but his hold tightened. “You scream, you die.” He leaned in closer. “You fight, you die.”

  She nodded and caught a glimpse of the assailant from of the corner of her eye. His face was covered with a black ski mask. His dark brown eyes watched her but didn’t give her any clue whom she was dealing with.

  “What do you want?” she asked steeling her tone. She hoped that only she could hear the rapid beat of her heart. She sniffed the air and let the man’s scent ingrain into her head. She held in her grin. She’d find this asshole again and make him pay.

  “We got what we want.”

  “Shut up,” a man sneered from the front of the van. The same voice that had whispered in her ear only minutes ago.

  The man holding her leaned forward and whispered, “Unless you care to give me more.”

  He rubbed her bottom against his lap. His hard-on was straining and poking at her through the layer of clothes. She whispered the blue blob spell, knowing she’d never perfected any other ones, and at least she knew the outcome.

  She scrambled out of his lap and across the van as the spell took shape.

  The van screeched to a halt as the man’s form began to change, increasing in diameter and the stench she knew the blob would make. Only now the blob was blocking her only exit. “Crap.”

  She used all of her strength to push him out of the way as his screams grew louder. She reached for the side door, yanked it open, and was met with a gun in her face.

  She stilled as a man dragged her out of the van.

  He twisted her against his chest. “Stupid move, you bitch.”

  He lifted the gun and slammed the butt into her head. Her vision blurred, and her mind clouded. She was going to pass out. “Oh crap.”

  ****

  Quinn flipped through the pages of the last book. He stopped as he read through the names of descendants of the last king. There was a picture of the same old man that had appeared to him when he’d passed out. He’d been king over a hundred years ago.

  Flipping the page, Quinn ran his finger down the list of his descendants. His heart raced. He was getting closer. Maybe luck had turned in their direction.

  His finger stopped under the last entry. “Carlton,” he whispered. “Great-great- great-grandchild of King Albert and the last recorded heir. I know that name.”

  Quinn grabbed the book and headed for the stairs. If he was right, then they might be in more trouble than they thought. He hurried down the stairs and jumped down the last remaining five, landing with a heavy thud at the bottom.

  He scanned the room. Parker’s keys and Carrie’s purse were still on the table. Open books lay nearby, and one was on the floor. The room was empty. He moved down the hall to find Carrie in a makeshift kitchen, leaning against the counter waiting on the coffee pot. “Does the name Carlton ring a bell? I can’t place it.”

  She nodded, left the kitchen, and went down to her office. He followed behind her and hoped that all of his questions were about to be solved. She picked up a newsletter that had been laying on her desk and pointed to a group of men. She pointed to one specific man standing under a tree with fallen leaves. “I’ll be damned…you were right.”

  Her brows dipped in confusion.

  He glanced up. “The answers, the leaves.” He pointed to the picture. “I’m afraid Commissioner Carlton is my estranged father.”

  Her eyes widened. “Did you tell Parker?”

  “She wasn’t at the table. I assumed she was with you or using the bathroom.”

  They moved out into the hub of the shop. Carrie pointed to the restrooms. “You check there. I’ll check upstairs, maybe she went into another section.”

  He nodded and quickened his pace. He checked in both bathrooms, opening the stalls of each. She wasn’t in any of them.

  Carrie was coming down the stairs as he walked out. “She’s not up there.”

  “She wouldn’t have just left me.” He gestured to the book on the floor. “Something had to have happened.” Quinn grabbed her keys from the table. Only one solution remained. He needed to confront Bob Carlton about being his half-breed son, claim the powers, and call the chief to start a hunt for Parker. He hurried to her SUV and squealed out of the lot. He punched in his dispatch and had them transfer him to Parker’s chief. He explained what they’d uncovered and that Parker was missing. The chief pulled in every available resource and planned to meet Quinn at the commissioner’s office.

  Fifteen minutes later Quinn stormed into the commissioner’s campaign office after being informed by the chief that the building was the most likely place for Carlton to be.

  Quinn paused just inside the doorway. People were milling around. Some of them were packing up campaign signs, while others were disconnecting the phones from the wall. A glass office was across the room, and that was where he spotted the man in question. His mother’s old lover, the sperm donor who didn’t give a shit about anyone but himself.

  He stomped over to the office and threw the door open. A pretty brunette woman rose to her feet.

  “I beg your pardon,” she exclaimed as she lifted her hand to her chest. “I was having a private conversation with my husband before you so rudely interrupted.”

  Quinn’s lips twitched. “Yeah, well, take a number. I need to have a word with my father, and then he’s all yours.”

  “Carlton?” Madeline questioned.

  The commissioner held up his hand. “Not now, Madeline.”

  “You can tell her, or I will,” Quinn said.

  “Quinn, what are you doing here?”

  Quinn gripped the door handle harder, almost to the point of crushing it. “So, you know my name? And here I thought you’d be just as surprised at finding you have a half-breed son as I was to learn my father was not only Fae, but an asshole. Good thing I’ve always held low expectations of you. I always knew you were.”

  “You don’t understand, son.”

  “I’m not your damn son, and I understand more than you think, commissioner. You loved across the race lines. You’re not only a hypocrite but a lousy father. I found the letter. You might have ditched Madeline here and offered to marry my mom, but she could read between the lines, just like I did.”

  A vein in Carlton’s forehead throbbed. “And your point, Officer Montgomery?”

  Quinn stalked toward the old man. “You’re wrong about my mother. The reason she didn’t take you back wasn’t because you ran like a coward. She kept me from you so I wouldn’t turn out to be anything like you. My blood may be tainted thanks to you, but my heart is pure, thanks to her.”

  Quinn walked out of the commissioner’s office. Men and women were standing around staring at them. He’d made a spectacle of himself by barging in.

  Carlton came out behind him and narrowed his eyes. “You are my flesh and blood. How dare you talk to me that way?”

  “Todendah,” Quinn commanded in the ancient language of the Fae.

  Carlton’s eyes lit up as he and all of the other Fae standing around fell to their knees and bowed their heads.

  “How?” Carlton asked.

  Quinn leaned down. “I am the rightful heir. The kings chose me. Even if I didn’t chose it for myself.”

  Carlton glanced up. “But you’re a half-breed. How is that possible?”

  Quinn chuckled. “I have the heart and soul of the Fae. I’m sure that me being chosen puts a cramp in your campaign; your own race having a half-breed king. Is that why you attempted to steal the crystal?”

  Carlton shook his head. “You don’t deserve it. I would have never turned it over to a half-breed. As bad as I wanted the crystal, I didn’t steal it. I paid good money on the black market to have it returned to me.”

  Quinn turned his back on the sperm donor. This didn’t make any sense. If it wasn’t the commissioner, the king’s descendent, then who the hell had set this up? He clenched his eyes closed as some of the answers started to form. It had never bee
n about him. He spun around. “Who would have wanted to see your bill fail?”

  “That should have been obvious,” Commissioner Carlos Atkinson said as he walked into the room, dragging Parker with him. Her arm was turning white where the jerk was holding her. The entire right side of her temple above her eye was swollen and red. He reigned in his temper. The man responsible would be dead before morning.

  “You?”

  Carlos nodded. “You aren’t very bright, are you? It appears I have something you want, and you have something I want.”

  “You aren’t Fae. You won’t be able to use my powers. What could you possibly want them for?”

  Carlos inclined his head toward Carlton. “So your father will never get his hands on them.”

  “How did you even know he was my father?”

  The commissioner’s lips curved up in the corner. “Well, your mother, of course. I was her attorney. She wanted to make sure you knew the truth so she made a video diary to explain. It was the perfect opportunity to screw your old man.”

  Quinn shook his head. “I’ve never seen it.”

  “That was my intent.” Carlos inclined his head.

  “You’re the wizard too, aren’t you? The same wizard who destroyed Parker’s house and cursed me?”

  “One in the same.” Carlos chuckled and shook Parker’s arm. “Your girlfriend here is just my insurance that you don’t transfer the powers to your dad.” He pulled her closer to his chest and held out her gloved hand, squeezing at her wrist until she opened her fist. “She even did me a favor and found me another crystal.”

  Carlos tossed the new Devic to Quinn. Quinn caught it in mid-air. His body vibrated, his knees felt week as an aura of bright colors floated from his chest, down his arm and into the crystal. He had an overwhelming feeling of normalcy again. No longer was he chest puffed and did he feel like he could conquer the world. He was back to being the old version of himself. This was what he’d wanted all along, and yet, it couldn’t have come at a worse time. The chief, Remington, Devlin, and Rachel all rushed into the room with their guns drawn. They glanced around, unsure whom to set in their sights. He wasn’t sure they knew whom to trust.

  “Toss it back, and I’ll let her go.”