ROMANCE: SHIFTER: Shifter to the Max Collection (Dragon, Bear, Wolf and Panther Shifter Romances) (Paranormal Fantasy Romance Collection)

by C. J. Ayers

  He didn’t stop walking until he was close enough for me to smell the cologne coming off of him. Tom Ford cologne.

  I dared look at his face. He had sharp bones and an easy scowl. Beyond that, bright blue eyes, but not the kind you can swim in, the kind that will cut you.

  He reached out his hand to me, as if in a greeting.

  I glowered at it, my debilitating fear temporarily replaced with agitation.

  “Oh. Right.” He raised an eyebrow at me, then folded his two hands together. As he paced back and forth, he relayed the obligatory villain ultimatum. “The way I see it, you have two options. You can either tell me where the fuck your boyfriend went…” He stepped even closer to me.

  This time, I could smell the menthol on his breath. His fingers traced circles around my cheek.

  Chills shot up my spine, goosebumps rising on my skin.

  He gripped my chin so hard my eyes started to water. “Or I can go searching for him.”

  I flinched at the spittle on my eyelid.

  Cody? “You took him asshole!” I was going for conviction, but my voice sounded more like a series of badly timed hiccups.

  The sight of my own, upturned living room flashed before my eyes. The gash. Oh the gash.

  His hand slipped down to my neck.

  My eyes flashed wide in anticipation, my heart started racing and my palms dampened. Oh God. Please don’t hurt me. I wanted to burst into tears right then and there, but then I got a good look at the man staring back at me and I got so angry at that little wrinkle in his forehead that it was easy to stop the tears in their tracks.

  He squeezed. My lungs hiccupped, my eyes burning. “I’m not fond of your fucking act.”

  Just breathe. I focused on the shallow air coming in my nose. “It’s…” Push. “Not.” God. “An act…”

  He ripped his hands away from me. “You are going to tell me where he went.”

  I shook my head. This whole thing felt like a dream more bizarre than my own mind could have even come up with. Never in my wildest dreams… how could this be real?

  “Why are you looking for a broker?” My voice was only barely coming back.

  His lips curled into a crooked smile. “You’re a smart ass.” His hand went up, swift, decisive.

  The next thing I knew, he drove it across my face. A scream leapt from my lips and bounced off of the walls, coming right back to me. It sounded nightmarish even to me. Before I could reposition my head, before I could feel the burn growing on my face, he slapped me again. This time from the other side.

  I grunted, holding myself in. I didn’t want to scream again, or cry anymore or give him the satisfaction. But God it hurt.

  Eliseo let out a dark chuckle. “Ohhhhhh. Did he teach you that?” He knelt down in front of me, like he was gonna kiss me or… something. He dug his fingers deep into my skin.

  The pain was starting to get to me. It was starting to ooze into my mind, taking the clarity out of everything. Dizziness hit me like a wave.

  “Did he train you not to give in.” With that, he yanked my head back. “Oh... Oh… careful.” In the next second, he was standing behind me. I heard the flick of a knife being quickly slipped out of his jacket.

  If there was ever a moment I wished I could be wrong….

  My heart pounded against my chest. I thought about every single thing that has ever crossed my mind in my entire life. I thought of my dad and how he would always complain about the spots on his spoons or how his food was usually cool in the center. I thought about my mom and her shrill voice and how I always wanted her to shut the fuck up on Saturday mornings when I was in high school. I thought about my Studio Art boyfriend that broke me into MOMA on our first date. I thought about Cody. I thought how much I had loved him once. I thought about how he must have run away.

  And left me here.

  To die.

  “This is serious now.” His lips were moving right on my skin.

  If ever there was a time for tears, now was it. But my eyes were dry, practically petrified.

  “You are going to tell me where he went.”

  I sucked in a quick breath. “I swear to God I don’t know.” I had never hated Cody so much. I had always thought that if death stared me in the face, whenever that would be, that I’d feel it. Really feel it. I thought I’d be so aware of the darkness on the other side, but I couldn’t feel anything. I was practically in agony over how little I could feel. I wanted to feel something. I wanted it to just come already.

  My jaw swung open as he reached down and grabbed my thigh in his iron grip. My face was pressed into his neck as he drove the knife through my leg. Oh. Man it hurt so bad I couldn’t even process the pain it was like a bad shot from an amateur nurse who couldn’t find the damn vein. God. I screamed out as a way to express my pain but stifled it quickly so that I could hear what Eliseo was saying.

  “… Why he bought a one-way ticket to Morocco with your credit card? Why he emptied out your bank accounts?”

  “What?” I screeched. My throat burned in agony.

  He circled me again. “I’m getting sick of this game,” He said as he swiftly took off his jacket.

  I had watched enough movies to know that when a guy did that it was about to be over. Up until then I had had reason and motive on my side. Now it was nothing but rage and impatience. He’d could easily kill me even accidentally.

  This was the part when I was supposed to vehemently plead for my life, but I saw something behind him.

  Eliseo’s mouth kept moving like he was asking me a question but there was man walking up behind him that I just couldn’t ignore. He had a smirk on his face and bright, amber eyes. He had a cut jaw, strong Adam’s apple and plump lips. He towered over the both of us. He looked almost like a model in his sharp suit and the way that he walked like he knew a million people were watching.

  Eliseo’s voice broke through. “Answer me!”

  He backhanded me across my face. Somehow the pinch of pain was a lot more intense this time, like my bruises were stacking on top of one another. My chair teetered back and forth. I sucked in a gasp as I went crashing to the concrete ground. I cried out in pain. I could practically feel my elbow twist the wrong way.

  The man let out a sound that could only be described a low fierce growl. “Eliseo!” He stepped in front of Eliseo and slammed him against the wall so hard that a crack ran through it.

  Eliseo let out a low grumble. “Hands off.”

  The man stepped away almost immediately, straightening out his suit as if to regain his composure. He cleared his throat as he turned his attention towards me. I could tell, even from this low side angle that there was something different in his eyes…

  He kept his eyes on me as he spoke. “I think we’re done here.”

  Chapter Four

  I rolled over in the bed. It wasn’t until my eyes opened to the sight of expensive looking wall paper, long dream curtains, heavy, dark wood furniture that I even realized that I wasn’t being held captive anymore. There was no chair, no ropes, no concrete walls, even though the bruises and aches remained.

  I rolled over again and winced at the burning in my thigh caused by the scab quickly forming. I rubbed my legs together. There was some sort of bandage. My wrists were shiny, as if someone had rubbed them with cream. My throat ached from screaming, burning with every breath that I took. I pulled the satin sheets up to my chin and stared up at the ceiling. Who had a chandelier in their bedroom?

  Before I could even ponder this, the sight of Eliseo’s scowl came to my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut, but it only made it worse. I could smell the menthol, feel his lips against my skin, the breath in my ears. I let out a sob but it wouldn’t go away. My cheeks were wet with tears. Was I doomed to this for the rest my life, stuck reliving the trauma Cody left me in?

  Cody.

  The thought of him confused me. I didn’t know if I should wish him there with me or wish him dead. Why couldn’t he have been a good boyfriend? Why co
uldn’t he protect me instead of putting me in harm’s way? Did he even care that he was putting me in harm’s way?

  There was a click as the door opened. I gulped. Was it someone else, summoning me for another round of torture? When I saw the man who walked in, an inexplicable calm took over.

  “Hello, you.”

  It was almost playful. It was the man from the night before, or two nights before or however long I had been stuck in this bed sleeping. He reached for the oak chair in front of his armoire and dragged it to the side of the bed. Then, he sat down in front of me, sliding his dress pants up ever so slightly and resting his foot on his knee. I raised an eyebrow at his alligator-skin shoes. Those were not the footwear of someone who was good news. And yet, for some reason I found myself calmed by his presence. For the first time since I had been kidnapped, my fear had been replaced with a different emotion. Something completely unexpected. Desire.

  “Hey.” My voice came out a nasty croak. I cleared my throat but it hurt so much there was no way I was going to try that again.

  He placed a hand on my shoulder, rubbing it from on top of the duvet.

  I flinched at his touch, part of me expecting him to drag me from the bed and beat me to death. But he didn’t. He just kept it there, letting the warmth and the pressure from his hand slowly reach me.

  “I’m Markus.”

  I squirmed out of his touch, propping myself up. It was only then that I realized that I had been changed. Instead of the short overalls and stockings I was wearing the day before, I was clad in a short-sleeved night gown. Satin, like the sheets.

  “Why am I here?”

  He grimaced at this. His frown slowly rising into a knowing smile. “Already with the questions.” He folded his hands in his lap, sitting back, watching me, like I was a cat he had just brought home from the pet store.

  I glowered at him, the grog of my sleep melting away and leaving nothing more than profound agitation tempered only slightly by pain. How dare he hold me there like that and not expect me to demand to know why I was there? How dare he hold me at all? “Of course with the questions.” I wanted to say more. I had more to say. I wanted to get all up in his face and shout. I wanted to remind him that I am a fucking human being and fucking human beings don’t get treated like that.

  But I couldn’t. Maybe if I was a character in one of my novels. But not as myself. No, as myself, I settled for a glower and hoped that he wouldn’t hit me.

  But he just raised an eyebrow. “Is that all you have to say?”

  “Why haven’t you hit me yet?” I squeaked out. It sounded stupid but it was the biggest question on my mind.

  He scooted his chair closer to me, resting his hands on the bed. I couldn’t stop my eyes from following them there. “Ah well. I can imagine you might expect me to, even from in between the sheets of my own bed.”

  I grimaced. “Why am I sleeping in your bed?” I would have jumped out of it right then and there if my whole body didn’t ache so much.

  He shrugged. A slow smile spread across his face and a slight dimple appeared on his left cheek. “Because I requested it.”

  Somehow, it felt like I had just exited one threat only to be presented with another. I glanced up at him and for a short second, I could have sworn he was checking me out. But the thought swiftly left my mind. It had to have just been my overactive imagination. “Why would you do that?”

  He left his chair and joined me on the bed.

  I couldn’t move away fast enough, and the indentation in the mattress only made it that much harder.

  He reached over and traced his finger along the edge of my chin tenderly. “Because I couldn’t stand the way Eliseo was destroying you.”

  My heart fluttered. My first instinct was to lean into his touch. By the time my second instinct kicked in, I was already gone. I had let him in. I could feel my skin tingle as his fingers they traced my lips, his eyes following. There was something in his eyes as he focused them on me that I hadn’t seen in a long time. Longing. I couldn’t explain it. In fact, it hardly made sense, but it felt as if my whole body was falling into itself from just his touch. My thighs started to spread, a quivering yearning growing in between them. “W-what are you doing?”

  His hand spread so that it covered my whole cheek. He leaned in to me and my head began a hazy spin. I couldn’t believe that this wasn’t a dream and yet, beyond the fog, was the picture of my overturned couch. The thought of Cody came to mind and made me wanted to throw a rock at glass house.

  His lips brushed against my cheek close to my ear. “Saving you,” He whispered.

  It took everything in me not to whimper. I turned my face into his, all other thoughts fading. The pain from the day before, the image of my home in shambles, my life with Cody, all fading behind my eyes. When our lips touched it was the only real thing in world. My skin seared with his touch, my heart exploded in my chest. I was breathless, my lungs constricting, my eyes rolling back. This man had a magical effect on my body. His touch was like an enchantment enveloping all of me.

  My lips parted and his tongue stroked mine exploring tenderly. I heard a soft moan escape my lips and he intensified his kiss biting my lower lip, sucking me into his mouth hungrily . I struggled to make sense of this. What was happening here? This was crazy. This man was my captor, my enemy, yet I had never been kissed with such passion or intensity in my life. Every cell in my body was responding to his maleness. I just needed to… think. My mind spun with questions. “Wait.” I pushed at his chest.

  He broke away immediately, at my slight touch, like he could read my intentions without me having to voice them aloud. “When can I go home?”

  He chuckled at this. His hand was still entwined in my hair his fingers stroking my head. “Was it that bad?”

  I felt my lips pulling up into a smile. “It’s not that. I just… my ex…” It felt weird calling him that, like he had died or something.

  “That’s why you’re here. No one is convinced that you weren’t involved.” His face took on a stern expression.

  My frustration stabbed at me deep within. “But I wasn’t.”

  He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter as long as he’s missing.”

  A pang shot through my stomach. How could I feel abandoned and yet so new all at once. “But I have a whole life.” I had never spent this much time away from my laptop. “You know you can’t just rip me away from it.”

  He raised an eyebrow, releasing me and leaning even farther away. He frowned, his face screwing up like he was trying to remember what he had eaten for breakfast two weeks ago. “Right. You do have a life somewhere else. And yet…”

  He wasn’t even talking to me anymore.

  “What?”

  He placed my hand in both of his and lifted it to his lips.

  I blushed like a little girl when he kissed it. “The way I see it, you have two choices: You can either sleep in the basement and deal with Eliseo… or you can sleep up here,” He brushed my chin, “and deal with me.” That dimpled smile on his face melted me from the inside out.

  Even though I had no idea what was going on, or when I would get out of this gilded prison, I let my head fall back onto the pillow in resignation. I decided to take this one step at a time and, right at that moment, I knew I wanted that bed and, inexplicably, him.

  Chapter Five

  I spent the entire day in that room, wracking my brains for a way to get out of this mess, secretly hoping for another moment with Markus. But since he had left me early that morning, he hadn’t been back. A woman with a muffin top and oddly fitted shorts came in with a plate of bacon and eggs and a small bag with some books, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a hairbrush. I told her I was allergic to pork just to see what she would say. She nodded and left. Thirty minutes later, she came back with beef sausages and a piece of cornbread.

  I smirked at that. I wasn’t their prisoner. So, what the hell was I?

  At around lunch time, I thought about going outside. The cre
ative part of me was starting to get antsy. It fluttered around in the back of my mind. I wondering what the hell this building was? What part of New York was I in? Was I even still in New York? A long, scouring look out of the window told me that I most definitely was. The bodegas, the gas station, the people walking around with their carts, the women with their tennis shoes made me realize that it was definitely a borough. But which one? And how long would I be here? My curiosity was almost enough to push me out of the door and down the hall. But every time I would get within an inch of the doorknob, my leg would throb. The cut Eliseo dealt still itched and burned under the dress. The thought of running into him again, of him finding a reason to hit me again, or stab me, stopped me cold.

  By the time I had finished a sandwich, started reading one of the novels and made it through another round of mentally berating Cody, I heard a knock at my door. I cleared my throat, but the time I could open my mouth to greet whoever it was, Markus walked in.

  My heart fluttered in my chest, a ripple of excitement traveling my entire body. “Hey.” I could have internally kicked myself. What a dumb thing to say.

  His lips curled into a crooked half-smile. “You haven’t taken down the room yet.” His eyes raked over me so hungrily I blushed.

  I glanced around. “Well, what the hell did you expect?”

  He crossed the room towards me.

  I took note of his dressed down attire. The suit jacket was gone and his sleeves were rolled up. I could see the cut in his thick muscles. He was undoubtedly in excellent physical shape. His face showed a days worth of dark stubble running along his chiseled jawline.

  I tried to look stern, or angry, or forlorn, or anything appropriate for the situation, but the inner thrill I felt at seeing him betrayed me. My lips stretched into a smile. His presence had the odd effect of clearing the voices in my mind.

  He knelt down in front of me.