Glenn, Stormy - Scales and a Tail [Midnight Matings 2] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove)
Page 1
Midnight Matings 2
Scales and a Tail
The paranormal world is in chaos. The elders are tired of their younger people playing the field, causing trouble, and fighting with each other. Everyone who attends the UPAC Conference now has twenty-four hours to claim a mate of a different species. If they don't, they will never have a mate. The spell is cast. There is no escaping the Midnight Matings.
Beauregard Stratford is a bunny shifter. Simple enough, right? Unfortunately, he is the only white bunny shifter in existence. He also is cursed with violet eyes, hyperactivity, a strong weakness for anything shiny, and a penchant for leaving bubble gum everywhere.
When he finds himself mated to Sebastian Drakus, a dragon shifter and prince of his kind, Beauregard can't seem to make himself behave no matter how hard he tries. He wants to be good, to make Sebastian proud of him, really he does, but things just keep happening to him…bubble gum mishaps, getting drunk, not to mention that fact that he is a true bunny and constantly horny. Nothing seems to go right. Can he convince Sebastian he's worth the trouble, or will the dragon prince wash his hands of the whole bunny fiasco?
Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Paranormal, Shape-shifter
Length: 42,170 words
SCALES AND A TAIL
Midnight Matings 2
Stormy Glenn
EROTIC ROMANCE
MANLOVE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance ManLove
SCALES AND A TAIL
Copyright © 2011 by Stormy Glenn
E-book ISBN: 1-61034-537-1
First E-book Publication: May 2011
Cover design by Jinger Heaston
All cover art and logo copyright © 2011 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
If you have purchased this copy of Scales and a Tail by Stormy Glenn from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.
Regarding E-book Piracy
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This is Stormy Glenn’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Glenn’s right to earn a living from her work.
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DEDICATION
Joyee and Gabrielle, thanks for joining me on this wild ride. Thinking outside the box is a blast. You ladies are the best!
SCALES AND A TAIL
Midnight Matings 2
STORMY GLENN
Copyright © 2011
Chapter 1
“Welcome. I am Elder Burke.” The elder paused as if waiting for something. “I want to thank you all for being here tonight. This is a momentous occasion for us. It’s been twenty-five years since the Great War between paranormals ended, taking a large portion of our population from us.”
Sebastian Drakus glanced around when the room went deadly quiet. It was strange, considering how many people stood in the room. The corner of his lip curled up. He hated crowds.
“I would like you all to drink a toast with me in memory of those we lost.” The elder held up his champagne glass and waited until everyone in the crowd held their own glass. “May we never forget them.”
Sebastian raised his glass and drank down the entire contents. It wasn't like he'd get drunk from a single glass of champagne. It would take more than a bottle to get him drunk.
“As I have said, this is a momentous occasion for us all. In the twenty-five years since the Great War ended, the United Paranormal Alliance of Cooperation has watched and waited. We will wait no more.”
“The fighting between species must stop,” another elder in a long white robe said as he stepped forward. “We are known to the humans, and they have learned to accept us in their midst. However, their tolerance will only last so long. The constant fighting among the paranormal communities has come under scrutiny. We no longer have the luxury of watching you solve your own disagreements.”
“Elder Lucas is correct,” Elder Burke said as he gestured to the other elder. “We no longer have the indulgence of waiting for you to end your petty squabbles. As such, we have taken measures to insure that you take your place amongst our society.”
Sebastian glanced around when the crowd started to grow restless, everyone looking to each other as the silence hung over them. Elder Burke gestured to the glass he had set down on the table. “You’ve all taken a toast with me. As such, you are now bound by the covenants we put before you.”
“Each of you has twenty-four hours to find and claim your mate,” Elder Lucas said. “If you fail to claim a mate in twenty-four hours, and bring him or her before this council to be recognized, you will not have a mate. You will go feral inside of a week.”
Sebastian's jaw dropped open. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He came to the Great Gathering because he'd been ordered to. If he had known the councils' plans, he would have stayed home.
“Because of your continued squabbling between races, you may not claim a mate of the same race,” Elder Burke said. “You must claim a mate outside of your own species.”
“If you fail to bring a mate before this council by the stroke of midnight tomorrow night, you will be hunted down and executed as a rogue paranormal.”
“To insure that you will find a mate, something special has been added to the potion that each of you drank. It will insure that the need to mate outweighs your need to fight. It is a particular additive that
induces the mating heat in each of you. You will not be able to deny the need to mate.”
“And just in case you think to try and break this spell,” Elder Burke said, “we have added a special clause. Anyone that attempts to negate the covenants of this spell will instantly be cursed as befitting their race. Vampires will no longer be able to drink blood. Shifters will no longer be able to shift. Magic user will have no magic, and so on. I’m sure you get my point.”
The two elders went to stand back with their fellow elders and turned back to face the crowd. “Now, children, good luck. We expect to see each of you in twenty-four hours. May your hunt be successful.”
“Un-fucking-believable.” Sebastian Drakus shook his head as the room erupted into total chaos. People were yelling and shouting. Others were attacking each other. He actually saw a man leap up onto the dais and go after one of the elders.
Sebastian stood there for a moment and stared at the council of elders, complete and utter shock racing through him. They couldn’t be serious. They just couldn’t. Yes, he wanted to find a mate, but one outside of his own race? What were his choices? An elf? A cougar? A bloodsucking vampire? He’d rather go without a mate for the rest of his life.
“This is unacceptable.”
Sebastian glanced at the man standing next to him and nodded. He agreed. If he couldn’t choose his own mate, he didn’t want one. And he certainly didn’t want a mate from outside of his own race. The elders could go fuck themselves, as far as he was concerned.
“I’m out of here,” Sebastian said as he started for the doors. He wasn’t going to stick around and wait for some asshole to jump his ass. He could already see several people eyeing him, even if they were keeping their distance.
Sebastian knew he was intimidating to most people. He was the biggest of his kind, in either his shifted form or his human form. He assumed it was why so many were just staring at him instead of chasing him down.
He clenched his fists as he walked closer to the crowd. The first fucker to jump him was going to go down. He refused to be mated against his will. If he couldn’t choose his mate, then he wouldn’t have one.
Sebastian dodged a body flying past him. He shook his head and kept walking toward the double doors. The chaos on the room was getting worse. People weren’t just fighting anymore. They were biting and scratching, claiming each other.
There were teeth everywhere.
Sebastian stopped when a man in werewolf form jumped in front of him. He arched an eyebrow and stared the man down. “Don’t even think about it,” he warned when the wolf looked him up and down like a prime side of beef. “I’d tear you up.”
“I can take you.” The man snickered.
Sebastian stood straighter, knowing that his six-foot-nine height would intimidate the man as it did most people. “No, you couldn’t.”
The man lunged, teeth bared and hands curled into claws. Sebastian rolled his eyes and punched him right in the jaw. The werewolf dropped to the floor like a rock. Sebastian dismissed the man from his mind the moment he stepped over him.
“Hey, Sebastian, running off so soon?”
Sebastian drew in a deep calming breath and turned to look at the blond man standing off to one side of him. Unfortunately, he knew the man, and a little too well. They had played together in the past. The man was a good little bottom, but he wasn’t mate material. He liked to play the field a little too much for Sebastian’s liking.
“Derek.”
“What say you and I hook up, gorgeous?” Derek crooned as he sidled up to Sebastian. His hands started running down Sebastian’s broad chest. “We’ve had fun before. We can have fun again.”
Derek had been fun to play with, but he wasn’t long-term material. He had a little too much of an independent streak for Sebastian’s tastes. He preferred his men to be submissive. Derek only played at it.
“Not going to happen, Derek.” Sebastian peeled Derek’s hands off his chest and pushed him away. Derek’s eyes darkened, and the corner of his lips turned down. Anger filled his features.
“You owe me,” Derek growled as he grabbed at Sebastian’s shirt again. “After everything I did for you, all of the things I let you do to me. You owe me.”
“Derek, I don’t owe you a thing. You willingly let me do those things to you. You were not forced. Now, let go,” Sebastian warned. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“But you can.” Derek’s eyes lit up. He pressed his body back against Sebastian’s. “Claim me and you can do whatever you want with me.”
“It’s not going to happen, Derek.”
“I can be a good mate for you, Sebastian. I already know what you like.”
“No, Derek!”
Sebastian pushed Derek away from him again and turned to leave the room. His steps faltered when a large weight landed on his back. Sebastian reached back and grabbed Derek and flung him away, barely missing the sharp teeth snapping at his neck.
Damn shifters. They never took no for an answer.
He picked up his steps, trying to get out of the room before he had to deal with some other asshole that thought they would be good mate material. If he could get back to his room, he could get his luggage and get out of the castle before anyone else stopped him.
Just as Sebastian reached the two large doors leading out of the ballroom, another body slammed into him from behind. Sebastian growled and turned to confront Derek again. He was shocked to see a sprite of a man collapsed on the floor at his feet instead of Derek.
“Are you okay?” Sebastian asked. He reached down to help the man up, frowning when the man cringed away from him. Bright violet eyes blinked up at him, filled with fear. Sebastian tried to soften his features, squatting down in front of the man so his sheer size didn’t frighten him more. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Mine!” someone shouted from behind Sebastian.
Sebastian looked up just in time to see a body barreling toward him. He quickly stood and braced himself for the impact, knowing he couldn’t stop it. And it was going to hurt. The man charging at him was in human form but he was huge, probably some sort of wolf or cougar shifter. Sebastian didn’t have time to tell before the man crashed into him.
He grunted, his muscles screaming at the exertion used to hold the man off. Sebastian was a big man, stronger than most, but it still took all of his strength to keep the angry man from biting him.
“Get the hell off of me!” Sebastian shouted as he shoved the man away. He hissed when the man’s claws dug into his flesh, tearing his white silk shirt. He loved that shirt. “What the hell is your problem?”
“He’s mine!” the man growled, flexing his clawed hands.
“Who?” Sebastian asked in confusion. He had no idea what the shifter was talking about.
“Him!”
Sebastian glanced down to where the man pointed, only remembering the frightened man at his feet when he felt arms wrap one of his legs. The man was clearly terrified. The small body pressed up against his legs was shaking so much that Sebastian could feel it all of the way up his thighs.
Sebastian sighed and looked at the shifter again. “Look, it’s obvious that he doesn’t want to be yours, so why don’t you just leave him alone and go find someone else?”
Sebastian wouldn’t normally get involved in situations like this, but the man wrapped around his legs seemed so frightened that he couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. No one wanted to be forced to mate against their will—the main reason Sebastian wanted out of the place as fast as possible.
“I saw him first.”
“And?” Sebastian had no idea what that had to do with forcing someone.
“He’s mine!” the man growled.
The body wrapped around Sebastian’s leg shuddered. A whimper of distress reached his ears. Sebastian knew he needed to do something before the shifter attacked him again. He reached down and grabbed the small man, peeling him away from his leg despite the man’s struggles.
Could his life get any stranger?
“I want him,” the shifter growled. “Hand him over.”
“Or what?” Sebastian might have been amused by the situation, but he wouldn’t take someone threatening him. He wrapped an arm around the man clinging desperately to him, lifting him up in his arms. He glared at the shifter. “I’m keeping him.”
“I saw him first,” the shifter snapped. “He’s mine.”
“Doesn’t look that way from where I’m standing.”
The shifter growled and lunged. Sebastian heard the man in his arms cry out. He swung around, putting his back to the oncoming threat, protecting the man with his body. Pain shattered the control Sebastian had on himself as the shifter’s claws sank into his back.
Sebastian roared. He held the little man against his chest and extended the claws on his other hand, swing around and striking out at the shifter. Blood splattered everywhere as his claws raked across the shifter’s chest.
He heard a loud growl and felt the shifter’s claws sink into his side. The man in his arms cried out, and Sebastian knew he’d been hit as well. The scent of blood was thick in the air—but so was something else.
It tickled Sebastian’s senses, intrigued him. Before he could track the sweet scent or figure out where it was coming from, the shifter lunged at him again. The full force of a mad shifter hit Sebastian like a freight train. The man in his arms screamed as Sebastian dropped him.