A Reverse Harem Romance Collection Box Set

by Lane Hart

  She nods her agreement again.

  “Give me keys to the hand and leg cuffs and get the hell out of here,” I stand up and tell my father, holding my palm out and waiting for him to turn over the keys.

  “Very well. You seem to have everything under control,” he says as he drops the metal keychain into my hand. “We’ll talk first thing tomorrow.”

  “Sure,” I agree just to get him to leave.

  Finally, the men all slowly shuffle their feet toward the door, sneaking not so subtle glances at her over their shoulder. Perverts.

  Only when the door shuts behind Dr. Murphy do I begin to undo the locks on her ankles.

  “So, what’s your name?” I ask into the silence. She doesn’t respond. “I’m Kingston, by the way.”

  When the second ankle is free, she finally says, “Harper.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Harper. I’m sorry about what they did to you. If I had known, I would’ve come to help you sooner.”

  “Thanks…thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” I reply when I move around behind the chair to undo her wrists. “Will you promise not to do anything stupid when I unlock your hands?”

  “Yes,” she agrees, her body slumping in what I really hope is defeat before I free her. “Where am I? What’s going on?” she asks while rubbing the indentions left in her wrists as I walk back around the chair to stand in front of her again.

  “You’re at the Warlock International Coven Headquarters for Education, Enforcement and Defense of Supernaturals.”

  “The what?” she asks with her brows furrowed.

  “Most of us call it WICKED for short instead of dealing with that whole mouthful.”

  “I don’t understand,” she says softly.

  “I’m a warlock,” I tell her while pointing my finger at my chest. “And you are a witch.”

  “Great, you’re insane just like the others,” she sighs with a roll of her eyes.

  “It may sound crazy, but it’s true. Usually, the parents of supernaturals are required to send their children here instead of high school to learn about controlling their abilities, the history of our kind and how to avoid detection, along with all of the traditional courses. But in your case, your guardians chose to hide you, which is not only dangerous to yourself but to the rest of us if you were to out yourself. You’re safe here. No one will hurt you again,” I assure her.

  “Promise?”

  “Not only will I make you that promise, I’ll even give you a pinky promise,” I tell her, holding up my finger.

  She stares at it silently like she’s afraid to touch me before she finally locks her pinky around mine, sending a blast of blazing heat through my skin with it.

  “Ouch,” she says as she pulls away like she’s never touched a man before.

  And I’m guessing she hasn’t very often if she still has that sort of reaction to the lust. Which means she’s probably still a virgin and I’m going to have my work cut out for me.

  “You’ll get used to that sensation eventually, and even come to enjoy it,” I tell her from experience. “The blood warming is just a witch and warlock thing and won’t cause you any harm. Eventually you won’t even notice it.”

  I used to be able to feel the fever from any skin-to-skin contact with a female human or any other species. But then it gradually started to fade until I had my first encounter with a warlock and realized it was so much better with my own kind…

  My father would kill me if he found out my secret, the fate of warlocks be damned.

  Of course I can’t help but wonder what mating would be like with a witch, the way Lucifer intended.

  “Am I really a witch?” she asks. “This all just seems so preposterous, like I’m in a nightmare.”

  “You’re definitely a witch,” I reply. “No other female has invoked the heat with a simple touch. And your blood was black.”

  “It wasn’t before. Before it was red, like normal,” she tells me.

  “What happened earlier tonight? Did you get upset or were you with someone intimately?” I ask, trying to ignore the tightness in my chest. Why do I care if she was with some other guy? I would probably be more attracted to him than her.

  Her cheeks flush and she looks away before answering. “I was angry.”

  “Did you hurt anyone?” I ask bluntly.

  “No. I was alone and upset because of my roommate’s stupid prank. I had to climb a few trees and with each one, I got more scrapes and cuts,” she says, pointing to her legs, and drawing my attention to the hem of her denim overalls that’s riding up her thighs. I hadn’t even noticed before, but I’m guessing the amount of bare skin showing is another reason why the masters were so enthralled with our little witch.

  “My father always said I was cursed,” Harper says. “Is that what made me a…”

  “Cursed?” I repeat. “You’re not cursed. The opposite, in fact. Being a witch is a rare privilege.”

  “What does that mean? Is it like the witches on TV or in movies?”

  “No,” I reply. “You may have more power than Hollywood could ever dream of, and I’m going to show you how to harness it. Warlocks have grown weaker with each generation because the human DNA dilutes our magic. That’s why the masters were so excited to find you. With your genes, future warlocks will be stronger.”

  “And who are the masters?”

  “The coven masters run the academy. They’re the largest breed and the most powerful because they hold the majority. Those guys run the school and are in charge of teaching, defending, and enforcing the supernaturals who get out of line, the ones who threaten to reveal our secrets to the human world.”

  “And they want my genes?” Harper asks nervously.

  “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” I assure her. “Yes, they are hoping that you will eventually want to have children, but there’s no rush. Let’s just take things one day at a time, okay?”

  “Okay,” she agrees.

  “Now, we have a few rules here. I’ll go over them with you and then show you to your room. The first rule, of course, is that you can’t leave the campus because we have no reason to believe you would come back.”

  “I’m not going to tell you or anyone else about my parents,” she says, her chin lifted defiantly.

  “That’s fine,” I say since it’s only a matter of time before the masters are able to find out all her background information from the college she was attending. “But you can’t contact them and tell them where you are. If they show up here, they’ll be arrested for hiding you.”

  She gulps and then nods her agreement.

  “Secondly, you’ll have to attend a few classes, get caught up on the important things you need to know about being a witch. I teach the history of magic and have room for you with our senior warlocks. I’ll also want to work with you on potions and curses one on one. We don’t really bother with more than an introduction to the warlocks because they’re too weak for their magic to do more than a few simple charms.”

  “So I just have to attend a few classes? That’s it?” Harper asks.

  “That’s it. You can go anywhere on campus except over or through the gate surrounding the property. There’s a dining room on the first floor that always has a buffet for three homecooked meals a day and snacks in between. You’ll have a small fridge in your dorm for you to stock up.”

  “I need clothes,” she points out.

  “Ah, yeah. I’ll get you several of our uniforms to wear. Your room will be across the hall from mine; so if you need anything else while you’re getting settled, just let me know.”

  “Thanks, I guess.”

  “I’m sorry you’re here, but for now you really will be safer at the academy than on your own or with your parents. The masters may have been harsh at first because they were just angry that you’ve been hidden from us. If you had come into your magic out in public, you could’ve been killed. But from now on, the masters will treat you like you
’re the most important person in the world, which you are, to them.”

  “How long will I have to be here?’ Harper asks.

  “Let’s just take it one day at a time,” I say again rather than lie to her.

  “I’m never going to get to leave, am I?” she asks with her eyes filling with tears. “I hate that stupid jerk who brought me here! I never should have trusted him!”

  “Which stupid jerk brought you in? We have a lot of them around here,” I tell her with a small smile.

  Swiping her fingers to wipe away her tears from under each eye, she says, “I can’t remember what the security guy and Voss called him. Blake or Drake maybe? He was riding a motorcycle and stopped to offer me a ride when I was walking home…”

  “A motorcycle, huh? Yeah, that was probably Drake. He’s a vampire.”

  “A vampire?” she asks with her emerald eyes widening. “The blood drinking kind? They really exist?”

  “Not only do they exist, but they are a bunch of stupid jerks who you should steer clear of,” I explain. “Never let one have a taste of your blood or they’ll kill you for every last drop.”

  She opens her mouth like she was about to say something, but then closes it again and gives me a nod of agreement.

  “Actually, you should stay away from the shifters too. It’s best to stick with your own kind and not trust any of the other species. Most of them are not here by their choice.”

  The reminder that she is not here on her own volition causes more tears to form in her emerald eyes.

  “I’m ready to go to my room now,” she says.

  “Sure,” I agree. “Follow me. I’ll give you a tour of the place on the way there.”

  I show Harper where the kitchen and dining room are located on the first floor; then take her up to the second floor, which is where all of the warlocks are housed, other than the masters, who reside in the fourth-floor apartments.

  “This is you. You get a private room,” I say when I flip on the lights and take a step back for her to go inside. It’s just like all the other dorms except with one twin bed instead of two that’s made up, a tall dresser, a small desk, a flat screen television hanging on the wall, and a private bathroom that’s tiny but better than sharing the facilities with twenty other dudes.

  “I’ll go get you something to sleep in and some uniforms,” I tell her before I leave her alone, trusting she’ll still be there when I return.

  Big shocker - she’s not.

  Chapter 5

  Rowan

  I’m bored as shit like always, smoking a lit cigarette in one hand to help pass the time as I patrol the woods of the grounds with a flashlight in my free one.

  Just like every night except when there’s a full moon, there’s nothing but a few stray rabbits and frogs crossing my path, the leaves softly crunching underneath them. It’s peaceful and quiet, which is about the only good thing I can say about the slave labor.

  I have to take a deep breath in through the nose and out through my mouth to try and lower my blood pressure and calm down. We’re only a week away from the full moon, which makes me crankier than usual. If I get too angry and wound up, I’ll end up shifting and then I’ll have to wait days, until after the full moon is over, before I can revert back to human form. It sucks and I hate having to spend even one night running around on all fours, eating the raw meat the masters throw out on the ground for us to devour like the animals we are.

  They’re scared of us. That’s why they neuter us like dogs to make sure we can’t reproduce and force us to work for them in shitty security guard jobs or as cooks or custodians. Only the females are allowed to reproduce because they’re less likely to abandon their babies, whereas men could unknowingly knock up a random human and leave her to deal with a shifter teenager alone on the first full moon after puberty, which could out us to the world.

  My ears prick up as my heightened hearing recognizes the sound of footsteps approaching quickly, leaves crunching and twigs snapping under their weight. Definitely not an animal unless one of my fellow shifters lost their temper early this month.

  “Who’s there?” I call out, waving my flashlight around and flicking my cigarette to the ground, crushing it under my boot to go investigate. “Hello? Announce yourself!” I tell them.

  A figure darts through the line of trees, panting and small.

  I finally angle my light on their face and realize it’s a girl, a young, blonde who looks frightened at the sight of me.

  “Help me! I have to get out of here!” she exclaims while tugging on her necklace. As she comes closer, I realize it’s not fashion jewelry she’s sporting but a damn shock collar like the guard dogs wear.

  “Sorry, darlin’, but you won’t be going anywhere while you’re wearing that,” I say, pointing a finger at her neck.

  “Please!” she begs when she reaches up and grabs me by my shoulders, trying her best to shake me, which is cute since I’m about twice her size.

  “Calm down and start from the beginning,” I tell her, reaching around to rub my palm on her back soothingly. “I take it you’re new to the academy?” She’s wearing denim overalls, not our standard uniform.

  “This place…” she gasps while pointing back to the mansion. “They’re all nuts! All of them! One guy…he was…nice, but he’s just as crazy as the rest if he thinks I’m a…that I’m a…”

  “A what?” I ask.

  Her face lowers, her forehead resting on my chest as she whispers the answer. If I didn’t have above average hearing, I wouldn’t have even heard her say it.

  “A witch, huh? Sucks to be you,” I tell her honestly.

  “Why? Why does it suck to be me?” she snaps her head up to ask me.

  “Because you’re the needle in the haystack they’ve been searching through for centuries. And now that you’ve been found, they’re not gonna let you go.”

  “No. No, no, no,” she says resting her forehead on me again as she shakes her head.

  “Shh. It’s going to be okay,” I lie as I hug her to me. The poor girl is screwed, but there’s no reason to slap her in the face with that fact. Also, she has no clue that she’s the first woman to touch me in over five years. I had forgotten how much I missed the feeling of being needed, of providing comfort to someone. It’s…nice to be helpful for a change even though I can’t actually do anything to help her.

  “I think they want me to be their breeding mare!” she sobs, causing me to freeze because I know she’s right. Now that they have a witch, they’ll want her popping out little witches as soon and as often as possible whether she’s even ready to be a mother or not.

  “That’s what they do,” I tell her softly, resting my chin on the top of her head. “The masters take what they want from all of us and then have the balls to call it helping our kind.”

  “There’s nothing I can do to stop them?” she asks.

  “Nope. Not unless you’re more powerful than the three of them combined.”

  “I don’t have any powers. They’re wrong about me!”

  “I seriously doubt that. You wouldn’t be here unless they were sure. When it comes to humans, they keep this place locked down tighter than Fort Knox.”

  Pulling back to look up at me again, she says, “With your help, I bet I could get over the gate.”

  “Sure you could,” I agree. “And then you’ll get the shit shocked out of you. After that, they’ll drag you back to the mansion and lock you up in the dungeon.”

  “Is there a really a dungeon?” she asks.

  “Yes. Believe me, I know. I tried to escape when I first got here,” I say withholding the fact that I also had to visit my mom down there for an entire year – her punishment for not sending me to the academy when I was a teenager and had first shifted.

  “You tried to leave?”

  “Unsuccessfully, of course. Since I’m a shifter, they couldn’t give me a collar. Instead, I’ve got a device implanted in the back of my neck. It paralyzes my spine no matt
er if I’m in human form or tiger.”

  “Tiger? As in the…big, wild feline?”

  “That’s the one,” I agree.

  “Wow. I can’t believe there are vampires and…people like you in the world and I never knew it.”

  “Oh, so you’ve already met a vamp too?” I ask.

  “Yes. Drake.” She spits out his name like it’s a curse. “He’s the one who brought me here.”

  Damn. I always knew Drake was a prick, but this is an all-time low even for him.

  “Well, darlin’, I would help you if I could; but now that you’re here, all you can do is try to make the most of it. Trying to leave won’t do you a bit of good and will get you in deeper shit.”

  “No other option? Not even calling the police?”

  “Definitely not,” I respond. “If you bring police or any other humans here, they won’t make it out alive.”

  “Wow,” she mutters as that sinks in. Finally, she straightens, steeling her spine and says, “In that case, tell me everything you know about everyone. The head guy’s son, Kingston, said not to trust anyone but the warlocks, but I don’t think I can trust him either.”

  “You can’t,” I agree. “In fact, you shouldn’t trust anyone while you’re here. Not even me,” I say in all seriousness. “Now how about we properly introduce ourselves before I start blabbing? I’m Rowan.”

  I hold out my hand for her to shake and she takes it. “Harper.”

  “Nice to meet you, Harper, although I am sorry that it had to be here.”

  “Me too,” she says on a sigh.

  Chapter 6

  Harper

  Rowan is like a human, bear-sized, life preserver, saving me from drowning in this bizarre place tonight.

  As it turns out, he’s one of the security guards who patrols the grounds at night, which he says is boring but better than taking out trash or cleaning toilets like some of the other shifters. I now know that shifters are people who turn into animals during the full moon. Since that’s only a week away, I’m actually looking forward to seeing them all running around.