She growled and rubbed her temples in agitation. Were all relationships like this? She had heard about bull-headed men before, but this was too much. Maybe she should just give up and go home. Archer seemed to believe he had it under control, so why shouldn’t she? It would really show him if she let him have his way. He’d get himself and everyone he was with killed.
Suddenly, an ear-splitting roar shook the ground and Alana’s heart nearly stopped. The beast in their dreams. She knew suddenly that it had been unleashed.
She had come all this way to protect the man she loved. She couldn’t turn back now, even if he was being rash and foolish. She had to save him.
Alana followed the sounds of battle, running with all her might. It didn’t take long for her to find the desolate farmhouse. From a distance, she could see the battle raging. Several dragons flying around the monstrous beast from her dreams. It swatted at them like flies and there was already one man down on the ground, struggling to live.
Alana tried to find Archer, but she had no idea what he looked like in dragon form. Suddenly, a tiny figure became clear to her, hacking away with a sword at the beast’s legs. It was Archer. The beast hissed down at him and with frightening speed, swooped down and lifted Archer into its jaws.
The world became a blur as Alana’s body shapeshifted into her impressive dragon form. Archer was being swung wildly in the creature’s mouth as the other dragons tried, to no avail, to injure the beast. Its reptilian eyes were placed in sunken pink human flesh, and its body seemed diseased, splotched with scale and flesh with no discernible pattern. So this was what the Guardians had been working on for so long. A dragon-human hybrid. Their own abomination to counter the threat of alien life.
Alana flung herself at it and soon the creature was on its back. Archer managed to scramble from its mouth and crawl to safety. Alana would have to handle this on her own. Soon, they were engaged in a life or death battle as the other dragons sat back in awe of her impressive strength. They did their best to help, but Alana did the most damage, relying on instinct to find where the beast was most vulnerable to attack. She sunk her teeth deeply in its loose flesh and cringed as a foul aroma was unleashed. This was the weapon to end the war between the Guardians and the shifters, and that meant the Guardians had played it smart.
“Run!” she exclaimed urgently to the others. The gas that the hybrid’s bloated body released was noxious; something that wasn’t found on Kaldernon because it was toxic to all life on their planet. Alana realized suddenly that she was probably going to die. But she was satisfied to know the others would be safe, and were running for their lives.
She fell limply to the ground as the poison began to overtake her body. Just a few more breaths of it would kill her. But she was prepared to die.
Suddenly, Archer was between her and the hybrid, his eyes hard and serious. He stripped his shirt off and covered her nostrils with it and started to attack. He had been studying the way the hybrid moved from a distance and realized it was stitched unartfully together. If he could hack and slash at the stitches with his brute strength–always his preferred method–it wouldn’t be able to withstand the impact. It was an imperfect creation.
Alana’s eyelids were heavy as she watched Archer take on the beast alone, standing protectively over her. The gas didn’t seem to affect him for some reason. Maybe because he had been born on Earth and was protected outside of his dragon form. Whatever the reason, Archer fearlessly fought the hybrid off, hacking at its stitches until suddenly, it crumbled to the ground.
Alana was so weak that she had reverted back to her human form, and Archer lifted her over his head as he slashed the beast apart. It would have been impossible for either of them to defeat it alone, but together, it lay in a heap on the ground. Archer held his breath and ran as far away as he could before striking a match and throwing it at the corpse. The gas ignited immediately, and the farmhouse, the barn, everything the Guardians had there, exploded.
The force of the explosion threw Archer backward. The group of shifters were waiting for them on the other side of the property, and Archer stared sadly at the scene. He had been hoping to rescue Tanna, but it seemed as though he was a goner.
“Long time no see,” a deep voice suddenly said to him.
“Tanna?” he asked in disbelief. “I thought you were–“
“While you were fighting that thing, Thom figured to look for me in the barn. Got me out quick. Never been better. Thank you guys.”
“I’m so glad you’re safe,” Archer exclaimed, throwing his arms around Tanna in a big hug.
“Me too. And who is this?” he asked, raising his eyebrow approvingly at Alana, who was standing weakly beside Archer.
“The woman of my dreams,” Archer replied. “And my hero.”
Tanna nodded approvingly. “Well, thank you all.”
Together the band moved slowly through the forest and returned to the Kersh clan’s underground settlement, each of them grateful to be alive.
CHAPTER TWELVE
In the tunnels where Archer had made his lonely home, he tended to Alana until she was feeling better.
“The portal will open tomorrow,” she told him, lacing her fingers through his. “It’s going to take me home.”
“You’re going to leave me already?” he teased gently, stroking her hand with his broad thumb.
“Not necessarily,” Alana replied, pulling him close to her. Their lips lingered just centimeters apart. “I want you to come back with me. I want everyone to come back.”
A scouting party had returned to the scene of the battle from the night before and confirmed that the Guardians, at least twenty-four of them, had been slaughtered in the explosion. Archer had been smart enough to both wipe them and their hybrid creation out.
“I don’t know…”
Archer’s heart longed to be surrounded by the people from his youth. But it had been so long. How could anything be the same again? He was used to being right where he was.
His thoughts were interrupted by the luscious warmth of Alana’s lips. The sudden physical contact brought a surprised moan from Archer, and he caressed her shoulders and gently climbed over her. Alana’s breath was taken away by the abrupt sensation of Archer’s body so near to hers, and just as she had done in the dream, she bucked her hips up against him.
“Don’t leave me alone up there,” Alana warned him, gently pulling his member from his pants and guiding it to the heat of her middle. “I don’t think I can live without you now that we’re together at last.”
Archer had been thinking the same thing himself, and closed his eyes as the pleasure overwhelmed him. Alana was gently rocking her hips against him, wetting his shaft with her desire. He pushed aside her dress and slid himself fully inside of her. Alana gasped in pleasure.
“That’s not what I want either,” Archer admitted, showering her with hot, lingering kisses. He removed her blouse and fingered her breasts, in awe of the perfection of her body.
“Archer…”
Soon they were both lost in the hot rhythm of their desire. Archer made love to her gently on the small bed where she had been recovering from the battle. It had been hard for her to breathe since the gas had infected her, so he wanted to take it easy with her.
“Alana…”
He was enveloped between her thighs, and moaned as he was once again taken to heights he had never before imagined. It was much tamer than the dream, and yet it was even more intimate. This time it was real, and they were able to fully appreciate one another. They knew each other now. They were no longer strangers without a name. They were soulmates.
Alana began to shudder under Archer’s touch and soon he felt the familiar tug of her contracting muscles. His member was massaged left and right until he could no longer hold back the powerful culmination of his lust. Alana moaned deeply as she was filled with the explosive power of his climax, and he kissed her gently and held her close as they floated down together from the ceiling of the
ir ecstasy.
“Okay,” Archer said finally. “I’ll come with you.”
EPILOGUE
Kaldernon had only seen the likes of such excitement when the people of the Kersh clan had finally been liberated from the Guardians. Now, Archer, son of Clayton, was finally returning home. His parents were beside themselves with joy. The portal had opened, and the remaining members of the Kersh clan, all but Thom, who wanted to keep an eye out for more potential shifters and protect them from danger, had chosen to come back to Kaldernon.
Alana had teleported first, and was met by an expectant crowd. At first, Clayton and Krista’s faces fell when they saw that she was alone, but then she beamed brightly out at them.
“Hold the portal,” she said. “There are many more coming.”
Nobody was able to contain their excitement, and Alana went into Lopu’s waiting arms as one by one, the shifters and Lonis who had stayed behind began to reappear.
Finally, Archer was standing in front of the crowd, his icy blue eyes in a daze.
“I’m the last,” he said, blinking hard and trying to take in the vibrant colors of Kaldernon.
Clayton and Krista rushed toward their son and he was immediately embraced.
Archer’s defenses melted immediately, and he allowed his parents to hold him until they were all crying in joy.
“I missed you,” he said.
“We missed you, too!”
That was clearly an understatement.
“Come, meet your little sister!”
“I have a sister?” Archer asked, his face brightening. “I always wanted a baby sister.”
He was led off by his family, and after a long while of playing and eating delicious Loni food, Alana found him perched on the ledge of the fountain. He stood when he saw her, his smile more broad and beautiful than anything she had ever seen. He held his hands out to her and she took them, her eyes twinkling with pleasure.
“Welcome home,” she said.
THE END
Saved by the Werewolf Billionaire
Samantha Leal
Copyright ©2015 by Samantha Leal. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Thank you so much for your interest in my work!
1.
Laurie lay back in bed and looked up at the ceiling. It was almost midnight and she had been waiting for her moment since earlier that evening. Brad had come home drunk, again… it was the fourth night in a row and with each one he had become more angry and uncontrollable than the night before. He was lying next to her, face down with his mouth lolling open and a big string of drool snaking its way onto the flattened pillow beneath him. She could almost taste his breath as the sweet tang of whiskey lingered in the air between them. He breathed in and out deeply, snoring as he inhaled and puffing back into the bed sheets. Laurie closed her eyes and gathered her courage. She would have to do it soon.
She’d known for at least two months that this day was going to come, but now that it had and as she was finally getting ready to make her move, she was terrified. Her and Brad had been together for a year, and for at least half of that he had been completely unbearable to live with. It had started with the odd dig at her clothing choice or selection of friends and had progressively gotten more and more belittling and cruel. One moment he had loved her and the next he seemed to despise her. The compliments she had been honored to receive had turned into sneers, and instead of wanting to spend time with her and appreciate her, he had done nothing but lay around in bed all day. Then when he had had his fill of sloth, he would drag himself to the nearest bar, get wasted, and eventually come back home in a terrible mood, goading for yet another fight.
Laurie remembered what it had felt like to fall for Brad. He had been the first person she considered herself to have been in love with, but as his true colors revealed themselves, she had just felt foolish and naive. He was a brute of a man and wasn’t nearly good enough for her. The night he had come home so drunk that he could barely stand up straight and had then preceded to accuse her of having an affair with a man at work had been the tipping point. He had physically pinned her against the wall by her throat. She knew then that she was going to have to get away from him. He wasn’t stable and she wasn’t safe being anywhere near him at this point. If she didn’t get away from him who knew what would happen when he’d had one shot too many again? Surely it wouldn’t be long before the threats turned into even more serious aggression, and she wasn’t going to wait around for the inevitable.
She never could have been prepared for what happened next though. She had not even known that he had ever been engaged, but when a girl walked into the jewelry store where Laurie worked she knew the minute she laid eyes on her that she was somehow connected to Brad and that she was going to drop a bomb.
“Laurie Miller?” she said quietly, as timid as a mouse when she opened the door and stepped inside. “Do you have a minute?”
Even though her heart was pounding and her mouth was dry Laurie had agreed to meet her out back and excused herself for a ten minute break. She rounded the corner at the side of the store and turned into the alley. As she looked at the girl in front of her she saw for the first time the shadows that seemed to play just behind this woman’s eyes. She appeared completely broken and scared.
“You need to get away from him,” she whispered, “He’s not sane.”
Laurie had already figured this out for herself, but had been taking a more measured approach to her withdrawal from the relationship. Now, though, with this woman standing right in front of her confirming all of her worst fears, her sense of urgency was peaked and she knew the time had come to leave. No more excuses.
“He knocked six of my teeth out,” the girl said quietly, looking down at the road and instinctively putting her hand to her mouth. “I had to get a restraining order.”
Laurie’s head was spinning. She didn’t even know how the girl had found her. She said she’d been engaged to Brad three years before and that it was after they’d moved in together that he had started his mind games and abusive behavior. He’d made her life hell, blaming her for things that hadn’t happened, criticizing her appearance, and had verged on violence many times. Then one day he’d finally snapped completely and shoved her head against the refrigerator door.
“I heard he was with someone new,” she said quietly, “Took me a while to get the courage, but I had to warn you…” With that, she turned and made her way to the end of the alley. As she approached the road with its steady stream of cars driving past, she turned and added, “Get out while you can.” With that she turned one last time and was gone.
Laurie stood in the alley, resting against the wall and for the first time in months she went into her handbag, rooted around in it for bit, and pulled out a cigarette. She dragged on it hurriedly three times before throwing it on the floor and stamping it out.
“Fuck,” she whispered to herself. She leaned her head back and looked up to the sky as she felt the tears well up behind her eyes.
It was after work that day that she’d gone home and started to pack. She’d dragged her clothes out of the drawers and thrown them into the trunk of her car. A lot of her things were still in their shared wardrobe but she didn’t dare touch them in case he went in there when he got home and saw that they were missing. She would just have to leave them behind. Her car keys were on the central island in the kitchen and she put them in her handbag which she then placed by the door. When she heard the familiar sound of his truck swerving onto the street she turned out the light and pretended to be asleep, although underneath the covers she was mostly clothed. All she would have to do was throw on a pair of jeans with some shoes and she would be good to go.
Brad practically kicked open the front door in his drunkenness be
fore he staggered down the hallway, stopping at the kitchen to grab yet another beer. Finally, he crashed into the bedroom, the still unopened fresh beer in hand, and fell down next to her, face first on the mattress. He dropped the unopened bottle on the floor and she heard it roll under the bed. He was asleep within seconds and she was very glad she hadn’t waited up to face him.
This is it, she thought. This is the first day of the rest of your life.
2.
She would never call it running away. She just needed to regroup her thoughts, be on her own for a while and know that there was a great deal of distance between her and Brad Richards. After she had snuck out of the house she had only just got to her car when she looked up and saw his silhouette in the doorway, his fists clenched and his eyes wild with anger. She had been sure he was out for the night. She tried to start the engine but in her panic dropped the keys. She immediately slammed her palms down on the locks, making sure the doors were secure. Brad stomped across the lawn shouting at her. She did her best to block the impending threat out in order to focus on her escape. She had to find the keys and she had to get the car moving. When she finally found them on the edge of the floor mat she picked them up with shaking hands and slid them into the ignition.
“Fucking bitch,” Brad spat at the window as he pounded his fist against it. She looked up at him one more time and she saw something in him she had always known was there but that was at last revealed, the maniac beneath the surface. He punched the glass with the full force of his muscular arms and it cracked as she threw the car into reverse and sped off down the drive. He chased her to the end of their road, jumping at the trunk and hammering on the back window as she slowed to turn the corner.
SCAR (LOST CREEK SHIFTERS NOVELLAS Book 2) Page 107
