by K. F. Breene
“After food, and in a place with no kids. I don’t want to control my volume next time.”
“That was you controlling your volume?”
“Yes. When I enjoy sex, I’m not shy about showing it.”
He stroked her hair. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You were a virgin before you met me.”
“Rage is my forte. You’re supposed to be the calm one.”
“Not where it concerns you.”
“Sweet and insane—my kinda man.” She kissed him on the forehead. “We better go down. I get the feeling Charles will be back, and this time, he’ll barge his way in.”
“You already have his number, I’ll give you that. That’s exactly what he’d do. If it wasn’t for Anne, he’d then offer to join in.”
She laughed and rolled off him, staggering once she was up. “I’m going to walk bowlegged for a while.”
He followed her up, equally shaky, and put on his clothes. As she smoothed her hair, he wrapped his arms around her middle and hugged her close, just breathing her in.
“I feel calmer now than I have…since I can remember.” She leaned back against him, putting her cheek to his. “I feel human.”
“Do shifters lose themselves to their animals?”
“The ones that go rogue do. Actually, rogue shifters take the worst parts of being human, and mix them with the worst parts of their animals. Nature doesn’t torture. Nature doesn’t glory-kill. Animals kill out of necessity. For survival. To eat, or to protect themselves, their mates, or their young. Rogue shifters strip away nature’s checks and balances and put in the underbelly of human nature. It’s the worst kind of thing.”
“What are you saying?”
“That I fight with being rogue every day of my life. The rage, and the violence, and the pain and scars of my past, threaten to take over constantly.”
“So my making you feel human…”
“You’re saving me from myself. You’re protecting me. I don’t have to battle, I just have to look into your logical, calm gaze and find my way back. It’s the best gift anyone could give me.” She turned, tears leaking down her cheeks, and burrowed into him. “So no, this isn’t really crazy for me. This makes sense. I’m lucky to have found you.”
He squeezed her tight. “We all have demons to fight, it’s better to fight them together.”
She nodded into his chest.
Another series of bangs hit their door. “Okay, seriously, you guys, this is getting ridiculous. Poke and go. We’ve got stuff to do.”
Jameson ripped the door open, still shirtless.
Charles stood there with a half-drunk mimosa in hand. “Holy shit, dude. What’s… You got a sort of… Something’s wrong with you, bro. Also, your hair is stupid looking. Almost as stupid looking as your face.”
Jameson stepped forward and punched Charles in the shoulder.
“Ah.” Charles looked at his mimosa, in the opposite hand. “Good call on which shoulder to punch. That was thinking. You smell weird.” Charles’ gaze darted past Jameson, then widened. “Oh. It’s like that. Okay, then.” He stepped back.
“Like what?” Addison asked, stepping around Jameson to lead him out of the door.
Jameson shrugged into his undershirt before putting on his button-up. “He sees that I marked you.”
“I would ask if he told you the full meaning of a mark like that,” Charles said, “but it’s Jameson. He probably gave you a graph to go with the explanation.”
“Do you ever shut up?” Jameson asked, finally following them out into the hall.
“That’s hurtful,” Charles said, putting his hand to his chest.
“You need to lay off the mimosas.” Jameson pushed Charles out of the way and caught up to Addison. He slipped his arm around her waist.
“No. You need to catch up, son.”
“I need to use the restroom,” Addison said before bending toward him and kissing his jaw. She smiled and ducked away into the bathroom.
“She needs to wipe the makeup off her face,” Charles said, filling in her place. “Made her sweat, huh? Good work, bro. When she sweats, you know she is really into it. Not sweating, and she is faking. Take that to the bank!” Charles slapped Jameson’s back.
“Fuck off.”
“Oh, great. You get a woman and suddenly you turn into Jonas. Next thing I know, you’ll be declaring how much you like being spanked.”
“Declaring? What are you, educated?”
“Dude. Go back to no sense of humor. It fits you better.”
Jameson couldn’t help smiling as he entered the kitchen. No one else had joined the party yet, and the early crew all had drinks except for Selene.
“Finally!” Sasha hurried over with a mimosa. “Chug it, then I’ll get you another. We called in more kid help. We’re going to drink to the occasion. Wait.” Sasha stepped back and closed an eye. “What the hell?”
Jameson reached forward and took the mimosa as Anne came forward, sniffing. “I smell the beta on you,” Anne said.
“Anne, don’t be naive. They bumped uglies. Of course you smell Addy on him.” Charles finished his mimosa and nudged Sasha with his empty glass.
“Get your own, ingrate,” Jonas said as he leaned against the counter.
“I am a guest, and guests get waited on.” Charles rolled his eyes at Jonas, then offered his glass that way. “Why don’t you do it? Get yourself another while you’re at it. Your personality needs more alcohol.”
Jonas took the glass and headed toward the bar.
“That went better than I expected,” Charles said.
The Boss stepped toward Jameson, assessing. “Anne is right. This isn’t a superficial smell. He has her magical smell.”
“How’d the beta do it?” Anne asked.
“Do what?” Addison asked as she strolled into the room, beautiful and relaxed. Jameson held out his arm, and she filled space between that and his body.
“Oh. Wow. Going all the way, huh?” Paulie said from the far end of the kitchen.
“That makes everyone else except for us,” Selene said, crossing her arms and staring at Paulie.
“You marked him with your essence,” Anne said as Paulie stepped forward for a sniff, ignoring Selene’s accusatory stare.
He crinkled his nose. “You smell a little like shifter. Poetic justice for hatin’ on them so hard.” He laughed and handed Addison a drink. “Drink up, you two. Otherwise Charles will be annoying instead of funny.”
“Not even then,” the Boss said.
“I’m hilarious. He knows it.” Charles hooked a thumb the Boss’s way.
“This is not how I imagined the fiercer of your people,” Addison said with a lopsided grin.
“Anne and I have rubbed off on them.” Sasha attempted to wink, but both eyes closed. “C’mon, Addison, I’ll give you a tour of the house. Maybe if you feel comfortable here, Jameson won’t always be in such a hurry to leave.”
Selene and Anne followed them out, with Emmy sneaking after them as well. Leaving all the guys in the kitchen.
Jameson took a sip of his mimosa and waited as everyone shifted and looked at nothing.
Finally it was Charles that broke the ice. “You proposed on the first date, then?”
“I haven’t proposed yet. Just said I’d kill anyone that touched her.”
“Oh, right.” Charles nodded. “So you went the insane jealousy route with it. Gotcha.”
Jonas shrugged. “He wants what he wants.”
“Made me look bad with Selene,” Paulie muttered. “Now she’ll be peppering me to do that claiming thing.”
The Boss pushed away from the counter and passed by, and as he did, he laid a big pat on Jameson’s shoulder. It was his blessing, basically. His approval. It meant a lot.
“Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.” Charles put out one of his arms. His tattoos glowed to life, burnished gold—the highest power before white.
Jameson grinned, letting the magic flow through
him. The streaks of white showed clearly.
“Shit.” Charles let his magic fade. “And you don’t even have Sasha’s influence to push you higher like I do. That girl is pow-er-ful, yo. I wonder what Tim’s power looks like.”
“It’s a rush, though,” Jameson said softly, glancing the way the women went to make sure he wasn’t overheard. He walked across the kitchen to be closer to the other guys, leaning against the counter. The Boss wandered back as well. “Their magic is intense. More primal than I’ve ever felt, which is saying something.”
“Way more brutal, bro,” Charles said. “Did you let her take yours?”
“Yeah.” Jameson took another sip, hoping he wasn’t defying her trust saying these things. It wasn’t wholly intimate to talk about this subject for his people, but then, his people fucked their way through the mansion in the course of their normal day.
“Did she rip into you like her animal?” Charles asked.
“Yeah.” Jameson rubbed his neck, the marks already healing. His cock twitched.
Charles’ grin said it all.
“So now what?” Jonas asked. “You gotta change your life around for this. It seems too quick.”
Jameson shrugged. “What changes? She moves in with me, we each go to work at about the same time, we come home, the end.”
Everyone looked around, nothing more to offer. Because really, the only thing that would really change in his life was adding someone he couldn’t live without. Giving up other women, or random hookups, was nothing. He didn’t find much pleasure in those, and never really had. They were a release, nothing more.
As far as his house, having someone come through and redecorate, or move things around, or whatever women did, was fine by him. She was a clean, organized sort of person—as long as he could find things, he didn’t care where they were. Bottom line: he now realized he’d been waiting for the right person to share his life. And now he’d found one. An exceptional one, at that. This felt right.
“You guys, come in here!” Anne yelled.
They filed out, each giving Jameson a pat or nudge as they moved along. In the living room all the larger kids were lying on the ground near the Christmas tree, toys tucked under their arms, sleeping soundly. One of the child minders was holding Charles’ baby, also asleep, rocking her gently.
Everyone there broke off into their pairs, the parents looking down on their sleeping children as Christmas music drifted in softly. Addison found Jameson, putting her arms around his middle and smiling up at him. For once, he wasn’t the odd man out. And for once, he felt included in the tender family setting in which he found himself.
Epilogue
“Where are you?” Jonas asked over the phone.
Jameson stepped out of his SUV at the wooded shifter compound. “Just picking up Addison.”
“Hurry up. Emmy is stressing that the pork will dry out. And grab some ice on your way.”
“Yep.” Jameson clicked off the phone and continued up the driveway. It was New Year’s Eve, and they were expected at Jonas’s house for the evening.
A shifter crossed his path, glancing his way. His eyes met Jameson’s, then widened. Instead of puffing up and getting in his way, like before, this shifter hunched and carried on, nothing to say.
It had been like that since his first night with Addison a week ago. Whenever he was in the vicinity of shifters, they took one look, or a sniff, and hurried on their way. Addison had definitely marked him, and it made his life with the furry critters much easier.
He stood outside the cabin, feeling anxiety coming from his link with Addison. Something was up that hadn’t been a problem yesterday evening when he dropped her off.
He knocked, and got a thrill when she opened the door, looking beautiful, as always. A huge smile crossed her face. “Hey,” she said.
“Ready?” He held out his arm.
“Definitely.” She took it, but the anxiety intensified.
Once in the vehicle and on the way, he said, “What’s up?”
She blew out a breath. “I got my period.”
A tinge of regret ran through him. He’d be terrified if she was pregnant, since he didn’t know anything about kids, but on the other hand, he wanted to learn. He wanted that experience with one of his own.
He covered her knee with his hand. “Are you okay?”
“Are you okay?” she asked, her eyes on him, the anxiety turning up a notch. “There’s the brow furrow. You’re disappointed, aren’t you?”
“No.” He shook off his confusion.
“Truth,” she said. “I can feel that you’re lying. Which is both a blessing and a curse with this link.”
He blew out a breath. “I would’ve been fine if it was never an issue, but since it was a possibility, I did get attached to the idea. I do want to have kids, but no, I’m not upset that we’re not having them right this minute.”
“Good. Because I’m up for kids. As soon as I figure them out, I think I could handle it. I mean, why not, right? Your people are all over helping out at a moment’s notice. But right now… It’s just, I’m new here, and I want to get everything organized before I have to battle an alien inside of me.”
He laughed. “Okay. But one thing I won’t wait on is you moving in. What’s the status?”
She clasped her hands together and sat up straight, ready to give a report. He rolled his eyes, knowing she was making fun of him. “The intruders have not been back, so your assurance that we got them all seems legit. With the new system you helped me put into place, I think that compound is protected, as well as the primary shifter houses in the city. So, after the holiday, I should be all set to find my own permanent residence.”
Joy bubbled through him. “And that residence will be…?”
“Yours, yes. And being that your house is a freaking mansion, I won’t make you buy a bigger one. I will, however, make you pay for the deep cleaning. Because I’m not doing that. I’m not cooking, either, so hopefully you like takeout.”
“I cook. Whoever eats with me cleans up.”
She laughed and put her hand on his thigh.
He entwined his fingers with hers. “It’s been a week and we don’t hate each other. That’s a good sign.”
“Very good, since as far as our people are concerned, we’re mated.”
“I love you,” he said sincerely, squeezing her hand.
“I love you, too. Thank you for the best Christmas and New Year’s gifts I could ever have gotten.”
“Is that a sarcastic hint to get you something?”
“I meant you, dummy.”
He waited until they hit a stop sign, and pulled her in for a deep kiss. The honk behind them made her lips curl into a smile. “We better get going or we’re going to be late.”
He kissed her once more and continued on, the happiest he’d ever been.
***
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The End
Try Chosen by K.F. Breene
Synopsis:
It is said that when war threatens the world, one individual will be selected by prophecy to lead the Shadow Warriors out of the Land of Mist and reclaim the freedom which has been stolen.
~~
Shanti has grown up under the constant threat of war. Since she helped her people defeat a raiding party by using a special power, she’s been a hunted woman. Carrying rare abilities and an uncanny fighting aptitude, Shanti is the only hope of salvation for her people. The problem is, she doesn’t believe in her own divinity, and when she flounders, she nearly fails in the duty hanging so heavy on her shoulders.
It seems like any other day when Sanders and his band of misfit boys find a foreign woman clinging to life in the wastelands. Oblivious to the weapon they now have in their possession, they are content to harbor the mysterious woman until she is well enough to continue her journey.
But when the war spreads its arms and lands on her borrowed doorstep, Shanti has no choice but to reveal her secrets, plunging her saviors into danger. If they band with her, they will face certain death. But to trade her to Xandre, the warlord desperate to add her to his war machine, would be to give up their entire way of life.
Buy it now: Chosen
About the Author
K.F. Breene is a USA TODAY BESTSELLING author of the Darkness Series and Warrior Chronicles. She lives in wine country where over every rolling hill, or behind every cow, an evil sorcerer might be plotting his next villainous deed while holding a bottle of wine and brick of cheese. Her husband thinks she’s cracked for wandering around, muttering about magic and swords. Her kids are on board with her fantastical imagination, except when the description of the monsters becomes too real.
She’ll wait until they’re older to tell them that monsters are real, and so is the magic to fight them. She wants them to sleep through the night, after all…
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Other Titles by K.F. Breene
Darkness Series
Into the Darkness, Novella 1 - FREE
Braving the Elements, Novella 2
On a Razor’s Edge, Novella 3
Demons, Novella 4
The Council, Novella 5
Shadow Watcher, Novella 6
Jonas, Novella 7
Charles, Novella 8
Warrior Chronicles
Chosen, Book 1
Hunted, Book 2
Shadow Lands, Book 3
Invasion, Book 4
Siege, Book 5
Overtaken, Book 6
Finding Paradise
