Shifters in the Shadows: Seventeen Paranormal Romances of Sexy Shifters, Dangerous Vamps, & Things That Go Bump in the Night

by J. K Harper

  "Yes," she said, feeling utterly at ease as both her human and her wolf side accepted the truth of what was happening right now. "Yes, Quentin. Right now."

  With a groan, her big, burly man took the final step over to her and gathered her into his arms, pressing her close to him. His lips found hers, seeking and ravaging with all the pent-up energy of the run they had just experienced together. She was just as amped up as he was, and answered him stroke for stroke. Her tongue tangled with his, her teeth clashed against his as her lips tried to devour every inch of his mouth. He tasted strong, feral, and utterly divine.

  "Abby," he groaned, the rumble of his bear still muttering beneath his voice. "Mine," he growled, swallowing her answering cry.

  His broad, strong hands smoothed their way over her skin from her shoulders down her back, to the swell of her hips. His fingers tightened over her rear, pushing her hips against his, where she felt the heavy thickness of his dick pressing against her. The sensation made her lightheaded. Her entire body was already completely aroused from the run in the deep, wild magic of the moonlight around them. The fingers of his hand eased around the front of her hip, pressing between their stomachs and down between her legs. She let herself ease back a bit so he could find what he sought. As his exploring fingers encountered the dampness already heating her from between her legs, he groaned again with an almost desperate sound.

  "Abby," he said, pulling his head back slightly so he could look at her eyes in the moonlight. His own eyes were dark—almost completely swallowed up by his pupils so soon after shifting. "I need to be inside you right now, gorgeous. Right now."

  The dark, sexy need of his voice shuddered its way through Abby even as his thick fingers pushed deeper inside her, another one sliding in, then a third squeezing around the other two. She felt deliciously stretched, moaning as he began circling one of his fingers inside her.

  "Okay," she said in what she knew sounded like little more than a breath. "Sounds like a great idea." She sounded inane, but she didn't care. She wanted the same thing. She wanted him inside her.

  If this was what a hunter's moon run was supposed to be like, then she was in. All the way. Never in her life had she had a run like this.

  Then again, never before in her life had she run with Quentin like this. On a mating run. A full hunter's moon mating run.

  Gently and urgently, Quentin suddenly scooped her up, causing her to squeal a little bit. He very gently laid her down on the floor of the meadow, following with his own body. He snugged her into his side, warming her even more. She opened her mouth to speak, but he shook his head. “Let me touch you for just a minute, Abby," he whispered. The sheer need that made his voice shake trapped her own voice in her throat as she stared at him. "Let me touch you first."

  Trembling, she nodded. It took everything she had to not just grab his head and pull it down for another kiss, but she resisted. He knew what he was doing. Whatever it was, she wanted to be there for every second of it.

  Quentin smoothed his hand down over Abby's body, gently running his fingers from her collarbone over her breast, her stomach, her hip, the top of her thigh. Then he ran his hand up the other side, as if he were feeling her for the first time ever. His hand trembled with effort. Effort, she knew, that was him keeping himself from just taking her.

  That was what she wanted more than just about anything right now. Fine, he wanted to touch her first and she would let him, but—

  "Oh!" Abby gasped as Quentin suddenly leaned his head down to lick and stroke one breast while his other hand moved back between her legs, his fingers diving back in to her wet, needy depths. "Oh, okay. That's good. Oh, wow. Quentin." She knew she sounded totally nonsensical, but she was beyond caring. His touch sent fire blazing through her, as if her nerves were made of molten liquid that shivered and trembled and grew ever hotter beneath his touch. Between her legs, she felt the ache deep in her core that told her she needed his touch desperately. Now.

  "Abby. So damn beautiful." Sheer worship colored Quentin's voice. She half giggled, half gasped as his voice and his beard tickled over her breast, then moved to the other one.

  Her hips began moving almost of their own volition, gently swirling and circling and lifting off the ground. The moonlight poured over both of them, seeming almost as bright as day, although it cast inky black shadows, giving a mysterious, momentous cast to the little meadow. Abby dug her hands into Quentin's hair, clutching his head, pressing him closer to her breast. He lightly bit her nipple, making her gasp, then did the same to the other one. Back and forth he went, even as his hands whirled and stroked inside her. She was getting so wet there she could hardly stand it. She was ready for him. More than ready for him.

  She'd never been more ready for this man in her life.

  "Quentin," she said, her voice nothing more than a trembling gasp.

  "Yes," he finally said, lifting his head from his breast and shifting his body so that he was completely on top of her. "You're so wet for me, Abby. I'm not going to be able to hold back," he warned. "It's half killing me to hold back this much."

  "Don't hold back anymore," she commanded as best she could with her still shaky voice. "Don't you dare hold back on me, Quentin."

  Groaning, Quentin said, "Never. I'll never hold back on you again."

  With that, he reached down to guide himself to her entrance. Abby spread her knees, lifting her hips toward him as she looked into the wild darkness of his eyes.

  "Now, babe," he said. His voice roughened into a growl of anticipation. "Now!" With a roar, Quentin plunged himself into Abby, his steel-hard dick sliding into her. It filled her so full that she screamed from the stunning delight of it as her hands moved down to grip his shoulders with a strength she vaguely thought might bruise him. But she didn't care. Her Quentin, her lover, her mate, was plunging in and out of her, diving into her with deep strokes.

  Claiming her fully as his.

  * * *

  Quentin thrust himself into Abby's welcoming heat again and again, his head about ready to explode from the sound of her eager cries as she moved with him. Like a dance partner he'd known forever, who knew his every move and joyfully met them with her own. He didn't think it was possible, but his dick seemed to get bigger and harder, encased in her slick wet heat as he thrust in, then out, then back in. Her hair, an outflung wild golden mane around the face he could tell even in the moonlight was flushed, begged for him to gently grab on and hold. So he did, even as she held onto his shoulders and back so hard he felt as if she were burning her very fingerprints into his skin.

  As she clenched slightly around him, her voice took on this sexy, guttural quality it always did as she approached orgasm.

  "Yeah, babe," he said, barely holding himself back from spilling his seed inside her. He wanted her to come first. He wanted to feel her spasming around him in her wild release so he could enjoy every second of it as he plunged over the edge himself with her.

  "Come for me, Abby. Come for me, beautiful." He thrust into her faster, cupping one hand around her head as he bucked against her in the crystal clear moonlight. Far off in the distance, he heard a few wild echoes of wolf howls spiraling up over the mountainside. Abby arched her back, her sweet inner walls abruptly clutching him tightly as she suddenly shrieked out, the sound of her climax spilling out of her mouth in a sweet, joyous call that he couldn't help but echo himself seconds later as he fell right over that same damned beautiful edge with his mate.

  White fire seemed to lick through Quentin's body, jumping over to Abby and binding the two of them together tightly under the moonlight as their bodies moved and exploded and melted together as one. Her hoarse cries shouted along with his into the night air, her wolf howling beneath her voice even as his bear roared beneath his as the two of them claimed one another. As the two of them mated beneath the beauty of the magical full moon.

  As the lingering, delicious shudders ebbed and flowed and finally rolled away from both of them, Quentin gently lowe
red his body slightly to the side of Abby's, keeping his arm and leg flung over her while the bulk of his body rested on the ground so as not to crush her. He listened to her breathing as it steadied along with his. A deep sense of peace and satisfaction spread through his limbs like never before.

  After more long moments, during which Abby's hands gently rubbed his back and arms and basically every inch of skin she could touch, her face nuzzled into his neck, the heat of her body mingled with his combating the slight chill that both their shifter genes already protected them against, she softly laughed.

  "What's so funny?" he asked, his own mouth slipping into a smile at the sound of her sweet laughter.

  "Me," she said, shrugging beneath him. "You. Both of us. This," he could tell she was waving a free arm around, indicating the glen in the moonlight and the distant echoes of wolf howls in the mountains. "Us. I'm laughing," and she nuzzled her face into his neck even more, lightly kissing him, “because this is perfect. Because it's what I needed. What we both needed."

  Quentin leaned back a little bit, tipping his fingers under her chin gently so that she looked up at him. He could see the luminous blue-green of her eyes even in the moonlight, enhanced by the glow of her wolf. "Because you're finally ready to admit that I was right?" He let his grin tumble into his words. "You're finally ready to admit that I'm your mate, even if I am just a big, gruff, bumbling bear?"

  So quickly that it took his breath away and wiped away his grin into a serious, heartfelt expression, Abby said, "You're not bumbling. What you are is the fastest, strongest, most incredible man I've ever met. Bear, wolf, it doesn't matter. Wait," she interrupted herself, looking at him with a tiny frown on her forehead. "It does matter. It does matter that you're a bear. It's part of what makes you you, Quentin," she added so firmly that the sound shivered its way into his soul.

  “My wolf shifter mate," he said, wonder touching his voice even though he'd already known the truth of it for a long time. "I don't know what it is about tonight, if it's full moon magic and pack run magic and who knows what else, but I know more strongly than I've ever known before that you're exactly that for me, too. My mate. That I'm yours," he added just as firmly as she had.

  Abby smiled up at him, her sweet, full lips curving up with the luscious intention that slayed him every time he looked at her. "Some kind of magic for sure," she agreed.

  "Of course,” he said lightly, though every part of him felt buoyant and free, “it was because I was fast enough to catch you. Faster than you thought I could be, huh?"

  "Oh, yeah?" The sweet, teasing challenge in her voice whispered over him as she threaded her hand back into his hair. "You only caught me, because I let you."

  "Is that so," he murmured, leaning down to her lips again. "Well, since you did, my sexy wolf shifter mate," he added, smiling again at the immense joy that word sent through him, a joy he saw reflected on her own face, "then I suppose we have the whole night ahead of us to keep seeing who's caught who."

  “I think you're right. My sexy bear shifter mate,” she said, smiling up at him.

  He proved the truth of that to her over and over again, all the amazing night long.

  Also by J.K. Harper

  J.K. Harper's books:

  Black Mesa Wolves

  Wicked Wolf Shifters

  Dragon Mates (Reckless Desires)

  About the Author

  J.K. Harper writes about paranormal romance because despite a lifetime of wishing, all the cool supernatural book characters of her childhood just don't seem to be real. Besides, it's really fun to make stuff up. She lives in the rugged, gorgeous canyon country of the Southwest, which is a great place to let her imagination run wild.

  Website | Mailing list | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

  Hell or High Water

  by Kit Fawkes

  Chapter 1

  Naiya Levitt took a sip of her warm Rum and Coke, wrinkling her nose. The ice had melted quickly. Discreetly, she dipped her pinky into the glass and concentrated on the water molecules, bringing them to a more appropriate temperature and freshening the ice. The next sip was much better, and she drank half before pausing to take a break.

  Her friend Nora came by, grabbing her hand, and Naiya tossed back the rest of her drink as quickly as she could before setting down the glass on an empty table. She knew exactly what Nora had in mind, and she wasn’t taking her drink on the dance floor. Neither would she be wanting any of it when she returned if it had been left sitting out in the open. Who knew what kind of perv might tamper with the contents?

  She and Nora danced for several songs along with her friend Holly, the three of them having an excellent time, which she suspected was enhanced by her alcohol buzz. It was her last Halloween party at the sorority house, since she’d be graduating this year, and they were another part of college life she was going to miss.

  She wasn’t going to miss the early classes and the long study sessions though. Naiya was definitely excited about graduating and becoming an actual nurse, as soon as she passed her exams and got her certification. Just a few months to go now, and it should be easier to focus since she’d decided not to let men sway her attention.

  As though someone was testing her resolve, one of the guys who had been dancing near them turned in her direction, reaching for her hand to pull her against him. She tugged away and shook her head, looking pointedly at her girlfriends. He shrugged and turned back to his friends and the girls they’d been dancing with casually. She was proud of herself for maintaining resolve—though to be honest, she hadn’t been attracted to him.

  The last man she’d found attractive had ended up turned inside out, literally, but that was only after he’d broken her heart three times. She still hadn’t decided how she felt about Jeb Franco. If he hadn’t died, she would have been just plain hurt and angry, and she was certain she wouldn’t have taken him back for a fourth time. She hoped she wouldn’t have anyway. He had a way of persuading her that was always counter to her logic and intelligence. Maybe it was just hormones, because he’d been an attractive man and knew how to use that to batter down her defenses.

  She forced her thoughts away from Jeb, since she tended to get morose. He had died so abruptly, and under such strange circumstances, but she found herself thinking about him more than she probably would have if he were still alive. It had only been a couple of months since his death, and they had broken up just shortly before that, so it wasn’t unusual to be thinking about him, she supposed, but she wanted to stop doing so.

  By the time she stopped dancing, she was feeling hot and sweaty. Naiya helped herself to a Sprite from the open bar, skipping the alcohol this time since her head was starting to feel a little fuzzy. She didn’t want to have a raging hangover tomorrow, since she had an early class, and then a shift at the hospital later in the day.

  The large house was stuffy with all the people crammed inside, and the blend of perfume, cologne, sweat, and alcohol was starting to make her feel nauseated. She took her Sprite and slipped around to the back entrance, stepping outside onto the patio. There were a few other people scattered here and there, but the air was too cold for lingering long.

  She remembered how she and her sisters used to trick-or-treat this time of year, never letting the cold stop them from wearing thin costumes and venturing out in search of candy. She’d been the youngest of the four, so they had kept her close. As the years passed, Serafina, who was the oldest, stopped going with them, and then Moria, until finally it was just herself and Kaia. The last two years she’d gone trick-or-treating, it had been with a couple of friends, since her youngest older sister had finally abandoned the tradition too.

  She had a moment of nostalgia, but knew she wouldn’t want to be that age again. It was also nice to be free of her sisters’ constant hovering. Even now, they still tended to baby her, though she was almost twenty-two. Serafina in particular was overprotective, but Naiya knew that was partially her fault. She often went to her oldest sister w
hen she had a problem, certain Serafina could fix it. That was probably unfair, and it was certainly ridiculous to get annoyed at being treated like a baby when she was acting like one.

  The fresh air had helped clear her head and settle her stomach, and she dragged in another lungful. As she did so, the faintest whiff of sulfur hit her nose. It was almost undetectable, but was unusual enough for her to notice. She turned in search of the source, frowning slightly.

  A tall man stood just behind her, and when she turned to him, she was almost touching his chest with hers. She stared up at him, tilting her head slightly to the side, and got lost in his dark eyes. They were literally the darkest eyes she’d ever seen, and without even a hint of sclera. They sent a chill down her spine, and her senses immediately alerted her she was in the presence of another supernatural being.

  She wasn’t all that accurate at guessing what type of supernatural creature she was interacting with when she ran across them, but she knew immediately from the dark eyes and the faint sulfur scent, coupled with the heat pouring off him, that she was facing a demon. It didn’t make her tremble just because he was a demon, since he was simply another type of paranormal creature. As a witch, she would have inspired fear in humans if they had known. She tried not to make any snap judgments about anyone, including demons. They simply dwelt in a different dimension than Earth and had different powers.