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

by J. K Harper

  Logan walked through the door. Naked to the waist in a pair of worn blue jeans she remembered as his favorite for doing work around the house.

  Naomi bolted to her feet and stood staring at him with her mouth agape.

  "Hey baby," he smiled at her as he crossed the room and took her in his arms. The kiss was tender, slow, and thorough but not the frantic, hungry beginning of their last meeting.

  "Hey baby," he said again, only this time addressing her stomach by kneeling on the floor before her and lightly kissing the place that would soon be swollen with child.

  Naomi dropped to the floor to get at eye level, "What are you doing here?" Her voice was shrill with excitement.

  "You're pregnant," Logan's eyes danced with light, "apparently that's a really big deal."

  Logan caught her in his arms and kissed her again, pulling her down with him so she landed on his bare chest as he rolled onto his back on the living room carpet.

  "In all the visits to the living world, in all the millennia that visits have been made, only a very, very few have resulted in the creation of a new life," he explained as his hands brushed the hair back from her face, "it's considered a very special event on the other side. So," his smile was so beautiful, so filled with joy, she couldn't take her eyes off him as he rolled them both over till he was above her looking down, "I have been authorized to return to this side so that I can protect that life. And because our love was strong enough to create that life, it's very important that we not be kept from each other."

  He sealed his lips to hers, slipping his tongue between them and sliding it against hers till her breath escaped her.

  "Oh my God, Logan! You're back! You're back!"

  Naomi's voice filled with ecstatic sobs as she threw her arms around his neck, pulling him down so she could kiss him again.

  Instead of kissing her back, Logan's expression lost its happiness. Suddenly serious, he sat up and looked mournfully at her with sorrow in his eyes.

  "No, Nay. Not really. Not like that, anyway."

  "What? What do you mean? You said you get to come back. You said you get to come back and protect our baby and watch it grow up!" Naomi's tears kept pouring down her cheeks, but now they were mixed with anger and confusion.

  "Nay, think about it," Logan pleaded, "if you thought it was going to be hard to explain how you got pregnant, how were you planning on explaining me being back?

  Naomi sniffed loudly and shook her head, "I don't care! I don't care what we tell people, you said you were back. I want you back!"

  "Hey," he reached for her and pulled her close, "I am back. Just not for everyone. Just for you. I can only be here for you."

  "What about the baby?" she wailed against his chest.

  "It's complicated, Babe," she felt his chest expand and contract with a deep sigh.

  "Remember the wolf?" he asked.

  She nodded against him.

  "The wolf gets to come back. The wolf will be here to watch over the baby. I'm dead in this world and I can't come back to the life I lost here. Not the same life."

  "But you're here now. What about Dia de los Muertos? What about Veranoches? Do I still get to see you then … see you? Like you are now?" Nay sniffed again and looked up him questioningly.

  Logan smiled at her, "You don't have to go to Veranoches. You don't have to wait till Dia de los Muertos. I can change. Back and forth from the wolf to how you see me now. But only for you. Everyone else can only see the wolf."

  "My own personal werewolf?" She tried a brave smile.

  "I think you'd better tell everyone I'm a dog, though," he winked at her.

  "Am I supposed to get you fixed too?"

  "Oh, I don't think you'd like that," his voice was low and gravelly as he pushed her back down on the soft carpet and began kissing her again. This time his lips were hot and filled with need, trailing over her jaw and down her neck while his hands pushed her loose night shirt up and over her head.

  The hot kisses joined his hands as they cupped her full breasts and pushed them together. His mouth closed over one puckered nipple and sucked firmly, his tongue circling and lapping at the extended nub till she moaned from the sensation and arched her back. Then he focused his attention on the next nipple till it too was pebbled in his mouth.

  His hands traveled down her body, flattening across her abdomen with a tender caress before his fingers stopped to lightly stroke the soft curls that hid the treasure he was seeking.

  Naomi's mouth fell open in a quiet gasp as his fingers parted her lower lips and slid into her folds, down to the moistness pooling at her entrance and then back again where he stopped to circle her swollen clit.

  Her gasp turned to a moan as she spread her thighs to give him more room to work.

  "Why are you wearing those jeans?" she panted as she tried to get his fly undone so she could wrap her hand around him.

  He moved slightly to help her out while continuing to tease her to the brink, "the clothes are part of the shift, mostly based on how you expect me to appear at any given moment."

  "I expect you to be naked!" She half laughed, half moaned as his thumb circled her sensitive button again and then slid two fingers inside her.

  She had the jeans off of him and now she could fully appreciate him. Her hand slid over his chest, taking time to run her fingers across the sleek muscles that created the delicious outlines of his six pack, and then down his flat stomach toward the base of the erection that curved up from his body in a thick mast.

  Her fingers barely met around his girth as she slid her hand up his shaft in a movement that caused him to pause what he was doing so he could inhale sharply and squeeze his eyes shut with his jaw firmly clenched.

  "Baby, you keep doing that and I will not have enough patience to finish what I'm doing first," he said between gritted teeth.

  Naomi slid her hand down and back again in another smooth stroke. She loved the feel of him touching her but she loved watching him fight for control through the look of pure pleasure that took over his features as she touched him.

  "I don't have to wait another year to touch you again?" She whispered hoarsely as she stroked him again.

  He shook his head with his eyes closed, "No baby, you get to touch me whenever you want now."

  "Good," she tugged his body gently toward hers, "then you can finish what you're doing later, right now I want to feel you inside me."

  She knew what it did to him when she told him what she wanted. He was between her thighs without hesitation, wetting the broad head of his cock with a few achingly slow strokes along her seam before pushing into her.

  Naomi gripped his arms, stretching her hands around the bulge of his biceps where they flexed to hold his weight above her.

  She felt her body being stretched and filled as he delved deeper into her.

  She thrilled at the knowledge that this wouldn't be their last time together, that he would be with her to raise and protect their child. That even if he was a secret that she had to keep forever, at least they had forever ahead of them.

  Naomi raised her hips and gave him full access to her body, taking him so far inside her that she caught her breath as he reached her limits.

  Logan held still, calming his breathing for a moment as he looked up at his wife, "Baby, this is heaven for me," he said and then he drew back and thrust into her again.

  She met his strokes, and matched his speed as they came together. Bodies damp with sweat as they moved with one another, lost in their passion and finally fading off to sleep in each others arms.

  Epilogue

  Naomi's family and friends believed her story. That a handsome stranger had given her comfort and a child on that trip to Mexico when she learned to live again.

  Only her abuelita smiled wryly with a knowing wink as Nay explained how she became a mother. All while the big, black dog stood protectively beside her.

  Whoever Logan answered to on the other side stayed true to their word. Logan was allowed t
o move through the shadows between the worlds of the living and the dead so that he could protect and care for his living family.

  Baby Jonah was born perfect and pink—and breathing. There was nothing to indicate that he was half dead.

  As Logan understood it, his son would inherit the wolf that Logan had been given in the after world. Jonah was unlikely to be able to use his wolf to travel between realms but he would grow up with a special connection to the other side. He would also be, as Naomi put it, a "real werewolf."

  When the time was right, it would be Logan's job in the world of the living to teach his son what he was, how to use it, and how to hide it from a world that wouldn't understand.

  Naomi found it easy to keep her secrets. She would do anything to protect Jonah and she would do anything to keep Logan by her side. Even if meant that no one else could know that she wasn't merely a young widow who refused to find a new husband or that Jonah wasn't the product of a drunken one night stand in Mexico.

  She had been promised that Logan would never be taken from her again and on nights like this, when she was wrapped in his arms with his naked body pressing against hers after another night of passion, she sometimes thought about that psychic reading she went to right after Logan had been killed.

  The woman with the fake accent and too much eyeliner had gotten one thing right after all: Life cannot give a gift that Death cannot take, but a gift from the dead will last beyond life.

  At the time, Naomi had just chalked it up to the lady trying to say something that sounded appropriately mystical. Now, she pulled her husband's arm tightly around her and smiled as she closed her eyes.

  Maybe that psychic wasn't a complete fake after all.

  About the Author

  Inspired by the real lives and loves of the women that she's known personally, Claire prefers to create heroines for real life-- what we see in ourselves, what we see in others, and what we want to be.

  A little too curvy? A little past our prime? A little too picky to settle for anything less than the real thing in the right package? Claire's heroines always meet their match-- and their mate--whether it's a ruggedly handsome adventurer, or a seriously sexy alpha bear shifter, or just the new neighbor across the hall.

  Whether you prefer your happy endings with a dose of reality or in the paws of a sexy shapeshifter, Claire probably has a story for you.

  Most of Claire's books are in short story format because that's what she loves to read herself. Perfect for a bedtime story or a lunch break read.

  If you enjoyed this story, please consider leaving a review to help others find it.

  Subscribe to Claire's mailing list and be first to know when the next Sierra Moon title is available.

  The Night Shift

  by Suki Selborne

  Work

  The night sky lit up.

  Flash. Flash. Flash.

  Damn it. More air strikes.

  Isabel held tightly to the nearest tent pole. After almost six months out here, she knew what was coming next.

  She patted her new nurse's shoulder. "Brace yourself, Jerry."

  An ear-splitting boom shook the desert all around.

  "That hit just a few hundred yards away." Jerry's eyes widened, and Isabel's tiger senses detected his fear.

  It was his first time in a war zone, unfortunately. He was a great nurse, with expert skills. But his training had been in Missoula, Montana. While he was good company, Isabel sure could have used an assistant with a little more frontline experience.

  Shifter Medics International had assured her he was totally suitable. For a human, anyway. She just hoped he could stay focused when the patients started arriving.

  But there was no time to think about that now.

  "Listen up, Jerry. In about fifteen minutes, the first round of injured people will arrive. They'll be on stretchers with limbs missing. Or they'll be staggering through the door in shock. There'll be people who've lost a family member and don't know where else to go. There'll be terrified kids. It's going to be chaos. And we need to be ready."

  Jerry took a deep breath. "Sure. I'll get things set up. It's just that--"

  "Yeah, we aren't exactly well-equipped out here. I know, man."

  She checked out their stocks of medical instruments and bandages. Two suitcases held everything.

  It was all they'd been able to carry on foot from the city hospital last night, after the main bridge was blown up. They were running low on a lot of vital stuff.

  How much of everything would they need that night?

  Isabel made a quick estimate, and sighed sharply. There was no way those syringes and swabs would last.

  "This is crazy. We can't manage with these." She threw her stethoscope onto the table.

  Jerry's voice was anxious. "We don't have time to hit the city hospital again though."

  Isabel shook her head. "No. But the British military has a bunch of stuff set aside for emergencies. It's all in the supplies building out back."

  "You're going to raid the army's supplies? Good luck with that." He looked half-terrified and half-impressed.

  "Sure I am. And it'll be fine. We're doctors, damn it. Who could say no to us?" She gave him a winning smile.

  Isabel wasn't quite as confident as she pretended to be. But she had to keep them both positive.

  She patted Jerry's shoulder reassuringly and nodded at the gurneys stacked up against the wall. "Can you line those up so we can take in as many patients as possible?"

  "Sure thing, Doc." He saluted, with a grin. "You go steal us a ton of equipment."

  Isabel sprinted out of the back door of the tent.

  * * *

  The supplies building was more like a metal hut, really. It stood about twenty feet behind their medical tent.

  Even in October, a thick band of heat was trapped in the army camp. Stepping outside the medical tent, she felt her brow dampen in the humid air.

  As she crossed the space between the medical tent and the supplies building, she heard a noise.

  What was that? Breaking glass?

  Her tiger ears pricked up instantly.

  She stopped to listen.

  Oh, man. It better not be Milo.

  Last night, on her way back to the village, she thought she had detected wolf scent. American wolf scent.

  What if Milo had come out here to follow her? What if he still wanted to claim her?

  The Colorado werewolf who claimed Isabel was his fated mate had been thrown out of his pack. Rumor had it he was banished for stalking her. And he'd been the pack alpha. His disgrace had caused a real stir in the magical community.

  What if she had to defend herself against Milo's advances, like last time?

  She was ready, always. She just hoped she didn't have to waste valuable time and energy kicking his ass. Isabel really didn't have time for that shit.

  She needed to refill her medical equipment, and save lives. Right now, that was all she cared about.

  A new noise sent a tingle down her spine.

  Metal scraping against stone?

  Weirdly, the sound seemed to be coming from the supplies building where she was headed.

  The corrugated iron structure was sealed at all times against the desert heat. And it was padlocked from the outside.

  Not even the troops knew the combination code. Only she and the American general knew it. He wasn't too happy about Isabel having access to it either.

  She'd brought him round, though. She needed to use the huge refrigerator in there. When General Frischmann had objected, she'd reminded him that her blood bags, cool packs, and liquid antibiotics were often used on local children caught in the crossfire. Did he want to be responsible for innocent children's suffering?

  He'd caved without another word.

  She felt bad about the emotional blackmail for maybe three seconds. Maybe not even that long.

  She was a fiercely moral person, but screw it. Everything she'd said was true. She'd just laid it on a
little heavily, that's all.

  The NGO had sent her there to save lives, by any means necessary. It was her job.

  And now she was going to chase away whatever animal or human had gotten into the supplies tent, no matter how angry and fierce. Because that was what Dr. Isabel Prowse did. She fixed stuff.

  She punched in the code and threw open the door. Then she patted the inside of the wall until she found the light switch.

  "Time to get lost, creature," she growled, as the bare bulb flickered on. It buzzed a little, and gave off hardly any light.

  The inside of the tent was still and quiet. Rows of shelving all around the walls were still in perfect order. The storage racks beside the door were all intact.

  Her tiger senses were on high alert, but she wasn't picking up on anything. Nobody was in there.

  She sniffed the air. Nope. No living creature was in that tent. Definitely no wolves. She could smell other shifters' pheromones from a mile away.

  Okay, she thought, relaxing a little. Nothing happening. Maybe a lizard just broke in through a rip in the fabric, and knocked over a glass container? Whatever it was, it was long gone now.

  She couldn't see the broken glass anywhere, but she'd have to leave the cleanup for the day shift anyhow. They'd have more time than she and Jerry would tonight. Bombing raids usually happened after dark, so that was the busiest time.

  That was why Isabel always volunteered for the night shift. She wanted to make a difference.

  The army first aid equipment was right beside the door. Picking up an empty cardboard box, she began to toss in handfuls of the supplies they needed.

  Swabs. Syringes. Sterile dissolvable stitches and needles.

  Did they need a re-up of the intubation equipment? Yeah, why not? She threw a half-dozen coiled tube packs into the basket.