Cupid Painted Blind - A Collection of Paranormal Romance Stories

by Powell, C. G. ; Lavender, Cait; Rayns, Lisa; Hardin, Olivia; Nelson, Stephanie; Schulte, Liz

  “Huh,” mused Jack. “So you’re whole family...?”

  “Yup. Lupine. There’s a little more than twenty in our pack here around Bragg.”

  “Anyone I know?” He chuckled weakly.

  “Well,” Carlie hesitated. “You might know my dad, colonel Jameson? Or Sean Phillips?” Jack swerved across both lanes on the road before getting back in control.

  “Your father is colonel Jameson?” he spluttered.

  She pointed to herself. “Carlie Jameson, sorry.”

  “Wait, did you say Phillips? Shit! He’s my CO.” He dug his free hand through his hair.

  “You’re a Beret? You’re a Beret in the 3rd special forces group?”she squeaked. Her father was in charge of the group.

  “Yeah, I’m weapons sergeant. Phillips is captain of my team.” He pulled into the parking structure for his apartment complex and shut off the engine. Jack glanced over his shoulder as if he had forgotten Sully snoring in the back.

  “Well, maybe you should take me home. I don’t want you to get into trouble.”

  Jack turned and looked disbelievingly at her. “Are you crazy?” he choked. “You’re naked! I’m not bringing colonel Jameson’s daughter home naked. You’re coming in with me.” He punched Sully to wake him, leaving the door open while he walked around the army green Jeep to help Carlie out. She stood, naked except for his shirt and a blanket. Jack stood and stared at her, eyes glazed over.

  “Um...” she said as she danced from foot to foot trying to ignore the freezing cold concrete.

  “Sorry,” he muttered, picking her up easily and carrying her in his arms. Sully cursed behind them as he tumbled out of the Jeep.

  God, she smelled so good. I couldn’t pin down what the scent was but it had me painfully hard as I strode toward the elevator. Despite her height, she felt as if she weighed nothing. She seemed fragile in my arms, despite everything that happened tonight.

  As we rode the elevator the few floors up, her dark hair fanned over my shoulder and she nuzzled her nose against my neck. Her small hand rested on the bare skin of my chest, sending tingles of fire through my body. She’s colonel Jameson’s daughter, I kept reminding myself. And a werewolf. There was no way I could go through with my feelings for her, even though her soft sigh killed me.

  “I’ll get you some clothes and you can have my bed,” I said as I unlocked my door one handed and shouldered it open. I lowered Carlie to her feet inside.

  “Or,” she said letting the blanket fall around her feet and reminding me she was bare underneath my shirt. “We could share.” My breathing sped as I thought about what she offered.

  She stepped close, running her hands up my stomach, across my chest and fisting them in my hair to pull my face to hers. My resolve cracked when her soft lips met mine. I let loose a tortured moan and picked her up, wrapping her legs around my waist. My ribs protested against the movement, but I was lost in her taste. My tongue explored every inch of her mouth and the corner of her sweet lips.

  She broke away, gasping. “Bed. Now.”

  “Yes,” I agreed as I kissed the long, graceful column of her neck and nipped lightly behind her ear. A loud moan ripped from her chest and her fingers gripped my hair tighter. I walked into my bedroom with her legs crossed behind my back and locked the door. Sully was taking his sweet time coming up, but he’d make it. I didn’t want him stumbling into my room by a drunken mistake.

  I ran my hands up the outside of her thighs, reveling in their silky smoothness until I gripped her ass with both hands and pressed her hard against the bulge in my jeans. She let another ragged groan loose that nearly did me in. I peeled off and tossed her on the bed before I embarrassed myself.

  She let out a husky laugh as she bounced on the bed, her legs splayed wide. Torture. Groaning, I fell to my knees and took in every beautiful inch of her. “You can’t do that to me, gorgeous. You’re killin’ me.”

  She slowly unbuttoned her borrowed shirt. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, eyes wide with feigned innocence, and she pulled the fabric aside and revealed two perfect breasts.

  I slammed my eyes shut and tried to focus on baseball, military protocol, anything to take my mind off the stunning woman on my bed long enough to calm down. The two small hands untying my belt and unzipping my jeans didn’t help me concentrate at all.

  “Commando, sergeant? I thought you said you were a Beret.” She laughed as she slid my pants off my hips. I grunted in reply, not capable of speech at the moment. She leaned forward with a mischievous gleam in her eyes and I knew what she was thinking.

  “Oh no, none of that.” I pushed her back on the bed.

  She gave me a wicked smile as I stood and stepped out of my pants. The bed dipped as crawled on the bed toward her. I settled down between her legs and feathered kisses up the creamy skin of her thighs. She breathed in small pants, her fingers tangled in my hair. I tried to go further up but she grabbed my face, her eyes wild.

  “No time for that.”

  I nodded, and rifled around in my nightstand until I found what I was looking for.

  Carlie was one touch away from shattering all over Jack’s bed. It blew her mind that this human could make her feel this way in such a short time, but her instincts were told her he was her mate. She’d found him. He just didn’t know it yet.

  She heard foil ripping and seconds later Jack filled her. She threw her head back and they both groaned. Carlie had gotten an eye-full when she undid his pants and was impressed, but feeling him inside of her was exquisite pleasure. Jack breathed heavily over her, his eyes screwed shut. She rocked her hips a little, needing the movement so badly it hurt. His hands shot out gripping her waist tight.

  “Gimme a second, sexy,” he begged.

  Impatient, Carlie kissed him hard, demanding he respond. He did, brutally plundering her mouth and taking what he wanted. She pulled away and buried her teeth into his neck and crashed to pieces around him.

  Carlie tasted blood in her mouth as Jack roared his completion, bringing his own teeth against her shoulder. There was a flash of pain before rapture poured through her, and she cried out as pleasure rolled wave after wave over her until they both lost consciousness.

  I woke slowly, enjoying the sore feeling of being well used. After the late night, we’d slept in. The noonday sun streamed through my window, warming my face. Contentment radiated all around me. The warm, sultry scent of vanilla permeated the air. I shifted in the sheets and felt warm skin pressed against my chest and thighs. I smiled with my eyes still closed and nuzzled the back of Carlie’s neck, inhaling the smell from her skin and hair.

  She woke up. My eyes were closed and she hadn’t moved, but I knew she was awake. I could feel her consciousness in my head. She was happy and a little sore. Good job there, I thought smugly before it hit me. I can feel her emotions. I scrambled out of the bed with a curse, falling on my ass.

  “What the fuck!” I swore, staring at her with wide eyes. “You’re in my head. Why can I feel you in my head?”

  My back was pressed against the wall furthest away from her. She rose to her feet with her hands wide, still nude. It was a testament to my state of mind that her gorgeous body didn’t shift my attention. “It’s okay Jack,” she said, voice soothing. “What you’re experiencing is normal after a mating.”

  “Mating? What the hell are you talking about?” It bothered me that I could feel her guilt and wariness in my head.

  Carlie breathed out a deep sigh. “Last night, do you remember biting each other?”

  I thought back, skimming over the mind blowing sex to a hazy memory of biting. Carlie bit me, and it had felt so damn good. Every instinct had screamed at me to bite her back and I did. It sent me over the edge and made me come harder than I ever had my entire life. I nodded.

  “That was us mating. I marked you first, and when you bit me in return, you completed it—bonding us for life.”

  “Shit,” I muttered. I ran my hands through my shor
t hair, trying to explore the little bundles of emotion in my mind. What the hell...bundles? PLURAL? I could feel more people than just Carlie in my mind. Most were anxious and wary, but one person was absolutely livid, and I knew deep down that didn’t bode well for me.

  I jerked when Carlie placed her hand on my arm, flinching away from the contact that amplified the feel of her in my head. Her hazel eyes were sad, but I couldn’t reconcile what she told me with what I knew to be real.

  “You drugged me,” I whispered, hope flaring to life. “And I’m just hallucinating this shit.”

  “It’s not a hallucination. I’m sorry it happened this way. Please don’t freak out,” Carlie pled as she watched him try to deal with it. She could feel his anger, fear and confusion in her mind along with her father’s rage. The whole pack knew she mated with someone.

  So stupid, Carlie! She berated herself. Yes, Jack was her mate and she knew that, but this was definitely not the best way to bring him into her world. She could hear the rapid beat of his heart.

  “Don’t freak out?” Jack snarled sarcastically, his eyes sparking with anger. “I watched you change into a wolf and rip a guy’s throat out. Now you and twenty other wolves are having a party in my head, and we’re bonded for life. And you’re telling me not to freak out?”

  He pushed her back hard, and she stumbled and fell onto his bed. He tore through his closet until he tugged on a pair of jeans and threw on a shirt. Angry brown eyes found hers across the room. His regret flitted across their bond. He shook his head and left. She waited until he closed the door to the apartment before finding his phone and calling her sister.

  “What did you do?” asked Rose as soon as she answered.

  “I really don’t want to go into that right now. Can you come pick me up?”

  “Why don’t you have your mate drive you?”

  Carlie sighed. “Oh shut up, would you? I have more important things to worry about than you right now.”

  “Damn straight you do!” Rose laughed. Carlie could hear the sound of her car starting. Rose didn’t need directions since the bonds doubled as homing beacons. “Dad’s going to kill you and your mate, and I get to watch.”

  “You’re a smug bitch, you know that, sis?”

  “Yeah, well you’re a whore mating with a guy you just met,” Rose replied, but without any real venom. It was a well known fact among lupine that control and mate were two words that never went together.

  “Shit, I know, Rose,” Carlie moaned into the phone. “He’s freaking out, and I’m afraid he’ll never speak to me again.”

  “He’s your mate,” she said simply. “He’s got to. Plus, dad’s going to hand his ass to him. So you have to find your mate first and at least warn him.”

  “Ugh, I know. I can feel how pissed he is. Do you think he knows it was me?” Carlie was answered by Rose’s hysterical laughter on the line. “Okay, he knows. Shut up already.”

  “Well, sis. We had a good twenty-eight years together. It was nice knowing you!”

  When I parked the Jeep, I realized I’d driven from my apartment to Bragg without seeing anything in between. It was a miracle I hadn’t caused any accidents—even if I had, I wouldn’t have noticed. We’re bonded for life. That simple phrase kept buzzing across my mind like a ticker tape. We’re bonded for life.

  I sat in the Jeep, gripping the steering wheel so hard my knuckles ached. How the hell did I get myself into this? I glanced down at my lap. Oh yeah... So it’d been a while since I’d gotten laid, but did I have to go and bond with the first werewolf that who came my way? God, wait until Shelby heard about this, she’d probably kick my ass for being an idiot.

  It was worth it though, said a quiet voice in my head. I thought about how Carlie looked lying underneath me in my bed. Her dark hair fanned out on the sheets and her hazel eyes glowing—

  “Oh hell,” I hissed.

  The game warden’s eyes glowed the same way when he choked me one-handed in the bar. Shelby’s fallen for a werewolf too! A string of curses poured from my mouth like I was possessed. I punched the dashboard a couple times, making the Jeep rock and a few people stare.

  What were the odds of Shelby and I both getting involved with people who, by all the laws of nature, shouldn’t exist? I sighed and scrubbed my face with my hands, hoping to rub the crazy out of my mind. This was way too intense. I needed to turn my head off and there was only one way I knew how. I had to run myself into exhaustion. Decided, I got out of the jeep and headed straight for the gym where I had an extra set of workout clothes. Hopefully after I was done, I’d be sane enough to talk to Carlie and have another conversation with Shelby.

  I was alone in the gym, running as fast as I could on the treadmill with Metallica blaring in my ears. I started to feel like the world wasn’t crashing down around my head. My lungs screamed for air, and my muscles burned, but it felt so good, so right. Just like it feels with Carlie, said the quiet voice in the cacophony of pounding footsteps and heavy metal music.

  It was right. I couldn’t get away from her. If I was being honest with myself, the fact that she was a werewolf, killed a man, or even that I could feel her in my head didn’t bother me enough to stay away. She was gorgeous, brave and funny. She’s also the colonel’s daughter and a wolf. And yet I still wanted her so badly my chest ached. The thing that really had spooked me were the other people in my head, but I’d be insane to let such a little thing stop me.

  That’s it, I thought to myself. I’m going to find her and tell her I’m crazy about her. It was either the tumultuous thoughts whizzing through my mind or the Metallica, but I didn’t notice someone else had entered the gym until it was too late.

  “Oof!” I grunted as I was grabbed by the collar, pulled off the treadmill and thrown against the wall. My head cracked against the concrete and black spots floated in my vision as captain Phillips loomed over me, glaring.

  “You’re in deep shit, kid,” he said as he held out a hand.

  My head was still spinning and when I didn’t reach for his hand he grabbed the front of my shirt and hauled me roughly to my feet with surprising strength. Oh yeah, he’s a friggen wolf. Still gripping my shirt, he dragged me behind him into the locker room.

  He was in my head too, though not as strong as Carlie. As he twisted on the shower and threw me under the cold spray of water, all I could sense was resignation.

  “I had high hopes for you, Anderson. I thought you were one of the smartest, most talented kids I’d had in my group in a long time,” he said, voice grim while I sat on the tile floor. “But now the alpha is going to kill you.”

  Oddly, that didn’t bother me as much as the cold water. “Why am I in the shower?”

  “It’s going to be bad enough when he gets here. Smelling sex and his daughter all over you wouldn’t make it any better. Use soap.”

  I considered what he said and couldn’t refute his logic. I reached for the soap. “What’s he going to do to me?”

  “Well, if you were a lupine I’d say he’d beat you within an inch of your life, and then you’d have to challenge for her, but since you’re human...” he trailed off.

  I felt his twinge of worry in my mind. Not good...”Am I going to turn into one of you?” I pulled off my sodden shirt and soaped up my chest.

  Phillips expression turned curious. “I don’t know. I’m not sure why Carlie was drawn to mate with a human. My theory is either you’ve got a wolf in the woodpile or there’s something you’d bring into the pack that we need.” I stared up at him, stunned. “If it’s the former, you may very well turn. If the latter? We have no way of knowing.”

  “Either way, you’re in for a world of pain,” snarled a deep voice.

  I looked past Phillips and gazed at the enraged colonel. A small thought, Oh shit, exploded through my head a second before his fist did. I flew backward through the air six feet, slamming against the lockers.

  “Get up, sergeant,” he barked, turning toward Phillips. “He’s one of yours
? I didn’t know you had a pansy in your group.”

  I flexed my jaw, flinching in pain and told myself I couldn’t kick out my superior officer’s legs. This is a test, I thought as I struggled to my feet. The colonel regarded me skeptically, eyebrow quirked up in question. I met his gaze and stood at attention, waiting. If he wants to kick my ass, I’ll let him.

  Colonel Jameson stalked close, the fluidity of his movements belying the animal prowess he possessed. He walked a circuit around me, sizing me up. Every instinct I had screamed in warning as he strolled behind me. He could take me down if he wanted, but I resisted the urge to turn.

  The door slammed against the wall as Carlie threw it open. “Don’t kill him!”

  She skidded to a halt, those gorgeous hazel eyes wide and glinting green as she took in the scene before her. Her pretty red lips made an adorable little ‘O’. The colonel finished his inspection of me and turned to face his daughter.

  “Hey, darlin’.”

  “Hi, daddy,” said Carlie, reverting to a six year old girl in front of her angry father.

  While I hadn’t expected her to save me from the colonel’s wrath, I figured she’d do more than stand there with a shy, guilty smile on her face. She wore another pair of tight jeans and a leather jacket and looked good enough to eat. I bit the inside of my cheek to stifle a groan. I wore a pair of thin workout shorts that would reveal too much if I couldn’t get a handle on myself. The colonel turned back toward me, his dark brown eyes promising violence.

  “You,” he pointed at my chest. “Explain yourself.”

  Dread worked its way over my body like a bucket of ice water. I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to tell the man who held my life and career in his hands that I’d slept with his daughter, but it seemed luck was not in my favor today. I opened my mouth to reply when Carlie stepped in between us.

  “Daddy—”