The Royal Shifters Complete Series Boxed Set

by Alice Wilde

  Roan’s finger splits me, but doesn’t enter. He grins at me.

  “Glad to know you want me too, lass,” Roan says, gently kissing my lips and then my neck as his fingers slide gently up and down, growing wetter with every movement.

  The ache in my body is almost overpowering, and then he touches me in a way that sends me over the edge, as though he’s pressed some magic spot on my body. I moan, my back arches, and my toes curl as wave after wave of ecstasy spread through me.

  Roan stops what he’s doing and looks at me with surprise.

  “That was faster than I expected,” he says in a quiet voice. “I forgot this was your first time. How do you feel?”

  “Don’t stop,” I say, my heart racing.

  “I don’t intend to.”

  Roan shifts his body, positioning his cock against my pussy so he can rub against me. I can feel my climax building again. Reaching up, I run my fingers through his curly red hair.

  “Roan,” I moan.

  “Yes?”

  “I want you.”

  Roan smiles and kisses me. “I want you too, lass.”

  My nails dig into his back as he thrusts himself harder against me. Just as I’m about to come for the second time, Roan stops and reaches down to reposition himself to enter me. It’s only now that I realize how dangerously close we are to ruining everything.

  “Wait,” I whisper tensely. “Roan, stop.”

  Roan’s body tenses as he struggles to resist the urge to continue.

  “What do you mean, lass?” Roan says. “Dinna fash, I’ll be gentle.”

  “It’s not that,” I say. “I can’t let you go any further.”

  “We have to, that’s how they’ll know we’ve done it. There has to be blood on the sheets.”

  “I know.”

  Ero must not have let Roan in on the plan. A convenient way to make this whole situation even less stimulating.

  “I need you to continue, but don’t enter me.”

  Roan frowns but repositions himself as he pretends to thrust into me.

  “What’s this all about, lass?”

  I lower my hands down between us and carefully remove the stone in my ring and twist it so the opening in the band faces down toward the bedding. I hope this works as planned. I have no way to see if any blood has come out onto the sheets from here.

  Roan rolls off me. I can tell he’s dissatisfied, but there’s not much I can do about that right now. He shakes his head, and I know he thinks he must have failed.

  “Finished?” Fiona asks. “About time.”

  She stands and walks over to us, Neil reluctantly following.

  I quickly replace the stone in my ring and tug at my skirts to cover myself before drawing my knees up to my chest. Roan sits up on the edge of the bed and wraps his kilt around his waist, facing away from me.

  Fiona stands directly next to me and then grabs the quilt, yanking it down. Her face falls as she looks at the sheets, then she turns and storms out of the room.

  Roan glances over his shoulder and then turns to face me, the color draining from his face.

  “Everything seems to be in order,” Neil says. “Congratulations to the both of you. Perhaps you can actually enjoy the rest of your wedding night now.”

  Neil gives us a knowing smile and then hurries from the room after Fiona.

  “But we didn’t…Why is there blood, lass?”

  “It was in the ring.”

  “That’s why Ero was so insistent about the ring,” Roan says to himself. “Bastard should have let me in on your little secret.”

  “I didn’t want you to know. It was better for you to be surprised, in case anything went wrong.”

  Roan shakes his head at me and then laughs. “You little minx.”

  “It worked, didn’t it?” I say. “And we’re alone now.”

  “That we are,” Roan agrees, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “I think you owe me one.”

  He leaps from the bed and crosses the room to bar the door. Turning around to face me, he walks deliberately and slowly back to me and I laugh.

  “What are you doing?” I ask, my heartbeat quickening.

  Roan doesn’t say anything as he undoes the first buckle of his kilt. I squirm in anticipation and excitement. His hands move to the other buckle, but before he can unbuckle it, there’s a loud knock at the door.

  “Roan!”

  It’s Ero.

  Roan and I share a look with each other. We’ll never forget tonight, but not for the reasons we wish.

  Twenty-Seven

  Ero

  Li goes back to his room soon after the wedding party drags Annalise and Roan off to their marriage bed, but I’m not about to leave them alone any longer than necessary. I should know how easy it is to get carried away when you’re left alone with a beautiful woman who wants you. However much they may try to control themselves, tonight will be particularly dangerous.

  I sit and wait down the hall, watching and waiting. The rest of the guests have already gone back down to the Great Hall to sup and drink some more. I can’t believe how slowly time seems to pass.

  The door finally swings open, and Fiona storms from the room, and Neil not long after. The trick must have worked, but I need to be sure. I get up and stretch, slightly stiff from sitting on the cold stone floor. My pulse quickens as I cross to the door to find out what’s happened. I can hear them laughing inside.

  I pound my fist on the door. “Roan!” There’s no answer. “Roan! Answer me.”

  Footsteps approach and I hear the bar across the door lift. Roan cracks open the door. He’s shirtless, his kilt half undone. I push past him into the room and take a good look at Annalise. I’m not sure what I expected, but I’m relieved to see nothing seems to have changed.

  “Did it work?”

  “I never seem to have any problems,” Roan says.

  “You know what I mean, idiot.”

  “Yes, it worked,” Annalise says.

  “Good, then we need to start preparing for our next leg of the journey. When are we going to leave?”

  “I was hoping we could stay here for a week or two,” Roan says. “It would be nice to rest a bit and…enjoy a few things.” He says this with a glance toward Annalise and I know exactly what he means to enjoy.

  “Li is already planning our next move. We should start packing at daybreak.”

  “Ero, I don’t think a few days rest would hurt any of us,” Annalise says.

  “Don’t let tonight’s festivities lull you into a sense of safety, princess. We got lucky with the way a number of things have turned out, but our luck could run out at any moment. I’m sure Li will agree with me when I say it’s best we keep moving.”

  “We can discuss it in the morning,” says Roan. “I think we all could do with a bit of sleep.”

  Roan is holding the door open, signaling that he’s ready for me to leave. Not a chance in Valhalla.

  “You’re right,” I say as I walk over to the bed and jump on it, kicking my boots off over the edge. “We should get some sleep.”

  Roan slams the door.

  “I hate you, Ero.”

  “You’ll thank me for this later.”

  Twenty-Eight

  Annalise

  As disappointed as I am by Ero’s arrival, I know he’s right. We were already at the brink of ruining things before, and I don’t know if I could have said no a second time…especially if left alone.

  Ero is lying across the bottom of the bed, sleeping. Roan takes a seat by the fire, trying to calm himself, and I curl up in bed to sleep.

  I’m unusually exhausted and fall asleep faster than expected.

  A deafening noise wakes me from a deep sleep and I sit up in confusion as I try to remember where I am. Roan props himself up in the bed beside me. Ero is standing at one of the windows looking out.

  “What is it, Ero?” I ask.

  He turns, but as soon as our eyes meet, I can tell something is wrong.

&nb
sp; “We’re being attacked.”

  “What?” Roan exclaims, leaping from the bed and running to look out the window. “Lass, get your shoes on, now!”

  I grab my slippers and pull them on as Roan throws his shirt on over his head and laces his own shoes.

  “Who’s attacking?” I ask.

  “Vikings,” Ero says, his expression blank but hard.

  I stare at him in shock until Roan lifts me into his arms.

  “Ero, we need to go, now!”

  “What about Li?” I ask.

  Our door bursts open and we all turn to look, Ero and Roan both assuming defensive positions.

  It’s Li.

  “I didn’t have much time to prepare since the wedding, but I have a few things,” Li says. “Let’s go!”

  Together, we race out of the room and through the castle. The halls are full of people drunk from the wedding, running every which way in utter chaos. Roan does his best to guide us through the castle as quickly as possible and we manage to get out into the main courtyard.

  Ero bolts off to the training ground area and returns a moment later with an axe, bow, and set of blades on a leather strap.

  “Might as well prepare for the worst,” he says before handing Li the bow and placing the blades around Roan’s waist.

  “It’s now or never,” Li says, and we once again run together out of immediate danger and onward toward our next destination. I can’t help but wonder what we’re getting ourselves into…

  I look back over Roan’s shoulder at the Viking invasion happening behind us even as we journey onward, toward the land of the Vikings.

  How will we ever return, let alone prove to his family and people that he is worthy of being laird after what I’m sure they’ll deem as a cowardly desertion? Perhaps they’ll accuse me and Roan will grow to resent me….

  Gods, this is going to be a mess.

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  Her Viking

  The Royal Shifters Book III

  Prologue

  “Shut up!”

  “No, you shut up!”

  “Thor’s hammer, you’re annoying,” Ero said.

  “Ma!”

  Ero swiped at his sister, but she jumped out of reach too quickly and was already racing off. He had no doubt she was going to tell on him; she loved getting him into trouble. Even so, she was his favorite sibling.

  Ero knew he shouldn’t have favorites, but he couldn’t help it. Most of his other siblings ignored him to the point where he often felt invisible. Even Mother seemed to have a hard time remembering his name, but not Dahlia. Yes, she made a point of bothering him whenever he was at a particularly exciting point in one of his books, but it was always for good reason…that reason usually being some form of mischief to be played on one of the unsuspecting villagers. But today, Ero couldn’t be bothered. He had just reached the part in his favorite legend about Thor and Loki’s adventures in the land of the giants where they competed in various, highly amusing contests and he was determined to finish it. Besides, it was snowing now and far too cold to go outside.

  Checking the room, Ero made sure no one was around before making his way up to a secret hideaway in the rafters. As far as he knew, no one, not even Mother, knew about it. Ero tried not to use it very often for fear that someone would begin to wonder where he’d gotten to and start looking for him. It was his one and only sanctuary from everyone. Even the sounds of the household were muffled here, not to the point that he couldn’t eavesdrop if he wanted to, but enough that he could tune things out for most of the day.

  It would be a few hours before sunset and Mother would call them to sup, but it would be enough.

  Nestling down on a quilt in the nook of the rafters, Ero began to read. The world melted away and all that was left was Thor, Loki, and Ero.

  “Father!”

  A shrill scream startled Ero from his thoughts. Looking up from his book, he noticed the light was almost gone and the lamps had been lit below, casting a warm, soft glow on the ceiling. It took him a moment to readjust to the world around him.

  A rumbling growl erupted from below and then another, shriller scream. Footsteps scurried back and forth across the floor below, and Ero scrambled to the edge of the rafters to peek out. What he saw next would haunt him for the rest of his life.

  There, in the midst of the room, stood his father, blood splattered and sword in hand. Mother was on her knees cradling a small body. She slowly turned her head up to look at her husband, and Ero saw that the body in her arms was none other than Dahlia.

  “You…you beast! You’ve killed them all! Our family! Ours! My children…How could you?”

  Darkness clouded the giant Viking’s face once again as he looked down on Ero’s mother and, without saying a word, swung his sword, cutting her down in one swift movement.

  Ero was too stunned to move, let alone make a sound. This had to be a dream, a nightmare brought on by too many adventure novels. It was only then that he noticed the bloody trail that led from the door on the far end of the room to where Mother had been alive only moments before.

  Father stood motionless, eyes staring but unseeing in the center of the room. After what seemed like an eternity, the massive Viking shuddered violently and, blinking, looked around the room and then down at his own hands in seeming disbelief.

  The moaning wail that escaped Father’s lips would echo in Ero’s mind for days to come as he watched him slowly raise the blade to his own throat.

  “No!” Ero yelled, but it was too late.

  Father’s eyes rose to meet his own just as he crumpled to the ground, slain by his own hand.

  One

  Annalise

  “This will do,” Li says, surveying our surroundings as we all sigh in relief.

  We’d been traveling hard, and barely stopped moving the past day or so. Roan lowers me to the ground where I find I can barely move my legs from disuse.

  The golden light of late afternoon twinkles through the forest leaves as I spot a large rock on the other side of the small clearing and slowly make my way toward it. Roan is quick to place an arm around me and help me over to it, although I wish he wouldn’t.

  “Oh, now you’re so willing to help someone in need,” I snap, bringing up the same argument we’ve been having for the past several days.

  “There was nothing we could have done,” Roan says as he lowers us both down onto the rock.

  I let out an exasperated sigh and push Roan’s arm away, even though every part of me wishes I hadn’t.

  The pit in my stomach since the night we ran from the Viking attack has only been growing worse the further we run. Roan has done his best to comfort me, but there’s only so much he can do. I can’t shake the feeling that not only have we betrayed his—no, our family, but we’ve also destroyed what little trust they had in our union. I wouldn’t doubt it if they somehow blamed us for what happened—if there were any survivors. And I can’t understand why Roan isn’t even more livid about the situation than I am. I know I shouldn’t be so angry with him, and I honestly can’t tell if I’m still mad at him or just exhausted at this point.

  “Annalise, Roan is right,” Li says. “There was nothing we could have done in that moment. We had to keep you safe. I don’t know what more we can do to try to convince you of that.”

  The sound of a throat clearing makes the three of us turn our heads in alarm.

  “There’s actually something I need to tell you.”

  My heart skitters in my chest at the sound of Ero’s voice. Ero hasn’t spoken since the night we left Roan’s home, often disappearing for hours at a time and reappearing without a word to any of us. I hadn’t had the energy or desire to ask him why, not that I wasn’t curious.

  Roan, Li, and I stare at Ero in stunned silence, waiting.

  He takes a deep breath and then slowly exhales.

&nb
sp; “I wasn’t sure if I should say anything or not, but all this arguing is getting on my nerves,” Ero says. “The Vikings we saw attacking Roan’s home were unlike any I’ve ever seen or heard of before.”

  “How so?” Li asks.

  “There are many Viking tribes, and we all do things differently, but there was something off about this particular attack. Sure, a lot of Vikings enjoy going off to plunder and raid other lands, but usually there’s a reason.”

  “A reason other than to plunder and raid?” Roan says with a growl of annoyance, and I’m surprised by his sudden display of emotion. But then again, he and Ero haven’t exactly been getting along as of late. But Ero doesn’t take the bait.

  “What did your family have that was worth the trouble to plunder?”

  Roan leaps to his feet, his teeth bared in a way that reminds me of his leopard counterpart’s fangs.

  “What do you mean by that?” Roan asks, his voice low and threatening.

  “Calm down,” Ero says without so much as flinching. “I only meant that a raid of that magnitude would require planning. Judging by what little we saw of your corner of Scotland, and the dire straits the people seemed to be in before we arrived, there wouldn’t have been much reason for them to organize a raid.”

  “Perhaps they found out that the curse on the land had been lifted and came to stake a claim. What’s so hard to believe about that?” Roan says.