A Taste of Shifter Geekdom: Shifter Romance (Vanguard Elite Book 2)

by Annie Nicholas

  She cried out then bit her lip to stay quiet. This angle stretched her more. She raised her hips to accommodate his size. All she needed was for Pallas to storm in and catch them in the act.

  Pinching her clit, he stroked inside her. Hard and fast. Again and again and again.

  Every ounce of his body was focused on making her climax. Pressure increased as decadent sensations built upon itself. She clung to the blankets, eyes clenched closed.

  Darrell grunted with the force he took her. His balls slapping her body.

  She moved her hips in time with his, no longer in control of her body. She needed release. It was so close.

  “Julia.” He panted by her ear. “Oh fuck, Julia.” He bit the nape of her neck, pinning her to the mattress. He gripped her hips and let her ride him.

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” The words fell from her mouth as her climax cascade over her body. Blinding decadence clenched her body around his. His cock jerked inside her body as he released his hold of her and came. He groan low and long, almost howl-like.

  She collapsed, limbs lifeless. Wow. Sex had never been like that before. Or she’d been doing it all wrong.

  Darrell gathered her in his arms and laid on the bunk with her on top. “I think that went well.”

  Chapter Eleven

  After what felt like an eternity, Julia rolled off of him, her cheeks flushed and skin glossy from exertion. She squeezed between him and the wall and stared at the bunk above while catching her breath.

  Darrell stretched, popping a few vertebrae in his back. He didn’t want this morning to end.

  “I’m starved.” Julia curled into his side. “But I’m too exhausted to cook. I wish there was room service.”

  Her warmth seeped into his flesh. Nice and cozy and very naked. He trailed his fingertips along her arm. Her skin was soft as milk and her curves made him want to howl. “I’ll get us food. What would you like?” Leaving his bed would prove difficult.

  She moaned and ran a cold toe over his leg. “There was some fried chicken in the fridge last I checked and potato salad.”

  “Okay.” He slid on his jeans and headed out.

  “Oh, and some pie if there’s any left.”

  He chuckled. All were excellent choices. He noted that none of them were things he’d have to prepare and cook. She wasn’t ready to make a commitment to him yet. He’d cook her meal in the near future once he was sure she’d accept and once he asked Penny for a few cooking lessons. His mother complained that he could burn water if left unsupervised.

  Barefoot, he padded down the two flights of stairs to the kitchen. The rough wood floor cold under his feet even with a fire in the hearth. Hopping on one foot then the other, he gathered items from the fridge onto a tray.

  In the future, he could picture many similar trips while Julia waited for him in bed. Except they should live somewhere with better heating. Once they finished their training, she could return with him to his pack.

  He rubbed his chin. What if she didn’t like them? They were all rough around the edges. She might help civilize a few of his cousins. He was willing to try her pack but she never spoke about them. He swiped a finger through the chocolate pie and licked it clean.

  Then there was the marksman test tomorrow. He sighed. After they ate, he’d have to take Julia out to the range no matter how tired they were.

  The roar of a car engine caught his attention. Too loud and too early for the bus to be returning. Darrell set aside the tray and crossed the manor to the front window.

  A Porsche parked in front of the manor. That car cost more money than Darrell had earned in his whole life. A man climbed out the driver’s side. He wore a well-tailored clothes and a wool jacket. He strolled toward the front porch, inspecting the fire damage with his hands buried deep inside his pockets.

  Insurance agent? No way an agent made enough to own that vehicle. Darrell pulled the front door open and stepped out in the cold wind shirtless. “What do you want?” The other’s scent traveled on the brisk air. A wolf shifter.

  He climbed onto the front porch, his gaze traveled over Darrell’s lack of clothes. His lip curled. “Who’s in charge of this dump?” He met Darrell’s glare, challenge clearly intended.

  “They’re asleep. Come back after dark.” Darrell stepped back inside the house and let the door swing shut.

  The other male blocked it with his foot and shouldered it open. “I didn’t travel all this way to be tuned aside by an underling. Get me your alpha.”

  Darrell crossed his arms and took a wide stance. “This underling doesn’t take orders from some upscale Barbie toy. Come back after dark.”

  Julia tiptoed into the kitchen. A tray laden with chicken, potato salad, and pie sat on the counter but no sign of Darrell. She stuck her finger in the pie and licked it clean. It looked like someone had done the same thing. The nerve.

  Raised male voices came from the front of the manor. She tugged at the hem of Darrell’s sweater, the only thing she wore. It fell mid-thigh. Something thumped and there were sounds of a struggle. She ran to the front foyer.

  Darrell held another man by the throat against the door frame. Every inch of his muscled body tense and ready to meet out major damage. Odd how not an hour ago that same body had been focused in the same manner but for pleasure.

  The man grabbed Darrell’s arms and raised his flushed face.

  “Allistair?” Julia clapped her hand over her mouth. How had he found her? She’d used only cash after running away, not to leave a paper trail, took public transit to travel here, and left her cell phone behind. She wouldn’t go back. The pack would force to mate with him. Not just in name. His parents, the alpha couple, wanted pups. To them, she was nothing more than a breeding cow.

  Releasing his quarry, Darrell spun to face her. “You know him?”

  Allistair rubbed his throat while leaning against the wall. If looks could kill, Darrell would be a corpse.

  “Yes,” she whispered, surprised she could speak at all. Her heart fluttered and she broke out in a cold sweat. What would Darrell do?

  “Of course she knows me. I’m her fiancé.” Allistair crossed the room and paused. He took in her lack of clothing. His gazed darted to Darrell, who wore only jeans. His lips thinned. “Apparently, she forgot.”

  Darrell’s expression clouded. He set his hands on his hips and glared at the floor.

  “I never agreed to be your mate, Allistair.” Julia pushed past him and reached her hand out to Darrell. He had to believe that Allistair meant nothing to her. Darrell had changed her whole perception of the world. He’d given her a glimpse of what she wanted. Why she’d run away from an easy life.

  Darrell shrugged off her touch. “You obviously have things to discuss.” His frostbitten tone burned.

  She couldn’t move as she watched him storm away. Everything she worked so hard for gone in a flash. She wanted to throw up. She loved him so much and she’d lost him. Her one true mate who probably thought she’d been cheating on Allistair all this time. She gave the other shifter a hard look. “How did you find me?”

  “Private investigator.” Allistair smoothed his rumpled jacket and shirt. “Strong fellow. Under different circumstances I would have offered him employment.”

  “I meant what I said. I won’t be your mate. Ever.”

  “You couldn’t have picked a worse time to decide to find yourself. We’ve been betrothed for years. Now, three months before the binding ceremony, you get cold feet? Do you have any idea how much money your family will lose if you back out?” He settled his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “Let me take you home.” He made a distasteful face at their surroundings. “You don’t belong here.” He spoke to her in a tone as if she was a child.

  She shook off his hands. “My family doesn’t care about the money.” They had money to burn. No, her parents wanted something less tangible. “They want your linage.” Her parents wanted ties to the alpha line. If she married Allistair, son and possible
heir to the pack alpha, then their grandchild could one day rule their pack. She bet her father would be right behind him whispering advice from the day her pup was born. This loss was something Julia could live without.

  “Why deny them?”

  “I don’t want you.” She gritted her teeth. “I will make the decisions for my life from now on.” No, she wanted Darrell and had lost him because of Allistair. She’d never escape them. Her chest ached and it became hard to breathe. “Go home,” she shouted. She was a fool to think they’d let her go. She was an only child. Her parents has no one else to bargain with. They’d find a way to stuff her back in their cage.

  Allistair’s expression hardened. “Not without you.”

  “I don’t see why not. You don’t even know me.”

  “Look around you!” He gestured to the old cracked walls of the manor and the scarred wood floors. “So far you’re decision making has led you to this. What next, Julia? When you finish hiding here, where will you go?”

  “Julia?” Clare descended from the second floor. “What’s going on? Who’s this?” Her alpha female still wore her PJs, hair tangled from sleep.

  “Nobody. He’s leaving.” Julia gravitated toward Clare on instinct. This alpha would protect her. At least while she was still in the boot camp. After that…

  Allistair held out his hand to Clare. “Allistair Montgomery Carrington the third.”

  She took his hand. “Clare, alpha.”

  Allistair brushed his lips over her knuckles. “Charmed.” He straightened. “There’s been some confusion. Julia wasn’t supposed to attend this—this. What do you call this?”

  “Home.” Clare always managed to appear like the tallest person in the room when the truth was the opposite. It was a trick Julia desperately wanted to learn. The most important things she’d absorbed from attending boot camp came from Clare. Be true to yourself no matter how others judged you. “Funny, Julia’s never mentioned this mistake.”

  “Don’t mind him. He’s leaving.” Julia pointed to the front door. Why was he here? He gone through a lot of trouble to find her. Before now, he hadn’t paid any attention to her. Taking their mating for granted. Taking her for granted.

  “The hell I am.” His eyes changed to a pale amber that reflected the sun. “You made a promise. I intend for you to keep it.”

  “She still has weeks of training to complete before she can return to your pack.” Clare crossed her arms.

  “I’m prepared to wait.” He blinked and his eyes returned to their dark brown.

  Julia closed her eyes and counted to ten. “Where?”

  “Here.” He pointed at the rug covered floor in the foyer.

  “That’s not possible.” Clare shook her head. “We’re full. I’m sure the local town has some sort of motel.”

  “You’re not full anymore. I was informed that a bus load of shifters left very early this morning. I’m sure you can find a bed for me.”

  Julia wanted to shove Allistair under that bus. Why couldn’t he leave her alone? They barely knew each other. It’s not like he was here because he missed and loved her.

  “This is a training facility. Not a hotel.” Clare came to stand next to Julia.

  “Then I’ll enroll.”

  “What? You can’t do that. He can’t do that, right?” Julia sounded desperate even to her own ears. The longer he stayed around, the more damage he inflict on her and Darrell’s relationship. Not to mention her sanity. She was already starting to sound crazy, shouting like she was.

  Clare sighed. “I can’t make that decision, Julia. School things fall under Pallas jurisdiction. We’ll have to wait until he rises.” She gestured for Allistair to enter the pack room. “In the meantime, you wait here.”

  Julia fisted her hands and stormed upstairs to Darrell’s room. She twisted the knob but it didn’t turn. He had locked her out. Her toes brushed against something soft. Her clothes lay in a pile on the floor. She banged on the door.

  He didn’t answer.

  “We have to talk.” She rested her forehead against the aged wood when silence was her response. “Don’t make me talk to you through the door.”

  “Open the fucking door, Darrell, so the rest of us can get some fucking sleep.” Yanis yelled from down the hall.

  She covered her face with her hands. Everyone must have heard her and Allistair argue. There were no secrets in a pack, especially when forced to live under the same roof.

  The door swung open and she caught herself before falling over. Darrell stood on the other side dressed for outside. He picked up her clothes. “Get ready. You don’t have much time to practice.”

  She blinked. The test was tonight.

  Chapter Twelve

  Deserting Julia in the hall didn’t give Darrell the satisfaction he’d hoped.

  A fiancé?

  One that drove an expensive car and acted like an alpha jerk. What game was she playing being at a boot camp for misfits and crawling into his bed?

  He paused on the back porch for her to catch up. Though sunny with a clear blue sky, the morning had a nasty wind. It went right through his sweater. He would have helped her with target practice without her flirting and sex. His stomach rolled. Had he given her the impression he wouldn’t? Or worse, had she been using him?

  Twisting, he glared at the door. Where was she? Maybe she didn’t want to practice. Now that Allistair was here to take her home, why strive to pass? She was probably tucking him in bed—

  The door slammed open barely missing his nose. Julia stormed out, rifle on her back, and marched on the path toward the shooting range.

  With a sigh, he followed. His legs were longer and it didn’t take long to fall in next to her. He tossed her a wary look. “You’re not planning to use that rifle on me, are you?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Like I’d actually hit you if I tried.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t try so hard then you’d hit the target.” He chuckled but his laughter died as it started. His heart wasn’t in it. He didn’t want to cheer her up or himself.

  They arrived at the range and Julia rested the rifle on the bale of hay. “I owe you an explanation.” She kept her head bent.

  “Yeah, you do.” He sat on the bale so he could see her face better. “”Are you cheating on Allistair with me?”

  “No.” She wore her long, wavy hair loose and it veiled her expression. “It’s not like that. We’re not even dating.’

  Darrell jerked his head back. “But he’s your fiancé.”

  “According to our parents. I never agreed to this mating.”

  A knot strangling Darrell’s heart loosened and he could suddenly breathe. “So you’re not really engaged?”

  With a heavy sigh, she ran her fingers through her tangled hair and had to yank through the knots. “It’s complicated.”

  He folded his arms. “Not really. You’re either you’re with me or with him.” What other options could there be? Unless she had other boyfriends who would show up.

  “It must be nice to live in such a cut and dry world. Black and white, right and wrong. No gray areas. I don’t live in such a nice place.” She raised the rifle.

  The sharp noise of gunfire stung his ears. “I don’t see how any of this is in a gray area. Either you love me or you don’t.”

  She lowered the rifle slowly. “Love isn’t enough for my pack, Darrell.”

  He gritted his teeth to keep from snapping the sharp words on the tip of his tongue. “What’s more important?” He couldn’t look at her. After meeting Allistair, he could guess her answer. The shame he kept buried deep inside rose closer to the surface. He was too poor to be her mate.

  She reloaded the rifle and let loose another shot. “Money. Power. Security. My pack keeps a tight rein on these things by inter-marriage arranged at birth.”

  “You’re telling me everyone’s destined mate is pre-arranged at birth and no one’s wolf has rebelled?” He couldn’t imagine either he or his wolf being okay with being t
old who his mate was. They must have some ultra-alpha leading her pack to keep their members in line.

  “Not everyone.” She snapped. “But certain alliances are formed this way.”

  “You and Allistair are one of these alliances.” Darrell shook his head. Of all the girls he could have chosen, he picked one he could never satisfy. No matter how hard he worked, he couldn’t give Julia what Allistair could. Darrell owned only one thing free and clear. He had already given it to Julia. His heart.

  “Allistair and I were betrothed as pups. We hadn’t met until this year. That’s when I realized they were serious about us binding as mates. I did everything in my power to escape that.” She spread out her arms toward the manor.

  “The boot camp?” That did seem desperate for a shifter princess. The manor lacked…everything. Electricity, hot water, sleep.

  “My pack wasn’t going to send anyone, but I got hold of the letter the Vanguards had sent. I ran away and hoped they would help me. I didn’t realize the Vanguards were only funding this school and not teaching it.”

  “If you knew that the Vanguards wouldn’t be here, then why stay?”

  She shrugged. “To give me time to figure things out. If I get kicked out now, I have nowhere to go but home and a mating with Allistair.” She pushed her hair free from her face. “I never asked for any of this. All I wanted was freedom.”

  “Then choose.” He disarmed her and cradled the butt of rifle as he leaned toward her. “You’re not aware of it, but you have some choices to make.”

  She opened her mouth but he raised his hand to stop her words. “Listen, before you make your choice blindly.” He cleared his throating of the growing ache. “I’m from a dirt poor pack.”

  “That doesn’t matter to me.” Julia clasped his hand.

  He gently pulled free. “It should. If you were smart, it would.” He sighed. “This boot camp isn’t an escape for me. It’s hope. It’s a chance for me to gain skills to protect my pack and maybe get a better paying job to help support them.” He paused, waiting to see understanding dawn in her eyes but she still stared at him with stars in her eyes. She wouldn’t be happy trapped as his mate.