20 Shades of Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Demelza Carlton

  By sheer luck, one went straight down it’s gullet. It quirked its head to the side, licked its lips with a disgusting slithery tongue and jumped three feet across the room toward her. Its claws clacked on the tiles with each step.

  Shit.

  Ky was buried under another pile of demon dragons and Ninsy was fighting her own horde off with a fire extinguisher, her sword lost in the melee.

  Jada backed away. The coffee urns were only a few more feet. They’d make a better weapon than baked goods. Slowly, slowly. A sudden move might provoke the thing into attacking.

  Ky tossed one of the demon dragons across the café, knocking into the coffee urns and splatting against the wall.

  There went that plan.

  The demon dragon stood up, shook itself, and zeroed in on her.

  The only thing left to defend herself was that pile of strawberry-rhubarb cream cheese Danishes. She backed away and tossed two Danishes at it.

  It snatched both out of the air with its teeth and swallowed them without chewing. It stepped closer, narrowing its eyes at her. Then it stood up straight, its eyes went wide, and it exploded, covering her in dragon demon guts.

  Gross. Awesome. But, gross.

  She wiped the black slime off her face and grabbed for the remaining Danishes. It was probably total coincidence, but when battling evil incarnate, she’d take any chance she had.

  Another demon dragon bounded over the counter, narrowly missing being taken out by Ky’s tail. It stalked her the same as the last one.

  If they were going to kill her, why didn’t they just get on with it? This one tried to grab at her arms and then her hair. “You come now. AllFather want.”

  They weren’t trying to kill her, they wanted to kidnap her. Big mistake. Huge.

  Jada threw an arm over her face and in her best damsel in distress voice she said, “Oh no, don’t take me.”

  The demon dragon took her bait and lunged for her. She gave him a face full of strawberry rhubarb.

  The demon dragon screeched, clawed at the pink goop on its face. Too late, it’s face melted right off and before she could say yippee, it disappeared in a pile of goo and ash on the floor.

  Well, hell yeah.

  Jada bolted for the walk-in cooler where she knew Ninsy had more of the filling stored. She yanked the door open and found eight-quart containers of fresh home-made strawberry rhubarb filling.

  That seemed like an inordinate amount. They never sold any of those Danishes. Ever.

  She grabbed a handful of disposable pastry bags and slopped the filling in with her hands. Three bags took her about sixty seconds and in a battle for life and love, that was too long.

  A snip of the end of the bag and her weapons were ready. She hefted one of the full containers under her arm and piled the bags on top, then she ran and slid behind the counter.

  This time she aimed more carefully. She had limited ammunition and a lot of demon dragons to destroy. One big squeeze of the first bag landed half the filling down the front of her, but a stream of the red stuff hit the nearest demon dragon. It shrieked, and its arm melted off before it fell to the floor.

  “Ninsy, catch.” Jada tied the end of her second back and tossed it through the air to her boss badass. Ninsy didn’t catch it, because she was midway through running a demon dragon through. The tip of her found blade sliced the bag and coated the steel with the fruity filling.

  The next demon Ninsy touched with her blade went up in a puff of smoke.

  “The filling kills them,” Jada shouted.

  Ninsy nodded, slid her blade through the red smear on the floor and redoubled her attack.

  Now to help Ky. Jada refilled her own bag and climbed up on the counter. Fire and smoke filled the air around her. Water and ice covered the floor.

  She put the tied-off ends of each bag in the crook of her arm, pointed the spout at the demon dragons and squeezed. Red goo flew through the air, coating everything in a thin stream of tart jam.

  The cried of the demon dragons filled the air like a thousand dying seagulls. Her plan worked to even out the numbers. Finally, she could see Ky’s face again.

  He was torn to shreds. Bloody and burned. The sight of his injuries tore at her heart.

  She vowed to destroy whoever created these creatures.

  Funny, because their creator decided to show up right then.

  The entire front wall of the café blew off in a fireball explosion. Through the debris and destruction an enormous black dragon walked in as if he were strolling down the boardwalk, not the middle of a paranormal war zone.

  His eyes burned a deep red and billows of smoke plumed from his mouth. He spread his wings and took off the roof of the building making room to fit inside.

  The demon dragons that hadn’t yet succumbed to the power of the strawberry rhubarb gathered around the black dragon.

  A darkness within Jada recognized this specter from hell. He was the king of the underworld come to drag them all to his dark domain.

  Ninsy was nowhere to be found. Please let her be okay. Jada couldn’t take another death because of some price on her head by the ruler of the underworld.

  Jada crawled off the counter and over to Ky. His great chest heaved, and his cuts and lashes seeped blood.

  She’d done this to him, and now because of her, they were all going to die at the hands of the black dragon.

  But, what could she do? For the first time in weeks, sugar wasn’t the answer.

  The sun sank in the sky behind the black dragon. Night was falling. More demons would come out to play.

  Her kind.

  The inkling of a very scary and sad idea formed in her mind. She hated everything about it, because she’d vowed she wouldn’t go back.

  When had she ever kept a promise to herself?

  There was no other choice.

  Jada leaned back against Ky, drawing strength to do what she had to from his weakness. He’d fought a losing battle to protect her. Now she would do the same.

  She raised her hands into the air, palms facing the sky, eyes closed, heart and mind open. “Great Lillith, I seek your blessing, I ask a favor of you if it please you, bring forth the one who lies upon sleepers, the incubus Leonard, with whom I share the pact of blood and lust.”

  She picked up a broken piece of glass and sliced her hand, letting the blood drip to the ground. “Lillith, please receive this offering. I give it truthfully and willingly.”

  The ash and smoke from the battle swirled in a man-sized whirlwind. The form of Leonard emerged, half-naked and pissed as hell.

  He hated being summoned. Well, tough. She hated needing him to save her. She’d suck it up, buttercup, if it would save Ky too.

  “Leon, help me. I’ll do anything.” What that really meant was I’ll come back to the coven and never leave again.

  “Your word is your bond, daughter.” To his credit, Leon assessed the situation in an instant and faced the great dragon.

  The Black Dragon might be the king of hell, but his realm did not rule an incubus as old and powerful as Leonard.

  He pointed a long finger at the dragon. “What business have you with my daughter, Kur-Jara. Go back to your corner of hell, this is mine.”

  The black dragon laughed in the super creepy way serial killers had. “She is yours no more, incubus. She belongs to my world now. You feel it too. Her soul has awakened. I tire of your attempts to keep her from me.”

  He spread his great wings, blocking the remaining light from the waning sun. Up from the shadow he created a whole new army of demon dragons. They sprung up like little kids looking for a cookie. Kids with razor sharp teeth.

  There wasn’t enough rhubarb in the world to defend themselves should they attack.

  Leon turned his allure on, radiating power, not attracting, but repelling the beasts. They screeched and shrank back from the force of his will. “I won’t relinquish her. Her soul is unclaimed, not yours. You’ll never have it. Ever.”

  The pit of
her stomach hollowed until she thought she was being eaten from the inside out. Jada knew they were talking about her and her soul. She wasn’t even sure she had one. Leon had been keeping a lot of shit from her. That would have to wait.

  Right now, she needed to put this plan to keep Ky safe, into action. She’d let the big boys argue over who owned what part of her all they liked, as long as it kept them distracted.

  “Ky, can you move? I need you to shift. I can’t move your big ole dragon butt.”

  He didn’t reply. If his chest weren’t moving, she’d think he was dead. “Ky, please. Say something.”

  “Mine.”

  “Your what?”

  A blue shimmer rippled across his scales and he shifted back into his human form. That made his wounds even more visible. He was covered in blood, and maybe a little jam. If they survived the rest of this day, she’d do everything she could to make up for almost getting him killed. Even if she had to do it from inside Leon’s coven.

  “You.” Ky bowed his head, set one hand on the ground and pushed himself up.

  Jada scrambled to support him, putting his arm over her shoulder to keep him upright. “We’ve gotta go.”

  “Not yet.”

  “Yes, yet. You’re about a centimeter from dying.”

  Ky touched her face and smiled, blue eyes dancing like he was having the time of his life. He took a deep breath and shouted, “Incubus, rogue dragon. I claim this woman. I claim her soul. She is mine.”

  Well, great. Just what she needed. God-damn alpha males. As soon as she got him to safety, assuming he didn’t fuck it up, she’d be telling him off for thinking he could—

  Ky tipped her head to the side and bit down on the exposed part of her neck and shoulder. He broke the skin and a rush, like no drug on the planet could provide, struck her entire body.

  Her mind went haywire and her body went oh-hell-yeah. An energy coursed between the two of them, spinning and swirling from his system to hers and back. Their two became one, linked, together, complete.

  Something shimmered across her skin, but she couldn’t see.

  He released her, licked over the wound and blew an icy cool over it, soothing the skin. The bite had taken less than a second.

  She reached up and touched the flesh where he’d bitten her. It was tender, sore, and her fingers grazed across new raised skin.

  What the hell had he done to her? She glanced up at him and the lust in his dark blue eyes hit her like the iceberg that hit the Titanic, skidding across her soul, sinking her. The wounds on his body had healed, the color returned to his skin, and a new power surged around him.

  “And I am yours, aroha,” he whispered.

  Fear and worry and despair, and a big burst of how-dare-you churned up from the dark hidden places inside where she kept them. She’d belonged to Leon, the black dragon wanted her to belong to him, and now Ky had taken it upon himself to make her belong to him.

  Jada reached out and slapped Ky across the face.

  He didn’t move but frowned and searched her eyes. “Save that for the bedroom, mate.”

  The black dragon roared and lifted up into the air. His demon dragons jumped around screeching like flying monkeys.

  Leon raised his hands into the air, exactly like she’d done earlier, then fisted them tight and whipped them down, spreading drops of blood from the palms of his hands.

  Dozens of her brothers and sisters, including Portia manifested in tornadoes all around them. Leon turned to her and Ky, and mouthed the word, “run.”

  Ky shifted back into his dragon form, snatched her up and took to the air. He pivoted and dove, while Jada screamed and squealed.

  Down below Leon and her siblings ripped the demon dragons to shreds. They fought like a well-trained machine, protecting each other’s backs, forcing the enemy back.

  She couldn’t fight like that. She’d never even seen any of them so much as punch each other in jest.

  She was definitely signing up for some self-defense classes, like Krav Maga, after today.

  She kicked her feet, catching one demon dragon right in the jaw, before Ky lifted them higher into the sky.

  “Hold on.”

  “To what?” He had his talons wrapped around her shoulders like a harness. Jada grabbed onto them like they were the straps to a parachute pack. It was really going to suck if he dropped her.

  The black dragon roared again and shot a swath of fire through the sky. It dove for them, its claws outstretched, reaching for her.

  Shit, shit, shit.

  Ky flipped in the air, and Jada’s stomach flipped out. But, puking was better than dying.

  The black dragon missed her leg by a millimeter, slicing her pant leg clean open. He circled around and attacked again.

  Ky blew an icy wind into the other dragon’s wings, tilting him off course, giving them a chance to dart in the other direction.

  They flew out across the water, and Ky’s grip on her tightened. “Hold your breath, Jada.”

  Ack. She gulped in three big breaths of air, waiting for him to drop into the sea. On her last big inhale Ky dove into the water, tucking her tight against his chest, and sped through the water, away from the black dragon and his minions.

  Just Keep Swimming

  Ky slipped beneath the waves and formed a bubble in the water around Jada. She sputtered and took in deep breaths, but then remained silent.

  Too silent.

  The cool water of the Atlantic soothed him.

  Even in his dragon form, healed of all his wounds, he could still feel the sting from the slap to his face. He’d claimed her, and she’d fucking slapped him.

  She didn’t realize the torture that inflicted on his soul. She didn’t want him, and he could think of nothing but claiming her again and again, until she accepted him, accepted them.

  He never thought he’d have a mate. Told himself he didn’t need or want one. There were plenty of women to share his bed.

  The feel of her in his arms, when he kissed her, when he’d claimed her, they all tossed his lonely existence right out and into the dirt to be eaten by the dogs.

  She filled his soul with such a sense of rightness, completeness, purpose. He knew, without a single doubt they were meant to be together. Jada not only doubted, she actively rejected the mating.

  Too bad. She was his whether she liked it or not.

  He may have lost the battle against the black dragon and his legions of demon dragons, but he would win the war for Jada’s heart.

  He simply needed a plan, and maybe some advice from his Nana Kiki.

  Fleeing from a battle pricked at Ky like the spines of a lionfish. He never retreated. A dragon warrior fought until the bitter end.

  He’d also never been so completely connected to another being’s soul.

  The dragons of his Wyr all looked to him to lead them, in battle and in life. All responsibilities he gladly accepted as the first son.

  The responsibility for another’s soul, that’s what he’d taken on when he claimed Jada.

  Could he trust her with his own?

  It had been evident all over her face she’d known who the black rogue dragon was. The question was how.

  The dragon warriors had encountered the beast before, when Steele had found his mate.

  A mate.

  Jada was Ky’s mate now. He’d claimed her.

  Despite his wounds and exhaustion from the battle with the demon dragons the conversation between the incubus and the black dragon had cut him deeper than any other injury.

  Jada’s soul had awakened. What did that mean?

  He knew so little about a succubus, he couldn’t even come up with the right questions to ask.

  As soon as they got to safety, he would be asking a whole lot of questions anyway. He was tempted to hit the Gulf Stream and straight back to Europe. But, he hadn’t yet found Cage’s soul shard.

  What he really wanted to do was swim all the way back to New Zealand and his home on Waitaria Bay,
where he could take his beautiful curvy demon straight to his bed and make her come until she begged to be his mate. Either that or lock her up in his lair with the rest of his treasure.

  He might have run from the last battle, but he would not abandon the war against the demon dragons, or their new leader.

  After the last battle with the black dragon, Match and Jakob assigned two of their dragon warriors to the South-Eastern seaboard of the United States.

  Steele and Fleur had battled the black dragon before. They could provide shelter and information.

  Soon the waters would warm as they headed south. God, this country was too fucking big.

  They’d need hundreds of dragons to be able to patrol the whole country. A few dragons lived on the west coast of the country, some of his blues liked to fish in the warm waters, but there were too many people in this part of the world for his Wyr’s liking. He’d have to contact Match as soon as possible to get some more reds out this way.

  They could send in all the troops they wanted, but until he had an idea of where to send them and what they should do, there wasn’t a whole lot of point. He had to find out more about the black dragon.

  “How do you know the black dragon?”

  She didn’t respond.

  “You may have information that can help us defeat him.”

  Still nothing.

  “Talk to me, Jada, or when we get to shore I’m going to spank that luscious ass of yours till it’s red.”

  She wriggled around in his talons, kicking and slapping at him so much he nearly dropped her. Maybe he should. Let her cool off.

  Yeah, but she’d probably kill him when he got her back to shore.

  “Stop fighting, aroha. I promise not to spank you. Unless you ask me to.”

  “Get out of my head, you big lizard.”

  Big lizard? At least she was talking to him.

  “We are going to seek shelter and regroup with another dragon warrior and his mate.” Maybe she could get some tips on how to not kill him from Steele’s mate, Fleur. That witch was full of sass and more sass.