20 Shades of Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Demelza Carlton

  Jakob had won Ciara over after he’d kidnapped her, held her captive, and married her without her consent. Which all sounded pretty damn bad.

  All Ky had done was suspect Jada of stealing Cage’s soul shard.

  She’d been fierce in the battle yesterday, and damn inventive with the lack of weapons at her disposal.

  He’d be dead right now if she hadn’t smoked so many of the demon dragons. When Jake and Dax arrived, he’d have her take charge of developing the plan to defeat the black demon dragon. She knew the most about that thing.

  But, she was a succubus. What if she had stolen Cage’s shard? She knew things the rest of them didn’t about the demon dragons and the black beast. She could be working with them.

  Letting her be in charge would put them all at risk. It would also show her that he had faith in her. He hoped she see it that way, trust him.

  Jada came into the room wearing a deep blue shirtdress that emphasized the ring of blue around the outside edge of her dark irises. The site of her in his color took his breath away, locked it up, and swallowed the key.

  “Hi.”

  Yep. That’s all he had. No words for how stunning she looked.

  She quirked one side of her mouth into a smile and looked at him sideways. “Hi.”

  His mouth wanted the next words out to be about going back to their room and seeing how good she looked with the blue dress unbuttoned and pushed off her shoulders, so he could see her mark and her tits.

  His brain kicked into gear before that could come out. “You look fucking amazing in that color.”

  He sounded like a dumbstruck teenager.

  Jada looked down at the clothes and shrugged. “Oh. Thanks. I’m used to wearing black all the time. This feels like I’m wearing a neon sign that says look at me.”

  “I’m looking.”

  “Uh-oh. I should have warned you not to give her a dress that color. He’s going to be distracted all day.” A gorgeous blond with more curves than Marilyn Monroe crossed the room and took Jada in a big hug. “I’m Ciara, Jakob is my mate. I’m so frickin’ excited you’re here with Ky. Now I have someone else to be a bridesmaid at the giant wedding I’m throwing…in my mother’s face.”

  Ky shot a look at Jakob, who grinned like his mate had just said the most brilliant thing on the planet.

  Love struck fools, the both of them.

  “Oh, I…uh, we…” Jada’s stumbling over the words to deny that they were together made Ky even more sure he had to go ahead with his plans to put her in charge.

  Dax, the red assigned to this area along with Steele walked in and rubbed his hands together. “Let’s get this party started. I’m ready to burn up some demon dragons.”

  “What about Match and Cage?” Steele asked.

  Jakob shot Ky a quick glance. They’d all decided not to let Cage’s precarious condition out to the dragon warriors. “Cage is indisposed and I’m still waiting on an update from Match. He’s in Africa working on this problem from the underground side of things.”

  If anyone could rescue the mami wata girl from the hellish environment of a volcano, it was Match. He thrived in that heat.

  Ky offered Jada a seat. “We’ll work with what we’ve got here now and call in reinforcements when we’ve got a plan.”

  Fleur came in with a tray of coffee and herbal teas. The pendent around her neck glowed a little brighter this morning.

  Ky glanced from Fleur to Ciara and back again. They both wore the crystal pendants. Their mates did not.

  Holy shit. How had he not realized it before? Both Jakob and Steele had given their soul shards to their mates.

  That couldn’t simply be a green dragon thing. The shard contained a piece of their souls. No smart dragon was ever without that most prized possession.

  Ky knew all the way to his core, that they’d given up their shards because they’d given their mates their souls, both figuratively and literally.

  He’d give his to Jada a hundred times over. If she’d take it.

  They weren’t ready. She wouldn’t want it, wouldn’t understand what giving it to her would mean.

  Time to put that plan to win her over into action. Jada sat on the edge of a chair and Ky stood behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I suggest we let Jada lead. She’s good in battle and knows our enemy unlike any of the rest of us.”

  The room erupted with cries about allowing a demon to even be there, much less take any charge. Only Steele and Fleur knew that Jada was Ky’s soul mate.

  Ky stepped to the center of the living room and raised his hands, sending out a wave of cool mist to hit them all in the faces and get their attention.

  His powers came easier to him now, ever since he’d walked into that donut shop and laid eyes on Jada. His tactic got everyone to shut up almost instantly.

  “I would rather have addressed this later with the AllWyr council, but you lot will have to do.” Ky didn’t know how Jada was going to react to his announcement.

  “Before you all flip your shit, you need to know, Jada is a fierce warrior who is being hunted by the demon dragons. The black demon dragon beast wants her himself. But, that can never happen, because Jada is my true mate.” The shard on his chest glowed with a blue light that filled the room in a flash as if to emphasize his point.

  Ciara gave Jakob a see-I-told-you-so look. Dax threw his hands up in the air and rolled his eyes. The only reaction Ky cared about was Jada’s

  Her eyes went wide, and she shook her head at him. She was going to deny it right here in front of everyone. That was going to hurt like a son of mother ducker.

  “I’m not a warrior,” she said.

  The beats his heart had skipped pounded in his chest putting the rhythm up a notch. She hadn’t said she accepted him, but she didn’t refute his claim either. He could kiss the hell out of her right then.

  He settled for staring at her lips and imagining all the fun things he was going to do with them later. “You are. You took out dozens of demon dragons yesterday.”

  She pulled away from him and wrapped her arms around herself. “By accident.”

  Was she kidding? “By quick thinking in a crisis situation. We might not have escaped if not for you and your family.”

  Dax butted in. “Have you always fought those bastards? What can you tell us about the big black demon dragon?”

  Jada shook her head. “I’ve never fought them before, but Leonard, my father, said they’ve been after me for months. I don’t know what I can tell you.”

  Ky put a hand over hers, trying to let her feel his support. “When we battled the horde of demon dragons and the black dragon appeared, you knew who he was, didn’t you?”

  She frowned at him. “You don’t?”

  Steele stood and began pacing. “We encountered him once before, but he is a new enemy to us.”

  Jada’s frown deepened, and she looked around the room at each of the warriors. “But, you, the dragon warriors, have been battling the demon dragons for centuries.”

  Jakob nodded at her. “Yes, but not the black demon who takes our dragon form, has dragon powers. He must be behind this new surge of attacks.”

  “He isn’t a demon at all. He rules a section of hell, along with the Black Witch, Ereshkigal.”

  “The crone,” Fleur whispered. She shivered and went straight into Steele’s arms, a vine of thorns popped up around their feet.

  “We know none of this. Why are your kind hiding the black dragon and the crone from us?” Steele’s voice turned hard and accusing.

  Scales rippled across Ky’s skin and his dragon shimmered. Nobody threatened his mate. Not even another dragon warrior. “Watch yourself, green.”

  Jada got up from her chair and stood between the two of them. She had one hand over her collarbone, right where his mark lay.

  “I’m not hiding anything. We don’t have that much interaction with him or his kind, but Leon talks about them and your war with them. This is all common knowledge in the dem
on world as far as I know. Ask anyone in my coven.” She rubbed her mark. “I don’t understand how you could have been mortal enemies with the demon dragons for so many centuries and not have any information about them.”

  Dax pounded his fist on the table. “All we need to know is that they wreak havoc on the world eating people and causing plagues. They are evil and need to be destroyed. Every last one of them.”

  Reds and their one-track mind when it came to killing demon dragons. That may have worked in the past, but things were changing. This new enemy wouldn’t be defeated by brute force alone.

  They needed to use their heads.

  Jada shook her head and sat back down. “They know a truckload more than that about you.”

  Or smarter heads, like Jada’s.

  Jakob whispered something to Ciara. She nodded and crossed the room, sitting next to Jada.

  Jada tensed up making Ky wary too, even though he knew Ciara wasn’t there to harm her in anyway.

  She took Jada’s hand in hers and just like that the tension in the room dropped a couple of notches. “What about this black dragon thing, is he a demon? Are there more than one of his kind? What do you know about him?”

  Jada tilted her head and studied Ciara for a moment. Ky could see the question on her face, but she didn’t ask.

  “His name is Kur-Jara, and he is the king of hell.”

  She said it calm as could be. Ky’s gut told him this was a big deal, that they should all be up in arms over this information. He understood it mattered, but he was able to keep a clear head about it.

  Jakob stared down at his mate, and they could all scent the powerful sense of pride he carried for Ciara. Her powers, those of a white witch, worked a treat to keep everyone focused. Even Dax’s hot temper had cooled.

  Ciara put her other hand over Jada’s and gave her an encouraging smile. “Yikes, what does that mean?”

  Jada grinned, shook her head a little. She was as calm as the rest of them, but Ky would bet half his treasure she understood what Ciara’s gift was doing to her and the rest of them.

  “Exactly what I said. Kur-Jara rules over the underworld. Anything in that realm is subject to his command.”

  Ciara glanced between Jada and Ky, the tiniest flash of worry crossing over her face. It was gone in an instant, but it had been there, allowing Ky to feel his own worry. “Does that include you?”

  “I’m only half demon and I’m not from his realm. I was born to a human.”

  Half demon, half human. Was that all? Ky felt like there was something more to her. He couldn’t put his finger on it. His shard buzzed against his chest. He placed one hand over it and the other softly on the back of her neck, giving her his confidence in her through his touch.

  She leaned into him and took a breath that he could tell re-centered her.

  Ciara continued asking questions they all wanted to know the answers to. “The demon dragons that he rules, where do they come from?”

  “They are his offspring. The product of his union with annunaki demons. We don’t associate with either of them.” Jada wrinkled her nose.”

  Ciara frowned. “They’re his kids? That’s horrible in so many ways.”

  Fleur joined the other two mates. She worried a green leaf between her fingers, but that was the only sign of any anxiety. “He captured me when Steele and I first met. But, I still don’t know what is he, who is he. Why is he after us?”

  Jada looked to Ky, asking him with her eyes to end the questioning. She’d had enough, and Ciara’s gift was wearing thin.

  He squeezed the back of her neck and gave her a small nod. She could do this.

  She lifted her chin and nodded back. “I don’t know. Leon didn’t tell me why, only that he and my coven had been protecting me from them.”

  “We’ll protect you now.” Ky wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He’d hide her away with the rest of his treasure if he had to.

  Even with all of this new information from Jada, they didn’t have enough. He tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair. “What are we missing? There has to be a connection between the appearance of Kur-jara and the mates. It’s been seven-hundred years and then bam, three mates in as many months.”

  Jada turned to Ky and raised an eyebrow at him. “Dragons haven’t had mates in all that time? Come on, you lot are as horny as an incubus. There are dragon sons all over the world. You’ve had mates.”

  Ciara and Fleur widened their eyes at Jakob and Steele. This was like a bad version of the how many ex-girlfriends talk.

  Jakob found his dragon balls first. “Companions, yes. But, never a true mate. Ciara was the first in several generations.”

  “You bet your ass I was. Any dragon sons I need to know about, mister?”

  Jakob laughed. “Thank god for the Earl of Condom.”

  “What happened seven-hundred years ago to keep you all, and presumably your fathers from finding true mates?” Jada asked.

  Even Ciara’s gifts couldn’t keep the dragon warriors in the room from falling somber.

  Ky cleared his throat and said, “The death of the First Dragon.”

  Witches and Wishes

  Jada’s insides were alternating between tingling and balling up like a fist in her stomach. She didn’t want to like Ky so damn much. He’d claimed her and marked her without so much as a dinner and drink.

  That had pissed her off. She was tired of feeling like someone else owned her. For once in her life she’d like to make her own damn decisions.

  He’d taken the choice away from her again when they escaped into the ocean and came to his friend’s house.

  That was three strikes against him. One for the claiming, one for the marking, and one for the leaving her coven behind to fight the horde.

  Then he went and got all dominant in the shower. Not in a way that felt like she’d given up her power again. No, he’d given her the chance to not be in charge of either his pleasure, which was weird and wonderful, or her own.

  He’d said it would feel freeing.

  He had no idea.

  She’d give him one point, but he’d made her come twice, at least. To be fair, she had to give him a point for each.

  That still put him in the negative this morning. She’d successfully kept him there through their awkward morning after, all the way until he’d announced to the whole group, she was his mate.

  Should have been a strike against him. Instead her insides had gone all mushy and warm.

  Damn it.

  One point for him again. Made them even.

  Fine. She could handle that.

  What blew her mind was the way throughout the entire rest of the meeting with the other dragon warriors and their mates, all powerful beings in their own rights, he continued to let her do the talking, in fact encouraged her to take charge of the meeting.

  It seemed like something so trivial, but that was not how anyone in her world treated her. Leon and the coven treated her with soft fluffy kid gloves.

  Jada hadn’t realized that until now. She couldn’t fight because she hadn’t ever needed to. Same went for making her own decisions.

  She hadn’t even really made the decision to leave the coven by herself. Leon had pushed her into it.

  Today, in the past few hours. The only butting in that Ky had done was to ask questions and say he would protect her. Even when she’d mentally tried to ask him to speak up he’d simply lent her some of his strength with a nod of confidence.

  One-thousand bonus points. The bastard. She couldn’t be mad at him.

  “The First Dragon had a mate, didn’t he?” Jada had an idea who that mate was. “A woman in white, perhaps?”

  Ky nodded. “Yes, the White Witch. She left us too when the First Dragon died.”

  A white witch, one who commanded all the elements. There were legends of an ancient battle between the white witch and her sister. “I think I met her, and her mate was with her. He definitely wasn’t dead.”

  Every face in
the room stared at her, a few with slack jaws.

  Ciara broke the silence first. “I believe I’ve interacted with her too. She’s the one who helped me understand my gifts.”

  If Jada was right, Ciara didn’t really understand the depth of her powers. There were witches all over the world, some who liked to summon demons like incubus, but most were healers, herbalists, and normal everyday women. None commanded more than one element. “You’re a white witch like she is.”

  Ciara grinned at her. “You’ve figured me out then.”

  “What you do feels almost like an allure. I thought at first you were part succubus, but there’s no draw, no need in what you were doing.”

  “I can do that, but I save it for Jakob.” She winked.

  A ping stung the back of Jada’s throat seeing the want and need the two exchanged between each other in only a glance. It took her a second to continue. “Your gift in calming everyone’s emotions had a similar feel to the spell the White Witch worked on me.”

  “I’m still learning about my own powers, but the strongest part has something to do with the emotion part of it. Positive ones work better for me, like trust and love.”

  Jada wanted to test her theory that Ciara had control over all the elements. “What other powers do you have?”

  “I’m a fan of the earth elements, along with Fleur.” The same daisies that had surrounded the house and appeared in Fleur’s hair pushed out of the planter nearest Jakob and stretched their little white heads to him until they wrapped around his arms.

  He grinned and those green eyes of his twinkled for Ciara.

  Fleur giggled like she and Ciara shared an inside joke. “Hey, I showed you that one. It’s supposed to be for the bedroom only.”

  Jakob plucked the flowers and pushed one into Ciara’s hair, above her ear.

  “Your gift with the wind helped us get here a lot easier,” Jakob said.

  Ky glanced over at Ciara with surprise. “The gold dragons didn’t help you at all?”

  The last time Ky had been around Ciara she’d created a fierce tempest that could blow them all around like feathers. But, she didn’t have a lot of control over her powers with the wind or rain then.