20 Shades of Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Demelza Carlton

  He split the water around their faces and found her eyes. They stared into each other’s souls for what seemed like a beautiful eternity.

  “Jada, aroha. Marry me.” He struggled to get the words out of his mouth between heavy breaths. “I want the world to know how much I love you.”

  “Yes. I’ll always say yes.”

  Yes. The best word in the world.

  He wanted to see her face again as she came, but he needed to reaffirm his claim on her more. He bent his head to her shoulder and sunk his teeth into the skin where the dragon he’d marked her with lie.

  Her body shook as he did. Jada twisted and her own mouth found his neck. She returned his bite with one of her own, taking his blood, and pushing them both over the edge into an explosion. They came together, wrapped in each other’s bodies and hearts and souls.

  Hours later when they were both sated they returned to shore to find the other mated couples there, Match slept, but there was no Dax or Portia.

  “They’re not?” Jada asked.

  “No,” Steele said. He was friends with Dax and would have known if the dragon and succubus were mates. “She asked him to take her back to the States.”

  “Speaking of states. Who wants to be in a wedded blissful one? Do I have three weddings to plan?” Ciara clapped her hands and gave both Jada and Fleur pointed looks.

  “Jada did say yes.” A whole bunch of times. Over and over and over.

  “Squee. Ky, I’ve been studying up on the dance, what’s it called, ooh, right, haka. There’s one for weddings. Did you know?”

  Ky couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm. How long had she been planning his wedding, anyway?

  “I did actually.” He wrapped his arm around Jada and pulled her close, thinking about what Match had said in the tunnels about needing a ring.

  Back before dragons had lost the ability to find mates, and the White Witch was still…alive, she bestowed a ring upon mates of Wyverns. Well, she made them find one.

  If they found it, and could wear it, then they were worthy of being a true mate to the leader of the dragons.

  Ciara wore the last ring in known existence.

  Damn.

  Ky should have asked the White Witch for one when he’d seen her. Not that he’d been able to ask for anything at the time.

  Ky didn’t want to give Jada any old piece of jewelry, he wanted it to be special. Maybe Nana Kiki would have an idea for a ring.

  In a week’s time, Ky got to call his AllWyr in New Zealand.

  Cage had miraculously recovered. Almost. He was no longer knocking on atua’s door. But, he could no longer shift from man to dragon.

  The one thing keeping Cage from going insane was the promise, that he had a mate. Match made Cage a vow, that as soon as he recovered from the stabbing and poison that together, they would descend back down into the earth and find Azynsa.

  Match refused to even speak Fallyn’s name, so they let him be. He wasn’t that much different than his old grumpy self. Now, he just walked like a dragon in his Wisdom, nearing death, instead being in his Prime.

  His brother Wyverns along with Ciara and Fleur had all agreed to stand up at the wedding. Jada saved a spot in that line-up for Portia too. She had yet to reply to the request.

  Ciara had wanted months to plan the wedding, but he and Jada insisted on a week at most. Ky was sure Ciara used her white magic to pull it all off.

  The garden behind his house on the bay overlooked the ocean. His lands were filled with dragons, mostly blues who had swum in from all over the world to be at the first dragon wedding in their lives.

  Many had already told him, that seeing him with a mate had given them hope. They, like he had never expected they would find one. Now it was a real possibility that they might.

  The final detail nagging Ky was the ring for Jada.

  It killed him that he couldn’t find that for her. He’d searched his own treasure up and down and up again to see if there was any possibility a ring had been left behind. He found plenty of diamonds and jewels, but no ring.

  He was sitting on the back terrace of the house, looking out over the water when Jada came and found him.

  “Hey, Ky. Look what Nana Kiki and I found.” The two women walked out together, granted Nana Kiki was quite a bit slower than Jada. She was at least a hundred years old, although no one knew her real age.

  Nana had loved Jada on sight. They’d spent almost as much time together this week as Jada and Ky had.

  “What is it, aroha?”

  “Nana Kiki and I were digging around in some old boxes you have trying to find a dress she wanted to wear, and I found this.”

  Jada held out a ring, made of pure water. It swirled and sparkled, but held its shape, even as she laid it in his hand.

  “She found that right away, she did,” Nana said and sat in the chair opposite him. “Why don’t you put it on her finger, boy? I think it would look fine.”

  Ky’s hands shook as he slipped the ring onto Jada’s finger.

  “Say the words, boy. Jada, repeat after him.”

  “Ni, Jada,” Ky paused. “I don’t know your last name.”

  “Oh, uh. I don’t really have one. I’ve always been identified by my coven. How about Leonardo?”

  Ky nodded and smiled at her.

  “Ni, Jada Leonardo, cad men anna ni gud Ky Puru.”

  Jada said the words back to him and a blue light as strong as the one in his soul poured from the ring, surrounding them both.

  Ky said the vow back to her. “Ni, Ky Puru, gud tammabuki, cad men anna ni ilati sinnis, Jada Leonardo.”

  The light filled them both, and their souls danced again. As it faded, it gathered and sank into the water of Jada’s ring.

  Ky kissed Jada and held her tight to his chest. Then he looked over at Nana Kiki.

  She had an awfully familiar gleam to her eye. Was that a new white dress she was wearing?

  “Ky, what were those words. What did we say? They felt familiar, right.”

  “They are the vows of the Wyvern mating ritual. You promised yourself to me and I to you.”

  “I love that. But, shouldn’t we have said them tomorrow at the wedding?”

  Nana Kiki rose, without the help of her cane. “Jada, your gift, what your offer is what every human wants, what every being in the Universe is looking for, hoping for. What you offer is love. No one, mortal or not can resist the allure of true love. Ky needed that in his life. He’d gone far too long without it.”

  “Nana? How did you know about the ring, and that I should put it on Jada? And the words? You were my father’s companion. He had no mate.”

  She laughed and the air around her glowed. “While I enjoy you calling me Nana Kiki, it’s not quite one of my true names., although I have many. One is Inanna, another is Ki.”

  Holy First Dragon. Ki was a little-known name for Papatūānuku, the Māori primordial earth mother. The mother of all things.

  A warmth washed over both Jada and Ky as Nana Kiki transformed before their eyes. She was a beautiful young women in moments. She was the White Witch.

  “I should know, youngling.” She kissed them both on the forehead. “I should know who your mates are. I’m working on that for your brothers now. Who better than me? I used to be the goddess of love.”

  In a blink the White Witch disappeared, leaving Ky and Jada to gape in her wake.

  They two of them told only Match, Jakob and Ciara, and Cage about their ritual with the White Witch.

  Each were floored by the story. Jada and Ciara compared rings. None of them had noticed that Ciara’s was made of a literal living plant on her hand when Jakob had put it on her finger. But, now that the mate of a green and a blue Wyvern had a ring that matched their element, they all looked forward to seeing what a ring made of sun and wind looked like for Cage’s mate.

  The wedding was a great party, his Wyr performed the Tika Tonu Haka for them.

  It brought a tear to his eye.

&
nbsp; That evening, Ky took his bride to bed, and they didn’t come out for a week, okay, ten days.

  He loved her, not just with his body, but with his soul. She returned his love, tenfold.

  Never again would either of them have to hide their hearts away. In each other’s arms and in each other’s lives, they were living their true happily ever after.

  More Books by Aidy Award

  Dragons Love Curves

  Chase Me

  Sass Me

  Live For Me (a Dragons Love Curves short)

  Bite Me (coming February 2018

  in the 20 Shades of Shifters Anthology)

  Cage Me (coming Spring 2018)

  Save Me (coming Spring 2018)

  Ignite Me (coming Spring 2018)

  Slay Me (coming Summer 2018)

  Free Me (coming Fall 2018)

  Enchant Me (coming soon)

  Who loves Dragons?

  Dear reader,

  I hope you loved reading this adventure in the Dragons Love Curves series with Jada and Ky as much as I loved writing it!

  The dragons and their mates have a lot more adventures coming your way. So many questions to be answered.

  Keep reading the Dragons Love Curves series to your fix of sexy dragon shifters giving their mates happy ever afters (and happy endings! Lol)

  If you enjoyed this book in this series, check out where the story began in Chase Me, Ciara and Jakob’s story.

  Then you can continue the journey with Sass Me, a Sassy Ever After novella. Remember Steele? Yep, he’s got some curves coming his way!

  The next full-length novel in the series will be, Cage Me, out March 8th. You’ll get to read about Cage Gylden, the Gold Dragon Wyvern and his mate, who might happen to be a mermaid.

  A fish and a bird can fall in love, but where would they live?

  I’d love to hear what’s on your dirty little minds, so be sure to leave a review for this story. I really appreciate you telling other readers what you though.

  Want to be the first to know when the next book comes out (plus get cool exclusive content from me!)? Sign up for my Curvy Connection mailing list.

  You’ll get book release news, contests and giveaways, and exclusive previews and excerpts. You can also join my review team for free books!

  Find me at www.AidyAward.com or on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or follow me on BookBub.

  Kisses,

  ~Aidy

  About the Author

  Aidy Award is a curvy girl who kind of has a thing for stormtroopers. She’s also the author of the popular Curvy Love series and the hot new Dragons Love Curves series.

  She writes curvy girl erotic romance, about real love, and dirty fun, with happy ever afters because every woman deserves great sex and even better romance, no matter her size, shape, or what the scale says.

  Read the delicious tales of hot heroes and curvy heroines come to life under the covers and between the pages of Aidy’s books. Then let her know because she really does want to hear from her readers.

  Connect with Aidy on her website. www.AidyAward.com get her Curvy Connection, and join her Facebook Group - Aidy’s Amazeballs.

  Tigress: The Complete Book I By Alica Knight

  Copyright Alica Knight

  Part I

  Passion Begins

  A Paranormal Romance Serial

  with a little hint of spice.

  “The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.”

  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Prologue

  Nineteen Is An Odd Age To Die

  The shotgun slug entered my right hip, blowing a hole the size of a penny through my body. I fell over backwards and I bled, and I bled, and I bled.

  Rakshasa, the mythical were-tigers of India, are more powerful than humans. We can run as fast as a car, lift about two hundred kilos, take hits that would fell a man. We can appear as women and men, or as the great tigers, the hunting cats. We can heal grievous wounds.

  Not these kind of wounds, though. We have limits. We aren’t immortal.

  Blood gushed from the hole in a way I’d never seen blood do before. I could smell it, thick, coppery, pungent. That’s one thing you notice after you shift: your sense of smell, even in your human form, becomes much more powerful. I could smell the grass beneath me, the harsh, acrid smell of gunpowder from the thin, smoky trail rising from the wound, the faint smell of rain in the distance carried by a cool wind. It was going to rain soon but I’d be dead before the storm arrived.

  Nineteen is an odd age to die. You’re over eighteen so you’re legally an adult, but really, you’re still just a kid. I hung out at the local mall, went drinking with my friends and otherwise did everything I’d done at age fifteen.

  I was never going to be a wife. Never going to be a mother. I’d never watch another game of cricket. I’d never eat or drink anything again. I’d never walk or sing or laugh. Every single thing I was ever going to do with my life, my entire influence on this planet and the billions of people on it, was complete.

  But it was okay. I was going to die to save the life of the man I loved.

  I’d found someone I cared for with everything I had. Not just a boyfriend, an accessory, interchangeable and faceless. A soulmate. Someone whose life was bound to mine.

  My death would save him. My blood, the same blood pouring onto the grass beneath me, would be his salvation. A piece of myself, given freely.

  That’s why I didn’t struggle, didn’t resist. My wound, my torn and perforated flesh, burned with deep pain, but I didn’t press my hand to the entry point, didn’t try to hold on to life.

  I heard voices. The crack of shotguns, sharp and staccato, drowned out by the thunderous roar of my fellows. The Rakshasa, my coven, leapt upon the huntsmen and tore them to shreds with their powerful claws, ripping out throats with their teeth, clawing and biting and maiming and destroying the humans. Hurting those who hurt us.

  Avenging me.

  I let go. I let it all go, and I lay on my back in a growing pool of my blood, staring up at the sky as my vision drained away, and I saw the sun darken as the moon moved across it.

  1

  Libby the Loser

  Two months earlier…

  I don’t know why I let my friends dress me like this.

  The music thumped around me, the bass deafening, so loud and so forceful I could feel it deep in my chest. I stood by the bar in the crowded club, just like I did every Friday, waiting for my friends to all hook up with guys so I could slip away unnoticed through the back exit.

  I had another sip of my glass of water and tried not to think about what damage this overly loud music was doing to my hearing or how much the dress I was wearing had cost me. It was slick, red and on the shop model it had looked totally divine. On me, though, it was just ludicrous. I felt like a rodeo clown.

  A man, dressed in a button-up shirt and jeans, stepped out of the crowd to the bar. He was tall, with a shadow of stubble over his chin, with tan skin and an outdoorsy complexion. Indian, like me. As he moved right beside me I could smell a faint, but pleasant, scent from him: pine needles, crisp and clean. He had the brightest, most clear blue eyes I had ever seen.

  You’re here to meet guys. The words of Katelyn, my best friend forever, echoed in my mind. The key is just to talk to them! Talking. I could do that. I inhaled, trying to adopt the most casual pose I could, holding my drink in one hand and leaning on the bar with the other.

  “Nice day, isn’t it?”

  The stranger turned to me, bewildered. He mouthed something I didn’t catch. The music was something dubsteppy and repetitive that drowned out all other sound.

  I put a hand to my ear. “Pardon?”

  He leaned in to me, so close his face was almost touching mine, and suddenly I could hear him. “What did you say?” His voice seemed to cut over the pounding bass, muffling it. His words were as clear as day and I found I barely had to shout anymore.

  “I said, it’s a nice day, isn’t it?”


  “Actually it’s going to rain later tonight.”

  The stranger moved his head back from mine and the music came back full force. I had no idea how he’d done that, or how he knew about the weather. We’d been in the club for several hours, but when we’d come in there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky.

  As I was staring, mouth agape, thinking of something funny and witty to say, the guy’s drink arrived. “Okay, well.” I gave a nervous laugh. “I didn’t pack an umbrella, so I hope not.”

  I don’t think he heard me. The stranger gave me a polite nod, then, with a laugh and a much more genuine nod to his distant friends, he slipped back into the crowd. I watched him disappear into the mass of people jumping to the deafening thump of the crappy music.

  Someone grabbed my arm and I spilled water all over the polished wood of the bar. Katelyn, my best friend since I don’t know when, laughed drunkenly and fell onto my chest.

  “Liiiiiibby. Libby, I’m drunk.”

  “Yes,” I sighed. “You are.” I helped her stand.

  Katelyn indicated the blond, college-age guy standing beside her, wearing hipster jeans and a baggy shirt. “This is Jacques. We’re going back to his place now, okay?”

  I nodded, just like I’d nodded every other time she came up to me and told me she was going home with some guy she’d barely met. “Okay.”

  Katelyn leaned in close to me, her alcohol-heavy breath blowing right in my face. “How’d you do tonight? Talk to anyone?”