20 Shades of Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Demelza Carlton

  Apparently, she was a coward.

  The SUV sat where she’d left it and she threw her briefcase inside with total disregard for the expensive leather. She climbed in and started the car, shrieking when the headlights illuminated the shape of a half dozen large wolves. She slammed the car in reverse and spun out of the parking spot, and pressed the gas pedal to the floor when she got the vehicle turned around and put into drive.

  Long hours later, Helen pulled back the covers and sat on the hotel bed. She’d driven past the place where she’d meant to stop, a nice little B&B, and kept going until her body rebelled and she feared she would fall asleep at the wheel. At least the Springhill Suites by Marriot had had room for her and they were comfortable and clean and quiet.

  She kicked off her heels, staring for a moment at the scuffs on the expensive leather. Ruined. Her stomach hurt, her heart hurt and her heels were destroyed. A tear slipped down her check and she practically slapped it away. She picked up the phone and called down to room service for some Perrier, some Tylenol and come digestive crackers, then walked to the bathroom and stripped. Everything but the pendant came off. That she’d keep, a reminder, always, exactly as the damn Gypsies probably planned. A hot shower was in order and then a long, long sleep.

  She stood under the spray and let the heat pour over her. The hotel shampoo and conditioner weren’t her style but she couldn’t bring herself to be concerned. At least the jasmine body wash helped to ease her muscles. And if she cried in the shower, who would ever know?

  Finally she climbed out and dried off and wrapped herself in a bathrobe. A heavy knock at the door reminded her of the room service order and she sighed. She picked up her purse, dug a few dollars from it and opened the door.

  David pushed the door the rest of the way open.

  Helen gasped and stumbled backward, but he caught her before she could fall. And then the door swung shut and his lips were on hers. His kiss demanded everything from her. And his hands, rough and cold from being outside, ran over her body with an urgency that left her reeling. The money she’d taken to tip room service fell to the floor and she grabbed David’s shoulders and hung on.

  He wanted her, demanded her silently to submit to his desire. And if that’s the direction his feelings had taken, she’d accept it and him. She’d take everything he’d give her. God knew it could be the last time she’d ever see him. If this was their last night, she’d have him any way she could.

  He stripped the housecoat from her and let it fall to the floor. His eyes, still mostly golden from the curse with only a hint of their hazel shining through, burned her with the power of his gaze and she flushed with embarrassment and desire. He’d seen her naked of course, but now he raked her over with his eyes and there was no mistaking his intent to take her now, hard, and no mistaking the fact that she wanted him to.

  They’d been apart too long and her heart ached. But thought and regret came crashing to a close as he picked her up by the waist and pulled her against him. She wrapped her legs around his body and he strode to the bed, throwing them both down on the mattress. The breath in her lungs rushed out and he barely gave her a moment to catch it before his mouth and hands made her struggle for air again.

  He kissed and bit at her lips, then her neck. His hands made quick work of their rediscovery of her body, stroking her skin and cupping her breasts only to pinch her nipples tight and move on. Before she could open for him he was pressing his fingers inside her, and her cry of surprise and need only seemed to fuel his actions. In moments she cried out as the first orgasm shook her body, but he didn’t stop. He only growled in a strange combination of satisfaction and anger that made her shiver, and spread her legs wider for him, offering him anything he wanted to take.

  He bit and licked at her body, working his way down her stomach in a way that felt dangerous and wild. She shuddered under him, and smelled his skin, that unique scent of David mixed with a hint of what had to be his wolf. Had he come here immediately after shifting? How had he found her so fast?

  “David… David!” She cried out in desire as his mouth found her core and he licked and proved until she spun out of control again and the world seemed to sway out of existence.

  And then he was on her, thrusting, taking, and erasing the last bit of thought in her mind. She screamed and he howled as they both rushed over the edge and fell.

  Chapter 18

  David lay on her, pinning her to the bed, and she could feel his heart racing. She licked her lips. Her mouth was dry from panting. She tried to clear her throat. He gripped her like she might be trying to get away. Not a bad idea. Now they’d have to talk. And there was that cowardice again, something her father had accused her of, but nothing had ever made her believe she possessed. Until now.

  He rolled off her and laid on his back. They both stared at the ceiling. “I’m sorry.” The words came out in unison followed by a long few minutes of silence.

  He spoke first. “I was angry at you. I shouldn’t have just barged in here. And then, you looked so good. I wanted you so much—”

  “You don’t have to explain. And you certainly don’t have to apologize. I wanted you too.” She couldn’t look at him. “I know you hate me for what the Rom put you through. The pain and the humiliation of being an animal. Eating God knows what. Subjected to Danior’s anger and sadistic leadership. I don’t blame you. I saw how repulsed you were when I changed and how you pitied me. I know you probably came here for some closure. You can tell me how much you hate me. I take full responsibility. And when you find out the rest, you’re going to hate me more.”

  “The rest? What did you do, Helen?” He rolled onto his side and stared at her. She could feel his gaze. She closed her eyes.

  “I… I gave them the mountain resort. Not all of it. Of course none of the land you bought. I purchased more under it and on the other side of the mountain. They needed a place with so many specific requirements, I couldn’t find anything else in the month they gave me. It doesn’t mean you can’t build what you want there,” she said quickly. “Just that it might be smaller, and you’d have some neighbors…but they aren’t there all the time and the wolves might actually bring in some tourism—”

  “I don’t want tourists.”

  “Oh… Of course you don’t. I’m sorry.”

  “And this? What is this? I felt something from it.” He fingered the chain on the wolf pendant.”

  “Part of the deal. I give them a place to camp, a way to add to their path, and they free you, free both of us really. No being hunted.” She sat up, and then stood, her back to him. “The necklace is a reminder. So I don’t forget the Rom. At least once a year I have to change and become the wolf. I know you don’t want to see that again. I know you don’t want me near you long enough to see me as an animal or to remind me of what you’ve been through, all because you tried to help me.”

  She turned back to him. God he was gorgeous. The sheets only covered his hips. But his eyes had turned dark and his lips were pressed tightly together. His hands had bunched into fists. Looking at him was a mistake.

  “I’m not angry because you used the land. I told you to do it. I don’t even want the retreat there anymore. I fell in love with the old place again when we were there together. And I’m not angry because they brought me to the wolf. Yes, it was painful. Yes, Danior is an asshole, although he saved me more than once and taught me a lot. I’m angry because you left me, damn it! You left me there, in a form I had no idea what to do with, with people I didn’t know, and no idea of what happened to you and no way of knowing what you were going to do or what they might do to you.

  “I don’t hate being a wolf, I love it. Maybe you don’t, maybe all you still see is the animal, the beast, but over the last month I have experienced so much… I don’t even know if you got to see everything I have. You’ve never run with a pack…” He fell back on the bed and rubbed his hands over his face. “God, Helen. I don’t know where you got the idea that I was repulse
d or that I pitied you. I was upset over the amount of pain I saw in you when you changed. And now I know firsthand how the pain is mixed with power and pleasure. I never pitied you.” He threw off the sheets and stood. “I never pitied you, I envied you!” Now he was shouting.

  Helen froze. She stared at him, a beautiful male god in his anger. He’d put on even more muscle mass during his time in the woods, something she couldn’t help notice. She shook as she replayed his words. “You aren’t angry at me?”

  “Yes, I am, damn it! But for all different reasons.” He walked to her and pulled her into his arms, kissed her. Then he groaned and rested his head on top of hers, the wolf pendant trapped between them. “I’m still angry that you left. That you didn’t tell me about how you felt. That I told you I loved you and you ran away.”

  She listed to his heart beating. “I love you.” She pulled away, catching his hands in hers. Slowly, keeping her eyes on him, she led him back to the bed.

  “I love you,” she repeated herself. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s just that you scared me,” he muttered. He looked into her eyes. “I was afraid you weren’t coming back.”

  Ah. Her heart twisted and she fell so much further. “I was afraid you wouldn’t love me anymore after everything. Hearing you say you loved me at Danior’s workshop, I convinced myself you only said it so that they would let me go. That you were pulling your Boy Scout routine. The knight in shining armor.”

  “For you, always. But it was still the truth.” He kissed her. The wolf pendant buzzed between them. He leaned back, looked at it again. “The Rom drive a hard bargain. I wonder what it’s going to take to get them to make us another one?”

  Now she grinned. “Well, I did happen to get a good look at the map of their path. There might be something we can negotiate.”

  He laughed. “Perfect. C’mon, wolfgirl. Let’s try this again. Say it with me. I love you, and I am never leaving.”

  “I love you. And I am never leaving.”

  His lips met hers and the exhilaration over the freedom she’d experienced on her first run through the woods as a wolf returned. This time she wouldn’t run alone.

  Epilogue

  Pine needles and moldy old leaves, mud and the scent of something small and furry tickled her nose. She waited, frozen, and he heard the tiny rustle that must have caught her attention. Then she leaped, pounced, and killed. Mouse. Perfect snack, although she’d never admit it to anyone except him. Maybe not even then, although he knew how much she liked them. He grinned at her and she grinned back long muzzle filled with teeth and a lolling tongue. Her fur ruffled in the breeze and he walked to her, nudged her with his shoulder. Time to go back.

  Running. This was the part he liked best, breaking into the long loping run that ate the distance between them and home.

  The cottage was home now, their territory, at least as wolves. There were times when their other forms interfered and they lived elsewhere, in places the wolves didn’t care for. Here on the mountain they had the big wooden den, comfortable for both their forms, and the woods to run and hunt.

  They had company too, the ruva of the various bands, should they want it. Right now he didn’t. He wanted to take his mate to their den and love her.

  Returning home didn’t take long tonight. And the shift was easier now for them both. The pain far less now that he’d learned to accept and ease into the change. Soon enough he stood naked with his mate…his wife, just outside the old cabin. He’d renovated it for her. Given her all the bells and whistles, although she claimed she didn’t need them. Right now all she seemed to want was him on her, in front of the quiet fire he’d left burning in the big fireplace.

  He was happy to oblige.

  “God, there is nothing like sex after a run.” She sighed and rested her head against his chest.

  He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I know. And I really want to stay another week. But we have to get back.” She ran his company with him now. And they had the working campground that paid for the Rom’s bigger one on the other side of the mountain. But work wasn’t the driving force it had been for either of them. A source of satisfaction yes. But they had each other as a focus now. And their extended family, the Rom, as well as his parents and brother. And soon…

  He slid his hand down her belly, feeling the curve there that held the life they’d made between them. Grandmother Donceanu had assured them the baby would be fine even if they shifted up until the day it was born. Helen seemed determined to try it.

  He let himself touch her a little further down, and grinned at her restless movement at his touch. Her mystery, the one that had pulled him to help her, was long solved. Not they had a much bigger one to share. Love and family.

  A Note from the Author About The Rom

  This book was made completely from my imagination. But the people, and some of their lifestyle and language, are real. I’ve taken a great deal of liberty with their history and magic—which I imagine they have in bounds—and hope I cause no offense. The Rom currently number as many as one million in America, although that number is difficult to prove as the members of the bands remain in the majority at least partially nomadic. They do travel across the country annually and many hold jobs that involve crafts and skills most city dwellers seem to have forgotten, as well as offer fortune telling and other small magics.

  For more information about the Rom, please read this article by Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rom. I have spent a little time reading about their history and their language and names from this and other sources, and used a bit where I could.

  Glossary – from source http://www2.arnes.si/~eusmith/Romany/glossary.html

  Bokoli – thick pancakes stuffed with meat

  Ruv – Wolf

  Ruva – Wolves

  Mulo – spirit of the dead

  Sastipe – greetings

  Puyuria – Gypsy followers or groupies

  Gadjo – non Rom man

  About the Author

  Lilly Cain is a wild woman with a deep throaty laugh, plunging necklines and a great lover of all things sensual – perfume, chocolate, silk! She never has to worry about finding a date or keeping a man in line. She keeps her blond hair long and curly, wears beautiful clothes and loves loud music. Lilly lives her private life in the pages of her books.

  All of the above is just so much silliness. When not living up to her pen name, Lilly lives in Atlantic Canada, although she spent eight years in Bermuda, enjoying the heat and the pink sands. She returned to her homeland so she could see the changing of the seasons once again. When not writing she paints, swills coffee and vodka (but not together), and fights her writing pals for chocolate (true story).

  Lilly is a single mom who loves reading and writing, dabbling in art and loving and caring for her two daughters. She loves romance in all of its varying heat levels. She loves the chilling moments and the humor in her novels as much as the steaming hot interludes. Her stories are an escape and a release, and she hopes that they can give you that power, too.

  To contact Lilly and to find out more about her books, reach out to her website at http://www.lillycain.com

  Coming up next? Blood Redemption - An all new erotic vampire/dragon threesome, two men with history and a woman with attitude. This story will release in serial format with the first chapters available in April! Check Lilly’s website for dates and links.

  Dark Redemption

  Having watched his vampire pack leader killed before his eyes, James Drummond is in trouble, big trouble. He is thousands of miles from what is left of the pack where he was once second in command. He’s being hunted, possibly by the vampire that destroyed his maker, possibly by something else, something worse. Stumbling into the territory of an ancient dragon doesn’t make things better and crossing paths with the one woman he’d turned and the only woman he’d ever loved makes life downright hell. Especially when the first thing she does is try to kill him.

  Ava�
�s life is hard. What life she has, that is. Turned into a vampire and abandoned by her maker, she’s had to fight for everything she has—even for the understanding she has of herself. She’s vowed to kill him for that, even though she’d once loved him. James’s arrival simply means she won’t have to hunt him down some time in the future. Except somehow he has managed to become a captive of a dragon, something even she might not want to tangle with. That is until she meets the red hot sexy creature and finds herself at the mercy of his sensual flames. Then it’s a tossup—kill the vampire or obey the beast.

  For Akio, an ancient Japanese dragon-man, James’s appearance represents a chance to find meaning in his days once again. He could be Akio’s one chance at redemption, a way to make up for the death of a family he’d once protected. All he needs to do is heal the soul-wounded vampire, give him back the life he should have had. He will do it, even if it means giving up a woman that makes Akio feel in ways he hasn’t in centuries. If, of course, he can keep James alive. For there is something hunting them…

  HIS MIDNIGHT STAR

  By Vonnie Davis

  Copyright 2018 by Vonnie Davis as HIS MIDNIGHT STAR.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the publisher except for brief quotations embedded in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations and incidents are works of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, things, living or dead, locales or events is strictly coincidental.