Unless he changed her. That was the only way she was going to be able to pull through. If he changed her into a shifter now, her body’s immune system might kick in, in time, and it would heal her enough that she could pull through.
He hated the idea that he was going to be the one to change her. Jenna was going to be the one that was going to do it. But he’d told himself before – he would rather have Jenna be a shifter than dead. And this was his chance to save her.
He closed his eyes, knowing what he was going to do, and let go of his fears of her being a shifter, his fears of the Assassins. The worst has already happened.
Bruce turned his focus inward and found the bond. Found it still intact. She was alive enough to be able to pull through if he did it now. But he had to act fast. He concentrated on his preternatural power. Magic washed from Saxon’s side, and Bruce knew the boy was lending him power the same way an alpha did. Saxon was taking the role of an alpha.
He didn’t have time to awe at the boy’s ability to do that. He pulled that magic into him and forced the change only to his right hand.
The bones elongated, jutting through the skin before new flesh with fur covered it. His hand became a strange paw that was a cross between a human hand and a bear paw. It was monstrous, but it was enough. The change was there, even if it was compartmentalized, and that was all he needed.
Bruce steeled himself against what he needed to do. He curled his paw so that his nails were hovering over Jenna’s arm, and with a swift movement, he scratched four neat lines down to her wrist. It started bleeding immediately, four lines of scarlet.
Bruce held his breath. He held Jenna against him and willed all the magic he and Saxon combined into her. It was like he pushed it into her, filling her up until the human was pushed out of her.
For a moment, it looked like nothing worked. Her skin still had the deathly pallor to it, and her eyes were closed. Her mouth hung slightly open and her red hair was matted with blood.
But then she moaned, a sound that was so strained it sounded painful. But it was there. Her eyes fluttered and then opened. She struggled to focus but finally looked at Bruce.
“Bruce?” she asked. He nodded, tears streaming down his face again. Jenna was going to be alright. He felt the magic, his and Saxon’s and now something that was Jenna’s own. And he knew that it was going to be alright.
Chapter 6
Getting out of Port Alfred in one piece without he police finding them had been a miracle. Bruce had wiped the blade that had killed Jenna clean and left it in the Assassin’s body so that it had looked like he’d been killed by one of his own. He’d taken Jenna away, and they’d made their way home.
It had taken her a week to recover, which was a lot by shifter standards. She’d been so close to death there had been a chance that she couldn’t escape it, after all.
But she was alright. She started noticing things like the awareness of feelings. Preternatural strength and speed. The ability to smell danger and happiness and love. And the new power that was rolling off her like waves was intoxicating. Bruce had been infatuated with her since the day he’d met her. Now that she was shifter, it was that much more intense.
The bond between them strengthened and Bruce understood how Rosa must have felt, losing Stephen.
And she was his. There was something about her that screamed out his name all the time, something that he knew every other shifter would be able to smell, to feel, to read in her very existence. And it was addictive.
The first night Jenna was able to get up, the power in the house was so strong Bruce wasn’t sure why any of them didn’t lose control. But Saxon was coloring in like nothing was wrong, and Jenna was cooking in the kitchen.
But she moved with a fluid grace she didn’t have before. Lethal and animalistic, wild and at the same time, still Jenna. Still the same, still the Jenna that he married.
Bruce stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Jenna’s waist. She smiled, tipped her head back, made space for Bruce’s face in her neck like she knew that was what he’d wanted. Of course, she could smell feelings now. Love. Lust.
A deep growl emanated from Bruce’s throat, like a purr but more intense. And heat rolled in waves from Jenna’s body, washing over Bruce. He was hard immediately, his body ached for hers. Jenna turned and looked at him with amber eyes, eyes that didn’t belong to a human.
“Saxon will hear us,” she said. The bear in the little boy had sharpened senses just like him. Just like the both of them. But Bruce shook his head.
“He’ll understand,” he said. Because the bear in the boy would also understand mating and the normality of it. The shifter life was different than anything humans understood. There were things that happened that people just didn’t think was appropriate, and shifter did it because it was the natural thing to do.
Bruce kissed Jenna, biting her lip enough to hurt but not to break skin. The same rumble emanated from her throat that Bruce had produced just a second before, and he could feel her body crave his, could feel the question that hung between them.
The question he was going to answer. Right now.
He took her by the hand and led her through the door, through the lounge and to the bedroom. He glanced at Saxon, who looked up and then just kept on coloring, and Bruce closed the door.
He turned around and heat rolled from Jenna, filling the room. Bruce took a step toward Jenna, a blur, really. He was in front of her and he peeled the clothes off her shoulders, ignoring the material that ripped with the movement.
“I don’t know my strength now,” Jenna said.
Bruce shook his head and stroked her cheek, running his fingers over her smooth skin.
“You won’t hurt me,” he said. And she nodded, her eyes closed, trusting him. He could feel it coming off her, the trust and the love and the complete surrender.
He ran his hands through her hair, the thick red-brown strands running through his fingers. The wild lust of a moment before had drained out of the room, and something soft and gentle rested between them now. Bruce took Jenna’s face between his hands and kissed her. He traced her lips with his tongue, and then entered her mouth and explored it, tasting her, touching her, like it was the first time. She sighed into his mouth, and her hands came around his waist.
For just a moment Bruce turned his attention to the other side of the door, checking on Saxon through the bond, but the boy was content and safe in the lounge. Bruce pushed his fatherly responsibilities out of the way and paid his full attention to his shifter wife.
He unclipped the bra she wore and let it slide off her shoulders, dropping it to the floor. She unbuttoned his shirt, a lot more considerate than he’d been with hers, and pushed her hands under it, brushing it off his shoulders. They were both shirtless, and he pulled her close so that her skin was on his. He shuddered, and power rippled through him alone with feeling he hadn’t felt that strong with her, ever.
She moaned and it was from the magic in the room, he knew. He could feel her animal, see the bear sliding behind her eyes. His own bear recognized it and he felt the pull to change. But not now, not tonight. They were going to be humans together until full moon before she stepped into her role completely.
Jenna was the one that pushed her fingers under the belt of his pants and worked them over his hips, taking his underwear with it so that he stood in front of her, naked and eager. His sex was ready for her, but he took his time. She palmed him, leaning into him so that every part of him touched her. She still wore her pants and he took care of it, sliding it down her smooth legs so that they were both naked together, with nothing between them.
Bruce backed up until he reached the bed, and he pulled Jenna with the so that they collapsed on the bed together. His whole body was pressed up against hers, and everywhere their skin touched it was magic. Tingling, sensational magic that vibrated with preternatural potential. Bruce rolled onto her, and for the first time in their relationship he wasn’t scared he was going to cru
sh her. She was strong enough to handle him now, handle his weight, and he didn’t have to handle her like she was going to break.
She looked at him, her eyes amber and piercing his, her animal looking at his and it wasn’t just the two of them in the room, but the four of them. Two humans, two animals. All of them about to become one.
Bruce spread Jenna’s legs with his hand and lay between them, pushing against her entrance. She gasped and heat washed from her again. Feeling her the way he did now, the power so much stronger, was a new sensation and he had to concentrate to keep control.
Jenna reached her hands around Bruce, digging her fingers into his cheeks and pulled him to her. She was strong, so much stronger than she’d ever been before. But he wasn’t planning on fighting her. He let her pull him into her, sliding into the core of her. It was like he was dipping into magic, that same heat washing through him, a raging furnace of power and lust.
Jenna made a growling sound again when he was inside her, and he moved, finding his way in this new woman of his. She closed her eyes and he felt her pulse beneath him with power and strength.
He started moving his hips, into her, back out, and into her again. She moaned, the sound utterly and completely Jenna, and he lowered his head next to her. She gasped into his ear in rhythm with his thrusts.
He felt Jenna contract around him, walls clamping down on him, pulling him in deeper. A wild scent filled the room. It was strong, spicy, and he knew it was his bonding scent. He’d never been with a shifter before, never mated with one in the true sense of the word. He’d heard vampires had a bonding scent, but he tasted it on his own tongue now, the knowledge that Jenna was completely his.
She gasped and moaned and by the heat that built between them, the magic in the air that got thicker and thicker, he knew she was getting close to the chasm that opened up in front of them. A few more thrusts and he would have her tumbling over the edge into a pool of bliss. It was where he wanted her.
He was one with her, fully and completely, and he knew when she reached orgasm just before she showed it. The power built and then rocked through the room, and it pulled Bruce with it so that when Jenna’s body convulsed and then curled around his, he released inside of her and the bonding was complete.
He coated every inch of her with his scent, his calling card when anyone wanted to take a chance.
Mine. The world rolled around in his mind. Mine, mine, mine.
Jenna gasped and moaned, and then her hands release from the fists on his back and she collapsed back onto the bed, Bruce going limp inside of her. He was breathing hard, and suddenly her bear was so close he could feel it, almost touch it.
“Not now, baby,” he said. “Just calm it down. We’re going to control it, okay? Just work with me.”
She managed to pull the bear back, the animal inside her was back under control, and then she looked up at him with eyes that were human again. She smiled, and he slipped out of her and rolled off her so that he lay next to her.
“I love that you did this for me,” she whispered.
“I loved you too much to lose you,” he answered. It wasn’t going to be easy. This was going to be hard, take time to get used to, be hard to control. But they could do it because they were together. Not just the two of them, but the three of them.
When full moon rolled around Bruce led the way. The three of them started the trek up the mountain. He didn’t have to help Jenna over boulders and fallen logs. She was strong enough now, and she held her own.
When they made it to the plateau the full moon was clearly visible, a light in the sky. The power circle was alive with magic. When they were on it, all three of them together, the power surged like it never had before.
“Well, if this isn’t a dangerous unit,” Dwayne said, stepping out of the trees. Bruce smiled at the man and held out his hand. The psychic shook it, and something passed between them. Awe from Dwayne’s side and the collective power of the three of them. Gratefulness from Bruce’s side. It was thanks to Dwayne, after all, that he’d found them.
Tara stepped out of the trees and she had a scowl on her face. She glared at Saxon, who didn’t step back or lower his gaze. He was every bit the future alpha, and Tara knew it. It hung in the air, a deadly promise.
One by one the other shifters appeared from the trees. They all had the same reaction to the power that hung in the clearing. Lori gasped, and her anger showed her understanding that she’d just been demoted to fifth in the hierarchy.
“You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?” Tara said to Jenna and it wasn’t a friendly exchange. But Jenna smiled at Tara, and her smile was animalistic. She was pure shifter now and she already knew how to intimidate. Bruce looked at his wife, his mate, and felt the power coming from her.
And he was happy. He wouldn’t have done it like this if there had been a choice, but she was alive and their bond was stronger than ever now.
And Dwayne had been right. The three of them were a powerful unit. What they could achieve with the three of them remained to be seen, but Bruce had a feeling it was going to involve Saxon leading them, not the other way round.
“We might as well get on with it,” Tara said. No speeches tonight. There was nothing to say. She opened up herself and the magic streamed out. The other shifters did it too, and magic swirled around them, filling the power circle until it was so thick it felt like water around them. Tara was the first to start the change, and with that, she pulled the others along with her.
One by one the other shifters started letting go of their humans and their animal forms took over.
Bruce looked at Jenna. She looked back him and something passed between them. This was it. Jenna’s first change.
She crouched down and Bruce felt the magic increase. It didn’t just come from Tara or the rest of the pack, but from Saxon, who guided his mother through the change.
Jenna’s body started changing, grew bigger and bulkier. Her skin split open and fur crawled over her body. Her face changed, growing a snout with long sharp teeth. She was a strange shape, neither human nor animal, for a moment, before she slipped into her bear form.
Her fur was a reddish brown, the shade of her hair, and her eyes were a yellow amber that was powerful when Bruce looked into them.
Jenna was a bear, a powerful and official member of the pack. Saxon changed into a cub next to her, and when the whole Family were animals, Bruce pushed into his own change. He was the last to become a bear.
When the change was done, he stood next to Jenna and Saxon. He led the way to the trees and Jenna and Saxon followed him to start their hunt as bear shifters.
THE END
MY ALPHA RANGER WOLF
BY SICILY DUVAL
Chapter 1
Allegra
Spotting your husband when about five hundred of them spill onto the concrete square is hard. They all look the same in uniform, walk with the same precision, and have the same look of death on their faces. But when Reid stepped out of the bus, I saw him right away. His skin was darker than when I’d last seen him – he’d spent a lot of time in the sun somewhere – and his shock of blond hair was still visible even under the army cap.
The loading area was filled with wives and children, waiting for the final piece to their family to come home. Every time a soldier spotted his family he drew to them like a magnet, and then the picture was complete. Homecoming was as warm and rewarding as deployment was cold and painful.
When his green eyes fell on me electricity jolted through my body the way it always did when he looked at me. Skype didn’t do him justice. It was never the same as being with him in real life, and I wondered how I’d gotten through the last nine months without him.
He walked toward me, and he moved with a fluid grace that the other soldiers didn’t have. He carried his bag easily, and dropped in on the floor next to me, planting his lips on mine. I felt the hum of his power surge through my body. I’d forgotten how much I loved it. Reid oozed raw power and
sexuality, and he made me feel small and delicate against his taut, muscular frame. He wasn’t just one of the best soldiers on the force. He was also a werewolf.
The government accepted Preternatural creatures into society now on one condition. They had to do a public service. I knew it was because it made it easier to keep an eye on them, but it was also because they had skills the country just couldn’t do without.
Vampires were secret agents now because they could play mind games and make themselves virtually undetectable. Gremlins mass produced weaponry because magic and metal just worked together in their hands. And werewolves were in the army because they were strong, healed at lightning speeds and they had sharper senses.
“I missed you,” Reid said into my hair when he broke the kiss and hugged me instead. I wrapped my arms around his hard body and closed my eyes, shutting everyone out but Reid and me. The greeting was positive. I was optimistic. Sometimes when Reid came home he was miserable, and our first meeting cast a cloud of darkness over us that made it hard for me to smile through it.
Every time the soldiers come home I don’t know what to expect. They go through so much, a lot of it that the wives that stay behind don’t know about, and they often struggle with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. We always smile anyway, and keep it positive. We owe them that. But it’s hard, and it’s just so much better when he comes home with a smile.
I waved at Charlene. John, one of Reid’s squad, had just found her. I spend a lot of time with Charlene when the men were gone. Reid and John weren’t just close, they were pack. John was a wolf too, and that meant that Charlene was one of the only other women at the base I could relate to.
Reid put his bag in the trunk and climbed into the car. I slid into the passenger seat next to him and he backed the car out of the parking spot and pulled into the road. I looked at him and he looked back, smiling. The smile was a little vacant, in his eyes I could see he was somewhere else, seeing other things.
BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) Page 107
