Paranormal Dating Agency: Her Twisted Heart (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Twisted Tail Pack Book 3)

by Melanie James

  Text copyright ©2018 by the Author.

  This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Latin Goddess Press, Inc.. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Paranormal Dating Agency remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Latin Goddess Press, Inc., or their affiliates or licensors.

  For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds

  Her Twisted Heart

  By Melanie James

  Summary

  Dating a shifter was one mistake that Callie Dupree refuses to make again. In fact, she’s sworn off dating all together. When a mysterious man shows up in her dreams, Callie does her best to ignore the long-buried urges that ripple to the surface and carry on with her life.

  What could it hurt if she gave into the handsome stranger in her dreams? It’s only fantasy, right?

  Wyatt Lockhart is being driven crazy by dreams of his mate. Bold in bed and beautiful beyond belief, he’s stunned to find out the Fates paired him with a human. If he can get her to change to suit his needs, she would indeed be the perfect mate.

  Contents

  Her Twisted Heart

  Summary

  Contents

  Books by Melanie James

  Acknowledgement

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Books by Melanie James

  Twisted Tail Pack

  His Twisted Tail

  Bearly Twisted

  Black Paw Pack

  Fur Ever Yours

  Fur Ever Witched

  Black Paw Wolves

  A Hot Piece of Sass

  Twice the Sass

  You Bet Your Sass

  Watch Your Sass

  Literal Leigh Romance Diaries

  Accidental Leigh

  Serious Leigh

  Hopeful Leigh

  Haunting Leigh

  Joyful Leigh

  Disastrous Leigh

  Tales from the Paranormal Plantation

  Gertie’s Paranormal Plantation

  Back to the Fuchsia

  When You Witch Upon a Star

  Hex U

  Karma Inc. Files

  Karma Inc.

  Mission Impawsible: A Karma Inc. Novella

  Shame of Clones

  Éveiller Drive

  Ava & Will

  Kara & Dave

  Laura & Alan

  Jamie & Brad

  Ashley & Jeff

  Valerie & Greg

  Stand Alones

  Conjuring Darkness

  Snowflakes, Exes & Ohs

  Riverton Romance

  A Valentine’s Surprise

  A Deadly Obsession

  Acknowledgement

  Alicia – Thank you for always being there for me. You cheer me on when I’m down and send me funny snapchats when I feel like hell. The pain we’ve both faced this past year has brought us closer than we’ve ever been. More than friends, sisters.

  Dedication

  To all of my readers – There aren’t enough thanks in the world to give you for sticking by me this past year. It’s been hard. Some days it’s been hell. I’ve had to pull myself up from more losses than I care to relive. Somehow—some way I’m dragging myself back to the surface to find a new normal of living with loss.

  Chapter One

  Wyatt kissed and licked his way down her chest, pausing to squeeze and caress her breasts. Her cinnamon and honey scent enveloped him, driving him mad. His teeth grazed one of her nipples, drawing a moan from her mouth as he sucked on the hardened bud.

  “Mine!” his wolf screamed in his mind, desperate to claim their mate.

  “Soon.” For once, his mind was synced with that of his wolf. As much as he wanted the claiming bite, he held back—instinct driving him to pleasure his mate.

  “I need to taste you.” Wyatt’s voice thickened as his fangs lengthened in anticipation of claiming his mate.

  “Mmmmm. Yes!” she cried as his tongue flicked over her pussy.

  “Gods, woman. You taste so fucking good.”

  “Wyatt! Wyatt! Wake the fuck up, man! You’re embarrassing yourself, bro.”

  Wyatt leapt from his bed in a panic. “What the fuck?”

  Why would Ethan interrupt him when he was about to claim his mate?

  “What the fuck indeed, brother? Should I even ask what you were dreaming about?”

  “Dreaming?” Wyatt looked around, confused by the conversation with Ethan. “There is no way that was a fucking dream. Where is she?”

  Ethan backed away, his hands in the air in surrender. “I swear, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I heard you thrashing around in here and woke you up. That’s all.”

  “I can still smell her.” Wyatt’s voice slurred as his fangs lengthened.

  “Smell who? What are you talking about?”

  “My fucking mate!”

  “Wyatt, you need to calm the fuck down. The only two people in this house are me and you. That’s it. I would have smelled anyone else. Dude, you were dreaming.”

  His brother’s words finally sunk into his thick skull. “It was so real. Christ! She was real. I can still smell her. Still taste her.” Wyatt ran his fingers through his disheveled hair.

  Dreams of his mate had plagued him for months, but had never felt so—real. Closing his eyes and sucking in a deep breath to calm his frazzled nerves, Wyatt thought back to the first dream that he’d had of his mate. He’d been running through the woods during the harvest moon when he’d first caught her scent. Nearly slamming into a tree, his mate’s scent had left him stripped of all that he had been worth.

  “Brother, what is going on? You’ve been distracted—edgy for months. It’s going to get us killed,” Ethan begged Wyatt to tell him what was going on.

  Wyatt looked at his brother—the only person who had ever stood by him through thick and thin—and debated on whether or not he should tell him about the fucked up dreams of his mate that were driving him to the brink of madness.

  “Tell him,” his wolf urged.

  “I—uh,” Wyatt paused. He knew his wolf was right, he should tell his brother about the dreams, about finding his mate each and every time he closed his damn eyes. So why the hesitation?

  I don’t want to sound like a fucking basket case.

  Seeing pity in his older brother’s eyes was the last damn thing Wyatt wanted. Yes, Ethan would give him the standard speech of, ‘It’s my job to look out for you. Blah, blah, blah.’ He was tired of hearing it.

  Besides, Ethan had been actively hunting for his mate.

  Wyatt—not so much. When their parents were still alive, he’d been all gung-ho about finding his fated mate and settling down. The idea of having lots of pups appealed to him more than he would have ever admitted.

  Now?

  Pass.

  He wanted nothing to do with any of it. Fuck fate. Fuck all the bullshit. He’d do what he wanted, when he wanted, and who he w
anted. It was a fine plan. One that had worked for him since the death of his parents.

  Until the dreams had started.

  Now his mind was a cluster fuck. He couldn’t seem to tell his ass from a hole in the ground. Nothing made sense. Not the sun or the moon. Not the stars in the sky. The only time the world seemed right again was when he thought of his mate.

  What Wyatt wouldn’t give to be able to talk to his dad. He’d ask him if it was normal to dream about one’s mate, and if it felt like the world around him was spinning out of control once he’d caught her scent but failed to find or claim her.

  He might not have met his mate in person, but he was convinced he’d met her in his dreams. How else could he account for his wolf being just as edgy and raw as he was? It made no damn sense. The dream woman had to be his mate.

  Ethan snapped his fingers in front of Wyatt’s face. “Yo! You still there?”

  Wyatt’s head snapped to attention. He’d been lost once again in his thoughts. “Yeah. These dreams are killing me. I was just thinking about how much I miss Dad and wish he was here so I could talk to him.”

  “I’m here. Talk to me,” Ethan demanded.

  Wyatt knew his brother was right, but he didn’t want to burden him with his issues. Especially when it came to the whole mate subject. Ethan was the oldest and had been scouring the land for his mate since Wyatt could remember.

  Ethan leaned against the frame of the door. “I already know the dreams are about your mate. So why don’t you just tell me.”

  Wyatt looked his brother in the eye, expecting to see jealousy or anger—but all he saw was worry. “The dreams started a couple of months ago. I keep dreaming of my mate. The dreams are so damn real. Every fucking time I close my eyes and drift off, her scent finds me—no matter where I am. I search high and low for her until I finally find her. Each and every time, I wake up just before I claim her.”

  Ethan whistled. “That sucks.”

  “Trust me, I know.”

  “Do you think it’s real? Like—no shit, really dreaming about your mate?”

  “I have zero fucking doubt. The worst part is, even sitting here now, her scent is all around me—burned into my brain. My wolf is jacked up, off the fucking charts, ready to slay someone or something because he keeps getting denied the ability to claim his mate.”

  “Wait—your wolf is dreaming about her, too?”

  “Yes—I mean no. It’s—ugh. I don’t fucking know. It’s like a dream, but not really. It’s hard to explain. When it’s happening, it takes place in a dream, but it’s like we are really there. My wolf can smell her, taste her. His instinct is what is driving me each time to seek her out and claim her the second we find her. These dreams, if that’s what you want to call them, are like nothing I’ve ever dreamed or even felt before. I don’t know how much more I can take, and then there’s my wolf. If I don’t figure this out soon, he’s going to snap. I feel like I’m losing my damn mind.”

  Ethan ran his fingers through his hair. “You know, I ran into a lady yesterday. Well, a shifter. She said something really odd. I thought she was nuts at the time and just let it go.”

  “What are you talking about?” Wyatt looked at his brother in disbelief. After he’d just poured his heart out, Ethan decided to deflect and change the subject?

  “Stay with me for a minute. I know that woman knows something about this.” Ethan pushed away from the doorframe and sank into the closest chair.

  Wyatt looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “How could a complete stranger know anything about my dreams? What did she say?”

  Ethan blew out the breath he’d been holding. “She said something like ‘sometimes dreams are more real than life’. Then she handed me her card and walked away.”

  “What the fuck? Where is her card? Who was she?” Wyatt’s mind spun with possibilities. Was this woman the key to finding his mate?

  “Slow down, just for a second. I have no idea who she was. I’d never met her before and thought she was totally nuts.”

  “Do you have her card?” Wyatt repeated the question.

  “I tossed it in the next trash can,” Ethan shyly admitted.

  Wyatt exploded, “Why would you do that? Tell me you at least looked at the card?”

  “Of course I looked at it.”

  When Ethan failed to elaborate, something in Wyatt snapped. He didn’t have time to play guessing games. His brother had information that he needed. Nothing. No one. Would stand in the way of him claiming his mate.

  The words that left his mouth came out as a growl. “What was her name?”

  Ethan blinked up at him with mischief in his eyes. “All the card said was Gerri Wilder: Paranormal Dating Agency.”

  Chapter Two

  Callie lay in her bed, twisting and turning. “Jesus!” She punched her pillow for the hundredth time, wanting to fall back asleep so she could get back to the dream she’d been in the middle of.

  It had been a hot one. So much so that it left her panting for more. The images of an unknown male kissing her, tasting her—nearly drove her insane.

  “It’s been so damn long,” she whispered out loud.

  And it had been. Years.

  She punched the pillow one last time before giving up on the idea of falling back into the delicious dream that made her body flush with a desire that she’d been without for far too long.

  “Enough.” She could only hope, after her long day ahead, she’d fall back into bed where her mystery lover would visit her once again. Somehow, he’d invaded her dreams every night for the past three months. Each dream more erotic than the last.

  Vivid images flashed through Callie’s mind as streams of hot water poured over her back. She closed her eyes, somehow hoping it would make the images real. Recalling the scent of the mysterious male, she suddenly found herself once again enveloped by his scent. It was almost as if he stood in the shower beside her.

  Visions of the stranger leaning in to kiss her sent heat flooding to her core. Her body trembled, wanting something it had been denied. Something she would have thought impossible to live without. A shiver raced over Callie’s body as her hand slid down her stomach, reaching for the bundle of nerves between her thighs.

  A knock sounded at the bathroom door. Callie quickly pulled her hand away.

  “Are you almost done in there?”

  “Never fails! So much for a nice, peaceful shower,” Callie mumbled under her breath. Quickly finishing up her shower, she dried off and grabbed her robe. What she wouldn’t give for an apartment with two bathrooms, but with funds as scarce as they were, they were lucky to have the apartment they had. A second bathroom was a luxury she was going to have to live without.

  “It’s all yours, Mom.”

  No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shake the feelings the dream had left her with. All week she seemed to be walking around in a daze, waiting for the opportunity to close her eyes, to once more find her dream lover.

  “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

  “Yeah, Mom. I’m okay. Have you ever had a reoccurring dream? One that you’re not quite sure what to do with?” Callie asked.

  “What are the dreams about?”

  Ugh, there was no way she could bring herself to explain what was going on in her dreams. She imagined the words flowing from her mouth, “Well, Mom, it’s like this. I have this complete stranger, who happens to be a total fucking hottie, seducing me every night when I close my eyes. Not only that—I want him more than I’ve ever wanted any of the men I’ve actually been with.”

  No way.

  She wasn’t ready to go there with her mom. Not only would it be a whole lot of TMI that she had no desire to share—her mom would think she’d lost her damn mind. And rightfully so.

  “I’m not quite sure I’m ready to talk about it yet. I’m still a little shaken.”

  “Well, I suppose you’ll tell me when you’re good and ready.”

  Or not.

  Somehow,
Callie managed to get herself dressed and ready for work in record time. She stopped to peek in at Max. Tiptoeing into his room, she placed a light kiss on his forehead and whispered, “Have a good day with Gram-gram. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

  Her heart melted each and every time she looked at his tiny face with his chubby little cheeks. During her pregnancy, she’d had no idea how much she would come to love her little guy at first sight. From the moment he’d breathed his first breath, cried his first cry, she had been a goner. Head over heels in love.

  When she held her precious little boy in her arms, she could almost forgive all the bullshit her ex-boyfriend, Trevor, had dished out during their time together. Throughout their brief and tumultuous relationship, she’d lived under constant fear of being beaten to death by the man who had sworn he loved her. The thought of never seeing her baby’s first smile or holding him in her arms plagued her unexpected pregnancy.

  As bad as it sounded, Callie had never thought she could be happy when death found someone far too early in life, but she’d been wrong. When word reached her that Trevor had been killed in one of the former Alpha’s wars, she’d nearly jumped with joy.

  Her son would grow up without a father, but it had to be better than being abused by a man who was supposed to love and cherish him. She’d seen how he’d treated his other kids and had been horrified. By then, it was already too late. She was already trapped in the web of sweet half-truths he’d weaved. The promises of a better life. Having someone to love for an eternity.

  Nothing but lies. With no possibility of escape.

  The whole relationship did a number on her mind and cemented her resolve to remain single. Never again would she open herself up to that kind of blind trust. In her opinion, it had only led to a whole lot of pain and suffering.

  Sensing the direction her thoughts had taken, her mom whispered, “He’ll be fine. Trevor can’t hurt either of you anymore.”

  Callie sighed. “I know. I can’t help but worry that he might be out there somewhere—still alive. Waiting for revenge. It’s not like we went to his funeral or even saw his dead body.”