Aris: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Stratham Dragons Book 1)

by Sarah J. Stone

  Cassie.

  Luke rolled the name on his tongue. It fit her. Her hair was short and roughly cut as if she had taken a pair of scissors to it. He wondered what it would be like to run his hand through it. He didn’t understand why she had caught his eye. It wasn’t just her bewildering scent. There was something about her that made him want to stroke his hands over her body and make her purr.

  It was not like Luke had never taken lovers before. He wasn’t overly promiscuous, but shifters were different from humans. They were more attuned to their softer side, needing to be touched and to feel accepted and wanted. It was a natural instinct for them, one Luke had never fought. When he felt the need, he would take a lover.

  Bear shifters, like the rest of their kind, would keep looking for a mate their animal would accept. There was no female in his pack which would appease the snarling bear that lived inside him. He had healed himself and become a strength for his pack, but the wounds that the animal wore inside remained raw as ever. Every woman he took to his bed was not enough to soothe his inner beast.

  However, today, he felt the bear inside him sit quietly and attentively.

  Cassie struggled to her feet, and Luke wondered if his assistance would be accepted. He leaned forward when she stumbled, but apparently, he wasn’t needed. He watched her as she steadied herself, blinked, and then slapped herself.

  A few people snickered, but nobody paid much attention to her. Luke’s eyes followed her as she made her way towards the door. Would she make it home safe?

  He hardly knew her, but he spontaneously put some money on the bar and left.

  If Kevin knew he had decided to babysit a drunk woman, rather than hooking up with one, he would be annoyed, to put it mildly. But this woman was interesting. If she made his beast sit up and take notice, then he wanted to find out what it was about her that was so special.

  Cassie seemed to have an idea of where she wanted to go, but as he followed her, he wondered why she hadn’t noticed him yet. It was not like he was hiding behind every street light pole. She seemed to have a goal in mind, and Luke’s smile slipped off his face when he saw her make her way into the woods.

  The woods were dangerous at night. Paranormal activity was not limited to shifters alone. There were other creatures out there who lived in the night. He increased his pace, planning to stop her when he saw a tree sprite clinging onto the branch of an oak tree.

  Tree sprites were spiteful creatures, and they liked to cause mischief if someone entered their territory. And their tricks were not harmless. However, this particular tree sprite eyed Cassie and clambered onto the branch it had been hanging from. It watched Cassie as one would a predator – wary and tense. And once Cassie stumbled past the tree, Luke was sure that the creature relaxed.

  His eyes narrowed.

  He kept a distance from her and observed.

  Sprites were not the only things out there. The woods at night were not a safe place for humans, but as she ventured deeper into the woods, into areas that even shifters liked to avoid at night, he noted that she was bothered by no one. The few creatures that noticed her either left her alone or watched her in silence.

  She wasn’t human.

  She couldn’t be.

  He watched her stop by an old tree. The tree sprite that hovered over the branches climbed higher and peeked down. Cassie knelt down, paying no attention to the wary sprite. Her fingers dug in the ground, and Luke frowned.

  She was digging near the roots of the tree. Sprites hated it when their trees – their territories – were messed with, but this one did nothing as it merely kept an eye on the woman.

  She didn’t even have a spade or a tool. Had she been a shifter, this would have taken her a mere thirty seconds. Luke winced as she dug with her nails. That had got to hurt.

  Whatever she had been looking for she must have found, because she stopped digging and then turned around and leaned back against the tree, a large, wooden box in her hands. Her eyes were clearer now. Whatever Cassie was, her metabolism was at the same rate as shifters.

  Luke walked back a little further and shifted.

  The transformation from human to bear was not uncomfortable. It made one want to stretch out and shake themselves to get rid of the strangeness of it. The animal was more aware of its senses than the man was.

  However, the man had not anticipated the reaction the beast would have. The bear wanted to go to her and cover the girl in his scent. It was his intelligence which made him keep still and watch from the shadows as Cassie took something out from the box and cram it into her mouth. She then put the box back in its place and started covering it with dirt.

  As she walked away, the bear followed her and then glanced back at the tree sprite.

  It did not move towards the box, which was strange. It was almost as if the sprite was either too scared or too respectful to let its curiosity take hold.

  Luke followed Cassie for a distance and realized that she was going back the same way she had come, which meant that he needed to change back into his human skin. The animal was reluctant.

  She was still chewing on what she had in her mouth. This time, he kept his distance.

  She did not make sense to him, and he wondered what he was doing. He had better things to do. He should go back and find a woman and relieve his need for touch, but this girl was so much more interesting.

  When the new scent hit the air, Luke snarled.

  Danger.

  He smelled danger in the air.

  Cassie must have scented the same thing, because she stood stock still and looked around. The street remained empty, but it was the lack of sounds from the usual night critters that had the hair on the back of Luke’s neck rising.

  There is a predator in the vicinity, and it must be a deadly one.

  The attack came out of nowhere, and he whirled around just in time to see Cassie fly through the air and land on the ground in such a brutal manner that he was sure she must have broken some bones. His face contorted in anger as he felt the animal inside him snarl.

  He was about to jump into the situation when there was a shrieking in the wind. The air in front of where Cassie was struggling to get up was shimmering, and he caught a glimpse of a large and vicious looking eye.

  Just what is that thing? He thought to himself.

  A swipe of a monstrous hand appeared that was visible one moment and a shimmering reflection of light the next. However, the creature was not true to its aim. It shrieked again, and Luke saw Cassie’s neck glow. Her face was contorted with pain, but her neck was glowing and it was hurting the creature.

  It must have retreated because Cassie leaned down, her hands on her knees as she panted for breath.

  Witch? She was a witch?

  That would make sense because witches were respected by most paranormal beings. However, shifters and witches were not on the best of terms. They tended to avoid each other. If she was a witch, he should stay away from her. The last thing he needed was another complication on his hands.

  Luke turned his back on her.

  She could defend herself.

  Something moved in the air, and when he looked back, the creature had returned and now it was visible.

  He had heard of wraiths before and had certainly read about them. But he had never seen one in person.

  They were extremely rare and were a very dangerous species.

  Even witches did not meddle with wraiths, so why was this thing after someone like Cassie?

  Witch or no witch, even she couldn’t take on a wraith alone. Maybe having a witch indebted to you could turn out to be an asset.

  But she was not a witch.

  Cassie snarled, and she swiped her hand at the wraith and her hand transformed into one with claws. Luke watched – stunned – as her neck glowed almost viciously, and her claws met their target, making the wraith shriek in anger.

  It looked like a mass of black shadows with a large, yellow eye in the middle of it. Luke had once seen
a picture of it that had been hand drawn in a history book. The real thing was enough to strike fear into a stern heart. But Cassie was not frightened. She didn’t cry or scream. She met its blows with her own.

  Luke wanted to help her – his beast was clawing to get out – but he maintained a rigid control over himself. Cassie was holding her own. However, a blow at her abdomen had her staggering back, forcing Luke to intervene.

  He smelled the girl’s blood on the ground and noticed that her eyes were closed. When the wraith came in for the final blow, Luke let his animal out and the alpha bear was filled with a red rage, the kind of rage that he hadn’t felt in quite a while.

  He attacked the wraith at its weakest point, which was the eye. As the creature tried to escape the hold Luke had on it, the alpha bit down and tasted the wrongness in the blood. Leaping away, he spat out the blood, giving the wraith enough time to escape.

  Shifting back, Luke looked down at the injured girl.

  So, did that mean she was a shifter? He leaned down and pushed her hair away from her cheek, “You have a lot of secrets, don’t you? Let’s see if we can’t get some out of you.”

  CHAPTER 3

  He stripped off his shirt and wrapped it around her wound. Putting on his coat, he walked towards the apartment he had in the human city.

  The pack had a large apartment for when any pack member had business in the city. No one would be there right now which made it the best place to take her.

  Her wounds were deep but they had started healing which was a good sign. It was also a sign of her being a paranormal. He had never heard of a shifter that could transform one part of their body. He watched the girl lie on the bed, her wounds open. He could see them sealing.

  Sitting by her side, he leaned down and put his hands by the sides of her head and buried his nose in her throat, taking in her smell. His eyes nearly rolled to the back of his head. He could keep her in his arms the whole day.

  He took off his t-shirt from her wound and tossed it on the table. He walked over to it and buried his nose in the cloth. The scent was darker, richer.

  His tongue darted out to taste the blood on the t-shirt.

  His cock hardened.

  It tasted like blood, but the effect was that of an aphrodisiac.

  Luke threw the cloth to one side and breathed in and out, trying to control his raging erection. But his ears were roaring, and he felt the primal need to fuck somebody.

  He glanced back at Cassie and then closed his eyes.

  He was not the alpha because he could fight. He was the alpha because he could control his baser urges. He could fight this. He would fight this.

  “Where am I?”

  The confused question, followed by the fear in her voice, made him clench his teeth. “Who are you?” she demanded.

  Luke turned to look at her, aware that his golden eyes were wild. He ignored her questions and stalked towards her, with a growl. “Why don’t you tell me that? What are you?” he asked.

  He saw her relax at the question. She shot back, “And that’s your business how?”

  “Because this is my territory, and you are an unknown.” Luke gave her a lethal smile. “And, I need to decide whether to let you live or not.”

  Cassie sat up, and he watched in fascination as her brown eyes flickered. Was she wearing contacts? If she was concealing her real eye color, then she really wanted to blend in. Why would she want to blend in unless she was hiding from someone or something?

  He wasn’t going to kill her, but if that scared her into revealing herself, then it achieved his objective

  However, he had underestimated his opponent. She smirked, her tone taunting. “Since when is a shifter afraid of a little witch? You must be very weak if you see me as a threat.”

  Cassie knew she had to play her cards right. This golden-eyed shifter who had been eyeing her all evening was no joke. She had been mistaken for a witch numerous times because of her amulet. It was safer to be confused for a witch than what she truly was. She could tell he was a shifter from his mannerisms and his eyes.

  Her father had those eyes.

  She swallowed and was glad that the concoction of herbs she ingested once a week masked her scent. It didn’t explain why this particular shifter singled her out. Her scent should have repelled him. Her eyes narrowed. She couldn’t afford to be found out, especially by a shifter, so she would use every trick up her sleeve and keep him away from her.

  “You’re a witch?” Luke asked.

  He wasn’t convinced. If she was one, shouldn’t she be casting some spell? He wasn’t entirely sure what witches could do. The one he had met when he was a child had given him a small packet of herbs for good luck. Witches usually lived among the humans, away from the other paranormal. And shifters learned the useful skills humans had and blended with them when needed, but they didn’t mingle with them. Thus, their paths did not cross much. He couldn’t tell by her scent whether she was lying or not. The headiness of her scent was such that it made it difficult to discern.

  Cassie just raised her brow. “Do you want me to turn you into a toad to prove my point?”

  Could witches turn people into toads?

  She hoped he didn’t know the answer to that.

  His wary look relieved her. So, they were both illiterate when it came to witches. She had had one or two encounters but that had been through her mother.

  “So you’re a witch.”

  “Yes, so can I leave now? Or do you want to ask me something else?”

  Luke was not an idiot. He may not be able to tell whether Cassie was lying or not, but he could tell by her urgency that she was hiding something she did not want him to know about. Unfortunately for her, bear shifters were incredibly patient beings. He dragged a chair and flipped it around, straddling it. “Explain your scent,” he said.

  The smile slid off Cassie’s face.

  If he could bear being near her then that meant that the special herbs she was consuming on a weekly basis were not affecting him like they should. But if he still found something strange about her scent, she had no idea how to explain it. She could have said that she used some herbs to keep shifters and vampires away, but that was assuming her scent was repulsive to him. She had no idea what her scent did to him.

  “I don’t know what you meant,” Cassie said, carefully.

  Luke raised his head and stood up aggressively, causing her eyes to widen. She scrambled to the back of the bed as he followed her until they were nose to nose. He could see her holding her breath, and it was quite amusing.

  However, he hadn’t counted on his own reaction.

  The animal inside him quirked up in wary interest. It wanted to sniff her and poke its nose in places where he might end up getting slapped. His beast had never showed so much interest in females before, which is why he wanted to know why this one stood out among the rest.

  Cassie was frozen. When the shifter stuck his face in hers, she felt a strange feeling inside her. She had spent most of her life trying to subdue her nature, and the herbs and the potions that she consumed usually helped suppress the creature that was a part of her. But right now, with this stranger sniffing at her neck in what seemed almost a playful manner, the animal inside stretched and looked on in curiosity.

  She jumped when Luke licked her quickly on her throat. The reaction of her animal was worse. It sat up, and it was too late to realize the sexual implication that the lick had had on her animal.

  Cassie put a hand on Luke’s chest to push him back, but she found she didn’t quite have the strength. She glared at his bent head when he licked her again on the same spot, slowly. Her eyes closed as she felt some of her strength dissipate.

  Luke felt the looseness in her limbs. He hadn’t meant to lick her. But his bear wanted to be in control, and he was trying push it back and fight against the heady scent of his little captive. However, her reaction to his momentary loss of control shook him.

  He looked up at her face to say some
thing, but her eyes were heavy lidded, and there was a dazed expression in them. The flush on her cheeks and the way her scent had become spicier told him all he needed to know about the situation.

  His own animal became agitated, and the human side of him struggled weakly. This was a losing battle.

  When he put his teeth on her neck in a gentle hold, he heard Cassie’s moan. The excitement of his animal was startling. He experimented with another quick lick, and he felt her fingers on his pants.

  Cassie feared the way her beast was shaking off the layers of control and chains under which it had been hidden. This couldn’t happen. She had to pull back. However, there was something about this man that had roused her animal from years of subjugation. Her body felt so good, and she wanted to give in to Luke.

  He wore a confused look on his face when he looked at her again, and she whined.

  His golden eyes turned molten, and she saw when the human in him gave way to the animal.

  His mouth crashed on hers, almost violently.

  His big hand cupped her face, and the shock of the sensations made her reel from the raw and primal impact. Cassie gasped into the kiss and felt her breasts swell and the place between her thighs quiver. There was nothing gentle about the way he moved his mouth on hers. He took what he wanted and demanded more. When she moaned, he nipped at her lower lip. She tentatively reached out with her tongue, and she felt him smirk and suck on it.

  His mouth travelled lower, and Cassie felt the excitement of her beast – the need. It was useless trying to restrain it any longer. If she could keep it from showing, then she could enjoy this moment. She rarely got the chance to get intimate with a partner of equal strength.

  She watched as his head went lower and lower, and then he jerked her up and slammed her against the wall. He gave her a cocky grin. “Easier access,” he said.

  Kicking her legs apart, he settled one leg between hers, and using his claws, he ripped off what remained of her damaged blouse. One thumb ran across her taut peak and when she dug her nails in his shoulders, he grinned. One large hand stroked over her jaw to her throat and remained there, a possessive hold.