Shifters & Bad Boys Bundle (Shifters & Bad Boys. Man love, bdsm, and rockstar romance. Book 1)

by Anita Lawless

  He pulls out and falls to the mattress beside me, kissing my shoulder before he claims my lips again. I become aware of the scratches that burn fire across my skin, and in the dim light I can see welts rising on my one side. My sex pulses with delicious fulfillment.

  I snuggle close to his slick chest and he gathers me in his arms, drawing me nearer. He breathes into my hair and we just lie on top of the sheets, listening to each other’s heartbeat.

  “I love you, Noah,” I whisper against his skin.

  Before he drifts off to sleep, he says, “I love you too.”

  We sleep like that for a few hours, tightly entwined. When I wake up, my bladder demands a bathroom trip. So I slip out of bed and tiptoe from the bedroom.

  After trying every door on the top floor, I find I’m out of luck. If there is a bathroom up here, I’m not getting in. Every door is locked. I go back to the bedroom long enough to slip my smartphone from my jeans’ pocket and turn it on so I can use the small lighted screen as a flashlight. All the lights on the top floor are out, and the stairs look just as dark.

  Careful not to fall and break a limb, I use the tiny light to pick my way down the wide, wooden staircase. Hopefully I can find the public bathroom down here. Adam and Sean should be up, so I can ask one of them if I can’t find it.

  I’m on the third stairs from the bottom when I hear voices filtering from the main area of the bar. One is a female voice I recognize—Regina.

  “Did you find them?” she says.

  “Yeah, they were where you said they’d be,” Adam tells her. “They’re sleeping upstairs now.”

  “Good. I knew Noah would take her to the tunnels. It’s the safest place.”

  “The only location left that Pierre doesn’t know about,” Sean’s deep voice rumbles.

  “Thankfully.” She sighed then paused. “This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have set up that gig. I should’ve been more careful when I came to Glamour after our shows. I shouldn’t have left the veil open those few minutes—”

  “Stop blaming yourself,” Sean speaks up in a gentle voice. “The gig was supposed to help us catch Pierre in the act. You couldn’t have predicted Andre would double cross us. And that night you were kind of distracted by the attack. You would’ve never left the veil open otherwise.”

  “Yes, but if Andre and Noah hadn’t slipped through and seen Pierre turn that human, we would’ve never been in this mess.”

  “We’re fixing it,” Adam says. “Quit worrying, Regina.”

  “How did Noah break Pierre’s binding spell anyway?”

  “Brigette helped him while Pierre was away meeting with Glamour leaders.”

  Regina gives a relieved sigh. “Nice to know she’s definitely on our side then.”

  “I have no doubt,” Adam says. “We can trust her completely.”

  Footsteps pace across the floor below and there is silence, then Regina speaks once more. “I should’ve known Andre was up to this. He kept stalling our plan to break the binding spell, making excuses about why it wasn’t safe yet. And then he got together with Merry. He was probably in on Noah’s kidnapping from the start.”

  “Didn’t I say stop it?” Sean says. “You can’t control these things, and you can’t blame yourself.”

  “But I will make it right.”

  So they all knew. Rage courses through me, makes my blood pound in my ears. All that time, Andre and Regina knew Noah was alive and they kept it from me. It is all I can do not to stomp down the remaining stairs and confront her.

  “I tracked Andre and the pack back to the lair,” she says, her words breaking my blind wrath. “I know where they have Rita. They put her in the prisons. Third unit in on the twelfth floor. But Andre saw me leaving, so they’ll move her, and they’ll know you’re coming. Be careful tomorrow.”

  “Do you think he followed you here?” A thread of anxiety laces Adam’s voice.

  “I took the hidden alleys and back roads. I’m sure I lost him, but we should leave early tomorrow. Very early. Just in case.”

  I’m about to slip from the three remaining stairs and try to sneak past them to find a bathroom when a crash and loud snarls come from above. All thoughts of peeing are gone as my bladder shrinks in fear and I run up the stairs.

  After throwing open the door to our room, I find a creature fighting with a half-transformed Noah. The monster turns to face me when I run in, and it takes me a moment to recognize him as Andre. His cheekbones jut further from his face and are more defined. Long, gleaming fangs protrude from his open mouth, and his eyes gleam a brilliant green. In one hand, he holds a knife that winks silver in the moonlight. I realize that if it’s pure silver, the blade might be able to kill Noah.

  I scream at Andre to get off him and I lunge into the room, throwing myself on Andre’s back. Noah growls for me to get away, but I dig my fingers into Andre’s neck and he hisses as he tries to throw me off.

  He stumbles away from Noah and the knife tumbles from his hand, tinking against the wooden floor as it falls. Andre whirls on me and those lethal fangs seem to grow longer as he grabs me and drags me close. I punch with my free hand, kick with the leg that isn’t wedged against him, but his strength is preternatural. Hot breath fans my skins as he brings the fangs closer to my throat.

  Before his teeth can sink into me, though, vines snake out and twine around his neck, pulling him away from me as he gurgles and claws at the vegetation now choking him.

  Regina enters the room, but she looks nothing like the manager of No Mercy any more. Her brown skin has turned indigo, and her sable hair is now made of pale blue moss. As she drags Andre across the floor, farther away from me, her eyes blaze orange.

  “Get out of her now,” she speaks in a watery voice. “Both of you. Adam will drive you to the lair. Sean and I will hold off Andre as long as we can.”

  Noah gets to his feet and we both run for the open door as more leafy vines burst from Regina’s hand and coil around a thrashing Andre. Thankfully Noah slipped on his boxers after sex, and I slipped on his extra long t-shirt. I’d rather not be fleeing a monster in my birthday suit.

  “What the hell is going on up there?” Adam yells as we skitter into the bar. The troll leaps over the counter and joins us in three long strides.

  “Andre,” Noah says. “He tried to attack me with silver. Then he went after Merry.”

  Adam pulls his car keys out of his blazer. He glances at Sean. “Go help her.” Then, to us, “Get in the car.”

  But before we can leave the pub, I spot two semi-transformed werewolves approaching the entrance. “Werewolves incoming!” I tell Adam.

  With a concerned frown, he sprints toward the office in the back, just as the troll reaches the top of the stairs. “Follow me,” Adam shouts.

  We jog after him, and when we stop at the doorway he tosses us each a pistol from a box in this cramped room. “Good thing I keep some silver bullets on hand, huh?” He wears a grim smile as we head toward the entrance to the pub.

  Noah and I get on one side of the door and Adam flanks the other. When the two werewolves burst through, we open fire. I clip one of the intruder’s in the arm and he goes down, writhing and howling in pain. Adam gets the remaining monster in the knee and he drops close to his companion. We flee outside and race toward the car.

  “Will Sean and Regina be okay?” I ask as I glance back at the pub.

  “Don’t worry,” Adam says. “Those werewolves won’t be attacking anyone for a while. The silver will slowly poison them, and if someone doesn’t draw it out, they’ll die.”

  It’s a grim thought, and it keeps me silent. I may have just killed someone, but I remind myself it was a case of kill or be killed.

  We run out back and all jump into his Charger. The engine roars to life and we peel out of the parking lot.

  “Andre knew we were coming to the lair,” Adam tells us. “He spotted Regina when she went to find out where they were holding Rita. He and those werewolves paid a visit to try an
d stop us.”

  Noah lets out a stream of curses. “So they’ll be expecting us.”

  “If Regina and Sean can hold Andre off long enough, we can get there tonight and surprise them, hopefully. But we’ll have to be extra careful going in. Expect a trap.”

  “They knew. All this time, they knew you were alive and they didn’t tell me or Rita,” I blurt, and Noah glances into the backseat at me. “I can’t trust anyone anymore, can I?” Except for my best friend, who is now trapped in some lair, going through who knows what, thanks to the secrets kept by those I thought were friends. Bitterness settles around my heart.

  Adam takes a sharp turn onto a dirt road then looks at me via the rearview mirror. “Like I said, Regina couldn’t tell you. It would’ve broken her oath to Glamour. We can’t reveal ourselves to humans unless there’s no other alternative. She was trying to help free Noah. As for Andre, well, you know his reasons now.”

  ***

  Chapter 8

  We drive through back roads that skirt the forest we were in the day before. Then we take some crumbling streets that look familiar, but inside Glamour all things are a little different, so it’s hard to be sure. A thick mist moves in as we travel, making it hard to see a few feet in front of the car. I ask Adam to stop long enough to let me pee, and my bladder thanks me. We also make a short stop at a house belonging to one of Adam’s friend—a fairy named Leonard who can turn lead into gold. He loans us some new clothes and then we’re back on the road.

  Just as the sun slips farther over the horizon, we stop in front of the ruins of a monolith that was once a busy office skyscraper in Cosmo City.

  “This is the Dark Moon lair?” I give the condemned building an unconvinced perusal as we all step out of the car.

  “In the human world, it’s just an abandoned insurance building, but in Glamour it’s a home to werewolves,” Adam says.

  We creep in through the back way, entering a murky hall that we carefully move through, keeping close to walls and shadows to avoid discovery. Instead of using the elevator, we take the stairwell up to the floor where we hope to find Rita. Scant light spills in from windows placed in the doors leading to each level, and it’s all we have to guide us upward.

  When we reach the twelfth floor, Adam slowly opens the stairwell door and we slip out. Shock stops my feet and I stare at the gloomy sight stretching out in front of me.

  “Like I said,” Adam speaks close to my ear, making me jump. “Nothing is as it seems in Glamour.”

  A dimly lit prison rises two floors above us. It’s concrete walls are filled with cells, but most of them are empty. Weak fluorescent lights buzz and flicker above us.

  We continue to keep close to the walls as we inspects the cells, finding nothing until we come to one near the end of a long row we’ve been inspecting. I’m the first one to notice her. My hands close around the bars and I whisper, “Rita,” to the redhaired form crouched in a gloomy corner of the tiny prison. But she doesn’t respond. She remains curled in a ball behind a thin cot, her head pressed to the wall.

  “How do we get her out?” I turn to the men who now stand behind me.

  Adam wiggles his fingers at me. “Would you believe magic?”

  “Great, so you’re a wizard and a werewolf?”

  “Some monster are also magic wielders,” Noah tells me as Adam curls his hand around the lock on the bars.

  The lock begins to glow like a campfire and it melts away under Adam’s touch. “I’m pretty good with fire spells. I once cooked the face off this vampire that that tried to kill me. Nasty stuff, but it kept me alive.”

  I’m not sure I want to hear anymore. But I don’t have to, because a smoking hole is left when the lock is ruined and I rush past Adam after he opens the cell door.

  After crouching down beside Rita, I put a hand on her shoulder. She’s cold, too cold, and fear sours my stomach. “Rita, honey.” I shake her gently. “We’re going to get you out of here. Can you stand up?”

  Slowly she turns her head, and the woman looking at me isn’t Rita at all. I almost fall on my butt as I stumble back and stand up. Her face begins to elongate, turning her cupid’s bow lips into a furry muzzle. She growls as hair sprouts from her pale cheeks and she springs to her feet, ready to attack.

  “Move out!” Noah yells. “We’ve been set up!”

  We walked right into the trap we were supposed to avoid. Cell doors creak and slam open and more werewolves spill out of what we thought were empty prisons. They snarl and speed toward us.

  The cot in the cell we’re backing out of is thrown high into the air and crashes into the wall opposite. Eyes glow yellow as a burly man charges out from his hiding place. Before he grabs my arm and whirls me around, I recognize him as Pierre.

  I struggle and kick against him, trying to bring my boot up into his crotch. Finally I managed to clock him a good one on the jaw, but he recovers from the blow all too quickly. Noah and Adam fight through the crowd of werewolves attacking them to get back to me.

  “Merry!” Noah screams, just before sharp teeth sink into the tender flesh where shoulder meets neck and my skin is torn away. Warm blood soaks through my shirt and my knees grow weak, my head grows fuzzy.

  A high pitched howl follows me into blackness.

  ***

  Chapter 9

  Groggy and aching all over, I struggle to wake up, and I find myself once more inside a forest. My shoulder feels like someone is raking hot coals through the open wound. Voices drift above me, and when I focus I realize it’s Adam and Noah.

  “Awfully convenient how you take us to the prison and they ambush us again,” Noah says. “I don’t want to doubt you, Brigette, and Regina, but I’m starting to more and more.”

  “Come on!” Adam protests. “They killed Malcolm. You think I’m going to do Dark Moon any favors? I want Pierre to pay for the bullshit he’s caused as much as you do.”

  “I’ll believe that when this is over and Merry and Rita are safe.”

  “Then you better get at it. She could die before the transformation completes,” Adam says, sounding agitated. “Do you really want to take that chance? The bite is too deep and she’s lost a lot of blood.”

  “That was Pierre’s motive,” Noah growls. “But if I heal her, help her transform so she will heal, we both know she could attack me while I’m doing it. Her emotions will be running high and she doesn’t know how to control the wolf in her yet. I won’t hurt her.”

  “Then you’ve got to make sure she can’t hurt you. I’ve got some rope in the trunk. Tie up her wrists while you do the healing.”

  “I won’t do it without her consent.”

  “Then you better get it fast. We’re running out of time.”

  Footsteps move away from me, crunching through grass and twigs. A shadow looms over me and then I feel the heat of Noah’s body as he kneels down beside me and brushes sweaty hair from my face.

  “Sweetheart?” he says, still stroking my face. “Pierre bit you deep, too deep. I have to heal you. Are you okay with that?”

  I lick my lips, gather air into my burning lungs, then croak out, “Of course.”

  He kisses my forehead. “It means we have to exchange energy, and that means sharing my DNA with you.” A pause, and his warm palm rests near my wound. “I have to have sex with you.”

  I manage a weak laugh. “Like I’m complaining. Hurry up.” A watery cough bubbles up from my chest. “I heard Adam. I don’t want to die.”

  “You’re not going anywhere.” His soft lips brush over mine. “This might hurt and could get weird.”

  “Noah, we used to experiment all the time before you left. You can’t shock me.”

  I close my eyes just as Adam returns. He asks how I’m feeling and I mutter a reply as he hands over the rope to Noah. Noah tells me to sit up so he can bind my wrists for his safety and mine.

  It’s a struggle to get up. Noah places his broad palm between my shoulder blades and helps me rise. Adam leaves to give u
s privacy.

  “Let me know if it’s too tight.” Noah sits behind me and the feel of his strong legs stretched out, touching mine, comforts me. So does his broad chest pressed to my back. Despite my wound and weakened state, desire flutters low in my belly. He lifts my t-shirt over my head and the chilled morning air skims over my breasts, making my nipples harden. Skin on skin is best for healing, he tells me.

  The rope is rough but soft as he twines it around my wrists and knots it. He asks if it’s too tight and I shake my head. As he lowers me to the soft, damp earth, the fibers lightly scratch my skin. The coolness of the earth seeps through my fevered flesh.

  “Try to relax,” he tells me, then his hands move to my pants, sliding them down over my hips. My sex throbs as it’s exposed, warring with the pain in my arm for attention. Lying naked in the woods, I’m hyper-aware of my vulnerable state, even though grogginess from blood loss lingers.

  One hand stays close to my wound and the skin there heats up, pulsing as his energy enters me. A sensation like I’m lying in warm cotton fuzz envelops me. His lips press to mine, teasing them open with a gentle kiss. Electric air trickles down my throat as his tongue enters my lips, licking the roof of my mouth and them twining with mine. This energy hums through me, taking away the pain and slowly recharging me.

  His mouth presses to the wound while his hands skim over my breasts, teasing the nipples with light flicks and quick pinches that make me gasp. The tingling in my sex spreads out, igniting a fire deep within me. The torn skin on my shoulder begins to pucker and tighten as it starts to close.

  Lips move lower, closing around my hardened nipples, sucking until the sensation zips straight to my groin and I grow wetter. Hands explore my ribs, lovingly tracing each curve. Fingers sweep over my belly and massage my hips, molding to their contours to hold me still as he explores me. His tongue tastes the valley between my ribs. Teeth pluck at the skin around my belly button until I writhe under this torment. Liquid heat fills my belly button when his tongue dips inside and probes. The more he touches me, the more I feel as if I’m floating in an altered state of consciousness.