Mad Panther (Alien Guardians of Earth Book 2)

by Donna McDonald

  Axel frowned as they slowly made their way back to their quarters. “I must ask you something personal about your health.”

  Sugar laughed and gave him a side-eye. “Okay.”

  “Is the blade making you gain weight for some specific purpose?"

  Sighing, Sugar tugged at the tight red fabric of her dress which kept rising up her thighs with every step she took. "Maybe my muscles are growing from all the training I've been doing."

  Axel looked at her stomach. “Why would only the ones across your mid-section be expanding? That seems strange to me.”

  Sugar glared at him even though he politely held the door open for her. "If you use the “f” word, I promise you that you're not getting any sugar at all tonight."

  Axel chuckled over her teasing reference and rubbed his chest when contentment bloomed. It pleased him greatly to believe Sugar and he now had a bonded relationship that compared favorably to the one her parents had with each other.

  “What “f” word? Do you mean—fantastic?"

  Sugar giggled. “How much do you care about me gaining unexplainable weight?”

  "I refuse to answer such a ridiculous question. By “f” word—do you mean fabulous female?"

  Another giggle escaped her throat. Sugar touched the smile on her face. "Come on, Axel. You slept with Earth women before me. You know how we are about our bodies. I always want you to think I'm your…"

  “Every fantasy come true?" Axel suggested.

  Sugar laughed and pushed on his arms when he tried to put them around her. "Stop."

  She looked down at her widening front and sighed. "Maybe someone cleaned the dress for me and it shrunk. It wouldn't be the first time one of Prince Axel's minions got carried away doing their job."

  Axel lifted her hand and kissed her fingers. “It pleases me that I've kept you laughing over such a silly thing. Lyran fabrics are made to expand and contract as they adept to small weight fluctuations. I do not understand why this dress is failing to serve you well, but we can have others made. Your body pleases me now as much as when we first met. I desire you in all ways possible.”

  Sugar sighed at Axel’s sweet words. “Maybe I’m being silly. The dress is probably failing because of your mother's weekly dinner parties and all that amazing food. I'm officially going on a diet until I lose this extra weight. It shouldn’t take long with the way I work out these days.”

  Dress not changed. Sugar changed. Weight loss not recommended.

  Sugar pointed to her chest then put her hand on Axel's front. She felt him freeze in alarm beneath her fingers. She decided to talk out loud so he could hear at least part of the conversation.

  "Why is weight loss not recommended?"

  Progeny only ten percent developed. Recommended weight gain seventeen point five percent more.

  "Progeny?" Sugar whispered, feeling herself go pale. "Artifact, are you saying I'm pregnant?"

  Explain term.

  "Pregnant means I'm having a baby," Sugar whispered. Axel gripped her hand so hard her fingers went instantly numb. "Am I carrying a baby?"

  Negative. Two entities gestate.

  "Two babies?” Sugar squeaked. She looked at Axel whose eyes were shining. “I'm carrying two babies—your babies."

  Axel smiled and held her hand against his now thundering heart. Children. He was having children. "Does this mean I have sufficiently proved I can control my anger?"

  Sugar burst out laughing at his question. "No, Axel. It only proves you can father children. But I hope you have fixed the temper thing.”

  Axel lifted her hand and kissed her fingers again. “Given Lake’s daily mood swings, he is proving to be the kind of teacher you hoped for me.”

  Sugar leaned and hugged her mate. “I admire you for trying to help him and I'm grateful that you're spending time with him. Lake needs a male he can count on."

  "Gina informed me of the letter from his father. I am starting to think she indeed does have some genuine interest in him as a male. I find it regrettable that his father never knew what happened. I wish I could tell him how well his son is handling being a blade host despite the challenges he faces.”

  Sugar nodded against Axel’s chest then leaned back to look at him. “Did I tell you that Lake’s blade is not like mine? Neither is your father's. According to Lake, my blade was the prototype for the others. Translated, I think all that really means is that I’m stuck with geek-speak while Lake's blade talks to him in full sentences. Rodu says his blade is fairly quiet. I can’t even imagine what that’s like.”

  “That is intriguing information, but does it change anything important?” Axel asked, removing the too tight dress from her.

  He studied her fuller breasts and her rounded tummy as they walked toward their bed. His children grew there.

  How he was going to manage it, he wasn’t sure, but Sugar would not be allowed to leave until their children arrived. Sugar's blade was just going to have to understand.

  Sugar shrugged as she looked at her handsome lover. His logic was flawless as usual. “You're right. Comparing blades doesn't change anything important. I like the arrangement I have with my blade. Our agreement suits us both—as far as I can tell."

  Axel sat on the bed and pulled Sugar between his legs to stand in front of him. "I want to talk more about our children. Do you think they're both males? I would enjoy having sons. Of course, females are highly prized among Lyrans. My mother would be overjoyed to see her legacy continued through my daughters.”

  Sugar's mouth lifted at one corner. "Whatever gender the babies are, I'm going to need someone to watch them for me because I'm not prepared to raise two mini-yous from scratch. The world does not need any more Bad Panthers."

  "Or Mad Panthers?" Axel asked with a smile.

  Sugar laughed. "No. No more Mad Panthers either. All it needs now is a Dad Panther. Are you up for the job?"

  Axel pulled her lushness closer. "You know I'm always up for you. Isn't that how you came to be gestating?"

  Sugar smacked her forehead. "God, I just realized my children are going to be part alien.”

  Axel narrowed his eyes. "A sentient blade has merged with your body yet you're worried about what’s in my Lyran gene pool?"

  “Not exactly. Worried is too strong a feeling," Sugar said with a laugh, patting Axel’s handsome face. "Let's say I'm mildly concerned about the alien thing. However, if our children come out with panther tails or antennae, you're never touching me again."

  Axel grunted in irritation. “Really? Then I should probably get all I want from you tonight.”

  "You probably should, Axel. Since I’m pregnant, maybe I'll even fall asleep before you do for once. I hear gestating women tire more easily.”

  Sugar giggled as a growling Axel rolled her into their bed.

  —THE END—

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  The Demon Prince’s Dragon Queen

  by Mina Carter

  Pre-Order Available - CLICK HERE

  Book Description

  She must marry the king of hell to save the demon who stole her heart.

  After eons in enchanted slumber, dragon queen Baby is finally enjoying life. Determined to take advantage of every opportunity and with a deep need to prove she’s more than a spoiled royal, she joins the PPA as an operative.

  But that brings her into daily contact with the irritating half pixie, Rat. Unlike most, she see’s through his disguise to the man beneath the arrogant bad boy act.

  A bad boy she’s in danger of losing her heart to…

  She’s too good for him but that’s not going to stop this demon prince from claiming what he wants.

  The instant Rat saw dragon queenling Baby, he swore to make her his. One night. That was all he needed. All he told himself he needed. But one night will never be enough, ever…

  Somehow he has to find a way to keep her by his side, even as his father presses him to take a demon to wife an
d ensure the succession of the throne. He doesn’t want a demon as his mate. He wants a dragon queen…

  When political games of the demon kind threaten to take her from him forever. So what’s a demon to do? He’ll do what demons do best… lie, scheme and cheat to get what he wants, before it’s too late.

  NB - This title was originally published as 'One Night with the Demon Prince' and has been revised and extended.

  Excerpt

  Coffee Girl was back. Hopefully she’d have pastries again.

  There were few things a demon, even a half-demon like Rat, liked more than darkness, fire, and brimstone. Coffee was one of them. Pastries ranked a close second.

  Hidden high on the fire escape opposite the back entrance to Frankie’s Coffee Shop, he eased himself out of the shadows and surveyed the alley. His sharp gaze focused on the young woman below him with interest. A tray in her hands, she kept the door opened with one hip as she peered around the shadowed alleyway. Her apprehension was obvious.

  She should be nervous. Dusk was hours away, but it might as well have been the middle of the night. Darkness crowded into the hidden corners, creeping into his peripheral vision until he turned his head and banished them with a direct look. Crammed between high-rise buildings, the alley rarely saw direct sunlight.

  Which was the reason Rat was camped out on the fire escape. Something of the supernatural persuasion had decided to take advantage of the permanently near-nocturnal conditions. Bins rooted through weren’t so bad, all food-based businesses were used to that. Stray cats and dogs were endemic in the city…there were even a few wolfweres—the opposite of werewolves—who ran loose occasionally, despite the resident wolf packs trying to keep them in line.

  But when those stray cats and dogs were found, their guts shredded and chewed on… well, shit got real. Fast. Whatever it was had graduated from scavenging its dinner to hunting it. So the owners of the coffee shop had called in the Paranormal Protection Agency to deal with the problem.

  And they’d sent him.

  Send a predator to catch a predator.

  And Rat knew predators… It wouldn’t stay on small prey long. Which meant he needed to find out what the fuck it was and shut it down. Fast.

  “Hello?” Coffee Girl called out, obviously unwilling to leave the safety of the doorway.

  He took pity on her. Grabbing a rail, he dropped from his perch, unrolling on the way, and landed lightly onto his booted feet in the center of the alley. Coffee Girl was human, so she needed to be wary of whatever lurked in the shadows. He didn’t. He wasn’t human. Not anywhere near.

  Oh, he looked it right now. Tall and broad shouldered, he’d pass for a human male at first. A large one. However, one look at the electric blue of his undercut hair and the heavy muscles under his leather jacket dispelled that notion. He looked like the pixie he was… and that wasn’t his dangerous half.

  Something far more lethal lurked beneath the surface.

  “Hi.” He flashed a small grin when he spotted that she had, indeed, brought pastries.

  Her relief flavored the air, palpable to a creature like him, and she thrust the tray forward. “I thought you’d be hungry, being out here all day.”

  Her shy little smile pulled at the hidden side of him, and not for good reasons. He quelled it with the ease of long practice. That path led to bad things—dark and dangerous urges this pretty little human would run screaming from if she had any inkling as to what he really was. No human could hope to tempt him and survive.

  No, he needed something more exotic and dangerous…

  Like a dragon.

  The thought slipped through the cracks in his armor before he could stop it. Hurriedly, he stuffed it back and locked it away in the back of his mind.

  “Thanks.”

  Plucking a coffee mug from the tray, he turned to sit next to her on the step by the door. With him here, she needn’t worry about anything that lurked in the dark. The mug was tiny in his hands, the same size huge in hers. Setting his feet apart, he leaned back with a sigh. The warmth from the drink caressed the skin of his palms, the small, mundane heat a lure to his demon nature.

  Coffee Girl turned to take a pastry, and his gaze locked onto the delicate curve of her jaw and the plump temptation of her lips. But he wasn’t seeing her. Instead, he saw another woman with fiery red hair and golden eyes. His mug paused mid-air as a wave of fierce longing stole his breath.

  Baby. The dragon queenling the PPA had helped rescue from a deranged human with delusions of grandeur. The one woman in the world he shouldn’t—couldn’t—want.

  The trouble was she was never far from his thoughts.

  He blinked, and the edge of a dark shadow on Coffee Girl’s skin caught his attention. The growl was ripped from his lips, and his hand snapped out to hold her still. She froze, her gasp of fright cut instantly at his touch. Whether or not she realized what he was, her body reacted like every other human’s at the touch of a demon and became still and pliant.

  With fingers as gentle as he could make them, he peeled away the fabric over her shoulder to reveal a deep, still-purpling bruise. Feral rage ripped through him. A man had done this. Used his superior strength and raised a hand to this delicate creature.

  “Who did this?”

  He could compel the answer from her if he wanted, but she was already scared enough. He didn’t need to be an ass and add to her distress. She tried to pull away, impressive considering humanity had no natural defenses against his kind. Tears sparkled in her eyes.

  “It’s nothing. I was clumsy. That’s all. Walked into a door…”

  “Uh-huh.” He put her top into place and sat back, watching her carefully. “And how many times were you where the door wanted to be?”

  “It wasn’t like that.” She looked down, face calm, but the tremble of her hands around the mug gave her away.

  “Really?”

  He didn’t believe her for a moment. He’d lived in the seven hells long enough to recognize the evidence of a man’s aggression. His lips curved into a humorless grin. They called his kind monstrous, but the evil humans perpetrated on each other…it’d make even his father proud.

  He extended his senses. She had bruises but no torn skin nor internal injuries. She hadn’t been raped. As he opened his mouth to demand the truth, a sound from the alley in front of them made him stop dead.

  “What?” Coffee Girl picked up on his tension immediately, drawing closer to him. That amused him. A human looking to a demon for protection. Who’d have thought it?

  “Shhh.”

  Holding up his hand, he strained his ears for the sound again. There it was. A small clip against the ground and a familiar whuffle. It was a sound that chilled even his blood and one he hadn’t expected to hear in the middle of the city. Quickly he revised his earlier assessment. There were some things that lurked in the darkness even he needed to be wary of.

  “Shit.”

  Instantly he knew what it was and had a good idea why it was hanging around Frankie’s Coffee Shop. A bead of cold sweat ran down his spine. Without taking his eyes off the alley around them, he leaned closer to Coffee Girl. He kept his voice low. Between them.

  “I apologize for the indelicate question but…have you ever… you know, slept with anyone?”

  Amusement flooded him in the silence after his words. Him, a demon, asking carefully if a woman was a virgin. His father wouldn’t have bothered with the question. He’d have just seduced her…and tempted the wrath of the creature watching unseen from the shadows.

  “What?” He could feel her cheeks burn and the sharp gaze as she leaned away from him. “No, not that it’s any business of yours!”

  He let out a wry chuckle. “Sweetheart, I’m not coming on to you. I’m trying to save our lives.”

  Well, his anyway. He was fairly certain she’d be okay.

  For a while.

  Movement tugged at the corner of his vision. Turning his head, he focused on a darker patch of shadow by
a dumpster. He had excellent night vision, all demons did—a side effect of living in any of the seven hells. But if they were dealing with what he thought they were, it wouldn’t matter. What watched them wouldn’t be seen until it wanted to be.

  The shadows moved and gave a vague impression of shape. Twin pinpricks of red flared for a moment. Farther apart than he’d thought. Crap, it was already the size of a Rottweiler and infinitely more dangerous.

  “What do you mean?” she asked warily. He sensed her movement before it began and slammed a hand out to hold her in place.

  “Stop talking and don’t move.”

  If she ran, she was done for. Even being untouched wouldn’t save her.

  Carefully, he reached inside his jacket pocket and withdrew his cell. A quick swipe over the screen dialed the most frequent number, and a second later a chirpy female voice filled his ear.

  “Paranormal Protection Agency. How may I he—”

  “It’s Rat.” He tightened his grip on Coffee Girl’s wrist as she moved, her growing fear tainting the air. “Tell the boss lady I got a Reem down at Frankie’s Coffee Shop. I need Cal and Gran here, like yesterday, and put a call into the animal control unit.”

  Confusion colored the woman’s voice. “A Reem? What the hell is a Reem?”

  He hissed through his teeth, feeling his horns ache on his forehead. Crap, he just had to get the newbie on the switchboard.

  “A unicorn, lady,” he hissed, his voice nowhere near human. “I’ve got a juvenile unicorn down here.”

  “Awwwww…how cute!” Coffee Girl exclaimed as the unicorn chose that moment to sidle out of the darkness. It was small, with a glowing white coat and a mane that needed its own shampoo commercial. She made to move forward but he had a death grip on her arm.