Taming: A Reverse Harem Series (To Tame A Shifter Book 1)

by A. K. Koonce

  He grips the back of Chaos neck, and I flinch away when I fear their heads will slam together again.

  But it never happens.

  Rime slams his lips against Chaos’, forcing the affection in a way that doesn’t appear affectionate at all. Tension is held in their bodies for a moment. Every muscle in Rime’s arm is lined with strength, and I’m pressed between their hard bodies, staring up in awe as Chaos’ lips tilt into another slow smile. A hum of laughter shakes through him just before his lips part and he meets Rime’s tongue slowly with a gentle caress. Rime’s finger tense slightly against Chao’s neck as they take their time.

  My breath is heavy as it falls hard over my lips. I’ve never put so much thought an attention on Rime’s cruel mouth. Confusion swirls through me when Rime’s grip on me changes. His palm pushes low down my abdomen, burning across my skin as his fingers halt just beneath the elastic of my skirt. My fingers trail up Chaos’ chest, and his big hands lock onto my waist pulling me even closer to him as his head tilts to kiss Rime harder. A sound that’s similar to a moan shakes from my lungs as my ass grinds against Rime’s cock.

  All the confusion I felt moments ago is quickly forgotten as I let their fingers explore my body. The kiss deepens, their jaws working in the sexiest way I’ve ever seen. And I’m at the center of their pleasure. Rimes gentle touch pushes lower, just above where I want him most, and he groans against Chaos’ lips.

  He shoves back from us, forcefully pushing away from Chaos as well as myself. The heat of his touch is replaced with the cool wind as I stand confused once again.

  It was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, and it ended before it even began.

  I look from one man to the other. Chaos holds a smoldering smile in his features while Rime still looks … completely pissed off.

  “Did that impress you?” Rime’s words make a scowl pull at my lips.

  This is why I’ll never allow a man to kiss me ever again. Life and love, it’s all just a mess.

  “Do you guys … always do that?” It’s a stupid question, but I can’t seem to stop it from coming out of my mouth.

  “No. I’ve never kissed Chaos before.”

  “But you’ve thought about it, right?” Chaos’ smile is wide and taunting as his attention skims over every inch of Rime’s body.

  Rime doesn’t look at his friend.

  “I just wanted to prove that sometimes a kiss doesn’t mean anything.”

  The door bangs shut behind us, but I don’t turn to see who’s watching.

  “I know.” My voice shakes and I swallow hard against the pathetic feel of my emotions. I’m just so astounded that he’s completely misunderstood me. “Sometimes it means too much to one person, and it means absolutely nothing to the other. And, sometimes, it ruins everything. Thanks for reminding me of that.”

  His features soften slightly. The hard angles of his jaw no longer tic with fury, and his glaring eyes hold the smallest hint of pity there.

  I think I like it better when he’s irrationally angry. At least, then I know how to speak to him. Right now, I don’t know what to even say.

  So, I say nothing.

  An awkward beat passes and I consider leaving them here, turning away and hiding inside from their blunt explanations.

  But Chaos beats me to it.

  In an inky swirl of acidic tinged magic, he changes form. Dark scales crawl across the flesh of his forearms until the dragon within him consumes him entirely. The playful dragon lunges for Rime and the man steps back with caution but, in a matter of seconds, he shifts to defend himself against his friend.

  Their sharp teeth snap at one another, nearly nicking each other’s neck but just nipping at the rough scales as they run around the small yard. It seems more intimate now than it did the last time they played like this. Until Rime bucks his head up, aiming his sharp horns for Chaos’ chest. The dragon barely rolls away in time to protect himself, his body almost colliding with Grim’s. The hellhound gives a low rumbling sound of disapproval before stalking off to a more secluded part of Agatha’s garden.

  For several moments, I just watch the two dragons play and fight one another in a mass of claws and teeth and groaning growls. The amount of time I consider how Rime’s teeth linger on Chaos’ throat starts to become an overanalyzed thought within my mind.

  Rime is shit at showing his emotions. But this feels … affectionate in a way. It’s as natural as breathing for these two.

  “They’ve always been better at fighting one another than talking.” Kain doesn’t look to me as he comes to my side, keeping his gaze fixed on his friends who just wiped out the old wooden awning that covered over Agatha’s well. The wood crumbles beneath their massive paws before they carry on to the next space to destroy.

  “They’re good at fighting.” My head tilts as Chaos swoops up high to dodge his friend’s roaring attack. Dark wings push hard, swirling the dirt around me as he lifts himself higher and higher.

  “They’re so much better at fighting than anything else.” A pause drifts between his words for a moment. “They don’t have much experience with anything else, I guess. Neither of them knows the pain and reality of love. That excited fear that pounds through your heart isn’t even a thought inside their heads.” He isn’t angry with me like he was earlier. There’s a gentleness to his words. I can’t help but wonder if he heard my emotional outburst.

  My lips part, and I realize Kain and I might have more in common than he’s letting on. The four of us are used to being defensive, but none of us are very good at simply talking about our feelings. I might have had a normal life at one time, but it’s been long forgotten. Friendship, and just normal conversation, isn’t my strong suit.

  Not at all.

  No matter how hard I try.

  As insufferable as these assholes may be, I’m just like them.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Flaws and Fuck Ups

  An orange hue of warm sunlight hits my golden skin as I wait for it to fade away into dusk. Rime sits next to me on the small steps, shirtless and in a pair of jeans that fit a little too snugly, watching Chaos’ dragon form doze in the dirt. There’s a silence to the man just like there always is, but he seems to be really staring at the dragon. Considering him in a way; making me wish I could understand all the things Rime never says.

  Chaos’ dragon is enormous. From the tip of his snout all the way down to the curve of his tail, he’s larger than Aggie’s cottage. His face is bigger than my body. He could literally swallow me in one bite like a midday snack.

  Why do I find myself wishing I could be his snack …

  “You really should learn some defensive moves for yourself.” Kain’s statement pulls at my attention until I peer up at him. He leans against the door behind me, his pale eyes held on the sunset as the lighting casts across his smooth skin, warming it just slightly.

  “What makes you think I don’t already know defensive moves?” My tone is confident even though I only know how to sucker punch someone, and that’s if they’re extremely close and directly in front of me.

  For the most part, I just depend on my magic. Too bad I hide it away from the world.

  “You won’t always have beasts to protect you.”

  A low growl emits from somewhere beneath the bushes, and it seems that Grim would care to disagree with the shifter.

  “You think you’re going to train me to be an expert fighter in a few hours?”

  His thigh pushes against my shoulders and he passes me, looking back at me as he stalks into the middle of the dusty road.

  “I could teach you a thing or two.” There’s almost humor in his words. It’s a flirting, tingling tone really.

  It’s … weird.

  Rime’s gaze shifts to me, but he keeps his heavy silence even as I stand. The ground is cool beneath my feet, and I take my time meeting him in the middle of the worn roadway.

  The slow drag of his attention across my body makes me shift on my feet. I don’t kno
w what’s changed between us. Since this morning, since my small breakdown, he seems to notice me now.

  Almost too much.

  “Ready?” His taunting tone makes my nerves prickle anxiously, and it’s hard for me to keep my carelessness as I raise my palms from my sides in a casual shrug.

  He’s shit at protecting his left side.

  My eyes widen. Chaos’ voice whispers through my mind. It distracts me and confuses me, but when I look to him, he seems to still be napping. His tail sweeps across the ground back and forth in a slow motion as if he’s not even aware of it at all.

  Did I really just hear him in my thoughts?

  I’ve studied all creatures, every beautiful one of them, but the information on rare beasts like dragons is limited. Our world doesn’t have the beautiful deadly creatures roaming the land like it once did. None of my books ever mentioned a telepathic trait between them and humans, and these men haven’t shown me anything like that the entire time they’ve been here.

  Perhaps … I imagined it. Or perhaps dragon shifters are more different than I realized. I haven’t been around them long enough to form any kind of bond like Chaos mentioned.

  Have I?

  Kain takes slow, tormenting steps that seem to draw out my anticipation of what he’s about to do. His hand raises in a defensive stance and, just like Chaos said, it’s his right hand.

  Now’s my window.

  Right now.

  My fingers dig into my palm and my knuckles of my hand stings against his jaw. Maybe it was a sucker punch, maybe it was expert timing. Maybe it was a little of both. Either way, triumph soars through me.

  This is what winning feels like.

  “Oh, shit,” Rime says with a hint of laughter kissing his tone.

  “What the fuck, Arlow?” Kain’s brows pull low as his palm pushes across his face, his gaze glaring down on me hard.

  “I—I thought you said you were ready.” The excitement and accomplishing feeling of making the first move sizzles right out of me.

  “Do you know what defense means? I wasn’t going to attack you. I was going to show you how to defend yourself. Fuck.”

  Laughter continues to hum from the man behind me, and I throw a quick look at Chaos to find his large gleaming eyes watching the two of us intently. A sort of amused look is in his two-toned gaze.

  Asshole.

  “Don’t use your magic either.” He takes another step toward me, but he halts the moment I speak.

  “I can’t.”

  “You can’t?” His head dips, his attention shifting over my features as I look at every single detail of the dark forest behind him to avoid his curious gaze.

  I shouldn’t have told him that. It’s stupid to tell them how much of myself I hide away from the world.

  I guess I’m all in now. It’s terrifying to know I’ll actually depend on them in the future. It’s terrifying that I trust them right now.

  This whole time they were looking for a mage. Well, now they have her. Now they know she’s not nearly as impressive and marveling as they were told.

  “I’ve never had much training to be a mage. With the laws changing, with mages becoming hunted, my parents hid my magic. I was … a burden on them. They hid me away most of my life. So much so that I hadn’t even used my magic until I was an adult and even now I hide it. I save it in case I have a run in with Kreedence. I won’t waste it on training, Kain.”

  I hate that this special thing about me makes me a danger to myself. To my family. To society even.

  “You disappeared pretty well on me,” Rime says in an even but pointed tone.

  “I’m exceptionally good at hiding. At disappearing. I’ve had a lifetime of experience in that department. But using it like that tires me. It’s not as easy as it should be. It’s … pathetic really.”

  Moments pass as the three of them stare at me in a heavy and pressing silence.

  “Rime can’t tell directions when he’s in his dragon form. Can’t tell north from south if it’s high noon.” Kain’s honest but random statement throws me off guard.

  “Fuck you, my eyes can’t pick up on the sunlight and shit.” Rime’s defensive tone makes Kain smile.

  “Chaos is a full adult dragon and still can’t grow his horns.”

  A grumbling growl comes from the dark dragon before he rolls away slowly, giving us the span of his long tail as he chooses to look to the woods instead of us.

  Poor baby always being reminded of his flaws.

  A smile pulls at my lips, but I still don’t know where he’s going with this.

  “I hate people. I’m not good at trusting them. Especially women. I’ve felt the start of a mating bond once and it … she fucked me over.” His attention is on the ground between us as he says it, far, far away from my curious gaze.

  Huh. He’s just like me.

  A strange sort of anger fumes through me at whoever the woman was who hurt him.

  He shifts his weight, pulling his attention from the dirt to meet my gaze.

  “My point is we’re all fucked up, Arlow. But those flaws don’t get to decide who we are. You’re powerful. I know it. I’ve seen it.” A pause drifts between his words. “I feel it.” Energy swirls through my chest at the sound of his appraisal. In just two short steps, he’s close enough to touch. So close that his fingers drift across the back of my knuckles, not holding my hand but just lightly skimming against my skin. Making me crazy with the fluttering feeling within my stomach. “Let me help you.”

  The sincerity of his voice sinks right into me. It’s all I feel strumming through my veins.

  He really thinks he could help me?

  The warm sound of his voice makes me realize I trust them all too much.

  Because I want nothing more in the world than for him to help me.

  Even if I know it’s a terrible idea for two emotionally broken people.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Personal Space

  “You know you’re wasting them, right?” Aggie’s voice is conspiratorial sound.

  With a wave of her hand, she provides me with a new pair of clothes almost identical to the swaying skirt and shirt I always wear. Her bedroom is a darker space, but just as cluttered as her living room. Stacks of old newspapers stand taller than me in the corner, and I eye it with a worried look as it teeters but doesn’t fall.

  “I just think if there are three very muscular men in your life, you should take advantage of your good fortune. The Goddess has clearly blessed you for a good deed.”

  A good deed. Not likely, Aggie.

  “Have you even felt number three’s arms? Good Goddess, what is he lifting with those arms? Mmm imagine what he’s lifting, Low. Imagine it.”

  My eyes close slowly as I realize she’s numbered them based off of who she felt up during her line up.

  Number three; I do a quick recap. Number three is Kain.

  “Oh, the things I would do to those men if my bad hip was twenty years younger. I should have taken better care of that damn hip.”

  A smile pulls at my lips.

  “I’m going to take a shower.” She needs a cold shower too, I think, but I’m not going to mention it.

  As I step past her, her thin hand slips around mine. It’s a light touch, a gentle touch, and I think it’s the first time we’ve ever touched actually.

  “Really though. I—I think they want to help you. Let them help you, Low.” She hesitates for only a moment, perhaps testing me to see if I’ll agree. When I don’t, she continues. “Not all men are bad. I promise; some are so loyal, so loving, so irreplaceable.”

  Her odd words linger in the silence.

  Sometimes, I think Aggie is wise.

  And, sometimes, I think she’s shut herself away here for so long she’s forgotten what the real world is like.

  I envy her for that.

  The real world is shit. I’ll let her live in that pleasant fairytale for the rest of her life.

  “I’m sorry for bringing you i
nto this.” My whispered words make her silver brows pull together.

  A beat passes before she releases my hand and walks past me.

  “We’re a family.” She pauses for a moment, letting her words warm my chest. “I knew you’d take good care of those dragon shifters.” My lips part as I try to process her words, my thoughts going all the way back to the first night that she buried them right in front of me. “You’re sweeter than you act, Low.” She squeezes my hand lightly before trailing on a hobbling step to the door. “But you’re a stubborn woman,” she mumbles before she leaves.

  I trail away from her cramped bedroom and into the only bathroom in the little cottage. The small room is filled with old magazines along the sink. Orange lighting casts across the space, and I toss my clothes in the only empty spot along the floor, letting my skirt and shirt take space among the dusty books.

  At some point in Agatha’s long life, she must not have been blind. She must have loved these things she surrounds herself with even if she can no longer appreciate them. I don’t have anything sentimental in my life. I left my parents years ago, and I haven’t really settled anywhere since. There are no brothers or sisters to share fond memories with. I’ve never stayed in one place long enough to collect friends.

  There is only me.

  And, most of the time, that’s how I like it. At least, that’s what I thought.

  The cold metal of the faucet turns beneath my palm, and I step into the chilling water. A gasp leaves my throat but, in just a moment, the freezing water turns from cold to hot and the tension leaves my body in an instant. The gentle pressure falls across my skin, drenching my hair as I tip my face up to the steam and inhale deeply.

  It’s perfectly relaxing.

  It’s so relaxing I start to become comfortable with the idea of having a friendship with these men. They care about me. It isn’t the most blatant appearance of kindness, but I can see it.

  I can feel it.

  The sound of the door clicking closed has the tension snapping right back into place. I peer past the clear plastic curtain and meet shining emerald eyes. They trail down the length of my bare skin from beyond the transparent shower curtain.