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Paranormal Friends with Benefits
Shifter Dating Service: Book Six
A Paranormal Romance
by Jasmine Wylder
Contents
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
Epilogue
Thank You!
Also by Jasmine Wylder
About the Author
Dedication
To my loved ones B & B, who encouraged me to fly toward my dream:
Let’s soar.
Chapter One
Maggie Roxton caught two-year-old Veronica Crew and scooped her into the air. The little girl shrieked with laughter, kicking her feet while she grabbed Maggie’s shoulder. Maggie shook her head, as much amused as she was exasperated. Why Ronnie had decided to make it into a game to take off her pullup and go streaking through the apartment, Maggie didn’t know.
“Veronica,” six-year-old Summer scolded with her hands on her hips, “Daddy is going to be home soon. Do you want to lose your ice-cream privileges because you aren’t behaving?”
“Ice-cream!” Ronnie shouted into Maggie’s ear. “Yay! Ice-cream!”
Maggie adjusted the naked child and tried not to be too stern when she spoke to Summer. “Thank you for trying to help but I need you to take care of your toys and let me dress Ronnie, okay?”
Summer put her hands on her hips. It was something she’d picked up lately, although Maggie wasn’t sure where it had come from. “Okay, but Ned isn’t cleaning up his toys.”
“Let me handle it, honey.”
Maggie quickly carted Ronnie to the bathroom, where she dressed her in the clothes Ronnie had tossed away moments before. When they emerged again, Summer was scolding Ned about not picking up his toys while hers still lay scattered across the living room. Maggie bit back a sigh. She wasn’t entirely certain how to handle this new attitude of Summer’s, that she should be in charge of her younger siblings. She’d been asking online, but so far nothing she got back had worked.
Still, Maggie wouldn’t have traded it for the world. She loved these three kids as though she was their mother. She’d been with them since their birth. Her best friend, Jonathon, was their father and they’d always been close.
Recently, Maggie was afraid everything was going to be taken away from her. She had been turned into a vampire against her will, and the change had been… difficult, to say the least. Jonathon had long disliked vampires, despite being a dragon shifter himself, and Maggie was afraid that he wouldn’t want anything to do with her anymore.
She had also been afraid that she wouldn’t be safe to be around the children, at least not by herself. Luckily, she had quickly mastered the desire for blood in her system.
The kids had lost the playdates she used to set up with other nannies, and that made her angry for their sake. But she couldn’t blame anybody else for not wanting her around. Not when vampires were blood-drinkers.
“Alright, kiddos,” she called as she set Ronnie down. “Let’s get all the toys put away so that Daddy can take you home right away. We’re going to the science museum tomorrow, so we all need to be extra good and get lots of sleep tonight.”
That seemed to motivate Summer to clean up her things, although five-year-old Ned protested he didn’t know how to pick up the blocks he’d been playing with. Maggie had just started to help when there was a knock on the door. She frowned as she got back to her feet. Jonathon never knocked, he just walked in. Maybe he had lost his key somewhere?
When she opened the door, she saw the group of college students that used to come over and play games on Friday nights before she was a vampire. At twenty-two, she was the oldest of the bunch and had been worried for them.
A wide smile crossed Maggie’s face as she opened the door wide. Maybe they had adjusted to the idea of her being a vampire? She had been away for some time while she adjusted herself. Now maybe things would get back to normal. “Hey, guys! It’s been a while.”
Juliette, who was the second oldest of the group and often took over as leader, gave her a stiff smile. None of the others changed expression, but Maggie decided not to think too much on that. It had to be weird and awkward for them. It was weird and awkward for her! She had missed their game nights, though. Becoming a vampire had been very isolating. Jonathon was the only paranormal being in the building, and humans didn’t always deal well with the paranormal.
They’d always been good to Jonathon, though. Always made sure to include him on invitations, always were happy to see the kids. He never liked game nights. Too crowded for his tastes.
“I’ve still got the kids,” Maggie said as she stepped back for them to come in. “But Jonathon will be there to pick them up soon. If we wanted to pick a game and set it up, there’d be no problem.”
She refused to see the uncomfortable shifting in the back of the group or the way Juliette’s lips tightened. They were just feeling bad for not coming sooner. That’s all it was. Maggie refused to let her mind move to the worst-case scenario. These were her friends, and she was the same person now as she had been before she’d been turned into a vampire!
“Actually,” Juliette’s boyfriend, Chad, started but Juliette interrupted.
“We’re not here for game night. But we would like to come in for a minute to talk.” That stiff smile was back. Maggie gestured for them to enter, but Juliette stared at her until Maggie stepped back and led the way to the little kitchen attached to the den.
Summer had finished picking up her things and Ned had gone back to building blocks and Ronnie was currently stripping again. Maggie hustled over to them, dressed Ronnie again and gave her a kiss with an admonition to keep her clothes on and started putting Ned’s blocks away again.
“Can I get anybody anything to eat or drink?” she asked as she smiled at her group of friends.
A couple of them actually looked disgusted and all of them stared at her smile. She quickly shut her lips to hide the fangs. A coil of dread twisted around her stomach, but she fought to throw it off. They were her friends. She was the same person. They’d understand that, right? It just took some getting used to is all.
“No, thank you,” Juliette said coldly. “Maggie, this gives us no pleasure. But we are here to ask you to move out of the building.”
Maggie’s heart thudded and a prickle ran up her arms.
“We are not comfortable living in such close proximity to a vampire,” Juliette continued. “We have discussed it and will cover the cost of buying out your lease. You don’t belong here anymore. There are many vampire kingdoms. You’d be much more comfortable among… other people like you.”
Maggie swallowed hard. She turned to Summer. “Take your brother and sister to find some movies in the bedroom, okay? You can borrow them tonight.”
She waited until they scampered away before lightly shutting the door and turning back to… them. Were they
her friends anymore? Maggie felt her eyes burning but forced herself to stand straight and tall.
“You want me to move out because I was attacked, and something was forced onto me against my will. I’m the same person I have always been and—”
“We don’t want you to move out,” Juliette hurriedly interrupted. “We think it would be better if you were to move out. You yourself said that you were having trouble keeping your new… appetites in check. You’re a good person; how would you feel if you lost control and killed someone?”
“I had trouble, at the beginning. I’m not having any trouble now.” Maggie looked from face to face, trying to find some glimmer of hope. The betrayal twisted in her gut like a knife. Still, she tried her best not to feel any emotions. They just didn’t understand. They were trying to do what was best for her. She understood that well enough. After all, being around other vampires would mean better understanding what it meant to be a vampire. But that didn’t mean she wanted to give up everything in her life. “They said for the circumstances, I adapted very well. They wouldn’t have discharged me if I was in any danger.”
One of the other women broke in with a sneer. “Oh, we’re well aware you aren’t in danger. But some of us have children.”
Maggie flinched. “I would never hurt a child!”
“You’re a vampire. Who knows what you’ll do?”
“I do!”
“And we’re just supposed to take that, are we?” one of the men this time. He glared at her with such hatred that she flinched. Before she was a vampire, he was one who would often come to visit and invite her to do things with the group.
Maggie opened her mouth but was very aware of her fangs and shut it again, wanting to rip them out. Unfortunately, if she did that, they’d just grow back. It’d hurt and within a few hours, it’d be for nothing. She knew because she’d tried it before she was released from vampire custody.
“I haven’t hurt anybody,” she whispered, useless tears pooling in her eyes. “I won’t hurt anybody.”
Juliette’s expression was one of sympathy, but there was also that same fear and disgust in her eyes. “You can have all the intention not to hurt anybody but what if somebody cuts themselves? What if you forget to… feed regularly enough? It is not something that we can accept. You can either take our offer and let us buy out your lease or we can take legal action. Nobody is forced to live in the same building as someone who is a danger to them, after all.”
It wasn’t about her at all. It wasn’t concern. It wasn’t them saying that they thought she’d be happier. This was because they didn’t want her. Pure and simple. Maggie stood there, stunned, not knowing what to say or do. Was it legal for them to try to force her out? There were anti-discriminatory laws, but would they protect her when the people in the complaint were concerned for their safety?
“I’m sorry, Maggie,” Juliette said, but Maggie wasn’t going to believe her again. “I know that this is a terrible time for you and it’s not your fault, but you’re a vampire now.”
Maggie clenched her hands. They wanted to play it like this? “Fine. So, you all decided that you needed to tell me that I’m no longer welcome in my own home. But guess what? I’m not leasing. I own this apartment, and you can pry it from my cold, dead hands. Don’t want to live next to a bloodsucker? Then move yourselves. Now get out of my apartment.”
Juliette’s eyes widened. Maggie only glared at her. If they were going to act like tools, she was going to treat them like tools. They wanted to sue her or try to force her out legally? Well, they were going to have a helluva battle on their hands. Her sister was mated to two billionaire vampires. She’d make this a landmark in legal history, and she knew Camille would be only too happy to help her.
One of the men snorted. “This is what we get, is it? I told you we should have just gone to the super.”
“Get out,” Maggie repeated. “Now.”
The door to the bedroom opened and the three children filed out, each of their arms full of movies. Summer grimaced angrily. “Maggie, Ned won’t listen when I told him not to—”
“Dragon spawn I can handle,” one of the women burst out suddenly. “At least until they start shifting and destroying everything in sight. But a vampire is something else entirely. I’m going to sue you until—”
Rage blinded Maggie. She shifted her position, standing between the group of people and the children. She glowered at the woman and flashed her fangs without even thinking. Nobody was going to say anything about these children while she was here! She opened her mouth to furiously tell them to leave again but before she could, something hard and compact hit her in the face.
“Don’t you threaten her, you vampire slut!” Juliette’s boyfriend shouted as he punched her in the stomach. Someone grabbed her hair as she bent over, pain exploding through her.
Her legs were kicked out from under her, and the blows rained down.
***
Jonathon gulped the rest of his water as he walked up the final flight of stairs toward his apartment. Between working full-time and going to school full-time, he’d had to cut out his gym routine entirely. It had been a great stress relief for him, and so he was finding small ways to make sure he still got exercise in. It was hard, though and he was looking forward to tomorrow. No work. No school. He could spend the whole day with his kids and Maggie. A smile crossed his lips as he started down the hallway. While the science museum wasn’t his idea of fun, Maggie had been so excited when she suggested it, he hadn’t been able to say no.
It had been a long time since he had last seen her that excited about anything.
A cry of pain came down the hallway and Jonathon froze. Had that been Maggie’s voice? Shouting followed and soon he heard the high screams of all three of his children. His fires burned in the pit of his stomach as he charged forward, throwing off his pack of books.
When he got to Maggie’s door, it was open. His rage intensified when he charged in, seeing Maggie on the floor. She was curled up, her arms over her neck, protecting herself as multiple men and women—people who had once professed to be her friends—took turns kicking her.
“You don’t get to threaten us, bloodsucker,” one of the men shouted. “Filthy, disgusting slut!”
A haze of red filled Jonathon’s vision. His fires flared hot, burning through his stomach and up his throat. With a roar, he charged forward. One of the women screamed and another scream echoed from behind them. Summer. Through the bodies he saw her standing there, her hands on her face, tears streaking her cheeks. Ned was on the floor beside her, his arms over his head, and Ronnie stood there with a bewildered look on her face.
The humans backed away from Maggie, turning to face him with fear in their eyes. Good. They should be afraid! He fought down the desire to simply burn them all to a crisp. Maggie lay gasping and sobbing on the floor, but when she lifted her head, her gaze was on the children.
It took all of Jonathon’s strength, but he managed to stop himself from launching at her attackers. Instead, he moved to his children, picking them all up in his arms and quickly taking them into the bedroom. He set them down, even though all three tried to cling to him.
“I have to take care of Maggie now,” he told them, their tears tearing at his heart.
Tearing himself away from his children, Jonathon hurried back out to the kitchen. The humans had disappeared, clearly having made a mad dash for the door. Maggie was on her hands and knees, whimpering, as tears ran down her cheeks.
Jonathon hurried to her side. He lifted her to her feet. Her eyes shut tight, and she turned her face away from him. A bruise rose on her cheek and blood trickled from her nose, which was at a wonky angle on her face. The red haze returned, but Jonathon forced it back again. He set Maggie in one of the kitchen chairs and touched her cheek.
She looked up at him with such a broken expression that the haze came back full force. No way to deny it, no way to hold it back. A feral snarl ripped from his throat as he headed for th
e door. Each and every one of those bastards was going to pay for what they had done. Hurting Maggie. Terrorizing his children. He’d beat them to a pulp for this; he’d—
“Jonathon.” Maggie’s hand reached out, latching onto his wrist. “Jonathon, no. Don’t go. Stay here with me.”
He couldn’t look at her as the red haze stayed, the heat from his fires burning more hotly.
“Jonathon! Don’t. If you do anything, you know you’ll be the one who gets in trouble.”
He tried to shake his hand free.
“Listen to me.” Maggie’s grip tightened, stronger than it ever was when she was human. “Don’t make me defend them, please. Please, I need you. The children need you. Please. Stay with me.”
Her voice cracked, and that brought him back to himself at last. The red faded and his fires retreated, huddling in a ball at the pit of his stomach. He turned back to Maggie, heard the crying of his children and a sense of helplessness came over him. How was he supposed to make this better?
Swallowing hard, he nodded. “Let’s get you cleaned up. Where do you hurt?”
He lifted her again and helped her to the bathroom as she muttered that she really didn’t hurt that much. He dabbed the blood off her face, wincing at her bruises but relieved to see that the bleeding had mostly stopped. It made him cringe, but he put her nose back into place, the way he used to do with his teammates on the football field.
After Maggie was cleaned up, they collected the children. Ronnie curled into Maggie’s arms while Ned and Summer clung to Jonathon. He hated being here, in this apartment which normally was so inviting. Images of those people beating on Maggie as she laid there, protecting herself the best she could, kept flashing through his mind. She could have crushed them but didn’t strike back. And yet they kept beating on her.
“Why don’t we all go home?” he asked, forcing himself to stay calm as his children sobbed into his shirt. “We’ll have some ice-cream.”
Forget a healthy meal after that. He’d be lucky if the kids ate anything at all. Maggie, trembling, nodded. They quickly went to his apartment, which was on the floor above and the opposite end of the building. There, he locked the door (as much to keep himself from leaving as to keep the others from coming in unexpectedly) and settled all three children and Maggie on the couch. For a good hour, all they did was sit there silently. He comforted them the best he could while shooting Maggie worried looks. It was clear she was on the edge of breaking down but holding it together for the children.
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