Shifter Babies of America Box Set 1

by Becca Fanning

  Ava sucked in a few breaths, meeting his eyes again. “I know it’s not the same,” she croaked. “My mom died in an accident, but your brother—”

  “Hey,” Candor interrupted, grabbing her chin gently. “It’s okay. You and I… Neither of us have it better or worse than the other. You’re allowed to hurt, you know.”

  Ava began crying in earnest then, big wet sobs choking out of her. Candor wrapped his arms around her, tucking her head under his chin. He rocked them slowly back and forth. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “Just let it all out. Let it all go.”

  Everything faded into the background. The rumble of the car engine, the fight against Trent, the hunt for the rogue. Candor put all of it aside so he could just sit and hold this woman while she cried. He wasn’t sure he would be ready when it came time to let go.

  Ava rolled over in the big, warm bed, crushing the comforter against her chest. She could hear faint birdsong that hinted at morning, but the room was lusciously dark and warm, coaxing her to drift back to sleep. Mom had probably put the coffee on to brew and was about to yell up the stairs for her to come down and eat breakfast.

  Then Ava registered the faint smells of aspen and pine and knew she wasn’t in her apartment in California. She wasn’t in her room at the Randolph house, either.

  Ava opened her eyes and looked around. The room Candor had shown her into last night was cozy and well furnished. Bright sunlight glowed through the dark curtains over the window.

  She sat up. She still wore yesterday’s clothes. That included Candor’s leather jacket. She flushed at the memory of their conversation in his truck and the rawness that had passed between them.

  A knock sounded on the door, making her jump. Ava tossed the covers off and padded to the door. When she opened it, she found a tall blonde woman with rugged tan skin standing outside. Her golden eyes were a shade darker than Candor’s, but they glowed fiercely.

  The woman gave a tight smile and held out a stack of folded clothes. “These are for you,” she said.

  “Um… Thank you.” Ava accepted the clothes. She tried smiling. “I’m Ava by the way.”

  “Yes,” the woman said. “Candor told me about you.”

  The thought of Candor talking about her to another woman made uneasiness squirm in Ava’s gut. “Oh, okay. And you are…?”

  “Call me Lani,” the woman said. It was more of a barked order than an introduction. Lani turned and strode down the hallway toward the stairs without another word.

  Ava stood clutching the clothes for a moment, feeling wholly out of place. She was standing in the home of a family of shifters, after all. She was the stranger here. A stranger who was taking up time and space and energy. She thought of what Candor had said last night…

  That shifter that you and Lynn ran into today… that was the cougar who murdered my brother.

  For the first time, she let everything sink in. Candor gave up hunting the rogue shifter so he could help me and Lynn. He risked being shot by Trent. He brought me to his house so I wouldn’t freeze to death in the woods. He let me cry like an imbecile in his truck while I whined about how hard my life is.

  With each thought her guilt grew heavier. Candor was fighting a war on two fronts. And what was she doing? Adding to his burden. Making things more complicated for him. How had she not seen before how troublesome she was for him?

  She should never have accepted his invitation. Now that she was here, she had nowhere else to go except back to the Randolph house, and she couldn’t stomach sucking up to Trent right now. No, she would have to stay. But she would be invisible. She would not look at Candor or give him any reason to look at her.

  No matter how close she’d felt to him when he’d pulled her into his chest and told her everything was okay. No matter how safe she’d felt, how at home.

  Ava shook away the depressing thoughts and quickly dressed. Lani had brought her a fresh pair of jeans and a black and blue flannel. She pulled on her shoes, grabbed her phone from the nightstand, and headed out the door and down the stairs.

  The house was spacious and warm like the Randolphs’, but it felt older. Ava wondered how long it had been home to cougar shifters.

  “Morning.” The voice was deep and unmistakable.

  Ava turned. “Good morning,” she said to Candor. Thankfully her voice was even.

  He’d been standing in the large, warm-toned den, but now he moved toward her. “Did you sleep alright?” he asked, eyes hunting over her face like he expected to see more of the vulnerability from last night. His jaw bore a haze of dull blond stubble.

  Ava kept her smile carefully blank. “I did, thank you. And you?”

  Candor’s steps hesitated. His brow twitched into a frown. He took a breath, but right then Lani appeared in the entrance to the kitchen. “Breakfast is ready,” she said tersely. She gave Ava a dull look, then disappeared back the way she had come.

  Ava followed her, not looking back at Candor as she did.

  A big, warm hand took hold of hers. Candor pulled her back around to face him. “What’s wrong?” he asked in a low voice. His sharp features were softened by concern.

  Ava frowned, praying her eyes didn’t betray her. “Nothing’s wrong.”

  Candor’s look became skeptical. “It’s not a good idea to lie to a guy who can smell fear.”

  Ava’s eyes stretched wide. “Can you actually do that?”

  He shrugged. “More or less. It doesn’t take a cougar’s nose to tell that something’s bothering you.”

  Ava’s hands slid unconsciously into her back pockets. “Look, Candor, you don’t have to worry about me. It was good of you to take me in. Now, go worry about your own problems for a change, will you?” She tried her best to speak gently. “You have a rogue shifter to hunt down.”

  Candor gazed at her with stormy golden eyes. The muscles in his jaw stood out rigidly. He glanced over her shoulder in the direction Lani had gone, then grasped her wrist and pulled her back toward the stairs.

  “Candor—” Ava began, but his long strides left little time to protest. Grudgingly, she let him pull her up the stairs and into a small bedroom at the end of a long hallway.

  He shut the door behind her, dropped her hand, and faced her with a thunderous look. “Ava.”

  “Yes, Candor?” She kept her spine straight, but no matter how much she stretched upward she felt miniscule compared to his athletic frame. She was also trying not to focus on the fact that they were alone in a bedroom together.

  “Tell me what’s wrong,” Candor said bluntly.

  Ava pressed her lips together. “I told you. It’s nothing.”

  He stepped close, looming over her. “And I told you there’s no use in lying to me.”

  Ava swallowed. She could have tipped forward and tucked her head under his chin, he was so close. “Don’t you have more important things to do right now?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t trust me.”

  She snorted indignantly. “I barely know you, and you barely know me.”

  His next words were careful. “But something happened between us last night in the truck. You can’t deny that.”

  He was herding her into a corner. Panicked, she blurted the first wild thought that sprang to mind. “What, you think that because I cried in your arms and told you about my dead mother that we have some unbreakable bond now?” Even as she said the dismissive words, heat rose up in her. In her face, in her chest, deep in her belly. It throbbed in time to her speeding heart, like her body was trying to tell her something her brain hadn’t figured out yet.

  The frustrated wrinkles in Candor’s face suddenly smoothed out. He chuckled like he’d just figured out the winning move in a chess game. “Something like that.”

  Ava’s blush burned hotter. She couldn’t let it go on like this. “Candor, please. You shouldn’t waste your time on this.”

  Candor let out a whoosh of angry breath. “And you shouldn’t run away from this.”

  “Fro
m what?” she challenged.

  She saw the moment Candor snapped. It was like watching a roaring river bust a dam apart. In an instant his hands were wound around her waist and his mouth was molded against hers. Her spine curled backward as he drew her against his chest. The heat that had been building up in her surged up toward her mouth like she wanted to pour herself out to him. She groaned, pressing her hands against his muscled chest. She’d been right ‒ through his shirt, his skin was hot to the touch.

  Ava’s mind snapped into focus. What was she doing? This was the opposite of what she had resolved to do. She twisted her mouth away from his. They both came away gasping.

  Candor frowned down at her, confused. “Ava…”

  “You can’t let this distract you,” Ava panted. She tried to pry herself out of his arms, but his grip was rock hard.

  “What are you talking about?” Candor asked, pushing a strand of hair away from her face.

  “You’ve already given up too much time and energy for me. I can’t let you do that anymore, not with everything that’s going on.” She dipped her chin down, not wanting to meet his intense gaze.

  His fingers gripped her chin and tilted her face back until their eyes met. The dark determination in Candor’s gaze made her shiver. “Don’t think for one second,” he rumbled, “that you are any less important than anything that’s going on out there. Do you hear me, Ava?”

  A thick lump swelled in Ava’s throat. It hurt to talk around, but she said, “Why? What makes you so sure that I’m worth making sacrifices for?”

  “I knew,” he said, “from the moment I first laid eyes on you that you would be worth it.” A shallow grin appeared on his face. “I kind of have an instinct for these things.”

  She raised her eyebrows skeptically. “That’s it? Pure animal instinct?”

  The grin grew. He angled his head like he was about to go in for another kiss. “That, and the fact that you want me.”

  Ava’s blush had died down some, but now it flamed back up. “Am I that obvious?”

  “Not your fault,” he purred, sliding one hand up between her shoulder blades. “Those lovely lips of yours can lie, but your scent can’t.”

  What little resistance Ava had left was crumbling rapidly. Candor’s broad hands explored her back, shoulders, and hips, coaxing her further against his molten chest. Her breath seemed to come out hotter now, like a furnace had been lit deep within her.

  Candor’s mouth trailed down her jawline until his breath gushed in her ear. His stubble prickled over her soft cheek. “Can I kiss you now?” he asked in a rumbling tone. “Or do you have more useless excuses we need to deal with?”

  For a single moment Ava was split between what she thought she needed to do and what she wanted. She did want him. That was the crux of the matter.

  Ava’s lip curled up in the most animal movement she’d ever made. She reached out with her teeth and nipped at Candor’s ear lobe.

  Candor growled so deep in his chest Ava felt it vibrate in her bones. He slid his hands down the curves of her figure, hooked them behind her thighs, and hefted her up until he was supporting her on his hips. Then his mouth came for hers. His lips probed gently at first. Then his tongue made an entrance, parting her lips and tangling with her own tongue. Ava moaned as his demanding presence explored her. Her arms reached up and twined around his neck as he walked them over to the bed and laid her down on it, never breaking their kiss. Ava crossed her ankles behind his hips and drew him down onto her.

  “More,” she heard herself croak into his lips. She felt him smile against her mouth as his hands dipped under her flannel and slid northward, searing her skin as they went.

  “You’re the boss,” he murmured, moving to capture her lips once more.

  Ava’s phone buzzed. She jumped, eyes snapping open. It kept buzzing.

  Candor pulled back, his expression equal parts surprise and annoyance. Before Ava could stop him, he slid his hand into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. He punched the answer button and held it to his ear. “This had better be good, Trent.”

  Ava choked. Of all people who had to call while things were getting heated between her and Candor, it had to be Trent?

  She heard Trent’s voice on the other end of the line. As he spoke, Candor’s look faded from irked to stormy. “What?” he said.

  “What is it?” Ava mouthed.

  Candor met her gaze with a look that made her heart freeze. “It’s Lynn,” he said. “She’s missing.”

  Chapter 16

  Candor thundered down the stairs behind Ava. For once, it was him struggling to keep up with her instead of the other way around. “Ava,” he called after her, but she didn’t seem to hear. The scent of her fear hung tangy in the air around him, driving him wild. “Ava!”

  She leapt off the stairs and made for the entryway. The front door banged open and shut, and then they were out in front of the house. She headed straight for Candor’s truck.

  Candor jogged to catch up to her. He took hold of her hand but didn’t try to pull her to a stop. “Hey, where do you think you’re going?”

  Panicked tears trembled in her eyes. “To look for Lynn,” she said in a trembling voice. She reached the truck and moved to yank the door open. It was locked. She whirled around to face him. “The keys. Now.”

  Candor took her by the shoulders. “Hey, hey,” he said. “Calm down. It won’t do any good to run around wild. Maybe she just wandered away from the backyard or something.”

  Ava shook her head emphatically. “No, no, you don’t get it. That’s exactly what I’m worried about. Lynn, she…” Ava pressed her hands against her mouth.

  Candor frowned, lowering himself so he could look straight into her eyes. “She what?”

  Ava inhaled slowly, letting her hands fall. “Yesterday when you saved us from the rogue shifter? I had run into her only a few minutes ago.” She swallowed hard. “She said she was looking for shifters.”

  Candor’s frown deepened. “Looking for… What do you mean? That doesn’t make any sense.”

  Ava threw her hands up. “I don’t know. Considering her parentage, you wouldn’t think she’d make shifter watching her hobby, but…” Her eyes trembled when they met Candor’s. “And the worst part is that I encouraged her when she told me. I told her she was brave for thinking what she thinks. And now she might be out in the woods all alone looking for shifters, and with that rogue still running loose—”

  Candor had heard enough. “Stop it,” he said. He hated to speak sharply to her right now, but time was running through their fingers. “Snap out of it. None of this is your fault, do you understand me?”

  A tear slipped down Ava’s face, but she steeled her features and nodded.

  “We’re going to get in that truck, I’m going to make some calls, and we’re going to find Lynn, okay?”

  Ava blotted her tears away, her breathing more even now. “Okay.”

  “Now, do you have any idea where she might have gone?” He took her hand as they walked back toward the house to get the keys.

  Lani was leaning in the front doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. She hadn’t liked the idea of letting a human stay at the house and it reflected in her slouching posture. She straightened up when she saw the look in Candor’s eyes.

  “She said something about a grove,” Ava said. “A grove and a hill. Is there a place like that in the territory?”

  The image of the place sprang immediately to Candor’s mind. “We have to hurry,” he said, pulling her along faster.

  “What’s going on?” Lani asked when they reached the front porch.

  “Get Luke and the rest of the cousins,” Candor ordered. “This time we hunt in earnest.”

  Lani’s eyes dilated. “You found the rogue? Where?”

  Candor gave her a grim look. “He’s holding a hostage at your mate’s grave.” He glanced back at Ava, giving her hand a squeeze. “Pray to God she stays a hostage.”

  The forest
blurred past as the truck sped down the uneven road. Several times Ava thought the vehicle would skid off the path or flip over when it hit a bump, but Candor handled the truck like it was a part of him.

  Candor reached behind Ava’s seat and brought out an aerosol can. “Spray some of this all over yourself,” he said.

  “What is it?” Ava asked, taking the can.

  “Scent suppressant. The bastard will know we’re coming, but he won’t be able to tell how many of us there are, or who we are.”

  Ava began dispensing the stuff over herself like mosquito spray. “Won’t that make him panic? If he thinks there are a lot of you coming for him, he might do something to Lynn.”

  Candor nodded. “The plan is for me to go in first, try and catch him by surprise. The others will wait for my signal.”

  She stared at him. “What if there’s more than one rogue?”

  He glanced at her, then back at the road. “I’m willing to take that risk.”

  She twisted in her seat to face him more fully. “You’re kidding, right? Are you really going to put this territory through another change of ownership just because you want to go it alone?”

  Candor flinched. Part of her was ashamed for playing that card, but she couldn’t let him run off and get himself killed right when she’d begun accepting that she wanted to be with him. They’d had so little time together as it was.

  “Even if there are multiple rogues,” Candor argued, eyes on the road, “I’m strong enough to hold them off and keep Lynn safe until Lani and the others arrive.”

  The truck screeched to a halt suddenly. They were in the middle of the woods with no grove or hill in sight.

  “What are you doing?” Ava asked, confused.

  “Continuing on foot,” he answered. “Or, on paw rather.”

  “I can’t keep up with you if you’re a cougar,” Ava objected.

  “I know,” Candor said, peeling off his jacket. “You’re going to stay in the truck.”