Alpha Shifter Protectors: Paranormal Romance Collection

by Keri Hudson

  Paul nodded, glancing out beyond the mountainous outcrops around them to the oceans beyond and then whatever lay beyond that. “I understand,” was all he could say, and it was all that needed to be said. He turned back to face her, and the fear seemed to have faded from her pretty face. She looked at Paul in a way that he’d only imagined any woman would look at him, as if he were something special and wondrous. Her eyes combed his nearly naked body, her pretty head tilting and lips pouting to take in his face. She reached out, her gentle fingers touching his face, glancing against his cheek, his chin.

  She asked, “Who… who are you?”

  “Oh,” he said with an uncomfortable chuckle, “I’m Paul, Paul Landry.”

  Lisa smiled and extended her hand for Paul to shake, which he did with easy eagerness. He wanted her to feel good in his presence, to smile, to share more of who she was and what she was doing on his island, in his life.

  “Hi, Paul,” she said and nothing more. She looked around, smacking her plump, pretty lips. “I’m thirsty.”

  Paul snapped quickly into action. “Oh, right, sorry! Gimme three minutes.” Paul turned to the big coconut tree standing not far off. With a running jump, Paul mounted the tall, narrow tree trunk and started to climb. He’d done it thousands of times over the years, and it was a skill he had mastered. His hands wrapped around the trunk, bare feet flat against it with legs bent. It was an easy matter to climb straight up the side of the tree. But he’d never done the deed in such company, or any company other than his older brother’s, who taught him the tricks of survival. Paul could feel the girl’s eyes upon him as he climbed, and he knew his leather skirt didn’t provide any cover from below. But there was no time to be shy and no reason to be. His body was muscular, his manhood wasted on that isolated island. Paul tried not to think about it, or about her, lest an embarrassing expression of his excitement make the moment awkward.

  Reaching the top of the tree, Paul grabbed a coconut and gave it a good hard twist to the right, cracking it from the stem. He turned to see Lisa watching him, eyes wide and mouth open. He jutted his head and she stepped out of the way before he tossed the coconut down to the forest floor. It landed with a thump and a bounce, and Paul sent two more down before climbing effortlessly down the trunk.

  Paul jumped down the last few feet, picked up one of the coconuts, and walked over to a nearby boulder, where the two sat down, facing each other. He peeled back the husk and tossed it aside, revealing the hard shell around the meat and milk. He lined up the coconut with the face down and smacked it down hard on the rock. The first strike destroyed the integrity of the nut, and a second strike created the crack down the center he needed. Turning the big coconut and prying his fingers in, Paul pulled one half from the other and presented Lisa with a half-shell filled with pure white coconut milk.

  “I… I didn’t mean to put you to so much trouble,” she said, taking the shell. “Thank you.” She raised the half-shell to her plump, pretty lips, those sweet eyes dipping as she took a sip. She sighed as she swallowed, a drop of milk spilling over the corner of her mouth to drip down her chin. She stopped, tipping the shell back and wiping her chin. “Excuse me.”

  Paul could only shake his head. He was struck dumb by her beauty, by the fact that she was there at all. But her stunning face, her milky skin smeared with sand, her breasts and hip and legs, were all there right before him as if he were dreaming, as if she were a hallucination, a trick of the light or the heat or even of that cruel island itself, taunting him with visions of what he knew he could never have.

  She huffed up an awkward giggle, offering him the half-shell. “I’m sorry, how rude of me.”

  Paul smiled and shook his head. “I’m fine.”

  Lisa nodded and drank down the rest of the coconut milk, her eyes dipping shut in relief and pleasure. But she winced in pain, reaching back behind her neck.

  “Are you all right?”

  She nodded, rolling her head and kneading her shoulder. “I’m lucky I didn’t break my neck.”

  Paul asked, “May I?” Lisa seemed to take a moment to interpret the question, looking at him and then at her own shoulder. She smiled and nodded and Paul shuffled over to a position behind her. He set his hands on her body, his hands almost trembling as his fingers found her supple skin, muscles tight between her neck and shoulders. He pressed in, her graceful curves surprisingly strong. She sighed, her head rolling, her tangled blonde hair falling over his hands as he rubbed those fatigued muscles. Her scent, her nearness, the feel of her body in his hands—it was an intoxicating cocktail the likes of which he’d never known. Paul’s heart beat faster as she moaned just a bit, head lolling back to reveal her gorgeous face, eyes closed and pretty mouth smiling just a bit.

  “That feels…” She didn’t seem able to say anymore, but nothing more needed to be said and she seemed to know it. Paul kept rubbing, careful not to exert too much pressure. But he delighted in exploring the fibers of her upper back and shoulders and neck, unable to resist peering over her creamy shoulder to her round, proud breasts, barely covered by her soaked and ravaged dress.

  Paul’s mind flashed with images of their lovemaking, her eyes dipping shut and her lips pouting beneath him, hips grinding and thighs flashing, the feel of her sweet pressure around him, squeezing tight and milking him of all the years of loneliness and frustration. He could already imagine the taste of her flesh, the sensation of her ecstasy, the sounds of her manic glee at their copulation.

  Paul’s body reacted to his mind’s inspiration and Lisa’s miraculous nearness, his erection threatening to spoil the glory of the moment. Paul cleared his throat and let go, shuffling back a bit as Lisa turned.

  “Is everything okay?”

  Paul nodded, glancing around. Other things were occurring to Paul, terrible things, and he was instantly confused about what to do. He’d been so taken with the amazing appearance of this angelic young woman, the ramifications were only just striking him, and they weren’t good.

  What will my brother and cousin make of her, or my father? They’ll want her for themselves, they’ll take her away from me!

  But Paul didn’t dare say it. Instead, he glanced around the little area he called his own, sheltered by rock formations, replete with fresh water, food, seclusion. But the pigs could get in, and they could tear her apart if left alone and unguarded. In any case, Paul knew that they’d find out about her eventually, and if he hid her away for a time, that might antagonize them even more. He had no choice, but he had to be careful.

  Lisa asked, “Paul?”

  “No, I… I’m not alone here, Lisa, my family…”

  “Oh,” she said, dipping her head as if slightly disappointed. “Did you… I mean, how did you…?”

  “Shipwreck, like you, before I was even born.” Lisa looked around, seeming to imagine what she had waiting for her in his family, in her new home. Paul took her hand, and Lisa seemed comfortable with that, ready to embrace him. “I’ll take care of you now,” he said with gentle strength, squeezing her hand just a bit, “I promise.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Paul tried to disguise his nervousness as he led Lisa through the forest and into the clearing that was the center of his family’s compound. The little mountain rose up in front of them, caves leading into the catacombs that were their naturally formed mansion.

  Ruth was working in the clearing with Peter, collecting the smoked hog meat to hang from ropes strung along the ceiling inside one of the caves for storage. They stored as little food as possible, most of it prone to rot. But smoked meat was another matter, and it had to be kept away from the birds and bugs.

  Ruth and Peter turned as Paul approached with Lisa, wearing the same stunned expressions Paul knew he must have been wearing when he first came upon her. They approached slowly, looking at her as if she were some kind of hallucination.

  Paul said, “Ruth, Peter, this Lisa van Kamp, she… she washed up from a shipwreck, on the south beach. Lisa, Ruth and
Peter Landry, my brother and sister.”

  They looked at him as if he were speaking another language, then at Lisa. Ruth extended her hand and Lisa took it. “Hi, honey, are… are you okay?”

  Lisa smiled and nodded. “I’m… I’m fine, thanks.”

  Lisa looked down at one of the strips of dried meat in her hands, clearly having forgotten about her chores entirely in light of their stunning new arrival. She offered Lisa a strip. “Hungry?”

  Lisa nodded and took the meat, biting into it immediately before saying, “Thank you.” She chewed a bit, eyes rolling in her pretty head. “So good…”

  Peter said, “Shipwreck? Nobody else made it?”

  Paul asked him, “Do you see anybody else here?”

  Lisa seemed to note the tension between them and smiled, as if to ease the tension. “I… I don’t really remember how it all happened… so sad, the crew…”

  Paul asked, “Was your father on the yacht?”

  Lisa shook her head. “He sent me to Hawaii, on a holiday…”

  Peter repeated, “On holiday? Your father?”

  “Harold van Kamp,” Lisa explained. “Made his fortune in metals; silver mostly, platinum…”

  Peter looked at Paul, and Paul had a good idea of what his older brother was thinking. He didn’t like it.

  “What on earth?” Paul turned at the instantly recognizable voice, a booming baritone behind them. He and Lisa turned to see James and Matthew enter from one of the caves, their faces every bit as stunned as Peter or Ruth’s.

  Paul said, “Lisa van Kamp, this is my father, James Landry, and our cousin, Matthew Bale.”

  The two men looked pretty Lisa over just as Paul feared they would. Peter was already doing the same thing, and Ruth seemed as keenly aware of the fact as Paul was.

  Matthew was almost drooling at the prospects, and James’ older face reflected his own concerns. Matthew said, “You… you’re alone, then?”

  “No,” Paul said with a deliberately stern tone, his hand once again taking Lisa’s and hers taking his. “She’s not.”

  Matthew only stared Paul down, chest out and shoulders back in an angry posture. But James was quick to intervene, raising his hands between the two cousins to keep them separated. He said, “Ruth, why don’t you take our young friend here in and get her cleaned up, something clean to wear.”

  “Of course, Father,” Ruth said, scurrying in to take Lisa’s hand and pull her from the group of men and into one of the caves.

  James looked at Paul and the others, sternness in his expression and in his tone. “This is something we need to discuss.”

  “No,” Paul said.

  “Yes,” Peter said with even more determination.

  Matthew shook his head. “Discuss this, talk about that… enough!”

  “This is what I’m talking about,” James said. “She’s been in our midst for ten minutes, and you’re already growling at one another. We have to be cautious with this, with her, and with each other. Now, we’re going to talk about this like men, like gentlemen, like a family.”

  Paul looked at his brother’s face, at his cousin’s, even at his father’s. He had little hope that things wouldn’t go horribly wrong. But events were already in motion; there was no going back for any of them. Things on the island and with the Landry family had changed forever.

  They turned to see Ruth and Lisa stepping out of the cave with several fresh leathers, Ruth leading Lisa by the hand. Lisa glanced at Paul and offered him a little smile, no need to explain where they were going. There was a small freshwater pond nearby, fed by an underground spring, the same one which fed the pond in Paul’s sheltered hideaway. Ruth was taking Lisa to the pond where the family often bathed, where she’d clean her up and get her out of those tattered clothes with some measure of modesty and privacy. Ruth seemed to know the men had immediate business to discuss, and what that business was.

  James led Paul and the others to the firepit and they all sat down.

  “Look,” Paul said, “I know what you’re thinking. But I… I found her, we’ve already established a bond.”

  Matthew said, “I’ll show her how to establish a bond, all right.”

  Peter said, “It doesn’t matter who found her. It’s a matter of seniority. I’m the eldest son, it only stands to reason.”

  “It doesn’t stand to any reason at all,” Paul was quick to say. “She’s a person. I say we let her make her own choice.”

  “Then she’d choose you,” Matthew said, “obviously. That’s not fair.”

  “Stop it,” James said, “this is what we’re here to talk about! Obviously, this is a… a significant development for us, and it has to be handled correctly.”

  “She has to be handled correctly,” Matthew said with a snicker.

  “Enough,” James warned his nephew. “This girl, this…” James seemed to be thinking it through even as he spoke. “Okay, for right now, nobody… and I mean nobody lays a paw on the girl.”

  Paul’s years of frustration welled up in him, and he knew his brother and cousin were feeling the same way. “Father, we… we’ve already established a—”

  “Nobody,” James repeated in an even more threatening tone, “not a paw.” A long silence passed among the men. “We welcome her as part of our family, we make her comfortable. She’ll have a tough time, she’ll want to get off the island the same way we did. We have to be gentle with her, and with each other. A girl like this is a temptation, but I won’t have her tearing this family apart, is that understood?”

  “I could tear her apart,” Matthew said. James glared at Matthew, enough to quiet him. But Paul already knew it wouldn’t be enough to quell the young man’s rapacious instincts. And Peter was another concern, not to mention James himself. He was a stern patriarch, not given to tolerance, and he was still a vital man with desires for satisfaction and procreation. But he was a wise leader, and he knew he had his men to consider, future generations to take into account. There would be a lot of things to reflect on, and the great man would give them all equal due. Then he’d make his choice, and Paul shuddered at what that choice might be.

  “But in the meantime,” James went on, a begrudging tone in his voice, “Paul, you go down and make sure your sister and our new… guest are safe at the pond. They need a sentry.”

  “Sure thing, Father,” Paul was glad to say, ignoring the glares he was getting from his brother and cousin. Even as he stepped away, he could hear them muttering their bitter protests.

  “Why him?”

  “Just leave it for now,” James said to his eldest son. “Trust me.” Those last words sent a chill up Paul’s spine, but he was still glad to be sent on that most pleasant chore, and he was eager to begin it.

  Paul walked the path from the compound to the bathing pond. It was only a minute or two away at the end of a winding pathway, and Paul was already excited to think about it. He walked up through the flora to the pond, Lisa seeing him and turning with a startled gasp. She was naked in the pond, turning to hide her breasts. Paul sensed it was more from modesty than offense, especially by the way Lisa turned and looked at Paul over her naked, glistening shoulder.

  “I’m sorry,” Paul said, glancing behind and then turning to explain, “my father thought you should have a sentry.”

  Ruth asked, “Against who?”

  “The pigs, I suppose.”

  “Pigs?”

  “Wild hogs on the island,” Paul said.

  Ruth added to Lisa, “We keep them well in hand.”

  Lisa glanced at Ruth and then back at Paul. “But… you haven’t got a weapon.”

  Paul looked at Ruth, both glancing back at Lisa. There was still the secret of their kind that she didn’t know. Neither Paul nor anyone in their family had any need for weapons. Nature had given them all the weaponry they’d need in long claws, powerful jaws, sharp fangs, killer instincts. And there was nothing on that island other than the hogs which could threaten any of them.

  It
only struck Paul then that he’d have to tell Lisa the truth, and that it would certainly drive her from him, from all of them. Her stark terror at being trapped on that island, not only with four virile men, but men of their particular sort, could set the girl to suicide.

  Paul thought fast. “They fear the males among us, that’s all. We hunt them, after all.”

  Lisa seemed to give it some thought, shrugging one pretty shoulder and tilting her head. Ruth looked Paul up and down. “It’s just as well that you’re here, but… don’t you think the girl could use some privacy?”

  “Of course,” Paul said, “I… I’ll turn my back.” And Paul did, though he couldn’t help but hear their conversation.

  “I… I still don’t know what to make of it all,” Lisa said to Ruth. “I mean, I’m lucky to be alive, and I’m grateful for your family’s kindness, but… I mean, how long have you been here?”

  “Twenty-seven years,” Ruth answered.

  “Twenty—you mean, I’m basically stuck here… forever?” Without waiting for an answer, Lisa went on, “I… no offense, but I can’t just… just stay here… for the rest of my life!”

  “We take care of each other,” Ruth said, “we get along just fine.”

  “No, I mean… that’s… I…” Poor Lisa was clearly struggling with her thoughts and emotions. Paul only wanted to hold her at that moment, comfort and reassure her, bring her the kind of peace of mind he knew was impossible for her. He understood her fear, her isolation, but he’d grown up on that island his whole life. He’d never known the pleasures that she’d enjoyed and had wrenched from her. He’d never lost things she was now missing, becoming frantic to get back to.

  She asked Ruth, “Have you ever, y’know, built a boat or a raft or anything?”

  “We have, but the breakers are too treacherous. Our strongest rafts were crashed against the rocks. You’re lucky to have been beached where you were.”