Alpha Shifter Protectors: Paranormal Romance Collection

by Keri Hudson

  “I’ll kill you,” Paul said to his cousin, “I swear it, you stay away from us or I will end you!”

  Peter said, “You’re riled up over all this, Paul, take it easy, just think for a minute. We’re family, we’re all that we have!”

  But Paul shook his head. He had something else, someone else, and she needed him. It was a matter of love and loss, a matter of life and death.

  Ruth said, “Paul, are you… are you sure?”

  With a quick glance at Lisa, her hand tightening around his, he said, “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

  “This won’t end well, son.”

  “It will, Father. Her presence is riling everyone up, I’m removing her from your presence so the rest of you can calm down. I’ll contact you at some point, once you’ve all come to your senses.”

  “Sure,” Matthew said with a nod, “we’ll sit around and wait.”

  “I mean it,” Paul said, “I’ll tear your heart out!”

  “Why not?” Matthew said. “You’ve already given yours away.”

  Paul stared down his cousin, his brother, even his father and sister. They were the only people he’d ever known, the people who’d loved and nurtured him, protected him and taught him, calmed him and healed him and helped him in every way. They were the only faces he’d ever seen besides Lisa’s, but all at once he felt as if he could live without ever seeing any of those other faces again—only Lisa’s.

  Only Lisa.

  Paul pulled her back, through the clearing and into the forest. He could sense her fear, her trepidation, and he shared it. But he had more reason because he knew more about what kind of enemies they’d just made, he knew the strength of the forces they’d be facing. They were drastically outmanned and could be overpowered, but Paul didn’t care. There and then, he cared about one thing and one thing only: her.

  Paul led her into the forest, turning to lead her hastily into the flora. He knew they could just as easily track him, more easily in their lupine form. But something told Paul they wouldn’t. What worried him was that they would follow up behind him, but that wouldn’t happen immediately. His brother and cousin would squabble, his father would deliberate, and that would give him time to get to his hideaway with Lisa. In the intervening time, Paul hoped tempers would calm and that cooler heads would prevail.

  If not, there would be a massacre.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Paul led Lisa through the thickly forested area, away from the Landry compound. He was moving fast, the doubt about what actions his family might take pushing him along with greater urgency. Lisa seemed to pick up on it, glancing around as she kept pace behind him.

  “Paul, are we… are we gonna be okay?”

  “I think this is for the best, Lisa, yes.” And he knew that was so. Even if he set aside the particular nature of their kind, a pretty young woman among four sexually starving alpha males was a recipe for disaster. And the idea of Lisa being handed over to any of the other three was something he couldn’t even think about, much less abide.

  “Are we… do you think we’re being followed?”

  The truth was that Paul was worried about that. He knew what his father, a coldly strategic man, would do; he’d let Paul have some time alone with Lisa, let the other fellas decompress, let Ruth calm them down and talk some reason into them if she could. But that didn’t mean James’ choice would be to Paul’s taste. And he couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t send Peter or Matthew to follow from way back, find out where they’d be for an ambush later on. They’d all know Paul would be on his guard, that he wasn’t going to leave Lisa alone at that point. But he wouldn’t be able to keep that up forever, or even for long. And he’d never be able to truly know where any of the three other men on the island were at any given time. Considering their strength, cunning, courage, island-toughened bodies, and senses, not to mention their hidden lupine facets, Lisa wouldn’t stand a chance against even one of them, that was a certainty—a mortal certainty.

  “Paul, I… I’m sorry about… about whatever disruption I caused. I know I got a little sassy with your father, but I didn’t mean to be disrespectful, but… the things he was saying, you have to admit—”

  “I do,” Paul said, “and you’ve got nothing to apologize for. It’s been building up for a long time, I think.” Paul stopped walking and Lisa stopped behind him. He looked around, turning his ear to hear the sounds of the forest around him. It was dark, and the pigs came out at night. They were hard to spot by moonlight, and being out at that time gave them a terrible advantage. Hearing nothing more, Paul went on walking, pulling Lisa along behind him. “Let’s stay quiet ‘til we get to my spot.”

  Lisa nodded and kept her eyes open, looking around as they made their way through the dark forest. But Paul’s senses were strong, stronger than most humans, as all shifters’ were. He moved them forward, considering the ramifications of his choice. There was no firepit at his secluded hideaway and only one small cave, where he’d slept once or twice when in need of some time away from the family. But he wasn’t sure how Lisa would adapt to the even more rugged accommodations.

  They kept walking, parrots crying out from the darkness, voices loud and shrill. They often seemed like sentries of their own sort, and they could always be a sign of danger. Paul kept walking, the sounds of a pig’s snort making the hairs stand up on the back of his head. He walked a bit faster, the crunching of their debris under their feet getting louder.

  “Ouch,” Lisa said, flinching and raising one foot. “I… I lost my shoes, my feet…” Paul scooped Lisa up, one arm under her knees, the other supporting her back. She wrapped her arms around his neck, a sweet and supple weight in his arms. “Thank you.”

  Paul nodded and kept walking, faster to get through the forest. The further he walked toward his hideaway, the louder the pigs’ snorting was getting around them. His heart started beating faster as his legs pumped harder, glancing around as they made their way through the forest. Of course, Paul knew he could shift and kill any number of the miserable beasts, but he had Lisa to protect, to worry about, and she had no defenses of her own against such animals. And it was too early to reveal the truth about his nature, about what he really was. He knew that she’d find out eventually, that seemed clear. But she’d only just arrived on the island and was already disoriented, harboring a false hope about rescue. He knew that feeling, as he’d harbored the same feeling for years. He didn’t have the heart to tell her it just wasn’t going to happen. She needed time to digest a truth like that, a truth like the secret of the Landry family which he was still keeping from her, and had to keep from her. Because if her father was sending a rescue team and they all managed to be liberated at long last from that lonesome place, her knowledge of what they really were would ensure her death, and that was something Paul was not ready to consider.

  The pigs snorted louder, nearer, but they did not strike. Paul had reason to believe that his recent victory over their raiding party had sent a new wave of fear among the population. The pigs were smart, they communicated, and their loss couldn’t have gone unnoticed. But Paul felt certain that they were watching him, chattering in that guttural language that they could see a vulnerability. They were already planning another attack, Paul felt certain. But they wouldn’t attack that night, as Paul and Lisa were already approaching the rocky outcrops which surrounded his hideaway. There was one way in, a winding passage where one rock formation failed to meet another, but there was always a danger that the pigs had made their way in. Paul had marked the area with his urine to keep the beasts away, a marking only they could smell. But as they got bolder and more violent, Paul knew it was hardly a certainty that they’d stay away for long.

  He had the same feelings about his family. They would stay away, but not for long. And Paul had never known if they’d discovered his private spot, but they just as easily could already know where he’d be. It would explain why he and Lisa weren’t followed, if indeed they were not. It co
uld be that a trailing presence, of either Peter or Matthew, had attracted the pigs; and it could also be true that more than one shifter out in the forest at night was the key to what kept them away.

  For a young man who’d mastered his island home, which was in turn his own master, Paul was suddenly facing uncertainties he couldn’t even trace, and they all seemed to be closing in on him at once. Excitement and nervousness, apprehension and anxiousness, worry and wonder swirled around in his head and his heart, dizzying.

  Paul set Lisa down, the two of them standing at the foot of the cave they would be calling home, at least for a brief period. She looked around with a nervous smile, and Paul knew why. They were alone, they were together, and she seemed to feel the same way about him that he knew he felt about her.

  But she’d only just arrived that day, and Paul couldn’t help the nervousness he felt just to be so close to that exquisite face, that perfect body. There were other considerations too, but Paul didn’t bother to review them.

  “You should go in, get some sleep.”

  Lisa looked into the dark, quiet cave, then back at Paul. She took his hand. “You too, I imagine.”

  Paul smiled, but it was too soon, there was too much to think about and worry about. He knew he couldn’t sleep, and he wasn’t ready to do anything else. So Paul glanced around and said, “I better stand guard for a while. I haven’t been here through the night in a long time, make sure nobody… and nothing… has staked a claim to it. But you go in, try to make yourself comfortable. You’ll be safe.”

  Lisa nodded, a little smile on her lips as she turned to walk into the dark cave, only a few yards deep. She sat down and curled up, Paul wanting nothing more than to lie next to her, to wrap his arms around her and pull her close, have her wrap her legs around him and pull him close. But it would have to wait, he would have to wait. Looking at that lovely form, the face of prettiness personified, Paul knew it would be worth the wait.

  But he knew his brother, his cousin, and his father were both thinking the same things. And he knew they would come to a clash, as much as he hoped against it. He tried to imagine James deciding to give them his blessing, a protective order that would keep both the other elder males away from them, allow them to share love in peace and even acceptance. But Paul knew that Peter would always resent him in that case, and that Matthew was likely to rebel against any edict that didn’t rule in his favor.

  Matthew, Paul thought, had always been difficult, mean-spirited. He hadn’t suffered more than any of the Landrys, but he’d behaved as if he had. Paul often thought it was because he was a cousin, not in the immediate family. He had red hair and freckles, not the black hair and blue eyes of most of the Landry clan. Paul didn’t share their coloring either, with long brown hair and big brown eyes. Paul knew the feeling of being an outsider, though it had never plagued him the way it seemed to plague his cousin.

  But since lovely Lisa van Kamp had dropped into their midst, the simmering tensions had already begun to boil over. Unless her father’s rescue forces really did arrive soon, Paul knew that tensions on the island would erupt, burning them all, perhaps incinerating the whole island in their terrible wake.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Paul lay against the breadfruit tree, exhausted and irritable, worried about Lisa and his family. There didn’t seem to be any way around a confrontation, despite his most fervent hopes. He turned toward the entrance of the hideaway, shocked to see his father stepping in, a grim expression on his face. He stepped slowly toward Paul, who could not seem to move to stand up and greet him. His arms and legs were too heavy to move, his back pinned against the trunk of the tree as Peter and Matthew entered behind him. The three men approached in silence, Ruth following on their heels.

  Paul knew why they were there, and he knew he had to rise to face them. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t, he could hardly speak. It was as if he were dying, as if he were dreaming.

  They stood in front of him, his entire family in a line of grim recrimination.

  “We’re here for the girl,” James said.

  Paul tried to answer, but he couldn’t muster enough breath, lips rubber and unresponsive on his face.

  Ruth stood there, her pleasant face bent in her usually sympathetic and worried expression, brows cramping toward the center of her forehead. “I’m sorry, Paul.”

  “No,” Paul pushed out, mumbled and muffled, his strength completely drained. “No.”

  Peter and Matthew shared a mean glare. “She’s going to be ours, Paul!”

  Matthew chuckled. “And we’re gonna feed you to the whales, you useless whelp!”

  James looked at the others, his face in a grim expression as he bent down and reached out, his strong hands wrapping around Paul’s neck. “I’m sorry, son, but it has to be this way.”

  But Paul could only answer, “Why? Why?”

  “The island wants it that way.”

  “The island,” Ruth repeated, “it’s all because of the island.”

  “It was always because of the island,” Peter said, “and always will be.”

  “She’s our home,” Matthew said, “she feeds and protects us. So we must serve her, populate her…”

  “It’s what she wants,” Peter added, “it’s what she demands.”

  “The island,” Ruth repeated.

  “The island,” they all chanted, “the island, the island…”

  Paul just shook his head as his father squeezed tighter, pressure building up in his head, his neck, arms unable to reach up and repel him, unable to provide any struggle at all. His heart beat faster, blood racing panicked in his veins, breath choked off and gurgling.

  “The island, the island, the island…”

  Please, he thought, his father’s face the last thing he’d see. Please!

  He shook his head, determination and discipline remaining his guiding principles, even to the end of his own life.

  “The island… the island…”

  Paul woke with a start, eyes shooting open to see the hideaway, calm and quiet. No other shifters, no other animals at all around them.

  Just a dream, Paul was relieved to tell himself, thank God, just a dream.

  The sun was coming up over the island. Paul quickly turned to see Lisa still sleeping safely in the cave. He shook off his sleepiness and stretched, eyes slowly refocusing. He almost thought that the day before had been a dream, that he hadn’t really discovered that gorgeous castaway on the south beach, didn’t have a falling out with his family. But a quick review of his memory told him it was true, that it had happened, and that he had a lot to deal with all at once.

  Lisa stirred, eyes flickering open as she gently stirred. She moaned just a little, sniffling and clearing her throat and looking around. Her eyes popped open with a start, a little gasp in her lithe throat. Paul could tell she woke as he had, unsure of what had happened or just where she was. But memory returned to her as it had to him as she clearly relived the frightening events of the two days before.

  After a flash of confusion and fear, she looked at Paul and her fear seemed to abate, but some of it lingered and that was perfectly natural as far as Paul could tell.

  “Good morning,” he said in a warm and gentle tone.

  Lisa nodded and smiled, twitching as she slowly sat up. She was stiff from sleeping on the hard ground, that was obvious, and Paul was already keen to go back to rubbing her neck, not to mention other parts of that lovely, scantily-clad body.

  “Are you hungry?” She nodded and yawned and stretched out her lovely arms, milky skin just a little dirty on the outside.

  “I don’t suppose you have any coffee?” Paul had never heard the word, and that was apparently clear. “Oh, you were born here,” Lisa said, “you’ve never had coffee.”

  Paul shook his head. “It’s a food of some kind?”

  She broke a little chuckle. “Drink, actually.”

  “You’re thirsty?”

  She nodded, stretching again. “Hungry too,
tell you the truth.”

  “Always do,” Paul said, standing up. He reached out with both hands and Lisa took them, Paul gently but firmly pulling her up. She brushed herself off and he led her out of the cave and to the pond in the middle of his secluded hideaway.

  The breadfruit was ripe on the tree, mild and satisfying, coconut milk and meat making a hearty and satisfying breakfast.

  “I’ll kill us a hog,” Paul said, “we can make a smoker right here, should have a firepit too, make it a proper home.” Lisa looked around and Paul could see the disappointment in her eyes battling with the sense of wonder. Paul added, “Until your father’s rescue forces arrive, I mean.”

  Lisa’s pout was pretty but troubling. “You’re teasing me.”

  “No, Lisa, no, I… look, we’ve been here all my life. A ship has never come near, not once.”

  “Because you never had my father out there looking for me!” Lisa’s voice cracked with a touch of her sad desperation. “He’s incredibly wealthy, and he’s got powerful friends, people who owe him favors, people in the military! He’ll put every bit of that behind finding me, I know it. You’ll see, you’ll see!”

  Paul smiled. “Lisa, that’s… that’s great news, really. Don’t you think I want to get off this island? Don’t you think we all do? Of course we do! If your father comes in with some big boat, that… that would be a dream come true! So it’s not that I don’t want that to happen, that anybody in my family doesn’t want that to happen. I just… we… we’ve all lived through years of disappointment.”

  “I understand that,” Lisa said, “and I don’t mean to be… y’know, bratty about it; my father this, my father that, but… he would never just forget about me, I know it! I know it! And he’ll bring you all back, help you out the way you’ve helped me. He’s a man who knows how to return a favor, believe me.”

  “Of course he is.”

  “And there’s nothing he loves more than his family, and I’m practically the only one left! My mother died years ago, my father never remarried. He’s married to his work, buying and selling and wheeling and dealing. I’m… I’m all he has… outside of all that.”