Ruling Alphas: Shifter Romance Collection

by Lola Gabriel

  Finally, she saw his car pulling up outside of her gate and she grabbed her coat and threw it on. She collected her handbag and her keys and stepped outside, locking the door behind her. She pushed her keys into her handbag and walked down to Jagger’s car, faking a smile. She didn’t want to talk about this in the street or in the car—she wanted them to be in Jagger’s apartment, comfortable and not rushing through the conversation—so she would have to act like everything was okay until they got to Jagger’s place.

  “You’re eager,” Jagger grinned as she got into the car beside him.

  “Of course I am,” Raven said with a soft laugh. “Aren’t I always eager to see you?”

  “I hope so,” Jagger laughed as he started the car engine and pulled away from the curb, joining the traffic. “But that doesn’t usually stop you from being late to come out of the house.”

  Raven laughed but it sounded halfhearted even to her ears and Jagger glanced at her with a frown of concern.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s just…never mind, okay? We’ll talk about it when we get to your place.”

  “It sounds ominous,” Jagger said with another grin.

  The grin faded quickly when Raven nodded her head grimly instead of laughing and telling Jagger not to be so melodramatic like he had clearly been expecting her to do.

  “Can’t we talk about it now?” he asked.

  “We’re almost at your place now. I’d really rather not talk about it until we’re inside,” Raven said.

  “Okay,” Jagger agreed.

  He fell silent, his eyes on the road, and Raven noticed that he had sped up the car. She wished she had been able to bite her tongue until they got to his place, but she should have known it would never have worked. He knew her far too well to not realize when something was wrong with her.

  They pulled up outside of Jagger’s building and got out of the car. They crossed the lobby and got into the elevator and rode up to the seventeenth floor where Jagger’s apartment was. The first time Raven had come to Jagger’s place, she had been shocked to see that a fairly normal, if pretty large, apartment was his home. She had been expecting the warlock prince to live somewhere much fancier. She remembered how Jagger had laughed when she had told him as much, telling her he didn’t need forty bedrooms to clean for no reason.

  Jagger opened his apartment door and stepped back to let Raven enter. She stepped inside, crossed the open plan space, and sat down on a pale yellow couch. Jagger pushed the door shut and then he crossed the floor too and sat down beside Raven.

  “Okay. Spill it,” he said as he sat down.

  Raven knew she had to tell him. She had no other real choice, but she was suddenly nervous. She looked down into her lap and began twiddling a strand of her long black hair in her fingers. She took a deep breath and forced herself to look up at Jagger.

  “I’m pregnant, Jagger,” she said finally.

  Jagger’s face fell and he stood up and pointed to the door.

  “Get out,” he said.

  “What? No, please,” Raven said. “Look, I know this wasn’t meant to be forever, Jagger, and I understand why you’re pissed off, but we need to talk about this.”

  “What is there to talk about?” Jagger said. “Yes, I know it wasn’t meant to be forever, but that doesn’t excuse what you’ve done, Raven. You cheated on me and I have nothing to say to you about it.”

  “Cheated on you?” Raven said, getting up as she felt anger welling up inside of herself. “You really think I cheated on you? Oh my God, Jagger. I thought we trusted each other.”

  “We did,” Jagger replied. “But how else can you explain this?”

  “I can’t explain it,” Raven said, shaking her head. “But please, let’s just sit back down and talk about this for a moment. I didn’t cheat on you, I swear it.”

  Jagger looked ready to argue with her again, but then he sighed and sat down heavily on the couch.

  “Fine. Start talking,” he said.

  Raven sat back down herself and turned to face Jagger.

  “Like I said, I can’t explain it. I know in theory it’s supposed to be impossible for a warlock to get a vampire pregnant. Yet that’s what has happened here. I am more than willing to have a DNA test done on the baby if that’s what it takes for you to believe me,” she said, her voice level and more calm than she felt.

  Jagger looked at her, really looked at her, his gaze intense enough to make Raven blush slightly.

  “I believe you,” he said. “We don’t need a DNA test.”

  “You do?” Raven said, hardly daring to hope that he believed her.

  Jagger nodded and then he smiled widely.

  “Oh, wow. I’m going to be a father,” he said. “Right? I mean, you do want me to be a part of this even though I was such a shit about it, right?”

  “You can be as much or as little of a part of the baby’s life as you want to be, but you decide now, Jagger. It’s no good being around for so long and then walking away,” Raven said.

  “I want to be there for every step of it all, Raven. With you and our baby,” Jagger said.

  Raven smiled, allowing herself to believe for the first time that maybe this was going to be alright after all. When Jagger moved closer to her and kissed her, she knew it really was going to be alright. Everything would be fine while she and Jagger were together.

  She moved closer to Jagger, pressing herself to his side, wrapping her arms tightly around him. His kiss got deeper and his tongue pushed into her mouth. Raven opened her mouth to him, gladly accepting his tongue. She had gone from scared they might be over to her clit tingling with desire in a matter of minutes. It was a little bit disconcerting, but in the nicest possible way.

  Jagger pushed her onto her back on the couch and came with her, lying on top of her. He kept kissing her as his hand pushed into her jeans and her panties, rubbing her clit roughly. She gasped and moaned into his mouth as he worked her clit, making the delicious tingles from it spread up into her stomach and over her chest.

  She reached down and opened the button on her jeans and pulled her zipper down. She lifted her ass long enough to pull her jeans and panties down, giving Jagger better access to her. When she had her own jeans down, she started on Jagger’s, opening them up and pulling them down. She came back for his boxer shorts and then wrapped her fist around his already hard cock.

  He moaned as she moved her hand up and down his length. He kept working her until they were both on the brink of climaxing and then he pulled his hand away from her clit and grabbed her wrist, moving her hand away from him. He smiled down at her and then he ran the tip of his cock through her slit, spreading her wetness around. She moaned as the tip of him brushed over her pulsing clit.

  He moved back through her lips and then he was inside of her, their hips moving together, their bodies uniting as one as they moved in sync. Within minutes of them starting to thrust, they came together as one, Raven screaming Jagger’s name as she came and him clinging to her, moaning into her ear as he came with her.

  When their orgasms faded away, Raven sat wrapped up in Jagger’s arms and just like that, she knew that whatever happened now, everything would be alright. Jagger had taken a moment that could have been one of the worst moments of her life and made it one of the best moments of her life instead. He had taken something that could have broken her and made it the making of her.

  She smiled up at him and he kissed the tip of her nose.

  “So, how are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Good,” Raven replied. “Really good. You?”

  “Happy,” Jagger smiled. “I’ve always wanted to be a father and now I am going to be one. Raven, you’ve made me the happiest man on earth.”

  5

  The rest of the night went by in a happy little blur for Jagger. He cooked dinner for himself and Raven and they ate it sitting out on the balcony, enjoying the view of the city. Raven needed blood to keep her alive, but she also still enjoy
ed indulging in human food, and Jagger was glad of that because he really enjoyed cooking for her.

  They’d enjoyed their meal and then they’d watched a movie, and finally, Jagger had suggested an early night. Raven had instantly agreed and they’d gone through to his bedroom and made love twice more.

  They’d woken up this morning and had sex again and then they’d both had to go off to work. Jagger hadn’t wanted to leave Raven, but he knew he had to—she never would have agreed to skip work even if he had been willing to do it.

  The workday was dragging even more than they usually did for Jagger, because his mind kept going back to the baby. He hadn’t been lying when he had told Raven he was pleased she was pregnant. He really was. He had always dreamed of being a father, and despite the fact that on paper he and Raven should never work together, the fact was that they did and he really thought he could see a future for them.

  So he wouldn’t get to find his soul mate and run the tribe? He could live with that if it meant he got to have his little family instead. He couldn’t imagine meeting anyone he could feel more for than what he felt for Raven and he couldn’t imagine meeting anyone who could make him happier than she did.

  The only thing that was spoiling his happiness somewhat was his worries around the baby. He was worried that there would be something wrong, that the baby would have some problems because he and Raven had mated together. He had thought about it last night after Raven had fallen asleep, and then he had thought about it again all day, and he was still no further forward. He knew what he had to do, though. He had to talk to his parents. As the ruling warlock couple, they knew everything there was to know about warlock stuff, and hopefully, they would have some answers for him about this.

  Now he just had to get through the last hour of his working day without going stir crazy. It was easier said than done now that he not only craved seeing Raven again, but also had a plan for what he needed to do to put his mind at rest about his baby. The last hour always dragged, but today, it seemed even worse than usual.

  He waited for as long as he could, but he still ended up leaving work ten minutes early. His work was done for the day and he knew that his boss wasn’t going to start complaining about him leaving early anyway. He drove straight to his parents’ place and went to find them. He found his mom in her home office, typing at the computer.

  “Hey, Jagger. What’s up? I wasn’t expecting to see you today,” she beamed at him, looking up from the screen as Jagger stepped into the office.

  “I wanted to ask your advice about something,” Jagger said.

  His mom held up one finger for a second and then she did another quick burst of typing. She hit enter with a flourish and then switched the monitor off and smiled at Jagger.

  “Okay, fire away,” she said.

  Jagger smiled back at her and went and sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

  “I’ve been seeing someone,” Jagger started.

  “Right. Raven, isn’t it?” Jagger’s mom smiled.

  Jagger raised an eyebrow.

  “You knew about that?” he asked.

  “Of course I did, Jagger. You’ve been seeing her for a few months, right? People talk,” his mom shrugged. “I figured you knew your dad and I knew about this.”

  “So then I suppose you also know that she’s a vampire, not a witch,” Jagger said, getting right to the point quickly.

  It was a little bit easier to explain the situation now that he knew his mom already knew more than he had thought she had and she didn’t look particularly pissed off or anything.

  “Yes. I had heard Raven is a vampire,” Jagger’s mom smiled. “Look, Jagger, I know I should be giving you a lecture and telling you to stop messing around and find your one true mate, but the thing is, you’re still young and if you and this girl are happy together, then why not let it run its course, I say.”

  “Well, that was kind of how we were seeing it too. But…well…the thing is…” Jagger sighed and took a moment to compose himself and then he blurted it out. He was pretty sure his mom didn’t suspect this part. “The thing is, Raven is pregnant.”

  Jagger’s mom winced slightly.

  “So you thought you were exclusive and she didn’t? Or did she know you were exclusive and she cheated on you?” she asked.

  “Well, that’s the thing, Mom. She claims not to have done either. She swore to me that she hasn’t slept with anyone else and that the baby is mine. And as impossible as it sounds, well, I believe her,” Jagger said.

  “Okay,” his mom said.

  She paused and then raised an eyebrow.

  “What?” Jagger said.

  “Well, I was just waiting for you to go on,” his mom said with a frown.

  “I was kind of done,” Jagger smiled. “I was just waiting for you to give me all of the reasons why it’s impossible.”

  “Oh, Jagger, when you’ve lived for as long as I have, you’ll be a lot less inclined to think that anything is impossible.”

  “So you believe that the baby is mine? You’ve seen cross-species mating before?” Jagger asked.

  “I haven’t seen it personally,” his mom said. “Although I have seen a few examples where shifters get with another species and live happily ever after. However, I’ve never knowingly seen a baby conceived that way. But as for whether or not I believe it’s possible, well, if you trust this Raven girl and you’re sure she hasn’t cheated on you, then yes, I believe it’s possible. How can I not believe it if it’s happened, right?”

  “Right,” Jagger said. “She swore to me she had been faithful to me. She even offered to do a DNA test on the baby. I do believe her. Aside from the fact that I trust her, at this point, what would she achieve by lying? It would be such an easy lie to disprove.”

  “Are you trying to convince me that you believe her, or are you trying to convince yourself that you believe her?” Jagger’s mom asked him with a raised eyebrow.

  “Neither really,” Jagger said. “I’m just trying to convince myself that it’s real at all, I suppose.”

  “Yes, it must have been quite a shock,” his mom smiled.

  “It was,” Jagger agreed. “But once I got my head around the fact that Raven hadn’t betrayed me, I was happy about it. I still am. But I’m a little bit worried too.”

  “Worried? About what?” his mom asked. “Taking over the tribe?”

  “No,” Jagger said. “I know that if I don’t find my one true mate, I can never take over the tribe and I’m okay with that. If it means I get to be with Raven and our baby, Silver can have the tribe.”

  “He’s a few years younger than you, Jagger,” his mom pointed out.

  “I know. But literally only a few years. And it’s not like you and Dad were planning on retiring anytime soon anyway. Right?” Jagger said.

  “Right. So yeah, your brother can take over the tribe if it comes to that. So what is it you’re worried about if it wasn’t that?”

  “It’s the baby,” Jagger admitted. “What if there’s something wrong with it? Like, I don’t know. Like what if it’s a freak of nature or something because Raven and I should never have been able to have a baby together in the first place?”

  “Oh, Jagger, you don’t have to worry about that. It’ll be fine,” his mom smiled.

  “How can you be so sure?” Jagger asked.

  He desperately wanted to believe her, but he wanted her to be telling him the truth, not just saying what she thought he wanted to hear.

  “Think about this. If, say, a wolf shifter and a bear shifter have a baby together, then there’s a chance the baby could shift into a wolf, a bear, or a combination of the two. Granted, a combination of the two could have problems, if you get my drift,” Jagger’s mom said. He nodded his head. He got her drift all too well and that was exactly what he was worried about for his own child. “Now think of you and Raven. A warlock and a vampire. You don’t shift at all as such. Even when you use your magic, your form doesn’t change. A
nd a vampire, well, their eyes change and their teeth. But you two aren’t so much different species as you are two slightly different kinds of the same base species. Do you know what I mean?”

  “I think so,” Jagger said. “You’re saying that Raven and I are close enough to being the same species that our child won’t be physically deformed, right?”

  “Right,” his mom agreed. She frowned after watching him for a moment. “Why don’t you look like you feel better about this?”

  “Oh no, I do,” Jagger said. “But it’s not just a physical malformation I was worried about. What about in other ways? What if the baby gets some of my genes and some of Raven’s and ends up with a bit of warlock and a bit of vampire inside of it?”

  “Well, then you’ll end up with a child who can do magic and who has an appetite for blood, too. I really don’t think it will be any more sinister than that, Jagger. And it will have you to help it to control the magic side and learn how to be a good witch or warlock, and it will have Raven to teach it about impulse control and everything vampire-related.”

  Jagger smiled widely at her and blew out a big sigh.

  “Thanks, Mom. Now I really do feel better,” he said. It was his turn to frown. “And now you look worried.”

  “I’m not worried about the baby’s health or anything like that, I swear. But I am a little bit worried about its safety once its born. You’re the baby’s father and you were worried there was going to be something strange about it. I am a little concerned that other tribes might get worried about the idea of a warlock or witch and vampire hybrid.”

  “I see what you mean,” Jagger said, nodding his head. “You think the baby might be in danger from someone who is worried that a hybrid baby might end up too powerful for them.”

  “Exactly,” Jagger’s mom nodded.

  “Okay. Well, we can worry about that more once the baby is born. But for now, I will say this. I will do everything in my power to keep my baby safe and I know Raven will do the same. It’s going to take some serious manpower for anyone to get to my baby. And once the baby is older, then the other tribes will be able to see that we’re raising the child right, not as some sort of weapon,” Jagger said.