Shifters Forever Worlds Mega Box: Volume 1

by Thorne, Elle

  A sadness crept through her. She mattered to a man she couldn’t have. She had to go. Immediately. She had to take danger away from him. She had to keep Ivan safe. If Crossroads got their hands on Ivan… She didn’t let her mind go there. She couldn’t think of that now. She couldn’t live with that kind of knowledge.

  She might have killed one of the doctors, but there were a panel of them that ran Crossroads. More than half a dozen doctors had come in regularly to monitor their testing and her reaction. They drew blood, tested, poked, prodded, and took slivers of flesh from different areas of her body.

  She’d asked them more than once what they were doing.

  “Perfecting your species.” That was all they ever said.

  “Did you hear me?” Joe took his hand out from underneath the blanket and put it on her chin, turning her head to face him. “Did you hear what I said? Did you?”

  She put her hand on his, wrapped her hand around it—only his was so much larger, she couldn’t cover it. She moved his hand off her face and put it on her knee, lacing her fingers with his.

  “You can’t keep me here. You can’t keep me prisoner. I’ll never be a prisoner again.” She leveled her gaze on his, let him see her bear, let him hear her words. “Are you saying you’ll try to keep me captive?” She knew the answer to that, but she had to let him see how his words could affect her.

  “Never.” His words were a low hiss. “I’ll let you go.” He helped her off his lap.

  Chapter Twelve

  Joe helped Sara up. She was being foolish. Leaving the protection that Bear Canyon Valley shifters could offer her was folly, but he understood her perspective, and she’d been captive, essentially tied down for too long. She couldn’t stay.

  Sara held the blanket’s ends tight, her hand a fist just above her left breast, clutching the material. He studied her face, rememorizing it for the thousandth—no, the millionth time.

  He swallowed hard at the dryness in his throat. He watched her take a breath and hold it. Her chest swelled, her nostrils flared. Her eyes dilated and turned a gold color.

  She turned his way, facing him, and dropped the blanket. “I can’t go without knowing.” She exhaled. “Just once in my life.”

  “Knowing?” He had to hear the words. He needed to hear every word she was going to say.

  “I have to know what it’s like to have the man I love inside me. I have to know what it feels like to make love. To be made love to. If only once.” Tears highlighted the golden amber.

  Joe cracked. Just fucking cracked, right down the middle. He had an animal side to him, no less than she did. He couldn’t shift, he couldn’t adopt an animal’s skin or ways, but he was no less connected to the elements than she.

  He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her against him. He slid his hands down her bare arms and lowered his head. He locked his lips with hers and let her see the passion, the hunger, the eternity of him.

  His tongue demanded the same of her.

  * * *

  Sara moaned. His breath mingled with hers, his tongue danced around hers, pulling her deeper into an abyss where there was only her… and him… Tongues tangling, sharing breath, she kept her eyes open, focused on his, reaching deep into the windows of his soul.

  His groan was captured by her mouth, but still it took her to a place where she wanted to go.

  There was too much between them. Too much fabric. His clothing. She and her bear couldn’t be passive. They couldn’t be submissive and wait. Not now. Now was the time that Sara wanted to claim him.

  She unbuttoned his shirt while her mouth stayed locked on his, their tongues rubbing and twisting. She grasped his shirt and tugged. Understanding what she wanted, he moved his arms and she helped him out of the sleeves. The garment fell to the floor unheeded.

  She reached for his pants. With an unpracticed and fumbled yet quick twist, she had the button released and the zipper down. She tugged them off his hips. His pants fell to the floor, and he stepped out of them.

  Her body quivered with longing for him. A furnace burned in her core. Only he could quench the molten need that filled her.

  How had this man reached into her and pulled her soul so close to his in this short time period? Was it short? It felt like she’d known him for an eternity. What resonated with Sara the most was how fiercely her bear was in love with him. Sara had no idea—had never thought this was possible—to feel for him, and to have her bear love him so deeply.

  It was wonderfully thrilling. And if she wasn’t worried about the danger that Crossroads presented, she could yield to the emotions and take what Joe had to offer.

  But she couldn’t let her guard down. She had to keep moving. She’d take everything she could right now, and keep it for an eternity.

  Joe’s hands slid down her shoulders, lowering and cupping her ass, pulling her tight to him. She put her hands on his stomach, his abs tight under her fingers. She ran her fingernails over the flesh of his chest, the fullness of his pecs, up to the wide set of his shoulders.

  Joe groaned. He pulled away from the kiss. His hands lowered, cupping her full breasts just beneath the mounds. His thumbs resting on her nipples, and he rubbed circles on the pebbled, dark brown tips.

  The moisture deep within her pussy began to make its journey downward. It would only be a matter of seconds before the proof of her lust for him was a mess between her thighs. She smelled his desire, smelled the drop of pre-cum that had already presenting itself on his thickness and been rubbed onto her belly when he’d pulled her close. She lowered her hand to her stomach, found it, ran her thumb over it and put it in her mouth.

  “Ah, fuck, Sara,” he growled.

  “I had to see how you taste. I have to know.”

  “Christ.” He squeezed her breasts with his hands, then pinched her nipples between his fingers and rolled them, then pinched them flat. The pain was perfect, exquisite, and rolled through her body like thunder.

  “I want you,” Sara admitted. “I’ve never wanted a man. I’ve never known this could happen.” How could she possibly explain to him that she’d never so much as gotten wet over a man? That life had never even presented that opportunity? She’d never had a sex drive.

  And now? It was like she was in heat for him. She wanted him. All of him. Every inch of him. He occupied her mind, her body. She wanted him in her with a ferocity that was scary.

  “Touch me.”

  She lowered her hand. Touched the hard length of him. Felt the hotness of his flesh. She held him tight in her hand, then moved her hand up and down his cock. At the base of it, she wrapped her hand around it and squeezed.

  He groaned and pinched her nipple with renewed fervor.

  She ran her fingertips up his cock, let her thumb find the slit at the end, slick with his pre-cum. She rubbed it over the head of his cock, making him catch his breath, a low growl coming from deep within his chest.

  She lowered herself to her knees. His eyes were focused on hers, then on her lips, his gaze not wavering. She licked her lips and wrapped her hand around him. She felt unsure, but let her emotions guide her. Her body shook, her ache for him rocking her, turning her inside out. She parted her lips, then opened her mouth wide, letting the underside of his cock lay on her tongue. She marveled at the heaviness, the thickness, the rigidity. She closed her lips, feeling the velvety texture of him against the roof of her mouth and her tongue. Pushing her head forward, she let him slide further in, wanting as much as she could take of the smooth length of him.

  His eyes narrowed, and a mask of pure lust flashed over his features, making her need for him greater. Her pussy flexed, and her juices ran down her thighs. She flicked her tongue side to side, licking him while he stretched her mouth.

  “Ah, Sara. Fuck.” Joe’s words were an aphrodisiac, the tone so low, the desperation so evident, as if he’d been waiting for this for an eternity. His fingers glided into her hair and he gripped her locks, pulling back, pushing her head forward at the same t
ime.

  His groans, the way his head was thrown back, and the tensing and flexing muscles on his stomach were the encouragement she needed that he liked what she was doing. She moved her head back and forth, his length slick with her saliva.

  He pulled her up, her body going upward as his spit-slickened cock left a trail on her chest, then her abdomen. He kissed her while she wrapped her hands around his cock, pulling on him, jerking on him, imagining that this would be what her pussy would be doing to him if they were fucking.

  He put both hands under her and raised her upwards while turning at the same time. Her back was against the wall, her chest against Joe, her legs wrapped around him and hooked on his hips.

  “I can’t wait. I fucking need you. Now.”

  She wanted to tell him she felt the same way. She couldn’t tell him that; it would be her undoing. It would put her in a position where she’d have to follow through on her emotions. So instead, she tugged him closer with her legs.

  With one swift drive, he plunged into her. She gasped from the way his width stretched her. He pressed his lips to hers, drinking her gasp away. It felt like he was touching every part of her, from her pelvis to her throat. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer, latching onto his lips, driving her tongue into his mouth the way he was diving into her. Her pussy clenched around him, her muscles contracting with pleasure.

  Joe stopped. Froze. He grabbed her ass tighter, pulling her onto him until their joining was seamless. Completely still, he breathed her in.

  “Don’t move,” she said. “I want to remember this moment forever.”

  He frowned as if absorbing her words and picking up the meaning.

  “Forever. That’s how long you’ll be mine.” He groaned and began to pump, stroking in and out. She clawed at his shoulders, raked her nails down his biceps, scored his chest as she flailed, unable to control the spasms taking over her body.

  “Be still, Sara, or you’re going to make me—” Joe pulled away, but Sara’s bear and Sara both reacted, holding him, ramming her back onto him, fully, totally, completely impaled.

  He reared back and pulled away, just enough to partially come out of her, and turned toward the bed. Sara grasped his shoulders, pulling herself up, and sliding back down on him. The friction between them, the adrenaline, the emotions were too much.

  Her mind was muddled. Her breath came out in bursts and pants. She clawed at his shoulders, searching for purchase while her body began to come undone, falling further and further into a chasm that was exploding with tiny pinpoints of light, more intense than the fireworks she’d seen when she was a child.

  “No other man will have this. It’s mine. You’re mine.”

  His words touched her, grabbed her, and threw her over an orgasmic cliff. She opened her mouth to scream for him, and he swooped down, catching her scream, taking it into his lungs.

  While she was still in the middle of contractions and aftershocks, Joe held her tight, carried her to the bed, and flipped her over.

  He ran his hand along her spine, his fingertips burning a trail into her flesh. She couldn’t concentrate. Her mind was short-circuited from one aftershock after another. She’d never imagined that sex could ever be so intense and freeing.

  Joe’s hand slipped around her hip, over her waist, cupping her sex, sliding his fingers between her already slick and still spasming folds.

  “Fuck, you feel incredible.” He grunted the words out, raw and sexy, as his fingers parted her lips and rubbed fast circles on her clit.

  Sara moaned, unable to put the words together to tell him how he was affecting her and how she felt about him.

  With a quick thrust, he plowed into her, stretching her again, filling her completely, and pressing against her already heightened G-spot.

  She shoved her hips back, taking him in as deep as she could, and rolled her pussy. Joe groaned, pumping his shaft, ratcheting up the level of arousal, pushing her closer and closer to the place she’d never been to with anyone else.

  He pulled back, taking away the heat of his body, leaving her wanting more. When he drove into her again, she pushed back, enjoying the give and take of his thrusts. She moaned low with every thrust, while he slapped a hand on her hip.

  His powerful plunges increased in tempo. All she could hear was the sound of her breathing, her low moans, and the slapping of his skin against hers. He angled his hips and fucked her with sweeping strokes.

  “Christ.” He held still for a moment.

  “Don’t stop.” The words were ripped from her very core.

  “If I don’t, I’m liable to—”

  She didn’t care. All she knew was that she wanted him fiercely. She began to push her body back and forth, impaling herself over and over.

  With that, Joe’s self-control seemed to vanish. It felt like he grew more engorged, filling her while a part of her snapped. She felt his orgasm, hot and fluid, deep within her. She bit her lip to contain the screech of her own orgasm while her pussy milked the cum from his shaft.

  He collapsed on her. His teeth sank into her, just where her shoulders met her neck.

  She lost sensation in her legs and collapsed. He lay on her, his body heaving from the exertion and the climax.

  A rumbling sound caught her attention.

  It wasn’t her bear.

  It was his stomach. It occurred to her that she hadn’t eaten either.

  “I want you to meet everyone, anyway,” Joe said.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sara put on the dress Joe handed her. Now, more than ever, she was happy that he’d bought them some clothing. She could never pay him back, though, and she felt bad about that. Maybe one day she’d be able to, when she didn’t have to stay hidden. When she wasn’t worried about Ivan.

  Joe was already dressed and sitting in the chair, waiting for her to finish dressing. His stomach’s protests and her own stomach cramps were enough to convince her that she needed to get some sustenance.

  She was ready to see Ivan. To watch him in his human form.

  Joe opened the door and escorted her down a hallway. They followed the scent of the food. Delicious-smelling food.

  Sara could hear the laughter coming from the kitchen. One of those voices was her own baby’s, in his human form. He giggled, a high-pitched sound of merriment. First she saw Ivan, playing with three shifters.

  She recognized one. He was the one who’d been with the woman in the cave a few weeks ago. The woman who’d held Ivan against her body and given Sara a challenging look, as if she would protect Ivan from a strange bear.

  She was a brave human, taking on a bear, especially when she didn’t know I was a shifter. A good—or bad—shifter.

  Next to him was the brave woman herself.

  Yes, that was her, the one who’d held Ivan in the tunnel. And that was definitely the man who’d been with her.

  The shifter that Sara had wounded. Sara paused for a moment, studying the couple, noting the bond they clearly had. Of course they had a bond; the male had jumped to her defense that day in the forest.

  What they didn’t know was that Sara had seen them making love. She fought to keep a blush from rising to her cheeks and pushed her thoughts away from the vision that was still fresh in her mind, a vision that made her think about what she and Joe had just done. She felt the heat intensify in her cheeks as embarrassment flourished in her mind. She needed to stop that thought process right now. She shook it off and looked at her son.

  Ivan was drinking in the attention, his cheeks flushed a happy pink color, his smile wide. Then he saw her.

  “Mama.” He ran toward her and wrapped his arms around her legs. “I have new friends. And I know how to shift back and forth from my bear to this.” He beamed up at her, indicating his body with a gesture.

  “I see that. I’m proud of you.” She ruffled his hair, leaned down and gave him a hug, kissing his cheek. She was overwhelmed by Ivan’s appearance in his human skin. It would take s
ome getting used to.

  She glanced at the shifter she’d attacked that day in the forest. “I know you.”

  “Teague.” He pointed to his chest. “Teague Navarro.”

  “I’m sorry.” She made a sad grimace. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I didn’t know… wasn’t sure…”

  “You did what was natural. Completely understood.” Teague smiled, then pointed to the woman who’d held Ivan that day. “This is Kelsey.”

  The curvy, beautiful woman next to him smiled. “Ivan’s a charmer.” She held out her hand.

  Sara rose and took the hand for a shake. “Don’t I know it.”

  Kelsey held her hand, not letting go. “That day. I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I had no clue, and my mind went toward helping the baby bear.”

  Sara nodded, sensing there was more but not sure what. “I’d have probably done the same thing if I were in your shoes.”

  A wave of sadness passed over Kelsey’s face. Sara didn’t want to pry. She diverted quickly.

  “I’m Kane. This is Astra,” the other shifter in the room said, and indicated a woman with eyes so green, so clear it was as if they were lit from behind.

  “Doc’s my father, well… stepfather,” the green-eyed woman said, turning to the third shifter in the room, putting her arm around him. Clearly they were a close-knit group.

  “Thank you.” Sara turned to the doctor shifter. “You saved my life.”

  “Glad I was around.”

  She addressed the group of them. “Thank you for looking after Ivan while I was recuperating.”

  “Oh, he’s a pleasure. We enjoy having a little shifter around. Now we have two.”

  “Two?” Sara asked.

  “My brother’s mate has a son. His name is Dominic. I think he and Ivan would get along great.”

  That will never happen. I need to get out of here as quickly as possible. Especially now that I know there’s a little shifter who would be in danger from Crossroads as well.