Shifters Eden

by Tia Didmon

  Brock motioned them to follow. He led them down the hallway with pictures of Sarah and Donnie on the walls.

  Jane glanced at a picture of Sarah and her mother. The likeness was apparent. “Sarah hasn’t looked through the contents of the office since her father’s death?”

  Brock searched her face. “Devon and Sarah have only been here once since he passed in order to set up the horse shelter. It was something Sarah’s mother had wanted. She didn’t have time to look for the bunker. She’s new to the lair.”

  Jane frowned. “Why would being new to your family make her have to cut her trip short. I imagine the shelter is important to her if it was her mother’s wish.”

  Brock stopped before an ornate wooden door. His hand paused on the handle. “If it wasn’t so important to her, Devon would never have left the lair with her this soon.”

  Jane could tell he was trying to tell her something. “Spit it out.”

  Brock smiled. “New shifters have unstable appetites and urges. The lair is a safer environment. As for Sarah, she doesn’t need to focus on the bunker. That’s what I’m here for.” He opened the door.

  All four of them filed in. Luca turned to her. “And we are here to help.” He glanced at his twin before his gaze returned to her. There was more to their appearance at the ranch and she would be finding out what it was.

  She smiled coolly at the boys. There was a reason she was called the Red Widow. She was very good at what she did. “Let’s get to work.”

  Chapter 6

  Jane scanned the papers quickly. Speed reading had always been a talent of hers. She was onto the second filing cabinet in the small cluttered office before the men were through their first drawers.

  Brock didn’t look up from the document he was reading. “You are incredibly fast at this. You appear to have some experience obtaining other people’s files.”

  He made the comment without malice yet she sensed an undertone of irritation. “You know I have.”

  Luca cleared his throat dramatically. “How come this office is such a pigsty when every other room in the mansion is immaculate? It looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in sixty-years.”

  Liam looked around the room. “The decor is at least twenty-years-old but I have the house plans and it was built in 69.”

  Brock nodded. “Sarah said this office was always locked when she was growing up here. Only Donnie was allowed in.”

  Luca brought the paper he was holding closer to his face. “I think I may have something.”

  Brock put down the paper he held. “What is it?”

  “There’s a supply order for three air ventilation systems.”

  Jane frowned. “Why three?”

  Brock ran his hand through his hair. “Either the bunker is the size of a football field or he built three of them.”

  Luca groaned. “Shit.”

  Jane leaned against the small oak desk, cluttered with paper. “Maybe we only need to find one.”

  Brock stared at her. “You think he has the info at all three?”

  “Maybe. Or we only have to go after the correct one. Is there an address where the ventilation systems were delivered?”

  Luca looked over the supply order. “This is the only address on here. But he could have moved them after.” He paused. “There are written ID numbers beside them, though. Looks like Brian added them to the invoice later.”

  Jane moved over to look at the order. “BK1, BC2, and BD3.”

  Brock moved over to them and took the paper from Luca. “B could be for the bunker. The numbers could be the order they were to be built. Maybe K could be for Kallan. I have no idea about the other two.”

  Luca shrugged. “D could be for Donnie?”

  Jane pointed to the date. “This is twenty-four-years-old. The invoice was made on a typewriter.”

  Brock nodded. “Donnie would have been about five-years-old. Sarah would have been a baby.”

  Luca rubbed his chin. “It’s weak, but it’s something.”

  Jane surveyed the dusty office. “It’s a starting point. We know when he started the bunkers which means any properties he acquired after this date are excluded.”

  Luca’s eyes widened. “You’re right. Brian’s business empire expanded heavily about five years after this. It narrows the search down to nine properties.”

  Brock looked at Jane. “And the one we are standing on is likely one of the three.”

  Jane motioned Liam. “How big is this property?’

  Liam rolled out the architectural drawing. “The original property is seventeen acres. Two years after he bought this one, he bought out his neighbor, incorporating it into this one. It’s a total of twenty-two acres now.”

  “Is there a second house on this property?” Jane asked.

  Liam shook his head. “Not anymore. The other house burned down fifteen-years-ago. Looks like Brian didn’t rebuild it.”

  Brock looked at Luca. “Go call Garrett. Have him gather all the information on that other property.”

  Liam left without a word.

  Jane peered at Brock. “You think the bunker is the old house on the other property.”

  “Maybe. It’s worth checking.”

  Luca rubbed his hands together. “I guess we are going for a hike tomorrow.”

  “We will be taking a truck. Jane can’t run like we can... yet.”

  Jane didn’t miss the byplay between the brothers. “You think there’s a road there after ten years?”

  Luca looked down at the plans. “It looks like there was only one small road to begin with. We will probably have to hike part of the way.”

  Brock shrugged casually. “Cat’s like to hunt in the wild.”

  Jane narrowed her gaze. “So, do I.”

  Jane turned away from the men, not allowing her annoyance or excitement show. Brock was far too confident as it was. She had done her research on him prior to her arrival in Texas. He was a shark when it came to business and had been taking care of the Cascade Businesses for years. He didn’t lose but neither did she. She pulled on the handle of the old metal filing cabinet, surprised when she yanked the drawer from the cabinet, breaking the metal connector.

  He grabbed the drawer with astonishingly quick reflexes. She watched fur bubble along her wrist in tiny ripple before subsiding. “No,” she gasped.

  Brock turned. “Are you alright?”

  “This can’t happen. Not yet,” she said horrified.

  Brock put his palm on her back. The heat seared her skin, forcing her to turn and push away from him. “Don’t touch me. You’ve already done enough.”

  Brock motioned his head to the door. His brothers left without a word. “Tell me what’s got you riled.”

  Emotions battered her. She was unable to control the heat spreading through her body. The pain forking through her stomach. How had she let this happen? She knew what Brock was. She shouldn’t have let him near her. She bolted from the room, twisting out of Brock’s grasp when he tried to stop her.

  She bounded up the stairs, acknowledging she had never possessed that kind of dexterity in her life. Her feet seem to skim the ground as she ran in complete silence.

  She saw her purse on the chair in the bedroom she grabbed it, pulling out her phone. She had just pulled up Victor’s contact number when Brock, flicked it from her grasp. “What the fuck do you think you are doing?”

  She turned to him with flaming eyes. “Getting out of here.”

  Brock took a calming breath, his eyes mirroring hers. “It’s starting.”

  Jane put her hands up. “No. I won’t allow it. Not yet.”

  Brock’s face turned sympathetic. “It doesn’t work that way, baby. She wants out. Her mate is waiting for her.”

  Jane’s look hardened. She pushed down the emotions with everything she had. Will overcoming instinct. “No. I refuse.”

  Brock sighed. “Jane...”

  Pain seared through her stomach like an open stream of lava. She doubled over, clutching
her stomach, willing herself not to throw up. “Oh my god.”

  Brock picked her up and took her to the bed. She squirmed out of his arms. The heat from his body causing her skin to itch, feeling too tight. Foreign.

  Brock whispered in her ear. “Take your clothes off, baby. Now.” His breath tickled her skin, making her lust spike.

  “I’m in pain. I don’t want to have sex with you,” She snapped. Her vision blurred before returning to normal.

  Brock leaned closer. “That is the first outright lie you have told me. This will get worse before it gets better. The pain will pass then...”

  “Then what. Tell me straight. Don’t pussyfoot around. I’m sick of the games.” Anger laced every word.

  Brock leaned back. “Alright. In less than two minutes you’re going to be crawling all over my cock like a whore with a hundred-dollar bill.”

  Jane’s eyes flared. “Fuck you.”

  Brock caressed her arm.

  Her pussy clenched, drowning her underwear in her desire.

  “Two minutes,” he repeated.

  She moved her head in a jerky motion. Her hair falling in waves at her shoulders. “I won’t.”

  Brock moved her hair behind her ear. His actions at odds with his words. “You let Kevin manipulate you. You ran head first into my world and now you can never get out.”

  Truth and pain squeezed her heart. “Why are you being such a bastard?”

  “Because you asked me to.” His voice had lost the harshness of his previous statements.

  She had. The need to punish herself. For not being stronger. For not seeing the truth before it was to late. She closed her eyes tightly curling up on the bed in the fetal position. Heat, lust and pain all mixed together, breaking her resolve. She remembered the last time she had been in this position. She had curled up at the base of Carla’s bed in the hospital. She had been told her mother and father didn’t make it. That the social worker would be in to see her. Her world had been destroyed that day, and it was happening again. She was vaguely aware of Brock calling her name. She turned inward.

  Brock’s hand rested on her hip. “Tell me what’s going on? You aren’t fighting. That isn’t you.”

  Her mind snapped back to reality. “Yes, it is. Everything about me, my life, is a lie.”

  “You didn’t lie to me, baby,” he said softly.

  “Not to you. To myself.”

  “Listen, Jane...”

  “I’m going to get you killed,” she said bluntly.

  Brock’s voice pitched low. “Did you betray me?”

  “Not yet, but I will. Sometimes I think there’s a way out. There never is.”

  Brock’s hand grasped her hip. “We will get you out.”

  “I won’t leave Carla.”

  “You can never go back to Kevin. He will find out what you are and you will waste the rest of your life in a cage.”

  Jane looked at him. “I know.”

  Brock’s eyes glinted amber. “And you would go back anyway?”

  She didn’t flinch. “Yes.”

  Brock could feel her pulling away from him. Her body rocked and seized. His cat was mad, afraid and eager for its mate’s arrival. Brock rarely had to battle his cat back. They had maintained an easy balance prior to Jane’s arrival. He was unprepared for his cat’s ferocity, clawing at him to escape. He knew it was the transformation, and it was just beginning.

  His cat was not listening to reason, pushing him to bite his mate, to speed up the transformation so he could claim her. It was the last thing Jane needed.

  She was barely holding on. Her world collapsing on her with no foreseeable way to escape. She hadn’t had a single choice since her parent’s death and Brock hadn’t given her one, now. He understood her facade now. Her emotionless armor. It was to ensure one thing. Her and her sister’s survival.

  He kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry, baby. I know you feel like your control is slipping. That your world is falling to pieces around you but it hasn’t. It’s going to change for the better. Just give me a chance to prove it to you. Have some faith in me.”

  He listened to her stuttered breathing. Felt the silent sobs rack her body but not a single tear rolled down her face. “I don’t have any faith. Not anymore.”

  He was shattered. He had let her cool reserve fool him. The emotionless tone of her voice. Her unapproachable look. Everything she used to arm herself in the world of Kevin Kallan. This was the lie. His cat backed down, starting to comprehend the emotional turmoil its mate was experiencing. He did the only thing he could. He tilted her face towards his and kissed her gently, sucking her lip into his mouth until her mouth moved with him. He didn’t touch her body until she pressed against him. He knew what would happen in the coming hours and he was determined to make this short reprieve from the pain as magical as possible.

  She pushed him back, he stilled, looking into her amber eyes. Lust. Desire. Hunger. Stared back at him. She began removing her clothing, her gaze locked with his. He pulled off his pants, wincing as his erection broke free.

  Her eyes fell to his thick cock. Her hand tentatively caressed the sensitive skin with the pads of her fingers. His breath caught in his chest while his blood raced through his veins. The nerves under his skin were afire with need. She continued to trace the ridges of his cock before reaching down to cup his sac. His muscles corded under his skin, every sinew wound so tight, he thought they would snap at any moment. He stopped breathing when she leaned toward him

  She took a tentative lick on his broad head. “So hot. So hard.”

  He gritted his teeth. His gaze roamed over her naked body crouched over the bed, licking his cock. “Very hot.” He didn’t want the erotic torture to stop but if she didn’t do something soon, he was going to embarrass himself. He groaned when she stared up at him with his cock, resting on her lips.

  It took every ounce of control not to come right there. Her lust filled eyes, provocative scent, combined with her budding sexuality were a combination no man or animal could endure.

  Her mouth opened. He felt her breath feather against his sensitive skin before sucking him deep into the warm heat of her mouth. He felt her tongue tracing the veins and ridges that contoured his shaft. Sliding and sucking, driving him to the brink with her apparent interest in his throbbing dick.

  She wrapped her hand around him, sliding up and down the muscled shaft, applying more pressure when his hips began to move in rhythm with her mouth. He drew in a ragged breath. “Jane.” It was a plea. A command. A miracle.

  His control gone, he pulled her up his body. “No more, baby. I need to taste you.”

  Flecks of amber littered her fully dilated pupils. She smiled sexily as she lay back on the bed spreading her legs, watching him as he knelt between them.

  She startled when he nipped her inner thigh. She had enjoyed having control. Now it was his turn. “I’m going to lick you until you come in my mouth. I want all that sweet honey.”

  He saw the rush of liquid. Felt her shudder as his tongue took its first foray through the slick folds of her pussy. The taste was spicy and sweet. He delved deeper, taking long licks, sucking the juice from her as she thrashed against the bed with her thighs squeezing his shoulders.

  Her fingers bunched in his hair. The sting spurning him into a frenzy as he plunged his tongue mercilessly into her.

  She moaned loudly when she came. Her body stiffening before she relaxed with stunted breaths.

  He kissed his way up her body. Slow flicks of his tongue on her heated skin. He had sucked a nipple into his mouth when her body convulsed.

  He rolled off her instantly. “Jane?”

  She raised her arms, shaking her head. Screaming when they broke.

  He knelt beside her, whispering in her ear, without touching her. “Breathe through it, baby.’

  She was hyperventilating as her arms rippled and reformed in their original shape. She dropped her arms to the bed, “I can’t do this,” she gasped.

  Jan
e lay in Brock’s arms. The worst had passed though she still felt tired and nauseous. She inhaled his scent, feeling the sense of duality. The ardor and acceptance of the animal within before it subsided. Everything about Brock appealed to her. She turned to run a hand over the stubble on his chin. “I like this.”

  Brock took her hand, kissing the palm. “I’ve been considering growing it out.”

  Her fingers caressed his face. The rough texture sending a bolt of desire through her. Her body seemed unable to make up its mind. Lust and pain made a disturbing combination. “You should.”

  Brock smiled. “Done.”

  Jane let a last wave of nausea roll through her stomach, breathing it away. “I need to talk to Racheal.”

  Brock stiffened; his face concerned. “Is something wrong. Are you still in pain?”

  Jane smiled wanly. “No. I’m feeling better. Just a little tired. I would like to ask her some questions about Carla.”

  Brock relaxed. “Okay. As soon as you feel...”

  Jane clutched his arm. “I want to go now. This can’t wait.”

  Brock frowned. “Are you sure? We could rest for a couple hours first.”

  Her body stiffened. “I need this.”

  Brock got up and grabbed his phone, texting Hunter.

  Brock’s phone vibrated. “He says to come over to the lab. Once Racheal is locked in on a project, you can’t get her to budge.” He held his hand out to her.

  Jane let Brock assist her getting out of bed. Her muscles were sore. She wanted the rest he had offered. She couldn’t take it knowing what was at stake. Once steady, she pulled on a pair of capris and a t-shirt from the closet. She couldn’t remember the last time she wore casual clothes.

  She woke in the car as Brock turned up the gravel pathway to the warehouse. “Did I sleep the whole way?”

  Brock nodded. “Yes, and you needed it. Your body was exhausted but you will heal faster now.”

  Brock parked and led her inside. Racheal was hunched over a microscope while Hunter sat in a chair beside her.

  Hunter stood, shaking his brother’s hand and inclining his head to Jane. “She is making progress on the serum but it will be a day or two before it’s ready.”