by Becca Van
She’d never had any spare cash to buy such luxuries like books but if she had, she would have had a room full of them. The only books she’d been able to read whenever she’d had any spare time—which was next to never since she was always working or doing chores—were ones she got from the local library. She hadn’t even been able to spare a couple of dollars to buy secondhand books from the thrift store. Every penny she’d made had been allocated to keeping a roof over her and her not-father’s head, and food in their bellies. Kenzie hadn’t even been able to afford a cell phone.
Now, here she was, in a strange town, surrounded by people she didn’t know, with no money, no clothes, and no means to get away.
Her life was in the trash and she felt as if she had tons of garbage on top of her, weighing her down with no energy or way to dig herself out.
With a sigh of acceptance, she pushed her pessimism aside and tried to look on the bright side. She’d escaped that pimp and his goon without being raped. Plus, these people had said they’d protect her even though they didn’t know her. Only kindhearted, good, moralistic people would go out of their way to do that for someone they didn’t know. Wouldn’t they?
Deciding she was gaining nothing by playing possum and hoping that these men and women were as nice as they seemed to be, Kenzie opened her eyes. They were all staring at her.
The room wasn’t small but with six hellaciously tall, muscular men as well as three women and herself, it felt crowded. “What are shifters?” Kenzie blurted out before she could stop herself.
Pixie lowered her eyes as her face flushed with embarrassment. “I’m so sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for, baby. It would have come out eventually.” Tatum hugged her tight and caressed a hand up and down her back.
Jenson moved closer to the bed and then sank down to his knees before taking Kenzie’s hand in his.
Kenzie sucked in a breath as heat raced up her arm and coursed through her blood. Her breasts swelled, her areolae ruched, and her nipples hardened to tight peaks. Liquid desire pooled low in her belly, moisture coated her folds, and her clit began to pulse as it engorged. She tried to tug her hand from his, albeit not very hard, and he tightened his grip.
“The men in this town can all change shape into animals.” Jenson stared intently into her eyes.
Kenzie didn’t know what to say to that. She opened and closed her mouth a few times trying to get her mouth and brain to work in sync, but shock was preventing her from responding. When she realized she probably looked like a guppy out of water, she snapped her mouth closed and glanced at the three women. She expected to see them smiling or trying to look innocent as they waited for her response to the joke, but they were staring at her stoically.
“Are you serious?” she finally managed to ask.
“Very,” Jenson answered emphatically.
“Do you want me to prove it?” Jayson asked as he moved toward the end of the bed.
She stared at him blankly for a beat or two, licked her suddenly dry lips, and then nodded. Her eyes widened when Jayson tugged his shirt up over his head and dropped it onto the end of the bed. When she glanced at Emmy, Pixie, and Dusty, they were all in their men’s arms with their back toward Jayson.
She was going to ask them why they’d turned away, but she had her answer a moment later when she gazed at Jayson again. He was tugging the button on his jeans open.
Kenzie eyed his wide shoulders, muscular chest, and bulging biceps. She shifted on the bed, winced with pain, but then gasped in a breath as her eyes wandered down over his eight-pack, washboard abs. The man was cut with definition, and she had to swallow quickly when she began to salivate. Her clit was throbbing along with her rapid heartbeat, and she was panting. Even though she tried to regulate both, she couldn’t. She’d never seen such a sexy sight in her life.
The hair between his pecs thinned out to a trail which led down toward his groin. She noticed his thumbs were hooked into the waistband of his jeans and boxers and quickly looked up into his blue patchless eye. What she saw in his gaze had her shivering as her blood heated even more. The lust in his eye should have set her on fire, and in a way, it had, but she ignored her body’s response. Or at least she tried to.
“What are you doing?” She couldn’t believe how strong her voice was when inside she was quaking. Kenzie wasn’t sure the internal tremors were excitement or trepidation. Maybe a bit of both.
“I’m going to show you that we aren’t lying to you.”
“What?” She frowned and then turned to meet Jenson’s gaze when he squeezed her hand.
“Jayson is going to shift into his panther. Jordan and I can change into a panther, as well.” He pointed to the other men. “Broden and his brothers, Archer and Airen, can change into Kodiak bears. Tatum and his brothers, into lions. Jett and his friends, Declan and Brooks, into polar bears. Some other men can change into wolves and other animals.”
Kenzie blinked and shook her head. She tugged her hand from his and pinched her arm, hard. She bit her lip to stop herself from gasping with pain. She’d inadvertently pinched her skin right over a bruise and it fucking hurt.
“Don’t do that again, Kenzie,” Jenson ordered in a hard voice as he laced his fingers with hers. “You’re in enough pain as it is without adding to it. I hate the stench of your agony.”
She opened her mouth to respond but ended up shaking her head again when no words came to mind. When she heard a throat clear, she turned to look at Jayson again. As soon as her gaze locked with his, he shoved his jeans and boxers over his hips and down his legs.
Kenzie stopped breathing altogether when she saw his erection. The breath exploded from her lungs as his hard cock bobbed up and down. She licked her lips when she saw a clear bead of pre-cum in the small slit and shifted restlessly on the bed. Her ribs throbbed at the movement, but she was too enthralled staring at Jayson’s long, thick, hard dick to really feel too much pain. Cream wept from her pussy and her clit pulsed as if it had its own heartbeat.
When she realized she was being rude by staring she closed her eyes and wondered if she was actually awake. Maybe she was hallucinating. Maybe she wasn’t even here in this room, in the clinic in Ambrose, but still back in that warehouse, high as a kite on drugs someone had injected into her.
“Open your eyes, Kenzie,” Jenson commanded.
She forced her lids up as he rose and then he gently shifted her over on the slim mattress and got up beside her. If she’d been in her right mind she would have told him to get off, to give her some room to breathe properly, but she couldn’t seem to find her voice. She locked gazes with him when he eased an arm under her neck and shoulders. A shiver of heat and desire shot up her spine when she inhaled his amazing masculine scent. He smelled like a mix of wild musk and fresh clean air, and she couldn’t help licking her lips again. “Look at Jay, sweetie.”
Everything felt so surreal and while she didn’t remember turning to look at Jay, she was once more staring at his big, sexy, muscular body. Her mouth gaped when fur started to race over his skin. The muscles and bones under his flesh began to move and reshape.
When he dropped down to his hands and knees, Jenson moved fast and scooped her up into his arms, blanket and all, and carried her toward the end of the bed. She gasped in a deep, ragged breath and stared in fascinated horror as Jayson, the man, receded and in his place a large black panther took shape.
She didn’t realize she was clutching at Jenson until her finger brushed his black hair, causing a shiver of lust to shiver through her body, and while she wanted to release him, she couldn’t seem to make herself. He was her only anchor in a world that had just turned upside down. Even though she felt her fingers digging into Jenson’s skin as he crouched down until she was on eye level with Jayson, the panther—I have to be losing my fucking mind—she couldn’t seem to loosen her hold.
“You have no reason to be scared, sweetie,” Jenson breathed into her ear, causing another shudder of heat
to rip up her spine, to center in her breasts and pussy. “Jayson and his panther would never do anything to hurt you.”
The panther took a step toward her and it was only then that she realized his eye patch was still covering his right eye. Was he blind in his panther form, too? The huge muscular animal went down low, his belly nearly touching the floor and he slowly crawled toward her, his tail swishing back and forth behind him. Wasn’t a cat’s tail moving a sign of agitation? She wasn’t sure, because she’d never had a pet before.
Kenzie wasn’t sure if she blinked or maybe closed her eyes for a second or two, but when she became aware again, it was to find the huge animal purring as it rubbed his large head along the bare skin of her forearm. His fur was so soft, and it tickled against her flesh. Without thinking about what she was doing, she reached up and scratched behind one ear. The deep rumbling purr grew louder. The panther tilted his head and she scratched behind his other ear. The big cat moved closer until his head was resting against her blanket-covered thigh and she patted him with both hands.
Awe filled her heart at what she’d just witnessed and what she was doing. The fear diminished to nervous excitement and she couldn’t stop a giggle from escaping from between her parted lips.
“How is this possible?”
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Emmy more stated than asked.
Kenzie nodded and glanced up to see everyone was watching her, but she was too fascinated to be worried about being the center of attention. Plus, they were all smiling at her. “It is.” She laughed when the panther licked over the back of her hand. His tongue was raspy like fine sandpaper, but it didn’t hurt. She sighed with disappointment when Jayson’s animal retreated and rose up onto all four paws. They were huge just like the rest of him, and the claws protruding from the tips looked as if they could rip a human apart with ease. She shivered with trepidation, but the anxiety waned when Jenson stroked a hand over her head and hair. When the lines of the animal’s body began to shimmer as the muscles and bones began to reform again, she cringed. “Does that hurt?”
“No,” Jenson answered.
As the fur began to recede, Kenzie remembered the other women and for some unknown reason she got really jealous. She didn’t want Emmy, Pixie, and Dusty seeing Jayson’s delectable muscular form or his hard cock. That was for her and for her alone. When she glanced toward them, she sighed with relief when she saw they had turned their back again.
What the hell, Kenzie?
Once Jayson was in his sexy manly form again, he lifted his gaze to hers, held her eyes locked to his for a few moments, and then he eyed her body over as he licked his lips. Her breath stuttered in her lungs as more heat invaded her pussy, breasts, and blood. A shudder of need lashed at the base of her spine before coursing up the length of her back and into her head.
She had no idea why she was responding to Jayson, Jenson, and Jordan, and while she tried to control the desire coursing through her blood, it seemed an impossible feat.
This was the first time she’d ever felt such intent sexual hunger. She’d kissed a couple of boys while she’d been in high school but that was the extent of her experience. She mentally snorted. She wasn’t innocent in knowledge but in every way else, she was totally clueless about the opposite sex. Her pseudo father had seen to that after treating her like a slave and his own personal punching bag.
Even though she’d dreamed about having someone to love and someone to love her in return, she’d never expected to find someone willing to take a chance on. She was starting to rethink her decision to remain single, but she wasn’t sure she was brave enough to take on one man let alone three.
She pushed her wayward thoughts aside and lowered her gaze when Jayson began to dress, but she couldn’t shake the desire coursing through her body. When she saw movement, she shifted her gaze from him and bit her lip when the other men and women left the room. Broden was pulling the door closed behind him but paused and looked back at her over his shoulder. “I’ll be out here if you need me. Just call out.” He quietly closed the door.
A low rumbling purr vibrated against her shoulder, arm, and side and she turned to meet Jenson’s hot blue-eyed gaze. “You smell so good, sweetie. I have to taste you.”
Chapter Four
Jenson couldn’t ignore the impotent craving to taste Kenzie’s lips another second. She felt wonderful, so right in his arms. The scent of her desire had grown stronger and stronger until he felt as if he was drowning in her aroma, but it still wasn’t anywhere near enough. He wanted to rub his body all over hers until their scents were mixed. He wanted to tug that blanket from her small body, rip the hospital gown into shreds, and plunge his hard, aching dick deep into her tight, hot, wet cunt. However, since he could do none of those things, he settled for lowering his lips to hers.
The first brush of his lips over hers settled into his heart, into his soul. His heart thundered against his ribs with hope and excitement, and the numbness that had settled into the shriveled-up organ dissipated until he felt so much, he was sure it was going to burst.
She gasped with shock or desire, he wasn’t quite sure which, but either way it gave him the advantage he needed. Jenson licked into her mouth slowly, almost lazily, hoping he wasn’t moving too fast for his mate. When she shifted on his thighs and he felt her soft breast pressing against his chest, he groaned. She moaned, and he deepened the kiss, their tongues whirling and swirling before rubbing against each other’s again and again.
If she hadn’t whimpered when he tightened his arm around her waist, he wasn’t sure he would have stopped. He felt like a real bastard when the scent of her pain began to override the perfume of her desire, and he realized he’d inadvertently hurt his mate. Jenson broke the kiss, rested his forehead against hers, and sucked air into his lungs. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Are you all right? Do you want me to get Broden?”
* * * *
She jerked her head back from his and shoved to her feet. The blanket fell onto the floor, but she was too busy trying to breathe through the searing pain in her ribs to worry about being less covered. She managed to take a couple of steps away from Jenson before her knees buckled.
Strong arms swept her up before she hit the floor and she gazed up into Jordan’s hot blue-eyed gaze.
“What’s wrong?” Broden asked as he opened the door.
“I hurt her ribs,” Jenson admitted contritely as he stood.
“What have you done to me?” Kenzie whispered as she stared into Jordan’s eyes.
“We haven’t done anything, baby.”
“Yes, you have.” She frowned and was about to continue, but quickly closed her mouth when she realized what she was about to ask. Why am I attracted to you all?
God, she was such an idiot. She was drawn to Jordan, Jenson, and Jayson. They had to be doing something to her to affect her in such a way. Did they have magical powers as well as being able to shift into animals? Were they wizards or something?
“We need to get her home so she can rest,” Jayson said as he moved closer to her and Jordan.
She shook her head. What she needed to do was leave, but how could she? She had no money, no clothes, and now she didn’t even have a car, though it hadn’t been hers to begin with. Kenzie felt trapped, yet again.
“Dusty, come in here, baby,” Broden murmured but Kenzie caught the words, if only just.
“What’s wrong?” Dusty asked as she entered. “Are you okay, Kenzie?”
Kenzie shook her head and blinked back tears. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever be okay again.
“Put me down,” she ordered Jordan. When he just frowned down at her she said, “Please?”
Jordan reluctantly carried her toward the bed and gently lowered her to the mattress. Jayson bent, picked up the blanket and handed it to Dusty before he, his brothers, and Broden left the room. She sighed with relief when Pixie and Emmy came back in and closed the door behind them.
“They did something to
me,” Kenzie stated with conviction.
“What do you mean?” Emmy frowned.
“I’m not…I’ve never…can they do magic as well as shift into…panthers?”
Pixie covered her mouth when a giggle escaped and then she outright laughed. The other two women chuckled, and while Kenzie was a little annoyed they were laughing at her expense, she found herself joining in. She knew she was laughing because she was feeling out of control, but it was either laugh or cry.
Pixie got her humor in hand first. “No, they can’t do magic, although I think being able to shift into an animal is pretty darn magical. Don’t you?”
“Yeah.” Kenzie lowered her gaze to the blanket and picked at the thread on the hem. “Why am I attracted to them? Can they make someone, a woman, lust after them?”
“No.” Emmy smiled as she tucked the blanket around Kenzie’s legs. “Shifters have only one true mate, that one special woman they can bond with physically as well as emotionally.”
“Do you mean like a wife?” Kenzie asked.
“Yes and no,” Pixie answered.
“What my friends are trying to say is that when a shifter finds their mate, they know she’s meant to be theirs from the second they see her and smell her. To a shifter their woman’s scent is the most delicious smell in the world. Being a mate is like being a wife, but that is such a pale comparison to reality. I love my guys with my whole being, with my heart and soul. It would kill me if anything happened to them and it would kill them if anything happened to me.” Dusty smiled dreamily.
“Once you’re mated to a shifter, you won’t ever have to worry about them even glancing at another woman,” Emmy took over explaining. “They fall in love with their mate almost straight away. I’m not saying that there aren’t problems to resolve or issues to work out, because there will be. Just because they love their mate straight away, doesn’t mean they know her likes, dislikes, or personality traits. It takes time and compromise to make a relationship work.”