All the Teacher's Pet Beasts: Shifter Days, Twin Afternoons, Vampire Nights Paranormal Romance

by N J Adel

  “And I wasn’t coercing you to do that. I told you your choice must come willingly for it to work.”

  “Then what do you want me to do?”

  “That Halloween night, I want to be there.”

  “I’m confused. Aren’t you going to be there already?”

  “When you choose your beast, you will mate before the willow tree to seal the deal. I want to be there, in the flesh, not only in your head. I want you to see me come for you while you’re coming for another, and I want you to look me in the eye when he is making you orgasm.”

  My panties were melting. They must have been because my juices had reached my inner thighs. “Why would you do that? You’ve already watched me come a million times. I know you’ve been watching every naked and sexual moment of mine all my lives. Plural.”

  “But you’ve never watched me. Something tells me you’ll enjoy your claim more, come even faster when you see the devil jizz to your beautiful screams of pleasure. And perhaps, it will grow your appetite enough to crave the devil’s cock for dessert.”

  “Not in this lifetime,” I lied. I wanted that very much.

  “I’ll take my chances. And if it doesn’t happen in this lifetime, there’s always the next. Patience is my game, Isabella.” He smirked.

  “Fine. I’ll do what you want. I’ll watch you while you watch me, but that’s it.”

  “Do that, and I’ll erase the videos. You and your beasts will have nothing to worry about ever again. Not even me.”

  “Only till my next self is reborn.”

  He nodded once.

  I took a deep breath. “I’ll take it.”

  He stuck a hand out. “Shake on it?”

  My heart thudded as I stretched a quivering hand. Then I looked the devil in the red eyes and shook his hand.

  CHAPTER 36

  BELLE

  “You did what?” Alec yelled at me. It was the first time he or any of the boys had yelled at me.

  All four of us were at Joshua’s loft, where we technically lived now that we had no doubt my apartment was bugged. The twin had offered to let me stay at their lodge in the woods, but that territory was dominated by shifters, and Joshua wasn’t very welcomed there.

  Joshua clasped his hands together, his fingers intertwined, as he leaned forward, sitting by the fireplace “How could you make a deal with the devil, Isabella? Haven’t you learned anything?”

  I bent my legs under me. My gaze drifted from the brick walls to the sun setting behind the floor to ceiling windows. “Your deal with Damien saved my ass. Mine will save yours.”

  “Damien? Oh, you’re on a first-name basis now? With the fucking devil?” Alec paced from one couch to another, his shouting giving me a headache.

  “What was I supposed to do, Alec?”

  “Not that! Nothing at all. Did any of us ask for your help?”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I saw an opportunity, and I took it. I don’t know why you’re making it a big deal. He didn’t ask for much. It’s just…voyeurism.”

  “HE IS SEDUCING YOU!” He threw his hands in the air, and then turned to his brother. “I can’t. Just… Talk to her. Put some sense in her head. Make her see what this truly is.” He twisted at me. “Can’t you see what this is? How can you not see what this is?”

  “Stop yelling at me.”

  He swore, running both his hands through his thick hair, and threw himself on a chair.

  I glanced at Kayden, waiting for him to lash out, too, but he was silent. His eyes said everything he needed to say. The blame, the rage…the fear.

  I lifted my chin to stop myself from crying. “Stop looking at me like that. You have something to say, just say it.”

  His jaws tightened, and then he let out a deep, heated breath. “You want to have sex with Damien, don’t you, Belle?”

  Stunned at the bluntness, I just shifted my stare from one angry face to another. I didn’t want to answer that question. Not out in the open like that. I was struggling with the truth myself, having a hard time accepting it.

  “Well, he knows that. He wouldn’t have dared go into your head and touch you if you hadn’t let him in.” Kayden faced me like a brutal mirror.

  “Even so, the main reason I accepted his deal was to save you,” I mumbled.

  “But Damien does want to seduce you. He knows one man is not enough for you, and you’ll be sad having to choose one. He also knows that at a claim, your sex drive will be at its highest. You will want to have more, and he will be there, making that connection he’s already made with you. There is a big chance, with the sadness and the heightened desire, you will let him have you at that moment.”

  I blinked. Many times. “Let’s assume I did that, what’s the worst that can happen? I would have already chosen. He can’t have my soul. I’ll still belong to my mate.”

  “Oh for crying out loud!” Alec kicked something. I was too distracted to see what it was. He jumped to his feet and paced the room again. “Let’s pretend your mate will be okay with sharing you with the fucking devil on claim night. But what if you’re not? What if you decide to switch sides?”

  Anger surged in me. “Why would I do that?”

  “Who the fuck knows? Why would you want to screw the devil in the first place? Who knows what happens, what changes in you when he’s actually inside of you?”

  The questions hit me like heavy slaps on the face. None of them crossed my mind when I’d made that deal. I was truly blind to the consequences, thinking I had outsmarted the devil when he was the one who played me. How could I not see any of that logic?

  “You’re right.” My head spun. “He made it look like I was in control, actually winning, while he knew all along that’s exactly what would happen on Halloween night.” I clutched my stomach, where Damien had touched me. “What was I thinking? With my mentality, with that side that craves him and scares the hell out of me? He blinded me. He…did what the devil always does, and I listened.”

  “Yes, my love,” Joshua said, his somber expression never leaving him.

  “And sadly, we have no jurisdiction in hell. We can’t save you there.” Alec wasn’t being sarcastic now. I could hear his pain behind the ugly truth.

  “All what we can hold on to now is our faith in you, Belle. Our faith in your good side. The question is, do you have that faith in yourself?” Kayden became my mirror again, yet this time, my reflection was a complete blur.

  CHAPTER 37

  KAYDEN

  HALLOWEEN NIGHT

  It was cold even for the end of October, as if all the heat had been drained away into the earth. Through the road rose the werewolves, the devils, the vampires and the monsters. The fake ones not the real. The real beasts wore tuxes, and their waiting bride was in a white dress with flowers in her hair.

  The bride I’d never had.

  She was with me in the truck as I drove to the woods. Alec had gone with the vampire to the clearing. The bears didn’t want to be there as always.

  “You look so handsome in that tux,” she said.

  I tried to smile. “Thank you. You look…so beautiful. Your mate, whoever he is, is a very lucky bastard.”

  “Thanks. I guess.” He inhaled deeply and let that breath out slowly. “Kayden…”

  “Yes, baby?”

  “Why haven’t you… Why are you still waiting? Tonight is the night all this ends, and there’s a good chance it won’t end well. Why haven’t we had our time together? Do you not want me?”

  “Of course, I want you. There has been no time when I didn’t want you.”

  “Then why?”

  I pulled over at the end of the trail and held her amazing gaze. “Because I’m hoping that will give you something to make you want to hold on to this life. Unfinished business of sorts.”

  She laughed, but then she burst into tears.

  I was barely holding myself together. Watching her cry would shatter me in pieces. “Baby, please don’t cry. You’re going to…ruin your mak
eup.”

  She threw herself onto my chest. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not like it’s a real wedding.”

  I lifted my silent scream to the moon as I embraced her like I would never see her again. “C’mon, baby. It’s going to be okay. I love you, and I have faith in you. I know you’ll do the right thing.”

  She drew back. “The right thing? What would that be, Kayden? What the fuck would that be?”

  I drowned in the hazel eyes. “Whatever makes you the happiest.”

  Her lips met mine in a heated kiss that lasted forever and ended too soon. When she pulled away, her lips were swollen, and I was burning. Another minute, and I wouldn’t be able to hold back anymore.

  I pushed the door open and jumped out. Then I helped her outside, and carried her to the clearing so that her dress wouldn’t get dirty.

  Under the willow tree, the four of us stood. No spoken words, only emotions thudding in our chests, and miserable thoughts spiraling in our heads.

  The air felt sticky despite the chill, and I knew he had arrived. The devil manifested in the dark with his deep eyes and deceiving face.

  My blood simmered. The beast clawed at me, itching to rip apart the fucker who came to steal the love of my life away.

  “You look dashing, gentlemen,” Damien said and bent to kiss Belle’s hand. “And you, you look like a queen tonight.”

  “Stay away from her.” Alec was about to lunge at him, but Asher and I held his arms.

  “Always the reckless Beastly. I love that quality about you. Makes my work so easy.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Enough.” Belle shouted. “Damien, don’t be a dick. Not tonight.”

  He smirked. “As you wish, my queen.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Do you have the videos?”

  He reached into the inside pocket of his tux jacket and brought out a CD, a couple of flash drives and a few chips. “Here are the copies. I also deleted the originals from the hard drives.”

  “Are these the only ones, Damien?”

  “You really think I need to make digital copies for myself?”

  “Of course not. You have them all stored in your disgusting…” She snatched them from him and gave them to Asher. “Can you check?”

  He let go of my brother’s arm, took the chips and worked them one by one in his phone. He muted the sound and skimmed through the videos. After all, there were sensitive clips of Belle in there, too. Then he nodded. “It’s all here.”

  She sighed in relief. “So how does this work?”

  “We wait for the witch to do the ritual,” I said. “She will ask you for your choice. Then you claim your mate and finish the turn according to the clan you’ve chosen.”

  “Witch? What witch?”

  “The one who helped us make the deal.”

  “And the witch has arrived.”

  Belle gasped, twisting at the voice. “No fucking way.”

  CHAPTER 38

  BELLE

  “Katrina!”

  She held the tail of her green dress to the side and tilted her hip, her other hand carrying a tote. “Surprise.”

  “Surprise? How? What? You’re a fucking witch?” Bitch.

  She barely kept her balance in those nine-inch heels as she walked on the grass to the willow tree. “Not just a witch, sweetie. The one who helped those dickheads save your life.”

  My eyes widened, and my jaw fell. I didn’t care if I looked like a lemur or a lame ass hyena. “You were a teenager when I met you.”

  “Yeah, that was a spell that made me look like a teen. You know, magic is what witches do.” She reached me and gave me a fucking hug. “How are you holding up, sweetie?”

  I pushed her off me. “I… You’re unbelievable. All this time you’ve been lying to me, and my mom.”

  “Oh no. Your mom was a witch too, from our coven. I sent her to take care of you after your parents passed away. It was very sad that she died.”

  The French Quarter in New Orleans. Of course. “You know what happened to my parents?”

  “Cursed bloodline. They died in an unfortunate accident, and now are guests in Damien’s…realm.”

  My head was going to explode. I revolved in circles, peering at the darkness and the creatures that turned my life upside down. “I need a fucking minute.”

  “Take your time, sweetie. We have all night,” she said.

  My whole life was a lie. Everything was never mine. I had no control. No choices whatsoever. Every minute was designed to bring me to this one. Every person was fit in it to deliver me here.

  To Damien.

  The devil that played us. Broke us all.

  To have his queen.

  And it only took two hundred and fifty years. In his time, it was nothing.

  Well played, Damien. Well played.

  I breathed in the air, savored its taste, felt the coolness fill my lungs. I touched the grass and the tree, smelled the flowers, watched the moon. I stared at the people I loved, memorized their features, their scents, the rhythm of their heartbeats.

  I kissed each one of them and licked the taste. I laughed and then cried. And I felt the love in my heart, said my goodbyes and felt the ache, carved it all in my mind before my soul. As I might never feel any of that the same way ever again.

  My breath shuddered on my lips. “I’m ready.”

  The boys and I held hands in a circle while Katrina got sage and strange stones out of her tote. She placed them in a specific order, said some voodoo words and lit the sage.

  My soul was being ripped out of me, torn into a million pieces and then sewed together with the souls of my past lives. I’d become Rena and all her reincarnations all at once, and I saw their lives, the happiness and the sufferings.

  And the choices they had made.

  Katrina peered at me. “Have you made your choice?”

  This was it. The one moment I truly got to choose.

  The decision that would either start a happy life for me or end mine and Rena’s forever.

  Joshua, Alec and Kayden beseeched me with their glistening eyes under the moonlight. Damien’s red stare blazed at me, a genuine smile on his face, one you saw on the faces of grooms while Here Comes the Bride played at their weddings.

  He was happy.

  The potential of me choosing him wasn’t an evil demonic quest. It was his happily ever after.

  “Isabella, have you made your choice?” Katrina repeated, and everyone was looking at me.

  It was all clear in my head now. I did have a choice. “Yes,” I said, confidence brewing inside me.

  “Who do you choose to be your mate this lifetime?”

  “Kayden.”

  Kayden squeezed my hand. Sighs and swears filled the air. Joshua’s gaze dropped to the ground. Alec kicked at the dirt.

  “And Joshua…” I added, and his head snapped up. “And Alec.” He stopped kicking and glanced at me, his expression a question mark.

  “You can’t do that,” Damien thundered. “You have to choose one.”

  “No. The deal stated I had to make a choice. It didn’t say anything about choosing just one mate.” I stepped out of the circle and reached Damien. “It’s the twenty-first century. Ever heard of polyamory? A woman can choose to have multiple partners at the same time, have a big, happy family together.”

  His eyes flamed. I was positive if I touched him now, I would burn myself.

  “What’s hurting you the most now? That you lost me this lifetime? Or that I outsmarted you for once?” I asked.

  A dull shadow crossed his face. “Hope.”

  “Hope?”

  “What hurts me the most is that this time I actually had high hopes you would finally be mine. I even refurnished the home I’d prepared for us, had a huge ceremony awaiting your arrival.”

  “You were counting on our deal to get me as horny as possible so I’d mate with you, too, and choose you instead?”

  “Yes,” he confessed. “But now you have three mates.
I don’t think you’ll need me anymore.”

  I twisted my lips. “You give up that easily?”

  He gave me a quizzical look. “What are you telling me, Professor?”

  “There’s always a part of me that will want you, Damien. If I suppress it or ignore it, it will come back to bite me later, and it won’t be pleasant. I’m telling you if the part when you said you were in love with me is true, you will fight for me, make sacrifices—”

  “I’m ready to unleash hell on earth to have you, Isabella. If you will take me.”

  “Here’s a new deal for you. I wouldn’t be your hell queen. Not a big fan of fire. But I’ll let you be a part of my kingdom here on earth?”

  “Share you? With the beasts?

  I nodded. “No more reincarnations. No more pain. We all live forever. A Happily ever after for all.”

  He glared at me for long, nerve-wrecking moments.

  “I’m sure you’re smart enough to know it’s a great deal.” I tried not to give him too much to think. “The only deal where you get to have me. In the flesh you love so much.”

  “I do. But believe it or not, I love your heart even more. Do I have that, too?”

  “My sweet devil, you know I’ve already saved you a spot.”

  His notorious smirk curved up his mouth. “Your deal is very tempting.”

  I stretched my hand out. “Shake on it?”

  “Professor Ferro, you never cease to amaze me.” The smirk grew into that full genuine smile. Then he squeezed my hand in a firm shake.

  I looked the devil in the red eyes. “And Damien.”

  CHAPTER 39

  BELLE

  Katrina looked at me like I was a nutcase, waving burning sage at me. “Isabella, you have chosen four mates on this Halloween night. Is that your final decision?”

  “Yes.” I smiled.

  Her shoulders slumped. “And you? The four of you agree to be Isabella’s eternal mates on earth?”