Alpha's Mate: A Steamy PNR Shifter & Fantasy Romance Collection (Hot Shifters Book 3)

by Casey Morgan

  There was nothing else for me to do besides walk around, so I gave up. I began heading back towards my dorm. Half of my reasoning was because maybe Angie had decided to go home as well, and the other half was because I had too much going on in my mind and needed to sit down in order to sort it all out.

  The walk back to my dorm took longer than usual. My steps were weighed down by thoughts of my new trial. Despite my mouthing off to Headmaster Thorn, the fact that I only had two weeks to learn how to shift seemed almost impossible. Quite honestly, I had little confidence in myself. The unfairness of the situation danced around in my head. I had just learned that I might be able to shift, and he expects me to be able to control it in a few weeks? Shouldn’t me being a witch be enough to keep me in this school?

  I knew that Thorn was targeting me specifically, believing that I didn’t belong at Ironwood. The blatant contempt that he held for me was not only hurtful but also completely unprofessional. Teachers could be mean and all that, but they shouldn’t crave your downfall.

  I bit my lip in frustration as I approached the doors to the dorm. With little regard to those around me, I entered the building and made my way up the stairs. As soon as I was at my bedroom door, I felt a sense of relief wash over me.

  Hopefully Angie was there, but if she wasn’t, at least I would have time to gather my thoughts.

  Chapter Five

  I opened the dorm room door with little enthusiasm.

  The dorms at Ironwood were cold and drafty with thick stone walls and windows with large benches in front of them. The black and white linens on the twin beds—made to match the tartan of the school uniforms—didn’t add anything to warm the feeling of the room, but that didn’t matter. This place was my home now. The only one I had.

  Keeping my head down, I closed the door behind me and took my shoes off. The air inside the room was stiff and empty. Without even looking around, I knew that Angie wasn’t here. I couldn’t do much about the situation, so I ended up throwing my book bag onto my side of the room and jumping onto my bed. A groan of frustration escaped me as soon as I was enveloped by my blankets.

  There was really nothing I could do about Angie having run away. I knew in the back of my mind that she wasn’t likely to do anything stupid. That and the fact that Drew was probably searching the entire campus and beyond for her made me feel better. That small amount of comfort allowed me to move my thoughts back to my own troubles.

  I tried to focus on Headmaster Thorn and how I could get myself to shift in time for the full moon, but for some reason, Cade McWilliams kept popping up in my mind. His physical appearance was enough to take over my imagination, but the air of absolute dominance and control that he had radiated earlier in the headmaster’s office left a craving within me. Thoughts of Big Boy danced vigorously in my fantasies, and my mind shifted to the idea of fucking him.

  The idea of Cade gently caressing my cheek with his right hand only to reach below with his left and slip up under my skirt left my core quivering. Slowly I reached my hand down in imitation.

  My legs gently spread, exposing the underside of my skirt to cool air, a shiver went up my spine. Slowly, my fingers found their way up my inner thighs and to my wet pussy. My middle finger dragged upwards until I felt the pleasing sensation of contact upon my sweet bud. Slowly and tenderly, I began to circle around my clit, savoring the sensation it sent throughout my body.

  My mind traveled back to Cade as I continued. His tall, solid form, muscular thighs, and piercing eyes. With a body like that, there was no doubt within me that his cock was substantial both in length and width.

  I felt the need to open my mouth as my middle finger moved faster and faster in an attempt to keep my body up to speed with my imagination. I moaned as if my mouth was enveloping his cock and choking on my own pleasure.

  When the thought of his hands trailing down my body and spreading my legs further manifested, I reached my other hand down to my pussy. Without any hesitation, I plunged two fingers deep within me. The feeling caused my back to arch as I imagined Cade thrusting himself in and out of me.

  I bit my lip and sped my fingers up, causing a wet sound to emanate from within me. I switched to three fingers and held back a whimper. Both my clit and pussy began to heat up with friction and desire. I wanted him, I wanted Cade to fuck me.

  With the craving of release eating at my core, the sweet sensation that I had been chasing began to build itself between my hips. With the final thought of Cade towering over me, his magnetic eyes staring into mine, thrusting himself into me one last time with his sweat dripping onto my face and mixing with mine, I exploded with pleasure.

  As my shudders slowly subsided, I removed my hands and allowed myself to stare up at the ceiling. My body may have been content, but I knew that I needed the real thing. I needed Cade deep within me.

  After a few minutes of just steady breathing, my thoughts began to shift back to my issues. Since my tension had been removed, I began to see things a bit more clearly. Instead of being as pessimistic as I was previously, I, instead, gained more of a curious point of view. I wondered what kind of animal my family shifted into? Whenever I looked at other shifters, I never felt any particular attachment to anything that they transformed into, so I had absolutely no basis for anything. The more I compared my situation to other shifters, the bolder I felt.

  If Jasper, Cade, and Jacob could all shift with such ease, I was sure I could learn it too. Magic, as a witch, also felt incredibly instinctual at certain times. Maybe if I tried to reach that same energy with the intention to shift forms, I could actually shift.

  Just the idea filled me with glee. I remembered back to when I had first learned to direct magic through my wand. Perhaps I could manage to move the energy in a similar way in order to make myself shift?

  I swung my legs over the edge of my bed and sat up in as comfortable a position as I could. Closing my eyes, I took deep, steady breaths to focus my life force. As I separated my breaths and felt the energy flowing through my veins, I began to try and control it.

  There was a brief moment where the question of which animal I could be passed through my head. In a moment of confusion, I settled on a cat. Having seen Angie shift so many times, it almost felt as if it would be the most natural. So, with the image of a cat in my mind, I began trying to make my energy shift and form into something, anything, resembling a cat.

  The more I focused, the more my head seemed to float. I almost felt detached and lost, it must’ve been working. My body tingled, and my energy flowed freely.

  “What are you doing?”

  My eyes shot open, and I jumped to my feet in surprise. Drew was staring at me and smirking. I frowned and sat back down in frustration. As soon as he saw that I wasn’t too mad, he began to chuckle. My cheeks flushed red and I crossed my arms.

  “What was that, Ruby?” he asked between laughs

  “Not that it’s any of your business,” I shot back, “but I was trying to shift.”

  As if the chuckles had not been enough, my confession sent Drew into loud and—quite honestly—obnoxious laughter. I huffed in response and waited for him to calm down enough to continue the conversation.

  As important as my shifting issue was, the problem with Angie took priority. As soon as he was done laughing, I dove in.

  “Did you find Angie?” I questioned.

  Drew sighed. “Yeah, she’s hiding out in the woods behind the school for the time being.”

  “What? That’s great, let’s go get her!”

  “I... I don’t think that that’s such a great idea.”

  “Why? You know where she is, so let’s go bring her home.”

  Drew shrugged his shoulders. “I tried talking some sense into her, but she’s choosing to stay there. She’s too embarrassed to come back right now.”

  “Then what do we do?” I mumbled, dropping my shoulders.

  The ghost shrugged and floated towards the ceiling slightly. “Wait for her to come back.
She’ll feel ready eventually.”

  An uncomfortable silence sat between us as we both considered the situation. As much as I wanted to run into the woods, find Angie, and bring her back home, I was well aware that Drew knew best. If he truly believed that his sister would calm down and come back when she was truly ready, then I had to believe that as well.

  “So-” Drew broke the silence, “You were trying to shift earlier?”

  I nodded, thankful for the change in subject.

  “What’s that all about?” he asked, floating down and appearing to sit cross-legged on Angie’s bed across from me.

  “Headmaster Thorn gave me a new trial,” I explained. “I have to be able to shift into an animal form in two weeks.”

  Drew blinked his pale, white eyes. “That’s... That’s rough.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

  He floated closer to me and sat down on my bed with an expression on his semi-transparent face that was somewhat contorted, tearing between startled and concerned. I watched his features transition between multiple different expressions as he tried to find the right way to explain his point of view to me.

  “Spit it out, Drew,” I interrupted. “What is it?”

  “It’s just that shifting is really hard for adults... or anyone that didn’t do it as a child.”

  “It is?”

  “Yeah. Usually, shifters learn how to transform at a young age, so when they grow older, it becomes somewhat second nature.”

  My heart sank into my stomach. There’s no way that shifting was second nature to me. I just learned that I had shifter blood, how could I possibly even imagine it becoming instinct to transform? I was growing increasingly worried. With this information in mind, my thoughts turned darker and darker. What if I couldn’t shift in enough time? If I couldn’t get this to work, I’ll definitely get tossed out of Ironwood like a piece of trash. I couldn’t let that happen.

  “Drew?” I asked tentatively. “What does it feel like to shift?”

  The question was meant to be light in subject. It didn’t even cross my mind that Drew rarely shared anything about his past. So, it made his answer even more potent.

  “I can’t remember.”

  He held my eyes with his for a brief second, and I could see depths of sorrow in them. Then he was gone.

  Chapter Six

  By the third day, Angie not being there to say good morning when I woke up was really starting to get to me. I was so used to having her spunky attitude being the first thing that I experienced every day that now, being alone seemed mundane. For the past two days, I’d tried to convince Drew to let me go search for her in the woods behind Ironwood. Even though I knew that my friend needed her space, it was beginning to appear like straight isolation as opposed to alone time.

  Drew wasn’t letting me search, he wasn’t searching, and after our shifting conversation, he was even more distant. Every time I tried to approach him and continue the conversation, he turned invisible and fled. At that point, him being a ghost was starting to piss me off. If he wasn’t already dead, I would’ve threatened his life.

  Every hour that Angie wasn’t safe in our room, I grew increasingly worried. That worry followed me out of my room and trailed me all the way to my class. The turmoil of emotion left me feeling dazed and detached from everything that was going on around me. The walk to Basic Spells was long and painful to take. Even though I usually enjoyed the smell of freshly cut grass and the sound of all the students making their way around the hallways, it was hard to find joy in it with everything that was going on.

  My self-confidence as a witch was dropping significantly. It was only day three of me being alone, and I was already falling behind in classes without Angie’s help. I wouldn’t have thought that her little side comments and suggestions were fundamental to my school experience, but I was wrong. I missed every little piece of advice that she gave me, even if by some chance I had already known what she shared.

  This lack of support stood in front of me and dropped my spirits during Basic Spells. I wasn’t sure if it was because my mind was wandering so far away from rational thought, or because I truly was in distress. Honestly, it was likely a combination of both.

  The spell was simple enough. Although it was only a cute little teacup with duckling designs on the side, it looked rather intimidating. All I had to do was melt the cup. I focused my energy and shifted a large majority of it to my wand. I took deep breaths and concentrated on the cup, closing my eyes. I could feel the energy flowing out of me.

  Melt, melt, melt.

  I couldn’t believe that Angie had had such a meltdown.

  As soon as my thoughts shifted over, I heard a loud cracking noise in front of me. I opened my eyes in just enough time to see the porcelain heat up too much and explode, sending pieces all over the classroom. Shrieking, I dropped my wand and brought my hands and arms up to shield my face.

  “MS.THRUSHMOOR!!!” A scream pierced through the silence.

  I whipped my head to the side, watching as Professor Bigsby immediately made her way over to my table. Her white-blue eyes flashed with anger, and her hair trailed behind her like ash. I swallowed heavily as she stepped over the bits of porcelain that littered the floor around my desk.

  “Professor Bigsby,” I started to explain, “I don’t know what happened—”

  Before I could get another word out, the tall professor continued to yell, “Ms.Thrushmoor, this is an elementary-level spell. The fact that you can’t even direct the small amount of energy needed to conduct a melting spell is ridiculous and absurd!”

  “But—”

  She hunched her shoulders, folding her arms so she could claw at her own elbows. Bigsby was a bear shifter, and when she got angry—which was often—she became more bear-like. Her iron-gray eyebrows even seemed to get fluffier.

  She glared down at me. “Forget elementary-level spell, that was an elementary-level mistake! If you can’t do something this simple, then you should just leave Ironwood! This is a higher-level institution, not a daycare for magically ignorant children.”

  My chest heaved with panic as Professor Bigsby continued to yell. Porcelain was still scattered, and my wand was thrown off to the side somewhere. I wanted to speak up, to defend myself, but the complete verbal smackdown that I was receiving was too much for my already low self-confidence to handle. I could feel the tears build up in my eyes and threatening to spill down my cheeks. I managed to hold them back.

  “I was distracted...” was all that I was able to mumble.

  The professor tutted. “Well, then you need to learn how to concentrate. Even a monkey can focus when it needs to!” she responded. “Clean up your mess!”

  I instinctively stood up in response and looked around me frantically. I knew that Bigsby wasn’t suggesting that I pick up the teacup pieces with my hands or grab a broom, she wanted me to use magic. Maybe I would have if I had a clear mind, wasn't panicking, or was holding my wand.

  I stared at the ground in frustration and embarrassment, trying to think of a spell, any spell, to help clean up the pieces. I was about to give up and breakdown into tears when I felt a large hand rest itself on my shoulder. Looking up, I saw Jasper, who smiled at me slightly and handed me my wand.

  He used his own wand to carefully shift the broken porcelain on the floor. Even I could feel his powerful energy as it swirled around and began to collect all the pieces of the broken teacup. They spun around together and moved towards the desk. Within ten or so seconds, they reformed and sat next to my notebook as a once again fully formed teacup—even the duckling design had fixed itself.

  Professor Bigsby had left towards the front of the room, no doubt done dealing with the situation and my incompetence. I would’ve felt relief and gone back to what I was doing, but I was stuck watching Jasper in awe.

  The graceful way that the shards of porcelain had flown through the air and stuck together as if in a dance was mesmerizing. I needed to learn how
to do that and do that well. I could ask Jasper, but I knew that him explaining it wouldn’t be enough for me to fully understand; otherwise, I would already be a spell master.

  I made a mental note that the next time that I had the opportunity to fuck him, I would use my succubus necklace to squeeze every bit of information about any spell out of him. With the necklace’s powers, it wouldn’t be too much of a problem. I just needed to get him back into bed.

  “What was that all about, Ruby?” Jasper took the empty seat next to me and put his wand down on the desk. Turning towards me, he looked into my face with his icy-blue eyes.

  “The teacup?” I asked.

  He nodded in clarification, and it made his silky blonde hair shift in the sunlight coming through the classroom’s windows. I couldn’t tell him everything. I couldn’t let him know that I was new to magic. But Jasper had seen me in too many positions and situations that I couldn’t tell a flat out lie. Not to mention, he might’ve been able to help my situation. I knew he wasn’t an idiot when it came to magic, and he definitely wasn’t ignorant to the ways of shifting.

  I decided that I could tell him a half-truth. It wouldn’t affect me too badly to just share a little bit.

  “I just found out that I’m partial-shifter,” I admitted.

  Jasper raised his eyebrows and smiled, “Really?”

  “Yeah... I found out from a blood test.”

  “That’s wonderful, Ruby!” He reached over to pull me into an embrace. I put my hands on his chest to stop him.

  “Not necessarily....”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Headmaster Thorn gave me two weeks to learn how to shift, or else I’ll be kicked out of Ironwood.”

  He sighed and sat back into the chair. “And you don’t know how?”

  I nodded in confirmation. When Jasper saw the dejected look on my face, he stood up and began to look me up and down. There was no love or lust in his eyes at the time, he was analyzing me.

  “Even looking closely,” he said slowly, “I can’t exactly tell what animal you are...”