A Beast For The Eyes: A Steamy Shifter Romance (A Ravenswood Romance Book 2)

by Jada Turner

  “Then it’s real? I mean, it exists.”

  The pimp leaned back in his chair and took another drag.

  “Yes. Yes, it exists. Now finding it, though. That’s another thing entirely,” he said. “You don’t know who I am do you?”

  “No,” Veronica said.

  “Ain’t never been down to 12th before?”

  “No.”

  “Hmm,” he said thoughtfully. “You just come around here, sweet piece of tail like you, flashing cash at strangers hoping to score some Moonshade. That there’s how folks get theyselves robbed or killed. I’m being very honest with you now. Hell, if I wasn’t I could sell you this bottle of water. You wouldn’t even know the difference.” He smiled at himself before getting suddenly serious again. “Best help I can give you is to tell you ‘go home.’”

  “Do you know anybody who could help me?”

  The pimp chuckled to himself.

  “Go try the Red Fang Bar, four blocks past the way you came. Lot of Wolfmen hang ‘round there.”

  He motioned to the doorman who opened the door for her to leave.

  “Thank you,” she said, turning to leave.

  “Hey,” said the pimp. “If you’re ever looking to make some money, beautiful, you just come find me.”

  Chapter 6

  Red Fang Bar looked like a promising place. Beer lights shone through the barred windows. A group of four or five bearded men stood in a circle by the door smoking cigarettes. They looked up at her as she approached, making toothy grins and whistling.

  Inside, the air was a stifling cloud of cigarette smoke making halos around the dim lights. Everyone turned to look at Veronica as she entered. She took a seat at the bar.

  “Whatya have?” asked the bartender, an older woman with a busty chest in a revealing shirt.

  “Flame Thrower,” she called out over the jukebox playing the blues.

  Veronica took and lit a cigarette from her pocket as the bartender came back with the drink. Veronica sipped at the cocktail as she stared off into the space in front of her trying to organize her thoughts and plan her next move. Would she start up a conversation with a stranger? How would she decide who to ask? The guys outside might know where to find Moonshade. She’d certainly need a couple more drinks before she’d ask them. And what if she didn’t find it? What’s the worst that could happen? Did she really care that Lucas would still be a Wolfman?

  No. Despite what the papers said, being a Wolfman wasn’t all that bad. There was a great deal of power that came with it. Some could use it for good, others would undoubtedly use it for evil.

  She thought back to last night. Lucas had transformed into an animal, but he was still himself. He was just more powerful and wild. Lucas was always a passionate lover, but as she thought back to that night, she recalled the unbridled passion it seemed to bring out of him.

  “Good drink for a cold day,” came a deep, warm voice from beside her.

  Veronica was startled. She hadn’t heard the man approach. She looked over and was doubly surprised by the handsome face she found. He was tall and thin, sporting an immaculate beard. His hair was slicked back carefully and a small cross was tattooed upside down under his eye. As he turned to look at her, she imagined she could see a red tinge to his hazel irises. There was something magnetic and disarming about him.

  “Well, yes. I’d like to think so,” she said.

  He smiled an easy smile that brightened his eyes.

  “I’ll have a Flame Thrower, same as this beautiful woman beside me,” he told the bartender. He returned his attention to Veronica.

  “No,” he seemed to say rather to himself than to her, “I can’t say I recall a winter this cold in quite a stretch. The wind cuts to the bone, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes, it’s awfully cold,” Veronica agreed.

  “Pardon me if I sound forward when I say it, but you don’t look like the kind of girl you typically see walking around the 12th District.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Well, you’re rather pretty, articulate, well dressed...”

  He chuckled softly to himself, “Where are my manners? My name’s Deriston. Friends call me D.”

  “Veronica,” she said, shaking his hand. “You don’t seem like the kind of man you typically see in the 12th district either.”

  Deriston shrugged.

  “I moved here about a year ago. It’s not upscale living, but it’s not the hellhole people make it out to be either.”

  “Where’d you live before?”

  “5th District. Up on Hickory Ave. It was a nice little place. What about you?”

  Veronica finished her drink and motioned to the bartender for another. She could feel the warmth of it spreading through her core. She enjoyed finding some conversation in the midst of this frustrating quest. She didn’t want to admit to Deriston that she came from the upscale 2nd District.

  “I’ve got a flat in the 4th District with my boyfriend.”

  A peculiar little smile came to his face when she said that.

  “The 4th District is a nice place,” Deriston nodded in approval. “What do you do up there?”

  “I work retail. Nothing terribly exciting, I’m afraid. What about you?”

  “Butcher,” he said. And then quickly, he turned to face her with a steely and cold expression, “So tell me Veronica, what is a pretty little saleswoman doing at a dive bar in the middle of 12th District? It’s obviously not to find some work selling clothes to strange men in bars.”

  Veronica wrestled silently for a moment with her thoughts, wondering if she should trust this man. She’d come a long way and certainly didn’t want to go home empty handed. There was something in his eyes and the confidence with which he carried himself. No, it wasn’t just that. There was something else, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She decided to take a chance.

  “I’m looking for something I hear you can get around here,” she said looking into her empty glass. She looked up into his eyes. “Something to help someone very close to me.”

  “What kind of help?”

  “They don’t tolerate the moon very well.”

  Deriston glanced over his shoulder before leaning in and dropping his voice to a whisper.

  “You mean Moonshade?” he said.

  Veronica nodded. Deriston fixed his eyes on her in silence for half a minute. He seemed to be calculating something in his mind or perhaps plotting his next words carefully.

  “I may be able to help,” he said.

  “Really?!” Veronica’s heart skipped a beat as she marveled at her good luck.

  Deriston nodded.

  “I don’t have it today, but I could have it tomorrow.”

  “How much?”

  Deriston sat quietly contemplating for a moment.

  “Normally, $250 or $300 a dose. But, I think I can get it to you for $100.”

  “Deriston, that’s fantastic.”

  “We’ll have to meet up somewhere private. My place is only two blocks south of here. Do you have a pen?”

  Veronica took a pen from her bag and handed it to him. He scribbled down the address on a napkin and handed it to her.

  “Meet me at this address at one o’clock tomorrow. Come alone and tell no one.”

  “Thank you,” Veronica said quietly.

  “I’m happy to help,” Deriston said with a magnanimous smile. “This next round’s on me.”

  Chapter 7

  Veronica boarded the bus back to the 2nd District. She was elated at the success of her journey. She pulled the napkin out of her pocket and mouth the address to sear it into her memory in case the napkin was somehow lost or destroyed.

  She thought of Lucas and imagined his reaction to the good news. She decided she would keep it a secret until she had the potion in her hand. She would have to get his hopes up when there was even the smallest chance that her plan would fall through. She had no doubt in her mind that it would, though. Though he was a stranger to her, Veron
ica trusted Deriston. Her intuition told her that he would not let her down.

  Chapter 8

  Lucas sat reading in his armchair when Veronica came gliding through the door of the apartment.

  “Hello darling,” he said rising to greet her. “Where have you been all day?”

  He held her in his muscular arms and kissed her softly on the lips. Veronica felt like a soldier returning triumphant from the battlefield. She melted in his soothing embrace.

  “Oh, just out doing a bit of window shopping,” she said. “How was your day?”

  “Busy,” he said, “but not nearly as productive as I’d hoped.”

  “Is something troubling you, love?” she said.

  “Yes. That article in the paper. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to get it out of my head.”

  Veronica hugged him tightly in her arms.

  “Don’t worry about that article, darling. I’ve got a feeling that everything’s about to take a turn for the best for us.”

  Lucas smiled.

  “I hope you’re right,” he said. He sniffed the air. “Have you been drinking?”

  “I may have stopped off for a drink or two,” she said.

  “You know, I think I could use a drink myself.”

  He went to the bar and grabbed a bottle of cognac. Veronica took the opportunity while Lucas wasn’t looking to go to the closet to discretely return the pistol to its hiding place within one of her boots. She decided to stash the napkin with the address written on it in the same spot.

  “What would you like?” he called.

  “What are you having,” she called

  “Belclare.”

  “I’ll have the same,” she said, closing the closet.

  She returned to the kitchen and had a seat on the stool. Lucas handed her the cocktail and raised his own glass.

  “Cheers, love,” he said.

  “To brighter days to come,” she toasted.

  She and Lucas drank and talked into the night. Veronica kissed Lucas passionately as they made their way back to the bedroom. Her hands stroked the skin of his strong back and she pulled his shirt over his head. She pushed him down onto the bed while she stood at the end and performed a strip tease for him. She turned around unbuttoning her shirt and let it fall to the floor. She turned around with her hands cupping her ample breasts. She revealed them slowly, allowing her hands to wander and explore her body. One made its way up her neck to clutch her hair. The other hand wandered down her front, over the soft skin of her core and down into her pants. Slowly, she undid the button and unzipped. She shed the tight clothing like and stood bare before Lucas. She came to the bed and lay down beside him. They kissed again as Veronicas hand wandered down Lucas’ rippling abs and felt his hard cock. Lucas turned her over and removed his pants. He ran his hands over her and kissed her, but she didn’t respond.

  “Veronica?” Lucas whispered. “Veronica? Are you awake?”

  After an exhausting day and hours of drinking, Veronica was powerless to hold back the heavy veil of sleep. As her eyes began to shut, she thought she could see Lucas opening the door of the hall closet. Then, the blanket of dreams fell over her eyes.

  Chapter 9

  A full moon shone brightly over tall, towering trees of the dark forest. The wind whispered through the leaves, adding a touch of coolness to the warm, moist air. Hundreds of unseen crickets chirped, playing the symphony of night.

  Veronica stood in a clearing illuminated by a popping bonfire. The smell of wood smoke filled her nostrils. She noticed she was dressed in a flowing dress made of fine fabric that allowed her to feel the night air on every inch of her skin. She felt the cool blades of soft grass tickling her between the toes of her bare feet.

  She could sense someone was approaching from behind her. She turned and saw Lucas walking into the clearing. He smiled at her as he approached and took her into his arms. Their lips melded together as they kissed. His hands massaged her shoulders, then slipped them underneath her shoulder straps. The dress fell into a pile around her ankles, exposing her womanly form in the moonlight.

  She pulled Lucas’ shirt over his head and took in the beautiful texture of his muscular body. He place a hand in either of her cheeks and pressed his lips to hers again. As he did, she slid her hands down the small of his back, under his pants, and grabbed his smooth buttocks with a squeeze.

  She took one of his hands from her face and guided it slowly down her neck and onto her breast. A shiver of excitement ran through her body as his fingers brushed against her hardening nipple. She moved her hand the buckle of his belt. She unbuckled it and slid his zipper down. Now his pants feel to the ground. She could feel herself becoming wet.

  From behind her, she sensed another presence enter the clearing. Even without looking, she could tell it was a strong male presence. She felt no fear as a rough set of hands gently grabbed her bare waist. She could feel the course hair of a beard tickling the back of her neck. She turned her head to see Deriston standing shirtless behind her. She felt comfort in seeing his handsome face and he looked at her with soft, passionate eyes.

  She was sandwiched now between two strong men. She could feel the form of Deriston’s muscles as his smooth skin pressed into her back. Through his jeans she could feel the bulge of his big, hardening cock.

  Veronica guided Lucas’s hand down her from until it reached her shaven womanhood and grazed against her clitoris. Her excitement built as she pulled down Lucas’ shorts exposing his long, fully erect shaft.

  She turned and kissed Deriston as his hands grasped her breasts. She guided the tip of Lucas’ cock around the wet, dripping lips of her pussy. Deriston removed his jeans and the three stood in perfect nudity in the firelight.

  Deriston laid her gently onto the grass and Lucas laid down beside her. She closed her eyes, savoring the feeling of the hands rubbing and caressing her body, losing track of whom each belong to.

  Deriston made little circles with his tongue around her rock hard nipple as Lucas suckled her other breast. She grabbed Lucas’s cock in her hand stroking it gently. Deriston took her other hand and guided it to his own. She lay fondling both, feeling the blood rush into them as she ran her thumbs across the tips. The three bodies were as one, breathing together.

  Lucas began tracing a line with his tongue down Veronica’s body, over her belly, up her inner thigh, and finally arriving at her beckoning clit. Tidal waves of pleasure cascaded over her body as he skillfully pleasured her with his mouth. Deriston straddled her chest with his powerfully built legs. She could see his rock hard cock throbbing in the firelight. She grabbed his taut glutes and pulled her mouth close to the shaft of his manhood. She gazed up into his eyes, before flicking his tip with her soft wet tongue.

  Between her thighs, Lucas slowly inserted a finger into the tight, wet entrance to her womanhood while still caressing her clit with his tongue. She moaned as shivers of pleasure washed over her with each thrust.

  She kissed the head of Deriston’s shaft, letting it slip between her lips. She could feel his muscles tense with delight and his hand smoothed back the locks of hair from her face. He looked into her eyes at her with look of fiery passion, begging her with his gaze. She slowly took his full shaft into her mouth just as Lucas inserted a second finger deep into her. She could feel herself getting wetter still as she took Deriston’s cock in and out.

  Lucas was unable to deny himself the pleasure of her body any longer. He sat up and pulled Veronica’s legs wide apart, gaining full access to her glistening pussy. He inserted himself, stretching her wide open. Her whole body sang as he thrust himself in and out. In and out. She fell into his rhythm as she plunged Deriston’s cock in and out of her mouth. She could feel both of them hardening, preparing to cum. She felt her own body tensing. They were as one creature, breathing in unison. Thrusting in unison. She could feel they were on the verge of an explosive orgasm. So was she. Yes, her body cried, every inch of her skin prickling with electricity. Yes!r />
  Suddenly she could feel the hot warm essence burst into her mouth and womb, filling her completely. She could bear it no more and an explosion of her own bliss blast through her core, shooting through the whole of her body until she lay motionless on the grass, powerless to move or do anything but lay back and feel her body hum with ecstasy.

  ---

  It was dark when Veronica opened her eyes. She was back in her bedroom. She realized it had all been a dream, but still her body felt the combination of energy and calmness that comes only from making passionate love. She looked over at Lucas. In the streetlamp light that filtered in through the blinds, she could see Lucas’ chest rise and fall peacefully. Veronica put a hand on his powerful chest and planted a kiss on his cheek. Oh love, she thought to herself, if only you knew that everything will be fixed tomorrow.

  She got up from the bed, donned a thick robe, and grabbed a cigarette from her bag. The night air wasn’t as cold as she’d expected on their porch overlooking the empty streets. The traffic light cycled through their colors for nobody, casting their light on the freshly fallen snow. The moon was bright and a few stars even penetrated through the city’s glow. Veronica exhaled a cloud of smoke. Her body buzzed as the nicotine hit. She smiled, feeling more than anything that the future was bright and everything would be okay.

  Chapter 10

  Lucas woke to the sun shining through the window blinds and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He turned over to find Veronica’s side of the bed was empty. He got up, stretched, and made his way to the kitchen.

  He was surprised to find Veronica standing at the stove cooking.

  “Good morning, darling,” she greeted him brightly.

  “Good morning,” Lucas said, crossing the room to kiss her. “You’re up early.”