Shifter Starter Set

by Candace Ayers

  I shook my head and pointed to the door. “One more thing to process.”

  He was almost out when I thought of something else. “Wait, Thorn. How is mating done, if it’s not sex?”

  He gripped the door molding and didn’t turn back around to face me. “I would… claim you during sex. With a bite. It would leave a mark on you, letting everyone know that you’re mine.”

  I watched him go and leaned back. He had nothing to worry about. With these thoughts buzzing around in my head, there would be no sleep anytime soon.

  25

  Allie

  It’d been a week since I found out about the bear population of Burden. A week of looking at the world through very different eyes. Finding out that people I’d met in Burden, people who in every other aspect appeared to be, well… people, were actually bears too. The men, anyway. Even Abram was a shifter. Learning that they weren’t what I’d thought wasn’t as uncomfortable to me as I might have suspected. To me they were just normal men…who could also become bears.

  Seeing was also believing, and Thorn’s friends were amazing that week. They each shifted for me and let me see their bears so I knew I wasn’t just imagining everything.

  I’d also talked to Georgia about it for hours at a time on the phone. It went without saying that the whole shifter thing was something that needed to be kept hush-hush, but I knew Georgia. The woman had never met an idea or challenge that she wasn’t willing to face head on. Plus, I’d trust Georgia with my life. I knew she’d take a secret to her grave rather than betray our friendship.

  Georgia had been beyond surprised, she was thrilled and excited. In fact, after I’d told her about Thorn, and that I was planning to stay in Burden for a while, maybe indefinitely, she made immediate plans to head to Texas to visit for a little while.

  I’d lost all my anger at Thorn the night I found out about shifters, but I’d still kept him at a distance in the beginning of the week. I wanted to see how he was going to react to me when I wasn’t being stalked by my ex and recovering from a bump to the head. I didn’t really know how this whole mate thing worked. Would he still want me as badly when there wasn’t any competition?

  I worked at night and explored Burden during the day, doing all I could to get back to feeling normal and to forget about the biting part of mating.

  I couldn’t deny what I felt for Thorn. The strong connection was there before I even knew about mates. Or shifters. Since then, he’d made so many efforts to get closer to me that our connection had grown stronger.

  He was proving that he meant what he said about believing that I was his mate. His eyes stayed on me when he was in the same room as me and when I’d finally give in and look at him, he’d have heat and something softer in his eyes. It was arresting. Seeing such a big man, a man who had power that I didn’t even understand, look at me like he would just wither and blow away if I rejected him was heart wrenching. I was his. I was. It was just the biting that I couldn’t seem to get past.

  He left flowers for me. Granted, they sometimes still had the roots attached, but I gave him credit anyway, because, obviously, the crazy bear wasn’t used to giving girls flowers. He also insisted on walking me to and from work every day. I’d turned down all his invitations for dinner at his place, though. It wasn’t that I wasn’t ready to get on with our relationship. I was just nervous.

  Abram had explained to me what a mate was to a shifter and what it meant. Mating with Thorn was a more powerful thing to do than if I went out and married him. Mating was forever. While I didn’t doubt my feelings for him, at all, I was terrified of forever. What if he couldn’t leave his womanizing ways behind? Without question, I knew if he cheated on me, it wouldn’t be like it was with Eric or the others. It would destroy me.

  Still, I couldn’t stay away from him any longer. I was feeling the absence of his touch. Like an addict, my hands shook when he was near me. It seemed impossible to fight.

  But, I had to eventually put on my big girl panties, and tonight was the night. I was giving in— at least to sex with him. I’d made sure to dress in a tiny skirt and a tank top that dipped low. I slipped away from the bar during a lull and carried a beer to his table.

  Thorn was sitting in his normal seat, with Hutch, Sam, Sterling, and Wyatt beside him. I smiled at the rest of the guys and then leaned down in front of Thorn. The position gave him an eyeful of cleavage and he didn’t miss the chance to look at it.

  “I was hoping that maybe you could show me around your place tonight.” I put the beer down in front of him and stood back up.

  Before I could even turn away, he’d grabbed my arm. He easily picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder. “Abram, cover for us,” he shouted across the room.

  I felt my face burning as the bar erupted in cheers. “Thorn!”

  He slapped my ass hard enough to sting and rushed out of the bar. “Say no and I’ll carry you back inside right now, Allie.”

  I remained silent and held on as he straightened me and put me in the cab of his truck. Instead of rushing around to the driver’s side, though, he captured my lips in a kiss, demanding and hot, and I moaned as he slipped his tongue into my mouth and his hands into my hair.

  Just as quickly, he was gone. He slammed the door closed and was getting in behind the wheel in a flash. He looked at me with enough heat to light the world on fire, and then started the truck.

  I held my breath as he pedal-to-the-metaled it towards his place. I’d planned on at least looking around his place for a few minutes, but his urgency told me that that might have to wait. I felt the same sense of urgency. As soon as he touched me, the need had increased to a nearly painful level. I wanted him. Now.

  “You want to be with me forever?” I swore after I asked it. Why had I opened my mouth? Crazy things were bound to come out. I wasn’t in control enough to make sure they didn’t.

  Thorn swung a sharp left and then glanced at me after he straightened the truck. “Yes. I want forever. Do you?”

  “You really do?”

  He slid to a stop in front of a log cabin style house. “Yes. I really do. That’s what I’ve been trying to show you. I messed up at first. I was too scared to accept what this was. I’m nothing without you, Allie. You’re my other half. I would let you go if you wanted me to, but that will never be what I want. I want to claim you and mark you as my own so you know and so every fucker in this town knows that I would die for you. I’m in. I’m in this with everything I have.”

  I threw myself into his arms, across the console, and wrapped myself around him. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I kissed him with everything I had in me, letting him know how happy he made me.

  Thorn pulled me out of the truck, stumbling as I made the job harder by kissing his neck and face. He grabbed my ass and lifted it and held me to him so I could wrap my legs around him. We made it to the door and then fell to the floor in the entryway.

  It didn’t matter to either of us. Thorn kissed my skin as he exposed it, pulling the tank top down and then ripping it over my head. His hands were everywhere, teasing me.

  “I want you to mark me. I want to do this.” I said it while gripping his hair and pulling his face up to mine.

  Thorn kissed me senseless and yanked my skirt up to my waist. My panties were ripped off and his pants were undone. When he pulled back, his eyes were burning bright. “Forever?”

  I tugged at his pants and nodded. “Forever. Do you-?”

  He cut me off by rolling us and suddenly brushing the tip of his shaft against my slick folds. He held my gaze as he slowly pushed into me. “Completely.”

  I wrapped myself around him and buried my face in his neck, feeling entirely overwhelmed with delirious pleasure. This felt different. Knowing he was my mate and that this was going to be forever took it to a whole different intensity than the first time. I could already feel my body tensing for a release.

  Thorn thrust himself back and forth inside of me, slow and deep, taking me to levels
that I didn’t know existed. He braced himself on his elbows on either side of my head, and when I tilted my head back, and our eyes met, I could see that he was just as affected as I was. My world rocked.

  “Claim me, Thorn.”

  He nudged my head to the side and lowered his mouth to my neck. I held my breath as his tongue teased me and licked the sensitive skin. Then he kissed me there. “Relax, Allie. I would never hurt you.”

  I tilted my hips and he hit an even deeper spot, spurring the first ripples of my orgasm. I cried out and then felt it. Hot pleasure radiated from my neck as I felt his teeth sink in. My orgasm doubled, tripled as I felt Thorn give himself to me completely. A second passed and Thorns body spasmed as he climaxed with me.

  Our bodies writhed together until we were both wiped out, exhausting everything in our mating. We were tangled together, our clothes pushed and pulled in ways that made it hard to move, but everything was perfect. I’d never felt so at peace as I did in that moment.

  I kept my body wrapped around Thorn’s, even as he rolled to his side to hold me. I kept my body wrapped around his, even as I drifted into a blissful sleep.

  26

  Hawthorne

  I watched my mate sleeping in my arms, both of us still on the floor. I glanced up at the door, unsure if we’d even closed it. It was pushed most of the way shut, so I ignored it and turned my attentions back to Allie. Her hair was rumpled and a piece clung to her lips as she made a gentle whistling sound. Her body was molded against mine so closely that I couldn’t see much but the curve of her waist. Even just that glimpse had me hard again.

  Somehow, I hadn’t managed to fuck everything up. She still wanted me. After the way I’d been such a jackass to her, I couldn’t imagine why. I was grateful, though. She was everything.

  After I’d moved past my own fear, it hadn’t taken long to realize that she was nothing like my father or my mother. I was nothing like my father or mother. I didn’t have to worry about their past becoming my present. I knew Allie, even from just watching her the past week. I was safe with her. And she was safe with me.

  Talking to Abram, and some of the other mated guys in town, I’d come to realize that I hadn’t understood the mate bond at all. I was fucking lucky I’d found my mate.

  She stirred in her sleep and I smiled like an grinnin’ fool down at her. Her skirt was still on and the boots she wore hadn’t been taken off, either. My pants were still caught around my legs and I’d somehow managed to keep my hat on. I should’ve felt ashamed for not making the claiming more special for her. But, I couldn’t feel anything but happy as a pig in mud that it’d happened. I had a lifetime to make things special. And I’d spend every day of it trying.

  Allie stirred again and I pressed my lips to her forehead. When she opened her eyes, they were full of happiness. I grinned back at her. “Hi.”

  She stretched, exposing the curve of her breast to me. “Hi, yourself.”

  I rolled us over so she was on top of me and I caught one of her nipples in my mouth. I nipped it gently and then fell back with a groan as she lifted her hips and took me in her hot body again. “Jesus, woman.”

  She braced herself on my chest and rolled her hips. “Eventually, we should talk more.”

  I bucked my hips up to meet her. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk more once you move in here.”

  She started to argue but I rolled us over and thrust into her again. “We’ll talk later”

  With a wicked grin, she raked her nails down my back. “Later, then.”

  I had a feeling she could talk me into anything. If she didn’t want to move in, I’d be staying in the too-small bed of a trailer with newly warped floors. It didn’t matter, though. Especially when she licked her lips and rolled us over so she was on top again. I was so lost in euphoria, I had no interest in being found.

  THE END

  NEXT BOOK IN THIS SERIES…

  Georgia and Wyatt couldn't be more opposite.

  Wyatt is a wilderness survivalist, used to barking orders. In a survival situation, what he says goes, or somebody could get hurt.

  Georgia does what she wants, when she wants. Her life is endless parties, fundraisers, and spa days.

  When Georgia takes Wyatt’s survival tour, he knows instantly that she’s his mate. But, everything that can go wrong, does. Has fate made a terrible mistake? How will he survive Georgia as a mate when he’s not sure he’ll survive the week?

  Get Wyatt HERE

  (Get the entire Bears of Burden series HERE and Save.)

  Wolf Boss

  She-Shifters of Hell’s Corner

  Carter Ray has vowed off men. She and her daughter, Jellybean, have found refuge in the mostly female-populated town of Helen’s Corner. She wants nothing to do with the visiting wolf shifter, despite his wickedly delicious scent that drives her bear into a frenzy.

  The last thing billionaire Alec Patterson expected to find in the small southwestern town was his mate. Now his biggest challenge is getting rid of the woman he came with before he loses his mate for good.

  1

  Carter

  My living room had become an informal meeting place for some of the ladies—my new friends—here in Helen’s Corner. The girls were discussing effective advertising for the upcoming fall season to lure more tourists to town.

  My personal opinion would not have been helpful, so I kept it to myself. Personally, I didn’t want tourists. They were stressful and I didn’t like so many strangers being around. I, however, didn’t have a business to run. The women around me did, and they depended on the tourists to keep them open and running. Which was why I didn’t chime in. My vote would have been to put up roadblocks and maybe even barricades and quarantines to keep newcomers out of the little town of Helen’s Corner, a.k.a. Hell’s Crazy Corner, that had recently become home for my daughter and me.

  Muddy Hilton, friend, owner of Muddy’s Corner Bed and Breakfast, and my employer, had the floor. It was easy for her to attract the attention of whatever room she entered. In addition to her bold and take-charge personality, her vibrant red hair and peaches and cream complexion turned heads. “I liked the year that we all dressed up as witches. I wore those thigh-high boots with the pointed toes and I didn’t have to shave my legs all season.”

  Sonnie Chaplan shook her head. “No, it’s not politically correct. I have a friend in Austin who’s Wiccan and she says that it’s offensive to dress that way because witches look like normal people, not old hags with pointy hats and warts on their noses.”

  “Well, now I’m offended. What do old hags look like?” Muddy’s mom, Grace Ellen, piped up. Grace Ellen owned a flea market called Another Woman’s Treasure and looked nowhere near her age. At sixty, she could’ve passed for forty.

  “Nothing at all like you, Mom.” Muddy rolled her eyes and held up her hands. “Okay, witches are out. I’m one more rejection away from suggesting we do a month in our bra and panties. Anything to get people in here. Last year, I barely made enough to keep the doors open.”

  Sonnie sighed and stared out my open front windows and across the road at her little flower shop. It’s Sonnie Out Flowers hadn’t fared any better, or so I’d heard. “Maybe they won’t mind. The Wiccans, I mean. In the name of sisterhood and all that, maybe it wouldn’t be too offensive.”

  Charlie—Charlotte only if you were her mother—Monroe stood up and pointed at Muddy. “Maybe you’re onto something with the bra and panties.”

  “Says the woman who owns the underwear shop,” Grace Ellen laughed.

  “That’s lingerie,” Charlie corrected, “not underwear.”

  “Well, in any case, I can’t afford to get anymore pretty bloomers from you than I already have, Charlie.”

  “Ahh, but look at my latest,” Charlie grinned and pulled up her T-shirt, revealing a beautiful lace detailed bra that hugged her generous bust line perfectly. None of us was the least bit ruffled by her display. She was always flashing us her boobs to show off her new desig
ns. “I just finished this one for myself.”

  “Oooh—Can you make me one in pink?” Sonnie pulled up her own shirt and showed off another of Charlie’s impressive designs. “I’m wearing this one out. It’s just so pretty. Even though no one can see it, I feel beautiful just knowing it’s there beneath my clothing.”

  I scanned my living room and, like some sort of soft-porn pajama party, all the women were showing off their Charlie Monroe Specialty Designs, CMSD, as the black and white sign over her store proudly displayed. Her shop did well all year ‘round because the women of Helen’s Corner couldn’t stay away from it.

  When Muddy realized my bosom was still completely covered, she made a face at me and nodded towards my shirt. “Well? What are you wearing, Carter?”

  Hanes. From before they were chic. I smoothed my hands down my shirt and shrugged. “Carter’s Secret.”

  “Well, it’s not Charlie’s Specialty Designs.” Charlie wagged her finger at me. “No matter how many times I beg, you still haven’t let me fit you for one of my creations.”

  “And no matter how many times I say I don’t need fancy undies, you still won’t listen.” I patted my chest and shrugged. “No one’s going to be seeing these babies for a very long time.” If ever.

  Denny Wade, named after the restaurant chain because her momma, who was always caught between one addiction or another, was in the midst of food cravings when she gave birth to her daughter, came through my front door with all the finesse of a bull in ballet shoes. I watched as a framed picture of my brother and daughter started to fall.