20 Shades of Shifters_A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Demelza Carlton

  The truck hummed along the road for a few minutes before Jonas answered. “Nothing comes to mind yet. I’d suggest having us all in the back of your truck, but we’re not exactly a small bunch.”

  “Where is your clubhouse from here?”

  Jonas looked out the window, clucked his tongue and noted the changing landscape once again. “If I had to guess, about seven hundred and sixty miles behind us, maybe? I’ve never been this far south.”

  “What? Are you shitting me?”

  “You sound upset.”

  “I was counting on that guard. Now we’ll have to run through unprotected until we get to the Harshlands before entering the Shadowland realm. Fuck.”

  “Should have passed that too. It’s short distance from where we’ve been based out of.”

  “Something dawned on me. How come if we passed your clubhouse, your pals didn’t come after us?”

  “Probably because after we got attacked and I fended off the bastards, I passed out and you drove straight through during daylight hours. It’s only six hours away from that truck stop and even the older members of the club cannot stay awake much beyond sunrise.”

  She rubbed her chin.

  “You’re thinking something, Tempest.”

  “I am not.”

  “All right.”

  Her eyes widened. “You’re just going to let it go? Just like that?”

  “Yup.”

  “Wow.”

  “What?” He shrugged.

  “You’ve been a pain in my ass this entire time and for once you’re just leaving something alone. I’m just surprised, is all.”

  “You can fuck me later for it.”

  “Smartass.”

  The truth was, he was going to let it go for now. He needed to clear his head. Now that they had driven well past the clubhouse, Jonas needed a new plan. The MC was unaware of his whereabouts and even Pliny hadn’t a clue, despite having shown up at the rendezvous point earlier. He couldn’t stiff the MC; by their own logic and rules, he’d be found and killed.

  He didn’t relish the idea of dying any time soon.

  “Are you planning on any future stops?”

  She looked at him. “Other than fueling up in your realm, and once more on the other side, no. Why?”

  “Curious, is all.”

  “You’ve got something going on in your noodle.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Talk to me.”

  “It’s nothing. Not fully formed.”

  “After all we shared a few minutes ago, you’re going to shut me out now?”

  “You know, it sounds worse when you say it.”

  “The power of the female, Jonas.” She snickered. “Now come on. Spill it.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and looked out the window. Noticing the large clouds in the sky above them were moving nearly as fast as they appeared made him wary. “You still think the Wild Hunt will come for us?”

  “I really can’t say. We saw it. It’s marked us.”

  “Don’t know how much faith I put in that story.”

  “Me either. But I’ve never seen it before.”

  “Then how do you know what it is?”

  She shifted the truck into a higher gear as they made their way up the oncoming hill. “Because it’s inherent to the Fae. The dead souls scream for vengeance, the ones that lead the Hunt yell out for sport. I can hear the voices.”

  “That must be some creepy shit.”

  “You have no idea.” She sighed. “Again, what’s your thoughts?”

  “The MC can’t protect us against The Hunt.”

  “Nope. Don’t even know if you’re immune or not, because of that entire soul thing.”

  “I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of the Firebrand MC though. That we can protect against.”

  “But you said you’re half a day or more behind us.”

  “Would you trust me, Tempest?”

  She swallowed loud enough for him to hear. “I don’t like where this is going, Jonas.”

  “Hear me out. The Firebrand MC is gunning for you. They’ve come at you once and we didn’t kill them.”

  “You shot them with your own guns, not mine, so no. They’ll have healed, recouped and sought out both me and your MC for vengeance.”

  “Right. I was thinking I could use one of the bikes to ride back to the clubhouse, bring back all the patches and we’d ride with you. Like I said earlier, protection.”

  “Oh no. No. Just no.” She shook her head emphatically. “You’re out of your goddamn mind if you think the last ten hours I’ve been driving, that you can speed back, and then catch up.”

  “It’d be faster than me flying back and you’d only be out the one.”

  “How do I know this isn’t some fucking ploy, Jonas?”

  “Because when I fuck you again, you’re going to tell me how much you loved it.”

  “You’re a cocky fucker, aren’t you?”

  “There she is.” He pointed at her and winked. “Now what do you say? Just the one, Tempest.”

  She looked in her mirrors, at some of the monitors and then gritted her teeth. “Damnit, Jonas.”

  “You know it’s the only way to keep you on schedule and safe.”

  “How do I know you’re not going to rip me off once your gang catches up?”

  The conversation he’d had with Pliny gave him some sense of an end goal for the MC, but it would be tricky. Instead of stealing the bikes, they were becoming private guard to them. He’d inform Tempest when it made sense. “You saw me talking to Pliny earlier, yeah?”

  “That other vampire? I did. What of it?”

  He shook his head. “Pliny was supposed to have the club meet us at a rally point just past the clubhouse, which you zoomed past.”

  “Because someone was asleep”

  “I couldn’t help it.”

  She grumbled. “Fucking vampires.

  “And you jumped me after I woke up. Of course, I never heard complaints.”

  Tempest reached over and cocked him in the shoulder. “Just had to go push it farther, didn’t you?”

  He snorted, rubbed where she hit him. “Let me do this for you.”

  When she didn’t respond, Jonas thought he would have to force the issue until she swore.

  “What?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “Told you.”

  “What? You don’t even fucking know. And for your information, it’s another goddamn biker coming up on my fucking tail. What is it with you assholes on two wheels?”

  “Beats being in a cage, baby. Now,” he got up, found her shotgun sitting on the counter by the stove, checked to see that it was loaded, then went back to the bed. Lifting it up gave him access to the window. He slid it open, stuck his head out and spotted their tail. It wasn’t his MC.

  As the bike drew closer, Jonas recognized the rider now signaling at them. “Are you shitting me?”

  “I don’t like that phrase coming out of your mouth, Jonas. What’s going on?”

  He withdrew the shotgun and shut the window. “Pull over, babe. This is a…not an enemy.”

  “Not an enemy? Tell me straight, Jonas. I’ve been awake too long to deal with cryptic bullshit.” She had. Running through Faery the last eighteen hours without sleep had her running low on energy. Not as low as she normally would have been, thanks to the infusion of vampire blood, but still.

  She checked her mirror again and spotted the biker. His motorcycle wasn’t nearly as large as the ones Jonas and the others had been riding but it must have been equipped with a Dindu Laphroaig to give it a speed boost.

  “Yeah. I can’t tell you it’s a friend. Brownie rules and all that.”

  “What the shit are we doing stopping for a Brownie?”

  “No idea. But this one is one I crashed with before our fated meeting.”

  “Fated. You say that,” she slowed the truck down just enough to get a closer look at the rider, “like we are som
e destiny.”

  “Hey,” he rejoined her up front, setting the shotgun on the floor between them. “If he is following me, then it means he’s got information for me.”

  “Why the hell would he come searching for you?”

  Jonas shrugged. “Don’t know. But you know the rules in dealing with Brownies.”

  “How did he even find you?”

  Again, Jonas shrugged. “It’s your culture.”

  “Brownies are not my culture.” She wagged a finger at Jonas. She so did not have time for this shit.

  “No, but the Fae in general are. I assume he has his methods and will keep those secrets until his final breath. Pull over.”

  “Are you sure?” Tempest looked over her shoulder, saw the Brownie close enough that she could make out the flat features of his face. Brown skin, thin hair, no helmet, and large, round eyes; typical appearance of a Brownie. Hell, even his jacket and jeans were a shade of Earth brown.

  “Someone does me a solid, the least I can do is hear them out.”

  She sighed. This couldn’t be a trick. As far as she knew, MCs worked alone and usually didn’t part out bits of their jobs. But then again, her experiences had only been with the Queen’s Guard, and wannabe members of the Guard who were dumb enough to give her more details after she got them good and drunk and flirted just enough to make them talk.

  Slowing the truck down, Tempest pulled off to the side of the road. She rolled her window down and waved for the Brownie to pull up in front of her. Stopping, she glanced at Jonas.

  His expression showed just as much surprise as hers did.

  The Brownie rode just past the front of the truck and stopped. He waved a hand.

  “Think he wants you to come out. That safe?”

  Jonas shrugged. “There are very few things in this realm that can actually kill me. Last I checked, he wasn’t one of them. Besides, we’re a long way from where he resides, so this has to be important for him chase after me.” He slid out of the truck and left the door open. “But if you’re worried, you can come with.”

  “Shit.” She opened the driver side door and hopped down. Shutting the door, she fell in step with Jonas. Standing outside with him beside the tiny Brownie made her realize just how tall he was. She held back a whistle.

  “What’s up?”

  The Brownie turned, large hollow eyes somehow even appearing even wider up close, before he looked at Tempest, then back to Jonas.

  “She’s with me.”

  “Hmph.” Tempest crossed her arms over her chest. Before she could respond, Jonas held up a hand.

  “You can trust her.”

  The Brownie nodded and reached into his jacket. Pulling out a thin slip of paper, he handed it to Jonas.

  Jonas unfolded the paper and scanned it. “Shit.”

  “What?” Tempest looked over Jonas’ shoulder and saw the contents of the paper. “You’re a wanted man.”

  “Wonder what for?”

  She continued to scan the paper. “You killed someone in the Queen’s Guard?”

  Jonas looked at her, confusion spread across his face. “I’ve only killed back home and on Earth and in both cases, those were self-defense. No one here has messed with us.”

  “It also says you’re wanted because your kind is illegally here.”

  “Since when do they care about a few vampires?”

  “How many is a few, Jonas?”

  He rubbed his chin.

  “Jonas.” She set her hands on her hips. “How many?”

  “In the MC, I’d say probably a few hundred or so?”

  She slapped her forehead. “Now you tell me. So, you’re not only an outlaw, but you’re wanted and they’re coming after you?”

  He turned toward the Brownie. “Where did this come from?”

  Eyes even wider than before, if that was possible, the Brownie took a step back toward his bike.

  “I don’t think you should have asked that.”

  “Your culture, not mine.”

  “No.” She bit out the retort.

  Even the Brownie shook his head. “Not hers.” His mouth opened and he must have realized what she was. He held up a hand and pointed at her. “You…”

  Jonas gripped Tempest by the arm. Somehow, they had pissed off the Brownie. He wondered if there would be any backlash for it and what that would look like. Then he remembered they were in Faery and it wouldn’t be good, whatever it was. “We need to go. Now.”

  “Now you’re panicking?”

  She felt herself being dragged back to the truck.

  “Yeah well panicking isn’t quite the word for it. Let’s just get the hell back on the road. How close are we?”

  The Brownie’s fearful expression faded from sight as Tempest was helped into the truck before Jonas ran around and hopped into the passenger seat. “They’re sending the Queen’s Guard after us.”

  “You, boy. Not me.”

  “You do realize if the Brownie recognized what you are, that means the Queen probably knows already?”

  “Shit.” She slammed the door and put the truck in gear.

  “Yeah. We need to get back to the Shadowlands where we’re both safe.”

  “You’re going to ditch the MC?”

  “Fuck.” Jonas pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “You said they’ll kill you for bailing on them.”

  “Yeah.”

  “And I can’t turn this truck around, Jonas.” She put the rig in gear and pulled onto the highway, looking at her mirrors to see if anyone was following them. The coast looked clear.

  By now, the Brownie had taken off in the opposite direction, probably scared shitless. Then she slowed the truck and brought it to a complete stop.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Stay here. Watch shit. I’ve got to override this governor if we’re going to make better time.”

  “Thought you were going to do that earlier.”

  Tempest scowled, but the gesture was more at herself than him. “I was. But someone kept distracting me.”

  “My vampire D will do that.”

  “I’m going to kill you.” She frowned at him while mentally cursing herself for allowing herself to get thrown off routine by change.

  She left him up front and went into the kitchenette area. Opening drawers, going through cupboards, nothing. Opening a door that served as a closet, she finally found the tiny laptop sitting on top of a file cabinet. “What the?”

  “You got it?”

  “Yeah.”

  She made her way back up front and prayed the laptop still had battery power. Reaching for the USB cable hanging from the dash computer, she plugged it in and powered up the laptop.

  It started immediately and booted to a Windows screen. She pulled up the program to control the governor and clicked a few things before getting a green light on her dash computer.

  “Finally. Something’s gone smooth.”

  “What?”

  “I bought this truck on Earth and those damn humans and their speed laws. With the governor disabled, we can now go faster.”

  “How much faster?”

  She put the truck back in gear, mentally chiding herself for stopping in the middle of the highway, and then gave the engine a good rev while hitting the accelerator pedal. “If we didn’t have the bikes, I could do one twenty.”

  “But with?”

  “About to find out.”

  “You should have let me steal them.”

  “You didn’t say you weren’t. And besides, that defeats the purpose of getting paid to deliver them, ass.”

  He smirked.

  Gripping the steering wheel, she made a mental note to kick Jonas’ ass later. “You are the reason I’m now wanted.”

  “Hey,” he held up his hands. “That wasn’t me putting the decree down. Besides, that Brownie isn’t going to say shit.”

  “How do we know that? You asked him where the wanted poster came from. Maybe he’ll go behind you and curse you by
revealing to the Queen’s Guard—”

  “Doubtful. I didn’t follow up with any reason for him to.”

  “You asked him for a favor which, is an insult. Ugh.” She threw up a hand in frustration. “Damnit. Fucking bikers and blood suckers.”

  “You’ll—” He started to speak but she shot him a glare and the message was clearly received.

  “Ugh. Just…fucking buckle up.”

  Jonas buckled himself in while they picked up speed.

  Hitting seventy-five and climbing gave Tempest some reassurance. “We’re going to have to run straight through. I can get you back home but I’m literally dropping you off somewhere in the middle of your territory. I can’t stop.”

  “Well as of now they’re not looking for you.”

  “Not that we know of.”

  Inside, she was fuming. Shaking her head, she tried to remember how all of this shit started, then she remembered. “Your blood sucking friends were robbing me.”

  “Lot of good that means now.”

  He was right. They didn’t get the bikes. “On an unrelated note, if you’re all a bunch of bad asses, what stopped you?”

  “Sluagh fighters from a rival biker gang, is what Pliny said. I only got a look at the ones who stole the truck in the first place and had us locked in the back. They weren’t Sluagh but they outnumbered us.”

  “So you’re not the biggest, baddest outlaws.”

  She had her answer when the voices in her head became his.

  Great.

  She was able to hear his thoughts. Frowning,

  Looking ahead, she caught sight of the darkening sky. Treetops were coated with pale blue snow that matched the sky. Wind picked up, pushing the truck off the side of the road.

  Tempest straightened the truck, white knuckle gripping the steering wheel in preparation for what was to come.

  She really had no desire to drive another three hours in such hellish conditions but they had to get through the Shadowlands. She still hoped to get her delivery in without being as late as she feared. “You still buckled up?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Look.” She pointed ahead at the icy clouds in front of them.

  Chapter 8

  He’d never before witnessed what he was seeing. In the three years the MC had been in Faery, the weather had never gone from completely mundane to utterly chaotic, until now. Snow blasted the trees not more than a thousand yards from them.