Shifting Shadows
Page 8
In the beginning there was peace, but with the addition of each new race that came to settle in the new world, disputes over territory began to occur in greater numbers. The dire beasts, being the largest of the land creatures from Faery, had been tasked with establishing boundaries for all of the large land creatures. Saber-toothed cats, especially, as they grazed the same lands. Dire Beasts and Sabertooths were natural enemies, yet they would became allies whenever necessary. The largest clans of dire beasts and sabertooths settled in what is known as California, in the Los Angeles area. They made their packs and prides claim the treacherous area the humans would later call the La Brea Tar Pits.
There were many more smaller groups of both species spread across the continent. Some of the other big beasts followed their lead. They stayed close and fought together when necessary. The giant jaguar, the cave lion, the cave bear and the wolves native to the human realm were exceptional hunters. However, they made easy targets for the rebel Fae that had also fled Faery. They, along with the Drakones, followed the other faery beasts into the human realm. As their numbers grew, they moved out to claim more land. This was not easy, as they were battling other massive beasts for space. As time passed, the dire beasts mated with the native wolves, giving birth to a new hybrid species, The Dire Wolves.”
I heard her pause in her reading and the sounds of pages flipping, then more flipping and her muttering to herself. It was as if I could hear the gears turning in that mind of hers. “Holy shit balls!” Her muttered curse made me chuckle.
It was as if everything she was reading, and what we had already told her, was coming together. Though, we had much more to tell her. When she started to read again, I leaned my head back against the door jamb and closed my eyes.
“Then, there was something new and more deadly amongst them. Beasts on land and in the air took to hiding from the newest threat that came their way. Two legged beasts that were beyond vicious. They’d hunt down the new hybrid beasts in droves.
Reapers, as they are now called, are more than they seem. They became a constant threat to both the beasts of Faery and the new hybrids. Many generations of beasts were killed off by the Reapers. They left a trail of death and destruction everywhere they went. Many of the Fae beasts hid, not only to save themselves but to save whole clans from the Reapers.”
The room behind me went quiet, pages turned and just when I was about to speak she started reading again.
“The Reapers, the dark hunters, are like minded men that have an instinct and pure desire to kill. Once a target is set there’s is no escape… shit!”
I hopped up from my spot on the floor and moved to join her on the bed. She had a determined look on her face. One I’d seen a few times now. I took her hand in mine and held it to my chest.
“Am I reading this right? Thanks to some crazy Faery Prince there are… are… you’ve been around since the dinosaurs? Talk about longevity. What the fuck? You’d be like… fifty trillion years old. Your junk works so I don’t see that being the case. How-”
I cut her off by placing two fingers across her soft lips. She took in a deep breath and sighed.
“We haven’t been around since Dinosaurs. Well, Ty and I haven’t been. There are a few - ancients - as you’d say, around, but not like you think. It’s true, the Fae Prince opened the veil between the worlds. The two worlds found a way to exist together. This is how modern day Shifters and Guardians came to be. There is a rhyme and reason for everything that has happened since that time. It brought forth a new way of life for a group of Faery born animals that would have otherwise died off, and expanded the world here as it did so. There were a lot of hard times, that’s a given, but you know how it goes. Life goes on.”
I shrugged, hoping she’d leave it there, but I knew better.
“Explain it to me, please?” she asked, pure excitement now filling her eyes.
“Sure thing. Get comfy. And remember… it’s a different time now. Don’t freak out on me.”
Nineteen
Jasmine
Of all the things… I never saw this coming. What I’d just read in this book has my heart beating so hard it’s all I can hear. My head is spinning, but having Horacio sitting beside me has made it a little easier to take in. I’d asked him to explain this all to me, but he’s been very quiet for the last ten minutes.
I reach over and take his hand. “You don’t have to tell me… if you don’t want to.” I reassure him as much as I can.
“No, it’s not that. There is just so much to tell you. As you know, we are descendants of the Faery beasts and the large land animals of this realm.” I can see in his eyes that he is unsure of this conversation. I lean into him with my hand resting on his chest.
“You made a distinction earlier between shifters and Guardians, though. Why is that? Are you not the same?” I ask, tilting my head up so I can watch him.
“No, we are not the same.” There’s a pause before he wraps his arms around me and settles back against the headboard. “Shifters and Guardians have a few similarities. However, there is one very distinct difference between Shifters and Guardians. It’s like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. Each piece fits in a certain spot.
Guardians are the original hybrid offspring of the Fae beasts and the beasts of their kind native to the human world. Like your father. He’s a Dire Wolf, part fae beast, part native wolf. He was one of the first Guardians, among the ones who were charged with keeping everyone safe in the new world. Guardians have pure blood. There is not a drop of human blood, or anything else for that matter.”
“My father was one of the originals...” I ask shocked, yet not too shocked. Holy crap! He is an original. No wonder he spoke and acted like he was old… he is old - really old.
“Yeah, Micah has been around… a while. He is the head of the Guardian council, and one of those people ya just don’t mess with.”
“So, am I understanding this right? There are other originals? They are where the other Guardians came from?” I shift to sit on his outstretched legs. My butt rests on his thighs. My hands move to the back of my neck as I speak. My mind is rolling in a thousand different directions at once.
“Yeah, love. We all came from the originals. However, along the way the hybrids started cross-breeding with other species, including humans, which is how regular shifters were created. That shows the distinction between us and other shifters. Guardians are part of the original line, which means that we are bigger, faster and a lot stronger than other shifters. Regular shifters are no match for a Guardian. Depending on the breed and how old a Guardian is, some aren’t even able to be taken down by other Guardians. The old ones, like Micah, well they don’t go down so easy.”
Something in his voice makes my head tilting to the side. I remembered seeing my father fighting another beast like himself that day in the clearing. What had happened to that shifter? I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth as I replayed the memories, my mind slipping back effortlessly, only problem was… it wasn’t my mind I was in.
I stood tall and proud as I held the hand of my lover, my mate, Hadley next to me. I adored her. Simply put, she was the reason I was allowed to move to this plain. It - our connection - took me by surprise. One look at her and I was swept up in a tidal wave of lust, love and longing.
Life had begun to have meaning again. When you live as long as I do, things don’t always turn out the way you plan them to. When the worlds collided, and something new started, we had no idea what we were really getting into.
As I sit with my wife in my arms, our cub moving beneath my hand safely inside her womb, life is good. But that changes when the wind blows a scent across us. I get to my feet, my body ready for the change. I can smell them, Reapers. There are other shifters as well. They reek of death.
My attention is drawn away from the threat momentarily when Kelanie shows up to whisk Hadley away. The Fae has taken on the duty of watching out for her daughter, even though I had this under control. Mostly.
A bullet to the shoulder lays me out, frozen in my wolf form. The pain radiating through my body is pure agony, but I refuse to show them my pain. I just need to hope it passes quickly, if not, I won’t make it out of the clearing.
Blackness had taken me, but as my eyes blink open they scan the room I’m in. I hear talking, but I’m a bit too out of it to understand any of it. It wasn’t long before the fog in my mind cleared and memories of the fight in the meadow came rushing back to me. As a hand reached for my muzzle I jumped to my feet.
Blood covered the walls of the room that was meant to be a prison, but was now a tomb. Each of the men, and creatures alike in here died swiftly at my hands. A roar of triumph left me as my head fell back. The air around me shifted and I turned, teeth bared for an incoming threat.
Kelanie, Lalamke and Amandrell stood in the room. Their faces were a mask of anger and determination.
“Come, Wolf, we should leave before the others come back,” Kelanie said as they each took ahold of a handful of fur. Before I could protest and shift back to two legs I was transported from the room.
“Whoa!” I gasped. My head shaking from side to side.
“Jassy, where did you go just now?” Horacio asked. His hand cupped my cheek as I met his eyes. I blinked a few times and closed my eyes. It took me several moments to process what had just happened.
“I was in- Horacio, I was reliving my vision - the one Grandmother gave me - but… through my dad’s eyes. It was his memories. Holy crap! How-how is that possible? What’s happening to me? I feel so out of sorts. First, this book,” I said motioning to the big leather bound book my Grandmother had given me. “Now… now that. I feel like I’m going crazy. Like, Jack Nicholson in the Shining kind of crazy. Or, or Annie Wilkes in Misery kind of crazy!”
I pant as I try to catch my breath. Horacio pulls me to him, my body pressing against his as he speaks softly, hips lips barely brushing mine.
“Take a deep breath, and relax, baby. You’re not going crazy, it’s just you reacting to the new changes in your body since Kelanie released you from that binding spell. Those are a real bitch to get used to at first. I promise, you’re fine.”
What I was going to say in protest to his declaration was cut off as his lips claimed mine in a passionate kiss.
Twenty
Tiberius
We are all a small piece of a larger puzzle. From the moment we place a foot onto the ground, until the time we leave to be in the heavens - or possibly the underworld, all depends on the type of person you are - we are here to be a part of something special. The fates decide where and how you fit into it.
I was lucky enough to find my place in this life when I found my mate. Horacio is the one man I’m meant to be with. The fates moved us together, which is not something shifters usually see. They’re usually a pair that can produce an offspring, but I’m drawn to his soul just as others are drawn to their mates.
He was able to show me what I was missing in my life. The peacefulness my bear and I now live with. Each movement of his body, whether it be in play or pleasure, is enough to get my heart racing. When his hands run along my skin I come to life.
The day that we found Jasmine - though it was a day of turmoil, rage and a mix of emotional baggage that set us on a new path - was also the day we started a new seductive dance. Jasmine has pulled us closer together. Things started off on a rocky slope, but once we knew what was happening, and how connected we were, things changed. She calms and eases my bear when he is so riled up I feel my skin tingle, my beast ready to burst free. I’ve seen her have the same effect on Horacio. Yet, she can turn us both on with that same sweet touch.
Both Horacio and I will forever be melded with her. She’s the other part of our soul, the quiet to our stormy nature.
I had to keep telling myself that today as I patrolled the streets of town. With our list of bad things happening, and the new creeps in town, things are completely upside down. Micah’s presence put me on edge. He was never out and about in the world.
Walking into the cabin I toss my leather coat onto the chair by the door and kick off my boots. My socks followed quickly. I untuck my T-shirt and move through the cabin. My ears told me that both Horacio and Jasmine were inside the moment I crossed the invisible barrier the Fae had on this place.
When I enter our bedroom I’m struck speechless as my eyes lock on Jasmine and Horacio locked in a heated kiss. The two of them on their own had me hard on sight, but seeing my two loves locked in an embrace, makes my bear rumbles inside me. My shoulder leans against the door frame as I watch. My man’s tight muscled body moves in a steady rhythm as Jasmine moans under him. Her body is wrapped around him as she embraces each of his thrusts.
“Oh yes, God, yes!”
It’s as if I’m in a dream. Their bodies move as one. With each creak of our big bed under them my hand moves further down to rub against my hard cock.
“So good, baby. I love your pussy.”
My jeans are so tight right now, it’s painful. My eyes travel down Horacio’s sweat covered nakedness and I could blow my load just watching them together. My body moves of its own volition. Suddenly, I’m at the nightstand, pulling it open and grabbing a bottle of lube. There is no way I can watch my loves and not join in. They’re calling to me, even with no sound.
“Ty…” Horacio’s voice, warm and lust filled sends a jolt through me as I point to the floor before me. I wasn’t one to play dominant over either of them, that wasn’t how this worked, but he knew what I wanted. He shifts his body off the bed, plants his feet and spreads his legs all while keeping Jasmine under him. Her ass was just over the edge of the bed, legs pulled up now over his shoulders as he leaned in to fill her again. The bed shook as a growl rumbles from him.
I drop my jeans and have never been more glad to not like the restriction of boxers than I was now. I move behind him, my lips trailing kisses along his flesh. My canines nip at the skin of his neck just as my lube covered finger slides home. His breathy moan fills the room as a second finger presses inside of him. I press a third into him, my fingers scissoring as he starts to pant my name. I smirk. Oh yeah! With each thrust of his hips he pushes harder into Jasmine’s waiting sheath and pulls from my fingers. Her cry of pleasure has me about to lose my shit, causing me to almost come all over Horacio’s delicious looking ass.
I can’t wait any longer, I have to have him. I use the lube to cover my aching cock and swiftly replace my fingers with the head of my cock. I let him set the pace as he takes me into his body by pushing back as he pulls from Jasmine. A growl escapes me as I wrap my arms around him. One hand spreads against the juncture of his thigh and the other moves to Jasmine’s slick lips. My fingers tease her engorged clit as my cock slides in and out of Horacio. It is heaven being wrapped around these two people.
“Ty… yes….” Jasmine grits out as she jerks against Horacio.
“You feel so fucking good, baby,” I say as I nipped his neck, harder this time. The drop of blood on his neck makes my bear want to claim his mates again. “Mine,” I say.
“Bite me, harder,” Horacio rasps out. Hmm… I like it when they beg.
I pinch my fingers together and roll Jasmine’s clit between them, just enough to skyrocket her building orgasm. I was far from done with either of them. This would be the first of many orgasms she had tonight. Jasmine’s body tensed and as she came hard around Horacio, I bit into his neck. He pushed back against me, taking every hard inch of my cock inside his sweet ass before once again thrusting into Jasmine, causing her to cry out his name. I move my hand from his thigh to cup his balls - my thumb rubbing the sensitive skin between them.
His head falls back against my shoulder as he comes. His body shudders and his muscles clamp down on my cock. I am pushed over the edge, filling him with my seed. My thrusts become slower and slower as he starts to go slack against me.
I press a kiss to his neck before running my hands up to his hips. With a sigh I slowly pull from him. I don’t bother to clean myself off, much. I plan to keep my cock wet and buried inside my lovers for the rest of the night.
Twenty-One
Jasmine
Some people deserve to be chained up in a barn and left there. Why do I say that? ‘Cause they think this store - my haven - is a barn to root around in and destroy, yet they can’t pick up after themselves. It’s an antiques store, not the local goodwill where they have staff to clean up this crap. It’s just me here most of the time. Ugh!
Maybe I’m just moody cause I’m hungry, yet gain. I swear all I’ve done for the last three weeks is eat.
Then again, I was cooped up in the cabin with little else to do. I’ve cooked, cleaned, had my body used by my boys in so many ways I’ve lost count, and cooked some more, until I just had to get away. I needed air and a little bit of me time, which is what work was for. I’m in my element in this shop. There isn’t much to it, but it’s a needed distraction.