Shifters Forever Worlds Mega Box- Volume 1

by Elle Thorne

  Her lids dropped, sealing her gaze and her emotions from him. His tongue took hers captive, demanding, claiming, and validating everything his leopard had let him know.

  She returned his initiative with a slow, burning kiss that had him imagining that tongue of hers on other places on his body. He bit back a groan.

  The kiss was a tango, eternal, fierce, feral, and filled with an age-old passion until—

  Her eyes flew open, a green fire scalding him with its fury, and he had no time to react. With a mighty heave, she shoved against his chest and pushed herself out of his arms.

  Scarcely a foot between them, she glared at him.

  Bryson was speechless. Always in control of himself, he’d never yielded to an emotion like this before.

  Chapter Four

  What the hell did I just do?

  I kissed him. That’s what.

  Damn. Damn. Damn.

  What had she been thinking, kissing Bryson Courtland like that? Encouraging him? Anya didn’t get involved, not with clients, not with fellow employees, not with any men. The Ice Princess—that was her nickname at work because she didn’t get involved with anyone.

  She never even considered a date when she was asked. Anya kept to herself. She never offered an explanation, didn’t tell anyone why.

  Now, I’ve gone and done something I don’t do. With a client, no less.

  This was a reason to abandon an assignment, if one ever existed. She’d been ready to take the job, but now, with this complication…

  “Mr. Courtland.”

  His face fell, as if he knew what was coming. “No. I can’t let you do that.”

  He did know. Was this guy psychic?

  “It’s Bryson, and I can’t let you abandon Pepper. We need you.”

  He’d said we. The word bounced around in her head.

  I’m not a good one to need. I’ve let people down.

  The vision of Astra’s dead mother, mauled and bloody, flew through her mind.

  “Sir, what just happened…that’s not a good foundation for a working relationship. Let me call Cas and have someone else sent in.”

  “No!” The word came from behind her.

  Anya whirled around. Pepper was standing there, green eyes flashing, a splash of blue in their green depths—or maybe that was a trick the shadows were playing on her mind.

  “Pepper…”

  “No.” The little girl’s voice didn’t sound like her own. “You can’t do that. You said you would come talk to me. You can’t break your word.”

  What the hell does a five-year-old know about keeping your word?

  Anya looked at Bryson. His gaze was steely and unreadable, as if Pepper’s disappointment was Anya’s problem to fix.

  I guess it is mine to fix.

  “Excuse us,” Anya said to him, and took Pepper by the hand. “Can we go somewhere private to talk, Pepper?”

  And I’ll try to get hold of my thoughts and come up with something to say.

  Had Pepper seen the kiss?

  A flame licked up Anya’s chest and neck, creeping its way to her cheeks.

  I hope not.

  “We’ll go to my playroom. Daddy, you don’t come close. And don’t use your special hearing to listen in.”

  Anya glanced at Bryson. A look of chagrin crossed his face.

  Busted.

  She followed Pepper up a marble staircase and into a room that was nothing like what she’d expected a little girl’s playroom to be. Even a little girl shifter’s playroom. It wasn’t pink. It wasn’t frilly. It wasn’t princess-y.

  The walls were a deep blue and the furniture was full-sized. She glanced at the bookshelf, full of books. No matter where she looked, she didn’t find any signs of a little girl.

  Pepper was solemnly quiet, her voice low as she talked to Anya. “I guess it’s not what you expected.”

  “Not exactly.”

  “It’s really not my playroom, it’s Marleis’s.”

  Should she ask who Marleis was? Perhaps she was an older sibling. She waited for Pepper to continue, but she didn’t, so she gave in to temptation and took a different route.

  “Do you have a playroom that’s…more suited to you?”

  The house was certainly large enough to have more than one playroom.

  “I play in my bedroom.”

  “Where is Marleis now?” That seemed like a safe question.

  “She’s here.”

  Anya nodded. “Will I get to meet her?”

  “I’m not sure my daddy wants you to.”

  “Why not?”

  Pepper cocked her head. “He thinks you’ll leave if you do.”

  Anya had been looking at the books on the bookshelf. Hemingway, Steinbeck… As soon as Pepper started to speak, Anya’s head snapped in her direction. The timber of the child’s voice had changed. She almost sounded grown-up, and her eyes looked different for a second, then that went away.

  “What did you say?”

  “My dad and I need you to stay.” Her voice was back to a little girl’s voice. Please say you will.” She stared at Anya, those brilliant-green eyes begging.

  “Oh, it’s not that easy…”

  “Sure it is.” Pepper’s head tilted to the left again, and this time when her eyes changed, Anya caught it. An indigo flash traversed their depths, glinting mysteriously.

  “It’s why you’re here.” Pepper’s voice had changed.

  “Is there something you should tell me, Pepper?”

  “No.” Pepper’s bottom lip stuck out in a pout. “My daddy wouldn’t want me discussing that.”

  “What’s that?”

  Pepper crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head so hard she swiveled with it. “I. Can’t. Say.”

  “Thank you for showing me your playroom.”

  “Will you stay?”

  I shouldn’t.

  * * *

  Bryson was working on his computer in the same room he’d been in when Pepper took Anya upstairs. He had no real idea what he was looking at or what he was working on. He was on pins and needles about the visit between his daughter and the bodyguard.

  What was she going to say? What would Marleis say?

  He heard them approaching, talking quietly, without dissent.

  Maybe it had gone well. He closed the lid on his laptop immediately.

  Anya gave him a tight smile, belying the casual tone she’d used with Pepper. “Should I do a threat assessment?”

  “You’re staying?” He fought to keep his shock from coming out and wrangled with his pulse out of concern Anya would read his excitement.

  “She is, Daddy.” Pepper bounced up and down on her tiptoes. She did a plié and an arabesque as best as her not-fully-coordinated body could handle.

  “Bravo. Well done. Signora Isabel will be very proud of your progress.” He smiled at Pepper’s cuteness. Then he glanced at Anya. “That’s her dance teacher. My little girl loves her ballet.” Still smiling, he tugged on the ends of Pepper’s hair. “Pepper, would you give me a few minutes to give Anya a tour of the house? It’s your lunchtime and Signora Portofino was looking for you. She made pizza, like the kind you had at the restaurant last week. Our housekeeper. You’ll get to meet her later,” he explained to Anya, then turned back to Pepper. “I’ll find you after lunch. Put your tights and leotard on. You have dance class this afternoon.”

  Pepper scampered off, leaving them alone.

  “Ready for a tour?”

  “Yes, and I have some questions for you.” She gave him a look he couldn’t decipher.

  Oh, hell. Here we go.

  Chapter Five

  Most women would have been checking out the décor, the marble, the ivory, the antiques. That was not what Anya looked at. Her focus was on the security cameras, motion sensors, power sources, door and window placements, clear zones, security lighting, and the large trees that were close to exterior walls or rooftops on the villa.

  She remained silent during the thirt
y-minute tour, with the exception of an occasional question relating to threat assessment.

  She couldn’t deny being aware of having him next to her, in spite of her professionalism and her attention not being divided. His body’s heat warmed hers, making her blood course through her veins at a much more rapid pace. The scent of him penetrated her mind and infiltrated her lungs, enduring like a dream lingered even after one awakened.

  They had returned to the front of the house when he said, “Ms. Masenti. Anya.”

  She turned to him. “Yes?”

  God, he’s gorgeous.

  “Are you planning on revamping my entire security system? What I really need is simply someone to make sure she’s safe when I’m not around.”

  “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”

  He looked down then left. His gaze remained averted from hers.

  “Bryson.” She cleared her throat and waited until he raised his eyes to hers. When he did, she continued, “I can’t be of any help if you don’t tell me the specifics.”

  “Pepper’s grandmother. She told the wrong people about Pepper.”

  She was still missing something. “So, where is Pepper’s mother?” She felt safe asking that. It wasn’t like he’d said Pepper’s mother was dead.

  “She’s…” His throat worked. “She’s gone.”

  “Just gone?”

  Sadness crossed his face. “Not exactly.”

  The pain on his face made her want to leave that wound alone, though she really needed answers. Anya switched tacks. “So, back to Anya’s grandmother.”

  “That’s not important. Cas said you were the right one to help us. That you would take this matter to heart more than most because of what you’ve been through.”

  Again, she had to wonder how much Cas had told him about Astra, about Bear Canyon Valley.

  “It could be important. You do realize you need to be more specific, right?”

  * * *

  Bryson bit back an exhale. Anya would quit now, for sure, before she’d started.

  How could he tell her Pepper’s grandmother had an elemental in her and that Pepper did, too, and the grandmother had told some others Pepper was a hybrid and now she was being hunted? Hell, did Anya know what an elemental was? He hadn’t until he’d met Pepper’s mother.

  He studied her clear gaze. She seemed trustworthy, and his leopard definitely agreed. He scrubbed at his face, shook his head, and plunged in.

  “Do you know what elementals are?”

  Anya’s eyes narrowed, but she remained silent.

  “Pepper is an elemental. I mean, she has one in her, so that gives her elemental skills.”

  “Wait a minute.” Anya drummed on the chair’s arm with her fingertips. “She’s a shifter. Pepper is a shifter. What are you talking about?”

  “She’s actually a hybrid. And that’s rare. I didn’t know anything about elementals. I had no clue what they were or anything about them, when I first met Pepper’s mother. That was something I found out about afterwards. Much, much later, when I noticed Pepper had learned to speak too early. Learned to walk too early. Learned everything too early.” He paused to take a deep breath.

  This was the first time he’d talked about it to anyone, and it felt good, damned good, to share his burden.

  “Then I noticed the eye color changes. And the voice changes.”

  “I caught that,” Anya said, her tone low.

  He kept his eyes focused on his hands in his lap. “When I first asked about it, I was told it was my imagination. And then, one day, after Pepper’s mother was gone, Pepper and I were having a conversation when Marleis, her elemental, joined in.”

  Anya gasped.

  He looked up at her. “What?”

  “She said that name to me. She said the playroom belonged to Marleis and she was there with us. So, Pepper’s a leopard shifter with an elemental?”

  “Yes. And that’s very rare. Her grandmother told someone about it, and now they want to take her to the Order of Elementals.” He fought to keep his voice level and the torment in his soul from showing in his eyes. He was certain he’d failed, so he lowered his gaze again, hoping she wouldn’t see.

  * * *

  Anya could see how Bryson was struggling, that he wasn’t one to open up like this. She knew all about keeping secrets and realized this wasn’t easy for him.

  God, what am I getting into?

  Her tigress snarled in agreement.

  “When do I start?”

  “You’re staying?” He looked surprised.

  How can I not? How can I abandon that little girl?

  She nodded.

  “You’ll be staying here, and…” He pursed his lips, as if he was pondering his options. “You didn’t bring anything with you, did you? Clothes and such?”

  “I wasn’t sure about the nature of the job.” She held up the file. “There’s very little information in here. Does Cas know she’s a hybrid?”

  “Only Cas knows,” he said. “I didn’t want what she is appearing on paper anywhere.” He ran his fingers over his face, the strain of the stress he’d been under obvious in the lines on his forehead. “How about you pack and come back tomorrow? You’ll stay on site, right? I told Cas that’s what I needed. I go to meetings in the early mornings and sometimes in the evenings. It would be good if you were here twenty-four hours a day. I’ll take Pepper to ballet today, so you don’t have to worry about getting back on time. Tomorrow, I’ll go with you, so I can introduce you to Isabel Tiero, her teacher. After that, taking her to ballet can be your thing. Also, Pepper attends private school, though she’s on holiday break now.”

  “I’ll stay on site. I’d like a picture of her grandmother. And her mother. You do have one, right?”

  Chapter Six

  The next morning…

  Her first day on the job, Anya sat in the seat of her Peugeot in front of the villa and guided herself through some breathing exercises. She knew her nerves had nothing to do with being a bodyguard and everything to do with two other factors.

  The first factor was being around Bryson. The attraction between them was too strong, and pushing her tigress back every time he was around wouldn’t be easy. It had taken Anya years to make peace with her shifter animal after the incident at Bear Canyon Valley. And now there was this. With him. Anya didn’t want it to cause friction between her and her tigress.

  The second factor was she’d gone against everything she’d promised herself she would never do. She’d taken on being the bodyguard for a child.

  Anya sighed.

  She didn’t want to fracture the somewhat tenuous relationship she had with her feline, but she’d never stopped being regretful about what had happened.

  I can’t afford to fail this time, she told her big cat.

  Her tigress chuffed, a sound of comfort in her tone.

  Anya knew she shouldn’t have blamed her tigress. One young feline couldn’t have done anything against those shifters; they’d been outnumbered.

  I’m sorry.

  Her tigress made a low growl, a mourning sound.

  I’m sad, too. But I shouldn’t have blamed you.

  Movement caught her attention, and she glanced at the door. Bryson was watching her, a solemn expression on his face.

  Pushing back her memories, she forced a smile to her lips and got out of the car. With her focus on him, she popped the trunk. He was wearing a black suit, clearly tailor-made.

  It cost more than my entire wardrobe, I bet.

  It fit him to a T. It didn’t hide his physique—the wide chest and broad shoulders, a body with just the right amount of muscles, boasting a lot of time spent in the gym.

  Of course, she thought, remembering the gym in the back of the house.

  “I’ll get your bags.”

  She looked down at his shiny, unscuffed shoes, then all the way up to his flawless jacket without so much as a wrinkle or a speck of dust or lint on it. “I can get them. I’d hate for yo
u to dirty your suit before you go to the office.”

  Where is his office?

  One more fact missing from the file. She couldn’t give up thinking about stuff like this, even if he’d said all she was supposed to do was protect Pepper from her looney grandmother and her associates.

  “I’m not going to the office. I’m returning from a meeting.”

  “At eight in the morning?” That was an early meeting.

  “Sometimes, it works out that way. It means I’ll be around later today if you need anything.”

  He took her bags and placed them in the front hallway.

  Pepper came running down the stairs and threw her arms around Anya. “We’re going to play for a while before we go to Signora Isabel’s for dance.”

  “Let Anya get settled first.” Bryson tweaked Pepper’s nose.

  Anya checked on the room Signora Portofino had told her was hers. It was a simple room on the second floor, and she could see Pepper’s doorway from the bed.

  Perfect.

  Leaving her bedroom door open just in case, Anya unpacked one of her bags and hung up the clothes that needed it, then put her toiletries in the bathroom attached to the bedroom.

  She hadn’t seen Bryson since he’d carried her bags in, but he’d plagued her thoughts every other moment.

  She picked up another bag, heavy with the weapon Cas had secured for her, one she wasn’t exactly supposed to have—but that was the nature of the business she was in. It was better to be armed.

  Finally, she double-checked for the new anti-tranq medication Cas had given her. It was a new drug, one that made shifters immune to tranquilizers. He’d picked it up from some mysterious source—he wouldn’t tell her who—at an exorbitant price. He’d laughed and said he’d have to raise his rates if he had to provide the anti-tranq to everyone.

  Anya had volunteered to test it and found it worked beautifully. So far, it seemed safe to take regularly, though the cost made it prohibitive. When she’d mentioned that to Cas, he’d said, “Bryson Courtland can afford it.”