She pulls away, chest heaving and nipples hardening beautifully. “Fine, I'll go get a shirt.”
Talyn struts away, and I admire the bit of wolf that peeks through. The spinning amber eyes, tinged with the shadow of her human gray. The new muscles, larger hips and breasts, the surefooted litheness her animal allows when she's in movement.
I finish the salsa, smiling vaguely at the noise of dresser drawers being opened and shut with more force than necessary.
She has a temper, my Lanarre. When the moon goes full, she'll own it.
Talyn appears with a t-shirt that comes to her knees. I give her a critical once-over.
“I liked the other outfit better.”
She smirks, but it's happy at the edges. “I bet you did.”
I load my hands with plates of food and take it to the table. Taco meat steams alongside guacamole. City lights twinkle just outside floor to ceiling height glass windows.
We sit at one of two benches that line the length of my long, wooden table made of heart pine. Our elbows brush as we dig in, sharing the meal in companionable silence. I'm not frightened by the profound satisfaction of my female's consumption. Of me. Of the food I prepared with my own hands. Contentment coats my insides, stealing into the dried crevices of my heart, whetting my appetite for more than food, for more of Talyn— this.
Talyn licks her fingers, another pang of satisfaction running its course. “What's for dessert?” Talyn asks in a coy voice, disrupting my thoughts.
“Gelato from the freezer,” I say and grab my package, “Or beef stick?” I wink, feeling lighter than I have in a long time.
Talyn smiles and leaning over, she wraps her arms around my waist, resting her head on my shoulder as a moment's bliss descends like a soft cloud.
A scent hits my nose. Alarm thrumming through my guts and lighting up adrenaline like a match struck to a line of fuel as the apartment door bursts open.
The Mutable walks in, slamming the door so hard a hinge pops. The dragon looks between the two of us, and I shove Talyn behind me.
“You fucking dog, couldn't wait two minutes before you bred her, could you?”
Nope.
I shake my head, a quaking Talyn pressed against my back while the remnants of our meal cools on the table. “You're too late, Mutable.”
His head kicks back, and my sense of smell tells me before he makes a move.
“Never too late, Changer. I'm not a Mutable—yet I was able to pass. Now that the Mutable colony is an ash pile, they won't be giving us any further trouble, and I can get down to business.”
His scent permeates the apartment.
My body tenses at his words, the arrogant prick. “You think you can still claim Talyn?”
“I'm a prehistoric. Of course I can.”
Prehistoric?
He charges.
Talyn screams, scrambling behind me.
My last thought before we collide is can my claim remain? Or will an ancient shifter overpower even that?
THE END
SHIFTER
An Alpha Claim Brief-Bites® Novelette
Episode 5
New York Times Bestselling Author(s)
MARATA EROS
TAMARA ROSE BLODGETT
All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2015 Marata Eros
Copyright © 2015 Tamara Rose Blodgett
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
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Cover art by: Willsin Rowe
Proofed by: Corinna
Synopsis:
Talyn's been accidentally poisoned with dragon's blood. Can she allow the cure?
While Drake and Merck fight over Talyn, Mutables move toward her like a magnet, seeking her for what she offers them.
Will Enforcer Adrienne be able to protect Talyn from a predator who is not what he seems?
1
Talyn
Drake mows right over the supper table I've scurried behind, Merck traveling over the top of our food and scattering Tex Mex all over the floor.
Fists fly as Drake pounds on Merck.
Merck's face shifts, changing into what he told me is his wolfen form. A snout develops, sharp teeth springing from his gums.
He sinks fangs into Drake.
Drake howls, scales rippling over his body like a rainbow of cascading water. Oh no. I leap forward, no plan—just pure reaction.
I can't have Drake hurting Merck.
I don't care if Merck's only plan was to transition me then dump me for the next bitch in heat. We'd shared something dammit.
I leap, talons bursting from my fingertips.
Hurts! I have time to think, and then I'm impaling Drake's back to the knuckles.
He bellows in pain, trying to toss me off, but I hang on. Mainly because I don't know how to let go.
Drake swings from side to side, attempting to dislodge me while Merck's eyes widen at the sight of my wide, terrified eyes.
I yelp as a talon breaks to the quick. I jerk the other seven out, pushing backward with my thumbs. It's the distraction Merck needed.
Steam rises from Drake's ears, nostrils—mouth.
“Oh shit,” I say from my butt on the floor. Nude from the waist down, Merck's huge t-shirt is hiked to my waist.
Merck stabs Drake in the torso with talons that are longer than mine. His mouth opens in a silent scream, opaque smoke belching.
Oh my God, fireball time.
I scramble to my feet and lower my head, sprinting to his back like a bull charging a red flag.
Thunk.
I hit him and see stars. He staggers forward, as I stumble backward from the impact, feeling a moment's pride in my new strength and speed before I land on my back, the air rushing out of my lungs.
Drake hurls Merck. He lands on the O in the word Foundry integral to the brick wall. My eyes bulge as Drake stands over me, taking in the fact that my honeypot's on full display.
Merck hits him from behind, the tips of talons rip through his sternum and blood splatters on me. The drops that hit my shirt don't matter.
The ones that land on my bare thighs begin to burn.
Acid.
His blood is acid. I scream, frantically trying to wipe the blood off. Instead, my hands start to sting as Drake's blood eats away at the skin of my fingertips. “Get it off me!” I shriek. I stand like I'm on fire as trails of his blood begin to sink into my flesh like ribbons with teeth.
“What the fuck is this?” Merck shouts, jerking his talons out of Drake.
Drake sags to his knees—desperate to heal the damage. But he doesn’t matter, all that matters is the agony. I rush to the sink, slap on the tap and toss my leg over the countertop, throwing cold water on the wounds.
“Merck!” I scream, in a high pitched wail. “It's burning me!”
Merck rushes to my side, takes one look at my skin and sprints back to Drake. He grabs him by his hair, dragging him to me.
I watch his glittering blood pool and drip along the cement floor in a oil-slicked trail.
Tears run down my face, my breathing is erratic.
My crotch starts to sting.
Oh dear Lord—no.
I moan, sobbing in earnest now. Death by Dragon's blood.
What a way to go.
“Help her,” Merck grits, hauling Drake up by the armpits and dumping his upper body on the countertop. His head bounces on the solid quartz.
He groans, blood flowing everywhere, hissing as it eats
at the stone.
Merck dances to avoid it, and I begin to sink.
Drake grips the edges of the countertop, eyes rolling over my wounds. He gradually comes back to himself, but I can't sit still. My crotch is on burning, my thighs feel like a spiderweb of lacy fire has been woven over my body.
I bite my lip to keep from screaming—passing out.
Merck puts his arms around me, holding me up. My vision flutters gray at the edges.
Drake's eyes grow large, the pupil dilating. “I must lick her, it's the only way to slow the poison.”
My eyes roll up in my head. I want to die.
“No,” Merck says in a low voice.
Drake lifts his head from the countertop, seizing Merck by the throat which jerks me, and I moan in pain.
“My saliva will halt the progress. Battle blood is deadly.”
“Fucking moon!” Merck yells, pissed. “Do it you fucking reckless prick.”
Drake's eyes meet mine, but I'm so far gone I see peridot perfection, oblong black slits widen as his mouth parts. Then his tongue is on my thigh.
Raspy wetness coats the wounds, and I whimper in immediate relief. The pain begins to subside and I fall limp within Merck's arms. “Yes,” I whisper-hiss.
Merck gives a rough exhale but he holds me steady.
Drake's face moves uncomfortably close to my crotch. My eyes snap wide.
I can't ask. But I know if I don't say something, I won't recover. Fresh tears fall and Drake's tongue catches each one.
“A female of our kind—her tears are precious.” My breaths pile up uselessly, one on top of the other.
Merck growls, “You've done enough damage, back off.”
Drake's teeth show as sharp as an alligator's.
I shiver.
“Is there any other place where my battle blood touched you, Talyn?”
A hoarse sob escapes, and I cover my mouth, twisting within Merck's arms. “Yes,” I answer, the pain is so raw I can barely breathe.
“Where?” Merck asks.
I shut my eyes, shame and pain war inside me. Finally, I can't stand it anymore. I open my legs, and Drake's eyes move to my vagina.
“No!” Merck shouts.
“Yes,” Drake replies and dips his head.
2
Merck
Every fiber inside me is screaming to kill the fucking dragon. If he were dead, Talyn wouldn't be dying from Dragon's blood.
But if he dies—so does Talyn.
Drake gives me a split-seconds consideration. But he knows.
He knows I won't let Talyn die.
Drake moves his mouth close to her pussy. When his forked tongue exits I tense, Talyn's flushed face turns to me, her eyelids breaking open.
Then Drake begins to lick her.
Talyn's eyes snap all the way open. She moans, and I die a little inside.
It's not a pain sound. It's an: I love how that feels sound.
Drake easily scoops her naked ass cheeks into his large palms, cupping them and pulling her hips into his mouth.
The movement drags us all closer.
His tongue penetrates her deeply, I watch each forked inch disappear inside her.
Talyn throws her head back, gripping his shoulders, her breaths coming in quick pants while I hold her suspended.
“That's enough,” I seethe at the fucker.
His eyes rise to meet mine, golden-green and piercing. His tongue slides out of Talyn's wet depths.
“You wish to take a chance with this rare female's life because you don't want me to taste her sweetness?”
The tip of his tongue trembles, and I realize it's like a cat's tail twitching in agitation.
Good moon.
“No!” I say just below a shout. “But I think you're doing more than what's necessary.”
Our noses are almost touching over Talyn's splayed body. “Perhaps. But what if I do not do enough, and we watch her die an agonizing, preventable death?” His eyes hold mine. “Choose—her death or your pride.”
“Pride,” Talyn whispers between us.
Fuck. I nod, wanting to head butt him. The dragon is right. But I can hate it if I want to.
I do.
He moves to her pussy again and begins licking in earnest, really lapping as she writhes.
His finger moves to her clit and I grab his wrist.
“Don't, Dragon.”
“It is Drake—let me give this female pleasure, Lycan.”
I jerk my hand away as he inserts his tongue to the hilt, swirling a finger on her clit.
Talyn lasts a half-minute more and shatters apart in my arms, screaming her pleasure at the top of her lungs.
That bastard Drake keeps tongue-fucking her.
I look away in disgust as the female I want as mate comes in another male's face.
Finally, Drake removes his tongue and finger from Talyn and she lays limply in my arms. Drake takes a hold of her thighs and gently closes her legs. Leaning forward, he lays the side of his face against her knees in clear tenderness.
I seethe. “Don't pretend.”
He lifts his face, scales undulating, appearing and reappearing like moving opalescent glass across his skin. “I am not.”
I pull Talyn up and she wraps her hands around my neck. I cast a venomous look at Drake and carry Talyn to the bathroom. Turning on the tap as the water fills the tub, I review my options. There aren't a lot.
Drake has found us. He saved Talyn after putting her in danger. I haven't reported to Charles. He's most likely already pulled me from this change and reassigned it to someone else.
Definitely.
I want to go rogue. I've moved against all the directives of Changers by committing the greatest sin.
Claiming a change.
Then I allowed another shifter, not even a Lycan, to be intimate with my chosen female. It's a clusterfuck.
“How is she?” Drake asks from behind me. He didn't surprise me, I scented scale boy before he came in.
“She seems okay.”
“I'm fine,” Talyn mumbles, trying to cover her nudity inside the clear water. I hear her shame even as she tries to hide it. Smell it.
Her emotions burn my nostrils.
It's time for Drake to answer some questions. “What do you mean—your kind?”
Talyn rolls her head against the edge of the tub, looking at Drake. Sweat and blood mat his short hair to his head.
I probably look the same.
“What I mean is, my saliva would not cure Dragon's battle blood unless you carried a little in your own genetic makeup.” He shrugs. “I took a calculated risk.”
I stand, hands curling into fists.
Talyn's eyes brim with tears, tracking us.
“She is Lanarre. I've transitioned her. She is Lycan now, Dragon. Thank you for saving Talyn—now get the fuck out.”
I point to the bathroom door, and the one beyond.
Drake shakes his head, as though I'm a misbehaving child.
I stand, stepping into his space like I own it.
“Please, Merck—no more.” I turn my head to her.
Talyn's lip trembles, a fingernail nearly gone from the hand that grips the side of the tub, and shame burns inside me.
Talyn tried to attack Drake in wolfen form, having never shifted—done any of the things she should have known or been taught how to do.
I step away, hands on hips, head tucked low, trying to rein in my anger at Drake's presence, his deeds. His existence. “Now what?” I bark at him.
“Talyn Phisher has dragon's blood. Not much, but enough that I took a chance outing myself as trying to pass as being a Mutable when I was anything but.”
“Oh and those guys just let you be part of their colony without you proving you could be something besides dragon?” I ask in mock horror.
His scales grow hard-edged, and I realize his emotions play a part in the manifestation of his beast. “They never asked. They were so thrilled to have a dragon as part of the col
ony when I claimed I was Mutable, they just accepted it.”
“Why?” I ask.
Drake sighs, raking his hands through his hair, getting shit on his fingers and sighing in disgust. “Because hiding what I am in plain sight is the smartest choice for me. A prehistoric nomad gets gang-killed if he, or the rare she is discovered. No one wants us around unless we're working for them.”
Ah. So protection. Don't understand why a dragon would need protection.
Drake searches my face. “I am formidable—as you've found out.”
I twist my lips. He's not getting dick out of me—confession or otherwise.
His eyebrows jerk to his hairline. “But I'm only one shifter. I'm no match against ten shifters. That is why I got lucky with Talyn. I played along with their sick games until I could find a way to slip her out.”
“She's Lanarre, Dragon.”
“Just call him Drake, Merck. I think we're past trying to treat him like the enemy.”
I give her a look to silence, and she huffs, folding her arms. “Jerk.”
“You keep repeating Talyn's Lanarre status. It does not negate the possibility she is a female of my kind.”
Talyn does a slow blink, looking between the two of us. “So I have a couple of drops of Dragon's blood.” Talyn shrugs her naked shoulders, excavating the mounds of her tits like smooth mountains surfacing the water.
Drake and I salivate at the view.
She laughs, shaking her head. “You guys are single-minded.”
Drake shakes it off. “It matters. You have no idea how much. There have been no females found with prehistoric blood—of any kind—in a decade.”
“Oh shit,” I put together the meaning behind his words, flicking a glance at Talyn inside the cooling tub of water.
Her face is tight with anxiety. “So we have the whole saber tooth tigers, and woolly mammoths flocking to get a stick at me?” Talyn asks with a snort. She's trying to lighten the potential, but her face shows her fear.
Drake's face tightens. “Yes.”
I sit down hard on the side of the tub. “Well how the fuck am I supposed to keep her safe?”
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