Shifter Alpha Claim 1-6 Omnibus

by Tamara Rose Blodgett

  “You aren't fully human anymore, Talyn. Being with a human male is a waste of time.”

  Probably a waste of time before too. I don't comment. First smart move I've made.

  “Well forgive me if I'm having a little trouble coming to terms with the shift of my life.”

  Good Moon, she's getting riled up again. Bad puns and all.

  “Talyn,” Drake tries for reason, “all I was trying to say was that this is a natural direction for your life.”

  Not bad.

  He takes her hand. Then Drake wrecks it by speaking more. “And you didn't seem to have too much trouble when I was tonguing you.”

  Should have gone for simplicity.

  I think I see steam pouring out of her head.

  No. Just my imagination.

  She slaps Drake and her new Lycan strength makes his head rock back.

  When he looks back at her, his eyes have gone dragon.

  I jerk her onto my lap just as the broken door swings open.

  We turn to look as the ugliest shifter I've ever laid eyes on stomps inside like an elephant.

  Scratch that.

  Wooly Mammoth.

  *

  Jac

  I immediately spot the Lycan and Drake. The female hits the radar as prehistoric but strongly Lycan over the top of that. She reeks of a dual claim. An unfinished one from Drake and a complete one from the werewolf.

  Damn. What a mess.

  I shift the velvet sack with the silver weapons to my other hip.

  “Hey,” I say, as though my presence is an everyday occurrence.

  The Lycan stands, a low growl loosening lips that are becoming jowly with his animal.

  “Stay there, Jacob—freshly claimed female. Things are volatile.”

  “Freshly claimed?” the female yells, pounding on Drake's back with small fists.

  My eyebrows rise. I guess it's not going smoothly.

  Do I kill the Lycan? That's the normal protocol. I open my mouth to ask Drake when I realize my damn tusks are in the way.

  Shit. I begin to shift to human when four Mutables saunter in behind me.

  I smell the female's fear and turn, facing... a donkey.

  I laugh, but it comes out like a strangled cough. ʼBout normal, considering.

  Apparently the donkey Mutable understands my laughter is for him and gestures toward me. “Kill him,” he says.

  My eyes shift to the three who come for me.

  Tiger.

  Black bear.

  Antelope.

  Antelope?

  I take out the bear first, clocking him so hard with my weapons he drops where he's hit.

  Rushing the remaining two, I gore the tiger as his fur ripples over his body, flinging him off with my momentum. He makes a bloody stripe as he slides down the brick wall, the texture picking up a little spine in the process.

  The antelope kicks backward and hits me smack between the eyes.

  The strike staggers me and I land on my ass. Hard.

  Taken out by a fucking deer. I shake my head, trying to clear the fireworks bursting in the field of my vision. Fucking hoofer got me just right.

  When the four vamps charge in, I slump.

  Could the night get any worse?

  *

  Narah

  The donkey goes straight for Talyn but the dragon and Lycan have it.

  I see that the—whatever he is—elephant guy, was put on his ass by a half-formed deer and resist the urge to laugh again.

  I've had some pretty weird experiences but I'm thinking this is the number one evaaah.

  “Narah!” Murph screams above the din.

  I turn and Donkey's got something in his hand.

  Something small. And illegal.

  Grenade.

  Matthews unfortunately takes my shoulder out of the joint when he throws me into the hall.

  I land badly, hurting the other shoulder while clutching my dangling arm.

  Agony surges through me and I grit my teeth, crawling back to what's left of the door, hanging by one hinge.

  Thanks for the save, babe. God.

  Murphy and Aeslin blur to my side. Murphy gives a slight shake of his head. Don't go back in there, the silent look tells me.

  I glower.

  The apartment blows up—with Matthews in it. One of the fathers of my unborn child.

  I scream, leaping to my feet, my arm hanging like a crooked noodle.

  Aeslin tackles me.

  My arm feels like a live wire attached to my body and I cry out. Vampires can't survive fire, I think, before passing out from the pain.

  *

  Talyn

  I shriek.

  It's not neat or feminine. It's a loud, shrill bellow of complete terror. The donkey Mutable didn't perish in the house fire where I was held.

  He's come back with reinforcements.

  I'm claimed by Merck. I'm Lycan.

  So why does he want me? What can he possibly gain?

  Donkey reaches into his bag of tricks and flashes a toothy grin that's so creepy my skin wants to crawl off my body to escape his notice.

  “Come here Talyn, or the boysʼ guts get splattered everywhere,” he says pleasantly.

  My eyes widen. An antelope, some kind of half-bear and a tiger writhe around at his feet like released snakes. I don't know much, but what I do know is he's certifiably insane. A term I'm intimately familiar with.

  He's going to take everyone out if I don't go with him.

  Donkey might anyway.

  I slip out from between Drake and Merck—I'm not having people's deaths on my conscious. Though my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth from my fear.

  “No!” Drake yells, wrapping strong arms around me, easily lifting me.

  Donkey pulls out a propane torch, lights it.

  Pointing it—at me.

  “I'll kill her, Drake. And I know your fire will only swamp backward to the source.”

  I make a noise so primal it tightens Drake's arms around me like a vice and Merck moves forward.

  Donkey turns to him. “Back off, mutt. Can't help Talyn if I set your fur on fire.” His ridiculous eyebrows waggle.

  Really?

  I see the shifter with tusks shake his head, struggling to his feet. Getting his bearings, he rushes Donkey.

  It happens so fast, later I won't remember the exact order of events.

  Drake turns me in his arms, and plunges toward the glass window pane. His skin turns like smooth sheeted glass beneath my body.

  Merck moves toward Donkey as Tusks hits him from behind.

  An explosion blasts us as we hurtle toward Philips Street. I don't go splat as Drake turns at the last moment, taking the impact for us both.

  I do hit my head. On scales.

  Fire fills my vision as I lay on Drake's body.

  I blink.

  Figures fight inside the inferno like blurred shadows. One gets tossed out.

  I only close my eyes for only a moment.

  Then nothing.

  THE END

  SHIFTER

  An Alpha Claim Brief-Bites® Novelette

  Episode 6

  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.

  www.tamararoseblodgett.com

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  Marata Eros FB Fan Page

  Co
ver art by: Willsin Rowe

  Proofed by: Corinna

  Synopsis:

  Talyn escapes the Mutables to an enforcer safe house, and must decide between Merck and Drake—or does she?

  Half a claim will not be enough to protect her from the Mutable who want to use her to strengthen their shifts. Can she allow a full claim and what it will mean for her future?

  Or will her bid for freedom cost her more than she realizes?

  1

  Narah

  I scream and Murphy winces. “Steady, love—just one,” he twists my arm and I swear blood leaks from my ears, “more moment.” He shoves the joint back into the socket as ashy tears dry on my face.

  I take great, whooping lungfuls of precious oxygen as Aeslin holds me.

  “Where's,” gasp, weep, swipe, “Matthews?” I hate the weak lilt in my voice. Can't help it.

  Aeslin drags a hand over his hair, ripping the strands from the hairband at his nape. “Narah...”

  “Don't you Narah me!” I yell, staggering to my feet, my shoulder joint aching like a rotten tooth.

  There's a big hole past the broken apartment door. A gaping mouth of glass, and shards of brick are crumbled around a half-missing floor.

  Unbelievably, a pan of food sits in the center of the debris untouched.

  I walk toward the door, and Aeslin jerks me up by my waist, before I even react we're down the steps and out on Philips. Talyn is on her back, apparently unconscious with a dragon shifter for a bed.

  Matthews lays unmoving on the walk.

  I jerk out of Aeslin's arms and run to him, falling to my knees.

  “Don't you fucking die on me!” I scream, hitting him straight in the chest.

  One eyelid pops open, squinting at me. “Stop hitting me.”

  I rock back on my heels, sitting on my ass. “Don't scare me like that.”

  Matthews sits up, brick, mortar and tempered glass crumbs fall off him as he stands. His meaty palm moves in front of my face and I release the shaky breath I've been holding, slapping my palm inside his.

  He gently pulls me up, looking deeply into my eyes. “I don't matter, Narah.” His free hand flattens on my belly.

  I burst into tears, of course he does.

  Matthews draws me close, and I grip his broad shoulders, hanging on for dear life.

  I'm safe.

  He's safe.

  My eyes move to Talyn's still form.

  Maybe not all of us are.

  *

  Jamie Duncan

  That retard, Alex. Donkeys might be stubborn, but they aren't renowned for brains.

  Can't get it right.

  I push back into the shadows before one of the shifters scents me. Of course, being a Mutable is fine and good, if you can be in a form that's hard to scent. Reptile is the only one I've found that's worth a damn.

  And that fucker Arden? What a waste! Masker and Mutable both. And he gives it up for pussy?

  I shake my head. Now that's true single digit IQ choices there. I've got three torched Mutables, blasted by Alex's great handling of the grenade. He was supposed to take out Drake and the Lycan—the vamps would have been a bonus.

  I cup my chin. Maybe himself too. After all, Alex had outlived his usefulness. If a torturer is all I need, then he's a perfect fit. Unfortunately, the larger picture is generally missed with his straw-filled brain. He and I are set to meet, it's the contingency plan if he survives.

  Again. I sigh.

  Time to move. The carnage of the street will eventually be cleaned up before the enforcer and her vamps need to be in their coffins for the day. She'll be unprotected while they rest.

  A smile curls my lips. That female is definitely in the way of my purposes.

  Using Talyn for what she can gain me—and other Mutables. Since she is Lanarre, she can strengthen our forms. Make each form as formidable as our default beasts.

  Of course, that's a lot of sharing of one female. Just a lot of screwing by whoever needs their form spruced up.

  Perfection.

  I gaze down at Narah hovering over Talyn. I can hear her heartbeat from here. She's fine.

  For now.

  I cannot sense the beast beneath her. That makes the smile of cruelty I normally wear bloom to a full-fledged grin.

  I love being me.

  I move with stealth, my snake's body easily maneuvering down the back steps and out the fire escape I'd propped open earlier.

  I lift the end of my tail, in case the rattles alert anyone to my presence.

  2

  Merck

  I try to move. Can't.

  A broken back will do that every time.

  Fucktastic.

  Why did I let myself relax? Why didn't I smell those Mutables? Lots of whys there.

  Talyn's a distraction, is the answer. I had her in sight, bred her—hell—I'd claimed her.

  I'd even started to soften toward Drake—his role in this mess. Mainly because he was making sense. And, though I hated to admit it, she was safer with the two of us. I couldn't deny her blood origin. That she was both Lanarre and prehistoric.

  But look where all my reasonableness had gotten me. Flat on my back in the middle of Philips Street. Waiting for the morning rush hour to squash my ass.

  I scan the vicinity, just making out the shadowed hole of my apartment. A metal piece of window trim tips over the jagged edge of what used to be my floor before falling to the sidewalk below.

  Moon. This is so bad.

  I grit my teeth against the healing fire as my body feverishly knits itself together. Gradually, I begin to feel my legs again. First my toes, then shins, knees and lastly, my thighs wake up with what feels like a billion pins and needles telling me that by Moon, I'll walk again.

  Sirens wail in the distance like mournful wolves.

  People start to come out on the sidewalks from the high rise, luxury apartments above the first floor commercial spaces. It'll be my luck that Turners and other supes will take this opportunity to do a little housecleaning.

  Like dragging off a half-healed Lycan, and finishing the job.

  I roll over, slapping my palms onto the gritty asphalt, and wheezing through the pain of moving before I'm fully healed.

  I manage to position myself on my hands and knees. I automatically search for Talyn, remembering Drake doing a superman move through the glass. Tough bastard, I'll give him that. There, about ten paces from my position, low voices drone.

  A knot in my chest loosens as I catch sight of Talyn. She is just sitting up, hand to head, weaving a little.

  The rubberneckers converge. Humans in various states of dress with bright curious eyes, and no sense of self-preservation, begin to mill around, gawking, pointing and—taking out their pulse devices.

  Can't have that. This shit will be on PulseTube in about three minutes. The humans know about the vampires. An arm, full of scales that shine with dull rainbow fire, is trapped half-way underneath Talyn.

  Humans aren't ready for the prehistoric. I need to get him changed back to full human, and in a hurry. Even my quarter change form, which is about all I can manage with the amount of healing I had to undertake, is still noteworthy.

  I sit back on my haunches, take a deep breath, and using my hands on my knees, I launch myself to my feet. My back shrieks, and I gasp through the pain. The fire of my healing feels like a cracking whip inside my body. Healing hurts sometimes worse than the injury.

  I command my limbs to walk to Talyn, and beneath her—to where Drake lies.

  I watch the enforcer, her mates and her partner try to convince Talyn to get the hell out of here.

  She needs to. Like yesterday.

  Talyn's light gray eyes, silvered by her partial change find mine.

  “Merck!” she cries and suddenly my pain melts before the tone in her voice. All my body hears is its mate calling for help.

  I stumble through the last vestiges of real healing and kneel beside her. My hands cradle her face.

 
Enforcer Adrienne meets my eyes. “She's sort of disoriented.” The enforcer looks like shit. Narah Adrienne also looks like she's been through worse. Tough broad.

  “I say we leave this wanker behind.”

  I look at the vamp. Tall, dark hair—black eyes. British. New vamp for sure. And my nose tells me he's somehow tied to the enforcer.

  Adrienne turns to him. “Don't get a fang out of place over this, Murph. He laid you out to get to Talyn. No male is in his right mind when a vagina's in the equation. Everything goes to shit.”

  I snort, the vampire mates chuckle.

  True.

  Adrienne glares.

  Their laughter sort of dies like a strangled duck.

  I move between them, and Narah silently moves away, I grab Talyn, lifting her off Drake.

  Scales aplenty. “Let's get Drake out of here. We've got eyes.”

  “Ah, don't mind that,” Murphy says, facing the crowd.

  Human eyes stare at him.

  Murphy stares back.

  “Don't scoop out their brains, Murph,” Enforcer Adrienne says dryly.

  Murphy turns around, winking. “Wouldn't dream of it.”

  Adrienne rolls her eyes. “I'm grabbing dragon stud and we'll regroup somewhere else.”

  Nighttime blankets the city, but it's soft, dawn is only a promise.

  The vampires nod and without another word, Narah grabs Drake's arm and hoists him up. Three hundred plus pounds of dead weight.

  Each one of Adrienne's mates take an arm. Adrienne nods in my direction. I lift Talyn, following them.

  I spare a glance at my apartment, satisfied that my belongings are like those of everyone else's. They'll appear human.

  We walk away just as the ambulance and fire truck arrive.

  Murphy feeds the crowd what the story will be. Instead of the story it was.

  3

  Talyn

  “Where's Drake?” I ask.

  Merck shakes his head, practically carrying me as I'm tucked underneath his arm. “Enforcers have him.”