Shifter Alpha Claim 1-6 Omnibus

by Tamara Rose Blodgett

  Merck slides his arm around my shoulder and I melt a little against him. He and I haven't even had time to deal with having sex—the claim issue. It's all been surviving until the next catastrophe.

  “I'll be around,” she says, twirling her finger.

  “What about the vampires?” I ask, my eyes searching the day that dims toward night.

  “They know where to find me. It's safer that you don't know where this place is. Safer for you—and anybody that might come after you.”

  Our gazes lock, and I nod.

  Drake steps out of the back of the van and stretches. Rippling scales swarm his form, his ears elongate, making the tri-pointed sweep he had when we first met.

  “Go ahead,” Merck says in a rough voice. I give him a hesitant look and move to the other male I'm drawn to.

  Drake's eyes never leave me. He opens his arms and I fall into him. “I thought you were dead.” His large hand cups my skull, stroking my hair. “I am not, as you can see.” His steady heartbeat thumps beneath my cheek as Narah slips into the woods and out of sight.

  The driver hops out, giving us an indifferent glance and strolls to a nearby tree, lighting up an illegal cigarette.

  The pungent odor of tobacco assaults my nose and I turn away.

  Drake tugs me away from him. His eyes drill me, beautiful and spinning slightly inside a solemn, masculine face. “Let's finish this.”

  Merck is suddenly there. “Finish what?”

  Drake turns to Merck and the testosterone spike alone should light the forest on fire. His pupils widen to oblong discs inside his face as he glares at Merck. “You know what. My claim is half-done. If I don't finish it, any prehistoric or Mutable can walk in and have her.”

  “Hey,” I interrupt and their angry faces turn to me. “Let's go inside the cabin and get a shower—some food.”

  I don't need world war three breaking out.

  Merck's expression looks as though he sucked on a lemon, and Drake's is hard, but they follow me wordlessly into the cabin.

  *

  I'm not much of a cook. My index finger has a callous from pulsing my takeout orders. But here in the cabin, I rustle up enough food so we won't starve—if canned fruit and stew can be called sustenance. It'll have to do.

  It's what we have.

  I scrounged around and found some clean sweatpants in a small guy's size and a t-shirt. My bra is being held together by a single surviving hook. I only wear it for modesty's sake. The girls do not play well with others without the prison of my bra.

  I sigh, gathering my things as Merck gives me a speculative look over the top of his coffee cup, his hair still wet from a lukewarm shower.

  I move down the long corridor, and literally bump into Drake.

  He's naked from the waist up, my mouth lands literally between the discs of his nipples.

  Oh god.

  I stumble backwards.

  He grips my upper arms and a little needy whimper escapes. I guess that whole heat thing hasn't totally been dealt with yet.

  He leans forward, his nose burrowing into my neck, inhaling my scent and my knees about give out where I stand.

  So good.

  Drake releases me abruptly, looking at something over my shoulder.

  Merck.

  “Let her shower, dragon.”

  Drake's lips curl. “Of course.”

  I scowl at the two of them—so much for staving off a battle. “We're going to get this all worked out when I get out, boys.”

  They turn to me and Drake says, “Yes, we are.”

  I move into the bathroom and kick the door shut.

  That's what I'm afraid of.

  6

  Talyn

  The cabin is eerily silent when I exit the shower.

  Oh my God, they've killed each other.

  I slowly towel off, delaying the sight of inevitable bloodshed. Seeing my reflection in the mirror, a raw exhale escapes. My longish hair responds pretty well to the finger-comb I give it.

  A soft knock sounds on the door and I clutch the towel tighter, opening the flimsy door a crack.

  One of Drake's gorgeous eyeballs stares back. He's alive anyway.

  “Talyn,” he pauses, the look of uncertainty on his face would be funny if the situation wasn't so dire.

  Donkey. Mutables.

  Duncan.

  All those shifters are circling in my brain, and still at large. Hell, I have an enforcer guarding me in a remote cabin I don't even have the location for. ʻThe Hillsʼ is pretty broad.

  “Let's talk.”

  It's not talking I want to do. I already love them both. And I don't know when my lust and need changed to more.

  But it has.

  I don't yearn so sharply for my old life, but the need for closure is still there.

  I step out of the bathroom, and Merck is waiting, a stubborn look on his face, arms crossed over his muscular chest.

  “Merck and I have come to an agreement.”

  I'd put my hands on my hips if it wouldn't guarantee an accidental striptease. “You have, have you?” I hear the bite in my voice. I can't help it. I'm emotionally fragile right now. My entire life's been turned upside down and I'm not me anymore. I'm partly Lycan now. I feel the beast inside me. She's given me senses that are sharper today than they were yesterday. Speed, agility, scent, strength—it's all so much more.

  So is the passion and anger. It's a mixed bag. I can't fight the new, animalistic side of me.

  I'm sinking.

  Drake takes hold of my shoulders, his thumbs caressing the curves of my arms. “Merck has agreed to let me breed you.”

  “As long as you don't get pregnant with a lizard,” he says dryly from behind us.

  The comment makes me lightheaded. “I can't have kids.”

  Drake dips his head, his forehead barely touching my own. “You are Lanarre, Talyn. Shifters of royal blood will never be able to bear offspring with humans. It's not a defect, it's a biological safety measure.”

  My inhale draws in his unique, spicy scent. Cloves, cinnamon and rich male swarm my senses, making me dizzy.

  Suddenly Merck is there.

  “I thought you wouldn't share.”

  Drake allows Merck to pull me into his arms, so strong and safe around me.

  “And that got Arden killed. If I'd been more reasonable, you'd be transitioned. If I'd bowed to your heritage, and known the only way to see you safe, and fully transitioned would be with two males of compatible genetics, even now it would be a moot point.”

  “So pride?” I ask quietly, giddy with his scent, sad over the mention of Arden.

  “Pride has to take second place to the female I've claimed as mate.”

  My head jerks up and I look at Drake. “What about you?”

  “There are not enough women of prehistoric blood. Maybe a handful are found every few decades. Merck has agreed—and already transgressed against all the rules of Changers—to allow a dual claiming. It's only your consent that we're waiting for.”

  Merck slowly turns me. “I have to be truthful here, Talyn. I had no intention of mating or claiming you. Changing you was all I was tasked with.

  I roll my lip into my mouth, lightly gnawing the flesh.

  “Hey,” he says softly, lowering his face so we're eye level. “That's all different now. I stopped fighting what my beast has been trying to tell me since the first time I laid eyes on you. You were meant to be my claim—not just a change. There is precedence for it, but as a Changer, I'm beholden to transition and turn over.”

  “And you didn't,” I say.

  He shakes his head, his eyes sliding behind me to study Drake. “And,” he gathers himself together, “Drake—he has the same duty.”

  I pull away from him. “I don't want to be a duty.”

  Merck sighs. “You are no longer a change, Talyn. I've already transitioned you. Drake claimed you by default when he healed you of the dragon's blood. Without his claim, you are not whole. He's right—if
he doesn't complete the claim, you are vulnerable. Can you imagine an enemy getting his paws on you and claiming you—with or without your consent? You'd be bound to me—and—someone you hated, who took you in violence. I believe,” his eyes tighten, “that it's better to allow his claim. Prehistorics never harm women, they revere them. Mutables are the opposite of that. I can't take that chance, with the female I love.”

  My mouth drops open and he captures my lips in his own.

  Our kiss deepens and Drake is suddenly behind me, his erection seated between my butt cheeks.

  I should feel intimidated—scared.

  I don't, for the first time, I feel right within my own skin. Nestled between two shifters.

  I've come home.

  7

  Merck

  Say yes, Talyn.

  Drake has her from the back and I don't gnash my teeth at his presence. I'm done with that. Finding Talyn in the Mutable's colony killed a lot of my possessive jealousy. Her tears clinched the rest.

  Drake will protect her. And with the discovery of her prehistoric blood—I need him. Keeping Talyn safe is more important than my pride.

  Most shifter royalty is tied with other shifter groups. Talyn is multi-compatible because of her unique, ancient blood. If the dragon and I can complete her claim, she'll be safe from the others.

  Talyn nods against me, and my eyes meet Drake's. I can't be all smiles about his part in breeding her, but I'm committed for the right reasons now.

  Drake scoops her up and I follow him into the bedroom.

  The towel she was wearing flutters to the floor.

  *

  Talyn

  Naked, again.

  I want to feel shame, regret—anything. But all I feel right now is the overpowering need to complete a loop I didn't even know needed closure.

  Drake has me in his solid arms and walks me to the bed, gently laying me down.

  Merck slides in beside me, and Drake bends his massive body over the top of mine, looming without suffocating.

  Somewhere from the hallway to the bed he lost his pants. I glance over at Merck and he's as naked as the day he was born.

  Or littered.

  I smile and seeing my expression, he gives a soft upward tilt of lips. I know this is hard for Merck, who railed against sharing me. But his love shines in his eyes. If you truly love someone, you want what's best for them—not what's best for you.

  Love is selfless.

  My safety and happiness—my life, is now in the hands of the males.

  “Talyn,” Drake whispers, and I move my legs apart as he smoothly moves between them.

  My heart thumps like a wild animal in my chest, my beast pushing painfully underneath my skin. “I can't—” I gulp back my anxiety, “change right now?”

  Drake smooths my hair back. “I need to calm her, your animal.”

  Scent swirls, lifting my unease like an unwanted garment. A relieved breath eases out, and I go boneless beneath him.

  Merck kisses my forehead. “This is about keeping you safe, making you ours to protect and cherish, Talyn.”

  “You guys have gone all sappy on me,” I murmur then give a nervous laugh.

  Drake says nothing, but his mouth speaks for him, softly kissing my lips over and over until I yield to the softness of his mouth on mine, his rich spicy maleness clings to my pores, seeping into everything that makes me human—Lycan—and now something more than even that.

  Theirs.

  Merck's large hands cover my breasts, kneading them into piles of pliable flesh, his thumbs stroking my nipples until they form ready peaks for Drake to kiss and suck.

  I moan, moving into the hard sure pressure of my breasts being grabbed, nipples sucked.

  A thread of pure, electric desire begins to tingle from my chest to my core, igniting a razor wire of lust that has me opening my eyes, staring deeply into Drake's.

  I turn to look at Merck and he kisses me at the exact moment Drake inserts a finger into my wetness. “Ah!” I groan in a muffled shout.

  Merck eats my arousal with his tongue as Drake gently pumps inside me. Moisture floods my walls, coursing from the center of me to my ready sex.

  Drake takes his time. I pant and writhe, and Merck takes ahold of my wrists, stowing them over my head with one of his hands.

  I gasp at the feeling of being pinned, loving the safety and closeness of the Lycan and dragon. My wolf fights, feeling the need to escape.

  Merck kisses my throat, licking along the shrieking pulse point in my neck and my wolf calms at the tactile assurance.

  I open my eyes, and Drake says softly, “Yield, Talyn—let me in.”

  I hold my breath, my wolf pacing inside my body. I know what's right, somewhere deep inside me, in the very fabric of my body, a burn has begun. My blood feels as though it is rising to the surface like a dam ready to burst.

  I nod. I'm brave.

  Merck holds my wrists in a gentle but firm grip while Drake hangs over the top of me, his huge length dangling from narrow hips as a muscular torso holds his weight.

  Still, he waits.

  I know what Drake needs to hear.

  “Yes.”

  9

  Drake's shoulders soften for a moment.

  He centers his erection at my entrance and I relax, releasing my fear, my distrust, my anxiety of the unknown.

  He rocks his hardness halfway inside, and I cry out at the delicious girth of him, the unexpected filling of what can only be the rightest thing I've ever felt.

  I turn my head, looking into Merck's eyes and his are half-closed, lust and love dividing his expression into equal parts.

  He leans in close and I kiss him as Drake pulls back, then rocks inside wholly, filling me with himself.

  We throb together, locked as tightly as a man and woman can be. I groan, fighting against Merck's hand and he releases my wrists, his mouth trailing tender kisses over my face, dusting it with feathery passion.

  I grip Drake's shoulders, and our tongues begin to twine as he thrusts inside me, gently at first, then with more power.

  Merck kisses me one more time and moves to his knees, his penis stiff and rock hard with need, hanging above my face.

  I look to Drake whose face is tight with his desire, his jaw slack with arousal.

  “At the same time, Talyn—let us share you,” Drake says in a pained voice, gone low with his want.

  I turn my face back to Merck and he nudges himself inside my mouth. I open, his penis stabbing the back of my throat with a rhythm that mimics Drake's.

  Soon the males are taking me together, one in my pussy and one in my mouth. A delicious fullness builds. I gurgle beneath them, spreading myself wider to take everything Drake has, my juices gushing in response to their simultaneous motion.

  “I can't last,” Drake manages and my eyes find his. Glittering jewels of banked gold-green fire lay claim to me beneath him.

  Merck grips my hair and pushes me back and forth on him. When my lips touch the base of him I thrash, not breathing. Hot liquid jets of seed fill my mouth and I instinctively swallow.

  Drake stiffens at the same moment, unloading himself into my depths.

  The orgasm I felt as a gentle growing pressure pops like a balloon stretched to its limits as I take the cum from both males as my body starts to grow hot from within.

  Pulses of the orgasm wash over the three of us, sending waves of pleasure from deep inside to my toes, my fingertips—making my scalp tingle as my body grows like a roaring inferno.

  Merck releases the hold on my hair just enough to allow me to turn my head as Drake lays down on top of me, still deeply embedded.

  His elbows prop him over me as he plants a tender kiss on the tip of my nose.

  “Perfect.”

  “More than perfect, dragon,” Merck says, pushing my hair off my face and smoothing it behind my ears.

  I can't catch my breath. I don't even want to.

  I throw one arm around Drake and use the other to
pull Merck close. Our faces all touch, joy surges through me, and the tiniest bit of insecurity. “You boys better not be the love ʼem and leave ʼem type.”

  Drake nuzzles my neck. “Never. Especially not now.”

  Merck knowingly smirks.

  I gaze between the two of them. “What do you mean—ʻespecially not nowʼ?”

  “My seed has now joined with Merck's. You are pregnant.” Drake's hand slides to my stomach, usually a move that would be a turn off.

  Not right now.

  “The heat,” Drake begins.

  “Conception,” Merck finishes.

  The males give serious eye contact to each other.

  Then Merck says, “It only takes one time.” He winks.

  I lie there like a war survivor. After a few minutes of their intense scrutiny I reply, “Twice, technically.”

  They laugh.

  Finally, I join them.

  There are worse things than getting pregnant by a dragon and a Lycan.

  Like never having a baby.

  I sit up suddenly. “Wait a second,” I say as a thought occurs to me.

  Their eyebrows rise simultaneously and I give a shaky laugh. “Does this mean I'm going to have twins? You know, fraternal—one is a lizard and one is a puppy?”

  Drake appears insulted.

  Oops. “Sorry baby, got a little carried away there.”

  His face smooths. “You are Lanarre, many things are possible.”

  “So we don't know what I'll have?”

  Merck runs a hand down the side of my face, temple to jaw, lightly cupping my jawline. “You will have young. And he or she will be ours, together.”

  Ours.

  I burst into tears. The malesʼ nostrils flare, their faces breaking into grins. They know what my tears are. They can scent them—tears of relief.

  Tears of happiness.

  I love that they can tell the difference.

  10

  Duncan

  “It wasn't easy. We used a Lycan to do the job.” Alex's long donkey ears lift as he speaks, and once again, I wish he'd take another form in my presence.