BOX SET: Shifter 4-Pack Vol 2 (Wolf Shifter, Dragon Shifter, Mafia, Billionaire, BBW, Alpha) (Werewolf Weredragon Paranormal Fantasy Romance Collection)

by Candace Ayers

  “Yes, you are. Deep breath.” I obeyed. “Now let go of me.” This took another minute. “Thank you. Now breathe, but try to keep the air in your lungs. Move your arms like I did. Slower than that. See? You don’t even need me.” Suddenly I couldn’t feel him there holding me up.

  It took only a second to panic of him letting me go before I let out the air and began to slip under the waves. He pulled me up, sputtering with water up my nose. I coughed and gave him a dark look. “You did that on purpose.”

  “I did. You didn’t need to freak out.” He let me clear my sinus before forcing me to do it again. After a few tries, I could do it alone and we floated around together before trying anything else. No matter what he asked me to do, Ben was right beside me the entire time and never let me further than an arm’s grasp away.

  “This isn’t so bad,” I admitted when he considered the lesson at its end. My body was relaxed and the water was blissfully cool against the hot day. I stopped in a spot of sunlight, and I let it sink in, smiling. My body tingled with delight now that I could float and swim in the water just like a fish. A shiver ran down my spine as I opened my eyes and found Ben in front of me.

  “Good,” he said, and pulled a strand of hair from my cheek. I barely had time for another breath before he grasped my neck, pulling me forward so our lips collided. My heart felt like it burst and just like that, the little resolve I had maintained all afternoon melted in his kiss. The river had cleared my mind so now the only thoughts up there were of him. His warmth, his muscles, his dark brooding eyes, and the way he so effortlessly ignited a fire inside my bones.

  Groaning, my body arched in bliss as his kisses climbed to my earlobe and he nibbled with his teeth. Immediately I melted into his frame, the only thing that kept me afloat. I could taste the salt of sweat between our kisses as we moaned with pleasure. We forgot everything until we were breathy with exhaustion.

  I couldn’t remember why I tried to stay away from him. His fingers slipped up the curve of my waist gently until he touched the base of my neck, his thumb stroking my swollen lips. The world disappeared whenever I looked at him.

  It was hard to focus on anything else, and I felt like I was floating in a way more dreamlike than on the water. Even as we pulled away, our hands remained intertwined. The current was soft and teased us as we silently began to make our way back to shore.

  He was quiet as we made our way to the shore, but even on dry land it was hard to concentrate on anything except his presence while I dressed. My skirts were first, and he stole a kiss on the back of my shoulder before I grasped my shirt. I couldn’t help but blush when I glanced to find him smiling. It made me realize that I couldn’t remember another time feeling this fresh, this satisfied, this happy.

  Benjamin chuckled and I raised an eyebrow at him. “There it is,” he nodded, pulling me close for another kiss. I embraced it and my body was too ready for him again, tempted to shed my clothes all over again.

  He hovered for a moment, teasing me before stepping back. Dumbstruck, I could barely manage a word. I wondered how well he knew what he did to me. Clamping my mouth shut, I tried to remember what I was doing and what he had said.

  “Wait, there what is?” I watched him slip his shirt on with water still dripping. Ben shook his hair like a wet dog as he winked at me. Decency after all, was never part of our relationship. The tingle that run down my spine reminded me that I didn’t mind.

  “Your smile. It’s a rare one.” He added.

  “Oh,” I considered his comment carefully, not sure how to address it. “I usually smile more.”

  “I don’t make you smile?” He tried to be playful and pout at me, but the result was more funny than sympathetic. He blew out his cheeks to make them fat as he crossed his eyes, but it just made him look like a poor man gone mad.

  A small giggle bubbled out before I could stop it. I shook my head and tried to explain. “Well, I thought I did. I mean, you do. Make me smile, that is.” The look he was giving me made me tongue-tied, but I liked what it did to my heartbeat. As I looked longer at him, I couldn’t stop the smile from returning as I pushed away the fears.

  That wicked grin of his reappeared and I couldn’t help the hitch in my breathing when he said, “Good.”

  His eyes drifted over me as I found myself walking over and wrapping my arms around his neck. Once he was close enough, I pulled him in for a kiss. Our lips met, and I felt his tongue awaiting entrance, already salty sweet. This felt so natural, I wondered why I hadn’t done this before. Everything in this moment was right, and I wished it would never end.

  4: Benjamin

  She was a piece of work and a work of art. Whenever I tried to describe her, I found myself speechless for there were no words that justified the creature before me. Remy was like no one I had ever met before, let alone any woman I had come across. Eliza was all but forgotten to me now that I had someone else in my life. And as brilliant as it was, this also made her the most frustrating person in my life. For some reason, it just couldn’t be simple.

  “It’s dusk,” I pointed out to her over the fire. We had fished soon after we finished our time at the river, and had set up camp since it was likely we would be around here another night. Everything was gathered in a heap, just in case, but I didn’t plan on us going anywhere.

  She was watching the flames, and didn’t hear me. After the warm greetings and moans I had received this afternoon, I had no idea why she was being frigid to me all over again. Remy had barely said a word since I’d kissed her and that had been how many hours ago? I had forced myself to stop counting them.

  I mentioned it again, and her gaze slid away in acknowledgement, but nothing more. I bit my cheek in frustration. “You promised to teach me your ways.”

  Pulling these words off my tongue was grueling, humbling work. I had lived a confident life, always with the strength and knowledge necessary to survive. Even with Sheriff Robbie constantly breathing down my neck, I had managed to do well for myself. Until she came along. I pondered on walking away for the hundredth time, but the strange feeling beneath my skin wasn’t something I could understand on my own. Even if that wasn’t an issue, I wasn’t sure I could bring myself to leave her.

  “Remy?”

  She finally nodded. I watched her stare at the flames before shaking her head and standing stiff. “I know. But I’m afraid I’ve never taught anyone before. I don’t even know where to begin… At least, to put it in good terms. Because it can be a good thing. If it’s done right. If you- if you don’t lose yourself in the process. Some do. You’ve probably heard stories of my kind, hunting humans and stealing babies in their cradles. Many of those are based off truth, Benjamin.” She rambled, and I tried to focus.

  When she raised her head, I saw she was very distressed. My mouth opened, ready to apologize instantly. That was why she had fallen silent for the rest of the day. It made me feel responsible for arising these dreadful feeling, so I crossed over and wrapped an arm around her. “I can’t imagine you even harming a child, no matter what you tell me.”

  “I wouldn’t,” she said emphatically. “But some do. They- it happens. And I can’t always stop someone from doing that. They give into the bloodlust, and they get carried away. By the time they even turn human again, they don’t even care. They… many can switch forms but are hardly human after a while. It’s awful.”

  For a minute, I digested these thoughts as I worked on a way to build her confidence, to remind her of the good in the world. “It is awful,” I agreed. “But even normal humans do terrible things. There are murderers and- and cannibals and other bad people.”

  “They were supposed to be good people,” she mumbled.

  Nothing was helping and I finally realize that she doesn’t just know of these stories, but they’ve deeply affected her. And I began to wonder. “Somebody really hurt you, didn’t they?”

  It took Remy a long time to answer. With a deep breath, she turned to face me. “I thought I might lov
e him. At the time, I was naive and fooled myself into believing something that I knew was false inside my heart. We barely knew each other, but we joined together and began forming a pack. I had thought he had lost his pack, but the truth came out later.

  “Like myself, his blood was pure, and we had grown up with the pride of our kind from birth. It’s what we knew and it was what we loved. Or so I thought. For myself, my parents had imparted the story that when you take the life of a human for nothing but pleasure, then your blood becomes dirty and you lose your soul. It just never made sense to hurt others willingly, even if we were only half of what they were. It never made sense to fight or kill for fun. Does that make sense?” She paused and waited for me.

  I nodded. “I’m following.”

  “Well, he wasn’t raised to think like that. It’s a… a myth, really, that’s been spread around for centuries. Our kind is half wolf and half human, and some consider that a greater strength- to be greater than both species, you see.”

  “It’s not thorough logic, but I suppose some could see it that way.”

  “By killing… by taking… by ripping out the hearts of those either wolf or human, it’s considered to give one even greater strength. That they grow stronger and quicker and- he even thought he had powers because of it.”

  I had to raise an eyebrow because there must be a limit to the strangeness. “Powers?”

  She nodded, then sighed. “Nothing changed, no matter who he destroyed. If anything, he grew angrier. Nothing satisfied him. He was always hungry, for the hunt and for control. I couldn’t join, but I watched, I let him... He was the Alpha and he convinced the pack to copy his ways. Sometimes it was like talking with squabbling children, and other times… I felt like… I felt sick.”

  “And you stayed?” I searched her face for answers, trying to comprehend. I knew she came from a different world, and I was wondering if I would ever fathom it, or at least understand her.

  Remy shrugged and couldn’t look at me. “I thought I could fix them, or help them when they were ready. But they never were. They went off once, when I wasn’t feeling like going near town. I didn’t know what to expect and when I came back, some of them were gloating. They bragged about the harmless, defenseless scared people they had attacked and-

  “I let him convince me to stay, somehow. But by then they were all different. No one was ever satisfied with anything but the reddest meat. They would fight constantly, and blame each other and blame me. Their eyes were red, stained with their actions. It was hard to look any of them in the eye.”

  After what I had been through in my own life, I knew it wasn’t possible to understand what horrors she has faced alone. It was hard to imagine, to comprehend. The two of us stared into the fire, and listened to the night.

  “What made you finally leave?” I asked her finally, the curiosity bugging me. If that wasn’t enough to make her leave, what was?

  Her lips curved into a smile. “You and your questions…” To my surprise, she squeezed my knee and left her hand upon my thigh as she searched for the right words. That smile faded as she grew resigned, gnawing on her lip in frustration. “I didn’t want to be alone again. I had already lost one family and I didn’t want to lose another. But I couldn’t.

  “When an Alpha comes to you, you aren’t supposed to say no. It’s an honor, a sign of respect. A pack of our kind has values on- on rules and etiquette above that for normal wolves, but are stricter than humans. It’s outdated and ridiculous, but most packs still follow it to some degree to respect the ancients and the old ways. That’s when I knew I had outstayed my welcome, and refusal of an Alpha as a mate is grounds enough to be considered dirt. Or worse, I suppose.”

  That I could understand. “You left to be free.”

  She nodded miserably, and started to pull away with a look of shame. I couldn’t stop myself from grabbing her hand and placing it on my thigh where I held it captive with my hand over hers for comfort. If there was anything I could do, it was to impress upon her that she wasn’t by herself and she didn’t need be ever again.

  Remy stared at our hands. “It’s all my family wanted for me, you know. Happiness and joy, friends and family.” Slowly, she moved to interlace our fingers. “I was a fool to stay with Lyell for so long. But I was afraid to be alone again.”

  I squeezed her hand. “You’re not alone.” Then I grinned. “Do I have competition, then?”

  The woman gave me a dark look and pulled away. “You’re ridiculous. I shouldn’t have told you.”

  “No,” I instantly protested and stole her hand back. I took a deep breath and I could smell her scent so clearly. “No. I am glad you did. Things don’t always work out. We all have our stories. I lost those I cared for, I lost those whom I loved. We lose people. The bad ones haunt us till we set them free, and the loved ones may stay with us forever.”

  She raised her chin and smiled. “Aren’t you the poet.”

  I kissed her hand, unable to resist. “I have my ways.”

  There was a laugh in her eyes for I had finally begun to lighten the mood. Remy stood up and managed a deep breath. “All right. Let’s do this, shall we?” She pulled me to my feet and started leading me through the trees.

  As we walked, she began to talk again, more firm and self-assured. “By now you had to have noticed that you feel differently. Stronger, quicker, sharper. You can hear and smell things from a greater distance and at a new clarity. Right?”

  “Right.”

  “And it’s not only in the body, but the soul as well. While I’m not quite clear on the differences of one who has been bitten and one with pure blood, it can’t be too far apart. You may not have been able to describe it, but it’s the connection to the moon. It’s like an inner voice connected to your heart. As it grows stronger, so do you and so does that pull.”

  I glanced doubtfully up to the silver crescent. “The moon does that?”

  Nothing could stop her now, weaving us through the trees. I realized I didn’t know where we were headed, and tried to focus on her voice as well as our surroundings. Her speech grew more impassioned and I smiled as I watched her. “Yes, it does. It- I can’t describe it, but it talks to us. From inside, and yes I know it sounds insane. You feel it. Sometimes it’s quiet, but it’s there for you when you need it.”

  My eyes wandered to see where she was headed. Something in the back of my mind told me she knew where she was going, and he was looking for a particular field. I shrugged it off and listened to her continue. I had almost forgotten what we were going to do, too caught up in Remy at the moment.

  “Earlier, I mentioned my concern about teaching you. I’ve never done it before and it’s hard to describe. It’s as simple for me as- as going to sleep, or catching myself when I trip. It’s second nature. So I don’t know how difficult it is or how long it will take you. But I do know that some get so caught up in the moment, caught up with the rush of new energy and-” she stopped.

  We had reached wherever she wanted us to be. I looked around curiously at this quiet spot we had walked so long to find. There were tall reeds, as tall as her waist, and nothing else. There was a peace to this, and I understood why she would want to find a place like this. My smile faded when I saw her face. Squeezing her hand, I wondered if it was the same concern as before.

  “Remy?”

  She gave me a strange look, one I couldn’t describe. She looked cross, and she looked concerned, and then she started glaring. “You can’t, Benjamin. You can’t give in. I don’t know how or what you have to do differently- but you need to control yourself. Please.” Her gaze dropped away as she let go of my hand.

  I was beginning to feel guilty for insisting she teach me, for forcing her to face her fears with the problems of her past. But I knew I needed to learn this, and she had to know that, too. So I pulled my hands over her cheeks, and raised her gaze to mine. She was tall for a woman, but not as tall as myself.

  “It’s going to be okay.” I tried to read
her thoughts, wondering what I could say to make it better. Her hands touched my elbows, grasping for support as though she were falling away.

  “But it’s my fault if anything goes wrong,” she mumbled.

  “No, it will be because of any choice that I, on my own, make.”

  “But if I hadn’t bitten you-” She began regretfully, but I wasn’t about to let her get back to this all over again. If I continued to let her start this, we could be here all night. I shook her lightly, trying to make sure I had her attention.

  “It’s done,” I said more firmly than I intended. I cleared my throat and spoke more gently. “It’s done, and I don’t regret it. I am telling you, it will be okay.”

  Remy looked at me skeptically. “You promise?”

  I had learned long ago not to promise something like this, but her face was enough to make me change my mind. “I promise.” Then I kissed her forehead and stepped away. There was nothing else I could do now but wait.

  She stared at my chest for a long time before at long last, she caved. “All right. Well, I’ve warned you the best I could.” For another minute she mulled things over before she nodded to herself and walked deeper into the reeds. “It’s quiet here, and will give us the peace you need to concentrate.” When she found a spot she was comfortable in, the woman began to undress.

  I had teased her this morning and it was only fair she teased me now, but it was still hard to restrain myself. The reeds were thick but I could already envision her baring every glorious curve. It took all of my focus not to march over to her right then. She had little concern for my self-control for never knowing the inward battle I fought. My heart began to pound fiercely and I struggled to reign myself back.

  “Well?” My eyes returned to her face and I knew she heard the quickened beat of my heart as she grinned. She did know what she did to me. Even though Remy looked at me with all innocence, I could see that mischievous sparkle in her eyes. “You won’t want to ruin your clothes, do you?”