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

by Candace Ayers

  “I do,” she said as she set up the needle, the blood line, and the bag.

  Virlek didn’t say anything. Cheyenne tied a rubber band around his arm, just over his elbow. His jaw clenched.

  “But the only man I have lain with in the last five flipping years,” she said as she inserted the needle end of the IV line into his arm, “is you.”

  Cheyenne immediately felt the pain. She, too, clenched her jaw. She, too, held her breath. She, too, felt as if her entire body were screaming in agony. Aubrey had been right. This hurt.

  Virlek watched as she reacted to the extreme pain he also felt. His heart flipped in his chest. He reached up with his free hand to cup her cheek. “You are my mate.”

  He withdrew his hand from her face, placing it on her rounded belly, over her belly button, over their unborn child. Virlek spoke again, his voice a mixture of awe and wonder, “This is my child?”

  “Yes,” Cheyenne answered. “It is yours. According to Elder Bear, another part of the legend is the possibility of the impregnation of our women by the Guardian warriors, even in dreams.”

  “I didn’t know,” Virlek looked up at her. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Cheyenne. I didn’t know.”

  In that moment, his pain seemed to dissipate. Cheyenne bent down to place a kiss on his lips. Virlek slid his tongue across the seam of her lips tasting her and parting them to caressing her tongue with his. He moved his hand to up to cup her breast, feeling the nipple harden against his palm through her shirt. She shivered.

  “I have to keep an eye on the bag,” she said, though she didn’t want to stop kissing him. She wanted to touch him all over. She wanted to—but every movement pained her, and she could tell the loss of blood was exhausting Virlek. It was exhausting her, too. So, when she was finished drawing the blood, they just lay in each other’s arms, lazily enjoying the feeling of nearness as each one fell into a deep, revitalizing sleep.

  A few hours later, the couple awoke to gunfire. Virlek ran his fingers along the seam of the tent flap, opening it just enough to peer through.

  “Gen-Ex,” was all he said.

  “What? That building in New York? What are you—” she tried to ask.

  “No time to explain. Just get the blood back to your people. I’ll hold them off.” He handed her the cooler. “Be careful.”

  Cheyenne watched as Virlek transformed into a dragon, his tan skin turning dark blue, his arms becoming wings, his mouth expanding, his teeth sharpening. She watched as he exited the tent, his pointy tail catching on the flap as he squeezed through.

  Cheyenne grabbed the cooler before darting out. She stayed low to avoid the gunfire, but she needn’t have done so. The dragons had drawn the soldiers away from the tents, away from the shuttle, away from the women. Aubrey ran to Cheyenne. She, too, held a container, though hers was egg-shaped and made of silver-blue metal.

  “The Plarizakian version of a cooler,” Aubrey explained as the women ran toward the reservation.

  Just then, a black SUV approached the women, it’s shiny hood reflecting the moon above. A large man stepped out, followed by two beefy, armed men stepping out to flank him.

  “My father,” Aubrey said, taking a few steps back. She pulled Cheyenne back with her.

  “I’ll be taking those,” Raymond Moss said, holding out his hand for the coolers.

  Aubrey and Cheyenne turned, trying to run, but one of the men shot at them. The shots went wide, but they were enough to halt the women in their tracks, which, considering Raymond’s next words, was the point.

  “That’s right, boys. Keep the samples alive.”

  “Alive?” Aubrey asked.

  “Oh, you thought we just wanted the blood?” Raymond asked his daughter. “No, ladies, We want you, or more accurately, we want your babies. See, we’ve got one of the dragons—the blue one—”

  Cheyenne gasped.

  “But he’s all grown, not very cooperative. Babies on the other hand—”

  Aubrey was horrified. How had he known she was with child? She and Zarek hadn’t even told anyone else yet, preferring to keep their private secret just a little longer.

  “Your own grandchild?!” Aubrey shouted, her face red. She took a step toward her father, but the armed men moved in on her. A green-scaled Zarek flew directly over their heads before turning to dart down toward Aubrey. The men shot at him as he descended, but the shots just ricocheted off his scales. Zarek lifted his mate off the ground and carried her to the shuttle.

  Jandric was on his way, too, but the men in the black suits grabbed Cheyenne by the arms dragging her to the black SUV before Jandric was even close. The men shoved Cheyenne into the back seat as military trucks surrounded the car, their guns trained on Jandric.

  Jandric adjusted his wings, using the air to help him turn his body back toward the shuttle where Zarek and Aubrey waited. The last thing Cheyenne saw through the back window of the black SUV was the shuttle taking off, up into the sky, out into space.

  Chapter Eight

  Raymond had told his bodyguards to ride in the front seat. The dark window that separated the front and back seats was closed. Cheyenne was alone with the vilest man she had ever met. At first, they rode in silence. She closed her eyes, trying to think, trying to think of a way out of this, but she couldn’t come up with anything. There wasn’t a single thing she could do. She was helpless, and as it seemed she had been for so long, she was once again hopeless.

  Then, images ran uncontrollably through her mind. She saw Virlek in the back of an oversized military semi. At first, he was still in dragon form, his wings pinned down cruelly with metal stakes. Ropes ran taught over his body, along the length of his scaly form, binding him tightly. His muzzle was squeezed against the floor, held down by chains. Still, he fought. The skin of his wings tore. He bled terribly.

  “We finally got it,” a man in a white lab coat yelled as he used a tube to gather blood from the dragon’s torn skin.

  “That’ll get you off Mr. Moss’s shit list for sure, Robert,” another man yelled back over the noise of the dragon’s waning struggles. The chains rattled, but not as loudly as they had at first. The truck still rocked from the dragon’s writhing, but the rocking had lessened.

  Cheyenne felt Virlek’s pain. Her body tensed. She clenched her fists and jaw. When the pain finally abated, she felt paralyzed by the weakness that overtook her. She slumped sideways, her head landing on Raymond Moss’s shoulder. She caught a glimpse of Virlek transforming into a man, but her eyes shot open before the process was complete. She quickly lifted her head. She glared at Raymond.

  “What are they doing to him?” she asked between clenched teeth. Her body still echoed the sensations of the experience. Her muscles were tense. Her head felt light.

  “Him? You mean the blue dragon?” Raymond asked, feigning innocence.

  “You know who I mean.”

  “Well, you confused me by calling it a him. That is not a him. That is not human. That is an animal—an undiscovered animal. We are… discovering him. Yes, I like that. I’ll have to remember that. ”

  Raymond looked out the window, a smile of pride and amusement plastered on his face.

  “What are they doing to him?” Cheyenne repeated.

  “Oh, what? You mean right now? Of course. Right now, they are gathering specimens, but since I found out, thanks to Aubrey’s discoveries when she worked at the lab—since I found that blood drawing weakens the creatures, I am having my men draw the thing’s blood. You know, as a precaution. Wouldn’t want him strong and dragony and able to fight back or break out. You understand, I’m sure.”

  “No, I don’t understand,” Cheyenne said, her rage building, the lightness in her head turning into a buzz, a beehive of painful rage.

  “Oh, but, you see, it doesn’t matter if you do or not. You have no choice. You will never escape, and neither will your child. We will be keeping your child. We’ll figure out what to do with you later.”

  Cheyenne lunged toward
him, trying to grab his neck with one hand as she swung a punch at his face with the other. Her punch landed on his eyebrow, opening a gash that quickly filled with dark blood. The dividing window to the front started to slide open.

  “No, no,” Raymond told the men in the front seat. He grabbed Cheyenne’s wrist and forced her back into her seat. “I can handle this.”

  The window went back up. Raymond held both of Cheyenne’s wrist with one of his large, strong hands, his sharp nails digging into her flesh. He mounted her, using his other hand to grab her throat.

  “In case you didn’t notice,” Raymond growled, his face almost touching hers, “you don’t have a choice. Now, there are two ways we can do this. Either you remain conscious for the rest of your pregnancy or you don’t. I don’t need you. I only need your body. I only need you to incubate this child.”

  Raymond kept holding her throat. She couldn’t breathe. The buzzing in her head intensified.

  “Hold up one or two fingers,” Raymond said. “One, you stay conscious. Two, you don’t.”

  Cheyenne was about to pass out. She tried to raise her hand, but her arms were pinned somewhere under Raymond’s legs. She tried to speak. She tried to move her head. She couldn’t do either. Just as she was about to lose consciousness, the glass of the back window shattered. From her slouched position, Cheyenne was shielded from most of the shards, but Raymond was higher than her. One of the shards sliced his cheek. Another sliced his lip. One cut his ear. Raymond reached up to touch his wounds, but just then, the brakes squealed. The car spun and Raymond flew sideways, smacking his head forcefully on the side window. As the car screeched to a halt, Raymond’s body slumped to the floor.

  Cheyenne sprung from the vehicle. Her instinct was to run, but she found herself face to face with the railing of a bridge. They were hundreds of feet above the river below. The two men had exited the car and were close behind her. Men were making their way toward her from the slashed semi, too. She looked up. A great blue dragon was circling back toward the wrecked car. He wouldn’t get there in time to stop the men. Cheyenne turned, looking quickly overt the bridge railing before shouting at the top of her lungs.

  “Virlek! Catch me!”

  With that, she hopped over the railing, praying that Virlek would, indeed, catch her.

  Chapter Nine

  Virlek caught Cheyenne in his teeth by her clothing mere seconds after she lept from the rail of the bridge.

  He couldn’t carry her this way for long or her clothes would tear and shred from her body. So, as soon as the bridge was out of sight, the dragon landed in an isolated, wooded section of the river bank.

  Cheyenne had always thought this river was magical. It was a giant, ever-flowing river, the trees on the bank so thick they looked like a forest. Yet, the river and the trees of the forested bank were surrounded by desert. It was life surrounded by barrenness.

  Virlek placed his mate gently on the forested floor and transformed back into a human, collapsing on the leaf- and twig-strewn ground as he did so. Cheyenne rushed to his side. He was conscious, but barely. His body was a bloody mess of torn flesh and protruding, broken bones from where the stakes had pierced him.

  “Virlek,” Cheyenne cried out, kneeling beside him and lifting one of his hands to examine it. She was immediately struck with the tingling sensation. This time, the pain and exhaustion were so intense, she had to force herself to remain upright, though her upper body swayed from side to side. The tingling shot up her arm. She put her other hand on his palm, too, and the sensation shot evenly up both arms. Her forehead beaded with sweat. The buzzing returned, its volume intensifying with each passing second until, finally, Cheyenne fell on the ground beside Virlek gasping for breath.

  “Cheyenne,” Virlek eyes fluttered open. He quickly assessed his condition and found himself completely healed. But, Cheyenne was lying next to him out of breath. He lowered his face to hers, his expression a mixture of angst and worry.

  “I’m okay,” Cheyenne whispered between heavy breaths. He stroked her hair as her breathing slowed and deepened. The buzzing in her head quieted, and then ceased altogether. When she struggled to sit up with her growing belly, Virlek slid his arm around her shoulders supporting her.

  “What now?” Cheyenne asked him as he helped her sit fully upright.

  “Zarek, Jandric, and Aubrey will be here in a few hours,” Virlek answered, still holding her, his fingers stroking her upper arm.

  They watched as a medical helicopter flew past. It was heading toward the bridge.

  “We can’t go back to the reservation,” Cheyenne said. “I think our safest bet is to wait for them here. Mr. Moss and Gen-Ex are currently out of commission. They will have no one to send after us. We are safe for the time being”

  She was feeling much better now. She leaned into Virlek’s embrace, enjoying the feeling of his naked skin against her cheek. It must have been the adrenaline that ignited her following thoughts. Well, adrenaline, the smell and feel of Virlek’s male skin, the fact she hadn’t so much as dreamt of sex for five months, and pregnancy hormones, but, regardless of the cause, she wanted him. She wanted to make love with her mate.

  She traced his pec muscles with her fingers, tracing up to draw them over the prominent line of his collarbones. He shivered. She smiled, withdrawing her cheek from his chest. If the growing rod between his legs was any indication, he wanted her too. She ran her fingers along the side of his neck, then through the hair above his ear. She pulled him toward her, kissing his lips gently.

  What else could they do? Nothing. They couldn’t risk stepping out of the line of trees. The only thing they could do was wait. Why sit there doing nothing when the love of her life was next to her stark naked, erect, and smelling like fierce male warrior he was?

  “Hmmm,” Virlek responded, pulling away, “I think you might be right. I don’t think they’ll be getting off that bridge in the next few hours. Looked like quite a mess.”

  “So, what are we going to do, then?” Cheyenne asked softly, leaning in to kiss him again. This time, she didn’t let him back away. She held the back of his neck, pushing her lips hard into his before slipping her tongue into his mouth. She ran her fingers through his hair. She kissed his cheek, then his jaw, his ear, his neck. She swung her leg over to straddled him as he sat cross-legged and naked on the ground.

  “It seems you have something in mind,” he said, closing his eyes. She continued to kiss him, pushing him backward to the forest floor. His body obeyed. She kissed his collarbone again, caressing his skin with her lips, making her way down his chest. He stroked her head, running his fingers through her dark, silky hair. She placed her own hands on his hips as her tongue made its way down his abdomen, over the muscles of his stomach, down to the v that led to his ready, waiting erection. She cupped her hands around his thighs, taking the tip of his penis in her mouth without the assistance of her fingers. His erection tightened and grew in response. He groaned, raising his hips. Her lips slid down over the ridge of his member, then up again, then down. His fingers tightened in her hair. His hips rose again. She was about to take more of him in her mouth, but he sat up.

  He kissed her as he stripped off her windbreaker and cotton tank top. He reached around her to unsnap her bra. Her breasts tingled with relief as they were released. She shrugged the bra the rest of the way off as Virlek took her breasts in his hands. He squeezed, kissed, then ran his tongue around her nipples, finally taking one between his teeth. He tightened his lips, sucking, and flicked the nipple with his tongue. Cheyenne felt the tingle shoot straight to her clit. Her hips wanted to push forward. She wanted him.

  Cheyenne stood to take off her pants, but Virlek reached up, pulling them down himself. He tugged down her panties, too. Cheyenne slipped off her shoes and removed the rest of her clothes. She was ready to straddle him again, but he took her jacket and spread it out on the ground. Still on his knees, he wrapped his arms around Cheyenne’s waist, kissing her large belly, caressing th
e small of her back, running his fingers down her buttocks. She shivered, leaning her head back as she moaned. He guided her to lay on the jacket, spreading her thighs with his hand.

  Virlek kissed the insides of Cheyenne’s thighs, caressed her folds with his fingers. Then, he circled her clit with his tongue. As he flicked the nerve-ending, he inserted a finger in her warm, wet, ready vagina. She inhaled sharply, reaching down to entwine her fingers through his hair. Her hips moved in rhythm with the thrust of his finger, waves of pleasure increasing as the speed of his tongue increased.

  “Stop,” she said, as she felt her pleasure coming to a peak. He stopped looking at her curiously. She tried to catch her breath. She wanted to experience her climax while he was inside her. “I want you.”

  Virlek smiled broadly at her. His mate. His beautiful, bold, stubborn, strong as iron mate. She wanted him. Him.

  She grabbed her pile of clothes, placing it under her hips so he could enter at a good angle despite her belly. He leaned over her, kissing each breast, then her neck, then her lips, before moving back to his knees and bracing her thighs with his hands. He entered her with one thrust, stretching her with his size and making every nerve ending in her core tingle. The heat that had been building so intensely combined with the pressure of his erection inside her. He stayed there for a second, looking down at her, taking pleasure in her pleasure. His eyes were dark and his lids heavy. His chest moved in and out with each deep breath. With a groan, he slid his shaft out before thrusting it right back in, picking up speed with each stroke. As sweat started making its way down his chest in rivulets, he reached under her and grasped the flesh of her ample ass. His strokes became slower, firmer, and deeper until he stopped. His cock spasmed inside her, he was close to orgasm. He slowly pulled out and pushed back in a few more times until the walls of Cheyenne’s channel responded to the pulsing of his cock by tightening around him. Cheyenne reached the point of climax shouting out on ecstasy.