Scorch: A Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (The Tribe Series)

by Terra Wolf

“Where are you going now?” He jumped to his feet.

  “Exams.” I slammed the front door behind him, not giving him a chance to ask another question.

  I clutched the wheel as I drove to campus. If I wasn’t careful, I might rip it from the dash. I’d never felt this kind of fury or betrayal.

  But I had no one to blame but myself. Who marries a man they meet in forty-eight hours? A man who admitted he was sent to bond with me. I groaned. I gave in to the sexy eyes and biceps. I gave in to his lies and kisses. It was my fault.

  Drew was right. He was only doing what he had been trained his entire life to do. I was the one who did the opposite. I knew better than to trust. My entire life I had been trained that trust only ended in pain. I went against my instincts and got burned.

  “Hey, how’s newlywed life?” Alexa greeted me with a chipper smile at the top of the stairs.

  “Don’t ask,” I warned.

  “Uh, the wedding was beautiful. The groom hot as hell, and his friends were basically walking GQ models. He is totally smitten with you. Don’t tell me you got cold feet. I don’t even think you qualify for an annulment.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it. We have an exam. A three-hour exam,” I reminded her.

  The idea of being stuck in this building was a relief. For three hours, Drew couldn’t bother me with shifter lies. There would be cool air around me. Air that didn’t burn with his warmth.

  “Well, I’m here if you need me,” she offered. “Really, anything you want to talk about. I’m here, Francesca.”

  “Thanks.” I tried a smile. It felt weird given the circumstances.

  We took our seats in the classroom and waited for the questions to appear on the whiteboard. For three hours, I’d block out all thoughts of Drew. All our conversations. Our vows. Our bonding. A future that was never going to happen.

  I walked through the door and slung my backpack on the floor. I practiced what I was going to say to him on the drive home. There was only one solution to this mess. He had to leave. We could get a shifter divorce or whatever magical unbinding was needed to untangle ourselves from each other. The other she-panthers on the list would be expecting him. They would know their responsibilities. I tried to repress my jealousy, realizing they were probably waiting for their prince to ride up and take them.

  “How was the exam?”

  “Why are you still here, Drew?”

  “I told you. I’m not leaving.”

  “Even if I want you to?” I walked past him and pulled one of the last beers from the fridge.

  “Even if you want me to.” He eyed me. “Nothing could make me leave you. Nothing.”

  I huffed. “Not even wife number two?”

  “Stop saying things like that.” His voice was firm.

  “I don’t even have the energy to fight with you. My brain is fried.”

  “Then don’t. Stop fighting. Believe me. Give me a chance to earn your trust again.”

  There they were. The lines he was so good at saying. The words I wanted to hear.

  “I can’t do this again. I should have never stopped on the side of the road. It was the worst mistake of my life.”

  “But you did.” He leaned down in front of me. And the air sparked. I could almost see it. I held my breath, hoping it would go away. I tried to push it out from the space between us, but it was there, pulling me toward him. It was like wisps of heat lightning flashing between us.

  “You did stop, Francesca. And you said yes. Over and over again. Every time I asked, you said yes.”

  I closed my eyes. I knew what he was talking about. I asked to be claimed. I asked to be his mate. I wanted to marry him.

  “Because I didn’t know there was a lineup. You have an entire bench of wives. I said yes to a life based on a lie.”

  “Listen to me. I tore up the list.”

  I laughed. “You tore it up, so it isn’t so?”

  “It’s a start. I don’t have their names. And they don’t know who I am. No one is going to come looking for me. You did something to me. You turned this entire journey on its head. You turned me inside out. You’re all I want. This is it. You and me. No list. No more wives. You’re all the she-panther I can handle, darlin’.”

  “Damn it. Why do you say those things?”

  “Because I mean them. Because I want you to believe me.”

  “I want to believe you. But that would require trust. And trust is not something I’m giving out right now. You broke it just when I started trying it again.”

  Drew looked frustrated. “Then don’t. Don’t trust me. I can take that. I deserve it.”

  “What?”

  “Pretend I’m that guy on the side of the road. The one you know nothing about. The one you don’t know if you should let in your car, but something in your gut says you should. Pretend it’s the second night I’m here and you can’t keep your hands off me. Pretend that we need each other like we need air. You don’t have to trust me, to want me. I can trust enough for both of us.”

  I didn’t know what to say. “Drew…”

  His lips brushed over mine tenderly at first, but his hands fisted through my hair and he pulled me into his arms, picking me up.

  “I didn’t say…”

  “Don’t say,” he whispered. “Pretend.”

  His mouth devoured me as if I had stirred an unleashed hunger in him. He walked down the hall to my room, kicking the door open with the heel of his boot. He dropped me on the bed, discarding his clothes as he pounced on top of me.

  He began unbuttoning my shirt, quickly shoving it off my shoulders. The air was filled with lust. The primal need of my panther was awakened as Drew took control.

  “Pretend, Francesca.” He kissed my collarbone, dropping kisses behind my ear and along my throat. His fingers threaded through mine as he dipped to kiss the tops of my breasts.

  I clutched at his hands. “I don’t have to pretend.” I stared in his eyes.

  Something in that moment broke free between us. We clung to each other, kissing and licking. Biting and sucking, as our bodies slid with electric friction. His tongue ran between my breasts, down between my legs. I bucked as I felt him settle there. He lashed out, flicking against my bud. I felt the vibration of his growl against my thighs.

  “Fuck,” he moaned. He knew I was peaking quicker than before. The need for him was unbearable. I rocked wildly, desperate for more of him.

  “You, I want you.” I locked on to his eyes as they glowed and glimmered for me.

  I felt the sweet relief as he slid inside me, filling me completely. “Oh, God.” I clawed at his back while he pumped in and out of me.

  “I’ll never leave,” he whispered in my ear.

  The orgasm crashed down around us both. My teeth nipped at his shoulder as the howl burst from his throat. He pushed deep inside me, and I raised my hips to meet his powerful thrust. This was heaven. Our union. Our bond.

  He collapsed on top of me, kissing the side of my neck. “I swear, Francesca.”

  “Shh.” I pressed my lips to his mouth. “Kiss me. Love me again.”

  “I can’t say no.”

  “Do you want to?” I laughed. All the anger and betrayal had melted the instant he swept me into this bed.

  “Just as long as you know who the alpha is around here.” He poked me in the side between my ribs.

  My eyebrows rose. “Is that how this marriage works?”

  “You tell me.” He kissed my stomach and then my cheek.

  “I’m scared to blindly follow you,” I whispered.

  “I’m scared to let you out of my arms.”

  “Then don’t.” I wrapped my legs around his waist dragging him toward me. He groaned instantly.

  “You know what you do to me?”

  I smiled wickedly. “Everything.”

  He smiled. “This is everything.”

  I looked into my mate’s eyes. I believed him. He may have driven into town with a reason to find me and move on, but I had
given him a reason to stay. We would face whatever challenges came from Drew’s defiance. It couldn’t be that easy to disobey generations of jaguar law. But we would figure it out together.

  “Where are we going on our honeymoon?” I asked. I was ready to get out of town and start our new chapter together.

  “Doesn’t someone have a birthday tomorrow?” He began kissing me again, and my skin tingled with new fire. I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of the heat between us.

  “I might.” I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling.

  “Then I think the birthday bride gets to decide. Tropical? Europe? Somewhere cooler?”

  “No, no snow.” Hopefully the other night was my last encounter with ice for the year.

  His fingers circled my navel. “Islands?”

  “I could do islands. Do you think we’ll be too hot?” I laughed. We were instantly hot the second we touched each other.

  “I don’t plan on shifting on a tropical island, so I think we’ll be all right.” He winked. “We keep the fur out of the trip.”

  “Right.” His hand was dipping lower and I was having a hard time concentrating on honeymoon destinations. “When do we leave?”

  “On your birthday, of course.”

  “Oh God.” I arched my back as he curled a finger inside me. His head lowered to my breast.

  “And this is all we’re going to do.” He took a breath to kiss my lips.

  “All?” I raised my eyebrows.

  “Well, we have a few things we haven’t tried.” He sounded rather serious.

  “Ohh,” I moaned as he flipped me on my stomach.

  I felt the warmth of his kisses on my back. He squeezed my ass roughly as he nudged my legs apart. I clasped the sheets around me.

  “Mine, Francesca. Always mine.”

  I nodded. “Only yours. And the only one,” I added.

  His teeth clamped on my shoulder. “The only one.”

  That night, Drew and I united in a way we didn’t even realize. Our vow to each other bonded us for life, but also against the laws of the Maddox line. We rebelled against the council. We gave each other our souls, not knowing there might be a cost to pay.

  As I loved my husband and my mate, I didn’t care if anyone tried to come after us. I knew we were stronger together and we could handle danger. We could handle anything life threw at us. I held Drew in my arms as he slept, and knew for the first time I had family. I had love. And I had something worth fighting for.

  ***

  Want to read more about the she-panthers? Follow Case and the Tribe in Sullen’s Grove in the first Nox Book, Dare. Available Now!

  Dare

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  About the Author - Terra Wolf

  I love to write about all things billionaire and shifter. My books allow my imagination to run free and explore every possible idea I have. That makes writing less like a job and more like a fantasy come to life.

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  About the Author – Ally Summers

  Ally loves to write about hot alpha male shifters. The sexier, the better. When she's not lost in her fantasy world or hanging out with her own alpha, you might catch her wearing heels with a glass of wine in hand and a bag of chocolate in her lap.

  Ally wants all her characters to have a happily ever after, but sometimes the long journey to get there is the best part!

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  Dare Preview

  Dare

  I can see the blood trickle faster now that the point of the knife is pressed deep against his skin. His eyes are closed. He doesn’t see me. None of them does.

  They are too focused on the fire and the sacrifice they are about to make in the shadows of its flame.

  I crouch, the limb supporting me as I edge closer. I am outnumbered. If I pounce now, the Tribe will surround me in seconds. But, if I wait much longer, they will kill him.

  There in the center I see everything familiar to me. I know them and somehow the wildness and violence I’m witnessing has stripped away the memories of who I thought they were.

  I’m forced to feel my raw emotions spilling around me, consuming my choices, my inaction. How has this happened?

  My ears twitch at the low growling sounds that start in the center of the circle, then make their way around until they’re so loud it’s deafening.

  My head throbs from the sounds of their celebration. I don’t have time to regret the choices that led us here. Later. Regrets are for later.

  The steel blade sinks against his skin, and my eyes narrow.

  Now. I need to move now or he will be lost to me forever.

  The forest will hear my roar and so will the Tribe. I leap from the branch, landing in the center, scattering the fire and the knife. They growl, their sharp teeth bared at me.

  I’ve spent my life fighting for humans, but tonight I will fight until I’m dead.

  ***

  Only two more weeks. That was what I told myself. Two more weeks of classes then exams, followed by a painful graduation ceremony in an itchy nylon robe. The professor droned on about weather patterns. I typed notes on my laptop, but would rather be outside scanning the sky.

  “Hey, lunch after class?” my roommate, Vix, whispered over my shoulder.

  “Definitely.” My stomach was starting to growl. I had grabbed an oatmeal bar on the way out the door this morning, but it was wearing off.

  The class had thinned significantly in the last few days of the semester. If anyone was paying attention to the lecture on cloud formations, they had me fooled.

  An hour later, we filed out of the lecture hall.

  “God, that was torture.” Vix rolled her eyes.

  “Seriously.” We walked outside.

  “We aren’t actually going to study for that exam, are we?” she asked.

  “Honestly, at this point, I don’t care. We’re going to graduate.”

  “Cartwright’s?”

  “You read my mind. I’ve been craving grilled cheese all morning.”

  We walked toward the corner drugstore a block off campus where students liked to congregate.

  There was already a line forming out the door.

  “Looks like a long wait.” Vix huffed.

  I pulled the phone from my pocket to check messages. “Have you heard from Tegan or Abi?”

  “No, what’s up with them?”

  I held the phone to my ear, listening to the voicemail. “Not sure. I haven’t seen them all week.” I deleted a message from the administrative office reminding me to pick up my actual diploma. They wouldn’t be using the real thing during the graduation ceremony.

  We shuffled forward with the line. “Whoa. What is this?” Vix pointed to a poster taped to the window.

  I stepped closer and read it aloud. “Annual storytellers’ convention?”

  “God, not what we need.” She kept her voice low.

  I continued. “Featuring top storytellers from around the country and local historian Zac Morgan, an expert on the Ghost of the Forest.”

  I studied his picture. He looked rather young to be an expert on anything.

  “Well, the guy is hot.�
�

  “Yeah, I guess so, but the storytelling is not.” I was tempted to walk inside and tear down the poster. “The timing couldn’t be worse.”

  “No shit.” Vix smiled as the guy in front of us held the door open. It appeared he was alone. “You ever heard of that Zac guy?”

  I felt the blast of air conditioning rush past us.

  “No. Never.”

  She laughed. “Funny since he’s a local expert.” She used air quotes.

  I looked over the list of presenters. “Have you ever been to one of these things?”

  She shook her head. “No, I haven’t. Not really my thing.”

  The guy holding the door turned. “They’re pretty cool. You should check it out.” He adjusted a baseball cap over his eyes.

  “Really? What do they do there?” I asked.

  “It’s fun. I used to go when I was a kid. There are all kinds of stories. It’s the town’s history. It’s not just the scary stuff.”

  Vix snorted. “We don’t scare easily.”

  “Not saying you do, but it’s cool. If you’re into that sort of thing.”

  “Maybe we’ll check it out,” I suggested.

  Vix edged closer to him. Her nose twitched. “Are you into that sort of thing?”

  “Yeah. I’m an English major, and my professor said we could get a few bonus points on the final exam if we go. I already bought my tickets.”

  “Ahh, so that’s really why you’re going,” she teased.

  “No, I think hearing the legends is cool. There’s some kind of tour set up this year. They’re going to look for the Ghost of the Forest. Rumor is she’s back in town.”

  My eyes widened. “Back? What do you mean look for her?”

  He shoved his hands in his pockets. “It’s just superstitious shit. It’s not like they’re really going to find anything.”

  “Yeah, but we’re interested,” Vix pressed. She pulled her dark hair over one shoulder and braided the ends. “How are they going to look for her?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe you should come with me.” He cracked a smile.

  “I don’t even know your name.”