The Aberrants Box Set (Books 1-5)

by Sarah J. Stone

  He was sweating, and she paused to gently dab it from his forehead with the corner of her shirt. The smile he gave her was rueful; he knew that she was doing it more as a way to tease him further rather than provide any sort of comfort. But still, there was only so much taunting she could do before tottering over the edge into straight frustration, so she reached into his boxers and pulled him out.

  He was clearly straining for her, veins throbbing and tip blushing purple. She gripped him with authority, moving against him how she knew he liked.

  He gasped and thrust upwards into her hand, which made her draw back entirely.

  “What?” he panted in such total confusion that it was almost adorable.

  “I said no moving,” Jaelle answered, smirk about her lips.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Not even one bit.”

  “You’re evil,” he hissed, hands now pressing into the canvas above us like it was his last lifeline.

  “Oh, honey,” she said, letting each of her words drip with honey. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

  “Then show me.”

  Oh, is he getting cocky now? Time for me to do the same.

  She gripped him once more, working him over with first one hand then the other. His fingers dug into the ceiling, trying not to tear it but also trying not find some sort of solace from the harsh rule she had him under.

  She could smell him so deeply it was practically a taste, and when she flicked a finger over his weeping tip, he shuddered from head to toe.

  He fought against everything in his body, trying to obey her. It built up, harder and harder like the pressure inside of a bottle of soda shaken too hard. Eventually it had to be let out.

  So, she let go and gripped his face, pulling his mouth to hers in a heated, toothsome kiss. “You can move freely,” she said once they parted.

  The switch was so instantaneous it made her head spin. One moment, he was below her, her thighs pinned on either side of him, the next he was surging forward and she was flipped around, her hands and knees posted on the cushion of the passenger’s side seat.

  “Wha—”

  “Shhh.” was all she heard behind her before her pants were unzipped and yanked down hurriedly.

  The dominance in his voice made her breath hitch and she stilled. Strong fingers wrapped in her hair, pushing her down at the same time her hips were being raised up. Just as her cheek was pressed into the fabric of the seat, he poked against her entrance where she was already slick and ready.

  And then he was inside her with one powerful thrust. She gasped, her whole body locking up with the sensation. It was too raw, too wonderful.

  “God, Bradley!” she cried, not paying attention to how loud she was being.

  “Louder,” he snapped, his hands digging into her hips, pulling her to slam back into him before pushing her away.

  It was wild and frantic and everything she needed. She wanted the sweat. She wanted the pain. She wanted all of him—in the moment and for the rest of time.

  Suddenly, she was being lifted up and pushed forward until her naked breasts were pressed against the cold gasp. The sensation of it made her gasp and a lick of pleasure shot through her whole body.

  She cried out, but Bradley’s teeth just found her neck as he drove mercilessly into her.

  Euphoria rocked her brain and all she could do was hold on and ride it out. Her feral side was loving every second of it, reveling in the passion, heat and lust.

  They went on for what seemed like hours, but probably was no more than ten minutes. Their bodies both grew slick with sweat and other fluids were dripping onto the seat. It seemed that new car smell was not going to survive the night.

  “Bradley, oh, god Bradley, I’m close,” she gasped, leaning back to push against his muscled chest. He was too perfect, too delicious, she wanted to feel as much of him as possible.

  He reached around her, his calloused fingers walking down her hip bone, then to her center, and then finally finding that sensitive bundle of nerves hidden between her lower lips.

  She wasn’t sure the sound that punched out of her mouth as he manipulated that point, but it was purely primal. As soon as it escaped her throat, she went toppling over her edge into a pool of undiluted white.

  It was strange to be doused in pleasure so virulent that it was almost excruciatingly painful, but that was exactly what was happening to her. Her brain shut off for a moment, leaving her floating in some sort of semi-existence, and then she crashed back into her own body gasping and shaking.

  Now that she had reached her end, Bradley held nothing back. She could feel her hips bruising in his crushing grip, but she loved it. He only lasted a minute, or maybe two, before he too was spilling into her without restraint.

  They huddled there a moment, both panting and heaving, slick with the efforts of their coupling. Jaelle remembered reading once that maintaining pleasant skin contact with someone else caused oxytocin to be released into the blood system. She wasn’t sure if that was still the case, considering that she had the thick chemical cocktail of her orgasm still rushing inside of her, but it felt kind of like it did.

  Bradley pulled out of her slowly, earning a groan from the both of them, before sitting back and pulling her into his lap. Strong and supportive, his arms wrapped around her, squeezing just slightly.

  “Thank you,” he whispered, nuzzling the top of her head.

  “Thank you,” she whispered back, curling into him without any barriers. For once, she simple just trusted and let him hold her.

  They stayed liked that for a long while before he finally pulled a blanket over them from the back seat. Snuggling into each other, they slipped into an unwary slumber.

  Chapter Three: Huff and Puff and Blow the House Down

  Jaelle hummed to herself as she looked out the window. Sure, her clothes were a bit stale and there was still the lingering scent of what had happened just two nights earlier, but she was as happy as one could be all things considered.

  They were well on their way to the hospital and Javi was driving while Bradley called contacts to try to get some sort of information on the hospital without tipping off that he was fishing around for details. Where he had gotten the phone and who the plan was through, I had no idea, but it looked brand new.

  “You seem happy,” Havi said, sparing his eyes from the road for a second to glance at her.

  “I guess I am,” Jaelle murmured, feeling her cheeks color a bit. “Does that make me a bad person?”

  “What? No! Why would that make you a bad person?”

  She shrugged, averting her eyes back out the window. “You know, considering the situation.”

  “The…situation?”

  “Why are you being so cagey?” she responded, giving him some serious side eye.

  “I’m not! I just legitimately have no idea what you’re talking about. What situation? Is there something else you two are somewhat trying to keep a secret besides the fact that you can’t keep your hands off each other?”

  She blushed harder at that. “No!”

  “Yeah, well, then you’re going to have to explain to me because I’m just not picking up whatever it is you’re setting down.”

  “How can you not know?” she shot back. “The situation is everything. The fact that you guys are breaking the law to help me. The fact that at any moment Creed could reach the hospital before us and wipe out our last chance at saving every other Aberrant. Or how about the fact that the future of every single Aberrant in existence and the ones who might not yet be born are all hinged on us being right about this hospital? Or the fact that all of this, the bleeding, the driving, the fighting, could be for nothing, because when this is all over I could still end up the one being hunted along with the rest of my kind?”

  “Oh. That situation.”

  “Yes. That situation. Do you see what I mean now?”

  “I mean, sure, it’s stressful. But I don’t see how that makes you a ba
d person for being happy.”

  “Because I shouldn’t be! People are dying!”

  “But you’re not, and no matter how altruistic you might be, that matters, right?”

  She regarded him. “I… suppose?”

  “The way I see it, we’re fighting for everyone’s lives, sure, but that doesn’t mean we have to live like monks the entire time. After all, that’s why morale is a thing, right? You’ve got to have something worth fighting for, something to inspire you to live if you’re in a fight for your life.”

  “I…”

  “Look, I know this is new to you. All of it, that is. The not being hunted, the being true to yourself, the sleeping with a Shifter instead of a human you have to watch yourself with. You don’t have to feel guilty for it, okay? We joined this fight because you proved to us that we might be wrong about Aberrants, so it’s nice to see you do that more and more every day.”

  She felt a strange sort of tugging in her chest and her face colored red. Was this… was this friendship? It seemed like it. But at the same time, it was like nothing she had known before. “How did I do that, by the way? I don’t recall making any particularly inspired arguments.”

  “You didn’t need to. You have to understand, from what we knew before, Aberrants were mindless killing machines with demonic forms that preyed on the innocent. Pretty hard to continue to believe that when confronted with you.”

  What a nice thing to say. “Why’s that?”

  “Well, you’re pretty snarky for one, and quick wit was not a part of our profile. And you’re pretty, too, not that that should be a way to judge things, but you know how people are. They don’t believe that bad things can come from pretty people.”

  “But I’m a shapeshifter. I can be as pretty or as ugly as I want.”

  “I know. I never said it was logical, but it’s a psychology thing. It’s not like we can help it.

  “And it’s not just that you’re pretty and witty. But you’re brave, too, and compassionate. You stayed at that village where they were going to execute you and saved a dozen lives. The children told us how you ran through literal flamed for them, risking life and limb for people who were set to kill you.”

  “The children weren’t set to kill anyone. They were just innocent bystanders. I don’t even understand why they would have children in such a place, anyways.”

  “It was an ordinary outpost except for the executions. People bring their families, hoping for a life away from human eyes.

  “But, anyways, there were about a dozen different times where you could have run, or left us to die, but you didn’t. You fought as if we were one of your own, and not the very people who were sworn to kill your kind. It was such a departure from Creed that we couldn’t help but realize that maybe not all Aberrants were the same.”

  “Huh.”

  “What do you mean, ‘huh’? You gotta know that you’ve done some seriously cool shit.”

  “I guess I never thought of it that way.”

  He let out a small, dry laugh, shaking his head. “Man, you don’t even know how badass you are. That makes you even more badass.”

  “Well you know, I try my hardest,” she said sarcastically, but still smiled, nevertheless. “In fact, after we visit the next outpost, I plan on getting a latex catsuit to solidify my femme fatale vibe.”

  “Holy shit, really?”

  “No!” She snorted outright. “Geeze, that would be absolutely moronic.”

  “Yeah, but it’s be hot as hell, you gotta admit.”

  “I will do no such thing,” she shot back, crossing her arms.

  “At least, not for you.” She was startled by Bradley’s voice as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders from the back seat. “I’m sure that’s something Jaelle would save for only those who are very special to her.”

  “Uh-huh,” she said, rolling her eyes. “That’s totally what I’m into.”

  He looked surprised by her tone. “What, you don’t think that would be a fun thing to do every once and a while? Something for a special occasion?”

  “Special occasion means I don’t wear flannel. You know for latex that you literally have to use lube on your entire body to get in? How gross is that?”

  “I dunno,” Javi said, shrugging. “That sounds like it could be fun. Maybe when I get a partner someday, I’ll try it out and let you know.”

  “Please,” Bradley said, leaning back with a smile, “anything to get her out of her flannel.”

  “You guys know I don’t wear this normally,” she retorted. “This is just what you keep giving me.”

  Javi snorted. “Please, we all checked you out in your hometown. I would say this is a step up from those janky overalls you used to wear.”

  “They were a uniform!” she objected, slapping at his arm. “And a really comfy one at that.”

  “Uh-huh, I’m sure.”

  The conversation died there, but the warm feeling it gave her didn’t face. She felt secure, despite the future looming over them like a guillotine blade. Creed maybe was stronger and faster than her, but he was alone.

  And she was just beginning to understand what a terrible disadvantage that was.

  *

  A day and a night passed, half of it spent in the Jeep and half in Bradley’s arms. She was beginning to worry a bit about blood clots. Weren’t people not supposed to sit for long periods of time? She wasn’t sure, and she didn’t want to figure out how to work Bradley’s smartphone enough to look it up.

  Although she enjoyed the banter, tension built in her stomach. They were running out of time.

  “Ugh, I don’t know how any of you can see in this rain,” Dannon said from his position in the back. Jaelle looked back at him, raising a brow.

  “You’re blind. I don’t think you know how any of us see anything.”

  “Very funny,” he said, his thick, swollen fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. “But the pressure makes my head ache and the sound is just straight up ridiculous.”

  “Is it that way whenever it rains? Or just in the heavy stuff?”

  “Mostly the heavy stuff. The light stuff is almost soothing.” He shifted for a moment, his cloudy eyes coming close to hers. “Describe it for me, will you?”

  “Pardon?”

  “Paint a picture,” Bradley said, the first words he had spoken in a while with his concentration so devoted to navigating through the rainstorm we had suddenly found ourselves in. “With words. It’s a fun challenge to try to not use any visual descriptions.”

  “All right, well…um.” She thought for a moment, trying to push colors and other easy words out of her mind. “So, you know that feeling you get when night had just started to transition from dawn and the ground switches from releasing heat to absorbing it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, the sky looks like that feeling. Vaguely ominous, full of barely contained energy and the promise of so much more.

  “And the rain? You know how you splash your face with water in the morning to wake yourself up and it’s so cold that it shocks you right down to your soul? That’s what it’s like. Sheets of water falling down from heaven and drops as fat as your thumb. It almost seems like their powerful strikes can wash the whole world away if they fell long enough.

  “Driving in it makes everything sort of… fuzzy, I guess. Like when you’ve bitten down on aluminum foil and your mouth does that thing. Senses go a bit wonky at the edges and suddenly you find yourself wondering if what you’re seeing is really there at all.” Her words ran out and she looked to the man nervously. “How does that sound?”

  “Beautiful,” Dannon breathed slowly, his face otherwise impassive.

  Jaelle blushed again, feeling that strange connection she now shared with the men. Brotherhood was definitely taking a whole lot more getting used to. “No problem. If you ever want something described again, just let me know.”

  That seemed to bring the man alive and his wizened face brightened. “Yes, actually. There is
something.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I’d like to see you.”

  Her words faltered in her mouth. That had been the last thing she had ever expected. “See me? What do you mean?”

  He held up his hands, cupped toward her. “Well, these fingers can tell a lot by walking your face, if you don’t mind, and then you could tell me the rest.”

  She looked to Bradley uncertainly, trying to figure out if this was some sort of prank. Although he was busy driving, she didn’t think he was so lost in concentration that he would let one of his men manhandle her. Also, she trusted Dannon. He’d never done anything to hurt her and had always treated her with respect.

  “Sure.”

  “You sure? You’re not gonna bite my fingers off or anything?”

  “Not unless you ask me nicely,” she said with a wink before remembering that the man wouldn’t see the gesture at all.

  “Careful,” he said with a gentle laugh. “And old man might think you were flirting with him.” His fingers reached out and she could sense that he was a bit nervous. She supposed it made sense. Dannon’s view of most people was comprised entirely off of voice, scent and actions. She doubted that he got to ‘finger-walk’ everyone he met, so this was probably special for him.

  His digits finally made contact and she remembered that she was supposed to describe the rest of herself as the calloused pads traversed her face. “So, I’m not very tall at all, which I’m sure you can tell when we’re all standing. I’m not thin, but I’m not fat either.” His fingers made their way to her nose, sliding up along the sides and then down the rounded tip before moving on to her cheeks. It was a strange sensation, but not unwelcome.

  “I’m just kind of a soft in between. I guess I’m what you would call pear shaped.” Those gentle tips had reached the top of her cheekbones and traveled along her hairline before ever so carefully tracing her eyebrows and then the bags underneath her gaze. “Actually, I once made a boy pass out by accidentally squeezing too hard with my thighs when he was giving me a piggy back ride.

  “I know you don’t see color, but my hair is very dark, and in curls, which you can pull one if you want. I know my coworkers enjoyed watching them spring back…although I just realized that you wouldn’t be able to do that so, um, maybe never mind about that.”