Conquering Lyssa
Tales of the Shifter #14
by Jaden Sinclair
Published by
Melange Books, LLC
White Bear Lake, MN 55110
www.melange-books.com
Crystal and Wand, Copyright 2015 Tori L. Ridgewood
ISBN: 978-1-68046-147-3
Names, characters, and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States of America.
Cover Design by Caroline Andrus
TABLE OF CONTENTS
“Conquering Lyssa”
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
About the Author
Previews
CONQUERING LYSSA
by Jaden Sinclair
For four years, he has waited for her. Four years of torture for a male who is far from his mate. Now the waiting is over and the claim can be finished, however Daxis Jenaro is about to get an eye-opener. His mate isn’t that easy to convince.
Lyssa Laswell was claimed by Daxis at a very young age, but not taken. Unable to accept her fate, she rebels. Refusing to accept that she belongs to Daxis, and not considering what her actions might do to her family, Lyssa goes wild, dates other males, and gets caught by the very male she’s been trying so hard to push away.
Daxis now has his mate and claiming her might be a lot easier than trying to conquer her heart or show her that they are right for each other. And when the heat of the full moon comes, it pushes them both into a very difficult situation.
The claim might be over, but who will conquer whom?
Chapter One
He wasn’t going to make it!
Daxis Jenaro drove down the empty road, glancing between the clock on the dashboard, and checking the speedometer for his speed. Exhilaration soared through him, and he didn’t give a damn if anyone knew or saw it. Finally, he’d been invited to spend a couple of days with his mate’s family, to spend time with his mate before she turned eighteen. At twenty-three, he felt like he was turning eighteen all over again, because he was so excited to have a chance to be close to her for longer than an hour or two.
He tried to keep himself from getting too hopeful. He knew that Lyssa wasn’t going to welcome him with open arms, and it wasn’t all his fault either. She’d refused to make this transition easy for them to become mates. He hoped this small amount of time they would have together would be used wisely.
Not too far from the house, he spotted a car parked on the side of the road. Frowning, Daxis started to slow down just in case whoever it was might need some help. Slowing down to where he almost stopped, he looked into the driver side window and just about lost it. Inside were a couple, clearly making out, and the girl just happened to be Lyssa.
Growling, he slammed on the brakes, parked and was out before the car stopped bouncing from the short stop. He still growled low in the back of his throat as he went up to the driver side of the car and jerked the door open. Grabbing the guy by the arm, he tossed him right out of the car. Lyssa screamed.
Daxis went over to the guy, picked him up by his throat, turned and slammed him up against the car, dangling him like a rag doll. The scent he picked up from the bastard told him the stupid son of a bitch was a shifter. That alone made the sting all that much sharper for Daxis.
“Stop!” Lyssa screamed again, tugging on his arm.
“This is my mate, asshole!” Daxis snarled in his face.
“No—no mark,” the guy struggled to speak with the pressure Daxis had on his throat.
“Really?” Daxis growled again, then lightly tossed the guy to his left, turned and grabbed Lyssa roughly by the arm, jerking her close.
“Let me go!” she yelled at him.
He gave her a shake, then turned her enough so he could pull the top of her shirt down. Sure enough, there was no proof of a mark. He sniffed, and swore under his breath again. She had make-up on the mark. Just as roughly as his hold on her, he rubbed the make-up off.
“So this is what you’ve been doing?” he snapped at her. “Hiding the mark so you can go out and fuck around?”
“I’m not fucking around, and you don’t have a say in what I do.”
“The hell I don’t. I’m your god damn mate!”
The guy she was with got back up to his feet then and had the balls to come up and put his hand on Daxis’s shoulder. Daxis lost it, turned and hit the guy hard right in the nose, knocking him back down, drawing blood.
“What the hell!” Lyssa yelled again.
Instead of having it out with her in the middle of the street, he grabbed her by the arm again and forced her to his own car.
“Get off!” she yelled at him. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Get in the car,” he ordered when they reached his vehicle.
“No.” Lyssa tried to jerk her arm free, but he wasn’t about to let it or her go.
“Either get in the damn car, or you can ride in the trunk.”
“You wouldn’t.”
He clearly heard the challenge in her voice and instead of even bothering with ignoring it, he gave into it. Another hard jerk and he pulled her to the back of the car, reached under for the small button and popped the trunk open. Once she saw that he was serious, she really started to fight him. It didn’t do her any good. Daxis picked her up and put her in, closing the door on her indignant screaming.
Taking a deep breath, he walked back, slid into the driver’s seat and put the car in gear. He turned the car around, heading back home instead of to her place. Finding her with another male changed everything now, including the claim and how he would handle taking her once she came of age.
Speeding all the way, he reached home in less than an hour. Pulling up to the front steps of his family’s huge house, he parked, turned off the engine and got out. Walking to the trunk, he glanced up and saw his father walking out onto the front porch with a frown on his face.
“I thought you were heading to the Laswells.”
“I was,” Daxis said bending over and pressing the button. The trunk popped opened. “Things have changed.” Reaching inside, he grabbed Lyssa by both arms. He easily plucked her up out of the trunk and set her down on her feet, but didn’t release her as he shut the trunk.
The frown on his father’s face turned into shock. “What happened?”
“Get off!” Lyssa snapped at Daxis.
“Lyssa, this is my father, Lorenzo.” He walked past his father into the house and headed right toward the grand staircase. “Will you have Carmella come up, please, and tell her to bring a robe?”
He pretty much dragged her up the stairs then down another hall to one of the many bedrooms. Inside one of the rooms, he finally let her go and Lyssa moved as far away from him as she could get. He stayed by the door.
“My father is going to kill you for this,” she stated through her teeth.
“I doubt that.”
“Don’t doubt shit. He’s going to have your head.”
“And what do you think he’s going to do once he
finds out the reason why I just took you?” Crossing his arms over his chest, he narrowed his eyes on her. “So is this the reason why you refused to see me all those times? How many other males have you been screwing around with in cars?”
“I haven’t screwed around with anyone, and what I do is none of your damn business.”
“Oh, everything you do is my business.” Carmella came up behind him, a silk robe hanging over her shoulder. She was one of their maids who could also be a midwife if needed and very loyal to the family.
“Take your clothes off, Lyssa.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
“I’m not taking my clothes off. Have you lost your mind?”
“You can do it, or I will.” He nodded for Carmella to come inside. “She has a robe for you.”
“I don’t give a damn what she has for me. I’m not taking my clothes off.”
“Fine,” he replied, shrugged his shoulders, lowered his arms and walked toward her. She quickly started to back up but didn’t really have any place to go, then her back hit the wall. Still pissed at catching her, he took hold of her arms a bit roughly, turned her and, taking hold of the top of her shirt from the back of her neck, ripped it down.
“You bastard!” she screamed. The next thing he ripped off was her bra. “All right!” she yelled again. “I’ll do it, just stop.”
Daxis reached behind him and Carmella handed the robe to him. He placed it over her shoulders and backed away. “Everything. I want everything in my hand.” Bending over he picked up the ripped pieces of clothing as she slipped into the robe and took off her shorts and panties, handing them to him. “Good. Now, on the bed.”
Her face lost color. “Why?”
“Because Carmella is going to examine you.” He didn’t think it was possible for her face to get any paler.
“Come my dear, it won’t be painful and I’ll be real quick.” Carmella said.
Daxis went back over to the doorway, crossed his arms over his chest and watched. Lyssa went to the bed and lay down as Carmella came and stood at her feet. He watched her check to make sure that his mate was indeed still intact. It didn’t take long and soon Carmella finished and returned to him.
“Untouched,” Carmella stated.
“Thank you,” Daxis said. She nodded and left and Lyssa slowly sat up, keeping her back to him. “I’ll call your father and let him know where you’re at.”
“I hope he rips your nuts off,” she said with a detached voice.
He walked out, closing and locking the door behind him.
“Daxis, what’s going on?” His father came rushing up the stairs, panic on his face.
“I’m finishing my claim. Now I need to call and tell her father, then figure out what my next step is going to be.”
“You can’t finish it, son, until she turns eighteen.”
“I know. That is in just a couple of days.” He walked away, going to his own room to make the call.
Inside his room, with the door closed, Daxis slumped back against the door, hung his head down and worked to still his anger, the rage, the need and everything else which started to boil up inside of him. He shook in his anger and outrage. Shook from so many tightly wrapped feelings that were about to burst free at any moment.
She had changed so much since the last time he saw her. She had become even more beautiful than he ever dreamed she would be once she finished growing up. Her hair had lightened up, and was now a golden color. If his memory served him right, her hair was much darker that very first time they met and shorter. Now it reached the middle of her back and his fingers itched to run through the long locks.
Lyssa had also filled out the way she should; curves in all the right places, breasts that looked like they would fit his hands to perfection. Her whole body had him wanting to do nothing more than to curl up and hold her all night long. This was a dream he’d had since the Gathering night when he marked her as his own. A dream that she had been slowly working on crushing.
Now, instead of having that fairy tale crap, Daxis had a big mess in his lap; one that he didn’t want to have to clean up.
He pushed himself away from the door, walked to the bed and sat down. He stared at the phone on the nightstand for a long time before picking it up and dialing the number. His heart pounded in his chest as he waited for someone to pick up. With each ring, his anger slowly diminished and fear replaced it. He knew that Adrian Laswell wasn’t going to be a happy father once Daxis let him know that he took Lyssa and had her now at his home. He could almost picture the man blowing up and shit flying in the house when Daxis explained how he’d pulled her from a car where she was making out with another male and that she had been covering up the mark.
“Hello?” Skyler Laswell answered, not Adrian.
Daxis closed his eyes, took a deep breath and hoped like hell that he sounded calm, and not ready to rip someone’s head off. “Mrs. Laswell, its Daxis.”
“Daxis, I have been expecting you,” Skyler said and then she went quiet for a moment. “Um, Lyssa should be here any time. How, um, how far away are you?”
“I have her, Mrs. Laswell.”
The line went quiet for a moment. “Excuse me?”
Daxis took another deep breath, bent over and ran a hand over his face then his hair. “I came upon Lyssa with another male.” Skyler gasped. “I pulled her out of the car and now have her here, with me.”
“Daxis, I’m—”
“Please, don’t say you’re sorry,” he cut her off. “I have a good feeling that this has been going on for a bit, hasn’t it?”
He could hear her breathing pick up. “Yes and no.” He didn’t hold back the low growl. “Daxis, please, hear me out. We didn’t know she was seeing other males. We’ve, we’ve just been having a very hard time getting her to understand.”
“You mean having a hard time controlling her,” he growled out.
“Something like that.” Skyler’s voice dropped to a tone that said she was also a bit irritated at this. “I’ve been trying to talk to her, but she has this idea in her head that she can get out of the claim. I think by, um, by—”
“By screwing around with others,” he finished for her.
“Something like that,” she said again.
Daxis sat back up and heaved a deep sigh. “I’m only calling you to let you know that I’m keeping her here. She turns eighteen in two days and then I’m going to finish the claim.”
“Daxis, I understand the position you’re in, but please think this over. You don’t want to finish the claim right when she turns eighteen. That is around the time of her cycle and the full moon.”
“I know.”
“Please, Daxis, keep a clear head here. You don’t want to do anything that might hurt her or you.” He kept his mouth shut, and Skyler went on, sounding a bit desperate. “Daxis, are you there?”
“I’m still here.”
“Look, how about I head your way? I can bring some of Lyssa’s things, talk to you both and see if maybe we can all sit down and deal with this calmly.”
“I am calm, Mrs. Laswell. Surprisingly calm. If you wish to come and make sure that she isn’t hurt then please come. I have no intentions of keeping your daughter from you, but I will have to insist that after this visit you stay away for a bit. I need Lyssa to come to terms with this. She doesn’t need to keep thinking that her father is going to bust into the house and rescue her.”
“I understand and I’ll do what I can to make her understand that also. I’m not happy about any of this either.”
“Then I’ll see you in a few hours. I’m also going to let the Cabinet know the claim is finished.” He hung up, took a deep breath and dropped back down on the bed.
The call went better than he thought it would, but then Skyler was the one to answer it, not Adrian. Daxis now needed to brace himself for the father’s wrath and prayed that they didn’t end up in some kind of fight over this.
Raw emotions swept
thought him, draining him. Closing his eyes, willing his body to relax for just a few moments his mind drifted to the past.
Daxis thought about the Gathering. The night he first saw Lyssa walking around alone, looking afraid and lost. The urge to protect her had hit and it hit hard, feeling like a fist to the gut. The air around him became thick, and then so thin he didn’t think he would be able to catch his breath.
She was a vision from the heavens back then. So young, so innocent. A babe tossed in a cage full of animals. He felt this pull to her and before he could even think about talking himself out of it, his feet were carrying him to her. When he was close, when he first caught her sweet scent he just about dropped to his knees before her. He could still see the fear in her dark blue eyes—eyes that were just like her father’s. In those moments as he walked toward her, he lost all reason, all common sense. The thought hit him, when her eyes met his, he had to have her and to hell with anyone who might get in his way.
“Perfect,” Daxis had breathed out, stopping right in front of the girl whom his senses had followed. Reaching his hand to touch her face he stilled when she backed away from him, lips parted in her fear. “What’s your name?”
“Ly—Lyssa,” she stuttered.
“So perfect,” he stated once more, inching closer to her.
“Wh—what you doing?” she asked, taking a step back.
“I don’t know.” He shook his head, following her as she moved backward.
“Stop.”
“I don’t want to.”
Lyssa looked around, maybe for someone to help her, or an escape route. When her wide eyes returned to him, her hands went up in a defensive manner. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“I—I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Go away.”
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