Shifters in the Shadows: Seventeen Paranormal Romances of Sexy Shifters, Dangerous Vamps, & Things That Go Bump in the Night

by J. K Harper

  He leaned back against the wall and folded his arms across his chest. Cotton strained and muscles bunched alarmingly.

  I swallowed the saliva that pooled in my mouth.

  He tilted his head. “So, if I think of something different, you wouldn’t be able to read something that I didn’t want you to know?”

  “No,” I bit out. He was like all the others, closing me out because he didn’t trust me not to pry. But what was he hiding? Normally I wouldn’t push, wouldn’t try to dig, but this was personal dammit! The guy was intent on dragging me back to the States, and from the look in his eyes, he didn’t give two hoots whether I wanted to go, or not.

  I was torn. A part of me wanted to slip away, and run as fast as I could. The other part was worried about my brother. What if he really did miss me? Needed me? He was the only family I had left.

  And then there was Trent. Big, bad, gorgeous, and complicated. Was I attracted to him because I couldn’t read him?

  No … we like him because he’d be a strong and capable mate for us.

  I nearly fell over in shock at the feminine purr that vibrated through my mind. Dragon!

  Silence met my cry.

  “Astrid?” Warm brown eyes stared into mine as he leaned down to peer at me, concerned lines etched into his face.

  Shaking off the sudden sense of loss—I’d made it this far without my dragon, why miss her now?—I steeled myself and reached out. My hand slid up his arm, fingers hooking under the cuff of his T-shirt.

  My knees threatened to buckle as the world around me dropped away, my senses dulling as peaceful silence cocooned me.

  Firm hands gripped my shoulders, holding me up.

  The last time we had touched, visions had shattered my control. But not this time. I couldn’t hear anything, no voices, no hum of whispered thoughts—nothing. There was only my own voice inside my head.

  My vision swam and I blinked furiously, wanting to bask in the first glimpse of peace I’d felt since childhood. I wouldn’t cry, and I certainly wasn’t going to fall to my knees and kiss the ground he walked on.

  No matter how much I wanted to.

  Nope.

  I tightened my hold, sliding my hand around his arm and molding myself to his side.

  Stiffening, he let out a grunt of surprise. But he didn’t move away. He considered me, golden flames flickering in deep pools of brown.

  I tried to decipher the emotions flashing through his eyes, but came away with nothing.

  I had absolutely no idea what he was thinking.

  And I loved it.

  Eventually he nodded, tugging me toward the train that had coasted into our platform.

  “Where you go, I go,” I whispered in my softest voice, my hand moving down his arm until it rested in his.

  I was positive he hadn’t heard me. We jumped onto the train, staking out a wall in the crowd.

  But then his fingers linked with mine in a gentle squeeze and my heart skipped.

  Chapter 6

  Trent

  Her hand felt small in mine, her fingers curling around and clinging on tight as we rocked back and forth with the sway of the carriage. She hadn’t spoken since we’d gotten on the train—something I was starting to realize was out of character for her—and a small smile played on her lips.

  It was the smile that had me on edge. That and the caress of her skin sliding against mine through my shirt as she braced herself from falling while the train wound its way along the tracks.

  The doors slid open, a robotic monotone announcing the stop. People went, more came, we stood still, separate from them. They didn’t matter.

  My dragon slid under my skin, pressing against her hand in an effort to be petted, seeking her attention.

  Her lips parted in a silent gasp as her fingers curled into the soft fabric, short nails scratching at my skin.

  I locked my legs in place, willing my feet to obey my command, but my body swayed forward with a mind of its own. I braced my hand against the wall, just behind her head.

  Her eyes widened, a puff of breath escaping and grazing across my cheek as I leaned down.

  My eyes traveled across her face. I could see the raw need in her eyes, along with a hint of hesitation and a whole lot of recklessness.

  I lowered my gaze, sweeping it down her throat, following the naked flesh to where her breasts swelled above the stretchy cotton.

  We still hadn’t spoken, the silence between us thick with unasked questions.

  But she already knows the answers, I reminded myself. There were no secrets; she knew why I was here, what I was taking her home for—she would have read it from my mind. The weight of deceiving her lifted from my already overburdened conscience.

  Which meant she wanted me, even knowing the part I played.

  Taste…

  For once I was in agreement with my dragon; just a little taste before I had to let her go.

  The doors swished open behind me as I lowered my head.

  Her hand tightened in mine, her head tilting back.

  “…Disembark for Heathrow…”

  The doors beeped their final warning.

  Shit! Grabbing her bag, I lurched forward and slammed a hand between the closing metal doors, wedging them open.

  “Our stop,” I stated, trying to ignore the surprised look on her face.

  Cool filtered air filled my lungs as I tried to shake off the crushing sense of disappointment. What the fuck was I doing? I had no right to touch her, let alone kiss her.

  Half dragging, half frog marching her, we made our way over to the check-in counter. Five minutes later, and a hell of a lot of scowling and cursing, we had our boarding passes and were making our way through customs.

  When the security guard waved us forward, I gave her a gentle push, unwinding my fingers from hers. She stiffened, then her shoulders hunched forward, tension radiating from her as she walked through the detector.

  The second I was through, she re-attached herself to my side, relief pouring off her in waves that you didn’t have to be a shifter to notice.

  “Honeymoon?”

  I grabbed our bag, turning to the security guard that had just spoken. The woman finished running a wand over the last of our bags, passing it to me with a wistful look on her face.

  “Yes,” Astrid replied, pressing herself even closer and hooking an arm around my waist.

  “Congratulations! I can always tell when a couple are in love, like real love, if you know what I mean? You two have that connection.” She lowered her voice, continuing as though I couldn’t hear her, “And sweetie, I’d agree to do dirty laundry for that man any day of the week!” She winked, giving me an appreciative smile.

  Words escaped me as the two women exchanged knowing glances, in complete agreement, despite being strangers.

  Astrid ran her fingers down my chest in a gesture that screamed possessiveness. “The best part about laundry is retrieving the clothes that need washing…”

  A peal of laughter erupted from the security guard. “Or better yet, no clothes, then no washing.”

  “Exactly.” Her hand snaked down my back and over my ass. Then she squeezed.

  I grabbed her hand. “Okay. Enough of that, honey. We’d better get going or we’ll miss our flight.” I marched her away from the beaming security guard.

  She smiled at me, all sweetness and light. Like she hadn’t been groping me in the middle of customs.

  I’d been fighting a losing battle since the train, trying to convince my head—and my cock—that this wasn’t a good idea.

  Need lit a fire inside of me and I ground to a halt, dragging her to me and securing her against my chest. Dropping the bags, I slid my hand down her back, over the bump of her bra strap, following the length of her spine until my palm covered the swell of her ass. “Playing games?” I growled. Gripping her ass, I dragged her closer, her soft stomach cushioning my aching cock. I wanted to lift her up and fit the thick length where it belonged, to push her against
a wall and grind my burning need into her until she gasped and pleaded for me to take her. I wanted to—

  Her soft moan shattered the fantasy.

  I blinked away the flames that clouded my vision.

  Her lips were parted and moist, her head tilted back and throat exposed. As if in offering.

  If I were to take her—make her my mate—that is where I would mark her. A shudder ran through me as I imagined sliding my fangs into her throat as I drove my cock deep into her pussy.

  Her dark lashes fluttered against her cheeks, then she opened her eyes. Green fire burned in her gaze, flames flickering and jumping, licking at pupils dilated to black orbs.

  “Your dragon,” I whispered, unable to do anything but stare.

  Swirling in the green depths, a dragon reared its head, its wings spread and fire spewing from its mouth in a glorious display of pure power.

  A green dragon. Not bronze, or gold, or silver like every other dragon I knew. Green.

  What I hadn’t truly believed until now hit home. Her brother was right, the scrolls told the truth.

  She was a Seer.

  The only one left of her kind.

  Which meant she would never be mine.

  Chapter 7

  Astrid

  The way he was looking at me, with a raw hunger so intense that for a brief second, I couldn’t breathe.

  A hunger I also felt, the ache between my thighs relentless and foreign.

  Then his words registered.

  “I don’t have a dragon,” I protested, my voice weak with uncertainty.

  “You have. And she’s glorious,” he murmured, his certainty washing away any lingering doubts from my childhood. If he could look at me like this, then maybe I wasn’t broken. Maybe I wasn’t a failure or a freak.

  I watched as emotions played over his face, trying to guess the thoughts behind them. It had never been like this with anyone before, the excitement and uncertainty of not knowing what was coming next was both thrilling and unnerving. One of the reasons why I was still untouched at the decidedly unfashionable age of twenty-six was that knowing exactly what a guy thought of my thighs or my stomach, or what he’d like to do to the woman sitting at the next table kind of ruined dates. And therefore, anything that might follow. The other reason? It sounded silly, but I hadn’t met anyone who I wanted enough. Until now.

  Mesmerized, I held my breath. Will he kiss me? But even more important, will I know what to do? My stomach flipped with anxious anticipation, zings of fire streaking through my veins and turning up the heat.

  “Astrid…” he murmured, a furrow forming on his brow. His jaw clenched.

  No, no, no! Don’t clench! I willed his mouth to relax, even better, to mold itself to mine.

  But it didn’t. “We’re going to miss our flight,” he eventually said.

  Air escaped me in a disappointing whoosh. “Screw the flight?” I said hopefully.

  A startled chuckle escaped him as he regarded me thoughtfully. “We could shift and—”

  “I can’t shift.” I thought he’d understood, but maybe I hadn’t made it clear. “I’m a defect, a shifter that can’t shift, a reject of nature, a—”

  “Don’t.” The vehemence in his voice cut through my list, one I’d only just begun. I’d had many years to come up with names for exactly what I was.

  I shrugged, masking the pain I always felt with feigned nonchalance. “It is what it is.”

  “You don’t get to call yourself those names.”

  “What? That I’m a mistake? That I should never have been born. That I represent what all shifters fear. Face it, Trent, I’m an abomination. That’s why I left.”

  His face darkened, his eyes flashing with barely restrained fury. “Don’t you ever describe yourself like that again!” He grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. Flames leaped in his eyes. “Your clan called you those things?”

  Shit. He looked ready to kill someone, or at least tear something apart with his bare hands. His skin rippled and his muscles bulged under my hands. The heat escalating to scorching level. “No, they only thought them.”

  “You will point these people out to me.” It was an order, one hissed through gritted teeth.

  I stroked a hand down his chest, petting him in an effort to calm him down. He appeared to be about thirty seconds away from shifting, and a humongous dragon in the departures lounge at Heathrow Airport would be kind of hard to explain. Or hide. “Trent, it’s okay. They don’t matter to me,” I murmured in a low voice. And they didn’t—at least, not anymore. At first it had stung, but over the years I’d grown to like myself and accept who I was. And who I wasn’t. The whole going home thing had dragged it all back up, that’s all.

  He took a deep breath, grabbing my hand and holding it on his chest. “I can’t bear the thought of you believing what those idiots said.”

  “I don’t. Not really. I’m okay with who I am. And if nobody else can accept me, then that’s fine too.” Except you, I wanted to say, but couldn’t.

  “Oh, no worries there. They’ll accept you, you can count on it,” he muttered in a voice that was void of all emotion.

  I peered at him, trying to read his face, but he wasn’t giving anything away. “What do you mean by that?” Just having to ask was weird. When he didn’t answer, I gave him a little shove. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  Something that looked a little like pain crossed his face. “I know it’s a lot to ask, given that we’ve only known each other a few hours—”

  I checked my watch, blinking in astonishment. “Just under five hours.”

  He nodded, then his eyes narrowed as they took in my chunky watch. One that had obviously once belonged to a man, the silver casing scratched and battered with age and use. Before he had a chance to question me, I carried on, “What did you want to ask me?”

  “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes,” I answered without hesitation. I had a strong suspicion that this strong, powerful man was my true mate, that fate had chosen him for me. So, it wasn’t a choice whether to trust him, or not. I just did.

  He blinked, thrown for a brief moment by my instant reply, but didn’t question it. He continued, “Then trust that I will always put your happiness above everything else.”

  Well. What could I say to that? I nodded, a plan already hatching.

  “Good. Now, we really are about to miss our flight.” Grabbing my hand, we sprinted for the gate.

  Eight hours of forced proximity to Trent? Yeah, I don’t mind if I do.

  Chapter 8

  Trent

  It took me exactly thirty-seven minutes to know for certain I was screwed, and nearly half of that was waiting for takeoff, then taxiing down the runway. Somehow I had ended up with the window seat, and if I wanted to stand and stretch my legs, I’d have to slide past Astrid. So, I’d settled in for the long haul.

  But she certainly hadn’t. When we’d first boarded she’d wriggled around in her seat, her thigh pressing and rubbing against mine, then she’d leaped up to grab something from the overhead locker, her ass swaying in front of my face like a hypnotic pendulum.

  It had taken every ounce of control I possessed not to grab that plump, delicious ass and plant it on my lap where it belonged.

  No. Not where it belonged, dammit!

  I resisted the urge to smack the side of my head, not wanting to encourage more curious looks than we’d already been getting. It was like the damn humans on this plane had never seen a 6’5” man crammed into economy class before, all side glances and hushed whispers. Maybe we should have waited for a later flight and traveled business class.… I nearly asked Astrid what they were thinking, but decided I didn’t give a fuck.

  And then there were the flight attendants. Their glossy lips shone extra slick with a fresh coat of whatever it was they’d plastered on, their slim uniform clad hips wiggling their way down the aisle toward me, the predatory gleam in their eyes surprisingly effective for hum
ans.

  And that’s when Astrid had growled.

  If she’d been in dragon form, her wings would have spread, her tail would have lashed back and forth, and her fire would have burnt the Barbie doll attendants to a crisp.

  Staking her claim.

  Fuck, she was hot.

  So, I did what any sensible, red-blooded man would have done in my situation.

  I closed my eyes and pretended to fall asleep.

  That was six minutes ago. I knew, because I’d been counting the seconds, trying to shore up my grip on reality while studiously ignoring the way her thigh pressed against mine. Her unique scent perfumed the air, swirling around me and dragging me kicking and screaming into a full on speculation of whether her brother would kill me the second he saw me, or if he’d make me suffer.

  Wait! Her scent?

  I sniffed the air, tasting her on my tongue. Ripe cherries and smoky incense; rich and sweet and complex. But she’d come up a blank when we’d first met … it had to have something to do with her dragon only now awakening.

  “Trent?”

  “Hmmm?” I murmured, mulling the idea over. But why now?

  “I’m scared of heights,” she said, her voice trembling.

  My eyes flashed open as I turned in my seat to look at her.

  Her bronzed skin had paled and tension bracketed her eyes, her fingers turning white at the knuckles as she clasped onto the chair arms for dear life.

  I tried to imagine what it would be like, to have never experienced the pure joy of soaring through the open skies, the wind coasting beneath my wings and lifting me higher. The exhilaration of diving to the earth, knowing that with one single beat of my wings I could spin and roll and avert my impending collision. A hollowness ached inside my chest for what she had never known. For what had been stolen from her. I covered her hand with mine, peeling her fingers off the chair arm. “Your dragon wouldn’t let you fall.”