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

by J. K Harper

“You’re my mate?”

  “What?” she asked, but then he was guiding himself into her and her question became a moan that emanated from the deepest parts of her.

  He was harder and thicker than he ever had been before and she was so soft and wet. He thrust into her and gasped as the slick folds of her cunt took him and grabbed him and sucked him deeper in. Fucking her was like falling into slippery soft heat and he didn’t ever want to stop.

  Simone cried out and murmured and pushed herself back onto him, taking him deeper and faster until all of him was inside her. He pulled all the way out and then plunged into her again. He could feel the boiling heat of his seed already pooling at the base of his spine, desperate for release. She felt too good, too perfect, all of his control was shattered. He was going to blow any second and fill her up.

  Rhett reached down under her and found her clit, stroking it with slippery fingers as he fucked her faster and harder.

  She started crying, sobbing tears of joy and then laughing. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He wanted to watch every second of her life, marveling at her perfection. He wanted to be there to share it with her. Simone’s laughs stopped then and her eyes opened wide and unfocused, like she was glimpsing eternity.

  “Yeah, baby. Come for me,” Rhett growled.

  And she did.

  And then her heart leapt up into the air in a flash of golden light and rocketed down into her like a ghost.

  Rhett saw light then, pure light, and roared as he came, through all of his self control, his come moving like lava through his cock, and Simone was still coming, still shaking uncontrollably and laugh-crying as she remembered what it was like to have a heart.

  Her eyes shone with power in golden swirls and the power washed out of her in a giant dizzying pulse that made Rhett collapse.

  From the floor, he saw the slow-moving pulse crash against the nearest of the statue people. The blue crystal melted, and where the statue had been was now a very surprised-looking older woman who took one look at Rhett and Simone and blushed and looked away.

  The pulse of magic was full of life and joy and love. Rhett and Simone had found each other. Out of seven billion people on Earth, they’d found each other and it was perfect and part of that perfection was in that rolling wave of magic. It was pure magic, pure creation, and where it went it burned up the Raven Queen’s old spells and enchantments, freeing people from their servitude and turning on a hundred different alarms.

  “We need to go,” Rhett said.

  “Oh god, stay inside me. Please,” Simone begged. “I have a new rule: your cock has to always be inside me. Forever and ever.”

  Rhett laughed and kissed her shoulder gently. “If we don’t leave right now, the Queen will catch us.”

  Simone nodded and felt around on the floor for something. “Okay, we can go. But stay just like this. The closer you are to me, the better this will work.”

  Rhett took that as an invitation and pulled her closer to him, thrusting deeper into her and wrapping his arms around her waist. He was still hard and wanted more, so much more.

  Simone took the coin and flipped it up in the air. It was a little gold coin, smaller than a dime, and when it hit the ground they were gone.

  They landed with a thud on Simone’s living room floor, hundreds of miles away.

  Epilogue

  “I’d say that went pretty well,” Simone said, pushing herself back onto Rhett’s incredibly thick and hard cock. “I have my heart back. You’ve found your fated mate. And we’ve freed dozens from the Raven Queen’s grasp.”

  “She’ll come after us, you know,” Rhett said.

  “She can try. She’ll lose, though.”

  Rhett smiled at her. “We’ve just met, and I feel like I’ve known you my entire life. How is that possible?”

  “Magic?” Simone winked. Everything felt more real with her heart back. More present. It would take some getting used to, but so far she was a huge fan of it.

  “It has been a pretty good day, hasn’t it?” Rhett said.

  “It has,” Simone agreed. “I think it calls for a celebration.” And then she reached up and pulled his handsome face down to kiss again and again, stopping only so Rhett could text Danny and Sarah with her phone to make sure they were okay.

  They were. Everyone was. It had been that miracle of parties where no one got injured, no one drank to the point of sickness, and everything was beautiful.

  “Do you think the Queen planned this?” Rhett asked, later. He was soaked in sweat and lying in the middle of Simone’s living room floor. Five cats eyed him warily from strategic vantage points around the room. He’d have to learn their names, but he was cool with that. Rhett had always liked cats.

  “Planned what?” Simone replied, her voice hoarse from screaming.

  “I don’t know. The way they talk about her in Bearfield, she’s always ten moves ahead of everyone else. They say her loony thing is partly an act to make people underestimate her.” Simone’s apartment was cute, Rhett decided. A bit small for him, but a great size for her, with more books than a library and, if his nose was right, more varieties of tea than he knew existed.

  “You think she wanted us to get together?” Simone propped herself up on one elbow, and ran a hand down Rhett’s broad and hairy chest.

  “She knew you were coming. She hired me. Of everyone in the world, she hired me.” Rhett’s cock stirred back to life at her touch. He couldn’t get enough of his mate and he knew he never would.

  “Well, she was taking particularly good care of my heart. Maybe she decided it was time someone else held onto it? Maybe she knew I’d steal it back and release all of her prisoners? But I don’t want to talk about her anymore.” Simone kissed Rhett’s nipple, biting it gently with her teeth. “We can send her a thank you card in a few weeks, when we come up for air.”

  Rhett rolled over on top of Simone again, kissing her and marveling at how every kiss was completely new and completely different. Being mated was unlike anything he’d know before. His desire for her was as boundless as his strength and would last until eternity. Together they’d never grow old, they’d never be bored, and they’d always be each other’s home.

  About the Author

  Hi, I’m USA TODAY bestselling author Jacqueline Sweet. I love to write sexy, thrilling stories. My stories are either paranormal, or contemporary and steamy. I love to write about werewolves, bear shifters, witches, dragons and everything else that has magic pumping in its veins. My stories often involve the quaint and charming paranormal community of Bearfield, or take place at my sexy, dangerous Penrose Academy, a university for wizards too dangerous or odd for the better wizarding schools.

  Sign up for my newsletter to get the free and exclusive book “Mated in Bearfield” and to hear about new releases, exclusive readers-only giveaways, and the occasional free book.

  @The_RealJ_Sweet

  Jacqueline Sweet-Author

  therealjacquelinesweet.wordpress.com

  The Vampire Wore Stilettos

  by Cynthia Fox

  Trigger Warning: This book contains depictions of sexual acts that may be too disturbing for some readers, including rape and non-consensual domination. The scenes in question are located in Chapter 5. Reader discretion is advised.

  Chapter 1

  “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me,” Charlotte said, spinning in her desk chair and trying to look at her assistant with the saddest eyes she could muster.

  “Self-absorbed much?” Ivy replied with a smirk. "You equate my happiness with having something terrible done to you?”

  “You know what I meant. Take it as a compliment. There will never be another Ivy. You’re the best assistant in the universe.” Charlotte leaned forward and flopped across her desk, exhaling loudly.

  “I’m trying to find a suitable replacement, but that won't happen if you choose your pity party over the Halloween extravaganza taking place around the corner.” She walked over and
pulled Charlotte back by the shoulders, spinning the chair around to face her. “I would also like to remind you that you’re the one who introduced me to Noah in the first place. I still remember the beautiful toast you gave at our wedding.”

  “It was my second draft. I decided against the original—I just wanted to get these two laid and look where we are. Cheers!”

  “I don’t believe you for one second.”

  "You know I'm kidding! I am happy for you. I just don’t think that whole ‘first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby’ thingy is correct.”

  Ivy leaned against the desk and crossed her arms, trying her hardest not to smile. “Enlighten me. How should that thingy go?”

  "First comes love, then comes marriage, then Ivy remains as Charlotte's assistant for the rest of her life, and they all live happily ever after—yadda, yadda, yadda."

  “You know I’ve wanted a child since the day you met me.” Ivy held her arms up as if she were holding a baby and softly rocked them back and forth. “Those chubby feet, that baby smell … it’s what I dream of.”

  Charlotte cupped her hands over her ears and shouted, “What did you say? I can only hear the sound of a screaming baby.”

  Ivy rolled her eyes. “I’m giving you six months. That is more than generous. After that, it’s baby-making time.”

  “Double your salary?”

  "Nice try. Now get ready before we miss the party. I suggest you avoid that red lipstick you love. It washes you out. Use your pink gloss."

  “See? Who is going to give me advice like this?”

  Ivy grabbed the chair and sent Charlotte spinning in circles. “Let’s go!” she said, watching with amusement.

  Charlotte stopped the chair’s motion by lightly dragging her stilettos. “My poor Louboutin babies,” she wailed.

  “They’re just heels.”

  “Shhh,” Charlotte whispered towards her heels as she clutched her chest in horror. “Don’t listen to her. She doesn’t understand our love.”

  “You could feed an entire family for a month with what those shoes cost you.”

  “Speaking of feeding,” Charlotte said, looking up with an innocent smile. “Do you mind?”

  “Of course not. Take full advantage of these six months.” Ivy unbuttoned the cuff of her blouse and rolled the sleeve up to her elbow. “I’ve already started taking my folic acid. Maybe you’ll taste the difference.”

  “I do need to get more veggies or just more vegetarians.”

  “Ivy laughed as she sat on the edge of the desk and held out her exposed wrist. “I can’t wait to start wearing white blouses again.”

  “Pfft. I have never ruined any of your clothes. I have spectacular table manners.” Charlotte moved the chair closer. Her pupils dilated as she focused on the veins beckoning beneath Ivy’s pale skin. “You know I could just take what I wanted and make you stay.”

  “But you won’t. You’ve always been a believer in free will.”

  Charlotte sighed as she palpated the veins lightly with her fingertips. The irises of her eyes lightened and her fangs extended as she prepared to feed. “You know me so well. Freely offered blood just tastes so good.”

  Her bite was gentle. The donor could easily go on doing work with their unaffected limb if necessary. Ivy always chose to spend the time meditating. Sometimes her mind would wander to the mundane task of grocery lists and the evening’s plans, but tonight she centered her thoughts on Charlotte's warm breath on her wrist and visualized her blood platelets as little soldiers going off to strengthen their leader. Ivy considered Charlotte to be her personal commander in chief, having plucked her from an ordinary life and given her the keys to a world most people never see.

  Ivy wanted to continue working with Charlotte forever, but the maternal pull was too strong. Her plan was to keep donating for six months while training a replacement and then take a few months off to replenish her supply before becoming pregnant. Once breastfeeding ended, she could return as a donor until it was time for baby number two. It seemed simple enough, but Charlotte had never had an assistant she trusted more than Ivy. She was terrified of losing her. As a vampire who never killed, loyal donors were the difference between immortality and destruction.

  Ivy’s blood was better than any comfort food. As delicious and nourishing as it was, Charlotte never got greedy, always knowing exactly how much to take without harm. It was as if an internal gauge measured the precise amount necessary like gasoline filling a car’s tank. Her preferred entry point was the wrist or crook of the elbow, both of which covered easily by a watch or long sleeve if any bruising appeared. She always topped off a feeding with a gentle swipe of her tongue. The antiseptic clotting enzyme present in her saliva acted as a naturally occurring styptic pen.

  She gave Ivy's arm a gentle squeeze as she finished and sat silently while the energy pulsed through her body. "Maybe your first baby will be a little colicky, and you won't feel like having more children,” Charlotte said without thinking.

  “Hush your mouth!”

  “Sorry,” she said with a wince. “It sounded bad as soon as the words hit my ears.”

  “I think you may have meant that.”

  “Well … maybe a little bit, but what do you expect from me? I have been alive for hundreds of years never having to answer to anyone. I’m a little set in my ways.”

  “If you jinx me,” Ivy grumbled, “you’re the one coming over to rock the wee one to sleep in the middle of the night.”

  “Deal. Now let’s get out there and find the assistant I know won’t be nearly as good as you.”

  “I got you a special treat for tonight.”

  “A year supply of your blood?”

  “Funny. No, it's the little pin I designed. The one you hated and said we'd get stuck with, but instead sold like hotcakes, not that I want to brag or anything."

  “Yes, you do.”

  “Okay, I DO.” Ivy opened her top desk drawer and retrieved a black pin in the shape of a bat with the word “BLAH” stamped in red. “This will bring you luck, blah.”

  “Stop.”

  “Okay, blah.”

  “I don’t know a single vampire who has ever used that word.”

  “Which blah word blah?”

  “It’s not too late to drain you,” Charlotte said, crossing her arms.

  “Someone doesn’t have the Halloween spirit. Think of it as a conversation starter,” Ivy said as she pinned the bat to Charlotte’s blazer. “And it’s a gift. You always say it’s good to show your appreciation for a gift by using it when the giver is around.”

  “I did say that,” Charlotte said with a sigh. “This is not going to attract the type of assistant I’m seeking. I'll use it as a way to thin the herd. Do you like this bat? No job for you!"

  “Is it really worse than the chokers and rhinestone covered fangs we're selling now?"

  “Rhinestones? We’re not using a BeDazzler here. I only order the finest Swarovski crystals, thank you very much. Excuse me for giving the public what they want.”

  “Exactly," Ivy said, tapping her nails on the bat. “Sold out. Now stand up and let me look at your outfit.” Charlotte spun around as Ivy examined her tight, black pants and corset with matching blazer that nipped in at the waist. Ivy nodded in approval and said, “Your curves are perfection in this look.”

  With the final adjustments made, they exited the building and started walking to the club at a slow pace.

  “I knew I should have installed a moving sidewalk,” Charlotte said as she stared into the distance at the long line of people waiting to enter O-Negative. “But beauty is pain, right? That’s what we say to the women who buy our heels and corsets.”

  Luckily, Charlotte’s feet only had to survive one long city block to the club. Her living quarters and office for her website, The Vamp Within, took up all six floors of her SoHo structure. She was fortunate to make her home in one of the historic, cast iron buildings coveted by real estate lovers everywhere.
It belonged to her father first and became hers as the Van Kampen clan outlived all the neighbors, as vampires tend to do. They soon snapped up every property on the block.

  Her brother Julian lived next door to her, their father Frederick next to him, and Aunt Agnes completed the stronghold with the other city corner. Agnes kept the top three floors for herself and allowed the bottom three levels to house the O-Negative nightclub, which the family also owned. It was all self-serving and they made no apologies for it.

  Chapter 2

  Throngs of fang-loving revelers provided ample donors for the family and other vampires in the city. Halloween was their Olympics and Oscars rolled into one. It was the perfect setup for Agnes as she always had a thing for younger men. She often prowled the nightclub, selecting willing, supple donors who didn’t mind an older, generous, insatiable benefactor. With all four buildings taking over an uninterrupted city block, it only made sense to join them all with a hidden tunnel in the basement. If they were in more of a flying mood and shifted to bat form, they always had the rooftops for travel.

  “Hey, Sexy Rexy,” Charlotte called out to the bouncer. “How’s the crowd tonight?”

  “Pumped and ready, Miss Charlotte.” He looked her up and down and gave her a wink as she passed. Charlotte thought about using Rex as a temporary donor, but she was almost positive he abused steroids. She had already experienced an accidental "roid rage" after a quick fling with a Russian marathon runner and vowed never to let that happen again. Even the coked out stockbrokers gave her a bit of anxiety. “You are what you eat,” she would remind herself whenever it was time to feed.

  “Happy Halloween!” Ivy and Charlotte shouted as they entered the club and pressed their bodies through the rows of people. The best crowds came on this night. They arrived in all sorts of costumes and left their inhibitions at the door. The bass from the music shook through Charlotte’s body as she bobbed to the beat. Just as she reached the main dance floor, a woman with big hair and too much makeup spilled her drink all over her blazer.