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

by J. K Harper

  He sucked along her thigh, but she needed so much more. That slight pain was needed for her to find release.

  “Bite me, please,” she asked, not caring how crazy her words sounded.

  He peeked up from her legs. “Are you sure, my sweet? Once I start, there’s no going back.”

  “Yes. Hurry.” Her fingers flowed through Duke’s golden-brown locks, and she held on for her life.

  “As you wish, beautiful Sherri.”

  His thumb circled her clit just before he bit down on her inner thigh. The pain of his bite was brief, but pleasure seeped from his fangs and into her entire body. It was like the endorphin rush of the sexual variety.

  Duke sucked her nipple into his mouth and flicked at it with his tongue as his fingers plucked her other free nipple.

  Her body exploded with pleasure, and she rode the wave of an orgasm like no other. One hand stayed in Duke’s hair as the other clutched the bed sheets.

  She was still in her euphoric state when she felt them crawl up her body, until she was sandwiched between both men.

  Her wetness still flowed between her legs, and she felt Duke as his cock nudged her opening. Her pussy was slick enough for him to slip in easily, but she still had to focus to accommodate for his size. When he finally stopped, she felt her insides contract around his girth, urging him to move, but he waited.

  Then it was Jai’s turn to enter her from behind. The tip of him teased her taut opening.

  “If I bite you, it may be easier. I’ll leave it to you, Sweet Sherri.”

  She didn’t hesitate. “Please. Yes.”

  “No, you must say the words,” he said.

  “Bite me,” she demanded.

  Jai needed no further encouragement. His kissed a spot on her neck before biting.

  The same pleasure came rushing back, and she briefly wondered how he was able to do that every time he bit her.

  He took his time as he finally pushed through her tight entrance, allowing her to adjust to him as he eased forward.

  “Need … movement,” she panted.

  Thankfully, they listened to her pleas. Duke pulled out first and pushed back in. Then Jai moved out of her tightness before filling her up again. The men built up a steady rhythm that made her want to thrash about, but they held her still as they alternated. There were no more thoughts to get in her way. Only sensation remained, and she welcomed it.

  Magic flowed around them, until she could taste the otherworldliness on her tongue, and it was sweetness like no other. Heat climbed steadily from her core, to her limbs, and into the men who surrounded her.

  Another orgasm hovered just out of her reach. Then, finally, it crashed into her and sent her flying outside of herself. She was no longer just a spirit witch. Instead, she was a bundle of magic connected to some higher force that linked her to both men.

  It didn’t matter what paranormal creatures they were or what they were made of. All that existed was three of them rolled into one mystical high.

  They all met the peak simultaneously, and she felt their release deep inside her body.

  Between the strength of both men was how she drifted off and fell into a peaceful slumber.

  Chapter 4

  Duke dreamed for the first time without waking up screaming. When was the last time he’d slept without tossing and turning?

  It didn’t matter that he knew he was still dreaming. All he cared about was the woman in his dream. Taking her three different times wasn’t enough. No, he’d never have his fill of her, and his dream reminded him of that.

  Duke imagined her creating a rope of magic and using it to pull him closer to her. Sherri lassoed her rope and wrapped it around him. He tried to tell her that he would come to her willingly, but she pulled and pulled until he was right up against her curvy softness. Damn, she smelled so good, like beaches in the springtime, right after fall and just before the heat made everything a sweltering nuisance.

  He woke from his dream when he felt something shake him hard. When he opened his eyes, he still had the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen snuggled up against his body, and he was at least grateful that she didn’t disappear with his nice fantasies. Her delicious brown skin glowed in the dimly-lit bedroom.

  On the other side of her, Jai propped himself on his elbow and stared down at the sleeping witch, who had brought them there.

  “Did you feel that?” Duke asked him.

  “Yes,” Jai said. His fingers danced along her skin. “It’s the second shake.”

  “You’re pretty calm. How long have you been awake?”

  “Since sunset an hour ago. Apparently, we slept the day away.”

  “It’s been an entire day?”

  “Well, we did kind of … exert ourselves for hours with this lovely enchantress.”

  A tremor shook the bed again.

  Sherri stirred next to them. “Turn the TV off.” She used a pillow to cover her head.

  “I would if that were the source, Sweet Sherri,” Jai said as he stroked her back.

  She lifted her head up from the nest of pillows and looked at Jai before turning to Duke.

  Her eyes widened. “Shit in a witch hat. That was real? You guys weren’t a dream?” She stared between them in awe.

  “Such an odd saying,” Jai said. “You’re an interesting one indeed. Yes, we’re real, lovely.”

  “Not a dream,” Duke said. “Thankfully, or I would have been missing out. Then again, if you keep haunting my dreams, too, I’ll never get enough of you.”

  The bed shook harder than the first couple of times Duke felt the tremors.

  “What the hell is shaking us?” Sherri asked. “And why does my neck feel sore … never mind. I remember. You bit me.” She reached down between her legs. “My thigh, too.”

  Jai grinned. “You asked me to. More like begged me to.” Jai leaned down and kissed her neck.

  “I remember. I don’t think I’ve ever asked a guy to bite me before.” She sighed into him.

  Jai trailed kisses down her shoulder. “Glad I’m your first.”

  Duke was about to show her equal attention, but another shake stopped them from going any farther. He jumped out of bed and went to the window.

  “What’s he doing?” Sherri asked, stretching herself out.

  Jai shook his head, but his eyes stayed on Sherri. “I’m as clueless as you, beautiful.”

  “Make him come back,” she whined.

  Duke loved the sound she made. It got him hard just imagining taking her the way they did the night before. He wanted to go back to her, too, but he had to see something first.

  Jai was right. It was nighttime again.

  Duke felt the floor shake wildly, but as he looked outside, nothing else moved with them. No car alarms sounded and no one rushed around in a panic. The people he saw below on the ground walked as if nothing bothered them. “I don’t think it’s an earthquake.”

  “What do you mean?” Sherri asked. She was fully awake and sitting up.

  “Nothing else is moving out there. I think it’s just us. Is this your magic?”

  Sherri took her time answering, as if recounting something. “I don’t think so. I’m not doing anything now, if that’s what you mean.”

  “You said you called to us with a spell, right?” Duke grabbed his clothes.

  “But I don’t know if it even worked properly.”

  “We need to look at it in case this has to do with the magic you used.”

  Jai was the next one to get out of bed and slip on his clothes.

  Sherri stayed in bed with a sheet held high up and covering her tempting frame.

  “What’s wrong, my Sherri?” Jai asked.

  She looked down at her body. “You both kind of tore and singed my clothes off, so I need to get something else to wear.”

  “Isn’t that your closet?” Duke asked, pointing to the side room.

  She nodded but still didn’t look at them.

  “I think the delightful creature
is shy,” Jai said with a grin.

  “Shy? Baby, you don’t have anything to be shy about,” Duke said. “We’ve seen every inch of you, and I can tell you I still want more.”

  “I second his assessment.” Jai kneeled on the bed and took her lips with his for a long and deep kiss.

  Duke wasn’t going to let that slide without him getting a taste, so he kneeled back down on the bed. His lips were so close to her that he could smell every sweet inch she had to offer.

  Then the fucking bright light returned and tossed everything to hell.

  He shielded his eyes, and when he finally opened them, he found himself back in the alley. Jai was right there with him with no sign of Sherri.

  “What the fuck happened?” Duke asked. “Sherri?” He tossed bins and turned discarded boxes over, hoping she hadn’t fallen and injured herself. A need to protect his witch filled him. His witch? That was a new thought, but he didn’t let time process it as he searched.

  “Stop thrashing about,” Jai said.

  “Fuck, no. Where is she? Sherri? Sherri?!”

  “Stop and listen!”

  Duke stilled, worry still crashing through him, but he finally listened. Then he realized what he was listening for, the absence of breathing, a sound that had lulled him to sleep after taking that enchanting witch to bed.

  “She’s not here,” Duke finally confirmed. “I can’t hear her or smell her anywhere.”

  “I think the witch’s spell has backfired,” Jai said. “It brought us back to where we started.”

  “Then we need to go back and find her.”

  “Patience, shifter. As much as I agree with you, we must be smart about it. You need to calm yourself.”

  Anger flowed through Duke’s veins, power surging through and waking his dragon. What the fuck was happening? He couldn’t rein anything in. He hadn’t felt that out of control since his last night with the clan, the night everything went to shit and he’d been unable to stop his dragon from setting someone on fire.

  He tried to force his dragon back and push it down, so it didn’t break loose in a closed alley.

  “I’m guessing you’re a dragon shifter,” Jai said.

  “Why do you say that?”

  Jai nodded behind Duke, and Duke turned to see what the big deal was at his back. His dragon’s energy had released itself and set fire to the large trash bin behind him.

  Fuck. He had to stop losing control like that.

  “How did you feel when we were with her?” Jai asked.

  “I don’t understand.” Duke’s head rolled with energy, and images of fire burned behind his eyelids. He was on the brink, and if he lost focus, he could let loose something bigger than a fire to burn a trash can.

  “When we were in the presence of the witch, what did you feel?”

  Duke finally understood what the vampire was asking. “I felt at peace. My dragon was at peace and found comfort in her. It’s been so long since I felt that, but I recognized it.”

  “It was similar for me, too,” Jai said. “For the first time ever, I didn’t feel my bloodlust. It was as if staying with her could satisfy me forever.”

  “What are you saying, vamp?” Duke asked.

  “No need for the name calling. I’m merely pointing out a fact.”

  “A fact I’m not getting, so spit it out already.”

  “How does your dragon clan choose mates?” Jai asked.

  “I’m not really sure. All of the dragons I’ve met were either already mated or single. Never really stuck around in one clan to see how it’s done.”

  “Well, there are many covens of witches and warlocks that believe in having more than one mate. I’ve heard the Kala West coven is among them. If that’s true…”

  “Are you saying that Sherri is our mate?”

  Jai didn’t answer. He only stared at Duke with a quiet understanding.

  * * *

  Jai didn’t want to overwhelm the dragon. After all, the man was hanging by a thread when it came to his animal. The last thing they needed was another group of warlock assholes hunting them down for sport.

  He was grateful the warlocks they beat up weren’t still there when they magically reappeared back in the alley. Warlocks of the Flame, the thugs had called themselves. It wasn’t a very ingenious name, but that was to be expected from imbeciles that allowed hatred to overrule common sense.

  Eventually, he knew the paranormal groups would destroy themselves if they didn’t work with others. Hatred and bigotry brought out the worst in humans and paranormal beings alike. That was something that never changed, no matter what creatures roamed the earth.

  With so much hatred and stupidity, there would never be any way for their people, vampires or shifters, to find peace.

  Then he met Sherri, and she changed his cynical views in a matter of hours. She may have wanted warlocks, but she got them instead. Not that she complained after they took her body and made it into the most beautiful sexual instrument ever played.

  He knew there was something special about the witch as soon as he saw her. When he finally touched her, he was overwhelmed by the need to take her and mark her as his.

  Even though she wasn’t with them, he could remember ever curve of her body, every inch of her skin.

  With her, he didn’t feel the eternal pang that ate through him year after year. The feeling that reminded him he was no longer human and never would be again.

  One hundred years as a vampire, and he had almost forgotten what it was like to be a part of someone outside of himself. She reminded him of that feeling, and he was addicted to all of her.

  Florida was the last place he thought vampires should live. It was hot, sweaty, and some considered it the ass of the United States.

  All of that was irrelevant now that he met Sherri. The spirit witch was a rarity he had never come across before. Her body called to him, and it wasn’t just her blood, like most humans. The emotions and sensations rolling through him said that she was so much more than even he could comprehend. If that meant he had to stay in Florida, then so be it. He wasn’t going anywhere unless that witch was with him.

  “How does your kind mate?” Duke finally asked.

  “It’s rare for a vampire to mate. We have lovers. It’s been decades since I’ve heard of a vampire mating and only with each other. The situation is a new one for me as well.”

  “So what do you suggest we do about it?”

  Jai considered his answer carefully. The dragon didn’t rush him to speak, which he was grateful for. “I don’t know about you, but when we vampires find something that we want, we don’t stop until we get it. Sherri is something that I want more than anything on the face of this earth, and I’m going to make sure I find her.”

  “I guess if you’re going to look for her, we might as well do it together.”

  Jai couldn’t hold back the smugness that was just begging to taunt the dragon. Carefulness flew out of his mind. “Since I can only look for Sherri at night, I can use a shifter for my day help.”

  “Don’t push it, vamp. As far as I know, I can only stand you with the witch around, and she’s not here.”

  “Then I guess we better find my witch quickly.” Jai couldn’t keep the smirk off his face.

  A puff of smoke came out of Duke’s nostrils. “We’re going to have to reassess your use of possessives. She’s ours. Not just yours.”

  Maybe he didn’t need to push the dragon any more than he had already. “So the dragon is ready to claim her, too.”

  “Never said I didn’t want her.” Duke stared him down, as if asking for him to say otherwise.

  Jai could respect that. “All right then, Duke. Let’s go find our spirit witch.”

  Chapter 5

  “Who the hell puts footnotes in a grimoire?” Sherri was definitely sober when she went over the spell again and noticed the tiny print. Right there at the end was an asterisk that led to the following phrase: Should not be performed by a spirit witch or warlock
. “Fucking magic. They make it look like a damn car sale or something. It’s a spell. Not a classified ad.”

  “I told you not to do anything stupid while you were drunk. This is what happens when you mix mind-altering substances with magic, craziness you can’t take back.”

  “I don’t want to take it back. I just want them back, and I’m so not getting a lecture from the girl who used magic to crash the Firewick Festival. You, missy, don’t get to lecture anyone on using magic for the wrong purposes.”

  “I guess you have a point.” Carmen flipped through the book. “Maybe try it again, and they’ll return.”

  “Thought of that. Tried it. Nothing. Not even one of them came transporting in. I even tried drinking again before doing it. Guess alcohol doesn’t make everything better.”

  “Sadly, neither can magic.” Carmen shook her head. “I still can’t believe they weren’t warlocks.”

  “One was definitely a vampire. The other had to be some kind of shifter, but I’m not sure what. He was hot though.”

  “You had sex with them, and you don’t know what they were?”

  “It’s not like I had time to play twenty questions first. We were a little busy. If you saw them, you’d understand.”

  “Yeah, yeah. They were drop-dead gorgeous or, in your case, panty-dropping gorgeous.”

  “Thanks for the jokes, Car. But hot sexy is not what I mean. One had a body temperature that ran scorching hot like he was burning up or something. He even burned … some things off.”

  “Like your clothes?”

  Sherri bit her lip.

  “He burned off your clothes?! And he wasn’t a fire warlock?”

  “Yep and nope.”

  Carmen seemed stunned, which in itself was a rare feat to do. “I’ve heard that shifters have higher body heat than other magicals. Maybe that’s it.”

  “I didn’t think you knew any shifters.”

  “I don’t really know them,” Carmen said. “It’s more like knowing by association after being kidnapped and almost killed.”

  Sherri could tell she was holding something back, but the ring of her doorbell interrupted their conversation. Sherri opened the door to find the Mistress of Water and the Mistress of Earth standing in her doorway.