by T. S. Ryder
On cue, Sloan stood up, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Perplexed, she eyed him with uncertainty. “Trust us?” he asked.
“Yes,” she whispered. For some strange reason, she had faith in two men she barely knew. She felt a connection to them that she couldn’t understand.
Michael stepped behind her and placed his hands on her hips. Both he and Sloan supported her weight. Rachel gasped and her arms tightened around Sloan. “Sloan, I mean Michael, oh I don’t know,” she panted. Both men began to move like a well-oiled machine, with Sloan pushing forward when Michael pulled back. The rhythm continued until Rachel erupted in a mind-blowing orgasm. Shockwaves rippled through her body as Sloan and Michael continued to move, increasing their paces. They shouted out simultaneously, their large bodies shuddering against Rachel. She sagged against Sloan, panting.
“That was intense,” she murmured. “But so good.”
Sloan lowered her to her feet. “We can enjoy each other like this every night.”
Her eyes flew to his. “What? Isn’t this a one-time thing?” She was sure they would move on to other females. That was their thing, wasn’t it? At least, that’s what she had assumed.
Michael spoke. “It seems we have both taken a profound liking to you, Rachel.”
“It’s more than like,” Sloan corrected. Michael shrugged and nodded in agreement. “This has never happened to us before.”
Michael spun her around to face him. “Stay with us tonight, Rachel. We can talk more in the morning.”
Chapter Six
Rachel lay in bed between Michael and Sloan. Both men had their arms draped around her. She stared up at the ceiling in a near dreamlike state. Her body was still humming from the erotic session she had engaged in. It was hard to believe that both Sloan and Michael wanted to have sex with her again. Together. Could she keep up with them? They implied that they wanted to continue this strange relationship long-term. Rachel nearly let out a laugh. A few days ago she had wished for a boyfriend. Now she would have two. Incredible.
Her bladder began to protest, and she shifted in an attempt to detangle herself from Sloan and Michael. Both men tightened their arms around her, preventing her from getting up. Michael lifted his head to look sleepily at her. “What is it?”
“I have to go to the bathroom, but you two are like logs.”
He grinned and lifted his arm then threw Sloan’s off as well. “Sorry.”
Rachel smiled and scooted out of bed and pulled on the shirt Michael had been wearing earlier. She went through the door instead of using the bathroom in their master bedroom. She found one down the hall and then decided to raid the kitchen. She didn’t think the men would mind. Scanning the refrigerator, Rachel frowned. All she saw were beer and energy drinks. If Michael and Sloan expected her to keep coming back, they would have to start stacking up on a few things like ice cream, any kind of cake and maybe a bottle of wine.
“Okay, water it is.” She took out a bottle and retrieved a glass. Taking small sips, her eyes roamed around the room that she was seeing for the first time.
“Who are you?” A deep, raspy voice startled her. She swung around and gasped at the sight of a strange man standing in the shadows. The glass slipped from her fingers and shattered on the tile. He was just as big as Sloan and Michael. Was there another housemate that she didn’t know about?
“Um, w-who are you?” She stammered. The sinister vibe that the stranger was giving off made her take a few retreating steps backward.
“I’m Ronan. I see the boys have a new playmate. Perhaps I can use you to make them see reason.”
“Huh?” Rachel didn’t have time to run. Ronan reached her in a split second and grasped her arm.
“You’re coming with me, girl.” Ronan spun her around, wrapped powerful arms around her waist and lifted her off the floor. She opened her mouth to scream but he clamped a hand over it. “Quiet, little girl,” he snapped. Rachel thrashed and kicked against his shins to no avail.
***
Sloan’s eyes snapped open when he heard a glass fall. The sound came from the kitchen. He sat up and glanced around, remembering that he was in Michael’s bedroom. He glanced down. Michael’s eyes were open, and Rachel was absent.
“Did you hear that?”
Michael nodded. He sniffed the air. “Ronan is here.”
Sloan sprang from the bed in alarm. “Where’s Rachel?” he asked, already running through the door. They reached the kitchen to find Ronan making his way to the door with Rachel. Relief flashed in her eyes when she saw them.
“Put her down, Ronan,” Michael growled. His eyes flashed a peridot green.
Rachel’s eyes widened when she saw Michael’s eyes transform. Ronan threw her to the floor, knowing he was no match for the two ancient dragon shifters. “Both of you stay back or I’ll turn the girl to ash!” Ronan shouted.
Sloan and Michael stopped. “She’s an innocent human, Ronan. You don’t want to hurt her.”
Rachel stared up at Ronan with terror. What did he mean he would turn her to ash? And why did Michael refer to her as human, as if he, they weren’t?
Ronan laughed. “I can smell both of you on her. She belongs to you both. I can use her to gain your allegiance. What will it be, boys? Fight with me and the girl lives. Refuse and I fry her.”
Sloan’s jaw clenched. He could see Ronan preparing to shift. “Well, Michael?” he asked. Michael was better with words. Sloan would just attack Ronan and bite his head off, but he didn’t want to risk Rachel getting hurt.
“How about you and I step outside and talk, Ronan? Your problem is with us. Leave the girl out of it.”
Rachel whimpered when Ronan took a step closer to her. Her eyes bulged when his face began to contort, taking on a serpent-like shape. A shrilling scream escaped her lips. She felt a hard body drop over her and roll her away from Ronan right as a blast of heat grazed her right arm. She lay still for a moment, her mind racing and trying to process what she had just seen. None of it could be real. She was still sleeping, and this was all a dream. It had to be.
“Rachel, are you alright?” Sloan peered into her eyes.
She nodded and looked to the right, her eyes widening when she saw a huge scorch mark in the spot she had just been laying. She looked further to see two giant creatures rolling in battle, destroying the kitchen. Sloan grasped her shoulders and hauled her to her feet. “Let’s get you out of here.”
“Where’s Michael?” she asked, as he pulled her out of the room and up the stairs.
Sloan shot her a quick glance, not sure how to answer. “He’s um- he’ll be fine.” He pulled her into a dark room.
Rachel clutched his hand tightly. “We shouldn’t have left him down there with those things, whatever they are. I can’t see you.”
Sloan flicked on the light. He shifted uneasily. “Michael can take care of himself.” He paused. “We didn’t want you to find out yet, not this way.”
She pulled her hand from his. “What are you talking about? And why aren’t we calling the police right now?”
“Rachel, I-” The door opened cutting him off. Michael stood in the doorway, chest heaving and blood dripping from scratch wounds on his chest. There was a feral look in his eyes that made Rachel drawback, seeking Sloan’s protection. His gaze shifted to her, and he instantly softened.
“Rachel, I’m sorry,” he murmured.
“F-for what?” Rachel asked, eyeing his wounds. She was immensely relieved that he was still alive. She inched around Sloan and approached Michael cautiously. “I’m glad you’re okay. But you’ve been wounded.”
“I’m fine.” His eyes met Sloan’s inquiring gaze over Rachel’s head. “He’s dead,” he said gruffly, answering the silent question.
Rachel sucked in a breath. Did Michael kill the man who had tried to take her? “Okay, what the hell is going on? Clearly I’m not dreaming, or I would have woken up by now. Who’s Ronan? What were those things in the kitchen and why did your eyes chang
e color?” Rachel was staring pointedly at Michael.
He swallowed. “Ronan is- was one of us, a dragon shifter.”
Rachel gawked at him in disbelief. He must have received a blow to the head. But she had seen the two creatures with her own eyes. Maybe he wasn’t suffering from a concussion after all. She let out a breath. “I need to sit down.” She took the few steps to the bed and dropped down. She glanced at Michael. “So you changed into one of those creatures, a-a dragon?”
He cleared his throat. “Yes.”
Her eyes swung to Sloan. “You’re one too?” He nodded, his gray eyes searching her face. “How long have you two been like that?” They shared a look and turned back to her. Her eyes narrowed. Was that amusement she saw on their faces?
“We were born dragon shifters,” Sloan volunteered.
“Oh. I know Michael is twenty-eight.” Was Sloan the same age?
Michael’s lips curved upward. “Actually, I’m a bit older than that.”
Her eyes widened. “You lied about your age?”
He shrugged. “I can’t go around telling people I’m two thousand years old.”
Sloan let out a laugh. “He’s too old for you, Rachel. You should stick with me. I’m only fifteen hundred.” Michael shot him a deadly look.
Rachel stared at them both, her mouth hanging open. There was no way they were being serious. “What did I get myself into?” she murmured. She took a deep breath. “Assuming that the both of you haven’t totally lost your minds and you’re telling the truth, does anyone else know what you are?”
Michael took a step forward. His eyes bore into her. “No, we keep what we are from humans. We move often to keep our secret.”
“So you’ll be leaving soon?” Rachel’s heart dropped. If she were smart, she would be happy to know they would leave. But she didn’t want them to go, to leave her. She had even accepted their offer to make their nights together long-term.
“We’ll have to leave eventually,” Sloan said, taking a seat beside her. “But we’re not going anywhere without you.”
“Which is why we will stick around for a while until we convince you that the three of us belong together, and you will hopefully be willing to go with us,” Michael added.
Rachel looked from Michael to Sloan. There was no hint of humor on either’s expression. “You’re staying for me?” It was probably one of the most romantic things any man could do for a woman. And here she had two men willing to stay for her. Sure, she had to digest the knowledge that they weren’t entirely human. She should be freaking out at the moment, but she was oddly calm, which surprised her.
Sloan smiled. “We won’t let you go. I was jealous of you and Michael in the beginning, but now I see that we can make things between the three of us work. We can be happy together.”
Rachel swallowed. God help her, she wanted this, wanted to be with them. It didn’t matter if they weren’t human. A rush of excitement went through her at the risk she was going to take. “Okay,” she whispered. “I don’t want to leave Denver just yet, though.”
Michael grinned. “Fine by us. Let’s go back to bed. I’m feeling wound up after my little fight.” His eyes twinkled with carnal desire.
“Wait, we’re just going to leave a dead dragon in the kitchen?”
Sloan stood up. “We’ll clean up a bit later.”
Both men held their hands out to her. She stared at the outstretched hands for a few seconds before accepting. She had to see where things would lead with them. Michael and Sloan’s fingers wrapped around each of her hands, sealing their bond.
*****
THE END
Paranormal Shifter Romance: The Alpha's Secret Son
Description
A curvy single mom PLUS a hot alpha coming home PLUS a secret child
Jace and Amanda were high school sweethearts. Until he got accepted into Harvard and she stayed behind.
One passionate night left her with a surprise... but she couldn’t tell him about it. So he left.
Now, six years later, everything comes falling down...
Jace is a big-shot lawyer, a billionaire, and the Alpha of his werewolf pack. He has it all, including a son that he doesn’t know about. But he’s about to find out. His father is retiring from his Alpha position and Jace is taking over. So he returns to his hometown... with his girlfriend in tow.
Amanda is struggling to get by, sharing her rent with another woman and taking care of her son. She’s never been able to forget Jace. How much longer can she keep her secret from him now that he’s coming back to town? And who’s that woman by his side? She’s not his mate, she can’t be... right?
Chapter One
High school graduation. Parents were hugging their grads, friends were promising to stay in touch, lovers were telling one another that they would always be together, no matter the distance between them. Amanda Fenning wound through the crowd. She smiled and congratulated her fellow grads when they acknowledged her, but for the most part, she was able to fly safely under the radar.
The smell of bodies heated by the blazing sun and heavy black gowns filled her nose, and the sheer amount of noise made her want to press her hands over her ears. Sometimes the advanced senses of being a Wolf were highly unpleasant, especially when she didn't like crowds to begin with. Where was Jace?
Nausea that had nothing to do with the nerves of being in such close contact with so many people churned her gut. She had been meaning to tell her boyfriend about it for nearly two weeks now, but always found an excuse not to. It wasn't the right time because of college applications, or final exams, or getting ready for graduation. As the Alpha's son, he was expected to meet a lot of people.
He didn't need the added stress that his girlfriend was pregnant.
Amanda made a conscious effort not to cup her belly protectively as she moved past a group of her human classmates. As one of the few Wolves that had been sent to public school instead of being kept on the packlands, she had always felt like an outsider. To make it worse, her natural disposition was shy and withdrawn. She never was really able to fully integrate herself into the school's society, unlike Jace.
Jace. A smile blossomed over her face as she caught sight of her boyfriend, surrounded by his many friends and admirers. As always. And yet, being around so many people wasn't so bad as long as Jace was with her.
He had everything going against him in this school. He was a Wolf from the low-end of the income scale, just like Amanda. Raised on a farm in the packlands.
Whether it was his own personal charm or because of the natural Alpha instincts in him, he was insanely popular. He led all of the school fundraisers, organized social outings, and had even arranged the most successful dry prom the school had ever seen. Everybody loved him, and Amanda was no exception.
"Let the lady through," he called as Amanda attempted to wade through his gaggle of friends. The group pressed back as he strode through them to meet her. He gripped Amanda's hips as he kissed her deeply.
She had seen boyfriends swinging their girlfriends around all day and almost wished that Jace would try it, too. But even though he had started working out and his shoulders were getting broader, she was still too chubby to lift. It would end up just embarrassing both of them. So she satisfied with the rumble of pleasure that he growled, and the second and third pecks on the lips that he gave her before he pulled away.
Jace grinned broadly at her as he slung an arm around her shoulder. "Let's go somewhere we can talk, okay?"
Amanda nodded, letting him lead her away from the press of people. They were stopped a lot on their way out by people giving Jace congratulations and ignoring Amanda, but she didn't mind. She was happy being invisible by Jace's side. It was where she felt the safest, next to him. They were soon in Jace's car, pulling away from the school.
Her mind turned back to her pregnancy. How was she meant to tell him? She knew he was looking forward to university and college, but given his family's financial situation, he prob
ably wasn't going to be able to get anywhere except the local community college, which had free programs for Wolves. They could make that work, the two of them plus the baby. Amanda knew she would have to work instead of pursuing her own education further, but she didn't mind. His or her parents could watch the baby while he was at school and she was at work, at least until they were settled.
As long as the two of them were together, it would be okay.
"You look beautiful today," Jace said as he parked.
Amanda started. She had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't realize that they had driven out to their special spot, where they liked to go hiking when things got a little too stressful. She breathed in the smells of the forest, wondering if they could go camping before their summer jobs began. She loved running through the trees in her Wolf form, Jace by her side.
Jace turned to her and smiled, but the smile wasn't as happy as it had been at the graduation ceremony. "Amanda, I got some news yesterday."
Did he know about the baby? Amanda silently nodded for him to continue, her heart pounding.
"I applied for a scholarship, and I got it. And I got accepted to Harvard. The scholarship will pay for my first year."
Amanda stared at him, not comprehending what he was saying. "Harvard?"
Jace nodded. "Yeah. I never thought I'd actually get in, but I did. Starting this fall. Surprising, but not unwelcome."
Amanda got out of the car, sucking in deep breaths. She wasn't expecting this, but that didn't mean things had to change. They’d just have to adjust their plans a little bit. The scholarship meant that he wouldn't need anything extra in order to get by. She would still have to work, though, to help cover the extra expenses of the baby, and help pay for his next year, in case he didn't get another scholarship. But that didn't matter, she would support him. She could get a job in New York. With all those crowds of people…