Magic and Shadows: A Collection of YA Fantasy and Paranormal Romances

by T. M. Franklin

  “Hey!” she said, giving him a warm, welcoming smile after appearing at the door. She held onto the knob with a death grip as her aunt continued to speak.

  His gut tightened in need. He was slowly becoming familiar with his body’s reaction to her, especially since, until now, it only reacted like that with Warren.

  “Good evening, you look well rested,” he said, a little surprised. She’d been at school according to the records. Maybe he needed some of the tea her aunt made.

  Fallon smirked. “Because I got sent home from school early. The second I hit my bed, I slept like the dead.”

  “Why did you get sent home early?”

  She gave him a, ‘duh look.’ “I kind of fell asleep in Mrs. Schultz’s class. She wasn’t pleased to find me resting my eyelids while she tried to teach History.” Fallon crinkled her nose. “Surprise was on her, because Mr. Jacobs called my aunt and got permission for me to come home.”

  “I’m sure Mrs. Schultz will make you pay for not only sleeping in her class, but not getting in trouble.”

  She shrugged. “Whatever. I’m not worried about it.” She stepped aside. “I better ask you to come in, before Ayí reminds me I’m being lax in my manners.” As if on cue, her aunt began to yell in Mandarin at Fallon. Instead of replying to her aunt, she simply rolled her eyes. “Hurry up, before she comes out of the kitchen.”

  He stepped by her. The scent of jasmine with a hint of rose hit his nose and he bit back a groan.

  She pushed the door closed so hard it slammed, vibrating the tiny glass windows surrounding the door frame. From the sound of it, her aunt was most likely admonishing her. He bit the inside of his cheek not to laugh.

  “Detective Michaels should have called your aunt, informing her you’ll be with us for several nights going forward.”

  “So formal,” she mocked him. “He did. Ayí is not happy. Claims the good Detective was very vague. I’m going to assume I’m not going to get the same treatment from you?”

  “It is my job to inform you of our plan,” he assured her. “Only after you get out of those bright pants and put something more protective on your feet than flip flops.” He gestured to her outfit.

  “Don’t make fun of my sleep clothes. They are comfy, cozy and conducive to sleeping.”

  “I’ll take your word on it. Now, please go change and make it quick. Your aunt scares the living crap out of me,” he admitted.

  “She’s harmless,” she paused, smirking at him. “Mostly.”

  “Go. Five minutes and we’re gone.” He placed his hands gently on her shoulders, then spun her toward the stairs and gave her a playful push. She took off, running up the stairs.

  Thankfully, Fallon’s aunt never came out of the kitchen. Nine minutes later, Fallon strolled down the steps, dressed all in black, her hair again pulled back at the nape of her neck. She also had a pack draped over her shoulder.

  “Bye, Ayí,” she hollered as she walked past him.

  “You do that on purpose. To egg your aunt on,” he observed, as they exited the house.

  She didn’t say anything, but he suspected if he saw her face, it’d have a big grin on it.

  Using his vampire speed, he moved past her and opened the front passenger door for her. When she had her seatbelt on, he went around the front of the SUV and got in behind the wheel. He no sooner got himself settled, when she started with her questions.

  “What’s going on? Where are we going tonight? Did Grainger get any details on the information we gathered? Hopefully its more interesting than the other night. Which by the way, if I haven’t told you, was boring.”

  “You told me and the entire world, if they would have listened. Several times,” he teased.

  She laughed. “So, what’s tonight’s deal?”

  “We’re all meeting up at the same spot and heading back toward the abandoned building,” Abraham said, waiting for her reaction.

  He saw the minute his words dawned on her. The happy glow in her eyes dimmed, replaced by anger and something else. Worry? Shit.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. Why?” she yowled.

  “Grainger said if you didn’t want to go tonight, I’m just to take you back to your house.” He made a point of leaning around her to look out her window. “At this point, it’s not far away.”

  She growled at him. Freaking growled.

  “That wasn’t very nice of you. I’m just the messenger,” he informed her before he stuck the key in the ignition and started the vehicle. “I need your decision, Fallon.”

  She mumbled, grumbled and fussed in her seat a good two minutes before she begrudgingly answered. “Fine.”

  “Good. Now I can tell you our plan,” he informed her.

  Abraham told her everything, probably more than he should have, but if she was going to be a member of their team, she deserved to know what they were doing and why it had been important for Grainger to pull this part of the investigation off on his own.

  “Is he out of his mind?” Fallon’s screech rang in his ears as it filled the cabin of the vehicle. “No. He can’t do it. It’s ridiculous! Wait till I get a hold of him.”

  “You’re not going to change his mind. Warren and I already tried,” he assured her.

  “Obviously, you didn’t do a good enough job, if he’s still going through with it!”

  He pulled off the side of the road as they had the night before and put the SUV into park. He turned it off and faced her. “I get why you’re angry, Fallon. I do. I know you feel something changing with the three of us. Maybe you understand what’s going on and maybe you don’t. Grainger knows what’s at risk, and while you argue this with me, more people are being murdered or will be murdered and male and female paranormals are being sold into sexual slavery. One of us must stand up and protect them. Warren and I would appreciate it if you didn’t give Grainger hell on this. He needs to focus on the mission at hand, if it happens tonight.”

  “Humpfh!” She crossed her arms. If she had the ability to shoot daggers or laser beams from her pretty brown eyes, he was sure he’d be dead.

  “Is that a yes or no? I don’t understand mumble,” he confessed.

  “Yes,” she spat, reaching for the door handle to jump out of the truck.

  He followed, grabbing her by the arms, halting her forward progress toward the area where they were the night before.

  “He’ll be okay,” he assured her, pulling her into an embrace. “I promise.” His hand gently moved up and down her back in comfort.

  “I know Kung Fu,” she announced, completely off topic.

  “What?”

  “Kung Fu. I know it. If Grainger doesn’t come back healthy and whole, I’m going to take both you and War to the mat and kick your butts,” she muttered into his shirt.

  “Okay,” he chuckled.

  “I’m serious. I’m trusting you.”

  Whoa. He knew those were big words coming from her.

  “I know you are.” She took a deep breath in and attempted to move out of his hold. He didn’t allow it. “Let me just hold you. We have a couple of minutes. Neither Grainger or Warren are here yet.”

  “Is this normal?”

  His gut clenching at the wobble in her voice. He’d seen a lot of different emotions from her in the last couple of days, but never uncertainty. Maybe she was finally letting down some of her prickly armor.

  “What, having feelings for the three of us?”

  Her head bobbed against his chest.

  “Relationships like this are not uncommon in our world, you know this. Bear in mind both Grainger and I are vampires, Warren is an incubus, and you’re a tiger shifter. In the human world, none of this is normal.”

  “True,” she sighed, her warm breath brushing against his shirt, and he swore he felt the heat of it against his cool skin.

  “And you guys, if this happens, are all good with it?” She peeked up at him.

  “First, it’s called a mating. And second, yes, we are. We’ve had s
everal conversations about it.” He didn’t tell her Grainger wasn’t where he and Warren were, or the comments he said about her being okay if something happened to him. She didn’t need to know.

  “Look at me,” he demanded as a rush of need moved through him. Her head tipped back. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, a nervous habit he’d noticed while watching her. The faint light of the moon twinkled within her dark irises, giving them an iridescent glow. His breath caught in his throat. She was beautiful. He didn’t know how long passed before he could finally speak He cupped her cheeks with his hands, holding her gaze. “We’ve got this. Neither Warren or myself will allow something to happen to Grainger. It would cause you pain, which in turn would cause us pain.”

  “Okay,” she said softly.

  “Whatever is happening between the four of us, happens at your pace and discretion. You have the control. Got me?” He eased the abused flesh from between her teeth, then rubbed her bottom lip.

  Her heart pounded. Her breath quickened. The sweet scent of her blood called to him, begging for him to take a sample. Abraham dipped his chin, before nipping at her lip, then licked away the sting. Her soft sigh had been all he needed before crushing his mouth to hers.

  8

  “The easiest way for this to happen is for me to go before Fallon arrives.” Grainger removed his long-sleeved black shirt, then bent down. It had been a week since they decided to use him as bait. So far, things were going according to plan. They already had a few more names of those involved in the operation, and knew an auction was coming up. They needed to get Grainger in there, quick. “If she is here when I go in, she’ll have a fit. Tonight is not the night for it. We’ve got a lot riding on this mission.”

  Abraham and Fallon had been spending tons of time together. Scratch that, Abraham and Warren and Fallon were spending tons of time together. Grainger kept to the peripheral. It would be better in case something happened to him. He didn’t want to bind her to him if he got hurt or worse, died. It would destroy her, and after losing her parents … well, he couldn’t allow her to fall for him. Or vice versa.

  “We do, so cleaning up your mess isn’t high on the agenda,” Warren snapped. Since Grainger had made the call for tonight to be the end of observing and the beginning of infiltrating, the demon had been on edge.

  Grainger dug his fingers into the wet clay then rubbed the crumbles on his arms and face. He had to appear lost, broken, and starving. If the information they gathered was right, Yegor wanted healthy specimens. One ‘feeding,’ and he’d be in tip-top shape. Nevertheless, he had to appear pitiful enough for them to think they had the upper hand in the situation. He grabbed the collar of his plain white T-shirt and ripped it, before running his hands all over it.

  “What do you think?”

  “You’re going to get yourself killed,” his friend replied. “At least set the cameras.”

  He grinned. “Of course I will.” He headed back over to the SUV to grab the all black pack from the tailgate. “I’ll set them up every fifty feet. As small as they are, no one will detect them.”

  “Then you’ll present yourself as some sick vampire in need of help and get yourself captured.” Warren sighed. “We’ve gone over this a thousand times. I hate it. My gut is telling me you’re about to make a big mistake.”

  “Have you taken care of your daily constitution?”

  Warren flipped him off. “Stop joking.”

  “I’ll be fine. You’re going to come get me. Fallon will kick ass and take names.” He smacked his friend’s shoulder. “It’s time.”

  Grainger grabbed the small pack with the cameras in it and started down the rutted trail they’d taken last night to the ridge overlooking the warehouse. He’d leave a camera every few feet leading up to the warehouse then a few within the building.

  Crouching low, to stay out of the light of the illuminated building, he hurried along placing cameras. He realized the plan might not be the best, but he was doing it for all of them. With no connection between Warren, Abraham or Fallon, they’d be fine without him—even though he didn’t plan on dying.

  He also understood when Fallon realized he didn’t include her in his plan, she’d be thoroughly pissed off at him. Which meant she’d find him and get him out of there then try to kick his ass. He smirked to himself. He did enjoy poking the tiger a bit more than he should. And, though he said out loud he didn’t have connections to her, he did. He couldn’t quite explain it, nor did he want to explore it with her just now.

  Later though, if they made it out alive, he would.

  Possibly.

  Shit. Don’t think about her. Focus on your mission.

  He bent down to place a camera then grab a hand full of dirt to cake on his body. He didn’t produce enough body heat to sweat, however, he could smell like he rolled in a pig pen and laid with hogs. It would have to work for his cover, if he planned to get inside. As he stood, he glanced behind him and saw three men standing at the building dock.

  Perfect.

  None of them were the boss. No matter. They’d want him once they saw he was a thirsty, dirty vampire. He grabbed the pack and started down the path leading away from the foliage surrounding the swamp-like are.

  As he took another step, he sensed a presence behind him. He grinned. Just a bit closer. Said the spider to the fly. Grainger hunched his body while wrapping his arm around his middle. He allowed his teeth to elongate and a small moan passed his lips as he shuffled forward.

  “Well, what do we have here?” a man snarled, grabbing him by the back of the neck. His tight grip surprised Grainger momentarily, which added into playing up the poor defenseless vampire disguise.

  “Lost,” he groaned. “So lost and sick.”

  The man chuckled. “You’re a lousy liar, boy.”

  Grainger tensed.

  “Did you think we weren’t watching you?” The smug satisfaction in the man’s voice, set him on edge.

  “You should let me go,” he whispered.

  “Sorry, no can do. Your blood will fetch a pretty penny on the black market.” He shook Grainger like a rag doll, and a sinking suspicion knotted his gut. Perhaps Yoger wasn’t human after all. Perhaps they were all supernatural .

  “Fine. Take me to your leader.”

  The man laughed again. “You’re talking to him.”

  The sting of a needle entering his flesh and the momentary burn were the last things Grainger felt before darkness enveloped him and he drifted away.

  When Fallon and Abe showed up at the meet point, War was waiting for them. The constricted look upon his face set her on edge. He paced. By the rut in the grass he’d been doing it for a while, which meant they were late. She glanced at Abe who appeared worried. His hand tightened on the steering wheel and the muscle of his jaw throbbed.

  Something happened.

  Something they didn’t tell her about.

  “You picked me up on purpose, didn’t you? What did you three knuckleheads decide to do without me?”

  Abe wouldn’t look at her. Instead his gaze had been fixed on where his blood partner continued to dig a deeper hole in the ground.

  Anxiety knotted her stomach, and her tiger clawed at her insides demanding she be let out. As soon as the truck came to a stop, she popped the door and jumped out. She tugged and pulled at her clothes, the overwhelming stench of foreboding only added to the panic flaring in her chest. Fallon raked her fingers across her clothes. The sound of rending material became music to her ears. Then the agony.

  Her bones popped, dislocated, throwing her to the ground. She landed awkwardly and yelped. It never hurt to shift before. It also hadn’t been almost a year since the last time she let her tiger out.

  “Ah, fuck.” Warren appeared at her side. “Don’t fight it, Fallon.”

  She snapped her gazed to his and hissed. Her hands curled into claw-tipped paws as another yowl of anger filled her throat. The fine hairs on her arms stood on end before thickening to a pelt of whit
e, tan and black.

  “You’re beautiful,” Abe murmured.

  “Don’t say anything to her, she might slash your throat or something,” War admonished his partner. “She’s pissed off.”

  “Well if you hadn’t been pacing, she’d have been cool,” Abe threw back at him. “Fú?” He crouched down next to her. “I told Grainger he had to explain this to you and we needed to work together.”

  She curled her lip. So this … stuff she felt was because of Grainger? What were they doing? Having a pissing contest? Fury mixed with worry and fear. She didn’t like the emotional roller coaster these three guys put her on. It reminded her of the day she lost her parents.

  She crawled away from both of them, allowing the cool wetness of the grass and mud to eased her overly sensitized flesh. She had put some distance between them. Gather her wits and shift back to her human form—when her tiger didn’t feel threatened.

  “We should go with her,” War whispered. “She’s in danger out there, alone.”

  She curled her lip and continued on the path taking toward wherever Grainger could be. Fallon lifted her head and parted her lips. She tasted the air, trying to find a hint of Grainger’s scent. Whatever had happened, he muted it, making it almost impossible to detect.

  Where had he gone?

  “Whoa, kitty.” Abraham placed his hand between her shoulder blades, giving her pause. “You go out there half-cocked and we’ll be searching for both of you.”

  The soothing lilt to his voice did nothing to ease the growing dread inside her. Somewhere, out there, Grainger was in trouble. Her gut had never failed her before, and it sure as heck wouldn’t today.

  “Come on, Fú, shift back for us. We have to regroup and figure out our best line of attack.” War curled his fingers around her ear and scratched.

  She sighed. A small purr rumbled in her chest. The comforting motion eased some of the jagged edges of her anxiety. She glanced up at both men, able to see their true nature while in her tiger form delighted her. Though handsome as a human, War had been more so as his demon. She couldn’t distinguish very many colors, but the blue-grey tint of his skin along with curved black horns at the corners of his forehead gave him an exotic appearance. Abe, on the other hand, appeared the same. He could hide in plain sight and no one would see his true nature until he wanted them too or it was too later.