Bad Boys of the Night: Eight Sizzling Paranormal Romances: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set

by Jennifer Ashley

  Aiden trotted over and rubbed his muzzle against hers in great affection. Then he licked her nose and nodded at the woods. The pack shifted into wolf form, howling in great abandon.

  They ran as wolves, Aiden racing at her side as she bounded over dead logs, feeling freer and more energized than she had in months. This Lupine had branded her in the flesh and given her new life.

  If she wasn’t careful, she could fall in love with him.

  CHAPTER 8

  She’d had the most delicious dream; someone cared about her. Her, the twin who held the pack together, who lived for her people.

  A man who would see to her every need, and keep her safe and warm when the shadow of cold, dark winter crept onto the land.

  Nia snuggled down further into the covers. Someone stroked her back in long, soothing caresses. A deep murmur; words she didn’t understand, but spoken with such tenderness. Nia drowsed in bed. She should get up. But the hand stroking her felt so good. It had been years since a masculine hand touched her with such loving care. Her father had hugged her, caressing her hair, whispering how she would always be his little girl, but she had to stay strong for her sister.

  “I hate putting this burden on you, Nia,” Edward Blakemore whispered as he hugged her so tight she knew she was loved. “But you’re our only hope. Stay strong for your sister.”

  She didn’t want to think of his death, or the sickness. She wanted to cling to the memory of those wonderful, rough hands holding her with such care, such love.

  “It’s okay,” a deep voice murmured into her ear. “Sleep. I’ll take care of everything.”

  Someone to take care of everything. No responsibilities for her, no worries. She sighed and burrowed deeper into the covers. She wanted this, needed rest and a worry free morning. But who could lift this burden?

  Nia rolled over into the muscled arms enveloping her and opened her eyes to see a rugged face, framed by jet black stubble and two piercing dark eyes.

  Aiden.

  They were mated now.

  She closed her eyes. She heard Aiden’s deep voice, tinged with amusement, rumble in her ear.

  “Okay darling. I’ll get breakfast ready. You sleep.”

  He dropped a warm, soft kiss on her cheek as she snuggled deep into the covers. Such luxury.

  Nia opened one eye. Sluggish gray light peeked through the gauze curtains at the window. She’d always loved dawn, loved watching the sun rise over the mountains. It was her favorite time, to steal a few precious moments for herself.

  She had no time for luxury. Time to face the world. She heard Aiden in the kitchen, a low curse and “Where the hell does she hide the coffee?” Nia smiled, remembering last night and the thrill of racing through the woods as wolf.

  Her smile faded.

  She stripped and headed into the bathroom, twisting the brass knobs for the hot water. In the shower stall, Nia sagged against the wall, sighing. Every morning she allowed herself fifteen precious minutes to shower. In those minutes beneath the spray, no one bothered her, no worries were permitted, no phone calls or thoughts about feed running low, the horses growing skinnier…

  Her sister growing more delicate and frail as Nikita spent more time locked in her lab, trying to find a cure for the disease.

  Nia started to reach for the soap. Her arm fell to her side. Her muscles felt sore and the space between her legs pulsed with an unfamiliar ache.

  She had been well loved. No, not loved. Aiden didn’t love her. Needed her, yes. Desired her, definitely. But he didn’t love her.

  The shower curtain jerked back. Opening her eyes, she shrank against the tile, covering her breasts.

  “What the hell are you doing here, Mitchell? Can’t you wait your turn?”

  “No.” Hands on lean hips, he grinned. “I came to ask where you stashed the sugar, but the view looks much sweeter right here.”

  We don’t have sugar. It’s one thing I cut out to save money.

  His bold gaze swept over her body. “You don’t have to hide yourself from me, sweetheart. We’re mated now.”

  Her eyes widened as he tugged the tight gray T-shirt over his wide shoulders, and then reached for the buckle of his jeans. “What are you doing? Can’t I have fifteen minutes alone?”

  “Not this morning. Maybe sometime in the future.” Aiden tugged the jeans past his narrow hips and kicked them aside. Nude, he was as magnificent as she remembered, his penis standing erect.

  As he stepped into the shower, he studied her face and frowned. Aiden touched her left cheek. “Was I too rough on you last night?”

  “No.” A flush ignited her entire body as she remembered. “It was… great.”

  His thumb stroked over her cheek. “Did I do this? No, I couldn’t have. It’s old. I never noticed this before.”

  Panic flared as he thumbed her scar. She’d forgotten.

  “I usually cover it up.”

  Aiden pulled the curtain aside. He reached for the soap and stepped beneath the shower spray. “Just relax,” he murmured.

  He began washing her. Aiden ran the soap down her back, soaping her bottom. His touch was gentle for such a big guy. Nia didn’t want this, but she felt the tension ease as he massaged her shoulders. Then he ran the soap between her legs and she flinched.

  “Easy,” he murmured. “I’ll make it good for you.”

  Foam popped and bubbled as he washed her groin, then his fingers lightly teased her, sliding between her cleft. Nia threw back her head and moaned as he slid a finger inside her.

  The sex last night had been so good, so mind blowing. All those fantasies she’d harbored about Aiden during those long, lonely nights when she sought relief, tossing and turning in her bed, rubbing herself against a battery operated boyfriend, had been nothing compared to the reality. He’d taken her body, wrung her inside out and for a little while, she’d forgotten the world and all its sorrows.

  When he pressed a hand against her back, gently urging her downward, she braced her hands on the shower seat.

  “Are you too sore for this?” he asked, sliding another finger deep inside her.

  “No.” The word came out as a bare whisper.

  His thick cock nudged her slick folds. He slid his penis between her cleft, light and teasing. Oh, he was very, very bad. Nia gripped the seat, her nipples hard, her body tense with sweet anticipation.

  “Just do it, Mitchell.”

  “Patience, Blakemore. You must learn patience.” Aiden rubbed his cock back and forth, creating an exquisite friction.

  “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he breathed.

  “Very eloquent. A man of few words.” Nia smiled and then gasped as he pushed against her opening, then grunting, he slid deep inside her.

  That first moment her inner muscles always resisted him, the same as she had resisted him all these years. And then as he nestled deep inside her, her body surrendered, as if it knew resistance was futile.

  Nia moaned as he grasped her hips and began rocking inside her. Not fast and hard like last night, but slow, oh, so slow.

  “You like that, sweetheart?” he murmured.

  Her only answer was a whimper of pleasure.

  Aiden pressed a soft kiss against her back, his tongue tracing a trail up her spine. “I’ll make it good for you. I’ll always make it good for you. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to do this now. It will only hurt for a moment.”

  Twisting her neck, she saw him open his mouth, and watched his incisors sharpen and lengthen. Excitement and dread pooled in her belly. The mating mark.

  Aiden gently turned her head aside, nuzzled the side of her throat.

  “Now,” he breathed against her skin.

  Sharp teeth sank into her neck. Pain surged, along with an erotic throbbing in her loins. Aiden licked the wound, his tongue dragging slowly over the bite. Stinging pain faded, replaced by growing arousal. Nia moaned as the arousal sharpened, wetness gushing between her legs.

  He began moving once more. Deep insi
de, then slowly out. The exquisite pressure left her panting. During these moments, he went into her so deep she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began. The thought should have scared her. She’d been independent and strong for so many years. But it didn’t. It felt comforting, like having a soft bed to collapse into at the end of a long, tough day.

  Soft? Nia whimpered as he began thrusting harder. There was nothing soft about Aiden Mitchell. Every muscled inch of him was hard as granite.

  Now he was panting, his breathing ragged as the water beat upon them both, matching his deep thrusts. “Come on, Niki, come for me. Come for me.”

  His hand reached around, touched her clit and with that one bit of pressure, she felt the tension explode. Crying out, she shattered as he shouted her name, his penis pumping hot semen deep inside her. The tremors lasted as she kept climaxing, sweet little orgasms with each spurt. The bonus of being Lupine, she thought, dazed as he finally stopped ejaculating. Nia drew in tremendous lungfuls of air.

  As his wolf’s knot diminished, Aiden very slowly slid out of her and helped her to stand. He turned her around and pulled her into his arms. She felt his heart hammer beneath her ear, felt the silky, wet hairs of his firm chest against her cheek.

  For some odd reason, the feel of him holding her wanted to make her cry. He did this, this big, strong male. Made all her defenses drop, made her into a vulnerable little girl all over again.

  She couldn’t afford tears. Nia willed them away and stared up at him. She squeezed his penis.

  “Thanks, Mitchell. Now if you don’t mind, I’ll take breakfast. Eggs sunny side up, whole wheat toast and a big, thick,” she squeezed his penis again, “sausage.”

  A small smile touched his face. It made him look younger, less growly. “You are one demanding female, Blakemore.”

  She stroked a finger down his penis, feeling hardness beneath velvet soft flesh. He groaned and it made her feel less vulnerable. “I plan to be much more demanding if you don’t hustle your pretty ass and make me breakfast.”

  After she dried her hair and dressed, she went outside to her private balcony, sitting at the black wrought iron bistro table. Nia sipped the coffee Aiden had poured for her, and listened to the bird song in the trees on the hillside below her cottage. She adored this time of day, when the world awoke, and the ranch came to life.

  It was the only safe time during the day she and Nikita had to share together. The only time they dared to be together during the day, before the rest of the pack stirred.

  But with Aiden sharing her bed, she didn’t dare bring her sister here. Nia stared at the mountains, the sweep of dew-soaked pasture, and wished she, not Nikita, had been first-born. Her sister had suffered too many years in hiding, with too few precious reprieves of enjoying life.

  A life hidden away. What kind of life was that? Never to find a mate, mother children? Always hidden in darkness?

  She turned her cup around slowly, staring into the liquid as if trying to divine the future.

  A noise below. Her stomach clenched. Gods, no, could she…

  Nia peered over the balcony. Her twin climbed the steps leading to the private suite and then sat at the table with a defiant look.

  “Got coffee?” Niki asked.

  She whipped her head around, listening. Only birdsong, the distant whinny of horses and the murmurs of the two trusted ranch hands who fed them. Dear goddess, Aiden was only a few feet away.

  “Sweetie, Aiden’s in the kitchen. You can’t risk it!”

  “I’m lonely. So lonely.” Nikita bit her lower lip. “I miss you and wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  Guilt pinched her. Before, they’d traded places: a few days of Nia taking the basement suite, a few days of Nikita pretending to be her. But with Aiden here, Nikita was forced to hide away.

  She slid her hand across the table to grasp her twin’s. “I miss you, too.”

  Nikita studied her with an astute look. “Are you happy now that you are mated to him, Nia? You look different. I want you to be happy.”

  Happy? Satisfied, yes. But she’d never be truly happy until the curse was lifted from their people. And it would take a tremendous act of sacrifice on her twin’s part to accomplish that.

  “Aiden’s been good to me.” True enough.

  Nikita tilted her head, a gesture Nia had learned to mimic. “What’s it like?”

  Nia smiled, knowing the question beneath the question. “It’s wonderful. A little frightening at first, because Aiden is so intense… powerful…”

  “Big,” her twin finished.

  They laughed. Nia leaned forward, tracing the rim of the coffee cup with her finger. “It’s everything I expected, and more. Beneath the open sky and the cool air, it was like being bathed in starlight.”

  She talked about the experience for a few moments, delicately omitting details, focusing on the thrill of changing into her wolf and running through the woods.

  Torment swirled in her twin’s blue eyes. “I should summon the Silver Wizard and present myself to him, and that would break the curse.”

  All of Nia’s relaxed enjoyment vanished.

  “No!” Panic clogged her throat. “You’ll die. You can’t be with him. He’ll take you to the afterworld and I’ll never see you again. You know you can’t go there and return to earth. You’ll die!”

  Tristan would take her beloved twin away, and she’d vanish like the mist rising over the mountains.

  “There has to be another way,” she told her sister.

  Nikita looked at her with eyes that had seen too much. Wise, sad eyes, much like her own. “There is no other way. Unless you want Aiden to die. And he will die if he remains here, Nia.”

  “I’ll return with him to his ranch. I just need a little more time to talk him into it. The disease won’t touch him there.”

  “And he’d never leave here, not until he feels this ranch is safe and operational again.” Nikita gave a rueful smile. “The pride and honor of a real alpha male. Never leave a job half finished, or your mate’s home and pack in jeopardy.”

  Her nostrils twitched. “I’d better get back to my place before your mate comes out here and thinks he’s seeing double.”

  Her twin stood and dropped a kiss on her head. “Congratulations, little sister. I’m happy for you.”

  Nikita leapt over the railing and Nia watched her land on her feet. She waved and went into her room just as the door to Nia’s bedroom opened.

  Aiden walked onto the porch, carrying a tray filled with two plates and more coffee. “Who were you talking to?”

  “No one. Just myself.” She sipped her coffee, relief spilling through her as she heard the downstairs door quietly shut. “It’s the best conversation I can have.”

  “You were quiet this morning. Everything okay, Nikita?”

  She set down her cup, trying to hide her shaking hands. “Don’t call me that. Please. Call me Pixie. Or Blakemore.”

  Aiden raised his dark brows. “All right. But answer my question.”

  She thought of her twin safely tucked downstairs in her luxurious prison and swallowed past the lump in her throat. “Everything’s fine.”

  He sat on the chair Niki had just left. Nia held her breath, hoping he would not notice her sister’s scent, or the fact the chair was warm. She was starving, and her stomach grumbled, but until she sensed that Aiden didn’t suspect anything, she could not eat nor relax.

  Aiden blinked a moment, then set about slathering his toast with butter. Nothing wrong. Everything was okay. Nia dug into her eggs with a happy sigh.

  “I’m so hungry.” She ate a forkful of eggs.

  “You hardly ate anything last night at our mating dinner, except for the liver. And sex makes you burn calories.” Aiden winked at her.

  “You’re just saying that because you want a good excuse for another workout,” she teased.

  “I don’t need an excuse, not with you. I wanted to serve you breakfast in bed, but if I did that, there’d be
no breakfast for me. I’d be too busy nibbling on all your delicious parts.”

  A flush lit her face. She took a bite of sausage and then pointed to it. “This is good. But I bet you can whip up something that tastes equally delicious.”

  He grinned, poured honey over his toast and licked it off with his tongue. Her entire body clenched with need.

  Aiden ran his tongue around his lips. “I know something else I can do with honey.”

  Oh wow, there was a promise in his seductive smile, in the way his dark gaze twinkled.

  “So do I.” Her gaze dropped to his lap. “I think I’ll try it out later when I’m hungry for… an Aiden sausage.”

  He grinned and she grinned back.

  This was what she’d always dreamed her mating would be like; a close intimacy between two Lupines who vowed to remain together forever, sharing their lives, dreams, and secrets.

  Secrets. She had quite a few big ones. Nia set down her fork. She should tell Aiden what was going on.

  The memory filled her mind, clear as water. Her father, lying on his deathbed, a rare moment of clarity when the horrible seizures and convulsions hadn’t affected him. His blue eyes, dulled with pain, but still sharp with intelligence. His withered hand reaching for hers, the fingers gnarled and claw-like, while her twin stood outside the bedroom, weeping.

  He’d wanted to talk to her alone.

  Promise me, pumpkin. Promise me you’ll never betray our people to outsiders and tell them of this damn disease. Promise me you’ll do everything to protect your sister from being carried away by the Silver Wizard, and keep her hidden from everyone. It’s a lot I’m putting on your shoulders, but you’re the strong one and I’m counting on you to hold it together.

  Nia blinked away the memory. For five years, she’d faithfully held to her father’s promise. She could not break it now, not even for her mate.

  She watched Aiden eat his breakfast. For such a big male, he had impeccable manners. A lump formed in her throat. Her father had been like that, setting the example.

  Promise me you’ll never betray our people to outsiders...