20 Shades of Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Demelza Carlton

  “You’re so goddamn tidy,” Bella muttered. “Are we ready to go?”

  Something occurred to her. “I don’t have any money.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Phoebe said. “We have lots. Believe me, money is not an issue.”

  Bella studied her. “You’re not one of those people who won’t accept money from others are you?”

  “Bella was a con artist before she married Torr,” Phoebe said. “He picked her up in a police station.”

  “Really?” Rachel looked between the two of them. Were they telling the truth?

  Phoebe nodded solemnly. “She has absolutely no problem spending other people’s money.”

  She thought about it for a moment. Did she have a problem? Money was always short at Haven. Within the community most goods and services were bartered. And money was kept for things they absolutely had to buy. Or bills they had to pay. But it was also something else she never thought much about.

  “I don’t think I have a problem either.”

  “Good. That reminds me.” Phoebe pulled a brown leather purse out of the bag over her shoulder and handed it to Rachel. “Cash. In case you want to buy something and we’re not there. Finn said you wouldn’t have had time to sort anything out.”

  She hesitated a moment, then took the purse, tucked it in the pocket of her skirt. “Thank you.”

  “Good. Now, time to shop.”

  As they left the apartment, Phoebe turned to her. “I take it you’d like to see Jacob before we go?”

  “Please.”

  They took her to the room they had visited last night. A man was at the console. A different man.

  “This is Bryce,” Bella said. “Another of Finn’s brothers.”

  Bryce was tall, with short dark hair and a feel of the others about him. He held out his hand and she shook it. As she looked into his eyes, she could see a sadness lurking there, but also a sense of peace. He had lost something that mattered to him, but he had come to terms with that loss.

  “Welcome,” he said. “I hope we see a lot more of you.”

  She’d be going home once Jacob was safe, but she didn’t think she would bring that up now.

  He turned back and did something to the screen. The picture flickered and changed to a different room. A table. And there was Jacob, sitting wide-eyed, not moving. Across the table from him, the senator sat, drinking a coffee and talking with a man behind him. Bryce pressed another button and sound filled the room.

  “I want mama,” Jacob said.

  The senator glanced across, his brows drawing together. “She’ll be here soon. But you’re a big boy now. You don’t need your mother every moment of the day. Eat your breakfast.”

  Jacob stuck out his lower lip. He had a stubborn streak. From his father, not her. “Not until I see mama.”

  “Then you’ll be hungry. Take him back to his room.” He spoke to someone behind Jacob, and a woman appeared in the screen. She took Jacob’s hand and led him away.

  Rachel reached out and touched her son on the screen. But he was unharmed. She had to cling to that.

  “Horrible man,” Bella said. She patted Rachel’s arm. “He’ll be back with you soon. Torr said they are hoping to go in tonight if everything works out.”

  “What is there to work out? Can’t we just go and get him. Isn’t the law on our side?”

  “The law is apparently on the senator’s side, because he pays them huge bribes to ensure that. They just need to make sure things are in place so he won’t be able to come after you again.”

  She nodded. “I know. And I’m grateful for everything you’re all doing. I still don’t know why you’re helping me.”

  “You will. Soon.”

  Phoebe sounded so sure. And Rachel put her fears aside. They wouldn’t help Jacob, just turn her into a wreck.

  They headed out of the building, and she stopped once they were in the open. There was a constant background noise, people and cars. And the air was heavy with fumes. She had a sudden longing for the forests of home.

  The other two swept her along. She thought about asking where they were going, but wasn’t sure it would mean anything even if they told her. They stopped eventually at a huge store with a doorman in a uniform. She was receiving a few weird looks, but really most people hardly seemed to notice, too focused on their own little worlds.

  There were so many clothes. She ran her hands over the fabrics, her eyes roaming the colors. She loved the colors. She didn’t have a clue where to start. Luckily, Bella and Phoebe didn’t ask her opinion, just picked things up seemingly at random.

  “I don’t need all these things,” she protested. “They’ll be wasted when we go home.”

  “You can give them to charity,” Bella said. “Just think how pleased some poor homeless person is going to be.” She ushered Rachel toward one of the changing rooms and hung the clothes from hooks on the wall. Then she left, closing the door behind her, leaving Rachel in the spacious changing room. There were mirrors everywhere. She could see herself from every angle. It occurred to her that she’d never seen her back before. What a strange thought.

  She wasn’t sure she was comfortable taking her clothes off with the lights so bright and so many images reflecting back at her.

  “How’s it going in there?” Phoebe called from outside.

  “Do you need any help?” Bella added.

  “No.” She wasn’t sure that was true. She was feeling more than a little overwhelmed. She untied the tapes on her skirt and it dropped to the floor. Then the underskirt, leaving her in white cotton panties that covered her to the waist. She unbuttoned her shirt and slipped it from her shoulders. And stared at herself. She was tall and thin, her breasts, in the white cotton bra, too big for her narrow frame. Her skin pale.

  Joseph had never seen her like this. Their lovemaking had been done in the darkness, fumbling under the covers.

  Someone knocked on the door, and she jumped. It opened slightly, and a hand dropped a pile of something on the floor and withdraw.

  “It occurred to us,” Bella said through the door, “that you might need some different underwear. We guessed the sizes. Let us know if they don’t fit.

  She glanced from the pile of her drab skirt to the bright froth of colors. She’d always loved colors, but had found them all around her in the forest and mountains. Maybe in the gray of the city, you had to provide your own.

  She picked up a bra, pink with orange lace trimmings. It was beautiful. Without giving herself chance to rethink and wonder what Papi would say, she unhooked her own and slipped into the new one, twisting her hands behind her back to fasten it, then smoothing the silk and lace over her breasts. The fit was perfect.

  She looked through the pile and found the matching panties. As she stripped off the old and pulled on the new, she felt as though she was at some sort of turning point in her life. A stranger looked back at her in the mirror. A different woman. Maybe the one she would have been had her mother not run back to the safety of Haven. But clothes didn’t change the fundamentals of a person. She’d always known that.

  Reaching up, she loosened her hair from its ponytail and combed it out with her fingers and, for a minute, just stared at her reflection. What would Finn think if he saw her? Would he like it? Would he kiss her again?

  And why am I thinking like this?

  She hurried over to the pile of clothes. Picked out a pair of blue jeans as another knock on the door and a pair of sandals appeared. “We though heels might be a bit of a challenge,” Phoebe said. The sandals were flat, tan leather, with jewel-like stones across the toes. The door closed again.

  She smiled. They were so nice. For now, she would accept it and… enjoy. After the worry of yesterday, just to know Jacob was safe made her feel light and bubbly and like wearing pink underwear. Maybe she’d always been frivolous.

  The jeans fit like a second skin and rested low on her hips. She sorted through the tops and found a green, silky T-shirt the color of the fir
st spring grass, and she pulled it over her head and smoothed it down. Finally, she slipped her feet into the sandals. She didn’t recognize herself. And suddenly, that sense of everything changing swept over her. She sank onto the chair behind her and closed her eyes.

  Images swam through her mind. The vastness of the desert stretched out before her. A scream pierced her mind, filled with fear and despair. “Damaris.”

  She blinked open her eyes. That was the word Finn had used when he’d awoken yesterday in the forest. She would ask him what it meant, though likely it was another question he couldn’t answer.

  She looked at the rest of the clothes lying around, but suddenly, she didn’t have the patience to try them all on. A feeling of homesickness washed over her, leaving her desolate.

  Anyway, she wouldn’t be here long enough to need more than what she was wearing. Maybe she’d even be home tomorrow, in the safety of the forest.

  Except it was no longer safe. The senator was too powerful. Maybe there was no safety for her anymore.

  But Finn and his friends would protect her. She didn’t know why, just that they would.

  She rose to her feet and went to the door. Bella and Phoebe were on the other side. She waited for some sort of reaction, but they were silent. Perhaps, while she looked wildly different to herself, her appearance was probably pretty ordinary to them. She shifted from foot to foot. Finally, she had to ask. “Do I look okay? Will I blend in?”

  Bella shook her head. “You look fucking amazing.”

  Rachel winced a little at the language.

  “Sorry,” Bella said with a grin. “But I’d forgotten how beautiful you were.”

  What did she mean by that? “You’ve seen me before?”

  Phoebe nudged her friend, and her eyes widened. “I saw a photo in one of the files. Yesterday. On Torr’s desk.” She was babbling.

  Phoebe grinned. “What she means is you look fantastic. But no, I can’t see you blending in with anyone. You’re far too beautiful.”

  She was sure they were just being nice. She was too tall for a woman. Her hair too black. Her breasts too big. Her mouth too wide. Just too everything. The women of Haven had despaired of her. They’d tried to take her in hand after her mother died. It was one of the reasons she had agreed to marry Joseph when she was only sixteen, because it got them off her back. And he’d been her friend. He was dead now as well. So many deaths.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Phoebe asked. “You looked a little… sad.”

  “Just homesick.”

  “I know a cure for that,” Bella said. “Just let me have a word with the saleslady, and I’ll be right back.

  “I need to go get my own things,” she said, waving at the changing room.

  “Don’t worry about it. The shop will pack them up and send them back. Bella’s just settling up and giving them the address.”

  Bella finished talking to the saleslady and waved to them. They followed her out of the clothes section, then up a moving staircase Phoebe assured her was quite safe, up two more, and across a space filled with electrical goods, most a complete mystery to Rachel, and finally through a door that said ROOF TOP BAR.

  Inside was a haven of quiet after the bustle of the shop. They were clearly on the top level of the building, and the far wall was made entirely of glass. Rachel wandered over without thinking and stared out. Outside, the sky was blue and clear, and she had a perfect view of the city.

  “Is that the White House?” she asked, pointing.

  “Yes, and the Lincoln Memorial and Capitol Hill. You and Jacob must take a tour when we have him back.”

  She would like that, if they had time before they returned to Haven. From here the city looked beautiful. Lots of grass and trees and beautiful buildings she’d only read about. “We’ll be going home. My grandfather will be worried.”

  “From what I understand, you can’t go back until they’ve sorted out the senator—made sure he won’t come after you or Jacob again. I’m sure Finn will let your people know you are fine. So you might as well have fun for a few days.”

  Fun wasn’t a concept she knew much about. But she wouldn’t mind spending some time here before she returned home. Would Finn be here?

  Bella sat on a stool beside a tall table. Phoebe sat next to her and patted the stool on her left. Rachel sank down and looked around her. The room was large, with high ceilings decorated in ochre and dusky pink, and dark wood tables. Apart from a couple of women in a booth on the opposite side of the room, they had the place to themselves.

  “You are allowed to drink, aren’t you?” Phoebe asked. “You know, with your religion?”

  “Yes. At the settlement, we brewed ale and made wine.”

  “Oh, that’s good. But I’m betting you’ve never had a chocolate martini.” Bella gestured to the waiter, but waved away the menus when he tried to hand them over. “Thanks, but we know what we want. Three chocolate martinis. Large ones. So,” she said, her attention back on Rachel, “you sure scrub up well. I reckon you’re going to blow poor Finn’s mind.”

  “I am?” She wasn’t even sure what that meant.

  “You’ve got the poor boy tied up in knots.”

  “I have?” She thought for a moment. “Finn is no boy.”

  “No, but he’s always seemed young compared to the others. I suspect you’re going to age him fast.”

  “I don’t want to age him. He saved my life.”

  “Have you kissed him yet?”

  “Bella!” Phoebe chastised. “Leave her alone.”

  At that moment, the waiter appeared with a tray of three drinks in round, tapered glasses. Brown drinks with straws. He placed them on the table and went away again. Rachel leaned closer and sniffed. Sweet and rich and chocolaty. She’d had chocolate before. Not often, but her mouth flooded with saliva at the memory. Bella and Phoebe raised their glasses, and she raised her own. “To Rachel,” Bella said, “may she remember those who love her.” It seemed a strange toast, but Rachel lifted the glass to her lips and took a sip. Then another.

  Sweetness saturated her system, followed by a bite as the cool liquid flowed down her throat. She licked her lips, and took another mouthful. In seconds the glass was empty. She looked up into Phoebe’s brown eyes and smiled.

  “You like?”

  “Yes.”

  “Feeling better?”

  She searched inside herself. Her homesickness had faded, for now replaced with a warmth in her belly and a slight buzz in her head. She nodded.

  “I’ll get another round.” She raised her hand and the waiter appeared like magic. “Another round, please.”

  “Okay,” Bella said. “If you’re not happy talking about Finn, then tell us about your religion. I take it you believe in God.”

  “Don’t you?”

  “Yeah. But you might say I’m not his biggest fan.” She studied Rachel, her head cocked to one side. “You don’t seem shocked by that comment.”

  “I’ve never doubted the existence of God. I’m just not sure he’s what we have made him out to be. I doubt very much whether he cares for many of the things we presume he cares about.” She smiled. “Like me wearing an apron or not. Or whether we say grace before a meal.”

  “Or confess our sins,” Phoebe said.

  “Exactly. I doubt he knows or cares.”

  “You’re saying God doesn’t give a fuck?”

  She’d actually never said that particular word in her life. But the sentiment was correct. “I also don’t think he’s the totally good force that religion says he is.”

  “You could be right,” Bella said. “But enough of such serious matters. Let’s get back to Finn.”

  “Nothing to say. How about Cade and Torr? How did you meet them?”

  “I’m a journalist and I was doing a story on the company,” Phoebe said. “You know the sort of thing—how big companies are all corrupt.”

  “And were they?”

  “No. Squeaky clean.”

  “And as Ph
oebe already mentioned, I met Torr when he bailed me out of jail.”

  Rachel’s eyes widened. “You were really in jail?”

  “Yeah. I was a con artist and a good one until I got caught. Just bad luck.”

  Phoebe leaned across and patted her hand. “Of course it was, sweetie.”

  These two were so worldly. They made her feel naïve, but in a friendly way. She thought she’d throw something into the mix. She took a gulp of her drink and realized it was empty. Bella raised her hand to call over the waiter.

  “Finn can change into a wolf,” she said.

  “Really,” Phoebe didn’t sound surprised. “Are you sure? Had you been drinking? You do seem to like a drink.”

  She took another sip.

  Three drinks later and there was a definite buzz in her brain. A shiver ran down her back and she rose slowly to her feet and turned around.

  Finn stood in the doorway, his gaze intent on her.

  “Woof,” Bella said from beside her.

  She’d taken him by surprise and for once his face was filled with emotion. Then she blinked, and it was gone as he headed toward them.

  Chapter 12

  Finn had had a shit morning. Together with Torr, he’d been trying to get a meeting with Gabriel. He was pretty sure the asshole was avoiding him.

  In the end, Torr had told Finn to piss off and spend some time with his woman. In the meantime, he would keep pushing, sending out messages, calling in favors.

  But even if they managed to arrange a meeting, Finn still had no clue how to save her. If worse came to worst, he would tell Gabriel that if Rachel died, he would return to Lilith, taking his wolves with him—which was a lie—but that if Gabriel allowed Rachel to live, he would have Torr end his life now. Presumably, then his wolves would be free. That would make them happy at least.

  Somehow, he would find a way to return to her what had been taken all those years ago.

  But time was running out, and a horrible nagging fear was his constant companion.