Shifter Fated Mates: Boxed Set

by Mandy M. Roth

  Did he have any idea what they were up against? Did he know this was not Selinna or just another immortal? What if she unwittingly brought him to his death?

  Fear blossomed.

  Calm down…

  Laughter danced in her head and it wasn’t Lorenzo’s. Who was talking to her? Reya opened her eyes and looked at the face right in front of hers, their noses almost touching.

  She didn’t jump, didn’t flinch, only held her breath.

  He smiled at her. “You’re very beautiful, but then you always were,” he whispered, leaning in and brushing a soft kiss against her lips.

  She pulled back, and watched as the corners of his eyes narrowed. “I’ll make you want me. You know I can.”

  She remembered. Chills danced over her skin. There came a point where she’d give him whatever he wanted just so he’d leave her alone, grant her peace, let her breathe…

  Then again, she’d finally reached a point, she’d tried to kill him. He’d reduced her to complete animal instincts and stripped away her humanity bit by bit, day by day, piece by piece until she’d finally lashed back.

  “My only mistake was in not making certain you were dead.”

  He leaned in closer, and said, “My mistake was trusting you too much, Precious. I won’t make that mistake again.”

  The cage rocked to a stop and she fell against him.

  He laughed.

  She shoved against him, wishing more space between them, but knowing it was impossible.

  The shack they were in was directly above what must be a mining shaft. Old rusted tools and picks hung on the walls. She glanced around scooted back from him as far as she could. The metal bars of the cage bit into her spine.

  With another click, and a groan from overhead, the cage walls rose from around her. Reya scrambled to her feet and darted to the doorway of the shed. It was dark, but the cat in her could see the outline of the night around the opening. Just as she reached it, a gust of warm wind slammed into her from behind shoving her through the door. She raised her arms, shielding her face. Pain exploded in her arm and she screamed even as something else scraped along her forehead and cheekbone.

  Reya rolled, felt the cold north wind and thought she heard familiar chanting in her head. Her vision wavered but she stood and swayed.

  I’m here.

  “Precious, Precious, Precious.” Nybras stepped through the shattered door and simply stared at her, his aqua eyes glowing until the edges were red. Then wind, hot as fire bit into her flesh, stealing her breath. She gasped, but her lungs burned, her eyes burned. Her soul within blistered and she whimpered from the pain.

  His laughter danced around her.

  Something growled, or someone.

  Nybras paused, glanced at her, then back into the night. “Aw. Someone’s come to the rescue.” Nybras tsked. “You don’t deserve her. You betrayed her when she needed you most. She doesn’t love you. She’s mine.”

  A growl rumbled across the ground.

  Nybras chuckled. “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.”

  Fire whirling faster and faster shot up from the ground, hissing over the land.

  Angry, she jumped to her feet, shoving the pain away. “Stop! Stop it Nybras! Leave him alone.”

  Nybras hissed at her, his words garbled and serpentine.

  She shuddered. “Leave him alone.”

  He held his hand out to her, and then fisted it.

  Pain cramped in her lower belly.

  “Don’t tell me what to do, Precious. You know I don’t like that. And the children witnessed such behavior.”

  Like they were his?

  Rage clawed through her as the pain knifed again.

  Roars filled the air.

  Nybras grabbed her just as she lashed out at him, all the pain and anger, rage and shame rolled and balled into an iron-spiked mace. She could see it in her mind. She screamed and focused on Nybras.

  He stumbled back, but then he threw up his hands and sucked everything out of her, all her emotions, all her breath, her very soul.

  The world went black.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Nybras!” a voice shouted. His concentration lost, he whirled to see who else was there. He could feel them, slinking through the night, the cats, waiting. Just waiting.

  But he would win.

  “I am Rhys.” The voice was low, deep.

  Nybras could have cared less who the bastard was. “And I am Nybras. What do you want?”

  A growl rolled through the night and then he saw them. Eyes, hundreds of glowing eyes, like circular mirrors in the night, some tinted red, most were an eerie green-blue. All were staring at him straight on, though moving closer. And closer.

  He turned, saw more were at his back.

  Circling.

  He smiled. He would get out of this. He always did. Chuckling, he leaned down and picked up Precious.

  “I don’t care who you are.” He held her against him, her legs hanging down, her arms limp at her sides, her face near his.

  Again the growl clawed through the darkness. A pair of eyes moved one way, then the other, always watching. Waiting. Stalking.

  He smiled. “Ah, her cat. Come to get her have you?”

  The roar filled the air, filled Nybras’ head, bounced around the canyon walls. “Did you know I was her first after you? All those years ago?” The growl rolled across the ground, filled Nybras’ chest, but he ignored it and kept on. “She was so easy to comfort. So naïve still, so hopeful, so…” He stared at the eyes that had stopped and stood watching him within the circle of the other cats. “So damn vulnerable.” Nybras leaned over and licked her cheek. “And so much fun to control.”

  The cat crouched low, but the other voice stopped it.

  “Me first,” Rhys said.

  Nybras took a deep breath and called the wind to him. She was limp in his arms. What the hell had happened to her? He looked down at her, her dark lashes against her cheeks. He barely felt the rise and fall of her chest. For a moment fear fluttered in him. But he knew, if he could get her away, things would be fine. She’d lashed out at him. He hadn’t felt emotion like that from her before or since the last time she attacked him and damn near killed him. But this time, he merely reflected the power back onto her.

  The warm wind twirled faster and faster, kicking up dust. Roars filled the air. Wings flapped in the dust tunnel he was creating, moans and screams of the damned. Darkness whirled around.

  Then another voice, a woman’s rose above, chanting. Cold wind slammed into his own heat and pushed it back. He frowned and looked, but he couldn’t penetrate the darkness beyond.

  Her voice rose louder and louder, pushing against him from all sides. Chills raced over his skin.

  He said his own words, calling for his powers to blast the cutting north wind.

  But then he heard Rhys’ voice and Rhys stepped closer. The voice hissed, serpentine words slithering through the night. And from here, Nybras saw, recognized and feared.

  Rhys had wings. Black wings with white tips.

  A Keeper.

  For a moment, just a moment, he tightened his hold on Precious. Rhys walked closer and closer, still hissing.

  Nybras carefully set her down. Rage clawed through him. He wanted her, he wanted…

  Pain knifed through him from his chest out to his hands. Fire flew from his fingertips, great streaks of white hot orange, sparking hundreds of feet into the dark sky.

  He yelled, tried to draw his power back, but it was no use. He knew that. He’d heard the stories.

  The Keepers. Always watching, always keeping the damn balance.

  He could feel his power flowing out of him faster and faster, screams and gasps filled the air, streaming towards Rhys. The night sky was lit up, glowing in flicking shards of red and yellow.

  Then it stopped.

  Nybras fell to his knees beside Precious. Rhys walked to him, bent down and picked up Precious.

  “No,” Nybras whispered, reaching tow
ards her, calling on his wind, on the heat, but nothing happened.

  Nothing.

  He started to shake. Images of the dead rose in his mind.

  Rhys stood and walked away. Just behind him was a cat. A large mountain lion. Rhys didn’t stop, only said, “He’s all yours.”

  * * * *

  He’s all yours… Damn right the bastard was. Lorenzo watched as Rhys set Reya down beside Lilly who reached her hand out and laid it on Reya’s forehead. Lilly met his gaze, smiled and nodded. Relief slid through him, but it was short lived. He turned back and stared at his prey…

  He’d seen the way Reya had flown through the air, her scream, then her silence.

  Right now, his rage was centered, focused. He circled the stripped demon who knelt in the circle. The bald head rose and those aqua eyes, tainted with madness looked at him from beneath brows. A slow smile started across that mouth.

  “I’ll always be a part of Precious. She’s my precious. You can’t change that.”

  Lorenzo leapt his claws extended, shredding where he swiped. He played for a bit, Nybras’ yells only adding to his fury. Memories swirled through him. He heard Reya begging for mercy in her nightmares, remembered her terror, knew what she had gone through at the hands of this monster.

  He wanted to kill Nybras. Slowly. Make him beg and plead for mercy that would not come. Lorenzo wanted the bastard to know the fanged bite of fear.

  The other cats moved closer. He could hear Lilly softly singing a healing chant. He raised his head and looked over the other felines to the woman who lay now near the fire Rhys must have built.

  He turned back to Nybras. Time for the kill. He wanted it to last longer, but there were more important things.

  Lorenzo swiped out again, catching Nybras across the chest. Nybras fell back, arms flinging to the side and Lorenzo was on him. The smell of his enemy’s blood filled his nostrils, soaked his whiskers.

  He paused, his teeth just biting into the skin of Nybras’ neck. Those aqua eyes locked with his.

  “Precio—”

  Lorenzo sunk his teeth in and snapped Nybras’ neck. The bones and cartilage gave way with a satisfying crunch. For just a moment, he wanted what came so naturally to weres.

  Instead, he released the man, spit the blood out on the ground and shifted effortlessly into man.

  “Rip him apart. But don’t eat of him. I’ll kill any who disobey. I won’t take the chance of his evil spreading,” he growled. “Then burn the parts.”

  With that he hurried over to the small group near the fire.

  Roars and growls filled the air behind him. He didn’t care. All he cared about was Reya.

  He dropped to his knees beside her. “Baby, baby, open your eyes. Come on.” He put his hand on her chest.

  His breath froze until he felt the faint flutter.

  “Reya?” he asked.

  “She’s between,” Rhys said, his voice devoid of any emotion.

  Lorenzo was so happy she was here, here with him the words didn’t register at first. He ran his finger over her cheek, over her nose, across her eyes. Then he realized she was wearing different clothing. A silk pants suit. The anger slammed back into him and he looked back over his shoulder to the cats who were taking turns ripping apart Nybras’ remains.

  Then the words clicked. Lilly’s chanting was getting on his nerves. The old woman bent, placed a fist size amethyst above Reya’s head. An amber stone went to the right, a turquoise the left, and jet below Reya’s feet.

  What the hell? “What do you mean between?”

  But it was Lilly who answered. “Our ancestors often spoke of those that walked between worlds, Lorenzo. Souls trapped neither here nor there, neither in darkness or light, life or death. In between.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

  No one said anything. He leaned over Reya, shook her slightly. “Reya. Merria! Answer me. Open your eyes. Open your eyes and look at me, damn it.”

  But she didn’t move.

  He couldn’t lose her. Not now. Not ever again. They finally had it all. Finally had everything in their grasp. She’d re-claimed to be his. After all this time.

  “Please don’t leave me, baby. Please,” he whispered, leaning closer. His lips brushed hers, and then locked onto her mouth. “Come back to me. Please.”

  His medicine bag slid down and landed on her chest.

  He closed his eyes and kissed her, feeling a pull deep in his gut. If she won’t come to me, let me go to her.

  * * * *

  Reya lay in the soft twilight. It wasn’t yet dark, but not daylight. It wasn’t cold, or too warm. Her walls here were high.

  She remembered Nybras’ voice, remembered too the pain in her stomach. She lay back on the cool green grass and looked up at the pallet of sky, bright orange where the sun set changing to a deep periwinkle in the east.

  The pain. Then she’d hidden behind her shields.

  She wasn’t going back out. If she could stay here, stay here where it was safe, he couldn’t hurt her.

  “Come back to me.”

  Lorenzo?

  She opened her eyes and saw him standing above her, with worry in his eyes.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, slightly puzzled. This was her sanctuary. Her safety zone.

  He took a deep breath and sat beside her. “You wouldn’t come to me, so I came to you.”

  She frowned. “What does that mean?”

  His warm hand cupped her face, his thumb grazing back and forth, back and forth across her mouth. “I was scared today, Ree.”

  She nodded. “I know so was I.”

  He took another deep breath. “You should have told me. You should have…” He shook his head again and stared at her. “I don’t care about that. I don’t. I do, but I think I understand why you didn’t tell me.”

  “You’d have hunted him down to the ends of the earth,” she held his wrist, turned her head and kissed his palm.

  “I’d have hunted him into hell for what he did to you,” he said, his voice low.

  She looked into his deep brown eyes. “I want peace, Lorenzo. I just want peace.”

  He smiled, though sadly. “I do too. But if you stay here, if you leave me now, I can’t even try to give it to you.”

  Her heart fluttered in her chest.

  Lorenzo leaned closer and kissed her. The kiss went from soft to coaxing to demanding.

  His hand still cupped her face, but now held it more firmly, his fingers lost in the strands of her hair. His other hand ran over her back, up and down, up and down relaxing her until she lay back onto the grass.

  “I love you, Reya.” He stretched out beside her, letting his fingers dance over the buttons, over her torso, over the waist of her pants.

  She wanted this, wanted him. Clothes were quickly discarded until bare flesh met bare flesh.

  Reya wanted him. “You…”

  He lifted his mouth from hers, staring down into her mouth. She could feel him ready against her. “What?”

  She shook her head. “Take him away from me.”

  For a moment, raw fury sparked in his eyes, but then he smiled that sexy smile of his. “With pleasure.”

  He growled and nipped her neck, then her chest.

  The lovemaking was slow, liquid. Not a quick burst of fireworks, spectacular though they could be. No, this was like the rising sun, until finally she crested, light filling every part of her soul, her mind, her heart. In that instant she opened her eyes and looked up into his and knew that this was what was meant to be.

  This. Them. Together. She was his mate and no one could ever change that. For the first time in a long time, she didn’t even question it.

  Epilogue

  Reya looked out of the window at the dusted peak of Taos Mountain. The cup of tea warmed her hands.

  She breathed deep the morning air, glad she didn’t have to go into the shop today. More and more, she was relying on Charles to take care of the day to day things.


  Granted she couldn’t always stand being cooped up, but that was okay too.

  She closed her eyes and took another deep breath, thankful. Today was a beautiful day. No more secrets, no more fears… Everything was as it should be.

  Arms wrapped around her and pulled her back against a solid male chest. “Why’re you up so early.” Lorenzo nuzzled the side of her neck, even as his hands rubbed her ever growing abdomen. “Sun’s not even up. Come back to bed.”

  She didn’t turn around. Didn’t have to. She knew Lorenzo would always be there for her.

  “I dreamed of him again last night,” she whispered.

  He kissed the side of her head and sighed. “I know.”

  After the canyon, she’d told him everything, how she’d met Nybras, how she’d fallen for his charm, his … something. She told Lorenzo how she’d almost loved the demon that lured her to a hell of his own making, until she realized there was no rescue, no escape. Until she was forced to act or be killed.

  Lorenzo still wondered why she’d hidden this from him, and honestly, there were no easy answers. Fear and shame made strange bed fellows.

  “He can’t hurt you anymore, baby.”

  She nodded, turned and smiled back up at him. “I know. You saw to that. You always, in the end, see to me, don’t you?”

  His brows rose and soft smile played at the edge of his lips. “You’re my mate.”

  As simple as that.

  “I love you,” she whispered, turning her attention back to the window before her.

  His arms tightened around her before his hands continued to rub her swollen stomach.

  For a moment she gazed across the prairie almost purple in the early morning light then turned and looked at the painting hanging on the wall over the mantel. It was a painting of a mother with long dark hair, the pueblo in the back ground, the mountains guarding those below. Children played in the dirt beside the water dappled with sunlight.

  Lorenzo had painted it. In this one a boy and a girl were the children and she was the woman.

  “You never did tell me why you painted that. Or what you called it.”