Shifter Fated Mates: Boxed Set

by Mandy M. Roth

  “Don’t cry, amorzão.” He touched her cheek lightly and wiped her tears away. “I understand you think you could help but almost getting yourself killed isn’t the way.”

  Deryn cupped his hand with hers. “You don’t get it. I did do something. I mixed your blood with mine and then used it to mask my scent. They then sensed two of you moving around--not just one. I could feel their confusion, Alejandro. They thought they knew you well enough from having watched you for months that you couldn’t surprise them. Now you have. And now,” she winced as she tried and failed to sit up, “they’ll think twice before coming after you specifically.”

  “That’s why you rubbed blood all over yourself,” he said, sounding beyond shocked. “Deryn, why would you take such a risk for me?”

  “If roles were reversed, what would you have done? Sat there and allowed them to hurt me or taken action?”

  “I’d do anything to keep you safe--anything.” He brushed stray, wet strands of hair from her face. “Before you say it’s the same thing, I’m not human. The risks aren’t as great for me.”

  Deryn shook her head and snorted. “Bullshit. This may be the first dream you’ve talked to me in but it sure the hell isn’t the first dream. I have watched you die so many times I’ve lost count. They call you immortal but all that really means is you’re a hell of a lot harder to kill than a human--not impossible to kill. The risk is the same for both of us.”

  Alejandro sighed. “You are impossible to reason with. You’re hard headed.”

  “Tomorrow, when I’m awake. I’m going to over analyze the fact that in my dream, I had you telling me how hard headed I am.” She touched his cheek and smiled. “I’ll also spend the day thanking every god I can think of that I didn’t have sit by and do nothing while you died.”

  His brow furrowed. “So, dreaming of me makes it easier for you to talk to me?”

  She snorted. “Oh, please. Have you looked in the mirror, Colonel? You’re gorgeous and have this unapproachable, ‘I could snap your neck in less than a second’ vibe about you. You intimidate me on every level imaginable but I know....”

  “I would never hurt you, Deryn. Ever,” he said quickly.

  She squeezed his hand. “I know. I was going to say that but you didn’t let me finish.”

  “Oh.” Alejandro smiled and moved closer to her. “So, you like the way I look?”

  “Pfft.” Deryn tried to roll onto her side to better face him but it was too painful so she laid still. “You’re joking, right? Your entire body looks as though it’s been chiseled from caramel colored marble.” She ran her hand over his bare chest. “I love the color of your skin. When I was little I used to sit and watch for shooting stars, in the hopes I’d see one and get to make a wish. I wanted skin this color or the color of Ondrea’s,” she said, continuing to touch him.

  He stiffened beneath her fingertips. “Deryn, you’re beautiful. Your skin is so creamy, so white and so soft that it’s all I can do to get through the day without touching you.”

  Snorting, Deryn rolled her eyes. “I must have hit my head or something. Even my subconscious mind doesn’t like me that much.”

  Alejandro smiled. “Oh, you’d be surprised how much I like you.”

  Deryn laughed.

  “What’s funny about that?”

  “Issac made a joke about not wanting to share the dreams, about you, with me if it was going to be a sex dream. I’m just trying to imagine his reaction if he were still tagging along. Since he could feel what I felt he’d no doubt know what I was thinking about right now and he’d probably try to gouge his eyes out or something.”

  Alejandro closed his eyes and appeared to be in pain. Deryn ignored her own pain and went to her side anyway. She touched his cheek. “Alejandro, are you okay? Oh gods, don’t tell me that my dream is going to morph into the other one. I can’t watch you....”

  “Shh,” he pressed his finger to her lip, “I’m not in that kind of pain. It’s the other kind. The kind that leaves a guy taking a cold shower, or in my case, an icy cold swim here in a minute.”

  Her entire body lit with excitement. “Or, you could just take me and use me to alleviate the pain.”

  Alejandro’s eyes widened. “What?”

  “Don’t question it. It’s my dream Dammit. Why can’t it work out the way I want it to, just once? This is ridiculous. I know you’re naked yet my body hurts too bad to even lean back so I can’t enjoy the full show. Not only that but I’m laying here in next to nothing and you seemed unfazed. Always good for a girl’s self-esteem. Her own mind rejects her.”

  He growled. “Trust me, Deryn. I am far from unfazed. I’ve been willing myself to look into your eyes and nowhere else and it’s killing me. If you were feeling up to ‘taking in the full show’ you would see exactly what it is you do to me. I want to take advantage of the situation in ways I shouldn’t but I know in the end people I care about will be hurt because of my lack of will power.”

  Sick of hearing him voice every reason why they shouldn’t do something, Deryn decided to take action. She captured his mouth with hers, silencing him. Easing her tongue in, she savored his sweet taste. Something flared between them just like it had done when the tomb guard had approached them and Alejandro had healed her.

  He broke the kiss and shook his head. “This is wrong.”

  Her lip tingled with power that wasn’t hers. She touched it and gave Alejandro a puzzled look. Lifting her arm, Deryn watched as the scratches on it began to heal before her very eyes. She let out a soft laugh. “I think your blood must be working to heal me while I’m unconscious. That’s the only explanation I have for why after we kissed that I can taste your power and feel it moving through me. This must be my mind’s way of rationalizing.”

  “That or when we kiss, I lose track of everything but you--thus opening the link we clearly share and letting my power run down it to heal you.” A sly, sexy smile spread over his face. “If that’s the case then it would be wrong of me to stop. I mean, if I can heal you it’s only right that I....”

  “Shut up and fuck me?” Deryn asked, hopeful.

  Making the same growling noise he’d made during the day, Alejandro rolled her onto her back and slid his body over hers. His eyes began to swirl with varying shades of green. He closed them and tipped his head to the side. “I’m sorry.”

  “Look at me,” she said, cupping his face and forcing him to do just that. “You have beautiful eyes, Alejandro. I didn’t think they could get any better than they normally do but now that I see what they look like when you’re on the verge of shifting, I realize just how wrong I was. They do get better.”

  “I don’t scare you?”

  “Do you want to?” she asked, sensing the alpha in him.

  “No. I don’t want to.”

  She pressed her lips to his and slipped her tongue in. His power rushed into her, overwhelming her senses. Moisture pooled in the apex of her thighs and Alejandro eased his knee between her legs. He spread them wide and settled his very naked form on her. She could feel his erect cock as it pressed against the outer portion of her panties.

  Deryn arched her back and ground her clit against him as his power roared through her body, healing and stimulating her to the point she could think of nothing but Alejandro sinking into her. “Please.”

  “Acho que devemos parar agora,” he murmured, between kisses, his voice deeper than normal.

  “What?” she asked, not understanding a single word he’d just said.

  “Mmm,” he kissed her, “I said I think we should stop.”

  “I disagree.” She rocked beneath him and cried out in his mouth as pleasure shot through her lower region. He swallowed it with his kisses that became increasingly more aggressive. Wrapping her legs around his waist, Deryn bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. She used his momentary shock to flip him onto his back. It should have been easier than it was.

  Straddling his waist, Deryn stared down at him a let a sexy smile m
ove over her face. “That’s better.”

  “How...?” Alejandro’s eyes widened. “How did you manage to flip me?”

  “The better question is, what do I have planned for you now that I have you at my mercy?” She winked.

  His jaw dropped. “I need to get into that icy water, now!”

  “Or,” reaching down, she slid her panties to the side, “you could get into me instead.” She adjusted her hips just so and lined the head of his cock up with her wet entrance. “Do you really want me to stop?”

  “No.”

  She started down on him, doing her best to relax but couldn’t stop the tiny cry that came from her as Alejandro’s girth spread the lips of her channel taut. “Ah.”

  His jaw went slack and he took hold of her hips. He held her in place, preventing her from taking any more of him. “You’re so tight. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Every piece of her wanted to beg him to let go of her but something caught her attention. She moved off Alejandro quickly and got her feet. She stared out into the blackness, trying to figure out what it was that had spooked her.

  “I need cold water, now,” Alejandro said, heading straight for the water. “Your dream is going to be the death of me.”

  She turned to face him. “Hit me!”

  “What?” he asked. Half his body was submerged in the water.

  “Hit me! I need to wake up! Something is close and it’s deadly. Help me wake up. I can fight it awake. I refuse to lay there and die. I laid down and allowed one attack in my life to take place. I will not allow another to go by while I do nothing.”

  He rushed out of the water. “What are you sensing?”

  “That I need to wake up!”

  “Deryn, you are awake.”

  She snorted. “Yeah, right. As if you’d ever want anything to do with me in real life. Nice try, now hit me.”

  “No. And you are....”

  Putting her hand up, she silenced him and began talking to herself, “Think, Deryn. How far away from camp do you need to be to safely unmask? Think. Think.”

  “Unmask what?”

  Annoyed, she exhaled deeply. “You know, for being my subconscious, you’re surprisingly clueless about me.”

  “I’m clueless?” he asked, as if it was really her. “You know what, forget it. Since I’m supposedly your subconscious then how about this--tell me what you’re sensing and we’ll fight it here, in your dream because that’s where the threat is. Umm, yeah, it’s here in the, umm, dream. Yeah. Dream.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh. He had a point and was probably right. The threat was in the dream. “Hmm, maybe this is my chance at finally changing the dreams. I never get to interfere when they come for you normally. I’m not sensing anything blocking my ability to unmask.”

  “Unmask? Umm, forget I asked. You were wondering if you were far enough from base to keep them from sensing you. The answer is yes, you are. Now tell me what you’re sensing.”

  Giving in, Deryn let her power up. It coated her slow at first and then sped up. Alejandro gasped and she laughed as she stretched her arms above her head. She knew without looking that, like normal, her hair had more body, her eyes were bluer and her skin looked sun kissed.

  “I hate that Vonni sensed what I am. It took everything in me not to knock her on her ass.”

  “You’re really a slayer?”

  She laughed. “Don’t sound so surprised.” She put her hand out and used her power to conjure a pair of black, special ops, pants. Deryn tossed them to Alejandro. “Here. Put those on. You’re distracting me.”

  He slipped them on, all the while staring at her as if she were about to announce she was really a man. She shook her head and glanced down at herself. Not wanting to fight in her bra and panties, Deryn used her power to dress herself in the clothes she’d had on before passing out.

  Alejandro gasped again.

  She laughed. “Are you going to keep doing that?”

  “I don’t know. Are you going to keep surprising me?”

  Giving him a sexy look, Deryn arched a brow. “If I live through this dream and you’re still here, I’ll do more than surprise you, Colonel.”

  She walked to the nearest tree and went to break a long leafless branch off. Alejandro was next to her in an instant, breaking it off at the base for her. He handed it to her, his eyes still wide. It was cute to see how he reacted in the dream. Too bad he wouldn’t react the same way in real life. No. She was a slayer and they weren’t trusted by shifters.

  “Thanks,” she said, leaning over and kissing his lips. “I could get used to this.”

  “Used to what?”

  Planting another kiss on his full lips, Deryn reluctantly drew back from him. “You, Colonel. I could get used to having you around.”

  “What about Kane?”

  “What about him?” she asked, unsure where the line of questioning was going. “If you dare suggest a threesome I’ll take this branch and hit you upside the head.”

  “A threesome?” His gaze narrowed. “No, Deryn. If we do end up getting together ... in that way, I won’t share. You’d be mine.”

  Spinning the impromptu staff, Deryn took a fighting stance. “I belong to no man.”

  A clapping noise came from the right, from somewhere deep in the jungle. Alejandro moved, putting his body between hers and the sound. Even her mind made men think she couldn’t protect herself.

  A dark shadow emerged from the tree line. For a minute it was nothing but a mass of blackness. The feel of evil pressing in on her was so sudden and painful that it took Deryn to her knees. She cried out and Alejandro turned to focus on her, not the threat in front of him.

  “Deryn!”

  The evil seemed to be searching her. For what, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that it was painful and that Alejandro was at risk from his concern for her. Gathering her magik, the power that came from being a direct descendant of the Avatars, Deryn threw the evil away from her. Her breathing was shallow as she fought to focus.

  “Deryn,” Alejandro said, rushing towards her.

  Standing tall, Deryn shook her head and motioned for him to stop. He did. “I’m fine. Pissed but fine.” She looked towards the tree line at the mass of blackness. “Did you find what you were looking for? Did you learn all my secrets or just enough to try to win this round?”

  The shadow separated into a dozen masses. Each one began to take shape. When Deryn saw the shape they’d decided to assume, her stomach clenched. “No.”

  There before her was the same band of vampires that attacked her all those years ago. The ring leader took his place in front of the group and leveled his penetrating gaze on her. “Miss me?”

  “What the fuck?” Alejandro put his body in front of hers. “You’re dead. I killed you with my bare hands.”

  She touched his shoulder. “It’s not really them. It’s whatever the hell that evil is masquerading at what it believes will hurt me most--what I’m most scared of.”

  Alejandro squared his broad shoulders and splayed his hands. Claws emerged from each fingertip. “I was just thinking about how much I wished I could revive you all and kill you again for harming her. Looks like I’ll get my chance after all.”

  The head vampire laughed. “The shifter thinks he is a match for us.”

  “I killed you once.”

  Deryn slid her arms around Alejandro’s waist and hugged him tightly, needing him to understand what was going on. “These aren’t the same vampires, honey. This is the evil that was stalking you--us earlier. This is a test, or my mind’s version of one, to see what we’re about. To see how powerful we are.”

  The head vampire glanced at the rest of his group. “She is very intelligent for one raised among humans.”

  A dark haired, stocky vampire smiled. “Did you hear her refer to him using a term of endearment? He is her taimar. She is no åricus.”

  Deryn loosened her hold on Alejandro and moved to step around him. He thrust an arm out and
kept her pinned behind him. “No.”

  Rolling her eyes, Deryn moved out of his grasp and glared at the vampires. “What does it matter to you if he is or is not my taimar? You aren’t tomb guards so it shouldn’t matter if I am or I’m not an åricus.” It hit her then. “You’re learning--testing how Alejandro and I interact with one another. What we’re willing to do to assure the other’s safety.”

  The dark haired one looked shocked. “Why is it that she does not fear us? You said she would fear us, Falusco. You said she....”

  The head vampire, Falusco, put his hand up. “Silence.”

  He smiled as he raked his gaze over Deryn. “I believe her fear is that he,” he pointed at Alejandro, “will know exactly what happened to her that night. That he will find out what she allowed to happen.”

  Rage tore through her. “I didn’t allow anything to happen. I didn’t know back then what I am.”

  “Do not lie, slayer. You wanted it to happen. The minute you looked up to find,” he spun in a small circle, “this form standing over you, you wanted to be....”

  “Shut up!” Deryn’s stomach turned at the sound of his lies. She put the back of her hand to her mouth and did her best to breathe slowly, hoping the nausea would pass.

  “That’s sick, you bastard,” Alejandro bit out. “You’re twisting things to suit your purpose but it won’t work.”

  “Won’t it?” the vampire asked, arching a brow and smiling wickedly. “Tell me why you believe we will not succeed.”

  “Because I already know all the horrific things they did to her. They had big mouths and liked to brag. It’s what got them killed the first time, asshole. She has nothing to be ashamed of. She was a victim. Plain and simple. Now attack or go away. You’re beginning to bore me with your parlor tricks.”

  The vampires glanced around amongst themselves and apparently decided they weren’t willing to risk testing Alejandro just yet because they dissipated, taking their stench of evil with them.