To Love a Shifter: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set

by Marian Tee

  That distracted her a bit, and she asked suspiciously, “Are you using another language to swear at me?”

  “It means, ye with little trust, my heart.”

  “Oh.” George coughed, choked, and turned red. She was definitely not used to anyone telling her that.

  Silviu’s eyes glittered wickedly. “You are blushing, milady.”

  “No. You’re just color blind. It must be that demon vision of yours.” The words were out before she could stop it.

  Silviu stiffened.

  Oh, shit. How tactless could she fucking get?

  “So you know.”

  This time, there was none of the seductive warmth that previously underlined his voice. She said awkwardly, “Yeah. When I asked you, back when we were doing, umm, that, I already had some idea, and then when you explained to me earlier about how heartkeeping gave you a soul, well, I knew then.”

  And now what?

  Her tone was uncertain but it was also unreadable, and it frustrated Silviu. Bracing himself for rejection, he asked flatly, “And now that you know I am half-demon---”

  Her eyes flew to him in surprise. “Half-demon?”

  Her shock won a mirthless smile from him. “Do not worry, milady. My other side is not worse.”

  As she stared at him, she realized that somehow she had hurt him. It boggled the mind – it just absolutely boggled the mind that she had the power to hurt someone like him, who wielded a sword like a fucking Viking come to life, killed monsters from hell even though he had been near death, and so damn beautiful sometimes he really just made George want to weep because she knew it would be like hell trying not to be jealous once they were in public and every woman on earth was ogling him.

  Oh, yeah. That was going to be hell.

  “Do you regret being my heartkeeper now?”

  The words pulled her out of her reverie, and George’s heart suddenly suffered a painful little twinge at the way Silviu was looking at her, as if he was expecting her to reject him, as if that rejection would kill him.

  “Silviu---” She had dozens of smartass answers to give him, all of it meant to hide how she was so crazy about him, but when she looked into his eyes again, George found herself saying, “You’re the fucking best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  His eyes widened.

  Her eyes widened, too, and she immediately snarled, “And if you repeat that to anyone, I’m going to fucking cut off your demon wings and---”

  A gorgeous smile slashing his lips, Silviu cupped her chin and kissed her. It was one of those take-no-prisoners kinds of kiss, the one that had George stiffening at how he so shamelessly demanded her surrender, as if it would be her pleasure to belong to him.

  Arrogant bastard, George thought even as she gave in to his demand, surrendering herself to him. Her arms wove around his neck as she opened her lips, letting his tongue in, her nipples pebbling against his chest.

  His hands cupped her silk-covered breasts, playing with her nipples, and she moaned against his mouth.

  “Silviu,” she whispered as he kissed her neck hungrily, and this time she knew that it really was his fangs piercing her tender skin, sucking on her blood. One day, she would ask why this was so, but for now she could only enjoy it, could only surrender herself even more to the pleasure of everything that he did to her.

  His mouth moved lower, leaving kisses all over her skin and then he was pulling down the neckline of her gown, freeing her breasts. He cupped them reverently.

  “Silviu,” she moaned.

  “Mine,” he growled just before his mouth closed over her nipple.

  Her head fell back. Her hands sank into his long beautiful hair. And as he sucked harder, lavishing her nipple with his attention, she whispered, “My demon.”

  He shuddered.

  And then he was flipping her skirts up. “I want you so damn much,” he rasped.

  He was uncharacteristically clumsy as he tried to push her drawers up while his other hand struggled with his breeches. It made her laugh, the sound all womanly triumph, and it only made Silviu shudder even more.

  “Do you need help?” she asked innocently.

  “If you don’t help me, ma threa, I’ll make you scream so loud the coachman will know what we’re doing.”

  “Always with the threats,” she grumbled, but she was laughing, her eyes sparkling and her lovely hands already helping him free his cock.

  Wanting to take her by surprise, Silviu reached for her pussy, and his fingers immediately became slick with her wetness. “You are very, very wet, milady,” he purred.

  She finally managed to free his cock and her fingers wrapped around his thick length, making him jerk in her hand. Her thumb moved up, caressing the slit on its head, wetting it in the process. “So are you,” she purred back.

  He laughed, and then there were no more words to speak as he slowly and carefully guided his cock into her, making sure that he did not take her roughly.

  But she would not have any of it.

  George pushed herself down hard, making Silviu gasp as she became seated completely on his erection, her skirts settling around them, her knees pressing down on either side of his leg on the seat.

  “Take me!” Again, the demand and the plea, all rolled into one beautiful phrase, the way only his future duchess could do it.

  “You are an extremely bossy bit of goods.”

  “I think that’s why you---” George stopped with a gasp as he started to move, continuing breathlessly, “---like me.”

  He pushed in harder, making her gasp again. “Yes,” he growled just before nipping her lush lower lip. “I think so, too.”

  And then he pounded into her, his cock taking her ruthlessly, making her scream, “Fuuuuuuuuuuuck” against his mouth. The carriage rolled down a rocky path, adding to the intensity of his thrusts. Soon, she was bracing herself against the carriage walls as he held her waist and pumped in and out of her.

  There was no leisurely exploration this second time. It was a rough and wild tumble, wonderfully so, George relishing the feel of abandoning herself completely to Silviu’s possession. It was as if by acknowledging and accepting his demon half, she had given him free rein to be himself.

  And his real self was a thousand times darker, more dangerous, and dammit – a million times sexier!

  When the carriage settled down on a paved path, her hands rushed all over him. George couldn’t get enough of his body, loving the way it was smooth and hard all over, muscles rippling in reaction with every little touch, making her feel heady with power.

  As her fingers drifted over her back, she managed to ask breathlessly, “Your wings?”

  “They come out when I want them to.” He punctuated each word with a thrust of his cock. “Next time,” he promised. “We’ll fuck while flying.”

  Her body jerked at his words, and it jerked even harder as he pushed her senses into overdrive when his fingers joined his cock, rubbing her clit, getting her ready for another mind-shattering orgasm. It was all…

  Too. Much.

  It seemed as if she was fated to always think that, and it was, George thought, half out of her mind with the pleasure of being taken by Silviu, a very good thought to have.

  “Ready, Georgina?” Silviu easily lifted her above his cock.

  She gasped, “Yes!”

  And just like that, he slammed her down on his cock, sheathing him fully at just the right angle, the exquisite friction against her clit making George cry out, the sheer blinding pleasure of it making her feel like she was close to blacking out.

  As she convulsed around him, Silviu’s cock continued to pummel her pussy in the most sensational way, leaving her no chance for a respite, making her catch her breath over and over.

  His. She was his. It was the message he drove into her with each thrust of his cock.

  She belonged to a half demon.

  And dear heaven, somehow, that sounded so fucking right.

  ****

  She
woke up slowly. Immediately, warm hands stroked her back, massaging and kneading aching muscles so wondrously that George purred.

  The sound made Silviu smile; it was so unlike the hellcat he had first met in the Woods of the Wraiths.

  Yawning, she blinked groggily at him. “Are we there yet? Please tell me we’re close.”

  His smile widened. “No.”

  She gaped. “But…” She looked at her watch. “It’s been five hours!”

  “Horses travel around eight miles per hour, milady. Chalysian horses are tougher and faster, and so we are traveling at about ten miles per hour, but still…”

  “Where’s Granite?”

  “He will come when I need him.”

  “And we don’t fucking need him now?” Her eyes narrowed. “For that matter, why don’t we just fly?”

  “Because every time I use my power, it leaves a traceable trail, and right now we need to stay hidden.”

  “I just don’t get it. Why does Hell care if you get a soul?”

  “Because milady, if I did not have a soul, I was prophesied to bring destruction to Chalys and bring about the end of the whole world.”

  He expected her to be frightened by his words, which were unfortunately true, but instead she looked at him doubtfully and said, “You don’t say.”

  A laugh escaped him at how irreverent she was. “Ah, Georgina, please always stay this way.”

  “What way? Like pretty, sexy, and all things nice?”

  He smirked. “Hotheaded, impatient, potty mouth---”

  She thumped his shoulder. “You have to give me credit at least. I only started swearing again when I realized that we’re traveling eight, ten, freaking miles per hour!”

  “And we still have much distance to cover, I’m afraid. We just left Brimstone, my---” Silviu almost slipped, calling Brimstone as his domain.

  George frowned. “Your city? Town?”

  Her words gave him inspiration, and he shook his head. “Neither would correctly describe Brimstone or any of the other places that make up Chalys. The best word for it would be a territory, and each territory belongs to a duke.”

  She nodded automatically. “A dukedom. I know that part.” She grimaced.

  “Sangria, Aquarius, Lunare, and Sulphur – all of these are ruled by demon dukes.”

  “What about Ciel?” George asked, remembering the territory that was located entirely on top of the highest cliff in Chalys.

  “They have a duke, too, one who is an angel and not a demon.” His face darkened. “Brimstone was supposed to be my father Lilu’s but…because of something my mother did, I became its duke even though Lilu still lives.”

  “Rather than a marquis then?”

  Silviu started. “Yes, rather than a marquis. My friends are all marquises – they are all half-demons like me. They are rightful heirs to their territories but they would need to go against their demon sires to claim them.” He looked at Georgina with interest. “You know about our hierarchy?”

  George flushed. “I actually studied everything I could about the noblemen here in Chalys, so I know that all dukes and marquises are from outside Asphodel.”

  He was surprised. “What would you study our nobility for? Chalysian ladies do that, yes, but only because---” His expression hardened. “Do not tell me,” he said bitingly, “you wanted to marry a nobleman?”

  “Yes, but---” She wasn’t able to say more.

  “Never,” he snarled against her mouth, just before kissing her as if he needed to brand her lips with his taste. “You are mine.”

  His possessiveness made her giddy even if George didn’t want to admit it. Even so, when he released her, she shook her head at him. “You’re so fucking possessive.”

  “You are my heartkeeper, no one else’s.”

  George said dryly, “And so as your heartkeeper, I’ve shared my soul with you. I don’t think anyone else can claim me after that.”

  She spoke it so simply, with a kind of calmness unnatural to a human, prompting Silviu to ask curiously, “How do you take all this so easily?”

  George just looked at him. Easily? Really?

  Reminded of the way she had continuously slapped herself and thought she was on drugs, Silviu felt a grin tugging at his lips. “Well,” he amended, “Somewhat easily after everything then.”

  She took her time answering, picking her words with care. “My parents were the best parents any kid could ask for, but they weren’t…like…normal folks. My mother died early, when I was just twelve. She was just a plain housewife, didn’t like leaving the house, but she would tell me the most amazing stories every night.” She paused. “Well, okay, she liked scaring me every night.”

  He raised a brow.

  “She used to say that there’s a truth in every story. Because of her, I didn’t get to watch a lot of cartoons when I was young. Most times, I watched horror movies – The Thing, The Exorcist, The Birds, The Omen, Children of the Corn – every horror movie there was, we watched it together. She even got me to watch old Asian horror movies, before all those Sadako shit.”

  Seeing him wince at her last word, she said hastily, “Sorry.”

  “You curse too much,” he told her mildly.

  “Yeah, I know. It’s a self-defense mechanism.”

  Again, that arrogantly raised eyebrow. I do not need to waste my voice to let you know that I desire for you to speak more, it seemed to say.

  Arrogant bastard, George thought again with a mixture of irritation and amusement.

  The eyebrow went a notch higher. Well? Where is the rest of the story?

  Sighing, she continued, “When my mother died, my father became obsessed with archaeology, constantly going around the world to take pictures of tomb after tomb after tomb.” She nodded towards her camera on the opposite seat. “I got my love for photography from him. Anyway, basically, I was left alone at home, and most people thought my parents were nuts, the way my mom wouldn’t leave the house and talk to anyone and later, the way my dad kept searching for tombs. But I knew how bullies worked so instead of showing them I was scared, I pretended to be tougher.”

  Her lips twitched at the memory.

  The look on her face enchanted him, but even more so her courage, the way she lived her life, how she always took a bull by its horns.

  “I was enrolled in a Catholic school and no one there curses. Not even one. Not even the most stuck-up bitch or the strongest bully. So…to make myself untouchable, I, well, went all gangster and ghetto on them.”

  Silviu could only imagine what that meant. He said simply, “You are amazing.”

  She turned red and snarled, “Shut the fuck up.”

  He tugged her close and kissed her. “You are.”

  The carriage was slowing down. She looked at him hopefully. “Are we near?”

  He shook his head. “We’ll be resting in an inn for the night.”

  There was a strange kind of pause that made her frown. “What is it that you’re not telling me?”

  “This inn we are about to stay in…they are filled with…creatures.”

  “Creatures,” she repeated dumbly.

  “And…they are not used to being around humans.” He sounded apologetic.

  “Aaaand?” She kept waiting for the ‘but’.

  “So that they would not want to eat you---”

  “What the fuck?” Did he just say eat?

  “---we must pretend that you are a human pet.”

  Chapter Seven

  Checking in at Craving Inn on FourSquare.

  #oldschoolinn #nocabletv #darnit

  Evil eyes watched every movement inside the Craving Inn, a rambling five-story structure that for centuries had served to shelter those who did not want to go through the toll ways that connected the dukedoms to each other at night.

  There were many reasons to avoid the toll ways, but there was one unspoken rule that everyone abided by when using the smaller and more dangerous inner roads. Ask not, die not.

/>   “You so fucking owe me for this,” she hissed.

  Silviu locked the collar around her neck. “You may punish me tonight.”

  She choked.

  “Ilie is known in these parts and so it would not surprise anyone that he would be coming here with a human pet. You will have dinner with him and then afterwards, he will take you to our room, where I’ll be waiting.”