Alphas Unwrapped: 21 New Steamy Paranormal Tales of Shifters, Vampires, Werewolves, Dragons, Witches, Angels, Demons, Fey, and More

by Michele Bardsley

  His mouth closed on mine, and his tongue coated the inside of my mouth with flavor—all sorts of flavor—as it stroked my tongue, but the most compelling of those flavors spelled out sex … He wanted sex with me and was making it very clear. Then he surprised by setting me down, setting me down literally, because as it happened he had actually picked me up a bit off the floor while he kissed me

  His voice was low and husky and ten times hotter than any man’s voice I had ever heard. I was mesmerized in place.

  He said, “Thank ye, Calico, lass, but now, I have to find a way back to m’realm and save m’brother before—”

  “No, not yet. You need a plan. We need to get out of these soaking clothes. While you recover completely, I’ll mop the floor, and then we’ll come up with a plan.”

  He flicked his wrist. The floor was dry.

  He said, “I have a plan—I have to prove m’innocence, and the only way I can do that is to get Tanna to retract her statement.”

  “Wait, wait,” I barreled back. “She isn’t going to do anything to jeopardize herself. What you need is a witness—a witness no one would doubt, but hidden somewhere—and then you goad her into confessing. Or do you do wires in Morelake?”

  He went very still as he stared at me, and he then took my shoulders and said, “Brilliant, and I have just the man. And no, we don’t do wires, as we are magical and can detect such things, but I have a close friend who could do what we need.”

  “No, it can’t be a best friend. People will just accuse him of lying to protect you. It has to be someone who is a viable witness, one who isn’t close to you … even maybe on the Council.”

  “Aye, well, as to that, no worries. He may be m’closest friend, but he is also a senior member of the Council, and I don’t think anyone will accuse him of bias when he plays back whatever he gets of Tanna and my meeting.”

  “Oh, like a magic video?” I said thoughtfully.

  “Got it, lass,” he said and grinned broadly. “A magic video.”

  “And we can’t go in willy-nilly. You have to get to Tanna while she’s alone and thinks herself safe from detection. You have to goad her and goad her and tell her I can detect and prove a lie. She doesn’t know me or know what I am capable of. That will throw her off her game. All the while, this friend of yours will be hidden by my cloaking device.”

  “Aye, but ye said it doesn’t last.”

  “It didn’t, but by the time I’m done … it will.” I wasn’t as cocky about this as I sounded. I knew I needed some space and time to get this accomplished.

  “In the meantime, I am not without friends. I know that quite a large faction has been moving to prove m’innocence. But they need help … and I’m worried about m’brother. She could murder him while I am on the loose and say I killed him.”

  “She won’t. First of all, you said she wants to be queen. Well, that buys you time. She can’t be until his coronation, right?”

  He grinned. “Right ye are.”

  “So that won’t happen until your Francis is ready, right?”

  “That won’t happen until this ugly business has been settled one way or another. Francis may be in love, but he is an honest and good man. He will want to prove my innocence or have undeniable proof of my guilt.”

  “Right, if you say so, but even if he did go through with the ‘crowning’ she won’t do anything while you are loose. You could have an iron-clad alibi, and then who would she blame the murder of your brother on? No. I think he is just as safe with you on the loose as he was with you in prison. Think about it. She knows you have friends who might have you in a ‘safe house’, so there you are, you’d have proof as to your whereabouts.”

  “Ye are more than a beautiful woman, aren’t ye, lass? Aye then, there is a truth in what ye say.” He inclined his head. “Ye are a smart wee witch,” he murmured while reaching for me.

  I stepped back and away from him. “Probably because I am not just a witch.”

  He stepped closer. “What then, are ye, lass?”

  I stood my ground. Why? I knew why. Because I had reached the wall behind me. “Not human at all and not just a witch. That’s all I know. I’d like to know more … but I don’t.”

  “Then we’ll have to find the truth of it, won’t we, Calico m’darlin’,” he said and put his palms on the wall on either side of my head.

  Breathe, I told myself, just breathe, and then it was his breath pouring into me when his lips parted my lips and his tongue began a slow waltz with mine. Was it magic that infused me with a taste that burst with flavor once again in my mouth and down my throat? Fiery rockets exploded in my head, and I felt a ribbon of energy wrap itself around us.

  He pressed his hard body against me, and I shamelessly pressed back against him. Then I heard a knocking. Damn … what was that?

  It wouldn’t stop. We pulled apart, and he whispered, “What?”

  “More like, who?” I answered and went to the window overlooking the front courtyard, automatically invoking a simple ward to make the window act like one-way mirror so I couldn’t be seen. A dark blue Saab was parked next to mine, and I could just make out an older woman as she stepped away from the front door and looked around.

  She was holding a tray.

  She walked away from the front door and looked up at the window. I took Ebony out of my back pocket, and a moment later I was dry and presentable.

  “Wait here,” I told Brodie.

  Chapter Six

  Warren Dreede

  I STOOD AND STARED into the orb. It seemed to be studying me.

  It was not a crystal ball, though members of my coven called it that. It was an ancient artifact, probably Fae. Yes, I had come to believe it was a Seelie Fae Hallow.

  I had worked on it for years. I lack specific qualities that would have forced it respond to me, as I am not Fae. I had been studying, however, what a Fae object might be moved to consider in exchange for just a little cooperation. They are sacred Hallows, some scattered by the Dark King during the war that had destroyed their home of Danu. Others were scattered by Queen Aaibhe for reasons I cannot fathom. All Fae Hallows are alive and have the ability to evolve with time, and all Fae Hallows when away from their home wish to be reunited with their creators and comfortable in the land of the Fae, the Isle of Tir. It is a legend that I believe is true.

  Because I believed this, I began making the promise, the promise to return it to the Isle of Tir and Queen Aaibhe.

  It finally responded and in a quiet voice asked me how I meant to do that.

  Lying was not a possibility. An orb of such power could detect a lie.

  I told the orb of Calico and her unique gifts. I said that I believed Calico could transport the orb home.

  The orb responded by telling me, first, its name, Uile-bhfaca, which it explained means ‘all-seeing.’ And then Uile showed me the face of the woman I love.

  Calico. And it said, “She can take me home.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  “We shall find her,” was all it answered before it showed me her location.

  I arrived just an hour too late. She was already gone. Lyla was gone, and the whisper in the air was that Lyla had poisoned herself.

  It troubled me that Lyla thought so little of me that she would kill herself rather than allow me to find Calico. Well, her death had been in vain, although it was inevitable, as I knew she was slowly losing her battle with cancer.

  I asked Uile to follow Calico’s trail and show it to me, but Uile went suddenly very still, saying only, “She does not wish to be found. I must not betray her.”

  Why would the orb have any duty to Calico? Because, I answered myself, she was powerful enough to send the orb home. Perhaps Uile did not wish to antagonize her?

  Something changed today.

  When I asked for the hundredth time for it to show me Calico, Uile said, “She is an immortal royal, and I may not betray her. She is daughter of a princess of the Fallen, but I shall fin
d a way to her.”

  This was not unpleasant news.

  My beloved was a royal. What power she must have in that exquisite body of hers. When I owned her, I would have it all. And I would own her—mind, body, and soul.

  Once again, Uile showed me her face—her mind-stopping face with her silver eyes and her long red hair. And though I had loved her for years, I waited for her to become an adult. Should that not have proven to Lyla that I would cherish her?

  I had hoped that by now she would have turned to me in her moment of grief.

  I ached for her and wanted to teach her how to please me in our bed. What pleasures I could bring her.

  I stared into the orb as her flame-colored hair whipped around her face. Where was she? What was that place? Familiar somehow. “Where is she now?”

  “She is using a cloaking device that I am forbidden to ignore for the likes of you,” Uile answered.

  I wanted to pick the orb up and throw the damn thing against the wall. Smug little bastard.

  Damn, but I was burning for Calico … I could think of nothing else. I wanted to touch her, have her in my arms, beneath me, all around me, and it was becoming a hunger that drove everything that I did.

  I had accumulated great wealth, and no one but my coven enjoyed the spoils of my efforts. Secrecy was paramount to our lifestyle. I maintained twelve members, all dedicated not just to the dark, but to me. I was not just the thirteenth member binding them to the coven. I was the coven.

  I was independent, drawing on their power when I needed it or when I saw fit. A few still need to be reined in and taught to submit. Those few had not totally given themselves to the dark or to me. I would change that when I had Calico by my side.

  At moments like these, I remembered my mother.

  She was a witch of the light, but my father turned dark after I was born and began abusing her. She took all she could take, and then when it appeared he was about to turn that abuse on me, she took my hand and we ran.

  I was ten, only ten, and she was all that was wonderful in my world.

  It didn’t take long for him to find us.

  After a few weeks, he was there, filling our doorway as he pointed his wand at her. I remember the hateful scene like it was yesterday.

  Blood poured out of my mother’s eyes and mouth, and she collapsed in a heap. She collapsed in a puddle of her own blood.

  He took me by my hair and forced me to look at her. “See her, boy! She was weak and undeserving of us. You are my son, and you will follow in my footsteps.”

  And I bore his abuse until I was sixteen and a power in my own right.

  I pointed my wand at him and used the dark spell he had used on my mother. I stood without remorse and watched him bleed from every orifice until he was nothing but a pool of blood and dust.

  That was my gift to my mother. Vengeance.

  Yes, I use the dark, but I shall never be my father. Yes, I recognize that I have embraced wickedness, but I have my own agenda. I will never be my father. I kill only when I must and never for spite.

  Calico ran from me, but although I hunted her, it was to take her to my heart, not to hurt her. I would continue to hunt her—I had to—but then I would court her, and in the end she would love me. I meant to revere her. Lyla had poisoned her mind against me, and I knew it would take time to make her see that we belonged together.

  Lyla didn’t understand my dark magic or my hedonistic lifestyle.

  Lyla sacrificed herself for the love of her adopted child. I would not do such a thing for love, and that fact might make things more difficult when I transitioned Calico to the dark side. She would have the memory of Lyla’s sacrifice wedged between us.

  But I had a solution for that—and I would use it if I must.

  Lyla had always underestimated me.

  Yes, she had sent Calico away and through death avoided my inquisition, but that was a mere setback. My obsession with the woman of my dreams took precedent over everything, including my coven. I would not sacrifice myself for love, but I would sacrifice each and every one of them to get to the treasure I sought.

  Calico was more than a witch. I had always known she wasn’t human. A royal immortal, Uile had said. Damn, but one day she would stand beside me, and we would be invincible. She had the power to make me immortal—I was certain of it. She had the power to establish us both on a throne of might.

  I couldn’t help but stare at my reflection in the mirror, and I was astounded that Calico hadn’t been affected by my good looks. I am tall and well built. My hair is blond, my eyes hazel. My features are pleasing, and I have an abundance of charm. Some might even call me ‘angelically beautiful.’ Certainly none would suspect the black magic that has seeped into what soul I have left. Only Calico could keep my soul from being swallowed up by my dark.

  The orb was attracted to white and powerful magic. It glowed when I asked to see Calico. It glowed while her face was presented. The orb seemed to be drawn to her in some manner or other.

  “Show me my Calico so that she and I may be reunited and return you to the Isle of Tir,” I told the orb again.

  “I may not,” Uile answered.

  I had promised to set the orb free, free to return to its Fae world. I could not deceive it and tell it that I could return it to the Fae; it knew I didn’t have that kind of power, but Calico evidently did.

  “You need her,” I said.

  My door creaked open and interrupted me.

  Sally.

  She was a lovely woman and erotically sexual. She could take my mind off Calico for a while, and it would be a good session for my coven. I decided to allow them to join us.

  “Warren?” she said, and she sounded hopeful.

  I will ease my tension with her, I thought. “Come in. Leave the door open. Take off your clothes and begin touching yourself.” I was already hot, and my dick was dripping with need.

  “Yes, my master,” she said and quickly disrobed. “Why do you want the door open?”

  “Our members might enjoy watching,” I told her and waited for her to object. This would be her first group sex experience. She didn’t object; instead she shivered with anticipation.

  “How exciting …” she said and walked over to me, pulling her nipples with her thumb and forefingers.

  Members, male and female, had gathered just inside my chamber. They recognized the open door as an invitation.

  “Turn … let them see your big tits … let them see you touch yourself. Pull harder on your nipples …”

  She did what I asked. Yes, this would pass the time. I took off my clothes and heard her suck in her breath as she looked at my cock, big and pointed at her. I felt the smirk on my face as I told her to get on her knees.

  She did just that.

  “Suck me dry, Sally … do it now … yes, like that … like that.”

  I watched some of my coven members look away and rush off. I wondered how long they would remain with me. Those were the ones that had never totally given themselves to the dark.

  The ones who remained stood watching and began tentatively touching themselves.

  “Come in,” I told them. “Join us … run your hands over Sally … and then each other. You … David, fuck her while she sucks me off!”

  Indeed, one day soon, Calico and I would rule this coven and the world!

  Chapter Seven

  Calico

  I RACED DOWNSTAIRS AND opened the door wide to see the older woman just about to turn the corner of the house, evidently determined to find me.

  “Hi,” I called.

  “Och, Lord bless ye, child,” she said and smiled, looking just a bit startled before she came towards me. “Good day to ye. I was on m’way home and brought ye one of Maddie’s—she has the bakery in town—delicious cakes. It is that welcome I wish ye. I live a mile down the road, and with ye here all alone, I wanted ye to have m’phone number, in case ye needed anything.”

  “Oh, how very kind. Do you want to come in and ha
ve some tea … ah … Ms …?”

  “Oh, no. I’m Nora Pike, and I will take ye up on it another time, but for now, I’ve got to run.” She placed the tray with the cake, surrounded by small cookies, in my hands, stuck a card with her phone number on top of it, and gave me a fluttery wave as she hurried off to her car. “So happy to have ye. This place needed some life,” she called over her shoulder.

  “Thank you,” I shouted after the little plump whirlwind of a woman. I liked her, and she had brought cake. I love cake … and cookies.

  I watched her drive off, and as she stuck her hand out and waved again, I did the same.

  Back in the house, I put the tray of goodies down on a nearby table and took the stairs as fast as I could to my bedroom.

  I found the door still wide open and my room totally empty.

  “Princey-boy?” I called and went to the next room and the next room after that. Not upstairs.

  No, oh no. Had the dark magic pulled him back to his prison cell? Had my plan failed already? My heart sank low, very low.

  I had been so sure the wards wouldn’t be able to find him through my magic. I hurried back downstairs and looked in every room, and then I noticed the tray of cookies and cake was missing from the table where I had set it.

  “Brodie?” I called.

  I heard a muffled response, the kind of sound a man makes when his mouth is full of food. I rolled my eyes as relief and pleasure flooded my body.

  He finally managed to say, “Here, lass …”

  I ran to the kitchen and found him seated at the table. A plate of the cold cuts I had purchased on the way in from the airport was nearly bare, and he held a handful of cake.

  He beamed. “I am sorry, lass … I was hungry. They didn’t feed me much.”

  “Oh!” Immediately, my nurturing instincts kicked in—instincts I didn’t even know I had. All I wanted to do was throw comforting arms around him, kiss the top of his head, and feed him some more.

  He downed a tall mug of Guinness and said, “That is nearly as good as ours.”