Undeniable

by Elle Thorne

  “So how do you know the answer is contained within?” Alexa asked.

  “Grandfather told me.” Lézare frowned at the questioning.

  Evie wanted to roll her eyes. “I think for Theo’s sake and the sake of your friendship with him, you should consider changing your stance on Leandra.”

  “Agreed.” Alexa’s tone was firm. “She’s been a strong ally to all of us. She’s been invaluable to me and especially to Valencia.”

  Lézare cocked his head, studying Evie and Alexa, as if appraising them. “When did my baby sisters grow up?” He smiled, then looked down at Natalya. “I may be stubborn…”

  “Bullheaded,” Alexa whispered.

  “Insufferable,” Evie added, also in a whisper.

  Natalya giggled.

  Lézare gave them a mock dirty look. “I know when I’m beat. You’re right. For Theo. For Valencia. For you, Alexa. I’ll let bygones be bygones with Leandra Mathieu.”

  Alexa nodded. Evie didn’t say a word. She knew as alpha, concessions weren’t always easy for Lézare.

  They began the walk toward Leandra’s again, and moments later were walking up a ramp.

  Mist surrounded the ramp that connected the slight cabin’s wraparound porch—such as it was, because it wasn’t much of one, and it was in need of repair and paint.

  The entrance of the ramp was half-buried in solid ground, extending over the swamp’s brownish water, eventually touching the porch.

  Valencia perched against the hand railing on the porch. Half her body was against the wood, and the other half pressed against Rory, who’d almost seemed to have trapped her against the beam, as if he were worried she’d try to escape.

  Theo leaned against the wall, while Leandra sat in the rocking chair in front of him, barefooted.

  “Everything okay?” Theo asked Lézare.

  “It’s decided. The guests are mostly gone. They understood there were matters to be taken care of. Ms. Claudette is settled in. She’s anxious to visit with Mae.”

  “What did you tell her?” Natalya asked Lézare. “I knew Ms. Claudette when I volunteered…” She paused, held back a laugh. “It’s a long story. Let’s just say I’m close to her.”

  Evie almost didn’t hide her double take. Natalya. Volunteer. Somehow the words didn’t seem to belong in the same sentence, but then again this seemed to be a very different Natalya from the one they’d first met months ago.

  “I told her we’d make sure she got to visit Mae. Somehow. Maybe a road trip is in order, chère.”

  “I’m up for another one!” Natalya’s smile reached her twinkling eyes.

  Lézare kissed her temple tenderly and again, Evie found herself thankful her brother finally had someone.

  “We need to take care of business at hand—” Lézare looked at Valencia pointedly. His gaze took in Rory as well. “Namely, Valencia. Hybrids will be hunted.”

  “I go where she goes.” Rory’s tone was lined with steel resolve.

  “I figured no less.”

  “Leandra has a suggestion.” Theo’s eyes remained on Lézare as if to gauge what sort of reaction he’d have and how he’d treat Leandra.

  “Glad to hear it,” Lézare’s tone was earnest.

  Evie was proud of her brother for his behavior.

  “Valencia, you have to go away.”

  “I know.” Valencia’s irises had a crimson ring around the perimeter. “I’ve gotten better at containing the bloodlust. But so help me God—” Valencia interrupted herself with a mirthless irony at the idea of mentioning God in the same sentence as a vampire’s bloodlust.

  Evie smiled, but knew it was tinged with sadness. Her tigress warned her there was a difference with her sister. The four Arceneaux siblings’ dynamics had changed.

  “Anyway… so help me, I can’t always stop the lust to kill.” Valencia wrapped her arms around herself, leaned back against Rory.

  Rory encircled her in his embrace, her back against his chest, his cheek against her hair. “So she wants to harness the power she has.”

  “Harness?” Reese cocked his head and gave his brother an inquisitive look.

  “And I will be with her.” Rory tightened his grip on Valencia. “Always.”

  “I need you, dear family—” Valencia looked at each of them in turn. “I need you to help me make sure the vampire that did this to me doesn’t die. If he dies, I’ll die.”

  “That’s a myth, isn’t it?” Evie found that hard to swallow. “How can you be sure?”

  Valencia pulled free of Rory’s grasp and raised her black T-shirt in front, almost to her bra. An angry red line crossed the length of her torso. “This appeared on its own. Suddenly, I was losing blood before I could heal it with my shifter healing. Rory had me go into a hibernating heal, but what if he hadn’t? What if I were in the middle of something and couldn’t do that?” She shook her head, her gaze locked with Leandra’s.

  “You would die.” Leandra finished Valencia’s train of thought.

  “I would.” Valencia turned back to Lézare. “So please keep that bastard alive. Don’t kill him if you can avoid it.”

  “I’ll make sure of that, little sister.”

  “I’m leaving the territory. I can’t tell you where I’m going, but Leandra is making arrangements. Rory and I will be traveling and off the grid. I’ll get a disposable phone and call you. I’m sure sooner or later it will get out that Scanlon was killed by a hybrid. They’ll be after me.”

  “I’ll make the arrangements,” Leandra said. “I know a place she can go where she will be safe and helped with managing her needs.”

  Evie was filled with a sense of bittersweet sentiments. On one hand, she had Mason, and every one of her siblings were happily mated, and at the same time, she’d lose Valencia.

  “Hey.” Valencia took Evie’s hand. “Stop that. It will blow over.”

  “How can it?”

  “At least now I have a chance at a life,” Valencia declared. “I spent too much time avoiding people and moonlight. Now I have something. And Rory. Mostly Rory. Be happy for me.”

  Evie smiled, but tears of sadness filled her eyes at the same time. Her tigress howled.

  Mason wrapped his arm around her and pulled her against his body. His lion comforted her tigress.

  “We should get back to Arceneaux Point,” Lézare announced. “We need to make arrangements.” He turned to Leandra. “Would you be our guest and stay at Arceneaux Point?”

  Leandra’s eyes gleamed silver. “Could I stay in one of the cabins?”

  “Certainly.” Lézare smiled, though apprehension lurked in his eyes.

  Evie knew he still hated staying in the cabins.

  “I’d like to stay in the same one I stayed in before,” Evie said.

  “You mean the time that Mason came down for Escape Weekend?”

  Evie nodded, the heat of a blush crept its way upward. She turned to Mason. “Did you mean it? Will you stay a while?”

  “As long as you want me.”

  Forever.

  Epilogue

  Evie rolled over in her bed, relishing the sounds of Arceneaux Point, the scent of Arceneaux Point. And everything was made perfect because Mason was here with her.

  “Mason.” His name slid off her lips with ease, as if years had not passed without each other.

  His teeth nipped at her jaw line, traveling downward, and his tongue trailed hotness down her neck to the neckline of her sleep T-shirt.

  “I want you,” he snarled as his fingers played with the fabric.

  Evie’s breath escaped her quickly with each movement as he traced patterns into the cotton material. Each motion his fingers made, teased and tortured her. She craved him.

  His lips landed on hers in a kiss that was tender. And then, just as quickly, his fingers turned into claws and shredded the fabric.

  He leaned back, studying the creamy tops of her breasts, ivory swells rising above her ribcage.

  “Beautiful.” Mason’s fingertips
traced her skin, teasing her in the most delicious of ways that culminated in a buzzing that ran the length of her body. His fingertips tiptoed their way down the middle of her sternum, over her abdomen. “I need you,” he rumbled, touching the hem on her panties.

  The sound of the panting coming from her mouth was the only thing Evie could hear.

  “I want you, too.” She wanted everything he was, and everything they had been. She wanted his strength, his easy smile, the intensity behind his dark eyes, and his love to be for her.

  She couldn’t stop her hands from drifting to his shoulders. His muscles flexed beneath her hands. She forked her fingers through his hair.

  His tongue followed the path his fingers had created, leaving a hot trail from the top of her breasts to the center of her stomach, drifting down to her panties. He ran the course of her panties, tracing the elastic from hip to hip.

  “Jesus,” he groaned, pushing at her hips and thighs.

  Evie raised her lower body while he pulled her panties down.

  Mason’s breath was hot, warming her, a forerunner of the heat and pleasure he would deliver between her legs.

  She released a groan and it pushed him further. He continued to travel downward, every gust of his breath warmed her body. He licked his way lower.

  Her clit throbbed.

  He nipped at the tender skin.

  She closed her eyes, expecting him to lick her slowly.

  Evie jumped when his entire face dove into her with a ferocity that revealed his hunger. Her body ached with desire for him—too much time apart. Her breath rushed in and out, lungs burning with a need for air.

  Mason’s lips sucked on her, teasing, then releasing with a popping sound that drove her desire. He devoured her repeatedly, mercilessly, until finally he thrust his tongue into her, going in, then out, pleasing her.

  Her hands grabbed the sheets, gripping tightly. She bit down on her lip to keep from begging.

  The moan that came made his tongue move faster. “Please,” she whispered. Electricity flowed through her blood. Her toes curled. “Mason.” Her pitch and tone were almost a scream.

  “What?” Mason’s voice was more of a growl.

  “I need you.” Her impatient fingers traveled to his hair, pushing his face closer to her desire, taking his tongue deeper.

  She flinched in surprise and pleasure when he slipped a finger in and moved his mouth to her clit and began sucking while his finger pleasured her.

  A low moan began and rose to a crescendo, as she climaxed swiftly and brutally, clamping her thighs around his head.

  Evie’s body trembled. An occasional aftershock ripped through her, making her flinch and jerk in his arms.

  * * *

  The lion in Mason pulled at him to take her to make her his.

  Forever.

  Also to give her what she needed. No-- What they both needed. He wanted to be so deep inside her that she’d pulse against his cock when she climaxed. Each of her peaks would create a tightening that pressed him to a climax of his own.

  He’d never forgotten that. He wanted that back.

  He groaned against her mouth.

  “Are you ready to be mine?”

  “Yes.”

  With a thrust that spoke of his urgent need for this woman, for her tigress, for their ultimate bonding, he dropped his boxers and with one smooth motion, slid inside, all the way.

  He fit in her just as he always had—perfectly. They were made for each other.

  A deep sigh slipped out in a whoosh at his imminent homecoming to the woman he’d never stopped loving.

  He paused, relishing her body, her tightness, and the way her muscles gripped him.

  He started slow and intense, with a rhythm that matched the passion he’d kept penned up all this time. Each time his cock slipped out, his lion growled to be back inside her.

  His lion didn’t let Mason keep a slow pace. He began to stroke, powerfully and vigorously, his body tight like an elastic band ready to snap any moment.

  He pushed into her, his eyes locked with hers. Her tigress growled and his lion picked it up, roaring in return. His rhythm became quicker and built to a frantic pace, each thrust resulting in an exhaled breath.

  Sheer primal lust and a need to have his mate with him without interference pushed him faster and faster, as he began to lose control. His body traveled toward the point of no return as the volcano within him began to careen.

  A light sheen of perspiration made Evie’s face glisten. He studied her features while he lowered his face to hers, kissing her lips, tasting the very essence of her on her mouth.

  He felt her orgasm begin as she tightened around him and tried to scream. He drank her scream in while he grunted as a pulse of his release began to come undone.

  Dropping his head, Mason sank his teeth into the tender spot at the corner of her shoulder and neck. He bit fiercely, taking no prisoners—except Evie, and in return giving her himself.

  He licked the spot, tasting the metallic flavor of her blood, sealing an irreversible covenant between them with a couplebond.

  Her hands rose and buried themselves in his hair. She brought his head to hers for a kiss, her tongue tasting his, yielding to his, and at the same time, taking charge.

  He pulled away slightly. “It’s done.”

  She smiled. “It’s very done. And it’s just starting.”

  He collapsed next to her, his head resting on her breast, listening to her heartbeat, listening to his own sync with hers.

  “Mason?”

  “Mmm?” He’d almost drifted to sleep.

  “What would you think about traveling?”

  The oddness of her question made the drowsiness diminish. “Traveling’s fine. Why?”

  “I thought maybe we could visit Valencia and Rory sometime.” Her voice became sleepy.

  He kissed her shoulder.

  “Anything you want. Anywhere you want.”

  “Mmmhmmm.” She drew the sound of agreement out as her eyelids began to close.

  He kissed the tender spot that had already healed where he’d marked her as his.

  Forever.

  “I love you.”

  “Me too.” Her response was murmured while a smile drifted to her lips.

  Afterword

  I hope you enjoyed our visit to sultry steamy Louisiana! I have to tell you, I’ve fallen so in love with the characters that I’ve got a couple of extra stories headed your way. For one I feel that Leandra and Theo’s story must come out! Then there’s also Étienne and Celine’s story.

  And I won’t give any spoilers away but expect to see one of more of our Louisiana shifters. Especially one. I have plans for that one!

  I’ve teased you enough! I hope you’re ready for the next step in the Shifters Forever Worlds! Keep reading for more on that!

  The Shifters Forever Worlds

  SHIFTERS FOREVER SERIES

  Are you ready for it?

  I have a whole world full of shifters to share with you. I’m listing them here, in the suggested reading order, though I’ve tried to make it so that you can pick up anywhere in the series as we all have probably done that at one point or another.

  * * *

  Where’s the best place to start? Well, probably with Shifters Forever.

  Shifters Forever starts the series off with grizzly bear shifters and their mates that steam up the pages in these swoon-worthy paranormal romances. From trespassers with hidden agendas to curvaceous women who are ready to take a chance, the stories in this collection will capture your heart.

  •Protection

  •Seduction

  •Persuasion

  •Invitation

  •Temptation

  •Attraction

  * * *

  Always After Dark is a spinoff with the white tiger from Shifters Forever: Vax, born Vittorio Tiero. He’s the one that helped Kane out during a shifter battle.

  Follow the Tiero family, a group of white tiger shift
ers, as they head to America to find love... and heart-stopping danger. Full of romance, suspense, and gritty drama, this red-hot collection is sure to entertain!

  •Controversy

  •Territory

  •Adversary

  •Sanctuary

  * * *

  Never After Dark is another spinoff that takes place in Europe. Here we visit cities along the Mediterranean and meet the old school Tiero white tiger shifters who are resistant to change.

  Enter a world of sex, secrets, and forbidden love. Shifters who can turn into tigers, leopards, and panthers must decide who they can trust — and who they can’t live without.

  •Forbidden

  •Forsaken

  •Forgotten

  •Foreplay

  * * *

  Only After Dark takes place in New Orleans. The Arceneaux shifters, led by Lézare, Vax’s white tiger cousin—on his mother’s side. The Arceneaux are the black sheep of the family. Lézare doesn’t cave to public opinion. He dictates policy in the area he rules and he shuns old school European rules and regimes.

  •Desirable

  •Insatiable

  •Combustible

  •Undeniable

  * * *

  Forever After Dark introduces us to a group of panthers that are related to Gavin’s Irish mother’s side. The panthers are related to elemental types like Mae and Astra. This is the stronghold of Mae’s cousins: Marco, the panther and Circe the powerful elemental who leads the OE (the Order of Elementals). The group that Mae shunned long ago.

  •Notorious

  •Scandalous

  •Delicious

  •Perilous

  * * *

  Shifters Forever After follows a group of polar bears in New York. Russian and rumored to be mobbed up, they are a powerhouse of shifters, determining the fate of many on the East Coast. Mikhail Romanoff, Layla’s father, runs this outfit with an iron fist. Layla’s sexy cousin Malachi features prominently in this series.