Twi

by Romi Hart

  “That was a relief,” I heard Val say as she came out of the store.

  I stepped away from the side of the building just as a car pulled up and the girl driving waved at us as she rolled down her window. “Are you Valentine Martin?”

  Val nodded as she grabbed my hand, pulling me with her. “That’s me.”

  We got into the backseat of the small car, my knees up to my chin. “Comfy.”

  The driver laughed. “I get that all the time. So, I’m taking you to Ontario, right?”

  “You are,” Val said. “The address I sent you, please.”

  “Will do.” She took off like a bat out of hell, driving faster than anyone I’d ever ridden with.

  Scrambling to find a seatbelt, I put it on as Val smiled at me with hers already in place. “You should always put your seatbelt on right away, Twi.”

  “I can see that.” After buckling up, I saw the back of the van as we’d already caught up to it. “Val, is that your van up ahead?”

  Leaning over, she looked ahead and gasped, “I think it is.” Tapping the driver on the shoulder, she asked, “Can you catch up to that van? I’d like to see who’s driving it.”

  You want her to drive faster?

  “Or just go at your own pace, this is fine.” Narrowing my eyes at Val, I asked, “Do you have a death-wish or something?”

  She didn’t even hear me as her jaw was tight and she looked out the window. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if it’s her. I swear, I don’t.”

  “You’re not going to do anything,” I let her know. “We don’t have time for you to tell her how mad you are at her and how much she hurt you.”

  “You’re right.” She leaned back and just as she looked at me, we came up beside the van.

  Biting my lower lip, I felt the air leave my lungs. “Karma is such a bitch.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. I mean, I know she’s going to get hers.” Val sighed. “I’ve got to let the higher power take care of things. Vengeance is not mine to hand out after all.”

  Grabbing Val, I kissed her hard, peeking at the driver of the van through the blonde curtain of her hair until we’d passed it. Pulling her down with me, I tried my best to shrink so low that the driver of the van couldn’t see us.

  “Val, Codut is driving that van.” I peeked back over my shoulder at the same time Val did.

  With a gasp, she stated what I’d seen, “He’s got, Zoe!”

  Like we’ve got time for this.

  24

  Valentine

  Not knowing what to do, I knew one thing for sure, Codut had Zoe and they were heading to Ontario. Somehow, he’d figured out that she’d been in his realm. And now I had to wonder how much information he’d gotten out of her.

  “She’s not freaking out, Twi. She knows what he is and she’s not freaking out.” I turned back around, staying low.

  “He might’ve turned her to his side,” he said. “As a matter of fact, they could be going to get something to hold over your head. You know, something to make you turn me and yourself over to him.”

  “My brother and sister.” I pulled out my cell, calling my brother.

  “Hey, Val,” Chris answered the phone. “You on the way back yet?”

  “I am. But I need you to grab Easter and get the hell out of the house. We’ve made an enemy and I’m afraid he’s coming for you both.” I chewed one of my fingernails nervously as I tried to think about what we could do.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Zoe might be bringing a man to kidnap you and Easter. Just stay the hell away from our van and Zoe and the tall man who’d with her and you’ll be fine. Head up to Uncle Bill’s old place. I’ll let you know when it’s clear to come back home.”

  Twi tugged on my arm. “Tell them to hurry and get out of there. You and I need to form a plan.”

  “Just hurry and get out of there, Chris.” I looked at Twi for answers I didn’t have as I ended the call. “What can we do?”

  “We’ve got some pretty good information here. And we’ve got this racecar driver to help us.” He leaned up to ask the driver, “Does this thing go any faster? We’re in a heck of a rush.”

  “Sure thing.” She floored it and the little car went even faster.

  My body quaked as I worried about my siblings. I lowered my voice to a whisper in the racing back seats. “What if he gets to them somehow? What if he follows their scents or something like that?”

  “He can’t do that.” His dark brows raised as he matched my voice. “At least I don’t think he can. Anyway, the thing is that we’ll be there ahead of him and he doesn’t know that. We can capture him, Val.”

  I had no idea what he was talking about. “Twi, how can we capture Codut? He can turn into a dragon.”

  “Not just anywhere, he can’t. He can’t let people see him that way. If shifters could get away with that, we’d never hide a thing.”

  “How powerful is he in human form?” I still didn’t know what good it would do to try to catch something like Codut.

  “Very. But you’ve got this gift of opening portals and you can lock him away in one for a while.” He looked to one side. “At least I think that you can. I’m thinking of this. You open a portal that’ll be right there when he walks into your house. And you will be inside that portal, in the in-between.”

  “And once he comes in, I somehow slip back out then close the portal?” I asked as the whole thing began to gel together in my brain.

  “That’s what I’m thinking. It’s risky. But doable.” His broad smile made me feel like I might be able to pull it off. “While he’s trapped, you can make another portal to his realm where we’ll have some time to free everyone and bring them back to your home. And that’s where Codut will face all those shifters he kidnapped.”

  “Oh, wait. That won’t work. Our home is in the middle of a neighborhood. We can’t have some epic battle on a Sunday morning in the middle of the Canadian suburbs, Twi.” He’d gone a bit too far.

  “Well, what else can we do?” he sighed as he realized he’d dreamt too big.

  “We can’t have a war. Not today. But we can save the others. If I can open both portals. Which, I’m not sure I can do. I don’t even know how I opened the one I did.” This was too much for me. “Let’s just be happy that we got my brother and sister out of there and we’ll meet them at my uncle’s cabin then leave from there.”

  “Sure, we can do that.” He nodded. “We can take the easy way out. Mist and the others will just have to wait longer – losing their minds a little more with each passing day. No reason to rush.”

  Guilt began gnawing at me. “I can’t promise you that I can pull this off.”

  “I have faith in you.” He kissed my cheek. “You can do this, Val. I know that you can. All you’ve got to do is reach into that magnificent brain of yours and think about what you were doing when you made that portal. That was a spectacular portal too, baby. You really outdid yourself with that one.”

  “Flattery?” I laughed as I shook my head. “Okay. I know I kept saying the same thing over and over again as I walked in a circle. So, I’ll do that. I was saying that we had to get back to the place we’d left. I need to think of where I want the portal I make to take him.”

  Twi nodded. “It needs to be somewhere too small for him to change into a dragon. Like a closet of some kind. A small one that will leave him disoriented.”

  “Or what about a small space underneath the water? Like deep underneath the sea?” I had just the place. “I’ll picture a tiny submarine.”

  “It’s got to be a real place. Do you know where a submarine is?” He took me by the shoulders as we came to a stop in front of my house. “We’re here. You’ve got to think quick.”

  “Thanks for the ride. I’ll give you five stars,” I said as we got out of the car and ran to the front door. “Both my brother’s and sister’s cars are gone. That means they listened to me. Thank God.” My hand shook as I pushed in the code to open th
e door.

  Just as we got inside, Twi pushed the door shut. “Leave it unlocked. Make it easy for him to get inside. That way he’ll open the door and step right into the portal without knowing it.”

  “I know the place I want to send him to.” Walking in a circle in front of the door, I chanted, “I need to get to the closet in the attic. I need to get to the closet in the attic.” Over and over I walked and chanted until the circle glowed green.

  Twi picked me up, hugging me tightly then kissing me. “You did it! I knew that you could.”

  The sound of a car stopping in front of our house made my skin prickle. “I’ve got to get in there, Twi.”

  Holding me by both arms, he looked me in the eyes. “Once he goes in, I’ll count to ten. If you’re not out of there by then, I’ll come in to get you.”

  “Give me to the count of fifteen.” I didn’t want him to barge in and ruin it.

  “Fifteen, it is.” With a kiss to my forehead, he patted me on the back, sending me off. “You can do this, baby.”

  “I know that I can.” Walking into the green glow, I found myself on the other side, the grey empty space was quiet, the green glow across the way was steady.

  Staying to one side of the opening, I waited for Codut to come through. Taking deep breaths, I steadied myself to do what I had to do.

  “What the fuck?” a female voice said then Zoe was standing inside the grey space.

  She didn’t see me as she kept walking toward the other green circle. Then Codut walked in. “You were wrong about them. At least one of them is a shifter to be able to do this.”

  “They can’t be shifters,” Zoe said. “I’m not sure what’s going on here, but Val’s brother and sister didn’t do this.”

  Just as they got to the place I needed them to be, she turned and looked right at me. “Traitor!” I shouted at her, then stepped back out the way I’d come in.

  Moving my hand fast, I closed the portal. Twi’s arms closed around me as he lifted my feet off the ground. “Val! You did it.”

  “I don’t know how much time we have, Twi. Put me down. There’s still so much to do.”

  “I don’t think we have to worry about that. Without Codut there, this shouldn’t be that hard.”

  We’ve got to get everyone out of the dragon’s castle.

  25

  Twilight

  Lying in a cozy little bed in her uncle’s cabin, Val and I gazed at the stars outside the window. “You did it, baby.”

  Her fingernails moved lightly across my chest. “We did it. I could never have done all that without you, Twilight.”

  Knowing that my cousin slept soundly in the bedroom across the hall, my heart was full. “We got them back to their homes. And now that they’re wise to Codut, at least those shifters won’t become his victims again.”

  “There’s still a lot to do to bring Codut to justice. But for now, we’ve done all we can do.” She kissed my cheek. “It’ll take him a while to recoup after this. If he can.”

  I never underestimated anyone. “Let’s just assume that he will recoup. But now that two of his dragon brethren have been alerted to his evil deeds, he will have them watching over him as much as they can.”

  “Tieris and Mako did seem as if they would be able to get their father in on things where Codut is concerned. At least we’ve made a huge dent in the problem that is Codut.” Val rolled over to get on top of me.

  Sliding down the length of my hard shaft, she grinned playfully at me. “I’m ready to take my chances of becoming the mother of your little monsters.”

  Taking her by the wrists, I snarled at her. “They’re likely to bite. You sure about this?”

  Moving her body in a wave, she ground her hot pussy into me. “I’m sure as I’ll ever be. I can’t live without feeling you inside me even one minute longer.”

  Plugged into her like that, I knew my lifeforce had ebbed since we’d last made love. “I’ll take it whenever you want to give it to me.”

  “I’m sure you will.” Leaning over, she jiggled her breasts in my face. “Hungry?”

  “For you? Always.” She had my heart in every way one can have another heart.

  My Valentine was courageous, smart, glamourous, woodsy, tough, and regal all at the same time. A more remarkable creature I’d never known.

  Her brother and sister welcomed me into their family with open arms. Neither were ready to become shifters and might not ever be. But they were okay with what I’d done to their sister. Both knew she had more strength than most humans did, she might as well hold other awesome powers as well.

  My family was impressed with her of course. She’d saved Mist after all. I’d heard my mother talking to her during our brief visit, encouraging her to keep me in check.

  As if anyone can keep me in check.

  I lifted her body to move at the pace I wanted. Her low moan made my cock vibrate as she whispered, “When we do have babies, you’re going to take every other feeding.”

  Pulling my mouth off her tit, I laughed, “I can’t make milk. Sorry, baby, that part is up to you.”

  Clenching her pussy around my cock, she made me groan. “Oh, I love it when you make that sound, Twi. Back to the feeding of our babies. I can pump my milk, put it in a bottle for you to feed it from. See, you can still take every other feeding.”

  “I think you’ve been talking to my sisters about this.” This had my older sisters all over it. “You know, their mates all think them to be horrible mothers, right?”

  She laughed. “As if. I saw the way they looked at your sisters.” Her hips moved in a circle. “I want you to look at me that way too.”

  Looking up at her, I held her eyes with mine. “I adore you and I always will. Even if you do make me feed our babies from a bottle instead of allowing them the luxury of suckling from your wholesome and nutritious breasts.”

  “There’s no loss of wholesomeness nor nutrition by putting my milk into a bottle, my love.” Wiggling her ass, she made her canal shake in the most magnificent way. “You’ll be a fine father. I assure you.”

  Rolling over with her, I put her onto her back as I thrust into her. “I will be a fine father. Only because you will force me to become one.”

  Caressing my cheeks, she gazed at me with loving eyes. “That, I will definitely do, Twilight Foxworthy. As you force me to be the best me that I can be, I will do the same for you. The thing about you and I that is unique is our ability to stroke the other’s ego into doing things greater than we ever knew we could.”

  “I like it when you stroke my ego.” I plunged deep inside of her, loving the way her body shook when I did it.

  “Oh!” Her nails sunk into my back. “Baby. Yes!”

  “Stroke,” I whispered in her ear as I bit her earlobe and moved my body up, nearly all the way out of her then thrust back in with a hard movement. “Stroke.”

  “Twi!” whimpering as her body began to crest, she pulled her legs up, making my cock sink even deeper into her pulsing pussy.

  “Stroke,” I said as I made another hard thrust. “Stroke.”

  Exploding with hot juices, she shrieked, “Twilight! Oh, my love!”

  My body, hot with desire emptied into hers, jerking, shaking, filling her with my seed. “Oh, my love. What have you done to me?”

  “I’ve shaken up your whole world.” She kissed the side of my neck. “Just the same way you’ve shaken up mine.”

  “My main mission is to continue shaking up your world, my dear.” I kissed her sweet lips. “For as long as you will allow me to fill you with my sweet nectar, your flower will continue to bloom.”

  I’ve finally found a female worthy of my fox.

  Victor (Anarock Shifters, Book 1) - Special Preview

  1

  “Suit up!” Major Dickerson barked the order. The pilots gathered in the locker room at Barksdale Air Force Base outside Shreveport, Louisiana, all jumped to obey.

  Riley Strickland slammed her locker closed and tucked her
flight helmet under her arm. She quelled the butterflies in her stomach and dropped into her biofeedback pattern. She learned this technique to calm herself in situations like this.

  Her teammates handled the stress by cracking jokes back and forth, but she tuned them out. She long ago stopped letting their remarks annoy her even when their voices cut into her concentration.

  She shrugged into her bomber jacket and followed Rover to the briefing room. He kept his back to her and trained his flinty gaze straight ahead. He never talked before a mission.

  Pineapple and Lancelot snorted at some toilet humor behind her back. The more they laughed and punched each other’s shoulders, the more they revealed their buried anxiety at this call-up. The team wouldn’t get called up at all if the situation wasn’t pretty serious.

  Bishop hustled up next to Riley and bumped her arm. “What do you think, Pocahontas? Do you think you’ll come back with another trophy like you did last time?”

  She didn’t turn aside. She locked her gaze on the briefing room door ahead. Maybe Rover had the right idea. Maybe she should cultivate an impenetrable exterior so the others wouldn’t pester her at times like this.

  “I don’t know, Bishop,” she breezed. “Maybe I’ll come back with your virginity as my trophy.”

  Pineapple and Lancelot guffawed louder than ever. Bishop wheeled on them with his fists flying. “Shut the fuck up!”

  Riley bit back a grin and took her place next to Rover. The minute she got inside the briefing room, her smile evaporated. She focused all her attention on the virtual map glowing from the light table.

  Major Dickerson pointed his stylus at a large green patch tracing the varied Louisiana coast. “Two scout choppers spotted a flock of dragons rising out of Biloxi State Wildlife Management Area—here.”