Forbidden Shifters Complete Series (Books 1-6): A Wolf Shifter Paranormal Romance

by Selena Scott

  “I’m never letting you go,” he told her as he started up a rhythm with his hips. The door rattled on its hinges behind her.

  “Never,” she agreed easily, her eyes heavy lidded as she sucked in air and let out a low helpless sound.

  She was too caught up in the sex to truly understand what he was telling her. He adjusted his grip on her ass and spread her even wider for him. She didn’t realize that his words weren’t in the least empty. This wasn’t a fake promise made in the throes of passion. No. He was simply telling her what was, at that very moment, viciously flooding his heart.

  That was all right, as he saw it, he had plenty of time to prove it to her. Right now, he had other things on his hands. Namely, her perfect ass.

  Suddenly, Diana was clawing at him, pulling away, sliding down his body. She shot him a look over her shoulder as she turned so that her palms went flat against the door. She hiked her skirt up all the way and presented him with said perfect ass.

  His mouth went dry. Her skyscraper heels lined them up pretty well and all he had to do was grip her hips with one hand and line himself up with the other. This time, when he pushed in, all thoughts of the future and the past blurred together and slid sideways out of his head. There was no linear train of thought. There was no english language. There was nothing but sensation. The slick slide of her inescapable heat. Her breasts heavy in his hands as he traced up her body. The velvety skin at the back of her neck as he clamped his teeth there. One of her hands disappeared from the door and he felt the rhythmic circle of her fingers against herself. She started tightening against his shaft, her legs going taut.

  Already he thought he might not be able to make it much longer and then she started pushing herself back against him. He watched her hand claw into the door, her head tipped back. He lunged forward, laced one hand through her hair and gripped her around the waist. He twisted her head, took her mouth with his, his tongue plunging into her in the same rhythm as his cock.

  He felt her tighten again and this time, she moaned helplessly into his mouth, her legs trembling, wobbling on her heels. He gripped her even harder, rode out her orgasm as best as he could before his hand dropped to her throat, gripping her firmly, gently, inexorably. He spoke into her wet skin, telling her that he was hers, she was his, he was never leaving her. It was the truth not a promise. He’d met perfection when he’d met her.

  The end raced up to meet him, destroy him, zip him up and open him wide all at once. He exploded into her, through to the other side of this moment, flying, catapulting, rocketing.

  “Diana,” he whispered, wrecked. “Diana, Diana, Diana.”

  Her legs weren’t the only ones trembling. He pulled out of her and grabbed a handy roll of paper towel off the shelf next to them, cleaning them both up.

  When their clothes were righted, she turned a stumbling circle and fell into his arms. Their mouths found each other, loose and joyful and slurring with satisfaction.

  “Wowmygod,” she said and he tasted her words. “That’s how you used to show girls a good time? I’m too blissed out to be jealous I think.”

  “No,” he corrected her immediately. He couldn’t bear for her to think that he’d ever felt this way with anyone else. “I’ve never ever done anything like that before. That was the most special sex of all time.”

  She laughed in surprise. “Supply closet sex was the most special sex of your life?”

  “Yes,” he answered, hoping his honesty showed through in his face. “Because it was supposed to be dirty but instead it gave me… you know.”

  “All the feels?” she asked with a little smile on her lips, a little pink on her cheeks.

  “Exactly.”

  She bit her lip and looked down. She was just looking back up at him through her eyelashes, about to say something momentous, he just knew it, when a heavy fist on the other side of the door had them both jumping.

  “All right, lovebirds. Wrap it up before you get me fired.”

  It was the bouncer. Apparently their time was up.

  Diana adjusted her clothes one more time and laughed nervously. “Well, at least he gave us fifteen minutes.”

  “I’ll make sure to send him a Christmas card.”

  Diana laughed again. “Christmas cards? You’re definitely human now.”

  Orion moved to the door and checked to make sure the coast was clear. They both stopped off at the bathroom before they met back up and stepped back into the damp, dark cave of the club. It was disorienting to Orion that the dancing was still going on. People were still grinding and two-stepping and waving their hands to the beat of the music, the flashing lights painting their faces a hundred different colors. Everywhere he looked shots were being tossed to the backs of throats and soon-to-be couples were eyefucking one another.

  A familiar laugh sounded from his left. Wren appeared in front of them with a shot of some clear liquid in each hand. She shoved it into Orion’s hand and Diana’s hand.

  “Here, kiddies, drink this. I don’t know what you did in that back hallway, but you two look like you could use a cigarette and a candle lit bath.”

  They blinked at her.

  She laughed at the expressions on their faces. “Come on! You promised me a party tonight! I refuse to let you two canoodle in da club and then flake out on me. It’s time to dance!”

  Wren did an exaggerated disco move, pointing her fingers all over the club and shaking her hips. Somehow, she made it look cool.

  “You’re a good dancer!” Orion shouted to her over the bass.

  “And this surprises you why?” she asked archly. “Because of the hair and the tattoos? You expected me to hold up the wall just because they’re playing pop music? Nah. I like to party.” She started dancing backward, booty shaking, and ran directly into a man who didn’t look sorry about the development one bit.

  Wren turned, surveyed him, apparently dubbed him worth a dance, and flung her arms around his neck.

  “I guess we’re supposed to keep dancing,” Orion shouted down to Diana.

  “Shhhh!” she shouted, tossing a hand over Orion’s mouth and squinting across the club.

  He laughed, considering that screaming at someone to stop making noise was a fairly nonsensical thing to do. He squinted in the direction that she was squinting and immediately saw what the big deal was.

  Ida was teaching Dawn a few dance moves and a small group of men had started to gather round to watch the show. For some reason, Phoenix was nowhere to be found, but Quill sure was. He lingered close by, scowling at the proceedings and looking like he was about half a dance step away from jumping in and knocking some douchebag skulls together.

  “Let’s go see what happens next!” Diana shouted, grabbing Orion’s hand and taking off across the dance floor.

  ***

  Was there a word for when you felt incredibly awkward and incredibly powerful at the same time? If there was, that was what Dawn figured that it would perfectly describe exactly what she was currently feeling.

  Because… dancing? Yeah, not exactly her thing. But every time she glanced over at the small group of men who were watching her, an intoxicating jolt of power zipped up her spine.

  It was a jolt that she’d needed, considering the embarrassment of an evening that had led her to here. She had no idea why Orion had suddenly become so gung ho about a night out on the town but it had translated to her having to weather a lot of time with Quill over dinner and drinks. It was the first time she’d seen him since their humiliating encounter in his kitchen.

  Completely embarrassed by the fact that he probably sensed every single stupid-tender feeling she’d started having about him, she’d kept a polite little wall up between him, barely even looking at him.

  She’d tried very hard to take his rejection on the chin. It was a part of a healthy human experience, if the books she’d read were any indication. But she’d had to admit that it had deflated her over the last few days.

  Now, stepping to the side and mo
ving her hips the way Ida was showing her how to, watching these men watch her out of the corner of her eye, Dawn’s pride began to re-inflate. So what that Quill rejected her? It didn’t need to matter so much. What was that human phrase again?

  The one about fish and the sea?

  It didn’t matter. There were tons of men in the world, men who wanted her. And besides, being rejected by your very first crush was apparently a rite of passage in human culture. She could live with that.

  Feeling better than she had all week, Dawn lifted her arms above her head and spun away from Ida, a little further into the crowd. She let the music beat through her body like thunder. She could smell the exhilaration of all the other dancers on the floor. Sweat and sex surrounded her and to be honest, she liked it.

  She spun again and this time she found herself nose to sternum with a very hard chest. Two hands landed on her shoulders and she tipped her head back to look up into Quill’s frowning face. He reached down and frustratedly removed a piece of her hair that had gotten stuck to her lip gloss when she’d spun.

  “What are you doing?” he growled.

  “Dancing?” She was confused by his question almost as much as she was confused by the look on his face. It was almost like he was angry at her for shaking her booty with Ida.

  His eyebrows came down even further and his eyes danced back and forth between hers. “That’s it? All you’re doing is dancing?”

  Now she was even more confused. Apparently she’d missed something. “I thought so?”

  “Fine.” He turned back to look over his shoulder and from where she was standing it looked a lot like he was glaring at the group of men who’d been watching her dance. “Then do it over here.”

  His hands came back to her shoulders as he steered her away from the patch of dance floor she’d previously been claiming. Bodies filled in their wake and Dawn glanced back over her shoulder toward the group of men, shrinking in the distance. A bossy hand gripped her chin and turned her face forward again.

  “You want to dance?” Quill demanded. “Then dance.”

  Bodies shimmied and shook all around them. A new song came on and everyone threw their hands in the air, shouting to one another in excitement. Dawn, however, could only blink up at Quill in confusion. He had his hands crossed over his chest as he glowered down at her.

  They were in a cave of strangers, surrounded by people while also simultaneously alone. The moment was sweaty and anonymous and also weirdly… intimate.

  A bead of sweat slipped down Dawn’s spine. She didn’t want to dance anymore. She could only look up at Quill’s hard eyes, that beautiful face of his, his broad shoulders, his frown. Self-consciousness started to creep in. She was certain that her feelings were written all over her face. That she thought he was handsome and maybe she had a crush on him that she had no idea what to do with.

  His expression seemed to soften as he stared back at her, his arms falling to his sides. She didn’t let her eyes fall from his. She felt awkward and self-conscious and exposed, but she was who she was. She wasn’t going to hide it from him. If he had a problem with it, he could bring it up himself.

  Meanwhile, she wasn’t going to let him drag her away from her good time. She took a deep breath and moved around him, headed back toward Ida.

  “Dawn,” he said in a low voice, that hand on her shoulder again.

  She paused, but just like in the kitchen, his eyes shuttered down and he said nothing, dropping his hand and letting her pass.

  ***

  Ten minutes later Quill was bursting out of the club and into the crisp night air. He was practically jogging to his car.

  Why the hell had he even come along on this stupid outing? He’d told himself it was because it was in his best interest to get to know the brothers better. But he could see now, clear as day, that he’d heard the words “club” and “Dawn” in the same sentence and he hadn’t been able to accept the invitation fast enough. He’d wanted to see her dolled up. He’d wanted to see her dance and laugh and have a good old fashioned time.

  Well, he’d seen it and now he only had himself to blame.

  He slammed into his car and dug his phone out of his pocket, dialing a number before he could think twice about it. He was breathing hard when the Director answered.

  “Yes?”

  “We have to act now,” Quill said, barely recognizing his own voice. “They’re ready. It has to be now.”

  The Director was quiet for a minute and Quill knew he’d surprised him. “ You want to bump up the timeline?”

  “Everything is in place,” Quill replied. “If we wait much longer, we risk something coming along and ruining everything. The time is now.”

  “But the boss, this Diana woman, you’ve said that she isn’t convinced yet. That she could talk them out of participating?”

  “I’ll take care of it. I’ll make sure she doesn’t stop them.”

  There was another long pause. “If you’re sure, I’ll rework the plan. Send you the details in the morning.”

  “I’m sure,” Quill said, his hands tightening around the steering wheel.

  The Director clicked off and Quill sat in the parking lot, staring at the side of the club. His own voice echoed in his ears. It has to be now.

  What he hadn’t said out loud was that if he waited any longer, had any more moments with Dawn, he wasn’t sure he could go through with it.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “Do you guys need a ride over to the lab today?” Dawn asked Orion and Phoenix as the three of them ate bowls of cereal at the breakfast table.

  As different as their three jobs and respective schedules were, it was rare that the three of them got to have breakfast together. As such, Orion was enjoying the quiet company of his siblings so much that he didn’t even register Dawn’s words for a few seconds after she said them.

  “Yeah,” Phoenix muttered. “Ida was gonna give me a ride but apparently she had to pick up an unexpected shift at the center this afternoon.”

  “What’s this?” Orion asked. “What are we talking about?”

  “Our meeting this afternoon at the lab.”

  He stared at his sister blankly. “What lab? What meeting?”

  She pursed her lips and gave him quite a look. “Jeez Louise could you be any more clocked out these days? I know you’re all in love with Diana and everything but I’ve never seen you so spaced out!”

  “I’m not spaced out!” Orion argued. He was. He was totally spaced out. Ever since the club a few days ago Orion had been on cloud nine. He’d been seeing Diana every chance he got and loving every single minute of it. Something had changed between them at the club. They were closer, sweeter. The walls had come down.

  Dawn said it best. He was in love.

  “Whatever,” Dawn said in a perfect little sister tone of voice. “Just promise me you’re looking both ways before you cross the road. You’re liable to get hit by a truck mooning around town like this.”

  Phoenix cocked his head at his brother. “Seriously, dude. Even I didn’t get it this bad for Ida. It’s embarrassing.”

  Orion flicked a few cheerios at his siblings. “What lab? What meeting?” he repeated.

  Now, Phoenix’s brow pulled down. “The government grant thing. The loan forgiveness medical study thing. Did Diana seriously not tell you? She’s so organized I figured she’d have made you sit through an hour long presentation. I assumed it would be her version of foreplay.”

  Orion leaned forward to cuff his brother over the head and grinned when Phoenix dodged him. It was good to see him moving so freely, without pain.

  “She mentioned something about it a few days ago, but I didn’t think we’d signed on to anything yet.” In fact, he distinctly remembered her saying that there was something funny about the whole thing. That had been the whole reason for getting Dawn and Quill to the club together, so that Diana could figure out if there was something between them and if that was the thing that had been ringing her alarm
bells. But they’d lost track of Dawn and Quill in the crowd and then soon after Quill had left. The experiment had failed. That was as much as Orion knew about anything. Diana certainly hadn’t mentioned that she’d given this government grant thingy the thumbs up. “Hold on, lemme give her a buzz.”

  He rose from the table and did just that, frowning when her phone went straight to voicemail. It never went straight to voicemail.

  “Well, Phoenix and I are heading over at 11 am, but I’m pretty sure all three of us are supposed to go. Quill said that that would be the best way for us to get chosen.”

  “Get chosen. What does that mean?”

  “They’re looking for specific candidates to study and apparently three siblings is a hot ticket item. They’ll examine us, figure out if we’re eligible and if they choose us then we’ll participate in the study for a few days.”

  “In exchange,” Phoenix cut in, “All that medical debt goes bye bye.” He licked his spoon clean and rose to dump his dishes in the dishwasher.

  Even though his brother moved quickly, Orion didn’t miss the expression on his face. Guilt. He wished he could erase that weight from Phoenix’s shoulders.

  Phoenix had been the reason that they’d come down from the mountains, assumed their human forms, and wracked up all that medical debt in the first place. He’d been caught in a forest fire and badly burned. He’d spent weeks in the hospital, recovering. And then months of physical therapy had added to the bill. Dawn and Orion had accrued a small amount of debt themselves, just from the requisite medical work-ups they’d been required to participate in when they’d registered at the center, but it was nothing compared to the mountain of money they owed on Phoenix’s behalf.

  Orion really, really wanted to talk to Diana about this whole thing, but he also didn’t want to screw up a chance at getting Phoenix’s debt erased. The world would open up for his brother if that could happen.

  “I won’t let you guys go alone.” Especially not if his absence would screw everything up for them.