Shifter Romance Box Set Read online

  “Bastard!” Abby screamed behind him. “You blind, selfish bastard.”

  Selfish? Tarik briefly considered ignoring her but he couldn’t do it. It was the tone in her voice. The anguish. “I’m doing this for you, for all of you, not me.”

  “Fuck that.” She glared at him. Furious and defiant and beautiful. “Forget about me.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Think about the others,” she shot back, taking a step toward him.

  “What others?”

  “The others like you.” She took a second step toward him, and a third. She didn’t speak again until she was standing less than three feet from him. Her chin was lifted in hard determination but her eyes were soft, pleading. “Do you suppose Omega made more like you? Do you think those other people might be suffering too? That they might need your help? Men. Women...children.” Her voice softened. Her lower lip trembled. He ached to taste it. To kiss her until the trembling stopped. Until they both had forgotten about all their troubles. “Do you think those people might deserve your help? With Torborg gone, who’s going to find them? You’re the only one right now who knows about this. Maybe this is what you’re meant to do.”

  He hadn’t thought about the possibility of others, or of what he might be able to do for them. But who was to say he could do anything at all? There were so many things he didn’t know, like precisely how his genetics had been altered. “The chances that I can help anyone else like me are slim to none. I have no answers.”

  “Not yet, perhaps.” She moved closer, until her fiery eyes were mere inches from his and her breasts didn’t quite brush against his bare chest. “I believe you can find the answers. I believe in you so much…” She turned toward her friend and smiled then turned back to him again.

  Abby pulled in a deep breath, hardly able to believe what she was about to say. If someone had told her a couple of weeks ago that before she left Alaska she’d sleep with a man who turned into a bear, would fall in love with him practically overnight and decide to make Alaska her permanent home—all in a span of less than a week—she would’ve peed her pants laughing so hard. But the past few days since she’d arrived in Alaska had been so intense. Intense sex. Intense danger. Intense connection. All that intensity had acted like a catalyst. She hadn’t been able to stop it. The bond between them had taken on a life of its own and she was powerless to stop it. By the end, she hadn’t wanted to stop it.

  Now she could see her former life for what it truly had been—basic survival. She hadn’t been living life. She’d been surviving. Tarik made her feel alive. He was strong and sexy but not so strong he wasn’t able to admit he needed her.

  He was looking at her now, his eyes full of so many emotions she couldn’t sort them all out. Her own eyes were burning with the tears she’d been holding back all day. It was time. Time to lay everything on the table.

  She was both scared and exhilarated.

  Blinking, she said, “Tarik, I believe in you so much I want to stay here in this Godforsaken place with you. I want to help you.”

  “Oh God,” Katie squeaked.

  Abby felt like her face was going to split open she was smiling so wide. “I came to Alaska for the adventure of a lifetime. What I found is my life…and a very new and thrilling kind of adventure.”

  Tarik’s shoulders dropped and for a moment, Abby feared he’d tell her no. Then he swept her into his arms and held her so tightly she could hardly breathe. Loosening his hold a smidge, he tipped his head down to kiss her. She gladly returned the kiss.

  “Okay, okay,” she heard Katie say behind her. “Enough already. He’s naked. Get a room! God, now what am I going to do for the next week?”

  Abby smiled at Tarik. “So, does that mean you aren’t going to run off into the woods to die a slow and painful death?”

  “Yes. I mean, no,” he responded.

  “Thank God!” Tarik’s friend said.

  “Tell me about it,” Katie said flatly. “Is he always so dramatic?”

  “Yeah,” the guy standing next to Katie said. Abby couldn’t help noticing the way those two were looking at each other all of a sudden. She had a feeling Katie would have no problems keeping busy over the next week. “Tarik’s a regular drama queen. He played Dolly in our senior year musical. You’d never know it, but he has a mean falsetto.”

  Tarik’s laughter echoed off the trees and vibrated through Abby’s body, leaving her feeling dizzy and happy beyond words.

  Tarik grimaced. “You promised to never tell a soul about that, Zant.”

  “Oh. Yeah. I guess I did.” His friend didn’t sound regretful in the least.

  Tarik looped his arm around Abby’s neck and started walking toward the hotel. “That’s okay. I’ll get you.” He poked his friend’s chest. “If I were you, I’d grow eyes in the back of your head because you’re going to need them.”

  “Tough talk coming from a guy who runs around naked,” his friend challenged. “So, what’s the plan, Tarik? And what do we do about Torborg?”

  “Plan? Who knows?” Tarik said. “I need to get into a lab, run some tests. As far as Torborg goes, I guess we call the police and tell them he was attacked by a bear. With him out of the picture, I think the danger’s over. I can go back to Omega. Maybe I can dig into some files and see if I can find out if there are other people like me. In the meantime, I’m going inside to get me some clothes, food and sleep.” He winked at Abby and her cheeks heated. “Not necessarily in that order. How’s your arm, kitten?”

  “It stopped bleeding. I guess it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I always get woozy at the sight of my own blood.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “Honest. I’m going to be fine.” Happy and eager to meet every new challenge with Tarik, Abby mooshed herself into his side.

  This was where she belonged, with this man and in this place. “What about your leg?”

  “It’s feeling better already. Everything is better now, knowing we’ll be together.” He raised her fingers to his lips and kissed each fingertip. “Before I met you, I didn’t have room in my life for anyone. But now you are my life.”

  The End

  About The Author

  Tawny Taylor has been writing erotic romance for women for ten years. Her first published novel, Tempting Fate, was published in 2004 and was an RT Reviewer’s Choice nominee and highly reviewed book. To date, Tawny has over 50 published books by 5 publishers, including Pocket, Kensington, Ellora’s Cave, Samhain and Changeling Press. They include several subgenres of erotica and erotic romance including paranormal, menage, contemporary, and romantic/erotic suspense. Many of her books contain D/s, bondage, and domination and submission. Among her bestselling books are Dark Master (Vampire, BDSM), Decadent Master (Vampire, BDSM), and Wrath’s Embrace (Menage, BDSM).

  Tawny is grateful to her readers for allowing her dream of writing and publishing to come true. Her hope is to continue to write hot, sassy, sexy erotica for women for many years to come.

  Visit her online at:

  http://www.tawnytaylor.com

  Twitter: @tawnytauthor

  https://www.facebook.com/AuthorTawnyTaylor

  He Ain’t Lion by Celia Kyle

  Ridgeville: Book One

  Copyright © 2013, Celia Kyle – All Rights Reserved.

  All Rights Reserved. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is strictly prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.

  Chapter One

  Alex O’Connell watched the ripple of awareness ease through Genesis, his club, as each male seemingly became mindful of the newcomer, the unknown human female, in their midst. The singular woman who smelled nothing of pride or pack.

  Shit, fuck, damn, and growl.

/>   He ran a hand through his hair and willed his inner cat to calm. Unfortunately, the beast wasn’t in the mood to be denied. It’d already scented the lush woman, and was more than ready to pounce—strip her naked and slide his hard length inside her body.

  How the fuck had she gained entrance?

  The semiannual Gaian Moon was making an appearance tonight, so Alex had gathered his pride and willing humans, known as familiars, to converge within the confines of the club. Sex could be had, raucous noises could be made, and most of the furniture had already been cat-proofed.

  Who was she, this unfamiliar female swaying her curvaceous hips amongst his felines, completely oblivious to the trouble she was about to cause?

  The Gaian Moon ensured cubs would be born, and that their pride would continue to flourish. Without the celestial rising their numbers would almost certainly dwindle, and they’d likely wither and die, as true matings were extremely rare among his kind.

  The humans in attendance knew what they were in for, the moment they’d become pride familiars. The pride would care for them and any offspring, for the remainder of their lives, so long as they made themselves available at the Gaian Moon gatherings, and helped the pride when called upon. Giving birth to cubs only ensured that pride protection and support would be everlasting.

  There were several true matings in their pride, but those couples remained at home to make little cubs of their own, while the others romped their way through Genesis.

  The female in the tight, cleavage-revealing red dress, though, was not a familiar. Alex knew this, because he was the prime, damn it.

  Shit, fuck, damn, and growl.

  His felines were staring at her as if she was a slaughtered deer, and they hadn’t eaten for weeks. Even so, she continued to mingle, now easily fifty feet from where he stood, and yet, he could still scent her heat, single her out from amongst the gatherers. He needed to do something. Fast.

  “You need to do something, Alex. And fast.” Grayson’s words cut through his thoughts, mirroring his own. “She’s not one of ours.”

  “I know.” Alex barely recognized his own voice, and he paused for a moment to take stock of his body’s responses to the new arrival. His cat, normally easy to control after years of practice, was fighting Alex’s restraint, snarling and snapping at its internal cage, prowling just beneath the thin veneer of his skin. The fucker wanted out. Now.

  His arms tingled, skin prickled, and he knew—without looking—that golden fur had sprouted from his forearms. The throbbing from his hands would soon reveal fuzzy fingers, and lethal, razor-sharp claws. Fuckity fuck.

  “How’d she get in?” His lengthened canines made speech difficult, but not impossible.

  He watched the expressions that flitted across his second’s face, where feelings of regret and remorse appeared to be dueling for supremacy. “I put Gina on the door, and she said she could’ve sworn the woman was on the list. And that her scent held your mark.”

  Alex rolled his eyes, immediately refocusing his gaze on the tempting interloper. Her blonde hair practically glowed under the dim lights of the club, her pale skin a beacon his lion was more than happy to follow to the ends of the earth. “She’s still pissed at me for not mounting her during the last moon, and I’m sure she’s just itching to start some trouble.”

  Grayson nodded. “I think you may be right.”

  Lion wanted this stranger. No doubt about its feelings, the beast practically begged and snarled its needs to Alex. Part of him wanted to charge through the gathering, steal her away to his den. Unfortunately he couldn’t do that, not without revealing his true nature to the woman. Sure, shifters were known to the human populace, but they weren’t exactly “out and proud” about their existence. Nonchalance and some closely kept secrets had kept the shifters protected thus far, and the various clan leaders around the world wanted to keep it that way.

  Alex had too much on his plate already, and he’d rather not add “calming a panicking human” to the list.

  “Bring her up, Grayson. I’ll speak with her, and then send her on her way. Perhaps give her an incentive to return on another night. We can’t have her in the building once the doors are locked and the festivities have begun.”

  “There’s only five minutes left, Prime.”

  As if the reminder of his title within the pride wasn’t enough to pressure him, the last thing Alex needed was to be further stressed by his second’s announcement of the remaining time, damn it. His cat was more than aware of how long it needed to wait until it could mate with the fertile, willing females, and the opportunity to produce cubs of its own, true mate or not. His lion had yet to be successful, but it was more than willing to keep trying… “Then make it fast.”

  * * * *

  Her friend Gina hadn’t lied. The guys in Genesis were all staring at her as if she were a big hunk of choice beef, and they hadn’t eaten for weeks. Then again, the whole semi-drooling thing could be because they were werecats. But wait, weren’t dogs the droolers?

  Maya mentally shrugged. Gina, even if she did seem a little cat crazy, was fun to hang out with, and now, she was Maya’s very best, hook-me-up-with-hotness, friend.

  She’d known all along that shifters lived in Ridgeville, as well as many of the surrounding towns in their wide expanse of North Carolina, so the all-cat club and semiannual orgy didn’t really surprise her much. She’d always heard that shifters were very sexual beings.

  And tonight, she could very well use some of that sexual healing.

  Heh.

  The men here certainly seemed to like a girl with some cushion for the pushin’. At least, that’s what their gazes told her. Hell, even some of the ladies were giving Maya the same lustful glances. But tonight was not the night for lovin’ with the female persuasion, though. Maybe another time…

  Maya wove her way through the crush of bodies, trying to ignore the occasional brushes against her, casual touches that roamed from her hips to her ass, and sometimes the side of her breasts.

  Yet another thing her new friend hadn’t lied about. It seemed these men were into fluffy women. Maya was a realist, she always had been. She had big hips, big thighs, and big breasts, all of which added up to a big woman.

  Whatever. ‘Cause she was perfectly content with who she was.

  And by all appearances the men liked what they saw, and she just wanted to have a fun night on the town, forget about her ex’s betrayal and hateful words. It’d been a month since the blowup breakup, and it was high time for her to shake off the remnants of Henry’s mistreatment of her and reclaim her life.

  The first order of business was a debauchery-filled night at Genesis, where, to her knowledge, no one knew her as the other half of “Maya and Henry”.

  Gina had told her that the club held a sex party of sorts every six months. It was a “cat” thing so it wasn’t advertised, but people in the know gathered here to have a bit of fun. Were werecats considered “people?”

  Maya wasn’t much of an exhibitionist, but her new friend’s persuasive words had convinced her that a trip to Genesis would be the first step to reclaiming her life—the whole “sexual healing” part of her plan.

  As she approached the bar a few of the men first seemed to part like the Red Sea, but then crowded closer, with one on each side, and she could feel the presence of at least two others at her back. And their hard cocks were not lost on her.

  She should totally be disgusted. Really. ‘Cause normal “good girls” wouldn’t get turned-on by being surrounded by a handful of werecats, with boinking on their minds, would they?

  In truth, their blatant desire sent a thrill down her spine, settling nicely in her pussy, causing her needy clit to twitch.

  Any other time she would’ve glared at them all or perhaps even called the cops, but not as of this moment, when glancing at each man revealed large bodies with heated stares, pale, amber eyes that just oozed sex.

  And she sure as hell wouldn’t kick any of them outta be
d.

  When she turned her attention back to the bar, she found the mixologist staring at her, sex and seduction obvious in his heavy-lidded gaze, while his focus seemed trained on her ample breasts.

  “Can I help you, Miss?” His soothing voice wrapped around her, and she could feel her sex growing wetter, aching with want and prepping for a night of naughty fun as she took her seat.

  The men crowded closer, capturing her with their bodies, chests rubbing and touching, random hands petting, and she couldn’t think of a single reason to push them away. No, tonight, she’d be a wanton sex goddess. Okay, that sounded kinda lame. Rather, she’d be a horny slut.

  Just for this single night.

  One. No harm, no foul.

  Maya definitely wouldn’t return in six months, though.

  Nope.

  Well, maybe.

  If she were invited, sure, probably.

  A low growl flitted on the room’s breeze, a moment before a man spoke in a commanding voice from behind her. “No, you cannot.”

  And just that quickly, the men surrounding her melted away, the mixologist doing the same but in the opposite direction, moving toward other customers in haste.

  A glance to her left and right revealed that she suddenly had a generous, five-foot radius of personal space.

  Maya turned on her stool, faced the man who’d sent her suitors running, but immediately tossed out all of her aggravation that stemmed from the other men deserting her. ‘Cause she’d be more than happy to take this man on, considering how insistent and growly he happened to be. Yummy.

  This guy appeared to be taller than the others, an air of authority wrapped around him, and she wondered what it’d be like to be taken by him, bent over the bar and…fucked senseless.

  He approached, a predator clothed in skin. And she seemed to be his prey.