Shifter Romance Box Set Read online

  Hopping out, he grabbed a towel as he shuffled across the bathroom tile. By the time he made it to the bedroom extension of the phone he had the black towel wrapped securely around his waist.

  Anthony cleared his voice before answering on the fifth ring, "Hello, Anthony here."

  "Anthony, it's Grant. You need to get down here ASAP. The CEO of PRT has made a decision on the company," he paused for a moment, "I don't want to get your hopes up but I think he's going to sign."

  Anthony smiled. Fan-fucking-tastic, he didn't think this day could get any better. "Tell him I'll meet him in my office in half an hour."

  "Sure thing. This is it buddy! Don't be late." Grant hung up without another word.

  He turned to call to Selene but noticed she had already left the shower, wrapped a towel around herself and was leaning against the bathroom door casing. He took a moment to consider for the hundredth time how sexy she was. If he hadn't had to be in the office in a half hour he would have tossed her to the bed and had another round with his own personal, in the flesh, Mia Wallace look-alike. His cock twitched, liking the idea.

  Instead he strode over to her, lifted her up off her feet and into his arms causing her to squeal with a mixture of delight and surprise. He kissed her soundly on the lips. "They're signing honey, they're signing!"

  He placed her back down on her feet.

  She smiled at him, her eyes gleaming in delight. "That is excellent news, congratulations."

  Turning from her, he jogged over to his closet and pulled open the doors. Picking quickly he snatched up a classic, double breasted black suit jacket and matching slacks. "I have to be at the office in thirty minutes," he called out into the bedroom, then paused for a moment, "25 minutes. So you can stay until I get back or I can meet you at your place once I'm done."

  "I can just head back to my place, I have a few things I need to take care of. One of which would be to change into some fresh clothing," she called back to him. Anthony heard rustling in the other room. He assumed she was getting dressed herself.

  In a matter of minutes he was dressed and stepping out into the bedroom, adjusting his tie as he walked. He had been correct, she had pulled on the t-shirt and jogging pants she had borrowed from him earlier.

  "You can have those, by the way, they look much better on you," He took a moment to consider how lucky he was. At that moment, he didn't think he could be a happier man.

  Selene laughed as she walked over to him, "they're several sizes too big so I seriously doubt that, but thank you anyhow."

  He leaned down and kissed her a final time, sweet and quick. "Gotta go, I'll be at your place with some champagne to celebrate as soon as I can."

  He rushed out of the bedroom and to the elevator, grabbing his wallet and keys on the way. Pushing the down button on the elevator, he waited. There was so much more he wanted to say, but just didn't have the time now. Later, he told himself as the elevator dinged and he stepped inside, leaving Selene behind.

  * * * *

  Several hours later, Anthony was on top of the world as he strolled into his apartment building whistling a song he couldn't place, but he whistled it anyhow. It may have been an old Rolling Stones tune from his younger years, hard to say. He didn't give it much more than a fleeting thought.

  He had a bottle of Perrier-Jouet Grand Brut that he wanted to grab from his bar before heading over to see Selene. As expected, PRT Inc had signed and his company was now the number one advertising agency in North America.

  As he made his way through the lobby Reggie called him over to the security desk. He paused not wanting to waste any time getting back to Selene, but decided a few minutes talking to Reggie wouldn't kill him. Besides the old guy, always had something interesting to say.

  "Good-day Reggie," Anthony greeted walking up to the security desk with his hands in his pockets.

  Reggie didn't waste any time getting right to what he wanted to know. "I saw you spent the night with the little dark haired vixen again. Does that mean you've traded in the blond?"

  Again? he had almost missed that part of Reggie's question. What did he mean by again?

  "Well I just met Selene the other day, but yes I'm seeing her now," Anthony grinned as he spoke the words. Reggie had to be one of the worst gossips he knew, although Anthony didn't mind humouring him.

  Reggie fell quiet for a moment, as if considering something. With a sly grin, he leaned over the desk, motioning with his hand for Anthony to move closer. "It's ok. I won't say a word. I wished I was still able to juggle a couple at a time," he whispered.

  Anthony couldn't help but laugh, the conversation was so absurd. Reggie's age had to be starting to catch up with him. "Reggie. I swear. Last night was the first time she's ever been here."

  Reggie shook his head. "Nope," he dug into his pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill, setting it on the counter in front of him. "I have a twenty here that says she came from your penthouse, twice last week. I may be getting on in years, but I'm not senile yet."

  Had Selene been here? She certainly didn't come from his place, but perhaps visiting someone in the building. An ex? Curiosity was getting the better of him.

  "Okay. Say I take this bet. How are you going to prove it?"

  Reggie motioned for Anthony to follow him behind the counter and into a room marked private. Inside the room and to their left, there was a desk with ten monitors attached to the wall. The opposite wall contained stacks upon stacks of old VHS takes and DVDs, all dated and organized chronologically.

  Two monitors displayed the inside of the elevators, a couple of cameras recorded the lobby and then the remaining ones flipped back and forth between angles of various floors in the building.

  Anthony watched the monitors as Reggie rummaged through the DVDs.

  "So what day was your blond lady friend here?" Reggie called over his shoulder, while continuing to sort through the disks.

  "The 17th and then the 20th," Anthony called back.

  "Ahhh. Yes. Yes," Reggie muttered to himself more than Anthony, "I found them." He produced two disks from the stacks, both marked with the appropriate dates. On the third wall was a single monitor with a DVD player attached to it.

  "Come over here," Reggie motioned for Anthony to follow him to the lone monitor. He sat down and popped the disk into the player.

  Standing behind the old man, Anthony watched as Reggie fast-forwarded until he got to the spot where Anthony came home with Simone. "Okay, there is lady friend number one," Reggie commented as they watched Anthony and Simone exit into the penthouse.

  He slowly fast-forwarded until they saw the elevator rise all the way back up to Anthony's floor. He stopped the fast forward and hit play. Simone stepped into the elevator and pressed the button to head down to the lobby.

  Both Anthony and Reggie watched dumbfounded as they witnessed what happened next.

  As the elevator doors shut and the elevator began its decent, Simone began her transformation. They looked on as her hair went from long blond to shoulder length black. Simone's facial features seemed to morph into a completely different face, into Selene's face to be exact. Before she stepped from the elevator, she looked up in the direction of the camera. The light blue eyes he remembered Simone to have were now the sapphire blue of Selene's.

  "What the hell?" Reggie gasped, sitting back into his chair. His mouth opened as if he were going to say something else, but instead he snapped it shut again.

  Anthony remembered that day. He had gone after her, but when he made it to the lobby the only person he had seen was a dark haired woman exiting the building wearing a dress identical to Simone's.

  He had to see it again. "Reggie, can you replay it for me?"

  "Sure boss," came the reply as Reggie rewound the section and played it again from the moment Simone exited his place and stepped into the elevator. There was no doubt that was his Selene. It made no sense.

  How? Anthony shook his head. It wasn't possible. But, it was. But, it couldn'
t be. He wasn't sure of the hows or whys but one thing he did know was that he needed those disks.

  "Reggie."

  "Ya, boss."

  "You and your grandson like the Knicks right?"

  "We do."

  "Well, I'm going to offer you a deal. If you give me those disks, I guarantee you season tickets to the Knicks next season, so close you and your boy will be able to smell the sweat from your seats."

  Reggie was silent for a moment as he turned and faced Anthony. He broke into a smile holding out his hand to Anthony, "You have yourself a deal, boss."

  Taking Reggie's hand Anthony added, "You have to swear you won't mention this to anybody and that there are no copies of this."

  "That's the one and only, and truth be known no one would believe me if I did say something. At my age son, they'd lock me up and throw away the key."

  Anthony nodded, wasn't that the truth? He was still not sure if he believed what he’d seen. One thing was for sure, he'd need to take it up to his place and watch it a couple more times before he went to see Selene.

  He started to get a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach; he should have known this day was just too good to be true.

  Reggie ejected the disk and passed the one marked Oct. 17 and the one marked Oct. 20th over to Anthony.

  "Thanks Reggie." Anthony turned and walked slowly from the office, his head still spinning from what he had just witnessed.

  * * * *

  Selene waited. And waited. And waited some more. She assumed he would go out for drinks with his business associates after the big merger, but after the past couple of days they had spent together, she would have thought he would be here long before now.

  She checked her watch. A diamond trimmed Rolex. It was midnight, no phone call, no nothing.

  By 1am she gave up waiting and went into the bedroom to get ready for bed. She slipped into an oversized beige t-shirt which had the words "shit happens" written across the chest in bold black print and a pair of Joe Boxer, boxer shorts.

  She was just about to slip into bed when she heard the buzzer.

  That wouldn't be him this late? She hurried to the foyer and to the speaker. She depressed the talk button and asked, "hello?"

  "We need to talk," came the curt reply. It was Anthony. There was something in his voice. He sounded... odd. His voice was harsh, as if he were trying to control his anger. With hesitation, she unlocked the elevator to her floor and told him to proceed on up.

  Less than a minute later, the elevator doors slid open to reveal Anthony. He was still wearing the suit he had worn to the meeting. His tie was gone and the top couple of buttons on his shirt were undone, but other than that, he looked much the same as he had when he’d left for the meeting.

  Except for the look in his eyes. Twelve hours ago, they had looked at her with adoration and joy, now they were devoid of any emotion.

  Anthony reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a disk labelled October 17th. "I have a video for us to watch." He brushed past her in the direction of her living room.

  Selene was confused, but had a bad feeling. A lump the size of a cannonball developed in the pit of her stomach. She counted the days back in her head to the 17th. Why was the date significant?

  He hired Simone on the 17th for his dinner party. That still didn't explain his sudden anger and the disk. As far as he knew, she knew nothing of Simone. There was no way he could have connected the dots between herself and Simone.

  "Sit down, this is quite an interesting little disk," Anthony growled, making Selene flinch as she sat.

  He slid the disk in the player, snatched up the remote and began to skip until he got to the part he was looking for.

  Selene gasped, covering her mouth with her hand briefly. Oh my. Oh no. She watched herself shift in the elevator. Simone disappeared and was replaced by the form she was currently in. A form Anthony knew intimately.

  She opened her mouth to speak, to say something, anything. Nothing came out. No words. No explanation. What could she say? She looked up at him, his face was twisted in a look of disgust, and his eyes raged with anger.

  After what seemed like an endless silence, he spoke. "What are you?"

  She cringed. She deserved that. She knew she did. If their roles were reversed, she would be equally as cold, perhaps even worse.

  "Are you even human?" he asked when she didn't answer the first question.

  She closed her eyes, trying to gather her thoughts. Selene wasn't certain she would be able to keep him from walking out of the door and never looking back, but the least she could do was give him the truth.

  "I'm human," she finally replied, "only different."

  "Different how? I can't say I know many humans that are able to become entirely different people without a lot of plastic surgery. Certainly not by thinking about it."

  "Please sit," she patted the empty section of sofa next to her. When he hesitated she added: "If you want to know the truth, know everything, then its going to take a few minutes."

  He nodded, his features softening ever so slightly. He refused to sit next to her, instead he chose one of the matching armchairs to the right of her. "Alright. Let's hear it."

  "This is going to sound somewhat crazy..."

  He cut her off, "I just saw my girlfriend transform from the body of a hooker. I'm pretty sure it can't sound much more crazy than that statement. Aren’t you?"

  Selene cringed at the way he pronounced the word hooker. She held her tongue from mentioning the fact he was the one that hired the hooker in the first place. It really wasn't the best time to provoke him further, if she wanted to keep him from storming out of the door and out of her life.

  She tucked her legs up under her and settled back against the sofa. His eyes never left her, not for an instant. It was more than a little unsettling. "Well... basically I'm a shifter. A shifter is a human that can change their form at will. A pure shifter can shift into any human or animal form they choose of the same gender. In my case, my father was a human, and my mother was a shifter, which means I am not capable of shifting into any form other than human.

  His features softened from a look of anger to one of curiosity. However, she wasn't about to fool herself into thinking that meant anything other than that he was intrigued. Even if he could get past the fact she wasn't what he thought she was, he still had to forgive her for the lies. She would hazard a guess that ultimately, that would be the biggest hurdle in gaining back his trust.

  She chewed nervously at her bottom lip for a moment. "There's a vast array of people in the world that aren't quite what they seem. Witches, Vampires," she laughed nervously, "hell, I've even come across a demon or two."

  "Demons?" he laughed outright. "You're not serious Selene? You can't seriously think I would believe that?"

  She smiled weakly. "Before tonight, if someone told you there were humans in the world that could alter their appearance, or transform into animals at will would you have believed them?"

  He shrugged, leaning forward in the chair, bracing his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers in front of him. He bowed his head in contemplation. "Alright," he paused before looking back up at her, "Even if I could get past this whole shifter stuff. You lied!"

  She stood and walked over to him. Crouching in front of him she looked up into his face, capturing his eyes. "I'm sorry, Anthony."

  He was about to say something, but she raised her hand to silence him. He obliged. "When I met you as Simone, I knew that you felt the connection between us. I knew it. I also knew that you would never seriously consider her as anything more than occasional company to pass the time."

  "You don't know that Selene," Anthony ran a shaky hand through his dishevelled hair.

  Pressing her luck, Selene placed a hand on his knee, catching his eye once more. "I do know that," she said softly, a tear beginning to form in her eyes.

  "No, you don't," he shook his head at her, his eyes softened and she began to
see a glimmer of the affection she’d experienced earlier that day.

  Anthony reached out and touched the side of her face with his hand. Closing her eyes for a moment, Selene savoured the warmth of his touch, fearing it would be the last time she would ever feel it.

  He tilted her chin up, so her eyes met his. She noticed the sadness in his own eyes, and cursed herself for being the source of his pain. "I'm so sorry, Anthony."

  "I know. But... I don't know you Selene. Simone..." he shook his head, "who are you really?"

  She sighed and shook her head. The truth was she couldn't answer that. He was right. How could he be with her, love her, when even she didn't know who she was? "I don't know," she finally confessed.

  He slid off the chair and crouched beside her. Taking hold of her hands, he brought them up to his mouth and kissed them lightly. "When you find out, let me know," he whispered into her hair, before kissing her on the forehead. He paused for a moment then stood and walked away without another word.

  Selene didn't follow. She simply sat there, knees curled up against her chest, allowing the tears to flow freely down her cheeks. She didn’t hear the elevator arrive or him step into it. She was lost in her thoughts.

  Who are you really? His words kept ringing in her ears. Who was she? Eventually she crawled up onto the sofa and fell asleep pondering that very question.

  Chapter 9

  It had been a month since Anthony had confronted Selene with the disk. Each morning as he went running in Central Park, he would think about her, just as he did now. The mid November weather was becoming bitter, but it only pushed him to move faster.

  He had to admit that he had secretly hoped she would contact him. That perhaps one day she would show up at his building, or even give him a phone call, but it never happened. Each time the doorbell rang his heart would race slightly, hoping, though in truth even if she did, he wasn't sure where to go from there.

  The whole situation was such a bizarre mess that his mind told him logically he would be better off if she never contacted him again. He would move on with his life and the whole idea of shifters and vampires and demons could just become a bad dream.