Shifters on Fire: A BBW Shifter Romance Boxed Set (32 page)

Honey Badger Do Care

“Tell me again.” Mal cracked her eyes open to see Christina sitting across from her, pleading with her mate. They were adorable. Or at least would be if Mal didn’t have a pounding headache.

“No. You can hear it again when she wakes up. No need to tell it three times.” Luke’s hand was wandering down his mate’s neck toward what Mal assumed was Christina’s mate mark. She really didn’t need to see that. Mal made a little cough to let them know she was there and awake before the hot and heavy began.

An arm tightened around her.
Mate.
He was here with her, lying on … Mal turned her head. She was on a bed in what could qualify as a whole house, but was most likely a guestroom in the mansion.

“Well, if you weren’t all Mr. Overprotective Alpha-head,” Christina continued on as if she didn’t hear that Mal was awake, giving Mal a wink. It was all Mal could do not to crack up and give the pregnant woman away. “I would have been able to see it firsthand, so I put this on you.”

“You are carrying our young.” It was a cross between a stern
this is not up for discussion
and pride.

“Fine.” Christina pretended to harrumph and it felt dishonest. Huh.

“You feel guilty.” Luke’s voice turned tender and once again Mal wondered if she should even be there listening, but everyone in the room knew she was there and awake. They wanted her to overhear.

“I wish I saw more,” Christina confessed, all lightness in her voice gone.

“You see plenty,” Al spoke from behind Mal. His arm still snug around her.

“Your job is to record what happens, not to make sure we avoid all badness. Besides, this needed to happen.” Luke’s words appeared to make sense to Christina, and she sunk into him, her brow less tense than only moments earlier.

“What needed to happen?” Mal tried to sit up, but her mate kept her in place. Good thing, since it was then that her nakedness under the blanket became painfully obvious.

“Just lay back and relax, mate.”

“You’re here.” It was not surprise or awe that had her speaking, it was fact. He was here. All of him. That bastard Joshua never accomplished his goal.

“Always.” The truth sung in her ears.
Always
.

“What happened?” Mal rolled to get a better look at her mate, who was on top of the covers instead of with her, snuggling close. The inappropriateness of her thoughts gave her a quick moment of blush before all of her questions filled her head once more. “Your bear was you, but not.”

“The huele bicho tried to steal my bear from me.”

Her stomach dropped. She’d nearly caused her mate to lose his bear because of her stupid relationship past. “And then you attacked him, and now he’s dead.”

“I … I killed him.” The events were not completely retrievable in her memory but zero remorse hit her. She killed him and was oddly okay with that. Happy even.

“Your little honey badger did.” Al rubbed her mate mark with his thumb as he spoke. The man didn’t play fair.

“Damn, you are fierce, girl.”

Mal had forgotten that Christina and Luke were there. Christina skipped over the part that had Mal most interested.

“My what?” She could have sworn they said honey badger, and stinks, it felt right to think it. A honey badger. What the heck?

“Hello, dear.” Al’s grandmother walked in the room and Mal felt immediately naked. True, she had no clothes on, but the blanket that felt like too much between her and her mate and just enough between her and her new boss felt oddly akin to nothing as his grandmother walked in. Madame Alpha, they called her. “How are you faring?”

“Fine, I guess.” Within three seconds of her grandmother-in-law entering the room, she’d inadvertently lied. Did all shifters feel this? “Confused.” And that was the truth of it.

“Understandable, dear. A lot has happened in your world this week. Would you like the abbreviated version of what happened this afternoon since everyone here seems to be pussy-footing about?”

“Very much, Madame Alpha.” She wanted to know all of it, but it sounded like the woman would give her enough.

“Grammy.” The old woman sat on the edge of the bed. “Please, you mated my grandson. You are mine now as much as he is, even if the little bugger declines his role.”

“Grammy.” Al didn’t like the implication of whatever she was saying. Mal made a note to find out soon. Al would tell her, but she knew now wasn’t the time.

“Fine.” His grandmother was only half telling the truth. Interesting.

“Thank you.”

“Now, Malory, I am sure your mate will fill you in on all the details later. In a nutshell, Joshua Barrett saw who you were before you knew and decided to control you. He used dark magic and you know the rest of that story.”

No. No she did not. Argggggg. She knew so very little.

“And I killed him.”

“You did.” Grammy looked at her with a knowing smile. She had been there before. If Mal was to guess, she had been there many times. “You had no choice.”

“Oh, I’m glad he is dead.” If she had clothes on or less company, she might even do the happy dance. Probably soon the ramifications of what she had done would hit her, but for now there was only glee mixed with relief. “I just don’t remember doing it, and what I do remember after seeing Al’s eyes is a mixed up pile of not making sense.”

“That is because you had your first shift,” Christina piped in as if it explained it all.

“First shift? But I’m not a shifter.” No, that was wrong. What had they called her? “Crap on a cracker. I’m a honey badger.”

“You are, dear. And you feel the truth as one of your gifts.” Grammy might be fishing for information at this point. She didn’t
feel
as confident as she sounded. Maybe it was more than truth she felt. More accurately, maybe truth was more than she understood.

“I do.” Mal let that sink in. She wasn’t imagining things as a child. She was just not skilled yet then. “So wait, my parents are honey badgers? No, that’s not right.”

“It’s not.” Grammy patted her arm before rising. “Honey badgers are not born from other honey badgers. They are unusual in that way, which is why you don’t change until you reach your maturity.”

“Maturity?”

“First full moon after your twenty-fifth year, dear.” The old woman was already half way to the door. It looked like this conversation was just about done. What an odd woman.

“But I never—” No, she never had. What was the charge against Joshua again? He stole her honey badger from her. “I’m glad I killed him.” Granny gave her a nod before exiting the room.

“So now what?” Mal asked her mate. Her patient, loving, still-a-bear mate.

“Now you come back with me and build a life.”

“There is so much more to it than that.” Oh, so much more. She was a shifter and couldn’t feel her animal. She needed to work on that. She needed to figure out how all of this shifter politics worked and exactly how important her mate was in all of it. She needed to start her job. For now, building a life with her mate sounded like the perfect first step.

“Yes, yes there is, but there is nothing more important than that.”

“No, there is not.” She agreed before she was interrupted by a scream.

“Fuck me. My water just broke.”

Epilogue

One Year Later

“She’s so beautiful.” Mal’s eyes teared up at the sight of the beautiful baby in her arms. Her baby.

“She’s her mama.” Al kissed the baby’s forehead before doing the same with his mate.

“She needs a name.” From the time Mal was a toddler, she had planned to grow up and have a baby girl named Jennifer. Little did she know that less than a day after she mated, her alpha female would give birth to a perfect little girl named Jennifer. The name fit the little panther to a T. Now here she was, almost a year later, naming her own sweet one.

“I was thinking of the name Rosemary.” Al’s eyes never left the baby as he spoke. This was going to be one spoiled little girl.

“After your mom. That sounds perfect.” Mal had never met Al’s mom, but from the stories he told, Mal would have loved her. It was amazing how different the two sides of Al’s family were. His mom sounded so down to earth and a little bit crunchy, whereas his father’s family was the political powerhouse known as the Humphreys.

Mal appreciated that her mate came from a powerful and stupidly rich family, she really did, but she appreciated her mate’s choice to stay out of all of that mess even more. Christina had confided in her that Al was probably the most alpha in the clan, but he wanted no part of that position and only took the role of beta after much begging. Bears, as a rule, were not into the social hierarchy so many other animals thrived on.

“Look, she is already asleep.” She handed Rosemary to her dad. He held her as if she were a delicate flower. Mal knew a secret, though. She wouldn’t be fragile for long. Christina had drawn a baby portrait of her, and her little baby took after her mama—she was a honey badger. It was supposed to be impossible, so they decided to keep it to themselves in case it was wishful thinking gone awry. It was true, though. Mal could feel it.

“They do that a lot. Eat and sleep pretty much describes the first few months.”

“You, my beautiful mate, make me the happiest bear in the world.”

“And you, my handsome mate, made all my dreams come true. Even those I dared not dream.”

About the Author

Filled with the desire to write books she wouldn't want her mama to know she read, much less wrote, Ever Coming was born.

Ever Coming is the naughty pen name of an international best selling author who simply wanted to get her smut on. When she is not reading and writing the naughty, Ever is usually found enjoying time with her kids and husband.

Website:
http://evercoming.com

Facebook: 
https://facebook.com/EverComing

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Alpha Mine

Lila Felix

Kolani and Talia have been pre-arranged to be married since they were children. But they have a deal of their own. All they have to do is pretend they are happily mated for three months. Pretending soon turns into reality and hearts are set on fire.

The Island of Molokai

This dress doesn’t fit me right. It’s too short and too long at the same time. I either want to cut it off and make it a tube top or add an actual skirt to stop me from tugging at the hem constantly.  It hugs my curves and the last thing I want this male to see is anything that will entice him.

Enticement wasn’t part of the deal.

Attraction wasn’t part of the deal.

My best friend slapped my arm and said, “You’re twitching, Talia. You’re making me nervous. Steel yourself, woman.”

Kayla was the only person at this ceremony who was on my side and even she was giving me shit.

My fingers jerked at the bodice one last time to show her that I could and there was nothing she could do to stop me. Turning to her with a glare, I whined, “I can’t help it. I don’t want this. I don’t want any of this. And if I have to have it, I want it to be over—now.”

Not listening to her answer, I pushed the palm leaves aside and glanced in the direction of the altar. Kolani’s back was too me.  Warm tendrils of ocean air fanned over my face and undoubtedly messed up what Kayla had taken hours to sculpt. Raw energy and shifter blood pulsed in waves across the thick ribbons of muscle from his shoulders all the way down to his toes. A cold sweat broke out along my brow—unwarranted and unwelcome.

It was a natural reaction to an attractive male in my vicinity, that was all.

After blowing out a weighted breath, I pushed a random tear away from the corner of my eye before turning around. There was so much riding on this union—my future, Kolani’s future, and the future of clan relations.

Tears wouldn’t get me out of this marriage that had been arranged since I was six.

The only thing tears would do was ruin my make-up and show weakness.

“I said that too. I said I didn’t want to be mated. I said I didn’t want to be one of those girls who is either cooking dinner or cooking a bun in the oven. But you have to have some faith. These matings are instinctual. They are for the best—for us and the clan. And things are changing, slowly, but surely.”

I agreed with the latter of her points but only by a sliver. Babies weren’t being born to the shifters at the same rate anymore and our mating would be successful because our clans had never been united under the contract of a marriage.

Looking out one more time as Kolani’s shoulders shifted and his hips exchanged weight from one built leg to the other in his traditional grass skirt, I had to admit, if I was one of those girls who wanted this, I couldn’t have asked for a better male to take my hand.

Shit. No. I can’t start thinking that.
I chastised myself and allowed the leaves to break me from staring at him.

The deep thrum of bass, like the thunderous roars of the gods, meant the ceremony was beginning with or without my consent. The crowd stood and began the hum of our people—the collective song, passed down through the generations of shifters, that told of a new mating in progress.

I loved that song.

Never did I think I would be standing here, listening to it before my mating—letting it lull me toward something I vehemently claimed I didn’t want.

“You’ll hold my hand?” I asked Kayla, the closest thing to a relative I had left.

“I won’t let go until we get there. I promise.” She was smiling way too much. She didn’t have to be so happy about this. Then again, in her mind, this was best for me. I was marrying into one of the most elite clans on the islands and Kolani had been fought over by females since I was privy to the gossip.

But my father had given his own blood to make sure this union happened.

Kayla stepped out before me and pushed through the traditional decorations to make our entrance. “Eyes on the floor,” Kayla reminded me. Even though I wasn’t supposed to know what Kolani looked like before the ceremony, it was difficult not to. He was everywhere in the mainstream media and in wolf society. He was a local celebrity bachelor as the Alpha’s only son and then when his father died a few months ago, he became the CEO of the largest exporter in Hawaii.

There wasn’t a paper on the islands or the mainland that hadn’t covered the story.

“Walk slower. You’re running.” She jabbed me in the ribs.

A chuckle from the audience was the exact opposite of what I wanted to hear. What I really wanted to hear was the sobs and chest-wracking cries of females who were losing all hope of being mated to Kolani.

Because I’d pick the loudest one and offer her my spot in an instant.