Shifters on Fire: A BBW Shifter Romance Boxed Set (60 page)

“Okay.” He picked up her hand and squeezed it in his own big one. “It sounds like a plan.”

“So, tomorrow, you take me home and I stay there for three or four weeks, sorting shit out. But you guys get a satellite phone so I can call you, yeah?”

He nodded. “I don’t like the idea of you being away from me for so long.” His voice came out low and tight.

“Me neither, funnily enough. But I need to get stuff arranged. We can talk on the phone daily. Hey, have you had phone sex before?”

He shook his head but his expression brightened.

“Well, there’s something new to look forward to.”

“Then we get to be together, if we both still want it.”

“Yes, if we both still want it.”

He nodded, and then he kissed her properly.

Epilogue

Brenin stood on the porch, door open as the small car pulled onto the gravel in front of the house. Aiyana clambered out, followed by Charlie.

His heart soared. He’d wanted to be the one to go and pick her up, but Aiyana said she ought to do it. Give them time for some so-called girl talk. Whatever. He’d agreed because he wanted to make Charlie happy.

She looked good. More than good. Her long, red hair shone in the early spring sunlight, and her gorgeous curves were wrapped in snug fitting dark jeans and a tight sweater. He wanted to peel the clothes right off her and taste each single inch of her creamy skin. He needed her. To fuck her. Make love to her. To take her hard and fast, and gentle and slow.

It had been three and a half long, painful weeks for him. Each day reinforced how much he wanted to be with Charlie. He’d called his father, after Kyle bought a new satellite phone, and asked his dad’s advice. His father surprised him by telling Bren to go for it.

His exact words rang in Bren’s mind now. “Bren, son, I’d do it all over again. Even with the same outcome. Do you think for one moment I’d choose to lose any of the time I spent with your mother?”

He’d never looked at it that way, and his father’s words helped rid him of his last vestiges of resistance. Now, looking at Charlie as she walked toward him, a smile playing about her gorgeous lips, any lingering doubts flew away, as insubstantial as gossamer threads. They’d make this work. He’d do anything in his power to ensure it.

She reached him and he wrapped her in his arms, her warm softness a balm to his tired soul. He didn’t want to be alone any longer. Wanted to allow someone in, allow Charlie in.

She sighed against his sweater and mumbled, “I missed you so much.”

“Me too.” He let the guys grab her bags and pulled her behind him and up the stairs.

“Are you here to stay for a while? To…you know, do the…dating thing we discussed?” Nerves had him all tongue-tied.

“Yes, I am.” They reached his bedroom and he hesitated, knowing she’d said she’d be in the spare room.

“I still think I need my own space at first, for my things.” She jerked her head toward the spare room. “But, I’m sure I’ll be spending a fair bit of time in here.”

Charlie was the one to push open the door and pull him through it.

“Now, why don’t you show me the filthy things you were doing to yourself for my benefit the other night, but in person this time?”

She grinned and he captured her mouth in a hot, wet kiss. She groaned against him and pressed herself into him. And just like that, he knew. They were going to be okay. He’d have to take it slow, for a bear. But they were going to make it. His mate had come home.

About the Author

Skye Jones is a British erotic romance author. She likes to write about that moment when lust and love meet head on. For monthly giveaways, news, and freebies sign up to her newsletter here:
http://eepurl.com/bdVZ-5

Wolf Snatched

Marissa Farrar

Curvy wolf-shifter Alyssa finds herself divided from the pack she’s grown up with for the past eighteen years, and tied to a chair in a barn in the middle of nowhere.

A man has her now, a man who can also take the shape of a wolf. Alyssa has always followed by the rules, but this man is forcing her to break them all...

Chapter One

Alyssa bent to haul paper sacks of groceries into her arms.

Clutching the bags against her chest, she hurried toward her car. Her thighs rubbed together beneath the skirt of the summer dress she wore, the material clinging to her substantial backside. She’d thought the dress was too small when she’d put it on that morning, but it was so damn hot at the moment, she hadn’t been able to stand the thought of wearing anything larger. Besides, it was always several degrees hotter in the small town of Little Nimping than it was at home. The shifter compound was on higher ground, and the dappled shade of the forest always kept the place cooler.

The rest of her pack didn’t like to come into town, which she understood, but she didn’t understand why she was always the one who ended up running the chores. The pack could hunt fresh meat in the forest, but there were always going to be things they needed at the store—they couldn’t pick up toilet paper, or even the booze her alpha loved so much, in the forest. Somehow, probably because she was at the bottom rung of the pack, the job always landed in her lap.

Alyssa shivered at the thought of her alpha, Gregory, and not in a good way. She hadn’t missed the way he’d been looking at her lately. She’d celebrated her eighteenth birthday last month, and that meant she’d soon be mated off to a member of her pack. Gregory already had a mate, but she knew it wouldn’t stop him from claiming another if he chose. His mate, Valerie, was as bad as he was, and it wouldn’t surprise Alyssa in the slightest if they used her together.

Sickened, she pushed the thought away from her mind. Her brothers wouldn’t let them do that, would they? Both Holton and Joel had always been protective of her, as she’d expect from them being older, especially since their parents had died, but would they stand up against Gregory if he chose to take her? It might mean they’d lose their places in the pack—if they survived such an encounter—and would have to start afresh.

Perhaps that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. They could start somewhere new and see if any of the other packs from around their area had outsider shifters who would like to join.

No,
she chided herself. She shouldn’t want to spend time with other packs. She’d been told all her life how dangerous they were—cold-hearted and ruthless. There was a reason shifter-packs lived in their own territories; when they crossed paths bad things happened. It was better to stick to your own, even if it did mean being mated off to someone who made your blood run cold.

“Stop thinking about it,” she muttered to herself, trying to balance the grocery bags as she fumbled with the keys to her old truck. She’d treat herself by sitting in the vehicle for ten minutes and eating a couple of the candy bars she’d bought before she headed back to their shifter compound. She figured she deserved them after the hour drive each way it took her to reach the store.

Alyssa placed the key in the lock, but something made her pause. Despite it being the middle of the day, there weren’t many people around. The hairs on the back of her neck slowly rose to attention and her nostrils flared. Due to her shifter genetics, her hearing and sense of smell were sharp—not as sharp as when she was in wolf form, but still good—and something was sending her a warning signal that all was not quite right.

She whipped her head around, trying to spot something, but the parking lot was empty.

Where the hell is everyone?

A waft of something—an aftershave, a hint of sweetness, and something else, musky and dangerous, which sent all her senses alight—drifted over to her. Her heart instantly picked up its pace, and she hurried with the keys, suddenly desperate to get the door open and get the hell out of there.

No longer caring if she spilled the groceries, she wrenched open the door and climbed behind the wheel, her chest heaving. The heat of the day, combined with the sudden rush of adrenaline, had caused the thin material of her dress to cling to her curves, so when she glanced down she could see the rolls of her stomach sitting beneath the shelf of her breasts. Even her thighs spread out enough to cover most of the seat.

Her shame in herself swamped the sudden, irrational fear she’d just experienced. She knew those candy bars weren’t such a good idea, yet she didn’t seem to have the self-control to stop eating them. She enjoyed the pleasure of the melted chocolate dripping down her throat, the warm feeling it created inside. There weren’t many things she could take pleasure from in life, but eating was one of them. So what if the result was that she no longer felt comfortable in her own skin? If she was lucky, it might even keep perverts like Gregory away from her.

Right now, she wasn’t hungry anyway. She was torn between wanting to get away from there, and not wanting to go home. She wished she had another option, but at least she had a place she belonged with her pack —even if it was only to do the chores—and that was more than she could say for anywhere else.

Alyssa pushed the stick shift into reverse and backed out of the space, before pulling out of the parking lot. She took the small road out of town, swapping the clusters of houses for the expanse of tree trunks and pine foliage. It was an easy, scenic drive, and she enjoyed just being able to zone out for a while, thinking only about the road rather than the possibility of a future with someone who turned her stomach.

Glancing over at the grocery bags sitting on the passenger seat, she spied a couple of the candy bars she’d bought. Perhaps she could manage one after all. She reached over to snag—

The steering wheel suddenly wrenched from her hands and the car went into a spin, throwing her to one side. She didn’t even get a chance to scream as groceries flew past her face, and the side of her head smacked against the driver’s window. White sparks burst in front of her eyes, and everything spun in conjunction with the moving car.

No,
she realized,
the car has stopped moving.
It was just her head that was dizzy.

“Holy shit,” she muttered, reached out to the steering wheel to pull herself upright and check her injuries. The fact she was still able to both swear and move made her think she wasn’t too badly hurt, though she had no idea what had just happened.

She became aware of the stench of whiskey filling the interior of the car, the fumes making her eyes sting and her nostrils flare. The bottle Gregory had told her to buy must have smashed in the impact. He was going to be mad when he found out—more upset about that than her being in an accident.

Sitting upright made her head swim again, and her vision grayed at the edges. She rubbed her eyes, and then hissed air in over her teeth as pain shot through her temple. A tender spot was beside her eye, and when she placed her finger tips to the area, they came back bloodied. The injury must have happened when she hit her head.

Alyssa opened the driver’s door. Several items of groceries fell from the car and hit the ground—a couple of cans and some dried pasta. Ignoring them, she climbed from her truck and staggered onto the road. What had happened? Had she hit something? She hadn’t been aware of any impact. The stench of whiskey followed her out, blinding all other senses, and she covered her nose with the back of her hand. She didn’t know how Gregory could bring himself to drink that stuff.

Wincing against her sore body— a bruised shoulder, and stiff neck and back—she looked down to check under the car.

“Ah, shit.”

The back tire had blown out, which must have caused the skid. She glanced back down the road, the way she had come, and noticed a small pile of inch long nails scattered across the asphalt.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” She exhaled in exasperation.

If she didn’t know better, she’d have thought they’d been put there deliberately.

Alyssa headed back to the car to find her purse. Her shifter pack only owned two cell phones. They were together most of the time away, so what was the point in them having more? Plus the pack couldn’t afford to fund a whole heap of cell phones for members who would rarely need to use them anyway. Gregory was tight like that, so he kept one for himself, and the other was for the pack’s use when needed. Because she’d been on the run for groceries, she’d been allowed to take the phone with her in case of an emergency.

An emergency just like this one.

Alyssa found her purse wedged under the seat, and, with her body screaming in protest, she hauled out the bag. Fumbling inside, her fingers met with the cool metal of the phone and she took it out and checked the screen.

No service.

“Damn it.”

Keeping her eyes glued on the screen, she walked down the road, back in the direction of town. Hopefully, the phone would pick up some reception soon. She held it in the air, thinking the height might help.

“Come on, come on,” she willed the phone.

A single bar popped up.

“Oh, thank God!”

She hit the dial button for the only number programmed in—Gregory’s cell phone.

Pressing the phone to her ear, she prayed she wouldn’t lose service again. The phone rang and rang, and then Gregory’s voice cut in. “Hey, you know what to do.”

Voicemail. Damn it.

“Gregory, it’s Alyssa. I’ve had some car trouble about a half hour out of town. I got a burst tire and I hit my head. I’m okay, but I need help. I’ve no idea how to change a flat, and there’s no one else around.”

The phone beeped as she lost service again. “Arrrghh!” she screamed in frustration. What the hell was she supposed to do now?

She lifted her face to the sky and yelled, “You could have answered your cell phone, asshole!”

Suddenly, a hand locked over her mouth, stifling her words. Someone with immense strength yanked her backward, pulling her off her feet, and her neck screamed with fresh pain. The cell phone clattered to the ground. Alyssa noticed what she hadn’t before, another vehicle parked farther up the road, hidden partially by bushes.

A low voice growled in her ear, “Who are you calling asshole?”