BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) (122 page)

Chapter 6

Getting out of Port Alfred in one piece without he police finding them had been a miracle. Bruce had wiped the blade that had killed Jenna clean and left it in the Assassin’s body so that it had looked like he’d been killed by one of his own. He’d taken Jenna away, and they’d made their way home.

It had taken her a week to recover, which was a lot by shifter standards. She’d been so close to death there had been a chance that she couldn’t escape it, after all.

But she was alright. She started noticing things like the awareness of feelings. Preternatural strength and speed. The ability to smell danger and happiness and love. And the new power that was rolling off her like waves was intoxicating. Bruce had been infatuated with her since the day he’d met her. Now that she was shifter, it was that much more intense.

The bond between them strengthened and Bruce understood how Rosa must have felt, losing Stephen.

And she was his. There was something about her that screamed out his name all the time, something that he knew every other shifter would be able to smell, to feel, to read in her very existence. And it was addictive.

The first night Jenna was able to get up, the power in the house was so strong Bruce wasn’t sure why any of them didn’t lose control. But Saxon was coloring in like nothing was wrong, and Jenna was cooking in the kitchen.

But she moved with a fluid grace she didn’t have before. Lethal and animalistic, wild and at the same time, still Jenna. Still the same, still the Jenna that he married.

Bruce stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Jenna’s waist. She smiled, tipped her head back, made space for Bruce’s face in her neck like she knew that was what he’d wanted. Of course, she could smell feelings now. Love. Lust.

A deep growl emanated from Bruce’s throat, like a purr but more intense. And heat rolled in waves from Jenna’s body, washing over Bruce. He was hard immediately, his body ached for hers. Jenna turned and looked at him with amber eyes, eyes that didn’t belong to a human.

“Saxon will hear us,” she said. The bear in the little boy had sharpened senses just like him. Just like the both of them. But Bruce shook his head.

“He’ll understand,” he said. Because the bear in the boy would also understand mating and the normality of it. The shifter life was different than anything humans understood. There were things that happened that people just didn’t think was appropriate, and shifter did it because it was the natural thing to do.

Bruce kissed Jenna, biting her lip enough to hurt but not to break skin. The same rumble emanated from her throat that Bruce had produced just a second before, and he could feel her body crave his, could feel the question that hung between them.

The question he was going to answer. Right now.

He took her by the hand and led her through the door, through the lounge and to the bedroom. He glanced at Saxon, who looked up and then just kept on coloring, and Bruce closed the door.

He turned around and heat rolled from Jenna, filling the room. Bruce took a step toward Jenna, a blur, really. He was in front of her and he peeled the clothes off her shoulders, ignoring the material that ripped with the movement.

“I don’t know my strength now,” Jenna said.

Bruce shook his head and stroked her cheek, running his fingers over her smooth skin.

“You won’t hurt me,” he said. And she nodded, her eyes closed, trusting him. He could feel it coming off her, the trust and the love and the complete surrender.

He ran his hands through her hair, the thick red-brown strands running through his fingers. The wild lust of a moment before had drained out of the room, and something soft and gentle rested between them now. Bruce took Jenna’s face between his hands and kissed her. He traced her lips with his tongue, and then entered her mouth and explored it, tasting her, touching her, like it was the first time. She sighed into his mouth, and her hands came around his waist.

For just a moment Bruce turned his attention to the other side of the door, checking on Saxon through the bond, but the boy was content and safe in the lounge. Bruce pushed his fatherly responsibilities out of the way and paid his full attention to his shifter wife.

He unclipped the bra she wore and let it slide off her shoulders, dropping it to the floor. She unbuttoned his shirt, a lot more considerate than he’d been with hers, and pushed her hands under it, brushing it off his shoulders. They were both shirtless, and he pulled her close so that her skin was on his. He shuddered, and power rippled through him alone with feeling he hadn’t felt that strong with her, ever.

She moaned and it was from the magic in the room, he knew. He could feel her animal, see the bear sliding behind her eyes. His own bear recognized it and he felt the pull to change. But not now, not tonight. They were going to be humans together until full moon before she stepped into her role completely.

Jenna was the one that pushed her fingers under the belt of his pants and worked them over his hips, taking his underwear with it so that he stood in front of her, naked and eager. His sex was ready for her, but he took his time. She palmed him, leaning into him so that every part of him touched her. She still wore her pants and he took care of it, sliding it down her smooth legs so that they were both naked together, with nothing between them.

Bruce backed up until he reached the bed, and he pulled Jenna with the so that they collapsed on the bed together. His whole body was pressed up against hers, and everywhere their skin touched it was magic. Tingling, sensational magic that vibrated with preternatural potential. Bruce rolled onto her, and for the first time in their relationship he wasn’t scared he was going to crush her. She was strong enough to handle him now, handle his weight, and he didn’t have to handle her like she was going to break.

She looked at him, her eyes amber and piercing his, her animal looking at his and it wasn’t just the two of them in the room, but the four of them. Two humans, two animals. All of them about to become one.

Bruce spread Jenna’s legs with his hand and lay between them, pushing against her entrance. She gasped and heat washed from her again. Feeling her the way he did now, the power so much stronger, was a new sensation and he had to concentrate to keep control.

Jenna reached her hands around Bruce, digging her fingers into his cheeks and pulled him to her. She was strong, so much stronger than she’d ever been before. But he wasn’t planning on fighting her. He let her pull him into her, sliding into the core of her. It was like he was dipping into magic, that same heat washing through him, a raging furnace of power and lust.

Jenna made a growling sound again when he was inside her, and he moved, finding his way in this new woman of his. She closed her eyes and he felt her pulse beneath him with power and strength.

He started moving his hips, into her, back out, and into her again. She moaned, the sound utterly and completely Jenna, and he lowered his head next to her. She gasped into his ear in rhythm with his thrusts.

He felt Jenna contract around him, walls clamping down on him, pulling him in deeper. A wild scent filled the room. It was strong, spicy, and he knew it was his bonding scent. He’d never been with a shifter before, never mated with one in the true sense of the word. He’d heard vampires had a bonding scent, but he tasted it on his own tongue now, the knowledge that Jenna was completely his.

She gasped and moaned and by the heat that built between them, the magic in the air that got thicker and thicker, he knew she was getting close to the chasm that opened up in front of them. A few more thrusts and he would have her tumbling over the edge into a pool of bliss. It was where he wanted her.

He was one with her, fully and completely, and he knew when she reached orgasm just before she showed it. The power built and then rocked through the room, and it pulled Bruce with it so that when Jenna’s body convulsed and then curled around his, he released inside of her and the bonding was complete.

He coated every inch of her with his scent, his calling card when anyone wanted to take a chance.

Mine. The world rolled around in his mind. Mine, mine, mine.

Jenna gasped and moaned, and then her hands release from the fists on his back and she collapsed back onto the bed, Bruce going limp inside of her. He was breathing hard, and suddenly her bear was so close he could feel it, almost touch it.

“Not now, baby,” he said. “Just calm it down. We’re going to control it, okay? Just work with me.”

She managed to pull the bear back, the animal inside her was back under control, and then she looked up at him with eyes that were human again. She smiled, and he slipped out of her and rolled off her so that he lay next to her.

“I love that you did this for me,” she whispered.

“I loved you too much to lose you,” he answered. It wasn’t going to be easy. This was going to be hard, take time to get used to, be hard to control. But they could do it because they were together. Not just the two of them, but the three of them.

When full moon rolled around Bruce led the way. The three of them started the trek up the mountain. He didn’t have to help Jenna over boulders and fallen logs. She was strong enough now, and she held her own.

When they made it to the plateau the full moon was clearly visible, a light in the sky. The power circle was alive with magic. When they were on it, all three of them together, the power surged like it never had before.

“Well, if this isn’t a dangerous unit,” Dwayne said, stepping out of the trees. Bruce smiled at the man and held out his hand. The psychic shook it, and something passed between them. Awe from Dwayne’s side and the collective power of the three of them. Gratefulness from Bruce’s side. It was thanks to Dwayne, after all, that he’d found them.

Tara stepped out of the trees and she had a scowl on her face. She glared at Saxon, who didn’t step back or lower his gaze. He was every bit the future alpha, and Tara knew it. It hung in the air, a deadly promise.

One by one the other shifters appeared from the trees. They all had the same reaction to the power that hung in the clearing. Lori gasped, and her anger showed her understanding that she’d just been demoted to fifth in the hierarchy.

“You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?” Tara said to Jenna and it wasn’t a friendly exchange. But Jenna smiled at Tara, and her smile was animalistic. She was pure shifter now and she already knew how to intimidate. Bruce looked at his wife, his mate, and felt the power coming from her.

And he was happy. He wouldn’t have done it like this if there had been a choice, but she was alive and their bond was stronger than ever now.

And Dwayne had been right. The three of them were a powerful unit. What they could achieve with the three of them remained to be seen, but Bruce had a feeling it was going to involve Saxon leading them, not the other way round.

“We might as well get on with it,” Tara said. No speeches tonight. There was nothing to say. She opened up herself and the magic streamed out. The other shifters did it too, and magic swirled around them, filling the power circle until it was so thick it felt like water around them. Tara was the first to start the change, and with that, she pulled the others along with her.

One by one the other shifters started letting go of their humans and their animal forms took over.

Bruce looked at Jenna. She looked back him and something passed between them. This was it. Jenna’s first change.

She crouched down and Bruce felt the magic increase. It didn’t just come from Tara or the rest of the pack, but from Saxon, who guided his mother through the change.

Jenna’s body started changing, grew bigger and bulkier. Her skin split open and fur crawled over her body. Her face changed, growing a snout with long sharp teeth. She was a strange shape, neither human nor animal, for a moment, before she slipped into her bear form.

Her fur was a reddish brown, the shade of her hair, and her eyes were a yellow amber that was powerful when Bruce looked into them.

Jenna was a bear, a powerful and official member of the pack. Saxon changed into a cub next to her, and when the whole Family were animals, Bruce pushed into his own change. He was the last to become a bear.

When the change was done, he stood next to Jenna and Saxon. He led the way to the trees and Jenna and Saxon followed him to start their hunt as bear shifters.

THE END

BY SICILY DUVAL

Chapter 1

Allegra

Spotting your husband when about five hundred of them spill onto the concrete square is hard. They all look the same in uniform, walk with the same precision, and have the same look of death on their faces. But when Reid stepped out of the bus, I saw him right away. His skin was darker than when I’d last seen him – he’d spent a lot of time in the sun somewhere – and his shock of blond hair was still visible even under the army cap.

The loading area was filled with wives and children, waiting for the final piece to their family to come home. Every time a soldier spotted his family he drew to them like a magnet, and then the picture was complete. Homecoming was as warm and rewarding as deployment was cold and painful.

When his green eyes fell on me electricity jolted through my body the way it always did when he looked at me. Skype didn’t do him justice. It was never the same as being with him in real life, and I wondered how I’d gotten through the last nine months without him.

He walked toward me, and he moved with a fluid grace that the other soldiers didn’t have. He carried his bag easily, and dropped in on the floor next to me, planting his lips on mine. I felt the hum of his power surge through my body. I’d forgotten how much I loved it. Reid oozed raw power and sexuality, and he made me feel small and delicate against his taut, muscular frame. He wasn’t just one of the best soldiers on the force. He was also a werewolf.

The government accepted Preternatural creatures into society now on one condition. They had to do a public service. I knew it was because it made it easier to keep an eye on them, but it was also because they had skills the country just couldn’t do without.

Vampires were secret agents now because they could play mind games and make themselves virtually undetectable. Gremlins mass produced weaponry because magic and metal just worked together in their hands. And werewolves were in the army because they were strong, healed at lightning speeds and they had sharper senses.

“I missed you,” Reid said into my hair when he broke the kiss and hugged me instead. I wrapped my arms around his hard body and closed my eyes, shutting everyone out but Reid and me. The greeting was positive. I was optimistic. Sometimes when Reid came home he was miserable, and our first meeting cast a cloud of darkness over us that made it hard for me to smile through it.

Every time the soldiers come home I don’t know what to expect. They go through so much, a lot of it that the wives that stay behind don’t know about, and they often struggle with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. We always smile anyway, and keep it positive. We owe them that. But it’s hard, and it’s just so much better when he comes home with a smile.

I waved at Charlene. John, one of Reid’s squad, had just found her. I spend a lot of time with Charlene when the men were gone. Reid and John weren’t just close, they were pack. John was a wolf too, and that meant that Charlene was one of the only other women at the base I could relate to.

Reid put his bag in the trunk and climbed into the car. I slid into the passenger seat next to him and he backed the car out of the parking spot and pulled into the road. I looked at him and he looked back, smiling. The smile was a little vacant, in his eyes I could see he was somewhere else, seeing other things.

“I was thinking of making pot pie for supper tonight,” I said, trying small talk.

“Sounds good,” Reid said and indicated to turn. I hesitated a moment when he didn’t add anything.

“The business is going well,” I said again. “I’ve gotten five new clients in the last month. There are a few new wives at the base that we’re trying to draw in.”

That’s good, honey,” Reid said. I didn’t know if he’d heard a word I’d said. I sold beauty products from home. It was easier that way to keep a career going if we needed to move suddenly. It happened from time to time. We were a group of women at the base that all had husbands that were away often, and we sold to and bought from each other and created support groups. I saw it as our duty to pull in the new wives, the ones that wouldn’t understand what it was like. That didn’t know yet, and needed a shoulder to cry on after the first deployment.

Ask any of the military wives, and they’ll tell you that it’s not easy. The first few months are always the worst, shooting up to an ecstatic high about the base and the benefits of a military life, right down to the depressing low of deployment and the realization that you have to experience a lot key events alone. Like birthdays and Christmas.

I’d gotten used to this life fairly quickly. It had helped that Charlene had gotten a hold of me before the wedding and told me what to expect. Still, missing Reid’s birthday, or missing a Christmas together still hurt sometimes. What I still found the hardest were the times that Reid came home, but he never really
came home
. And I was starting to get the idea that his cheerful greeting had been a little misleading. He’d tried, bless him, he’d tried for me. But he wasn’t home. Not yet.

His head was somewhere on the battle field, and he was on autopilot.

He walked into the house, not holding the door for me or letting me walk first. I let it slide. Patience was the key to a good relationship, Charlene had told me. Reid dumped his bag in the bedroom and sat down in front of the television.

“I’m going to be in the kitchen,” I announced. I started making the food. I’d prepared meat and vegetables the day before for this, but still needed to make the crust. I’d hoped Reid would follow me, sit by  me and talk to me the way we used to in the beginning, but he didn’t. When the pie was in the oven I walked back to the living room. It was deadly quiet. When I popped my head around the doorpost I saw Reid sitting on the couch, staring at a switched-off television.

“Are you alright?” I asked, and Reid jerked, his head snapping round to look at me. His eyes were so bright they were almost glowing, and they looked wild. His beast slid behind them.

“Hey, it’s just me,” I said in a gentle voice and walked into the room so he could see my full body. With his hearing he should have heard me coming. It was impossible to sneak up on a werewolf. Hell, he should have been able to hear me
breathe
in the kitchen. Instead he’d gotten a fright, like he hadn’t been aware of my presence in the house at all.

“Fine,” he finally answered, and the life came back into his eyes, like a light-bulb that had been dimmed and he’d turned it back up again. He smiled at me, but his hands were balled in fists on his thighs, and the muscles in his back were bundled and tight.

“Food’s almost ready,” I said, walking to him. I sat down next to him on the couch, a few inches away so that we were touching. He could close the gap if he wanted to. I was leaving it up to him – I didn’t want to smother him or force him into something he wasn’t ready for. God knew what he’d seen on the battle field this time.

I took a deep breath and blew it out again. And then another. He didn’t close the gap.

“I think I’m going to head out,” Reid suddenly said. I frowned, looking at his face. It was carefully blank, and I couldn’t read what he was thinking at all.

“Out? But you just got home.”

“I know. I just need some air, stretch my legs. I’ll be home in time for supper.” He stood up and left me sitting alone on the couch. I felt the absence of his heat next to me. At the door he looked at me again, and his eyes didn’t belong to him anymore. They were almost fluorescent and the wolf was looking out at me.

“You’re beautiful,” Reid said. The way he said it made me feel like he thought I was delicious instead. I shuddered when he closed the door behind him, and got up to check on the food.

I expected him to be back in less than half an hour. When the pie was ready I took it out of the oven and dished up for both of us – a normal portion for me, and one as big as the bowl would take for him. And he’d have seconds and thirds until the pie was finished. Soldiers needed a lot of food. Werewolves needed more.

When it rolled on to an hour, the food sat cold and congealed on the table and there was still no sign of Reid. I knew that he needed to get out of the house to get rid of the pent up energy. That wolf of his just wanted out sometimes, and I preferred if he ran it out in the woods rather than change at home. I’d seen him change before, he’d insisted I know what exactly I was getting married to, and even though I loved him despite his… flaws, I didn’t really want to see it again. Not I if I could help it.

But still, an hour seemed like pushing it to me. I’d been mentally adjusting myself to sharing space with someone again. Suddenly being alone was terrible. Another hour later, and Reid finally walked through the door. I’d reheated and eaten my food, and put his in the fridge.

“Where have you been?” I asked.

“I told you,” he said, blinking at me.

“You said you would be back before supper.”

I looked at me without answering me for a second, slid his eyes to the empty bowl in the sink. When he looked back at me again he looked guilty.

“Sorry,” he said.

I buried my face in my hands and let my face crumple, let the smile disappear. I gave myself three seconds to pull myself back together, and when I took my hands away again my face was neutral, at least. I couldn’t force a smile, but I wasn’t going to be angry or scream and shout. Instead I walked to him and wrapped my arms around his body. I pressed my head against his chest and heard the drumming of his heart.

He was alive, and that was all that mattered. It didn’t matter what mood he came home in, as long as he came home. I breathed in deeply. The smells of the forest clung to his clothes – pine needles and mud. He closed his arms around me like he had to think about it and make himself do it, but he was hugging me.

I tipped my head up and stood on my toes to kiss him. The kiss was chaste, with tight closed lips and I felt his body stiffen against mine. I tried a little harder, trying to coax him into opening his mouth. Finally he did, and I slid my tongue inside, kissing him properly.

He kissed me back, sort of, and I ran my hands up and down his back. I wanted his body. I’d missed him so much, and I wanted him to show me that I was still the person he wanted to come home to. His kissing changed from detached to urgent like a switch had been flipped, and his hands roamed my body. I sighed against him mouth. My body ached for him, and I willed his hands to find my breasts, to slide down my back and cup my ass, to explore further and deeper.

Suddenly he broke the kiss. We were still intertwined with our arms wrapped around each other, but when he looked at him his eyes were distant. He drew a finger along my jaw, and planted a kiss on my forehead. Then he let me go and walked out of the room, leaving me standing the kitchen gaping and writhing, my body screaming with the loss.

Chapter 2

Reid

Ranger life is a hard life. Not because of the training or the schedule or being away from home that much. It’s a hard life because a lot of what we do is classified information and we can’t tell our wives about it.

I’ve made it worse for myself. Not only was a I a soldier that often went on covert missions I could tell Allegra nothing about, but I was an Army Ranger in the 7
5th
Regiment. It wasn’t like I had to keep it a secret that I was a ranger. As long as I didn’t give out information on where we were and what we were doing, I wasn’t going to step on any toes with who I was. But I was scared I was going to step on Allegra’s toes, being a Ranger.

It was bad enough that she had to accept my wolf. I am a monster, there’s nothing I can say to defend myself against that. My wolf, my beast, is a part of me. When I rage, the best rages. When the beast lusts blood, so do I. When people think of werewolves they think that my curse is only forced out once a month. Those that aren’t wolves would never understand. Curses are a full time thing.

And I didn’t want it to be even worse for Allegra. My wolf was merciless when it came to doing the right thing. And my position in the army asked the same of me in some ways. I was scared – almost certain – that she would never forgive me for it. It was one thing to be a monster. It was another to be heartless. I was scared that she wouldn’t be able to tell the two apart because she was just a human.

She was a human I love fiercely, but she was innocent. She accepted me because she didn’t know better. She’s loved me from the start, and it is that quality in her, the innocent naïve character she has, that makes me believe her that there is still some goodness left. No matter how slim.

I’d been away for nine months. It had been a long stretch, but there had been longer. We’d been in Afghanistan – I couldn’t tell her that – and I’d seen a lot of death. We were six rangers in the team. I was Tactical leader. John, but best friend, was a sniper. We had Harry on ammunitions, Charles on explosives, Carlos as medic and Abdul on communications. The latter was also our translator and interpreter. We took out the big boys. We were dropped off where no one else could go, and we were told to get behind enemy lines, which no one else could do.

We did it, because our senses were sharper. I could smell the enemy miles away if the wind was right. We healed fast, bodies pushing any bullets out. And out in the wild, we could shift and not be a danger.

Allegra was asleep. I could feel her peace seep through the house, her deep breathing filled my ears and I concentrated on her until I could feel her breathing, feel her heart beat in my own body. I wanted to touch her. I wanted to love her and hold her, be home. Instead I’d pushed her away, because I’d been scared.