ROMANCE: SHIFTER: Shifter to the Max Collection (Dragon, Bear, Wolf and Panther Shifter Romances) (Paranormal Fantasy Romance Collection) (19 page)

Someone flicked on a flashlight. It was about time.

But my heart stopped when I saw the scene before me. Eliseo was on the ground, lying face up and naked, his clothes sprawled around him. But it wasn’t just his clothes, some of them were Markus’s. But Markus wasn’t anywhere to be seen. There was wolf standing on top of Eliseo with blood dripping from its fang-like teeth. His coat was white, but damp with a red substance that must have been blood too.

I was four feet away from an actual wolf. Where had it come from.

What the fuck had I gotten myself into?

I sat up in that bed all night, waiting for Markus and it wasn’t until the sun had started to rise when he finally came for me. His shirt was completely unbuttoned and his pants had dust stains on them. He looked tired. Drained. I stood up and walked to him because I just couldn’t wait any longer. I hadn’t stopped shaking since the incident. “What the hell was that back there? Where did that wolf come from? Where did you go?” He shook his head, brushing past me. He let himself fall onto the bed.

Without wasting a second, I went to join him, climbing up next to him. “Why did you leave me?”

He seemed to wake up to this. He turned his face toward me. “I didn’t leave you. I was there the whole time.”

Now, things were getting even more confusing. “You have to explain yourself.” Without thinking, I reached my hand under his shirt and touched the skin of his torso. He inhaled sharply and his eyes glazed.

He turned over, resting on his elbow and fingering the hem of my dress. “I don’t want to scare you away.”

I snickered. “I met you in middle of being tortured. You got into a fight right in front of my face. You work for the mob. What could be worse?”

He let out a dry chuckle and focused on a spot on the ceiling. “All of that sounds pretty bad.”

I shook my head. But he wasn’t Cody. For some reason, those silent mornings and cold shoulders were a million times more exhausting and terrifying than real conflict.

He traced his hand across my cheek. “You look so sad.”

I lifted it from my face and held it to my chest. “You have to give me something.”

He let out a sigh. “There is more.”

“What?” I was hungry for knowledge. Ready to know everything. “God just explain that to me. That wasn’t a fight that was… the way the two of you were shaking like that? And why didn’t anyone stop you—“

He silenced me with a hand to my lips. “Let me explain.”

I nodded.

He sighed. “There’s another element keeping us together. Something other than working for Don. We have a bond, Eliseo and Don and I.”

“Is he your real family?”

Markus shook his head. “The three of us are shifters.”

I had written exactly two novels about shifters and even with all that research, I knew they weren’t real. I now felt as though I had written myself into one of my stories. “No you’re not.”

“Yes, I am.”

I started breathing heavily What was all of this? Again, shit started running through my head. My heart sunk. I knew what all this meant. I wasn’t stupid. I knew how shifters worked because they weren’t so apart from the world in my head that… Wait a second. A thought just popped into my head that sent chills up and down my spine. “By lover, did Don mean… mate?” My lips twitched. A smile was coming on but I felt like an idiot doing it. Why in the hell was I smiling? Was this a good thing? Should I be happy to be a part of this fictional world?

He nodded, scooting closer to me. “Yes, I think so. I’ve never felt this way before and certainly not about anyone that I just met.”

I nodded. “Why me?”

He shook his head. “Because… Because you’re perfect.”

I was, surprisingly, feeling a little star struck. A real werewolf? Easier to believe because I really had seen his true form. White fur. How beautiful. The writer in me wanted to write it down right then and there, get it on paper. But then, Markus slid his hand over my thigh and my flesh responded with electrifying tingles. I suddenly wanted him more in that moment than I have ever wanted anyone. “Does it go both ways? The mating thing, I mean.” Stupid. If I had to ask the question…

He shook his head. “I don’t know. We’re both new to this.” He was trailing his hand down my face and neck, raising goosebumps everywhere. “But I certainly hope so.” He pressed his lips to mine in a hungry, passionate kiss.

A moan slipped from my lips and I melted into him. His tongue tangled with mine and his kiss turned slow and sensual.

With a ragged breath, he pulled away, “Do you want me?” His voice was a low and husky.

I slipped his shirt off of him, nodding as I did this. “Hell yes.” He closed his eyes and pulled me against his hard chest. He was running kisses down my neck and inhaling my scent. I could feel his rock hard erection against my stomach.

He swiftly snatched me up and threw me down on the bed and before I knew it, he was on top of me, pressing his body into me, bedding me the way I had always wished Cody would. My skin was on fire, my blood boiling, my heart pounding and the best thing about it was that I could feel his heart pounding too. He wanted me just as much me as I wanted him, and that was electrifying.

“You’re not scared?” He ripped my night dress clean off, my breasts bobbing out in front of him.

“God no,” I whispered as I reached my hand down the front of his pants and stroked his manhood.

His mouth attacked my nipples and trailed warm, passionate kisses down my stomach until he buried his face between my thighs and lapped hungrily at my juices. His tongue laved every inch of my pussy like he couldn’t get enough, like he was savoring every drop of me. Being with Cody was never like this. Was I supposed to be thinking about Cody at a time like this? It didn’t matter because if there was ever a question of comparisons, Cody would never measure up.

Markus pushed his tongue into my pussy, penetrating me. Every inch of my body tingled and I could feel the warm burn of my orgasm beginning in my belly. When he rubbed his thumb over my engorged clit, it was all over, I screamed, “I’m gonna cum Markus!” as the first wave of an intensely pounding orgasm overtook me.

He, he slid himself up over me and my excited fingers found their way to his belt and tugged it off. Many quickies with Cody in his office on his lunchbreak had taught me to be efficient. He growled and the sound practically rumbled within me. “I need you now.” He pinned my arms above my head as he kissed my neck and my chest. Then, he stared into my eyes as he inched his cock into me inch by inch until he had fully penetrated me. I gasped, like it was my first breath. He pressed in as hard and deep as he could go and I felt myself opening up to him. It felt like we were one person I could sense his internal shutters.

Mmmmm…..

He bent his head and his teeth grazed my nipple. He suckled and gently bit. I could feel the tingle all the way down to my core. He thrust into me again and again until I shivered and cried out in ecstasy as another powerful climax overtook me. I felt Markus shudder and his cock pulsed and throbbed as he released his seed into my clenching pussy. I realized in that moment that there was nowhere else I would rather be…

The next morning, I woke up to the sun streaming through the window and Markus practically laying on top of me, like he was afraid I might get away. It was endearing, heartwarming. I wriggled myself out of his grip so that I could lie on top of him. His eyes flickered open. “Hello, you.” That sleepy smile and the look in his eyes made me feel so important.

“Hey.” I wanted to go back to sleep, but my mind had already started working and there was no way I was going to be able to silence it. “Tell me something. Tell me what this is.”

He nodded, sitting up. “First thing in the morning?”

“What, are we dating now?”

He chuckled. “I guess you can say that.”

“So, what now? I have a life at home. In Manhattan.” For the first time, my deadlines came to mind. I guess with the threat of dying out of the way, I could think about the matters of living.

He sighed. “I must admit, we have some working things out to do—” Then, he stopped himself short.

“What?” I rested my chin on his chest, taking in every detail of his face. I liked this close, intimate angle.

He opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped again as if there was a secret inside of him he wasn’t sure he could tell me. But what could that possibly be? What was it he wasn’t telling me?

“Nothing. We need to get you dressed. You might be able to cooperate with us in our search for Cody.”

I gulped. Cody. What were they going to do if they found him? Before I had a chance to ask this question out loud, someone knocked on the door. I slipped under the covers while Markus slipped out of bed and put on his boxers. He opened the door a crack. I could just barely hear the voice of the person on the other side. “We have Cody’s secretary. She knows something about where he went.”

Markus nodded. “How do you know?”

The man rolled his eyes. “She’s his goddamn secretary, she had to have caught wind of something.”

Markus nodded then glanced back at me.

The man followed his gaze. “Bring her with you.”

I furrowed my brow. “Why?” I asked as Markus shut the door behind him. He went into the armoire and pulled out a green blouse and black jeans for me, then a pair of dress pants and dress shirt for him.

“It’s all protocol. This is what I was afraid of,” He said as he hastily dressed. “Not the shifter stuff.”

I guess it made sense. “You want me to watch or something…?” My voice trailed off. Another torture? It was the first time I had really thought about it: a potential boyfriend and the mob stuff.

“Yeah.” He rested his hands on his hips. “I need you to get dressed. With that, he picked up his phone from the side table and went to work on it.”

Something felt off. “Will you always pick out my clothes?” I asked as I started to put them on.

He shrugged. “Only until you get used to them.”

I furrowed my brow. They were expensive, Saks Fifth, Prada, Marc Jacobs. But I was dating the stock market and apparently a thief there was nothing to get used to. I was starting to get annoyed with the way that he assumed he knew things about me.

“Okay. I’m ready.”

He gave a short nod, grabbed my hand and then led me out the door. Thirty minutes later, we were back at
Gino’s
restaurant, only, there was a very different scene, one that was all too familiar to me. But instead of me tied to a chair, there was another woman with blonde hair and green eyes. Her blowout was caked in blood and she was crying breathlessly. “Oh God.” I croaked.

Markus shot me a quick look. There were two other men already there. “Where is Eliseo?”

One of them nodded. “Don took him off this job.”

Markus nodded. “Alrightie then.”

I tried not to look that woman in the eye but it was hard because she went right for me. I could see her eyes pleading with me as if she thought that I was some sort of ally in this situation but I was boning the man who had just become her biggest problem.

“Lexi.” Markus knelt down in front of her.

Good cop.

“Tell us what you know.”

She burst into tears. I flinched. My skin crawled. I didn’t want to be there. Why was I there? They were torturing her over money. Markus, my Markus was torturing her.

“I can’t tell you. He’ll come for me.”

“Who? Cody?”

She nodded.

One of the men handed Markus a paring knife.

More tears, screaming, pleading. It wasn’t long until I was imaging myself in that chair feeling what she was feeling, scared for my life and wondering what I could have done that was so horrible that I deserved this. She was there in that position now, no doubt feeling the same right now and this time it was all because of Markus.

My jaw swung open as he pressed the knife against her cheek. He leaned down into her. “I know you’re scared of him, but you should be scared of me.”

Should I be scared of him?

Her only response was more tears. “Oh God!!”

Markus swung… he slapped her.

I grunted. I wanted to cover my eyes or run from the room but then I thought that this was important. Maybe they would kill me if they knew I was disgusted with this whole thing. Maybe I had to pretend. So I did.

“He’s in Morocco!!” Her cheek was still red from Markus.

Markus turned to the two men. “Morocco. Get the rest out of her. I’d like to get out of here.” He reached for my hand but I wouldn’t take it. I just followed him back out to the car, ashamed of myself for reasons I couldn’t even verbalize.

My hands shook the whole way back up to Queens. As they drove on to the bridge, I couldn’t help but think of what was going on in my apartment during all of this, who was sitting in my spot at
Think Coffee.

It wasn’t until we had eaten lunch with “the family” and gotten back to my room that he even thought to probe me. “What’s in that head of yours.” He kissed my forehead.

It took everything in me not to shudder away from him. I needed to make sense of this in my head, of my feelings for Markus, of my missing ex-boyfriend, of the fact that he seemed to be willing to do anything to find him. “What are you gonna do when you find him?” There. I asked the question. It didn’t matter if I was terrified of the answer. It was going to come anyway.

He set his jaw, his eyes wide as if he had been caught in headlights. “I can’t say.”

He was sparing me. Or was he afraid of how I would react. “How can you tell me that? You’re practically in charge around here.”

“Not for long, “He muttered.

What was that? A ray of hope? “What does that mean?”

But he turned away. He wasn’t going to tell me.

I placed my hand on his shoulder. I needed this from him. “Tell me what’s going on.”

He gave me a pleading look, his amber eyes sucking me in.

“Tell me what really going on.”

“I can’t.” He practically spat the words at me.

I set my jaw. “Okay, well, I gotta say it was hard watching you scare that woman like that. I don’t even get it. She’s gonna be traumatized for God knows how long. Do you think about that?” Because I do. I think of how it felt being in that chair. It seeps into my thoughts and sits in the back of my head waiting to overcome me. Sometimes it’s all I can think about. My body still hurts for no reason and even now I can’t imagine sleeping on my own. I sunk down on to the bed, my eyes wet with tears. He came and joined me. “It’s hard for me to look at Eliseo sometimes. Do you know that? It’ll be hard for her to look at you. You’ll be her monster.”

“I’m not a monster.”

I didn’t like the denial. It was unfair to that woman, unfair to me. “Yes you are. That is what you are to her. The big bad wolf.”

I heard a sharp intake of breath and could practically feel him go tense next to me. “Interesting choice of words.”

“Don’t you care?” I could have internally kicked myself for even asking the question. Of course he didn’t. How could I expect him to?

“Do you think I like this?” He demanded as if to call my own judgement into question.

I narrowed my eyes. “Obviously.” I was challenging him and I knew it. I wanted to break him because I hoped there’d be something soft inside. I watched as he glared at me. I watched the corner of his eyes twitch and his lips pull back into a sneer. I watched him set his jaw. There was something inside, something he held in. But it didn’t take me long to realize he wasn’t going to tell me.

After a long pause, he stood up. “I have business. That woman has given us everything we need. There are plans to draft.”

He slammed the door behind him before I even got a chance to respond. In the hours that followed I did some more pacing. Now, they were closer to finding Cody than ever. In fact, it had practically already happened. That same old question, the one that had run through my head over and over again plagued me once again. What would happen if they found him? If they could torture me, and then another woman in front of me for no reason other than the fact that we happened to be in their way, what would they do when they got a hold of someone who had actually crossed them intentionally?

After I had grown tired of my own mind, I started searching through the room for some paper. I needed to write something, anything, whatever outlet I could find to get rid of my thoughts. It didn’t take me long to find a moleskin notebook Markus had in the third drawer of his night stand.

I settled down onto the bed and started scribbling away, but every time I would get in to something, the thought of Markus would stop me short. He was like a fucking disease in my head, there behind every word, staring in every thought and there was nothing I could do to get rid of it. In fact, it only took me a couple of hours of being alone and away from him to start missing him again. All at once, the question of mates had come to mind again. Is he just as attached to me as I am to him?

The next time he came back, the sun was already starting to set and he had a look of determination in his eye, one that discouraged me from attempting a second line of questioning. “What’s going on?”

He reached under the bed for a duffel bag and started stuffing it with clothes, both men’s and women’s. “We’re catching a plane.”

I cocked my head to the side. “What? To Morocco? I don’t have my passport.”

He didn’t even stop or look at me when he responded. “I had someone stop at your apartment to pick it up.”

My heart sunk. “You broke into my apartment again? Stole my stuff?”

He stopped, stood up straight and let out a huff of breath. “Can you please do me a favor and not talk about this?”

“How can you ask me that?”

He continued to pack. “Do you plan on helping me?”

I glowered at him. “Why the hell would I help you hunt down my boyfriend?” As soon as the words left my lips, I knew it was a mistake.

He dropped the pair of women’s jeans he had in his hands and crossed the room to me, grabbing my shoulders with each of his hands. “Boyfriend?”

“Isn’t that why I’m here? Because I’m closest to him?”

“It’s not my job to decide what happens to him.”

A lump had begun to form in the pit of my throat. For everything that had happened between us, I didn’t want Cody to die or get murdered or anything. “I see.”

He lifted my chin, his amber eyes cutting mine. “Do you still have feelings for him?”

I glowered at him, while my mind went into overdrive, trying to decide what the best answer to the question was, the most correct one. “I don’t know. I haven’t felt anything in a long time and now…”

“Now?”

“Now I’m scared for him. I’m terrified.”