Shifters on Fire: A BBW Shifter Romance Boxed Set

Shifters on Fire

A BBW Shifter Boxed Set

Marian Tee

Lynn Red

Kate Richards

Dominique Eastwick

Ever Coming

Lila Felix

Dara Fraser

Becca Vincenza

Lisbeth Frost

Syke Jones

Marissa Farrar

Published by Frost and Hazel

Copyright 2016

http://www.frostandhazel.com/

Formatted by
EK Formatting

Cover Design by Clarissa Yeo of
Yocla Designs

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher, Frost and Hazel.

Table of Contents

Marian Tee – The Alpha’s Courtship

Lynn Red – Can’t Quit Lion

Kate Richards – Wolves and Bears and Foxes, Oh My!

Dominique Eastwick – Bear With Me

Ever Coming – Breathless for Her Bear

Lila Felix – Alpha Mine

Dara Fraser – Lion to Herself

Becca Vincenza – Alpha Protecting

Lisbeth Frost – Encounter in the Jungle

Syke Jones – Bear with a Sore Head

Marissa Farrar – Wolf Snatched

The Alpha’s Courtship

A Werewolf Duke Romance

Marian Tee

Soleil Orpheline has always known about the wolf she’s meant to spend her life with, but it’s a destiny she’s chosen to ignore. She prefers to live her life alone, fighting both real and personal demons on her own. She would have continued doing so if not for fate interfering…and causing Ilie Marcovici to find out about her.

With the most powerful and manipulative wolf hell bent on claiming his heartkeeper, Soleil suddenly finds herself subject to the wickedest kind of courtship that’s marked by stolen touches, forbidden caresses,  and the most intimate of kisses.

Everyone knows that Ilie is ruthless in going after what he desires, but Soleil is determined to resist his advances. She will never yield to him if her body is all he wants.

In the kingdom of Chalys

Women dazzle in corsets and petticoats while men swagger in coats and breeches.

Carriage rides, tea parties, and masquerade balls,

Flirtations between waltzes and sweet flowers for courtship,

These are but some of the pleasures offered in the brightness of day.

But when the sun sets, a deadly silence prevails—

To survive the darkness you must always remember:

CHALYS

Is a kingdom like no other.

Ruled by angels and coveted by demons,

Chalys is the hunting ground for Night’s children,

“A world where humans are but precious prey.

- A Chalysian legend

NOTICE TO TRAVELERS

Greetings!

The Kingdom of Chalys is pleased to welcome citizens of all nations.

Before you proceed to immigration, please be reminded of the following:

Only ASPHODEL is open to tourists. Access to other dukedoms of the kingdom is strictly by invitation only. Requests for entry may be submitted to the inter-dukedom consular office.

Technology as many of you are used to is available on a vastly limited basis in our kingdom.

We hope you see this as an opportunity for new experiences and explorations to enjoy.

Please observe proper decorum and attire during your stay. The customs and norms of our society are of great value to us. Your respect would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Chapter One

The city of Asphodel glowed like a brilliant diamond in a sea of emerald fields, with the noblemen’s mansions and townhouses ablaze with lights. Everyone who was anyone had either thrown a ball or was attending one, and these were expected to last until dawn, much to the chagrin of the aristocrats’ sleepy and overworked coachmen.

Laughter and music played by the orchestra streamed out of the balconies, entertaining the peasants below. As they had no means to have parties themselves, they had taken to hanging outside the grandest mansions, doing their best to catch a glimpse of the well-dressed couples waltzing inside.

Past the main neighborhoods of Asphodel, the sound of gaiety faded, and the streets became emptier and narrower. At the edge of the city was an abandoned keep, its crumbling roofs crowned by low, stormy clouds and its grounds seemingly shrouded in a mysterious fog.

Locals thought it haunted, and so it was…as of ten minutes ago.

In the keep’s basement, a squad of less than twenty of the city’s human defenders had just finished barricading the main doors of the dungeons, thus trapping the imps that they had seen crawling out of a hellhole.

But the danger wasn’t over, and no one knew this better than Soleil Orpheline, the squad leader.

Not wanting her soldiers to witness her disquiet, she turned her back on her soldiers and faced the doors of the dungeon once more.

Let’s consider the facts,
she told herself.

Tonight was supposed to be a simple cleanup operation, meant to teach rookies about getting rid of pranks left by otherworlders. They ranged from a witch’s spell for diarrhea to a wizard’s one-day curse of selfie madness, in which a human being would find himself addicted to taking as much selfies as a celebrity. They were frequently irritating, moderately harmful at times, but that was it.

The mission wasn’t supposed to put her recruits’ lives in danger.

And yet here they were, about to go against the forces of Hell, literally.

Granted, imps were the lowest forms of demons, with sub-zero IQ. But they were still demons and thus inhumanly strong and, worse, soulless.

Another loud, powerful thud hit the basement’s walls, the sound underscoring the peril they were in. It had no effect on Soleil, but the squeak of terror from one of her rookies made her mentally flinch.

Dear God, I hate asking You for anything, but I think I’m going to need a miracle right now.

The imps were head-butting the doors, literally throwing their lives against it. At the rate they were going, she would have less than three minutes before confrontation, and that was putting it lightly.

Panic clawed at Soleil’s throat, but her concerns were all for her team. The youngest of her squad was just fifteen years old – the same age she and the others had been when they first had their field assignment.
Then,
they had only gone against possessed humans, and they had still come back bloodied and bruised.

But kids pitted against imps?

It would be a massacre, and their blood would be on Soleil’s hands.

Another thud resounded through the basement, running through the walls of the keep, and a rookie cried out, “I don’t think the doors are going to hold that much longer.”

She turned to her squad immediately, saying, “It’s okay.” Soleil managed to keep her voice calm even as whips of her terror flayed her body. She was ready to die, had been so for quite some time. But what she would never be ready for, never take lying down, was letting her team die without a fight.

She reached into her pocket, digging out her Bluetooth earpieces, and only sheer experience enabled Soleil to keep her hands from shaking as she plugged her ears. The shock of her young soldiers was palpable, and one of them blurted out, “Is s-she doing what I think she’s doing?”

When Soleil didn’t seem to notice them, the rookies turned in unison to the slim, brown-eyed redhead standing next to their commander.

Seeing all eyes on her, Aurora deadpanned, “Nope. She’s just cleaning her ears.”

The rookies didn’t laugh at all.

Right.
As second-in-command, Aurora knew she had to do a better job at keeping the rookies from pissing in fear. So she tried again, this time with the truth. “Commander Soleil is most likely listening to La Vie En Rose,” Aurora relayed. “The
How I Met Your Mother
version, just in case you’re wondering.”

The rookies looked at her like she was crazy.

“It means we’re in Code TARFU territory,” she explained. Fighting under Soleil’s command for almost a decade had made Aurora familiar with all the telltale signs concerning their leader. Listening to the nostalgic, bittersweet notes of her favorite song was Soleil’s last-minute aid for strategy planning, which meant it was
her
job to keep the rookies distracted.

“What’s TARFU?” another rookie asked.

“It means
‘Things Are Really Fucked Up’
,” Fleur, the third-in-command, answered as she ran back to rejoin the squad, having finished sending out a message to her network of spies. Or at least she had tried sending it. Everything was really TARFU right now, so there was no telling if her SOS call would push through.

“It could also mean,” the curvy brunette continued thoughtfully, “Totally And Royally Fucked Up—” She looked up, saw the rookies gazing at her in horror, and behind them, Aurora was hastily shaking her head and drawing an imaginary line across her throat.

Oops.

“Just joking,” Fleur said quickly. “Actually, let Aurora tell you guys the real meaning of TARFU.” As the rookies then turned to Aurora, she mouthed,
Sorry,
before coughing, “Sesquipedalian.”

Aurora mentally let out an unladylike swear. Basically, Fleur wanted her to confuse the rookies with long, complicated words. Clearing her throat, she said slowly, “TARFU means…Tacent Auxiliary Request for Ultion.”
That could work
, she thought, considering their probabilities of surviving tonight was 22.4%.

Fleur blinked. “Exactly.”
What did that even mean?

The rookies nodded uncertainly, none of them having the courage to ask for a clearer explanation. But they forgot all about it soon enough, seeing their commander opening her eyes and putting away her earpieces.

Soleil smiled at them, her dimples flashing, and the rookies relaxed.

“That’s enough with the joking,” Soleil censured them.

The rookies happily murmured their assent, a combination of wishful thinking and awe allowing them to take comfort in the gracious, dulcet tones of their squad leader.

This was the famous
Soleil Orpheline,
they assured themselves. A stunning, voluptuous, blue-eyed blonde, she was society’s reigning belle during the day and the dangerously skilled leader of
Trois Belle Lames
at night.

If Commander Soleil wasn’t nervous about the imps, then they, too, had nothing to worry about.

Behind Soleil, the walls continued to shudder and crack.

Soleil continued to smile, and Fleur and Aurora, taking their cues from her, kept smiles pinned to their lips. Unlike the kids, they knew they were in a life-and-death situation, but if Soleil wanted the kids kept in the dark, then it would be so.

They trusted her to do what was right…no matter what.

Soleil cleared her throat delicately. “Here’s the plan…” The walls started to crumble as Soleil made a series of gestures, a sign language known only to enforcers.

Fleur and Aurora concentrated on Soleil’s instructions, their expressions remaining calm as they read between the lines.

The plan was…that there was no plan at all.

Soleil was totally lying about help coming. Everything about this had the rotten scent of betrayal and ambush, and it had been executed perfectly. If help did come, it would be too late.

Soleil continued to sign, and Fleur and Aurora struggled to stay expressionless.

“Are we all clear on this then?” Her dimples flashed again, and the rookies’ anxiety lessened even more.

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am,” they roared energetically, their confidence restored by their leader’s calm manner.

Totally clear
, Fleur thought, her mood turning unnaturally grim. Soleil was telling them that as the city’s last line of defense, they had to place duty above all else.

Aurora didn’t answer right away. Soleil’s plan was to detonate her grenades, which all officers were trained to use in case they were compromised.

The grenades would take out the commander, but it would also get rid of a large number of imps, maybe just enough for them to have a fighting chance for survival.

But Aurora didn’t want a fighting chance for just them, and as the supposedly ‘brainy’ one of their group, she pressured herself to come up with an alternative.

“Aurora?” Soleil needed both officers’ cooperation for her plan to work.

“I’m thinking,” Aurora mumbled.

Soleil shook her head. “We don’t have time—”

A narrow section of the dungeon’s wall collapsed.

“Take your positions,” Soleil commanded, and the rookies, resolved looks on their faces, followed right away.

A handful of imps burst out of the hole.

“Engage.”

The battle ensued, and Soleil bided her time while keeping an eye on her team, making sure that no one was taking any unnecessary risks. She slipped her hands into her pockets, her fingers finding and wrapping around the twin grenades.

The last ace she had up her sleeve
, Soleil thought, but in this case it was in her pants. If things weren’t TARFU, she would have laughed at her own quip.

Aurora suddenly appeared by her side, grabbing Soleil’s arm as she muttered, “I’ve thought of something.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Call your heartkeeper.”

Soleil didn’t even hesitate. “No!”

Half of the wall crashed.

Her time had come.

Soleil prepared to run, but Aurora’s grip on her arm tightened, and the other woman insisted in a yell, “Call him! Your plan might work, but it’s not going to be without casualties, and you know it! But if you call him—”

Soleil whitened.

“Call him!” Aurora pointed at the rookies. “If you care for them—” She knew she was being heartlessly manipulative, but she didn’t care. “If you want to give them the best chance for surviving tonight—”

“I hate you, Aurora.
”

A whisper, but Aurora knew she had won. Thank God.

Soleil gently pushed her hand away, and Aurora let her.

“I’ll call him.” Soleil backed up a step. “But I’m also not going to wait for him to answer because…” Her upper lip turned up in an unusually mocking smile. “I do want to give everyone the best chance of survival.”

Aurora’s eyes widened.

No!

But it was too late, and Soleil had run past everyone, heading straight to the horde of imps.

“NO!” Aurora screamed and tried to run after her friend, but there were too many imps between them now, and she finally had to admit defeat.

Fleur reached her, demanding, “What’s the plan?”

“Help Soleil get to the center,” Aurora answered tonelessly.

Pain flashed in Fleur’s eyes.

Aurora furiously blinked back her own tears.

But they only allowed themselves a nanosecond of grief before throwing themselves into battle, knowing that it was what Soleil would have wanted.

~~*~~

Soleil was about three-imp-layers deep into the horde when she realized that her plan just might not be good enough.

A middle-level demon stood next to the hellhole, and as it locked gazes with Soleil, she knew there was a very good chance it might tear her throat out before she could even detonate the grenades.

The demon charged towards her with a roar, and Soleil’s reflexes kicked in. She rolled, crawled, and twisted, everything purely guided by her instincts. And all the while, she called to
him,
the man whose heart she was fated to keep in exchange of her soul.

Can you hear me?

Please come.

Please help.

Soleil called out to him with her mind, with all her heart, even thought the tiniest part of her thought it was too late.

The demon caught her just as she ran out of bullets. Its claws raked her body and pain engulfed her, but she managed to kick it away, the silver-coated soles of her boots leaving burning marks on its face.

The demon screamed.

What a baby,
Soleil thought dizzily as she managed to pull the grenades out of her pockets.

The demon snarled at her, hitting Soleil with its tail and breaking her ribs in the process.