Tremble: A Shifter of Consequence Tale (Shifters of Consequence Book 7) Read online

“My gods, you must have been terrified. How long were you down there?” He linked his fingers at the base of my spine.

  “I don’t know exactly, but I think Mom must have gone into my room on her way to bed to check on me as she always did.”

  “It’s a miracle she noticed if you had all those stuffed animals.” His voice was hushed, horrified.

  “She said she always made sure I was there. That the ‘fairies hadn’t spirited me away.’”

  “Thank everything that’s holy she did that. And then I said you couldn’t go, and it triggered…”

  “Pretty much.”

  “I’m so sorry. You aren’t a prisoner here. But how about if I ask that you not leave without letting someone know? And if possible either one of us or a beta can go with you? It’s not for a long time, just until we get this situation handled.”

  “Can I think about it?”

  Every muscle in the body I was sprawled over tensed. But then he growled out, “Yes.”

  I tipped my face up and cupped his cheeks, bringing his lips to mine. “I just wanted to make sure I was still in charge of my own self.”

  Then we were kissing, and all arguments or childhood traumas were forgotten, at least for now.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sometime around the third kiss, I became aware of a very interesting bump growing against my belly and wondered if I should ignore it or take advantage. After all, a strong alpha usually liked to make the first move, or so I’d heard. And I’d made my willingness to mate pretty clear. While I was still mulling my options, my mate took the decision out of my hands.

  Samson rolled us over, placing me under him. “You’re so precious to me. I never want anyone or anything to hurt you.” Dotting my face with kisses, he muttered, “Especially not me.”

  My heartbeat sped up at this admission from my strong, loving alpha mate. Tris and I had gotten together more quickly, but things with Samson were complicated, and I’d almost begun to believe I’d never be naked under him. A situation rapidly unfolding as he kneeled up and worked my long nightgown over my body and head. And off. I wore nothing underneath, but he was still overdressed.

  “Lose the boxers, wolfie,” I told him. “I feel at a disadvantage.”

  He parted his lips as if to argue with me then obviously recognized the wisdom of my request. But instead of taking them off, he shredded them off and tossed them onto the floor. “Happy, female?” he asked, his cock jutting proudly between us.

  “Getting there.” I reached out and closed my hand around him, giving a little squeeze at the base. “But there’s definite potential for happiness.”

  “You really are difficult to please, aren’t you?” He kneeled up again and surveyed my naked body while moving my prize out of reach.

  “I guess you’ll have to do your best,” I quipped then shrieked as he yanked me up to straddle his waist. “Oh!”

  His cock was nestled between my legs, but I wanted it inside me. I wriggled, trying to accomplish my goal until Samson’s hands clamped on my hips, stilling me.

  “What’s the hurry female? I thought we could spend a little time and get to know one another first.” He batted his eyelashes at me in a way that had me bursting into laughter despite my lust. “I’m not easy, you know.”

  “Easy?” I dropped my lips to the side of his throat and nibbled then lapped with my tongue, enjoying the shudder that ran through him. “Nobody would call you that.” I bit down, not drawing blood, not trying to mark, just to make him crazy. Lifting my face, I gave him the arched-eyebrow treatment. “In fact, I feel I might be overstepping. Pressuring you.” Flattening my hands on his chest, I gained a few inches between us. “Maybe we should just go to sleep and revisit this another day. When you’re ready.”

  His roar rattled the windows. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought he was a bear instead of a wolf shifter. And then I was on my back, and my mate was poised over me, his dick right at my entrance and his eyes fixed on mine. “Oh I’m more than ready. Let’s see if you’re ready for me. Legs around my waist again.”

  I’d always gotten a thrill from him in pack-alpha mode, but he’d never used that tone on me when we were alone before, and I’m not ashamed to say I gushed. My nipples peaked. And I barely had enough control of my weak legs to try to obey him.

  He helped, settling my legs in place then grasping his cock and rubbing it back and forth through my lips and over my clit. I was twitching, seconds from coming, when he stopped teasing and plunged deep into my body. He was not small, but I’d been spending time with his brother who was, after all, his identical twin.

  And who also could bring me to the brink of coming pretty much by looking at me.

  But Samson could never be mistaken for Tris. He held back not at all, seeming to know just how to play my body even though it was the first time he had touched me beyond kisses and hugs and maybe a little more.

  And my body sang to him. While he thrust and retreated, he toyed with my breasts, adding an additional layer of sensation, slowing whenever I tightened around him, keeping me from reaching my peak for a hundred years—or maybe ten minutes—until he was there, too. I reached for his face, tracing the lines of strain as he made up for months of restraint. Then, he pinched one nipple hard and poured his cum into me, sending me at the same time into spinning darkness peppered with stars.

  Afterward, he gathered me close and kissed me slowly, murmuring all the things I’d longed to hear. Starting with, “I love you, mate.”

  But when I curled on my side, exhausted and ready to sleep, he showed me that an alpha who’s waited for his mate wasn’t going to be satisfied with a single time on our first night together.

  Not just twice either.

  I wasn’t sure I’d be able to walk the next day.

  Chapter Twelve

  “It’s time to get up, female.” I heard the whisper in my ear but had no intention of leaving the bed. My body was in a coma-like state, and I realized as I lay there with my eyes still closed that I hadn’t moved all night from the position I went to sleep in. I was cuddled in Samson’s arms, his face against the back of my neck, every part of his front plastered to every inch of my back.

  It sounded stupid in my head, but I felt complete. Like the edges of me weren’t frayed anymore. There were no loose strings waving in the wind.

  All of me was pieced together.

  “It’s not time to get up. It’s time to sleep,” I grumbled.

  Samson laughed and, if possible, pulled me tighter to him. “It’s past nine. I’ve gotten six phone calls, and I have an appointment in an hour.”

  I rolled over onto my back. The sheet that had covered me pulled down as I did, and, before I could grumble about coffee, Samson’s mouth was wrapped around my nipple.

  “I thought you had phone calls and appointments.”

  He chuckled and shifted so his body hovered over mine. “I said I have an hour. And I let the phone calls go to voicemail.”

  I blushed head to toe. We had finally mated, and it was everything I’d hoped for and more. “We are mated now,” I said as he bent to pepper kisses along the side of my neck.

  “We are. I can’t believe I was so stubborn. You are one amazing female, and I don’t just mean the sex. You are mine now.”

  Gods, what one round of mating could do to change the dynamics. Okay, okay, it may have been three rounds.

  Looked like it was about to be four.

  “I am yours. And you are mine. Now, what should we do with our hour?”

  He smiled down at me, and I absolutely melted into the mattress. He was worth the wait. All the frustration. All the anger and anxiety. He was worth it, and I would do it all over again to have him.

  “I need a shower.”

  I giggled like a girl. “That sounds like a way to get dirty, not clean.”

  “We can do both. I’m going to get the water hot. Don’t move.”

  On the way to the bathroom, he smiled at me over his shoulder, catching
my ogling him, ogling what was now mine. “Like what you see?”

  All of the sudden, Samson was coy and wicked. I liked this side of him, the side that was private and only for me.

  “I do.”

  I got up and stretched, immediately noticing the difference in my body. My muscles were not sore despite the lack of sleep. In fact, all around I felt stronger. I walked to the full-length mirror and took in my form. What in the hell? I rubbed my eyes and blinked several times. No, I had to be nuts or just sleep-deprived.

  Something was noticeably different about my body.

  Muscles I hadn’t realized I had were now defined. As I turned, I noticed my calves were cut as though I’d been running cross-country for a week. My biceps were toned and, even as I raised my fist to make a muscle, there was a mound there that hadn’t been there before.

  Either I’d been bitten by a radioactive spider or my mating with Samson had changed something.

  “Gods, female, I didn’t realize you were so full of yourself. You’ve been admiring yourself in that mirror for five minutes.”

  Samson walked over, and I turned to him. “You don’t notice anything different? I feel different.” I raised my fist against and poked my biceps. “That wasn’t there yesterday.”

  He furrowed his brow and took a step back. “You know, you’re right. I mean, you were absolutely gorgeous before, but now you’re…it’s like I’m standing in front of Xena, that princess warrior chick on that old tv show.”

  Princess warrior. Of course, he would compare me to that.

  “What do you think happened? I mean, is this because of the mating?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. It’s not a bad thing.”

  I looked at myself again, taking in all the new grooves and definition. “No, it’s not a bad thing.”

  “Either way, you still need a shower.” His voice dipped low, lowering my anxiety and bringing on a tsunami of lust in an instant. “Come on. We can ask Gigi about this. I bet she knows. I have a feeling she knows a hell of a lot more than she’s telling us.”

  I hadn’t thought I’d have it in me for another time, but with the right incentive, I did. He led me into the shower connected to my bedroom, and, to my shock I realized I did have enough energy. Or…enough willingness. Samson shampooed my hair and lathered me with scented bath gel from head to toe until I had no bones and was held up only by his strength.

  Of which he had plenty for both of us. He lifted me up and said, “If you can manage to wrap your arms and legs around me, I’ll make it worth your while.”

  He so very much did.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Wanna go for a walk?” Tris asked sweetly.

  Now that Samson and I were mated, I was concerned about how this all would work but had confidence that we would manage. Gigi and Wendi also helped me feel more at ease about it all.

  “Yeah, that would be great.” I took his hand in mine. My wolf was instantly calmed at his touch.

  “I feel like I haven’t seen you a lot lately, even though we’ve been under the same roof. Weird, right?” Tris scratched at the back of his head. It wasn’t like him to be coy or shy about anything regarding our relationship, but we were all in new territory.

  “We need to remedy that. How about a date night?” I suggested, swinging our intertwined hands. What was left of the fallen leaves of autumn crushed under our feet. I reveled in breathing in the cool, crisp whisper of winter. The holidays would be soon, and even with everything going on with our pack and this Opal person, I was looking forward to them more than ever.

  “Date night sounds perfect. A chance for us to be alone. Plus, I’m guessing the whole no hanky-panky under my roof thing is out the window, right?”

  Shit. While Tris knew Samson and I had mated, I hadn't expected him to bring it up so abruptly. My heart thrummed overtime and threatened to beat right out of my skin.

  I tugged on our intertwined hands. We stopped, looking at each other. The heat of a blush rushed into my cheeks and wove down my neck. “Tris, I…”

  He reached out and put his hand on my face, his thumb over my lips, but only for a second. “It’s okay. I didn’t actually know until this morning. I don’t want the details. Those things are between you and Samson just like what happens between us is between you and me. But your scent changed. I noticed when you kissed me this morning. I’m happy for you. I wanted you to know that.”

  Relief flooded my veins and pulsed through my cells. “Thank you. I want us all to be happy.”

  “I miss you in my bed,” he said boldly, pushing me gently against a tree. “I miss this body. I miss you looking down on me while you…”

  “Well, look what we have here.” Tris and I both whirled at the voice, shrill and sharp like broken glass. In front of us stood a woman in a nearly transparent moss-green dress that flowed with the wind blowing around us. Her hair was white, not blonde, but white like the first snow that touched the ground in the winter. Her eyes glowed with golden hues and whispers of the same moss green as her dress.

  She was stunning to say the least, but the kind of beautiful that made you shiver, like maybe with all that beauty, there had to be a twinge of evil within her.

  “Who are you?” Tris attempted to put me behind him, but I was having none of it. I squared my shoulders and stood next to him. His fists balled at his sides. My wolf was on high alert. She didn’t like this person at all.

  She especially didn’t like the hawk that landed on one of the branches above us as Tris asked his question.

  Hawk. Shiveringly gorgeous woman. Bewitching even.

  “You must be Opal,” I replied to Tris’ question before she could.

  A small smile tugged at one side of her mouth, and she stepped forward. Her feet were bare, but, despite the billowy transparent dress and no shoes, she didn’t seem to be chilled at all. She reached up and pulled her long, almost iridescent hair over her shoulder and shrugged.

  “Guilty as charged. And you are Christie, well, at the least you are Christie. I see that you are much more yourself now. Quite a revelation.”

  The fuck?

  “I am Christie. And what the hell are you talking about?”

  She rolled her eyes and sidestepped my question. “This must be one of your mates. You should be more careful, walking around these woods. He won’t be able to save you. None of them will.”

  It was like talking to the Cheshire cat, if the cat was nearly overdosed on fairy magic or something.

  “You mean from your scorch marks? Last time I checked, I’m not a tree, so I’m pretty sure I’m safe front your antics—wait, is it spells? Aren’t you a witch or an elf or something? I can’t remember.”

  I remembered fine, although we weren’t sure of the precise nature of her. She was a sorceress/witch of some kind but by throwing in the elf comment, I was trying to get a rise out of her. Villains who were pissed gave away all kinds of information.

  “I am the mage who refused to be contained by shifters. You should know all about that, warrior. You’ve been contained for far too long, pining and waiting for that you couldn’t have. But now you’ve got it, haven’t you? Mated to both alphas of this pack. It has fueled you. You feel it don’t you? The increased energy. The stamina. The surge of raw power in your veins. It’s all pretty invigorating, isn’t it?”

  She circled us, walking around where we stood. Tris took my hand in his and squeezed. It must be tough for him not to try to protect me, but I could hold my own.

  Maybe now more than ever.

  Opal was right, of course. Everything felt different after my mating to Samson. Like everything was complete.

  Like I was finally alive.

  “Too bad it’s not enough to fight me. I’d hoped this would be easy. It would be better for you and your whole pack if this was easy, don’t you think?”

  My entire body wavered while some force entered my mind, unbidden and unwelcome. Visions of pack members, both in wolf and human form wer
e fading along the center of the pack lands, lands where we usually celebrated victories or new memberships.

  What once was a happy place had withered and twisted in my mind into a graveyard of sorts.

  “Yes, that is what the future of Midnight Alder will be if you make this difficult, warrior.”

  “Why do you keep calling me that?” I asked, ignoring her bullshit. She was a mage, a witch of sorts. I knew the things in my mind weren’t real. She was simply trying to scare me, and, if I had to admit it, she was doing a bang-up job.

  “Calling you what you are? Please don’t let it go to your head. It’s just a formality, really. These lands belong to my kind. They always have, and they always will. The books mention a healer and a warrior signaling the end of my reign, but I won’t have it. Nothing will end me or my powers, especially not a twit of a warrior like you.”

  She did not just call me a twit.

  I moved to shift in place, intending to give this Opal a lesson she and her hawk would remember for centuries, but my wolf was dormant all of the sudden. She was hiding in the deepest parts of me, refusing to come out.

  “What the…?” Tris touched his body, patting it, chest to stomach. “My wolf…”

  Opal laughed, the sound reverberated in the forest all around us, piercing my eardrums and yet, somehow, sounding like a song. A song of evil and beauty divine.

  I felt like I was in Wonderland.

  “Yes, those pathetic animals of yours are no use around me. They obey my command. And without them…well, it’s clear that you are worthless.”

  No one called me worthless and lived to tell the tale. No fucking way.

  “That’s all you’ve got?” I goaded her.

  “No, but this is.”

  In seconds, Tris and I were off the ground and hovering in the air. We spun around in circles until equilibrium became intoxicated and sky and ground meshed into one. “This is what I have,” she snarled

  Before I could speak or even try to tell heads from tails, Tris and I slammed into the nearest tree.