Alpha Shifters After Dark (Shapeshifter Paranormal Romance Boxed Set) Read online

  That’s what we get for picking such a perfect mate, his wolf said, and there was more smile than sigh in that inner voice. Perfect for us.

  Yes, she was perfect, but every body had its limits, and a pregnant body had different priorities. Couldn’t Lana see that?

  So he figured he’d start with a little break for the both of them and steal Lana away for a couple of days. Have her to himself for a change. Then somehow, he’d have to get her on board with the idea of slowing down a little: shorter office hours, longer lie-ins in the morning. She deserved it. And the baby did, too.

  He climbed the three stairs to her office, scowling as he sniffed the air. The ranch supply shop next door was being painted, and the fumes carried this way. Wasn’t that bad for a growing baby? He’d have to check the maintenance schedule as soon as he finished here. See what other paint jobs were penciled in and cancel anything within an…oh, ten-mile radius.

  He pushed the door to Lana’s office open then stopped short. What the hell was Audrey doing there?

  “Hello, Ty.” Audrey breathed his name and batted her eyelashes as if he were a swinging single on the market for some after-hours fun. As if he’d ever been interested in her type: bleached blond hair, pouty lips, scandalously low top. Audrey was a packmate, and he’d respect her for that—but only that.

  Audrey squeezed her shoulders together and dipped to show off her mighty rack, but his eyes were fixed on his woman. His gorgeous, smart, and incredibly stubborn woman. Long brown hair, sky-blue eyes, and a lean, athletic frame despite the baby bump hidden behind the desk.

  Mate, his wolf growled.

  Mate, hers hummed in a higher note.

  In two steps, he’d crossed the office, found her lips, and hung on for a long, slow kiss. Who needed food, air, water? He had his mate.

  “Hmm-hmm!”

  Damn. He’d forgotten about Audrey. But Audrey wasn’t the type to let anyone forget her for long, no matter how hard they tried. Not with her clearing her throat and clicking her inch-long nails on Lana’s desk.

  “About the upgrades I need for my hair salon…”

  The pack owned a piece of commercial property in the nearest town, thirty miles away, and Audrey ran a beauty salon in one of the smaller units. To her credit, the business was doing pretty well, last he’d heard.

  “You’ll have to see Tina about capital investments,” Lana said with that flat note of finality she nailed down perfectly. Respectful but no-nonsense and right to the point—that was his girl. “Not my area.”

  Audrey gave Lana a grumpy goodbye glance and Ty a long, hungry look. “You know what my salon offers these days, Ty? Old-fashioned razor shaves for men. Exactly what you need.” She swept her tongue over her overpainted lips. “A real close shave. Just imagine.”

  He could imagine it, all right. Audrey’s fingernails jabbing near his eyes; her tits pushed up against his chest.

  “No, thanks.” He tried copying Lana’s even tone, but a grumble still came through.

  He didn’t need a close shave, not from Audrey, not from anyone, except maybe his mate. That, he could picture. Him, Lana, some shaving cream, and a little privacy. They’d start slow and sweet on the back terrace of their place and end hot and hard in the cool shade of the bedroom. That, he could do.

  The lines under Lana’s eyes, though, told him she might not be up for any elaborate kind of fun—not anytime soon, anyway. He’d save the thought for later. Now was all about her.

  And about getting Audrey the hell out of that office, then opening a couple more windows—on the south side, away from the fresh paint. Audrey was almost as toxic, what with her dense veil of perfume, hair spray, and nail polish. Those chemicals had to be as bad for his baby as paint fumes.

  He’d barely shooed Audrey out the door when his siblings Tina and Cody whisked in.

  “Heya, Ty.” Tina barely nodded as she passed, making a beeline for Lana. “Lana! Baby! How are you two?”

  Lana grinned and put up with Tina’s cooing and hands all over her belly while Ty growled a silent message to his brother.

  Don’t even think about it, bro.

  Cody put his hands up as if the soft look in his eyes hadn’t come from wondering what it felt like to touch a growing baby through its mother’s skin.

  Not my department, man, Cody assured him.

  Ty grunted and felt a little stab of pity for his bachelor brother. Would he ever grow up and see the light?

  “So, I wanted to go over the accounts we talked about,” Tina started.

  Cody chimed in, too. “And Dad wanted to know if you figured out the east side aquifer lease yet.”

  Yet? The old dog had probably dumped the files on Lana yesterday. And anyway, couldn’t they see how tired she looked?

  “I’m on it,” was all she said.

  With greedy developers gobbling up ever-bigger chunks of Arizona, Lana’s expertise in land rights was crucial in helping the ranch protect their turf, their way of life. She’d spent the last three years closing any possible chinks in their legal armor, and now she was hell-bent on creating as big a buffer zone around the ranch as possible. That meant shifting through endless documents: land surveys and deeds from the 1800s. Water rights from the 1930s. Mining licenses from the 1980s. It went on and on. That and endless meetings with neighboring property owners and environmental groups.

  It was a hell of a lot of work, even divided among three: Lana, plus Tina, with her organized mind and accounting skills, and Rae, with her inborn knowledge of the land. The three of them made a formidable team, but even they had their limits, much as they pretended otherwise.

  Ty jabbed a finger toward his brother’s chest. “Aren’t you supposed to be putting speed bumps in? That’s the priority.” It was infuriating how fast some people drove on the ranch. A kid could crawl out of nowhere and get hurt.

  “I put Steve on it, don’t worry.”

  “I’m not worried,” Ty said through gritted teeth. “I just want it done. Yesterday.”

  Lana, meanwhile, pulled out a second chair for Tina, game as always to tackle yet another job.

  “Are you sure you have the time?” Tina asked.

  “Sure.” Lana nodded, ignoring the folders stacked all around the room.

  “No,” Ty barked, and three heads whipped up in surprise. “You and you,” he pointed at his siblings. “Out.”

  “But Ty, we just have to—”

  “Out,” he snapped. He’d had enough of everyone making demands of his mate.

  “But—”

  “Out!” His voice had an edge of thunder in it, but he didn’t care. Enough was enough. He glared at both his siblings until they scurried out. Then he closed the door and leaned against it before anyone else could storm in.

  “Ty,” Lana sighed.

  “Lana.”

  They looked at each other from across the room, the silence stretching long and loud.

  “You’re working too much,” he started.

  “I’m fine.”

  He waved an impatient hand. “Even superwoman needs a little down time.”

  She tossed her pen down and waved her hands at the reams of paper cluttering the perimeter of her desk. “Do you know what a mess these files are?”

  “They’re better than they were yesterday and the day before.”

  “But still nowhere near finished.”

  “It’ll never be finished. For every job you cross off the top of your list, two more get added to the bottom. You know that.”

  She squeezed her lips into a thin line.

  “Lana, the files will survive for three days.”

  “Three days?” Her eyebrows lifted.

  “Three days. The two of us are going away.” She looked about to protest, so he held up a hand. “Zack, Tina, and Cody will take care of things here while we go to the cabin.” He knew she couldn’t say no to that. She was always after him to delegate more responsibility to the others.

  “The cabin?” Her voice cracked a little and her eyes misted over. The place was full of memories for both of them, starting from their very first night together, almost three years ago.

  He let out all the breath he’d been holding in, circled behind her chair, and closed his arms around his mate and his child. Closed his eyes, too.

  “Just you, me, and baby,” he whispered.

  “I like the sound of that.”

  “Yeah,” he exhaled. “Me, too.”

  Step one: check. On to step two.

  Chapter Two

  In the end, it took him two long hours to get Lana on the road, and even then she insisted on trying to wrap up a couple of loose ends.

  “Let me just check with Aunt Jean about—”

  “It can wait.”

  “I need to drop this off for Beth—”

  “She can wait, too.”

  She huffed but let him steer her to the truck. And finally—finally!—they were off, with him sending silent thanks to the gods that ensured a total lack of cell phone coverage up at the cabin in the hills. Otherwise, they’d never get any peace.

  The cabin he’d built with Cody a few years back wasn’t far away, but so high and so isolated that it felt like a different world. Even the vegetation up there was different, with small clumps of cliffrose and snapdragon that perfumed the area with their own special scent. The simplicity of the cabin made everything else seem simple too, and he needed that illusion right now.

  “Nice,” Lana sighed, watching the desert sweep by. Summer was just getting started, but the last patches of spring color still showed in little bursts of yellow, green, and the occasional red.

  It was more than nice. It was home.

  He stretched the twenty-minute drive to thirty because rattling down the dirt road at top speed coul
dn’t be comfortable for Lana. He kind of got a smile, though, imagining the baby floating inside, enjoying the ride like a bouncy castle. Someday, when the baby was big enough, they’d have to take the little tyke someplace to try one out.

  He lingered a little too long on those thoughts after he pulled to a stop below the cabin, because Lana beat him to the back of the truck. She had already hauled the two heaviest food bags out and started up the path by the time he scrambled after her, grabbing at the groceries.

  “Let me get them,” she protested.

  “Let me.” He reached again.

  Lana refused to let go, and, too late, he saw her face flush. “I can get them!”

  “So can I.” He used the lightest tone he could, but even that came out growly.

  He tugged on the bag, and she let go so abruptly, he stumbled back.

  “I’m pregnant, not sick!” Her voice was shrill, her face bright red, her posture stiff and stubborn in a sudden rage. Crap, he’d never seen her look so angry.

  “I know.”

  Too little, too late. Why couldn’t he ever find the right words to say?

  “Stop treating me like a child! You don’t let me do anything!” Lana cried, making chopping motions with her hands.

  “You don’t let me do anything!” he said.

  Except he didn’t say it. He yelled it. Thundered it like a battle cry.

  If his hands weren’t full, he’d be clutching the air, trying to pull the words back. Because he’d just yelled at his mate. He’d never done that before. Promised himself he never would.

  He stood staring at her for a minute, waiting for his world to unravel. She had every right to stomp back into the truck, slam the door, and drive away. Lana wasn’t one for drama, but she had her pride. And he’d just insulted it—the ultimate crime. He dropped the bags with a loud clunk and slumped backward against the truck as his wolf raged inside.

  What the hell are you doing, yelling at the woman we love?

  The desert seemed shocked at his outburst, too, and everything went eerily silent. When he felt the vibration of her footsteps on the ground a moment later, they were softer than he expected. Coming in his direction. Coming close. Bastard that he was, he couldn’t even look her in the face.

  “Ty,” she said, and for some reason, it came as a whisper, not a shout. Why didn’t she yell back? Why was her touch soft and pleading instead of the sharp slap he deserved?

  Lana, though, rarely did the expected. She didn’t yell or protest or cry. She just whispered his name, again and again while her arms cinched around him in a full-body hug that even the baby joined in on, nudging his stomach.

  “I’m sorry, my love,” she mumbled into his neck.

  He wanted—needed—to say it right back, but the words wouldn’t come. They were stuck at the back of his throat, caught between a bubble of hope and a lump of shame.

  She stroked his ear with one hand and his shoulder with another. The repetitive motion and her voice slowly settled his wolf, who still snarled inside. Why can’t you ever get anything right?

  “My love, it’s okay.” It was her, comforting him, instead of the other way around, the way it should be.

  He looped his arms around her and squeezed her as close as he dared. “I’m sorry,” he finally managed. “It’s just…”

  Just what? his wolf grumbled. That you’re a complete fuck-up of a mate?

  “...it’s just that I hate not being able to do anything.” It was true: the baby lay tucked inside Lana’s body while he stood stuck on the outside, unable to help in any way. The bouts of morning sickness she’d dealt with, the nights she could barely settle in to sleep—he couldn’t do anything to help. Powerless for the first time in his life.

  “You do everything.” Her voice was muffled by his shirt, because she had nestled into that perfect spot at the juncture of his shoulder and chest. He wished he could hold her there forever and forget everything else existed.

  He slid a hand to her belly, willing the apology to go there, too. “I can’t do anything to help.”

  “You do everything for us,” she insisted.

  Us. He used to think men were lucky not to carry the burden of pregnancy, but now he saw the flip side. Lana and the baby were bonded in a way he never could be. He could cook and carry and fuss as much as he wanted, but it was all just busywork.

  Maybe she read his thoughts, because her hand pressed over his, putting enough pressure on her belly that he came up against something firm. The baby’s foot? A hand? Its head?

  “No,” Lana whispered. “I mean us. Us three.”

  Three. Maybe he was imagining it, but he could swear the baby pushed back. A tingle raced down his spine, and the feeling spread, slowly settling his nerves.

  “I just hate not being able to do more.” All his life, he’d been good at everything he tried. But this…he could try all he wanted and he’d still never help as much as he wished.

  “I couldn’t do it without you. Besides, you did the most important part.” Her chuckle warmed his blood, and the knots in his muscles loosened just a tiny bit. Didn’t hurt that she’d pushed her hips closer to his.

  He kept his nose in her hair, breathing her in. The baby’s scent mingled in there, too, and when he changed the angle, he caught a whiff of his own scent on her. Us three.

  “And believe me,” Lana said, “once this little guy is born, you can carry, feed, and nurture all you want.”

  “Believe me,” Ty murmured. “I want. I will.”

  Chapter Three

  Lana closed her eyes and let the gritty bass tone she loved so much echo through her bones. Ty would be a great father. Hell, he was already a caring partner, and frankly, she couldn’t wait to see her big, growly mate cuddling a tiny baby in those thick arms.

  But that was three months away. Right now, she ought to be more concerned with practical matters. There were groceries to put away. A cabin to air out. A king-sized bed to warm up.

  So get to work already! her wolf growled.

  Ty seemed to have seized on the same idea, because he backed her against the truck, bracketed her sides with his arms, and leaned in for a slow nuzzle. He scraped up and down her cheek with his chin, marking her with his scent. Then he planted a kiss on her lips and followed up with more, each deeper and more possessive than the last. The rumble in his chest grew, and she was pretty sure that jut against her stomach wasn’t the baby. Another minute pressed up against him like that, and she’d be clawing at his shirt.

  “I was planning on getting you to bed, you know,” he murmured, right into her ear. Close. Hot.

  “Who needs a bed?” She tugged him closer by both sides of his collar and went right back to his lips.

  The man smelled of pine and sage and open space, and it was impossible to get enough. A couple of centuries of him wouldn’t be enough. She worked the buttons of his shirt down and smoothed her hands over her favorite acre of hot, hard flesh. Her head rang with a thousand ancient voices, chanting for man and woman to come together as one. She and Ty were always on fire together, but being pregnant added to the incendiary mix like oil on an open flame. She was already burrowing into the waistband of his jeans, fumbling with the fly. He chuckled and the sound resonated through her soul. As usual, he kept his cool while she let her wild side out.

  Which just wouldn’t do. Pride was pride, even to a hormonal she-wolf. So she stretched up and found his right ear, the key to all his emotions, and started kissing. Licking. Nibbling. Whispering what she wanted, how she wanted. A smug part of her mind sat back and watched her man unravel, one rough, woolly thread at a time.

  “You and me,” she whispered.

  He barely moved, barely nodded, but his cock jutted into her hip.

  “You inside me,” she went on.

  The easy caress of his hands grew heavier and more insistent as he pulled her flush against his body. Like she was going anywhere else.

  “You filling me, again and again…” she whispered right into his ear, then kissed. Tongued. Licked.

  His head tilted into her as if he were listening to something far away. The call of the wild, maybe, saying that he, too, could let go.

  “…and again,” she finished.

  His lips went from tiny pecks to crushing kisses, and she knew she had him.

  Actually, he has us, her wolf grinned as he lifted her against the side of the truck.