Bearing the Shifter (Shifter World - Book Four) (Series of 13 Short Stories)

A knock at the door had them looking at it.

“Holy shit, you two, you do know everyone in this building can hear you, right?”

Maddy’s face turned bright red.

Rolando chuckled. “Go away, Gerald!” he hollered.

The door started to open, and Rolando grunted. He should have known his friend wouldn’t listen.

“Gerald,” Maddy said, looking at the other man.

“Fuck.” Gerald looked them up and down. “Nice fuck, got me all hot and bothered.”

Maddy chuckled.

Rolando was glad Maddy wasn’t insulted by his friend. Who was ogling his ass…

“Gerald, eyes off my ass.”

Maddy burst into laughter, and Gerald grinned.

“Hard not to. Man, you have a fine ass.”

Maddy nodded. “I’ll have to agree with him on that.”

“So, you two are stuck there for what, another twenty-five minutes?” Gerald asked as he tried to see where they were connected.

“Stop looking,” Rolando grumbled.

“Dude, how far up in her are you?” Gerald asked, his eyes open wide. “I don’t see anything but your balls.”

Rolando grunted. “Gerald,” he warned.

Maddy was laughing. Apparently, she wasn’t offended that Gerald was looking at his balls and her pussy.

“All the way,” Rolando grunted.

“Well, shit,” Gerald said as he backed away. “But you’re what, thirteen inches long?”

Rolando snarled. “Sixteen, and you know it.”

Gerald chuckled, then sobered. “And she’s taking all of it.”

Rolando grinned. “You’ll understand more when you have your own mate. They’re created for us. The knot is at the end of the shaft, so yeah, she or he.” He emphasized the word—he—for Gerald’s benefit. “Will be able to take whatever length you’ve got in order for the knotting to work.”

Gerald nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Are you going to stay here while we’re waiting?” Maddy asked, looking at Gerald.

Gerald grinned at her. “I just might.”

She snickered, then laid her chin on Rolando’s shoulder so she could see Gerald better. “Okay, if you’re going to stay here, you can tell us more about Fated Mates and bonding.”

Rolando snorted. Great, now not only is Gerald going to stay and check out his ass and balls, but Maddy is going to talk to him as if they’re all sitting around the living room chatting.

Maddy sensed her mate’s discomfort and kissed his neck. “You know he’s only fucking with your head,” she whispered. “He respects you too much.”

Rolando grinned down at her, and she smiled. Yeah, she’s already falling hard for this man. And it made her happier than she’s been in a very long time.

~🏈~

It took two days to get the guys’ stuff from the team’s house. Mainly because their teammates continued to harass them for moving out. They never allowed her to go with them to the house, which was fine with her.

They had shopped that first day and bought some decent furniture for the house. A couple of couches and a couple lazy-boys—all used. The guys wouldn’t let her spend her money, even though they had no clue how much she had.

Not many know that being a popular blogger, like her, with her site and all, has made her pretty rich. She’s not a millionaire, but she has enough money and then some.

On the last day of moving the guys’ crap into the apartment, she was in the master bedroom, shuffling through her bags for something when the guys got home.

“Maddy!” Rolando hollered.

“In here!” she called back.

She heard him walk down the hall and smiled. She was getting used to her special abilities. Especially strength, which is her favorite new thing.

“Whatcha looking for?” he asked as he entered the room.

She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. “I lost one of my memory cards in one of these stupid bags.”

“Need help?” he asked with a smile.

She shook her head. “I’ve got this. You have your crap to unpack. Did they give you boys a hard time again?”

He groaned as he sat on their bed—which is the bed from his room at the other house. It was the first thing he’d brought from there.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” She chuckled.

“We hired movers this time, so while we dealt with the team’s bullshit, someone was packing and moving our shit.”

“Didn’t know you had so much stuff,” she said, turning to him.

He shrugged. “Me, not so much. But Gerald?” He groaned as an answer.

She laughed as she went back to digging in her bag. “Ah-ha,” she said, pulling the memory card she’d spent the last fifteen minutes looking for from the bag.

“What’s on it?” he asked.

She turned to him, still holding up the memory card. “Some pictures I’d taken on my way here. I want to put them on my site.”

“Did you really say something about that café?” he asked, watching her.

She gave him a devious smile. “Of course, I did, Love.”

“You can call me Mafilio,” he whispered.

She stared at him for a minute. “What does it mean?” It was very similar to what he called her.

He grinned. “It’s the male version of Mafilia.”

She smiled. “Gotcha.” She nodded and stood. “Okay, Mafilio. Would you like to see my site?”

Rolando jumped to his feet and pulled Maddy into his arms. Hearing that word on her lips, knowing she said it for him, had his cock hard.

She looked down and laughed. “All right, it can wait.”

She slipped the memory card into her pocket, then jumped him.

~🏈~

“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, How I Wonder, What You Are….”

“Who’s there?” Maddy whispered as she looked around the dark alley. She knew she should have taken the other route to get back to the apartment.

“I can see you shining, Little Star.”

Maddy spun in a circle. “Don’t come any closer,” she growled.

“Ooo, you are feisty.”

“Show yourself,” Maddy said with another growl.

A tall, slender blond appeared before Maddy. Seemed she’d jumped down from the roof, just over Maddy’s head.

“What do you want?” Maddy asked, her eyes traveling over the beautiful woman.

The woman smiled wickedly. “Don’t you want to know?”

Maddy snorted. “Didn’t I just say I did?”

The woman cackled, which gave Maddy chills.

“You’re a tasty human if I ever smelt one,” the woman said as she moved closer to Maddy.

Maddy moved away from the woman. She’s read a lot of books about the shifter world and other Supernaturals since she’d found her mate almost a week ago. And if her senses were correct, this woman is a vampire, and a hungry-looking one at that.

She’d read that some vampires have evolved enough that they no longer feed on humans—live ones, anyway. But some refuse to stop eating the food that was put here for them. Though, if they wanted to get technical, humans were here before the Goddesses decided to create the shifters and other Supernaturals.

“Please, just let me go. I don’t want to hurt you,” Maddy said.

The vampire laughed so hard that she bent over at the waist. “This will be fun,” she said, wiping her eyes.

Maddy was ready for the vampire when she struck. She kicked the woman in the stomach with as much strength as she could muster, then slammed her palm into the woman’s nose. She knew she couldn’t kill the vampire, but she could fight like hell, and hopefully, the vampire will give up on her.

“Son of a bitch!” the vampire bellowed. She rubbed her nose and laughed when she saw the blood on her hand. “That’s the first time a human has made me bleed.”

“I’ll do more than that if you don’t back the fuck off,” Maddy growled.

The vampire looked at her. “Hmm,” she hummed, then smiled. “I bet you taste even better than you smell.” She leaped for Maddy again.

Maddy held her arms up to block the vampire from her neck as her back slammed against the building’s wall behind her.

“Mmm,” the vampire moaned. “Wrist veins are so….” She stopped talking and stared at Maddy’s wrists. “No, can’t be.” She pulled Maddy’s arms down and looked into her eyes. “It’s a good thing I didn’t try to control you, or I’d be dead right now.”

Maddy blinked at the vampire. “What?”

The vampire smiled, then leaned forward and sniffed her neck. “Delicious.” She moaned.

Maddy thought the vampire was going to bite her, but she didn’t. She leaned back and smirked.

“You’re not a human,” the vampire stated.

Maddy stared at the strange woman.

The vampire smiled. “What? No more quips?”

Maddy shook her head to clear it. “I’m trying to figure you out.”

The vampire laughed, then held Maddy’s wrists up so she could look at them again. “Who’s your mate?”

Maddy’s mouth opened, then shut. She refused to tell this woman anything…

“Not like I’m going to bite him. I don’t touch blood that’s not human. And now, I can no longer hunt,” she said with a heavy sigh. “Pity.”

“You… what? Why?”

’What the hell, Maddy, why are you asking a vampire why she can’t hunt innocent humans anymore?’

The vampire laughed. “Because my destiny is looking me straight in the eye, little bird.”

Maddy blinked. “What?”

The vampire licked Maddy’s left wrist, and Maddy’s eyes bugged open.

“Rolando Florance. Nice shifter, sexy as hell,” the vampire said with a grin.

“Uh.” Maddy didn’t know what to say. The woman just licked her wrist and knew exactly who her mate was.

“I’d hoped for a good one for you. Which one are you? Tia or Tara?”

Maddy blinked at the woman. How the hell? No one knew those names, no one but her and her sister.

“I, uh.”

“Tia,” the vampire said with a wide grin.

Maddy felt tears slide down her cheeks. “I’m Maddy Trenton.”

The vampire frowned. “That can’t be. I was told your names were Tia and Tara.”

“You were told wrong,” Maddy growled.

“Ah,” the vampire said as if she’d read Maddy’s mind. “I see.” She leaned in close and kissed Maddy’s neck. “You’re safe, I promise.”

“You just tried to suck me dry!” Maddy hollered as she yanked her wrists from the vampire’s grip.

The vampire grumbled. “That was before I knew who you were. Fuck, now I’m bound to you.”

“Bound?” Maddy asked as she tried to move away from the bloodsucker.

The vampire smirked. “I’ve been called worse than a bloodsucker.”

Maddy blinked; the vampire read her mind. She’d read something about that…

“Look, Maddy,” the vampire said with a heavy sigh. “I was never into the whole eating human food when an actual human would be a whole better meal. And animal blood?” She spat on the ground. “But for you and Tara, I will change my ways. To keep you two safe, I will do anything. Including….” She paused and rolled her eyes. “Including drinking blood from a bag.”

She made the most horrendous face; Maddy couldn’t help but laugh.

“Where’s the other one?” the vampire asked.

Maddy stopped laughing and stared at the vampire. “The other what?”

The vampire blew out a puff of air. “Your sister, of course.”

“Uh… I haven’t seen my sister since we were three.”

“What!?” the vampire shrieked.

Maddy took a step away from the woman and looked around for a way out.

“Tia, don’t even try,” the vampire warned.

“My name is Maddy,” she whispered.

The vampire growled. “Someone screwed with your destiny.”

“What?” Maddy asked, completely confused. “What destiny?”

The vampire blew out a puff of air. “You and Tara were supposed to grow up together. Let me guess, you were separated after your parents were killed.”

Maddy nodded, and the vampire shook her head. “Well, at least your connected enough that when you found yours, she found hers.”

“What?”

The vampire studied Maddy. “Do you still have the necklace?”

Maddy looked down. The star was tucked under her shirt. She hasn’t taken it off since Rolando placed it around her neck.

The vampire followed Maddy’s eyes and reached for the chain. The star came out from under her shirt, and the vampire frowned at it.

“You haven’t been wearing it.”

Maddy shook her head. “Just put it on a few days ago.”