Shifter Situations: The Chronicles of Sloane King Read online

  Copyright © 2021 M.F. Adele

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, businesses, incidents, and events are either used in a fictitious manner or stem from the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to real events or real people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover design by:

  AT Cover Designs

  Edited by:

  Kaye Kemp Book Polishing

  Published by:

  Langston Press, LLC

  Latest content update:

  February 25, 2021

  Contents

  Disclaimer

  Prologue

  1. Sloane

  2. Sloane

  3. Palmer

  4. Sloane

  5. Sloane

  6. Briggs

  7. Novak

  8. Sloane

  9. Sloane

  10. Vaughn

  11. Stone

  12. Sloane

  13. Sloane

  14. York

  15. Sloane

  16. Sloane

  17. Vaughn

  18. Sloane

  19. Novak

  20. Stone

  21. Briggs

  22. Sloane

  23. York

  24. Sloane

  25. Sloane

  26. Sloane

  27. Palmer

  28. Sloane

  Epilogue

  Character Information

  Dead Characters

  Also by MF Adele

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  Disclaimer

  Shifter Situations is the fourth book in the seven-book series, The Chronicles of Sloane King. This is a paranormal reverse harem romance, meaning it does involve a polyamorous relationship.

  This is a series-wide disclaimer for The Chronicles of Sloane King.

  Current books include: sex between two or more partners, explicit language, murder, blood, graphic violence, BDSM scenes, a poly relationship, and M|M|F scenes.

  Current books include mentions of: child abuse, rape, drugs, domestic violence, suicide, controversial religious beliefs, and open relationships.

  If any of the scenarios listed trigger or offend you, please do not read this series. If you have any questions about content, please contact me for clarification.

  [email protected]

  To my Word Overlords,

  To my Keepers of the Secrets.

  Thank you for the late night sprints,

  reminders to eat, and all the laughs.

  Without you two, this book would not have been finished.

  Prologue

  Briggs

  Five Years Ago

  I couldn’t fucking believe I was moving.

  Traveling from North Fork, West Virginia, to Nashville, Tennessee, was only about six hours. But it was five and a half hours too far away from my brother.

  It had been Bay and me for the last five years. He was the only family I had left, and I didn’t want us to grow distant because we couldn’t see each other regularly.

  That was my biggest fear when it came to this new change.

  What was I supposed to do without my brother?

  I called him as I neared my destination, needing to vent and bitch. Really, I just wanted to know that he was going to be okay on his own.

  As soon as he answered his cell phone, I greeted him by grumbling, “It’s fucking bullshit, Bay. That’s all this is.”

  He sighed, most likely massaging his temples. “First, the Supreme Alpha asked you to move to Nashville to keep an eye on the local faction alpha. You should be grateful for that kind of responsibility.

  “Second, you need friends, Big. I can’t be the only friend you ever have.” His chuckle pissed me off.

  “You are my brother,” I admonished. “That makes you my friend by default. I have other friends. I don’t want new friends. I don’t want roommates. Living with you is comparable to living in Hell. What if these guys are worse?”

  “You’re so fucking grumpy. I hope your new roommates love that charm of yours as much as I do.”

  “Get fucked, Baylor.”

  “I did,” he popped back. “As soon as you drove away.”

  I groaned, thankful that the GPS started talking over his descriptions. Missing out on the banter would take some getting used to. I craved a familiar face already.

  “I’ll call you later,” I lamented. “I’m about to pull up to my new prison.”

  “Get happy, Big. Or get fucked. But definitely call me back if your new roomies are hot.”

  “They’re dudes, Bay.”

  His wheezing laughter rolled through the speaker of my phone. “Damn. That double sucks for you, huh?”

  “Bye. Baylor,” I grouched as I hung up on him.

  My new home for the foreseeable future was in an upscale neighborhood outside of Nashville’s city limits. The large brick and stone sign read Union Estates.

  All the houses had lush green yards and brick mailboxes that matched their exteriors. Luxury vehicles were parked in driveways and along both sides of the streets.

  There were a few cars around my destination, but I couldn’t tell if they belonged to my new roommates or the neighbors.

  I parked my truck on the road as I eyed the front of the house with distaste. I’d thought moving to Tennessee meant that my old Ford pickup truck wouldn’t appear out of place, but gods… I was wrong. I should have washed it, at the least.

  At the most, I could have driven it off a cliff and gotten a newer one.

  I grabbed my duffel bag out of the cab, leaving the few boxes I had in the bed for later. I’d gotten rid of a lot of my shit before I left my apartment with Bay.

  My ears perked up at the muffled conversation behind the front door as I dragged my feet all the way across the front lawn. The voices sounded familiar, and I wasn’t sure if I liked that or not.

  I also wasn’t sure if I should knock or just walk right in. I mean, I did live here now, but it felt wrong to barge in. I stood on the porch, trying to decide what I would do, when the door swung open.

  An old friend greeted me.

  We knew each other through the Supreme Alpha, and we had shared a few jobs in the past. I didn’t accept many hits, but the ones I had taken had paid my way through internships with chefs around the US and England.

  I still wasn’t expecting to see him, let alone find out that he was one of my new roommates.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” I grinned at the vampire.

  “Aye, Mage,” Novak shouted through the house. “The gang’s all here. Who do you think the last guy is?”

  “I miss the silence already,” a gruff voice replied.

  I wandered past the vampire into the foyer of the rental and stopped in my tracks. The interior of the house was plain and boring.

  Of course it was. We’d all just moved in.

  But I expected to see boxes, bags, or… I didn’t even know. Something that made it seem like they’d moved in today, too.

  The walls were cream, trimmed in white, and lacked any kind of personality. The carpet was also cream, and so were the tiles. I took my shoes off at the door because I didn’t want to leave a trail of dirt across the pristine flooring.

  That shit would get old quick.

  I wasn’t sure I could handle all the light colors. We needed some pictures on the walls o
r some fucking throw pillows. Anything to add more colors that weren’t muted and neutral.

  The house was furnished, though. Even if it wasn't to my liking, I wouldn’t complain. But I kind of wanted to.

  Okay. I would.

  “This house is bare as fuck.”

  “Then do something about it, Wolf,” the demon growled. “I can’t be fucked with interior decorating bullshit. My finals start in four days.”

  “All we had in our last apartment were drawings that this asshole commissioned.” Palmer shrugged. “But who knows? Maybe if we’re nice to him, he’ll take pity on us and draw something other than eyes for a change.”

  “Don’t press your luck, Mage.”

  I bounced my finger between Palmer and Stone. “I didn’t know you two knew each other that well.”

  “Palmer and I met a year or so ago. We’ve been living together for about…” the demon trailed off, staring at his fingers.

  The mage sighed, covering his eyes with his right hand. “It’s been eight months, Stone. Ye’d know that if—”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Stone interrupted, rolling his eyes. “If I stopped hiding in my room. I'm still going to stay in my room, though. I have shit to study for.”

  I squinted at them. “Since we all know each other, can we skip the awkward bullshit?”

  “Want a beer?” Novak asked, striding into the kitchen.

  “Yeah,” I called out. “What were you saying earlier about another guy?”

  Palmer didn’t look away from his book as he said, “Nate told me there might be six of us.”

  If there were supposed to be six of us, and I was the fourth person, who else were we missing?

  The demon and the mage were here, and they’d apparently become… sort of friends at some point. The vampire was here, which made me wonder if the fifth person was his fae friend, Vaughn.

  I counted once more before I questioned them, hoping to avoid Palmer’s sarcasm. “Who’s the fifth?”

  “You,” Stone answered, lighting the fireplace before huffing in annoyance.

  I rubbed my middle finger across my forehead, making my question more direct. “Who is the person that is not in this room?”

  Novak groaned in aggravation as an English accent remarked, “No alcohol for you.”

  “Why?” the vampire whined.

  “Because you have a gig tonight,” Vaughn reminded him, handing me the beer I’d agreed to.

  Stone chuckled darkly. “You’ve already found a strip club to hire you?”

  “Ha. Ha.” Novak laughed humorlessly before snarking, “The demon has jokes? Who knew?”

  “No.” Vaughn sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

  “He compelled a club owner to let him DJ tonight. If Novak can keep his head on straight, then it should open up some big doors for him.”

  The fae glared at the vampire. “But I can’t babysit him. I’m starting a new job on Monday, and I’m touring the facility in the morning.”

  “Not it,” Palmer and Stone shouted at once.

  “Godsdamnit,” I grumbled. “Why can’t you stay out of trouble for one fucking night?”

  “Trouble calls to me, Wolf,” he admitted with a shrug.

  Novak wrapped his arm around my shoulders, wistfully stating, “It’s my only true vice. I can never say no.”

  I shoved him away from me, snorting at how right he was.

  We were all violent and deadly, too strong to not be watched by our respective leaders. That’s why we were the apprentices, after all. So they could keep us close, observing us to make sure we were using our potential to its fullest while not abusing it.

  It made me wonder who was here, in Nashville, that could keep us all contained and controlled.

  “Trouble calls to us all, Vamp. Let’s avoid it tonight.”

  1

  Sloane

  Tuesday, June 2nd

  Early Evening

  “This is fucking bad, Barbie,” Briggs confessed, rubbing both of his tattooed hands over his face.

  I snorted, giving up all pretenses of trying to be lady-like in any way. Prying his hands away so that I could see his forest green eyes, I shook my head at him.

  “It’s not so bad. There’s video footage of all of us here, and we can make it look like we didn’t leave, so they can’t pin anything on Novak.”

  “You told them we were here, not in the Underworld.”

  I didn’t understand why they were stressing out. Those shifters hadn’t been sent on pack business, and they certainly weren’t cops. The static in their minds started to tug at my memories, but I couldn’t quite grasp them.

  “I told them we were home. I didn’t say which one. They weren’t real officers, Briggs. We could have lied through our teeth, and there would be nothing that they could do about it.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “Do you know how many homes are in my name?” I questioned, dropping my hands from his face to study Novak and Vaughn as well.

  “Just because they assumed I meant here when I said home doesn’t mean anything. Whatever you’re worried about, we’ll take care of it. I’ll take care of it.”

  Novak sighed, collapsing onto the couch and pulling at his hair. “You can’t fix the past, Trouble. That’s what he’s worried about.”

  “What we’re all worried about,” Vaughn corrected.

  Briggs and Vaughn looked at each other, glanced at me, then raised eyebrows at Novak. They crossed the room toward my vampire, and my shifter’s rumbling voice was soft as he advised, “We need to call Blaire.”

  “She’s still in Baton Rouge helping Dominic. We can bring her through the Void,” I quietly confirmed. “She could be here in minutes.”

  “She’s gonna fucking kill me,” Novak growled, his voice taking on an unusual lilt. I’d never heard him speak with any kind of an accent, even though his French was flawless.

  “You didn’t do anything,” I assured him.

  “Fuck,” he whispered, stammering over his words as he switched from French to English rapidly. “Qu'est-ce que je vais faire? Blaire will fucking kill me. Comment suis-je censé m’en sortir?”

  “Hey,” I called, trying to keep his sudden panic at bay. “Novak. Novak. Mon Coeur…” I murmured, cupping his cheek to bring his attention to my face.

  “We’ll get through it. You don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to get out of anything. There’s nothing to get out of; you didn’t do anything. We’ll call Blaire in. I’ll talk to her and explain what’s going on.

  “Please don’t freak out. Everything pack-related will soon go through Briggs and me. You have nothing to worry about; your past is your past. We all have one. It doesn’t change anything.”

  He shook his head, glossy brunette hair sweeping into his face as he struggled not to bounce between languages. “Trouble, I have a record. They’ll find a way to pin me to whatever it is.”

  Novak’s mesmerizing golden gaze roved across my face as I lowered myself to my knees on the floor between his legs.

  “I need to know everything. You don’t have to say a word. Just let me in; let me see what you’re so concerned about,” I pleaded.

  “He’ll only be able to show you a portion of it,” Vaughn admitted, dropping onto the couch beside Novak.

  “I’ve locked most of his memories away so they can’t be found. Not even truth potions could pull them from him. Search his mind for what’s leftover, then search mine. Everything is there between the two of us.”

  I placed my left hand on Novak’s knee and my right on Vaughn’s. Closing my eyes, I recalled the trip to Kentucky and how it felt when Novak pulled Vaughn into my mind.

  My fae’s presence was cool and calm, like clear water lapping at the dark edges of my subconscious. My vampire’s was a bundle of energy, rushing toward us both when I sought him out.

  As I pulled Vaughn into Novak’s memories, they came to us as second-long clips. I didn’t sense a particular order to them, but they were all so
similar.

  “Novak Malin, you’re under arrest for…”

  “Novak Malin, you’re being charged with…”

  “Mr. Malin, have you seen this man before?”

  “Mr. Malin, can you tell us where you were on the night of…”

  Over and over, the clips played on repeat, but the settings and the people changed. I lost count of how many fragmented memories he showed us.

  Vaughn’s hand touched mine as he whispered, “Let him go. I’ll show you the rest now.”

  When I released Novak, his defeated sigh made my chest clench painfully. His panic was gone, but so were most of his emotions. He was closing down, making himself numb for what he thought was to come.

  My fae’s memories sucked me in quickly, nearly knocking me off balance where I was kneeling in front of them. They were vivid, loud, and the beginnings of what Novak had shown, all from Vaughn’s perspective.

  One stuck out more than the others.

  “Go, Novak!”

  “Get in the car, Vaughn. Hurry up.”

  Four fae were closing in on us, and still, he wouldn’t leave me. They weren’t bounty hunters, but they’d take my head back to the winter realm, regardless. The price on me was too large a sum to ignore.