Shifter Situations: The Chronicles of Sloane King Read online

  “I accept,” my dad rumbled, leaning around Briggs to raise a brow at me. “You alright down there, Pretty Lady?”

  “I think I’m having a stroke,” I mumbled.

  “You’re fine,” he assured me. “Walk it off. Rub some dirt on it.”

  I scoffed at him. “I’m not bleeding. I just wasn’t ready for that.”

  His deep green eyes bounced around my face as he nodded, his mouth set in a severe line.

  “You’re sitting down, right?”

  I glared at him and then at the ground. “I thought I was, but I’m not so sure now. Why?”

  He snorted, dropping down to the blanket beside us. “I sent one of the officers to Denver. He’s going to watch the Colorado Faction Alpha. He’ll report back if there are any problems.”

  “Will he be a steady leader?” Briggs questioned.

  “Steadfast and kind.”

  “Can he win an Alpha Challenge?”

  “He can. He also didn’t go alone. He’s got some friends with him to watch his back,” my dad confessed.

  Briggs gazed at me, and I gave him a soft smile in return. “Whenever you’re ready. You can call Baylor if you want his opinion on the matter. It doesn’t have to happen today or even tomorrow, but the option is there.”

  My dad climbed back to his feet, looking oddly pleased for a man who just helped his daughter offer to have someone murdered. He ruffled my hair, chuckling when I pulled away.

  “You know how to reach me, cub,” he reminded me before clapping Briggs on the back. “I wish Warren and Ruth were here to see you and Baylor. They’d be proud of you both.”

  “I know they would,” he affirmed, his voice a whispered breath that carried with the breeze.

  He didn’t turn around to face us until Dad was completely out of sight. My questions must have been displayed on my face because he closed his eyes and sighed before speaking.

  “Warren and Ruth were my parents.”

  I nodded, unsure if I should ask for more information or not.

  “Give her more than that, Briggs,” Palmer requested with none of his usual snark. “You don’t have to spill everything at once, but it’s important. She’ll probably kill him quicker if she knows.”

  “Or slower.”

  My wolf lifted one side of his mouth in a partial smile as he sat down beside me. He fidgeted for a moment before I placed my hands on his to try to calm him.

  “We don’t have to talk about your parents. I just need to know enough to pick out punishment for Gerard, if you want me to. I’ll happily step aside to let you dish out your own.”

  Briggs pulled his hair down, running his fingers through the loose strands. I’d seen him uncomfortable, but not like this. My guys were all quiet as he began to tie his dirty blonde waves back up.

  “When Bay and I were kids, our father was the faction alpha in Colorado. His last challenge cost him his life. Gerard killed my dad during a dirty fight, threatened Bay and me, then forced my mom to move out of our only home.”

  “Dirty how?” Novak inquired, frowning at his own interruption. “I’ve never understood that part, but I also don’t really get all the challenges and cake layers surrounding the pack.”

  I flared my nostrils, knowing I shouldn’t grin while Briggs was opening old wounds. I appreciated my vampire’s effort, though.

  “Alpha fights work a little differently than the apprentice challenges that we had,” I told him, trying to elaborate. “If the shifter challenging the alpha has a second-in-command picked out, then both of them challenge the alpha and his second. Two-on-two instead of one-on-one.”

  Briggs continued to fidget, twisting his fingers together then reaching for his hair again.

  “My dad’s second in command stood by his side as another shifter challenged him. In the middle of the fight, his second made it known that he wanted to be alpha as well. Gerard turned on my dad, helping the challenger before killing them both.”

  “He was in attendance during your fights, witnessing—”

  “Yeah.” He snorted as he cut Stone off. “And now he knows that I don’t want his pack.”

  I smirked, finding a satisfying amount of humor in Gerard’s predicament. “There is a little bit of irony in this situation that you’re in with him.”

  My mates glanced at me, and I held my thumb and index finger an inch apart, waiting to see if Briggs caught it.

  “Now I’m his Alpha,” he vocalized. “And that’s what he’s been so worried about. That’s why he threatened Bay and me, why we moved, why Charlie said my parents would be proud.”

  “Oh, how the tables do turn.”

  “What about your mom?” York carefully asked, his eyes soft and his voice tender.

  “She killed herself shortly after I turned eighteen. She said she couldn’t live with the pain of a lost mate any longer.”

  He shrugged, but I could pick his emotions out in our bond. He still held some resentment toward her, though sadness was at the forefront.

  “She left her will out for us to find, turning Baylor’s custody and the family finances over to me. We’d just celebrated his seventeenth birthday. It was just me and him until I moved to Nashville. I was gone for a few weeks here and there, but he didn’t want to leave.”

  Briggs stopped, and we all got the sense that he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. York and Novak steered the conversation onto more lighthearted topics while I stewed in my thoughts.

  I listened to the mixture of their voices as I idly traced over the tattoos on Briggs’ hand.

  A month ago, my Sunday would have been spent alone, cooped up in that big house with no one except the hellhounds to keep me company. At this point, I could hardly recall what a day by myself felt like. I knew days without my guys would be boring in comparison to the mundane routines that I used to have.

  Had anyone given me this exact scenario four weeks ago... I would have laughed in their face. We’d come a long way; I’d come a long way, but I still had a few things to work out for myself.

  I had sealed my bond with four of my mates, but I couldn’t stop wondering if they would resent me in the future for rushing things. That could have been why Palmer and Vaughn had decided to move at a slower pace.

  Not that I was complaining. Again, I was just wondering.

  I didn’t want them to think that any part of our growing relationships had been shaped around a power grab. And I knew I’d thought about that before, but its relevance wasn’t lost on me.

  We had rushed through some steps, though we were slowly making up for it. I couldn’t think of a single thing that I regretted when it came to them.

  My only wish might have been not acting at the mercy of a timeline.

  But I couldn’t even bring myself to believe that.

  When we sealed our bonds wouldn’t matter to any of us.

  These were the days that I would remember for a hundred lifetimes.

  25

  Sloane

  Sunday, June 7th

  Late Night

  Returning home was a dose of relief that I’d welcome with open arms.

  As soon as I’d landed behind the barrier around the estate, I heard the hounds bay outside. I ambled through the kitchen, opening the patio door to greet Pete and my boys.

  Cronus and Helios circled around me, backing off when they were satisfied. I got one good scratch behind their ears before they were off again, patrolling the grounds.

  Atlas weaved between me and the patio furniture, betraying his extra excitement. His large paws hit my shoulders, his tongue quickly swiping over my face. As I spluttered and fussed at him, Pete’s trunk wrapped around my waist.

  I found myself hanging upside down in front of the pedmar’s gigantic eyes when my guys finally made it outside.

  “I dropped your bag in your—” York began, shaking his head as he asked, “Why does he do that?”

  Shrugging had no effect at this angle, but I tried. “I have no clue. He’s always done it,
though. It’s not like I can ask him why.”

  “Have you tried?”

  “Yes, but not recently,” I sassed. “Pete, please explain to the kind druid why you insist on picking me up.”

  Pete chirped, and York snorted. “Smartasses.”

  Briggs yawned, causing Novak to grin at him. “Dead on your feet, Wolf?”

  “I don’t even have the energy to tell you to fuck off,” Briggs replied. “I’m going to sleep.”

  “In your room,” my druid called to his retreating back before turning to the rest of us. “I think I’m going to sleep too. We haven’t gotten much recently.”

  I tapped Pete, silently commanding him to put me down so that I could shrug properly. “Sorry, not sorry.”

  “Sleep sounds lethal,” Palmer commented, and I was pretty sure that didn’t mean what I thought it meant.

  “Right behind you,” Vaughn commented.

  “You owe me chocolate-covered popcorn when you wake up, or I will be lethal, Mage.”

  He winked at me. “You already are, Love,”

  Vaughn and Palmer went back inside, following Briggs and York to bed. I giggled to myself as my thoughts began to run wild with what-ifs.

  Novak called me out. “That wouldn’t happen. Doesn’t matter how much you want it to.”

  “What wouldn’t happen?” Stone asked, snapping his attention from the pedmar to us.

  “Sloane’s imagination was about to run away from her. The guys went to bed, and she latched onto the word together.”

  “I did not.”

  My vampire raised a brow at me. “That’s where you were going.”

  “I don’t deny that I was curious,” I carefully admitted. “If they wanted to…”

  Golden eyes zeroed in on me as Novak bounced his head side-to-side. “I can’t see York or Briggs ever touching another male. It shocks me that either of them shares now. Palmer, on the other hand—”

  Stone laughed in surprise. “Palmer wouldn’t. He’ll watch. He’ll even join in or direct, but the mage has lines.”

  I was quite alright with all those options and then some. The combinations were too fun to pass up.

  “Look at that, Demon,” Novak whispered, circling around me. “Sloane doesn’t seem to have too many lines.”

  “What do you say, Kitten?” Stone purred from my left side.

  The only line I could think of was no sex in water. It always sounded fun, but it was pure misery. Although... I’d give it another try if I was between Stone and Novak.

  “Do you want to go swimming,” I suggested.

  “Switching the subject?”

  “Getting us naked.”

  I grinned at them, turning on my heel to walk down the path that led to the back of the house. When I felt them moving behind me, I started shedding my clothes, a sense of déjà vu hitting me.

  My t-shirt came off first, sailing through the air over my shoulder. I heard them both groan as I pushed my shorts down my legs, walking right out of them. I used my foot to kick them up, tossing them behind me.

  The concrete around the pool was still heated from the Tennessee summer sun. The water sparkled under the moonlight as ripples danced across the surface from the slight breeze. The heavy smell of chemicals stirred around us, but the scent didn’t take away from my love of the water.

  I paused at the pool’s edge, glancing at my guys over my shoulder before diving into the warm water. I used my toes to push myself off the ground, keeping them pointed as my hands crested the surface.

  The water wrapped around me, caressing my skin like a delicate blanket. I floated toward the blurry figures, my hair fanning out around me as I used my arms to pull myself closer.

  As soon as I breached the surface of the water, their shirtless forms came into view. I tracked Novak’s hand as he tugged the zipper of his jeans down, stepping out of them before spurring my demon into action.

  “Are you just gonna watch?” my vampire asked,

  My gaze volleyed between them, and I thought he was talking to me for a moment.

  “I like watching,” Stone murmured, his eyes blazing at Novak even as he shrugged nonchalantly.

  “Mmm-hmm,” I agreed. “I’m trying to watch you now, so…”

  I pointed at his pants, bouncing my finger down in hopes that he would get the fucking picture. “Speed up, Demon. You’re a part of the show.”

  “We’re waiting,” Novak added, turning his naked body to face my demon as he tapped his foot.

  Stone quirked a brow, a devilish smirk gracing his lips as he warned us. “Keep being mouthy, and I’ll put them to good use.”

  “Bold of you to assume that I don’t want my mouth used and abused,” I sassed, flopping onto my back in the water to float away.

  “Amongst other things,” Novak playfully muttered, snorting when I leaned up to smile at them.

  I skimmed my hands over the top of the water, staring up at the stars dotting the bright sky. I couldn’t see either of my guys, but with my ears under the water, I heard their movements. One came at me from the left, the other from the right, so I used my hands to twist my body.

  The top of my head bumped into corded muscle, and I felt Stone tense as my hair brushed his sides. He pulled me up, standing with his chest tight against my back. He wrapped my hair around his fist, tilting my head further as his lips burned a trail from my shoulder to behind my ear.

  My demon’s cock lay thick and proud at my back as my vampire pressed against me. The steel of his nipple rings brushed my skin. I tried to look down, curious to see how many other piercings were in place today.

  Stone grinned against my skin as he held my head still. “Don't tell her.”

  Novak’s hands traced patterns along the insides of my thighs. “I wasn't planning on it.”

  I groaned, knowing that they were concocting something. They’d blocked me from their minds completely and had taken to touching me so lightly that it was driving me wild with need.

  I wanted friction. Teeth, claws, something rough; not this soft bullshit.

  Stone backed away as he spun me around, shoving me into Novak’s embrace. My vampire’s arms snaked tightly around my waist, and he took us both under the water as he moved beneath the glass wall separating the two sections of the pool.

  He lifted me up as he waded through the water, maneuvering us to the stairs. And he didn’t stop. Not for towels, clothes, or to put me down.

  “Which way?” Novak asked Stone.

  “It’s the door on the left,” my demon replied. “At the bottom of the stairs.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You want to watch a movie right now? Really?”

  “We’re not watching one…” Stone confessed, his voice dark seduction as he turned the lights on.

  Novak set me down, biting his lip. “We’re making one.”

  “Oh?” I questioned, considering the idea as Stone disappeared.

  He was back before I could say anything else, my vampire’s laptop tucked under his arm as he smiled. “What?”

  “Nothing. I was just thinking about whether or not I’d made an actual lengthy video before.” I shook my head. “But I don’t think I have.”

  “Not your thing?” Stone inquired.

  “I didn’t say that. Have you ever looked through York’s pictures? I know there have got to be dozens of videos saved to his account.”

  “Oh,” Novak drawled. “Are you saying the druid has been holding out?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “So has she,” Stone commented, narrowing his eyes at me.

  My vampire gasped. “You went through her phone?”

  “Just the pictures. That’s not the point.” My demon rubbed at his forehead. “Stop fucking talking, Novak.”

  “Right,” he said to himself. “I just need three minutes.”

  “That’s not something to brag about.”

  “Don’t instigate.”

  I tilted my head, giving Stone a saucy look. “Then keep me busy
.”

  “What was it you were asking for in the pool?”

  He prowled around me twice before stopping at my back. My body heated as he stepped closer, my nipples pebbling in the cool inside air.

  “Friction, teeth, claws,” I parroted my earlier thoughts. “Something other than the delicate bullshit you were both doing.”

  His fingers brushed over my right shoulder and collarbone as his hand lingered over my throat.

  “Is that what you want, Kitten? Teeth and claws? My idea of rough, or did you have something in mind?”

  I had so many things in mind that I wasn’t positive where to begin.

  “Lie,” Stone growled, his hand squeezing just under my jaw.

  My eyes met Novak’s as his hands fumbled over the keyboard of his laptop. I poured my thoughts to them, thrilling as Stone began acting them out immediately.

  My demon with one hand around my throat and the other over my mouth, covering the bottom of my nose.

  Novak on his knees in front of me, my left leg pulled over his shoulder as he ate me out.

  Stone’s cock sliding through my soaked folds, teasing me before fucking my vampire’s mouth.

  Me coming undone as I straddle Novak’s thighs. Stone finding his release in Novak’s mouth.

  My vampire groaned, staring at the ceiling as he spun his laptop around to face the couch. He fiddled with the positioning for three more seconds before growling to himself.

  Novak turned, stalking toward me. His fangs dropped, the glistening tips creating dimples in his bottom lip. His golden eyes swirled, roving over my face, then glancing past me.

  Stone’s right hand tightened further around my throat. His left hand skated across my hip, lifting my leg as my vampire dropped to his knees in front of me.

  I centered my weight, knowing Novak had the ability to make my legs shake and my knees buckle.

  At the first swipe of his tongue, my demon’s left hand covered my mouth, the side of his index finger covering my nose. The need for oxygen had me quivering through Novak’s assault on my pussy.