Shift: A Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance Read online

  His clan was sure to find him in minutes. They would know they had lost their leader. I had to decide whether I would extend an olive branch and allow them to join the Tribe, or push them back to Florida.

  However, the time to make that decision wasn’t now. I sprinted toward the docks. Toward the Tribe who had rescued my mate.

  Toward Cadence.

  “Case!” She broke free from Eli and ran toward me. She looked like an angel sprinting through a dark mist. Her dress caught the glimmer of the moon with every stride.

  “Oh God.” I held her against my chest. Hayden’s blood was splattered on my body. “Are you ok? Are they ok?” I looked at her waist. My cubs were inside her. Our family.

  She stared at me. “How do you know?”

  I nodded. “Too late, I figured it out.” I hung my head. “I’m so sorry.”

  Her palms slid to my face. “It happened so fast I barely knew. I wasn’t even completely sure. But I had some kind of weird instinct kick in.”

  “I should have realized when we saw the glitter,” I admitted. “It meant something and I didn’t listen to you, baby.”

  She shook her head. “So much has changed with the laws. How could you have known?”

  I took her hands in mine. “I’m a king. I should have paid more attention. Instead I wanted to ignore the old magic.”

  “Hey, we need to get out of here,” Noah shouted. “They’re going to be on our trail.”

  Cadence chewed her lip. “Who is after us? Who’s left?”

  She knew. She knew I did what I had to do and would always do to protect her. There was a wake of bodies behind us.

  “Hayden?” Her voice was quiet.

  I shook my head. “Never again.”

  I couldn’t tell what the expression was she wore. I guided her to the end of the dock.

  Ronan shoved the boat from the pier and extended a hand for Cadence. We boarded her on the boat and coasted before Eli started the engine.

  I held Cadence close to me, trying to shield her from all the evil she had seen. As if I could somehow absorb it from her.

  “You killed Hayden?”

  “I did. It was the only way. You understand that, don’t you?” I asked.

  She nodded. “It’s just… I don’t know what to think right now.”

  “I’ll never let anyone touch you again. I swear,” I whispered as we left the Litchfield estate behind us.

  “Is it weird to say I’m happy?”

  “I think that’s the only thing we can be.”

  She settled into my arms as Eli steered us toward the marina.

  She sighed. “Just hold me. It feels so good to be in your arms.”

  “I’ll never let go,” I vowed. “Never.”

  26

  Cadence

  Case carried me to the top of the third floor, to our suite. The door locked behind him as he settled me on my feet. I fell into his arms. They folded around me, pressing me into his chest.

  “Are you ok?” His voice was deep and husky. “Really ok?”

  I nodded. “I’m fine.”

  He pulled back and looked me over, making sure there wasn’t a scratch or a bruise on me. Then his eyes fell to my breasts. They were heaving over the edge of the beaded gown.

  “I hate seeing you in this dress.”

  “I hate wearing it.”

  If he didn’t take me now I was going to explode. My hand moved to the zipper on the side.

  “Is it too much?” he whispered in my ear, shoving my hand out of the way.

  The zipper lowered slowly and I groaned as the dress raked over my nipples and fell from my breasts.

  I heard the growl in his chest. He pushed the dress over my hips. I stood before him in a pair of lacy underwear. His hands palmed the swell of my belly.

  I touched his knuckles and laced my fingers through his. “Our cubs,” I whispered.

  He lowered himself to the floor, his hands moving to my thighs as he kissed my navel. Slowly, he moved to kiss each side of my stomach.

  “I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you.”

  I feathered my fingers through his hair. “Nothing happened. I’m ok.”

  He hooked his thumbs under the lace and peeled the fabric away. I sighed at the friction on my skin. My body was laced with flames. They flickered just under my skin.

  Case looked into my eyes. I felt my knees wobble and he scooped a hand around my waist.

  “Take me to bed, please,” I begged. “I need you.”

  He lifted me in his arms and carried me a few paces until I was settled in the middle of our massive bed.

  Case pulled the shirt from his body and stepped out of his jeans. I marveled at the sight of his body. He was sculpted and toned. Strong and certain.

  My breath increased rapidly as he traced a line from my throat over my breast and to my belly.

  “My cubs are inside you,” he growled.

  “Yes.” I nodded.

  “You’re a goddess to me, Cadence. So sexy. So fucking sexy I can’t breathe.”

  I reached for him, drawing his lips down. He seized my nipple between his teeth and I cried out from the intensity. It was the sweet relief my body craved. I needed more. He sucked and lapped until my hips jutted forward, wild with want.

  I moaned when his hand slid between my legs. I opened readily for him as he swirled over my clit and dipped a finger inside me.

  “Oh God.” I was an explosion of nerves. Everything felt new and different as if Case had never touched me before.

  “It feels that good?” he groaned, switching to my other nipple, hardened in a tight peak for him.

  “God, yes.” I panted. “Everything is so intense. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

  He waggled his eyebrows. “Then it’s only going to get better.”

  I whimpered as I felt his fingers slide in and out of me with steady rhythm. I clawed at his back, gripping him to keep myself weighted to the bed.

  “Come hard, baby.”

  “Yes,” I cried. “Yes.” The spirals crashed through me as I shook with the first wave of the orgasm. My toes tingled and my eyes closed when I knew I was lost to sensation and the electricity of this moment.

  Case kissed me, his tongue pushing between my lips. His teeth nipping and sucking at the corners of my mouth. He lifted me from my back and spun me to face the headboard. I grabbed the headboard, feeling his lips caress my back with kisses. I moaned as he shifted my hips backward.

  My body tingled with anticipation. I had never needed him so badly.

  He nudged my legs apart and I felt his cock press at my entrance.

  I couldn’t wait any longer. I sank onto his cock, sucking him deep inside my walls.

  Case growled loudly as our passion was unleashed with my swift movement. He pushed me back toward the headboard and I held on tight.

  He pumped in and out of me, holding my hips, his hands coasting over my bottom. Grazing the swell of my belly and tugging at my swollen nipples.

  “Ohh, I love it,” I cried. “I love sex like this.”

  Case pushed deeper inside me until I sat back on him, my hands wrapped around his neck while I rode him up and down. One of his hands slipped between my legs, flickering over my clit, while the other palmed my belly.

  He nipped at my neck. “So fucking sexy.”

  “I-I’m coming again,” I moaned. “Oh God. It’s so strong.”

  I thrashed in his arms. I squeezed at his cock, while he relentlessly strummed my clit. It was as if bolts of lightning were shooting from one end of my body to the other. I could feel the trail of heat in my veins, in every pore of my body. I was on fire in such a blissful state.

  The sweat trickled down my neck as I bounced harder, sucking him into my depths.

  “Damn, baby.” Case roared over my ear as I felt his release rocket inside me.

  We had never been so close. So united. So much a part of each other as we were in this moment, knowing I w
as carrying his cubs. That our love had created new lives.

  He kissed my neck, breathing hard.

  He pulled me into his arms and we rolled back onto the bed.

  “I needed that.” I sighed.

  “You did?” He laughed.

  I nodded. “You have no idea how much sex I want to have,” I admitted. I finally felt some sort of satisfaction.

  “Sounds like a problem I could help with.”

  “Please,” I joked. “The hormones are outrageous. I want sex all the time. And steak.”

  “Sex and steak?” He nuzzled into the crook of my shoulder.

  “And you,” I whispered, resting his palms at my navel. “I want you.”

  “You’ve got me.”

  I turned on my side to face him. I traced the strong line of his jaw. “I’m sorry I went through with the ceremony.”

  “Don’t.” He tried to stop me.

  “I shouldn’t have.”

  He pulled my chin toward him. “You are safe. The twins are safe. That’s all that matters. You know I don’t care about those rituals anymore.”

  “Is that why you never asked me?” I needed to know what our future was. We were going to be parents. We loved each other. We wanted each other. But what did Case see for our future?

  He shook his head. “Cadence, I want you to marry me more than anything. I didn’t want to get married in the middle of a war. I wanted the timing to be perfect.” He paused. “I did the quickie wedding once before, you know? I wanted it to be right this time. And to be honest, I didn’t think we were in a rush. I had claimed you. I didn’t think you could get pregnant. The morning I realized you were missing, the reality of it all came crashing down on me.”

  I thought I saw the mist of tears in his eyes.

  “I’m ok. The babies are ok. I just wanted to know what you’re planning.”

  “You tell me. Do you want to have a ceremony? If so, I’ll give you the biggest shifter wedding in the South. You can have whatever you want.”

  I tried to imagine planning a wedding before the birth of the babies. I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

  “Would it be ok if we waited just a few more months?” I asked, not sure if I believed what I was suggesting.

  His eyes scanned mine. “Is that what you want?”

  “I want them to be there. I want our cubs to witness it. Is that ok?”

  He grinned. “You realize they are not coming with us on the honeymoon?”

  I felt a sudden protective instinct kick in. “They aren’t?”

  “Oh no.”

  I bit my lower lip. “That is up for discussion.”

  His hand coasted over my thigh and rounded against my bottom. I gasped. My body rippled with desire.

  “You sure?”

  I rolled onto my back as Case pinned me with his body. I sighed. God, he was amazing.

  I shook my head. “The only thing I’m sure about is how much I love you.”

  He pressed his lips to mine. “I love you too.”

  27

  Case

  I couldn’t quite grasp that four months had passed by so quickly. I pulled Cadence into my arms. She snuggled into my chest with a soft sigh.

  “Good morning.”

  “Good morning.” She grinned, keeping her eyes closed.

  I felt the swell of her belly. I never knew I could love her so much. Every time I looked at her my heart filled with a kind of pride I didn’t know existed. I caressed the smooth skin and laughed when I felt a tiny kick.

  “Oomph,” she murmured.

  “They’re awake.”

  “Can you get them to go back to sleep?” she whined.

  My fingertips traced over her waist and along the roundness and fullness of the babies. There was another kick.

  “Ouch,” Cadence grumbled.

  “Sorry.” I wasn’t soothing them back to sleep.

  I thought about ringing the kitchen for breakfast. It was harder for Cadence to make it up and down three full flights of stairs.

  I decided to order our food and jump in the shower while she slept a little while longer.

  I turned on the hot water and stepped inside. We hadn’t left Charleston in the past four months. After bringing Cadence back home we’d decided that was exactly what it was. Home.

  We had more than enough space at the top of the three townhouses to convert part of the space into a nursery for the twins. I don’t think I’d ever seen her so happy as when she started rummaging through old furniture markets. There wasn’t a single thing in the twins’ room that she hadn’t refinished or refurbished.

  She wanted to look at a mirror today that she thought would work over the dresser. She promised, it was the last piece. I didn’t care how much she added or changed. As long as she was happy, that was all I cared about.

  I turned off the water and grabbed my towel. I shook the water from my hair before tucking the corner of the towel around my waist.

  I walked into the bedroom.

  “Ready for breakfast, babe?”

  I looked at Cadence. She was sitting straight up in bed. Her eyes wide. Her hands gripping her stomach.

  “What’s wrong?” I rushed to the side of the bed.

  She groaned. “It’s time.”

  “Time time?”

  She nodded, falling back onto the pillow. “Call Daphne, now.”

  “Couldn’t someone else be with you?”

  Her blue eyes cut through me with anger. “She’s the mid-wife. The only one I know.” She clenched her face in concentration and tried to breathe.

  We had argued about this part of the plan. But in the end she had won. There was no one else who had the experience of giving birth to multiple cubs as a human. Daphne wasn’t someone I trusted. I didn’t know that I could trust her now. The transition with the Litchfield clan had been slow. There was a strong resistance. Most of them had turned to Hayden’s sisters in Florida to lead them. I didn’t know if Daphne was somehow a part of that political alignment. I didn’t want her near my children.

  I hesitated with the phone, thinking through what options I had.

  Cadence screamed.

  “I’ve got it.” I didn’t hesitate again. I called Daphne.

  Drew passed the bottle of bourbon to me. I took a swig and stared at my father. Maybe I had misjudged him. Maybe I never had truly understood what he undertook as a king and a father.

  “She’s going to be fine,” Drew commented.

  “I should be up there.”

  “I get it. I’d want to be with Francesca. But you know you can’t.”

  I scowled. “It’s archaic. Those rules shouldn’t exist anymore.”

  “Is it worth the risk if they are in play?” he asked.

  My brother was right. We were flying blind with the new magic. I didn’t know what was tradition and what was necessary. Jaguars never attended the birth of their young. Partly because of the magic that was stripped from the mother once the cub was born. Jaguars were superstitious that somehow they could lose some of their own shifting ability.

  But that wasn’t the case with Cadence. She was human. I shouldn’t have to worry about it. The twins had half their shifter blood from me. They weren’t going to siphon anything from her. But something Drew said about the old ways kept me from climbing the stairs.

  Instead I sat in the study with my brother and a bottle of bourbon.

  “So what about you and Francesca?” I asked. “When are you two going to make me an uncle?”

  He passed the bottle back to me. “Not until we know for sure she won’t stop being a she-panther. I don’t want to take that from her.”

  I guessed that was one thing I didn’t have to worry about. My mate was already human.

  “And if you can’t get the answer you want?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s not something we can face right now. I won’t be responsible for Francesca losing her panther.”

  “And you don’t care about not havin
g heirs?”

  “Of course I do. We’ll find a way.”

  I took a swig. The bourbon burned my throat. “Surrogate panther maybe?”

  He shrugged. “Who knows. We’d have to find someone willing to take that chance too.”

  Just then the door creaked behind us and I jumped to my feet.

  Daphne stood in the doorway. “Congratulations, your majesty.”

  I didn’t wait for her to finish her announcement. Drew slapped me on the back and I raced up the stairs. My legs hurled me forward until I was at the top. I burst through the suite, the door slamming in my wake.

  “Cadence.”

  I stopped in my tracks. I had waited for this moment for four months. Since the day I found out Cadence was carrying my baby. I wanted to see them in her arms. Hold them. Greet them the way a father should welcome his heirs into their new royal world.

  I’d had dreams about it. How she would look with them nuzzled against her breasts. How my children would have her soft features and my strong green eyes. What it would feel like that instant we knew we were a family.

  My eyes locked on hers. Only they were no longer bright blue.

  I walked toward the bed cautisously. The babies were wrapped in blankets. She held one in each arm.

  I didn’t know which one to hold first. She pushed one into my arms as I leaned to kiss her.

  “How are you feeling? Are you ok?” Her skin was bright pink. She almost glowed.

  “I am. But…”

  I held the baby close to my chest. It wiggled next to me.

  “You’re—how in the hell?” I stared at her in disbelief. I couldn’t process what I was witnessing.

  “I don’t know. It happened all at once. Daphne can tell you more about it then I can, probably.”

  I sat next to her. I wanted to check out my son and daughter. I did. But I couldn’t get over it. Her eyes were so green. Like emeralds. Like the deepest rolling hills of Ireland. Like the glimmer in the Northern Lights.

  Cadence was a she-panther.

  28