ROMANCE: Lion Protector (Paranormal Shifter BBW Military Romance) (Shapeshifter Alpha Male Short Stories Book 2) (138 page)

“Oh, come on!” she said throwing her hands up in exasperation. The tire iron clattered to the ground when she let go of it. What the hell was she supposed to do now? At the sound of tires crunching she looked up to see a blue Mustang pulling to the side of the road behind her.

Thank God
, she thought. She stood up and dusted off her hands as the Mustang rolled to a stop. Her heart skipped a beat as the driver stepped out. Cassidy.

“Looks like you could use a hand,” she said, nodding toward Nicole’s car.

“Yeah,” Nicole said with a weak laugh. “I hope it isn’t too much trouble.”

“Not a bit,” Cassidy said. Nicole couldn’t help but notice the curves of her against her jeans and tank top as she knelt next to the flat tire. She quickly looked away.

“Looks like you had a fair start on it,” she said, taking a drag of the cigarette between her fingers. Nicole just laughed nervously.

Cassidy held the cigarette between her lips as she let the jack down and reached for the tire iron. She loosened all of the lug nuts, repositioned the jack slightly, and jacked the car back up before removing them. Nicole felt silly for not having thought to loosen them first. Within minutes Cassidy had the small spare tire on and the flat tire loaded in the trunk.

“Now, you don’t wanna drive too fast on that thing,” she said. “And don’t leave it on too long. Try and get a replacement as soon as you can.”

“I will,” Nicole said.

A silence fell between, and the two women stared at each other for a long moment. Cassidy pulled a sharpie out of her back pocket and reached for Nicole’s hand. Nicole held her breath as Cassidy scrawled a phone number across her palm.

“In case you run into car trouble again,” she said with a wink. And with that she turned, got back into her Mustang, and drove away. Nicole stared after her until the car disappeared over the top of a hill.

Nicole couldn’t think about anything else for the rest of the afternoon. Cassidy occupied her every thought. Finally, her heart beating nervously in her chest, she dialed the number that Cassidy had written on her palm. She picked up on the third ring.

“Hello?”

Nicole froze for a moment, unsure of what to say.

“Hello?”

“So,” Nicole finally said, “How about that drink?”    

Chapter 4

Nicole chopped bell peppers and onions as she waited for Cassidy to show up. She had suggested dinner at her place instead of going out for drinks. It seemed a bit much like a date, which she kept trying to tell herself that it wasn’t. But she wasn’t really big on going out and drinking and there just weren’t that many options in a small town like Mason.

She poured herself a glass of Merlot to help calm her nerves.  She had just finished it and settled into the warm glow of a buzz when the doorbell rang. The sight of Cassidy when she opened the door took her breath away.

It was the first time that Nicole had seen her that she wasn’t covered from head to toe in grease. She wore a short pleated skirt and black boots with a low-cut top that had ‘SLAYER’ printed across the chest. She offered Nicole a single red rose. Nicole opened her mouth to point out that this was not a date, but then she stopped. So what if it was a date? Would that really be so bad?

“Thanks,” she said, accepting the rose with a smile. “Come in.”

Cassidy looked around the room with clear admiration as Nicole found a vase, filled it with water, and put the rose in it.

“I love your place,” she said.

“Thanks,” Nicole said. “Would you like a glass of wine?”

“That would be great,” Cassidy said, joining her in the kitchen. God, that voice. Nicole practically melted every time she heard it. She got another wine glass and filled both glasses before she started cooking.

“Anything I can do to help?” Cassidy asked.

“Would you mind setting the table? Plates are over there, and silverware is in that drawer,” Nicole said, pointing.

“Sure thing,” Cassidy said. She set the table and then sat down to wait while Nicole finished cooking. It didn’t take long.

“So,” Cassidy said once they had finished their meal, “Not to be cliché, but what’s a nice girl like you doin’ in a place like this? I mean, how did somebody like you end up stuck in such a little Podunk town?”

Nicole shrugged.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Just grew up here I guess. I could ask you the same thing.”

“Same, I guess. I left when I was 16, but I came back to take care of my grandpa.”

“That’s good,” Nicole said. “I mean that you would do that for him. How come we never met though? I mean since we both grew up here.” Cassidy shrugged.

“I kept to myself a lot,” she said. “I remember seeing you around sometimes. You were a year behind me in school.”

“Ah,” Nicole said. “That explains it.”

They continued to talk and Cassidy helped Nicole clear the table before they went into the living room.

“You play?” Cassidy asked when she saw the guitar. “That’s awesome.”

“A little,” Nicole said. “I’m not very good at it yet.”

“May I?”

“Of course.”

Cassidy took up the guitar and sat down on the couch. Nicole sat down next to her and waited for her to start playing. She closed her eyes and let herself be swept away by the music as Cassidy began to play Stairway to Heaven. Her voice was a rich, smoky alto. When the last notes of the song had faded away she shrugged and handed the guitar over to Nicole.

“Your turn,” she said.

“No, I couldn’t,” Nicole said. “I’m really not that good.”

“That’s ok,” Cassidy encouraged her. “I want to hear.”

Nicole took the guitar hesitantly. She had never really played in front of anyone before. But something about the way that Cassidy looked at her, earnest and expectant, made her feel at ease. She began to play a song that she had written, clumsily at first and then with growing confidence. Cassidy placed a hand on her knee as she played, sending shivers of electricity through her.

When Nicole had finished playing she set the guitar back in its stand and neither of them said anything for a long moment. Cassidy leaned forward slowly and gently brushed her lips against Nicole’s before leaning back and looking into her eyes, as if waiting for some sort of sign or permission. Something about the intensity of that gaze set Nicole on fire. She leaned forward and pressed her lips hard against Cassidy’s. It was all the encouragement that Cassidy needed.

She pushed Nicole back against the couch and wound her fingers through her hair, her tongue parting Nicole’s lips. Nicole opened her mouth willingly, her tongue searching out Cassidy’s hungrily. Every inch of her burned with her need, a need that had never been satisfied. She let out a low moan.

Cassidy pulled away for a moment, her nipples clearly visible through the thin fabric of her shirt. Nicole quivered with anticipation as Cassidy slowly slid her hand up her thigh beneath the fabric of her skirt. She drew a shuddering breath as Cassidy pulled aside the fabric of her panties and slipped a finger inside of her. She moaned softly as Cassidy slowly withdrew her finger and traced slow circles around her clitoris.

“Bedroom?” Cassidy breathed huskily.

“That way,” Nicole answered, pointing.

Cassidy pulled her up by the hand and Nicole led the way into her bedroom. She turned to face Cassidy. The want and the need in Cassidy’s eyes echoed her own. Cassidy pushed her gently back onto the bed and laced her fingers through Nicole’s as she sought out her mouth again.

Nicole moaned as Cassidy released one of her hands and moved to caress her breast. She moved her hand under Cassidy’s shirt to feel her it. She wore no bra and it was warm and soft, her nipple a gentle point against Nicole’s palm. Cassidy sat up and pulled her shirt off, allowing Nicole a full view of her full, round breasts. Nicole bit her lip as she drank in the sight.

Cassidy leaned down and pulled Nicole’s shirt over her head and Nicole sat up to give Cassidy room to unclasp her bra. Cassidy pulled the bra off of Nicole and threw it to the floor before leaning down to trace circles around her nipple with her tongue.

Nicole quivered, almost bursting with desire as Cassidy kissed her way up her neck until her mouth Nicole’s again and her hand crept once more up Nicole’s thigh. Nicole felt the world reduce to a single bright point of light as Cassidy slipped two fingers inside of her and worked them rhythmically as she massaged her clitoris with her thumb.

Nicole cried out and rocked her hips against Cassidy’s probing fingers as a lifetime of need gathered between her thighs and shattered, waves of pleasure slowly ebbing away until she was left weak and panting. Cassidy kissed her gently before sitting up to pull her boots off. Then she lay back down and wrapped Nicole in her arms and pulled the blanket over both of them. Nicole realized as she drifted to sleep that here in Cassidy’s embrace was the first place that she had ever truly felt that she belonged.

*****

Nicole turned her face toward the hot water, trying to sort through the riot of emotions that bombarded her. Elation at her newfound relationship with Cassidy warred with her doubts, doubts planted by a lifetime in her father’s church.

What would it be like? To go to hell?
She wondered.

On the other hand, she was pretty damn sure that she had just found out what heaven was like.

But her parents would probably disown her, and not in a temporary way either. She knew without a doubt that if she came out to them that they would never claim her as a daughter again. They would never cool down and reconsider. That would be that.

But with Cassidy she finally felt that she had found something she had searched for her entire life. She felt a sense of being home when she was with Cassidy that she had never felt anywhere else.

Underneath it all, though, was that creeping fear, the one that her mind kept circling back to. What if her parents were right? What if all of her father’s Sunday morning ravings were true, and by being with Cassidy she was damning herself to an eternity in hell?

She pushed those dark thoughts away as she shut off the water and reached for a towel. She tried to quiet her mind as she towel dried her hair and pulled on an oversized Beatles tee shirt. She wiped away some of the steam from the mirror and studied her face as though she could find the answers there.

After a moment she turned away from the mirror and went back out into the bedroom. Cassidy was still in bed. As Nicole watched her sleep, a small smile crept over her face. Maybe there were some things worth going to hell for.

Deep Dragon Desires

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Chapter 1

Time was a thing that Rasenth rarely concerned himself with.  To a being over one thousand years old, time was an impermanent and arbitrary concept for the most part.  However, now that two hatchlings were added to his tribe, and food was becoming scarcer than ever in the Madrigal mountains, the clock was ticking.

              Ice capped mountains were a paradise for ice dragons  in theory.  Challenging an ice dragon in their home environment was akin to committing suicide, and only wind dragons could manage to fly sufficiently alongside an ice dragon in the perilous icy gusts, and so ice dragons were completely protected from enemy barrage when in their icy fortress. However, they couldn’t feed on the ice that protected them, and mountain goats were becoming ever rarer, as were human caravans passing through.

              Rasenth felt the desperation of the situation ever growing, and he increasingly started to look towards the fertile fjord to the south.  Sometimes he’d spend hours looking at it--surveying it.  He had to find a way to overtake it for his clan.

              On such a night when he took to looking out from his icy cave to the fertile land of the south, he heard a strong female voice come from behind him.  “What are you thinking, Rasenth?”

              It was Lyshara, the second most powerful dragon in the clan, and the “big sister” of the lot.  She took care of the domestic affairs, and was the chief aid for Rasenth in procuring food for everyone.  She was also the only one brave enough to approach him while he was so obviously lost in thought.

              “That I should kick you out of the cluster of caves my chambers resides,” Rasenth replied bitterly, growling lowly.  When he got no response, a silence fell upon them for a time, but if he were to tell his plan to anyone, Lyshara was a good candidate.  “I was thinking about the history of the clan.”

              “Oh?” Lyshara asked, taking tentative steps towards him.  Her hair was cropped and spiked up, the whiteness of her locks making it seem as if frost was growing from her head.  She certainly wasn’t the most beautiful, but she was strong enough to earn her keep, and even Rasenth’s respect.

              “When I was only a few hundred years old, just finished growing really, the clan occupied the valley.  No one had to go hungry there,” Raseth said.  “Unfortunately, we had three elders in our clan, and disputes broke out about who belonged as the alpha.  Then, during a sweltering summer, the Inferno clan drove us out to the mountains, and the clan split up in all different ways.”

              Lyshara took a few steps closer to Rasenth, so she could look down on the fjord as well.  For her, she felt safe in the mountains.  Even an ice dragon on an empty stomach could fend off any attackers without issue here, but she could tell that Rasenth wasn’t of the same mind as she was on that issue.

              “That fjord is indefensible, and the summers are too warm for us.  We’re safer here,” Lyshara said.

              “We can be safe from enemy claws, perhaps, but when we’re nothing but scales and bones, safety won’t seem as important,” Rasenth said, making Lyshara wonder what exactly they should do.  Winter was upon the fjord, so overtaking it from the fire dragons would be possible, but maintaining it would be a different question altogether, and that’s what gave Rasenth pause. “The question is how we can take the fjord’s resources without having to defend it come summer,” Rasenth said, half to himself and half to Lyshara.

              “Maybe we don’t take the fjord at all, but we work out a trade with the Inferno tribe?” Lyshara proposed.  The Frost clan was a very wealthy clan, and if the Infernos wanted to trade or barter, it was possible for a relationship to prosper between them.  The only problem was that most of the Frost’s wealth was holdovers from Rasenth’s youth, in which he was an adventurous dragon, happy to pillage anything in sight.  Now the wealth wasn’t exactly pouring in anymore, and the Frost’s would have to find a new source of wealth to tap into if they wanted the relationship to last.

              “That’s fine to start, but it would be hard to keep up, unless you want to start pillaging.  It’s a dangerous enterprise, but not impossible if you want to try it,” Rasenth replied.

              “We’ll find a way,” Lyshara replied.  The least they could do is try to meet up with the Infernos and strike some sort of deal.

              “I wish I could be as optimistic,” Rasenth said quietly.  “Go now, I am tired,” he said, and Lyshara followed his order.  Tomorrow, they could visit the Inferno clan, but there was nothing to be done tonight.  So Lyshara retired to her chambers, and Rasenth to his.  He rose earlier than anyone, however, and he set off towards the fjord.