ROMANCE: SHIFTER: Shifter to the Max Collection (Dragon, Bear, Wolf and Panther Shifter Romances) (Paranormal Fantasy Romance Collection) (115 page)

UNINVITED STRANGER

When the power goes out in the middle of a snowstorm, Alex takes in a huge stray dog that’s been hanging outside around her apartment building. The next morning, she wakes up to find a naked man in her bed.

The thing is, he’s not just any run-of-the-mill random crazy lunatic, this one is gorgeous. He claims that she brought him in the night before as a wolf, and sometime during the night he became a man. Yep, cuckoo.

There’s something about him though, something that makes her knees weak and sets off butterflies in her stomach when she looks into his crystal blue eyes. Before Alex can allow him to leave, maybe she really ought to get to know him a little better…

              It was just Alex's luck that the power would go out on one of the coldest days of the year when the weather was threatening to drop another foot of snow on top of the layer that already coated everything. Even worse was that it was so late at night and the temperature in her apartment had already dropped,
and
she couldn't find any flashlight other than the one on her phone, which while bright wasn't particularly long-lasting if she wanted her phone to stay alive overnight. It was late, and normally Alex would be asleep, but she'd had a terrible day at work and at least it was a Friday and she could excuse vegging out in front of the TV until she felt better. Her plan had been going swimmingly until the familiar pop of the electricity dying had ruined it all.

              And no sign of a flashlight. Alex turned off the light on her phone and checked the time instead. It was almost ten, but the 24-hour corner store would still be open. They'd likely be swamped though. Last time there had been a major storm they had been one of the few businesses still in operation thanks to the generator they had stowed in the basement, but it was either brave the crowd or spend the rest of the blackout in complete darkness. What
had
happened to her flashlight anyway? She could have sworn she had one...

              The question still befuddled her as she bundled herself up, reluctantly changing her PJ bottoms for jeans, though she went braless and stayed in her oversized, faded t-shirt. It was way too thin for the weather, but her jacket was thick and fluffy, and the walk wasn't too long. Hopefully she hadn't wasted too much time in her pointless search and wouldn't end up being stuck in the bulk of desperate last minute oh no the power's out traffic. The whole building was dark. Alex was forced to use her phone again to keep from falling down the stairs. She heard mumbling behind closed doors but no one else had emerged from their apartments. Alone, Alex ventured out into the cold night.

              The cold air slammed into her, finding all the gaps in her clothing and worming its way down to her skin. Even huddled up as she was she was still cold. At least she didn't have to go far before she discovered that she was definitely not the first person to run to the corner store in search of emergency supplies. The building had power, and Alex could easily see the crowd inside, though the people that lingered just outside the door were indication enough that Alex wouldn't have any luck getting what she needed there. Alex sighed. She'd have to try again come morning, if the power wasn't back by then. There was no sense in her wandering around in the middle of the night trying to find an open store that had power.

              She turned on her heel and retraced her snowy footprints back to her apartment. She stamped her feet to keep warm waiting for a line of cars to pass, then jogged across the road and nearly tripped over a massively large dog sitting by the steps of her apartment building. Alex's first reaction was to scream, which she barely managed to contain. She loved dogs, but this one was huge. When she recovered, she crouched down to let the dog sniff her hand. A warm tongue licked her fingers. On closer inspection, it looked more like a wolf than a dog, with its massive frame and shaggy grey coat. Probably one of those mixes that were growing so popular. Its tail thumped gently, throwing up little puffs of snow, when Alex scratched behind its ears. Her other hand searched for a collar.

              “Well, I'm not gonna let you sit out here in the snow all night,” she said. “You'll freeze to death. Come on, puppy, come on!” She patted her thigh once and the dog rose, shaking coat off its fur and letting its tongue loll out at her. “Not allowed to have dogs, but... well, what the manager doesn't know won't hurt him. Could use the company anyway, and who knows how long the heat will be out, I might need you to keep me warm tonight” The dog could see far easier than Alex could in the darkness. It padded ahead of her, weaving in and out of the beam her phone light provided but never moving too far. Alex squinted into the dark and fumbled with her keys, her cold hands slow to respond. The dog slipped in as soon as the door was open enough, followed by Alex herself. Nothing to do really but go to sleep she didn’t’ want to keep her phone light on too long and risk using up all the battery life.. Alex pulled out extra blankets from the hall closet and went back into her bedroom to change.

              The space between her shoulder blades itched. Alex rolled them and flashed her light around the room, but the only other living thing in there with her was the dog, sitting by the foot of the bed. She finished changing, arranged the blankets on the bed as best she could and clambered into them, shivering. The sheets would warm quickly at least. A few quick pats on the bed had the dog jumping up and stretching out next to her. Her mother would have a fit if she knew, but Alex had always liked having the family dog sleep next to her. As her body warmed the fabric around her she yawned.

              “Tomorrow we'll see about finding out who you belong to, okay?” she mumbled, and ruffled the thick fur on the dog's shoulders. It snuffled at her wrist then laid its heavy head down on its paws. Alex curled up to retain as much warm as she could, huddled beneath her blanket, and tried to sleep.

When she woke up in the morning the weight stretched across the bed next to her was much heavier than any dog. Alex cracked open her eyes thinking that maybe the dog had just spread out along her body for warmth and that sleep had relaxed its weight, but what she saw was definitely not a big shaggy dog. What she saw was a big, muscular, naked man. This time she did scream. The man startled awake and all but leaped off the bed, taking one of the blankets with him.

              “Who the hell are you!?” Alex demanded. “How did you get into my apartment? What did you do to the dog?” The look on his face stopped her. He had a hand covering his eyes, fingers pinching the brow of his nose. “If you hurt my dog, mister.”

              “Ughhh….You’re really not gonna believe this,” the man stammered.

              “Try me,” Alex said. She had pepper spray in her night stand, and she had the foresight to try to keep him preoccupied while she nonchalantly eased the nightstand drawer open. Hopefully she still had power on her phone. If not, then at least pepper spray would give her time to get out of her place and wake up one of her neighbours for help. The man dropped his hand and opened his eyes. Alex's breath caught in her throat. She had never seen eyes enchanting, so… so blue, like pure crystals. She properly looked him over, the parts that weren’t covered by the blanket he was securing around his waist. He was strong, with muscled arms and chest, and gorgeous rock hard abs. His hair was a rich brown, short and rumpled from sleep. This guy could be in a magazine ad. He certainly could have curled up to any one of at least half the single women in the city. Not many women would refuse a man who looked like this guy. What the hell was he doing here, with her?

              “I'm the dog,” the man said, giving her a very toothy grin. “Surprise.” His grin revealed a mouth full of gorgeous sparkling white teeth, and Alex felt her heart lurch in her chest..

              Alex rolled her eyes. The guy was cute, but clearly disturbed.

“You're kidding.”

              “'fraid not. It was nice of you to bring me inside. I kind of locked myself out of my place.”

              “You… I brought YOU inside?”

“I’m not kidding.” He shook his head still sporting that knee-weakening white-toothed grin.

              “Wait a sec… you watched me change my clothes. You saw me naked!”

              “I didn't,” the man said. “Not really. I wanted to, don’t get me wrong, but I figured I’d do the gentlemanly thing and close my eyes. Or, the gentle-dog thing… I dunno… Umm… anyways, I thank you. You’re a special kind of person. You made sure I didn't spend a night shivering naked somewhere, and I'm grateful for that. If I can just borrow the blanket, I'll go now. I mean, please… please can I borrow this blanket?” He cocked his head and raised an eyebrow as though it were really a question, as though Alex would really refuse him and make him leave stark naked.

              “You said you were locked out,” Alex said, her voice stopping him as he moved toward the door. “The power's still out, you're not gonna get in unless you gave someone a spare key.”

              “Oh, so now you want me to stay?” he raised his eyebrows and gave her a teasing grin. He seemed to be taking everything as a joke. “Give me some clothes and I'll do whatever you want.” Alex's face burned. She cleared her throat but the man spoke before she could work the words out of her mouth. “I'm Shane Weston.” Alex blinked at him. “You gonna tell me who you are?”

              “Alex.”

              “Alexxxx.... what?”

              “Jordan. Alexandra Jordan.”

              Shane held out a hand. “Pleased to meet you, Alexandra Jordan. Thanks for letting me stay here. Definitely warmer than outside.” He glanced down at the blanket covering his hips. “Not that I don't like being swathed in things that smell as good as you, but I think both of us would appreciate me having something to wear.”

              Even though she was in her pyjamas, Alex felt oddly scrutinized as she scrambled through her drawers looking for something that might fit him. When she turned around, with an old pair of boxers and one of her night shirts in her hand, Shane was standing very close, and Alex was very aware of that blanket slung low around his hips. She couldn’t help herself, she stared at his defined musculature, at his solid chest and stomach and the peach fuzz that led from the light patch of hair across his chest down past his navel and in-between the neat V that the jut of his hips made. By the look on his face when Alex finally forced herself to stop staring, he had noticed her interest.

              “Mind if I shower?” he asked.

              “I don’t mind,” Alex replied distractedly. “But I don't have a flashlight. There's just a little window.”

              “I've got great night vision,” Shane replied with a wink. He took the clothes from her and gave them a cursory sniff, then glanced around until he saw the door to Alex's bathroom and strode into it. Alex held her breath as he passed her, her mind whirring. Okay, so she had brought in a dog and suddenly there was a man in her apartment claiming that he was also that dog. Was she losing her mind? She had definitely locked the door behind her. There had definitely been a very large, wolf-like dog in her bed. There was fur on her bed. She certainly wasn't hallucinating. Was she?

              She heard the water in the shower start flowing. Whatever had happened, she had a very hot, naked man in her bathroom who seemed content with the idea of staying, at least until the storm passed and the power was restored. Whenever that was. Alex picked up her phone from her night stand. She still had power, though not a whole lot. As long as she was careful it would last for a while. There were a handful of texts from friends and family complaining about the storm and asking if she was okay, and one weather alert that Alex dismissed in favour of checking the news and then looking out her bedroom window.

              On the other side of the freezing cold glass was a sheet of white. Alex had to stare for a while before she could differentiate between the sky and ground and even longer before she could see anything other than a blanket of white. Definitely a hell of a storm. As she stood there a plough truck came trundling down the road, spewing snow to either side and leaving a trail of salt in its wake. At least they were already working on clearing the roads, not that Alex thought anyone would be going out unless they could walk to their destination. It was still early, but soon children would be out playing and enjoying the day off from school the weather had given them. They didn't care about the electricity as long as they could find something to entertain themselves. Alex remembered when she was that carefree. She was weighing the pros and cons of going out and making a snow angel with no heat to warm her up when she came back in when the water running in the bathroom shut off. Alex quickly grabbed the first proper clothes her hands touched and just managed to pull her shirt over her stomach when Shane emerged from the bathroom, dressed in Alex's clothes, and carrying the blanket over his shoulder. He tossed it on the bed.

              “Well? How do I look?” he asked, spreading his arms and flashing her that same grin that made her knees weak. Her nightshirt was a couple sizes too small. It was pulled taught around his torso highlighting his physique. The boxers showed off his strong legs.

              “Ridiculous,” Alex replied, and he did, but at the same time he was so amazingly handsome..

              “I can take them off if you want,” Shane said. Alex's face warmed. “That's what I thought. So…” For a few seconds neither of them said anything. Alex stared at the ground and fidgeted, slightly uncomfortable but intrigued by the stranger in her house. “What now?”

              “I don't know,” Alex replied. “I tried to go get a flashlight yesterday but the shop was packed. Other than that...” She shrugged. “I guess some emergency supplies. No idea how long this storm is gonna go on for, so...”

              “Well, I can't really go anywhere dressed like this, but if you can help me get back home I'll give you a hand. Got a pretty decent truck. Snow shouldn't give it too much trouble. If you trust me, that is.” Alex was surprised at herself because as soon as he said it she found that she did trust him. She couldn't explain why. Maybe it was his easy smile, or the way that everything he said felt openly honest. Maybe it was the same part of her personality that had prompted her to bring him inside last night when she thought he was nothing more than a stray dog.

              “I'll help,” Alex replied, “but I want you to explain to me what happened last night. Will you do that?” A brief flash of discomfort flickered across Shane's face.

              “I guess I owe you that much, don't I,” he said. “Plus, I’ve already revealed my darkest secret. I want to let you know though, I was planning to be gone before you woke up, but...” He shook his head.

              “Okay. Let’s get to your place.”