Taken (M/F/M red-hot menage shifter romance) Standalone (Shadow Creek Shifters Book 2) (3 page)

Angus switched positions and told Katlyn, “We’ll just stand by and see if she’s able to push the foal out before we assist her.”

They watched as the sack was partially out of the horse now, and Angus ripped off the bag where it covered the head of the foal, rubbing it until he noticed the foal move. “Take it easy, mama,” Brendan cooed to her as Chase rubbed the horse gently on the side.

Katlyn bit her lip at how hard it seemed for the horse to push out her baby, but at this point, Angus moved back. Clover moaned, and more of the foal was visible. When only part of its hind legs were still inside the mother, she moved her head, checking on her brand new baby who’d tried to stand up already!

Brendan and Chase moved away from the horse, now, and motioned for the stall door, taking a quick peek at the new, black foal. “It’s a filly,” Brendan said. Once they were on the other side of the door, the remainder of the horse was out. The filly moved toward its mother and they began to lick each other in greeting.

“We should probably go now,” Brendan said.

“Will she be okay all by herself now?”

“Sure she will. We never try to help too much other than to calm the animal. Clover seems to do much better when we do that. She trusts us, but she needs to bond with her baby and cleaning her off is part of that,” Chase added. “What should we name your filly, Katlyn?”

Katlyn stopped dead in her tracks, her heart flip-flopping. “My filly? You mean it’s mine and I can name it anything I want?”

“If you’d like to,” Brendan said with a smile.

“I-I guess I never thought about it before, naming a baby horse, or calling anything my own. I’m not sure I’d be good at owning a filly. Horses don’t like me all that much.”

“Perhaps not, but you can change that by getting to know the filly as she grows.”

“Okay, thanks.” Katlyn’s heart swelled as she gazed at the newborn. “I think I’ll name her Raven since she’s black.”

“Sounds like a great name,” Angus said with a smile.

“Raven, it is,” Brendan agreed.

* * *

For the remainder of the day, all Katlyn thought about was being able to witness Clover giving birth to Raven, and worried about how hard a time she’d have giving birth. She hoped she wouldn’t have it that bad, but it would be many months before she’d have to really worry about it. After the events of the day, she knew she’d be in good hands with her mates, and a feeling of comfort washed over her.

Katlyn peeked in on the brand new mother and her baby, and Raven was already on her feet. Clover had cleaned her up just fine and Raven’s coat just shined, if only slightly covered with straw.

When she finally snuggled into bed with Brendan and Chase, they smiled when she dropped her robe and climbed into bed naked. Tonight, like most nights lately, didn’t result in lovemaking, but it didn’t need to be a focus all of the time. Today, the time they’d spent in the barn with Clover as she gave birth made her feel closer to Brendan and Chase than she’d felt anytime before. Sure, they satisfied her intimately, but that’s not all there was to being a true mate. Tonight, she actually felt completely part of this ranch in a way she hadn’t been before. Her heart melted for Brendan and Chase. She knew that no matter what happened, their bond would only grow stronger.

Chapter Three

Tessa

If someone were to ask Tessa what moment defined her life, she’d have to think hard since no one moment came to mind. For her, that one moment in time when Paige bit her—she could honestly say that life ended for her that day. An unexpected ending to life as she knew it, but when she’d finally awakened from her slumber, she’d never felt so alive. Did that mean that she didn’t resent what Paige had done to her? The answer would be no. She held plenty of resentment every time she woke up—and that wasn’t just in the morning, but well into the evening. Every time she had to swallow another pill that was supposed to help with the cravings for blood when the side effects were much worse. With the headaches and lesions that did little to dim the pain in her stomach when she had to drink that rot gut in a bag the man from the blood bank supplied her. And that was the reason she’d gone out tonight.

Tessa surfaced from beneath the tree where she was crouched, waiting for prey to surface from between the trees that hugged this area of Wyoming. She’d left the safety of the Shadow Creek Ranch in search of what she desired most—a real meal that didn’t come from a bag supplied from the blood bank for vampires. Sure, Paige made sure she had everything she needed to adjust to this life as the newest vampire of Shadow Creek, and she resented every one of them, especially the medication that she was sure was making her sick. 

Tessa smiled slyly as she heard a howl of a wolf close by. While the Creeksboro area of Wyoming was home to many shape shifters, she had to hope that what she heard was an ordinary wolf and not a werewolf. One small mistake like killing a werewolf would be the means to her end and she knew it.

Bushes rustled close by, and she saw the glowing eyes of an animal that was, indeed, on four legs. Without another thought, she attacked. Tessa lunged and grabbed the animal around its mid-section, but it was much larger than she expected it to be and she was easily tossed aside. Tessa jumped to her feet and stooped low to anticipate her next move. The wolf bared his teeth and snapped his jaw, but didn’t howl like a real wolf would have. This one was on the defensive now, lunging at her, but she was able to easily move aside, avoiding any real contact with the now-enraged wolf.

He lunged again, and this time Tessa lost her footing, sailing to the soft ground below. Now as the wolf leapt on her, she kicked it away, but he kept coming back. She rolled to her stomach, pushing herself off the ground now. Instead of looking for prey tonight, she was the prey.

Tessa ran, swiping her dark hair out of her face as she tore through the trees. The branches tore at her arms, but she kept moving, hearing the sound of the heavy paws of the wolf striking the ground as he pursued her. She lost her footing, slid down a hill and rolled and rolled until she was dazed, with the wolf pinning her to the ground. But when she felt someone gripping her arms, she knew this was no ordinary wolf, but a werewolf, indeed.

“Stay still,” he bellowed, once he was fully in human form.

Tessa stared up at the naked man pinning her to the ground from beneath the full moon, his dark hair covering his face, obscuring it from view. She felt his muscles ripple beneath her hands as she fought him off and only heard laughter, which further infuriated her. “Get off me, you beast.”

“Beast I might be, but what or who are you?”

“I’m not anything to you, werewolf, but you’ll be my dinner if I get my fangs in you.”

More laughter, but this time from behind them, as a man said, “Teach her some manners, Raphael.”

“Will you get off me?”

Raphael straddled Tessa and her eyes widened as his face came into view. It was the alpha, Raphael! “I-I can’t breathe.”

“That’s rich. First you attack me, intent on sinking your fangs into me, and I’m suddenly the aggressor?”

“Let her go, Raphael. She’s from Shadow Creek and I certainly don’t need to deal with Brendan and Chase. Brendan and I have a history, and not a good one, at that.”

Raphael removed his weight, but instead of just letting Tessa up, he hauled her off the ground, his hand grabbing the fabric of her shirt and not letting go.

“Do you mind? Take your hands off me, now!”

More laughter from the man standing a few feet away, saying, “Let her go, Raphael.”

“Not quite yet, Seth. I’d like to see what she looks like.”

Tessa struggled as she was moved along toward a cabin that loomed in the distance, and was dragged inside. She was finally allowed free and she whirled, with fists clenched as she stared at the perfectly chiseled body of the very naked Raphael who had been appointed as alpha over at Silver Creek after his brother, Nate, was murdered by a human at Shadow Creek.

Tessa tried not to stare too pointedly at Raphael, but neither did she want to look away from his intense, gray eyes that drew her in like a magnet. Sure, vampires were thought of as cold-blooded creatures, but Tessa felt hot in so many ways right now, even though she wanted to tell this fool that he had no idea who he was dealing with.

Seth entered the cabin and frowned. “What are we going to do with her now?”

“Well, I suppose we should take her back to Shadow Creek.”

Tessa stared from one man to the next. “A-Are you a werewolf, too?”

“Nope, I’m about as human as can be.”

“Can I leave now, or are you planning to force me to submit to you?” Tessa asked Raphael, who sneered, “Not even in your dreams. I prefer women who have a pulse.”

* * *

From the moment Raphael straddled the vampire who’d attacked him outside, he wanted to see what she looked like, really looked like in the light of the cabin. He stared over to the king-sized bed and how he longed to bring her straight there. From the look in Seth’s eye, he wanted it, too. They’d shared women on many occasions, but with Seth being human, it wasn’t the usual triad that most might expect.

This dark beauty who stood before him was vulnerable, and she couldn’t quite mask that. She was also newly turned, or else he’d have had his hands more full trying to fight her off. She didn’t quite have the strength that a more confident vampire would have. She had spunk, though, and he loved that. Well, that and the challenge.

“We’d better get her back to Shadow Creek before daylight,” Raphael said as he walked into the far corner of the room and donned jeans and a tee shirt.

“I can find my own way back.”

“I’m taking you back. I insist.”

* * *

Tessa had no choice as the men took her out of the cabin and into a truck not far off. All the way to Shadow Creek, Tessa was tense as she saw dawn threatening on the horizon with a show of pink sky.

As if Raphael knew what she was thinking, he slammed his foot on the gas pedal and they were at Shadow Creek not five minutes later. Instead of stopping at the main house, Raphael stopped at the large cabin behind it. Tessa was pulled out of the truck and forced to walk along, stopping as Raphael rapped on the cabin door until a disheveled Brendan answered it.

“What’s going on here?” he asked, his eyes narrowing as they fell on Seth. “What are you doing here, Seth? You know you’re not allowed at Shadow Creek.”

“Oh, I know, but I’m only here because Raphael insisted I come along.”

Brendan moved out of the way and the trio entered. Katlyn sat up in the bed in the far corner, rubbing her eyes. Chase moved to cover her nakedness with a blanket, but Katlyn moved away slightly and grabbed her robe, donning it as the men looked away until she stood in front of them, demanding, “What did you do to Tessa?”

“Nothing at all,” Raphael said. “She tried to make a meal of me. Keep your vampire off Silver Creek’s land. She’s lucky she ran across me and not one of my pack.”

Tessa wouldn’t meet Katlyn’s accusing eyes, and said, “It’s not what you think.”

“No? What am I thinking, then?”

“That I’m some monster that can’t be trusted.”

“I don’t think that at all. It’s not your fault what you are, but you know you can’t feed off humans or animals. I thought Paige kept you supplied with blood.”

“Drinking cold blood from a bag is like eating a raw steak for you. It’s not tasty at all.”

“You know full well how dangerous it can be out there, Tessa. You’re newly turned and you need to get your bearings before you go off alone. It’s nearly dawn. I’d hate to think what would happen if Raphael hadn’t found you and brought you back before daylight. I don’t want to think what might have happened if you were out there all alone with nowhere to hide until nightfall.”

“Don’t worry about it, Katlyn, but I’d better get home before daylight.” Tessa darted across the drive and ran into the cabin just as the sun was rising. When she slammed the door shut, she pressed her body against the door, her chest rising and falling. The last thing she needed to worry about was disappointing Katlyn, again. She was always so sweet to her, but she just didn’t get it, didn’t know what it really felt like to now be a vampire.  

Tessa had come to Shadow Creek with Katlyn when the Shifter Patrol was pursuing her, but not long after they had arrived, Katlyn fell for Brendan and Chase and Paige bit Tessa, turning her into a creature of the night—turning her with the first bite. Tessa still didn’t know the how’s or why’s about that yet and had all but avoided Paige since she’d woken up, after her initial instructions to always take her medication and to only drink from the blood she was supplied by the blood bank. She was glad that Paige had stayed away, giving her time to adjust on her own.

She walked to the refrigerator and pulled out an IV bag, yanking the cap off. She tipped it up, drank a few sips and her stomach rebelled against the invasion. No, she hated the taste of cold blood, but was forced to feed this way since any other way was just unacceptable. All she’d wanted to do tonight was to feed off an animal, not even livestock, but a warm-blooded animal that didn’t happen to be a shifter of any sort.

Tessa recapped the bag and tossed it into the refrigerator, making her way up the stairs and into her tomb of darkness. Unlike in all the vampire movies, her room was upstairs with the windows covered with thick, heavy curtains, and there she’d remain until she awoke in the evening. She couldn’t even accompany Katlyn during the day at the classroom, which made her sad since spending time with a child might just lift her spirits. Children were so innocent and non-judgmental, unlike humans or shifters.

When her eyes snapped closed, she reached for her iPod and placed the earbuds snuggly in her ears. Her only comfort was to drift off to sleep listening to Lee Brice. His soothing tunes did it to her every time, and it didn’t take longer than halfway through the playlist before Tessa finally was able to get Raphael’s gorgeous body from her mind and she fell fast asleep.

Chapter Four