Wild Things (BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance): Shifter Lovers Romance by Catherine Vale Read Free Book Online Page A

They’ve driven us into these fortified cities,
put us behind walls. Caged you inside your own world. And driven me out of
mine.” He sat up suddenly, pushing her over onto her back, staring into her
eyes.
    “It
is because of them that I am the way I am... who I am. I was created as a
result of them coming here. Otherwise…”
    For
an instant, she was afraid. He was angry, very angry. She was certain it wasn’t
directed toward her, but she had no idea where that anger came from. He was
still holding her hand, crushing her fingers.
    “Gabriel...you’re
hurting me.”
    He
looked at her hand in surprise, then let go. But then reached for her again,
gently this time, stroking her knuckles with his thumb. “I’m sorry. I’m so
sorry. You are the last person I want to hurt. Ever.”
    “I
don’t understand. What are you talking about?”
    He
lay back, arm behind his head, looking up at the ceiling. He still held her
hand, but it was as if he’d forgotten he was. Even from here she could sense
the tension in his body, the set of his jaw. She waited until he turned his
head, and looked at her before she set her other hand on his chest again,
before she curled against him. She could feel his heart beating beneath her
fingertip, feel the rise and fall of his chest. Both were faster than before.
It wasn’t until they’d slowed that he spoke.
    “I
come from a tribe who lives in the desert. Our lands are very far from here. We
lived our lives, and no one bothered us. Then...” She felt him tense beneath
her fingers. “Then the damned aliens came, and our lives were torn from us.” He
stopped, took a deep breath.
    “Some
of us...some of our men have the ability to shift. Not all, only a few. They
can change form when, and where they wish. Into animals, creatures…it was a way
for us to hunt game, to survive.”
    She
nodded, but she didn’t understand. Shifters were just part and parcel of her
life, those who looked after her. She’d never given much thought to where they
came from.
    “But
when the aliens came, men...scientists from the cities came to our villages.
They took men from our tribe, the few that could shift at will. They experimented
on them…” His voice broke. She waited, feeling the beat of his heart. When it
slowed again, he went on.
    “They
made a drug….and then they came back and forced it upon us.” His voice dropped
off, and for a long time, he was quiet.
    “It
gave all the men the ability to shift at will, when and where they wanted.
Those with latent abilities could suddenly become lions or tigers or wolves.
Anytime, anyplace. But some of us were only children…young boys. Those...those
they took here, to the Oasis. To be trained to protect the Oasis. And your
family.”
    She
closed her eyes, trying to imagine being torn from her home, from the palace.
It wasn’t hard; she was going to be taken away to the Ottway in less than a
week. But to think of him being taken away as a young child; it made her heart
hurt. All of this on top of suddenly being able to shift into an animal, to
have to learn to control another being that lived inside of your own body. That,
she could not imagine.
    “We
grew up with your people, but not of them. There’s a training arena in the
depths of the palace. We were trained, taught how to fight, to control our
beasts. How to kill. We learned how to shift wearing the body armor they made
for us.”
    He
went silent again. The moonlight made shadows across the bed curtains, and she
struggled to understand what he was telling her. For a startling instant she
saw her life set against his, her easy life, her lavish, pampered life. His
harsh and cruel one. The world she knew was suddenly turned upside down.
    “And
then the years passed, and through that time I worked hard at what I’d been
taught to do. I knew nothing else. Year by year, I worked my way up in the
ranks. It all seemed so pointless, but at the same time it was what I was
trained for, the only life I