The Shifter's Mate (Paranormal Pleasures) (4 page)

“I agree with everything Caleb’s said,” Heather purred. “He’s just so right about everything. What a man. Don’t you all agree?”

That was odd, thought Bryce...but so was everything Heather was saying.

“I’ll go up to the men’s cabin,” said Bryce. “Kyle and William should help too.” Lauren eyed him, a bit exasperated. He quickly added, “And then I’ll swing by the women’s and see if any of them want to volunteer as well.”

Bryce picked up a flashlight off the table near the entryway, and then walked over to the fireplace and grabbed a poker. He would need a weapon, after all. Then, he turned to Caleb.

“Are you gonna help me and be a man, or aren’t you good for anything?”

“F-fine.” Caleb shrugged, taking a breath. “Yeah. I should come with you. I don’t want to be left here with...all of this.”

Caleb's eyes were wide with fear—real fear—at Heather's activities.

Bryce understood. His aunt had gone crazy—and he was always terrible about going to see her in the institution. It wasn’t because of the way she acted, or really anything she did. Rather, it was because of how she reminded him of how thin the line was between sanity and insanity—what an eggshell layer their minds walked on at any given moment.

“Be careful, love,” Maryse cooed, sliding her arms around Bryce. “You’re
so
brave for taking care of this.”

Maryse kissed him, long and hot. He knew she was showing off just for Lauren...and yet Bryce still got into it, his hands slipping over that perfect tight ass, squeezing hard. He couldn't do much in front of her except melt.

Sorry, Lauren
, he thought as soon as the kiss ended. He avoided the brunette's gaze as he slapped Caleb on the back and headed to the front.

Opening the door, the storm immediately burst in, wind and rain flowing through the cabin. It was dark and wet outside, the lightning doing more to reflect blasts of blinding confusion around than it did to illuminate anything.

Bryce took a breath, and they entered the wetness.

* * * * *

S
omehow during the night, Lauren fell asleep. She had every intention of staying awake the whole night through until morning light pushed through the darkness of this strange and horrifying evening, watching over Heather. She had even made a full pot of coffee to keep herself roused—but somehow she conked out over the many terror-filled hours.

This is she woke with a start on the couch. Maryse was in her arms, a blanket covering them both. Somehow they had fallen asleep together, in this clearly intimate fashion.

Lauren tried not to think about how good Maryse felt, how warm her skin was, how perfect her face, how easy it would be to land the most gentle of little kisses...

Oh god, no. No way.

Lauren sprang up, not caring if she woke Maryse or not.

Somehow, though, Maryse shifted on the couch, groaning, but stayed asleep. Fine, then. That was good.

It was about four in the morning, judging from the clock over the fireplace. Early. It wasn’t raining anymore outside, but Lauren could still see almost nothing from peeking out the window. There were supposed to be lights dotting the trails around the camp, but maybe the storm knocked out one of the generators...

Or maybe the creep that attacked Heather knew to disable them.

She tried to ignore that thought.

Drawn by the smell of eggs cooking, Lauren found Heather in the kitchen, preparing food, and completely naked.

“Oh!” chirped Heather. “Hello, dear. I was just making some food. I find a vicious fucking like what Master gifted me with really gets the appetite going, you know?” She giggled, like a flirting schoolgirl. “Even with all the hot protein he dumped inside of my belly.”

Heather seemed five years younger. She had always been in terrific shape for a middle-aged woman, with a clear vibrancy and youth shining through her motions and words. But now she looked...she looked
genuinely
younger. Her skin smoother, her hair longer, her breasts fuller and perkier, her face like that of someone in their early thirties or even late twenties.

Had whatever that creature done to her...changed her, somehow?

“M-Master?” Lauren asked. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about my glorious and wonderful Master, dear. He’s so perfect to have taken my will and mind like he did. I’m
so
happy to be in his service now. I
think
you called him a werewolf? That wouldn't be too far off a description.” She pointed at the eggs with her spatula. “I’m sure he’ll be hungry when he comes around again. I want to be ready to serve him food while I attend his cock. You should do the same.”

A big yawn exhaled from behind Lauren, who jumped. Completely on edge.

“Wow,” said Maryse, stumbling into the kitchen. “I wasn’t expecting to fall asleep like that. Looks like the rain cleared up, huh? Still dark out, though...where are the boys?”

“They’re not back yet,” said Lauren.

She reached out, trying to grab Maryse's hand. Anything steady. Anything sane.

“I wouldn’t worry about any of them,” said Heather. “Master will take care of them. I’m certain of it.”

She and Maryse looked at each other, and stepped backward for a moment out of the kitchen and back into the living room.

“I guess...she’s calmed down some? So that’s good,” said Maryse.

“Maybe,” whispered Lauren. “But she’s still...under the influence of whatever this thing is that’s happening.”

“What do we do?”

Lauren had been thinking about that, actually. Plans upon plans, that was her way.

“Heather,” said Lauren, stepping back into the kitchen and turning off the stove, getting the older woman’s attention. “I know our phones aren’t working, but there’s still a radio in the rec center. You remember? The big radio that can reach all those trucks and stuff? It’ll work no matter what. I’d like for us to get over there and bust it out, call the police, get their help.”

“Whatever for, dear?” Heather looked genuinely confused.

Maryse scoffed. “You were...you were
raped
last night!”

“Oh, dear, no.” She shook her head. “That’s not how I would describe it at all.”

Sighing wistfully, Heather ran the warm spatula against her naked breasts. Her fingers began to tweak at her nipples.

Maryse continued her protest. “You were taken against your will!”

“Well...maybe at first.” She shrugged, sighing dreamily. “But he showed me how wrong it was to resist. Did you know hot women like me belong in service to him? After he gave me his mark...I understood. A will is such a silly, paltry little thing anyway, especially for a female. Why would my will matter one way or the other in comparison to his endless might? I was born to be on my knees in front of him, darling.” Heather’s eyes lit up, as if suddenly noticing Maryse in front of her. “My, dear. You’re rather pretty, aren’t you? Of course you are. You’re probably next.”

Maryse’s beautiful blue eyes flashed with anger. “Shut up, you crazy bitch! What the hell are you talking about?”

“He’s going to destroy your will, just like he did mine. You may as well embrace it.”

Taking a step back from the overwhelming crazy, Lauren made her way to the corner. Smiling brightly, her eyes shining with zeal, Heather slipped her fingers through her panties and started fingering herself.

“God...” Heather moaned. “He’s gonna own you...gonna
own
...you...”

Backing up into Lauren, Maryse shook her head. “What. The. Fuck.”

“We have to get out of here,” whispered Lauren, urgency filling her voice. “If he’s...if he’s animal, like she says, if he’s marked her? I bet he can smell her.”

“How would you know?” Maryse asked suspiciously. “How do you know so much?”

“I don’t know anything!” Lauren said. “I’m just...guessing. She said he marked her. I’m saying that probably means he wants seconds...and she’s practically begging for him now, and it’s going to be dark soon.”

Maryse’s mouth twisted, examining Heather. The older woman had folded up on her back, pussy exposed, ankles wrapped around her neck, crying out triumphantly as an orgasm shivered through her body.

“Yes!” Heather cried. “Take me, my lord! Take me!”

“We can’t...we can’t just leave her here,” said Maryse. “He’s just going to do it all to her again.”

Lauren sighed. “I know. But...do we have a choice? Look, whatever he’s done to her...the damage has been done. We can leave, and...” Lauren shook her head. She squeezed Maryse's arm. “No, you’re right. We can’t leave her here. But we can’t stay here, either. This place is practically undefended. What if we moved out, back to the main complex?”

“Why that one?”

“There’s the radio there, like I said, for starters.” Shrugging, Lauren started searching through the various cabinets. “Besides that, she has a gun there, I think. For snakes and stuff. But it might work. And it’s up against that big rock face, you’ve seen it. Just the one way in.”

“Okay,” said Maryse. “Okay. Yeah, that’s smart. You’re smart.”

She said this like it was a sudden realization.

“Come on,” said Lauren. “We can do it if we work together.”

Maryse nodded then. “Okay. Let's do it.”

* * * * *

I
n all her life, Maryse had never been so terrified as she was now, walking through the dark to the main complex. Being afraid was something clearly designated to the lower classes of the world—those not secure in their stations thanks to natural talents and gifts, of which Maryse clearly had so very many. Her breasts, her legs, her beautiful hair, her angelic face...none of these mattered in the empty darkness, where any sound or movement could come out and abuse her just as Heather was abused.

Maryse had never been in such a situation before.

Heather’s constant moaning through her gag didn’t help—Maryse was certain the lithe beauty was calling out to her Master, trying to get him to come. That was why they gagged her, and bound her arms. It would have been really, really dark and twisted, except Heather seemed to enjoy it a little. Maybe that made it a little more dark and twisted, though.

She and Lauren had their hands interlaced over Heather's arms, touching and grabbing at each other. Both of them desperate for as much human contact as they could find.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of trudging through the muck and mud and darkness, they made it to the center.

“We’re here,” said Lauren, searching through her pockets.

Metal jingled as she pulled out her keys. In a few seconds she had the door opened and then locked again behind them.

They put Heather down behind the salad bar in the cafeteria, in a corner, out of sight.

“Try and find a flashlight or something.” Lauren gave a compassionate squeeze to Maryse's shoulder. “I’ll look for that gun and the radio.”

“Okay. Right.”

It surprised Maryse how easily she took orders from Lauren. But, with as scared as she was, desperate as she was to find some order in the situation, she didn’t feel as though she had a choice. A swell of resentment grew in her, being so powerless. She promised and promised herself again that she would never let herself be this powerless in the future, so long as she lived through the night.

In the darkness of the kitchen, she started searching around. Her eyes adjusted to the very low light after a minute or two, and she was able to search through cabinets with some ease. It surprised how simple it was—probably just hours before she would have been terrified of bugs or rats, but now there was a bigger threat.

After looking through several cabinets, she finally found a flashlight.

“Here’s the radio, I think,” Lauren called out from outside the kitchen. “And the gun!”

Her path easily visible now, Maryse found Lauren dragging something into the cafeteria, and shined the light on her, letting them both see what the brunette had found.

It was a radio all right...and it was useless.

“Goddammit,” said Lauren, stomping her feet. “Goddammit!”

There were holes in the radio, its wire cut—wires everywhere.

“Are those bullet holes?” asked Maryse.

“I think so.” Lauren shook her head. “There’s not any more bullets.”

“Someone...someone shot the radio?”

Maryse was completely befuddled. Who could be crazy enough to do such a thing?

A gleeful little giggle rose up—Heather had maneuvered her mouth out from the gag they put on.

“It's
possible
,” said Heather, “that
while
you were asleep, I may have slipped out to do an weensy bit of camp maintenance for Master...”

Oh god.

Question asked and answered,
thought Maryse.
How can this get any worse
?

Right on cue, a deep growl reverberated through the complex. The immense shadow of the man-beast broke through the dim light of the cafeteria—the beast. It was there, at the window. Hard to make out in the darkness, but clearly enormous. Maryse saw the darkness slide over the room and up over hers and Lauren’s bodies—both of them shook, sliding into each other’s arms.

“Oh, God,” Lauren moaned.

“I don’t think this place is as safe as we thought it was,” Maryse said dumbly.

Heather, behind them, giggled maniacally. “No where is safe from the Master. He’ll take anyone that he wants. And he wants
you
.” She was moaning and stirring in her bindings—Maryse quickly figured out that she was using the friction between her shorts and her pussy to pleasure herself. That was all she needed for sexual excitement, now—that little bit. Her body had become so sensitive...made just for fucking this huge beast.

Slowly, hands trembling together, Maryse and Lauren lifted the flashlight to shine on the beast in the window.

He was...immense. Enormously muscled. Abs on abs on abs, a veritable ten-pack. His biceps ripped, the bulges there bigger than Maryse’s head. Deep, dark hair covered the entirety of his body, except for the short line leading down to his cock, and the cock itself. That huge slab of meat—clearly hardening against the window—was hairless and glistening wet already with precum. His face was familiar somehow...nearly human, except for the big jutting teeth coming up from his mouth, and the distended nostrils and big yellow eyes. Dominating eyes. Will-breaking eyes.