Bearing the Shifter (Shifter World - Book Four) (Series of 13 Short Stories)
Chapter Eight: Time to Go

The five men forced Maddy to the ground. She screamed and kicked out at them and clawed their arms and anybody part that got close to her hands. She has the strength of a shifter. Why can’t she fight these assholes off? Then she noticed the silver eyes of two of the men and knew why.

The quarterback fell on top of her, and she lost her breath. His hands were all over her, and she kicked at him while she tried to catch her breath again.

“Fabulous body,” the quarterback said as he ravished her with his hands.

“Get the fuck off me!” she screamed once she regained control of her breathing. She kicked at him, but he pinned her legs down.

Maddy watched as he pulled his cock from his pants and almost laughed. For a big talker, he wasn’t very endowed. Not even for a human’s standards.

He started to pull on her pants, and she moved her legs to kick out at him again.

“She’s a bit wild,” one of the men holding her down said with a laugh.

“Hurry up before we get caught,” another said as he watched the quarterback struggle with Maddy.

The quarterback got Maddy’s pants down to her knees and then pushed her legs up. The other guys took hold of her legs while the quarterback positioned himself at her entry.

Maddy screamed, and an angry growl came from behind the quarterback. The man screamed as he was lifted off his feet.

“Pathetic.”

Everyone looked up at the blond holding the quarterback up by the back of his neck.

The other men let go of Maddy and turned to run.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Gerald demanded with a growl.

“Look, man….” one of the “guys” started to say, but Gerald wouldn’t hear any of it. He slammed his fist into the man’s face, making him holler in pain as he fell back on his ass.

“Rolando, get your mate out of the way,” Bridget growled.

Rolando skidded to a stop when he saw his mate on the ground, her pants around her knees—and he saw red.

“Rolando,” Bridget said, a gentleness in her voice.

Rolando turned to the vampire and growled at the quarterback, whose telltale dick was out of his pants.

“Rolando, see to your mate,” Bridget said, staring into the angry shifter’s eyes.

Rolando glared at her but did as she said, without a word.

Bridget smirked, then looked at the man dangling in her hand. “Now, for you.”

The man screamed when she bared her teeth.

“Bridget,” Maddy whispered.

Bridget looked down at her charge and grunted. Rolando was still helping her pull her pants up. She should have never left her alone.

“He tried to rape you, little bird.”

Maddy nodded. “Yes. But I’m not concerned about him. What would happen to you if you killed now that you’ve taken the job as my guardian?”

Bridget opened her mouth and then closed it. “Shit,” she grumbled, then looked into the asshole’s eyes. “You are going to go to the coach and the owner of this team and tell them what you just did.”

“Of course,” the quarterback said.

Bridget dropped him onto his ass, then walked over to the other men and gave them the same command. Two of them were shifters; she couldn’t read their thoughts, but she could tell they were under her control. Until they’ve done what she told them to do, anyway.

“You two need to quit this team and travel with us. We have people to replace.” Bridget growled.

“We can’t just quit; we have a contract,” Rolando said, holding a shivering Maddy against his chest.

“Leave it to me.” Bridget nodded, then disappeared.

~🏈~

“I want to go home,” Maddy whispered.

“Of course.” Rolando kissed the top of her head.

He handed the keys to Gerald and got into the back seat with his mate so he didn’t have to let her go. Once they were at their apartment, he led her to their room. He helped her strip down to nothing, then helped her into bed. He pulled his clothes off and joined her. She cuddled against him and cried.

He held her as she cried, angry with himself that it got this far.

“I love you,” she whispered through her tears.

His heart soared. “I love you too, Sweet Raven.”

She sighed and smiled up at him. “Make love to me.”

He looked deep into her eyes and smiled. Without a word, he moved, so he was on top of her. She wrapped her arm and legs around him, and he entered her slowly. She sighed with bliss as he gently rocked in and out of her.

After what had just happened, this was something they both needed.

“Rolando,” she whispered.

“Maddy,” he said, kissing her.

She moaned against his lips.

They moved together slow and deep. The feel of her tight pussy around his cock gave him chills every time he pushed back into her. He pulled one of her nipples into his mouth, and she moaned.

“So perfect,” he whispered as he licked her stiff nipple.

“I love you,” she whimpered as she moved her hips in perfect harmony with his.

“I love you too,” he said as he kissed up her neck and nipped at her ear.

“I can’t believe you’re mine,” she said as he pushed himself deep inside her.

He chuckled. “You? You’re more special than anything in this world, my Raven, and I will always be the lucky one.”

She laughed softly. “Let’s just agree that we’re both lucky.”

He grunted. “Right.”

“Mmm,” she moaned when he hit her G-Spot.

“God, Mafilia, you’re so incredible.”

“Oh, God, I’m going to cum,” she cried out.

He grunted. When she came, his body shivered as she tightened around his cock. He pushed into her one last time and let his seed loose deep inside her. The knot formed, and he collapsed on top of her—spent. Even slow lovemaking took a toll on the body. Fuck, she’s the most beautiful, incredible, strongest woman he has ever known.

“You’re so perfect.” He lifted himself up and smiled into her eyes.

She smiled back. “So are you.”

He chuckled.

“You two done in there? We have things to discuss,” Bridget hollered as she pounded on the door.

“We’ll be out in thirty minutes!” Rolando hollered back.

“Damn shifters and their knotting.” They heard her grumble as she walked away.

Rolando and Maddy chuckled.

“I think I’m starting to like her,” Rolando said with a grin.

She nodded. “Yeah. Me too.”

~🏈~

Thirty-five minutes later, Maddy and Rolando entered the living room, hand in hand.

“What happened to thirty minutes?” Bridget asked with irritation, her smile contradicting her tone of voice.

Rolando grinned. “I hadn’t figured in putting clothes back on.”

Bridget snorted but didn’t lose her smile. She sniffed the air like she’d caught a scent. They watched her as she moved over to Maddy and sniffed her.

“What?” Maddy asked, her cheeks turning bright red. “Do I smell like those assholes?”

Bridget shook his head. “No, little bird. Your bear took over their scent with his own. You smell… different.” Her eyes widened. “Holy shit,” she said with a laugh. “You stopped taking your pills.”

Maddy turned her head away.

Rolando looked between the two of them. “What do you mean? How can you tell?”

Bridget laughed. “Because our little bird here is with cub.”

“What?!” Maddy and Rolando asked at the same time.

Bridget smirked. “When did you stop taking your pill?”

Maddy looked up at Rolando. “Today.”

Rolando blinked at her. “You mean… you want to start a family?”

“Too late to ask that now; she’s already started.” Bridget laughed.

“You can smell that already?” Maddy asked, folding her arms over her stomach.

Bridget nodded. “Sure can. Your cub has a different scent than you.”

Maddy smiled as she looked back at Rolando. “I was going to tell you tonight after the game. But, well, you know how that went.”

Rolando snorted.

“Are you angry?” Maddy asked.

He shook his head. “No, Mafilia. I’m very pleased.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

“Oh.” Bridget chuckled. “This means that your sister is probably pregnant, too.”

Maddy pulled from Rolando’s kiss and stared at the vampire. “Say what?”

Bridget chuckled. “Your bond is still there, just not as strong as it should be. Remember I told you? Things will happen to you both at the same time, like replaceing your mate at the same time.”

“Do you know where she is?” Rolando asked.

Bridget shook her head. “No. But we need to get out of here.”

“What about our contracts with the team?” Gerald asked.

“I talked to the owner and the coach after the guys turned themselves in. You two are set free of your contracts. Not sure what they’re doing about the assholes who attacked Maddy. But you will need to pack this apartment up and have a moving company follow us. We’ll head to Maddy’s house, and get that place packed up, then we’ll head out in search of the others.”

“The other what?” Maddy asked.

Bridget smiled at her. “The other Fated Mates.”

~🏈~

It took them two days to pack up the apartment and get their deposit back. They’d had to get Bridget involved when the man refused to give them their money because they hadn’t stayed for the entire month.

The vampire offered to get all their money back, but Maddy told her she only wanted the deposit back; since the apartment looked better than it had when they moved into it.

Once the moving company had the van packed, they headed for Maddy’s house. Which was over a thousand miles from where they were. The guys whistled when they saw her four-bedroom, three-bathroom house. She smiled at their response.

Maddy stood aside while telling the movers what to do with her belongings. It took three days to pack up her house, and while they were packing, Bridget helped her put it on the market. And thanks to her vampire hypnotizing ways, her house sold before they left—four days after they arrived.

“Now, we just follow our noses.” Bridget laughed.

Maddy hoped this was the right thing to do. Because she really loved that house.

“We’ll get you another one just like it when we get to our destination.” Bridget smiled.

Maddy smiled. “You did get me a good sell on it.”

Bridget chuckled. “They tried undercutting me, so I used my little gift and upped the price.”

Everyone in the car laughed.

“How do we know where we’re going?” Gerald asked from the driver’s seat.

Bridget turned to look at him. “We don’t. But I have a feeling they’ll replace us.”

“So, we just keep driving? Without a destination?” Maddy asked.

“Yep, pretty much.” Bridget nodded.

“Maybe we can see some of the sights.” Rolando pulled Maddy to his side.

Maddy sighed. “Yeah, that sounds like fun.”

“We’ll sleep in hotels rather than on the road.” Gerald smiled.

“What about the movers?” Maddy asked.

“They’re getting paid to go wherever we do,” Bridget said with a wicked grin.

Maddy chuckled. She’d sensed it was more than just money controlling those three men.

“We’re together and on the road to our future,” Rolando said, kissing Maddy’s temple.

Maddy nodded. “Yeah. And we have a cub to look forward to.”

He grinned as he rubbed her still flat stomach. “Maybe it will be twins like you and your sister.”

She chuckled. “That would be cool.”

“Indeed.”

Maddy sucked in a breath when the star around her neck started to glow.

“Bridget!”

Bridget turned in her seat and smiled when she saw the necklace.

“What does it mean?” Maddy asked, her heart pounding in her chest.

“It means your sister just put her necklace on.”