Shifter On Ice (Shifter World - Book Two) (Series of 13 Short Stories)
Chapter Eight: Shifter in Heat

“Did she do something to you?” Raj asked, watching her face. If that witch harmed his mate, he’s going to…

“No, no.” Lyvia giggled. “She just sent me her name through my mind.”

He sighed with relief. As nice as the woman was, he didn’t trust witches. Even if she is a white witch.

“Where the fuck have you been, Cunningham!?” the coach shouted when Raj and Lyvia got to the bus.

“Sorry, Coach. Had trouble checking out,” Raj said as he and his mate stepped onto the bus.

“I’m sure it had something to do with all the noise you two were making last night!” one of Raj’s teammates shouted from the back of the bus, making everyone hoot and holler.

Raj saw Lyvia’s cheeks turn a bright red and growled. “Can it—or I’ll come back there and make you suck your own dick.”

“Oooooooo,” everyone said as they looked at the speaker in the back.

“It’s okay, Raj.” Lyvia took his hand and smiled at the others. “They’re just jealous because you don’t have to pay for sex. And you can have it whenever and wherever you want,” she purred.

She smirked at him, then plopped herself down in an empty seat and pulled him down beside her. She leaned toward him, pulled him to her, and kissed him.

Shouts and whistles erupted, and the coach shouted for silence. “Please refrain from fucking your girlfriend on the bus, Cunningham!”

Raj chuckled as he pulled back from Lyvia’s kiss and kissed her on the nose. “God, I love you.”

She took a deep breath and laid her head on his shoulder. Raj sighed and kissed the top of her head; the witch said to have patience with her.

“I love you too,” she whispered as she closed her eyes.

Raj grinned. ’Yes!’ he thought, then closed his eyes and laid his cheek against his mate’s head.

~🐅~

The next few weeks went by fast. Raj was kicking ass on the ice, and they were fucking like rabbits in the hotels. But still, Lyvia wasn’t pregnant. She feared she would never give her mate a cub, which put her into a depression.

She knows Raj could feel her depression, and when they made love, he made sure she was pleasured to the point of almost passing out. But it didn’t stop her thoughts of how she’s not a good enough mate. She can’t even give him a cub.

“Lyvia,” Raj whispered to her—three weeks after they’d started trying for a family.

“What,” she sniffled.

He pulled her closer. “Remember what Pearl said? It will happen when we’re ready.”

“But I am ready, Raj. More than ready to have your cub.” She sniffled.

He sighed heavily. “I know, Mafilia, I know.”

“Maybe I’m defaulted, and you should trade me in for a newer model. I am eighty-eight years old, after all.”

He shook his head. “So what? My mom was over a hundred when she had me. And I’m ninety-eight.”

She chuckled. “We’re a couple of old farts trying to start a family.”

He snorted. “Watch who you call an old fart.”

She giggled when he started tickling her.

“Besides,” he said, gently kissing her. “Dustin is ninety-six.”

She sighed. “With a twenty-four-year-old human as a mate.”

Raj growled as he rolled her onto her back and pinned her to the bed. “Enough of this pity party, Lyvia Yule. A WITCH told you that you will have my cub. We just have to wait for the right time.”

She frowned. “It’s been three weeks.”

“Lyvia, you know I love you, but you’re being nuts. We have two more games to win, then the championship. I don’t want to worry about my mate while I’m playing.”

Lyvia nodded. She has been selfish. Not only was he dealing with their lack of a family, but he also had hockey to think about. From now on, her mind will be on the game. Then she’ll mope around about not giving her mate a cub.

“Okay, Mafilio. No more moping and whining. We concentrate on your games and continue to fuck like rabbits. Who knows, maybe it’ll happen.”

He grinned. “There’s my mate. Come here.”

She grinned with pleasure and, for the next hour, thought of nothing but her mate and what he does to her body.

~🐅~

“Go, Raj!” Lyvia called out two weeks later at the championship game.

She’s so proud of him. And his team as well, of course. They’re amazing on the ice. She can’t wait until they have little ones cheering for their daddy as he skates around the rink like a pro ice skater shooting the puck into the net again and again. Oh God, and don’t forget the slamming of players against the glass. Damn, that turns her on.

An odd feeling flowed through her body, and she doubled over.

’What the hell?’

~🐅~

A familiar scent filled the arena, and Raj looked up at the stands to his mate’s seating area. She was bent over, her face making pain-filled looks.

“Damn it!” he cursed.

“Head in the game, Cunningham!”

Raj could barely breathe, and his tiger wanted out. He wanted his mate. Now!

“She’s in heat again,” Alec said as he skated over to Raj.

Raj nodded. “The first time was when we’d connected, so she hadn’t felt the pain of it, just the hunger of wanting me,” Raj said as he looked up at his mate again, who was in a lot of pain. “Only our mating can stop her pain,” he growled.

Alec nodded. “But you can’t screw her here.”

Raj sneered. “I can’t let the team down, either.”

“Alec, Raj, get your asses off the ice—now!” their coach bellowed.

Raj and Alec skated over to their coach.

“I need a phone,” Raj said as he climbed over the low wall.

“You don’t need a phone!” the coach yelled. “What you need is to get your head on the championship!”

“Coach, with all due respect. If I don’t use a phone, and soon. I will walk off this ice. Championship or no championship,” Raj growled.

“Raj,” Alec said, tapping his friend’s arm.

“I mean it, Alec. Lyvia is more important….”

“I know, look.” Alec pointed to where Lyvia stood in the stands.

“Mother Fuckers!” Raj roared when he saw several males approaching his mate. In her state of mind, she’ll have a hard time fighting them off. “Give me your phone!” Raj yelled as he held his hand out to his coach.

The man was staring up at the stands where Lyvia was. “You can’t go psycho on me because your girlfriend is a slut,” the coach said.

Raj balled his fist to hit the man. Alec pulled him back.

“Hitting the coach won’t solve your problem,” Alec hissed in his ear.

“No, but it will make me feel soo good,” Raj growled.

“You need to get your head in the damn game!” the coach said, looking from Raj to Lyvia and back again.

Raj turned to his mate and growled a feral growl that was heard in the stands. The men surrounding her paused when they heard it.

“Coach,” Alec said with an unnatural calm. He knew his friend wouldn’t be able to talk nicely to their coach at the moment. Not with his mate in danger in the stands. Raj moved to climb over the glass wall, and Alec stopped him. “We are not human, as you well know,” Alec said as he pulled his friend away from the glass.

A cheer erupted on the other side, and the coach cursed. “They’re winning because you two can’t get your heads out of pussy….”

“My mate is in heat, and every asshole shifter in this place is going to try and rape her!” Raj yelled in his coach’s face.

The man’s face paled as he reached into his pocket for his phone. “Well then, why didn’t you say so? You know I read up on shifters when you two joined the team.”

Raj took the phone from his coach and dialed the one person he knew could help.

“Who the fuck is this, and how did you get my number?!”

Raj grinned. “I need your help. Now!” he hollered the last word into the phone.

The vampire appeared before him, and everyone in the area gasped.

“This better be important,” Tate grumbled as he hung up his phone.

“Sniff the air and look up there,” Raj said, pointing to his mate, where the shifter males were trying to touch her. She was fighting them off but just barely. Some left when she showed them her wrists, and others were too dumb.

Tate took in a deep breath and turned toward the stands. “You’ll owe me again,” he said, then disappeared.

Raj sighed with relief when Tate appeared beside Lyvia.

Lyvia jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and gasped when she saw the vampire.

“Tate,” she cried out as she jumped into his protective arms.

“It’s okay, little tiger,” Tate said with a smile as he held her. He looked up at the four men licking their lips as if she was a three-course meal. He hates leches.

“You don’t want any of this, boys,” Tate said, looking into each of their eyes. “This young lady is protected by me and her mate. Unless you want to die, I’d advise you to leave.”

“And what are you going to do about it, Vampire?”

“I will suck you all dry if you don’t back the fuck off.” Tate leaned in to look deeper into each of their silver eyes. “You really don’t want that, now do you?”

“No, we don’t want that,” the four men said at the same time, then turned and left to return to their seats.

“Don’t think that will be the last of them.”

“What’s happening?” Lyvia asked, her stomach tightening again.

“You’re in heat, Lyvia, my dear,” Tate said, holding her close.

“But… but it didn’t feel this bad the first time,” she said with a moan.

“Because you’d just found your mate and was in a fuck frenzy of sorts.” Tate chuckled.

“Why does it have to hurt so much?” she asked with a gasp.

“Because it’s your body preparing for the life you are supposed to create. I’d think you’d be having the Ice Star’s cub by now.”

Lyvia cried. “We’ve been trying.”

Tate sighed. “It’s the Goddesses. They have their hands on this one.”

She looked up at him with an odd look, and he laughed as he kissed her forehead.

“Some other time, little tiger, some other time. Right now, how about we get you connected to your mate so the pain subsides?”

Her face brightened. “You can do that?”

He chuckled as he led her down to the glass. Raj appeared and pounded on the glass with his glove.

“Lyvia!” Raj hollered.

“Raj!” she cried out as she ran to the glass and pressed her body against it.

“I’m going to win this game for you, then we’re going straight to the hotel.” Raj watched Lyvia hump and practically rape the other side of the glass.

“Please,” she begged, then licked the glass.

“Soon, baby, soon,” he promised, then returned to the game.

Having Tate with his mate, he could concentrate on the game. Tate had been the first supernatural creature he could think of to help him. He was able to get to them fast, and his mate’s pheromones won’t affect him.

“Raj!” Alec yelled as he passed the puck.

Raj brought his thoughts fully to the game and was more determined than ever to win the game.

“He looks so sexy when he’s on the ice,” Lyvia said, then licked the glass again.

Tate chuckled. A hormone-ruled shifter is funny to watch. Too bad there’s not more of them. Sure, shifters without mates go into heat. But nothing like a Fated Mate. Plus, he feels there’s more to this little tiger than they know.

“Raj!” Lyvia screamed as she pounded on the glass. “Kick their asses so we can fuck!”

Tate laughed when he saw the look on Raj’s face as his cheeks turned a bright red.

“Excuse me, ma’am. You can’t be here….”

“It’s all right,” Tate said as he walked over to the human security guard and looked into his eyes. “Go back to your post; this young lady has permission to be here.”

The man nodded. “Permission to be here,” he said, then turned and walked away.

“Me and Shar should use you on our boss,” Lyvia said, watching Tate.

“Oh?” Tate asked, intrigued.

Lyvia nodded. “Someone has been screwing with our reports, and the boss thinks all we need to do is fix it, but when we do, they mess it up again. He won’t even look into it.”

“Hmm.” Tate smiled. “Sounds like a mystery to me. I’ll think about it.”

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

“Sure.” Tate grinned. “I do love collecting IOUs.”

She snorted. “Should have known it wasn’t out of friendship.”

Tate’s heart ached at that. Okay, he hadn’t realized the girls thought of him as a friend. How intriguing. “Maybe I’ll do it as a favor to you and Shar. A present for the mommy-to-be.”

She smiled at him, and his heart swelled. Okay, these shifters and human mates are getting to him. But surprising enough, he’s not annoyed by it.

Lyvia screamed, which brought him back to what was going on. He looked around and found no attackers. Lyvia was pounding on the glass, cheering for her mate. He looked up at the scoreboard and saw that within the last thirty seconds of the game, Raj had slid the puck into the net—making the winning shot.

“Raj!” Lyvia screamed at the top of her lungs, making Tate cover his ears.

Raj threw his gear off in the middle of the ice once his teammates had set him down and skated over to the glass, where Lyvia was pressing herself against it again.

“Thanks, Tate,” Raj said, smiling at the vampire.

Tate shrugged. “Just remember you owe me big time.”

Raj nodded, then turned his eyes to his mate. “You ready, babe?”

Lyvia licked the glass, and Tate chuckled. “That’s horny tiger speak for… ’Yes, baby, take me now.’”