A Shifter's Fevered Heart (Distant Edge Romance Book 3) Read online

  A Shifter’s Fevered Heart

  Distant Edge #3 - Jared’s Book

  Chloe Adler

  Contents

  Copyright

  Chloe Adler

  Preface

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Also by Chloe Adler

  Copyright

  A Shifter’s Dark Craving by Chloe Adler

  Book 3 in the Distant Edge Series

  Copyright © 2017 by Signum Publishing

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be constructed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book - A Vampire’s Wicked Hunger by Chloe Adler. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.

  © 2017 Cover Art by Cora Graphics

  Editor: Elizabeth Nover - Razor Sharp Editing

  ISBN: 1-947156-04-3

  Chloe Adler

  Dear Reader,

  Please sign up for my newsletter if you’d like to receive free book promos, news, blog posts, updates, sales and information about new releases - both mine and those of other authors in similar genres.

  If you enjoy this book I’d be grateful if you’d leave a review! If you haven’t read the others in this series, you’re in for a treat!

  And I always welcome reader engagement!

  Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoy it!

  XXOOXX ~ Chloe Adler

  PREFACE

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you so much for choosing to read my book. An author is nothing without her readers, truly!

  The Distant Edge Romance Series can be read as stand-alones but they are best read in order since it’s a continuing saga with no cliffhangers! If read out of order there may be spoilers plus each book follows the delicious love story of a different couple and I’d love for you to get to know (and love) them all as I do.

  All the books have happy endings but not always in the traditional sense. The characters range from monogamous to polyamorous. From heterosexual to bisexual to gay to pansexual.

  The love scenes are very hot, therefore they are inappropriate for readers under the age of 18.

  I hope you have as much fun reading as I’ve had writing!

  XXOOXX ~ Chloe

  Chapter One

  Burgundy’s bedroom door creaked open as I entered unannounced. I almost dropped the tray of coffee I was holding. Burg herself was naked and spread-eagle on her bed, moaning. A blond head of hair bobbed between her thighs while a sandy-haired man was sucking on one of her abundant breasts.

  One of her eyes popped open. I made a mental note to use some WD-40 on that door hinge.

  “Jared,” she exclaimed huskily, drawing out my name in her passion. “Come join us.” She gestured to me lazily. “Everyone, this is my hot roommate and best friend, Jared.”

  The sandy-haired man looked up, smiling at me broadly. “Yum. Jared, please come join.” He winked, then licked his lips. The blond head between Burgundy’s legs rose but she pushed it back down, hard.

  “You stay there, Misty, and finish me, or else.”

  I knew her “or else” was not an empty threat. Apparently Misty did too because she returned to her task.

  I didn’t want to ruin my best friend’s orgasm so I carefully placed the tray on her mahogany bureau and walked over to her bed. The man scooted to the edge and began unbuckling my pants but I rested my hands on his shoulder. He looked up at me with lustful eyes, but I shook my head, jutting my chin out toward Burg. “Help finish her.”

  There was a spark of disappointment before the man crawled back to my friend, resuming his position at her rack.

  I walked to the other side of the bed and bent down to kiss her, knowing she loved mouth contact at the moment of orgasm. Her hand fisted in my hair as she bucked up into the blond and came with gusto.

  “Ouch,” I yelped, pulling back. My tongue traced the contour of my lower lip, where I tasted blood.

  Burgundy opened her eyes lazily, surveying me. “I nicked you,” she purred. “Come, let me lick it off.”

  “Gonna pretend that was an accident?” I teased.

  “Pesky fang. You know I can’t control myself when I’m coming. Be a good boy and bend over so I can taste you.”

  I stood straight up and walked back to the coffee tray.

  “Oh, can you bite me please?” The blond head had emerged from between her legs. It belonged to a petite woman. She, too, was completely naked and utterly hairless from her neck down. A perfect contrast to Burgundy, a Latina with mad curves and luscious dark hair. Everywhere.

  “No, Misty, we’ve been over this,” said Burgundy firmly. “I don’t bite people I don’t know.”

  “But I’ve just given you an orgasm. Surely you know me well enough now,” the girl whimpered.

  “Orgasms are a dime a dozen.” My friend waved her hand in the air. “Biting is much more intimate.”

  “More intimate than my wife licking your pussy?” the sandy-haired man interjected.

  “Much.” Burgundy looked at him with contempt. “What would you know about it? You’re humans.”

  “Hey, sexy people, want some coffee?” I called out. Burgundy often insulted her sex toys when she was done with them. I was slightly more diplomatic.

  “Sure,” squealed Misty, hopping off the bed and eyeing me like cake.

  I handed her a cup and she took it, licking her lips at me.

  “You’re gorgeous,” she said. “I’d love to suck your cock. Or my husband,” she motioned to the man crouched on the bed, “Dan, would love it even more, and I’d love to help.”

  “Oh yes please,” panted Dan.

  “Go for it.” Burg threw out a hand with her signature red-lacquered nails, beckoning for the cup.

  “Sure, sure, in a minute.” I handed her the coffee.

  Dan was gorgeous. Tanned and buff. He resembled a tennis player. Misty was cute in a waifish sort of way, but I didn’t really play for her team. My friend out-beautified them both though. Burgundy was one of the most gorgeous women I knew, with light brown skin and thick, long black hair that hung almost to her waist. Even unpainted, her eyes were sultry and mysterious, an intense violet and crescent shaped, with thick long lashes to frame them. If I could transport her mouth onto a man’s face, I would bury my cock inside its warm cavern for an eternity. Her thick red lips looked pouty even at rest. The woman was the closest thing to female perfection inside and out. Of
course, I was completely biased.

  “Let me drink my coffee first.” I loved the heady precipice of making them wait. Burg’s lashes darted down. Lust. She let me choose my own path and timing when it came to her toys, which I appreciated.

  “Or how about sucking me off?” Dan threw out, his eyes glistening.

  “I’d rather watch,” I responded. “Misty, I want to see you take care of your man.”

  Misty made an approving squeak, practically throwing her coffee at me before sashaying over to Dan. She got on her knees and began licking his inner thigh. Dan kept his eyes fixed on me, sucking in his lower lip and then biting it. He fisted Misty’s hair, pulling her onto his cock, then sat on the bed. He held eye contact with me, and it worked—I was standing at attention.

  Burgundy’s husky laughter filled the room, bouncing off her rust-colored walls. Her room was furnished like a French Moroccan boudoir, from her four-poster, mahogany carved bed—now sporting the overly eager hot man candy—to the brightly colored fabrics billowing down from her ceiling.

  “Jared,” she crooned, snapping my attention away from those smoldering, pre-orgasmic eyes of Dan’s. “Climb on top of his face,” she suggested and he nodded, practically drooling.

  I took a sip of the coffee Misty had handed back to me and smiled. The anticipation was almost as delicious. Putting the coffee down, I joined the fray, flattening Dan to his back and pushing my cock hard into his mouth. He choked appreciatively.

  My legs on either side of him, I pumped his face. Burgundy gurgled her appreciation, positioning herself between Misty’s legs.

  Just another perfect morning, slutting it up with my BFF on a hot summer morning in our lovely Southern Californian abode. So why was my dick the only part of me enjoying it?

  “That was amazing,” Burgundy purred as she sat at the kitchen table an hour later, waiting for the water to boil. “That guy was so freaking hot and he wanted you, bad. It’s the main reason I brought them home. For you.”

  I tried to rustle up some enthusiasm. Burgundy had gone out of her way to think of me. It wasn’t her fault I had just been going through the motions, delectable though they had been. “Thank you. Hopefully he’s not one of those asses that slut shames and pretends not to be bi in public. There are enough of those in the Edge already.”

  “They came to the V Club last night looking for a hookup.” She waggled her eyebrows. “And after you sleep with all of the men in town who profess to be straight, you’ll have your revenge.”

  “Fuck them.”

  “Literally.”

  “The sex with Dan was great.” I frowned. “But . . . I don’t know. I think I need to paint the town red.”

  “More so than we do already?”

  I scraped at my fingernails, cleaning nonexistent dirt. “Something’s missing.”

  “Intimacy?” she ventured.

  I snorted. “As if I’d want that with a boy toy. I have deep levels of intimacy with you.”

  “Yes, but it’s different. You’re a fag.”

  “And you’re a fag hag,” I shot back.

  “I’m a pansexual fag hag.”

  “That you are,” I agreed. “One of the many things I love about you.”

  “It just sucks that there’s no pansexual, bi or even gay community here in the Edge.”

  Burgundy and I lived in Distant Edge, home to humans and Signum, the accepted term for supernatural beings. It was a community where we could all coexist peacefully together. That was the idea, anyway.

  “Is that how you’re identifying now?”

  She snorted at me. “I proudly identify as a slut.”

  “You and me both, baby. We take the shame out of slut shaming.”

  “An epitaph I’d wear proudly.” She fist-thumped her ample chest.

  “What you said about the Edge . . .”

  The water boiled and she got up to fetch it. “What?”

  “The lack of a bi community here.”

  “Yeah,” she shrugged, “what about it? We can always troll San Diego again.” She winked at me. “Plus lots of bi-curious folks end up at the V.”

  “The Edge is more than prejudiced against bisexuality, hon. ‘Queer’ is a word that’s completely shunned here. Forget being trans. And everyone loves a lesbian, but try to be a gay man . . .”

  “Fuck ‘em,” she grumbled.

  “We do. Behind their straight spouses’ backs at times.”

  Burgundy laughed.

  I joined her in a halfhearted chuckle, then sobered. “Remember Penelope?”

  “Didn’t zie move to Hillcrest?”

  “Zie had to.” My palms moistened. “Zie was practically run out of town. But Amber still lives here.”

  “As a woman though. No one knows she’s transgendered.”

  “For now.” Anger bubbled up for Burgundy’s sweet and sexy donor. “She’s thinking of moving too.”

  Shrugging her shoulders, she poured hot water into our tea cups. “Do you want to move to Hillcrest? I’d go with you in a second if you wanted to.”

  “We can’t leave. We both work at the V, and there’s Sadie. She would die without us.”

  “What then?”

  “I don’t know, Burg. Maybe it’s the work. I’m rolling in tips and cock every night, which is awesome but it feels like something’s missing. Like I’m missing my calling. Saying that aloud sounds really stupid.” I snorted.

  “No, it doesn’t sound stupid, it sounds honest.” Moving her hands over her body she said, “buns, do you like what we have?” Her wide lips pouted.

  “I love what we have.”

  “Then what?”

  “I’m not satisfied,” I breathed, the words surprisingly hard to say aloud.

  “If something is missing for you, then I will support you in whatever it takes to find that missing piece. Plus . . .”

  “What?”

  “Well, I know you don’t like to hear this, but shifters do mate for life.”

  “Not me,” I grumbled.

  “You may not want to, or you just may not have met the right person yet. But it is in your nature.”

  “Screw my nature.”

  She stood up, walking behind my chair. She placed her hands on my shoulders and began kneading me there. “Can I play detective?”

  “Would you stop if I said no?” I groaned.

  “Not at all.”

  Silence. Then, “So you’re unhappy working at the V Club?”

  “I’m beyond grateful that you gave me my first job there. I wouldn’t be where I am now without you.”

  “Pshaw, no need to elaborate. You showed up outside like a wet rat, remember? Holding that garbage bag of clothing. Anyone would have done the same.”

  I placed my hand on top of hers, shaking my head. “Not anyone.”

  “Yes, sweetheart, anyone, if they spent three minutes talking to you. Those were hard times.”

  “And you talked Benedict into training me as a bartender when I turned twenty-one. And you gave me a place to live, rent-free. The list goes on.”

  “You were my house boy. That’s work exchange. Plus you paid me back when you could. I’m not keeping score.” She squeezed my shoulder. “My point is, do you really want to be a bartender forever?”

  Now there was an even bigger issue I wasn’t ready to tackle. I let my silence answer for me.

  Chapter Two

  A while later, the doorbell rang and Burgundy rushed through the living room to get it. She returned with Sadie in tow, the third in our forever-besties triad.

  She rushed over to me, squealing “Buns!” while hugging me from behind. After a good squeeze, she flounced off to pour herself a cup of tea. “I’ve missed you two.”

  Sadie was a stunning redhead and it was real, wavy verging on curly. She was a fire crotch through and through, one hundred percent ginger. The color contrasted spectacularly with her glowing green eyes, which looked almost animalistic at times, and her fine porcelain skin. Her medium-height body
was curvy, but not overly so.

  “Well, if you weren’t so busy planning your wedding, you’d have more time for us,” Burgundy fake-pouted.

  “Screw it. I’d rather hang out with you two.”

  “Don’t let Ryder hear you say that,” Burgundy said.

  “I trust you two not to tell him.”

  “But do you trust me?” Chrys, Sadie’s sister, entered the kitchen.

  Chrys and Sadie couldn’t be more opposite, in personality or in appearance. Chrys had straight, light brown hair and chestnut eyes. She was a couple of inches taller and built like a runner, which was strange since she was the least athletic of the three sisters.

  “Why don’t we just cast a spell for it?” Chrys asked. “That will eliminate months of planning.”

  Sadie nodded. “I’m trying to talk Ryder into that and he’ll probably agree to spelling some aspects, but we still have to come up with a guest list, taste cakes, choose a venue. There are some things that simply can’t be done with a flick of the wand.”

  I giggled. Witches didn’t really use wands—that was an old wives’ tale—but the girls delighted in making silly pop-culture references to the Signum. Most Signum did. As if we could take the sting out of our collective fear by reminding ourselves that humans, who outnumbered us ten thousand to one, weren’t infallible.

  “So are we meeting up at the V Club tonight?” Sadie asked. “Ryder and I would love to share our newfound piece of candy with one or the both of you. He’s divine.” She looked at me and Burgundy, licking her lips.