Jacob's Ladder (String of Fate) Read online

  Man, she was something. Lethal and slinky. Gorgeous and sexy. Powerful and…his. Just his. When that thought hit, Jake realized all over again how much of a lucky bastard he really was.

  He approached the bed, noting the languid golden gaze that followed his every movement. He sat on the side of the bed, lowering one hand to stroke the flank of the silky creature that was his mate. He could feel the rumble and hear the sound as she began to purr and he had to smile.

  “You are the most gorgeous creature I have ever seen—in your fur and out of it, Ria.”

  In a shimmer of darkness, the cat disappeared to be replaced by a beautiful, very naked woman. Ria. His mate. From stroking the cat’s fur, his fingers went to the softness of her pale skin, his hand pausing at the curve of her hip.

  “One of us has too many clothes on and I don’t think it’s me,” she said teasingly as she gazed up at him.

  “You know, I think you’re right. But not to worry.” He stood up and reached started tugging at his T-shirt, pulling it off over his head and tossing it across the room. “That problem can be remedied shortly.”

  Ria stood and reached for his belt, drawing closer to his body in a way that pushed every one of his buttons. Damn, the woman knew what he liked already and they hadn’t even been together that long. Jake could only imagine how good they would be together in the years to come. He was almost eager to realize that vision, but he didn’t want to miss out on any of the learning it took to get from here to there. He vowed to enjoy the ride, this mating to a shifter queen.

  She tugged his belt loose, then started right in on his fly as her lips drifted closer, playing over his collar bones and upper chest. When she licked him, he almost jumped. His cock definitely did, twitching within the confines of the denim she was quickly removing.

  When she freed him, she didn’t push his pants down all the way right away. Instead, she paused a moment to take him in her hands, squeezing as she held his gaze. Her golden eyes teased him, her touch tantalized and he grew hard within her hands as she rubbed him just the right way.

  But then she let go and turned away. Jake started after her, but had to stop because his pants were hampering his movements. It would look ridiculous if he fell on his ass right in front of her. So he stopped and slid the jeans off, pausing only for a moment to rid himself of his shoes and socks as well. He looked up to find her watching him over her shoulder, her long hair sliding sexily down her back. Damn, she was beautiful.

  “Now we’re evenly matched,” he said, hoping to lure her back. He wasn’t sure where she was going, but he was eager to follow.

  “It’s a start,” she agreed, flouncing her hair as she turned her head and kept walking. He realized then that she had been moving toward the large bathroom that was attached to their suite.

  It was a beautiful room, done in earth tones like the rest of the cave complex, but with all the modern conveniences. There was hot and cold running water and lighting. Electric outlets for hair dryers and all that kind of thing. Everything a modern shifter could want—all underground.

  And there was no missing the fact that they were underground. The walls were round. Like a little dome had been dug out of the mountain over time.

  Ria stepped into the bathtub, which had been carved out of the rock of the mountain, but there wasn’t any water in it. Jake wondered what she was up to when she reached out to touch not the handles that would bring forth water, but the spigot from which it should run. She lifted the spigot in a way a spigot should not be able to move and the back wall of the tub slid away to reveal another chamber beyond.

  “What the heck…?” Jake wondered even as Ria smiled and stepped over the rim and into the small cavern she had just revealed.

  “The Alpha told me about this earlier today. Said it was a little gift from him to us for our new mating. This is his private hideaway,” she explained. “I didn’t realize it before, but he gave us his own room to sleep in. His mate is still with the women and children who were evacuated, so he’s been bunking down in a guest room so we’d have the best place in the den. Isn’t that sweet of him?”

  “RHIP,” Jake muttered. She looked at him funny so he interpreted. “Rank Has Its Privileges. Something I learned in the Marine Corps.”

  Ria laughed and moved farther into the secret room. “He said there’s a hot spring in here as well as a little trickle of fresh, cold water. All the comforts of home and a convenient place to hide should the den be overrun somehow.” She looked around as she walked into the cavern. It was much more cave-looking than the rest of the suite had been. Closer to nature. More primal.

  She moved deeper into the room. Her Guard wouldn’t be happy that she had entered a room they hadn’t checked first, but what they didn’t know…

  “Ah. There is it.” She turned into a little hollow and sure enough, there was a bit of mist hanging over a small pool of clear water.

  It bubbled toward the far end and she could see the steam rising into a small fissure that led upward through the mountain. It was well ventilated, which kept the ambient moisture at a minimum. Ria dipped a toe in and found the temperature to be warm, but not too hot. In fact, it was just about perfect.

  “This is man-made,” Jake observed, noting the square shape of the pool by making a square in the air with his fingers.

  “The Alpha pair’s secret getaway,” she confirmed. “He built it for his mate as a gift. There was always a hot spring here, but it was smaller. He hollowed out the pool himself over time, expanding it to what you see here now.”

  “It drains and recirculates,” Jake added, seeming more interested in the plumbing for the moment than he was in her. Ria would have to change that.

  She slid into the hot, clear water, dunking her head and then coming up to let the water stream down her back, pulling her hair back from her face. She stood in the shallow pool, the water only about thigh-deep. She felt the hot water dripping off her pointed breasts, rolling down her skin. She opened her eyes and was gratified to see she had Jake’s full and complete attention once again.

  “Care to join me?” She felt the purr in her words, hoping it was something he liked. She couldn’t really control her animal responses to her mate. She only hoped she didn’t scare him away.

  “I’d love to,” he growled. She realized then that he wasn’t turned off. Far from it.

  He stepped down into the pool, moving straight for her. She didn’t move away. She let him take her into his arms and met his mouth in a fiery kiss that stole her breath. His cock rode hard against her belly and she knew the first time wasn’t going to be a long, drawn out affair. No, this would be primal—just like this place. There would be time for a more delicate joining later. This one had to be hard and fast.

  Ria moved backward as Jake followed, his body rubbing against her at every step, his lips on hers, his mouth doing things to hers that made her pulse beat a hard tattoo against her skin. She found the ledge with the backs of her legs and pulled on Jake’s shoulders to coax him to follow her downward. He followed her lead and soon they were sitting in about a foot and a half of water on a part of the pool that sloped upward so that even if Ria leaned all the way back, her head would be above water, while the rest of her body was below it.

  The position had possibilities. She had never made love underwater before and it seemed like now was the perfect time to try it out. Then again, she wanted to try anything and everything with her new mate, but for now, this would do.

  “Take me now, Jake. I don’t want to wait,” she urged him the moment he released her lips.

  He pulled back slightly to look deep into her eyes. “Are you sure?”

  She nodded eagerly. “Fast the first time. We can go slower the second. Or maybe the third.” Her smile teased and he responded in kind.

  “How about the fourth?” He moved over her in the warm water, taking his place between her thighs as she spread for him.

  “Oh? Confident are we?” She laughed and then gasped as
he slid into her body, the warm water creating new and exciting sensations all over her skin and easing his path even more than usual.

  “You make me feel like a superhero, Ria.” His voice dipped low as he nibbled on her neck, just below her ear and began to move in a slow, easy rhythm.

  “You are, Jake. You’re my superhero,” she replied solemnly, biting her lip as the pleasure increased with his pace.

  “Okay,” he drew back, stilling and looking down into her eyes. “But I refuse to wear a cape.”

  She burst out laughing and he groaned as her inner muscles clenched on him.

  “Oh, baby, you’re killing me,” he groused as he began moving again, faster than before, causing little wavelets to erupt on the surface of the water around her. It made the water lap against her sensitive breasts, caressing her in warm wetness that was incredibly comforting…and stimulating.

  She shrieked as a little climax broke over her and then built right away again into something more. Jake kept moving, kept increasing his pace as little orgasms hit her one after another. Her body had never done that before, but it was delicious. She wanted more and Jake didn’t disappoint.

  He pushed into her, using the buoyancy of the water to aid his cause, easing his grip and letting her body float a bit while he thrust deep in and out again, the warmth of the water creating sensations against her skin that she had never felt before in passion. It was like being wrapped in velvet and stroked all over, and inside out. Ria’s cries grew louder as she came and came, each little wave breaking over her senses higher than the last.

  Finally, after too many climaxes to count, Jake pushed her over the edge one final time, into oblivion. She heard him shout her name as he followed her into bliss, but that was all she knew for a few minutes. His loving had caused her to pass out.

  Ria woke with a smile on her face a few moments later. Jake was still with her, his weight nothing to complain about with the water supporting them both. She loved the closeness of their bond, the freedom she felt with him that she had never felt before. He was her everything now, and she looked forward to her future for the first time in a long time because she would be sharing it with him. And with their cubs, in the fullness of time.

  “You okay?” he asked in a gravelly voice near her ear.

  “Never better,” she replied with a loving, satisfied smile.

  “You’re my world, Ria,” he whispered, giving her a little squeeze with his strong arms.

  “I love you, Jake. Forever.”

  “I love you too, Ria. Forever.”

  They made love in and out of the water throughout the rest of the night, sleeping in short stretches only to wake and make love again. It was the first night of their honeymoon after all, and it seemed a shame to waste the ambiance and amenities of the Alpha’s secret hideaway.

  Early the next morning, Ria and Jake were in the communications room in the fox den, placing a secure call to Iceland. They said hello to Mitch, then got down to haggling with Mitch’s new father-in-law.

  It wasn’t much of a haggle, though. The older tiger was very happy to come to terms with Ria and Jake over the home he no longer needed in New York. He and his wife had moved back to Iceland after a long exile and didn’t want to go back to the States to live. They did reserve the right of safe-passage and shelter, should it ever become necessary. They also brought Mitch into the discussions to formalize and renew the alliance between their Clans.

  It was a good deal all around. Ria and Jake had a safe place to live and the tigers didn’t have to worry about their old place laying empty. Arrangements were made for a team of tigers to meet Ria and Jake at the compound and show them all the hidden secrets of the land and the buildings.

  As it turned out, many of the outbuildings and houses lower down on the mountain that the former tiger king-in-exile had owned, were also up for sale by members of his Clan. They were compiling a list of places and individuals to contact. Ria would put out the word through the Clan grapevine that she was going to settle in New York and that any who wanted should gather with her. Mitch appointed one of his offices in New York—the tiger Clan had a lot of business interests all over the world—to facilitate the real estate transactions.

  They had an understanding in less than an hour and paperwork would commence immediately. Before they’d ended the call, Master Geir—who had been standing in the room, doing his duty as a Guard—interrupted to say that he already knew which property he was interested in.

  As Master of the Nyx’s Royal Guard he had been in touch with others in his position. He said he knew the Millers, who had trained the tigre d’or Royal Guard. Apparently the Miller family owned a big spread that included a state of the art dojo which could easily accommodate the entire Guard corps and anyone else who might seek training with him.

  Mitch knew Geir, of course, from his days as a Royal Guard, and was only too happy to speak to the Millers on his behalf. So it looked like not only did Ria and Jake have a stronghold, but a garrison set to defend it. All in the space of a few short hours. All they needed to do was go there and take possession, set things up to their liking, and…live.

  Ria looked forward to it with every fiber of her being. To be at peace, for even a short while. To just live in one place and not worry about being hunted… It was like a miracle.

  Oh, they still had enemies. She knew that well enough. And there might still be battles with the Venifucus on the horizon, but for at least the foreseeable future, they could make a home. A permanent home. It was a novelty.

  “If I asked you what you foresaw for our future in New York, what would you say?” she asked Jake playfully when they were alone, packing their few belongings from the room they had used in the fox den.

  Jake looked up at her, then came over and pulled her into his arms. “That’s easy. All I see when I look into our future, my dearest love, is happiness.”

  # # #

  Thanks for reading Jacob’s Ladder by Bianca D’Arc. If you enjoyed the book, please consider leaving a review. The next book in this series is titled Her Warriors and follows Master Geir, Beau Champlain and Jacki Kinkaid in their move upstate New York. Check it out if you’re interested in what happens next in this storyline.

  If that threesome isn’t to your liking, be aware that all of the String of Fate, Brotherhood of Blood, Tales of the Were and Redstone Clan books are related. They all happen in the same contemporary paranormal world and share characters and events between them.

  If you’re interested in learning more about the worlds of Bianca D’Arc, please check out the short section of covers and blurbs that follows, from recent releases.

  For a complete list of Bianca’s books and series, keep scrolling, or check her website – WWW.BIANCADARC.COM. You can also learn how to sign up for her newsletter there, so you can be informed of new releases as they occur.

  String of Fate

  Her Warriors

  Love triangles are always more interesting when they come equipped with claws…and flippers?

  Beau has anger issues, but not when he’s around Jacki. The fierce tiger shifter has been following her around like a puppy, but she hasn’t taken notice of him…until now.

  No matter how long Geir has lived in the States, he’s still the odd man out. A tiger shifter native of Iceland, he is a Master of his craft, training other warriors the skills he has perfected. When he sees Jacki for the first time, he knows she is the one for him.

  Jacki is the privileged daughter of a prominent shifter Clan. Most of her relatives are lion shifters, so she knows how to handle cats on the prowl, but she is a much rarer selkie—a seal shifter—imbued with magic and surrounded by mystery. When an opportunity arises to step into a key role in shifter society, she is uncertain, but willing to try. And when she’s told she doesn’t have to choose between the two tigers, but rather, can have them both, she is more than intrigued. But someone is stalking their path and they must work together to nullify the danger, all while trying to figure
out a complicated relationship that has all three of them questioning fate.

  Warning: This story contains graphic language and menage a trois between two tiger shifters and one very special selkie woman. Rawr.

  Tales of the Were ~ The Others

  Slade

  The fate of all shifters rests on his broad shoulders, but all he can think of is her.

  Slade is a mystery. A warrior and spy who serves two masters—those in the human world and the Lords of the Were. They’ve sent him to Nevada to track a brutal murderer before the existence of all shifters is revealed to a world not ready to know.

  Kate is a priestess serving the Goddess and the large community of shifters that have gathered around the Redstone cougars. When their matriarch is murdered and the scene polluted by dark magics, she knows she must help the enigmatic man sent to track the killer.

  Together, Slade and Kate find not one but two evil mages that they alone can neutralize. It’s a tricky situation because Slade finds it hard to keep his hands off his sexy new partner, the cougars are out for blood, and the killers have an even more sinister plan in mind.

  Can Kate somehow keep her hands to herself when the most attractive man she’s ever met makes her want to throw caution to the wind? And can Slade do his job and save the situation when he’s finally found a woman who can make him purr?

  Warning: Big cats like to play and there’s a little bit of three-way play in the story that some readers might want to know about beforehand. You have been warned!