Shifters Vignettes: Maddie and Jasper Read online

  Shifters Vignettes Maddie and Jasper

  A Louisiana Shifters Book

  Vivian Wood

  Contents

  Author’s Copyright

  Protection

  Get News

  Louisiana Shifters Series

  1. Chapter One

  2. Chapter Two

  3. Chapter Three

  4. Chapter Four

  5. Chapter Five

  6. Chapter Six

  7. Chapter Seven

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  About Vivian Wood

  Copyright Vivian Veritas Publishing 2014

  May not be replicated or reproduced in any manner without express and written permission from the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to author and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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  Louisiana Shifters Series

  Shifter’s Ascent

  Shifter’s Legacy

  Shifters Vignettes: Maddie and Jasper

  Shifters Vignettes: Rose and Mason

  Shifters Vignettes: Ian and Jeanne

  Shifters Vignettes: Emma and Connall

  Louisiana Shifters Super Collection

  1

  Chapter One

  “Get the bags, will you?” Maddie asked, flipping her long brunette hair over her shoulder as she bent to close the trunk of their rental car. The Scottish twilight had passed during their drive, and Maddie was hard-pressed to make out the details of the graveled driveway where they’d parked. When Jasper didn’t answer, she turned around to see him halfway across the front yard of the Dancing Goat, the little bed and breakfast they’d booked an hour’s drive north of Edinburgh.

  Pursing her lips, Maddie sighed and grabbed two of the oversized rolling suitcases before following her mate’s footsteps. Luggage toting aside, Maddie had to admit that she didn’t mind Jasper going up the steps ahead of her; the male was absolutely incredible to look at and his ass was at the top of her list of his best attributes.

  At the top of the steps, the door was just opening. Light spilled out onto the porch, illuminating Jasper. He paused, turning to wait for her. He grimaced when he saw her dragging the bags up the stairs and in a moment he’d lifted them clear of the steps.

  “I’ll come back for these, Madd,” he said, his voice belying his exhaustion. It was no wonder. They’d driven quite a way to get here, and that was after an hours-delayed flight in from London and navigating through Edinburgh proper to find the car rental place.

  Jasper pushed the front door open further, then stepped back to allow Maddie to enter first. She smiled at her mate, a Southern gentleman if there ever was one.

  “You’ve arrived quite late,” came a gruff voice. Maddie turned and blinked at the man, barely comprehending his words due to his thick-as-sludge Scottish burr. The innkeeper was a tiny, gray-haired man of indeterminate age and sour expression. Jasper stepped forward, offering the man a handshake. After studying them a long moment, the innkeeper shook hands with Jasper, but he didn’t look as though he approved a mite more.

  Maddie stifled a giggle as the thought occurred to her that the innkeeper might feel put out by the sheer height difference between them all. Maddie was fully six feet even, and she was an easy head and shoulders taller than the elderly man. Seeing him next to six and a half foot tall Jasper was practically comical.

  “You can call me Harrold. Let me tell you about the grounds and your room…” the innkeeper said, launching into what must have been an oft-practiced speech about his domicile. Maddie’s tired brain immediately tuned him out, focusing on scoping out her mate instead.

  Maddie would almost swear to the fact that Jasper only got better looking the longer they were mated. His deeply tanned skin contrasted nicely against his light blond hair, grown out a little now from it’s buzz cut and starting to show just a hint of wave. With his stunningly crisp ocean-blue eyes and dazzlingly perfect smile, not to mention the sleek physique he’d earned with a lifetime of mercenary work, he was almost too good to be true. He dressed himself well, too; tonight’s dark, slim-cut jeans, tight gray t-shirt, and black boots were standard fare for Jasper McDonough.

  Biting her lip, Maddie cocked her head and admired the muscular lines of his shoulders, his arms, his hips…

  “You’d better watch your lady, there,” Harrold said, breaking into Maddie’s thoughts. “She looks like she might keel over any minute now.”

  Jasper’s attention turned to her, and his brow wrinkled.

  “Are you alright, Madd?

  “Fine!” she blurted, embarrassed. “Just- er… tired?”

  “Why don’t you head on upstairs and get settled in. I’ll go grab the bags and lock the car,” Jasper said, offering her a key that dangled from an oversized plastic tag labeled “C”.

  “Right. Okay,” Maddie said, turning toward the staircase. Harrold was heading down a long hallway leading into the back of the house, clearly done with his hosting duties for the night. Maddie climbed the tall, steep staircase to the dimly-lit second floor. The first doorway was ajar, revealing a nicely-appointed bathroom complete with a claw-foot tub.

  There were only two other rooms in the hall, marked “C” and “D”. Maddie unlocked the door to their room, delighted to find a huge four-poster bed covered in crisp white linens at the center of the room. The room was simply appointed with a large white-curtained bay window, an oversized wood armoire opposite the bed, and two matching bedside tables with respective lamps. No television, no entertainment at all other than a book shelf near the window that boasted a few volumes of Shakespeare and some crumpled paperbacks.

  Just what Maddie needed right now, silence and a soft bed. Pulling off her shoes, she stripped down to her tank top and panties in no time flat. Flinging herself onto the bed, she slipped under the blanket and burrowed into a nice little nest, so pleased she couldn’t do anything but close her eyes. She waited to hear Jasper come in, but sleep was too much temptation.

  She was asleep by the time he got the last bag into the room and snoring softly before he even got the light off.

  2

  Chapter Two

  “I can’t believe you! There’s no way in hell I’m letting you go out to meet the pack on your own!” Maddie snapped, punctuating her statement by slamming the salt shaker down on the rough wooden table. Jasper turned his head to survey the sparse crowd at the pub, thankful that no one seemed to notice Maddie’s theatrics. The pub was a darkly-wooded affair, nothing more than a long bar with mismatched stools and a few tables scattered under the dim overhead lights. It was the only place within five miles of their hotel that served “anything decent”, according to the old man who ran the bed and breakfast.

  Sighing, Jasper put down his fork and pushed away his plate of sausages and potatoes. The food was actually more than decent, but Maddie was sapping his appetite. That was a serious statement for a shifter; normally their kind loved nothing more than a good fuck and a good steak, in no particular order.
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  Looking across at Maddie as she glared at her own plate of food, Jasper wished he hadn’t reminded himself of the former. He hadn’t had Maddie for days, and staring at her now wasn’t helping him put it out of his mind. Her long reddish-brown mane tumbled wildly around her slender shoulders. Combined with her pale skin and the freckles that dusted her nose and shoulders, she seemed deceptively fragile.

  Even as Jasper had the thought, Maddie tipped up her chin. Long, dark lashes swept up to reveal violet eyes that never failed to knock the breath right out of his chest, and now was no exception. Just that this moment, her eyes sparked with anger and frustration. Rather than dampening his desire, her expression sucked the blood from every part of his body and sent it straight to his cock. In half a moment he was painfully hard, unable to look away from her soft lips, imagining them pressing a wet kiss against the tip of his-

  “Jas! Are you even listening to me?” Maddie asked, slapping her hand on the table to get his attention.

  “Er. Yes,” Jasper mumbled, his eyes snapping up to meet hers.

  “I’m not going to sit in the hotel room while you go out to meet strange shifters who may or may not feel less than receptive to our message. The Edinburgh pack will either already see that the Legion is threatening our way of life and want to join with us, or they’ll need some convincing. If they don’t fall in right away, I want to be there. I want to tell my story, Jasper.”

  Jasper studied her, taking in the seriousness of her tone. His mate had never straddled a fence in her life. Once she was committed to something, even the gods couldn’t shake her from her conviction. It was an aspect of her that Jasper simultaneously admired and loathed, depending on how much trouble it was getting her in at the particular moment.

  “They killed my family, Jas,” Maddie said, softening her tone. When she wanted to, Maddie could pierce his determination and good intentions as surely as an archer could perforate a soldier’s armor. Maddie sucked in a breath, and Jasper could feel her notching an arrow and seeking a chink in his defenses.

  “The whole Atlanta pack, killed,” she said, her voice a whisper now. “I listened while they slit my mother’s throat. I watched them drag the bodies of my schoolmates into the middle of the Den and burn them. I sat and cried and tried not to vomit because I didn’t want them to hear me.”

  A tear built and broke free, a sign that Maddie had gone from merely trying to convince Jasper to actually conjuring her memories of that night. It was rare to see her delve into her past, and her pain made the reason plain. Maddie had done her best to make peace with her tortured memories, but deep inside her there was a wellspring of pain and anger.

  “I would never keep you from that, Madd.” Jasper reached across the table and grasped both her hands in his own. Giving them a squeeze, he smiled sadly.

  “I want you to help, Maddie. I do. I want you to fight back against the Legion, and I think that strengthening the ties between all the world’s shifter packs is a great first step in protecting ourselves.”

  “You just said you wanted me to stay behind!” she said, frustrated. She tried to pull her hands from his, but Jasper wouldn’t let her move.

  “I need you to understand. More than I want you to have your revenge, more than I want you to honor your commitment to the cause, more than anything else, I need you to be safe.”

  “I’m perfectly safe!” she argued. “I can fight, and you’re beside me the whole time!”

  “You can’t fight against one of the dominant males in the pack, Madd.”

  “Really? You were singing a different tune when I saved your fucking life in Alabama,” Maddie snapped.

  “Those were humans,” Jasper countered.

  “With big guns! One of them took you out, didn’t they?”

  Jasper stopped, sucking in a breath and holding it for a long moment. He couldn’t let Maddie aggravate him into anything. If she was going to continue the pack visits with him, he needed her to understand his fears.

  “Listen to me for a second,” he said, squeezing her hands again as he locked her gaze with his.

  “Every second that we’re with another pack, I divide my attention between talking to the pack members and watching you.”

  “I’m not a child!”

  “No, you most certainly are not. You’re a smoking-hot shifter female in her prime, and every single male we come across knows it. They’re dividing their attention too, most of them are looking at you way more than listening to me.”

  “I don’t see how that’s a problem. If anything, it should make them more amenable to our message. Females like me can’t exist if the Legion slaughters them all in childhood.”

  “The more interested other males are in you, the more I’m interested in their intentions. Then I’m distracted and horny and I can’t think straight. And that’s not the only problem, Madd.”

  “No? By all means, please tell me what else I’m doing wrong aside from just generally having tits,” she said, pulling her hands away and sitting back in her chair.

  Jasper leaned back, trying to find the best way to say it. After a moment, he shrugged.

  “You’re a lot more dominant than most females. From what we’ve seen so far in Central America and Europe, all American females are more aggressive than females elsewhere. Here, they’re…” he stopped, searching for the right word.

  “Doormats?” Maddie suggested.

  “More traditional,” Jasper said.

  “You don’t seem to mind when I’m on top and riding your cock until you beg for release,” Maddie said, unblinking.

  Jasper coughed into his hand, nearly cringing. Just what he needed, a mental image that shot through him like a bolt of lighting straight to his groin. Now she was being downright manipulative, and he was determined to ignore it.

  “I don’t want this meeting to go down like Venezuela. They probably weren’t going to go with us in the first place, but the second you took charge… the alpha just shut off. He wouldn’t hear anything we were saying.”

  “He was an asshole, Jasper.”

  “You’re right, he was. But that’s not the point. In Paris, in London, hell, in Tokyo… you can take charge there. When we start touring the U.S. cities, that’s all you. But in the rural areas, it has to be me. I have to deliver the message. I don’t even want you around these fucking people, but if you insist on coming I need you to be my backup. Answer questions, tell your story, yes. Get in their faces, no. If some bullying is needed, I can handle that part.”

  Maddie took a deep breath, rocking back in her chair a few times as she digested his words.

  “Madd, I need this from you. I need you to stay close to me while we’re there, I need to know that I can protect you if something goes wrong. I need to know that you’re not going to start another brawl. We barely got out last time,” Jasper said.

  Finally she released the breath she’d been holding, looking a bit chagrined.

  “It’s not because you don’t like me being forward, right?” she asked, sheepish.

  “Madd,” he said, shaking his head. Pulling out his wallet, he threw some bills on the table. Standing, he stepped over to her side and offered her his hand. She took it, and he pulled her up out of her seat. Keeping her hand, he led her outside into the bright morning light. Crossing the parking lot, he walked her around to her side of the car as if to unlock and open the door for her.

  When Maddie turned expectantly to face the car, Jasper pressed her slender body up against the warm metal. The short cotton dress she wore did little to discourage his interest; he could easily touch her warm skin and smell her feminine musk. Grabbing her hip to hold her in place against the car, Jasper used his other hand to pull aside the heavy silk curtain of her hair. Exposing her neck, he leaned down and let his breath brush her nape, then pressed a soft kiss to her earlobe.

  Maddie stilled immediately, her breathing growing harsh at his simple touch. His hand traveled up from her hip to cover her breast, squeezing her flesh
through the thin material of her bra. Giving the curve of her neck a hard nip with his teeth, Jasper pressed against her harder and ground his erection into her ass. She gasped, her back arching innately. She’d be wet for him in seconds, Jasper knew. The knowledge floored him, filling him with intense need.

  “Nothing you do displeases me, Madeline Copeland,” he whispered into her ear. “In fact, I’m going to have you ride me right now.”

  Reaching his his pocket, he dragged out the rental car keys. Pulling Maddie back, he unlocked the passenger side and climbed in, unbuttoning his fly and pushing his jeans and boxer briefs down to his knees. As soon as his ass hit the seat, Maddie was pulling her musky panties off and tossing them over his head into the back seat.

  After clambering onto his lap facing him, Maddie pulled the door mostly closed. Letting her knees open a little more, Maddie slid her thighs down his lap and nestled the heat of her sex against the base of his cock. Jasper groaned, already imagining how tight and wet she would be, wrapped around him and milking his cock.

  Maddie ground against him, the first little touch of wetness brushing his cock. His eyes snapped open. If he kept fantasizing about how she was going to feel, he might not even make it inside her. He’d waited too long to have her, and it was trashing his control at the worst moment.

  Steeling himself, Jasper reached up and pulled the straps of Maddie’s dress and bra down over her shoulders. With an indelicate yank, he freed her breasts. He mumbled a curse as he cupped her breasts and pinched her nipples, listening to her mewls of pleasure. Her nipples darkened and contracted, and Jasper tried to pull her down enough to suck at her breasts but Maddie was having none of it.

  The second her hot little hand encircled his cock, Jasper found himself already begging.