Mated by a Shifter : Shapeshifter Romance Collection

By Emma Taylor and J.K. Hudson

Unbearable Seal

When Crag Boulder is sent to Vancouver Island on a special mission the Navy SEAL has no idea that the trip will change his life forever, as well as extending it by several hundred years. 

In a bar in the northern town of Port Hardy Crag meets Honoria, a girl he was once at school with, who never gave him the time of day. Now she's in the Navy too, and all of a sudden she wants him and can't get enough of him. 

In his room she bites his neck. What seems unusual, perhaps playful foreplay, turns out to be something else completely and Crag finds that he has been shapeshifted into a Werebear, with abilities he could only have dreamed of. 

But that's not all he has to contend with. From mating with Honoria, to saving the President of the United States from assassination, Crag is in for the wildest ride of his life. And if he survives it, what else will lie in store for the newest bear in SEAL team 13?

Desired by the Vampire

Becky Matthews has been imprisoned in the cell of her own body for her entire life. She'd given up on men, family and children. Now, a hundred pounds lighter, with a new boyfriend, she's ready to grab all of life she can get. Except that her boyfriend, Andrei Vidnesceau, won't touch her or tell her of his feelings. He won't until two men attack him in her apartment, and he turns them both to dust. She needs an explanation. He tells Becky he's a vampire and proves it. She accepts him and his situation, and he shows his love for her. The rival coven turns her sister into a dreadfully evil vampire.

Can she rescue her sister? Can she and Andrei work together to defeat the rival coven of vampires? Will she have the courage to join him for all eternity as his vampire wife?

Double Bears

Cynthia loves books and the adventurous lives of the people in them, but she herself lives the normal life of a librarian. Rarely does she ever go out. Most of her days consists of reading and working at the library. That is until she is nearly killed by a man on the run. In fear of her life, she tries to run away and runs smack into the men who are chasing the man who have taken her hostage.

Shaun and Gerald are known in the shapeshifter circle as the Brothers Swagger for they are the best bounty hunters there are. They save Cynthia from her would be kidnapper and return her safely to her home. For the Brothers Swagger, the job is done, but for Cynthia something has changed. She can't get the two men out of her head. Even at work all she can think about is having both of them in her bedroom at once. A thought so foreign that she wonders if it is her own. When they ask her to dinner, a part of her just wants to say no and be done with them, but a much bigger part of her wants to go, so she accepts the invitation. After dinner, they take her home and the whole way Cynthia can't stop thinking about them. When they pull up in front of her house, she decides to invite them inside. Will they take her up on her offer?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scarlet Heart Publishing
• Release date: Aug 26, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393695103

Emma Taylor

Emma Taylor is an avid reader and vivid writer who enjoys writing romance novellas, particularly in fantasy and paranormal subgenres. She wrote her first story at the age of 14 and has written continuously ever since, mostly for fun. She is now happily married to a wonderful man and has two great kids.

Book preview

Unbearable Seal

Let’s get the personal stuff out of the way so I can tell you how the grumpiest woman in all existence trapped me into marriage, why I can’t get out and why I don’t want to.

My name is Crag Boulder. That’s ‘Crag’ not ‘Craig’. I found out my parents did it to me on purpose. They said it was to give me a sense of humor. It gave me a good sense of who to knock down and how many times, but I don’t remember laughing through any of it. I changed it to Craig Baldwin. Someone in my unit found out about it and now my friends call me ‘Crag’.

I’m six feet tall and weigh 240 pounds. My body looks more or less normal – muscle weighs more than fat. My chest, shoulders and arms are a little thicker than most men’s, but I don’t stick out in a crowd. The Seals demand a high degree of physical fitness. I can do a thousand pushups and a thousand crunches in one day. I’m not going to be modest about that. I gave my sweat and pain to get where I am.

I serve as a Navy Seal in a special unit. I’ll tell you about that later.

Right now, I have a broken heart. The girl I loved cheated on me. I hate this. I’m a guy. I don’t like emotions, and I don’t know how to handle the negative ones. I have to drive from my duty station in San Diego to an assignment in British Columbia. I’m not making a lot of progress because I have to pull over now and then to wipe the tears away. My mind picks out the best memories I have of Carol and me, and goes over them again and again. Like the time we went to Disneyland and she found a lost child. She was so loving and cute when she held the little girl’s hand and took her to the ‘lost and found’. Then she picks up a stranger in a bar and fucks him in our bed. She did it at a time when she knew I’d walk in on them. Damn. I wish I could get the image of them together out of my head. I’d packed and left before they could get their clothes on.

I finally get across the border, and I’m in this little bar in a small town in British Columbia called Port Hardy. It’s located on the Northern tip of Vancouver Island. My orders told me to come here and wait, that someone would contact me.

A woman sits beside me. I glance at her in the mirror and cringe. My mind brings up a quotation from the movie ‘Casablanca’. Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine. It’s a shame. She’s really pretty. Until she opens her mouth. Then she turns into a bitch.In high school, Honoria Winchester sat next to me in World History. She dismissed me within seconds of seeing me. I really don’t blame her. In high school, I was six feet tall but weighed no more than one forty. I had no social skills, no athletic skills. Nothing to interest her. She started with the way I used my pen as I took notes. She went on to criticize my posture, my clothes and my hair style. Even the way I walked. And she never stopped. I hated World History because I knew she’d be there.

Guess who the woman sitting next to me is? Go ahead. I’ll wait.

That’s right. It’s Honoria Winchester. ‘Honoria’ is never shortened. She’s never called ‘Honey’ or ‘Nory’. Always ‘Honoria’. When I think about her, I change the emphasis into ‘Hon-or-ia’’, rhyming it with gonorrhea so it sounds like a disease.

I watch her like a hawk. Having someone recognize you on a mission rarely has a good outcome. I’m not on a mission. It’s simply a duty assignment, but I can’t stop the heightened awareness. It’s a habit.

I watch her gather herself. I know she’s working up to something and I’m going to be the lucky recipient.

I’ll try to be objective when I describe her. She’s good looking, except she doesn’t smile. She’s tall and watches her posture. As for the things guys notice, she’s got really good breasts, full and high on her chest, a small waist and womanly hips. Nice legs too. Big deal. She still makes me want to run away.

I have to mention that I’m wearing civilian clothes. I like to buy my clothes baggy to hide my military body. She doesn’t realize I don’t weigh one forty anymore.

She lifts her head and says, Craig Baldwin. What a surprise. What are you doing in this tiny little town?

My mind is screaming. This isn’t a coincidence. She’s here for a reason. Run!!!

I say, Being a tourist. Honoria, it’s nice to see you again. What have you been doing since high school?

She loses a little of the smile she’s had painted on her lips. I’m in the Navy. I do recruiting.

I hold up a hand. No need to recruit me. I already joined.

That’s wonderful. What’s your rating? (‘Rating’ means job title.)

I’m a clerk in the Business Management department at Kitsap Navy Base near Seattle, I say.

A little smile plays around her mouth. I like to watch for micro-expressions, those tiny, quick muscle contractions that tell more about a person that they want. The smile I see tells me she thinks ‘file clerk’ is the best I can do and that she expects nothing more from me. I add, because my clerk persona would do it, I’m an E-6. I just got a promotion.

I don’t tell her I’m not a clerk. I’m a member of an elite team. The SEALs select talented and physically capable members of the Navy to join their outfit. A group called the Special Activities Division (SAD) recruits their men out of the SEALs. A higher group called the Special Operations Group (SOG) pick out the best of the SAD group to join their unit. That’s me. The best of the best of the best. I told you I wouldn’t be modest about anything I’ve worked for.

She says, Pardon me. I have to make a phone call.

She heads for the ladies’ room and comes back in three minutes. She’s got her smile settled for the duration. Someone told her to do what she was ordered and not to question it.

She says, Could we go someplace more private? I’d like to be alone with you.

Alarm bells sound in my mind so loudly that I can’t remember the tune I’d been playing in my head for three hours. I say, Alright. I’d like that too.

Good. Let’s go to your place.

She leads me to her car, an older non-descript sedan, and I direct her to my apartment.

There’s several things wrong with this scene. She’d no more drive an older sedan than she would take all her clothes off and walk into a biker bar. She broadcasts her superiority. Most telling, she doesn’t walk beside me. She walks in front, as if she doesn’t want to be seen with me.

As soon as the door closes, she’s on top of me. Literally, on top of me. She flings herself on my chest with such force that we fall on top of a sofa. She’s surprisingly strong. She’s kissing me.

A little word about one of the differences between men and woman. This is a generalization, but it’s useful. Women have to be in love to feel strong sexual feelings, and they’re directed toward the man they love. Men don’t. If a woman presses her body against us or shows us more of her body than usual, we don’t care about our feelings for the woman. We look or touch and caress with a complete lack of conscience. Sorry, ladies.

I enjoy having Honoria on top of me. She wiggling and kissing. I catalog the individual parts of her wiggle. I can feel the soft mounds of her breasts rub across my chest. Her skin and lips are delightfully soft. Her thighs bump against mine, and they’re fit and taut.

She kisses my neck twice then bites me.

She bites my neck. I feel two little pin points enter my skin just over the carotid artery.

I have time to say, What the... before she’s off me and across the room, wiping her lips with a tissue. Her expression would curdle milk. At last, the Honoria I have come to know and love makes an appearance. I say, You bit me.

She says, "I had to. I was ordered to. I tried to get out of it. That’s why I went to the Ladies