Sweet Delight: A Paranormal Women’s Fiction Novella

By Mikala Ash

Love is the greatest shape shifter of all.

Love can be humanity's greatest strength -- or our biggest weakness.

The poet William Blake knew this, and for the longest time I felt as though I'd been born into his Endless Night, my life destined for eternal misery. Tragedy stalked me with the persistence of an insatiable tiger: the death of my mother, my mistaken belief I had caused the death of my partner, Detective Mal Blake, the betrayal by Anton, my lover of three years, and his subsequent death at the hands of a demon of the worst sort.

But then, out of nowhere, Mal returned to me, and with him came Tommy, a divinely beautiful shifter. For almost half a year we've been inseparable, a threesome in every meaning of the word.

My name is Ciara Callaghan. I'm a cop, and I thought I'd seen love from both sides, seen both the best and the worst it can do.

I was wrong.

The worst is yet to come.

Publisher's Note: Although this story can be read as a standalone, the characters were first introduced in Endless Night, then appeared in Realm of Night. The books are understood best when read sequentially.

Copyright Notification: All Changeling Press LLC publications and cover art are copyright and may not be used in any AI generated work. No AI content is included or allowed in any Changeling Press LLC publication or artwork.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Changeling Press
• Release date: Oct 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9780620201995

Book preview

Prologue

Ciara

Hell had come to Earth, and we were fighting for our lives. With high-pitched screeches and razor sharp talons raking the air, hideous gargoyle-like creatures were materializing out of thin air and swooping toward us with murderous intent.

I hadn’t known what to expect when Tommy and I had accompanied Mal to the warehouse to confront the demon Sheldon Hicks, but it wasn’t this. Even after all the weird stuff I’d seen over the last few months, I’ve never been so terrified in my life.

Demons have been killing shifters like me and Tommy for years, killing us secretly, causing hardly a ripple and getting away with it. Now we were the bringers of justice to the demons, making them pay for their crimes. Sheldon Hicks was just the latest murderer we’d tracked down.

Mal, my former partner in detectives, had the power to destroy them. He could absorb demon souls from the mortal bodies they’d stolen. How he’d acquired this power we didn’t know, yet he’d made it his mission to save shifters like Tommy and me from a terrible death.

Earlier that fateful evening, Tommy, Mal and I had been locked in a torrid tangle of sweaty arms, legs, cocks and tits. With his back to Mal, Tommy had squirmed on Mal’s thick cock which was firmly stuffed in his asshole. I sat facing Tommy with my breasts squashed against his chest and my thighs spread wide. His gorgeous shaft was balls deep in my throbbing pussy. The three of us were trading impassioned kisses as we fucked in perfect synchrony.

Over the last few months we’d tried every variation two boys and a girl can get themselves in: me straddling Mal with Tommy in my ass, me straddling Tommy with Mal in my ass, Mal fucking Tommy while he tongued my clit, Tommy and I kissing around Mal’s shaft while he fingered our respective ass and pussy.

Each and every time my two lovers took me to the pinnacle of sexual pleasure, to heights of sensation I’ve never been to before, never even guessed possible. This time was no different. With Tommy’s tongue swirling deep in my mouth, I bounced and gyrated around his cock. He was moaning in ecstasy. I know how Mal’s cock felt when it was in my ass, so it was no surprise Tommy was on the edge of orgasm.

We’d been fucking together for so long now we knew each other’s responses well enough that we were able to time our orgasms to the beat, ensuring we all climaxed within moments of each other.

The tense butterfly sensations in my belly that heralded my own orgasm were building, sending waves of desire through every cell. Tommy’s tongue became more urgent, a sign he was well on the way, and the muscles of Mal’s arms that wrapped around both of us were visibly straining.

Mal, as had become his recent habit, was slightly detached, and more practical than passionate in his lovemaking. Though his breathing was quickening, he was not involved heart and soul as he used to be. Regardless of that, he always ensured Tommy and I would climax.

Bring him off, Ciara. Fuck him.

Mal’s deep resonating voice was enough to set me on that path with doubled intensity, and I murmured my intention to do as he suggested. Tommy groaned back, and before I could respond, my mind exploded in the mother of all climaxes. The three of us blew at once, moaning and gasping so loud I was afraid we’d disturb the neighbors.

We collapsed onto the bed in exhaustion, and lay there for ages, gently caressing each other while our bodies climbed down from the Everest of pleasure we’d just scaled. It was the last time I felt calm and safe, at peace with myself and the world. Why shouldn’t I have been? I was in love.

We spoke languidly, our voices no more than hushed whispers. I try so hard to remember what we said during those precious moments, what loving endearments we swapped. Because a few short hours later nothing was ever going to be the same again.

Later, when Lili Tu and Detective Michael Munroe came to our door and destroyed that mood forever, we’d just enjoyed a group shower. While the bathroom filled with steam, we’d been happily soaping each other up and casually fucking and sucking. I was first out, my knees still trembling from a furious fuck by Tommy, when the doorbell rang. I answered the door in nothing but a satin bath towel. I was still on a sexual high, and Michael, I must admit, looked very appealing. He’s a handsome shifter, and his muscular build gave rise to that familiar stirring in my belly.

Beside him stood Lili Tu, and for that reason alone I was a little standoffish. I invited them in. The bitch told us that the demon Sheldon Hicks had taken the body of Senna, one of her slaves, and that she wanted to work with Mal to rescue the slave’s soul. Mal wasn’t happy and they argued. In a huff Lili told us where to find the demon, and disappearing inside a mini tornado, she’d taken her lover to get there first.

We followed more conventionally. Mal was furious. I’d never seen him so angry. When we arrived at the warehouse Lili Tu had indicated, we were faced with what Mal described as a psychic energy field. I could see nothing, but he projected a beam of light from his hands, and the air before us flared into a turquoise incandescence. I hadn’t known he could command such energy, and guessed he’d acquired it from the last demon he’d absorbed. An opening formed in the shimmering air, and Mal ushered us through.

Tommy and I followed his determined stride into the warehouse and down a flight of stairs to a basement. There we found Lili Tu and Michael confronting the demon. Michael had shifted into the form of a panther. The scene was a powder keg and ready to blow.

Sheldon Hicks was in the form of a beautiful young woman. Apparently that was the mortal body which once belonged to the slave Lili had mentioned. Sheldon Hicks had stolen her soul and inhabited her empty shell.

Lili Tu and the demon were in a tense standoff. Waves of blue energy crackled between them, and a vortex of misty air -- Lili’s weapon of choice -- was swirling around them, lifting dust and debris into a violent whirlwind.

Sheldon laughed at her. Suddenly, the air around them was literally torn apart, and in an eye blink, those gargoyles were swooping at us with murder in their malignant little eyes. I’d never seen the like -- bloated bodies the color of soiled khaki, glistening as if coated with Vaseline, and leathery bat-like wings armed with shiny claws. Their ugly twisted feet were equipped with yellowy talons that sliced through the air.

Lili Tu uttered a hoarse command, and unexpectedly, a stream of blue butterflies erupted from her head and swarmed frenetically to meet the attacking gargoyles. These beautiful insects were, apparently, another of her paranormal weapons.

All was confusion, and I had absolutely no idea what to do. Mal took the initiative, and with a roar, he ran toward Sheldon Hicks.

He’s mine! Mal growled. He tackled the surprised Sheldon, and in a flurry of punches the two wrestled each other to the concrete floor. They were quickly enveloped in a shroud of simmering energy with bolts of light shooting around them.

Tommy and I joined Michael, and we watched with trepidation the frantic struggle. A cry escaped my lips as Mal’s clothes were shredded, and bloody wounds appeared on his face. Though Mal was bigger than Hicks, I knew it wasn’t a physical fight being played out in front of us, but a psychic one. Mortal bodies were weak and fragile; this was a battle of elemental power.

Around us Lili’s butterflies swarmed to keep off the gargoyles. Yet while they battled, even more of the beasts appeared out of a new rent in the air. Tommy transformed into a jaguar in