The Shifter Romances The Writer

Alex stood. “I can explain.”

Freed, Thomas scrambled to his feet and took off. Alex glanced after him, but let him go. The man wasn’t likely to be much of a threat now, and the woman in front of him was more important. “Roxy, listen—”

“What was that? What were you?”

Delaney put her hand on Roxy’s shoulder. “We should all sit down and have a talk.”

Alex walked onto the porch, stopping to pick up the box Thomas had left behind. “That’s a good idea.” Although an already difficult conversation had just gotten harder.

Roxy looked at her. “All of us? Do you know about this? About him?”

Delaney glanced at Alex, then answered Roxy. “Yes. And it’s because of me that we haven’t told you yet.”

“Told me what?” Roxy looked at both of them, backing away toward the kitchen.

“We’re supernaturals.” Delaney frowned, then let out a long sigh. “I’m a vampire.” She pointed at her teeth, her fangs on full display and gleaming in the kitchen light. “See?”

Roxy stared at her, blank-faced. Her numb expression didn’t change as she looked at Alex. “You too?”

He shook his head. “I’m not a vampire, but I am a supernatural. A panther shifter. What you saw just now was me in my half form.”

Roxy nodded like he’d just said there’d be rain tomorrow. She put her hand out to grab hold of the kitchen counter, but she was a few inches shy of making contact. Her knees buckled, and she went down.

“Son of a—” Alex threw the box toward the table and caught her before she hit the floor. He cradled her in his arms and shot Delaney an unhappy look that did nothing to adequately convey what he was feeling. This had become exactly the kind of mess he’d wanted to avoid.

Delaney put her hand on her stomach and grimaced. “Go ahead. Say I told you so.”

“You already did.”

Roxy woke from the craziest dream she’d ever had—and that was saying something for her. Active imagination did not begin to describe her brain when it came to dreams. And if the schizophrenia was actually kicking in, there was no telling what her mind might come up with. She stretched and pushed up to her elbows. She didn’t feel that rested. What time was it? She glanced over at the clock.

A little after ten at night. She sat up some more and realized that although she was on her bed, she wasn’t under the covers and she was still fully dressed.

She sucked in a shuddering breath, and her gut went cold as she remembered her dream had not been a dream at all.

Alex and Delaney had told her they were supernatural creatures. A were-panther and a vampire. Had that been real? Or had her hallucinations taken a sharp turn for the worst?

She had no idea, but the sick feeling in her stomach wasn’t going to go away without some kind of closure. Soft voices reached her from the living room. Delaney and Alex were still here. That was good, right? She could at least go out there and find out what was truth and what was fiction.

At the very least, she’d had some kind of episode and fainted. Then one of them had carried her into her room. Had to be Alex. She couldn’t see pregnant Delaney doing that.

She flipped the light on, went into the bathroom, and splashed some water on her face. She stared at herself for a few minutes in the mirror, trying to make sense of all the games her brain was playing on her, but couldn’t. She finally walked out to the living room.

Delaney was on the couch. Alex was pacing between the dining room and the kitchen. Both of them froze and turned toward her.

Alex looked awful. Like he’d just found out someone had died. He raked a hand through his hair. “How are you feeling?”

Roxy took a breath. “Not really myself.” She went into the kitchen and got a bottle of water out of the fridge. Making eye contact with either of them was proving harder than anticipated. “What happened? Did I faint?”

“Yes,” Delaney said. The mellowness of relief filled her voice. “We were telling you about who we really are and—”

“Crud.” Roxy leaned against the sink. She felt like dipping her head under some cold running water, but that would really be odd. She wasn’t so far gone that she didn’t know that much. “That actually happened. Or this is still one giant hallucination that hasn’t ended.”

“It’s not a hallucination,” Alex said.

She looked in his direction. “You’re telling me this is real. And what happened before I passed out was real.”

“All of it is real. There’s nothing wrong with you.”

She twisted the top off the bottle and took a long drink. The water helped. A little. Maybe this called for something stronger, but she didn’t have any hard alcohol in the house. She carried the bottle over to the chair next to the couch and sat down so she could face Delaney. “You’re a vampire.”

Delaney nodded.

Roxy pointed back at Alex. “And he’s a were-cat.”

“Panther shifter,” Alex corrected. “And yes, I am.”

“Your brother too, I suppose.”

“My entire family.”

Of course they were. She put her water on the coffee table and spoke to Delaney. “And I guess Hugh knows you’re a vampire and he’s okay with that.”

“He’s a vampire too. He’s the one who turned me.”

Naturally. Roxy stared at her. Then burst into laughter. “Okay, you got me. Great joke on the paranormal romance author.”