Unicorn Mates (Valentine Pride Book 1)

  Contents

  Blurb

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Epilogue

  More from L.A. Boruff & Laura Greenwood

  About L.A. Boruff

  Other Works from L.A. Boruff

  Also by Laura Greenwood

  Other Books by Laura Greenwood

  About Laura Greenwood

  © 2019 Laura Greenwood & L.A. Boruff

  All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise – without prior written permission of the published, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the email address; lauragreenwood@authorlauragreenwood.co.uk.

  Visit Laura Greenwood’s website at:

  www.authorlauragreenwood.co.uk

  Visit L.A. Boruff’s website at:

  www.laboruff.com

  Cover Design by Ammonia Book Covers

  Unicorn Mates is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Unicorn Mates was previously published in the Valentine Between the Sheets Anthology as Valentine Pride.

  Blurb

  A chance encounter with a trio of mountain lions changes Leola's life for good...

  Leola has always known she was different, but even she didn't realize how much. Discovering the shifter community for the first time, Leola finally finds somewhere she can belong. All she needs to do is accept the mating bond with the shifters who want her.

  Can she submit to the desires building inside her?

  -

  Unicorn Mates is the first book in a steamy paranormal reverse harem romance featuring three hot mountain lion shifters and one rare brown unicorn.

  Chapter One

  “I’m bringing bug spray next time,” I grumbled as I swatted another mosquito. As much as I felt at home in the woods and had vowed to spend as much time as possible there, the mosquitoes loved my blood and drove me crazy.

  Nature usually soothed me, but not today. I was on edge, looking around and tense. Like someone was watching or even filming me.

  I’d recently discovered how much I loved to hike. Once I left corporate America behind, I found myself with time on my hands. Time to actually pursue activities just for the heck of it. I’d tried several things, but knitting made me crazy, and the picture I’d painted at the class in the local rec center looked like a three-year-old had done it, no matter how many times the hot instructor tried to help me.

  He’d finally given up, and so had I. Lesson learned.

  My attention snapped back to the trail when a rabbit bounded across the path in front of me with absolutely no regard for the human traipsing through the woods. Whatever it was running from truly scared it. I stopped and stared into the trees in the direction it had come from, apprehensive. What if it was being stalked by a bear or something?

  I should’ve brought my revolver. My dad had insisted I learn how to shoot, and he’d been an avid gun collector. I didn’t dislike guns, exactly, it was more that I disliked violence. It was part of the reason I was a vegan, though the main reason was that I couldn’t stomach any meat.

  From as far back as I could remember, I’d been allergic. I’d eaten some things like milk and eggs as a child, but even they didn’t sit well in my stomach, so my parents had me go vegan, and then I flourished.

  A revolver might not take down a bear. It would’ve been more protection than I could offer myself with my hiking boots and flannel shirt, though. Maybe I could irritate it to death by talking about vegan cooking.

  It had worked on every man I’d ever dated. I snickered to myself and walked on, keeping my eyes wide and searching. The sunlight reached the forest floor in patches, and every time I walked under one I stopped to let my face soak it up.

  Slowly making my way up the mountain, I consulted my map frequently. It was less a traditional map and more a set of specific instructions with a drawing of where to go. The trail inclined steeply, and halfway up I plopped down on an overturned log to take a drink out of my canteen and wipe the boob sweat out from under my honkers.

  I’d been blessed with large breasts. I sighed and trickled a little water onto my shirt tail to dab underneath my ponytail, but froze with my hand halfway to my neck when a twig snapped behind me.

  All my senses went on alert and I had to fight the urge to shift. Fight or flight took over, and flight screamed at me to move. I whirled around to find an enormous man standing about ten feet away from me, arms in the air. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said. I believed him even though I shouldn’t have.

  Rustling in the forest behind me caused me to whirl again. Two more men stood behind me, spread out as if they were boxing me in. The urge to shift hit me again, and I fought it back. I hadn’t had an uncontrolled shift since I was a teenager, and shifting in front of strange human men was a death sentence.

  They threw their hands up as well, and the one on the right, with black hair and sharp cheekbones, made a shushing sound. “We mean you no harm.”

  “Who are you?” I asked, circling to try to keep them all in my sight. I felt it deep inside, in my bones as my grandmother would’ve said, that they didn’t want to hurt me. Excitement and relief bubbled up my throat like I was seeing my long lost best friend. I also felt the need to shift and flee, but it lessened every time one of them stepped forward.

  “We live in this forest. You’re sort of on our land,” the huge blonde said.

  “I was just hiking. I usually hike on the other side of the mountains, in the national park, but I—” I didn’t know how to explain that I was searching for the spot my biological parents had been murdered.

  “It’s okay,” the third said. He had messy brown hair, sticking in all different directions.

  It hadn’t escaped me that all three of them, in their own distinctive ways, were gorgeous.

  “I’m Kerry,” he said. “You’ve stumbled on private property. We noticed you, and came to investigate.”

  “You’re lucky we found you,” the big blonde said. “There are a lot of wild animals in this part of the woods. I’m Casimir. Call me Cas.”

  He looked too severe to be a Cas, but whatever. “I’ve been feeling like I was being watched. Was that you?” I asked. They stepped closer, and my urge to shift lessened significantly. Something else woke up, though. Hello, libido.

  They shook their heads. “No, we only pegged you about a half hour ago. You’ve probably been walking for at least what, two hours?”

  I nodded. “About.” They didn’t need to know how slow I’d gone, and that it had been more like three.

  The one with black hair and high cheekbones stepped forward. “I’m Levon. Are you okay? Just out for a stroll?”

  The wind had been dead for a while, but a breeze suddenly picked up through the trees, kicking up leaves—and their scents. Predators! My mind screamed at me, but my body didn’t move. I wasn’t scared. “What are you?” I asked. “Why are you trying to box me in?” Why wasn’t I scared?

  “Sorry,” Levon said and shuffled around so that they stood closer to side by side, and leaving the path down the mountain open for me to run.

  Running would be fruitless at that point. I hadn’t spent e
nough time in the woods to know what kind of predator they were, but they were definitely not vegans.

  Or whatever we called ourselves, I didn’t know. Before my first shift, I’d read a lot of romance novels about shifters and went with that term when it turned out a lot of it was true.

  Any way I scratched it, they’d catch up to me in a hurry if I ran. Besides, I had absolutely no desire to.

  Something about these men called to me. Made me want to stand in front of them and offer up my soul, which was stupid. I knew I shouldn't pay attention to that reflex, it would only get me into trouble.

  Delicious trouble, if the three of them were anything to go by. I'd never seen men quite so delicious. Normally, I found they ran too bulked up or too scrawny for my taste. There was some irony there given how my shifted form looked.

  "Who are you?" I asked again. "The real answer. Not one that deflects me." I put my hands on my hips, hoping to look intimidating, but from the heated looks the three of them were giving me, all it managed to do was push up my boobs and offer myself up as a sacrifice.

  The little voice in my head wanted me to flee just like the prey I was. I pushed it down. I hated when it did that. I wasn't prey. Just because biologically I turned into something to be hunted, didn't mean I had to act like other people always had the upper hand. They didn't. I could hold my own. Though, now more than ever I found myself wishing for that gun.

  "We live here."

  "Yes, you've said that," I snapped. Instantly, I wanted to apologize. It wasn't their fault I'd stumbled into their territory. Not that it was mine either. If they didn't mark it, it wasn't theirs. "My friend knows where I am, she's coming to meet me in an hour or so," I lied, hoping they wouldn't be able to hear it in my voice. At least Michaela knew where I was, though I doubted she'd be any help while she visited her parents two states over.

  "You ask a lot of questions," Cas leaned against a tree, the muscles in his arms bulging as he crossed them. The bastard completely ignored my fake threat.

  Ah, he was playing the same game as I was. Except that he was missing a couple of very important assets. I leaned forward, knowing my flannel shirt was sticking to my skin and outlining my boobs in a way that would make most men drool.

  "I think you'll find I don't. I'm just asking what any woman should when she's surrounded by strange men in the middle of nowhere," I pointed out.

  Cas burst out laughing. "You're feisty for a deer," he observed.

  My eyes widened. How did he know what I was? I hadn't told him, nor had I realised it was that obvious. I hadn't spent time around anyone like me. For all I knew, my heritage was written all over my face.

  "Fiesty is just a word men use when they don't want to accept a woman is right," I threw back, hiding my unease the best I could.

  Levon's laugh rumbled through the forest, echoed by a dozen birds up above. "That's not what he means."

  "Isn't it?" I raised an eyebrow as I turned my gaze to him, trying not to let my eyes go any lower than his face. If I didn't want them to treat me like I was nothing more than a delicious snack, then I owed them the same courtesy. I couldn't say I was doing a good job of it. They were some truly fine male specimens.

  "Not if they want to keep their balls," the redhead answered.

  "Indeed." I liked him, he seemed like the most respectful of the three so far, though I was kidding myself if I thought I wouldn't fall straight into all of their arms. I supposed it wouldn't matter out here in the woods if I did. No one would be around to know I acted out of character. No one could judge me.

  None of them said anything, probably because they were waiting for a sign from me about how to move forward. I licked my lips, drawing three sets of eyes to my mouth. Just where I wanted them.

  "So, what do you normally do when you come across lone women in the woods?" I lowered my voice, hoping it came across as sultry but probably missing the mark. I hadn’t had the most experience with sultry.

  "We don't—" Kerry started.

  "That depends what they want us to do," Cas cut across, forcing the redhead to take a step back.

  I frowned but quickly wiped it away. It was an interesting dynamic to see. Were they more than just friends? A pack, maybe? It was the only thing I could think of that would work with a hierarchy, but as far as I knew, there weren't many wolves in these parts.

  "If the woman is...willing?" I refused to be more explicit with what I wanted. For now, anyway. The last thing I wanted was to make a fool out of myself and have them thinking I was some kind of desperate crazy woman.

  "Then we can show her a thing or two," Cas promised, pushing away from his tree and stalking towards me with all the grace of a cat.

  Ah. Cats. That made a lot more sense, there were mountain lions around, though I thought they were solitary animals, typically spotted by trail cameras late at night. Maybe the shifters were different. Humans were social creatures after all. Of course, they could be any type of cat and just moved here from somewhere else. Bobcats were a possibility, too, but they didn’t feel like a bobcat to me. They were far more dangerous.

  "And what does she have to do to make that happen?" I fluttered my eyelashes a few times, giving off an air of innocence they'd find irresistible. At least, that was the theory.

  Cas stepped forward again, leaving absolutely no doubt in my mind that he was the leader of the three men. No, not the leader, the alpha. And I remembered exactly what that meant from my romance books. If my luck held, I'd be able to find out just how much truth there was in those pages.

  He brushed a stray lock of hair behind my ear, his fingers grazing over the soft skin of my neck. I bit back a moan, determined not to make it that easy for him—even if certain parts of me wanted to. "She has to say yes," he whispered.

  A shudder rippled through me. I was screwed if this was how I was going to respond to him. At least I'd have fun while that happened.

  My breathing speed escalated as I made a split second decision. Their smells overwhelmed me, but instead of feeling like dinner, as I should have, I felt like the safest deer in the forest. These men wouldn’t let anyone hurt me. They’d keep me safe.

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  Victory gleamed in Cas’s eyes, and his mouth fell on mine. I wasn’t exactly petite, but he towered over me like I was nothing more than a child. I felt dainty and delicate as he pulled me against his body, overwhelming me with just his presence.

  My already sweaty body broke out in goosebumps as Cas’s tongue swept into my mouth. A purr started in his chest, like nothing I’d ever heard before. It further soothed me, and I felt the vibrations straight to my core.

  Moaning against his mouth, I gave in completely to the pull of the alpha. He knew the moment I did because he put his hands under my ass and lifted me. I wrapped my legs around his waist. He was an enormous man, but I was long-legged and could help support myself by twisting my ankles around each other.

  A warm body pressed against my back as Cas broke the kiss. The purr in his chest hardened until it was a bit like a growl. My eyes flew open to see some sort of unspoken message going between Cas’s ice blue eyes and Levon’s deep brown. Whatever transpired between them, Levon’s mouth fell on my neck as Cas’s fingers kneaded my thighs where they touched my buttcheeks.

  Cas began his purr again, joined by Levon. I didn’t close my eyes this time, preferring to watch every moment of what was about to happen. Never in my life had I ever gone to bed with a man faster than four or five dates in.

  Also, never in my life had I ever had an orgasm. At least from a man. Mediocre sex after mediocre sex had followed me through my adult existence on this Earth. I leaned my head back against Levon’s shoulder as I sent a fervent wish to the heavens that these men knew how to make my body sing.

  With my head back, I caught sight of Kerry. He stood about three feet away from us, gaze transfixed on me. “What are you doing?” I whispered as Levon slid his hands around my front.

  “Observing,” Kerry
said. “It is my duty in the pack to care for our bodies and minds. Our minds have gone...a bit haywire.”

  Gasping as Cas ran his tongue up the front of my neck, from my décolletage to my chin, I tried to continue the conversation with Kerry. “I understand that. My mind doesn’t feel like my own.”

  Cas growled, and I jerked my gaze back to him. “Hush, deer, or I’ll put your mouth to good use.” As he spoke, his grip on my thighs tightened, and his fingertips came deliciously close to my core.

  They must’ve done stuff like this before, because the two of them worked in unison. As Cas’s grip tightened, Levon’s fingers reached the buttons of my shirt. He grasped both sides and yanked, buttons flying everywhere.

  I cried out, but I didn’t give two shits about that shirt. It was the hottest thing I’d ever experienced, including in all the romance books.

  All three men reacted viscerally to my cry. Cas’s expression went dark, Levon tried to pull me into his body, and Kerry strode forward. “Did you hurt her?” Kerry nearly shouted at them.

  “No,” I cried. “That was fucking hot, don’t stop!” I didn’t usually curse so much, but these men had the dirtiest and wildest parts of my personality out to play.

  Kerry grabbed my neck and shifted me to my right so that he could claim my mouth. My senses went into full party mode. Kerry licked my lips, slowly like he was enjoying a yummy dessert.

  Shit, I was prey to them. Maybe they liked to play with their food.

  I didn’t have a chance to stop them and ask if they were planning to fuck me then eat me, because Cas’s hands left my thighs, replaced by Levon’s, changing their angles so that Cas had access to my front.