Monsters and Shifters and Men, Oh My! Paranormal Menage and Multiple Partner Romance Stories Read online

  Giselle Renarde Erotica

  Monsters and Shifters and Men, Oh My!

  Six Menage and Multiple Partner Romance Stories

  © 2014 by Giselle Renarde

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older.

  This book is for sale to ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It contains substantial sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which may be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be access by minors.

  Cover design © 2014 Giselle Renarde

  First Edition 2014

  “Shadow People” first published by Torquere Press © 2008, “The Regular” first published by Torquere Press © 2009, “A Tale of Fur and Flesh” first published by eXcessica Publishing, “Monstrous Obsession” has appeared in “Shifters, Monsters and Beasts” © 2014, “Secrets of the Solstice Sacrifice” first appeared in “My Mistress’ Thighs” © 2010, “Bad Wolf” © Savannah Reardon

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Shadow People

  By Giselle Renarde

  Chapter One

  It’s not like she could refuse the assignment.

  Every quarter, when the new list of investigation sites was posted, Anna drooled over all the incredible projects handed to Sigrid, Jean-Frances, and Dandruff Dan. They’d been at the Institute for years. Her boss, Chief Investigator Gentle Geoff, figured they were more capable of ghost tracking the major hauntings. Did youthful ambition count for nothing in parapsychological academia?

  Apparently not.

  Searching through the crappy assignments doled out to untenured staffers, she finally found what she was looking for: Anna Fairclaw—her family name was always misspelled on these lists—right next to a project at the very summit of randomness.

  “Shadow People? What the hell are Shadow People?” she asked Sulky Sully.

  “Why don’t you read the descriptor?” he scoffed. As far as she could tell, he’d never stopped resenting her. Before Anna arrived at the Institute, Sully had his own desk, not to mention his own office. Now they shared.

  “The Shadow People, or Tarriaksuit as they are known…”

  “Read in your head,” Sully interrupted.

  Anna batted her lashes then bobbed her head like a sardonic I Dream of Jeanie. “Yes, master.”

  The Shadow People, or Tarriaksuit as they are known to the Inuit, are elemental beings described in the mythological systems of the Canadian North. Shadow People are commonly believed to inhabit a world parallel to ours, existing beyond the realm of human sense perception. Disembodied speaking or laughing are often attributed to these beings, as are sounds of footsteps in the distance.

  Historically, only the most intuitive residents of the North have felt the presence of the allegedly shy Shadow People. Traditional stories tell of Inuit who have crossed into the other world. No one has ever returned. No solid research yet exists in the annals of parapsychological investigation to confirm or deny this type of report.

  “This actually doesn’t sound so bad,” Anna said, more to herself than to Sully. She didn’t think he’d bother listening. “Did you read my Shadow People assignment, Sully? My research could be ground-breaking.”

  “If your investigation yields any results,” he muttered. “And that’s a big if.”

  Staff investigation will involve travel through Nunavut, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. The Institute will cover staff expenses, and all travel arrangements will be coordinated through our office. Staff will be expected to interview elders to build a thorough knowledge of Inuit mythological systems. It is also the responsibility of Staff to seek out a translator/guide for fieldwork in the North.

  Anna read the briefing three times before turning to Sully. “I can’t believe Geoff assigned this to me.”

  Sully released a Mephistophelean cackle. “Have fun freezing your ass off in the Yukon.”

  “I will, thank you. Why? What exciting adventure did Geoff saddle to your rump?”

  Sneering, Sully slid his chair back. The antiquated wheels screeched like an ambulance siren. “I need to take a piss,” he announced and strode from their little workspace with his head high in the air.

  “Thanks for sharing,” Anna groaned, flipping through the staff assignments. And there it was: Herbert Sullivan. Even in his absence, she let out a cruel burst of laughter. This was too good. In fact, it was so good she couldn’t stop herself from prancing down the hall, all the way to the men’s bathroom.

  Throwing open the door, she said, “Geoff stuck you in the archives, loser!”

  But the delight of humiliating a peer was no sooner overshadowed by the mortification of walking in on the wrong person. Sully was nowhere to be found. The only person at the urinals was their fearless leader, Gentle Geoff.

  “Anna. Oh, good. I was just coming to see you.” His tone was as casual as if she’d walked in on him clearing out the break room fridge. He didn’t even seem concerned when her gaze drizzled down his body and locked on one particularly delicate area.

  “I…” She searched for an excuse to be standing in the men’s room. “The women’s doesn’t work.”

  “Doesn’t it?”

  “Toilet’s broken.”

  “Well, I’d better fix it,” he replied, zipping up.

  “Well, sometimes it’s broken… and other times it… isn’t?”

  “No harm taking a quick look,” he said with a shrug.

  Geoff turned on the tap. As liquid soap frothed between his fingers, Anna’s knees nearly gave out. She had to grasp the side of the sink just to steady herself. Suddenly he was so nearby his natural musk made her dizzy. He looked up from that hunched-over position. His face was at the same height as hers, and so close she could kiss him.

  When he’d finished fixing his hair in the rust-spotted mirror, he met her gaze straight on. “I’m sorry. Were you going to…?”

  With his eyes, he made a motion she couldn’t comprehend. He raised his brows and shifted his gaze. What did that mean? Where was the Geoff-to-Anna translator when she needed it? Did it mean… did he want her to kiss him? Their faces were so close…

  “Did you need to use the toilet?” Geoff asked, straightening up.

  “What? Why?”

  Plucking a paper towel from the dispenser, Geoff said, “I thought the women’s was plugged. Isn’t that why you’re in here? To use ours?”

  “Oh. Right.”

  “I’ll just get out of your hair, then.” He used his paper towel to open the grimy bathroom door.

  No way was she using the disgusting boy toilet. How did she always manage to get herself into these situations? Of course it was her own fault, being so impulsive. A little self-control would go a long way, bu
t it was so much easier to blame Sully.

  “Hey jackass,” she called out as she strutted back into their shared workspace. “I thought you said you were taking a piss.”

  “It was a metaphorical piss,” Sully proclaimed with a philosophical beard rub. Holding up his refilled coffee cup, he said, “It was more like a prelude to a piss.”

  “Yeah, well I walked in on our boss in the crapper because of your poetic license.”

  “So I heard.” He pointed his coffee cup in the direction of Geoff’s firm ass.

  “Shit,” Anna exhaled. “Geoff, why are you hiding in the corner? And why are you on your hands and knees?”

  “Not hiding at all,” he replied, rising to his feet. “Your baseboard’s coming apart. We must have mice. I’ll get right on that.”

  “I’ve never had a boss who could run an entire investigative organization and find time for general maintenance.” Sully beamed in an obvious attempt to get out of archive duty.

  “Thank you,” Geoff replied with a gracious grin. “That means a lot to me.”

  Anna leaned against their desk, wondering how she might interrupt this love fest. Now she really did have to pee. “You said you needed to talk to me?”

  “That’s right. I assigned you to investigate the Inuit Shadow People…”

  “I know,” Anna interrupted. “Thank you so much. I should have said thank you before. Thanks.”

  Geoff launched Sully a puzzled glance. “I’m wondering if I made the best choice. It isn’t that I don’t trust you to conduct a superior investigation, only that you’ve never done any fieldwork with the Institute.”

  “That’s not a problem. I did fieldwork in university. I can handle it.”

  “I know you can, but I would feel better about sending you into the Arctic with a partner-investigator.” Geoff’s gaze darted toward Sully.

  Double shit.

  “I’ll find a guide—someone who knows the North. It’ll be fine. I don’t need Sully to watch over me.”

  “Oh, I hadn’t considered that option.” Straightening up, Geoff tapped his fingers against the dusty bookshelf. “No, I still think I would prefer to go with you. And it has nothing to do with protection, if that’s your concern. Only guidance. Applying the Institute’s quality standard and all that. You know your stuff, but…”

  “No, no, no, that’s completely okay.” Anna suppressed the urge to tackle her boss with a bear hug. “I totally get it. You’re right: it’s my first time out and I could definitely use your help.”

  “But… but… but…” Sully cut in. “You’re scheduled for the Greece investigation with Sigrid. You’d rather spend your summer in the Yukon?”

  With a shrug, Geoff said, “Greece has been done to death, and Sigrid’s fine on her own. I’ve never been up North.”

  Chapter Two

  By the time they got around to packing their gear, every move Geoff made had Anna wondering about his intentions. What was the real reason he’d decided to come on assignment with her? He must have had ulterior motives. Sure, he didn’t tease her or flirt with her or touch her casually in passing, but he wasn’t generally affectionate. More one of those lost-in-thought academics.

  Honestly, she wasn’t sure she could handle the legwork on her own. There was a lot of research to do in very little time, and how would she have tracked down an Inuktitut translator for remote northern communities without Geoff’s contacts?

  They’d decided to conduct the investigation like a basic ghost hunt, which meant bringing along all the tracking equipment: video, still and infrared cameras, digital recorders, Geiger counter, parabolic microphone and of course the essential EMF detector.

  The Yukon in July wasn’t half as cold as she’d anticipated. Their translator, Tukkuttok, laughed as she and Geoff unpacked parkas.

  “Did they mix up their seasons, do you think?” he joked with the elders. When he translated, Geoff and Anna laughed too.

  Despite their mirth, though, the elders communicated very little helpful information regarding Shadow People. It’s not that they had nothing to say—boy, could they talk up a storm!—only what they were saying had little bearing on the investigation.

  “It is a shame when children today are not given traditional names,” one elder in the Northwest Territories explained.

  His wife heartily agreed, “Our young people would grow up knowing who they were if they went by traditional names. For Inuit people, our names have great meaning.”

  “Take Tukkuttok, for instance,” Tukkuttok translated, blushing as the elder man spoke. “His name means, ‘a person who is generous,’ and you see how generous he is with his time?”

  “Who gave you their atiq?” the elder asked their translator.

  “Atiq?” Anna interrupted, flipping through her notebook. “What does that mean?”

  “Atiq is the soul-name,” Tukkuttok explained. “Names are passed from generation to generation to ensure we live on through time. I received the name of my grandmother. That means I am my grandmother. The connection is soul-deep, bone-to-bone. When I was a child, I replicated her behaviours and her personality traits.”

  “And it’s okay for a boy to take after his grandmother?” Anna asked.

  “Namesake is stronger than gender. Even now, I am more like my grandmother than anyone else in the world.”

  “Wow,” Anna replied, scribbling notes in her book. “That’s so…”

  “Interesting,” Geoff intruded, his voice brimming with impatience. After achieving no results in the Yukon, he wasn’t about to meet failure in the Northwest Territories. “But what we’re here to learn about is the Tarriaksuit. Do you know where we might begin to look for them?”

  When the elders exchanged glances, Anna was certain they’d bring the interview to a close. Here these nice people were helping their investigation, offering them tea and traditional fare out of the kindness of their hearts, and Geoff was treating them like an inconvenience. She couldn’t restrain herself from scolding him. “Geoff, behave.”

  The elders laughed, exchanging words.

  “What did I miss?” Anna asked Tukkuttok. Were they laughing at her?

  “They’ve devised Inuit names for you both,” Tukkuttok said. “They call you Illivat, which means ‘a young person who is learning.’”

  “That’s so nice.” Anna addressed the elders. “Thank you.”

  “You,” Tukkuttok continued, turning to Geoff, “they call Desna, ‘the boss.’”

  “Oh, that’s a relief,” Geoff exhaled. “I’ve been called far worse.”

  Silence cloaked the room. Anna stared down at her notebook, wishing she could scurry beneath the floorboards. Finally, the woman spoke. “Very little is known of the Shadow People.”

  “That’s all right,” Geoff said. “Just tell us what little you know. Every new piece of information helps our investigation. Where can we look for the Tarriaksuit?”

  The woman looked up at her husband, as if to ask some indecipherable question. His response was, “If they want to be seen, the Shadow People will come to you.”

  “But do you know of any place we could go where they’re more likely to appear?”

  “Tarriaksuit are not the Loch Ness Monster. They do not inhabit specific spaces in our world. They live in their own world—the shadow world.”

  As soon as the words left the elder’s lips, his wife cast him an icy glare. “We know very little of the Shadow People. I apologize if this has been a wasted journey for you.”

  That brought the conversation to a pretty quick close.

  Trailing behind Tukkuttok on the trek back, Geoff leaned in so close Anna could feel his breath on her ear. “It seems we’re being stonewalled.”

  “Right,” Anna chuckled. “It’s a conspiracy of elders across three Arctic territories.”

  “Keep your voice down.” Geoff grabbed her forearm as he gazed up ahead at their translator.

  “What, you think Tukkuttok is altering the elders’ statements?” sh
e whispered. “That doesn’t make sense. You were there. You saw their reactions.”

  “Think about it: who set up all our meetings?”

  “Tukkuttok,” Anna said.

  At the mention of his name, their translator turned around. “Hey slowpokes, catch up will you?”

  She and Geoff must have looked like a couple of guilty rabbits, their ears perked for predators.

  “Oh, I see,” their guide said with a smirk. “You lovebirds want to be alone.”

  While Geoff offered an insincere grin, Anna felt her face flush. She concealed her obvious blush by taking off her hoodie. “Warm out today, isn’t it?” She chuckled as Tukkuttok turned and went on down the path. “So you think he’s been setting us up with elders he knows won’t disclose anything?”

  “Or maybe he warned them against sharing information on the Shadow People.”

  Anna raised a brow. “I think all these Arctic summer nights are making you crazy.”

  “Don’t you worry about me. Why? Is the endless sunlight keeping you up?”

  “Yeah.” Anna shrugged.

  “Just close the blackout blinds.”

  “I would, but it’s fascinating… and the sun isn’t that bright by midnight or so. Plus I’m always monitoring the equipment. Anyway, I’m not the conspiracy theorist here.”

  Geoff didn’t seem to appreciate the tag, but said, “I don’t know exactly what’s up, but I might just get out my contact book.”

  In Nunuvat, Geoff found elders of his own. Or, one elder. Rather than run the risk of pissing off their translator, they visited with Tukkuttok’s elders prior to stealing away to see Sakari. Her name meant sweet, she told them. By her welcoming manner, they were convinced they’d get some useful information from the trilingual elder.

  “In addition to my mother tongue, I speak English and French. That’s how I’ve become so well-known in my life’s work.”