Jungle Blaze Read online

  Jungle Blaze

  Shifting Desires Series, Volume 3

  Lexy Timms

  Published by Dark Shadow Publishing, 2018.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  JUNGLE BLAZE

  First edition. May 27, 2018.

  Copyright © 2018 Lexy Timms.

  ISBN: 978-1386259732

  Written by Lexy Timms.

  Also by Lexy Timms

  A Chance at Forever Series

  Forever Perfect

  Forever Desired

  Forever Together

  BBW Romance Series

  Capturing Her Beauty

  Pursuing Her Dreams

  Tracing Her Curves

  Beating the Biker Series

  Making Her His

  Making the Break

  Making of Them

  Billionaire Holiday Romance Series

  Driving Home for Christmas

  The Valentine Getaway

  Cruising Love

  Billionaire in Disguise Series

  Facade

  Illusion

  Charade

  Billionaire Secrets Series

  The Secret

  Freedom

  Courage

  Trust

  Impulse (Coming Soon)

  Building Billions

  Building Billions - Part 1

  Building Billions - Part 2

  Building Billions - Part 3

  Conquering Warrior Series

  Ruthless

  Diamond in the Rough Anthology

  Billionaire Rock

  Billionaire Rock - part 2

  Dominating PA Series

  Her Personal Assistant - Part 1

  Her Personal Assistant Box Set

  Fake Billionaire Series

  Faking It

  Temporary CEO

  Caught in the Act

  Never Tell A Lie

  Fake Christmas

  Firehouse Romance Series

  Caught in Flames

  Burning With Desire

  Craving the Heat

  Firehouse Romance Complete Collection

  Fortune Riders MC Series

  Billionaire Biker

  Billionaire Ransom

  Billionaire Misery

  Fragile Series

  Fragile Touch

  Fragile Kiss

  Fragile Love

  Hades' Spawn Motorcycle Club

  One You Can't Forget

  One That Got Away

  One That Came Back

  One You Never Leave

  One Christmas Night

  Hades' Spawn MC Complete Series

  Hard Rocked Series

  Rhyme

  Heart of Stone Series

  The Protector

  The Guardian

  The Warrior

  Heart of the Battle Series

  Celtic Viking

  Celtic Rune

  Celtic Mann

  Heart of the Battle Series Box Set

  Heistdom Series

  Master Thief

  Just About Series

  About Love

  About Truth

  About Forever

  Justice Series

  Seeking Justice

  Finding Justice

  Chasing Justice

  Pursuing Justice

  Justice - Complete Series

  Love You Series

  Love Life

  Need Love

  My Love

  Managing the Bosses Series

  The Boss

  The Boss Too

  Who's the Boss Now

  Love the Boss

  I Do the Boss

  Wife to the Boss

  Employed by the Boss

  Brother to the Boss

  Senior Advisor to the Boss

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  Gift for the Boss - Novella 3.5

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  Modern Day Bride

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  Submit

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  Hunt the Ripper

  Pursue the Ripper

  R&S Rich and Single Series

  Alex Reid

  Parker

  Saving Forever

  Saving Forever - Part 1

  Saving Forever - Part 2

  Saving Forever - Part 3

  Saving Forever - Part 4

  Saving Forever - Part 5

  Saving Forever - Part 6

  Saving Forever Part 7

  Saving Forever - Part 8

  Saving Forever Boxset Books #1-3

  Shifting Desires Series

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  Jungle Blaze (Coming Soon)

  Jungle Fever

  Southern Romance Series

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  Siege of the Heart

  Freedom Forever

  Soldier's Fortune

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  Surrender of a Tattooist

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  Stronger

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  T.N.T. Series

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  Troubled Nate Thomas - Part 2

  Troubled Nate Thomas - Part 3

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  Perfect For You

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  Unexposed

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  First Love

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  Managing the Bosses Box Set #1-3

  JUNGLE BLAZE

  Shifting Desires Book #
3

  By Lexy Timms

  Copyright 2018

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to an actual person, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  All rights reserved.

  Jungle Blaze

  Shifting Desires Book #3

  Copyright 2018 by Lexy Timms

  Cover by: Book Cover by Design

  Shifting Desires Series

  Book 1: Jungle Heat

  Book 2: Jungle Fever

  Book 3: Jungle Blaze

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  JUNGLE BLAZE BLURB:

  ANGELICA HAS TAKEN the jungle home this time.

  After traveling to two different jungles on two different continents, you’d think she would be done with exotic locales for a while. But the lion inside isn’t easily controlled, and now she needs help from the wisest elders in the shifter community.

  The last thing Taylor wants to do is risk Angelica in the wildest jungle on the planet, but he’s got no choice. His own government has betrayed him, and a woman from the past is hot on their... tails?

  From the wilds of Minnesota to the highest mountains in Nepal, Angelica and Taylor are on the run one last time. The adventure isn’t over by a long shot, and time is running out if they’re going to meld the woman to the beast within.

  Contents

  Shifting Desires Series

  Find Lexy Timms:

  JUNGLE BLAZE BLURB:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Shifting Desires Series

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  Chapter 1

  Angelica tossed and turned. She’d woken him up again. Taylor lay there a moment, still groggy and trying to get his bearings, but knew she wasn’t doing well. His hand shot out to steady her, to pull her back within the circle of his arms. He murmured soft things, stroking her shoulder, her hair, until she stilled and her breathing evened out. He hated this, hated the helpless feeling of not being able to save her from the nightmares. She still hadn’t let go of having to shoot Dr. Johns. It haunted her every night, tearing her from sleep somewhere after midnight with a consistency that created a new normal. It left a bad taste in his mouth whenever he thought about it. He pressed his lips to her hair, and listened to the sounds of the city traffic that filtered up to his apartment from the street below.

  He’d thought things would be better here. Angelica had had enough of jungles and, to be honest, so had he. They came back to D.C. for an extended rest, to figure out next steps, but that was a big order. Trying to fit a normal life into one that recently included being shot at would be enough to make readjustment difficult. But add being kidnapped and experimented on to it, and that would give anyone a good sized dose of PTSD.

  He wondered what word one would give to the trauma that came of suddenly being able to shift into a large predator. Especially when one hadn’t grown up expecting the change to happen, right alongside all the other readjustments that happened at puberty.

  It’s going to take time to handle. A lot of time.

  In the meantime, she had nightmares and he lost sleep. They both were losing sleep.

  “Shh,” he whispered when she whimpered again. He held her and stroked her head, willing her to leave the dream a second time; this time for good, that she might get some rest for once. And by extension allow him the same luxury.

  She’d told him it was always the same dream, a memory really, of children being hurt, of her firing a gun at Melinda. Melinda’s body falling and the blood everywhere. He understood those dreams because he’d had them, too. The difference was, he was trained as a CIA agent. Angelica’s training was medical. Everything she believed in went against the taking of lives.

  Even if taking Melinda’s life meant saving his.

  He, at least, had received a certain amount of training on how to deal with these situations. He was given counseling as part of his debriefing. While his memories were no less pleasant, he was taught how to deal with the necessity of sometimes having to take lives.

  She had been wholly unprepared for it. And what’s worse, given the outcome of the entire fiasco, she hadn’t been able to seek counseling to help her over the rough edges.

  He wrapped his arm around her and murmured soothing words against her hair, words that meant nothing in themselves, but carried with them the comfort and surety he could give them. It was a balm, an absolution. It was a nightly ritual.

  One of them.

  It was the other that was most troubling.

  In the short time they had been back in D.C., they’d spent a fortune on bedding. They’d replaced the mattress twice. He’d lost count of the sheets and blankets they’d gone through, and it had only been a month since they’d gotten back.

  It was easier when I went through this. But I was going through puberty back then. They prepared us for it. We slept on large pillows until we could prove we could go a full night without destroying the furniture.

  According to his mom, it was like bathroom training all over again. As a child you learn to recognize the signs of a full bladder, the same way you learn as a teen what it feels like to change into a white tiger in your sleep. Well, in Angelica’s case she became a golden-brown lioness, but the same ideas held true.

  She stilled. It was only a matter of time now.

  Taylor listened for the crack of bone, the grinding of flesh that was the sound of the change. They slept naked, a rule not just from the effect of lovemaking from two people in love and betrothed to each other, but clothing was restrictive and could cause injury during a change.

  But that didn’t mean a displaced claw didn’t catch the sheets and shred them, or tear open a mattress. She’d started joking about water beds, but he could tell she was scared. She didn’t seem to have any control over the change.

  Whereas his was natural and he’d grown into it, hers was forced on her. Their time in Africa had been disastrous. While she’d discovered a previously unknown tribe of shifters who became lions, she’d been captured by the mad doctor desperate to study them. So desperate, in fact, that she’d been working on crea
ting them artificially. It had been Taylor’s fault that Angelica had gotten tangled up in the whole mess. If he hadn’t been a shifter himself, she never would have believed what she was seeing. She might have stayed safe. They might not have captured her and done things that never should have been able to work to her.

  But I’d never heard of anyone altering DNA to create a shifter before.

  And now here she was with no training, no preparation of her mind for the things her body was going through. There was no way for her to combat a spontaneous change.

  And it was getting worse.

  He stroked her hair and kissed her cheek. He held her close and told her it was all right, that whatever had plagued her was over. It was a lie, but it served to calm her. He partially woke her to get her to rest again. Then he fell back and covered his face with an arm. She would be moaning and twitching again in an hour, he knew it. She wouldn’t get deep sleep, and by extension neither would he.

  He wondered for a moment what it would be like if he still had to go to work, still had be the agent he’d trained to be, with no sleep. His concentration was already off. He was supposed to show up at the office sometime in the afternoon. How many hours away was that now? He’d taken all the vacation time he’d had, and Randall had been getting impatient with him. But how could he explain?

  In the meantime, his own inner cat was calling to him to change, to run and explore and hunt. In an apartment complex in D.C.

  Was it a mistake to come here?

  But it was home, such as it was. There was only so much wilderness within range, and the last thing he needed was tales of big cats roaming the Appalachian Trail. Especially one that was unable to practice deception, to hide the fact that she was a big cat, or about to change into one. So taking her out of the city was impossible. But trying to keep her in it was worse.