Free When the Starrs Align by Marie Harte

mid-sentence when a talon bit deep into his back.
    Chance roared his rage but Warrick saw nothing but his mate’s green eyes glaring at him. “We’re going home. Now, Chance.”
    She yanked Warrick with her. He stumbled through the portal and fell hard onto a solid slab of rock.
    When he shook his head and tried to rise, he found himself under the heavy paw of a huge-ass mountain lion. One that looked as if she would eat him if he made a wrong move.
    “Stay,” she sent him.
    As if he were a dog. He scowled at her but noticed her focus on something else. He looked over his shoulder and saw Chance struggling to close the portal. Around him, several beaten and bloodied mages added their strength, all of them floating in the sky like ravens in the night.
    “Well? What are you waiting for?” she asked him.
    He didn’t rise but lent his strength to Chance’s, and in an instant the portal vanished.
    “Open up to me,” Regan ordered.
    Bossy woman. Yet he loved her more than life itself.
    Chance floated down to him. “You look like shit.”
    “Ass.” He coughed and saw blood on his hand.
    “Regan?” Chance frowned. “Why aren’t you shifting back?” Then his frown eased as he glanced from her to Warrick. “Oh. Open to her, idiot, so she can heal you.”
    Warrick wanted to swear, but that suddenly seemed like it would take too much energy, so he opened to his love and to his brother. And then he felt it, that connection with the Great Mother.
    Warmth and energy rushed into him, and he was aware of a cat licking his wound.
    “Ow, that hurts,” he complained. Regan had a rough tongue in her current form. “But you know, we can continue this at home, after you shift back.” He stood with help from Chance, his wounds gone.
    Others around them soon joined them, cheering in celebration.
    “Well done, son.” His father beamed. “You and your brother were amazing. And it looks like we have Regan to thank as well.”
    “Yes. She is a shifter,” their mother said with typical disdain. Then she smiled. “But at least she’s a handsome cat.”
    Regan purred and rubbed her head under Warrick’s and Chance’s hands.
    Everyone laughed and urged them to go home and recuperate. They’d earned it. Rumblings already sounded around them, about how the great Starr brothers—and their new companion—had closed not just a demon portal, but a vampire one as well. It was an unheard-of feat for a coven, let alone a pair of warlocks and their familiar. Tonight would go down in history as one of the great moments in magical lore.
    “I’m beat. What say we get home?” Chance suggested, still petting Regan.
    Warrick took his brother’s request and teleported the three of them home.
    Regan immediately shifted into an infuriated woman. And damn, but that rage had him itching to take her all over again. But maybe this time he could be on the bottom. Or better yet, between her legs as he licked her to a happy state once more.
    “You are such assholes! I know what you’ve Become. Dickheads!” She ranted and raved in her naked splendour, her gashes and bruises healing as she paced.
    Warrick glanced at his brother and grinned. Chance whispered a spell and the three of them were sparkling clean, fresh and now completely naked.
    “You… What did you do?” she asked with suspicion and turned around. Then she realised their state of undress. “If you think you can seduce me into not being mad at you, think again.”
    Warrick laughed. “Now, Regan. We have you to thank for grounding us, for pulling us from the craze of the blood moon. How about we convince you to let us try to get in your good graces again?”
    “Yeah, mate .” Chance and he moved into her space, backed her against the wall and crowded her as they rubbed against her. “Let us apologise for worrying you.”
    She sighed as each of them chose a breast and began sucking with fervour. “Well, I suppose I should hear you out. Oh…” She spread her legs wider when