eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work. This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental. Samhain Publishing, Ltd. 577 Mulberry Street, Suite 1520 Macon GA 31201 Tiger by the Tail Copyright © 2008 by Kaye Chambers ISBN: 1-59998-919-0 Edited by Angela James Cover by Anne Cain All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: April 2008 www.samhainpublishing.com
Tiger by the Tail Kaye Chambers
Dedication To my husband, Jason, Who doesn’t understand the need to write and dream, but supports it anyway.
To Melissa, Who does understand and encouraged me despite everything.
To Josie, Who read this as it was written and told me when it didn’t work.
To CJ, Who kept me on track when I faltered with her honesty.
To Caite, Eva and Michelle, Who dreamed with me and helped me make my characters into real people.
To Kimberly, Who opened my eyes to the possibilities and held my hand when fear held me back.
To the Samhain Staff—especially Angie, Who helped me cross off something on my lifetime goal list.
A special thank-you to you all for making this book possible.
Tiger by the Tail
Chapter One Anxiety is a bitch of monumental proportions. Even as my stomach churned, I felt the sharp excitement of the night riding hard on the dusk as the limo rolled smoothly through the countryside. My escort had been nothing but correct when he’d arrived to pick me up. The driver had been courteous when he’d bowed as he opened the door. No, the problem was totally me. This was the first time in the twenty years since my family had been formally shunned that I’d ever been invited to partake of my birthright. Tonight I would be stared at, gossiped about, compared and found wanting. Why was I so excited? Because I had never gotten to dance under the moon like I longed to do. Silly, I know, but there it is. Since my first run as a tiger at fourteen, I’d longed for a night like tonight. Rolling marshes began to unfold as I reclined on the luxurious leather seats. For the first time, I began to wonder exactly where Meriwether Plantation was. The invitation hadn’t mentioned the exact location and the handwritten note attached had advised me that the driver would ensure I was delivered promptly. Nervous energy danced across my skin and I forced myself to breathe. The digital clock set into the fine wood on the overhead console told me we were already late. Punching the call button on the armrest, I waited patiently. “Yes, ma’am?” The window between the back and the front seat slid silently down. The driver’s green eyes glanced up to meet mine in the mirror, but it was my escort who answered the call. His face hinted at exotic roots, but his voice was so carefully neutral only his lack of a drawl told me he wasn’t a native to the South. “Is it much further? We seem to be running behind.” I tried to make it sound nice and polite, but knew the edginess invaded my tone. He heard it, too, and an answering humor danced back at me when he replied. www.samhainpublishing.com
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“I’m sorry, princess. We took the scenic route. All things considered, I thought you might prefer a grand entrance.” Oh. The warm shiver at the first official use of my title was only slightly dampened by my chagrin at my obvious lack of sophistication in these things. My day job was a librarian. I didn’t get too many opportunities to run in high circles unless it was for a fundraiser for my pet project of ancient documents and rare books. Museums all over the country had tried to lure me from my Savannah home, but it would be pretty hard to hunt in the streets of New York or Washington. Don’t get me wrong, people did it, but I preferred the comfort of my old tobacco fields. A hundred years ago, my home had been a working plantation. Now, it was my playground and the crops that once turned the profits of slavery grew wild and unharvested. If it had grown coffee or cocoa? That would be another story. Tobacco held absolutely no interest to me. The man’s thoughtfulness made me wonder if he were more than just a flunky. With a return smile, I pressed the button to lower the privacy glass the rest of the way down. “Do I need to make a grand entrance?” I made the effort to make my voice sound light, but I knew he heard the undercurrent of fear and anticipation flowing under the cavalier attitude. Would I get a chance to work on my cool sophistication? God, I hoped so. Deep brown eyes stared into mine, seeing more than I wanted him to. Of that, I was sure. I gave him a smile deep enough for my dimples to flash at him. A little charm didn’t hurt, especially to a man who hadn’t been raised around Southern Belles. White shown as he returned my smile, emphasizing the deep tan of his face. “Maybe.” “Was that what you were told to do?” Instinct made me ask the question. I didn’t expect an answer, so was surprised when his whisper floated back to me. “No.”
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He didn’t elaborate, but something made me think he was enjoying being on the wild side of authority. Intrigued, I glanced over at the starched white envelope on the seat next to my prim black evening purse. It made me think of decadence. There was no doubt that the engraved writing was done in gold leaf. I’d scratched the apostrophe from the time, anyway, just to satisfy my curiosity. I’m funny like that, I suppose. I just have to know things, sometimes. Curiosity killed the cat, the saying goes. Here’s hoping it was slightly exaggerated. “What exactly were you told, then?” The words weren’t sharp, but they dripped with honey. The driver’s gaze flicked back to the mirror and he slowed down a little more on the road. “I was told to bring you promptly so you could be on prominent display for the evening.” Ouch. That certainly didn’t bode well for me being able to enjoy myself. “So why didn’t you?” “Because…” I heard his jaw snap shut and he suddenly turned away to concentrate on the road. I could almost see him trying to decide if he was going to answer my question or not. Patience is a virtue and I was fortunate enough to have quite a lot of it. A tiger may lie in the grass for hours waiting on just the right prey. The closer the moon lurked, the more the tiger wanted her pound of flesh. Tonight, she was probably going to feast on the sheer dynamics of feline politics. Wolves, bears, and just about every other predatory variety of shapeshifter had clear hierarchies. Felines were about as clear as mud. There were just too many subspecies struggling for dominance. When I’d been born, the tigers had reigned supreme, but two rivaling factions had done the deciding factor. The two most powerful families in the entire feline community had married their son and daughter to consolidate power. It had seemed like a good enough plan on paper, but what they hadn’t anticipated was that my parents would fall in love and that would make all the difference. After the news that my parents wouldn’t be blessed with another child, the political fire had heated up until they’d finally called the fight. They’d packed me up and severed
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their ties to the entire shifter community. There was a tiny island down the coast where my parents’ house still stood, though I’d not been back there in quite some time. The memories were still too painful. I missed them. Absently, I wondered if they’d approve of my little adventure, but then couldn’t resist the thought that they were probably getting a heavenly kick out of it. It was the sort of thing that would make them both appreciate the irony. Lost in my thoughts, I turned my attention to the scenery and found myself staring at the same herd of horses we’d passed half an hour ago. How did I know? Well, they were paint horses with lots of white. Tigers like white. It shows up really nicely in the dark when you’re hunting. “Why are we driving in circles?” My escort turned and I got the impression he was biting back a smile even though it didn’t actually show on his face or in his voice. “Waiting for dark.” “And we’re doing this, why?” My tone was dry and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to needle him. I was the one sitting here in a corset, after all. “You know, princess, sometimes it’s best just to let the people who get paid to think for you do their job.” “I didn’t pay you to think for me. You don’t have that big of a brain.” This time, the laughter barked out and he shook his head. “You don’t know me well enough to make that assumption.” “Call it a guess.” “Will you just take my word for it? No, I didn’t think so. Okay, welcome to court politics. Since the tigers are without a consolidated leader, there’s a motion to appoint one tonight to sit on the Feline ruling committee. The last time it was attempted, you weren’t invited so the vote wouldn’t go because there is an heir apparent.” “Really? Who would that be?”
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He gave me a look that spoke volumes. While it was true that tiger society was all about an oligarchy with the noble elite ruling, I couldn’t see how that affected me. Then the pieces fell together. Because of the political infighting, the highest houses tended to look for mates outside of the higher echelons. That way, no two houses could merge to gain a foothold on the power structure. Of course, judging from the way it had backfired with my parents, you’d think the alarmists would be mollified. Guess not. “Don’t look at me. I don’t want the job. I’ve got one, already.” “Well, there are some of us that think the DeSoto House is pushing to rise above their station using the dispute in the higher houses to pave their way. We’re not asking you to actually take the seat; we just want to remind the DeSotos that they’re out of their league.” “So I’m a stalking horse? Surely there’s someone who can do a better job than that.” “If you like. Think of it like this. It’s a chance to have a little fun with the people who ostracized your mother. And as for someone else who could do a better job, there seems to be some dispute over that. You see, when your parents married, House DeStephano and House DeRusso agreed to bury the feud between them. Tigers have long memories, princess, and rarely forget details. So, the balance of power between the great houses sways, but not enough for either of them to gain any significant foothold.” “Where do you fit in the scheme of things, Mr…uhm…” I suddenly realized I didn’t know his name. In my nervousness, I’d either forgotten it or he’d simply not introduced himself when he’d knocked on my door. Instead of being insulted, his humor showed through, or maybe, he was just amused at my embarrassment. “Cole. I’m Cole Reyes. I’m nobody.” The driver frowned as he glanced at him, giving the words the impression of a lie. I thought about calling him on it, but he was just being too forthcoming for me to want to mess it up. “Okay, Mr.—” “Cole.” “Okay, Cole, what’s in it for you to go against your alpha?”
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“Sometimes, it’s fun to yank a tiger by the tail, just to see if he’ll be faster than you are.” Oh, I liked this guy. He thought like I did. “What were your instructions?” “I was to get you here first so you’d have to witness the arrival of the other dignitaries.” “And this is a slight, why?” “Didn’t your parents tell you anything about court?” “Nope. They thought we’d washed our hands of the lot of them. You tell me. It’ll give us something to talk about while we drive around in aimless circles. Unless you’d rather go back and chase the horses. Sometimes, it’s fun to see if they kick faster than you can dodge, too.” We shared a smile of understanding. “The lowest members arrive first. They have to wait and make small talk while the higher ranking people arrive. If you’re late, it’s considered an insult to make an entrance after someone who’s higher up the food chain. It publicly declares that you think you’re above them. If it’s a big enough social gaffe, challenges have to be settled before the business of the evening can progress.” “Well, if they wanted me to be the first on the menu, why are we arranging it for me to be last?” “Because there’s no one there that outranks you by birth, princess. If I’d have brought you first, that would be telling everyone that you think you’re the least among us instead of the greatest.” “And if someone gets insulted and wants to challenge me over it?” “You simply cite the right to use a champion.” I looked to see if he was joking, but every line on his face showed absolute seriousness. Even though I thought I knew what he was suggesting, I asked the question, anyway. “And who, exactly, will strip down to fight in my place?”
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I laughed at the absurdity of it all, but his face remained solemn. He cocked his head to the side as if puzzled, and then slowly shook it. “I would, of course.” An idea sprang up to the forefront of my mind and I didn’t bother to filter it before it popped out of my mouth. “So, Cole, are you looking to move up the food chain tonight?” Something flashed in the depths of his chocolate eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. I’d hit the nail on the head. Disappointment was dust in my mouth and I reminded myself that no one tonight was my friend. “Yes, but not in the way you mean.” “Then how?” “I don’t like the way things are going. I think you could shake the political world on its ear and change the course of it. That’s what we need.” “I’m not coming here to be your leader, Cole. I’m coming out of curiosity and a little bit of vindication at finally being included. I have a life that doesn’t include running anyone’s house of cards. Besides, what are you getting out of it?” “Would you believe the satisfaction of knowing the future of the Southeastern tigers was secure?” My face must have shown the level of my doubt to that because he continued, changing tactics. “Well, what if I told you that you won’t have to do a thing but sit prettily and let the rest of us do the work?” “I’m not signing on to be a figurehead, either. I’m not that kind of girl. Very hands on, that’s me.” I tried to be mad that he was trying to use me, but I felt the level of his misgivings. Something was afoot and it wasn’t going to be pleasant. Now, I didn’t owe these people anything, but I owed myself the obligation of finding out what was going on before I ran screaming. “It’s time, Cole.”
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The driver’s voice was heavy with a drawl that was even more pronounced after listening to Cole’s lack. “What’s your name?” His gaze jerked to the mirror and he swerved to stay on the road. “Henry, ma’am.” “Do you have a last name, Henry?” “I do, ma’am.” He didn’t offer it and I decided that some points were worth pushing and this wasn’t one of them. Let Henry keep his last name until I decided exactly how far into the den of badgers I was going to be and if they had plans to eat me or not. Before I could ask another question, the privacy glass slid back into place. Mustn’t tip off the general public that we’d been talking, I supposed. A part of me I hadn’t known existed began to pace to the forefront. Tonight, I’d be Alexandra DeStephano, Tiger Princess. Tomorrow, I’d go back to just plain old Sasha, mild-mannered librarian. Hey, it was like a masquerade except the other guests would have claws instead of knives. The limo turned up a drive. By the time it slid to a stop in front of the antebellum mansion not so different from mine except it was in better repair, I was ready to play the game. A moment passed before the door opened. I had expected Cole to be standing at the door, but instead, there was a liveried boy. I say boy because he couldn’t have possibly been older than sixteen. It was a young sixteen. The poor boy stared at my shoes from a bow that made me wonder how he could get that low without hurting himself. Raising my puzzled gaze to Cole, standing opposite the door, I asked the question with my eyes. Instead of answering, he offered his hand to help me out. I didn’t need the help. My heels were a modest three inches, but something told me he was going to be my map through the mine field. Standing, I shook out the stiff silk skirt where it flared out from the tapestry corset top. Unsure of what to wear, I’d decided on black. The corset was woven with gold and silver thread to show a leopard rampant on a shield. Unfortunately, there just weren’t a lot of tigers in heraldry. At least this way, I wasn’t going to insult anyone by wearing the colors of their house. Besides, it looked good on me. The wind swept up through the
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trees, carrying the strong sent of the sea. I started to take a step forward, but Cole’s hand tightened slightly under mine. Glancing at him, I found his court mask in place. All traces of humor were gone from his face and he stood stiffly formal. With a quick flick of his wrist, he turned his hand under mine so my gloved palm rested on his knuckles. I’d actually been expecting him to place my hand on his arm. Vaguely, I remembered how my parents used to stand the same way, but I’d been so young that the proper decorum of the situation just wasn’t there. Cole must have realized it and met my gaze over our hands. The man wanted to use me, but he was the only ally I had. I found myself hoping he didn’t get me killed as I faced the gauntlet. It was actually a walkway toward a walled garden area. Nine pairs of posts stood in place. Each one carried a house crest set in gold and a torch burning under it. Nine houses of power with nine secondary. Eight sets were manned by men wearing colored dinner jackets with a house crest boldly emblazoned on it. The last set stood empty. My grandparents weren’t at all happy at my invitation. Some things never change. Taking a deep breath, I stepped forward. Cole moved with me and I felt his attention centered on me. Any minute hesitation or comment would be passed on and analyzed. As we reached the first pair, the men stared straight ahead and didn’t acknowledge me in any way. Even I knew that was a slight. I would be weak if I let it go and any chance I had at respect would fall by the wayside of ignorance. Stopping a step short, I looked from one to the other before turning a cold gaze to Cole. I raised an eloquent eyebrow and watched him bow his head. Something crossed his face that made me blink. Power flared strongly enough so that every gaze turned to look at us. Turning back to the entourage, I simply tried to look arrogant. The man on my left bowed his head. “No one doubts the strength of the Reyes House, Cole. Come and be welcome.” Oh. Silly me. Opening the gate where my tigress lived, I let my power flash outward. Even Cole turned to look at me.
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“Well, if you wanted to know if I’m strong enough to eat you, there’s your answer. Petty displays.” I let my scorn show and let my enhanced senses take in the sudden scent of fear on the air. Fear, anxiety, anger, and something unexpected, desire, mixed with the sea breeze. As quickly as I’d let it out, I slammed the door on the power. Cole’s power still lingered in the air. Most shifters, once the power was unleashed, couldn’t pull it back. I had lots of practice. The two sentries glanced at one another and dropped to one knee. Each pair beyond dropped without even looking above my hemline. Amazing what kind of respect a little power will get ya. At the last post, I turned to face the men. By rights, I could have left them like that, but my mother had told me that a gracious lady won more support with a kind hand than a stern one. I tried to remember the properly formal command, but settled for improvisation. “Rise and join the party, gentlemen.” A few quick glances and a few hastily covered smiles told me that I might have gained a few brownie points. I’d probably need them before the night was through. Turning back, I found a burly man standing on the steps. He could see the walkway, but we couldn’t see him until he stepped up on the top step because of the thick stone gate support. Holding out a silver tray, I watched Cole drop a card into it. The man bowed his head, took the card and announced over the milling crowd below. “Princess Alexandra Penelope DeStephano escorted by Lord Colton Reyes.” Silence reigned. I’m not used to photo opportunities, so I just stood and waited for my cue to begin my descent down the stairs. I was suddenly wishing I had worn lower heels. Whispers began as Cole and I began the slow walk down. I had a moment to wonder if he were being stately or just making sure I didn’t fall on my face and wreck his plans for a palace coup. Either way, I was grateful. I didn’t count them, but I was betting there were eighteen of the blasted steps. Symbols at their best.
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By the time we were at the ground level, I could see the men relieved of their sentry duty slipping in through a gate at the lower level. So that’s how people got in if they couldn’t be announced. I’ll admit I wondered. I looked out over the sea of faces and allowed myself to smile. It was a real smile, surprisingly enough. These were my people. The shimmering energy of tigers pulsed around me and it was a heady feeling. Tonight, no matter what, I would be getting naked and putting on my fur coat to run in the moonlight. Of course, from some of the looks I was getting, I had a feeling more than one of the females might have other ideas than just hunting. Or maybe not. Unfortunately, I was the prey they were probably hoping for. Before I could make a comment to Cole about it, my gaze rested on a face that made something inside me freeze. My mother’s father, the bane of my existence, hadn’t changed much over the last twenty years. His hair was already white, so the age showed mostly in his face. A second look gave me the impression it wasn’t so much that his face had aged as much as the way he held himself. He stood at the base of a raised platform, stiff and unyielding as he stared back at me. What burned in his gaze squashed whatever unconscious hope there had been for a cheerful reconciliation. No, he’d tied up his hopes of a dynasty into my parents and they’d failed to provide him with a grandson to raise to be the tyrant he wanted. Instead, they’d had me and wouldn’t risk my mother’s life on another try. In me, he saw his hopes of an empire going up in flames. I was moving across the garden before I realized what I was doing. People were between us, but I ignored them. They moved. My gaze remained glued to my grandfather’s face as the distance melted away. I didn’t have much of a plan, but the closer I came to him, the more I realized that the hatred he felt was bigger than I was. By the time I reached him, I no longer wanted to talk to him. Instead, I swept my skirts aside and did the unthinkable. I marched up the nine steps to the simple stone bench and turned to face the silent crowd. For a moment, I just stood and met as many looks as I could. Liveried boys rushed to light the torches around me. When the last torch flamed to life, I took my hand
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from Cole’s and stepped back. For the first time since we’d arrived, I looked at him and saw something akin to fear blazing in his eyes. Someday, I’d have to warn him about asking me to do things. It always had a way of backfiring. I guess I was just contrary by nature. He bowed low and backed back down the steps, stopping off to the side. Close enough to be of help if I needed it, but far enough away that he wasn’t infringing on protocol. I was guessing, but since no one threw a fit about it, I figured I was right. I also figured that if I needed his kind of help, I was in serious trouble. “Well, here I am.” It came out flippant, but that was okay. I was in a flippant mood. Sweeping the skirt aside, I settled on the bench and waited for people to pick their chins up off the ground. Sometimes, it’s a good thing to be a queen, if only for a day.
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Chapter Two The only sound across the garden was the distant chirp of crickets. If I’d been wearing hair pins, I’d have pulled one out to see exactly how loud it would have been against the marble. It didn’t last, of course, but it was nice while it did. The outburst didn’t come from my grandfather, like I half expected it to, but from farther back in the crowd. “This is absurd!” Meeting my grandfather’s gaze, we both ignored the man gliding up the walkway as if he hadn’t spoken. It had to be DeSoto since he wasn’t waiting with the other major houses near the dais. Thanks to Cole’s briefing in the car, I felt as if I could identify most of the major players I’d have to contend with tonight. Mentally, I thanked my mother for drilling the house symbols into my head despite my protests, because that helped, too. Between the two, I wasn’t the ignorant savage they all might have expected. Shock was giving way on my maternal grandfather’s face, replaced by suspicion and something deeper. I’d bet my favorite reading chair that he was trying to figure out a way to spin this entire scene to his own advantage. He was nothing if not politically savvy. “How dare you sit in our presence?” That was going to be DeSoto’s argument? Even in my ignorance, I could tick off three bigger insults for him to scream about. Repressing the smile on my face would have been impossible, so I didn’t waste the effort to try. It wasn’t a pretty smile, even I knew that. I was feeling entirely too power drunk and smug for it to be. “Well.” I paused for effect. One, two, three heartbeats. “The law states that the highest born officiates formal calls to council unless there is a superior elected official. Is there anyone here who claims to hold that right over me?” “You’re…”
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DeSoto’s face was flushed to a rather unbecoming shade of red that didn’t complement his peaches and cream complexion one iota. I was willing to bet he took care of his skin. He just struck me as that vain. Not only was his hair carefully styled to accent the sharp planes of his face, but his eyebrows were waxed from the artful curve of them. I mean, come on, no man has perfect arches in his eyebrows. “Lord DeSoto, do you have a problem with my granddaughter?” The voice came from the shadows and I saw a man step out into the torch light. For a moment, my heart stopped. The little girl inside of me cried because Andrew DeStephano looked so much like his son that I wanted to run to him and throw my arms around him. Daddy, I miss you so much. But this man wasn’t my beloved daddy. He was a force to be dealt with. People flowed back out of his path as he strolled toward the area in front of me where the other eight House Lords were gathering. The diffidence they showed him gave me an idea as to how the balance of power was shifting among them. From what Cole had told me, the nine major families were squabbling, and it looked as if my paternal grandfather was winning. I made a note to ask Cole about it, later. Speaking of… My gaze locked onto his and I gave him a small inclination of my head. I felt a little better at not being abandoned. My attention was yanked back to the drama unfolding when DeSoto opened his mouth wide enough to swallow his foot. “This is intolerable insolence, Lord DeStephano. Surely, you see that…” His tone was both cajoling and condescending. That took talent. None of the major players were buying it, either, from the looks going around. “Are you offering to challenge her rights?” All the breath left him in one swoop and his face paled. I pitied the man. By showing up tonight and stepping into my role, I was forcing him to move sooner than he was ready. Whatever support he’d been expecting from his peers was obviously not there as the crowd melted away from him. “Lord DeStephano, sir. I understand she’s your granddaughter, but surely you must acknowledge that she’s been neglectful of her duties. If she wished to be an active part of
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our society, she should have come forward when she reached her majority and presented herself to the council. A proper marriage could have been arranged…” Marriage? Oh, these people were out of their minds. Somehow, I was betting he had a son just about my age who would have been the “perfect” candidate. No, thank you. “You know, Lord DeSoto, I think you’re forgetting one crucial point. My parents were banished. If I’d come here four years ago begging for your favor, you’d have had the right to slit my throat as much as hear me out. The only way to return from a banishment order is by invitation.” Pulling the engraved invitation out of my evening purse, I waved it into the light. His face showed anger and more than a little resentment. He had expected me to be ignorant of the laws, and the fact that I wasn’t infuriated him. While my parents may not have preached court etiquette, they’d hardly been neglectful of drumming the laws that I’d have to live by as a shapeshifter. Ignorance won’t keep you alive, knowing the rules will. “Lord DeStephano—” DeSoto’s appeal was cut off by a forceful voice. “Are you issuing a challenge?” The man who asked the question stood in the rough semi-circle that had evolved in front of me. It was as if none of them wanted to have the others at their backs. Court dynamics at work. Mr. DeSoto had a heartbeat where he gaped like a fish, then collected himself. “Lord DeLuca, I issue no challenge. The girl should have better manners.” “Lord DeSoto, we all understand your objection to having Princess DeStephano present this evening. I believe the purpose of this meeting was to declare a vote for the tigers to take their place among the voting council before they meet to ratify some rather progressive motions this summer. Since all the pertinent members are present, shall we have the vote? Then all minor issues can be addressed. My lady?” It took me a moment to realize that the bow and the question were aimed at me. “By all means, go ahead. The floor is open for nominations.” Several young men were put forward by their alphas and I couldn’t help but notice that they all looked wet behind the ears. Figureheads, the lot of them. No one could
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possibly believe any of them had the innate power to hold the position. Nervously, they stood on the bottom step facing me. They were all eying me like a starving man would eye a steak. If they thought I came with the job, they were going to be sorely disappointed. With a frown, I waved them around and decided to make sure they knew it. “Turn around, boys. I’m not the one you need to be looking at. After all, I’m not part of the package.” More than one person chuckled at that and I wondered if I was missing something in the bargain. Nope, still the master of my own fate, thank you. If and when I chose a mate, it wasn’t going to be some poor milksop who would faint if I said “Boo”. One by one, they turned around. When there were a dozen of them, Lord DeLuca closed the floor and inclined his head toward me. Something about his manner told me he would be an ally, if I gave him a chance. It was nice to know I had one. I nodded back to him and then he surprised me. “As the nominations are closed, House DeLuca will cast the first vote, with my lady’s permission? House DeLuca declares for Princess Alexandra DeStephano.” Effort alone kept my chin out of my lap. When had I made the ballot? “House DeStephano declares for our daughter, Princess Alexandra DeStephano.” “House DeRusso declares for our daughter, Princess Alexandra DeStephano.” I’m sure my mother was rolling over in her grave. I watched my grandfathers look at one another across the circle and felt a shiver run down my spine. It was probably the first time in thirty years they’d agreed on anything. I was equally certain that they were both thinking of ways to manipulate me into being the figurehead they’d hoped for, too. Well, even the power players had to learn to live with disappointment. One by one, the chips fell. The entire nine ruling houses voted for me over their sons standing before me. Of course, they were all probably thinking I was going to be open for wooing and they would come by the seat honestly. They should have known better. I was my mother’s daughter, after all. “Since it’s unanimous, there’s no reason to call a vote of the minor houses. Welcome, princess, and may your reign be prosperous.”
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Reign? I wasn’t going to be the one who led them into the twenty-first century. I had a life and it didn’t include making decisions for them in the long term. This was only for the next voting meeting then I was off the hook for another decade. Surely, they’d have found someone else before then. The conversation in the car played back through my mind and I felt horribly set-up. My gaze found Cole’s as he dropped to one knee on the edge of the circle in front of me. It was like pushing over dominoes. My grandfathers were the first to stand back up and everyone else followed. Just like that, the conversations buzzed through the crowd. I’d forgotten just how many people were there as the force of it washed over me. “Thank you, all. I understand I’m allowed to choose some advisors to help me?” “You are, madam.” Lord DeLuca was entirely too smug for my liking and I wondered how much of a dissention factor was running in the crowd tonight. If this went to hell in a hand basket, I was blaming him, personally. I hoped he understood that. I read the house badges on the young men who were edging to the top of the crowd. Blinking, I realized the nagging little detail that had bugged me when I’d arrived. Cole had been announced as a lord, but his coat was lacking the golden embroidered badge that signified his status. In fact, his coat was lacking any adornment, at all. He wore a plain black tux in lieu of the formal dinner jackets around him. Of course, that made him stand out like a sore thumb. “Lord Reyes, please step forward for the honor.” Why did I give him what he wanted? Simple. I didn’t know anyone else there and I could always disappoint him, later. Besides, he was part of the reason I was in this mess, so he might as well be part of the solution. Power was a wonderful thing. If I’d not appointed anyone, the speculation would have been that I was going to try to muscle my way through things or that I was ignorant of the ways things were run. I wasn’t brave or hungry enough to want to muscle my way through anything tonight, and I couldn’t afford the weakness of assumed ignorance. I knew enough to get me killed. I was going to trust Cole not to let that happen.
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Unfortunately, Cole wasn’t the one who stepped forward. I watched a blonde young man about my age start up the steps with a frown. “Who are you?” “I’m Lord Thomas Reyes, Lady Alexandra.” That he neglected to give me my title meant that he thought he was my equal. The look on his face said he wanted to be my superior. I disliked that and him. Raising my hand, I shook my head. Two could play at that game. “I didn’t mean you, Mr. Reyes. I meant Cole.” His face flashed with temper and I knew I didn’t like him for a reason. I rarely went wrong when I trusted my instincts. “I am the legitimate heir to the Reyes House. You called for me.” “My oversight, Thomas.” “Thomas, step aside.” Lord DeLuca was gaining a lot of bonus points with me tonight. “I refuse to step aside for a Spanish whore’s bastard.” Well, if the jury had been out on my opinion of him that would have settled it. I watched Cole’s face still. Stepping up on the steps, he walked across them until he stood opposite Thomas. Standing side-by-side, the resemblance was striking. While they were polar opposites in coloring and manner, they had the same sharp, aristocratic bone structure. “My lady, I ask your permission to address this insult.” There wasn’t any asking in his tone, but I understood the point. The formality of the situation made him say the words. I don’t normally approve of violence to solve a problem, but I had a suspicion that Thomas wouldn’t settle it any other way. Some boys just had to have the sense beat into them. “Go right ahead.” “So it’s challenge for the right to her, then?” Did every man here think I was a prize to be won? I had always understood my parents’ decision to leave society to live their own life, but for the first time, I
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sympathized. If this was what my mother had gone through, it was a wonder I’d been born at all. “No, Thomas, the challenge is for the slight to my mother. Lady DeStephano can answer her own challenges, if you’d like to issue one? You’ll still have to face me in the challenge circle, though.” “You’re awfully sure of that, Cole. What have you been doing when the rest of us haven’t been watching?” The way his gaze slid over me let the insinuation be all the worse. That some of the people in the crowd followed it and whispered behind their hands really made it worse. Cole’s temper flared and it washed hot across my skin. The tiger liked anger and mine responded. It took all of my control to keep my power from washing out to meet his. I had enough problems without advertising that my parents had bred true and my tiger was begging to join in the fun. Without looking at me, Cole stalked away with Thomas behind him. From my seat, I saw the crowd part and ring a marble circle set in the middle of the garden. It was gorgeously arranged as a focal point with paths branching off into the deeper recesses of the garden. Until the people ringed it, I wouldn’t have called it a challenge circle. Whoever had designed this garden had been a genius. I was fascinated with it all to the point I didn’t notice the two men slowly undressing. By the time I realized it, Cole was turning his back to strip off his pants. It took a moment for it to register and I had to look away. The guy already hit my radar and the last thing I wanted to do was gawk at him. I did see enough to know that his coloring was absolutely natural. Well, either that or he tanned in the nude. That thought alone reinforced the urge to jerk my gaze as far away from him as I could manage. “Don’t turn away.” I blinked and found myself in company I’d not even sensed. Hot embarrassment flooded through me and all I could do was blame it on the hormonal overload. Grinning at Lord DeLuca, I waved him to the bench to sit beside me. Instead, he dropped to sit on the cool marble, heedless of his elegant slacks.
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“Thank you, but I’m not exactly in the habit of watching men strip. I’ll preserve my modesty, thank you very much.” My tone was tart enough to make him laugh, which brought an answering smile to my face. “Modesty. I didn’t realize it still existed.” My mouth dropped open and I laughed with him. “Well, maybe if you started asking everyone not to strip out in packs to go running under the moon, there might be a little bit more of it.” “Ah, too late for that.” I followed the direction he was looking and saw what I’m sure Thomas wanted me to see. He stood facing me, letting me get an eyeful. Putting on a bland face, I looked directly at his face and waited. I wasn’t sure what upset him more, the fact I didn’t check out what he was offering or that I didn’t turn away in embarrassment. Either way, he snarled and shifted in a flow of magic and blinding light. One moment, he stood as a man, the next, as a tiger in burnished orange. I was surprised to see his color, though. My mother had platinum blonde hair like my grandfather and they were both whites. My father had passed on his dark hair and his golden color on to me. Genetics are a wonderful thing. I’d have expected Thomas to be a white from the fairness of his skin and hair, too. Cole earned a few extra points in my book by not making a display of himself. Instead, he shifted with his back to me and his color surprised me, too. He was the rarest color of them all—black. I wondered if I’d be able to see the black stripes on the black coat in the daylight like the black jaguar I’d seen in the zoo, but let the fascinated thought pass. He turned to me with a graceful twist of his body, bending a knee in salute. I’ll say this for the guy; he certainly had flare and style. Guess some guys are just born with it. In size, the two cats were in the same class. They began to circle one another in a slow stalk. Thomas swiped a claw out, but Cole dodged back easily. I suddenly had the horrible realization that this could turn ugly, fast.
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“Tell me they’re not going to…” I waved my hand, trying to find words that didn’t sound so, well, fatal. “First blood, only, princess.” Glancing down at him, I realized that I didn’t know anything about him. My family stood just a few feet away from me; however, this man was the one who sat beside me to answer my questions. “Why are you doing this?” “What?” It was a shock to realize he wasn’t that much older than I was. Because he’d stepped in to mediate earlier, I’d thought he was older. All shapeshifters aged well. It was in the genes. Actually, it was the constant remaking of the body and the magic. The honest questioning in his face made me like him, and trust him, so much more. “This. Why did you put me forward? Better yet, why didn’t any of you put up anyone fit to fill the bill?” He flashed a dimpled grin at me and had the audacity to wink. “It was all in the plan, ma’am. All in the plan.” Before I had a chance to ask what plan, movement caught the corner of my eye and I looked up. Any doubt I had that this had been brewing for awhile died when Cole sprang forward, raking his paw hard enough on Thomas’s head to send him sprawling onto the ground. It should have ended there, but Cole had left his claws sheathed. Until blood was spilled, the fight was still on. Cole sprang and added several more powerful blows to Thomas’s flanks before bounding back, pacing while the orange tiger gained his feet. Hatred burned in his amber gaze as he launched himself at Cole with a roar. Cole dropped and rolled under the leap, coming up on his feet behind his brother. Recovering, he launched himself to land on his back. For a moment, the black fur stood out starkly against the orange. I bit back a scream as his mouth opened wide and he clamped down on the back of Thomas’s neck. Time stood still as the momentum of the two cats sent them into a roll, but Cole held on. When they stopped, Cole stood over Thomas, teeth dug into his neck. He thought about
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it. I could see it in his eyes. One quick shake and he could snap that fragile spine. Letting my power roll out, I stood up. “That’s enough, Cole. Let him up.” Cole growled, gave Thomas a little shake, and then did what I told him to do. Honor had been satisfied. He shifted back before he reached his clothes and I jerked my gaze away only to find the crowd staring at me like I’d grown another head. Realizing I was still broadcasting my power, I cut it off and stuffed it back in the box. So much for hiding my light, so to speak. And to think, I had thought to come in here and not flaunt the fact that my parents had bred true to their power. Things would have gone a lot easier if the general population didn’t know that I was magically gifted beyond the norm.
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Chapter Three “That was impressive.” I turned to look at DeLuca who’d not even bothered to stand up. “What?” “Most people can’t pull back the shift when they let out that much power. You just turned it off as if it were child’s play.” I cocked my head and looked at him. I didn’t understand his point, but it really didn’t matter. When I turned back to the circle, Thomas was walking to his clothes, blood streaming down his back from the neck wound. Injuries in our alternate bodies were still injuries. Shifting between them didn’t fix it. In fact, depending on what kind it was, it could make it worse. “Well, considering the excitement, I have a bit of advice, Lady Sasha.” With liquid grace, Lord DeLuca surged to his feet to stand next to me. The laughing man from moments before had disappeared to be replaced by the diplomat. “What’s that?” “Send everyone home. There’s too much dissention in the ranks to risk a hunt tonight. Someone will end up dead in the woods that isn’t prey and they’ll try to pin it on you.” He was a smart man. I can take advice, so I did exactly what he said. By the time formal leave had been taken from the nine House Lords, the car was waiting with a full escort. This time, Cole didn’t sit up front with Henry of no last name. Instead, he slid into the seat across from me and rolled up the security glass. I waited until Henry had pulled out of the drive and onto the main road before I pulled back my fist and punched him as hard as I could in the jaw. It hurt, but it was worth it to see the look on his face. “What was that for?” “That was for setting me up. What, exactly, did I get suckered into tonight?” www.samhainpublishing.com
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“Sasha…” Something in my face stopped him and he slid across the seat to sit on the opposite corner from me. I guess he didn’t feel safe. Imagine that. Of course, I’d gotten in my blow. He was too much a gentleman to strike me back so I was hardly going to sit there and beat on him. Then again, if he were the kind of man who would hit me back, he wouldn’t be sitting here to begin with. It made me stop and think about my choices. I could have chosen one of my grandfathers or one of my uncles to guide me. Why, exactly, had I chosen him? Because, in the brief time I’d known him, he made me feel safe in a way none of the others did. They all wanted to use me and turn me into a puppet. Cole and his faction wanted to use me, but I don’t think they were of a mind to be puppet masters. Playwrights, maybe, but not puppeteers. Well, if they thought I was going to read from their script, they had the wrong girl. “You could have gotten me killed. You realize that, don’t you?” “Probably better than you do.” His tone was sharp and the angry look on his face didn’t bode well for me. Of course, I’d expected him to put up a fight, but if I couldn’t handle one alpha tiger, the chances of me handling an entire society of them were absolutely nil. One at a time sounded good to me. Plus, like it or not, I needed this one, but that didn’t mean I was going to let him start out with the upper hand. That was just asking for disaster. “Then why did you do it?” “Because we had to know if you were strong enough.” Now, what did that mean, exactly? “Strong enough for what?” Suspicion was rife in my tone and his chuckle filled the car with enough force to make me shiver. It wasn’t that he was using power. Quite the contrary, it was just a normal reaction. But, it was full and completely male. It said more than words that he knew the score on the sexual balance running between us. Until that moment, I’d not realized he felt the same pull to me that I had to him. Maybe that was his intention, to sidetrack me, but it wasn’t going to work.
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“Strong enough?” “Strong enough to keep things from falling apart.” “How about we start at the beginning? All these cryptic hints are beginning to give me a headache.” His mouth turned up in a half smile. “You’ll feel better when you get home and get your run in.” “And what makes you think I’m going to go dance under the moon after all this?” “Because I’ve felt your power. You’ve let so much out tonight that you won’t have any peace if you don’t.” I hated that he was right, but I let it go. “You sound like you’re talking from experience.” “Trust me, I know. The very alphic of us have that problem. Tonight, you had power brushing around you from everywhere and your tiger is ready to embrace all that power. It’s simply evolution of the species. Together, we’re stronger than we are apart. The strong bolster the weak and feed off one another on a magical level.” “And if I go home, take a bath and go to bed?” “You’ve never woken up among shredded sheets, have you?” I blinked and shook my head. Something like pain flashed across his face, but he just shook his head. “You’ll learn. You’re not seeing any humans, are you?” The abrupt shift in topic made my mind stall before I glared at him. He was serious as he stared back at me. His face told me he had a point to make and I’d see it, if I’d just pay attention. Well, my attention span was shot for the evening. He was just going to have to be a little plainer. “What has my personal life got to do with anything?” He gave a long sigh at my indignation before shaking his head. “Nothing except have you considered what could happen if you shifted in your sleep and the person sharing the bed with you couldn’t defend themselves against claws or teeth?”
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Oh. My face must have shown my horror at the thought, because he nodded. “Exactly. Now that you’re going to be around alphas, you may want to cut back on dating any plain people until you understand how all that energy is going to affect you. Your power level is above anything I’ve ever seen, so the only way to see how much it’s going to affect you is to wait and see. The genie is out of the bottle and there’s no telling just how the wishes will go.” And stay away from people who can’t defend themselves. Yep, sounded like a plan to me. “Well, I don’t date humans, so we’re safe.” The fact my parents had always discouraged it was none of Cole’s business. Of course, since I was banned from the tiger community, it meant that there hadn’t been a lot of dates over the years. “Do you date at all?” “None of your business. Now, back to the issue at hand?” “How do you know that’s not part of the business?” “Call it a hunch. You may want something from me, but it’s not just a date.” “We don’t have enough time to tell you everything. I have a sneaking suspicion you’re going to want more than the bare details and I’ve had a hard night. I’d like to get to bed before dawn, unless you’re offering to let me stay over?” He said it with a totally innocent smile that could mean oh-so-many things. “Thank you, but I don’t let strange men into my bed. It’s a rule.” His smile broke into laughter. He laughed so hard that his shoulders shook with it and tears ran down his face. “I was actually thinking of one of your spare rooms. Your house has several of them. But if you’re thinking that way…” The blush flaming my cheeks gave me away. I felt sixteen with my first crush. I didn’t know him, at all, and had no idea how to handle the attraction. “No. I don’t know you nearly well enough for any of that.” “Well, why don’t you take advantage of the chance to get to know me?”
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Now, that was the perfect opening on more than one level. “What’s the story between you and Thomas?” The teasing tension in the car was gone in a snap. On one hand, I was relieved, on the other, disappointed. Oh well, I needed to know what was going on with him if this was going to get in our way. Something told me it was. “I would refuse to answer and tell you it’s none of your business, but you’ve a right to ask. You need to know why I’m not aligned in the power struggles that are crippling us. We’re brothers, but then you knew that already. My mother is an artist from Madrid. She came here to study art at the college. My father and Thomas’s mother were already committed to a political marriage when she presented herself to the local community. She was beautiful and exotic and everyone wanted her. I think my father was more interested in possessing her to prove that he could, over any real feelings. My mother was young, powerful, naïve, and on her own for the first and only time in her life. She was easy prey for them.” He paused and I didn’t interrupt. I could imagine what it was like not only for him, but for his mother, all those years ago. Watching him, I learned several important things because he was too lost in thoughts and memories to remember to control his body language. He felt things deeply, but more than that, he could see beyond the personal to the objective. “I was born ten months into her year here. She took me with her when she returned to Spain, but her parents were furious. To them, I was an obstacle to a beneficial marriage. When I was four, my mother did marry. After she bore my brother Enrique…things were hard for her. Her family refused to accept me and her husband’s tolerance was limited to how I directly affected his heir. When I was seven, my mother sent me to boarding school in Switzerland. I attended Oxford after that, but then found myself with no here to call home. If I’d been lower on the power scale, I could have petitioned for bachelor status somewhere, but no one would believe I didn’t have aspirations to be a king. So, I called my father. I suppose, truth be told, it could have been worse. If my father hadn’t acknowledged me when I was born, then my grandparents
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would have been within their rights to slaughter me in the cradle. If he hadn’t sponsored me here, I would have been living rogue, going from territory to territory living until I was run off. Thomas, to answer your question, likes being the golden boy and my coming threatened that because I’m stronger than he is. His mother indulged him and made him weak. He’s powerful enough, magically, but not a true alpha, and his core is weak because he doesn’t understand that everything isn’t supposed to come easily to you.” For the first time, he lifted his eyes and we looked at one another. That was a lesson we both knew all too well. “Do you have aspirations to be a king, Cole?” A ghost of a smile colored his face. “If I said I hadn’t thought about it before I met you tonight, it would be a lie. You don’t strike me as the type to forgive lies easily, so I’ll admit it. Now that I’ve felt you, no, I don’t have any desire to take your throne. I think you’re much better suited for it.” I returned his smile and felt the car slowing. A glance out the window told me I was home. Henry pulled the car into the long circular drive designed to accommodate carriages instead of cars. I faltered in my good-bye, suddenly feeling awkward. “Well…” “I’ll be in touch tomorrow, princess. We’ve put together some files for you to help you become more aware of the precariousness of our situation.” “Thank you, Cole.” “You’re very welcome, princess.” Henry reached in to help me out of the car and gave me a low bow. Standing on the porch, I watched them drive back down the driveway. Cole had been right about one thing, though. I needed a run. Undressing in my bedroom, I slipped on my favorite robe to walk out onto the back porch. It seemed crazy to dress just to walk outside and drop the robe, but I was being particularly selfconscious, all of a sudden. Dropping the robe on the shadows of my porch, I let the magic take me. The rush of freedom was intoxicating. Staring down at my gold paws, I stretched like the cat I was.
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Gathering myself, I leaped from the porch and the race was on. Some nights, I stalked and hunted for the sport of it. Tonight, I ran. I ran for the joy of it. Running through the trees, I ignored all caution. By the time it dawned on me that I wasn’t alone, I was deep in the forest. I repressed a moment of panic and realized I had home field advantage. Angling to a clearing on the edge of my property, I scented the breeze as I led them into my trap. Unfortunately, just the tickling of power at my back told me they were there. Whirling on my heels, I stopped in a crouch, my tail whipping behind me. The two tigers came into the clearing and I don’t think I was really surprised to see Cole drop onto his belly in the moonlight. The massive orange tiger beside him had to be Henry. He settled into the grass, watching and waiting. Growling, I warned them off. This was my land and my refuge. I didn’t want company. Not tonight, anyway. Cole rose and strolled toward me, all grace and beauty. Stopping just before me, he purred at me before taking that final step to rub his cheek against mine. Something gave inside me and I realized it was the wall I’d built against the loneliness. Tonight, just for tonight, I had friends to run with. What harm was that? Whirling on my quarters, I bounded away and stopped to look over my shoulder. Well, come on. With that, I bolted across the clearing and felt them bound after me. No longer trying to be sneaky, Cole’s power flowed out and mixed with mine. Henry, much to my surprise, was also powerful enough to cast his power with ours so that we were fueling each other as we darted through the trees. Angling back to the beach, I was beginning to enjoy myself when Cole crashed into me, sending me tumbling into the surf. Coming up, sputtering water, I glared at him only to have him give me an innocent look back. Oh, the game was on. Unfortunately, he outweighed me by at least a hundred pounds of tiger, so by the time we reached my dock, I was dripping with salt water and he was only marginally wet from the one lucky shot I’d managed to get in.
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With a sniff of indignation, I trotted up to my back porch and had a moment of indecision. I couldn’t shift to get back into my robe without flashing them, and I couldn’t get into the house without shifting. If I waited, would they go away and let me have my privacy? Glancing back, I saw Henry sitting with his back to me, but Cole was dropped onto his belly, watching me. If a cat could laugh, his face was laughing at me. With a sigh, I turned back to the back door and shifted, grabbing for my robe before I was fully human, again. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen his backside tonight, too.
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Chapter Four “You’ve been holding out on me!” I jumped and frowned as I juggled the original first edition Hemingway in my hands. I’d been working through a box of private donations for the Literacy Campaign fund raising auction, but not having a lot of luck. Just couldn’t seem to keep my head in the game. Wonder why? The answer was actually pretty simple. I kept playing over the twists and turns my life had taken last night. It sure beat authenticating dusty old books. Of course, a week ago, I’d have been in heaven to see this many first editions in one place. Shaking my head out of the clouds, I glared at Eva Hutchinson, best friend and colleague. “Don’t you ever knock?” “Since when do I have to? You usually hear me a mile away. Well?” Her face shone with the merriment and good humor and she was fairly dancing in her skin. My own was carefully blank as I waited. It didn’t take long, but with Eva, it rarely did. “There’s a yummmmy man at the front counter who claims to be your boyfriend.” “One night doesn’t make him my boyfriend.” I spoke before I thought and mentally smacked myself on the head. Eva had a bit of a lascivious streak and one hint could fuel her for weeks. Until I could decide exactly how much my life was going to change, I hadn’t wanted to tell her anything about my new “friends”. “Oh, ho! You admit it. You spent the night with him, didn’t you?” “I so did not. We met at the party I had to go to last night and he drove me home. That’s it, drove me home, walked me to the door, and went on his merry little way. Not so much as a goodnight kiss.” www.samhainpublishing.com
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“Then why is he up front catering to the delusions of dear Miss Carter?” I looked at her and prayed she was joking. Dear Miss Carter was our boss and a proverbial cat lady. In fact, she favored exotics and had a breeding pair of Bengal cats that were absolutely gorgeous. They even liked me, so they couldn’t be that bad. Cole Reyes was right up her alley. Speaking of the devil… “I swear I don’t know why Sasha has kept you such a secret, Cole. This is the book vault and where she spends most of her time. We have a back door with a keypad, and I’ll make sure you get a key so you don’t have to come in the front when you want to visit.” I gaped through the window of my workroom at the sight of silver-haired Eliza Carter strolling on Cole’s arm as if she didn’t run two miles every morning. For a moment, I felt like I’d fallen into an alternate reality. Eva snickered and turned her back so Miss Carter wouldn’t see her. Me, I was left standing where she could beam me with those cool blue eyes. Yep, there would hell to pay. “I wasn’t keeping him a secret, Miss Carter, I swear it. Cole and I just met last night.” I glared at him and ignored the way he smiled at me as well as the answering flip in my belly. “Now, Sasha, there’s no reason to be modest and hide such a gentleman.” The chastising tone in her voice told me she wasn’t buying it. “Miss Eliza, Sasha is perfectly correct. I’m the one who took it upon myself to come drag her off to lunch to further our acquaintance. Our families are friends, but Sasha hasn’t been so kind to me, yet.” The look Miss Carter gave me was somewhat mollified. It also screamed, “Marry him, now!” What was it about everyone who’d ever been in love wanting to see the rest of us poor fools paired off? “Well, Sasha is one of our best workers. In fact, she looks a little bit peaked, don’t you think, Eva? She hasn’t had an afternoon off since she started here. I do believe she looks like she could use a bit of a rest. You’ll take care of her for us, won’t you, Cole?”
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Honey would have melted in her mouth. I know the look on my face was pure unadulterated horror as Miss Carter let go of Cole’s arm to grab mine and shove me at him. “I certainly see your point, Miss Eliza. I’ll take her straight home and fix her lunch myself.” This wasn’t happening. People in my life who care for me don’t shove me at strangers and cheerfully wave good-bye. It does not happen. Eva ran for my purse and keys, leaned in for a hug, and whispered. “God, he’s got a nice ass.” I blushed crimson as Cole pretended not to hear. His hearing was more than acute enough for it and we both knew it. Before I had a chance to seriously object, I was standing in the employee parking lot of the library with my purse in hand, and my keys firmly in Cole’s. Who needs subtle when you’ve got Miss Carter? “Well, that went a little better than planned.” I blinked up at him as he frowned at the keys. Looking at the parking lot, he finally held up the key ring and hit the panic button. The tiny blue convertible went a little wild with headlights flashing and horn screaming. “You could have asked.” “You could have volunteered the information.” Staring up into his smug face, I gave into the impulse and kicked him in the shin. Stalking toward my car, my little display of temper was ruined when Cole jingled my keys in his hand. “Remember, you need me, princess.” “Look, Cole. I have things to do. My life doesn’t center around society just because I stepped up to the plate last night. Now I’ll have to come in on my day off to get caught up. If we send them up to Charleston, it’s going to cost us money for shipping and appraising fees. Money we’d just as soon slink into the literacy campaign. This might have been a lark for you, but I have a job to do and a life to live.”
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My temper was well and truly up. It was all I could do not to stalk back to him and poke my finger in his chest to emphasize my point. He raised his hand like he was going to toss me the keys, but stopped, curling his fingers around them, instead. The flirting playboy was gone and in its place stood a man I didn’t know. He was hard. Hard in a way that had nothing to do with physical and everything to do with mental and magical. “Is that the only car you own?” “Yes. What’s wrong with it?” I turned to look at my beloved Boxster and frowned. I’d treated myself to the car when I’d come into the last of my inheritance last year at twenty-five. It was one of the few things I owned that I actually felt proprietary about. “It’s a convertible.” “Yeah, that’s part of the fun.” “It’s not secure. I’ll have a car brought around for you tonight.” “Why do I need another car?” “Well, your bodyguards won’t fit in this one, for starters.” “Bodyguards? I don’t need bodyguards.” He raised an eloquent eyebrow at me as if to say, “You don’t?” “Why do I need a bodyguard?” “Bodyguards, as in more than one. It comes with the territory. You also get a personal assistant, a house, a couple of cars, and an income. Being the leader of our little society does come with perks and is very much a full time job.” “Fine, move the staff into the house and use the income to keep them all up.” “I didn’t think you wanted to move from your plantation house, so I haven’t ordered the house opened up.” He seemed perplexed, caught off-guard by my answer. I had a moment of smug satisfaction before I burst his bubble. “Oh, I’m not. I like my house just fine.” “Where you go, they go. It’s not open for negotiation. Can we please move this out of the parking lot? Your coworkers are probably taking bets by now.”
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I blinked and looked up. Sure enough, Eva, Kate, and Colleen were staring down from the upper reading rooms. From the looks on their faces, he might not have been too far off on the bets. “Fine. You can follow me home.” “I’m sorry, but I don’t have a car. Your assistant dropped me off. Her name is Tori, by the way. She’s waiting to meet you at the house. You’ll find she’s more than adequate for your needs. If she doesn’t suit, we’ll find someone who does.” The entire time he was talking, he was walking toward me. I watched him come with a sense of foreboding until I finally had to turn around to follow his motion. He gently tucked his hand at the small of my back to urge me toward the car. I don’t know why it surprised me to have him open the car door, but it did. I drew the line when he reached to help me with the seatbelt. “I can do it.” It sounded grumpy, even to me. Defeat wasn’t something I took lightly, and I knew I was sunk. One rash decision and my life was changed forever. That’s what I got for trying to make a statement. Somewhere in heaven, my parents were laughing at me. The drive back to my house was mercifully quiet. It’s hard to talk over the roar of wind with the top down. Cole handled the car like he enjoyed the speed and responsiveness of it. Of course, so did I. It was the main reason I’d bought it. I loved the way it begged you to go just a little faster or dart through traffic. Finally, the moment of truth arrived. Pulling into my oak-lined drive, I had a moment of shock. There were cars parked in front of my house, on the grass, in front of my rose bushes. The drive had gone a good ways to calming my temper, but that threatened to set me off, again. “Do they not see the driveway?” Cole glanced at me. I could see he wasn’t following the logic. It was such a man thing. “The cars. They parked their cars practically on top of my rose bushes. That bed of roses has been there for a hundred years.”
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“I’m sure they didn’t want to block the drive, Sasha. Is there somewhere you’d rather they park?” He guided the car to a stop in front of the walk and I sprang out over the door. “Yeah, they can park their cars at their own houses.” He rolled his eyes at me and I turned to head up the walk. The sight of people coming out my front door stopped me cold. “And why were they in my house, Mr. Reyes?” “I let them in.” I turned to the porch to see the woman shouldering between two of the men. Unlike them, she met my gaze squarely. She must have been made of sterner stuff not to run for cover because I could tell that was what the boys wanted to do. “And why, exactly, did you let them into my house?” “Because we needed to secure the perimeter and install the security system.” She looked at me with a perplexed expression. Oh, I’m sure it sounded perfectly logical to her, but it wasn’t her life being shanghaied. “What security system?” She looked up and past me, so I turned to face the man who had put it all in motion. “Mr. Reyes, would you care to explain any of this or are you going to let me eat them?” “Society frowns on cannibalism.” “Well, I’m the supreme commander. For me, we’ll make an exception.” One of the men on the porch laughed, but choked it back when I turned to glare at him. He stood tall and broad shouldered, like a football linebacker. His sandy brown hair was cut close to his head in a conservative haircut that didn’t go with the faded frat jersey he wore. “What’s your name?” “Warren, ma’am. Warren Reaves. Glad to be in your service.” “Okay, he can stay. The rest are fired.” “No.”
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I turned back to Cole and stalked around the car until I was crowding his personal space. “I don’t want them here.” “Go move your cars around to the back of the house. There’s a barn near the docks where the boats are stored. You can park next to it. Stay on the drive.” They melted away without a word. On one hand, I’d won an argument. On the other, it wasn’t the argument I’d wanted to win. Before I had a chance to start in on him, though, he unleashed his power to wash over me. Power, so thick and heavy it was like standing on the front edge of a tropical storm, took my breath away. Without warning, my own broke free to push his back so I was standing in my own pressure bubble. The two powers wrapped around each other even as he began to bend over me. I stand five feet seven in bare feet. In my two inch heels, I stood much closer to his six feet, give or take an inch. With the power washing over us, I felt closer to four feet as he crowded into my personal space, but pride made me stand my ground. “Do. You. Want. To. Die?” That made me step back and stare at him. Every word was enunciated through clenched teeth. I didn’t have a chance to ask what he meant because he took a step back, too, and just stared at me before elaborating. “Has it ever occurred to you to ask why we don’t have a member to sit on the voting council? Do you think that no one has wanted the job? The last one was three years ago and it was poison in his coffee that did him in. The one before that was a neat mugging victim. The one before that, a viper tucked into his bed. The one before that…” I was suddenly getting a very bad feeling about this. “Stop. I get the point.” “No, you don’t. I put you in this position. I planted the seed on the drive over last night. Of course, if I’d known you were going to jump right in and stage your own little revolution, I might have kept my mouth shut. But I didn’t know you were that wild at heart. Lord knows, your file didn’t even hint at it. But I did it all. It was my plan that put you in this position, so it’s my job to keep you safe. Safe means letting the people who are qualified to do their jobs, do them. It means you will have a security system. It means
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there will be guards in the house and on the grounds. It means that Tori will screen your mail and your messages. It means that you will be alive in six months to sit at that table and give the tigers a voice. Do you understand me?” I guess the gloves had come off, or rather, maybe I was seeing those black stripes on that black coat, after all. Instinct made me ask the question in the back of my mind. “Who are you so afraid of?” “Everyone. You’re such a wild card. I wouldn’t put it past the other groups to put out a mark against you. Unfortunately, you’re not safe among our own society, either. You have enemies. People who hated your parents will carry that grudge against you. Worse, people who were aspiring to climb the status ladder will hate you, too. Women who are after the strongest of us will be out to get you, because you’ve just become the most eligible socialite simply on power level, alone. They may not be willing to front an official hit, but they’ll be weak links for anyone who’s willing to buy them a drink and talk to them. There are a handful of people I will trust with your safety and I’m bringing them all here. Your house is big enough to accommodate them. If you’ve got a problem with it, we can open up the house on Grant. It was designed to be easier to defend, but this is where you’re most comfortable. If we put guards in the woods and make sure you never run alone, we should be able to work it out.” “Were the others in the house on Grant?” He blinked at me and nodded. “Yeah. It’s one of those big status mansions that sit off the river. Why?” “Because it didn’t do them any good, did it?” He saw my point with a reluctant half smile. “I’ll agree to take the necessary steps to make sure no one gets me, but there have to be limits. I’m a very private person. I bought this place because I love my solitude. I love running in the fields and swimming in the surf. I can’t have everyone under my feet all the time.” I watched him weigh the options before he sighed.
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“You’ll never know we’re here. Think of it this way, it’s free labor on getting the kinks out of this place. You need someone who can put a bit of the sparkle back into it.” “Someone you recommend?” My relief was obvious. I should be scared, but I wasn’t. Cole and company would keep me safe. I had a feeling he didn’t understand the meaning of the word failure. “I know an architect who would love a chance to get his hands on this place from a restorative angle.” “Really? Who?” He grinned at me and this time it bled all the way up to his eyes. “Me.” “You’re an architect?” “You sound so surprised. Did you think I ran around escorting ladies for my living?” I flushed with the realization that I honestly hadn’t thought about what he might be in his day job. Live and learn. I made the resolution not to make any more snap judgments and turned to walk into the house. “Do what needs to be doing, Cole. I’m going to get that lunch and take a nap.” “We need to start going over things, Sasha. Can the nap wait?” Glancing over my shoulder, I frowned at him. “You dragged me out of work for lunch and an afternoon. A nap won’t crimp your style while you get everyone squared away on the way things are going to run around here, now will it?” His sigh was loud as he followed me into the house. I found a deli tray in the kitchen with sandwiches and a fresh gallon of iced tea. Shaking my head, I looked around at the changes already being done. I walked out onto the back porch with a glass of tea in one hand and a sandwich in the other. “What are they doing?” I waved my hand to a small cluster of men who were hanging something in one of the downstairs windows. “Those are your camera receivers. It’s all wireless. We’re turning that room into our security command center. It was empty, so it was the most likely candidate. I’ve got the
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guards bunking two to a room upstairs and Tori claimed your guest room. She likes the way you decorate, by the way.” “Does Tori ever intend to tell me what she likes or is that your job, too?” It came out catty and snide and actually sounded jealous. Me? Jealous? Nah. But I was. The worst part of it was that he knew it. I could tell from his expression. He let the silence linger for a moment before answering with far too much satisfaction in his tone. “Tori and I are friends. That’s as far as it goes. We’ve never been interested in each other that way. There will be women who you may need to feel…proprietary…around, but she’s not one of them.” Proprietary, indeed. Let the man think what he wanted. Just because he fell into the demigod category as far as looks didn’t mean that every woman he met wanted to drag him off by his hair. I didn’t. Really. Taking a long swallow of my tea, I watched the object of our conversation coming up to the house with Warren. She laughed at something he said and I decided discretion was the better part of valor on this one. Tossing my hair over my shoulder, I headed back into the house. Cole’s whisper was just for me. “Coward.” “Don’t you know it?” Cole’s laughter chased me into the house and I escaped to my last refuge to think about the situation. I hadn’t planned on taking a nap, but as I lay on my bed letting the ceiling fan stir the gentle scent of magnolias in the air, sleep found me, anyway. Of course, I didn’t get to sleep long thanks to the myriad of people trooping around my house. Being used to quiet, every noise jolted me awake until I finally gave up and wandered downstairs. Cole and Tori were working in my library where Tori was setting up shop to run the household. While I was glad not to be responsible for it, it bothered me that I was losing my sanctuary. Maybe opening that big house wasn’t such a bad idea, after all. And so started my education into political science, Tiger style.
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Chapter Five “Go away.” I pulled the pillow over my head and groaned. There were reasons I lived alone in a house large enough to house a small army. Of course, I’d not really considered it until the army had invaded. “That’s no way to greet your confessor.” Yanking the pillow off my head, I rolled over and into a sitting position to stare at Eva. The smile tugging up from my heart had absolutely nothing to do with being glad to see her and everything to do with the fact she was shocked. It was all over her face and in every disapproving line of her body. I hadn’t known she had it in her. “I have nothing to confess.” “Yeah, right. Let’s see. There’s the barely dressed guy who answered the door who called me gorgeous and said you were still in bed, last he checked. There’s the other barely dressed guy who came down the stairs to go running who confirmed the fact. Then there’s Mr. Cole Reyes who came down, fully dressed, who said you wouldn’t get up no matter how hard he tried. He said something about keeping you up too late last night.” I fell back against my feather pillows, laughing at the look of sheer horror on her face. Cole was being perfectly honest. He had kept me up far too late last night, but not in a good way. He, Tori and I had been immersed in the backgrounds surrounding court politics for the last quarter of a century. The whole bodyguard issue had proved to be a problem. I’d gone to bed to find one of them curled up in the middle of my bed. His argument had been that I shouldn’t be left alone to sleep because then all the bogeymen would get me. I think I’d been more amused at his antics than Cole had been. Cole had informed him that if I needed a man to sleep with me, he’d be the man. We’d compromised. They checked the room and then he’d been stuck on the floor in front of it. He’d groused about sleeping on the floor, but www.samhainpublishing.com
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he’d not been too loud about it. Every watch through the night had come in to make sure I was still breathing, so I’d not slept really well. These guys were going to have to figure out a way to sort out the dynamics because if they didn’t start letting me sleep, the only danger around was going to be me. “Well?” Patting the bed beside me, I rolled onto my side. “I like the version of the evening in your head better than what actually happened. I was up all night, but we were talking. That’s it.” She gave me a suspicious glare. “Talking? You had that man all to yourself and all you wanted to do was talk? Sasha, honey, I’m not doing something right. Every time I think there’s hope for you, you turn around and disappoint me. All those guys, and…” “Morning, Sasha.” Eva turned to gape at Warren, who had stepped into the open door with a breakfast tray. “Brad and Paul are off to bed, so if you need anything, I’m your man.” I would have given my right arm for a camera. Eva’s mouth was literally open to her chin as she stared up at him. “I took the liberty of adding an extra breakfast plate for your friend, here. Paul said she was up here.” “And what else did Paul say?” I wasn’t even trying to hold back my laughter. “A gentleman doesn’t run carrying tales, ma’am. Cole said to remind you to drink your juice. You need your vitamins.” I took the tray and waved him off. He smiled as he closed the door behind him and I liked him that much better. “Who is that? Lord, you’ve turned around and built a harem. One good lay and…” “Eva Marie Hutchison, stop that. I’m not sleeping with any of them.” “Then what are they all doing here?”
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I sighed and looked down at my tray. I couldn’t tell her the truth, or at least not all of it. “They’re my bodyguards. Remember the whole family obligation thing? Well, it’s gotten a little crazy. Please don’t ask questions. Let’s just say that I’m going to have a shadow for awhile. In fact, I think I’ll arrange for Warren to come to work with me. I’ve never seen you struck speechless by a guy before. That might come in handy.” Eva grinned as she popped a strawberry in her mouth. “Don’t count on it. It won’t last. No man is so good that he can distract me that much.” “Now, on that, I’d be willing to place a wager.” “Oh please, he’s cute enough, but he’s got Boy Scout written all over him. I like my men a little on the wild side. He’d be boring in a month.” “A thousand dollars says he won’t be.” I watched her eyes go very round at the sum. “Sasha, I don’t have rich relatives. I don’t have that kind of money.” “Then you have to help me with the literacy campaign this year.” “Done. What are the terms?” “Thirty days. At the end of that, if he can still tie you in knots, I win. Don’t think you’ll get away with lying to me, either.” She laughed as she ate another strawberry. “You’re on.” I knew it was cheating since Warren was just outside the door and he heard every word, but I couldn’t find the energy to feel bad about it. Why was I trying to set my best friend up? Totally selfish reasons. If she fell in love with one of us, I could finally tell her my secret. Not only that, I liked Warren. He thought I was funny and that, in itself, was worth sending a little luck his way. If it didn’t work out, they’d at least have a good time until it fell apart. A soft knock on the door interrupted and Cole didn’t wait for me to let him in. Carrying another tray, he strolled across the room like he had a right to be there. Part of me was thrilled at it, but a wider part was irritated at his attitude.
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“Morning, ladies. Paul said you two usually get together for Saturday breakfast. Do you mind if I join you?” “Did you tell everyone everything you know, Eva?” It sounded slightly annoyed, but I couldn’t help it. I didn’t like having everyone underfoot and let it bleed over onto her. Not exactly fair, but that’s just the way it was. “Well, what did you expect? A nearly naked man answered your door and called me gorgeous. I babbled a little. You can’t blame me for it. You’d have done the same thing.” “Well, actually…” “Never mind.” She flushed bright red and stared at her breakfast tray. There were a lot of reasons she drove all the way out to get me and we drove back into the city for breakfast. It wasn’t just for the car ride. She raised a pleading gaze to me so I gave her a little mercy. “I know, Evie. It’s just something unexpected. If I were you, it’d have thrown me for a loop, too. It’s all innocent, no matter how it looked.” “Well, I know that, now. I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions, but come on. You’re suddenly living in every woman’s hottest fantasy. So many yummy guys to chose from, even you might find the opportunity…” The look of horror on my face broke through her sense of humor and her eyes widened before she slid her gaze over to where Cole was settling into my reading chair. The last thing I wanted was her to bring up my sexual history, or lack thereof, in front of him. A few minutes ago, she would have thought it was all in fun, but now, peace had been made. She got the hint and made a dramatic gesture with her hand and flopped back onto the covers and covered her lapse with wild humor. “If you don’t want them, can I have them?” “Sure, if you think you can catch them. They can probably outrun you.” We giggled and Cole watched us as he sipped his coffee. I think there was that half smile that I was coming to love behind his green coffee cup. Blinking for a moment, I realized I didn’t own any solid green dishes. “Did you bring your own dishes?”
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“I had the caterers bring them.” “And we had breakfast catered in, why?” “The kitchen staff hasn’t arrived.” “And we need a kitchen staff…?” “Do you want to cook for everyone?” He had a point. I rarely wanted to cook for me. I certainly didn’t want to cook for the army. Eva’s mouth was open as she stared at me. How do I explain this where it would make sense to someone who thought werewolf movies were a guilty pleasure? Simple, I didn’t. Instead, I just waved my hand. “Anything else I need to know? Anyone else moving in?” “The kitchen staff won’t be living in. Before you and Eva disappear for whatever you have planned for the day, I need you to look at the spots I marked to break ground on the guest house. As soon as you pick one, we can get started.” My look must have been enough and he shrugged as he matched me stare for stare. “It’s either that or leave the guards bunking in the house ogling your friends. I have a couple of plans drawn up that I think you’ll like.” Guest house it was. The sooner all the people who didn’t need to be in my house were out of it, the sooner I’d be able to get some decent sleep. Satisfaction radiated off him as he settled into the chair. Live it up, big guy. There won’t be that many easy victories, if you stick around. “How soon can you have it up and everyone out of my house?” It was as tart as I meant it to be. The tone managed to wipe some of the satisfaction from him. “You’d be amazed what we can do, when the situation calls for it. So, what is on our agenda today, lovely Eva?” “Well, I think we’re going shopping. Obviously, Sasha’s been holding out on me a hell of a lot more than I thought. Isn’t it time to share the wealth?” Her smile was a bit smug and held a lot of mischief. Yes, maybe a day of shopping with my best friend was exactly what I needed.
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By the time we’d finished breakfast, shooed Cole out to get me dressed, and made it downstairs, everyone was waiting on us. Introductions went quickly, mainly because Paul and Brad had gone to bed to get ready for their night duty. Warren and a leaner version of himself named Evan were my guards for the day. “Before you leave, let’s look over where to put the guest house.” “You pick. You’re the architect. Just don’t blow my view from my porch. While you’re at it, think about where we can stick one of those nifty gardens. I really liked that layout.” “Do you trust me that far?” I met his gaze with one of my own. “You strike me as a perfectionist, Mr. Reyes. On this, I trust you.” That I didn’t trust him on everything else went unsaid. My lack of trust wasn’t without reason, which I discovered when I walked out the front door to see Henry and the limo waiting. “Oh no. We’re not taking a limo down River Street.” “Yes, you are.” “Cole, these people know me. I’m a simple librarian. Librarians don’t ride around in limousines.” He took my arm and led me out of Eva’s earshot. That I’d forgotten her standing there showed just how upset I was at this entire thing. “Sasha, you’re taking a civilian out into public. I don’t like it, but I didn’t say anything. Warren and Evan will keep you both safe, but do you really want one of them parking the car when someone takes a shot at you? If there’s only one guard, who do you think he’s going to cover if someone makes a play for you? The limo has bulletproof glass and Henry’s a good man to have in reserve.” He was talking like the chance of someone trying to take me out had moved from a possibility to a certainty. “What aren’t you telling me?” He blew out a long breath and closed his eyes. I could almost see him counting.
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“My job would be so much easier if you weren’t so astute, do you know that?” “Stupid women aren’t your thing.” It popped out before I had a chance to think about it. It took every ounce of pride I had to keep from blushing and turning away from the sudden sharpening in his gaze. “You’re right. I like my women articulate and intelligent. That’s not the point, though.” The heat in his gaze shuttered and suddenly, he was all business. “The point was that you know something that you’re trying to keep from me. By now, you should realize that I’m much more likely to give in if I know what’s going on.” “There are rumors from credible sources, but we’re dealing with them.” “And you didn’t try to lock me in the house? I’m impressed.” “Would it have worked?” “No, it would have only made sure I found a reason to go into town.” “That’s what I thought. Take the car and Henry. It’ll make me feel better.” “You realize that I won’t be able to go back to the life I had when this is over if I start flaunting things, now.” I hated the vulnerability in my tone. He reached out and touched my cheek lightly. Every instinct demanded I lean into his hand and let him comfort me, but somewhere, I found the will to resist it. “I know and I’m sorry. We’ll both have regrets when this is over.” My gaze locked to his and knew he wasn’t just talking about the masquerade I’d found myself in the middle of. Something shifted deep inside in that part of me I kept locked away from the world. Heat flared between us and I stepped back out of his reach. Covering my fear with flippant comments was my call to fame, and I used it. “Probably, but isn’t that the point of having a little fun.” Turning on my heel, I strolled back to the others. I didn’t want to see the look on his face. Smiling at Eva, I linked arms with her and together, we went down the steps. “Come on, Eva. We’re about to do the town in high fashion.”
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Of course, the biggest entertainment of the day turned out to be Warren keeping Eva in knots. The best part had been when he started picking out lingerie for her at Victoria’s Secret. I’d simply given him my debit card without a word. It was exactly what I needed to keep my mind off heavier matters. By the time we pulled back up to the house, she wouldn’t even look at him and I’d spent far more than I’d intended. I was dying to get inside and go through the bags to see what Warren had bought her and compare it to mine to see if it was more revealing. Unfortunately, since Eva was having a detrimental effect on my wardrobe, I doubted it. She seemed to think the sparks flying between Cole and me were worth a little bit of suggestive sleepwear. Since far too many men were going to be seeing me in my night clothes, I doubted I’d be wearing any of it any time soon. “Man, he works fast.” I looked out the window to see trucks unloading heavy equipment and vinyl fencing. There was already a sizeable section going up along the front pasture. I recognized some of the men I’d been introduced to last night working on the project. Funny, I’d thought the barbed wire fence was fine. One of the men standing around ran to open the door before Henry brought the car to a complete stop. Cole glanced up from the table he was leaning over. I felt his gaze heavy on me as Evan jumped out of the car to reach in to offer me a hand out. Earlier today, I would have slapped it away, but after doing this all day, I understood the point. It was all about appearances. Coming out of the car, I headed straight to him, ignoring everyone else. He watched me come, straightening up with a visible sigh. Guess he was expecting a fight, but I didn’t feel like fighting. I had told him I trusted him, and I did. A glance over my shoulder showed Warren urging Eva into the house. That she went instead of following me told me a lot about how much she liked him. Turning my attention back to Cole, I looked past him to see the bevy of activity. “You work fast. Do we have all the permits we need?” “Yes, actually. It pays to have friends.” “Really? Who are we paying to be our friends?”
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His mouth thinned in a line, but he didn’t rise to the bait. Maybe I felt a little more like fighting than I thought. Something about him really picked at that contrary bone deep down. “Forget it. It’s not really important, is it? What’s up with the fence? Since I’m not going to have anything in there, it’s a bit of a waste, don’t you think?” “The vinyl looks better and the barbed wire cuts. This is high enough so that we can slide under it without scratching up our backs. A good bit of the night watches won’t be walking on two feet.” Oh. Well, at least it had a practical purpose. Trust an architect to turn a practical thought into aesthetically pleasing application. Looking down at the plans on the table anchored with pins on the corners, I began to fully appreciate his talent. It was a design that complemented the main house and still managed to be modern. “I like it.” “I thought you would. I love your house. When it first came on the market, I looked at it, but couldn’t come up with the funding before you snapped it up.” “So now you’re indulging in your little fantasy of how it could look?” I said the words with a smile, but he flushed guiltily. “Something like that.” “Well, I approve. Tell me this isn’t coming out of your pocket?” “Princess, why would I pay for it when you’ve got a bank account that can afford it? Speaking of, Tori needs your signature on the bank records so you can have access to it. She wants to go over the books with you, when you’re available.” “Does she not speak for herself?” He looked at me with what could only be devilment. “Maybe you intimidate her?” “Satan couldn’t intimidate her. She just likes for you to be the one in the hot seat if it’s something I’m not going to like.” “There is that, too.” “But there’s more to all this, isn’t there?”
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“Yes, there is. You won’t live in the house that’s set up to impress, so we’ll turn your place around. It has all the potential; it just needs a little effort to make it happen.” “Who are we trying to impress?” “Everyone. What kind of society would we be if we let our highest ranking member live like this?” “Like what, exactly?” “Like you have no status at all. You have the personal money to do everything I’m doing out of the society bank account. Don’t look at me like that. Of course I had your records checked. I understand that you like to live modestly, but there’s a certain amount of flash that’s expected.” Only he could say I lived modestly when I owned a plantation dating back to before the Civil War and drove a Porsche Boxster. I shook my head and noticed that everyone around us had fallen back out of earshot. Considering how acute our hearing was, that was a pretty far distance. “If you’ve got a point, can you make it, please?” “Fine. Let me be blunt. You are now our figurehead. The other groups will be scrutinizing you and making judgments on the rest of us. Not only that, but if you show a certain amount of wealth and privilege, some of the people who are objecting to your election may quiet down. Like it or not, people are impressed by wealth and tend to respect it. That goes for the other society leaders, as well. Over the summer, you’ll be entertaining them as they start feeling out how you stand on some of the issues that will be coming up for a vote. If you scent around, you’ll find that every man here isn’t a tiger. Other groups have thrown in to support you. They all have ulterior motives and only a few are friendship oriented. Some are hoping to earn a little bit of favor and some are looking for protection.” “I don’t understand.” He looked past me to the group working on the fencing. Lowering his voice still more, he nodded to them and I followed his gaze.
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“See the one marking the spot for the next section? That’s Ed Nyguin. He’s a liger. The only one in the area. His mother’s mate threatened to kill him and kicked him out of the pride when he was sixteen. His father refused to acknowledge him, so he’s been living on the edge of both worlds, just trying to stay alive. When he heard that we were staffing your house, he was the first one in the door this morning. It’s for people like him that we’re doing this. Hey, look on the bright side. If you manage to extract yourself from the political intrigue after the voting, you still get to keep all this.” It was hard to argue with his logic, so I didn’t bother to try. Instead, I turned around and headed back to the house to giggle over lingerie.
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Chapter Six I don’t know what Warren said to Eva, but she couldn’t get out the door fast enough when I came into the house. So much for giggling over lingerie. I couldn’t feel bad about it, though, because she was so flustered when she left that it had to be a good sign. Instead, I strolled up the steps to find my bags already in my room and Tori busily putting things away. “You know I can do that, right? You’re not expected to wait on me hand and foot.” “I like to be helpful. Besides, I thought I’d help you so we can settle some of the legalities, later. You’re a hard woman to pin down when you want to be.” I guess I was. At least she was being a good sport about it. Me, I would have quit already. It made me like her a little more. To fill the time, I grabbed one of the bags and headed to my drawers. I couldn’t help but notice that the extra bag from Victoria’s Secret had gone home with Eva. Together, we put the things away in companionable silence. In retrospect, there wasn’t really that much. I’d been along more for the fun of it. “You know, putting it off won’t make it all go away or any less real.” I turned to find Tori folding the throw that lived on the back of my reading chair. She was fighting a smile and I knew I was busted. “Sure it will. Queen of denial, that’s me.” “What are you so afraid of, Sasha?” “I don’t know.” I really didn’t. I mean, I’d already stepped up and taken the responsibilities I was born to. Why making it all legal was such a big deal, I honestly didn’t know. “Let’s go over the books so you know what you’re signing. I’d sign them for you, but I’ve never seen your signature.” I blinked at her. “Excuse me?”
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“That’s what a good personal assistant does. We take care of all the little things that you don’t need to be bothered with. Unfortunately, the bank needs a master on file. I sign Cole’s all the time.” I just bet she did. All good feelings evaporated. “What else do you do for him?” She looked at me and her smile widened. Her green eyes fairly sparkled with merriment and I got the distinct impression she was laughing at me. “Not what you’re thinking. Thank you, but he’s not my type. I like my men of a slightly gentler persuasion.” “You mean someone you can push around.” “Pretty much. No offense intended, but I take orders from alphas all day long. The last thing I need is to go home to one. Thank you, but no. You can have him.” “I don’t want him.” “Liar. If you don’t want to be honest with yourself, fine, but don’t lie to me. Let’s start this relationship off with a little bit of honesty.” “This from the woman who is going to be forging my signature?” That got the laugh I’d seen bubbling up through her face out into the open. “True, but after the first couple of weeks, trust me, you’ll be begging me to do it. You’ll be amazed at how much paperwork it takes to keep the society flowing.” Together, we went downstairs and into my office which had been the original master’s library. It was my favorite room in the house for the obvious reason. Sitting at my desk, I found a neat series of files stacked on it. Opening them, I signed all the tabbed lines and handed them back without reading a word. At the bottom of the stack was a ledger. Opening it, I blinked in shock. It was an account ledger and the bottom line was more than my entire inheritance had been. “Wow. What’s this?” “Oh, that’s the society account. Since we’ve been without a Committee chair for so long, it’s a little fat, but now that you’re in charge, that will change.” “What do you mean?”
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“Well, members who need money for various reasons will start applying for grants or loans or whatnot. We’ve got a couple of people in college, so there’s tuition for them as well as book money, if they apply for it. Once a week or so, we’ll sit down and address the requests that have come in and write out the funds or send rejections. It takes money to run things.” “Where does it all come from, the money, I mean?” “Taxes.” I blinked at her, trying to wrap my mind around it. “Taxes? We tax the members of our society? I never got taxed.” “That’s the joy of banishment. You don’t have to pay us if we don’t want anything to do with you.” I laughed at the dry tone and closed the ledger. “Yeah, see what good that did me, don’t ya?” She saw the humor in it and laughed with me. Picking it up, I moved to the large oil behind the desk and swung it out to get to the safe. Absently, I gave her the code to the digital safe I’d replaced the antique one with after I’d bought the house. Later, when I was alone, I’d go in and change my code so that the master security register would show when she accessed it. It wasn’t exactly trusting, but then, only a fool trusted their assistants and their business managers without safeguards. I closed the safe and swung the painting back into place just as a knock sounded from the door. Cole really was going to have to start waiting for me to answer his knocks before he strolled into rooms. Who knows, he might catch me in a compromising position since the place was suddenly lousy with men. Well, it was a fun thought, anyway. Tori was right about one thing, none of the others affected me like he did. Whether it was his power or simply his personality, I wanted to explore the potential between us. It was embarrassing, considering I barely knew him, but there it was. Honesty. “Well, let me run these up to the bank and get them on file.” “It’s Saturday. They closed hours ago.”
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“Oh, for me, they’ll open. Wouldn’t you cater to someone who has that much in their vault?” Her face was full of mischief as she scooped up the files and practically ran for the door. Abandoned me with the one tiger I’d rather not be alone with. So much for loyalty. “That wasn’t very subtle, was it?” “I don’t think they understand the meaning of the word, to be honest. It’s like they’re all conspiring to trap us together.” “Would it be a trap, Sasha?” I had turned to walk around my desk, as much to put the physical boundary between us as to be comfortable. At that, I stopped and turned back to face him. The look on his face was unreadable, but intense. “Cole, you honestly can’t tell me that you want to be matched up with me, even on a speculative basis.” “You have no idea what I want. You’re too busy running as far away from me as you can get as soon as the conversation threatens to run in any direction that might get too personal. If you’re worried about your reputation, you can thank my brother for making sure everyone thinks we’re already screwing our brains out.” I remembered Thomas’s snide little comment and the way he’d looked at me. “Why would he want to do that? I mean, come on, I’m an unattached woman powerful enough to make them all stand up and take notice. Why would he spread the rumor I’m with you instead of trying to move in on me himself?” “Because he’s not stupid. After his little stunt, he doesn’t have a chance with you and everyone knows it. I’m not the only one who had you investigated. Most of the houses probably kept tabs on you growing up from a nice, safe distance. Since he blew his chance at you, he’s going to make sure it looks like I’m off the market to the rest of the women.” “You’ve lost me.”
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“Okay, if their intelligence is as good as I think it is, Thomas and whoever’s advising him knows you won’t play power games. Everyone knows that your parents chose banishment over letting you be used, so it’s logical to assume that you won’t forgive people who try to use you. So, by that logic, you won’t accept me as your mate. As long as the rumor that we are lovers is out there, no one else will take a second look at me because they’d be afraid of your threat.” “I’ve not threatened anyone. Since I don’t date, there can’t be any rumors that I’m a jealous lover.” I was obviously missing something from the way his lips quirked and he shook his head. “That’s not the point.” “Then make your point, please?” “Take a step back and think. If you saw a man who attracted you, and you thought he belonged to someone else, would you make a play for him?” I frowned harder and he tried again. “Sasha, you’re the highest ranking person in our little society. As such, you have your pick of males. No, don’t interrupt. Stop thinking like a person and think like a tiger. You could call a council meeting tonight, walk through and drag anyone who catches your fancy out. You won’t do it, but you could, and the men would come willingly. Being chosen by you would put them higher on the status ladder, even if you only kept them for a night and tossed them back. By now, everyone knows I spent the last two nights here.” “Two nights? You stayed last night in the room down the hall and we had a houseful of people who can vouch for that. Lord knows, the guards were sticking their head in every hour.” He actually smiled a full smile. The way it changed his face from striking to beautiful made me forget the topic of conversation for a moment. “But the night we ran. There were tigers here that night. Henry and I stayed to run with you because I didn’t want you left alone. While we were running, others came. You’re so new to being around others that you didn’t feel them, but they were there,
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always at the edge of sensory range, watching. After you came in, Henry went back to the car and took it home, but I stayed to make sure you were safe.” “Then you came in acting like you had the right to make decisions on my behalf. You hired the staff, order the security system, everything.” I was trapped by my own ignorance. By appointing himself my protector and taking the steps he had, he’d given everyone the impression that the rumors were grounded in facts. A horrible thought raced across my mind. “You’re here on bachelor status, aren’t you? That’s why you didn’t wear a house badge at the council meeting.” He nodded, his smile faded back to the half-grin I was beginning to like so much. I turned and walked around the desk to sprawl in my chair. Absently, I began to swivel it back and forth, thinking. Bachelor status meant that he was allowed to live in our territory, but was allowed only limited contact with society. Unless a powerful female took him to mate and absorbed him into her household, or he gained enough political power to be allowed to start his own, he’d always be on the fringe. Cole watched as the pieces fell into place in my mind before moving to sit in the leather chair in front of the desk. “So, essentially, you’re cosmically screwed.” “Not necessarily.” “From where I’m sitting, he’s tied your options up pretty tightly. What do you see that I don’t?” The look on his face was chiding and I felt my eyes widen as realization struck. “You’re out of your mind, you know that? I’m certainly not going to…” I waved my hand helplessly and he gave into the laughter I could see shining in his eyes. “I don’t expect you to, but there are other options. You can legitimize me.” “Legitimize, how?”
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“God, you’re so cynical. You can grant me permission to establish my own household and give me hunting rights. No one could revoke my safe passage or discount me.” “All that takes is a motion at council, right?” He nodded, pleased that I understood the specifics. “And it just needs a majority passing. The minor houses will vote with you, except maybe DeSoto. They’ll want to stay on your good side in hopes that some of the power being shifted around will fall on them. I have enough friends in the major houses so it should be an easy bill to pass.” “And that undoes all Thomas’s rumors?” “Well, not all of them, but enough to secure my position. There’s something else to consider, too.” “What’s that?” “As long as you’re single, the challenges are going to keep coming.” The look on my face must have told him more than I wanted him to know. “Sasha, you unleashed your power and there wasn’t an unmated man in the place that didn’t feel it. Hell, anyone not linked felt it. The only reason they’re not parked on your rose bushes is that I’m already here and no one quite knows how to get me out of the way without upsetting you. You’re right in that there isn’t any data on if you’re a possessive lover or not and no one wants to be the first to find out. It’s only a matter of time before someone challenges me for the right—” “Stop. Too much information. I’m not going to let anyone fight over me. That’s barbaric.” “It’s the way we are, Sasha. You can pretend we’re human, but we’re not. The strongest survive, breed, and rule. It’s the base our entire culture is built on. You can’t buck the system at this point. You can only find a way to work around the parts you don’t like.” I stared at him, digesting it all. He could have turned this to his own advantage, but he had simply laid out the dynamics and facts of the situation. It made me feel better
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about him, but it also stung my pride. Didn’t he feel the same attraction to me that I felt toward him? It was petty, but I couldn’t help it. “So, is that what you want me to do? Call a council meeting and give the motion to let you have your own household?” “Sasha, do you really want to know what I want?” I nodded, but wasn’t prepared for the way his face went from pleasantly neutral to smoldering in a blink. Every muscle in my body tightened at the wealth of promise in that look. When I answered, it came out breathy. “Yes.” “Remember, you asked.” He stood and leaned over the desk so there were only inches between us. I could have scooted the chair back or even reclined it with my feet, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to. “I want you to stop fighting and let me be what you want me to be. I can smell your reaction to me and I see the way you watch me when you don’t think I can see. If you had any way of knowing how hard it is for me to stop the urge to drag you off and take the decision away from you. If I made the first move, do you honestly think you’d turn me away?” My pulse was in my throat and it was hard to breathe. He was right and we both knew it. In fact, all he had to do was lean those last few inches and take the kiss that was so close I could taste it to test his theory. He thought about it, I could see it in his eyes and felt him gather himself for that movement. What would have happened, I don’t know, because a knock sounded loud in the charged stillness of the room. Cole froze as the door opened. Together, we turned to face Evan from where he stood framed by the doorway. Evan, realizing his blunder, paled and bowed. “I’m sorry, but you have a visitor.” “Who is it?” Cole’s face matched the snarl in his tone. He was close enough to me where the stinging whip of his power, so close to the surface, stung across my skin.
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“The leopard king.” “We’ll be right there.” Evan nodded and closed the door behind him. Cole’s head swung back to me and the tension of the moment hung between us. With a frustrated growl, he looked away to stare at the desk between us. I felt the power leaking away, leaving me cold in its wake. Silence stretched between us to the point it became uncomfortable, but I didn’t know what to say. “If I asked permission to finish this conversation later, would you get mad?” I blinked as he raised those beautiful chocolate eyes to look at me. Frustration and humor were there, but something else, too. Something more serious. It wasn’t just the conversation. I had a brief, wild moment where I thought about closing the distance and ending this with the kiss I could still almost taste. If I’d thought it would end with a simple kiss, I would have, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t. I wasn’t ready to cross that bridge to examine how I felt about him on a long term level. “Maybe.” It came out rich with teasing and power that had nothing to do with magic and everything to do with just being a woman. At least I had the answer to my question. Sliding my chair back, I stood and stepped around the desk, watching him watch me as he straightened. I kept walking until I stood next to him and didn’t flinch away when he reached up to cup my cheek. “Careful baiting tigers, Sasha.” “I think I can handle you.” I turned my face to kiss his palm before I could check myself. Truth was that I wanted that kiss. If I couldn’t have the one I wanted, I’d settle for a small one. He froze under that light touch of my lips, but I ignored it as I stepped back and tried to play it cool. “Let’s not keep him waiting.” “It’s a lady’s prerogative to keep a man waiting, especially if he calls unannounced.” Looking up at him, I wondered what he was thinking.
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“It bothers you that he’s here?” “It’s customary to let an administrative period pass to let new leaders get things situated before making formal calls. There’s a lot to do when assuming the position, but he knows that. He’s only been in power about two years.” “So, he’s here because something important has happened, he’s trying to catch us with our pants down before someone else does, or he’s just that desperate.” “Pretty much.” “Can we send him packing?” “Not really. If he’s that eager to throw his support behind you, then sending him away would be a bad move. I sent out the call that we were looking beyond our social group for the staff here as well as workmen to get the house built. If Ryan was looking for an excuse to come to call, that could have been interpreted as an invitation.” “And if they’re trying to set us up, then sending him away will only give them time to find another approach or an ally to make things more complicated.” “I thought you didn’t understand court politics.” “No, I don’t understand them, but I do understand people. This is very much a people way of thinking.” The distance between us was suddenly not so close and intimate, though neither of us had stepped back. Cole offered his knuckles up and I looked at it before raising my gaze back to his face. I knew what the significance would be entering the room on his arm like that. If I were going to send him away, the smarter option would be to simply walk into the room with him at my back. In his own way, he was looking for a declaration from me. He’d laid his cards on the table and was looking for me to do the same, but he wasn’t looking for words. Words could be taken back, actions set into course things that couldn’t be. “It’s your choice. All I ask is that we give him the impression that the tigers will not bow to them in the grand scheme of things.” Since Tori, Cole and I had gone over some of the files last night, I knew the leopards were a large group, but not particularly powerful. They had the potential, but they lacked
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the ambition. Setting my hand onto his, I took another deep breath and nodded to the door. “Then let’s do this.” He stood for a moment, my hand resting on his, before turning toward the door and leading me out into the hallway. By the time we reached the front parlor, I was feeling properly regal. Sweeping into the room, our grand entrance was ruined because there wasn’t an audience to see it. It was empty. Turning back, I saw Evan standing beside the front door. “Where is he?” “You didn’t say to let him in.” I closed my eyes and counted to ten. Opening them, I looked at him before I shook my head. Cole lifted his hand enough to get my attention. When I looked at him, he nodded to the two Queen Anne chairs by the bay windows. I agreed with him. Crossing the room, we made ourselves comfortable. Evan frowned as he opened the door at my signal and let them in. Three men stepped into the room and waited for him to close it. “Come on in, Ryan. We’re not standing on formality, here.” Cole’s tone was slightly sardonic and the tall blond’s face flushed in response. He stood to greet them, but I didn’t. Instead, I sat back and watched, taking in the details. Ryan Anderson was tall, lean, and handsome with blond hair streaked by the sun. Standing next to Cole, the effect was ruined for me. I dropped my gaze to the flowers in his hand. “Nice flowers.” “Thank you. I’ll make sure to tell my mother you liked them.” I made no move to take them, so he set them on the coffee table in front of the sofa as he took a seat at Cole’s invitation. As soon as the men were seated, Warren stepped into the room carrying a tray of glasses of iced tea. The tray was offered to Ryan, but not to the two men who took up positions on either side of the parlor door. We ignored them like they were the furniture. I was going to have to ask about bodyguard etiquette later. I took mine from the tray as did Cole, but neither of us took a drink. Ryan did, locking his
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gaze with mine while he did it. It was a display of faith and I couldn’t help but wonder at the company he was keeping if he thought we were going to poison him right off the bat in front of his bodyguards. I sat smiling and waiting. Cole’s words echoed in the back of my mind. No, the tigers weren’t bowing to the leopards and this was his petition. We didn’t have to be eager to hear it. “So, what’s up, Ryan? What’s up that couldn’t wait a couple of days to be polite?” Cole’s tone was brusque, but considering what we might have been doing if we’d not been interrupted, I guess I could understand it. Apparently, he and Ryan had some history because the other man laughed at him. “Well, other than seeing if the rumors were true?” His blue eyes twinkled merrily, so it was hard to be insulted by it. “What rumors would those be?” My tone must have clued him in because he turned that smiling countenance to me. “I’m sorry, Cole and I have been friends for a long time. I couldn’t resist the urge to nettle him a bit, so I’m sorry if I’ve offended you. One day, when all this blows over, I’ll have you both over for dinner and herald you with stories of his misspent youth. Our mothers have been friends our entire lives and there’s not a single bone in his closet I don’t know about. For a price, I’ll share.” It was hard not to like him and I felt an answering smile creeping up. “You know, I’m going to take you up on that.” Cole looked at me and I turned my smile to him. Somewhere in the last half hour, I’d decided that maybe I deserved to see where this could go. I mean, women had sex without lifetime commitments all the time. What I was thinking must have shown on my face because Cole’s lips twisted up in answer. On impulse, I offered out my hand and he stared at it for a moment before linking his fingers with mine. Together, we turned back to our guest. “Ryan, it might help to remember that I know all your deep, dark secrets, too, and you’ve not found a mate, yet. I’d tread with caution, if I were you.”
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The implication was there for everyone to see. Ryan nodded. “You’re right. You’re right. Now, for business, since I know you two are busy trying to secure your position. You know your brother is trying to turn this to his advantage. He’s setting himself up for a duel for the right to mate. I think we might have found something he just might want bad enough to actually be ready to kill you over.” My face flamed, but Cole’s fingers tightened on mine. “Power, Sasha. Thomas isn’t capable of loving or wanting anything else.” “I came today as a friend, Sasha. I want you to know that no matter how the rest of this pans out, we’re in your corner. You and I will sit at the voting table at the end of the summer and I wanted you to know you have an ally. I also have privileged information that you might need to come up to speed. A lot of groups are going to try to sway you to their thinking with half truths and bribes. The leopards aren’t one of them. We’re going to play fair.” “Why?” Both Ryan and Cole looked at me, but I shrugged. “From what I know about any of the groups, they don’t cross the species boundary without getting something out of it. If we’re going to be splitting hairs, they don’t do anything without getting something out of it.” “Friendship. Cole and I are friends. I’m not going to let someone take advantage of you because it would hurt the tigers and that would hurt Cole. You, of all people, should understand that motivation.” He was right, I did. There was something unsaid there, too. If I hurt Cole directly, the leopards may still be friends with the tigers, but Ryan wouldn’t be mine. That was a political nightmare I was determined to avoid. Guess I was just going to have to make sure it didn’t fall out that way.
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Chapter Seven By the time Ryan was on his way, I was having second thoughts about Cole and all the drama surrounding him. How could one man be in the middle of so much of it? Up until now, I’d thought that only women were this bad. I started to go up the stairs, but he stopped me with a gentle hand on my arm. “Let’s go run. We could both use a little exercise.” I looked down at him and bit back the invitation. Instead, I changed it, but he knew what I’d been about to say. He was staring at me far too intently not to know. “Sorry, Cole, but I don’t feel like being naked around anyone right now.” “Who says you have to be naked?” “In a word? Doorknobs. Paws don’t open doors.” “So let me be naked for you.” I closed my eyes at the visual and couldn’t resist the giggle. He sighed in exasperation and I peeked back at him. “What I meant was that you go upstairs and shift in the privacy of your room and I’ll wait to shift until we get outside. I’ll even wear shorts until we get outside, if it’ll make you feel better.” His tone said he thought I was being silly and he was probably right. One day, I was going to have to come to terms with the nudity issue, but not today. Today, far too many things had happened to throw me into a state of chaos. Until I knew how I was going to land from it all, I was going to be very, very careful. Too many things were stacked against me, especially where this man was concerned. Temptation got the better of me and I nodded slowly. A run sounded like just what I needed. Running up the stairs, I closed the door with a firm glare at Warren as he followed me up. Stripping and shifting only took a minute, but I jumped when the door swung open. No one was standing in it and I stuck my head in the hallway to see Warren www.samhainpublishing.com
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still standing against the wall beside it and the slim line of Cole’s back heading back down the stairs. “Get a move on, princess; I want to see the sunset on the beach.” I padded after him with a snort. Reaching the stairs, I had an awful idea. Did I dare? Gathering my quarters under me, I took a leap at him only to have him sprint down the last steps and bolt to the door. Of course, I would have to land on the tapestry runner protecting the hardwoods and slide into the wall at full force. Yowling, I sprang back and took off after him. Evan saved him and I was going to have to talk to him about that. Evan opened the door just as Cole got to it, letting him throw open the screen door on his own to dash onto the porch. I bounded after him, careful not to break on the porch and scar the wood. Landing in the yard, I turned to see the bright shimmer of his shift and the black tiger bounding over the railing straight after me. It didn’t take much to spin out of his way and then I was off, racing wildly toward the tree line in full view of the working crews. I didn’t stop to see what they thought of the chase, but dashed into the trees with Cole hot on my heels. He was both bigger and longer than I was, so only my agility kept him from catching me. Well, that and home field advantage. I’d raced the paths through the woods a thousand times or more, so I knew how to dart through the underbrush in just the right places leaving him to double back or crash through thicker spaces. So intent was I on the chase that I didn’t realize we weren’t alone until we reached the beach. The other tigers were discreet and stayed just out of our personal space, but they were there. On some level, I knew they were making sure we were safe while we played and was grateful for it. The sun was setting when I dropped down into the sand, giving up the fight. Cole stopped to nuzzle my face with his and I had a moment where the sun was shining on his black coat and the stripes stood out plainly. I admired the view until he dropped down next to me, laying his head across my back in a companionable gesture. Peace like I’d never known flooded through me. Real tigers weren’t really social animals, but we were both man and tiger. My parents probably hadn’t realized how
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lonely I was because they had each other. I remembered watching them run together from my bedroom window and now, I understood why they’d been so happy. It was a glorious sunset as only the spring could make it over the ocean. Finally, I stood up and began trotting back into the trees. Cole hesitated, but followed. With tigers fanned out in front of me and behind me, I loped back to the house. Paul was waiting at the back porch to open the door. Running up the stairs, I was acutely aware of Cole’s silent presence behind me. Brad opened the door to my room and closed it behind us. Suddenly, I didn’t know what to do. With a growl, I escaped into my bathroom and shifted there. Putting on my robe, I stepped out to find him standing in front of the window with a pair of boxers low on his hips. “Where did those come from?” “Brad had them in here.” “A bit presumptuous of him, wasn’t it?” I tried to keep my tone from being sharp but failed miserably. Cole glanced over his shoulder at me while he leaned against the window frame. He’d turned on my reading light instead of the overhead, so the lighting was just enough to make his body full of shadows and promises. It was as if he were putting himself on display for everyone to notice. Notice. With a frown, I walked over and pushed him away from the window so I could look out. Sure enough, half the workmen still packing up below were looking up. Frowning, I yanked the curtains closed and rounded on him. “What’s that all about?” He just stared at me with that fathomless expression. It was if he were considering his words very carefully. Walking to the door, he opened it and spoke softly to Brad. “Do your shift downstairs, Brad. The lady and I would like some privacy.” The implication was plain and left me absolutely speechless. He turned to me and waited until the soft tread of the guard’s footfalls faded.
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“Illusion, mostly. Remember, we want everyone to assume that we’re a couple and after that run, no one would believe it if I didn’t stay here tonight.” “You can’t sleep here tonight.” “Don’t worry. I’m going to shift and sleep under the window. You won’t even know I’m here.” He was insane if he thought I’d be able to sleep with him in the same room. Then a thought ran through my mind. “Just like that, you’ll curl up and sleep on the floor. No questions, no seduction, no trying to change my mind?” “Princess, if we end up in that bed together, it will be by invitation. Your invitation. When you’re ready to give me those liberties, I’ll be here. Until then, I can wait. After all, anticipation makes everything sweeter in the end.” The laughter in his tone and the warmth of the look on his face told me that he meant what he said. It would have been so much easier if he’d approach me, but then I might scream foul when I had morning after regrets. I knew myself well enough to know that was a distinct possibility. Taking him to bed came with consequences and responsibilities. I wasn’t sure if I wanted them half as much as I wanted him. Some of what I was thinking must have shown on my face because something flashed across his. I opened my mouth to say something, but he saved me from myself by interrupting me. “Don’t. If you’re not sure, don’t do it. I’m not here for a one night stand. When it happens, there won’t be any tossing me out of your bed once your curiosity is satisfied. There is no discretion in this, either. The guards will know and they will talk. They won’t mean to, but we’re tigers and sex is a part of what we are. You still think like a human with morality issues. If it’s going to embarrass you, don’t do it.” I didn’t know what to say to that. As I started to turn away, I noticed his hands gripping the back of my reading chair where he’d found refuge when I’d pushed him away from the window. His knuckles were white. That stopped me. Whatever he was
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saying, he wanted me. Turning back to face him, I slowly dropped my hands to the sash of my robe and his gaze followed them. “What if I say that I don’t want to play power games and I’m not willing to make promises.” He swallowed and stood as still as a statue. With a quick flick of my wrist, the tie came clean. The look of pain on his face gave me the courage to shrug out of it and walk to the bed as if it were nothing. I’d initially planned on coming up and changing for dinner, but now, other hungers were overriding the need for food. I could feel his gaze on me as I turned down my bed and slid between the soft cotton sheets. “Make yourself comfortable, Cole. Turn the light out, though.” “Sasha…” I ignored him and closed my eyes. The light clicked off and I heard the curtains open. Opening my eyes, I stared at him silhouetted against the rising moon. “Why did you open the curtains?” My voice was husky enough to surprise me and his was equally so. “Because I want to watch you sleeping in the moonlight.” I watched him cross the room to the bed. Turning his back to me, he stripped off the boxers before sitting on bed. He battled with himself, but knew I’d won before he lifted the edge of the covers to slide under them. He rolled over onto his side to face me, staring down at me. It was too dark to see much on his face, but his voice held a wealth of emotions I couldn’t even begin to decipher. “Sasha, if we do this, we won’t be able to go back to pretending. I won’t be able to. If you change your mind tomorrow, I’ll start petitioning areas that might take me in. I won’t stay and watch you from a distance.” I didn’t know what to say to that, so I didn’t say anything at all. I pulled his face down to mine and kissed him. I kissed him with all the years of longing and waiting for the right man. All the pent up frustration and desire boiled out and my power flashed across the room. I tried to pull it back, but he took charge of the kiss, pulling back softly. “Don’t put it back in the box, Sasha, let it alone. This is how it’s meant to be.”
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He dropped his face to my neck and began to nibble his way down to my shoulder. I started to protest, but then he unleashed his own power to wash over me. All the doubts and hesitations fell away in the wash of power. My body was suddenly wet, tight, and aching. Cole brought his mouth back to mine for a kiss that devoured me from the soul outward. “Sasha…I’m beyond slow. Say yes.” I didn’t know what the question was, but was afraid to ask and even more afraid to say no. “Yes.” “Thank God.” Suddenly, he was over me. Biology is a beautiful thing. My hips cradled his as he bent to kiss me, again, as he rubbed himself against the front of me. I was wet enough that he slid easily over that sensitive part of me that made me whimper. Without warning, he pulled back and plunged that thick part of him into me. I cried out as he froze over me, staring down at me. There was just enough moonlight to show me how shocked he was. Of course, I’d always imagined giving my virginity in a slightly more romantic setting with a man who was careful not to hurt me. So much for that. The ache eased as he kissed me tenderly. “Why didn’t you tell me?” “What?” My voice was breathy and the ache was being replaced by need. I wanted him to move. Every muscle in my body demanded it. Academically, I knew why, but age old instinct and newly awakened desire were overriding my brain. “That you were…” Pulling his face down to mine, I cut him off with a kiss. “It doesn’t matter. God, don’t stop. Don’t take me here and leave it unfinished.” He hesitated, and then pulled himself out of me to slide gently back. The sensation made me arch into him with a whimper. He was suddenly being so careful when the last thing I wanted was slow and easy.
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Sliding my hands down his back, I raked my nails down until I could grasp his ass. With a frantic arch, I pulled him down to me. “Sasha, slow down. There’s plenty of time.” “No.” I leaned up and sank my teeth into his shoulder. “Now. I want it now.” His power flared around us and he dropped his face to the crook of my neck. I felt him tense and started to thrust up at him, again, but he sank his own teeth into my shoulder. It should have hurt. It should have made me want to get away from him. It didn’t. It did just the opposite. I arched against him and this time, he met my thrust upward with his own powerful one. Our bodies smacked together and I felt him so deep inside me I could almost taste it. Tightening his teeth, he gave me exactly what I asked him to. Every thrust tightened me still further until he pulled back to look down at me. Tangling my fingers into his hair, I yanked his mouth back to mine and tasted the sweet metallic taste of my blood on his lips. The taste of it combined with the sensation of him deep inside me pushed me over the edge and I fell screaming into the abyss. As I fell, I felt something click between us like two pieces of a puzzle locking together. It took a few minutes of panting to get enough breath to speak, but when I could, I said the only thing I could say. “Wow.” Cole chuckled as his body shook over me. I didn’t protest when he rolled us onto our sides and I was lucky enough to have my back to the window. The moonlight filtered through the glass to illuminate his face and I felt a certain sense of satisfaction. “Like that, did you?” His own voice was husky and I didn’t feel so bad for being shaky and winded. “Is it always like that?” He must not have realized how bright the light was because his face was totally unguarded as he reached up to brush my hair back from my face. Tenderness, passion and a sense of smug possession…
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I blinked and realized I wasn’t reading his face, but his emotions. How had that happened? I took an uneasy breath and prayed against the euphoria of the moment. “Between us, yes. It will always be like that. You’ll never know that kind of satisfaction with another male.” Was it what I was afraid it was? Had that final moment been the locking of our souls into one? “You sound so sure.” I tried to keep it light and teasing, but heard the panic closing in. “Don’t, Sasha. Please don’t belittle it. A true link that isn’t forced is a gift. It’s rare to find your soulmate and share what we just did. Don’t make it into something trite or ugly.” I closed my eyes and tried to close down the link between us, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t understand it well enough. Cole sighed and snuggled me closer, tucking me effortlessly under his chin and pulling my leg over his hip to keep us connected. I started to protest, but he shushed me softly. “I’m not ready to leave you, yet. Just give a minute to appreciate this, okay? You don’t understand how good this feels compared to everything else…” He stopped and I felt the embarrassment flood across the link between us. “Were you just comparing me to your other lovers, Cole?” The embarrassment got heavier and I laughed softly. If he’d found my loving wanting in comparison, I’d have been upset, but he hadn’t. I was better, so let the delight of the comparison wash away my self-doubt. “Go to sleep, Sasha. In a little while, we’ll go down and raid the kitchen. Right now, I just want to hold you and think about how lucky I am. You do realize that this changes things, right?” I nodded against his chest and kissed it lightly. It did change things. There wouldn’t be any tossing him back, now. We were two halves of a soul fused together. Now that we’d linked, neither of us would be happy
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apart. Granted, we could both try to find happiness and satisfaction elsewhere, but the only true joy would be together. My mother had tried to tell me, all those years ago, how it would feel, but I’d not understood. I’d watched my parents living their lives with a thousand touches through the day and not understood that constant need to touch. Now, despite all the disasters looming on the horizon, I got it. With a sense of completion that went all the way to the marrow of my being, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to drift off to sleep in his arms. There would be time enough to borrow trouble and grab the tiger by the tail tomorrow.
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Is Emma ready for a bite?
The Wallflower © 2008 Dana Marie Bell A Hunting Love story Halle Puma Series Book 1 Emma Carter has been in love with Max Cannon since high school, but he barely knew she existed. Now she runs her own unique curio shop, and she’s finally come out her shell and into her own. When Max returns to his small home town to take up his duties as the Halle Pride’s Alpha, he finds that shy little Emma has grown up. That small spark of something he’d always felt around the teenager has blossomed into something more—his mate! Taking her “out for a bite” ensures that the luscious Emma will be permanently his. But Max’s ex has plans of her own. Plans that don’t include Emma being around to interfere. To keep her Alpha, Emma must prove to the Pride that she has what it takes to be Max’s mate. Warning: This title contains explicit sex, graphic language, loads of giggles and a hot, blond Alpha male.
Enjoy the following excerpt for The Wallflower: Emma realized Max had stopped moving. Looking up at him, she found him staring down at her with a quizzical look. “Well?” Emma blushed. She’d been rubbernecking in Max’s house, trying to take in everything at once. “It’s incredible.” He smiled with satisfaction. “If there’s anything you want to change, you’ll have to let me know.” Gently he placed her on the quilt. “This is now as much your house as mine.” Emma’s mouth fell open as he toed off his shoes and socks. “You’re kidding me, right?”
Max began unbuttoning his shirt, diverting her attention from his whole “Mi casa es su casa” attitude. “I was in Simon’s shop when you called about the Madonna, you know.” “Oh. Really?” she replied absently. She could barely speak as Max unveiled the finest chest it had ever been her privilege to see. It was lightly sprinkled with light brown hairs, trailing down his stomach to point directly into his pants. Dark brown nipples peeped out from the hair, tempting her into some very sinful thoughts. “Yes, I was. And you know what?” Emma didn’t know her own name; Max was unbuttoning his jeans. “Um, nope.” “You live up to your voice,” Max purred as he slipped his jeans down his legs. “Urgh,” Emma choked, “naked.” She could feel her eyes bugging out of her head. Max went commando. A sinful buffet of man-flesh was laid out before her in one single sweep of his hands. She didn’t know whether to sigh or to sob. “Yes, I am.” Max laughed huskily. “Now it’s your turn.” Emma bit her lip, a sudden attack of shyness nearly paralyzing her. Max didn’t know it yet, but he’d be her first, and from the look on his face she’d better tell him soon. “Max?” Emma sat there, her hands clenched in her lap, her gaze riveted to his cock. The thing looked huge, all veined and red, and pointed straight at her. A small drop of liquid seeped from the slit. It twitched a salute to her rapt attention. “Yes, Emma?” Her gaze lifted to his; unknown to her, they’d turned pure, molten gold. “You remember the talk of other men?” He growled low in his throat and crawled onto the bed. “Eep,” she whispered, lying down as he prowled up her body. “You were saying?” he whispered huskily as he settled his naked body between her thighs. He brushed against her cheek with his lips, a caress so soft she barely felt it. It sent a shiver down her spine. Those same lips continued their incredible journey, trailing down the side of her neck to settle on the bite he’d given her outside the restaurant. Goose bumps raced up and down her arms as he moved his hips in a sinuous motion, brushing his naked cock against her mound.
“Um, there weren’t,” she squeaked, unconsciously arching up into his body as he scrapped his teeth along his mark. “Weren’t what?” he muttered, one hand moving up to start sliding her camisole up her stomach. He paused long enough to caress her there, trailing fire in his wake. “Any other men.” His hand stopped. His mouth stopped. His hips stopped. She was really sad when his hips stopped. “You’re a virgin?” His voice sounded oddly strangled. “It’s not a crime to be one, you know. I’m not the Oldest Living Virgin, or anything. It’s not like I’m in the Guinness Book of World Records,” she babbled. “Besides, I’ve done other things…oh!” His hands had started moving again, with a swiftness that startled her. Her camisole was toast as he ripped it literally from her body, his claws barely scrapping her skin, sending shivers of need once again down her spine. Claws? Emma had barely registered the fact that Max had used his claws to ruin her favorite shirt when he started working on her jeans. “No! Bad kitty!” She slapped him on the top of his head, determined to save at least some of her wardrobe. He lifted his head, his eyes golden and burning, a rumbling sound emanating from his throat as he pinned her hands above her head. Emma thought about struggling, but something about the way he looked had her lying passively. “You’re a virgin.” Emma blinked, unsure how to respond. “Duh.” Max stared down at her, his eyes narrowing as he studied her features as if seeing her for the very first time. “No man has ever touched you.” She thought about telling him about the make-out sessions her one and only boyfriend had talked her into, the oral sex they’d indulged in a few times, but decided that discretion was the better part of valor. Jimmy was a nice guy, and deserved to live. “Again. Duh.” “No man will ever touch you again.”
Emma studied granite-like features above her. “Even you?” The growl deepened. She sighed, inexplicably happy to hear that sound. “Okay.” She rolled her eyes. “Duh.” She grinned. “By the way, Lion-O, that was my favorite shirt.” He looked down. “Damn, Emma.” “What?” She looked down, expecting to see something odd, like very dried alfredo sauce decorating one boob or something. Instead she saw the pale pink lace bra she’d put on that morning, the one that was completely see-through. It helped give her confidence to feel the sexy lingerie against her skin, so much so she’d replaced all of her old undies with the lacy stuff. From the look, and feel, of things, Max definitely approved. Max switched her wrists into one hand. The other trailed down her body to her jeans, undoing the snap and zipper with ease. “Lift your ass, Emma,” he commanded. She obeyed without thinking, shifting so he could ease her jeans down her legs. He hissed out a breath at the sight of the pale pink lace panties that matched the bra. Underneath, she was hairless. “A full Brazilian,” he sighed. “Uh-huh.” He moved his hand and began petting her over her panties, cupping her intimately. “Mine,” he sighed. His golden eyes bored into hers, a silent command in them. “Keep your hands where they are.” “Why?” Emma complied as Max moved his hand slowly from her wrists, trailing down her arm to the side of her breast. “Because I’m not ready for you to touch me yet. I want this first time to be yours.” “I’d rather it was ours.” She gasped as his hand gently embraced her breast. His thumb strummed gently over her nipple, causing it to peak under the pink bra. “Trust me, Curana. The pleasure will be ours.” Slowly, oh so slowly, Max lowered his head. His tongue snaked out and licked over her nipple through the lace, watching her reactions as she gasped softly. “I’m going to get you naked now, Emma.” He lifted his head from her breast. “Leave your hands where they are. Remember, Emma.” Max gently pulled the cups of her bra down, resting her breasts on the lowered cups until they looked like an offering laid out on pink lace. He bent and suckled one nipple
into his mouth, stroking it with his tongue until she writhed against him, panting and moaning in need. He switched to the other nipple, suckling and nipping with such force it was nearly painful. Emma panted, damn near coming from the sensation. He pulled away from her. “Uh-uh, little Emma,” he purred. “No coming unless I’m in you, remember?” She groaned as he moved down her body. His hands went to her lacy panties, thumbs hooking under the band. With slow deliberation he pulled them from her body, slowly exposing her to his hot gaze. “You were right, Emma, to stop me before.” He looked up with a grin that made her moan. “I’d forgotten how much fun it is to play with my food.” And with that, Max began a sensuous torture that had her writhing with need.
Can love tame a jaguar god?
Treasure Hunting © 2008 Jenna McDonald A Hunting Love story. A good tromp through the jungle fending off giant bugs and hunting for long-lost ruins in South America is exactly Meg’s idea of a great vacation. She takes the sudden appearance of a wounded jaguar in stride, thinking it’ll make an interesting story. But when she wakes up to find a man in place of a cat, she wonders who’s going to believe it! Santiago has learned the hard way that he and human women just don’t mix. When you can change into an animal at will, it tends to upset people. But despite his best intentions, he finds himself falling hard for the little blonde who saved his life. It’ll take a leap of faith-and of love. Or this treasure will slip through his fingers. Warning: This work contains graphic m/f sex, bad language, and terrible humor.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Treasure Hunting: “How far is your camp?” Meg rubbed the back of her skull against the headrest, itching at the sweat trickling across her scalp. Santiago’s eyes were closed, but she knew he wasn’t resting. His muscles were tense, beads of sweat standing out against his chest, along his temples, making his black hair damp. She dragged her eyes back to the road, scolding herself half-heartedly that this really wasn’t the time to ogle him. But lordy, he had a nice chest. Simply not looking didn’t mean she couldn’t remember it; all angles and planes, hard muscles and very little hair—just enough to emphasize shadows on golden skin. She thought of his purr, and nearly purred herself. She sighed. The weight of a gaze pulled her eyes back around, and she saw Santiago peering at her sidelong, a smile playing around the corners of his mouth as if he knew exactly what thoughts ran through her mind. Clearing her throat, she shifted in her seat, suddenly warm. Okay, she’d been warm before, but now she was downright toasty. “Um. Your camp?”
“It’ll be a while.” His voice was like rough velvet stroking down her flesh. “A few days.” “Oh.” Well, that was unexpected. Damn. “Maybe we should have lunch,” she suggested, and snuck another look at him. He’d grown quieter as the day crept on, lines of pain slowly etching into strong features. “Yes,” he rumbled. “That might be good.” The nice thing about the jungle, despite bugs the size of small airplanes and heat like a volcano, was that you didn’t have to look for parking when you decided you were ready to stop. Meg stopped, stomped on the emergency break, and declared them parked. “Do you need help?” She glanced over at the man beside her. Lips pursed, eyes staring straight ahead, he nodded once. Concern threaded through her. In her experience, men didn’t admit to needing any kind of help. He must have been hurting. “Hang on.” Unpeeling herself from the vinyl, she slid out of the car. He hadn’t moved by the time she got around to the other side, and she spent a moment wondering if he expected her to lift him out. Things could get awkward in that case. She supposed she’d at least cushion his landing… Squashed under a hunka hunka burnin’ love. There were worse ways to go. Then he twisted carefully, a warm hand settling on her shoulder for balance as he climbed from the Jeep. She didn’t move, trying to be as rock-steady as he might need. When his feet landed on the ground and he was no longer swaying, she came eye-topectoral with an utterly perfect torso. Sweat inched down the crease between his muscles, sped over the ridge above his abs, and slid helter-skelter down the center of a six-pack. Maybe even a twelve pack. It hit a snag in his belly button, worked its way out, and dropped past a flat abdomen before soaking into the blanket, which sagged low on his hips. Meg swallowed. Nope, she still felt utterly incapable of thought. She licked her lips. It didn’t help.
She even cleared her throat. She could still taste what she imagined he’d be like. Oh, God. She could smell him, all male and musk and something a little wild. “Ready?” he asked. She closed her eyes to break the spell. That worked. A little, anyway. Taking a deep breath she opened her eyes and met his gaze, her gut clenching in expectation. Her last boyfriend had hated it when she’d stared like that. Then she looked up—way, way up— into Santiago’s face. Full lips curved, black eyes warm, the sharp planes of his face softened by amusement. Meg grinned and relaxed. “How’s it feel to be a sex god?” she asked before she realized what was in her head. She blanched, then heard her words and knew someone was looking out for her. She’d spoken in English. He lifted a single black eyebrow questioningly. “Never mind,” she said in Spanish, feeling a blush creep up her neck. “Lunch?” This time, she managed to stop any more sexual remarks before they left her mouth.
He could smell her, sweat and jungle and that indefinable female smell. Even worse, the very definable smell of lust. His shoulder hurt, and he somehow doubted he could do anything about the lust-smell, and yet it hovered in the damp air between them like some sort of drug. On the other hand, at least he knew she was attracted, too. Santiago sat, uninjured shoulder braced against a tree trunk, and watched her move from the Jeep to the spot they’d chosen. Her clothes brushed against her like a lover’s hands, hiding and revealing with every step. He shifted his legs and tried to think about something less sexual. Trees. Trees were completely and totally nonsexual. He’d had sex in a tree, once. He cursed under his breath and finally moved, rubbing his injury against bark. That got his mind off the woman.
“You okay?” she asked in Spanish, frowning as she dropped a duffel bag of food on the jungle floor. “You look pale. Let me see your bandage.” “It’s fine.” His words were quick; he was half afraid that if she touched him it’d be more than he could stand. He knew she’d have soft skin, the hands of someone who spent most of their time indoors. Gentle fingers would glide over his shoulder and back, stroking down his spine as if he wouldn’t notice— Damn it. She hadn’t even touched him and he’d lost the battle. Santiago shifted his legs, and the blanket with them, into a slightly more concealing pose. “Don’t be dumb,” Meg said, apparently unaware of his dilemma. “Let me see.” She’d already kneeled behind him, wedging herself between the tree and his skin, one leg tucked up against his ribs. He imagined her flesh beneath her clothes, soft and pale, muscles defined but not bulging. Delicate hands swept his hair out of the way, then skimmed down his shoulder to the medical tape. He winced as she peeled it off, focusing on the pain to bank his arousal. “Well, the infection hasn’t gotten any worse.” Her breath ghosted over his ear. She moved, her thigh brushing against his hip. His stomach tightened, and he resisted the urge to turn and see just how close her mouth was to his. “Good.” His voice came out in husky tones. Seemed like it had been husky since he’d first woken to find her kneeling before him. “I’m just going to change this.” She stood and strode back to the Jeep. Tossing the old bandage inside, she fished out a new, clean one, and walked back. Santiago took a deep breath to settle himself, to steel himself for the torture about to come. Oh, God, he didn’t know if he could take much more of this. She knelt behind him again and the very air seemed to warm. Then she rubbed cool cream over the wound, making the pain subside. Next came the cloth itself, and the worst bit—the tape. Specifically, the way she smoothed the tape over his skin, the pads of her fingers over his damp flesh, the occasional graze of a nail. Just lust, he reminded himself, and a tourist probably wouldn’t appreciate being bedded by someone she’d seen turn from a jaguar into a man. Besides which, it’d hurt his shoulder like hell itself.
He clung to that thought, even when the scent of heightened arousal spiked at his back. Damn women. Then he smiled slowly, entirely too self-satisfied. Maybe in a day or two, when the infection was better, maybe she wouldn’t mind so much being bedded by a Tezcatlipoca. She was certainly interested. He angled his head to watch her over his shoulder. Her pupils were large in clear blue eyes, dilated despite the sunshine. Definitely attracted.
Mountain man or mountain lion? In his case-one and the same.
Rachel’s Totem © 2008 Marie Harte A Feral Attraction story. When Rachel arrives in Cougar Falls for a reading of her aunt’s will, she finds herself in a typical mountain town. Except that it’s not quite…typical. It’s full of the requisite, rough-hewn mountaineers, but these men seem more animal than man. And one of the rude strangers brings out the animal in her during an embarrassingly orgasmic-and scorching-sexual encounter in an alley. The fantastic tales that the townsfolk tell about the Ac-Taw, a clan of people who can shift into animals, are nothing but folklore. Or are they? Burke is stunned by his response to Rachel, and even more so when she innocently shows signs of possessing Ac-Taw blood. And this puts her in more danger than she knows, danger that only increases the urgency to mark her as his own. Rachel comes to realize she’s inherited much more than just property. She has also inherited a destiny to protect her newfound home. For the Ac-Taw aren’t just legend-they’re real. Warning, this title contains the following: graphic language, ménage a trois, growling, and hot, steamy sex between shifters in love :)
Enjoy the following excerpt for Rachel’s Totem: “I’m not sure.” Gerald frowned and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Rachel. Not exactly polite to discuss other matters when you’re here for Charlotte’s will.” “No, that’s okay. I’m in no rush.” Well I am. Burke took a seat next to Rachel across from Gerald, who sat in a huge leather chair behind his desk. Let’s find that totem and get back to the important things in life. Like how I’m going to seduce Rachel before she turns all prickly again. “It’s just that my assistant, Julia, is always a rock, always here and helping. And something came up with her family in Washington so she had to leave yesterday—”
“Gerald, can we please get on with this?” Burke sighed. Gerald cleared his throat and smiled apologetically. “Right, well. Before we begin, is there anything I can get you, Rachel? A glass of water, a soda, or maybe some coffee?” Rachel shook her head. “Thanks, but Burke’s right. Since we’re here, no sense putting it off any longer. You might as well tell me what Aunt Charlotte wanted done with her things.” “Of course.” Nice how the SOB completely ignored Burke, who could have used something to drink. In a steady drone, Gerald read through most of the generalities of the will. All of Charlotte’s personal possessions and money, investments and the like, went to Rachel. “And as the only relative Charlotte truly cared about since your father passed away, you’ve inherited everything she considered dear to her. Including the house.” Shit. “The property, however…” Gerald paused, and Burke wanted to punch him for drawing this out. “The property is divided between you and the Chastells.” Gerald turned to Burke. “You’ve been wanting to buy from Charlotte forever. Well, Burke, now’s your chance. If Rachel decides to sell, everything on the property, to include the house and the material within it, becomes yours.” The totem, he meant but didn’t say. With the totem back in the hands of protectors who both understood and respected the ancient relic, peace would surely return to Cougar Falls. No more clan wars, and no more threats of strangers having a hold on something as valuable as the totem. Rachel stared at Gerald, her gaze narrowing with suspicion as it lit on Burke. “Are you saying Mr. Chastell wants my aunt’s property? And that she steadily refused to sell it?” Burke had a sudden ache in the pit of his belly, a feeling that often preceded something bad about to happen. “That’s what I’m saying.” Gerald stacked his papers and squared them. “Charlotte’s property and the Chastells’ border one another. They’ve always been friendly, don’t get me wrong. But it’s no secret Burke and his brothers want to reclaim the land that their great-great grandfather gave to one of your relatives so many years ago.”
“I see.” She glared at Burke, and he stared back, confused. “What?” “Nothing,” she snapped. Turning back to Gerald, she pasted a sugary-sweet smile on her face. “So the house is mine, and the property is split how?” “It’s a bit complicated. I’ll drive you out to the property so I can show you both. Charlotte was very clear about this.” Gerald turned sharp eyes on Burke, as if willing him to listen. Burke, however, didn’t understand what the hell had crawled up Rachel’s ass. He couldn’t deny her fury made him hot, but he didn’t understand what he’d done wrong. Was she suddenly blaming him for their time together in the alley? It wasn’t as if he’d staged that fight with those knuckle-dragging wolf Shifters. And he sure as hell hadn’t planned to come in his jeans while dry-fucking her against a dirty brick wall. “Burke, I said I’ll drive Rachel out to the property now. Perhaps you’d care to follow, so I only have to do this once?” Burke nodded. “Fine, sure. Look, why don’t you go file your papers or something? I need a word with Rachel.” “Yes, Mr. Winter. I’d like a word with Mr. Chastell as well.” Rachel’s glare could have cut steel. Gerald glanced from Rachel to Burke and unsuccessfully masked a grin. “Fine. I’ll be waiting outside when you’re through.” Grabbing his papers and shoving them in his briefcase, he left the room, closing the door behind him. The minute he left, Rachel stood ramrod straight and glared down her sexy little nose at Burke. “You arrogant asshole.” “What’s your problem?” Burke honestly had no idea why she’d grown so upset. “You thought screwing me would sway me into selling my aunt’s place to you?” Burke scowled. “Now wait a minute, Rachel. I—” She leaned down and poked him in the chest, hard, stirring his instincts to fight back. Or perhaps, to turn their tussle into something more…intimate. “You wait a minute, Chastell. If you wanted to buy the place, all you had to do was ask. That scene in the alley was totally unnecessary. And not that good to boot.”
He launched himself out of his chair to glare down at her. “Not that good, Miss Penny? First of all, that ‘scene’ in the alley, as you put it, was not staged. Second, that was anything but a real fuck. We had all our clothes on, for Christ’s sake. And third.” He paused to close what little distance remained between them. Staring directly into her eyes, nose to nose, he growled his last words. “The orgasm we shared was more than good, it was explosive. Lie to yourself if you want to, but you came hard, like a shot.” He licked his lips, unable to help how turned on she made him in her anger. “And I can still smell your come creaming your panties. Hell, right now you want nothing more than a hard fuck right on Gerald’s desk, isn’t that right?” Her pupils dilated with lust, and her scent filled the room. Pure, unadulterated sex. “Fuck. You.” “Sure thing, honey. You just name the time and place.” He watched in amazement as her pupils began to elongate. He could smell the familiar scent of feline musk flooding the room and waited, his breath held, as Rachel amazingly began to turn. Her hair began to rise as her body was covered in a field of static energy, and her teeth grew sharp as she hissed at him in anger. God, she made him burn. The mixture of mountain lion and woman was almost more than he could take. Glancing at Gerald’s desk, Burke figured he could have it cleared in one swipe of his arm. He’d bend her over the solid oak on her belly and yank those jeans and panties off her legs. Within seconds he’d lower his own clothes, just enough to spring his cock free before he’d shove it hard and deep into that honeyed, wet pussy. Rachel’s hands fisted into paws as she raised one arm as if to strike. Do it. Please, touch me and I swear I’ll mark you as one of mine in a heartbeat. The choice, even unknowingly made, had to be hers. Gerald, damn his ass, chose that minute to knock at the door. “Hey, is everything all right in there?” Son of a bitch. Burke knew Gerald could smell the passion raging in the room, the scent of a female in heat overpowering enough to easily reach the lawyer outside the office.
Rachel blinked, and that suddenly her shift vanished as if it had never been. She swayed and righted herself, still miffed enough not to want Burke’s touch. “Come near me again and I’ll geld you.” Sniffing, she turned on her heel and stalked out the door, nearly knocking over Gerald, who waited impatiently on the other side. Gerald watched Rachel go with amusement, his lips quirked in an aggravating smirk. “Not one word.” Burke stormed through the door, knocking Gerald into the wall as he passed, heading for the bathroom to finally clean up. “Not one fucking word.”
Red-hot animal attraction.
Claiming Their Mate © 2008 Paige McKellan A Feral Attraction story. Jules Kingston is a WereLion destined to be the next Lioness of the White Sands Pride. Her fathers, having decided to step down as Leos, have put out a call for a pair of lions to mate with their daughter. Before settling down with mates and a litter of cubs, though, Jules wants to spread her wings. Of all the Lions in the Pride, Gabriel and Lucas Beckett are the only two who make her panties wet-and the last two she would ever take on as mates. When the brothers stake their claim, she runs, cursing her hormones for reacting to such prime specimens of her species. Gabe and Luke have known for years that Jules is meant to be their mate. The trick will be to convince their woman she belongs to them. As expected, Jules leads them on a merry chase. Then a mate fight and hunt is called by a rival pair. To win Jules as their own, Gabe and Luke must prove their dominance over the Pride-and their woman. Warning: Contains explicit sex, graphic language, stubborn men, an independent woman and red hot romance.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Claiming Their Mate: There were so many parts of this mess that made her angry she didn’t know what to scream about first, but that would have to wait until she was on the road. Jules grabbed the duffle and slung her laptop case over her shoulder then opened the double French windows overlooking the back of the driveway and the pastures beyond. The last time she had snuck out of the house through this window was during her senior year in high school to meet a boyfriend her fathers had not thought highly of. It was ironic this trip out the window was to get away from two men her fathers expected her to get involved with. Somehow she thought the irony would be lost on them.
A quick look out the window told her the coast was clear. For her sake she hoped all the people she was trying to get away from were still in the dining room, on the other side of the house. Jules dropped the duffle to the ground, and reached through the open window, latching on to the ivy trellis. It was only a twenty-foot drop, one her body could handle, but she opted to climb down halfway and not risk an injury she’d have to shift to heal. She felt ridiculous sneaking out; she was twenty-three, not thirteen. She should be able to hold her head high and walk through the front door like an adult. And she would have if Gabe and Luke weren’t downstairs. Seeing them again was a risk she wasn’t willing to take. For so many, many reasons. Hitching her computer case higher, Jules put one leg out the window, found a foothold on the trellis, then pulled the rest of her body through and started down. Midway between the window and the ground she let go and jumped. Into the strong arms of one very pissed-off Lion.
***
Luke heard them before he saw them and when they finally came into view he laughed as his brother came around the corner of the house, or rather limped around the corner of the house, with a very angry, very loud mate, ass end up over his shoulder. “Put me down you rotten, no good—” Jules demanded, her words punctuated by the blows she rained over Gabe’s back but cut short by the hard smack of his hand on her ass. “Ow! Damn you! You have no right—” “I have every right, Jules. Settle down!” When she failed to comply he smacked her ass again, this time harder, which only made her fight him more. “Damn it, I said stop!” he yelled when her fist connected with his kidney; she was no match for a Lion in his prime but her blows packed enough punch to bruise. “That’s enough. As soon as we get you home I’m going to paddle your bare ass until it’s bright red if you don’t stop acting like this.”
“Home?” she screeched. “I’m not going home with you. I’m not going anywhere with you. Let me go!” “Need some help, Gabe?” The smile in Luke’s voice was as big as the one on his face. “Take her bags,” he grunted, tossing his brother her duffle and computer case. “What are you so damn happy about?” “That she decided to sneak out the back instead of coming out the front.” Luke caught the bags with one hand, reaching out to tug on Jules’ hair hanging over his brother’s ass with the other as Gabe came up next to him. Luke laughed again as Jules swatted blindly at him, letting out another screech. “If she had come my way I’d be the one limping, not you.” “Luke, make him put me down. He can’t do this.” Jules arched her neck, raising her head to look at Luke. She had always thought of him as the more reasonable brother and hoped to find help in his quarter. The smug smile creasing his handsome face had her back to cursing instead of asking for help. “This isn’t right. I don’t want to go with you.” “If I were you I’d listen to Gabe and calm down.” “What is it going to take to get you jerks to understand that I don’t want you? I am not going to mate with you.” “You’re already our mate, Jules. Once we get you back to the ranch and claim you, you’ll understand that.” This edict came from Gabe as he yanked open the passenger door of their pick-up truck. Claiming? Back to their ranch? No. No, no, no. “There is no way I’m going to your ranch with you so you two can fuck me. I decide who I fuck and you can damn well bank on it not being you two.” Smack, another hard swat on her ass from Gabe before he lifted her off his shoulder and pushed her into the truck. “Don’t talk like that, Jules. That kind of language doesn’t suit you.” “How do you know what suits me or not? You don’t know me.” In the truck she was pulled onto Gabe’s lap, his arms wrapped around her, keeping her hands trapped from doing any damage. She ignored the dark look Luke sent her way as he got behind the
wheel. Neither one of these men were listening. “My parents will not put up with you taking me.” She hoped that was true but their complete lack of concern cut that line of reasoning short. “Your fathers know we’re taking you to the Roaring Lion. This is a done deal, Jules. Start accepting it.” Luke started the truck then headed down the long drive to the main road. “Your body already has, Jules. Open your mind to what your body already knows and this will be easier for you.” The casual mention of her attraction and resulting arousal to the brothers filled the truck cab like humidity filled the late summer air, making it hard to breathe and her body uncomfortably warm. Gabe’s erection pressing into the curve of her ass showed her she wasn’t the only one affected by Luke’s comments. The fight didn’t go out of her, instead it shifted from thoughts of escaping these two to controlling her reaction to them. “Don’t flatter yourself. Yourselves. What you think is attraction to you is nothing more than my having a normal, healthy sex drive.” “How many other pairs have you let know about your healthy sex drive?” Jules snapped her mouth closed. That was the whole problem, why these two worried her more than all the others combined. No other pair affected her the way Gabe and Luke did. If she thought she could get away with it Jules would have lied through her teeth, claimed she’d had a similar reaction to another man or men, but she didn’t. She kept her mouth shut. If she wasn’t able to believe the lie how would they? The remainder of the short ride to the Roaring Lion was completed in silence. No one was talking but that didn’t mean nothing was going on. Jules sat stiffly on Gabe’s lap, trying her damnedest but failing miserably at ignoring his hard-on. The sexual tension inside the cab was stifling. The Beckett brothers were determined to take what they wanted and Jules was silently scrambling to think of a way to stop it.
From exile to queen-whom can she trust?
Tiger by the Tail © 2008 Kaye Chambers An On the Prowl story. Alexandra “Sasha” DeStephano has long been exiled from her own kind, thanks to parents who had no wish for her to grow up in the “tiger mafia”. Now that she’s been issued an engraved invitation to appear before the society elders, she finds herself plunged into a dangerous battle for power, urged on every side to give up her birthright to make room for a new regime. On every side, that is, except Colton Reyes, a rogue alpha. Cole plants the idea in her mind that, under the current leadership, the tiger society is headed down a one-way street to disaster. And she is their only hope. Spurred on by a man who flips all her sexual switches, Sasha steps up to the plateand finds herself promoted from Tiger Princess to Queen. The resulting consequences are far more than she ever imagined. In this game of danger and intrigue, almost no one can be trusted. Cole’s best chance to protect her? Pretend to claim her as his mate. Except pretending is the last thing on Sasha’s mind.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Tiger by the Tail: “Thank you, all. I understand I’m allowed to choose some advisors to help me?” “You are, madam.” Lord DeLuca was entirely too smug for my liking and I wondered how much of a dissention factor was running in the crowd tonight. If this went to hell in a hand basket, I was blaming him, personally. I hoped he understood that. I read the house badges on the young men who were edging to the top of the crowd. Blinking, I realized the nagging little detail that had bugged me when I’d arrived. Cole had been announced as a lord, but his coat was lacking the golden embroidered badge that signified his status. In fact, his
coat was lacking any adornment, at all. He wore a plain black tux in lieu of the formal dinner jackets around him. Of course, that made him stand out like a sore thumb. “Lord Reyes, please step forward for the honor.” Why did I give him what he wanted? Simple. I didn’t know anyone else there and I could always disappoint him, later. Besides, he was part of the reason I was in this mess, so he might as well be part of the solution. Power was a wonderful thing. If I’d not appointed anyone, the speculation would have been that I was going to try to muscle my way through things or that I was ignorant of the ways things were run. I wasn’t brave or hungry enough to want to muscle my way through anything tonight, and I couldn’t afford the weakness of assumed ignorance. I knew enough to get me killed. I was going to trust Cole not to let that happen. Unfortunately, Cole wasn’t the one who stepped forward. I watched a blonde young man about my age start up the steps with a frown. “Who are you?” “I’m Lord Thomas Reyes, Lady Alexandra.” That he neglected to give me my title meant that he thought he was my equal. The look on his face said he wanted to be my superior. I disliked that and him. Raising my hand, I shook my head. Two could play at that game. “I didn’t mean you, Mr. Reyes. I meant Cole.” His face flashed with temper and I knew I didn’t like him for a reason. I rarely went wrong when I trusted my instincts. “I am the legitimate heir to the Reyes House. You called for me.” “My oversight, Thomas.” “Thomas, step aside.” Lord DeLuca was gaining a lot of bonus points with me tonight. “I refuse to step aside for a Spanish whore’s bastard.” Well, if the jury had been out on my opinion of him that would have settled it. I watched Cole’s face still. Stepping up on the steps, he walked across them until he stood opposite Thomas. Standing side-by-side, the resemblance was striking. While they were
polar opposites in coloring and manner, they had the same sharp, aristocratic bone structure. “My lady, I ask your permission to address this insult.” There wasn’t any asking in his tone, but I understood the point. The formality of the situation made him say the words. I don’t normally approve of violence to solve a problem, but I had a suspicion that Thomas wouldn’t settle it any other way. Some boys just had to have the sense beat into them. “Go right ahead.” “So it’s challenge for the right to her, then?” Did every man here think I was a prize to be won? I had always understood my parents’ decision to leave society to live their own life, but for the first time, I sympathized. If this was what my mother had gone through, it was a wonder I’d been born at all. “No, Thomas, the challenge is for the slight to my mother. Lady DeStephano can answer her own challenges, if you’d like to issue one? You’ll still have to face me in the challenge circle, though.” “You’re awfully sure of that, Cole. What have you been doing when the rest of us haven’t been watching?” The way his gaze slid over me let the insinuation be all the worse. That some of the people in the crowd followed it and whispered behind their hands really made it worse. Cole’s temper flared and it washed hot across my skin. The tiger liked anger and mine responded. It took all of my control to keep my power from washing out to meet his. I had enough problems without advertising that my parents had bred true and my tiger was begging to join in the fun. Without looking at me, Cole stalked away with Thomas behind him. From my seat, I saw the crowd part and ring a marble circle set in the middle of the garden. It was gorgeously arranged as a focal point with paths branching off into the deeper recesses of the garden. Until the people ringed it, I wouldn’t have called it a challenge circle. Whoever had designed this garden had been a genius.
I was fascinated with it all to the point I didn’t notice the two men slowly undressing. By the time I realized it, Cole was turning his back to strip off his pants. It took a moment for it to register and I had to look away. The guy already hit my radar and the last thing I wanted to do was gawk at him. I did see enough to know that his coloring was absolutely natural. Well, either that or he tanned in the nude. That thought alone reinforced the urge to jerk my gaze as far away from him as I could manage. “Don’t turn away.” I blinked and found myself in company I’d not even sensed. Hot embarrassment flooded through me and all I could do was blame it on the hormonal overload. Grinning at Lord DeLuca, I waved him to the bench to sit beside me. Instead, he dropped to sit on the cool marble, heedless of his elegant slacks. “Thank you, but I’m not exactly in the habit of watching men strip. I’ll preserve my modesty, thank you very much.” My tone was tart enough to make him laugh, which brought an answering smile to my face. “Modesty. I didn’t realize it still existed.” My mouth dropped open and I laughed with him. “Well, maybe if you started asking everyone not to strip out in packs to go running under the moon, there might be a little bit more of it.” “Ah, too late for that.” I followed the direction he was looking and saw what I’m sure Thomas wanted me to see. He stood facing me, letting me get an eyeful. Putting on a bland face, I looked directly at his face and waited. I wasn’t sure what upset him more, the fact I didn’t check out what he was offering or that I didn’t turn away in embarrassment. Either way, he snarled and shifted in a flow of magic and blinding light. One moment, he stood as a man, the next, as a tiger in burnished orange. I was surprised to see his color, though. My mother had platinum blonde hair like my grandfather and they were both whites. My father had passed on his dark hair and his golden color on to me. Genetics are a wonderful thing. I’d have expected Thomas to be a white from the fairness of his skin and hair, too.
Cole earned a few extra points in my book by not making a display of himself. Instead, he shifted with his back to me and his color surprised me, too. He was the rarest color of them all—black. I wondered if I’d be able to see the black stripes on the black coat in the daylight like the black jaguar I’d seen in the zoo, but let the fascinated thought pass. He turned to me with a graceful twist of his body, bending a knee in salute. I’ll say this for the guy; he certainly had flare and style. Guess some guys are just born with it. In size, the two cats were in the same class. They began to circle one another in a slow stalk. Thomas swiped a claw out, but Cole dodged back easily. I suddenly had the horrible realization that this could turn ugly, fast. “Tell me they’re not going to…” I waved my hand, trying to find words that didn’t sound so, well, fatal. “First blood, only, princess.”
To stop a killer, would you become one?
Even for Me © 2008 Taryn Blackthorne An On the Prowl story. Aislyn used to have a life, a family and a home until a witch on a mission shattered everything in one night with a spell. Now Aislyn is on the run, holed up in Denver, and fighting the Changes that ravage her body and mind while struggling to keep her humanity. Jackson Havens is a ghost hunter short on cash. All he needs is quick proof that Aislyn is the Ghost Cat Killer, and he can get back to his day job. One pair of handcuffs and a double-crossing employer later, Jackson finds himself bound to the sexy Aislynand racing to catch the real killer before someone puts Aislyn down. For good.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Even for Me: Whatever power the kid was calling up, the weather was helping. Ozone filled the air up quick. A flash of lightning hit just outside the barn doors, illuminating everything inside clear as day. The kid’s shadow looked like a scarecrow but the woman’s shadow looked like a cat. A second strike and the woman screamed as if the lightning had hit her nerves. As he watched, the reason for the woman’s ankle chains became clear. Her skin shivered, like an ocean wave, and tawny fur rode the top, up to her face. One more flash of lighting and her teeth became fangs, her snout stretched and her pupils elongated and became thin slits that cut through the blue iris of her eye. She screamed, rage in her face, or at least she tried to. Cougars couldn’t roar, but she sure gave her version. Her body arched as the kid looked on, rapt, captured almost, the smoking cigar in her hand seemingly forgotten. The cougar looked at the kid and hissed in hatred. Her body fought and bucked and the wave rolled across her body again, but the fur retreated back down, the face became normal, save for her very cat-like eyes. She turned them on the kid and smiled around the gag.
“NO! You have to Change! Don’t you understand? YOU HAVE TO!” The kid lost it, stomping around, and the lightning outside hit the roof. He smelled smoke and knew the old barn had caught. He tried to yell around the gag, but the kid didn’t seem interested in him anymore. He tried to kick the stall he was chained to. He pulled and yanked until he couldn’t see for the sweat running down into his eyes. Blood dripped off his hands, making them slippery. A witch and a Shifter. He was in it up to his eyeballs this time. The woman began to scream, clear and loud. He turned just in time to get smacked with a shovel aside the head, stunning him long enough for the kid to pull off his gag and wrap the woman’s around his left wrist. She then pulled the cigar up to her lips. He watched the end flare and blinked just before the smoke was blown into his eyes. He coughed and sputtered and gazed up at the kid through a haze that had blue edges to it. The girl smiled at him. She walked across the room to her other prisoner, seemingly unaware that there were now lit pieces of the barn falling all around her, and small fires burning in those stalls that had dried hay in them. She tied his gag to the woman’s left wrist and bent over the struggling, cursing woman. The kid blew smoke into the woman’s face and chanted all the way back to the center of the circle. She picked up the bowl of liquid and offered it to the storm outside. A soft rain had begun to accompany the thunder and lightning but he had small hopes that it would put out the fire before at least two of them roasted. The kid put the cigar into the liquid in the bowl and whatever it was caught. The symbols flared and burned on their foreheads and both he and the woman couldn’t hold back screeching. “Iallach a chur ar dhuine rud a dhéanamh,” the girl sang and lightning hit the center of the circle, then spread to hit both him and the woman. His body was raised off the ground two feet, every muscle stiff as a board. It felt like he was burning from the inside out, like his nerves were made of acid and caught on fire to boot. No sound could come out of his mouth. He felt, rather than saw that the woman, Aislyn, was in the same position. He had the sudden thought that she’d been running from this kid because this was the witch. He’d known that Aislyn was from the East Coast but now he knew she had loved swimming in the ocean, hiking along the rivers, had loved her small apartment in the old town boarding house. Aislyn had loved the smell of a bonfire on the beach with a
guitar in her hand and friends gathered around her laughing. She had been so proud of her foster brother Mark when he had graduated and had made the whole family take the day off, closing the gas station/bus stop in their small town. She’d always been there for her foster mother, helping out in the small diner on her days off and in the evenings when she could. Felt how much she’d loved her small town. And it had been taken from her by the witch. He also knew she didn’t understand. She didn’t know what she was now, not truly. He felt something he never thought he would ever feel for a Shifter. Pity. She hated pity more than anything else, and he knew that too. It made her feel weak, defeated, violated, and defenseless. She’d been stripped of her life for no reason and pity made it worse. He looked over at the Shifter. Their eyes locked. For once he understood what a woman felt because he felt it, truly felt it as if he had a second personality inside him. “Damn.” He looked up at the witch, who smiled. “Master of the Hunt.” The witch threw a handful of herbs at him. Naming him, she was naming him for God’s sake. The kid threw a fistful at the woman and whispered, “Mistress Hunter.” Then she collapsed, and a beam from the roof fell across her, blocking his view. Although that could have been the thickening smoke burning his eyes. Oh good, he wouldn’t die from roasting alive, but smoke inhalation. Yeah. Looking up, he saw the stall he was cuffed to get licked once, twice, three times with flames from the fallen beam before it caught and started eating away. The heat was getting worse; he could feel the blisters starting on his skin. He started to cough and couldn’t stop. He pulled and shouted and yelled, but nothing seemed to be working and he was using up a lot of oxygen he didn’t seem to have anymore. He wondered if his family would be able to claim his body or if it would go into an unmarked grave, the same as his older brother’s had last year. It was his last thought.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd. It’s all about the story… Action/Adventure Fantasy Historical Horror Mainstream Mystery/Suspense Non-Fiction Paranormal Red Hots! Romance Science Fiction Western Young Adult www.samhainpublishing.com
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