Groaning inwardly, Shaya shot her a sweet smile. “Nothing.”“I have to say, I’m surprised he’s interested in you. I mean, I look at him…and then I look at you…and it just doesn’t make sense.”“Paisley,” cautioned Kent.“I’m not being insulting.” For once, it seemed that Paisley wasn’t being intentionally offensive. She appeared genuinely confused. “He’s clearly a very dominant guy—I’d be surprised if he doesn’t enjoy the D/s lifestyle. Someone like you, Shaya, well…I just can’t see you being able to cope with Nick as he is. You’re like the watered-down version of what he’d want—too testy and defiant, not to mention inexperienced. You…you’d be better with a guy who’s practical, sensible, sensitive, and gentle and all that stuff. Maybe a librarian or someone like that.”“A librarian?”“You know…someone safe and timid.” Paisley shrugged. “Now Nick, well, he’s far from that. I can’t imagine that you have experience with guys like him. And you might be sort of pretty, and you may
When Danna returned to the reception desk to answer the phone, Jean said, “Well, if you’re set on going on this date, you can at least tell me about him.” “His name’s Jackson. He’s a web designer.” “Sounds boring.” “All you’ve heard is his name and occupation.” “Exactly. Already he sounds boring. Now, if he was a tall, ash-blond alpha male with an inner wolf—” “Jean,” she groaned. “Fine. So where are you going on this date?” “We’re going to the Moroccan restaurant near your place.” One of his brows lifted. “Oooh, maybe I’ll pop in then.” “No. You’ll grill him like he’s being interrogated for a murder charge.” “Yes, for your own good. For all you know, he could be a murderer. An ax murderer, even. There could be bodies hidden under his patio.”She growled, “You’re a pain in my ass.” She continued to be a pain in her ass all day—dedicated it to poking fun at a guy she hadn’t
Again Tasha had to resist the urge to fiddle with her new violet-black skirt. It had been one of those love-at-first-sight purchases. She loved how the outer edges, running from her hips to just over mid-thigh, looked to be laced up—as if just a tug would have the whole thing on the floor. She also loved the feel of the black silk underskirt against her skin. Shame it hadn’t had some kind of warning label to alert her to the fact that whenever she sat down it was going to creep up her thighs. She smiled at Jackson as he poured more wine into her glass. The guy had been okay so far. The date, as a whole, had been okay so far too. Therein lay the problem: it was “okay.” There was no sexual tension, though he had given her compliments that indicated he would happily take over for her vibrator. There was no teasing between them or banter. He seemed to be too nervous to joke. She had to give him credit where it was due, however—he was doing a fan
“Hello, Tasha,” rumbled Onyx, though he didn’t look at her. He only had eyes for the nervous male opposite him. Despite the dark emotions circulating through Onyx , his voice was surprisingly even. He couldn’t believe that she’d done this. He’d thought he was making progress, thought she was coming to accept his part in her life. And he’d hoped to God that meant she’d soon let him in—even if it was only slightly. He was fine with letting things move at her pace, despite how much it was killing him not to claim her. But he wasn’t fine with her dating other guys. And if she’d thought differently, she didn’t know him at all. Tasha chanced a look at Onyx’s flawless face, and it verified what his stiff posture hinted at. He was boiling with anger. As he met her gaze, his eyes warned her not to challenge him. Her wolf shrank away—not out of fear, but because she had no intention of taking any blame here; her wolf hadn’t liked being around the ot
Not sure if it was a good idea for them to be alone together right now, Tasha cautiously began, “Onyx—” But he wasn’t listening. He cupped her elbow, gently pulling her to her feet as he rose to his. His eyes were locked on her like a predator watching its prey that it suspected was about to flee…which wasn’t far from the truth. A part of her was thrilled about the effect this had had on him—it showed that he cared, that he considered her to be as important to him as she needed to feel that she was, that it wasn’t just all a “mine” thing and there was more to his actions than a sense of ownership. But a part of her was nervous as hell. Not that she thought he would harm her. No, never that. Still, the guy could be unnerving at the best of the times. Now, it was bad. With his hand caging her wrist, he guided her at a brisk pace out of the restaurant and into the Mercedes. Bracing herself for a typical dominant male explosion, T
Guilt nibbled even harder at Tasha as she heard the despondency in his voice. She also found that she didn’t like that he’d called her . He abandoned you, remember, a voice inside her snapped. Yes, he had. But he had also apologized to her, had also been gentle with her, and had never once lost his patience with her no matter what she said or did. Even when she’d physically hurt him that first night, he’d never hurt her, never tried to intimidate her, and never tried to suppress her with his dominant vibes. More importantly, he hadn’t left her no matter what she’d done. “It wasn’t that I wanted to hurt you.” “Oh, really?” His voice dripped with skepticism. “Okay, maybe I wanted you to hurt a little. But I needed to know you weren’t going to abandon me again.” “Ah, I see; well I’m so glad I passed your little test,” he said bitterly. At this point, his head was starting to pound so hard that the sound of his own voice hurt. “What you’re
As Onyx tossed back a handful of pills and Trevon sat at the dinette frowning in disapproval, Nick was thinking that this was becoming too familiar. Either the headaches were becoming more painful or the pills were becoming less effective, because he now had to take a higher dosage to dim the pain. The bitch of it was that the dosage and the pain thrown together acted as one hell of a sedative. Any minute now, he’d be in the land of the fairies. It wasn’t until Onyx slumped on the sofa, eyes closed, that Trevon spoke. “That’s three headaches you’ve had today.” His voice was quiet, which Onyx appreciated. “Yeah, well, it was a stressful day.” Trevon cursed. “Onyx, you need to go back to Amber for more healing sessions.”“No.” A heavy sigh. “Onyx—” They’re just headaches. Besides, you know as well as I do that if the sessions didn’t work the first time, they aren’t going to work a second time.”
The next morning, Tasha was ready to slip on her shoes and jacket when her cell phone rang. Digging it out of her purse, she saw that the caller was Jean. “If you’re calling to check if I’ll be late, the answer’s actually no, so—” A snort. “Well that would be a first. But that’s not why I’m calling. I want you to take the day off.” Surprised, she paused in her movements. “What? Why?” “I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that you and Onyx have some serious talking to do. He was severely pissed last night, Tasha, and I can’t say I blame him.” She didn’t blame him either. “You told him about the date, didn’t you?” “Yes. But Trevon was following us anyway, and it wouldn’t have taken much thinking on his part to work out what was going on. What happened when you got back home?” Sighing, Tasha fell back onto the sofa and told him everything. “Is he as good with that mouth as I’ve been betting he is?” A half smile surfaced
few years later. Opening your eyes to find that you’re upside down can’t be good, can it? Through the cobwebs clouding her mind, Kass realized that it wasn’t just she who was upside down. The car had toppled over.Well, that sucked. Clearly the fuck-up fairy had made an appearance.Strangely, Kass felt no rush of panic, no fear. And despite that she was pretty sure her head was bleeding, there was no pain. There was only a feeling of weightlessness. Even the fact that her wolf was frantic didn’t disturb Roni in this dreamlike moment. Her brain distantly registered that the car kept leaning sideways, as if something was repeatedly pulling at it. But it was the various sounds that penetrated her mental fog: low moans, a phone ringing, a child crying, and strange voices arguing.Sensing that the ringtone and the moans were coming from her left, kass turned her head to find a male wolf shifter in the driver’s seat, e
When she finally untangled herself from him, he explained, “It’s not just the only lodge here now. The owners built and rented out several other lodges on the land, which would be perfect for the ‘pack’ to live in. It means you and I will have our own space.” Touched to the point that she was tearful, she said, “I really, really can’t believe you’ve done this. I never would have guessed. I suppose I should have—you always try to spoil me.” “It’s my right, and it’ll happen a lot, so you need to get better at accepting gifts.” She waved away that comment. “You know what else I can’t believe? That the prejudiced humans sold the place to a shifter.” When he opened his mouth to speak, she raised a hand. “Don’t tell me…Your contacts got involved, right?” “Right,” he confirmed. “Want to go inside?” “Do Dalmatians have black spots?” “One thing first: I made a few…changes.”
As Bree yapped beside him at the dining table about something or other, Onyx forced a smile for her. Oh, she was a nice enough girl and stuff, but he just didn’t do the friend thing, and apparently a person didn’t have a choice in the matter when it was Bree He noticed that his mate, who was sitting on his other side, was stifling a smile of amusement at his discomfort—as usual. Just a little longer, he reminded himself. Just a little longer, and then he and Tasha would be finished with their evening meal and leaving Sliver Pack territory, and they would only be returning as visitors. Since the night of the battle, he and Tasha had been living on pack territory temporarily. Although they had slept in the motor home outside the caves, they were still constantly harassed and, as such, had had very little time alone. Onyx and Tasha weren’t the only ones who had remained on pack territory. Trevon,
Abruptly, she snatched the knife her father had long ago given her that was tucked into her boot and speared it into his chest.When a stunned-looking Chubby came charging at her, she rolled to the side and sliced both his Achilles tendons as he stumbled past. Like a sack of spuds, he fell to the ground, crying out. Rolling once again, she seized the rifle and twisted to see that Chubby was trying to crawl away. He froze when she cocked it and gave her a pitiful look. She shrugged. “I told you I’d kill you.” The bullet hit him dead-center in his forehead. It was then that Merk swung the door open. But she had already cocked the gun again, ready to shoot, and was aiming it as his head. “You should have run, Monkey Boy.” But the awkward bastard dove to the side, making the bullet skim his ear. “Fuck.” Then a wall of flames suddenly formed around the hut, and Merk slammed the door closed. “Double fuck.” Before she could even think of acting, a
There was gunfire, there was growling, there was screaming, there was yelling as the wolves came at the group from all directions. It was also the go-ahead for Tasha to act. Aiming for those who she judged the biggest threats and of whom she had a clear view, Tasha fired one bullet after another, gratified down to her gut as she disabled the bastards. One of those bullets hit her target’s arm rather than his heart, and he dropped his gun as he flinched with the pain. When Onyx wolf turned his attention to him, the human turned and ran in what could only be described as a blind panic. He suddenly screeched in pain and fell to the ground, having stepped on one of the barbed-spike plates that were planted around. Onyx dived on him, closing his jaw around the asshole’s throat. The wolves were all merciless in their assault. Ethan wolf had gone feral by this point and was tearing into whatever human was near him. Although he’d taken a bull
Entering the living area a little while later, they found Jaime, Ace, Kass, Marcus,Royd Grace, Lydia, and Sansa. The smell of Onyx and Tasha’s combined scents seemed to hit everyone at once, because they were all smiling—even Sansa, despite that it was fake. “Well, well, well,” said Bree, delighted, as Onyx and Tasha perched themselves on the gigantic sofa where everyone other than Kass and Royd, who had each claimed an armchair, was sitting. “It would appear things are moving along nicely.” Bree swapped places with Ace so that she was then sitting by Onyx, winking at Tasha when he stiffened at her proximity. “How’s my BFF doing?” When Onyx gawked at her, Bree said indulgently, “Not you, sweetie, I was talking to your mate.” Tasha would have been pissed by people continually poking at him if she didn’t know this meant they accepted him. “Fine, thanks.” Tasha patted Onyx’s thigh soothingly. “I’m glad things are working out for you gu
As it was important that Onyx knew every inch of pack territory in preparation for the attack, Tasha took him on a thorough tour of the land while they were in their wolf forms after breakfast. She showed him every lake, every clearing, every hidden entrance to the caves. She even showed him the “hut”—the small building where trespassers were taken to be interrogated by Dante.When they stopped at a particular lake, she shifted back to her human form. “This is my favorite spot on Sliver land. Come on, I want to swim.” Back in his human form, Onyx glanced around, taking in his surroundings. Instantly, he understood. “You used to come here to be alone, didn’t you?” he asked, smiling. It was almost funny, considering she was so sociable. “Yes,” she admitted, slowly going deeper and deeper into the lake. “Sometimes a girl likes a little alone time.” He gasped in mock outrage. “All this t
knock at the door the next morning was quickly followed by Trick’s voice. “Tasha you’ve got visitors. If Tala right, you might not be too happy about it.” As those words penetrated her sleep-dazed brain, Tasha groaned. She didn’t have to ask who the visitors were. Her mother had been trying to contact her nonstop over the past two days, but Tasha had ignored her calls. Caleb would have told her that Tasha had returned to Sliver Pack territory. It had only been a matter of time before the woman showed up. Sleepily, she called out, “I’ll be down in a minute.” “They’re waiting for you in the kitchen.” The sound of Zeeb's footsteps faded down the tunnels. Any other time, she would have been stumbling around the room on just waking. But knowing her parents were here was enough to galvanize her into action. Hopping out of the bed, she told Onyx's “It’s got to be my parents. You might want to sit this one out.” F
“I have a feeling the shifter behind all this will come with them,” said Ryan. Nick was surprised to hear him speak. “Me too,” said Zeeb. “He hates shifters anyway, and now that he’s no longer making money from charging humans to kill our kind, I’d say he’ll be pissed enough to join Jace in the attack.” “Let’s hope so,” growled Tala. She rose from her armchair and approached Onyx. “It’s time. We need you at top strength. I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to heal you, but I can certainly do my best.” She then turned to her pack. “Grace, you know what I need. Ryan, the window.” While the short brunette nodded and left the room, the grumpy-looking enforcer opened the window wide. Determined to only think positive thoughts, Tasha rose from his lap. “Lie down on the floor, flat on your back.” “That’s usually my order,” rumbled Onyx, smiling at her blush. Hoping against hope that the Alpha female would