“What should we do with her?”I pondered that for a moment. I couldn’t stand the thought of her being in the barracks, but I couldn’t invite her to my room, either.“Put her in my office. Have virgil sit with her.”He nodded once and hustled out of the master suite. Had he been in his animal form, his tail would have been between his legs, I was sure.Hastily, I found a tracksuit not my normal attire to the casino but I was worried that Selina might flee again now that she’d been contained. Sage wouldn’t force her to stay, but she was a much less threatening presence than the guards, and if I moved fast enough, I’d get to see what she wanted.She should have sent word through the messenger. She must have some kind of death wish hopping walls like this.Was she crazy or desperate?Again, the image of those wide, doe eyes filtered through my now awake mind, and I had my answer. Selina wasn’t going to stop until she got what she wanted.I knew that type well.It was less than half a mile
“Speak,” he ordered me, a lazy smirk touching his generous mouth. I was fascinated with the curve of it, the fullness falling into a drip at the lower point like a teasing drop, waiting for me to lick it up.Stop it! I’m here for my son and friend Agnes.That sobered me up, and I jutted my eyes back toward his blazing irises, clearing my throat.“I already explained to you that my son was sick and my friend owed Ernest because I was in Coma for six years, she borrowed money from him to take care of my son in those six years, the only way I could save her is paying off the debt and having her under your protection, my son needs to e attended to immediately or he could die while Agnes needs to payback her debt and her protection, I will pay back working for you” I said , he remained in his place, merely staring at me, expressionless.I felt disgusted because I expected some pity from him or some emotion.“He collects women! Mostly Virgins!” I moaned. “Doesn’t that disgust you?”“What J
SelenaDumbfounded, I watched Selena leave, lips parted to call her back, but I didn’t. I couldn’t believe the amount of resolve it took me not to chase after her.This is the best-case scenario. She goes, and she’s no longer my problem. This is good.I scoffed aloud, even before the words finished playing in my mind. The scent of her body lingered in my office, forcing my nose upward, following like a fifties cartoon character chasing after a pie on a windowsill. Yeah, I wanted her, but this was a physical pull, harder than what was in the base of my tracksuit, urging me to shift and go for her.Still, I managed to contain myself with a simple image.The mere thought of her name drew me back into the depth of my office and into my chair, forcing my restless body into a sitting position.More than two hundred years had passed since she was in my life, and the feeling still haunted me. Why would I ever endure such pain again?Mortals weren’t to be chased, shifters or not. Even if Sena
Maybe she’ll ignore the invite,I thought, the notion both nauseating and relieving.And that will be the end of that.Waiting for an answer was going to be excruciating.* * *There wa slittle sense in waiting around the casino at that hour of the morning, and I made my way home shortly after word was sent out to Selina.Of course, sleep was no longer an option, and I entered my open-concept kitchen to find one of my maids cleaning. Luve jumped when I stalked into the room, her eyes popping as she sized me up in the tracksuit.“Oh, Mr. Jeff,” she mumbled, dropping the sopping sponge back in her bucket. “I-I didn’t expect you to be awake. I’ll clean somewhere else.”I shook my head and sidestepped her equipment, heading toward the espresso machine.“Don’t bother, Luve. I just want a cappuccino, and I’ll head out to the pool,” I promised her. “I got woken up.”“Let me make you a cappuccino, Mr. Jeff,” she insisted, wiping her hands. “Please.”I started to protest, but she caught my hand
I shuddered violently, the stench of him overwhelming me. If I’d thought the lion shifter from the casino was bad, Ernest’s smell was a thousand times worse to me, probably because I understood everything that it represented. He was the embodiment of lust and sin, the worst of everything this world had to offer. I struggled to unhinge myself from his hold, but his fingers were like wire vices, digging into the flesh of my arms.As a Bear shifter, he was built solidly, his feline structure comparable to my lupine bones in many ways. If I’d endured the same amount of physical training that Ernest had since childhood, I might have been able to take him, but our youths had been very different.“Why are you out of breath, little one?” he murmured, his breath hot on my face, making my skin crawl almost clean off my bones. “Are you as excited to have me as I am to have you and your saviour?”“What? No!” I squealed, finally managing to squirm out of his hold.I stared at him dubiously. Did he
“Where are we going?” I demanded, holding my ground.Too many years of being on guard stopped me from following her, even though I sensed I didn’t have anything to fear from matt, it’s not in the same way I did from Jesse.“You won’t be working from the casino,” she explained. “I’ll take you to your workspace.”“Where is it?”“In Jeff’s house.”Heat burst through me.“His house?” I echoed, dumbfounded.That was an unexpected twist. Matt’s eyes flashed reprovingly, and my blush deepened.“His home office,” he corrected himself, narrowing hir eyes. “You will be properly outfitted there, and your duties explained. You won’t have free roam of the building. Please be mindful of your position.”A million new questions entered my mind, but Matt’s sour expression forced them all back into my throat, and I begrudgingly followed after him.“Is he going to be there?” I asked hopefully.He was the one that had offered me a position, and I wasn’t fond of the idea of having to explain why I was ar
She was gone again, and I eyed the delicious hunk of bread and meat, unwilling to leave the rest of it uneaten. Who knew when I’d get a chance to savor a meal like this again? Gods knew Ernest wasn’t feeding us like that.I stifled the urge to consume the rest of the sandwich, despite wanting to eat more. Agnes needed some just as much as I did more. She needed to keep her strength up so we could get moving, and I resolved to tuck some away for her. I bolted toward the door, stifling a moan of pleasure as I licked the crumbs from my lips. I hadn’t been paid, but even if I never saw a cent for that night’s work, the food would have made it all totally worth it.SELINAI didn’t recognize the driver waiting in the car behind the house. He didn’t introduce himself or even utter a word as he opened the back door to the town car and secured me inside. I found myself wondering if this was less to do with making me comfortable in my working environment and more to do with ensuring I was escor
Virgil was gone again, and I eyed the delicious hunk of bread and meat, unwilling to leave the rest of it uneaten. Who knew when I’d get a chance to savor a meal like this again? Gods knew Ernest wasn’t feeding us like that. I stifled the urge to consume the rest of the sandwich, despite wanting to eat more. My son and Anna needed some just as much as I did—more. She needed to keep her strength up so we could get moving, and I resolved to tuck some away for her. I bolted toward the door, stifling a moan of pleasure as I licked the crumbs from my lips. I hadn’t been paid, but even if I never saw a cent for that night’s work, the food would have made it all totally worth it. Emily I didn’t recognize the driver waiting in the car behind the house. He didn’t introduce himself or even utter a word as he opened the back door to the town car and secured me inside. I found myself wondering if this was less to do with making me comfortable in my working environment and more to do with ensuri
“I can’t stop thinking about Selina,” Emilia said wistfully.King turned to face her. “Truthfully, I had also not expected her to do that.”“I was moved by the fact that Selina apologized.”“That’s true,” King agreed. “To be honest, she was the last person I expected to apologize to you.”After Emilia had saved Selina’s life, she had come to apologize to her. It was quite a show of humility as she had gone down on her knees and bowed to the ground before Juniper. Juniper had pleaded with her to get up, but she’d refused to get up until she had said her piece.“I’m sorry for how I treated you growing up,” Selina had said, with teary eyes. “You were right. You never killed Dad. I was always so angry at you for that night, but I never thanked you for saving me that night. And that sucks.“So thank you, Selina. Thank you. Twice you saved my life, and all I ever did was hate you and bully you. I wish I could turn back time and do things differently, but I can’t. Do you think you can forgiv
He let out a sigh of relief, then collapsed on the bed again. His thighs burned something furious and he was afraid of moving too suddenly. He couldn’t deal with a cramp right now.Emilia’s breathing started to level out after five minutes. She had the energy of five people in bed, and no matter how tired King thought she was, she was always ready for another tumble.Her intensity and desire scared KIng, but it was still one of the things that he loved the most about her. She matched his energy in so many different ways and their time together always ended up looking like one of them had a point to prove to the other.She turned to look at him, beaming. “That was….”“Amazing?” King finished for her, chuckling.“I was going to say scary, but amazing works as well.” Emilia smiled. “Really, I thought I was going to burst an artery for a moment there.”“Lucky you,” King teased. “I think I heard a few pop.” Emilia laughed as he leaned forward to kiss her forehead, and then her lips.“Poor
With tears in her eyes, she admitted what she had been holding back from admitting for so long. “I love you too, King.”King smiled wider and put his arms around her waist. He pulled her close, gently, and kissed her softly. Juniper melted into his embrace and forgot all about her pain and fear and frustration. She wrapped her arms around King, happy that she could hold him again.She had been so afraid of losing him. She had been so afraid of dying. And yet…here they were. She gripped him tighter, wanting to make sure he was real, not another sliver of her creative mind, a figment of her imagination. Yes, he was real. This was real.She was startled to hear voices and broke the kiss abruptly. The entire pack approached them, whooping and cheering loudly. She blushed slightly with embarrassment. She had completely forgotten all about them, and with good reason.“Wow!” Articus said. “What you did? We have never seen anything like it before. Where did you learn that from?”Emilia blinke
She walked slowly to the side, keeping herself on his blind side as she approached. She tried to levitate off the ground but couldn’t. All her powers had manifested physically into the spear in her hand.The only mana left in her was what powered her to move and function. She had to strike, and quickly, or she would be dead before she realized it.King had seen her get up, had seen the spear form in her hand. By some miracle, he had managed to keep his expression neutral and his eyes on the vampire.The vampire landed softly in front of him and pulled his blood spear out of the air. “So, this is how it ends.” He grinned wildly. “You fought well.”King held his gaze. “Don’t patronize me. Do what you have to do. Do you remember your promise? My life for theirs. No harm comes to my pack or my mate.”“Why the rush to die?” The vampire shook his head in mock sympathy. “Such a naive little boy. I made you no promises, fool. But I will promise you this. When I kill everyone you love and dest
The vampire threw his head back and laughed maniacally. He held the whole town hostage. He was judge, jury, and executioner, and he had all the power. Worst of all, he wasraving mad.He formed another spear in the air and it hovered beside his head. He shoved Emilia casually, ever so absentmindedly, to the ground. She crashed into the ground and bumped her knees as she fell.Pain lanced through her. Her palms felt like she wielded two balls of fire, and she couldn’t feel her legs. She stretched out on the ground, taking stock of her injuries. She never suffered any real damage from injuries, thanks to her powers, but she still felt pain.She watched the vampire as he floated toward King. Her chest squeezed with fear when she looked at the long, thin spear that moved before him. He had a look of pure evil on his face.King, on the other hand, looked resigned to his fate. He looked like someone who was waiting to die. He looked ready for it, like he had been waiting his entire life to d
He saw the vampire hovering high in the sky, watching the people. King had a sinking feeling in his stomach as he watched the still vampire.The vampire spread his arms to the side. At first, nothing happened. And then, the air around him shimmered. Thin, red objects appeared in the sky. Thousands of them, pointed like needles.King let out a wordless cry when he recognized the pointed objects floating in the sky. Blood spears. This was why the vampire had spent his time killing and discarding of so many animals.This was blood magic on an unprecedented scale. Cold realization washed over him. The vampire was going to wipe out the entire pack in one attack, and there was nothing that he could do to stop it.King clambered up to his feet, feeling defeated. How many of those could he block? How many people could he have saved today? He arrived at one inevitable answer. Not enough.As he had feared, the spears were turned toward the pack. His mouth ran dry and he watched wordlessly, awai
His body trembled from pain and he could feel a few broken ribs. He got up shakily and the pain lacerated through him, even as his body started to slowly knit itself back together.Still disoriented, he looked up just in time to see a fist flashing toward his face. The vampire’s bony knuckle connected solidly with King’s jaw and sent his head reeling backward.The force of the blow caused a shock wave to spread out around King and the vampire. He went flying backward, crashing into the ground several times before he came to a stop several yards away.He got up slowly and felt a hot, white pain in his jaw and knew that it had been shattered. He limped, his front legs faltering as his shoulder had not fully healed. The vampire floated toward him slowly as he felt his jaw. The vampire grinned at him and licked his lips with a pale tongue. “My turn.”King had no idea how to escape the blows that rained down on him. He ducked as furiously as he could, but half the strikes connected, and he
Fannar drilled Selina about what she had seen, and asked for details about her fight with the vampire.Selina cackled drily. “Fight? That wasn’t a fight. That was a beating. I barely managed to get my hands up before it ripped into me with the force of a bear and the speed of a fox. I have never seen anything like that in my life before. I think we are in big trouble.”The room fell silent and the alphas exchanged glances with each other. Asher spoke up first. “Did he give any indications why he took your sister?”Selina gave him an incredulous look. “If he did, I didn’t notice. I was too busy picking pieces off my ass off the curb.” She sighed and slumped into her seat. “What do we do?”The question hung over the room like a thick cloud of black smoke. No one had an answer to Selina’s question. No one knew how to find the vampire in the woods with powers like she had just described.Worse, they had no idea if Juniper was still alive. King didn’t want to think about what could have ha
He frowned and narrowed his eyes at her. She shriveled under the scrutiny. He looked down at her stomach and she covered herself reflexively in horror. Knowing how he felt about the wolves, she was afraid of what he would do to her unborn child.A look of realization settled on his face. “You’re carrying a wolf child in your womb…” His voice sounded as soft as the wind rustling through leaves, barely a whisper.He let go of her wrist and took two steps back. He looked hurt and upset. “How could you? How could you allow your womb to be tainted by wolves?” And then, his eyes turned as cold as ice and his voice hardened. “I will wipe them all out. I will start with Moonwood, and then I will wipe every last one from the Starlight Valley and wider.”Emilia started to plead but he just walked backward, with a look of cold resolution on his face. Without another word, he turned around and sped off into the woods, heading toward the town.Without thinking, Emilia started running. From the den