Nick’s voice held a note of regret. “I’m sorry, Chloe, but I’m going to have to put you down.”
“Fuck you!” Chloe screamed and Sabrina watched in horrified fascination as the gun swung toward Nick and Madeline. Not giving herself time to think, she launched herself at their knees and tackled them to the ground. Ready to die, she covered their bodies as best she could with hers and hoped the bullet killed her so she wouldn’t have to die a slow death by silver poisoning.
A shriek followed by a terrible wet, tearing sound echoed through the forest. With a muttered curse Nick pushed her to the side and she scrambled to her feet. Crouched over Chloe’s corpse, a silvery-grey puma tore through her ribcage and shredded her heart.
Sabrina began to shake from the adrenaline rush that demanded an outlet. Her cat tried to break free of her skin and force her to shift as the smell of blood hung heavy in the air. “What the....”
“Ben,” Madeline answered, in a grim voice.
The silver cat backed away from the corpse, making a deep hacking sound as though trying to spit. Sabrina could sympathize, spitting being one of those things her human mind wanted to do but her cat body couldn’t. As Madeline and Nick approached Ben, Sabrina rushed to the trunk of her car. Feeling beneath the fender for the spare key, she popped the lid and pulled out bottles of water from the cooler. She also grabbed an old T-shirt she kept in case of an emergency shift.
Her human mind didn’t want to deal with the gruesome scene, but her puma recognized Ben as belonging to Madeline and Nick, and he needed her help. A Beta needed to take care of her pride as much as she needed to breathe air. Nurturing instincts demanded she comfort Ben who was obviously in a great deal of distress.
Moving slowly, she approached Madeline and Nick who had their arms around a handsome silver haired man with his face and chest covered in blood. He pushed Nick out of the way and staggered a few steps to vomit in the bushes. Her stomach lurched in sympathy. No matter how easy it was for her inner cat to kill, the thought of having Chloe’s flesh in her mouth disgusted her human mind.
She paused next to Madeline and whispered, “There’s a tent in my trunk. It’s waterproof so you can wrap the body up in it.”
Madeline nodded and Nick cupped her cheek with his hand before he went to help Madeline dispose of the body.
“Hey.” Sabrina used a gentle tone as she crouched next to Ben.
A shiver ran through his body, his skin a cheesy yellow color. “Hey,” he replied in a surprisingly melodic voice.
“I’m going to clean you up.” She twisted the cap on the water and soaked the edge of the shirt.
He glanced at her with shock-glazed eyes. “Okay.”
She worked quickly at the grim task, starting with his face and cleaning her way down to his muscular chest. He remained passive beneath her touch, only showing emotion when she cleaned the gore from beneath his nails. In an effort to keep his mind off the task, she kept up a steady stream of chatter about the weather in a soothing voice. She used the same tone while treating injured animals, and he slowly relaxed.
With a final rinse, he stood and wiped the water from his eyes. “I hate killing. I did so much of it in the military.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Such a fucking waste.”
Nick and Madeline’s presence calmed her spirit before she saw them, a warm buzzing energy that melted into her skin like sunlight. Madeline placed a kiss on her cheek. “Thanks for taking care of him.”
Ben rubbed his face. “I was almost too late. Chloe doused herself in that horrible cover scent. When I first smelled it, I thought it was just an inexperienced hunter. Something felt...off this morning, so I went to scout out the area. I got back just in time to see her pointing the gun at you.” He hung his head. “I’m sorry I hesitated. I should have killed her the second I saw her.”
Nick put his arm around Ben’s shoulder. “You stopped her before she could kill us.”
Madeline tossed Sabrina’s spare key to Ben. “You okay to drive? I want to get out of here before some early morning camper stumbles across us.”
“Yeah, I can drive.” He spit again and gave Sabrina a small smile. “By the way, welcome to the pride, Beta. When are you guys going to soul mate?”
She barely had time to smile before Nick swept her up into his arms. “She has a year to decide if she wants to keep us.”
“As if there’s any question,” Madeline added as she smoothed Sabrina’s hair back from her cheek. “If she tries to leave I’ll chain her up in my basement.”
Ben smiled and walked away, stopping to retrieve his clothes from beneath the Hummer before sliding into the driver seat of her car.
“I—” Before she could get another word out, Madeline and Nick kissed her until her toes curled. The sensation of two very different sets of lips moving against hers from either side sent a bolt of lust through her that reflected and echoed through their connection.
“What is it with me and insatiable females,” Nick asked in a low voice as he gently set Sabrina on her feet.
Madeline wrapped her arms around Sabrina and rubbed her cheek against her hair. “Well, if you can’t keep up....”
He uttered a long string of delicious threats that sent both women running away, laughing as they piled into the backseat of the Hummer. Wrapped in each other’s arms, they became lost in the silken caress of skin as Nick carefully drove them down the mountain. So much had happened in the space of one night, but Sabrina would think about it later. Right then, she rejoiced in being alive and lost herself in the perfect love of her mates.
~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~
Ann is Queen of the Castle to her wonderful husband and three sons in the mountains of West Virginia. In her past lives she's been an Import Broker, a Communications Specialist, a US Navy Civilian Contractor, a Bartender/Waitress, and an actor at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. She also spent a summer touring with the Grateful Dead (though she will deny to her children that it ever happened).
From a young age she's been fascinated by myths and fairytales, and the romance that often was the center of the story. As Ann grew older and her hormones kicked in, she discovered trashy romance novels. Great at first, but she soon grew tired of the endless stories with a big wonderful emotional buildup to really short and crappy sex. Never a big fan of purple prose, throbbing spears of fleshy pleasure and wet honey pots make her giggle, she sought out books that gave the sex scenes in the story just as much detail and plot as everything else-without using cringe worthy euphemisms. This led her to the wonderful world of Erotic Romance, and she's never looked back.
Now Ann spends her days trying to tune out cartoons playing in the background to get into her 'sexy space' and has learned to type one handed while soothing a cranky baby.
Visit Ann online at: www.annmayburn.com
Table of Contents
Title page
Chapter One
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~
1NS 023 - Ann Mayburn - Prides of the Moon 1 - Amber Moon - Decadent 2011-07 Page 4