by Mary Winter
Riley looked down at her. His eyes widened when he saw the extent of the damage on her coveralls. “I have a shower just off my back porch if you want to clean up? Otherwise, there’s a utility sink next to the tack room.”
Juli plucked at the sodden fabric. A change of clothes waited in her truck. Riley’s gaze followed the motion. His gaze lingered on her curves beneath the heavy fabric. Birth moved people different ways, and watching his eyes darken, she suspected how it affected Riley. He raised his hand, and then rested it on the stall door.
“A shower would be great.” She realized her voice was huskier than usual. Looking at him for a moment longer, she wished her eyes weren’t drawn to his full lips. She turned and fled for the safety of the dark night.
Her Hungers
By Mary Winter
Available Now from Pink Petal Books
BLURB:
Lilah knew werewolves. Growing up as a human in the Northwoods Pack territory, Lilah also knew Roarke Connelly. But a human would never be good enough to love a werewolf, and broken-hearted, Lilah left the Northwoods vowing never to come back.
And she kept her promise, until a vampire turned her and she needed, one more time, to see her home. A brutal attack there left her wounded and infected with lycanthropy. She became a werepyre, both vampire and werewolf and hated by both species.
Under the protection of Adrian Fitzreal, brother to the vampire who turned her, Lilah knows he’ll never be the Alpha, her wolf, and she, craves. But she accepts, because with Adrian’s help, she’s staying alive, which is all a werepyre can ask for.
Until Roarke shows up. He’s got trouble at home. A rogue group of werewolves known as the Dark Moon Dogs wants to take over his pack. But when he finds out Lilah was attacked in his territory, he goes to find out why.
And discovers that she’s no longer the teenage girl who hero-worshipped him. She’s a grown woman, with a woman’s needs and two beasts raging inside her. And right now, they hunger for her Alpha, and for her vampire.
Warning: This book contains scenes of M/F/M sex and sex while in shifted form.
EXCERPT:
Slumped against him, Lilah felt Adrian slowly lower her to the floor. The hardwood should have cooled her heated body. It didn’t.
Fingers curled into claws, shifting and shaping into pads and toes. Legs bent, changed, as one beast emerged dominant over the other.
Lilah rolled away. She curled into the fetal position, battling the change. Behind her, Adrian sat up, one leg bent. “What is it?”
“The change.” Pain stabbed through her, a fierce ache in her temples as she fought the beast within. “I’m sorry.” Still wearing human form, she rose onto all fours and crawled into the corner of the room.
Adrian stood. He grabbed his jeans and pulled them on.
Looking up at him through her hair, Lilah saw revulsion in his eyes. Adrian swallowed hard, battling his inner demons as much as she. Damn him. She tore her gaze away and concentrated on stopping the change.
Her sensitive hearing heard the crunch of boots against dried grass. Her enhanced lupine senses, so close to the surface, allowed her to sense the intruders. Three of them made their way across the yard, one alongside the house, two in front. Lilah didn’t like it. She hadn’t stayed alive by ignoring her instincts.
“Lilah,” Adrian said. He opened his mouth to continue to speak.
She held up her hand and cocked her head toward the outside wall. Flaring her nostrils, she scented the men. Tobacco hung heavily in the air around them and mingled with the bite of alcohol. Lilah frowned. She doubted these were professionals. She’d evaded members of the werewolf’s Luna Guard sent to protect pack secrets. Even those sent by the vampire’s Immortal Council had been smarter than these men. She let the beast out, shifting in a single move from woman to wolf.
Adrian stepped back.
Raising her muzzle to the ceiling, Lilah ignored him. Instead, she padded on soft paws to the door. A tiny growl erupted from her throat, lips pulled back to reveal sharp teeth. Hair rose on the back of her neck as she inhaled the intruder’s scent. The urge to squat and piss to mark her territory nearly overtook her, until she shook her head and loped toward the front door.
Patience didn’t come easily to the wolf, though Lilah retained enough of her human senses to know better than to rush outside. They thought to catch her asleep during the day, unable to move. Even now, she heard Adrian pull on clothes, cautious during the daylight hours. Lilah padded to the closed door and growled. They wouldn’t get in here, not into her territory. Adrian and she had struggled long and hard to find a sanctuary, a place where she could feel safe.
She didn’t ask for her dual nature, didn’t want it, but now that she had two beasts she fought just to stay alive. The werewolves among whom she’d spent her human childhood hated her vampire side, and the vampires hated her recently-acquired wolf. If she ever saw Adrian’s brother again, she’d kill him for starting all of this with a single bite. Sadly, the men outside weren’t connected to the foolish, immature young vampire. In her werewolf form, she couldn’t speak with Adrian to relay her plan. Not that she had one, but it would have been nice to communicate with her vampire lover. The men outside emitted the distinct smell of human and that made them dangerous to both of her and Adrian.
Lilah padded back to the bedroom, careful to keep her claws from clicking on the hardwood floors.
Her violet eyes locked with Adrian’s rich, amber gaze, her look silently urging him to let her handle things. She doubted he’d obey, but she had to try. If he got hurt protecting her, she’d never forgive herself.
The door rattled. Behind the heavy, darkening curtains, the window crashed.
Instinctively, Lilah threw herself between the window and her lover, knowing her lupine body couldn’t completely shield him from the sun.
The intruder spilled through the broken glass and torn fabric.
Lilah leapt. Fangs bared she bowled the man onto his back. Glass crunched beneath him. His heart pounded, the blood in his veins calling to her. Trapped in her wolf form, her canines couldn’t lengthen, but she wanted to sink her teeth into his veins and taste the hot spray of his blood.
She pounced. Paws pressed to his shoulders, hind legs straddling his hips, she lowered her muzzle. A growl rumbled from her throat. Saliva dripped from her maw as she opened her mouth.
“Lilah! The door!” Adrian whirled to face the man, the heavy darkening curtains once again in place over the window.
In her bloodlust, she hadn’t heard the pounding on the door, but now the sounds of wood giving away filled her ears. With a nip at the man’s neck, she whirled off of him and into the living room. Claws gouged into the floor. Just as she stepped into the foyer, the door burst open and two men rushed through.
Lilah charged.