by Nancy Gideon
“No good-bye?" MacCreedy’s tone wasn’t accusing. “Mind if I walk you out? I’ll take the keys back in with me.”
“Okay.” Once he said that, Cale found the prospect of actually leaving choking him like a hand about the heart. Surveying the room, that tightness intensifying. Savoie and Cee Cee, Pearl LaRoche and her spooky visions, the Babineaus with their simple dreams. The brothers who’d stood behind him, beside him, and in front of him. This place, these people. They’d become the friends he’d never had, the family he’d always desired, and he feared once they returned to the Lake Tahoe compound, he’d lose that sense of connection and closeness when absorbed into the rigors his title demanded. Here, at least for a while, he’d been Mick Terry who worked with his hands, not his heritage, an everyman instead of a prince in the House of Terriot plenty. And he’d liked it. He hadn’t exaggerated when he’d said that to Philo Tibideaux.
“Cale?” Kendra touched his arm, her gaze lifted to his.
He smiled and nodded toward the door. “Let’s go.”
The street was lined with vehicles, many he recognized. He stood with his arm about Kendra’s waist, waiting for Silas to get their bag out of the SUV and relock it.
“Bree’s going to go ballistic when she finds out you snuck off,” Silas warned.
“It’s better this way,” Kendra told him, echoing Cale’s sentiment.
“Less messy, that’s for sure,” was her cousin’s dry retort. “Come here.” She stepped into his embrace, tilting her head to receive his light kiss. He nodded toward Cale. “If he does anything that requires an ass kicking, you call me.”
Cale huffed. “Why? She’s getting pretty damned good at doing it herself.”
Silas laughed and set her aside before toeing off with him. “You take care of her. Of both of them.”
“With my life.”
Silas palmed the back of his head, pulling Cale tight into his shoulder, surprising the shit out of him. Especially when he asked in a low voice, “Are you sure you don’t remember what we talked about in the car?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cale murmured, his palms awkwardly patting Silas’s back before pushing away.
“If you need me, for anything, you know where I am.”
Cale nodded, his arm going about Kendra as he hoisted the bag. “Say good-bye to the missus for us. And take care of them.”
“I will.”
Cale took a few steps then looked back over his shoulder, saying so low Silas almost didn’t hear, “It wasn’t my father I wanted to become.” He smiled and herded his mate down the sidewalk.
“What was that about?” she wanted to know.
“Nothing, baby.” He jiggled the bag, brows rising when he heard it rattle. “What have you got in here?”
“Just necessities.” Her gaze slanted to his. “And a few accessories.”
He took a misstep, stumbling slightly, before asking, “Naughty accessories?”
“Maybe.”
Cale grinned wide. “Something tells me we’re not going to make it to the city limits tonight.”
Kendra studied the face she’d adored since childhood, features formed by heartache and harsh times into a breathtaking landscape worth a lifetime of appreciation. “That’s fine with me, my king.”
My prince.
My love.
Nancy Gideon is the award-winning author of over 58 romances ranging from historical, regency and series contemporary suspense to paranormal, with a horror novelization and a couple of screenplays tossed into the mix. She’s also published under the pen names Dana Ransom, Rosalyn West and Lauren Giddings. Working full time as a legal assistant in Southwestern Michigan, when not at the keyboard, she feeds a Netflix addiction along with all things fur, fin and fowl. In addition to her dark paranormal “By Moonlight” shape-shifter series, look for her “Touched by Midnight” vampire romance series with ImaJinn Books. For more information on the author or the “By Moonlight” series, visit Nancy at:
http://nancygideon.com or http://nancygideon.blogspot.com.
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE