She wasn’t sure if she imagined a split second of silence when they came into view or not. She was distracted by Jaz’s delighted laugh, quickly repressed, a sound she’d been afraid she’d never hear again. “They decorated the palms.”
“A silly thing my mom liked to do.”
His smile was wistful, and she leaned closer to him, too aware of how scant the comfort was, but knowing it was hers to offer. He kissed her, squeezed her shoulder, then led them to the center of the party.
She was distracted by him and by the lights and finally noticed people were nodding as they walked by, calling out greetings. Admonishing herself to pay more attention, she looked around and noticed the males far outnumbered the females, even among the children. She was so curious about that, a circumstance she hadn’t noticed in wolf packs, that she wasn’t aware they’d stopped until she looked up and met the gaze of the man who could only be Carlos’s brother. He had the same golden skin. The same tall, lanky build that spoke of speed and power. He met her gaze, then switched to Jaz’s.
“My brother, Isaac,” Carlos said, introducing them. “The pride’s king.” She’d known he was king, but she’d been expecting someone older. Distinguished. Not the sexy man who looked her over with hot, approving eyes.
“You’ve brought us sisters,” he said, lowering his voice. “And unless I’m mistaken, some of the rumored ones.”
The instinct to shrink back from his knowing gaze was powerful, but Carlos held her still. “Rumors or not, she’s mine.”
The king smiled, his eyes crinkling in a way that made him look completely harmless. She didn’t buy it for a minute. “So she is.”
Then he turned his assessing, appreciative gaze to Declan. She and Carlos both tensed.
“And the wolf?” the king asked.
“Is also mine,” Carlos snapped.
Isaac chuckled. “Damn. My loss. Your Christmas is definitely better than mine, brother.”
Grinning, Carlos released her and Jaz long enough to step forward and embrace his brother.
It was a long time later, lying sweaty and sated on rumpled sheets, that Sunny wondered about what the king hadn’t said. “He was ready to steal me and Dec away, but he didn’t say a word about Jaz,” she mused.
Carlos was behind her, tracing lazy circles on her back, while Declan sprawled in front of her, eyes half closed.
“He wouldn’t really try. But he will flirt and tease. It’s part of our nature.”
“But he practically ignored Jaz.”
“She wears the silver of protection. The whole pride knows she needs to be protected. And your sister also wears…an injured air about her. My brother is more sensitive than first acquaintance would make you believe. Like all weres, we protect our women. Treasure them.” His hand slid up her hip to her breast. “We like to keep them so pleasured they think of nothing but us.”
Oh yes. They certainly did. She groaned as his fingers slid south. A woman could get used to such treatment. “I’m not gonna be able to walk tomorrow,” she complained.
“Ah, well,” he teased. “We might take the pleasuring a bit further than others.”
That they did. Declan had moved to her torso, kissed his way down to her belly button and froze. His gaze lifted. “Carlos.”
He nodded. “I know.”
She frowned when they both inhaled deeply, wondering why they’d paused so completely in their play. “What?”
Two big male hands rested on her stomach.
“We need to get our own place.” They were staying at Isaac’s.
“And a crib. And all that baby stuff.”
Oh, hell no. She shoved both their hands away and sat up. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Little too late for protests,” Declan said, cocking an eyebrow. She wanted to punch him.
“We’re two lions and a wolf. Did it ever occur to y’all to wonder what we’d have? What kind of crazy mix? I can’t do that to a child!”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Carlos said, his expression turning worried. And reluctant. Now who was keeping secrets?
“Why’s that, honey?” she asked with saccharine sweetness that made him flinch. Smart man.
“Um, my sister can shift.” Sister? He had a sister? Who was also a shifter? Sunny was going to kill him. “She has two lion mates. And a bear mate,” he groused, like he was pretending she wasn’t ready to commit murder. “All their children are lions. We think it’s the mother’s DNA that determines what the child is.”
She was a little reassured, but he was talking about only one woman. And she wasn’t letting his withholding that secret go either. “Who else knows? Just your family?”
He shook his head. “Most of the pride. Her mates, of course.” He sighed. “You’ll meet them tomorrow.” He muttered, “Unfortunately.”
She had to grin, her anger softening at his obvious discomfort. She could guess why, too. “So you’re the obnoxious older brother, huh?”
He scowled. “She’s the baby. You can’t blame us for making sure she’s okay.”
“I thought I didn’t want girls. But it might just be the only appropriate punishment for you.”
“Bite your tongue, woman,” he said, rolling her to her back and leaning over her.
She didn’t repress the saucy retort. “But it’s so much more fun when you bite it.”
It was going to be okay. Everything. The three of them and whatever kind of shifter children they had. Carlos pressed against her front, and Declan her side. She wiggled around, freed her arms to embrace them, heart full of love for both of them, and sighed. It was a sound of pure contentment. She kissed each of them and lay back.
“Merry Christmas, my mates.”
~ About the Author ~
Loribelle is a former Army MP who traded in her combat boots for motherhood, flip flops, and all the Diet Coke she can drink. (She almost misses the combat boots.) She’s the author of more than 20 books, herder of three energetic children, and occasional sun worshipper.
Find out more about Loribelle Hunt here
http://www.loribellehunt.com
http://facebook.com/loribelle.hunt
http://twitter.com/loribellehunt
~ Coming Soon ~
The Return
Pride Law Book 2
© 2013 Loribelle Hunt
~ Also by Loribelle Hunt ~
The Lunar Mates Series
Under Cover of the Moon
A witch. A wolf. A passion worth dying for…
Banished Alpha Darius Stewart has a new pack to settle and a rogue wolf terrorizing the local population, threatening to expose their species. The last thing he needs is a mate to complicate his life. Which is just fine with Meg O’Reilly, who has her own problems...
Bad Moon Rising
Rogue werewolves… A mate who doesn’t like him… Trey Williams isn’t having a good day…
After spending his life hunting rogue werewolves, Trey Williams is looking
forward to a quiet retirement in Alabama. But between hunting for the local outlaw wolf and claiming his newfound mate, Tara Burke, his peace is short-lived. Because Tara knows all about werewolves, and she doesn’t want one, thank you very much…
Chasing the Moon
Will love be enough to save them?
Summer Lambert, the last single hold out of the witch cousins, has a relaxing and solitary two-week mountain vacation planned. She’s outraged to learn the whole trip was a ruse by Jackson, Alpha of the Appalachian pack, to trap her at his home. But when Jackson’s enemies move on the pack, things go from bad to deadly…
Call of the Moon
A new mate, a second chance…
Since the death of her mate, Chloe has run fast and hard. She knows how difficult it is to be mated to the wrong werewolf, and she has the scars to prove it. When the annual meeting of Chiefs brings to town the one wolf who could threaten her independence, Chloe refuses to hide—or to submit.
Christmas Moon
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Delilah is ready for a major life change, so when she’s offered a job in the Appalachian Mountains with her best friends’ boss, she jumps at the chance. Moving to a new town for a dream job with people she likes is even better during the holidays, and the Christmas spirit makes her think she’s landed in a winter wonderland. But no one warned her about the werewolves…
Captured Moon
A girl can’t outrun two hot werewolves…not when they’re her favorite sex fantasy come to life…
When her marriage ends, Abby retreats into herself to lick her wounds and rebuild her life. She’s found satisfaction and some success writing stories about her favorite secret fantasies—those involving two real-life werewolf twins, Rule and Lawe. She’s happy. Mostly. But when Rule and Law make their moves, Abby fears things are spinning out of control. Because in reality, a true mate is forever…
Claiming the Moon
Can Clint walk away from Ellen…before it’s too late?
Someone is stalking hunter activist Ellen Monroe. Unable to determine the stalker’s identity, Ellen’s boss insists she move into hunter headquarters until things settle down. Then he calls the last person—and the only person—Ellen wants to see.
Clint Osborn has his own dark reasons for not claiming Ellen as his mate, but when her life is endangered, he can’t trust her safety to anyone else. Unfortunately, she’s not really safe from him either. Can he eliminate the threat before he’s forced to walk away from temptation? Or is it already too late for them both?
Hunter’s Moon
Sex and secrets under the moonlight…
Gia Roberts is part of a secret organization of humans who hunt rogue shifters. When her group forms a tentative alliance with the werewolf Hunters, her boss pairs her up with Anthony. Working with him is torture. He’s irritating. He gets on her last nerve. He sets her body on fire.
Gia tries desperately to ignore the wolf, but he gets harder to resist with each passing week. When her secret past comes back, will he be able to convince her he can keep her safe? Or will she run back to the safety of her world?
More Paranormal Romance from Etopia Press
Sharp Change
Milly Taiden
Only the hottest sex can cool a wolf in heat...
After her sister is bitten by a werewolf, geneticist Sophia Reece begins researching shape-shifters and isolates a gene she calls Furry Beast—FB for short. But in her excitement over her discovery—dancing in the lab is never a good idea—she has a teeny little accident with the samples, one canine, one feline, and winds up landing on the syringes, pointy side up.
Werewolf Chase is head over heels in lust with Sophia. He can’t stop thinking about the human’s sexy body or how badly he wants to get her naked. But she acts as if he has fleas. So why, all of a sudden, does she stare at him like a wolf in heat? And what smells like cat?
When she experiences her first mating heat, Sophia isn’t prepared for the new feelings she’s experiencing, and her secret desire for Chase refuses to remain under wraps. For Chase, this is his wildest fantasy come true—to finally get his hands on the curvy, caramel-skinned Latina. But when some serious predators come sniffing around her research, Sophia will have to find out what she’s really made of, and Chase will have to decide if he’s man—or wolf—enough to make things permanent…
Halloween Heat III
An Anthology of Erotic Paranormal Romance
Five erotic stories of love and passion, full of paranormal heat, werewolves and sexy witches, ghosts and fae, perfect for Halloween.
“The Wolf Binds the Witch” by Lilly Morgan
“Mate Event” by Milly Taiden
“Tied” by Lillian Diamante
“Night of Seduction” by C. P. Foster
“Serena” by Antonia Van Zandt
Inside Out
Rowyn Ashby
Dying is easy. Returning as your lover’s enemy is hell.
When refined cellist Olivia Hart decides she needs more sexual confidence in her marriage, she crosses the River Thames to gritty South London and steps into Hunter Orlando’s tattoo parlor. The sexy female tattoo artist seems to be everything Olivia isn’t—wild, decadent, free—so Olivia lets her pick an old tattoo design sure to make her feel more daring. But when Hunter's gang-leader boyfriend recognizes Olivia as the wife of rich banker Shane Hart, he decides she’s worth far more than the price of a little ink.
When Olivia is kidnapped and killed during the rescue attempt, Shane Hart loses everything. But after six months of wasting away, his senses are strangely awakened by the sexy biker chick, Hunter Orlando, whom the police believe to be responsible for Olivia’s kidnapping and death. Hunter is too aggressive and wild for him, but there's something about her, and it's not just the “magic” tattoo she and his wife Olivia have in common.
After Olivia finds herself alive—in Hunter’s body—she’s hurt to see her husband so interested in another woman after only six months. But she can’t help loving the way Shane makes her blood boil, the way she responds to him now in bed, and the way his lovemaking has gone from sweet and gentle to raw and primal and uninhibited…
Malice Striker
Jianne Carlo
Can a mere mortal Viking tame the daughter of a goddess?
When Scotland’s King Kenneth orders his death and kidnaps his sister, the Viking Brökk—the Malice Striker—plans his vengeance: he’ll steal the king’s bastard daughter from Sumbarten Abbey and use her to buy his sister’s freedom. But his schemes go awry when his liege lord commands him to wed Skatha—and when he finds five women instead of one at the Abbey, none will claim the King as father.
When the Viking abducts Skatha and her women, she’s bewildered. Why did Brökk seize her? Why does he want her for his wife? She weds him willingly enough when he threatens to kill her companions, but she vows to control her own destiny and escape. For if the Viking discovers her secrets, the laws of his people will force him to cast her aside…or kill her. And even Skatha, daughter of a goddess, might not escape the Viking’s wrath…
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
The Secret Page 8