Pleaded.
It was a mistake coming here tonight, but she couldn’t leave without knowing he’d be safe. Couldn’t stop herself from rescuing him.
“He’s mine.” She reached through the circle of women, clamped down on his wrist and pulled him to her side. He came without a word of complaint, his head lowered, a small smile on his lips that barely lasted a second. His body trembled slightly before he controlled himself.
“What do you think you’re doing?” A blonde in strappy, three-inch heels stepped forward, drink in hand and a determined expression on her face. A woman who always got what she wanted.
Raven wasn’t impressed. “We’re leaving.”
As she turned, herding the boy in front of her, the woman’s talons dug into her arm.
Reacting on instinct, Raven spun and thrust out her palm, slamming her hand into the blonde’s chest, releasing some of the pent-up power that swirled inside in response to her anger.
The impact lifted the woman off her feet. She sailed over the table, one heel flying. Her mouth dropped open in moue of surprise, while her drink spun and sprayed her friends.
Conversation slowed, people turned. No one touched the woman as she staggered to her feet. Raven braced herself and scanned the crowd.
No one stepped forward to detain her or the boy.
“Is there a problem?”
Tiger.
He broke through the wall of people who circled the small group. Broad shouldered, lean but roped with muscles, he easily drew attention to him and it had nothing to do with the elegant clothes or wildly untamed mane of hair. The combination should’ve looked ridiculous but only succeeded in making him appear all the more dominant.
It gave him a dangerous air. An aura of bored arrogance seeped from him, but Raven knew differently. Power thrummed beneath his skin at his annoyance for being disturbed. The beast roamed close to the surface even in his human form.
“No, sir. The lady here claimed me, and Miss Jackie objected.”
“A challenge?” The tiger’s eyes sharpened in the muted light, his attention never leaving her face. He brushed against her shields, then shoved against them as if surprised to find resistance. The intensity increased, seeking a weakness. Her eyes narrowed. Usually only vampires or very powerful alphas had such strong mental ability.
Protocol dictated certain rules, and he broke them by probing her without permission. They both knew it if his sudden, impudent smile was anything to go by. If he pushed harder, she’d retaliate. She refused to let him enter her mind, refused to let him harvest all her secrets. It was too dangerous for either of them.
When he persisted, she twisted a strand of energy around his shields, using tremendous control to surround him instead of breaking through. Then she slowly tightened her hold. She let it rest there, let him feel her perusal, the threat. Her fingers trembled. Her stomach flopped like a fish out of water. It took everything she had to hold back more power and ignore the dangerous lure to crush the threat.
Then his aura fluctuated, rubbed against her own shield in a way that sent a shiver down her spine in a very pleasant way. Her blood heated, and she could almost swear she felt a purr from her core. From the startled look and the aroused flush to his face, the reaction wasn’t something he’d anticipated either.
Then he relented and retreated, bowing slightly in deference. “Please forgive my rudeness. I’m Jeffrey Durant, manager of Talon’s.”
She reeled in the string of energy, suppressing the unholy need to curse. A formal greeting. Rules of the pack dictated she reply in kind, supply her name at the very least, and the bastard knew it. She had to work with shifters. She couldn’t piss in the pond just because she didn’t want to do something. “Raven–”
“Do you know who I am?” Like a yippy little dog, the blonde charged forward, red blotches of anger coloring her face. Her eyes shimmered a yellowish-green with her emotions, but quickly reverted back to mud brown.
Part shifter.
A weak one.
Most males could shift no matter what percentage of animal DNA they possessed, but the women had to be at least half shifter for their animal to take form. That meant Raven could take this little dog.
Raven adjusted her stance, keeping the kid at her back and met the threat, damning herself for being a sucker. “I don’t give a shit. I know all I need.”
“Oh, do tell.” The rumpled blonde crossed her arms and smirked. “This should be good.”
“You’re too weak to be a pure blood. Not even quarter, if I had to guess. You surround yourself with people who are weaker so you have someone who looks up to you. You enjoy abusing the very people you’re supposed to be protecting.”
A fist flew at her face, and Raven caught it mid-air. Anger allowed her to easily lower the blonde’s arm. She lifted her chin, relieved to know she’d guessed right. If the woman had been a true shifter, her jaw would’ve been crushed. “Are you issuing a challenge?”
A slight murmur went through the crowd. It was the only thing she could think of to get them out of there fast. A challenge meant more than possession of the boy, it meant pack position and a fight to the death. Jackie would die. Raven would see to it. Although she relished a certain poetic justice if she let the little wolf live. It would force the bimbo to the bottom of the pack, where she’d have to earn her place in the hierarchy. And something told Raven it wouldn’t be so easy to step over the very people she’d been treating like servants.
Fury darkened the woman’s eyes, the brown splintered and specks of yellow appeared, then vanished as fast as they came.
“No.” She spit out the one word, a promise of retribution for this humiliation dancing in her eyes.
Giddiness trickled through Raven. Her unique gift remained secret. She’d been foolish to risk it over a boy. The need for fresh air pressed heavily against her, effectively caging her without the use of bars. She faced the tiger and raised a brow, doing her damndest to exude a calm she wasn’t feeling. “Then I believe I’m free to leave?”
A charming smile curled his lips, but the intent stare reminded her of his animal form. He was hunting.
And she was his prey.
“There’s no rush.” He edged closer.
Raven countered quickly, pulling the boy close to her back. “Nor is there a reason to stay.”
The beautiful way he moved drew her gaze, hypnotic and beguiling.
“Except to get to know one another.” The tone of his voice was deep and soothing. So inviting. The beasts at her core inched forward in curiosity.
A movement in the crowd snapped her to attention. The Ogre. Then the tiger’s words registered, leaving a trail of cold in its wake. Clever kitty. She’d bet he lulled many people the same way, using that luscious voice, subtle movements and just the lick of wildness to lure them to him.
“I think not.” Though she tried to rein it in, power burned along her arms at the thought of being held against her will. The beasts retreated, leaving all that power behind along with the dangerous urge to release it. The leather she wore usually protected those nearest her, but direct touch couldn’t mute the effects. Not even wearing gloves kept those around her completely safe when her dander was up.
The boy sucked in a sharp breath, and she quickly dropped her hand from him. She refused to look behind her, but she didn’t need to. She could see everything in the tiger’s reaction. The way he tensed slightly, the way his eyes flickered back and forth between her and the boy.
The crowd drew closer, pressing in on her from all sides, stealing the air around her.
She needed to leave.
The music grew louder, the lights brighter.
A bulb popped, glass shattered. Three more blew in rapid succession.
She took off at a run, dodging through the crowd, ignoring the shouts. The tiger quickly closed the gap between them. She could feel his breath against the back of her neck. Desperate for space, she thrust a burst of current into the crowd. A mass of con
fusion ensued as everyone received a nasty shock and started shoving one another. Lights flickered, plunging them in darkness. Electricity lashed out of the floor and up into her feet, the charge filling her with power.
She slammed into the door, out into the night and took off at a dead run. She should’ve known better than to be seduced into entering a slave auction by some innocent needing her help. She had a hard enough time staying out of trouble without the need to borrow someone else’s. She just prayed no one could tie this whole, rotten evening back to her or there would be no end of trouble to land on her doorstep.
Sneak Peek
The Demon Within
Blood trickled from a gash, coating the rough surface of stone beneath Caly’s fingers. Warming it. Pulling her arm back, she ignored the cut and parted the vines.
And caught a glimpse of stone.
Spreading the vegetation further, she stilled when powerful thighs filled her gaze. The voices of the men arguing disappeared in the background as she tilted her head back and looked up.
A black beetle so large it had to be on steroids paused climbing the statue and flicked a perturbed glance at her. With a little hiss for disturbing him, the little critter launched itself in the air with a flutter of wings. She flinched, bowed backwards to miss being hit in the face.
And met the open-eyed stare of a statue, a man forever captured in time. All thoughts of bugs vanished. Caly’s lips parted, her eyes widened and her breath stuttered out of her mouth.
There was a God.
The man—and from her view kneeling on the moss covered ground, he was most definitely a man—was absolutely gorgeous. Not in the normal sense, not by Hollywood standards. Prominent cheekbones, a full, sharp nose and a strong jaw kept his face from being too feminine.
Desire twisted through her, and a deep yearning tightened her chest. A bubble of hope swelled. This was a man she could depend on to not let her down. When she looked at him, the chaos inside that defined most of her life settled.
She felt normal.
Reality crashed over her, settling heavily on her shoulders. Desire for a damn statue. How ironic she could be attracted to stone when live men left her cold. But here, in the middle of nowhere, she found a man who turned her on like nobody else, and he wasn’t real. It was enough to make her cry.
Little details filtered into her brain. A thrill of excitement thrummed under her skin. The answers she sought about her condition were stuck in the past; she only had to uncover the clues.
This was why she came here, what quieted her protests against the mission, all for the chance to learn if there was a possibility for her to be human again. To find a way to finally destroy the demon infection that had taken root and flourished in her body. Each time the darkness opened up in her, the harder it became to fight. The more she wondered why she fought it at all.
The mission forgotten, Caly took her time to catalog each odd detail, a dark thrill brushed against the edge of her awareness. The statue wasn’t what she’d come to expect from this region. Instead of native garb, the grey stone man had chiseled, close fitted pants. Two inch carved straps crisscrossed his chest, appearing to almost dig into the stone. His long hair, wild with waves, was tied back from his face.
Her fingers twitched to run her hands over him. Though his complexion was tinged green with age, the fierce expression drew her gaze instead of repelling her. The turn of his lips was anything but sensual, yet their full form made her think of sex and what a man could do with a mouth like his.
Strong shoulders led down to a lean, sculptured chest. His open shirt did little to disguise his physique. The statue shouldn’t have impressed her, but it was as if the stone called to her. She had to curl her fingers into a fist to resist touching him. A streak of light filtered through the canopy, wavered a moment then illuminated him like an offering. Something just for her and no one else.
As she watched, she swore his chest moved to breathe. It took a physical effort to pull her gaze away, regulate her breathing, and longer to tuck away the desire to stake claim. The weird light faded, and her focus came to rest on a knife strapped to his right side. The fifteen-inch dagger rested close to his body, the curved handle arched up, wrapping along his ribs. What drew her interest was the intricate design etched along the outside of the scabbard and handle. It was too detailed for any stone crafting of the time. Or it should have been.
Absorbed in the discovery, she leaned forward for a better look. It reminded her of something important, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
A heavy hand landed on her shoulder, jolting her attention back to her surroundings, leaving her guts in her throat.
“Did you find anything of interest?”
Oscar.
Shit.
“No.” The protest rose automatically to her lips. Her fascination with the statue triggered her unease again. Especially the way it so completely made her forget her surroundings and the mission.
It took more force than she liked to drop her hands to her sides. A hand she hadn’t even known she’d raised. The vines swung inward, the statue disappeared from sight, and her stomach dropped. Caly honestly didn’t know if her reaction was due more to the fact she messed up or because the statue was no longer under her watchful eye.
She had an awful, sinking feeling it was the latter.
“Nothing of interest.” Guilt caused her to flush, but she didn’t want the old man to find the statue, feeling protective of the stupid thing. She tried to tell herself she was overreacting, but her mind didn’t agree. She held her ground, waiting for him to move away.
The contest of wills broke when, with his usual vigor, Oscar leaned past her and yanked on the vines. Vegetation shredded, bruised leaves drifting abandoned to the ground. Bold and savage, her statue faced forward, a sentinel frozen in time, waiting to be awakened.
She swore that Oscar instinctively knew what she wanted and made sure she never received it. In her peripheral vision, she watched him circling the stone, but once he disappeared from view, he disappeared from her thoughts as well.
One step forward, then two, she stood only inches away from temptation, her palms itching for just one touch. She stole a quick glance at the statue from under her lashes, then forced herself to turn away and put him...it out of her mind. The urge to linger pulled at her sense of duty. The simple task to turn and walk away was surprisingly hard, especially since she’d dedicated her life to her work.
“You know what it is.” Oscar’s low growl didn’t have its normal bite, yet the tone stiffened the muscles of her back.
Caly refused to face him, refused to let him see the fear in her eyes. Fear for the stone man. She swallowed past her painfully dry throat. “A statue.”
“Don’t be a fool. You know it’s a demon, one of the cursed guardian statues. Just pray that your blood isn’t human enough to wake him. If the blasted thing wasn’t mounted in granite, I’d have it smashed.”
The lash of his words stung, but the threat to the statue sent a surge of terror through her. And that pissed her off. She opened her mouth to protest when a jungle cat’s roar rang out and echoed in the treetops.
Caly whipped her head around, her eyes narrowing at the undergrowth. At first she didn’t see anything. After a moment, two eyes blinked lazily, staring back at her as a big ass cat licked its muzzle. A chill crept down her spine. A twitch of muscles betrayed her abhorrence of the creatures.
There was nothing behind those eyes but pure predator. No hunger, but a need and desire to kill for the pleasure of it.
“Skins!” Possessions were when a demon took over a body. Skins were when demons forced the actual soul out of the body and used them as indestructible suits that only a beheading would free the demon and allow it to be killed.
Even as she bellowed the warning, the guides screamed like kids and took off. A streak to the left broke her concentration, and she saw another animal, a black panther, bound after the two men. Their bloodcurdling screams w
ere cut off abruptly, leaving no doubt to their fate.
The other panther slowly slunk out of its hiding place, its eyes locked on her.
A sound to her right had the big cat’s head swing in that direction.
“Run!”
Sneak Peek
BloodSworn
Trina wasn’t aware what woke her, but she wanted to kill them when the warm, sensual dream faded. She held still, half-able to feel those hands linger on her body, but the outside world refused to bow to her wish.
Sounds seeped in first.
Or the absence of sounds.
No tweeting of birds. No people coming or going. She groped for her weapon and sighed of relief when her fingers encountered cool steel.
The image of the sexy man, bound and determined to bring her pleasure, vanished like a wisp of smoke, and she nearly whimpered.
Then she became aware of the soft surface beneath her and not the hard lump of the makeshift bed she’d created in the shed. She cracked open one eye, uncertain what to expect.
The Den.
Merrick.
He was the Leo. Of course he was. How could she not have known? And how the heck did she get his attention or more importantly, how did she escape it now that she was his concubine?
Memories of yesterday flittered through her head. One thought rose to the forefront, like how she fell asleep on the couch and ended up on the bed.
Half-afraid of what she’d find, she stretched out, shivering at the feel of silk against her skin. She was spread-eagle on the bed, nowhere near the sides, when she realized she was alone. Relief and disappointment struck in equal measure, and she hated that she felt both.
The dream teased the back of her mind. She felt haunted by her phantom lover’s touch, the aching need when he kissed her. She was devastated by the loss, the realization he wasn’t real.
She befriended humans, but had never committed to a relationship for the simple fact that any boyfriend she chose would always be in danger.
She’d avoided the paranormal as well for fear of discovery. But the man in her dream was different. He knew about her past and could protect himself.
Electric Moon Page 32