He held her easily. The two watched as, one by one, their Pack turned their backs on Gina and her Pack. A small cry escaped the woman’s lips as Dave turned, a look of disgust on his face.
Gina stood, proud to the bitter end, and stared at the Alpha pair. She nodded regally before one final smirk crossed her face. “My Pack and I will be gone by morning.”
Belle answered with a regal nod of her own.
Gina walked off, accepting the help of the five women who’d stood by her in her attempt to take over the Poconos Pack. No one was sorry to see them go.
Chapter Six
“Remember what I said about the surgery being the stupidest stunt you’ve ever pulled?”
“Yes.” Belle drew her finger down Rick’s chest, knowing what was coming and trying to avert it.
“I changed my mind. That was the stupidest stunt you’ve ever pulled.”
“Did you really think I was going to allow you to abdicate?”
“Did you really think I was going to take Gina as a mate?”
She sighed. “No.”
“Good.”
Rick cuddled her closer, sighing when she squirmed her naked bottom against his rapidly growing erection.
They’d gone straight back to their apartment once they were certain Gina was gone. He’d left her clothes out in the Pack’s meeting place, not even stopping for her boots. He’d just picked her up and carted her off. She was pretty sure he’d said something to the Pack in their heads, because they’d scattered to the four winds. She just didn’t have it in her at the moment to be pissed about it.
The first thing he’d done had been to take his jacket back. He’d bundled her up in the big comforter from their bed (she was really beginning to like the big, loud thing), settled her in front of the fireplace, and proceeded to get naked. He’d pulled her into his lap and held her close for a few moments before apparently deciding she was safe. That was enough to set him off.
“But there was no way I was going to allow you to give up the Pack.”
“Belle.”
“Rick.”
He sighed roughly. “How did you know you’d win?”
“I had a little chat with Jamie before the surgery. He assured me the change itself would be painful, but doable. And, may I say, his new nickname should be Captain Understatement? I thought he meant toothache pain, not tits in a meat grinder pain.”
“You realize you’re not helping, right?”
She looked up at him through her lashes. She kept her fingers moving through his chest hairs, trying to soothe her grumpy Wolf. “It dulled down to an ache once I was done, so he was right about that. After that, it was pretty easy.”
“Easy.”
“Yup.”
He sucked in a deep breath as her fingers wandered over to his nipple and plucked.
“You know what?”
“What, my Luna?”
She looked up from under her lashes again. “There are a whole lot of positions we haven’t tried yet.” She bit her lip, knowing he loved it when she played innocent seductress.
His smile was slow and decadent as his eyes shifted over to brown. “So there are, my Luna.” He picked her up and carried her to the bed. “Lots and lots of positions.” He placed her carefully on top of the covers and opened his bedside drawer. He dropped a book onto the bed and flopped down next to her. She caught a glimpse of the cover and started giggling. “A whole book’s worth.”
She pointed to one of the pictures, still giggling. It showed one man having sex with multiple women. “No way. Don’t even daydream about it.”
He caressed one of her breasts, a happy sigh leaving his lips just before he kissed her. “Don’t worry, my Luna. You’re more than enough for me.” He nipped at her neck. “One pussy is all I can handle.”
He was up and running before the comment fully registered. “Get back here, Dick!” She climbed out of the bed, reveling in the lack of pain as she chased him into the living room.
He laughed, ducking behind the sofa. “Rick!”
“Not after that comment!”
She chased his laugher all over their apartment. He swore later the only reason she caught him was he was dying to get caught.
About the Author
Dana Marie Bell wrote her first short story when she was thirteen years old. She attended the High School for Creative and Performing Arts for creative writing, where freedom of expression was the order of the day. When her parents moved out of the city and placed her in a Catholic high school for her senior year she tried desperately to get away, but the nuns held fast, and she graduated with honors despite herself.
Dana has lived primarily in the Northeast (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, to be precise), with a brief stint on the US Virgin Island of St. Croix. She lives with her soul-mate and husband Dusty, their two maniacal children, an evil ice-cream stealing cat and a bull terrier that thinks it’s a Pekinese.
You can learn more about Dana at: www.danamariebell.com
Look for these titles by Dana Marie Bell
Now Available:
Halle Pumas
The Wallflower
Sweet Dreams
Cat of a Different Color
True Destiny
Very Much Alive
Coming Soon:
The Gray Court
Dare to Believe
Is she a victim of a madman’s agenda, or a willing player in his demonic games?
Forsaken Talisman
© 2009 Ashleigh Raine
Talisman Bay, book 2
Kidnapped and mind-wiped by the Shadow Walkers’ greatest nemesis, Skylar has no memories of her own, except for her name. All she knows is what memories she does possess belong to someone else—as does her face—and that she can’t trust anyone, including herself.
Shadow Walker Dusty Clements goes against direct orders to rescue Skylar and take her into hiding. It’s the only way to get to the truth, and keep her out of the hands of an enemy who could use her to wipe out the entire organization. The last complication Dusty needs is to fall for her.
As Dusty and Skylar work to uncover the secrets of her past, they discover a mystery more than twenty years in the making, and a love they can’t deny.
The enemy has one more trick up his sleeve though—a magical kiss capable of probing the deepest secrets of the mind. All he needs to bring the Shadow Walkers down is to get his lips on Skylar one more time…
Warning, this title contains the following: Sex in an interdimensional cave. Hot men ripping demons apart bare-handed. Liberal use of the f-word as verb, adjective, threat and sexual promise. Oh, and wet and soapy sex in the shower followed by warm bodies sliding between cool sheets—yes, sex in a bed. It’s almost normal!
Enjoy the following excerpt for Forsaken Talisman:
When he set it in the cradle, a slow song started playing. It wasn’t offensive, so Dusty let it roll.
“Is this ok—?” The word got mangled in his throat when he turned to face Skylar. She wasn’t lying in bed anymore, but stood next to it instead. The light from the fire pit in the center of the cave made her skin glow…and made her nightgown damn near see-through again.
Those dirty thoughts about her rocketed to the surface. His cock got so hard so fast it actually hurt. He didn’t want to scare her, far from it. She’d been through enough tonight. Maybe if he stayed a reasonable distance from her until he got himself under control she wouldn’t notice his predicament.
Smiling, she arched up onto her tiptoes and rocked back down, bouncing in place. “Dance with me?”
She said it as though she didn’t have a care in the world, and he almost believed it too. Except right after she spoke the invitation she drew her bottom lip between her teeth and smoothed at her nightgown, before twisting her hands together in front of her.
Innocent temptress. Self-assured one minute, nervous the next. It just made him want her more.
He’d danced with a lot of women tonight, but not a sin
gle one of them made him feel like he was more than a stand-in until another better man came along. Even Mariah and Twyla had only danced with him because the person they wanted to be with wasn’t available. Skylar though…
Maybe he was reading too much into this. He was—literally—the only man in the room. Except she didn’t have to ask him to dance. She didn’t have to climb out of bed and stand there and look so damn beautiful he couldn’t remember why he was trying so hard to stay away from her.
Dusty crossed the empty space between them and took her hands in his. “If we do this, I feel like I should warn you. I’m not a very good dancer.” Especially with his calf injury causing all sorts of cramping. Not that it would stop him. He’d suffer every last ounce of pain in the world rather than turn down her request.
She lifted her face to his, and her eyes sparked with laughter. “And I don’t remember how to dance so we’ll probably step on each other’s toes and trip each other and end up falling on the ground at some point. You up for the challenge? I am if you are.”
Hot damn. If it meant holding her in his arms again, he’d fumble his way through anything—even his entire leg falling off. “I’m game.”
“Okay then.” Skylar kept one hand in his and moved her other hand to his shoulder. He curved his free hand over her hip. The position brought them closer together, their bodies not quite touching, but close enough he smelled her sweet scent with every breath he took.
He tried to stop breathing.
It didn’t work. To take his mind off the constant desire to rub his face in her hair, to kiss her and sweep her off her feet and carry her back to the bed, he forced himself back on track. “Is this music sparking any memories?”
“The song seems vaguely familiar, like maybe I’ve heard it before, but…” She shrugged and peered up at him. The look in her eyes changed, like she was staring far, far away. The hand on his shoulder shifted, soft fingers trailed back and forth along his collarbone. Her brow wrinkled. Was she in pain?
“Skylar, you okay? Are you remembering something?”
“Your bowtie. It was crooked. I fixed it.” She shook her head. “No. Not me. Mariah. Not my memory.” A sad smile lifted her lips. “Sorry. I guess Mariah’s memories are still floating around inside my head. I got confused for a second. I knew I hadn’t seen you in a tux, but I could remember…” She paused. “It’s so strange having another woman’s memories, someone I don’t know, someone I’ve never met. I know things about her, things I shouldn’t, but I don’t know her. Can you tell me a little bit about her, Dusty? It’d be nice to know something about this woman whose memories I share.”
Damn. This was something that could get him in a world of trouble if he wasn’t careful about what he said. From prior experience he’d learned that women in general don’t like to hear a man talk about other women. This wasn’t exactly a normal situation though.
“She’s had a rough life. A few years ago, before she moved to Talisman Bay, she got beat up pretty bad, so bad she almost died. It had something to do with her asshole boyfriend at the time, so she didn’t trust men for a long time. Actually, I don’t think she trusted anyone except Twyla, her best friend. Until Stephan. But even with all the hell she’s been through, she has a good heart.”
Following the rhythm of the surprisingly decent slow song, he moved them in an easy circle.
“Do you love her?”
Well, hell, he sure hadn’t expected that question. Before he could say anything, she clarified, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be prying. I just have the strangest memory from Mariah, and I don’t know if it’s real or one Craze put in my head. Did you ask Mariah to marry you?”
He laughed. He couldn’t help himself. He’d never expected his impromptu marriage proposal to come back and haunt him. “Yes, I did.”
Her eyes widened. “But Stephan?”
“It wasn’t serious. Well, not completely serious. See, Mariah makes a really good cup of coffee. I mean, like nectar-of-the-gods good. After my first sip, I proposed, hoping she’d stick around and make coffee every day. She turned me down, but she still makes coffee every day, so I’m not complaining.”
She arched an eyebrow. “You proposed because of a cup of coffee? You do know there are fancy places you can go where brewing coffee is their specialty, and you don’t even have to propose to the baristas.”
“Really?” He looked at her like she was pulling his leg. “Tell me more about these mysterious java palaces.”
“I’ll do you one better. I’ll take you to one tomorrow. You can usually find one on every corner.”
“Hey, is that a memory?”
She scrunched up her nose. “I don’t think so. It’s like how I know the sky’s blue and the earth’s round, I think it’s just common knowledge.” She let out a frustrated sigh. “You’re trying so hard to help me get my memories back and my brain’s not cooperating. I’m sorry about that.”
He wanted to erase the tension from her face. Kiss away the worry. But what he wanted and what she needed were two very different things. “Skylar, there’s nothing for you to apologize for. You didn’t ask for this to happen to you. I’ll do anything I can to help you, whatever you need. I promise.”
Seconds passed and she didn’t say a word. Her eyes were so wide, so open, so trusting. Had anyone ever looked at him that way before? He didn’t think so.
Swaying to the gently sensual rhythm, she leaned her head against his chest and circled an arm around his neck. Her cheek was so warm, so soft where it met his bare flesh. Her eyelashes fluttered as she closed her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for making me feel okay inside.”
He breathed in her scent and lifted his hand to cradle her head against him, to keep her from ever leaving him. He couldn’t force her to stay though, no matter how much he wanted this moment to last. So he trailed along the curve of her skull, following the path of her hair, teasing the silky strands between his fingertips before settling his hand on the middle of her back.
She snuggled closer, rubbing her cheek against his chest. Her quiet exhale heated him straight through.
It was the first perfect moment of his life.
Think it’s glamorous being a vampire? Think again.
Called by Blood
© 2009 Evie Byrne
The Faustin Bros., book 1
Alexander Faustin is ready to settle down. He travels from NYC to sunny Colorado to find his destined bride. His delicate mission: to explain to her that vamps exist, that he happens to be one himself, and that he’d like her to be one, too. But the moment he lays eyes on Helena MacAllister, talk is the last thing on his mind.
It’s not like Helena to make out with a stranger on her front porch, much less invite him into her bed. Somehow Alex makes her feel safe, even while he’s dismantling her defenses. But in the wake of an accident, her faith in him is shattered. She learns her dream lover is a monster.
When a vampire betrays and terrifies his beloved, what can he offer her to make it up? Pancakes, of course. It’s a start, at least. And Alex has to think of the next step quick, because if Helena won’t take him back, he’ll never love again.
Warning: Contains graphic sex scenes, blood play, and one scene of voyeurism. There’s also a scary part in the middle. The author and her lawyers remind you that this is a work of fiction. In real life, a one-night stand with a stalker is a bad idea, unless the stalker is a vampire, in which case it’s an amazingly bad idea. (Note: No actual elk were harmed in the writing of this novella.)
Enjoy the following excerpt for Called by Blood:
She hadn’t been able to concentrate all day. At an important lunch meeting she’d embarrassed herself by spacing out mid-sentence. More than once. After that she’d gone straight to the high school track. That seemed a safe enough place to run. But even running failed to do the trick.
Alexander Faustin just wouldn’t leave her thoughts. It was like she was in heat or something, and as her temperature rose, h
er intellect dropped by equal degrees. She didn’t want to tangle with him again, but another moonlight talk was tempting. Because as horny as she was, she was also curious. The journalist in her wanted to know more. Why would a man like that stalk her? She had good instincts—not for relationships, admittedly, but for strangers—and he honestly didn’t seem dangerous. If he didn’t mean to harm her, why did he lie to her? Was it a habit of his? Did he get a buzz from the risk? Maybe another talk would help her see the outlines of his subtle insanity. Then she’d feel better about turning him over to the police.
That morning she’d Googled his name, trying different spellings and came up with nothing. A Lexis-Nexis search revealed nothing about Alex or Alexander but did yield some hits on a Gregor Faustin who was some kind of nightclub impresario in New York. A small picture of a man in his thirties or early forties scowling at a flashbulb accompanied one of the articles. All she could say was that their coloring was the same. A relative?
Hell, she didn’t even know if Alexander Faustin was his real name.
As soon as Lacey left, Helena stepped out onto her balcony and surveyed the back yard.
“Looking for me?”
She yelped. He was on the balcony with her, standing in the shadows.
Helena backed away. “How’d you get up here?”
He advanced, stepping into a pool of light. He wore the long woolen overcoat, the one that had rubbed against her naked body. It was open. Beneath, he wore a black turtleneck sweater, the chunky fisherman kind, jeans and expensive work boots. GQ Italy. He shrugged. “Ladder?”
What ladder?
Helena darted back into the house, slammed the sliding glass door shut and clicked the tiny locking arm into place, thinking that maybe this home-alone thing was not such a good idea after all. She picked up the phone, but didn’t call anyone. Instead, she returned to the door.
Steel Beauty: Halle Pumas, Book 4 Page 9