FireDrake (33 page)

“How do you know what suits me or not? You don’t
know
me.” In the truck she was pulled onto Gabe’s lap, his arms wrapped around her, keeping her hands trapped from doing any damage. She ignored the dark look Luke sent her way as he got behind the

wheel. Neither one of these men were listening. “My parents will not put up with you taking me.” She hoped that was true but their complete lack of concern cut that line of reasoning short.

“Your fathers know we’re taking you to the Roaring Lion. This is a done deal, Jules.

Start accepting it.” Luke started the truck then headed down the long drive to the main road. “Your body already has, Jules. Open your mind to what your body already knows and this will be easier for you.”

The casual mention of her attraction and resulting arousal to the brothers filled the truck cab like humidity filled the late summer air, making it hard to breathe and her body uncomfortably warm. Gabe’s erection pressing into the curve of her ass showed her she wasn’t the only one affected by Luke’s comments. The fight didn’t go out of her, instead it shifted from thoughts of escaping these two to controlling her reaction to them.

“Don’t flatter yourself.
Yourselves
. What you think is attraction to you is nothing more than my having a normal, healthy sex drive.”

“How many other pairs have you let know about your
healthy sex drive
?”

Jules snapped her mouth closed. That was the whole problem, why these two worried her more than all the others combined. No other pair affected her the way Gabe and Luke did. If she thought she could get away with it Jules would have lied through her teeth, claimed she’d had a similar reaction to another man or men, but she didn’t. She kept her mouth shut. If she wasn’t able to believe the lie how would they?

The remainder of the short ride to the Roaring Lion was completed in silence. No one was talking but that didn’t mean nothing was going on. Jules sat stiffly on Gabe’s lap, trying her damnedest but failing miserably at ignoring his hard-on. The sexual tension inside the cab was stifling. The Beckett brothers were determined to take what they wanted and Jules was silently scrambling to think of a way to stop it.

Mountain man or mountain lion? In his case-one and the same.

Rachel’s Totem

© 2008 Marie Harte

A
Feral Attraction
story.

When Rachel arrives in Cougar Falls for a reading of her aunt’s will, she finds herself in a typical mountain town. Except that it’s not quite…typical. It’s full of the requisite, rough-hewn mountaineers, but these men seem more animal than man.

And one of the rude strangers brings out the animal in her during an embarrassingly orgasmic-and scorching-sexual encounter in an alley. The fantastic tales that the townsfolk tell about the Ac-Taw, a clan of people who can shift into animals, are nothing but folklore. Or are they?

Burke is stunned by his response to Rachel, and even more so when she innocently shows signs of possessing Ac-Taw blood. And this puts her in more danger than she knows, danger that only increases the urgency to mark her as his own.

Rachel comes to realize she’s inherited much more than just property. She has also inherited a destiny to protect her newfound home.

For the Ac-Taw aren’t just legend-they’re real.

Warning, this title contains the following: graphic language, ménage a trois,
growling, and hot, steamy sex between shifters in love :)
Enjoy the following excerpt for
Rachel’s Totem:

“I’m not sure.” Gerald frowned and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Rachel. Not exactly polite to discuss other matters when you’re here for Charlotte’s will.”

“No, that’s okay. I’m in no rush.”

Well I am.
Burke took a seat next to Rachel across from Gerald, who sat in a huge leather chair behind his desk.
Let’s find that totem and get back to the important things in
life. Like how I’m going to seduce Rachel before she turns all prickly again.

“It’s just that my assistant, Julia, is always a rock, always here and helping. And something came up with her family in Washington so she had to leave yesterday—”

“Gerald, can we please get on with this?” Burke sighed.

Gerald cleared his throat and smiled apologetically. “Right, well. Before we begin, is there anything I can get you, Rachel? A glass of water, a soda, or maybe some coffee?”

Rachel shook her head. “Thanks, but Burke’s right. Since we’re here, no sense putting it off any longer. You might as well tell me what Aunt Charlotte wanted done with her things.”

“Of course.”

Nice how the SOB completely ignored Burke, who could have used something to drink. In a steady drone, Gerald read through most of the generalities of the will. All of Charlotte’s personal possessions and money, investments and the like, went to Rachel.

“And as the only relative Charlotte truly cared about since your father passed away, you’ve inherited everything she considered dear to her. Including the house.”

Shit.

“The property, however…” Gerald paused, and Burke wanted to punch him for drawing this out. “The property is divided between you and the Chastells.” Gerald turned to Burke. “You’ve been wanting to buy from Charlotte forever. Well, Burke, now’s your chance. If Rachel decides to sell, everything on the property, to include the house and the material within it, becomes yours.”
The totem
, he meant but didn’t say. With the totem back in the hands of protectors who both understood and respected the ancient relic, peace would surely return to Cougar Falls. No more clan wars, and no more threats of strangers having a hold on something as valuable as the totem.

Rachel stared at Gerald, her gaze narrowing with suspicion as it lit on Burke. “Are you saying Mr. Chastell wants my aunt’s property? And that she steadily refused to sell it?”

Burke had a sudden ache in the pit of his belly, a feeling that often preceded something bad about to happen.

“That’s what I’m saying.” Gerald stacked his papers and squared them. “Charlotte’s property and the Chastells’ border one another. They’ve always been friendly, don’t get me wrong. But it’s no secret Burke and his brothers want to reclaim the land that their great-great grandfather gave to one of your relatives so many years ago.”

“I see.” She glared at Burke, and he stared back, confused.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she snapped. Turning back to Gerald, she pasted a sugary-sweet smile on her face. “So the house is mine, and the property is split how?”

“It’s a bit complicated. I’ll drive you out to the property so I can show you both.

Charlotte was very clear about this.” Gerald turned sharp eyes on Burke, as if willing him to listen.

Burke, however, didn’t understand what the hell had crawled up Rachel’s ass. He couldn’t deny her fury made him hot, but he didn’t understand what he’d done wrong.

Was she suddenly blaming him for their time together in the alley? It wasn’t as if he’d staged that fight with those knuckle-dragging wolf Shifters. And he sure as hell hadn’t planned to come in his jeans while dry-fucking her against a dirty brick wall.

“Burke, I said I’ll drive Rachel out to the property now. Perhaps you’d care to follow, so I only have to do this once?”

Burke nodded. “Fine, sure. Look, why don’t you go file your papers or something? I need a word with Rachel.”

“Yes, Mr. Winter. I’d like a word with Mr. Chastell as well.” Rachel’s glare could have cut steel.

Gerald glanced from Rachel to Burke and unsuccessfully masked a grin. “Fine. I’ll be waiting outside when you’re through.” Grabbing his papers and shoving them in his briefcase, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

The minute he left, Rachel stood ramrod straight and glared down her sexy little nose at Burke. “You arrogant asshole.”

“What’s your problem?” Burke honestly had no idea why she’d grown so upset.

“You thought screwing me would sway me into selling my aunt’s place to you?”

Burke scowled. “Now wait a minute, Rachel. I—”

She leaned down and poked him in the chest,
hard,
stirring his instincts to fight back.

Or perhaps, to turn their tussle into something more…intimate. “You wait a minute, Chastell. If you wanted to buy the place, all you had to do was ask. That scene in the alley was totally unnecessary. And not that good to boot.”

He launched himself out of his chair to glare down at her. “Not that good,
Miss
Penny
? First of all, that ‘scene’ in the alley, as you put it, was not staged. Second, that was anything but a real fuck. We had all our clothes on, for Christ’s sake. And third.” He paused to close what little distance remained between them. Staring directly into her eyes, nose to nose, he growled his last words. “The orgasm we shared was more than good, it was explosive. Lie to yourself if you want to, but you came hard, like a shot.” He licked his lips, unable to help how turned on she made him in her anger. “And I can still smell your come creaming your panties. Hell, right now you want nothing more than a hard fuck right on Gerald’s desk, isn’t that right?”

Her pupils dilated with lust, and her scent filled the room. Pure, unadulterated sex.

“Fuck. You.”

“Sure thing, honey. You just name the time and place.”

He watched in amazement as her pupils began to elongate. He could smell the familiar scent of feline musk flooding the room and waited, his breath held, as Rachel amazingly began to
turn
.

Her hair began to rise as her body was covered in a field of static energy, and her teeth grew sharp as she hissed at him in anger. God, she made him burn. The mixture of mountain lion and woman was almost more than he could take. Glancing at Gerald’s desk, Burke figured he could have it cleared in one swipe of his arm. He’d bend her over the solid oak on her belly and yank those jeans and panties off her legs. Within seconds he’d lower his own clothes, just enough to spring his cock free before he’d shove it hard and deep into that honeyed, wet pussy.

Rachel’s hands fisted into paws as she raised one arm as if to strike.

Do it. Please, touch me and I swear I’ll mark you as one of mine in a heartbeat.
The choice, even unknowingly made, had to be hers.

Gerald, damn his ass, chose that minute to knock at the door. “Hey, is everything all right in there?”

Son of a bitch
. Burke knew Gerald could smell the passion raging in the room, the scent of a female in heat overpowering enough to easily reach the lawyer outside the office.

Rachel blinked, and that suddenly her shift vanished as if it had never been. She swayed and righted herself, still miffed enough not to want Burke’s touch. “Come near me again and I’ll geld you.” Sniffing, she turned on her heel and stalked out the door, nearly knocking over Gerald, who waited impatiently on the other side.

Gerald watched Rachel go with amusement, his lips quirked in an aggravating smirk.

“Not one word.” Burke stormed through the door, knocking Gerald into the wall as he passed, heading for the bathroom to finally clean up. “Not one fucking word.”

He’s waited centuries for her rebirth. Can he persuade her to love again?

Night Rhythm

© 2008 Charlene Teglia

A Sirens story.

Once, Valentine had everything: Position, wealth, love and happiness. Then tragedy struck. Over the centuries, he has clung to the prophecy that his love will be reborn, but when he meets Lisette, she’s no longer his wife, no longer his love. She no longer remembers their life together.

After a chance meeting with Valentine, Lisa can’t shake the lingering impression he leaves behind—or the odd feelings he stirs. He gives her two gifts: A necklace, and a dream of passion that awakes her memory. But are these memories she can trust?

After all, Lisa isn’t the woman she once was. And Valentine is no longer human.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Night Rhythm: A restless movement in the bed woke him. A wayward elbow nudged his ribs and the fringed end of a thick braid tickled his nose. Valentine smiled at the disturbance, now fully awake although his eyes remained closed. He had no need to open them to know what he would see. His arm tightened around the slight form bumping into his side, drawing her closer. “Having trouble sleeping? I have the cure for that malady.”

The cure he spoke of rose thick and full from his groin, drawing his sac tight. That part of him had woken first in response to her nocturnal stirrings. It jutted forward when her bare thigh brushed against it, as if eager to volunteer its services.

A musical giggle answered him. “I wonder which of us has a malady. You seem to suffer from a great swelling this night.”

One small hand splayed against his chest while another closed around his cock in a bold grip. Valentine felt himself growing even thicker in her hand, swelling with lust and need that never fully slept and woke easily to her lightest touch. If he was honest, it took far less than her touch to rouse the slumbering beast inside him. The scent of her

perfume, the sound of her skirts rustling when she moved, the sight of her. Any of these things would suffice to incite him. All of them together could madden him.

The most innocent gesture she made aroused him, and when she deliberately inflamed him, running her tongue along her lower lip when she knew he was watching her, or stretching to display herself for him with her eyes full of mischief and daring, she was likely to find herself with her skirts tossed up and her legs spread at any hour of the day and in any opportune place.

“A great malady,” Valentine agreed in a solemn voice. “You torment me all day and then all night, waking me from a sound sleep because you must have more of me. I am never safe from your demands.”

She let out a soft snort. “You were the one lunging about in this bed like a rutting beast. I was having the most wonderful dream.” Her hand stroked up and down the length of his engorged shaft in a slow caress as she spoke.

“A better dream than this?” Valentine asked.

“Nothing is better than this.”