Angelic Avenger (37 page)

He brushed his lips against hers again, setting off little bursts of pleasure all down her spine. “We’ll talk about that later,” he whispered. He settled her back against the sheets.

Dante stripped off his jacket and tossed it onto a nearby chair. He pulled his T-shirt over his head and added it to the pile. Then he strode to the bathroom and returned with a wet wad of tissue. “Don’t use the towels,” he said, pulling up the leg of her pants and wiping the blood from the back of her knee. He tossed the tissue into the toilet and flushed it. “Not until you’ve showered.”

Xandra nodded. The last thing they wanted to do was to leave DNA evidence in the motel. Evidence Jeremy could use against her. She unhooked her torque and put it on the night table with her cuffs.

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” she protested. “Three times now I’ve been attacked and Jeremy’s making me feel like I’m a criminal.”

“We need to find out why that is,” Dante said softly. Then he added, “Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” she agreed.

He reached for her. His callused hands slid down over her arms until his fingers located the hem of her gore-splattered shirt. Gently, he pulled it over her head and added it to the pile of clothes on the chair. Then, he lay down beside her again.

She felt strangely vulnerable and exposed in just her bra. She nuzzled against him, burying her nose in the soft tangle of hairs in the center of his chest.

“Hey,” he teased. Grasping her chin, he raised her head and kissed her again. His hair caressed her cheek, a contrast against the roughness of his beard. She buried her hands in his silken curls and returned the kiss. He moaned low in his throat.

Hooking one arm beneath her neck, he lowered her back against the pillows. His body covered hers. His chest pressed against her breasts, still confined by the lacy material of her bra. She pulled away a little to peruse him more fully.

Aside from tangle of downy curls, his chest was bare. Blond hair covered his forearms. With his head of unruly hair framing his face, he looked like a lion at rest. The light caught the earring in his left ear and the medallion around his neck.

Dante was busy with his own study of her. His gaze centered on the pale peaks of her breasts nestled in her bra, then continued down the line of her ribcage to her hips. His hands followed in their wake as if he wanted to memorize her contours.

His free land slipped behind her back and deftly undid the clasp of her bra. She let him pull the material away. He gazed down at her with those golden eyes and smiled.

He kissed her lightly over the pulse point in her neck. She felt the touch of his lips down to her very core. He rained little kisses and tiny nips over her collarbone and then took the peak of one breast in his mouth. Xandra moaned.

Dante raised his head and gave her a smile that promised far more of such pleasure. His even white teeth gleamed in the dim light. Not a fang in sight, she thought in relief, as he bent his head to taste the other.

She threaded her hands through his curls again, demanding more of that caress that seemed to touch on every pleasure center in her body. And Dante complied. He moved lower, painting her ribcage with kisses and then dipping lower toward her navel and the waistband of her jeans.

From exile to queen-whom can she trust?

Tiger by the Tail

© 2008 Kaye Chambers

An
On the Prowl
Story

Alexandra “Sasha” DeStephano has long been exiled from her own kind, thanks to parents who had no wish for her to grow up in the “tiger mafia”. Now that she’s been issued an engraved invitation to appear before the society elders, she finds herself plunged into a dangerous battle for power, urged on every side to give up her birthright to make room for a new regime.

On every side, that is, except Colton Reyes, a rogue alpha. Cole plants the idea in her mind that, under the current leadership, the tiger society is headed down a one-way street to disaster. And she is their only hope.

Spurred on by a man who flips all her sexual switches, Sasha steps up to the plate-and finds herself promoted from Tiger Princess to Queen. The resulting consequences are far more than she ever imagined.

In this game of danger and intrigue, almost no one can be trusted. Cole’s best chance to protect her? Pretend to claim her as his mate.

Except pretending is the last thing on Sasha’s mind.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Tiger by the Tail:

“Thank you, all. I understand I’m allowed to choose some advisors to help me?”

“You are, madam.”

Lord DeLuca was entirely too smug for my liking and I wondered how much of a dissention factor was running in the crowd tonight. If this went to hell in a hand basket, I was blaming him, personally. I hoped he understood that. I read the house badges on the young men who were edging to the top of the crowd. Blinking, I realized the nagging little detail that had bugged me when I’d arrived. Cole had been announced as a lord, but his coat was lacking the golden embroidered badge that signified his status. In fact, his coat was lacking any adornment, at all. He wore a plain black tux in lieu of the formal dinner jackets around him. Of course, that made him stand out like a sore thumb.

“Lord Reyes, please step forward for the honor.”

Why did I give him what he wanted? Simple. I didn’t know anyone else there and I could always disappoint him, later. Besides, he was part of the reason I was in this mess, so he might as well be part of the solution. Power was a wonderful thing. If I’d not appointed anyone, the speculation would have been that I was going to try to muscle my way through things or that I was ignorant of the ways things were run. I wasn’t brave or hungry enough to want to muscle my way through anything tonight, and I couldn’t afford the weakness of assumed ignorance. I knew enough to get me killed. I was going to trust Cole not to let that happen.

Unfortunately, Cole wasn’t the one who stepped forward. I watched a blonde young man about my age start up the steps with a frown.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Lord Thomas Reyes, Lady Alexandra.”

That he neglected to give me my title meant that he thought he was my equal. The look on his face said he wanted to be my superior. I disliked that and him. Raising my hand, I shook my head. Two could play at that game.

“I didn’t mean you, Mr. Reyes. I meant Cole.”

His face flashed with temper and I knew I didn’t like him for a reason. I rarely went wrong when I trusted my instincts.

“I am the legitimate heir to the Reyes House. You called for me.”

“My oversight, Thomas.”

“Thomas, step aside.”

Lord DeLuca was gaining a lot of bonus points with me tonight.

“I refuse to step aside for a Spanish whore’s bastard.”

Well, if the jury had been out on my opinion of him that would have settled it. I watched Cole’s face still. Stepping up on the steps, he walked across them until he stood opposite Thomas. Standing side-by-side, the resemblance was striking. While they were polar opposites in coloring and manner, they had the same sharp, aristocratic bone structure.

“My lady, I ask your permission to address this insult.”

There wasn’t any asking in his tone, but I understood the point. The formality of the situation made him say the words. I don’t normally approve of violence to solve a problem, but I had a suspicion that Thomas wouldn’t settle it any other way. Some boys just had to have the sense beat into them.

“Go right ahead.”

“So it’s challenge for the right to her, then?”

Did every man here think I was a prize to be won? I had always understood my parents’ decision to leave society to live their own life, but for the first time, I sympathized. If this was what my mother had gone through, it was a wonder I’d been born at all.

“No, Thomas, the challenge is for the slight to my mother. Lady DeStephano can answer her own challenges, if you’d like to issue one? You’ll still have to face me in the challenge circle, though.”

“You’re awfully sure of that, Cole. What have you been doing when the rest of us haven’t been watching?”

The way his gaze slid over me let the insinuation be all the worse. That some of the people in the crowd followed it and whispered behind their hands really made it worse.

Cole’s temper flared and it washed hot across my skin. The tiger liked anger and mine responded. It took all of my control to keep my power from washing out to meet his. I had enough problems without advertising that my parents had bred true and my tiger was begging to join in the fun.

Without looking at me, Cole stalked away with Thomas behind him. From my seat, I saw the crowd part and ring a marble circle set in the middle of the garden. It was gorgeously arranged as a focal point with paths branching off into the deeper recesses of the garden. Until the people ringed it, I wouldn’t have called it a challenge circle. Whoever had designed this garden had been a genius.

I was fascinated with it all to the point I didn’t notice the two men slowly undressing. By the time I realized it, Cole was turning his back to strip off his pants. It took a moment for it to register and I had to look away. The guy already hit my radar and the last thing I wanted to do was gawk at him. I did see enough to know that his coloring was absolutely natural. Well, either that or he tanned in the nude. That thought alone reinforced the urge to jerk my gaze as far away from him as I could manage.

“Don’t turn away.”

I blinked and found myself in company I’d not even sensed. Hot embarrassment flooded through me and all I could do was blame it on the hormonal overload. Grinning at Lord DeLuca, I waved him to the bench to sit beside me. Instead, he dropped to sit on the cool marble, heedless of his elegant slacks.

“Thank you, but I’m not exactly in the habit of watching men strip. I’ll preserve my modesty, thank you very much.”

My tone was tart enough to make him laugh, which brought an answering smile to my face.

“Modesty. I didn’t realize it still existed.”

My mouth dropped open and I laughed with him.

“Well, maybe if you started asking everyone not to strip out in packs to go running under the moon, there might be a little bit more of it.”

“Ah, too late for that.”

I followed the direction he was looking and saw what I’m sure Thomas wanted me to see. He stood facing me, letting me get an eyeful. Putting on a bland face, I looked directly at his face and waited. I wasn’t sure what upset him more, the fact I didn’t check out what he was offering or that I didn’t turn away in embarrassment. Either way, he snarled and shifted in a flow of magic and blinding light. One moment, he stood as a man, the next, as a tiger in burnished orange. I was surprised to see his color, though. My mother had platinum blonde hair like my grandfather and they were both whites. My father had passed on his dark hair and his golden color on to me. Genetics are a wonderful thing. I’d have expected Thomas to be a white from the fairness of his skin and hair, too.

Cole earned a few extra points in my book by not making a display of himself. Instead, he shifted with his back to me and his color surprised me, too. He was the rarest color of them all—black. I wondered if I’d be able to see the black stripes on the black coat in the daylight like the black jaguar I’d seen in the zoo, but let the fascinated thought pass.

He turned to me with a graceful twist of his body, bending a knee in salute. I’ll say this for the guy; he certainly had flare and style. Guess some guys are just born with it.

In size, the two cats were in the same class. They began to circle one another in a slow stalk. Thomas swiped a claw out, but Cole dodged back easily. I suddenly had the horrible realization that this could turn ugly, fast.

“Tell me they’re not going to…”

I waved my hand, trying to find words that didn’t sound so, well, fatal.

“First blood, only, princess.”

An immortal soldier defies the ancient Gods he serves and puts his existence and the world at risk when he saves the life of the mortal woman he swore to kill.

Immortal Protector

© 2007 Ursula Bauer

Gideon Sinclair, an immortal, shape-shifting soldier, defies the ancient gods he serves, risking his existence and the future of the mortal world, when he saves the life of the woman he was sworn to kill: Dr. Megan Carter. For centuries he’s fought for justice and balance in the eternal struggle between good and evil. Gideon challenges destiny and the forces aligning against her, but when Meg becomes more than a mission, will he be able to accept the healing love she offers or will their enemies and the demons of his past be their undoing?

Meg’s accidental contact with an artifact sacred to the Goddess Isis thrusts her into the midst of a centuries old battle between two rival gods, and makes her the target of a crazed magician bent on unlocking the secrets of immortality. With nowhere to turn and no one to trust, she puts her life in the hands of the lethal, enigmatic Gideon, and is drawn into his dark world. She can’t resist the passionate desire he stirs, but will she pay the ultimate price when she falls for a man who no longer has a heart?

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Immortal Protector:

Meg was out of the car and moving, any thoughts of her own safety gone from her mind. Gideon started to come round as she ran up her walk. The demon moved slower, as if in pain. She trampled the pansies and pulled the sword from the marigolds. The creature took note of her, snorted, and kept walking towards the immortal.

Gideon got to his knees, saw the demon coming down with a vicious swing, and lurched to the side. He rolled into the spill and came up on his feet just in time to sidestep another strike. This close Meg could see the other wounds. His shirt was sliced in a few spots, and blood poured freely. His cheekbone was bruised, and he was favoring his right leg.

The blade felt incredibly light in her hands. Her heart rammed hard against her ribs. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. But she managed. She put one foot in front of the other, and reached him just before the demon.