Kiss of Darkness (30 page)

“About the scrolls,” he said.

“What scrolls?” she asked, lying without compunction. She knew exactly what scrolls.

Finally, his reserved demeanor cracked and he chuckled, his eyes turning bright with amusement. “Right. I wouldn’t admit to having them either. But when you’re done learning what you can from them, Winter, they have to be burned. You understand the danger they represent.”

“If I had any dangerous scrolls,” she said carefully, “I’d make sure they didn’t fall into the wrong hands.”

He sighed, a resigned look crossing his features for just a moment. “I’ll accept that. For now.”

Their attention was caught by a heated conversation at the trailhead. Dupree and Kara. Why was she not surprised? She rolled her eyes when Dupree practically screamed
over my dead body
into the still air. Then he took Kara by the arm and they teleported away.

“That has to be dealt with ASAP. You can’t afford to lose Dupree,” Gray said, his tone once again that cold Grand Master voice he’d perfected. It made her hackles rise and she gave him a frigid smile.

“My people. I’ll deal with them in my way. You made me commander. Regretting that now?” she asked with a saccharine sweetness that alarmed everyone who knew her. Gray just smiled.

“No. Don’t prove my faith in your abilities wrong though, Winter. You won’t like the results.”

At her side Marcus went hunter-still. “Don’t threaten my mate, hybrid,” Marcus said, icily controlled, but she felt his fury.

Gray’s gaze clashed with Marcus. “I agreed to this bonding because I believed you could temper her…more volatile instincts. See that you do.”

Oh good God, was another man calling her reckless? Before she could vent her surge of temper, Gray nodded and disappeared from the clearing. The others had wisely already vacated the area, which only left one person to rail against. But when she spun around to Marcus he had his arms crossed over his chest and was giving her that insolent grin that infuriated her as much as it made her melt.

“I don’t think he meant to be insulting,” Marcus said dryly.

“Oh really? How do you figure that?”

“I think you’d agree that your bonded hybrids are more stable than the single ones. Less willing to take unconsidered risks.”

“Rash, you mean. Less careless.”

Marcus shrugged but she could see this was important to him so she took a deep breath and tried to will away the anger at Gray’s less-than-positive vote of confidence. She hadn’t wanted to be commander after all.

“You react differently when you have someone to go home to,” he said softly. “We all do.”

Was that a kernel of self-doubt she saw in his eyes? How could he doubt her feelings after everything they’d been through? He was close enough to reach out for, but that wasn’t enough. She stepped forward, into arms that immediately circled her waist and pulled her close.

“I know what I have to come home to,” she whispered while pressing soft kisses up his throat.

And I know you can’t be reined in,
his mind said softly to hers while invisible fingers found her nipples and teased.
I’ll just be sure to give you plenty of incentive to return.

She gasped as the teasing grew more heated.
Speaking of home…

His lips were on hers before she could finish the thought. He kissed her gently at first. Seducing. Taming. It was so easy to give in to his unspoken demand that she surrender to his care, so easy to return his love.

It was close to sunrise before they returned to the place they called home.

About the Author

Loribelle is like the South she calls home. Hot and sultry. Languid and sexy. Magnolias and gardenias scent her silk-lined boudoir, and men and children alike bow to her magnificence…

Okay, maybe it isn’t quite that glamorous. She does have two smart and lovely daughters who give her a run for her money and a son that will one day be someone’s model of a romance hero. (She promises.) Her husband is a real-life hero, and Loribelle just tries to keep up with the demands of military life. In between, she writes a book or two.

She’s had every job under the sun, but haven’t most writers? That army military police, bookstore manager, waitress, wedding photographer, website designer experience has to prove useful sometime. As they say in the South, it all washes out in the end.

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ISBN: 978-1-4268-9112-0

Copyright © 2011 by Loribelle Hunt

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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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• Copyright
  
• Prologue
  
• Chapter One
  
• Chapter Two
  
• Chapter Three
  
• Chapter Four
  
• Chapter Five
  
• Chapter Six
  
• Chapter Seven
  
• Chapter Eight
  
• Chapter Nine
  
• Chapter Ten
  
• Chapter Eleven
  
• Chapter Twelve
  
• Chapter Thirteen
  
• Chapter Fourteen
  
• Chapter Fifteen
  
• Chapter Sixteen
  
• Chapter Seventeen
  
• Chapter Eighteen
  
• Chapter Nineteen
  
• Chapter Twenty
  
• Chapter Twenty-One
  
• Chapter Twenty-Two
  
• Chapter Twenty-Three
  
• Chapter Twenty-Four
  
• Chapter Twenty-Five
  
• Chapter Twenty-Six
  
• Chapter Twenty-Seven
  
• Chapter Twenty-Eight
  
• Chapter Twenty-Nine
  
• Chapter Thirty
  
• Chapter Thirty-One
  
• Chapter Thirty-Two
  
• Chapter Thirty-Three
  
• Chapter Thirty-Four
  
• Chapter Thirty-Five
  
• Chapter Thirty-Six
  
• Chapter Thirty-Seven
  
• Chapter Thirty-Eight
  
• Chapter Thirty-Nine
  
• Chapter Forty
  
• Chapter Forty-One
  
• About the Author