Out of Chances (Taken by the Panther, #2) (12 page)
Read Out of Chances (Taken by the Panther, #2) Online
Authors: V. M. Black
Tags: #shapeshifter, #billionaire shifter romance, #curvy interracial bbw romance, #Navy SEAL, #genes, #coming of age, #elven wizard
Except that it
had
been her. The panther was her, in her, and it had been her for as long as she could remember. She should have known that she was dangerous, that there was a ticking time bomb inside her own skin.
She tried to shove away the image of Sylvie’s ravaged face, of her parents’ grief, of all the statements of the witnesses of her savage attack. But she had no eyelids to close here, and their words swam in her head: animal, beast, monster.
The panther came roaring out of her head. It had nowhere to go here except Tara’s own mind, and it raged around it, screaming with fury—
Tara realized that the screams were coming from her own throat as the mind-net was ripped from her head and flung aside. She was in the center of a circle of people—the elf, the other men, and Chay, who was holding her against his chest.
“It’s all right,” he was saying. “It’s going to be all right.”
But it wasn’t going to be all right ever again. Tara’s throat was raw from screaming, but she shouted again as she shoved away from Chay, hard. He didn’t let go. But she didn’t care anymore. All she wanted was not to be—and the panther was there, ready to spring, ready to take her mind as she fled from her own self-awareness.
Her bones were changing even as Chay held her, yelling at her, begging her to hold on. But she didn’t want to hold on. There was nothing to hold on for. She’d destroyed her own life, hurt those closest to her, and she was going to keep on destroying the things she cared about most. Better to let go now, to give in to the beast and allow it to suffer the punishment that she knew that it deserved—that she deserved—while she ran away forever. Because she couldn’t fight it. Not forever. And it was better that she give up now than it come back and defeat her and hurt the people around her again.
And that was her very last thought before she surrendered to the panther, let go, and fell into the darkness beyond the edges of her own mind.
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Taken by the Panther – Book 3
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Tara Morland’s world was shaken the fateful, bloody day the panther rose up inside her, transforming her body and taking control. Chay Bane rescued her from the military installation in which she’d been imprisoned—only to take her to his own secret lair, where she is locked up until she can learn to tame the beast within. But her time is running out, because with each uncontrolled shift, she comes closer to losing herself forever.
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bout my books
My shifter novella serials usually come out on the
first Tuesday of every month
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Taken: The Alpha’s Captive #1
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My vampire serials come out on the
third Tuesday of every month
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Life Blood: Cora’s Choice #1
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I’m currently working exclusively in the Aethereal Bonds world, which I’ve mapped out to be big enough to let me tell all the different kinds of stories I want to share with readers. It’s got vampires, demons, weres, faes, and more—all sorts of creatures that are great fun to play with.
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bout me
I live near Washington, D.C., with my family—the usual husband and kids contingent, with extended relatives who pop in and out of the house from time to time. A proud geek, I love fantasy, romance, science fiction, and historical fiction. I’m a compulsive dreamer, and I feel spoiled to be able to be able to make a career out of imagining things!