STORY EXCERPT

“What’s that noise?” Serge asked, tilting his head as he listened intently.

“Sounds like a boat,” Ward replied.

“Let’s go,” Serge said as he broke into a run, his best friend and housemate right beside him.

“What the hell?” Ward frowned his way before he covered his eyes, shading his gaze from the bright sunlight. “There’s no one at the wheel.”

“Shit, it’s going to run aground,” Ward murmured as he stared at the empty vessel. “Do you think whoever owns it fell overboard?”

“How the fuck should I know?” Serge snarled. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ward said. “My sabear seems to be just as antsy as yours.”

Serge rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you think we’ll ever be lucky enough to meet our mate?”

Ward shrugged. “I hope so. It’s getting hard to watch Tarik, Hodge, and Celeste, as well as Phelan, Hopper, and Tammy.”

“Yeah.” Serge squinted against the sun. “Should we call the others to come look? I don’t like this.”

“No,” Ward answered. “I don’t like it either, but there’s no use raising any alarms until we know what we’re dealing with.”

Serge sniffed the air as the offshore breezed wafted their way. “Do you smell that?”

Ward lifted his nose and inhaled. A low rumbling growl formed in his chest and escaped from between his parted lips. “Blood. Sweet honeyed woman and blood.”

“Mate!” Serge rumbled.

“Mate!” Ward snarled.

Serge was running into the water seconds later. Splashing to his right told him Ward was right next to him, but Serge only had eyes for the slow-moving speedboat. He dived into the water, his sabear coming to the surface to aid him with speed and strength as he powered through the waves. Minutes later, he was clinging to the side of the boat with Ward next to him. He lifted his body up out of the sea using the strength in his arms, and then his feet were touching the bottom of the boat.

“Shit! She’s hurt.” Serge hurried to the seat in front of the wheel and sank to his knees. He sniffed the air and pinpointed where the blood on his mate was coming from. An angry snarl emerged from between his parted lips when he saw the cut in her black jacket. He eased his fingers into the slash, being careful not to touch his mate in case he caused her more pain and tugged the material. The fabric tore apart, and then he was growling again when he saw the deep cut seeping blood. From the swollen redness around it, as well as the scent, her wound was infected.

“Is she hurt anywhere else?” Ward asked.

Serge glanced at his friend and shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t want to strip her down out here.” He caressed a finger down her cold cheek before clasping her hands in both of his. “She’s freezing.”

“We need to get her home and warmed up,” Ward said. “You hold her while I get the boat ashore.”

Serge nodded, rose to his feet, bent over, and scooped his mate up out of the seat. He sat and draped her over his lap, again being careful not to touch her wound as he situated her so that her head was resting on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist, hoping to share some of his body heat with her even though his clothes were soaked through. It didn’t matter that he just been swimming in ice-cold water. Because of his inner animal, he could stand being in well below freezing temperatures without blinking an eye or shivering up a storm.

He ground his teeth with fury as he tried to imagine what had happened to her while Ward steered the boat toward the shore. Once the hull touched bottom, scraping over rock and sand, Ward turned the boat off and jumped over the side.

Serge stood and then passed her over into Ward’s waiting arms before leaping from the boat. Neither of them spoke as they hurried toward their house. Serge was glad that none of the other stealth members were around to ask questions because he didn’t have any answers, but as soon as his mate woke up, he would.

His inner beast was snarling and butting against his insides, trying to get out so he could mark his mate, but Serge shoved him back down. The last thing he needed right now was his animal escaping his leash and scaring his and Ward’s woman. She was fully human and had no idea shape-shifters existed. He didn’t want her coming face-to-face with his sabear and running from them, or dying from fright. He and Ward were going to have to be careful with her. They were going to have to take things slow, and hopefully when she knew them a bit better, she would agree to mate with them.

Serge raced up the stairs to the front door, opened it, and stepped aside so Ward could carry their mate inside. He closed the door and followed his friend down the hall to the master bedroom. Ward eased the petite woman onto the bed, and then he and Serge removed her shoes and socks, her coat, jeans, and long-sleeved shirt. Ward sucked in a breath at the same time Serge began to growl. Neither of them needed their mate awake to ask how she’d been injured. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that someone had cut her with a knife.

“Get the kit,” Serge whispered. “We need to clean her up. The wound is infected, and from all the blood on her arm, hand, and sleeve, she’s lost a lot of blood.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Kat began shivering, not because she was cold but because there was a fever in her blood. She didn’t know when she’d reached out to Serge but knew she had when she noticed she was clutching at his shirt. The tips of his fingers dug into her scalp, causing delicious sensations to race down her spine. Her nipples hardened even more, if that were possible, and they began to throb as if begging for attention.

She’d been kissed once or twice back in high school by boys, but the kiss she was sharing with Serge was off the charts. He was confident and dominant with no hesitation at all. He knew what he was doing, knew what he wanted, and took. Kat couldn’t seem to stop herself from giving. Heat. There was so much heat. If she hadn’t known better, she might have thought she was going to burn alive, from the inside out. She was aching all over, not because of the injuries she’d sustained in her mad days-long escape, but because of a desperate need that was building inside of her. Her clit was throbbing and pulsing. Her pussy continually clenched, causing slews of cream to drip onto her already soaked panties.

He caressed and explored every inch of her mouth before coming to rub along and then swirl his tongue around hers. Kat felt as if she were drowning in a sea of exquisite, sensational, heated desire. The yearning to get closer to him was so strong, she wished she could burrow in under his skin and lodge herself in his body. In his heart and soul. She froze as that thought coalesced, a sob of frustrated hunger escaping her lips as she tried to draw away.

Serge released her lips and lifted his head, but instead of pulling back like she expected him to do, he cupped her face in both of his hands and rested his forehead on hers. His sweet breath puffed out rapidly from his slightly parted lips mingling with hers and making her wish her mind hadn’t perked up when it had. That her been her first real kiss from a man, and though she wanted more, hadn’t wanted it to end, she was glad it had. If she’d let things continue the way they had, she might very well have ended up in his bed.

“You taste amazing, baby.” Serge kissed her on the forehead and, after staring deeply into her eyes, released her face.

Kat cleared her throat and unconsciously licked her lips. The residual of Serge’s taste lingered on her skin, causing another moan to build up in her chest, but this time she was able to swallow it back down. She shifted in her seat when she noticed she’d turned sideways and was in danger of falling off and lowered her head, hoping to hide the blush staining her cheeks.

She startled when Ward covered the hands she was wringing in her lap and stared mesmerized at his tanned skin against her paler flesh. He gently pried her hands apart, and then he laced his fingers through hers before lifting it toward his mouth. Kat blinked at the déjà vu moment, a nervous giggle escaping from her mouth. This was how she’d gotten into trouble the first time, when she’d spilled the orange juice onto her hand.

“Look at me, sweetie,” Ward demanded.

Kat slowly lifted her gaze to his. He released her hand, grasped her waist as he shoved his chair back from the table simultaneously, and then settled her over his lap. She gasped as she clutched his shoulders and stared into his amazing amber glowing eyes as she tried to work out how he’d managed to turn her, before placing her over his thighs so she was facing him. She mentally shook her head. She must have been still too dazed from Serge’s passionate kiss, because she couldn’t remember him turning her.

“I need you, too, Kat.”

Kat opened her mouth to reply but never got the chance. Ward’s mouth opened over hers as he wrapped a hand around her throat. She didn’t feel threatened by his hold and knew he’d done it to control the tilt of her head when he nudged her chin up and angled it to the side.

Her whimper of heated need was muffled by Ward’s mouth as he slanted his lips over hers. The tips of her fingers dug into his cotton-covered pectorals as she tried to anchor herself so she wouldn’t float away. Her whole body felt as if it was soaring. This was the way she felt when she was dancing, spinning and leaping across the stage and into the air. She felt weightless, her heart and soul soaring free with euphoria as Ward kissed her. He tasted different to Serge but no less delectable, and she could have gone on kissing both of these men until her lips were chapped, or she passed out.

He made a moaning grumbling sound in his chest. The vibrations rumbled against her breasts, making her nipples to perk up even more. He caressed up and down her sides, following the slight curves of her body, but this time when he reached her hips, instead of making the return journey again, he paused.

He glided his tongue along and then swirled around hers, causing her to moan, and then she groaned as he palmed her ass and gripped both of her buttocks.

Kat shifted on his lap, trying to find some leverage, but her legs were too short for her feet to touch the floor, and his thighs were muscular and spread, so she couldn’t put her knees on the edge of his seat, either. When Ward pulled her against his crotch, Kat whimpered. The hard ridge of his erection rubbed against her jeans-covered pussy, eliciting the deep-seated ache inside her womb to intensify.

Kat wondered how the hell she just stepped out of the frying pan and right into the fire.