STORY EXCERPT

“Okay, okay. Keep your cats in check.” Carol tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, studying them. “You’re talking about the cute little blonde, right?” Her smile lifted, reminding him of the Cheshire Cat. “You’ve got a thing for her, don’t you? Damn. Talk about moving fast. Hell, you haven’t even met her yet.”

“Just tell us what we need to know,” urged an impatient Jason.

Shane couldn’t agree with Jason more. They didn’t simply want to know. They needed to know.

But Carol wasn’t through with her teasing. “Wow. Could this be love at first sight? Even without The Allure?”

A man, especially one with a lion inside him, could take only so much. He let his cat rise a little, enough to bring amber to his eyes and the tips of his fangs stabbing at his lips. Not that it would scare Carol. But it would serve as a warning. Thankfully, she understood the warning.

“Fine. Her name is Winnie.” Carol grinned bigger. “You know. Like Winnie the Pooh.”

The name wasn’t remotely sexy enough for her. Yet what did he care? She could be called Herbert and he’d still want her. “And?” he asked with a growl in his voice.

“And her friend’s name is Bree. Sorry, boys, but that’s about all I know.”

He drew back, shocked. It wasn’t like Carol not to dig for more information. Unless… “Your brothers and cousin aren’t after her, are they?”

She frowned as though she hadn’t given the possibility any thought. “I don’t think so.” She whipped up a finger. “I’ll go check it out. Hang tight, guys.”

Shane eased his brothers back, giving Carol a chance to get out from between them. She hurried from the hallway, yet instead of going in the direction of Winnie, she darted straight for where her brothers and her cousin had been sitting.

“Shit. I feel like I’m back in high school and passing notes to the girl I’m crushing on.” Danny ran a hand through this hair. “Why don’t we just go and find out who she is for ourselves?”

“No shit,” added Jason. “He’s right. We’re acting like kids.”

Yet before they could move, Shane held his arm in front of them. “Like Carol said. Hang tight.”

“No, man. We snooze, we lose.” Jason shoved Shane’s arm away. “Hell, those guys could be putting The Allure on her right now. We need to make our move fast.”

“They won’t do it here.” At least, he didn’t think they would. Still, when it came to werelions, anything was possible.

“Then where?” Danny’s light brown eyes gave way to flecks of amber. If he didn’t watch out, his lion would get the best of him.

“I don’t know.” Where could they take her except to their ranch? But would she go? His stomach churned. She just might especially if they gave her a taste of their allure to get her to their home. Once she was at the ranch, they could give her the full force of it, blocking the way for any other werelion to make a move. Not that they, too, couldn’t give her a taste of their allure, but they’d be going against the code all werelions lived by. Once a woman was allured, all other werelions, except possible co-mates would back off.

Carol rushed into the hallway. “Okay, here’s the scoop, but I’ve got to make it quick. Customers are waiting.”

“Then stop wasting time and spit it out,” demanded Shane. Normally, he considered himself to be fairly easy-going, but when it was serious, he got down to business.

“The blonde’s name is Winnie Bunch, and her friend’s name is Bree Chambers.” She gave Shane a good-natured punch in the arm. “And, from what I can tell, my brothers and cousins are into Bree. Still, you never know what’ll happen once The Allure is involved. And…”

“Damn it, Carol,” gruffed Jason. “Enough with the dramatic pauses. Tell us everything you know.”

“Harrumph. You’re no fun. Anyway, they invited the women to use their bunkhouse during the festival instead of camping out.”

Relief swamped Shane. He saw the same relief in his brothers’ faces. “Then we need to get to their ranch before anything has a chance to go wrong.”

He had just led his brothers out of the hallway, heading toward the exit, when his phone beeped, alerting him of a text. He kept moving as he pulled his phone out of his back pocket. Before he was halfway to the door, however, he stopped.

“What is it?” asked Danny as he leaned closer, trying to see over Shane’s shoulder.

“It’s from Burton. He just invited us out to their ranch to meet Winnie.”

Jason grinned. “Damn, it’s good to have friends.”

“No shit. But it’ll be even better if Winnie’s the one for us. Let’s get moving.” Shane slammed the exit door open and hurried outside to the parking lot.

ADULT EXCERPT

Sexual lust burned between her legs. She crossed her legs and squeezed them tightly together.

What would I do with men who look like that? Hell, what wouldn’t I do to men who look like that!

Vic had been handsome, but he looked like an ugly troll hiding under a bridge compared to these men. The three hotties were almost beyond description. At least any she could ever put into words. Trying to tell her friends back home about them would definitely end up in them not believing her. Bree could back her up, but they still wouldn’t believe her. After all, how many people would believe in gods walking among mere mortals?

Damn, but they’re tall.

At five feet and four inches—usually only when she really stretched as tall as she could—she was used to men being taller than she was. But these men would make her feel very small. Small and perhaps even—did she dare think it—diminutive. She longed to slip up beside them and feel their large bodies cocoon her. Then she’d lift her gaze to theirs, craning her neck to do so, and stare into their eyes, hoping to see that they were as interested in her as she was in them.

But forget their height. Even from a distance, she could see the outline of their muscles under their cotton shirts. All three wore faded jeans, their shirt sleeves rolled up to expose muscled arms, and boots that had obviously seen a lot of hard work. Hopefully, some of the scuffmarks on their boots had come from line dancing.

Each of them had brown hair with the darkness of their locks differing. One of them had a white streak slashing from his temple and over his left ear and, although she couldn’t imagine how it had happened naturally, she had a feeling that it had. He didn’t appear to be the kind of man who would step into a hair salon much less sit still long enough to get a white streak added to his hair.

She thought of them, giving them names to remember them by.

Mr. Handsome, his hair such a dark brown as to be almost black, was built as strong as any bull. Dark stubble caressed his jawline and enticed her eyes to wander to the hair tickling his shirt collar. He held a drink of something golden, and as he lifted it to his lips, she found herself peeking her tongue out from between her lips as though she could taste the liquid along with him. Or, better yet, be the liquid he was putting to his mouth.

When his gaze met hers, she sucked in a surprised breath. Although it was difficult to do, she forced her gaze from his and onto the second man.

Judging from the same strong facial structure as Mr. Handsome’s, Mr. Stud was obviously a relation. His hair was lighter, and for some reason, she thought he had to be younger than Mr. Handsome, but not by much. His full lips, sensual looking yet still masculine, curved in a slight smile as though he could read her mind and found her interest if not surprising, then amusing. He hooked his thumbs in his jeans then cocked his head to the side and let his smile grow.

Fortunately—unfortunately—the crowd suddenly blocked her view of the third man. She squirmed in her chair then scooted it a foot to crane her neck and get another look.

The third man she called Mr. Dream ran a hand through his hair, stirring the white streak. He was as solidly built as the other two men. He stood close to them, a drink in his hand, but seemed somehow detached from them. Was he related to them? She studied him harder. There were definite similarities between him and the other two men, but his face was more angular, his chin slightly less square, yet just as strong.

What would she say to them if she got the chance? Would she be able to find the right words? Or would they look at her and render her speechless?

As far as she was concerned, that would be a shame. Suddenly, she could think of so many questions she’d like to ask them. So many things she’d like to tell them.

Questions first.

Are you brothers?

Are you single?

Do you like short, skinny girls with curly blonde hair?

What would you like to do to me? For me?

And then she’d move on to what she’d tell them.

Talk to me. It doesn’t matter what you say. I just want to hear your voices. No doubt, they’ll be full of testosterone and sexy as hell.

Touch me. I’ll bet your hands are callused and rough. I like rough hands.

Lick me. And I’ll lick you back. I can already imagine what you taste like.

Suck on me. My fingers. My toes. My tits. My clit. Suck on me everywhere.

Fuck me. Fuck me here. Fuck me there. Fuck me anywhere you want to fuck me.

Fuck me any way you want to. I will let you do things I’ve never let anyone else do. Things I’ve never wanted to do with anyone else.

All at once, as though she’d sent them a silent signal to “look at me,” they did exactly that. This time, she held her breath, certain that she could feel a physical connection to them. Certain that they were calling to her, telling her to come to them. Certain that they had a future together. She began to rise…