STORY EXCERPT

Edward Costello’s right leg twitched as he lay on the floor, a bloody mess. From the pain of every breath he took, Edward knew a few ribs were broken. But that was the least of his injuries. The knife wound in his side was bleeding profusely, and he couldn’t feel his left leg.

He knew that all he had to do was shift in order to heal the wounds the werehyenas had inflicted on him.

But he couldn’t.

One of the werehyena guards was standing over him, waiting for Edward to do just that. If Edward shifted, the guard had promised to finish the job.

Although a threat like that normally wouldn’t have stopped Edward, he knew he couldn’t die in this godforsaken hellhole.

He had a revenge to carry out.

The unfathomable suffering he had endured as a child, even the suffering he was going through at this very moment didn’t even begin to compare to what he was going to do to Enrique Marcelo and his beloved sister, Isabelle. Edward knew his second-in-command, Leon, had reached out to the werewolf changeling alpha for help, and Enrique had all but spit in Edward’s face. Leon was in charge until Edward found a way out of this. He had confidence in the wererat, but Leon was not a leader. The man would seek outside help. They had already talked about it. It was Edward’s way of safeguarding his pack. He didn’t want Leon in charge. The wererat wouldn’t know what to do.

Edward knew that Leon wouldn’t have waited this long to seek out help. The man may be his second, but Leon was not leader material. He wouldn’t have tried to be ruler in Edward’s place.

But Enrique never came.

The bastard was going to pay dearly for leaving him here and dishonoring a debt his family owed Edward’s. The werewolf alpha was going to feel the grief and agonizing loss of Isabelle before Edward took the dog’s life.

Edward coughed and his body exploded in pain.

But he held back the cry that would have pleased the guard beyond measure. They wanted him to beg. The werehyenas wanted him to whimper and cry out in agony. They wanted him to crawl on hands and knees to his guards and tell them whatever they wanted to hear.

But he wasn’t going to give them that pleasure.

“Make my day and shift, vermin,” the guard taunted as he pushed a well-worn boot into Edward’s face as if he wanted Edward to lick it. “I’m getting bored just standing here.”

Edward pulled back slightly, regretting the move when pain spiked down his back, and spit on the floor, wincing when his spittle was laced heavily with blood. That couldn’t be good. Maybe he had a punctured lung as well. As badly as they had beaten him, he wouldn’t doubt it.

“Go fuck your mother, you inbred bastard.”

The guard pulled Edward from the floor and threw him across the room, his body slamming into the concrete wall.

Shit, that hurt. Edward once again bit back the scream that was trying to force its way past his lips as he landed on his injured side, the side that was still bleeding from the knife wound.

“How about I pay a visit to your mother instead?” the guard asked, the inflection in his tone telling Edward that he had pissed the man off.

“Go ahead, if you like fucking dead people.” Edward winced, but it wasn’t from his injuries. Even though his mother had been the worst parent in the world, it still made him feel guilty for speaking so ill of the dead.

She didn’t deserve his respect, or his guilt, but the hurt and betrayal were still there from what she had done to him, swirling like a cancerous disease inside of his heart. He hadn’t trusted women because of his mother, and would never trust women for as long as he lived.

The guard shot Edward a venomous glare. “Then maybe you have a sister I can bring here and fuck right in front of you.”

“Sorry.” Edward gave the guard an evil grin, even though what he really wanted to do was scream in pain from simply moving his jaw. “My mother only spawned one demon child.”

The guard must not have liked that, because he came across the room and kicked Edward so hard in the ribs that he nearly passed out.

That, he would have gladly done without. “By the time I’m done with you, you will have no choice but to shift,” the guard said with a vicious growl. “I’m going to break every damn bone in your body, king.”

The last word was contemptuous, telling Edward the guard was mocking his title.

“Good,” Edward said. “Then they will match the ones that are already broken.” He knew he should probably not be taunting the guard, but hell if Edward was going to cower at the man’s feet. He would rather die from his injuries than lie here on this filthy floor and beg.

Before Edward could manage to blink, the guard was on him, delivering a solid punch to his injured side. This time Edward did cry out. He hated himself for that, but there had been no way to prevent it, not when his body felt as if it were being split apart.

“That’s right, cry like a little girl for me, rat.”

Edward wheezed as he rolled over onto his side, trying his best to catch his breath. It wasn’t easy. Not when his lungs were so damaged. His entire body was covered in a blanket of sweat and his side throbbed as if someone were stabbing him with a hot poker.

“I may,” Edward wheezed, “cry like a girl,” another wheeze, “but at least I don’t look like one.”

The guard didn’t like Edward’s observation. Not at all. He picked Edward up from the floor, lifted his injured body overhead, and then tossed him across the room. Edward’s head struck the wall, but thankfully, he didn’t pass out.

ADULT EXCERPT

Isabelle was talking shit because she was not going to admit that the tussle had done things to her body as well. If she told Edward that she was just as turned on as he was, Isabelle would never hear the end of it. She already felt like an idiot for asking him to go to Rick for her. What grown woman asks another man to speak for her?

Gah, she was such a fool.

Edward smiled down at her, and Isabelle wasn’t sure if it was a real smile or if he was still toying with her. She still wasn’t sure when he dipped his head and nipped at her bottom lip.

“Cut it out.” She turned her head so he couldn’t send spikes of excitement through her body where it pooled between her legs.

It was embarrassing enough he had her pinned. It was as if he were taunting her about it now. All that smack she talked about being able to handle herself, and here she ends up on her stomach with a three-hundred-pound gorilla sitting on her. He wasn’t three hundred pounds, really, but he sure acted like a damn primate running on stupidity.

“What’s wrong, Isabelle? Are you afraid to admit you like it when we tussle? I can smell you, princess. You’re wet for me.” Edward brushed her hair to one side and then used the tip of his tongue to trace the shell of her ear, making Isabelle shiver underneath him.

“Okay, fine, I like it. Now let me up.”

Edward eased off of her and Isabelle turned onto her back, glaring up at him. “You are such an asshole.”

“And you have a potty mouth.”

She made to sit up, but Edward was lying back over her in seconds, his legs pinning hers together as he placed a hand on each side of her head. Isabelle made the mistake of pressing her hands into his chest. She had intended to push him away, but when she felt the raw power under her hands, all logical thought fled.

Edward kept his dark eyes locked on her as his head dipped. Isabelle turned her head, trying her best not to react to his touch, but that was like having a fire put to her skin and not moving a muscle. It was impossible. Waves of volcanic heat coursed through her as he licked one long path from her ear to the dip in the center of her collarbone. She remembered how his tongue felt in lower places and Isabelle’s heart began to beat faster.

He lifted his head, his eyes darkening to almost obsidian pinpricks. They were smoldering with lust as he gazed down at her. Her breathing became labored. She licked her lips nervously, then her breath caught at the expression on his face.

It was raw lust.

“Mmm, you smell sweet.”

Edward dipped his head and Isabelle thrashed beneath the liquid fire of Edward’s mouth as he licked a long path from her neck to her mouth.

More.

Gods, she wanted more.

His tongue sank into Isabelle’s mouth with a mixture of ease and wildness. It was like kissing the heat of the sun. His tongue teased hers, his teeth nipping her bottom lip. Isabelle felt his womb clench and her clit become engorged.

Edward released her mouth and then pulled her shirt up and over her head, and Isabelle didn’t fight him. She couldn’t, not when he sucked her breast deep into his mouth and his tongue wrapped around her nipple like wet velvet.

She moaned, feeling desperate as fire streaked from her breast to her womb, convulsing her stomach in spasms of unending, agonizing arousal. Her pulse rocketed through her body as Edward kissed his way down her stomach, his hands pushing at the waistband of her jeans.

“Shit, princess, you taste so damn good.” Edward grabbed her around the waist, picked her up from the floor, and laid her on the bed, removing her jeans the rest of the way and tossing them aside. His eyes darkened as he stared down at her. She was exposed, naked for his perusal except for her panties.

He had seen her naked from the waist down before, but this was different. Somehow it felt more intimate.

Isabelle’s breath caught in her throat as Edward settled between her legs, his shoulders pushing her thighs apart. She felt her panties being pushed aside, and Isabelle felt a jolt of electricity sizzle between her legs.

“Damn,” Edward whispered right before he took her clit into his mouth. Isabelle fought for breath, for control. There was a building pressure, an incredible sexual hunger that seemed to rise from a dark, hidden part of her soul. Her hips jerked forward, driving her pussy deeper into his mouth. Edward’s hands skimmed over her abdomen and then came down to push her thighs apart when she would have clenched them together.

Isabelle couldn’t take it. She needed more and wanted to beg him to stop. The pleasure was overwhelming, a tormenting pressure just behind her clit. She wanted release as she gasped for air. He flickered his tongue over and around her engorged clit, tasting her, teasing her.

“Mmm.” His low moan of pleasure vibrated against her clit. She felt the small bud throb as Edward’s tongue licked her and then moved lower to circle the entrance of her pussy.

She was mindless now. She could feel the sensations building, her skin tingling, the pressure increasing in her clit as he stroke over it, around it, sucked it lightly into his mouth. “Tastes even better than I remember.”

She felt him moving but was too far gone to notice what he was doing. All Isabelle wanted was relief. “Please, Edward,” she cried out. “Please.”

“Please what, princess?” Edward asked and then stroked his tongue around her clit.

“I can’t do this,” she cried out, yet her body writhed against his mouth, needing his touch, to feel the heat and release she knew he could give her.

“Yes you can,” he said right before he sucked her into his mouth, sending brutal sensations ripping through her.