STORY EXCERPT

“How do you expect to meet your mate if you refuse to leave the island?”

Emerald squeaked in surprise. Looking up from her computer, she stared at her cousin Silver. It took a moment to make sense of his words, but when she did, she frowned at his odd choice of conversation openers.

“Who says I want to meet my mate? Maybe I just want to spend my days working here, baking cookies for the guests, and writing my stories. Why would I need a mate to do that?”

Though she wanted to find her mate as her sister had just weeks earlier, she realized that unless he came to the island, she would never meet him. She had not left the island since the day after graduating from high school. The day after two classmates she had thought were friends had almost raped her.

They had been drunk on illegally obtained rum and decided they both wanted to have sex with her in celebration. It had taken everything in her to keep from shifting and exposing the Pyrate family secret. She had gotten away from them, but instead of going back to the house where they stayed while in high school, she went to the dock and hid on the ferry. She had never told anyone about that night. The next day when she returned to Pyrate Island, she vowed to remain on the island where she was safe and could avoid humans as much as possible.

She returned to the present when Silver stepped into her closet-sized office in the visitor’s center. He nudged the door closed then rested one hip on the corner of her desk. Then he watched her closely as she turned back to her computer and tried to focus on her work as the resort’s reservation clerk.

“You are so full of shit,” he said after nearly a minute of increasingly tense silence. “Every shape-shifter dreams of the day they meet and claim their mate. If you keep hiding from life, from the world, you may never meet him.”

Emerald stopped typing, but did not look away from the computer screen. “And if I don’t meet him, then I won’t get hurt or die,” she whispered so softly she hoped he did not hear her.

But, of course, he did. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Never mind.”

“No, but we’ll talk about it later. Oh, by the way, I have a guest coming on the Sunday ferry who will be staying at the house.”

Emerald swiveled in her chair to stare at her cousin. “A guest? Staying at the house? Who is it?”

“A businessman from New York City. Grandfather agreed he could stay at the house since the cottages are full up. He’ll be using Goldie’s room since she’s moved in with Caleb.”

Since she and Goldie shared a bathroom, a shiver of unease flashed through her. Would she be able to share her private space with a stranger?

“I guess that means I’ll have to clean the bathroom before he gets here, huh?”

“Yeah, that might be a good idea. Just don’t forget to hide the sex toys you’ve got stored under the sink.” Silver stood and opened her office door. His laughter faded away as he walked out and pulled the door shut.

Emerald’s eyes went wide. Her cheeks heated with embarrassment as she swiveled in her chair and stared at the closed door. “How the hell does he know about those?”

ADULT EXCERPT

“Is this why I’ve had a hard-on since I saw you? Why all I want is to see what you’re hiding under that sexy skirt of yours?” His voice was low and seductive as he leaned forward, running his hands up her thighs to rest his thumbs just inches from her apex.

Emerald’s eyes went wide when her pussy gushed at just his touch. Her inner wolf whined with the need to claim her mate. She swallowed hard before whispering, “Your body recognizes that we are mates and that we are meant to be together.”

Nick stared deep into her eyes as his expression blanked. She could tell he was thinking very deep thoughts. She held her breath, waiting for him to jump up, run to the water, and start swimming for the mainland.

He remained still and silent for nearly a minute. His hands slowly rubbed down and then up her thighs as if he could not stop touching her. With each upward stroke, her skirt moved higher and higher until he had bared her legs to mid-thigh. Then he blinked and dropped his head forward and seemed to be studying the stone patio between their chairs. Just when she was about to run into the woods and hide until he left the island, he lifted his head to look at her again.

He smiled. “So what happens now?”

“Excuse me?”

“What happens now? Is there a ceremony we have to go through? Paperwork I need to fill out? A gauntlet I have to run before we can be mates?”

Emerald stared at him, shocked that he was so accepting of the news. “Why aren’t you freaking out about this? I figured you’d be halfway to the mainland by now.”

Nick shrugged. “Maybe because I’m from New York City and thought I’d seen it all. Maybe because I have never felt such an attraction to anyone before, not even my ex-wife. Maybe because at this moment my cock, and not my brain, is doing my thinking, but it doesn’t matter. All I know is I cannot wait much longer to get you naked and taste every inch of you. So answer my question, what happens now?”

Amazed by his easy acceptance, Emerald squirmed in her seat, her pussy on fire with her own need. “All we have to do is make love, and I claim you. But don’t you need more time to think about this? Once I claim you, then we will be bonded and together for the rest of our lives. A shape-shifter claiming her mate is even more binding than marriage vows.”

Nick smiled at her, looking more predatory than any wolf on a hunt before leaning in until their lips nearly touched. “I don’t need to think about it. I’ve been waiting to feel this way about a woman my entire adult life. I can’t wait to be claimed by my shape-shifting gypsy woman.”

“But,” she said before he closed the last millimeters that separated them.

After that, she stopped talking. Two seconds later, she ceased thinking. Suddenly nothing mattered except claiming her mate as her own. She returned his kiss, growing more aggressive as her need and arousal skyrocketed with each touch.

Moving forward, she crawled up to straddle Nick’s lap as the kiss spiraled further and further out of control. She reached between them and tried to work the button and zipper at the waistband of his shorts with fingers that did not want to cooperate with her mind’s orders.

Finally, Nick brushed her hands out of his way and worked them himself. She then grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it up and over his head before doing the same with her own. Before she could remove her bra, he wrapped an arm around the middle of her back and pulled her to lie against his chest.

When their skin touched, they both hissed into the kiss. Nick pulled his head back, breaking the seal of their lips.

“What do you have on under that skirt?” he panted.

Emerald smiled as she thought of the appropriate answer. Finally, she said with a wink, “Skin. What about you? Boxers or briefs?”

He groaned in response. Reaching between them, she shoved all the fabric that covered his lap down to his midthighs. His cock popped up and gently slapped against her leg. “Doesn’t matter,” he murmured before leaning in and kissing her again.

She felt his fingers fumble at the clasp in the center of her back, which held her bra together. Arching her back, she reached around and opened the hooks with a flip of her wrist. Once it was loose, she shrugged the straps off her shoulders. A heartbeat later, she tossed the scrap of lace and satin over one shoulder.

Before her breasts could react to the cooling night air, warm hands covered them. Fingers massaged the mounds as the centers of his palms brushed back and forth over the tips of her nipples. Tingling electric shocks raced from her nipples straight to her clit. She sucked a breath through her nose and then moaned into Nick’s mouth as her pussy clenched in response and more juices dripped from her core.

“Need. You. Now.”