Contents
Synopsis
Copyright
Dedications
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Note to Reader
Other Books by Laurel
About Laurel Cremant
Synopsis
Were-hybrid Georgia Walker's holiday has been cut short. Not only is she forced to return home while still in heat, but her escort, Marcus Legrand, is the one man she wishes would just stay away. Changes are coming and decisions are being made that will change the Golden Pack forever. Georgia needs all of her energy focused on making sure the wolves she considers family survive.
Marcus has no intention of letting Georgia fight her battles alone and a choice is about to be made that takes it all out of both their hands.
MIDNIGHT DARE
(The Golden Pack Alphas, Book II)
By Laurel Cremant
Copyright © 2014 by Laurel Cremant
Cover Art by Taria Reed
EBook Edition
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this book ONLY. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Winged Moon Publishing, LLC
Hollywood, Florida
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales, is entirely confidential.
Dedications
To all my alphas out there...rock on ladies and gents.
One
A mosquito buzzed around the room. The drone of its wings whirring above the soft humming of the air conditioner.
Georgia lay tangled in the sheets of the plush hotel bed, focusing on the sound in an attempt to wrangle her mind and body into some semblance of control.
The clock on her phone read five a.m. and the darkness of an early morning pressed shadows into the room.
She'd given up all hope of sleep hours ago. Her body thrummed with unfulfilled need, and her mind raced at the implications of her encounter with Marcus.
"A lesson in kissing."
His gravelly voice whispered through her mind, sending a sizzling wave down her already too heated body.
She clenched the sheets at her sides, her nails digging into the mattress.
It shouldn't have happened, yet every moment since he'd left, her lips tingled as if his firm mouth had left a phantom imprint on hers. The moment he’d shown up, she should have found another hotel, another island. Hell she should have found another country—anything to put as much distance between them while she went through heat.
But he'd known and like any hunter he'd found her weakness and exploited it to his advantage. On some level she had to admire him for that—on another she wanted nothing more than to hate him as much as his knowledge deserved.
Damn him and his all too seeing eyes.
She raised her fingers up to touch her lips and cried out at the sensation of the cool cotton sliding against her naked flesh.
His kiss was more damaging than any taunt or touch and he'd delivered it like a calm surgical strike, cutting through her defenses and making her feel.
She avoided kissing for a reason. She couldn't ignore her heat cycle, but she always made sure to control how much of herself was exposed. Sex had never been a chore for her—she enjoyed it. But on her terms. Her cycle, forced sex on her as a necessity—an urge she couldn't ignore, but one she had no intention of letting cage her.
As daughter of an alpha, she had more than her fair share of men intent on trapping her into a mating bond. So she chose her sexual partners with care. They were always humans, unaware of her status and interested in the occasional physical release and temporary companionship she was willing to give them.
With them she never had to worry about power grabs or whether they'd see too much when they looked at her. And that was her problem.
From the beginning Marcus had seen too much.
Unlike her pack mates, he didn't look at her with suspicion or wearied tolerance, and that scared her almost as much as his kiss did last night.
He looked at her as if he knew exactly who she was and that knowledge threatened everything she'd strived to accomplish—blending in.
Flicking the sheets aside with a quick jerk, she sat up and flung her legs to the floor. She sighed as her feet absorbed the coolness from the smooth marble tile.
As a hybrid born between a werewolf and strong witch, she'd always walked the tight line between two species. Her mother's coven disowned her and refused to recognize her existence—and her father's pack...they loved and feared her.
Growing up within a wolf pack it was impossible not to feel the love and affection the group had for each other as a whole. That affection linked them all together and gave the pack its strength. A strong alpha solidified those ties and kept the group together.
Georgia never felt as if she wasn't welcomed within the pack, but from the moment her powers first began to manifest as a child, she felt her friends begin to pull away.
Hooray special powers.
Being able to read truths and get occasional glimpses of the future wasn't as fun as the comics portrayed. She didn't get a kick-ass leather costume and flowing cape. She got searing headaches and friends who refused to look her in the eye.
She held her hands out in front of her face stretching her fingers wide. What would they do if they knew the truth? The full extent of what she could do?
On some level she didn't blame them. No one wanted to have their deepest secrets exposed. And she more than anyone understood that. So she used her powers during the occasional difficult cases or when her father requested. She'd gotten used to suppressing that part of her, but during her heat cycle, her discipline often slipped.
Last night was a prime example of that. She needed to keep Marcus away from her now more than ever.
A small, growl, worked its way up her throat. She clenched her teeth against the sound. Her wolf was restless, and for once she welcomed the distraction.
It allowed her to focus and channel her energy into containing the pacing beast inside of her.
Closing her eyes, the vision of her wolf materialized in her mind. As she let her internal gaze roam over its dark thick coat, a small pang of remorse hit her heart at its forlorn expression.
And that was part of the problem. Shifters weren't supposed to see their beasts, let alone interact with them. From a young age shifters were aware of the animal within them. They weren't separate entities. Their beasts were a part of them, another side of themselves, not an alternate personality. Shifting allowed that part of themselves temporary reign of the physical body, but never over the senses.
Georgia didn't have the same experience.
Her wolf had always been a companion within her, both a friend and adversary. When she shifted, she didn't just change forms, her wolf completely surfaced and Georgia became a spectator. Her wolf was fully sentient, a characteristic that had always worried Georgia. It was a clear reminder that she would always be different from the rest of her pack. For as long as she could remember her wolf had been a presence in her head, filling her consciousness with images of warmth and acceptance.
She felt guilty for keeping her so confined but she had little choice. Her wolf wasn't just different—she was strong. That strength coupled with Georgia's powers as a see'er would make others even wearier of her. That was
n't a risk she wanted to take. So she almost never shifted around others, she didn't participate in the full moon runs the pack held through the forests surrounding Golden Valley. And on the rare occasion that she did shift into wolf form it was never to her full strength or size. It was yet another secret she kept close.
Mate.
Her wolf's plea echoed through her head. Yes she had a treasure chest full of secrets. In essence she had around ninety-nine problems and Marcus was definitely number one.
Reaching across the bond she shared with her wolf she tried to calm her, pulling it close in a mental, hugging her tight.
"He's not for us."
Her beast growled louder at the whispered words.
She spoke the truth. Marcus wasn't for them. He was too strong and too perceptive. If she allowed him to get close it would only be a matter of time before he saw what she'd been trying to hide her entire life. And as an enforcer, his loyalties lied with the Council. The possibility of losing her pack scared her, but the idea that the Council would find out, terrified her.
She didn't worry that they would try to eliminate her. Her fear lie in the fact that the Council may try to use her instead. She'd been able to fly under their radar for years. Her truth seeing capabilities weren't uncommon amongst covens and many packs employed witches to act as advisors—it was how her parents first met. However, the Council was known for their willingness to recruit what others considered, the oddballs and the misfits. They cultivated them and turned them into political tools, like Marcus—an enforcer. She'd never heard of anyone ever refusing a Council request, leading her to believe that those who did were eliminated.
She didn't want that life. She wanted a home.
"Remember our goal. Remember the pack—our family," she said, her voice more insistent.
Her wolf understood the need for a pack, she craved it just as much as Georgia.
A piecing whine reverberated through her head, but the tension holding her tight loosened its hold in a slow slide. She let out deep sigh, welcoming the relief. Her agitated wolf had kept the worst of her heat at a roaring boil. Once calmed her heat reduced to a slow simmer.
She leaned over, placed her elbows on her knees and held her head in her hands.
How many more times would she have to endure this before the cycle was done?
She needed a plan—a way to keep Marcus from pursuing her and wrecking her chances at belonging.
Shaking her head she stood and walked into to the large en-suite bathroom. Leaning over onto the vanity she peered into the mirror and let out a snort.
She looked like shit.
Her hair was a matted and tangled mess around her head and puffy circles smudged deep beneath her eyes. For a brief moment she wondered how much she'd be charged in hotel fees if she picked up the mirror and tossed it out to the large picture window in her room.
It might be worth it.
Turning from the mirror she stepped into the large walk-in shower and flipped open the rain drop shower head. Leaning against the cold stone tile, she thought about her mother's note.
Merry Christmas Baby-Doll, now get your ass home. Your Daddy's gone crazy.
Georgia had to agree.
Something serious must have happened for her father to decide to choose his successor so early.
She pulled up a list of possible candidates, thinking of all the pack members that may be contenders. Three topped the list and seemed fit for the honor. There was Justus, brother to her father's original Beta, Kaleb. Justus was both strong and incredibly smart. Another possibility was Adrianna. At thirty-three the she-wolf was a few years older than Georgia, and had developed a reputation amongst the pack as being a keen negotiator and cunning foe during a hunt.
Her mind skittered away from the last possibility—Marcus.
He already held the respect of the pact for his elimination of the rogues. And every day he seemed to ingratiate himself more and more with her father.
Shaking her head, she refused to believe that her father would chose Marcus above Justus or Adrianna.
Whoever, he chose didn't automatically gain the title. Being named heir meant that they were considered strongest of their pack after the current alpha—the one most capable of leading them when her father stepped aside. And to make the whole matter even more complicated, the successor would still have to survive any challenges from other pack members who disagreed with the choice. Basically announcing a new alpha was a call for in-fighting, which was both tedious and dangerous.
Alpha challenges were one of the few fights where the Council sanctioned death as an outcome. Death was a rare occurrence. However, depending on the circumstances, in most cases, the loser was exiled from the pack.
Her father was still young and as Alpha to the Golden Pack, he was well liked and respected by other packs in the region. So what could have caused him to want to choose now? The rogue attacks a year ago had put a lot within the werewolf world on edge, but things had been quiet since then.
Reaching for the soap she began to bathe while analyzing the events of the last few months. There must be a clue to this sudden decision somewhere. Her mother had always taught her that, answers were always present, they just had to be found.
Wrinkling her brow she paused—her mother.
Marcus had claimed nothing was wrong with her mother, which she didn't doubt, but that didn't mean the root of the issue wasn't her mom either.
Her parents had met when her mother came to the valley to act as see’er for the pack. And unlike Georgia, she could control her visions at will. She'd never officially stepped down from her role as see’er, but insisted that Georgia be present during meetings, insisting that it would help Georgia gain more control over her gift. Which it did, but it was no secret that she was still the alphas most trusted advisor.
Had her mother had a vision? Was that why her father was ready to choose now? And if so what could her mother have seen to fore her father to make such an important decision so early.
Letting the cool water rinse down her body, Georgia thought back to the last few times she'd seen her parents.
There had been a tension there, but she'd assumed it had to do with the preparations for the holiday events. She'd been wrong.
This is what I get for assuming.
Flicking the water off, she stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. The more she thought about it the more she was convinced that her mother must have seen something. Something that was bad enough to cause her father to act.
Hurrying to the bedroom, she pulled on some clothes in quick jerking movements before grabbing her suitcases and began to gather her things. Regardless of her problems with Marcus, nothing meant more to her than her pack. If there was a problem then she would be there to help, even if that meant welcoming a new alpha.
For now she had to get through the long flight back home, and hope that she didn't kill Marcus along the way.
Or Fuck him.
"Shut Up," she said. Why was her inner voice such a skank?
Zipping her bag she looked around the room briefly, checking to make sure she hadn't missed anything.
Her gaze skidded to a halt at the bundle of mistletoe lying on the floor near the door. She bit back a curse as her body flamed back to life, remembering every moment of Marcus' kiss.
Walking to the bouquet, she knelt down and picked it up, crushing the leaves in her fist. Standing up she walked to the wastebasket and threw them away with a quick jerk.
Forgetting that kiss was going to be a lot harder than she thought, but she was never one to fail at a goal.
As if on cue a knock sounded at her door.
Glancing down at her watch she noted the time—six-o'clock sharp.
Of course he's right on time.
Even though she had every intention of ignoring him for the remainder of the day, she also had every intention of making him pay for both her lack of sleep and for daring to wreak havoc over her hard won control. She smiled as she
thought of the perfect avenue for payback. It would hurt like a bitch on her end, but the satisfaction of payback was too good to ignore.
Picking up her purse she took a deep breath and turned back to the door. Plastering a smile on her face she swung it open.
Time to rock and roll. And with any luck not commit homicide.
Two
When the door opened, Marcus was prepared to deal with an angry Georgia. Despite his calm departure the night before, he knew he'd be a fool not to expect some form of retribution.
Instead she stood there with a slight smile on her face. She wore another flirty dress. This one a fraction more descent than the one she wore the night before. Hugging her body, the soft green-blue fabric hugged her plump, round breasts before, flowing down her hips and resting in a mocking swirl mid-thigh. He didn't know if he should thank the designer or have them shot.
Her long dark hair hung thick around her shoulders, the cool Caribbean breeze drifting through the door, blowing soft wisps around her smooth cheeks.
Small circles of fatigue were smudged beneath her almond-eyes, but they still sparkled back at him with determination. He liked that about her—the unwavering ability to fight to the end. It called to his wolf as much as it challenged him.
He wasn't alone. For a year he'd watched the men, and some women, watch her with nothing but lust in their eyes. Despite some in her pack being weary of her powers, there were plenty who wouldn't hesitate to claim her as their own. Her take no prisoners attitude was almost as alluring as the gorgeous body it was packaged in.
He wondered how she lived her entire life without realizing how breath-taking she was.
Inhaling deeply, his body tightened at her scent. Her heat cycle made the attraction even more intense. The air was heavy with her pheromones, saturating his senses in her essence.
It had taken all of his will last night to walk away from her. But he'd spent years honing his patience and had no intention of letting Georgia dismiss their attraction as just a response to her heat cycle.
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