Eric's Edge

by Holley Trent

  “Come tell you what?” Soren asked. His brow was furrowed when he looked up at his sister, and then he seemed to notice there was an extra body in the room. His head turned slowly past Tamara to Marcella, and he stood there, clutching his phone and staring.

  Eric slipped his arms around Maria’s neck.

  She flinched—still unused to his public touch—but grabbed his wrists before he could back away. She looked at him, pleaded at him with her gaze—and tried to pull him back.

  He leaned down and put his face against hers.

  “Sorry,” she whispered.

  “You’ll have to get used to it.”

  “I will.” She’d sure as hell try, anyway.

  “What’s happening here?” he asked.

  “That’s my sister.”

  “Yeah?” He nodded slowly, and whispered, “I can see it.”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “Everything all right?”

  “I think so. Or…things will be.” Maria was optimistic for once. It wasn’t a feeling she knew well, but she recognized it anyway, and liked it.

  “I’m glad things are looking up for you.”

  “As if you didn’t have anything to do with that.” She gave his wrists and squeeze and earned herself a kiss to the top of her head.

  Smiling, Tamara pulled her gaze away from Maria and Eric and cleared her throat. “You all right, Soren?”

  Soren dragged his tongue across his lips and kept staring. “Huh?”

  Tamara’s smile fell away in a flash. “Shit. I should…call Bryan, maybe. We could get a dolly or something, tie him to it, and wheel him out of here. We could toss him into the dungeon with Peter.”

  “Your sister’s not weird,” Eric whispered to Maria. “She shouldn’t be hitting his radar that hard.”

  Maria turned to look at her sister, who was sitting calmly with her legs crossed at the knees, twiddling her thumbs. Marcella stared right back at the catatonic Bear, giving up no outward signs of stress.

  Then again, Maria wasn’t reading any inward signs of stress off of her, either—and she could read her just a little now. Marcella was calm, cool, and collected.

  She shouldn’t have been, not with that unholy growling sound coming out of Soren’s chest.

  “Shit.” Eric walked around the sofa, grabbed Soren by the collar, and yanked him jerkily to the kitchen. Soren was trying his damnedest to keep his feet locked to the floor, but Eric actually had his wits about him and thus the upper hand. “I’m locking him inside the walk-in until Bryan gets here,” he said.

  “Um…” Tamara said, squinting at her phone. “Bryan’s not coming. Peter got out.”

  Dana got to her feet. “What do you mean, Peter got out? That bunker is impregnable from inside the cell.”

  “Yes, it is. I know this personally, having had Bryan lock me in there a time or two for funsies. Someone let him out.”

  “Who and why?”

  “Drea let him out. I guess we should have taken his phone. He can be quite convincing when he wants to be.”

  “She was supposed to be in Durham!” Dana exclaimed.

  “Well, she’s not.”

  “Where the hell are they?”

  “Who knows? It’s pointless to go looking, but Bryan’s going to try anyway. Peter knows how to hide better than anyone I know, and if he doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be.”

  “Wait—are you talking about kidnapping?” Marcella asked, eyes wide in apparent horror. “Is that what you’re talking about? Why are you all so calm?”

  “Because it’s not kidnapping.” Dana let out a manic little titter. “Ugh. We wanted to keep them apart for some very specific reasons.”

  “Romeo and Juliet sort of reasons?”

  “No,” Tamara said. “Impossible. We’re all friendly enough. We’re talking about my brother and my husband’s sister.”

  “We’re talking about a shark and a guppy,” Astrid said.

  Dana groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.

  “I see,” Marcella said. “They want to be together, then.”

  “I don’t know about they,” Tamara said, standing. “But my brother certainly has made overtures, and she probably can’t help being attracted to him. He probably reads as alpha to her, and I guess some ladies like that shit. Anyway, I need to figure out what to do with my other brother.”

  Dana put up a hand and said, “Wait. Let him chill for a while, no pun intended. Jim West just sent me some news.”

  “What happened?”

  “He caught Gene and some of his associates trying to cut through his territory. Jim had him. He had him in his fucking grips, but Gene threw his enforcers under the bus and pulled a runner. Jim sent his lieutenants after him, and apparently they’re herding him this way. We need to mobilize and make sure we can grab him before he has a chance to interact with any of the B—” Dana’s gaze flitted from Tamara to Marcella back to her phone. “Uh. The local group.”

  “This is a bad guy?” Marcella asked.

  “Yep,” the Shrews responded in chorus.

  “He’s slippery,” Tamara said. “He doesn’t play fair, not even with the people who are loyal to him. That makes him unpredictable, but we’re gonna get him.”

  “Let me go call Jim on a landline phone.” Dana walked to the kitchen.

  Tamara started to follow her, then stopped, turned, and pointed to Marcella. “Perhaps you might be somewhat more comfortable at the inn down the road.”

  “Eric said he’d have a room for me in the morning.”

  “Uh-huh.” Tamara nodded and shifted her weight. “You see, the problem is…”

  Maria sighed and gave her head a hard shake. “Spill it, Tamara. Go on and be candid. For as much as she thinks we’re not quite right, neither is she. Let’s find out what her flavor is.”

  Marcella pushed up an eyebrow.

  Maria shrugged. “I’m right, aren’t I? You’re blocking me out. No one blocks me unless they’re a little weird, too, and know they should be putting up mental walls.”

  Marcella entwined her fingers. “Maybe you’re right.”

  “Huh.” Tamara said. “Well, I’ll assume Maria is right, and get on with it. Have you ever heard of shapeshifters?”

  “Of course.”

  Maria and Tamara shared a look.

  “And…do you believe they’re real?” Tamara asked her.

  Marcella turned her hands over. “I’ve witnessed stranger things.”

  “Well, then. You’re in a Bear lair. This whole area is chock full of Bears and Catamounts. Technically, I’m a Bear. My brothers are Bears. That glowering hulk that was standing in front of you looking at you like you were his next meal has you in his sights now. It’s Bear mating season, and I think it’d be a good idea if you put some space between the two of you.”

  Marcella pressed her fingertips to her closed eyes and rubbed. “I see.”

  Even when she dropped her hands, she didn’t say anything. She fondled her pendant. Studied her immaculate cuticles. Twirled her hair.

  “Well?” Maria asked.

  “You let me worry about me, and I’ll help you with your bad guy. Like I said, I have…special skills.”

  “Oh, boy,” Maria muttered. She got a sinking feeling. Nothing was ever simple in her life. She had a sister she never even knew existed, and Maria couldn’t even have a normal getting-to-know you period with the lady, because apparently she was just as fucking strange as Maria was, and had probably come by her strangeness naturally.

  “Don’t tell Dana,” Astrid said, bumping Tamara’s hip on the way to the kitchen. “She pays people with special skills very well.”

  “Does she, now?” Marcella got to her feet and followed. “How well? I could be talked into a bit of a stay.”

  Maria cringed and tailed them into the kitchen.

  Eric was leaning against the freezer door, blithely ignoring the banging from the inside.

  She walked to him, pressed up to her tiptoes, and slid
a kiss onto his lips. “I think Dana’s about to recruit herself a Shrew when she gets off the phone.”

  “Yeah? Who? Your sister?”

  “Uh-huh. She seems…interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing just how much. I like her. Well, what little I know about her.”

  “Good. You’re good at pegging folks. Go with your gut.”

  Soren banged some more. “Let me the fuck out!”

  Eric kissed her again and held her close. “You deserve having more people in your corner, sweetheart. I told you. Let people in, and good things happen.”

  “I swear, Falk, when I get out of here, I’m going to maul you so bad you won’t be able to tell what’s your dick and what’s your nose.”

  “You could try, Ursu,” Eric said. “Good fuckin’ luck.”

  Tamara scoffed and strapped on her holster. “We’ve got a nice tranquilizer gun already loaded if he tries anything funny. Let him out. If we can get him calm, we need his help.”

  They all looked to Marcella.

  She toyed idly with the end of one dreadlock, and shrugged. “Trust me, he’s not going to try to carry me off anywhere. I can be very repellant when I want to be.” She shrugged yet again. “And maybe I won’t want to be. Either way, let the Bear out. You let me worry about me, and I’ll deal with him if I have to.”

  “Don’t bite off more than you can chew,” Eric warned.

  “I’ve got a big mouth, innkeeper,” Marcella said, widening said mouth into a daring grin. “Let him try me.”

  Eric looked down at Maria. “I guess that boldness runs in the family.”

  She smiled at him. For the first time in forever, she wondered if being a little reckless and bold wasn’t such a bad thing. She wouldn’t have had Eric if she weren’t.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Can’t get enough of the Shrews? Look for a new story in spring 2016 featuring a certain bold Romanian mercenary and a Shrew-in-training.

  I hope you’ll consider leaving a review for Eric’s Edge at whichever e-retailer you purchased it from so other paranormal romance readers can discover it! So you never miss a single Shrew & Company release, be sure you’re subscribed to my paranormal romance new release newsletter. Also check out my full backlist of contemporary, paranormal, and erotic romance titles at holleytrent.com.

  Turn the page for a peek at one of my other paranormal/shifter series, Desert Guards, but before you do,

  Catch up on the Shrew & Company Series:

  1 – Pursuing Patrick (formerly The Problem with Paddy)

  2 – Framing Felipe

  3 – Bryan’s Betrayal

  Shrew & Company Books 1-3 (box set)

  4 – Following Fabian

  THE COUGAR’S PAWN (Desert Guards 1)

  Ellery Colvard escapes her perfectly organized life for a camping trip with her friends, hoping for a tiny thrill. She’ll settle for a distraction, but instead she gets swept off her feet. Literally.

  Alpha were-cougar Mason Foye needs a mate, even if he has to resort to drastic measures to get one. But when he and his brothers sweep up Ellery and her friends, the last thing he expects is a woman with a nasty bite of her own. Not only does Ellery know all about shifters, she’s got magic. In fact, the little witch is a bit scary. What’s more, Ellery isn’t convinced fated mates exist.

  If Mason can’t persuade Ellery that they’re destined for a life of excitement together, he’s doomed to spend the rest of his days in his cougar form – without his son, his family, or the woman he’s already fallen for head over heels.

  From Chapter One

  “What the hell?” Ellery scrambled to her feet intending to chase the tent, but no sooner had she turned did a rough hand clap over her mouth and another over her eyes.

  When then the hand on her mouth retreated, she tried to open her mouth to scream only to find her lips were taped together.

  Memories of the last time someone had gagged her came rushing back, and her heart rate soared.

  No. No! Not again.

  She wrenched her body around and swung her arms, trying to make contact with her assaulter and vaguely registering her friends’ wild movements in her periphery, but he moved around her with a silken ease and pulled a hood over her head.

  “Mmmf!” she mumbled, and the attacker grabbed her around the thighs and heaved her up to one broad shoulder.

  She kicked, flailed her arms, and thrashed her fists against his back.

  He held her tighter, and his hot energy enveloped her, stealing her breath for a moment. It was like stepping into a sauna—stifling and uncomfortable at first, but moments later it was soothing. No. Enervating. She could fall asleep in his grip.

  She didn’t know what he was, exactly, only that he wasn’t human. Wasn’t witch, either. She’d know a witch, even if she didn’t know what kind he was.

  “Let’s go before the park ranger drives by,” the giant said in a bland voice, far too calm for a man participating in an abduction attempt.

  It was a deep voice. Low and rumbling in his chest and a sound as smooth as the one the cello Ellery played as a teen made. She wondered, briefly, if the Neanderthal in possession of that sexy voice had a face to match. Baritones seemed to be in such short supply where she lived, and she’d much rather hear her name called out in the throes of passion in a nice bass than in a strained tenor. Because that was so important at the moment.

  She gave herself a thump to the forehead to reboot her common sense and started kicking again.

  “What about their stuff?” another deep voice behind them asked.

  Sounded like the owner of that voice was straining a bit. I hope one of the girls is giving him hell.

  “Ooo!” Ellery said behind her tape, meaning good! When Miles got squirrelly, she fought dirty. She’d seen it time and time again when they did kickboxing classes at their gym. Instructors always thought Miles was an easy target because she was so darned cute. Well, Miles wasn’t beneath the occasional low blow. Really low. She was short.

  Ellery’s giant starting moving, stopping once to crouch, and then he was up again. “Grab the backpacks. They probably have ID cards in them. Leave the rest.”

  “Mmmphf mm ezz oof oooh!” Ellery said when he increased his gait, bouncing her atop his shoulder like a colicky baby on a jiggling knee. What she was trying to say was Put me the fuck down!, but either he didn’t catch the gist or else didn’t care to indulge her.

  He kept moving at that inhuman pace, way faster than a man bearing an extra one hundred and…something…pounds should have been capable of.

  She pounded her fists against his rock-hard back some more. All the blood pooling in her brain was making her dizzy, and being upside down made her nauseous. It would serve him just right if she puked on his backside.

  Feeling loopy, she chuckled at the thought and switched from pounding to scratching. She patted his rear feeling around for the hem of his shirt, and let her palms linger atop his flexing ass cheeks.

  Oh my.

  Just the right balance of hard and soft. Animalistic speed and reflexes.

  Ah. Shifter.

  They always had great bodies. Spent a lot of time in the buff, too, if her family-through-marriage accounted for anything. She allowed herself one little squeeze in curiosity.

  Nice.

  One more squeeze.

  “You break it, you buy it,” he said.

  “Eh off,” she said. As if.

  Great ass or not, she was under no pretenses that the scenario was all fun and games. Hannah had a really freakin’ awful sense of humor, but even she wouldn’t put them through a prank like this.

  Ellery made a grunt of protest, found his shirt hem, and yanked it up. She sank her nails into the heated flesh of his lower back and earned a hard swat on the ass for it.

  “Ooog!” she grunted.

  “Be still.” His voice was just calm as before.

  Yeah right. She had a fucking hood over her head, tape over her mouth, and she’d been abducted by som
e Were-caveman. What’d he take her for, an idiot?

  She blustered and scratched some more, this time digging her nails in deep and clawing her hands up his back.

  This time he stumbled, but didn’t swat her again. Some unholy sound came from that barrel of a chest—some cross between a groan and a growl—and he stopped.

  He bent, set her on her feet, turned her rapidly Lord knew how many times, and yanked the hood off.

  An approaching male voice behind him said, “What the hell are you doing?”

  She leaned left, right, crossing her eyes and pleading with her brain to recognize which way was up.

  Before her vision cleared, the big man got in front of her, stooped down to her eye level, and stared.

  Lord have mercy.

  The blur receded, and there in front of her was a sun-burnished Were-caveman with curious-seeming amber eyes and glossy auburn hair dancing over his shirt collar. The wind made it caress his strong jaw and flutter into his eyes. Eyes with pupils that seemed to be elongating into slits.

  Cat.

  Her noodly legs fell out from beneath her. She groaned when her sore ass hit the ground.

  “Huh. Never had a lady collapse just from looking at me before. I must be getting scarier.”

  So, so scary. God, he’s beautiful.

  THE COUGAR’S PAWN is available to purchase now.

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  1.5 - “A Demoness Matched” – novella (in the Melt My Heart anthology)

  2 - A Demon in Love

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