The girl scowled and then plucked at her shirt and sniffed it. “What do you mean, you can smell it on me?”
Ren glared at her. “Shut up. This doesn’t concern you!”
“Seeing as how you’re talking about me, it damn well does concern me,” she fired back.
Elle climbed up from the couch, snagged a jewel-toned throw blanket and wound it around her torso. “Ren, you can handle teaching. You’ve been doing this for a hundred years. You’re more than capable.”
“No.” He shook his head. “No, I’m not. Especially not somebody who’s still mortal. They are too…breakable.”
“We were all mortal once…and we have to break. If we want to become.” Elle shrugged. Then she looked at the girl. “What’s your name?”
“Mandy. You?”
“Elle.” She smiled and stroked a hand down Ren’s arm. “Ignore Thom here. He’s having a grumpy moment, but he’ll be okay. He barks much worse than he bites, I promise you.”
“No. I don’t. I bite much, much harder.”
Mandy waggled her eyebrows. “Oh, that sounds promising.”
Will swore and grabbed her arm. “You’ll behave,” he said.
“You’re so boring,” she muttered.
A flash of light appeared. “And you’re incorrigible.”
Ren snapped out, “Damn it, Will, where in the hell are you going?”
“To your woods. You three have a job to do. And then you need to get home. You have a pupil.”
“I don’t want a pupil,” Ren snarled.
But it was too late.
Will was already gone, along with the girl.
Chapter Six
Yes…parasei awaited them.
But they were so easily dispatched that Ren couldn’t even be certain why he’d been sent here in the first place.
Elle and Michael could have handled the nest fine on their own.
They were done with before nightfall, and back at Michael and Elle’s house by midnight.
“Do you get the feeling that was nothing more than a…distraction?” Elle asked.
“That was Will,” Ren said, still trying to figure how to get out training somebody.
A human. How had he gotten stuck with a human?
They broke too easily.
Far too easily.
“Will is nothing if not a master manipulator,” she said, shaking her head as they climbed the stairs of the wraparound porch. She wore a black tank top, black cargo pants that fit snugly over her hips and boots that laced up halfway to her knees.
Funny that she could look every bit as sexy in combat gear as she could in the clubbing clothes she’d worn on their last assignment together.
“You call that master manipulation?” Ren said, shaking his head. Bloody hell. If he knew Will that girl was already in his home.
In his home—the one place where he was… Well, it was his place. His sanctuary. His only sanctuary. He needed to get back there. And try to figure out a way to get her out. “That wasn’t master manipulation pet. It was the most heavy-handed…”
But his voice trailed off at the look in Elle’s eyes.
She gave him a sad smile. “No. Not the girl. Although I think it will be good for you. Really. But I’m talking about you being here.”
She licked her lips. “Are you… You’re leaving now, aren’t you?”
Ren winced. “I…I need to. If he has her at my place…”
“I understand. You and I, we never did settle easy. And when we had a place where we did settle, well, outsiders weren’t welcome. Just remember, this isn’t her fault.”
“I know.” He shoved his hands into pockets and glanced over his bike, reluctant to just walk away, although he needed to. And he could now. He realized that. The raw, aching wound in his chest he’d had every time he thought of Elle had eased.
She wasn’t his, but he was okay with that. Or at least, he was better with it than he had been.
Looking at Michael, he said, “You’ll take care of her.”
“Always,” the other man said, inclining his head.
“Good.” He gave a short, terse nod. But still…he couldn’t walk away. Not yet.
Elle looked at Michael. “Can you give us a moment?” she asked quietly.
He brushed a hand across her shoulder, then touched his lips to her cheek. But before he went inside, he held out a hand to Ren. “I can honestly say this time, take care of yourself,” Michael said.
Ren grimaced. “Well, I’ve never been very good at that. But I’ll survive—that’s one thing I’ve always done, whether I wanted to do it or not.”
They shook, and before Michael let go, he said, “She wouldn’t have spent the past century with a complete bastard. You deserve something more than just surviving. I hope you find it.”
Ren didn’t know what to say to that. So as Michael walked away, he said nothing.
“So what are you going to do now?” Elle asked as Michael disappeared inside the house.
Ren crooked a grin at her and wished she couldn’t read him so easily. “Oh, come now, princess. Don’t look so glum. You heard our fearless leader. I’ve a trainee to attend to—unless I can chase her off or talk Will out of this.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Elle said, shaking her head.
“No.” Ren sighed and smoothed a hand back over his naked scalp. “I suspect you’re right.”
“I’m going to worry about you.” Her breathing hitched. “Hell, I’ve always worried about you, but we spent so much time together, I was able to keep an eye on you. That’s not going to happen from here on out, I don’t think.”
Ren sighed and jogged down the stairs, suddenly impatient to be gone. “Elle, I’m a big boy. I don’t need a nanny…or even a fairy-tale princess watching my mangy hide.”
“How about a friend? One who still loves you, even if it’s not quite the way you’d hoped?”
He grimaced. “Elle…”
“Damn it.” She sighed, then glanced back over her shoulder to where her future husband, her prince, her life waited. “Fuck, Ren. I’m sorry.”
He sighed, then turned back to her and mounted the stairs. Stopping a step below her so that they stood eye to eye, he caught her hand. “Sorry for what? For being you? Elle, don’t be. No, things aren’t working out for me the way I’d hoped. But they are working out the way they need to…for you, for him. And I’m not angry over that. I don’t begrudge you your happiness. You deserve it.”
He lifted a brow and glanced around her. “Although I’m small enough to admit, sometimes I might begrudge him.”
“No, you don’t.” She forced a smile, though tears gleamed in her eyes. “Empath, remember?”
She licked her lips and reached up. “Sometimes I wished I was like one of those women in some of those wicked books you so love to tease me over—that I could love two guys. But that’s not me.”
“If it was you, I wouldn’t have fallen for you the way I did. I couldn’t share you, neither could he. Not forever. We’d kill each other, and you know it.” Ren leaned in and bussed her mouth softly. “Go on inside now, princess. Go to your man. And stop worrying so over me. I’ll be okay.”
“I don’t want you okay. I want you happy.” She lingered, lifted a hand to rest over his heart. “You know, Michael said something just now…you deserve something more than just surviving. He’s right. And you’ve always been looking for something. I’ve seen it, sensed it. For something. Maybe now you can go on, you can move on…and find it.”
“Maybe.” He curled his hand around her wrist and with an elegant, aristocratic grace even her prince might have admired, he bowed over her hand with a flourish and kissed it. “Perhaps, my princess. Perhaps. You know, I thought for the longest time that it was you. I thought it was you…and I was wrong. So now, I start looking again.”
He let go of her hand and then backed away, giving her a smile. “I’ll see you, princess.”
“You better.”
About the Author
To learn more about Shiloh, please visit www.shilohwalker.com. Send an email to Shiloh at [email protected] or visit her blog at www.shilohwalker.com/website/
Look for these titles by Shiloh Walker
Now Available:
Always Yours
Legends: Hunters and Heroes
Talking with the Dead
Malachi
Hunter’s Pride
The Huntress
For the Love of Jazz
Beautiful Girl
Hunter’s Edge
Vicious Vixen
Playing for Keeps
My Lady
The Redeeming
Candy Houses
No Prince Charming
Coming Soon:
Crazed Hearts
Tarnished Knight
Her Happy-Ever-After has been a long time coming…
No Prince Charming
© 2010 Shiloh Walker
Grimm’s Circle, Book 2
Elle spent years trying to get over her so-called Prince Charming, and she’s finally getting the hang of it. A Grimm—a guardian angel with unique gifts—she spends her nights trolling for demons and kicking ass, and lately, her days have been spent with her on-and-off-again lover, Ren, a fellow Grimm. But fate has other plans in store for Elle, plans that include Michael, the prince from her youth who broke her heart.
“What do you choose…live for her? Or would you rather die?” That was the choice Michael was given all those years ago. Although he knew she’d never forgive him, when Michael was given the chance to become a Grimm, he took it. Still, he isn’t so sure Elle needs him in her life. With a lover at her side and a mission before her, Elle looks like she’s doing just fine without him.
But the not-so-charming prince isn’t going to back off that easily…not if there’s a chance she might need him again. He’d do anything to save her. Kill for her, live for her, die for her…
Warning: This dark, twisted version of Cinderella involves demons, deceit, desire, and debauchery between a princess and two sexy guardian angels, both determined to win the fair Cinderella.
Enjoy the following excerpt for No Prince Charming:
“We’ve got to get inside tonight,” I told Ren. Halfway across the parking lot, I picked up my pace. “It’s getting darker in there. We’re going to lose more if we don’t move soon.”
There was so much life…so much emotion.
Lust. Anger. Jealousy. Need. Love. Rage. Hatred.
Emotions—uncontrolled emotions drew predators. That’s why the demons were here. Wherever there were people there would be emotion. And wherever there was emotion there would be demons.
Wherever there are demons there would be Grimms.
There would be us. Unlikely guardian angels trying to keep the unsuspecting mortals from making bad, bad and worse mistakes.
That was our job. We would do it. We would do the job. We would deal with the succubi and incubi. We would find the king or queen and eliminate them. Then Ren or I would hang around long enough to make it clear this area was now under the Circle’s watch.
If I had my way about it, it would be Ren hanging around. If at all possible, I wanted to clear the hell out the second we dealt with the king or queen.
I was planning on getting out of Ohio as quick as possible.
Maybe head for New York this time. Or Chicago—
No. Screw that. I was going to Milan. And the Circle could pick up the damn ticket, too.
I’d asked for a break and I’d ended up with an assignment instead.
They owed me that break, damn it.
I took a deep breath and glanced down at my clothes. Barbie goes badass. That was the look I’d been going for. I had on a black silk corset and, unlike some of the corsets I’d seen around lately, mine was the real thing—it pushed my boobs together and up, cinched my waist and kept my spine ramrod straight.
I was as comfortable in one as anybody could hope to be, but then again, I’d had a lot of practice. I’d grown up wearing these things when I had to—thanks to a doting father, I hadn’t spent my entire childhood in one.
But I had worn them often enough.
Never one quite like this though. Black-on-black silk brocade with blood-red lacing. I’d paired it with leather pants and heels that would break my neck—if I fell, and if I could break my neck in such a mundane manner. Which I can’t. I’d pulled my blonde hair into a high ponytail, gone a little heavy with the black eyeliner and red lipstick.
Barbie does badass, with a little bit of Dominatrix Barbie thrown in for good measure.
“You look delicious,” Ren said as he kissed one bare shoulder. “You sure you don’t have a whip lying around?”
“Oh, please.” I smirked at him and took a few seconds to adjust the bodice. I had my pendant tucked between my breasts. Wasn’t very comfortable, but I couldn’t afford to have the wrong person see it, nor could I afford to be without it. There wasn’t any room for weapons on me, but that had been intentional.
I wanted to look around this first trip in, not fight. I’d made that clear to Ren as well, but he’d have weapons on him. I knew that as sure as I knew my own name.
Still, I knew I could trust him not to draw them unless he had to.
I just hoped nobody forced his hand…or mine. I might not have weapons, but I’m pretty far from helpless.
The air closer to the building felt hot and heavy, a warning of what lay inside.
I’d known from the get-go this wouldn’t be a quick, easy job. I might have been harboring hopes, but they were dying, fading, withering away with every second I remained close to this abyss of darkness.
“Should be a piece of cake,” he had told me. Those had been my boss’s exact words.
“Will, one of these days, I’m going to kick your ass,” I said to myself.
“Hmmm?”
I shook my head. “Just grumbling about Will. He had the nerve to say this should be an easy job.”
“Well, so far all I’ve done is make out with you in view of others and watch other people making out as well,” Ren shot me his trademark devilish smile and in a low voice added, “Seems remarkably easy.”
“Your luck is about to break.”
This wasn’t going to be easy. It wasn’t going to be quick. We would have to kill while we were here. Not tonight, but sometime before the job was over. I knew it as sure as I was standing there. Possession by succubi or incubi was subtle…a seduction. It started out as just a minor need. Sex—something pleasant…maybe even harmless.
But the more the victim fed that need—through sex, naturally—the stronger the hold. It was like an addiction.
In the early days it was possible to rid the victim of the demon’s presence. Possible, but not easy, and the longer it went on the harder it would become.
Sooner or later, without intervention, the demon would be in control and the need for sex would dominate over anything else. Everything else.
Either the victim literally screwed themselves to death—forgoing food, water, anything and everything that wasn’t sex. The other scenario—the need for sex became so overwhelming they lost all inhibitions and all sense of right and wrong.
I’d saved people in the past before one of the possessed could rape them.
Somebody in there was already too far gone. Either they were killing themselves without realizing it, or I’d have to kill them when they went too far. Personally, I’d rather find whoever it was and just end it now.
A waste. Such a waste. Somebody had given up everything.
Do I sound slightly bitter? Sorry. Can’t help it. I’d lost my rose-colored glasses a few hundred years ago. Right about the time I lost my virginity and, shortly thereafter, my Prince Charming.
“Elle.”
Speak of the devil.
I knew that voice. It was the last voice I wanted to hear right now. Unless he was saying something along the lines of, “Ow, that hurts!” as I beat him ac
ross the head with a heavy, blunt object.
I stood there, frozen. Although I didn’t want to turn and face the music, my partner had no reservations.
I dug my fingers into Ren’s arm.
Why?
Will. Damn it. He’d done this—orchestrated this.
Schooling my features, I turned around and I’m proud to say, I didn’t feel the urge to swoon. Not even for a second.
That angel face of his hadn’t changed at all in the past three hundred years.
He looked as perfect now as he had the day he kissed me for the first time.
Heat flashed through his grass-green eyes as he studied my clothes and despite myself, my belly clenched in response.
He’s no fairy-tale prince. But he just may be the hero she needs.
Crazed Hearts
© 2010 Shiloh Walker
Grimm’s Circle, Book 3
Ren has always danced along the fine line between being a little bit crazy and being overcome by a darkness that’s haunted him since his mortal days. As an empath, he prefers to live far from people who would leak their emotions all over him, so he’s not expecting the woman who drives right into the heart of his wood. She has a cursed book with her and demons hot on her heels. Even more surprising are her abilities and the reaction Ren has to her.
Aileas is on the run. She just isn’t certain if she’s running from something real or imagined. One thing is for sure, her brother is dead and she’s certain the book she found has something to do with his death. She really starts to doubt her sanity when she meets a hot but somewhat crazed man in the middle of nowhere.
He calls himself Ren, and although he doesn’t seem to be out to hurt her, he definitely seems to want something. She just doesn’t understand what. She does know what she wants though. She wants him, and the shadows and darkness she glimpses inside him don’t matter. At least, right up until he claims to be a guardian angel.
I Thought It Was You: Grimm's Circle, Book 2.5 Page 3
