by Leila Brown
He needed to end this before Dane got in a lucky shot. Too many people were counting on him for him to fail.
Dane tried to get behind him again. As he sidestepped to match Dane’s move, Gio came into view. She was naked except for a pair of panties he hadn’t gotten around to ripping. His gaze would have swung back to Dane, but he saw Toni working her way up to stand behind Gio. Shit. Where the hell is Donovan?
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dane move. Instead of backing up, he charged too. Dane tried to stop, but he was moving so fast he couldn’t. When they collided, Jason bashed him with his left paw. Jason struck Dane in the right side—the side Gio had snapped earlier.
Dane fell to the ground, and Jason jumped on him and slashed down at the man’s neck with his claws. Dane moved his head to the left, exposing his neck. Jason surged forward and bit Dane in the neck. Dane clawed at him, slashing his paws along Jason’s sides. The roar of the crowd fell silent as Jason felt the slick blood running down his chin. He hated to kill someone like this, but he had no choice. The least he could do was make it painless. No matter what Dane had done he could do that.
Jason flicked his head and snapped Dane’s neck. A lone howl broke the silence. Toni. He looked up to see her friends holding her as she cried. She was going to be a problem. He was sure of that. But she was pack. She was protected. Until she did something to be banished.
Donovan moved to the front of the circle to sit beside Gio. Jason looked around but couldn’t see anyone looking to challenge him. Not yet anyway. Beating Dane hadn’t been the issue—the problem would be the challenges that came from any lone wolf who thought Jason would be easy pickings. Jason shifted and pulled her into his arms.
“I’m sorry.” He traced his hand over her swollen eye and cheek. “What did he do to you?”
“I knew you could do it.” She rubbed her face against his hand. “You’re going to make a great Alpha.”
“Until the next cocky bastard comes in and challenges me.”
“That’s why I’m here. I’ll crack all their ribs before the fight.” She smiled. “You don’t grow up this big not knowing how to fight.”
He smiled and swallowed hard. It had been a barely a week, but he couldn’t imagine living without her. She’d broken down three years of barriers in mere days. What would she do tomorrow?
“So you’ll be with me when the next challenger shows up? That could be a long time from now. Are you sure you’re in it for the long haul?” He knew what he was asking. He also knew that every ear in this clearing could hear their conversation. He looked down at her and saw the uncertainty in her eyes. It wasn’t fair of him to ask her to tie herself to him after such a short time. Not to mention that he didn’t know if he could have children. He’d already stolen one future from her; how could he take another? “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“Do you want me to stay?” she asked, her voice husky and unsure.
Gio wanted to believe he wanted her. Why else would he bring this up in front of so many witnesses? She wanted to look around, but the right side of her face was so swollen that she could barely see out of her eye.
“Are you crazy? If I didn’t snap you up, I swear Donovan would beat the daylights out of me. You’re mine, and even if you said no, I would hound you day and night until you changed your mind.” He bent and touched his forehead to hers.
He wanted her. She tried to smile but couldn’t make her bruised muscles obey. “Yes. I’ll stay with you as long as you want me.”
He pulled her into a kiss, but her mouth hurt so much she couldn’t enjoy it.
“Owww.” She frowned. Dang it, she wanted to kiss him too.
“You know, if you shift, you’ll be able to heal those wounds,” Donovan said from behind them.
“But first things first.” Jason surveyed the entire pack. “Gio is a new wolf, looking for a pack. Are there any objections to her joining our pack here in Climax?”
No one spoke up. Jason looked over to find Toni. He was sure she wanted to say something, but Becca and a couple of other women were crowded around her.
“Gio, do you agree to obey all the rules of the pack and promise to obey the pack Alpha and beta in all things?” He held her hand.
“Define obey,” she said, lifting her left eyebrow.
“That’s good enough for me,” Donovan told him. “Now help the lady shift.”
“Does your wolf want to come out to play?” he asked as his eyes shifted to that familiar bright blue.
Gio nodded. Her wolf wanted to do a lot more than play. In fact, so did she. “Bring it on, big boy.”
Epilogue
Gio felt Jason wheel up behind her and knew he was reading the e-mail on the screen.
“What the hell is that?” he practically yelled.
“That is Cel, agreeing to come spend her spring break and summer here with me—I mean us,” she said, turning around to face him.
“What about you need to disappear did you not understand?”
“I never agreed to anything. You decided I need to disappear, and I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure how things were going to work out. Now that I’m alive and plan to stay, I will see my sister. Besides, she would have figured it out eventually.”
“You know what could happen? If she becomes a liability, then things could go bad.” He grabbed her wrists. “Are you willing to risk that?”
“I can’t just leave her. She’s my family.” Gio turned her wrists and grabbed his hands. “Besides, she would have searched for me and made her way up here. And there are other humans who know.”
“Yes, but none of them are related to the Alpha pair.” He closed his eyes in obvious frustration.
“We’ll let Donovan assign someone to watch her. She’ll be fine, and so will we.”
“Why do I have a feeling this isn’t going to end well?”
“Because you are a pessimist.” She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t worry; what’s the worst that could happen?”
Loose Id Titles by Leila Brown
Pleasuring a Pirate
Solstice Heat
Leila Brown
I've been an avid reader since the fifth grade. As I aged I read everything I could get my hands on from horror, to mystery and finally stopping in romance.
While in college studying computer programming and electrical engineering, I realized what I wanted to do when I grew up. I wanted to write those stories that entertained me through more nights than I could count. Of course my first attempts were less than remarkable and have been destroyed to protect the innocent. :)
As the years have progressed, life kind of took over. I got married, had a son, changed jobs several times. But one thing remained constant—my desire to write.
Currently, I work a normal 9 to 5 in the IT world. I write during my lunch hour and at home after 9pm when everyone in my house is asleep.
Is it easy? Yes and No. Coming up with the stories is easy. Getting the words out of my head and onto paper is HARD! But I couldn't live without it!
