by Ava Walsh
A few miles down the road, when the Harley was trailing far enough, Derek slowed and steered the car off the road and into the brush. “What the hell are you doing?” Shouted Quinn, whose heart had been pounding the entire time and now seemed to stop altogether. Derek pulled as far into the brush as he could without hitting anything and quickly shut off the engine. He grasped her hands tightly.
“Do you trust me?” He asked, burying those deep grey eyes of his into the fresh green emeralds that were hers. It didn’t make sense, she had only known the man a couple of days, understood that he was a Werewolf and now was in danger herself because he was being hunted by a maniac. She nodded and took a breath. “Good,” he said, “get in the backseat and stay down.” She hesitated. “Now!” He urged and stepped out of the car.
Safely in position, Quinn yelled “Derek! What the hell are you doing?” He threw her the car keys and locked the door behind him with a reassuring glance behind the front seat. Too afraid to raise her head to see out the window, Quinn reached under the seat in front of her, pulled her compact mirror from her bag and angled it towards the rear of the car. There was Derek. She heard the throttle of the Harley before she saw it and then the stranger came into view. He was red-headed and big-- muscular, tall, long legged, and at least forty or fifty pounds heavier than Derek. Her stomach lurched and for a moment she had to look away.
Chapter 11
Derek’s heart hammered in his chest as he approached the man who leapt off the Harley. The man who had been stalking him for days was huge. He was much bigger than Derek. The man called out.
“Derek Harting!” It bellowed amid the trees and reverberated through the car.
Focusing, Derek took another step forward. He couldn’t let him know that Quinn was in the car. He had to keep her safe. “Hello,” he offered his hand foolishly in peace. The stranger stared at it and laughed. He strode right on past Derek and past the Porsche further into the wood. Clearly he had no intention of being seen by drivers passing through. Twisting around and aiming her mirror the other way, Quinn followed them until they were out of sight.
Reaching a small clearing a few hundred feet away from the road, the man stopped and Derek stopped in sequence. “I assure you, I have no intention of hurting Isabel,” Derek began but was cut off.
“How do you expect me to believe you can control yourself?” Boomed the big man. “She left you because you are a Werewolf, a monster!” He rambled in anger.
Derek tried to center his thoughts. He did have a plan after all. His plan was risky and he had never tried it before. But if he was going to win this fight, he would have to try.
Derek felt his heart race and his skin heat up like burning coals on a fire. He threw himself at the stranger and knocked him backwards. Stumbling off of him and stepping back as far as he could, Derek closed his eyes just for a moment, just long enough to picture Quinn’s beautiful green eyes in the back of his mind.
He burst out of his clothing as he embraced his Wolf and jumped in the air to meet his aggressor. The transformation happened faster than he had ever experienced it before. It was instantaneous. In the second it took his feet to leave the ground they had become paws and his nails had become claws. The clothing on his back replaced by russet fur, the scream in his throat now a threatening growl. Quinn heard it from the car and jerked herself up from the floor to look out the front window. Derek raised a giant paw and swatted the man back. But the man did not give up as he reached for a dagger hidden in his boot. It caught Derek in the shoulder and he howled in agony.
Shaking to clear his head, Derek lost balance and the stranger ran past him towards the car, towards Quinn. Derek’s protective instincts kicked in once more. Throwing himself headfirst at the attacker, he caught his teeth on flesh and pulled, jerking the man to the ground. With a gash the size of a ruler down the man’s ribcage, he crumbled in pain. He staggered to his feet and hurried back to his motorcycle, got on it and drove off as quickly as he could. When the man was no longer in sight, Derek inhaled deeply, morphed back into his human form and picked up the knife the hunter had used against him.
Hearing the car door open Derek spun around to see Quinn standing in front of the vehicle. She looked terrified as he stood there naked before her, dagger in hand. He tossed the weapon into the back of the car and slipped on a pair of track pants from the back seat. He took Quinn’s trembling hands and kissed them before helping her back into the car.
Chapter 12
“I promised you I’d keep you safe, and I intend to keep that promise Quinn Astley,” he announced. The claim made her tears subside and her breathing ease. Watching him transform like that and being so afraid of the hunter, had left her quite shaken. But she believed it, more than anything she had ever believed in her entire life. “Come one, I’ll bring you to the cabin,” he said. Quinn nodded, tears still clinging to her cheeks, but a small smile playing at her lips. They were off again, this time with no one to follow them as they continued north.
Pulling into the driveway of the most beautiful cabin she had ever seen, Quinn slowly came out of her slumber. The cabin was small but still larger than three of her apartments put together. It was well lit with electronic candles in the windows and surrounded by lush gardens shining with moisture in the twilight. The two climbed out of the car and headed for the door.
He led her into the main room where the fireplace was and told her to relax. He went out back and brought in some wood from the shed he had built with his father when he was ten. Throwing a few chunks on the cobblestone base he turned to Quinn “can I trust you to light the fire without burning the house down?” Derek joked, tossing her a lighter.
“I think I can manage that much” she retorted grabbing a firm, round butt cheek as he passed and headed for the kitchen. Man, she was enticing. He flicked on the kettle and reached for the teabags but before his feet landed back on the floor he felt Quinn’s soft figure press against him from behind, making him drop the tea in the sink.
“Thank you” she purred into his back. “I’ve never been a damsel in distress before and I can’t imagine being saved by anyone sexier”.
The words went straight to Derek’s groin and he felt a hunger for her that he had never felt before. He spun around and entwined his fingers in her mess of curls, kissing her ever so gently and building in intensity.
Quinn could feel her heart come to life and her muscles ache to be stretched and massaged. She responded to his kisses eagerly and with fervent desire, losing herself in the musty smell of him.
Tossing the blankets from the couch down onto the floor by the fire, Derek grabbed the bag of condoms and chocolate, pulling from it a bottle of chocolate sauce. He resumed his passionate kissing and laid her down gently on the makeshift bed.
Hours of endless caresses, pinches, kisses and bites later, Quinn fell asleep in Derek’s arms by the fireplace. He spent a long time looking at her face: her long, dark lashes, her rosy cheeks, and her full, pouting lips. Sleeping Beauty, he thought to himself smiling down at her. Man, had he gotten that one right. Utterly content, he drifted off to sleep beside her, his damsel, his princess, his Quinn Astley.
Chapter 13
On waking that morning Quinn found herself alone on the floor. The scent of bacon and eggs wafting through the air gently aroused her to wakefulness. Sitting up she saw Derek coming towards her with a large plate full of breakfast food and a cup of tea wearing nothing but a blue apron. Hot damn. She thought wildly as he got nearer. He was so perfect!
“Good morning my Beauty,” he cooed, joining her on the blankets, still ruffled from the night before.
“You made breakfast,” she remarked, swiping a piece of bacon and biting into it.
“I did. Because I have something I’d like to ask you,” he said. Quinn nearly choked on her morsel as he reached into the pocket of the apron and pulled out a tiny box. “Now, it’s not what you think it is,” he assured her, opening the box. Inside it was a key. “Move in with me,
when we get back to Toronto. This is the key to my suite.”
She crawled closer to him, took the key from his hand and looked him in the eye, a green pearl in a sea of grey. “As long as it doubles as the key to your heart”, she said.
“You are my heart,” he replied, kissing her passionately.
They spent the rest of the weekend planning the move, falling madly in love and pretending to be husband and wife just the way he imagined.
*****
THE END
Bonus Book 30: Taken by Two Football Dragons
By: Eliza Moon
Description
A shy, curvy newspaper reporter PLUS two disturbingly sexy athletes PLUS an indecent but sizzlingly hot proposal...
Rachel Forbes is ready to move up in her career and find a boyfriend. She’s excited when it seems like one of her wishes is coming true. She will get to write a serious piece for her newspaper and finally escape the advice column.
There’s only one problem. The assignment takes her into the world of sports- something she knows nothing about.
Up and coming NFL star Michael Pryce is reluctant to do an interview. All he wants to do is play the game he loves and stay out of the spotlight. He fears fame will make it more difficult to hide his secret.
But then, Rachel walks into his locker room and he’s suddenly into the interview and the sexy journalist. The attraction between them is undeniable.
Rachel meets Michael’s best friend Sloan Ryder and finds his bad-boy charm alluring. She knows it’s best to do her job and get away from both of them, to keep herself out of trouble, but she finds herself drawn into a passionate love triangle. Should she choose one man or have her fun with both?
Michael and Sloan share everything, including women. If they both desire Rachel, claiming her together shouldn’t be a problem.
Chapter One
A large, serpentine creature was gliding in the night sky. Its powerful wings were spread wide and its scales were iridescent in the moonlight. The creature searched the ground below before swooping downward, landing on four feet. It lifted its head, detecting the slight rustle coming from the bush ahead. It sniffed, gauging whether its company was animal or human. The source of the disturbance in the foliage emerged.
“Having fun?” the deep male voice drawled.
The dragon grunted, its shape contorting and shrinking into that of a man. Michael Pryce grinned at his longtime friend, Sloan Ryder. He reached for his clothes, neatly folded and tucked behind the thick root of a tree.
“I always have fun soaring through the night sky. What the hell are you doing here? I left to give you some privacy with your female friend.”
Sloan shrugged. “I got hungry. I sent her home to avoid having her for a midnight snack.”
In the process of buttoning his pants, Michael froze. “You didn’t choose to snack on any campers by any chance?”
A wicked grin spread across Sloan’s face, and he remained silent.
“Sloan,” Michael growled.
Sloan chuckled. “Relax, no humans were harmed. Okay, I’ll admit it, I followed you to make sure no one witnessed your little night flight.”
“Thanks, but I’m always careful. You’re the reckless one, remember?”
Sloan’s eyes narrowed. “Screw you, Michael. I’ve managed to keep what we are a secret just as well as you have.” He huffed. “You’ve had your fun, and I’ve had mine. Let’s go home, shall we? I need some shut eye before practice tomorrow.”
“Yeah, let’s go,” Michael agreed.
Both men strolled casually through the Colorado woods, at ease in the night. The area was their usual nightly playground. They could hunt smaller animals with a low risk of discovery.
***
“Mr. Carrington, don’t you think it’s time for me to start getting more serious assignments? No, that won’t work.” Clearing her throat, Rachel Forbes tried again. “Mr. Carrington, I have been with this paper for one year. It’s time I started getting more serious assignments. No, I demand that I get more serious assignments.” Rachel stared at herself in the mirror, putting on her fiercest expression.
She let out a groan. Who was she kidding? There was no way she could walk into her boss’s office and make demands. She didn’t have the balls. Her shoulders sagged in defeat.
“I’m going to be stuck writing the damn advice column forever,” she grumbled. Scowling at herself in the mirror, she huffed. She didn’t work her ass off for the four years of her journalism degree to write the advice column. She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin.
“I’m going to do it,” she declared. Luckily, no one else was in the ladies room to witness her talking to herself. She straightened her jacket and flipped her shoulder length black hair. Turning, she marched to the door and yanked it open.
Rachel walked at a brisk pace down the corridor to her boss’s office. The closer she got to Mr. Carrington’s office, the more her courage seeped away. By the time she reached his door, self-doubt had presented itself completely.
“Damn it,” she hissed, walking past the door. She headed to her office, cursing herself for being a coward. Rachel plopped down in her chair to stare at her computer. “Well, I guess the advice column isn’t too bad.”
“You need to get out of the habit of talking to yourself, Ray.”
Rachel glanced up with a smile at the sound of the familiar voice. “Hey, Oliver. Now that you’re here I don’t need to talk to myself. Sit, talk to me, save me from myself.”
Oliver James took a seat in front of her desk and crossed his legs. He flicked back the lock of burgundy hair that had fallen over his eye. “What are you bummed about this time?”
“My entire life,” Rachel replied dismally.
“Oh, don’t be so melodramatic.”
Rachel sighed. “I’m serious, Oliver. My life isn’t where I thought it would be.”
Oliver gave her a sympathetic look. He leaned forward. “Tell Aunty Oliver about it, honey.”
Rachel’s brows shot up in amusement. He always told her he was born the wrong gender. She sighed and commenced the whining. “I want to be free of this damn cubicle and the advice column. I didn’t get my degree to give sex advice to desperate housewives, for goodness sake. I can’t even get my own love life together. I don’t have a boyfriend, yet I’m giving relationship advice.” She sat back in her chair and huffed.
Oliver shook his head. “Well, complaining about work and your love life isn’t going to help. It’s up to you to take action. Get your cute ass up, march into that old fart’s office and request a change. As for the boyfriend part, you need to put yourself out there.” He paused. “If I didn’t swing the other way, I would totally do you, sweet thing. That chocolate skin of yours and those big brown eyes are everything.”
Rachel snickered. “You always manage to cheer me up, Oliver. You’re awesome. What would I do without you?”
“Crash and burn,” he drawled, studying his well-manicured nails.
“You’re probably right,” she murmured. “You’re also right about me going to Mr. Carrington. Even if I get turned down flat, at least I tried. Right?”
Oliver nodded solemnly. “Right you are, sister.”
Rachel hesitated for a few seconds, nibbling her lower lip. Carpe diem. She pushed her chair back and got up. “I’m doing it this time.”
“That’s my girl. Go,” Oliver cheered on.
Rachel found herself in front of her boss’s door for the second time that morning. She knocked quickly, before she could chicken out again.
“Who is it?” The gruff, raspy voice called.
“Er, Rachel.”
“Come in.” She pushed the door open and stepped in with a gulp. Henry Carrington looked up. “Ah, Forbes. Just the person I wanted to see. Have a seat.” He pointed to the chair in front of his desk.
Rachel’s brows elevated. “Um, o-okay. Thanks.” Had she done something wrong? Oh no, I’m going to get fired. She tried to calm her ner
ves and keep her composure.
Mr. Carrington pinned her with shrewd blue eyes. “It’s time for you to move on from the advice column, Forbes. You would like to write more serious pieces, wouldn’t you?”
Her eyes widened a fraction. She nearly looked upward with a smile. It seemed the big guy upstairs was doing her a favor. “Um, yes.”
“Good. I’ve got something for you.”
Well, that was easy. Okay, maybe my life doesn’t suck that much, after all. If her luck held up for the rest of the day, maybe she would find a man by tonight. “Fantastic. Is it an interview with a public figure? Will I be covering the opening of the new school?” She couldn’t wait to hear what it was.
Mr. Carrington smiled slightly. “None of the above. You’ll be doing an article on Michael Pryce.”
She stared at him blankly. “Er, okay. I’m not familiar with him.” Was it someone she was supposed to know? She felt daft all of a sudden.
“He is an up and coming NFL star, Forbes. Don’t you keep up with sports? He plays for the Broncos.”
Rachel’s heart dropped. Sports? What the hell did she know about the field? The only sport she took part in was walking to her kitchen to get snacks. “B-but I- are you sure I’m the right person for the job? Maybe something in politics would suit me better.”
Mr. Carrington huffed. “Look, Forbes, I don’t have time for the debate. The usual sports writer is on vacation, and I have no one else to do it. You’re my last resort. Either you take it or get back to your office to give some ladies advice.”
