by Lynn Graeme
“Well,” Terris said, voice unsteady. “In that case, I shouldn’t have bothered making you a copy of my keycard this afternoon.”
She looked nervous. Unmoving.
And then Jamal knew why. She didn’t want to spook him either.
He swallowed and stepped toward her. She let out a little cry and threw herself into his arms.
She held on to him so tightly he almost couldn’t breathe, but Jamal didn’t care. He buried his nose in her hair and inhaled the subtle, sugared almond scent he’d missed. Rubbing his face into her silky-soft tresses, he ran his hand down her mesmerizing curves. He leaned back to take her all in, his eyes hungry for the sight of her, but she yanked him right back and pressed her nose to the base of his throat.
Then his ears honed in on the soft sounds coming from his mate that she couldn’t seem to control. He pulled back, horrified as he thumbed away her tears.
“What’s this? I told you, my Valkyrie doesn’t cry.”
“I told you, don’t tell me what to do,” she sobbed, her body shaking in his arms. “I thought you weren’t coming back.”
“Ah, sweetheart.” He peppered her face with kisses. “That’s not true. If you truly thought so, you wouldn’t have copied that extra keycard for me.”
“Idiot.”
“Not arguing there.”
He kissed her. She responded so passionately, so free from inhibitions, that it took several minutes before Jamal became aware she was now lying on top of him on the couch, her hands groping and touching him under his shirt.
He cupped her face in his hand. “Of course I came back. I’ll always come back. You’re my mate, Terris. I’d never leave my mate.”
“You walked out the door.”
“Only because I needed to be alone for a while. I needed to work off my rage before returning to you, so I could discuss disagreements like a grown-up. I’m learning, Terris.”
“Disagreeing like grown-ups doesn’t mean you vanish in the middle of an argument and leave me worrying the whole night.” She reared up and punched him in the chest. “You never answered my calls, you jerk.”
“Ah, Terris, love.” Jamal tried to pull her down for another kiss, but she resisted his efforts. He stopped and gazed up at her, regret vivid in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m learning.”
“Learn faster.” She hit him again, then leaned down and hugged him. “I’ll help you learn,” she mumbled into his chest. “I missed you.”
He stroked her back. “I missed you more.”
“Where did you go?”
He lifted a nonchalant shoulder. “Went to ransack a few places, utter a few threats. Beat up a guy.”
Terris snorted, shaking her head.
“Hey, told you I had to work it out of my system. Rick’s moving out of Bloodhaven, by the way.”
It took a minute for his meaning to compute. Then her head jerked up. “You didn’t.”
He flashed his teeth in a silent but wicked grin.
“Oh God.” She sat up and moved off of him, burying her face in her hands. “I can’t believe you did that. Why? I told you he was no longer a problem. He’s been out of my life for years now.”
“Yeah, well, evidently you weren’t out of his.” Jamal sat up as well, settling beside her. “He had pictures of you in his hard drive.”
Terris spun around to face him in horror. “But I never—”
“He took them while you were sleeping.” Jamal saw her expression and pulled her into his arms. “They’re gone now. Eliminated. I contacted some pals at the Council and they made sure they got into every single server he’s ever stamped his name on. And a few that he hasn’t.”
She tightened her hold around him.
“You see why I had to beat the fuck out of him.”
Terris raised her head. Jamal tensed on seeing the glittering fury in her eyes. Then he eased on realizing her fury wasn’t aimed at him. His bloodthirsty princess wanted to tear her ex apart as well.
Jamal fully approved.
“I hope you made it hurt.”
Jamal knew he must’ve looked a little too smug, but he didn’t care. “He’ll be able to walk in a week. Doesn’t extend his time in the city any, though.”
Terris lifted his hand and studied the bruises on his knuckles. Then she kissed each and every one of them. “I only wish I could’ve laid in a few punches myself.”
“Yeah, your punches are pretty deadly.” Jamal smiled and brushed her lips with his. He was rewarded with a shiver. “How about you? How was your day?”
Terris hesitated, then drew back, folding her legs beneath her. Jamal’s heart thumped again at her serious expression.
“I went to speak to Overkin today.”
The thump stuttered before stretching into a painful twinge. “You said you would.” He drew in a breath. “Terris, you don’t have to give up anything for me. I plan to have it out with the Council. There’s no reason why it can’t change its stupid policies to allow me to be front and center as an active agent. It may take some additional training and adjustments—and compromises on both our parts, I know—but I’m up for the challenge.” He smiled. “In fact, I can’t wait.”
Terris frowned. “But there’s no guarantee it’ll take you back, is there?”
“Who cares? There’s no guarantee in life. No one ever guaranteed I’d remain intact and whole, and I wouldn’t have given a fuck if they had. All I know is I want to be with you. Always. I don’t need two functioning hands to love you. I can’t lose you, Terris. I won’t.”
She studied him. “You’re wrong, you know.”
Jamal grew still. He became aware of a sharp pain in his chest, like his heart and lungs were being compressed from all sides. Like he couldn’t breathe.
“You’re wrong when you said I didn’t want us just as much. I do. I’ll fight for us, Jamal. I’ll go to the mat for what we have. It’s too beautiful, too special, to sacrifice without even trying.”
He stared at her, almost uncomprehending. Almost too afraid to believe.
“I spoke to Grayson. My boss. He knows everything.” She bit her lip and gave Jamal a wry look. “He said ours was a hopeless situation.”
Jamal snarled. “He did, did he?”
“He did.” Her smile widened. “I told him I don’t believe in hopeless. I didn’t get to where I am today without hope.”
“I hope you punched him too.”
Terris shot him a disapproving look. “He’s my employer, Jamal.”
He shrugged, uncaring.
“He doesn’t want me to lose my job either, and I told him I didn’t want to lose you. So we came to an agreement. I’ll continue my role as client advocate and program coordinator, with the exception that the committee will screen and assign me an assistant—which I need anyway—to specifically oversee your case and progress. Any decisions regarding your care will always be discussed by the group and require signing off by at least two others besides myself. My position during your sessions will be strictly as an observer.”
Jamal scowled. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“No, it’s a good thing. That way I can be involved and accompany you as a loved one. Partners and families are allowed to be present to support the client, which you would’ve known if you’d let me explain more about family counseling that day in the garden.”
His jaw hardened. “You know why I didn’t.”
“I know now, yes.” Her eyes softened and she hugged him, so open with her displays of affection and emotion. “But now you have me in your life. I’ll be your family and loved one.”
He returned the hug, holding her tight in his embrace. “Yeah, you will.”
“And you’ll have even more family and loved ones as well—mine. Roark’s going to give you hell, just as he gives me hell, and we’ll annoy him just as much. It’ll be fantastic. And”—she pulled back to look him in the face—“will you come with me to our family brunch in two weeks? It’s at my parents’ place and we have it every month. I thin
k you and my dad would really get along. You’re very much alike. Grumpy big cats who roll over and purr when petted right.”
“Is that so?” Jamal tumbled Terris onto her back, eyebrow arched as he rose above her. “We’ll see how you purr when petted right.”
“We’ll be okay, Jamal. I know we will.”
“We’ll make us okay.”
“Yes. Yes.” She stretched up to kiss him. “I love you. So much.”
“On my best days.”
“For all days,” she corrected.
Jamal’s smile widened. Laughing, feeling happy—truly happy—for the first time in a long time, he took his beloved mate’s mouth with his, letting their joy mingle and overflow, knowing it was only the beginning of forever.
# # #
About the Author
Lynn Graeme was born in the tropics before moving first to the US and then to Canada. She is pretty sure she might end up even further north, if only by sheer magnetic pull.
For new releases, sneak peeks, and to join the author’s newsletter, please visit http://lynngraeme.com.
A Note from the Author
Thank you for reading Only Yours. If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review so that other readers can find out about it.
If you would like to know when my next book is available, please sign up for my newsletter at www.lynngraeme.com, follow me at http://twitter.com/lynngraeme, or like my page on https://www.facebook.com/lynngraemewriter.
Only Yours is part of the Bloodhaven series. Please turn the page to read an excerpt from the second book in the series, In the Crossfire. Enjoy!
Excerpt from In the Crossfire
There was a cat on the grounds.
Liam Whelan lifted his head, recognizing the familiar scent. With an inward sigh, he switched off the power sander he’d been using and set it down.
The light coating of sawdust on his skin shimmered beneath the afternoon sun as he straightened away from his workbench. The work area was connected to the side of his cabin, partially shaded by the overhang. Beyond that, past the small dirt clearing directly in front of the cabin, was a mass of bushes and thickets he hadn’t gotten around to taming yet.
He strode to the edge of the clearing, wiping sweat away from his brow. He scanned the bushes in search of the intruder.
On the bright side, Liam thought dryly, she wasn’t one of his former packmates. The last thing he needed was for one of those wolves to find him.
His ears pricked at the rustle of leaves. From the corner of his eye, he saw the top of a shrub quiver.
Bingo.
Liam walked over and looked down at where his visitor was hiding.
Through the thick bramble, wide eyes blinked up at him. She was still in cheetah form, dark tear-mark lines bisecting her furred, tawny face. Two more blinks, then she rested her head on top of her paws.
Liam sighed. He glanced around but couldn’t see any articles of clothing about. He returned his gaze to hers.
“Clothes?” he asked brusquely.
She shook her head, the movement causing the leaves to whisper around her. Liam narrowed his eyes, but she merely stared back, still retaining that innocent look.
Shifters might have more relaxed standards on nudity compared to humans, but Liam drew the line at having an unrelated fourteen-year-old female shift in his presence without a stitch in sight. If anything, it was bound to make her aunt give Liam the side-eye, and Liam already felt a fool around the woman as it was.
He glowered down at the cub, then turned around and stalked off, bypassing the workbench and entering his cabin.
It was a dark, tiny space, with the front door opening directly into the kitchen. There was no separation between the kitchen and bedroom areas, the latter of which consisted of a twin bed—extra-long to accommodate his height—as well as a rickety dresser left behind by the cabin’s previous owner. The bathroom was only big enough for a toilet, a sink, and a shower stall. A window barely bigger than Liam’s head, letting in a bright patch of sunlight on the bare kitchen floor, provided the only source of light in the cabin.
Wolf eyes didn’t require much light, however, and Liam navigated his way easily to the back. He yanked out a T-shirt and a fresh pair of boxers from the dresser, then returned outside.
She hadn’t moved from her spot. Liam dropped the clothes right on top of her head.
He returned inside the cabin and started searching for his phone. He vaguely remembered having flung it against the wall last night, after waking up from a particularly bad episode. He finally found it half-buried in a box of butterfly hinges in the corner.
Tapping the screen to make sure the damn thing still worked, he began dialing. He went to retrieve his forgotten mug of coffee from the kitchen counter. Two and a half rings followed before the other line picked up.
“Saba.”
Isobel Saba—Council agent, Liam’s landlady, and star of all his secret fantasies—sounded her typically cool self, if a touch preoccupied. Her voice, naturally low, curled into Liam like winter smoke from the mountains of his youth.
He barely suppressed a rumble as his wolf sat up to attention. Down, boy.
He could hear a cacophony of yells and thuds in the background. Isobel appeared to be answering his call in the middle of combat. Somehow, Liam wasn’t the least bit surprised.
“It’s Liam,” he mumbled, then cleared his throat. “Liam Whelan.”
A pause. “Hello, Liam. Is something wrong?”
So many things. But he merely scrubbed a hand over his face and muttered, “Naley’s here.”
Silence. Then Isobel swore profusely, not all of it in English.
“I’m going to skin her mother alive.” A loud thwack! echoed over the line. “What do you mean, she’s there? You mean there-there, with you?”
He grunted an affirmative. He poured out a glass of milk that thankfully hadn’t expired yet.
“She can’t have forgotten her access code,” Isobel muttered. Liam recalled that Naley was programmed into Isobel’s security system, fully authorized to enter her home in her absence. “Let me speak to her.”
“She’s … changing.”
“What do you mean, changing? Hang on, why isn’t she calling me herself?”
Liam rubbed his head and drew in a deep breath.
“Liam?”
“No phone.”
Isobel sighed. “Liam, I know you tend to speak in shorthand but this would be one”—thud—“occasion”—thump—“in which a little more explanation”—thwap—“would really be appreciated.”
He was always clumsy with words around this woman. “I gave her some clothes to change into. She had nothing on her.”
A stumped silence, followed by another sigh. “She shifted.”
Liam didn’t say anything. He figured his silence served as sufficient confirmation.
He rifled through the cupboards until he found an open box of cheese crackers. “I’ll give her my phone. To call you.”
“Thanks. I’ll try to get home as soon as—” Isobel cut off abruptly. “Lewski, what’re you doing?”
Liam heard a bellow from her end of the line. His hackles rose. “Isobel?”
“Fu… . One sec, Liam.”
A series of thumps and grunts reverberated. Liam heard the sharp snap of breaking bone, then a muffled scream. Not Isobel’s, thank the devil.
“Head down, Lewski!” she yelled.
Liam flinched at the deafening blast of a gun. His grip tightened on his phone. “Isobel?”
No answer.
He paced the confines of the kitchen, the muscles between his shoulder blades drawing tight and tense. He wanted to demand answers, ask what was going on, but knew better than to distract Isobel in the middle of battle.
She’s a Council agent. She can handle this.
She can handle things better than you ever could.
The familiar black sensation began to claw up Liam’s throat. He glanced down at the scars rakin
g up his arms, disappearing into the sleeves of his T-shirt. He gritted his teeth as he strove to calm himself.
The war was long over. He’d left that life behind.
“You still there?” Isobel asked.
He tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling. He willed away the suffocating feeling that was already looming far too close for his liking. “Was about to ask you the same.”
“Sorry ’bout that. You, stay down.”
It took a moment for Liam to figure out she had aimed that last sentence at someone else. A sound akin to a brick wall collapsing told him that the person had either acceded to Isobel’s request or received a very physical encouragement from her to do so.
“As I was saying,” she continued, “I’ll try to get back as soon as I can.”
Right. They were talking about Naley. Liam scratched his brow, trying to think of something else to say.
Isobel misread his lack of a response. “Are you angry?”
“No.”
“Ah.”
“I’m not.”
“I see.”
Liam scowled. “I’m not.”
“I may be slightly delayed.”
“Take your time,” he growled.
“Really?”
She didn’t have to sound so bloody surprised. It wasn’t as if he was a complete recluse.
Though with his luck, she probably thought him half-mad anyway. Likely expected him to bite Naley’s head off at any minute for daring to invade his privacy.
No, that was a lie. Isobel was incredibly protective over her niece. She didn’t even use Naley’s name while on-duty—including, as in her current situation, while battling opponents—in case those around her ever saved that knowledge for later.
If Isobel truly thought Naley was at risk while in Liam’s company, she’d have her blade to his neck and her claws around his balls so fast he wouldn’t even feel her kicking him out of the tricity area. The fact that she didn’t demand Naley hightail it out of there was … promising.
“Do what you have to do,” Liam muttered. “We’ll be fine.”
The loud crack of fist connecting with jaw split the air. Uncontrolled blubbering ensued.
“Well, thank you.” Isobel sounded doubtful, but seemed to take him at his word, at least for now. “I really appreciate it. Tell her I’ll be back soon. And to call me.”
