by Tasha Black
Hounded
Tasha Black
13th Story Press
Contents
Copyright
Tasha Black Starter Library
Acknowledgments
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Tasha Black Starter Library
About the Author
Curse of the Alpha by Tasha Black
Building a Hero by Tasha Black
Woodland Creek
Copyright © 2015 by 13th Story Press All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
First Edition: November, 2015
13th Story Press PO Box 506 Swarthmore, PA 19081
[email protected]
Cover design 2015 by Jennifer Munswami
www.jennifermunswami.com
Tasha Black Starter Library
Packed with steamy shifters, mischievous magic, billionaire superheroes, and plenty of HEAT, the Tasha Black Starter Library is the perfect way to dive into Tasha's unique brand of Romance with Bite!
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to the unstoppable women of Woodland Creek for creating a world for us to play together:
Scarlett Dawn, Aria Kane, Lia Davis, K.N. Lee, Hope Welsh, Calinda B, Alexia Purdy, A.E. Gatta, J. Rose Alexander, J.M. Witt, Carina Wilder, Sarah Makela, Emily Walker, Elle Thorne, Nicole Blanchard, Tia Louise, Mandy Rosko, J.D. Hollyfield, Mindy Larson, M.C. Cerny, Xandra James, Raci Ames, Isobelle Cate, April Aasheim, Cherie Marks, Rachel M Raithby, Ever Coming, Jenni Moen, and K Webster.
And special thanks to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for writing The Hound of the Baskervilles, and bringing the curse, and the ghostly hound of the moors to life. It was a pleasure to pen a sexy shifter take on his classic tale of mystery.
To The Black List, a more fun-loving crew of raucous readers I have never met! I’m so lucky to have these adventures with you!
And to my author friends, Sylvia Frost, Elle Thorne, V.M. Black, and so many more. You girls make a solitary job feel like a party!
Chapter 1
The front door swung open almost violently. In the slight movement of air that followed, Dulcie learned everything she needed to know about her visitor, without even turning from her peaceful view of the duck pond out the window.
The man who entered the office was a shifter, some sort of wolf or fox, most likely. He was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome. Sleeves of tattoos snaked up each well-muscled arm.
“Hi again, Van,” she said, spinning her desk chair to face him.
“Hello,” he replied abruptly.
Something in his dark raspy voice, tinged with the slightest South American accent, tickled Dulcie’s insides, but she pretended not to notice. Keeping things professional was the only way to survive as a real estate agent, especially in a town as unique as Woodland Creek.
“Let me guess, you’re looking for a cozy little condo with a view of the woods?” she teased, managing to keep a straight face.
“Very funny,” he acknowledged mirthlessly. He ran a hand through his too-long hair and lowered his glance to her laptop screen.
Dulcie had the dubious pleasure of sensing that what he was really doing was checking out her breasts. Being an empath had its perks.
She resisted the urge to arch her back. Somehow, the idea of his eyes on her body made her pulse race. Dulcie was a soft, curvy girl - and usually quite comfortable with her body. But Van was a rock hard personal trainer, which made her feel a bit self-conscious. And he was… that other thing she didn’t want to think about.
He was probably only sizing her up as a potential client.
She pulled herself back together sternly.
“Sorry. There are no new commercial spaces. But the Clapton’s still have their place,” she offered, hoping he would finally take her up on it.
It wasn’t that there were no commercial spaces in town, just none that would rent to Van. His credit score was inversely proportional to the extreme hotness score Dulcie would have assigned him.
Not to mention the other stuff on the report and financial form.
Have you ever made a late payment? Yes.
Have you ever been incarcerated? Yes.
Have you ever been obligated to pay child support? No.
She’d stopped reading right there, while he still had one thing going for him, and shoved the whole stack of papers into an envelope. The most important part had already damned him - the credit scores across the top of the page.
They weren’t nearly good enough for the kind of place he wanted. If Al and Bernadette Clapton weren’t so sweet, they wouldn’t let him have their space either.
Especially considering what he wanted to use it for.
“I told you already, that’s not the right place for me,” he growled, storm clouds forming over his gorgeous dark eyes. “It’s too small, and too far off the beaten path.”
Dulcie shrugged and tried not to picture hopping up off her chair to comfort him, pushing his black leather jacket off his shoulders as she nuzzled his gorgeous—
“Any news on the place next door?” he asked, ruining Dulcie’s perfectly good fantasy.
“Look, I know you’re not from here, but there’s a huge market for occult stuff here. That place is nowhere near closing shop,” she explained, not for the first time. “You’re just going to have to wait.”
He spun around and began to pace the pine floor and Oriental carpets of the real estate office.
“It’s probably for the best, Van,” she added as gently as she could. “You need to work on your credit and save a little more.”
“Dulcinea, I know I’m not the ideal client,” he said. And, as if hearing his mouth on her whole name weren’t enough, he placed a hand on the top of the desk and leaned in close to her.
The air he displaced carried his spicy scent the last foot between them.
Dulcie wanted nothing more than to quietly pick apart the bouquet of his breath and body scent. Frustration, excitement, sandwiches…
“But I know what I want.” His voice was quiet but the gravity of his tone vibrated between them. “And I will not stop until it’s mine.”
He was so close to her now. She couldn’t keep her eyes from the curve of his cruel mouth.
His heartbeat had sped up slightly, matching hers.
He leaned forward another inch.
The door swung open again.
Definitely violently this time.
Oh for god’s sake. It was Gil. She would know that smell anywhere.
Dulcie had sat at his kitchen table and listened to him yell at her for hours every time an open house led to nothing. When the house had finally sold, she almost didn’t have the heart to put his money in her bank account. Alm
ost.
What reason could he possibly have to be angry with her now?
“Blanco!” he yelled, pronouncing it like ‘blank oh’.
“Oh, hello, Mr. Holly,” Van said, turning from Dulcie to reach out his hand.
“I don’t think so, you… bastard!” Gil’s face was pink with fury.
“What on earth are you talking about?” Van asked.
“My wife, my wife…” Gil spluttered.
“Oh, yes, Heidi looks great, doesn’t she?” Van asked with a smile.
Dulcie couldn’t help but agree. Heidi Holly had always been a beautiful woman, in spite of her rather unfortunate married name. But lately, she’d had a nice spring in her step. It figured, Heidi was his first client, and she’d devoured Van before anyone else could get to him.
Though, if the rumors were true, he’d been servicing the wealthy women of Woodland Creek for months, and not just as a personal trainer.
“You’re a charlatan, and I know what you’re up to!” Gil said.
“What am I up to?” Van asked.
Dulcie could sense Van found the situation more amusing than intimidating.
“You… you… You know what I’m talking about! I came home yesterday for lunch, and I heard you in there with her. When I opened the bedroom door, there was a big white dog jumping out the open window and running across my lawn. I’m not stupid, you know. It’s bad enough you have no respect for the bonds of marriage, but do I have to pay you on top of it?”
“Listen, man,” Van said calmly, not rising to the bait. “I’m a personal trainer. I’m not a dog. I’m not… whatever you think I am. My prices are very reasonable for an in-home personal trainer with my experience. I come as many times as your wife pays me for. If you have an issue with her spending, you should take it up with her. But I’m telling you, she looks fantastic - you’re getting your money’s worth.” He eyed the man up and down. “You know, I’d be glad to take you on as well. You’re gonna have a hard time keeping up with her before too long.”
Gil’s face turned a sickly shade of purple. He turned to Dulcie.
“Dulcie, you’re a nice girl,” he said as he stomped out the door. “Don’t let this guy get into your head.”
In all the time she’d worked with Gil, it was the highest praise she’d ever gotten.
Chapter 2
Dulcie half-expected Van to slink out with an embarrassed look. Or at least attempt to defend himself with assertions that he would never take advantage of Heidi Holly.
Instead, he hopped on Dulcie’s desk and gazed at her with one brow raised.
“Who whizzed in his Wheaties?” he said.
Dulcie felt a big goofy smile bubbling to the surface. For once, she didn’t try to push it down and stay professional.
Van smiled back at her - a real smile. She didn’t need to use her gift, she could tell by the way it crinkled the corners of his eyes. His canines seemed to poke out just a hair longer than they should have.
She was just losing herself in his smile and the warmth that seemed to pour off him, when he spoke again.
“Come on,” he said, turning to leave without even looking back to see if she was following. “Let’s get some coffee.”
A guy like Van probably had women trotting after him like puppies. Which might just be an appropriate analogy in this case.
A big white dog jumping out the window.
Gil was crazy, but his story was probably pretty close to the truth. She’d pegged Van as a shifter from the fist time they’d met. Her talent as an empath could usually glean at least that much.
Woodland Creek had more than its share of shifters, as well as other magical creatures, thanks to its unique location. But even so, it was considered poor form to ask someone exactly what they shifted into - a fact Dulcie was personally thankful for.
She had pegged Van just right as some sort of canine, but she’d expected something less domestic.
She wondered if there was more to Van’s bad-boy image than met the eye. But now he was almost to the door and Dulcie was still glued to her chair, watching his beautiful ass fill out his jeans as he walked away.
She couldn’t just walk out. She had work to do.
Dulcie glanced at the half-full pot of stale coffee on the back table.
She closed her laptop screen and launched herself after Van.
Chapter 3
Van smiled to himself when he heard Dulcie’s light footsteps approach.
She had to know that the real reason he came in all the time was to see her.
From their first meeting when he’d stormed in, feeling angry and defensive before he’d even opened his mouth, the mere sight of Dulcie had soothed him. Her soft dark hair, her sweet smile, the gentle curves of her body, they all seemed to have been created to absorb his hard angles.
And she was funny.
The world of shifters could be sexy, intense, scary… But there wasn’t a lot of light-heartedness in Van’s past.
Dulcie’s first dry comment didn’t even land on him because he wasn’t expecting it.
But the goofy grin that followed filled him with surprised delight. He didn’t laugh, but it made his chest lighten.
And then, looking down in embarrassment at the joke she thought had failed, she’d taken a sip of her drink.
Her pouty lips parted. The tip of her tongue sucked the straw into her mouth, her eyes closed in ecstasy.
And he was lost.
His body vibrated with a violent impatience to put that look on her face himself. He wanted to lose his fingers in her glossy hair, angle his hardness into her yielding curves. His cock was bursting to take the place of that lucky straw between her plush lips. He wanted to possess her, make her scream with pleasure, and then fall on her lap weeping.
Van didn’t have lovesick feelings about women. He fucked them and moved on.
But that late afternoon, with the sunlight slipping through the window to fill the office with a pink otherworldly glow, he was frozen in place, transfixed by a vision of love silhouetted by twilight, until she put the drink down and turned to him, breaking the spell.
Since then he’d been back again and again.
She had to be getting frustrated with him. His credit wasn’t good enough. He didn’t have enough savings. At least, not as far as she knew. There were no available spaces that satisfied him.
He knew she was attracted to him, his inner dog could smell it on her.
But she gave no sign that she returned his feelings, or was even aware of them.
Maybe it was because she didn’t find him attractive, but that was highly unlikely. Van wasn’t vain, but he knew women liked the way he looked. He was tall and muscular. Some lover in the past had told him he had ‘an angel’s face and a devil’s smile’, whatever that was supposed to mean.
No, his looks shouldn’t be an issue. It was more likely she didn’t respond to him because the only info she had on him told her he was a fighter with a checkered past and bad credit.
Oh, and the rumor that he banged all the women he trained.
And since he’d apparently been struck dumb with lust, he couldn’t seem to share much more.
Not that there was much more.
Now, as she approached him, a shiver of anticipation tickled his spine. She was following, she was with him.
Instinct made him want to stop and press her to the wall right there in the office. This was where they had met. Maybe things wouldn’t feel the same out there in the world.
He shrugged it off and swung the door open, letting a rush of cool fall air buffet them both.
He held the door and she smiled up at him.
His heart constricted again and he felt almost sick with joy.
“Coffee shop?” she asked, pulling a key out of her pocket and locking the office door behind her.
“Yes.” Yes, a thousand times yes. Wherever you go, that’s where I want to be.
She smiled again and they began to walk. The breeze lifted
her hair slightly, revealing the line of her neck and shoulder and unleashing her scent. It was like nothing he’d experienced - mangoes and honey and spring air.
Leaves drifted to the sidewalk from the pale blue sky above. Van wondered how he had ended up in this place. He’d been drawn here like a magnet, but why? Why had he found Dulcie? And an apartment? And a way to make a living, to save his miserable hide?
There was something about this town…
“Hey, Dulcie!” a mousy looking woman with a chubby little boy sung out.
“Oh, hi, Roberta! Hi, Dylan! How’s the new place?” Dulcie asked like she really cared.
Roberta smiled gratefully.
“It’s wonderful. We can’t believe you found us a home, you’re a miracle worker. I wish you got paid more for it.”
Dulcie threw her head back and laughed.
“It was so much fun to work with you guys. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Hurry up and win the lottery so we can go castle-hunting!”
Roberta laughed too, and they continued on.
“Seems like you actually like her,” Van said doubtfully.
“Of course I do!” Dulcie looked at him like he was crazy.
“But, don’t your customers make you mad?” he asked.
Dulcie’s brow furrowed.
“Sometimes they don’t understand how things work and they get frustrated. But they always have reasons for what they want, we just have to figure it out. That’s why they need me. I guess I like working with people.”
“Not me,” Van shook his head.
“Hmm, I heard differently!” Dulcie said.
He snapped his gaze over to her, ready to defend himself.
Then he saw she was grinning at him mischievously.
“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he warned her lightly.
“Oh come on, doesn’t anything interesting happen in this town?” she complained with the darkest look he’d ever seen on her face.
