Grayslake: Creed's Claim (7 page)

“Creed, no! Please, you have to be alright.” Her voice was broken as she wiped mud from his cheek. “You can’t leave me. You have to fight. You’ve always fought…so fight for us now. Please? I love you.”

Lying there, in her arms, Creed finally felt at peace. For years, he’d waited for Kait to look at him the way she did now. And she loved him. Emotion burst through his body, his heart the epicenter of the storm. Pity it was finally happening as Carve filtered through his system, killing him from the inside out. Heat rolled through him in a flash fire, burning the inside of his veins as something surged up from deep within him to just under his skin.

But then he didn’t feel pain. Oh shit, no pain meant things were bad. Really bad. Not wanting to close his eyes, he watched Kait and lifted a hand to smooth her hair from her face.

“I’ve always loved you, Kait. Ever since the moment I first saw you.”

His admission was soft, but not as thready as he’d expected. Wasn’t Carve supposed to shut down the central nervous system or something? If anything, the pain was receding and he felt good. Certainly better than any dying man had a right to feel.

She smiled through her tears. “You certainly took your time telling me. Why?”

He shrugged. “You were Mark’s sister. Off limits.”

“Fucking stupid me and your honor code!” She swore. “Didn’t you ever think to ask me what
I
wanted. All these years… I’d never have left if I thought…”

She bit her lip looking away. Surging upward, Creed caught her around the nape with a big hand. “What do you mean, you wouldn’t have left? Left Lizard Lick for the city, you mean?”

She nodded, meeting his eyes. “After Mark, I didn’t want to be here. Everyone told me it was best to make a clean break… But if you’d have asked me, I’d have stayed. But I didn’t think you saw me that way. I thought you just saw me as Mark’s irritating kid sister. A brat.”

He chuckled, thumb stroking her neck softly as he sat up with her in his arms, cradling her smaller body with his. “You are a brat. But no, I never saw you as a kid.”

“Creed?” she asked, hands splayed out over his chest, her gaze intent on him.

“Yes, love?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be ill or something?”

He blinked, then looked down at himself. Shit, she was right. He felt better than he had in years.

“See?
See!
It wasn’t Carve!” Harrison all but screamed, his face pale as he gestured at Creed. “How could he be on his feet if it was Carve? He’d be deader than a dodo!”

His voice brought Creed back to the matter at hand and he rolled to his feet, levelling a murderous expression on Harrison. Urging Kait out of harm’s way, he stalked toward the guy, only stopping to slide a sideways glance at Dean.

“He’s mine.”

The Itan shrugged and spread his arms. “He attacked while your back was turned. He’s all yours.”

The Itan turned away. Lilly looked Harrison up and down before nodding curtly. “May your soul be welcomed with loving arms.”

“What?” Harrison babbled as the two bears walked to the edge of the pit and hauled themselves out, Dean boosting Kait up to Lilly. “No, no, no…you can’t leave me here with him. It wasn’t Carvix. It was horse sedative mixed with rat poison. Just something to slow you down.”

Was it fuck. He didn’t trust a word that came out this lying little asshole’s mouth.

“Makes no difference,” he growled, and anger boiled within him. This piece of shit had tried to end him. Why didn’t matter. How, or the fact that it hadn’t worked, didn’t matter. What mattered was that he hadn’t managed it…

Creed grinned nastily.

“You’ve had your fun. Now it’s my turn.”

The change ripped over him in less than a heartbeat. Fire raced through him, his body contorting as it snapped from one shape to another. Within an instant, he went from a six-foot two-hundred-pound guy to over four hundred pounds of pissed off werebear as he advanced on the terrified Harrison.

“Please, no, don’t hurt me…” the smaller man whimpered, eyes wide and no hint of his bear in them at all. Obviously the creature had decided it wanted no part of the retribution that was coming Harrison’s way.

Creed roared, jaws wide, and swiped. His massive paw cut the air, lethal claws heading for Harrison’s face. At the last minute he pulled the blow, parting the skin almost delicately. Surgically. Something deep inside told him that, with whatever the little bastard had used on him still in his system, the claw marks would scar. They’d always be there for everyone to see. For everyone to know that Harrison had tried and failed. That he’d been found wanting and begged for his life.

Standing, Creed folded his bear easily back within himself. “Fuck off, Harrison, and remember today. Remember you owe me your life.”

“Yes, Enforcer. Thank you.” Head bowed, Harrison scuttled away, getting out of the pit as fast as his legs would carry him. Creed watched him go and then looked around the clan lining the edges of the pit, making sure to meet the eye of each and every one of Anderson’s little supporters.

“Anyone else?” he demanded, throwing his arms out wide in challenge.

There was shuffling of feet but no one answered. No one was willing to step into the pit with a bear as big as he’d proven himself to be.

A hard look on his face, he swept a final bow and turned to stalk toward the side of the pit, his movements filled with the power of his bear just under his skin. There was no difficulty. No pain. He and the creature were finally one.

Looking up for a second, he met Kait’s eyes and smiled. Now he knew why he’d never been able to shift properly.

He’d been missing a part of himself.

He’d needed
her
… the other half of his soul.

Now he had her, she had him, and their happily ever after was just about to begin.

T
all
, blond and handsome has been tailing her for months.

But born a warlock and trained by a demon, Beth Roark isn’t a woman to be put off her game by a pretty face, not even when he almost catches her on her last job, the last job, the one that will fund her retirement from a life of crime. One soul-stealing kiss and she’s gone, but he’s not that easy to get rid of. And neither are the bully-boy wolves who first hired her to steal for them and now want her head on a platter.

She’s mysterious, beautiful and a professional thief.

Werelion Alex Sullivan is the best at what he does, tracking people who don’t want to be found, but even with his skills, bringing in infamous antiquities thief ‘The Cat’ is proving to be somewhat difficult. She’s as good at not being caught as he is at catching people. When he gets the drop on her, he realizes why. She’s a magic user. And his mate. Just one problem, the people who own the artefact she just stole want it back… and her dead.

He needs to find her before they do, or risk losing his mate before he can make her his…

Bobbi Bradbury has man trouble. Local bully boy, Conrad Jackson, has decided she’s his Miss. Right but as far as she’s concerned, he couldn’t be more Mr.Wrong. Unfortunately, he’s not taking no for an answer. The charm offensive is over and it seems he’s looking to take what he wants, no matter her thoughts on the matter.

Reese Connor is out of the army and on his way to Vegas. The open road, no bullets flying past his head…it’s all this scarred and weary werebear wants. Until his old buddy calls in a favor. Operation: protection. His buddy’s little sister is in some kind of trouble. Fine. He’ll check in and bust a few heads then carry on his merry way…

But the path to Vegas never runs smoothly and Reese finds himself between the devil and the deep blue sea. His buddy’s little sister is less sweet and innocent and more sexy and seriously curved. And his mate.

The kicker? She doesn’t know about werebears. The second kicker? His buddy’ll kill him for touching his little sister. And if that wasn’t enough, someone out there is determined that he won’t have Bobbi…ever. And they’ll put her six feet under to stop him.

He can't shift, she can't control hers...

Half-breed lioness Renae Brogan is a cat on the run. Leaving her asshole ex meant leaving her pride or losing her life. Now she's hiding out in Deal's Gap, Tennessee, with a new name and a new look. Pity she can't do anything about her inability to control her chaotic shifts. But nobody's perfect...

Hale Roark is a warlock with a muddy bloodline and a weather speciality. Some shifter blood way back when means he can't bond with a familiar and unlock his true magic potential but no worries, he's plenty powerful without one. Bounty-hunting runaway weres is a damn good living, and the fact that he's as mean as sin is an added bonus.

Until he's hired to find one wayward lioness and tracks her down to Deal's gap. It should be an easy job. Track the female, deliver her back to her pride for them to deal with, no questions asked. Until he finds her. Then he skips straight to the answers.

One, She's beautiful... Two, She's his familiar... Three, He'll change the rules of magic itself to make her his.