Perfect Mate (29 page)
Authors: Mina Carter
Sienna rocked against him and his hips jerked upward, grinding into her so she felt the thick curl of his need. She moaned low in her throat, wanting so much more as her nipples tightened and panties dampened.
Warrick’s kiss gentled and her heart clenched, because she knew he was going to lift his head in a moment. But he didn’t right away. Seemed just as reluctant to break the kiss as she was. His lips trailed to the corner of her mouth, his tongue flicking and his teeth nibbling while his hips ground against hers. He groaned again, before his head lifted and his lips feathered across her forehead. And then, then he was gone.
The coolness of the air brushed against her skin and Sienna bit her swollen lip, not wanting to open her eyes and face the reality that he’d just ended another sensual moment. That it would go no farther than a heated, passionate kiss.
“Sienna,” he said gently. “Look at me.”
Part of her wanted to deny him like a stubborn child. Keep her eyes closed and stay locked in a moment that had taken her to an alternate reality.
The strong fingers that lifted her chin took the choice from her and her lashes fluttered open unwillingly. His eyes, more gray now than blue, swirled with need and yet a control that clearly spoke he had no intention of acting on his desire.
“If you say that shouldn’t have happened again, I swear I’ll drive my elbow in to your ribs,” she threatened unsteadily.
His lips twitched into what was almost a sad smile. “I’m not going to say that shouldn’t have happened, Sienna. I wanted to kiss you.
Had
to kiss you and feel you alive and clinging to me. Dammit, when I thought I almost lost you—”
“You can have me, Warrick,” she cut in, her voice husky with desire. She reached for him again, sliding a hand up his jaw and feeling the prickle of stubble there scrape her palm. “All of me. I want you so much right now it’s a physical ache. How can you not see that? Feel that?”
Something close to pain flickered across Warrick’s face as he caught her wrist and pushed it gently away.
“You have no idea how much I want you,” he said raggedly. “But I can’t have you, Sienna—”
“Why?” Her stomach clenched. “Is this some self-imposed torturous rule?”
“No, it’s not my rule. It’s shifter law. We can only mate with other shifters. If we take a human mate we’re banished from the community.”
Her submission can heal him. His dominance can free her.
Impulse
© 2012 Moira Rogers
Southern Arcana, Book 5
Sera Sinclaire is a New Orleans rarity: a submissive coyote trapped in a town overrun by dominant shapeshifters. Worse, she lacks the willpower to deny the alphas-in-shining-armor who need her soothing presence, even when their protectiveness threatens to crush her hard-won self-reliance.
The only shifter she doesn’t want to push away is Julio Mendoza, a wolf so dominant he’s earned a place on the Southeast council.
Julio doesn’t have the luxury of indulging in the vacation his psychic shrink insists he needs. He can’t turn his back on responsibilities he’s beginning to wish he’d never shouldered. When an obsessive ex endangers Sera, though, instinct drives him to get her out of town. Watching her come to life outside the city makes him feel like he’s finally done something right, and her touch ignites desire he doesn’t want to ignore.
But soon, lighthearted flirting becomes a dangerous game of seduction, where every day spent falling into each other is another day avoiding the truth. Sera’s ex isn’t the only one who’d disapprove of their relationship. There are wolves who would kill to get Sera out of Julio’s life—starting with his own blood kin.
Warning: Contains endless summer road trips, family drama, redneck werewolves, sexual power games and a taboo love affair between a submissive coyote who’s among the last of her kind and a dominant wolf who loves his heroine’s ass. Literally.
Enjoy the following excerpt for
Impulse:
If he didn’t do anything else right, at least he could do this. “We’re going to keep you safe. Whatever it takes.”
“Any of them would have kept me safe.” She unbuckled her seatbelt with a soft
click
and slid across the bench seat until she was tucked against his side with one arm wrapped around him in a half-hug. “You’re keeping me sane.”
Sane.
Exactly what he wasn’t as he cupped the back of her head and tilted her face to his. Insane, that was more like it—for a thousand different reasons.
He kissed her anyway.
She had soft lips. Soft and warm, and they tasted like the cherry ChapStick she’d tossed into her bag a few miles back. Her hand slapped against his chest, fingers splayed wide, then fisted around his shirt as she moaned, low and hungry.
He wanted to delve deeper, bite her lip and slide his tongue into her mouth. Instead, he lifted his head and fought to slow his breathing. Sera’s fingernails dug into his chest as she voiced her protest in a snarl of loss and caught his lips again.
He reacted without thought, tightened his fingers in her hair and pulled her head back. “Sera.”
She went still. Not just quiet, but utterly still. Even her breathing stopped for one tense moment, and in that moment her power washed over him in a shuddering wave. An alpha’s magic challenged. Hers was sweet and accepting, clinging to him even as her breath escaped on her rushed apology. “I’m sorry—”
“No,
I
am.” He stroked his thumb over the shell of her ear. “Not about kissing you. I’m not going to apologize for that. But I shouldn’t have done it here. Now.”
“I don’t have very good control.” A confession. A tortured whisper. “I’m so freaking tired of fucking humans. I eat them alive.”
He knew there were human men who could handle fucking shifters—people did it all the time, Mackenzie for one—but Sera seemed caught up on what she wanted versus what she thought she should want. “What you want isn’t so complicated, sweetheart. You’ve just got to let go.”
She shivered. “Letting go is how you drown.”
He still had the taste of her on his tongue. “Not letting go isn’t worth it.”
“No one’s ever caught me.” Her whole damn body trembled with nervous energy. “Last time I let go, I fell forever.”
Her eyes were deep and still despite all that energy. “Does that mean you’re going to hold back now?” he asked.
She fought the grip on her hair, tugged against it until she could nuzzle his chin. Not a very human gesture, and he could feel the feral edge of her coyote beneath the surface. “I don’t know how to let go a little. Don’t ask for it if you don’t really want it. It’ll change this trip. It’ll change everything.”
It sounded like an ultimatum and a promise. It sounded like a warning. “We’ll find out,” he whispered. “Tonight.”
Warm breath feathered across his ear. She licked the lobe, then closed her teeth on it with a quiet growl. “The clerk inside is staring at us.”
“Do you blame her?” After another heartbeat, Julio released Sera and started the car. “Probably wondering whether she needs to call the cops on us.”
After retreating to her side of the car, Sera gave the attendant a cheerful wave. “Maybe she was enjoying the show. You’re hotter than any of the softcore stuff on cable.”
“If you say so.”
“You don’t fool me, mister. You look like a man with a healthy stash of porn.” Her seatbelt clicked into place before she turned to eye him. “I’m thinking…busty cheerleaders in short skirts? Or is that too vanilla?”
“I’m all about variety,” he told her solemnly. “Busty cheerleaders are well-represented in my collection, but I would never limit myself so severely.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught her grin. “I stick to the Playgirl stuff. Oiled-up men aren’t really my thing, but at least they go for the hunky ones.”
He flashed her a knowing grin of his own. “And you like the men in uniform, right? All the ladies do.”
“You mean like McNeely?” She whistled as he steered the car out of the parking lot. “That is one fine hunk of wolf. Too bad he’s got a big dumb crush on Giselle.”
After Wesley Dade’s conveniently telling remark, they’d probably spent the weekend in bed together. “That’s your type, huh? Tall, dark and handsome?”
“You have to ask, when I just tried to climb into your lap in a parking lot?”
“You’re the one who brought it up.”
She laughed. “
You’re
tall, dark and handsome, Mendoza.”
“You’re mostly right, Sinclaire.” He adjusted the rearview mirror so the slanting sunlight wouldn’t blind him and pressed his foot harder on the accelerator. “I’m not particularly tall.”
“You’re taller than me.” She reached across the seat, and her fingers brushed the back of his neck in a caress almost as teasing as her words. “But not too much taller. Which would come in handy, if you’d ever considered bending me over furniture for dirty sex.”
The car swerved as his grip tightened on the wheel. It wasn’t hard to call forth images to match her words—her naked, rounded hips, pale skin under his hands, and the smooth, endless expanse of her back stretched out before him.
Her fingertip snuck under the collar of his shirt. “If you were taller, I’d have to stand on phone books or something.”
That bare touch on the back of his neck hardened his cock. “Arrive alive, honey. Hands to yourself.”
Another laugh, but she eased away. “And this is why everyone in New Orleans thinks we’re going to spend the next week having sex. They all know I can’t keep my hands off you.”
Perfect Mate
Mina Carter
Monsters do exist...and they’re the good guys.
Lillian Rosewood leads an ordinary, boring life working as the manager of a psychiatric hospital. The highlights of her day, other than her skinny hot chocolate, are the hunky guards who work in the secure section. Until a late-night emergency is wheeled in.
Captain Jack Harper is insane, drop-dead gorgeous...and just had his abdomen shredded. Despite the fact they're not an emergency room, Lillian can't turn him away and risk a death on her hands. Unable to get the handsome soldier out of her mind, Lillian sneaks into the restricted area to check on him. What she finds is beyond belief. Somehow Jack has managed to heal himself from a near-fatal wound in mere hours.
When one of the doctors, Walker, attempts to rape her, things go from bad to worse. In the blink of an eye, Jack is loose and Walker is dead... and Lillian must accept a truth about her rescuer that will change her world forever. What if the patients aren't insane? What if their stories of secret government experiments and monsters are true?
Warning: Contains blood, mayhem and nude werewolves operating heavy weaponry. Large amounts of sarcasm and smart-ass vampires may offend some readers. No civilian hospital staff were harmed in the making of this story.
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B
Cincinnati OH 45249
Perfect Mate
Copyright © 2012 by Mina Carter
ISBN: 978-1-60928-867-9
Edited by Amy Sherwood
Cover by Kanaxa
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: August 2012
