CILLIAN The gentle knock on the hotel door roused me from my sleep. Pins and needles plagued the arm Ciara was sleeping on. Carefully, I slipped my arm out from under Ciara’s head and nudged her to the pillow. It had been more than a rough night, and I couldn’t bear the thought of having the maid wake her. Slipping the sheets off me, I let my legs fall over the edge of the bed. Ever so slightly, I got up, keeping one eye on Ciara and praying she wouldn’t wake. As quickly as I could, I moved to the door and peeked through the crack. “Housekeeping,” the woman said. “We’re good,” I answered. Before she could say another word, I closed the door and exhaled. Ciara stirred, and I held my breath, hoping she wouldn’t wake up. She had been through so much; I just wanted her to get some sleep. “Cillian?” Ciara’s voice was tired and muffled. For a moment, I wondered if she were asleep or awake. Tiptoeing to her, I craned my neck to spy on her as she slept. A sensation of peace washed over m
Igasped and shot up. The room was pitch black, and my heart pounded fiercely in my chest. “Hey, you okay?” Cillian asked as he shot up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Relief came over me when I realized I wasn’t dreaming anymore. I was safe and all was well. “Yeah,” I said. “Just a strange dream.” “Come here,” Cillian said as he lay back down. “Come sleep on me. I promise I’ll protect you from those bad dreams.” A smile drifted over my lips as I scooted down into the nook of his arm. He was so warm and comforting, it amazed me that he could banish the bad thoughts in my mind so easily. “What did you dream about? Or do you not want to tell me?” Cillian asked as he played with the tips of my hair. “It was weird. I was back at the sacred oak tree, and it looked sick, like it was dying.” “That’s not a good sign,” Cillian whispered. “But then the red fog came through and I was rescued by Preacher in a chopper.” “What, I don’t get a cameo in your dreams?” Cillian teased as he h
CILLIAN “Holden,” I snapped. “Yeah, I heard,” Holden said as he scrambled to disconnect from the system. I pulled him away from the system and shoved him toward the door. We did not need to get arrested for trespassing. “AP, Laya! Torque, Hatchett!” I called over my shoulder, hoping they heard me. I spotted AP and Laya rushing around from the back of the house. Their shadows bobbed through the broken windows. “We’re right behind you,” Torque called. I took a moment to glance over my shoulder and take one last look at the destruction. Everything was so surreal. It was as if the place had been in a war zone. The stench of death lingered in the air, but I knew it had nothing to do with the Corpse Lily. I was smelling what remained of Colleen and Tippy. “Pick up the pace,” Torque snapped as he rushed by me with Hatchett on his heels. We made it outside, and I glanced to the west. The clouds of dust coming off the tires grew as my heart drummed violently in my chest. “Take the back
“This is nice, isn’t?” Laya asked as we waited outside the Picasso. I couldn’t help but smile as Laya looked over the menu posted on the wall. “Really, when was the last time we got to do this with just us girls? It seems like we’re always stuck with one of the guys, you know?” “Never,” Sam said as she checked her watch. “Do we know when Melody and Kenzie are going to get here? I’m starving,” I said as my stomach started to grumble. “Kenzie said she’d be here around six thirty the last time I talked with her,” Sam said. “Isn’t that them over there?” Daisy asked. I turned my attention toward the walkway and smiled as Kenzie and Melody stepped off the escalator. “Hey!” Melody shouted as she rushed through the crowd. “What took you so long?” Laya asked as Kenzie threw her arm around my neck and gave me a tight hug. “Traffic,” Melody answered. “But damn, this place is nice.” “Wait five minutes and the Bellagio fountains will start,” I said as I released Kenzie to hug Melody. “I’m
CILLIAN “You sure you wanna be doing this?” AP asked as he snuffed out the cigar in the ashtray. “I mean, this is kind of permanent.” “It’s already set in stone for me, AP,” I said as I chuckled at his disgruntled expression. “But marriage? Isn’t it enough that you two marked each other? Why you gotta go and get all traditional? Oh, wait, never mind. That’s just who you are.” “What’s the matter, AP? You don’t like my sister?” Aiden asked as he stood before the mirror, fumbling with his bow tie. “You all know what she did to me in tenth grade,” AP grumbled. I laughed. “Still can’t get over the fact that she kicked your ass, huh?” I laughed. “Ciara didn’t kick my ass,” AP insisted. “She cheated. There’s no way a girl of her size could fit that many pies in her little stomach. Losing that contest ruined everything for me.” “Didn’t you end up with Malia a few months ago?” I asked as I stared at myself in the full-length mirror. “Yeah, but I’m not one to settle. Everyone knows tha
A year ago, if someone had told me I’d be working at a school filled with shifters, I would have said they were crazy.I checked my phone to see how long I had before I needed to get dressed and get on the road to POSHA—the Polar Shift Academy. It was only five-thirty, and with the academy’s very progressive start time of nine in the morning, I’d have plenty of time to kill.With so much pent-up, nervous energy in me, I decided to take a quick run through town. Running would help me get some of the nervous energy from starting my new job out of my system and would have the added benefit of loosening up all the tight muscles in my neck and shoulders before I had to spend the day running around and chasing children.Sliding off the velvety seat cushion, I left my seating chart and files on the kitchen counter and walked back to my room to change.It still threw me for a loop every time I walked into the bedroom of the quaint beach house. Looking out the huge windows and seeing the shore
BrattWell, this was the best day of my life.It wasn’t every morning that a beautiful woman ran into you like a speeding train, but I wasn’t one to complain. At least not until I saw her blue eyes roll and flutter with the impact.My coffee splattered all over my black T-shirt, seeping through to my skin. Lucky for morning-jog Barbie that my temperature tended to run a bit higher thanks to the lycan blood coursing through my veins. A toasty 104.9 was the standard temperature for a grown wolf, which made it harder for us to burn from warm liquids.I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was disappointed that the sexy little blonde didn’t laugh at my joke straight away, but at the speed she was running, running into me probably felt a lot more like running into a solid oak tree rather than a person. When she wobbled a bit, I quickly grabbed her forearm to steady her.What followed thereafter was an adorable litany of the small woman fretting over me. There was something strangely endearing abou
BRATT.About an hour later, Travis was fully briefed, my son was fed and snugly buckled into his car seat in the back of the Jeep, and we were on our way to Polar Shift Academy. Smiling, I watched Noah wiggling to The Beatles in the rearview mirror as I drove.I couldn’t believe how fast time had flown. It felt like only yesterday that I was cradling him, worried I’d break him because he was so fragile and tiny. Now he was starting his first day of kindergarten, learning to have his own interests and dreams.He truly had become a little person before my eyes.I fought back the lump in my throat as we made our way through town and pulled up to the state-of-the-art academy. The place was a source of pride for me, seeing as I’d had a hand in some of the plans and hiring to build such a progressive and advanced school.My business, Fur Sure Solutions, specialized in shifter-friendly construction projects. We’d done everything from shifter parks and clubs to houses, apartment complexes, an