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An Excerpt From: MYTH OF MOONLIGHT
Copyright © LENA
MATTHEWS and LIZ ANDREWS, 2007.
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing,
Inc.
“Come with me and I’ll explain everything.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Lycan Law.”
“I’m not in your Pack.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. According to Lycan Law, Zingaro,
if you’re unmated and unclaimed and you’re in my territory, you belong to
me.” It was officially Nico’s new favorite law. Anything to put Kimberly
under his watchful eyes worked for him.
“Stop calling me that!”
“What?”
“Zingaro or whatever. My name is Kimberly.”
“I know very well what your name is, Kimberly.” He said
her name as if it were a caress. “But Zingaro is fitting as well. It
means ‘my little gypsy’. My Were without a home.”
“I have a home but more importantly, I don’t belong to
you. I don’t belong to anyone.”
She was such an innocent. It was rewarding and annoying
at the same time. Nico couldn’t imagine who would have let her leave
without warning her about the ways of the world. “Not up on your rules and
regulations?”
“Are we beasts or are we goddamn democrats?”
“Everything has laws, even in nature. The strong
survive, that is the law of nature.”
“If you say Lycan Law one more time, I’m going to
scream.”
“Prepare to scream,” he warned, and to his amazement
Kimberly opened her mouth to do so. Moving quickly, Nico covered her mouth
with his hand. There was no doubt about it, her meekness didn’t carry to
the bone.
Threading his other hand through the auburn curls
hanging loosely at the back of her head, Nico gripped the silky strands and
used them as an anchor to hold her in place. Kimberly’s eyes widened, not
with fear as he thought they might, but with something closer to passion.
The fever was upon her, and if she didn’t submit soon, there would be hell
to pay.
“Not only do you need a keeper but you also need a
history book.”
Eyes narrowing, Kimberly reached up and pulled his hand
away from her mouth. “They have books on this?” she asked in wonder.
She kept surprising him. Shaking his head, he asked in
shock, “Where were you raised?”
“Around.” The squeal of tires swung both their heads
toward the entrance as a white Volkswagen Bug pulled into the parking
garage. “This isn’t the place for this conversation.”
Finally, she said something he could agree with. “Fine.
I’ll follow you home.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“For as long as you’re in my territory, you’ll do as I
say. Unattached female Weres need all the support they can get. My Pack
will help you through this.”
“Through what?”
“You really can’t be so naïve?”
“What are you talking about?” The irritation in her tone
nearly matched the level of his frustration.
“Don’t you wonder why I knew who you were? Why you’re so
antsy and can’t keep still.”
“You’re the Benandanti, you can sense things.”
“Yes,” he said, nodding his head slowly, “and one of the
things I can sense is you’re in heat.”
“What!” The smell of fear rolled off her in waves. The
engaging scent actually overpowered the aroma of her heat, an amazing feat
when she was this close to her time. The look of shock and despair on her
beautiful face made Nico feel horrible. He hated breaking this to her so
abruptly, in the middle of a parking garage, but she wasn’t leaving him
much choice. Her safety was on the line and she was running out of time.
“Your body is readying itself for mating. How could you
reach puberty without knowing these things?” Whoever her Benandanti
was, he needed to be skinned and mounted on a wall. It made absolutely no
sense that Kimberly was so unprepared for the world.
“I’m a slow learner,” she replied snidely, scratching
again at her neck.
Nico’s eyes narrowed on her neck and he had to bite back
a curse. Her time was upon her and she was in no way prepared. “It’s time,
Kimberly. You’ll need my protection. If you’re not linked by the time of
the full moon, you’ll have every Were sniffing at your door. I won’t have
my territory tarnished.”
“Then I’ll leave.” The hell she would and Nico was
getting damn tired of her threatening to run away from him.
“The only place you’re going is home with me. You need
me—us—and you need us now.”
“It will go away. It has before.”
“No, it’s only simmering below the surface, waiting for
the right time to come out.” Shaking his head, Nico picked up her hand and
held it out in front of her. “Look at your pulse, Zingaro, practically
beating out of your fragile flesh. Your nerves are raw, you’re shaking and
I can smell the moisture gathering between your thighs.”
Nico’s tongue felt heavy in his mouth. He wanted to
delve between her legs and drink the juices beckoning him. Kimberly wasn’t
even in full force yet and she already had him feeling like a randy dog.
There was no telling what would happen in six days when the moon was full
and her heat blossomed. He could have a WWE riot on his hands. “It’s only
going to get worse. I can ease your pain.”
Licking her lips, Kimberly asked nervously, “How?”
Herbs, meditation and the right amount of control were
methods taught to Lupas when they were young, but nothing could be done for
Kimberly now that didn’t involve long hours of fierce loving. She was becoming
prime and ready for her mating, and Nico was beginning to feel as if he
were the Were for the job.
There would even come a point, once she was in tune with
her beast, when Kimberly would be able to control her need to mate
altogether. If she had been raised right, brought up right, her needs
wouldn’t even be an issue. But she wasn’t and therein lay the real problem.
“Come with me.”
“No,” she said again, refusing to give in. “I can handle
this on my own.”
Cursing in Italian, Nico turned from her, trying to calm
his libido and his temper. As Benandanti he had the right to assert
his wants over hers, as a wolf, he had the desire to force her to her knees
and take what was rightfully his, but as a man, he knew he couldn’t. The
hardest part of being all three was trying to find the even plateau.
Turning back, Nico looked her steadily in the eye. He
wanted to give her the option to come to him willingly, even if he knew she
couldn’t do it herself. Sometimes the pretense of control over one’s
destiny was just as good as the real thing. “You have four days to bring
this to an end on your own. By nightfall on the fourth day, if you haven’t
cooled the fever, then I will come for you.”
“Four days isn’t enough time.”
“It’s all you have.” Nico wasn’t risking her health or
wellbeing. If Kimberly made him, he would play the Alpha card and to hell
with the plateau.
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