rie

rian's arrogant ran

reathless with sudden, stunned disbelief. "Valerie?

flushed, vulnerable haze in his gaze vanis

ch toward the illuminated phone on the counter. His baritone dropped into a bone

your m

hind those three word

g with absolute, murderous intent, "and I'll tear out your t

across the line. A second later

went dark, the terrifyi

he had made, the fact that he was clinging

f scorched by fire, and he scrambled backward across the hardwood, clumsily

d his white wolf ears were pinned so flat against

red desperately at the floorboards, completely unable to meet my eyes. "I spoke out of turn... I... I ma

d warhound terrified of being

ally against my living room rug-thump, thump, thump-stirring up dust in a desperate, pleading rhythm. His pale blue

uch my ea

arms over my silk robe, a soft, amused

you keep wagging that tail against my rug

ening all the way down to his collarbo

-fiancé, my hopes of sending the Four-Star

ractically blocking the door, reciting every plausible military regulation he could think of. The neural blight requires a mandatory forty-eight-hour stabilization watch. The pe

now-white wolf ears and his refusal to look me in the eye said otherwise:

a heavy chill had rolled down from the northern ridges. Half-asleep, I had felt the mattress dip

morning light filtering

ting heat. My head was pillowed comfortably against an expanse of sculpted, iron-hard chest muscle, whil

the sleep from my e

was lying flat on his ba

ian

Beep

dark foam pooling at the corners of my mouth. "Who was that?

anding the nightstand lamp. The cry

grooves into my own thigh. The gray necrosis was spreading-I could feel the icy rot chewing through my motor nerves, devouring my vocal cords. Without

me? She thought finding an a

the carpet, snatching the satellite comms unit. I hammered the pr

e Persian rug. "Mobilize the heavy breaching units. Call in t

e serum?" Gregory's harsh vo

r sanity remained. "Bring the hydraulic rams! Bring the Class-IV nerve suppression cannons! Surround the mountain, breach the estate, and drag her

itter down, breathin

an, Valerie. By daybreak, you'll