Embrace the Passion (The Blood Rose Series) by Caris Roane Page A

and twisted from the hold he had on her throat.
    “What’s wrong?” He looked pained as she climbed onto the spring’s bank.
    She shifted to wolf for a brief moment, giving herself a good long shake to get rid of the water, then shifted back to her fae form almost completely dry. “Our time’s up. The packs are about to implode.” She scrambled quickly into her clothes.
    Seth levitated in a sudden bolt of movement straight up through the water and high into the air. She watched him go, pretty sure she understood that his intention was to dry off. She zipped up her jeans, pulled on her boots, then put on her fur hat.
    He returned a moment later, completely dry from air friction, except for some dampness to his hair. Moving swiftly, he dressed as well. “And you can sense the packs?”
    “All four of them with greater clarity than before. Each pack wants to go to war.”
    She started to shift, ready to run back to Big Timber, but he caught her arm. “I’ll fly us back.”
    She nodded. “That would be faster.”
    He grew very solemn, so much so, that she quieted her shifter need to be going and met his gaze. “What is it?”
    “I need to say something.” He drew a deep breath. “I want you with me, Lorelei. I don’t know how this is going to work, or if it will work, you and me, I mean. I’ve been alone a long time—”
    “So have I.”
    He nodded briskly, a furrow between his brows. “But I’m willing to do what we need to do here, even though I don’t understand it all. What about you? Can you take a risk on me? Can you stand with me as my blood rose, as my prime female? More than anything, I want to keep the shifter community from falling apart. Which means my motives here are more for what’s best for the realm than what might be best for you, or even for me, which makes me sound like an asshole.”
    She grabbed his arms and squeezed hard. “Seth of Walvashorr, I have met a lot of brutal, selfish men in my time, but you’re not one of them. Do I have concerns? Yes, of course. And we’ve been together for just a little longer than one moonrise, but I am willing to start down this path if you are.”
    “I am.”
    She smiled. “Good.”
    He planted a kiss on her lips so that she felt both his determination and his commitment.
    What she feared had more to do with the unknown than with her doubt about the man kissing her, especially what tricks her mother might have in store for Walvashorr.
    When he drew back, he slung his arm around her waist and she followed suit, balancing her foot on top of his and holding onto his neck. “I’m going to make this quick, so don’t let go.”
    She tightened her grip and he launched, straight up, then angled south. When he said ‘quick’, he meant it. The G’s he pulled made her stomach turn, especially as the forest flew by in a blur.
    She finally just closed her eyes, and a handful of seconds later he dropped her back to the center of the Big Timber conference grounds.
    Davido was waiting for them, but despite the chaos of the packs, he smiled when they touched down. “I have to go, my sweetlings. May the Goddess give you wisdom and protect you.” Then he vanished, one of the few, or perhaps the only realm person, capable of disappearing with a thought.
    Though the Shifter Brigade had dined well, and the scent of roasted venison still permeated the air, all four packs boiled with the need to fight, half the number already in wolf form and howling.
    She stepped off Seth’s foot, but looked up at him. I guess we’re on our own.
    Looks like it. As Seth released her, however, he took her hand. All right, prime female. You’ve got the dominant shifter gene here, so I say have at it.
    She nodded, smiling ruefully. There’s just one problem. I have no idea what I’m doing.
    He met her gaze and his green eyes warmed up as he smiled. Well, don’t look at me. I’m just a vampire.
    Yes, but aren’t you the regis?
    Only in that I support my prime female. You can