NocC 018 - Kristin Miller - Forbidden by Fate - Harlequin 2012-07 by Nocturne Page A
Book: NocC 018 - Kristin Miller - Forbidden by Fate - Harlequin 2012-07 by Nocturne
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him.
“Sasha, come!” The gravelly baritone of her father’s voice jarred Sasha from her daydream. A wave of chills rolled down her neck as a burning ache spread between her legs.
“Damn it,” she said, shaking the fragments of the daydream from her mind.
She needed to be doused with a gallon of cold Feralon spring water. Damon wasn’t coming for her. Never would.
She turned from the window and ran her hand along the bumpy, stone-ridden wall that led down the hall. She knew where to find her father—in the den conducting business. Where he always seemed to be at this late hour.
“Now!”
In not one bit of a hurry for the daydream to fade completely, Sasha hiked up the ruffles of her black chiffon dress and shuffled around the corner into his candlelit den.
The doorway was huge, dwarfing her five-foot waiflike frame, but it would’ve been a tight fit for a giant…or a wolf, as it were.
“Yes, Father?” Surprised to find the room filled with ten glaring packmates in their human, or Were, form, Sasha skidded to a halt. She’d never seen so many of her father’s colleagues gathered together before. By the tension hanging thick in the air, Sasha knew something terrible had happened. “What’s going on?”
Ten pairs of eyes, each one as gold as the harvest moon, set upon her. Each packmate had a smokelike marking, much like a tribal tattoo, stretching from their chest to their neck, even though only a portion of it was visible above their clothes. No Were moved a large, lethal muscle.
“It’s about time.” Her father rose, the gleam in his eye unyielding, and spread his arms to the ring of leather chairs arranged in the center of the room. “You’re the last to arrive.”
Having so many Weres gathered together like this made it easy to see why her father dominated the rest of the pack. He was at least two feet taller and a good fifty pounds heavier than even the largest packmate, with a mess of jet-black hair on top of his head and black eyes that had grown more accustomed to scowling than blinking. His shoulders were as wide as a doorway. The robust features of his face cut into severe lines that made him a focused, determined predator. His enormous stature had not only earned him the position of Alpha but the reputation of being one of the most merciless werewolves in their long and tattered history as well.
“Better late than never, right?” She curtseyed, hoping the burn in her cheeks wasn’t tainting them pink.
Her father spoke in a low voice that only she could hear. “I want you to be present when the Draco arrives so you know how I expect business to be conducted in our pack.They are watching your every move.” He nodded to the glowering pack.
“Like I care what they think.” Sasha refrained from rolling her violet eyes.
“You should. You could be leading this pack sooner than you think.”
“Not if they have anything to say about it.” She paused, wondering what her father was thinking, and if the pack was mind-speaking during the silence.
As packmates, they used mind-chatter to hear the Alpha’s thoughts and had little use for words. But Sasha was different…female Weres were deaf to the Alpha’s commands. When she was present, everything had to be spoken. Would that change if she stepped into the Alpha position? If she took over after her father, would females be viewed differently? Would they be able to hear the mind-chatter and be regarded as equals?
“Father, with all due respect,” she said. “I’ve sat in on business meetings a dozen times before. Can’t I catch the next one?”
“You’re acting as if there’s somewhere else you need to be.”
There was, but she wasn’t about to tell her overbearing father that. She wasn’t about to tell her father how often she thought about Damon, either. How much she wondered where he was. If he was thinking of her. If he was gazing at the same round face of the moon, wondering the same thing:What
“Sasha, come!” The gravelly baritone of her father’s voice jarred Sasha from her daydream. A wave of chills rolled down her neck as a burning ache spread between her legs.
“Damn it,” she said, shaking the fragments of the daydream from her mind.
She needed to be doused with a gallon of cold Feralon spring water. Damon wasn’t coming for her. Never would.
She turned from the window and ran her hand along the bumpy, stone-ridden wall that led down the hall. She knew where to find her father—in the den conducting business. Where he always seemed to be at this late hour.
“Now!”
In not one bit of a hurry for the daydream to fade completely, Sasha hiked up the ruffles of her black chiffon dress and shuffled around the corner into his candlelit den.
The doorway was huge, dwarfing her five-foot waiflike frame, but it would’ve been a tight fit for a giant…or a wolf, as it were.
“Yes, Father?” Surprised to find the room filled with ten glaring packmates in their human, or Were, form, Sasha skidded to a halt. She’d never seen so many of her father’s colleagues gathered together before. By the tension hanging thick in the air, Sasha knew something terrible had happened. “What’s going on?”
Ten pairs of eyes, each one as gold as the harvest moon, set upon her. Each packmate had a smokelike marking, much like a tribal tattoo, stretching from their chest to their neck, even though only a portion of it was visible above their clothes. No Were moved a large, lethal muscle.
“It’s about time.” Her father rose, the gleam in his eye unyielding, and spread his arms to the ring of leather chairs arranged in the center of the room. “You’re the last to arrive.”
Having so many Weres gathered together like this made it easy to see why her father dominated the rest of the pack. He was at least two feet taller and a good fifty pounds heavier than even the largest packmate, with a mess of jet-black hair on top of his head and black eyes that had grown more accustomed to scowling than blinking. His shoulders were as wide as a doorway. The robust features of his face cut into severe lines that made him a focused, determined predator. His enormous stature had not only earned him the position of Alpha but the reputation of being one of the most merciless werewolves in their long and tattered history as well.
“Better late than never, right?” She curtseyed, hoping the burn in her cheeks wasn’t tainting them pink.
Her father spoke in a low voice that only she could hear. “I want you to be present when the Draco arrives so you know how I expect business to be conducted in our pack.They are watching your every move.” He nodded to the glowering pack.
“Like I care what they think.” Sasha refrained from rolling her violet eyes.
“You should. You could be leading this pack sooner than you think.”
“Not if they have anything to say about it.” She paused, wondering what her father was thinking, and if the pack was mind-speaking during the silence.
As packmates, they used mind-chatter to hear the Alpha’s thoughts and had little use for words. But Sasha was different…female Weres were deaf to the Alpha’s commands. When she was present, everything had to be spoken. Would that change if she stepped into the Alpha position? If she took over after her father, would females be viewed differently? Would they be able to hear the mind-chatter and be regarded as equals?
“Father, with all due respect,” she said. “I’ve sat in on business meetings a dozen times before. Can’t I catch the next one?”
“You’re acting as if there’s somewhere else you need to be.”
There was, but she wasn’t about to tell her overbearing father that. She wasn’t about to tell her father how often she thought about Damon, either. How much she wondered where he was. If he was thinking of her. If he was gazing at the same round face of the moon, wondering the same thing:What
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