The Past...
Six years before Wicked Werewolf Night
and
Wicked Werewolf Secret...
Chapter One
Carmen Neal, daughter to one of The Werewolf Council’s leaders, was fighting mad. The source of her anger was the wolf standing in front of her in the training facility of the secret headquarters of The Werewolf Society housed inside Vegas’ ‘Hotel Italy’, her personal bodyguard for the past six months.
She circled him on the mat, and he didn’t move. He just watched her with those wickedly sexy green eyes of his and waited for her to attack. Damn Shi McKnight, he might be six feet four inches of hot alpha male, with long raven hair streaked with the most unique red she’d ever seen in her life, and he might even be the hottest man she’d ever seen, but he was such a hard-ass. He pushed her too hard and she reacted. She pushed him hard and he didn’t. She was tired of being pushed and she was damn tired of him not reacting.
Carmen threw a punch and he caught her wrist. She drew the silver and gold blade in her ankle boot he’d given her on their first day in the gym three months before but didn’t manage more. He twisted her around so that her back was to his front. His body, hot and hard, surrounded her. “You can’t fight with your emotions or you’ll die.”
“What do you expect me to do, Shi?” she demanded. Her mother had had her throat ripped out by a bloodlust infected vampire seeking the high werewolf blood delivered. Her father would have died too if not for the magic of a witches coven aiding The Society, and she wasn’t sure he wasn’t better off dead in his present state. She squeezed her eyes shut, her voice lowering to a whisper. “What do you expect me to do?”
“You have to find a place to put the pain, sweetheart. Then you have to fight.”
Sweetheart.
He used endearments when they were alone. He looked at her like he wanted to gobble her up. He left the room in moments and she knew he was trying to control himself. And yet, he never acted on what was between them. For three of the six months since magic had saved her father and pain had driven him insane, and she’d come back to this world thanks to Shi, they’d played this damn game of hot and cold. She couldn’t take it anymore. “Damn you, Shi, don’t call me sweetheart unless you’re finally going to do something about us.”
She felt his body tense and he buried his face in her neck. “You know why I can’t.”
She twisted in his arms and let the blade fall to the ground, her fingers curling on his chest.“Damn the council, the Guard and their rules, Shi. You know me like no one else.” He’d lost his family to rogues as well and while it might have been nearly a century before, he still lived the pain. She saw it in him, and he understood it in her. “You want me and I want you.”
He took a step backwards and for once, she went with him. “Don’t keep doing this. Please.”
“Carmen-”
“I couldn’t have made it through the past few months without you, Shi.” He was the one who’d gotten her out of bed when she didn’t think it was possible. He was the one who’d shared nearly every meal with her since, who’d convinced her a month before to go to her job as the PR rep for the seven hotels The Society used as a cover-up operation. “I need you. I need us.”
His eyes softened. “You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
“I’m stronger because you held me up.” And he had. He was such a loner, but he’d opened up to her – slowly but surely.Told her about his family, his life. They wanted each other.They needed each other, and still he held back.“What are we doing, Shi?”
“A Guardsman does not get personally involved with someone he protects, let alone a council member’s family. It’s a matter of honor and a Court Marshall offense.”
“Then ask to be replaced.Please.Just ask to be replaced.”
“I’m not letting anyone else protect
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