Winter Born by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page B

two young panthers to fly coach from Minnesota to Atlanta while he and Romeo had simply “flashed” themselves here.
    And all because the last time he and Romeo had psychically transported the twins somewhere, they had caused such a scene on arrival that they’d almost gotten busted by the humans.
    Dragon*Con was far too crowded to take a chance on the four of them “appearing” before so many witnesses.
    The key to Were-Hunter survival was to blend in with the humans, not scare the shit out of them.
    â€œYou know,” Romeo said to them, “you’re both lucky I wouldn’t let Dante trank you and send you over in a cage. It’s what he wanted to do.”
    â€œYou dick,” Leo snarled at Dante as he raked him with a repugnant glare. At six feet four, the panther was still growing and would probably equal Dante’s height of six feet six in the next decade or so.
    Leo and Mike were identical twins whom Dante had raised after their mother had abandoned them on their father’s doorstep. It was typical Were-Panther behavior. The women would mate with the men, get pregnant, then leave the cubs for the men to raise while the women prowled around unfettered.
    If the cubs were daughters, they would remain in the male-dominated pack until puberty, which struck them around the age of twenty-four. Then all the “seasoning” female cubs would form their own group and leave to search for mates.
    In the last two hundred years, Dante and Romeo had raised a large number of cubs, since their father was famous for dumping his litters on them and heading for the hills.
    Like Dante, the twins had wavy black hair and tawny Italian skin when in human form.
    Unlike him, they were only sixty years old, which in their life span made them practically children.
    And they acted it.
    It was time to either kill them or get away from them. Since Romeo was still rather bent over the fact that Dante had killed off their brother Salvatore for betraying them, Dante decided it would be best to get to his room before Leo and Mike joined Salvatore as skins on the wall at his club.
    â€œI don’t understand why I have to share a room with Leo,” Mike snarled. “He snores.”
    â€œI do not. Besides, you whistle when you sleep.”
    â€œNo, I don’t.”
    Dante passed an irritated look at Romeo. “Why are they here?”
    â€œTo get women,” Mike said.
    Romeo ignored him. “You were afraid to leave them alone at the Inferno without me. The last time you did that, they damn near burned the place down.”
    Dante expelled a disgusted breath. “And why can’t I kill them again?”
    â€œYou would miss them.”
    Yeah, right. Dante snorted at that as he handed off the card key to Leo and Mike.
    â€œWait, wait, wait, wait,” Leo said as he examined it. “These aren’t concierge level.”
    Dante gave him a bored stare.
    â€œAre you concierge?” Leo asked Romeo.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWhy aren’t we concierge?” Mike asked Dante.
    Dante crossed his arms over his chest. “Because you’re unworthy.”
    Mike opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, a trace of a scent washed over all three of them instantaneously.
    Dante went rigid as every hormone in his body suddenly became activated and sizzled. Against his will, he found himself turning around and scanning the crowd in the hotel lobby.
    He smelled a virgin pantheress in heat.
    They all did.
    The scent was unmistakable. It was warm and sweet. Feminine and innocent. Succulent. Inviting. And it made him salivate for a taste of her. His panther sight dimmed as it scanned the females present and detected none of his kind.
    â€œWhere is she?” Leo said, his voice ragged as if he were having a hard time holding himself back.
    â€œToo many humans here to tell,” Mike said as he tilted his head back to sniff the air. “They have her scent moving in