Dee Teronio Tempting the Enemy (pdf)

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triggered a stirring. “The world’s running out of shifters
to blame for their problems. People like that Senator
Thompson are smart enough to start looking for other
targets. Wouldn’t doubt it if they’re tagging Sibile
already. If they are, I don’t want it happening to you.”
Neither did she, considering the memories of the girl
they’d just left. “If the city isn’t paying for this room, then
who is?”
The answer glittered at her in his eyes. Mine to
protect. Mine in every way you can imagine.
What she imagined is that he would stretch that claim
to cover more than his rule about her safety. So why
didn’t that bother her the way it should?
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“Relax, Jade. I know the manager here, he owes me.
You’re exhausted and so am I. We’re only here to sleep.”
Not that she’d get any next to him. Still, when he
patted the wide-open space at his side, she only chewed
her lip for a moment thinking about it. Circling the edge
of the bed, she let herself sit. Rysen rolled onto his side,
propping his head on one hand. When he made no further
move toward her, she relaxed more and lay back on the
pillows. The softness was its own kind of seduction.
Closing her eyes in pleasure, she almost forgot about
Rysen completely. Until his large hand slid over her
midriff.
He pulled her closer, fitting his big body around her
from behind, positioning them both to his liking until one
of his big legs was between hers and her hand was
holding on to his broad forearm beneath her breasts. His
warmth surrounded her, giving her an unexpected sense of
security. Intimacy that tempted for other reasons than sex.
“Any chance you’ll let me take this bowl thing off
you?”
If she let him take anything off her, they’d both be
naked in seconds.
He must have picked up on her thinking because his
chuckle rumbled against her back. His breath on her
cheek tingled just before he dropped a soft kiss near her
ear. “Sleep.”
“Pushy,” she mumbled, already slipping under the
spell he wove. He said something in response, a warm
whisper she felt against her ear, but as she drifted into
dreaming, she didn’t hear what it was.
Instead, another voice slipped into her consciousness.
“You’re doing well, chère.”
Dee Tenorio
Tempting the Enemy
“Jalla?” Jade turned, finding herself in Jalla-Rouge’s
garden. The roses were in bloom and, all around,
everything was green. Jade frowned, knowing that she
herself had helped winterize the plants months ago,
covering them with sackcloth so they wouldn’t freeze and
break in the deep snows.
“Try again,” Jalla said gently.
“But it’s so hard.”
Jade froze, recognizing that small voice. It was…her
own. She walked deeper into the garden, toward the
gazebo in the middle. Moving closer, she could see the
two figures on the padded seats lining the edge. One was
Jalla, her hair pulled up as usual, its color the blond she
only remembered, barely streaked with silver. Next to her
sat a small marron in a thin brown robe, no bigger than a
six- or seven-year-old, her jet-black hair shining and sleek
down her little back.
My little back, Jade realized.
Jalla’s hand lifted and smoothed down the girl’s hair
while concentration shook her small shoulders.
“It’s not working!” Jade’s younger self cried out
suddenly, throwing herself into Jalla’s arms. For a brief
second, Jalla held on, her eyes closing with what looked
like…pain. Then she stiffened and removed Jade’s arms
from around her neck.
“It will work, Jade. You have to work at it.”
“It doesn’t in the daytime. It never works anymore.”
Anymore?
“Ah, chère. Your gift is part of you. In your blood. If
you fall down and cut yourself, do you not bleed because
the sun is up?”
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“No?” The questioning answer made Jade smile from
her place behind them. Even now, she sometimes
answered Jalla’s cryptic questions that way, unsure what
the older woman was trying to make her understand.
“You are more than you think, Jade. You have more
gifts than you know.”
“Did you see that in your dreams?” the little girl
asked, her desperation for it to be true almost
heartbreaking.
Jalla nodded. “Someday, you will do more than just
see light or touch it. You will become the light. That’s
what a lucescere does—becomes light and saves us all
from darkness.” [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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