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Authors: Shannan Albright
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she washed away the reek of cigarettes, stale booze, and sweat.
Brushing her wet hair back from her face, she pulled on her favorite jeans and
peasant style light blue blouse. She just put her sneakers on when Cici made her appearance.
“Would you like
to go to breakfast?”
Lori shook her
head. “No, I’m just going to the store down the street and make me something at
home. I’m beat, Cici , but thanks anyway.”
“Just be
careful, all right?”
She gave Cici a comforting pat on the arm. “I’m always careful.
Nothing is going to happen, I promise.”
She headed for
the door, her skin itching from Cici’s intense gaze
boring into her.
Chapter Nine
Zeke struggled
with conflicting emotions as he watched the woman he married. Hatred held the
upper hand, but as he watched her dance from a safe distance, undetected,
another emotion sank its claws deep in him. One he needed to purge from his
system.
Mine.
Possessive
instincts raged against the deadly betrayal. Thank the gods Tegan was there to
keep him restrained, because it would have been a bloodbath if another man even
so much as brushed up against all of that burnished golden skin she put so
blatantly on display.
He wanted
nothing more than to leap to the stage and wrap her in his coat. No one but him
had the right to look at what she so brazenly displayed. The need to take her
away from the stage nearly overwhelmed him. He could only think of burying his
cock deep inside her and fucking her until nothing existed but the two of them,
reaching for climax.
And then what, asshole? His logical
side demanded.
He knew he could
never trust her. Not after she plunged that knife to the hilt in his chest and
not when his last memory of her burned in his brain of her face twisted with
hate, eyes stone cold. Yeah, it kind of made the whole trust issue a moot
point. With that single act, she’d sealed her fate, and he couldn’t change it
even if he wanted to.
Before he took
off with Tegan in tow, he’d contacted his father only to find out kill orders
were out on her. No judge, jury, or appeals would be heard. The order stood.
Kill on sight with extreme prejudice. His father had sent in a team of elite Atlantean trackers, since it seemed the same tip was given
to him on her location, and they were on their way here now to fulfill the
assignment.
Better him than
the Atlantean assassins. At least he would make it
quick and painless. The idea of being the one to kill the traitor to the crown
left a bad taste in his mouth, yet what other choice could there be? High
treason, no matter what country you came from, held the same sentence.
Execution.
He joined Tegan
in the alley across the street from the Golden Gulch when her shift ended. Zeke
prepared for what he needed to do, fighting the rising nausea. His friend
tapped him on the shoulder, pointing toward the lone female leaving the strip
club. He would know her anywhere by the way she walked so straight and proud.
“I would rather
do this alone. Can you run interference when the assassins get here? I’ll call
when it’s done, all right?” Zeke met the understanding in his friend’s gaze.
“You don’t have
to do this at all, you know. I’ll give her the killing blow, and I promise she
won’t suffer,” Tegan offered.
“No, this is
something I need to do. I’ll talk to you later.”
With a slight
nod, Tegan turned the opposite direction, stepping into the waiting shadows.
Zeke turned in the direction Laris took and began
following. The familiar weight of his sais , for the
first time in his life, felt heavier. A burden. Within
the hour, it would be done, and he would spend the rest of his life living in
regret.
A whole shitload
of what ifs held no place in the here and now, and yet he couldn’t stop
wondering what it would have been like to have her in his life.
As he shadowed
her steps he turned his mind away from things that could never be and focused
on what needed done. Before she died he
Brushing her wet hair back from her face, she pulled on her favorite jeans and
peasant style light blue blouse. She just put her sneakers on when Cici made her appearance.
“Would you like
to go to breakfast?”
Lori shook her
head. “No, I’m just going to the store down the street and make me something at
home. I’m beat, Cici , but thanks anyway.”
“Just be
careful, all right?”
She gave Cici a comforting pat on the arm. “I’m always careful.
Nothing is going to happen, I promise.”
She headed for
the door, her skin itching from Cici’s intense gaze
boring into her.
Chapter Nine
Zeke struggled
with conflicting emotions as he watched the woman he married. Hatred held the
upper hand, but as he watched her dance from a safe distance, undetected,
another emotion sank its claws deep in him. One he needed to purge from his
system.
Mine.
Possessive
instincts raged against the deadly betrayal. Thank the gods Tegan was there to
keep him restrained, because it would have been a bloodbath if another man even
so much as brushed up against all of that burnished golden skin she put so
blatantly on display.
He wanted
nothing more than to leap to the stage and wrap her in his coat. No one but him
had the right to look at what she so brazenly displayed. The need to take her
away from the stage nearly overwhelmed him. He could only think of burying his
cock deep inside her and fucking her until nothing existed but the two of them,
reaching for climax.
And then what, asshole? His logical
side demanded.
He knew he could
never trust her. Not after she plunged that knife to the hilt in his chest and
not when his last memory of her burned in his brain of her face twisted with
hate, eyes stone cold. Yeah, it kind of made the whole trust issue a moot
point. With that single act, she’d sealed her fate, and he couldn’t change it
even if he wanted to.
Before he took
off with Tegan in tow, he’d contacted his father only to find out kill orders
were out on her. No judge, jury, or appeals would be heard. The order stood.
Kill on sight with extreme prejudice. His father had sent in a team of elite Atlantean trackers, since it seemed the same tip was given
to him on her location, and they were on their way here now to fulfill the
assignment.
Better him than
the Atlantean assassins. At least he would make it
quick and painless. The idea of being the one to kill the traitor to the crown
left a bad taste in his mouth, yet what other choice could there be? High
treason, no matter what country you came from, held the same sentence.
Execution.
He joined Tegan
in the alley across the street from the Golden Gulch when her shift ended. Zeke
prepared for what he needed to do, fighting the rising nausea. His friend
tapped him on the shoulder, pointing toward the lone female leaving the strip
club. He would know her anywhere by the way she walked so straight and proud.
“I would rather
do this alone. Can you run interference when the assassins get here? I’ll call
when it’s done, all right?” Zeke met the understanding in his friend’s gaze.
“You don’t have
to do this at all, you know. I’ll give her the killing blow, and I promise she
won’t suffer,” Tegan offered.
“No, this is
something I need to do. I’ll talk to you later.”
With a slight
nod, Tegan turned the opposite direction, stepping into the waiting shadows.
Zeke turned in the direction Laris took and began
following. The familiar weight of his sais , for the
first time in his life, felt heavier. A burden. Within
the hour, it would be done, and he would spend the rest of his life living in
regret.
A whole shitload
of what ifs held no place in the here and now, and yet he couldn’t stop
wondering what it would have been like to have her in his life.
As he shadowed
her steps he turned his mind away from things that could never be and focused
on what needed done. Before she died he
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