she’d done that as he made love to her while he held her tight. How damned good it had felt, how right.
How the earth had fucking moved as he came inside her.
Now she took control, brought their mouths together, and it was every bit as fantastic as before. Their lips meshing, tongues
dueling, tasting. He pulled her against his body, needing to draw her under his skin. Keep her there forever.
But he couldn’t. Regretfully, he broke the kiss and pulled back. “I’m sorry,” he rasped. “I can’t do this.”
“That kiss says you can. Someday.”
Eventually he had to look away from the hope he saw flickering there.
From his own futile wish that he’d someday be a man worthy of her.
Opening the door, he led her out to the waiting Escalade, ushered her inside, and tossed her car keys to Ryon.
When the SUV pulled away, he didn’t look back at the place where he’d lost his heart and soul.
It just hurt too fucking much.
Tired to the bone, and disheartened, Kalen took a long, hot shower. It erased her scent from his skin, but not the memory of
making love to the most beautiful woman in the world.
The woman he’d let go.
Would it always feel as though he’d ripped off a limb? Like he was bleeding out all over the floor to become nothing more
than a shell? How could she have so completely burrowed under his skin, into his heart?
Stepping from the shower, he toweled off and stared at himself in the mirror. It was odd to see a bare spot where the pentagram had rested for as long as he could remember. His grandmother had given it to him shortly after he’d come into his
power as a Sorcerer, and had coached him. She’d been his biggest advocate, his cheerleader.
And then she’d been gone much too soon, leaving him alone in a world where nobody understood him, or gave a damn about
him. He’d done so many things he was ashamed of, things his new brothers would find abhorrent if they knew.
That’s why they could never know he’d been a filthy whore. And so much worse.
Before Alpha Pack.
Before Mackenzie.
He cared about them, couldn’t lose them. No matter what he had to do. As if cued by his churning thoughts, a male voice
slipped into his head.
“I knew you’d give your precious pendant to the doctor, to protect her from me.” A low, amused laugh sounded in his
head. “How far would you go, my pet, to make certain your lover remains safe?”
“As far as I need to,” he rasped, fists clenched. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear, boy. You please me already.”
Insidious. Seductive. He’d heard those words before, on so many lips. He’d never responded then as he did now—with a
rush of dark pleasure. Like a designer drug injected directly into his vein. One he knew would eventually kill him.
But not before he rode the ecstasy to the end of the line.
Shaking himself from the fog of desire, Kalen walked from the bathroom into his bedroom and got dressed. Put on his armor
and prepared to face the day, and his demons, without his pendant to shield him from the evil already working its way into his
soul.
Outside, thunder rolled. A storm on the way.
When his storm arrived, he prayed he’d be ready. And that he’d have the courage to do what he must.
“Mackenzie,” he said into the stillness of his room. “I’m so sorry.”
Walking out, he told himself he wouldn’t think of what might’ve been. If only he hadn’t taken off the pendant, that one other
time before.
If only Kalen Black wasn’t already far past redemption.
Click here for more books by this author
Read on for an exciting preview of
SAVAGE AWAKENING
an Alpha Pack novel
by J.D. Tyler.
Available from Signet Eclipse in April 2012.
1
Aric Savage gripped the chains as the silver-barbed lash tore into his back with unmerciful precision. Fire licked over the flayed skin, soaking deep to burn his guts, steal his breath.
Still, he found the strength to snarl his rage between
How the earth had fucking moved as he came inside her.
Now she took control, brought their mouths together, and it was every bit as fantastic as before. Their lips meshing, tongues
dueling, tasting. He pulled her against his body, needing to draw her under his skin. Keep her there forever.
But he couldn’t. Regretfully, he broke the kiss and pulled back. “I’m sorry,” he rasped. “I can’t do this.”
“That kiss says you can. Someday.”
Eventually he had to look away from the hope he saw flickering there.
From his own futile wish that he’d someday be a man worthy of her.
Opening the door, he led her out to the waiting Escalade, ushered her inside, and tossed her car keys to Ryon.
When the SUV pulled away, he didn’t look back at the place where he’d lost his heart and soul.
It just hurt too fucking much.
Tired to the bone, and disheartened, Kalen took a long, hot shower. It erased her scent from his skin, but not the memory of
making love to the most beautiful woman in the world.
The woman he’d let go.
Would it always feel as though he’d ripped off a limb? Like he was bleeding out all over the floor to become nothing more
than a shell? How could she have so completely burrowed under his skin, into his heart?
Stepping from the shower, he toweled off and stared at himself in the mirror. It was odd to see a bare spot where the pentagram had rested for as long as he could remember. His grandmother had given it to him shortly after he’d come into his
power as a Sorcerer, and had coached him. She’d been his biggest advocate, his cheerleader.
And then she’d been gone much too soon, leaving him alone in a world where nobody understood him, or gave a damn about
him. He’d done so many things he was ashamed of, things his new brothers would find abhorrent if they knew.
That’s why they could never know he’d been a filthy whore. And so much worse.
Before Alpha Pack.
Before Mackenzie.
He cared about them, couldn’t lose them. No matter what he had to do. As if cued by his churning thoughts, a male voice
slipped into his head.
“I knew you’d give your precious pendant to the doctor, to protect her from me.” A low, amused laugh sounded in his
head. “How far would you go, my pet, to make certain your lover remains safe?”
“As far as I need to,” he rasped, fists clenched. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear, boy. You please me already.”
Insidious. Seductive. He’d heard those words before, on so many lips. He’d never responded then as he did now—with a
rush of dark pleasure. Like a designer drug injected directly into his vein. One he knew would eventually kill him.
But not before he rode the ecstasy to the end of the line.
Shaking himself from the fog of desire, Kalen walked from the bathroom into his bedroom and got dressed. Put on his armor
and prepared to face the day, and his demons, without his pendant to shield him from the evil already working its way into his
soul.
Outside, thunder rolled. A storm on the way.
When his storm arrived, he prayed he’d be ready. And that he’d have the courage to do what he must.
“Mackenzie,” he said into the stillness of his room. “I’m so sorry.”
Walking out, he told himself he wouldn’t think of what might’ve been. If only he hadn’t taken off the pendant, that one other
time before.
If only Kalen Black wasn’t already far past redemption.
Click here for more books by this author
Read on for an exciting preview of
SAVAGE AWAKENING
an Alpha Pack novel
by J.D. Tyler.
Available from Signet Eclipse in April 2012.
1
Aric Savage gripped the chains as the silver-barbed lash tore into his back with unmerciful precision. Fire licked over the flayed skin, soaking deep to burn his guts, steal his breath.
Still, he found the strength to snarl his rage between
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