Devil Takes His Innocent by Emma Anderson Page A

no matter how scared or how little they understood. The chemistry
between the two couldn’t be ignored.
    Judge’s pride had welcomed both
Bobby and Gabby into their midst with open arms, and by the end of her two-week
holiday she had invited the pride to use her land. The beautifully dense
terrain had gone unused for long enough. The property had a large body of water
fed by a spring that she had named The Lake. Her grandfather had bred trout in
it, and for the life of her, she could never seem to bring herself to catch
one, kill it, then eat it. Anything she had seen with
a head would not be passing her lips. She couldn’t look something in the eye, then eat it; it just wasn’t in her genetic makeup.
Thankfully she lived in the city, where, for a price, supermarkets took away
that guilt of taking an animal’s life.
    She had finally returned home,
but she wasn’t alone. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hide her adventure from
her best friend, and had forewarned Judge that one other human would know of
their secret. She had guaranteed that Nikki wouldn’t expose them, but Judge had
still insisted on being present when she was told.
    Over dinner and several glasses
of wine, Nikki flirted harmlessly with Judge. It was typical Nikki behavior.
She could flirt with men, but as soon as it turned serious, she ran a mile. As
a survivor of an abusive relationship, Nikki didn’t trust men easily. She had
survived a brutal rape and beating from a man who claimed he loved her. It
would be a long time before she felt safe offering her body and heart to
another man. Her flirtations, yes, but nothing else. And any man looking to get involved with Nikki would have to be worthy, otherwise Gabby would have no problem sending him
packing.
    Judge laughed at something Nikki
had said. He seemed to be lapping up the attention, claiming it had been a
while since he had shared a dinner with two beautiful women. He was a smooth
talker, of that Gabby had discovered early into their friendship. He flirted
with every woman he came in contact with, elderly, married, single, or
pregnant. Gabby had come to the conclusion that he just couldn’t help himself.
She definitely pitied the woman he ended up with. She would have to be strong
and confident to put up with his antics.
    With her lack of experience with
men, and Judge’s perpetual flirting with anything in a skirt, Gabby couldn’t
believe how at ease she felt with him. Though she knew a sexual relationship
wasn’t on the cards with him, she often found herself wishing that she could
get Devil out of her head so she could explore a relationship with another man. Maybe one like Judge.
    “ So how did you two meet?” Nikki
asked after they had finished dinner. “And don’t even try to tell me it was at
a pub. That’s just not Gabby’s scene.”
    “ Actually, we met through a young
boy named Bobby,” Gabby explained before sharing everything that had happened
on her two-week break.
    She wasn’t surprised that her
friend took the existence of shape shifters in stride. Gabby knew that if
anyone else had told Nikki the same story, she would have laughed it off as a
joke. It once again spoke of the trust her best friend placed in Gabby. It was
a trust that she had no intentions of destroying.
    The first question out of Nikki’s
mouth had Gabby chuckling. It was true to form of the bluntness that had many
people steering clear of Nikki. “So can I see your cat?”
    “ It’s a mountain lion,” Judge
corrected, feigning injury through insult.
    “ Fine, can I see your big,
ferocious, deadly mountain lion?” Nikki added sarcastically.
    Before Gabby could object, Judge
was down on his knees, working through the transformation. It wasn’t the first
time Gabby had met Judge’s animal form, but this would definitely be the first
time inside. She feared for the furniture she and Nikki had worked hard to
purchase. Somehow, Judge managed to maneuver his large beast around the tiny
coffee table