Laughing at Danger by Zenina Masters

hunter?”
    “I had the energy for it, the mindset to stalk my prey and no ties to hold me back. I also knew two shifters who had gone missing. Being part of a group that might bring them home became my focus.”
    “Did you find them?”
    She nodded slowly. “I found one of them, in a bladed collar with her fur shaved off and her tail removed. She was a vixen, and she took eighteen months to get back to her normal life. Her cousin was dead.”
    She didn’t describe the manner of death. It was too horrible for most non-shifters to understand. Dana had tried to shift with the bladed collar around her neck. She had strangled as the collar kept her throat from changing. The amount of will to change at all had been tremendous. That she had died was both horrible and merciful relief.
    Jen had come out of her recovery cold and unwilling to find a mate, giving a hint as to some of the other tortures she had survived.
    It had not been a happy outcome.
    She sighed.
    Lyros looked at her. “I have rather broken the mood, haven’t I?”
    “Yep.”
    He sighed and pressed his forehead to her breasts. She stroked her hands through his hair and examined the points of his ears.
    “Will you stay with me tonight?”
    “Yes. I can tell you the stories of all the wounds and damage if you like. We can consider this part of the getting-to-know-you phase.”
    He nodded from his position, and he sighed.
    “There will be other nights, Lyros. And afternoons, mornings, tea times and false dawns.”
    He looked up and grinned. “I might be a little tired.”
    “I have high hopes once you complete your recovery.”
    He stood and shucked out of his jacket before undoing the studs of his shirt.
    Lima scooted out of the gown, and it slipped to the floor. She lay back on top of the bedding and waited for Lyros to join her.
    He finished hanging up his tux and her gown, and then, he turned back. His erection indicated that he was no longer interested in her scars, but he was a man of his word.
    He lay next to her and asked her for the story of each mark, scrape and ridge of skin.
    When she had told the tale, he kissed the wound softly. They continued this long into the night until she fell asleep in his arms.
    When she woke, she was in her own room and Teebie was working at a dressmaker’s dummy, fitting a gown of black and scarlet with the hunter’s mark twisted into a knot between the breasts.
    “That’s impressive.”
    “Isn’t it? I think it will suit you very well.”
    Lima sat up and rubbed her eyes. “For what?”
    “Your balance ceremony is in two hours. Lyros made the arrangements while you were out shopping.”
    Lima chuckled. “Of course he did. I am going to hop in a shower. Do you mind if I streak?”
    Teebie bowed and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
    Lima nodded. “Right. Well, after a shower, that should be less creepy.”
    She headed for a shower and eventually came to realise that today was her wedding day... sort of.
     

Chapter Nine
     
     
    The balancing was over, and Lima was tingling from head to toe. Lyros looked to be struggling with the beast that had taken up lodgings in his mind.
    Lima walked to him, embracing him and soothing the beast within. She felt him relax, and she smiled against his chest. “You will get used to it.”
    He ran his fingers along her jaw and flicked her pointed ear. The effect was similar to a tongue on her clit. “Oh, that isn’t fair.”
    He chuckled. “I promise to use it sparingly.”
    She sighed and hugged him tight. “Now, we are off to your place?”
    “It will be easier for me to get a grip on the new shape that wants to take over.”
    “Fair enough, but don’t tire yourself out. I want a wedding night.”
    “We are not technically married. We will have to arrange that in the human world.”
    She made a face. “Can’t we just do a private ceremony?”
    “I suppose I could keep it to four hundred people on my side.”
    “Oh, hell. I should have known that you were high