Free Passion Untamed by Pamela Palmer

stones, too?
    He searched for Skye and finally found her in the corner, stroking the agitated deer.
    Vhyper squatted beside him, his forearm on his knee, his gaze on Skye. “She’s a pretty little piece, isn’t she, with those big doelike eyes? I told her you were a sucker for a damsel in distress. Wasn’t that how Ancreta trapped you all those years ago?”
    Paenther’s eyes narrowed as he tore his gaze from the woman to look up at the man who’d once been his friend.
    A malicious smile hovered at Vhyper’s mouth. “I told her all she had to do was play the victim, and you’d be eating right out of her hand, giving her whatever she wanted.”
    Play the victim ? A chill of foreboding rolled down his spine.
    Vhyper shrugged. “Birik may have overplayedhis role a bit when he beat her. He’s been doing a shitload of groveling to make it up to her, but I hear the ploy worked like a charm. You not only let her fuck you, but you helped her enjoy herself.” He grinned and pretended to high-five him. “Way to go, B.P.”
    Paenther stared at him. He was supposed to believe that beating was an act? A lie to gain his cooperation? No way in hell. He’d seen the bastard’s face. He’d seen the pain and bleakness in Skye’s. No woman could be that good an actress.
    That chill in his spine leached into his blood.
    Except perhaps a witch.
    With a bit of magic, she could make him believe he was seeing whatever she wanted him to see, couldn’t she?
    Hell. Denial roared through his head. Had he really been taken in all over again?
    Or was Vhyper the one lying? How in the hell was he supposed to know? The only thing he knew for certain was, he couldn’t trust either of them.
    And if this night ended as he feared it might, it wouldn’t matter. Nothing would matter once he was dead.
    The smoke of the banked fires teased his nose. He stared up into his old friend’s eyes, a growl grumbling deep in his throat as he saw no glimmer of the Vhyper he knew.
    “Am I staked out for slaughter?”
    A cruel smile slashed across Vhyper’s face. “What fun would it be if you knew what to expect?”
    “You’ve turned into a bastard, Vhyper.”
    “Oh, I’ve turned into a lot more than a bastard, B.P.” Vhyper rose. “Looks like it’s time to begin.”
    As the Mage circled the perimeter of the room, Skye stood. With quick, nimble hands, she pulled off her dress and tossed it aside as if perfectly at ease with her nudity among so many men.
    He stared at her and knew he was watching a stranger.
    Birik came up behind her and pulled her back against him, one hand covering her breast, the other diving between her legs.
    Paenther’s gut clenched with shock. His breaths became labored as he watched with disbelief as the bastard fingered her, working that supple body he’d lost himself in twice now, until she rocked against his hand, trembling. Enjoying it. She was enjoying it.
    His mind exploded. She’d tried to mount him last night, cold and dry. It doesn’t matter. Because she hadn’t wanted him. Not him .
    And he knew, he knew, what was going to happen. Birik wanted her to ride him again, but he had to prepare her himself since, clearly, clearly, she couldn’t get there on her own. Not with a shape-shifter. Not with him.
    Damn her.
    But it was him she needed, him with his animal. So she’d played him with her sad eyes and pretense at vulnerability until he’d helped her fuck him.
    Anger blazed through him, a fury as raw as it was ancient. A fury turned on himself as much as her. How could he have fallen for a witch’s pretense of woe twice ?
    Birik finally released her. Without once meeting his gaze, she crossed to where he lay staked and stood over him, one foot planted on either side of his waist. In the shadows between her legs, her flower had opened, and the scent of her arousal blasted his senses, sending the blood flowing into his shaft in a throbbing rush.
    Her eyes and expression were closed as she stood there, trembling,