Free Primal Pleasure: Pendragon Gargoyles, Book 3 by Sydney Somers

me.”
    “What tone?”
    “The same one you used when you ran off and joined the Guard when we were barely more than cubs.”
    “For the thousandth time, you couldn’t have come. Females weren’t allowed.”
    “Thank the gods this realm isn’t as chauvinistic as ours.”
    Cian snorted, but before he could reply, Cale stepped between them. “Is this where I have to step in and threaten to toss both of you around by the scruff of your necks?”
    “I’d pay a small fortune to see that.” Sorcha strolled into the room. “Or more specifically the part where they team up to take you down.”
    Cale scoffed, hauling his mate into his arms. “I can take you down.”
    Sorcha nodded. “When I let you.”
    Cale growled softly at the challenge, and both Cian and Briana rolled their eyes.
    Turning her back on the couple, Briana caught his arm. “You don’t need to do this alone. I can—” She broke off, glancing at Cale.
    “You can what?”
    Her brows drew together. “Help,” she finally answered, leaving Cian with the impression she’d wanted to say something else.
    “I need to do this on my own. She may not be my mate, but the cat thinks she is. Someday you’ll get it.”
    Pain blinked across her face so briefly he might have imagined it.
    “Hey,” he began, unsure of what he should apologize for. He’d swear he spent half his adolescence telling Briana he was sorry for something, whenever he wasn’t dragging her into whatever trouble he’d found.
    A smile curved her lips but didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Just be careful and if you need me, call. Promise me.”
    He pulled her into his arms for a fierce hug, the sudden tightness in his throat preventing him from responding right away.
    Briana’s eyes were suspiciously shiny when she drew back. “And if you’re stupid enough to let that sorceress curse you again, just know that I’ll be using your stone ass to hang my lingerie on.”
    “Nice,” Sorcha quipped.
    Cale shook his head at her. “Don’t even think about it.”
    The huntress grinned at him. “C’mon. I’d bet you’d look fabulous in a little black or red lace.”
    Shooting his sister a dark look, Cale turned Sorcha back the way she’d come. “Thank you for that.”
    Briana smiled. “Anytime. Don’t worry, I won’t mention how good of a target you’d make the next time she and Nessa are playing paintball.”
    Cian cringed on his brother’s behalf. Having had the—pleasure? Misfortune?—of meeting Sorcha’s huntress friend, he sympathized with Cale.
    Sorcha held her hand to her ear in what Cian had learned was some universal sign for call me .
    Yeah, his brother had his hands full with that one.
    “Briana’s right about watching your ass.” Cale clapped him on the back.
    Cian grinned. “I’ll miss you too.”
    Briana shoved her hands in her pockets when Cale and Sorcha left the room. “I mean it, call me. I’m number one on your speed dial.”
    “I know.”
    She nodded, ducking in for another quick hug. “Give her hell, Cian.”
    He planned on giving Emma a lot more than that, even if it killed him.

    Emma stared at the cards on the blackjack table in front of her as the dealer waited for her. She glanced at the cards face up in front of the other players, quickly adding the values in her head and ending with a positive count. With a higher number of face cards still in the deck, she had the mathematical advantage. Doubling her bet, she then tapped for another card.
    The dealer laid a Jack of Spades, bringing her total to twenty and beating the house.
    “You’re moping, you know.”
    Emma tinkered with the stack of chips she’d just won, looking anywhere in the busy casino but at her aunt. Surrogate aunt anyway, according to the woman who so closely shared her hair and eye color that they were often confused as mother and daughter.
    Twenty years ago, when Elena had been at the height of her rebellion, they’d found themselves stranded on the side of the road in the