Free Only After Dark The Boxed Set Books 1 - 4: Shifters Forever Worlds by Elle Thorne Page A

like she was alone in the eye of a hurricane, but with a spotlight shining on her.
    “Who?” She barely managed to get the word out.
    “Allynne. What she said about us.” He pulled back, his gaze lancing straight to her soul. “You don’ deny it, do you?”
    Natalya licked her lip nervously, then sucked it into her mouth and chewed on it. It’s my dream. She couldn’t say that, though. “I’m going to give Ms. Claudette a home.”
    Now, where the hell did that come from?
    She hadn’t planned to tell him. She hadn’t even made a plan yet—not fully, just a nebulous idea of what she wanted and didn’t want for Ms. Claudette. What she didn’t want was for that wonderful lady to be in a homeless shelter for the rest of her days.
    “I can’ let you do that.” He lowered himself into a chair and tugged on her hand, pulling her onto his lap.
    For some reason it felt exactly right to be in his lap, just as it had felt perfectly right to be in his arms dancing last night.
    Was it just last night? Why did it feel like so much more time had passed?
    Then the words he’d just said hit her. “You can’t let me do what?”
    “Ms. Claudette. She should be with us. With family.”
    An overwhelming sadness took hold of her. The pinpricks returned. This meant she wouldn’t be able to see Ms. Claudette, but at least she’d be happy, and surrounded by those who would love her.
    Those who hate me.
    His sisters.
    “You’re right. She belongs with family.” She fought the hot tears that threatened and looked out the window, watching a flock of birds as they surrounded a tall tree on the banks of a cove, and kept herself from glancing at him because it hurt her physically to look at him, to know she couldn’t be with him. Not given the way his family would hate her, even if he seemed attracted to her.
    “And you?”
    “I’ll miss her, but I’ll be happy for her.”
    “That’s not what I meant.” His hand was back, tilting her to face him. “Are you going to deny what we have?”
    “Lézare.” She swallowed hard, trying to bury the bitterness and sorrow of knowing that she wouldn’t have him—couldn’t have him. “I’m sorry.”
    “For what, chère ?” His thumb touched her tear, then traced the path it had taken.
    “The way I behaved, toward you, your family. Vax. I can’t blame them for hating me.”
    “They don’ hate you.”
    “Ha.” She couldn’t help the smile she felt growing on her lips. “Who are you kidding? I’d hate me. I do hate who I used to be.”
    “I thought you were a sexy spitfire. Angry at the world. Why were you so angry? What made that anger go away?”
    “Maybe because my mother left me. Then my father shipped me off to Europe…” She turned her head out of his grasp, immediately missing the warmth of his fingers. “Really, that’s no excuse. There is no excuse for my behavior.”
    “You’ve changed.” He regained his hold on her chin and turned her face toward his once more.
    “For the better, I hope.”
    “I won’ say I didn’ want the woman I met, all those months ago. I did. The tiger in me… he’s been relentless about it, too, almost as much as I have been.”
    Natalya searched his eyes. How could he have wanted her back then? She waited for him to continue, wondering if the blade would fall, if the other shoe would drop.
    “This woman you’ve become, though…”
    His eyes held her captive, the golden flame she occasionally saw roaring to life in the depths of that darkness.

Chapter Sixteen
    A ll the breath in her body abandoned her. Her heart pounded. Her tongue traced her bottom lip in anticipation. His thumb ran across it, following her thumb, capturing the lingering moisture.
    His mouth lowered in a hard kiss, one that was very different from the tender dance their tongues had engaged in earlier. His tongue snaked in and took hers with an animal dominance. He tasted like freedom and sin, captivity and innocence, all at the same time. The raw