Free FavoriteObsession by Nancy Corrigan Page B

there.
Josh had seen him out of the corner of his eye when Jazz had doused him in
beer. He hadn’t cared either. When Mira had pressed her soft curves against
him, getting his lips on her had been his only thought.
    Unable to delay any longer, he righted the stool and sat. “And?
It was just a damn kiss. No big deal.”
    The lie soured his gut. It was a huge deal, in his eyes at
least.
    “I like you, Josh.”
    “Really?” He chuckled. “Well, thanks for that, but I can’t
say I feel more than friendship for you. You’re handsome and all, just not my
type. I do have a cousin…”
    “You know that’s not what I meant.” Kade glanced heavenward,
a long sigh escaping. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
    Josh snorted. “God, please don’t tell me you came here to
talk about my feelings. Should I go get Megan’s nail polish and we can paint
our toes while we talk about who we want to marry?” He tipped his beer, drank
the contents in one long swallow before slamming the empty bottle down. “Don’t
give me your bullshit. The only person you’re worried about getting hurt is
Mira. And you know what?”
    Silence stretched. Finally, Kade gestured for him to
continue.
    “Forcing her to pick one of you as a mate is going to hurt
her in the worst possible way.”
    “I hate that she’s in this position too.” Kade righted his
stool and sat. “My hands are tied. I’ve had lawyers looking into it. As soon as
the Council tagged on the qualifier that they’re taking this drastic measure
for the good of the species, a whole new set of rules got rolled out.”
    Josh walked back to the bar and grabbed another drink as he
considered how to respond. While he’d planned on pursuing Mira himself, tonight’s
revelation made him reconsider. He needed a chance to think about his next step
because he kept coming back to one sticking point—did he have the right to get
in the way of Mira’s destiny? That was the million-dollar question and one he
didn’t have an answer to at the moment.
    “Is the prophecy the reason you kept us apart?”
    Kade shrugged. “It’s one of the reasons.”
    “Why else?”
    “It’s safer.”
    Josh frowned. “For who? Mira or me?”
    Another shrug.
    Knowing it was the only answer Josh would get from the
stubborn shifter, he straddled the chair and took a swig of his second beer. Time
for a different approach. “As an outsider looking in, I can’t help but wonder
if the order from the Council has more to do with the prophecy surrounding Mira’s
kids than the lack of breeding couples.” He pointed at Kade with his bottle. “I
think there’s someone with their own agenda on the Council.”
    Kade tilted his head to the side as he studied him. After a
long moment, he inclined his head slightly. “I agree. The discontent between
the royals and the single-shifters has grown over the years. They resent our
tie to the gods.” A weary sigh accompanied the small shake of his head. “When
word of the goddess’s blessing spread amongst our species, the singe-shifters
saw it as a way to finally earn immortality.”
    Mira’s children would lead the shifters into a new era.
    Josh cursed as all the tragedies of Mira’s life took on new
meaning. If the mortal single-shifters were willing to turn Molly into a living
incubator for the kids they hoped could make their race immortal, it wasn’t a
hell of a stretch to see how they’d interrupt Mira’s prophecy as a way to do so
too. “When she killed her rapist, the single-shifters took it as a slap in the
face.”
    “So to speak. My sire accused them of orchestrating the
whole thing so she would be tied to a single. They denied it.”
    “Of course.”
    “Exactly,” Kade sighed, “but the number of unwanted suitors
vying for her body declined after he called them on it.”
    Josh tipped the bottle and studied the amber liquid. The
thought of another man kissing Mira, let alone fucking her, infuriated him.
Being reminded that there’d been