Their Unexpected Mate [Paranormal Protection Unit] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (25 page)

“Absolutely, darling.” He smiled slowly. Leaning in, he let his hearing expand a little to take in more and caught the faint whisper of a breath. Not really air leaving lungs past lips, but something else. “Just keeping tabs on the other lads. Their language is a little cranky and foul so I’m keeping you from hearing it all. You’d likely want to wash their mouths out and I don’t think they’ll be in the mood for that kind of play when they get home.” There. A whisper of something moving, faint, soft, almost like…cloth brushing furniture but not quite.

“This is true. I really and truly hate cussing,” she admitted. “Thank you for keeping their cursing from me then.” Moving slightly, she curled up and against Sullivan. “But at least I got you to stay here with me, right?” she asked him happily. “I think that this is a great, wonderful time being able to snuggle with you.”

Dropping a kiss to her hair, he smiled, fully at ease for a moment. “Very true. Any chance I get to have alone with you is a good time in my book,” he murmured. There it was again, that faint sound but closer. “I love having you all to myself,” he whispered, closing his eyes so his hearing would be keener.

“And I love having you to myself as well,” she told him as she hugged him close to her body. Closing her eyes, she sighed and simply allowed her body to relax. It was nice to be able to have him there with her.

Closer and closer. There, a brush against the bedding. Nuzzling her hair, he opened his eyes and waited, waited. Lifting the gun, he was very careful not to jostle her or give her any impression he was moving. When he saw the coiled snake, he just smiled and, without warning, fired, blowing the snake’s head clean off.

Katherine jumped at the sound of a gun firing. She screamed and twisted. “What the?” She looked down and saw a snake. “What?” she asked, with a wild look in her eyes, watching in shock as the snake turned from a snake to a man. “What in the heavens name is, oh God,” she whispered. “That’s, that was rather, Dwayne,” she whispered. “He was a snake? Oh lord.” She felt as if she were ready to pass out. It was too much.
What the hell?

Touching his comms, Sully peered over the edge of the bed, “So, the brother was a snake, you idiots. Slithered right on into the house past the lot of you. Aren’t you glad I’m such a badass?” he asked them with a grin as he cleared the gun.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” She was terrified to move, though. “Are there others?” She hated snakes. God, she had always had such an intense fear of them and to know that her brother, a man that she had looked up to as a child, had been one? It was too much for her. “I need the bathroom. I really am going to be ill,” she whispered as she began to gag.

Scooping her up, he carried her to the bathroom and, doing a quick visual sweep, set her down on the floor by the toilet. Shutting the door, he held her hair back as she threw up, his eyes moving constantly over the room, searching all the places a snake or any other vermin could hide.

Katherine’s stomach emptied and tears fell. She hated being ill. “Does this mean it’s over?” she whispered softly, turning to look up at Sullivan with tears streaking down her face.

Getting her some water and a damp cloth, he nodded. “It’s over, love,” he whispered softly. “The boys are just finishing clearing the lands on their way back to the house. They’ll be here in ten or less,” he said, helping her to her feet. Loading her toothbrush, he held her loosely as she cleaned her mouth. He knew the Guards had cleared the body out and were changing the linens while another mopped the floor.

She nodded and leaned back against Sullivan. “If you hadn’t been here,” she whispered. “He would have killed me, wouldn’t he?” she whispered sadly. “All of that hatred over money.”

“You had what he wanted. He didn’t know when he initially set out to kill you that you were Mab’s granddaughter. All he knew was that your father had married his mother, and was wealthy beyond belief. All he saw was money,” Gaia murmured from where she sat on the bench along the wall under the window in the large bathroom. “And then when he found out who you really were.” She sighed.

“I don’t understand,” Katherine whispered.

“As I told you, child, Mab’s husband took many lovers. These lovers birthed him children. Dwayne’s mother was one of those lovers. The hatred that the father had for Mab had been told to Dwayne all his life, and when he learned who you were”—she shrugged—“he lost it and decided that you should die.” Well, the man had already decided that, to be honest, but it was even more of a need to kill her.

“So it was for what? Power?” she asked with a frown. “I don’t get it,” she whispered.

“Power is an impressive tool that people have fought to take, to have and hold as their own,” Gaia told her softly. “And he wanted it all.” Which was sad, really. “And for that he has lost his life.”

Katherine shook her head and looked up to Sullivan. Smiling weakly, she asked, “And now that that is all over, what now?”

“Now?” he asked and smiled slowly. “Now we live our lives and you help those that need it,” he told her honestly. Pressing a kiss to her lips, he breathed her in slowly. “Come on, darling. Let’s get you in bed and we’ll wait for the others to get home. Then we are going to love you tonight, tomorrow, and every day and night after.”

That had Katherine grinning. “So you can really kiss me the way that we both need.” She touched her fingers to his cheek. “And then you can start loving me and showing me just how good we are going to be together.”

“Wash up, love. I’ll go and make sure the bed is ready for your Royal Highness and her most loyal consorts.” Wiggling his eyebrows, he winked and left her to clean up.

Katherine laughed when he stepped away from her. God, she loved that man. Life was going to be very, very interesting with him in it. Taking a deep breath, she smiled, moved to the counter, and washed up. It was time to really begin living, time to move on from the old and embrace the new. It was time that she was queen of the Fae, but more than that, mate to the three most amazing consorts ever living. Mated to a pair of Bears and a Wolf. Who would have known? Life was truly spectacular.

With that as her last thought, she walked back into her bedroom and jumped into bed with one of her bears, one of her mates, and showed him just how much she loved him.

THE END

WWW.HONOR-JAMES.COM

Born in the midseventies, this thirty-something woman has only been writing for the last six years of her life, faithfully that is. Honor has always been scribbling a phrase, a curious word, or the oddest of thoughts down on anything she could find lying about. Now she piles them up before her, and if one catches her fancy, she further explores it to whatever its end might be.

A lover of books, her reading material spans from Shakespeare to mysteries and all the way to the erotic. Anything and everything she can get her hands on she’ll read. Though, these days, she leans more toward the paranormal than anything else.

Poetry was her first love, lasting about three solid years. Don’t ask, she won’t show many of them to anyone. Then short stories became the focus, and finally she began to write for more than just writing what came to mind. She started to write for pleasure and to tell the story that begged to be told.

Life and family came next. Working full time as a Customer Service Representative and raising two children got in the way, and the writing that she so loved as a teenager seemed to be pushed off to the back burner of everything.

So several years passed, and her children turned into more than the babies that demanded her attention and into young children and then teenagers with different demands, ones that allowed her to once more spread her imagination to the wind and ask for more, want more.

As with all great things, the door to her notebook-written word might have been closed and placed on hold, but where a door closes another one opens, and in this case it was with the advent of buying a computer.

Honor spends many a sleepless nights pounding at the keyboard. She is a consummate professional in her daytime career. However, at night her visions swing to the fantastical, and in those long hours after the children and husband is in bed, she weaves together words and blends up stories that not only bring a whole new meaning to romance, but sizzle the pages with a heat that will have the readers begging for more.

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com