Darby    By the time we finish Townsend’s sumptuous picnic, walk back to Ian’s office building to collect both laptop computers—these are a significant improvement over the computers I was introduced to the last time I left my valley—then drop Ivan’s at the hospital and get back to the hotel, it’s late afternoon.Afternoon tea is delivered to our room on a tray, complete with creamy cucumber sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and cherry sauce and a decadent chocolate cake so rich I can’t finish it. I feed Ian by hand from the tray, giggling and wincing and moaning in response to what he does while my fingers are in his mouth, while he reviews his e-mails and documents, triaging the work he must get caught up.Tessa sleeps belly up on a cooling vent in the corner, snoring soft

Darby    Nearly unbearable pain throbs in my leg, blood streaming down it and over Ian’s sleek coat. I’m grateful for his smooth gait, because I don’t think I could take the jarring otherwise, but nevertheless I shudder with relief when he halts at the packhouse.I don’t know where he learned to do it, but as Ian shifts, I wind up in his arms. Carrying me as easily as a beloved small child, he rushes up the steps just as the door opens from inside. Looking over his shoulder, I see a timber wolf position itself outside, guarding, and two leggy but more finely built tan and black ones start their shift.The desert pack brothers. I recognize the deep honey colored eyes, one of them boring directly into mine.“Townsend—.” Ian shouts, working his way around t

Sean    Did you feel it?Oh, shit, Sean. What have you done?It’s lifted! The curse is lifted! How?Candlewood’s Luna. Please don’t tell me you seduced her. I swear Sean, I’ll turn you over to Ian myself. On my honor, I did not. Your honor? Where females are concerned, you have no honor. I do now. Listen. We came here to bargain with Candlewood, but we’re in the weaker position. Are you trying to provoke me? Or did the Luna addle what’s left of your brains? Tell me something I don’t know. We have nothing to o

Jack    So the whole threat to Darby thing really has Ian riled. And not that I don’t think what they’re contributing isn’t great, but Sean and the Desert trackers aren’t making that easier. Which means that my normally cush job, just got annoying, and it’s putting a crimp in my sex life.Between regular maintenance contracts, and now the addition to the pack house, there are all kinds of contractors and crews coming and going constantly. Getting their background checks and keeping track of them the whole time they’re in Candlewood is an exercise in irritation. I’m actually considering sending the alpha pair on a honeymoon—a long one.The team I put together to enforce the security protocols, while loyal, follows my instructions to the letter but can’t think outside

Ian    “This isn’t a topic I think I can be much help with, Alpha,” Dr. Myers says gently, her eyes averted as her gloved hands examine my testicles, the final humiliating step in a medical consultation I naively requested. “My knowledge about conception in faeries is limited at best. Everything feels normal here, so you can sit up. I’ll get these samples to the lab.”Well, that was awful for my ego.Dr. Myers pulls the paper-thin hospital gown over my exposed parts and pats my knee and I wonder if this can get any more emasculating.As she takes her gloves off and washes her hands, I sit upright on the exam table feeling more violated than I ever have in my life. No wonder women hate pelvic exams and mammograms.“Shifters are easy, really. Finding a mate is enough to