Tasha had always been good at defusing situations and calming tempers, which was ironic considering her own temper was pretty bad. However, defusing any arguments that occurred between Tala and Sansa took a great deal of effort—something Tasha had quickly come to learn over the last four weeks. As such, she was tapping her foot impatiently while she stood between the two females in the living area who ranted at each other, pointing fingers and scowling. Meeting her mate’s gaze, who was sitting on the sofa looking both amused and exasperated, Tasha a struggled not to laugh at the insults being exchanged. Sansa had done exactly as Trevon had said she would—she’d tried extremely hard to become close friends with Tasha. But when that hadn’t worked, she had instead taken to trying to provoke Tasha with sugar-coated insults and backhanded compliments that had been so cleverly delivered they sounded totally innoce

Tasha didn’t enjoy seeing anyone in pain, she really, really didn’t. But as she watched with Tala and Ethan as Onyx and Trevon circled the human tied to a chair in her spare bedroom, she didn’t feel in the least bit disturbed to know he would soon be in bad shape. For one thing, the guy—Ray was his name, according to his driver’s license—was pure evil. He’d spent the past half hour boasting about how many shifters he’d beaten up in his time and about how easy it was breaking into the salon and how much fun he’d had smashing it up. Then there was the little detail that he kept calling her a slut and condemning to hell any “spawn of the devil” she was impregnated with. And why would he be so bold? He was convinced that Onyx wouldn’t hurt him for fear of repercussions. Also, he was too crazy to be smart enough to be scared. “It’s a shame my beta's not here,” said Tala. The Beta’s skills as an interrogator were well known. “He could have this guy si

With Onyx out of earshot, Tala turned to Trevon. “Am I right in thinking that part of his problem is that he doesn’t want to share Tasha?” “Yup. Plus, Onyx prefers being alone.” Trevon sighed. “If he had his way, the two of them would be holed up somewhere together and no one would ever bother them. But that’s never going to happen. Onyx’s strength draws people to him, always has and always will. If you had seen the way he organized all the groups in juvie…Even the older ones followed him. There was only one guy, who wouldn’t—Nick had to challenge him, and though he never meant it to go that far, he killed him. Onyx never elected himself as leader, never tried to be one, but everyone made him one. And I’m going to do the same now. If he won’t take on the position, I’ll make him do it in my own subtle way.”He’s not going to like it,” said Tala, but she was smiling. “How can I help?” As her mom did her woe-is-me routine complete with de

The latter word sounded so final and absolute—a balm to her lingering insecurities and her worry that he would leave her alone again. “It would also be great if you could give the dozens of marks on my inner thighs time to fade before leaving any more. I can hardly wear a bikini when I look like I’ve been assaulted.” “You won’t be wearing a bikini unless we’re alone. No, baby, I’ve seen how skimpy your bikinis are. As much as I approve, I’m not going to deal well with other guys drooling over you worse than they already do.” “There has been no drooling. That’s just you being paranoid and possessive.” She really didn’t see how beautiful she was, and Onyx didn’t understand it. “Believe me, they look, and they drool. Not that I can blame them.” He skimmed his hands up and down her back, clutching her close. “I’m too thin and pale,” she contradicted, echoing Danna’s claims. They weren’t insults she hadn’t heard before—her mother informed her of th

Waking up at dumb o’clock to find Tasha draped over him on a diagonal angle, Onyx might have smiled if it wasn’t for the pounding on the bedroom door. Carefully rolling a sleeping Tasha onto her side, he pulled on his jeans and made his way to the door. Opening it, he found an edgy-looking Trevon Stepping outside the room, Onyx quietly closed the door. “What is it?” “I just got a call now. They hasn’t found the location of the game preserve yet, but they'd managed to track down the place where the extremists hold their meetings. I’m guessing they’re mostly just ‘we hate shifters’ chats, but it might be worth attending one.” Later that evening, they did just that. From his spot in the wooded area surrounding the isolated warehouse, Onyx closely watched the people gathered in the open building, waiting for the meeting to begin. Trevon, Ethan, and Royd were squatting near him, studying the place just as intently. The great thing about th