“Well, well, well,” the she-devil said, pushing back from the table.
Reagan Somerset. The bane of his existence, and the absolute best asset Darius had in his arsenal.
“I never thought I’d see you doing the walk of shame.” She gave him a shit-eating grin as Darius stepped into view. “Not even a shirt. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like you have glitter all over you or anything but, I mean, you have sex hair, Moss. Sex hair and dirty jeans. Who are you right now?”
“Is there a reason you’re here?” Moss asked her, forcing himself to continue forward. He hadn’t even put on shoes. She’d never forget this. She’d taunt him about it for the rest of eternity.
She clasped her hands in her lap demurely, but her delighted smile said she wasn’t even close to being done. “You got used and abused. She hit it and quit it. Loved ya, and left ya. That’s gotta sting.”
Moss paused next to the wall at the edge of the kitchen. Marie stood by the counter, presentable in front of their boss. She’d brought a change of clothes.
“I couldn’t dispose of her like you’d asked,” Moss said to Darius. “At the Turning site, I was too weak. She kept me from an eternal death. Then back here…” He let his voice trail away. He didn’t have an excuse, and so he wouldn’t bother making one up.
“You saved the key target,” Darius said, thankfully ignoring his bond mate and her taunting. Trying to quiet her would just make her more violent, and Moss wasn’t in the mood. “And you entertained one of Cahal’s favorite people.”
Cahal was the very old warrior druid that had helped them take down the Mages’ Guild. While the woman he’d…entertained had been incredibly skilled and excellent under pressure, Cahal was in a league of his own. He was the best their was, and his help had been invaluable.
“Had any harm come to Abarrane, he would’ve attempted to kill us all,” Darius went on. “Even knowing he’d likely die trying, he would set out to avenge her.”
“Let’s hope he’s not jealous, eh Moss?” Reagan flapped her eyebrows at him. “You’ll have your hands full. Stiffed by the girl, beat up by the guy… A real shitty situation, that.”
Moss wasn’t sure what he’d done in a past life to deserve this woman hanging around, but whatever it was, he was sorry for it.
“As it stands,” Darius went on, “Cahal feels he owes us, since she unraveled my plans in order to get her mark. I can only be thankful her mark was different than my target.”
“I’m going to be honest, what she did was genius.” Reagan leaned against the table. “She just pitted one magical species against the other and sat back. She’s good at her trade.”
“She is lucky she has the protection of Cahal,” Darius said, his voice flat. The small hairs rose along Moss’s body. She was very lucky. People didn’t get in Darius’s way if they hoped to live.
“She didn’t just save the damsel—I mean, Moss—because she wanted to bang him.” Reagan rose from her chair and went to the fridge. “She probably knew that saving him would alleviate some of your anger, Darius. Everyone you lost was replaceable. You know it, and she likely knew it. She warned Moss not to go into that house. He did anyway. She followed him when he got out. Then stepped in when things were dire. She would’ve played this whole situation easily if it hadn’t been for protecting your right-hand-man.” Reagan nodded and took out a water. “She knew the score, and she put herself on the line to protect your asset.” She eyed Darius. “Her allegiance is to you over the shifters. And we get Cahal for sure, now. We’re in a good spot. This worked out well.”
A slow smile drifted up Darius’s face as he looked on his bond-mate. “I’ll teach you strategy yet.”
Reagan rolled her eyes. “Ew. No thanks. You do the thinking, and I’ll do the killing.”
“There’s no point in teaching a blunt instrument how to think,” Moss murmured.
Her face turned slowly and she laughed. “Sticks and stones, Moss. Stick and stones.”
Moss shook his head and turned back for the bedroom to retrieve his clothes, his mind drifting back to the druid. He wondered if he’d ever get a second chance with her, and if he did, if he’d want her to stay.
About the Author
KF Breene is a USA Today Bestselling author of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and fantasy novels with over two million books sold.
www.kfbreene.com
Facebook
Also by K.F. Breene
DDVN World:
* * *
Fire and Ice Series
Born in Fire
Raised in Fire
Fused in Fire
* * *
Magical Mayhem Series
Natural Witch
Natural Mage
Natural Dual-Mage
Don’t Get Cocky
Ruth Clampett
The artists at the Sketch Republic animation studio are in an uproar thanks to their noble leader wanting to do a series featuring a politically incorrect rooster character named, Sir Cocky Doodle Doo. Love struck Nathan and his dream girl Brooke (from Animate Me) hatch a plan to sabotage the Cocky show, and all the artists get behind them in an uprising of animated proportions.
Don’t Get Cocky ? 2018 by Ruth Clampett
* * *
All rights reserved.
* * *
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Don’t Get Cocky
This story features Nathan and Brooke from Animate Me, and takes place around a third into the original story, where they have become close friends … with additional benefits. Meanwhile Sketch Republic is in an uproar thanks to their noble leader wanting to do a series featuring a politically incorrect rooster character named, Sir Cocky Doodle Doo.
In all of my years in the animation world, I've never seen anything like it. Arnauld, the ever-annoying head of our animation company, Sketch Republic, has called for a “very special story meeting,” and hasn’t just called forth the writers and directors from each team, but instead a strange mish-mash of people throughout our company’s staff. It’s as if Arnauld had his assistant randomly pick twenty names out of a hat for this momentous occasion.
Sure, two of the team’s directors and a few of their writers are sitting around the large conference table or the chairs scattered along the meeting room wall, but there are also animation in-betweeners, digital colorists and even Chester, the IT guy attending—all people who have nothing to do with story development.
Dani, a background illustrator on my team, catches my attention from across the table and gives me a dramatic eye roll after scanning the room, and I shrug back. Who knows what that twat Arnauld (or as I like to call him, Arnold) is up to? He has no idea of our production process, so if he’s deciding to get involved now, he has a long way to go before any of us take him seriously. I’m pretty sure I never will.
A few moments later the double door swings open and Arnold, President of Sketch Republic, steps gallantly inside with two people right behind him. I half expect to hear an orchestral fanfare playing to match this flamboyant entrance. I’m distracted for another long moment observing my coworker's startled looks just to see this man in one of our story meetings, but then someone catches my eye and a warmth sizzles through me like a sparkler on a dark night. It’s my dream girl, Brooke, and she flashes me a smile as soon as our gazes connect. Knowing that Brooke is head of Development under Arnold, I was hoping she would be here, and now knowing that she is makes all of this pomp and circumstance tolerable.