Desire Unchained

She squeezed Shade’s shoulder. “Get yourself cured. You’ve had enough to deal with without having the werewolf thing on top of it.”


He didn’t deserve her, but man, he was so lucky to have her. He hated Roag with every cell in his body, but the bastard had given him Runa. It hadn’t seemed like a gift at the time, but now he would never regret the bond he had with her, even if it didn’t go both ways.

She knew what he was thinking. “I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “Markings or no, you’re mine. I love you, Shade.”

He drew her hard against him. “But with the bond being one-sided, you still can’t feel me. If I need you, if I’m hurt—”

“I’ll never be far from you. We’ll work it out.”

“Damn, I love you.”

She sighed, a sweet, soft sound he’d never grow tired of hearing. “Agree to the shot.”

“I’m not so sure I want it now.”

Eidolon backed away to give them a chance to talk.

“Don’t turn this down,” she said. “This is your chance to be free.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be.” He drew his finger along her jawline, enjoying the way her champagne eyes darkened to a smooth, swirling caramel. “Maybe I like what we do to each other during the full moon. What we do to each other when we wake up, and the moon is still stirring us.”

“We’ll still have that. You can shapeshift into a warg any time you want.”

“Shade.” Eidolon came close again, bringing Tay with him. “There’s something else to consider. Your offspring.”

“What about them? Runa isn’t human anymore, so they’ll be born full-blooded Sems.”

“Yes, but they’ll also be wargs.”

“Runa wasn’t a born warg, so that shouldn’t happen.” Humans who were turned into werewolves gave birth to normal human babies—unless conception took place while the mother was in beast form—but those born as werewolves usually gave birth to werewolves no matter how the young were conceived.

“I think the experimentation could have screwed with that. If we cure the lycanthropy in you, I can use your antibodies to create an immunization for your children. Even those conceived in beast form during a breeding heat.”

Shade blew out a breath. He didn’t want the cure for himself, but he wouldn’t wish lycanthropy on his offspring. Without mates, full-moon nights would be dangerous for them and any female who got in their way. “Fine. Do it.”

Runa reached for his face with both hands and brought his mouth down hard against hers. “I love you,” she said, against his lips. Her voice was a deep, husky rasp that lit him up the way only she could. “And you know how I’m going to show you?”

He pulled back a little. “How?”

“You know that thing you never let me do when we were dating?” Her gaze flickered to the rapidly growing bulge in his pants, and he took in a ragged breath.

The image of her on her knees, taking him into her mouth … damn. “I couldn’t let you,” he croaked. “My semen is an aphrodisiac. I wouldn’t have been able to explain why you went mad with lust afterward.”

Her wicked grin cut off his words and his breath. Nearly stopped his heart, as well. “Not that I’ve ever needed an aphrodisiac with you, but it sounds interesting.” She licked her lips, the little vixen, and that was it. He was done for, beyond the point of no return.

He grabbed her hand and turned to E. “I’m outta here. Call if you need me, but do not call any time soon.”

E opened his mouth, but Tayla walked up to them and shot E a shut-up look. Way to go, slayer. He started toward the Harrowgate, wondering which of his two places he’d take Runa to, but dammit, both his apartment and his cave were a good walk from the exit point. Again, Runa knew what he was thinking, and she tugged him to her.

“Do you think there’s an empty exam room available?”

Amusement—and not a small amount of lust—bubbled through him. “Could be needing it for hours …”

“Days,” she said, with a naughty smile.

His insides liquefied and his outside went harder than stone. “Oh, yeah. Let’s go.”

Eidolon watched Shade whisk Runa away, their aroused state obvious to his incubus senses. His own body stirred to life, so when Tayla wrapped her arms around him and whispered, “Do you think there’s more than one exam room open?” he didn’t hesitate.

He slid a glance at Wraith on the way past Kynan’s room and prayed that Wraith, too, would find the peace he so desperately needed.

But Eidolon couldn’t shake the feeling that in Wraith’s case, prayers went unheard.





The obnoxious beeping of hospital equipment pierced the dark depths of Kynan’s dreams and yanked him into real life. Where there was a demon parked next to the bed.

“Wraith?” Kynan blinked, trying to get the grit out of his eyes. He felt as if he’d been asleep for a week. Maybe he had. And why the hell was he in the hospital?

As a patient?

Wraith sat forward in his chair, propping his forearms on his spread knees. “’Sup, buddy.”