Doomsday Brethren Novella Fated Shelley Shayla

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Raiden stared a bloody hole through him. "Maybe another woman? Another day--"
"I don't want anyone else."
His twin paused. "So you're going to leave me to our usual haunts and activities alone?
Though we've shared the same curse and taken the same path for decades, you're planning to
abandon me?"
Ronan tensed. This was it, the question he feared would drive a permanent wedge between
them. "I can no longer be who I was."
With a shout, Raiden turned and punched the wall. "You'd rather sink into your fucking fairy
tale where love and happily-ever-after can happen for a Wolvesey? What you want, Ronan, is
impossible."
Perhaps, but that changed nothing. With everything inside him, he wanted Kari for his mate,
to see her grow round with his children, to love her for the next nine hundred years.
None of that would ever come to pass.
"If it pleases you, knowing that I've lost Kari and will likely lose you as well is killing me."
Raiden looked at him as if he talked to a complete stranger. Then he shook his head. "Did
you ever think that, perhaps, I had feelings for someone?"
Ronan stared, stunned. No, he hadn't. "You never shag anyone more than once."
Raiden looked away with a guilty flush. "Tabitha carries my child now. It's all I can do to
stay away from her, to ensure her safety. It's best for her and the baby."
What a bloody mess. Ronan felt like a failure. He wanted to know how his brother could
stand to share a bed with one woman with another in his heart, but he knew: close your eyes and
pretend. But for Ronan, that was impossible now.
With a snort of disgust, Raiden turned away. "Let me know when you've come to your
senses. Otherwise, stay the fuck away."
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ronan sat in his usual table, in his usual corner. And he watched Kari's every move from
across the room.
The pub was busy for a Thursday night. Humans mingled with magickind without ever
knowing they flirted with someone not quite their own species. Music blared, drinks flowed,
people laughed--and Ronan had never been more miserable.
Kari refused to talk to him. The first night he'd occupied this spot, she'd never acknowledged
him. By the following evening, she'd hired a waiter--a large one--with a shaved head and a skull
and crossbones tattoo on one forearm and a fire-breathing dragon on the other. Human, so not
much of a threat to him, but Ronan received the message clearly: piss off.
Nursing a scotch, he watched the ebb and flow of the patrons for the twelfth straight night.
He'd long given up hope of Kari talking to him. But he would ensure she stayed safe, no matter
what it took. The one ray of hope was that Tynan had been too busy with the Doomsday
Brethren to put in his usual appearance at The Witch's Brew. Small favor, that. But one that kept
her safer.
Again, Ronan wondered if Kari would be better protected if he actively fought evil, rather
than sat her at the pub waiting for it to strike. Now that he no longer chased a different female
every night, he realized he'd given little thought to the future. What would he do? A part of him
wouldn't relinquish the idea that joining the Doomsday Brethren would both give him purpose
and protect his mate.
Because regardless of what Kari said or didn't say, she was his mate.
New fallen snow blew in as the door opened. Ronan cursed when Shock Denzell walked in,
his gaze hidden behind dark sunglasses as he canvassed the room. Damn, Ronan had really
hoped the prick would stay away. Since Shock hadn't, he rose to his feet, refusing to risk anyone
attacking Kari again.
Before the other wizard took more than three steps inside the pub, Ronan stepped in front of
him and growled, "Get out."
Shock scowled at him as if he was a gnat. "Who the fuck are you? Not the pub's owner."
"Her mate. I don't need you bringing more trouble here."
Shock eyed Ronan's magical signature with disdain. "Not her mate."
That truth rankled, but he pushed on. Kari would not be in danger.
Ronan glared. "I'm not arguing semantics. Moments after you last left here, the pub was
attacked and Kari nearly killed. That won't happen again."
"Attacked by whom?"
"This isn't an interrogation."
"If you want to save her life, start talking." Shock crossed his arms over his massive chest.
"How do I know you won't simply end her life?"
Shock shrugged. "You don't. But how can you protect her when you don't understand the
threat?"
Ronan wondered how Shock would take the news, then shrugged. Not his problem...
"Apparently, the witch who attacked her is called Rhea. She was quite interested in knowing if
you'd been conversing with Tynan O'Shea and what was said." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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