Trivial Pursuits

Releasing 12.09

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HIS CHALLENGE

Duke is bitter. A shapeshifter betrayed by the psychic powers of Analise Morell, he cannot forgive her for putting him in the clutches of a feral vampire, but he also can’t shake his desire for her. And when she needs a Hunter, Duke must face his demons—and hers…

HER MISSION

Desperate voices are battering Ana’s psychic shields. A serial killer with extraordinary powers is about to strike again, and the tormented souls of his previous victims are screaming for her help. But Ana can’t understand why they want her…

Their INSATIABLE desire

After what she did to him, Ana is sure Duke must be using her…but if he is, so be it. Ana can’t fight her longing for him, can’t fight the desire that’s haunted her for years. For Duke, every fiber of his soul—both the man and the cougar within—yearns to protect and possess her.…

* * * * *

Abruptly, she was pissed.

Not just irritated, not just tired and grouchy, and not just edgy because she felt so damned guilty for what she’d done to him. She’d made huge mistakes in her life, but damn it, she’d done her best to rectify them and she was sick and damned tired of having to pay for it in their eyes. Seething, she stormed up the rest of the stairs and jammed her key into the lock, undoing it with a vicious twist of her wrist.

He followed her inside and she shot him a dirty look as he dropped down on the couch, settling down with lazy, feline grace.

“Make yourself at home,” she drawled. She left the carryon by the door and shut it, turning the lock on the doorknob and then the deadbolt.

“Those locks suck,” he said, flicking a glance at her door.

“I’ll make a note of it.” Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at him. “Whatever you need me to explain, fine. Ask away so I can explain and get your ass out of my home.”

A grin curled his lips. “Ana, you’re swearing. What’s got you so pissed?”

“I’m not pissed,” she lied.

“You know, even if you did do some kind of number on my instincts, I don’t know why in the hell I ever fell for any of your lines,” he mused, shaking his head. “You’re a lousy liar.”

“I didn’t hand you lines.” Then she wished she hadn’t said a damn thing. The last thing she needed to do was think about ancient history, not when he was here. Not when he was so close. Not when he could smell every subtle change in her body, whether it was because she told a little white lie, or because her body went all hot and achy with need, getting worse with very damn second he was there.

“Sure you did.” He came off the couch and paced towards her, that big, hard body all fluid, sexy grace and long, powerful muscles. His golden hair fell around his face and his gray eyes glittered in the dim light. “You fed me all sorts of lines and then I get a knife shoved into my chest and I wake up and find out the pretty blonde princess who had me twisted up inside was the puppet of a fucking psycho. Maybe that’s the difference…when somebody’s pulling your strings you do just as you’re told. Did Cat tell you to get hot for me? Is that why you seemed to want me so bad?”

Stop it. Duke stared at her, watched as the blood drained from her face, leaving her pale, her haunted, dark purple eyes all but black. Stop.

Cat was dead. She didn’t fucking matter any more and if Ana was any kind of threat to them, every single last Hunter around would know. She’d be watched—or already dead. She wasn’t a threat and he knew it. At least not that kind of threat. Not any more.

The kind of threat she posed to him was a different story, but one didn’t really have anything to do with the other.

She’d screwed up and even Duke wasn’t so blind to the fact that she had tried to make amends. She was guilty, never claimed otherwise, didn’t offer excuses or any other lame shit to try and help explain away what she’d done. Even the more plausible reason—her fear for her brother, she never used that card.

If it was anybody but Ana, he probably even could have found some reluctant admiration.

But with Ana…

Even as he told himself to stop, to back away, find out what he needed to know and get the hell away from her, he couldn’t. Even as he lifted a hand to touch her, curling it around her neck and tugging her close, he told himself to quit and he couldn’t. “No answer, Ana?” he whispered, rubbing his thumb across her full lower lip.

Let it go—none of that matters.

Except it did. It did matter, why she’d all but melted in his arms, melted around him, over him, so damned hot she’d almost burned him. Had she really wanted him? Or had it been because she had psycho-bitch pulling her strings? How deep had Cat’s control on Ana gone?

She shook, her body all but vibrating. She was afraid, he could scent it on her, but it wasn’t just fear. His lids drooped over his eyes, a growl rumbling in his chest, as he realized he had his answer right there.

Ana didn’t have to say a damn thing.

She wanted him. All but burned with it.

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