Lisa Carlisle

I told my brothers what happened. Are you ready to come meet them?" She straightened. "Aye." "I warn you," he teased in an attempt to lighten the mood. "They're big, burly bampots.

The five statutes loomed above the crowd, still and timeless. The last light of the setting sun cast an eerie glow around them. When she fixed her gaze on Mason's stone form, her heart thumped. She scanned every inch of his silhouette, wondering about the spark of life within the stone that would animate him into flesh. A warm-blooded male with a heated touch and sensuous lips that made her melt.

In decades past, the three clans of the island - tree witches, gargoyles, and wolves, had cloaked their land with many layers of protection. Their combined magic had created such a powerful force it had remained undetected by human technology. When a feud erupted between the witches and gargoyles twenty-five years ago it led to a division of land. Without reinforcements from the clans' combined magic, the protection seeped away.

What a surprising turn of events. He'd only come out here to question the intruder he'd spotted while watching from his stone repose. Instead, he'd found a gargoyle who needed a place to stay. Not what he'd expected.

Bryce carried her to the bed and lowered her onto it. He crawled to her with a predatory look, leaving her no doubt she was the prey. "I promise to make you feel good.

I like solitude.___oesn__ seem to fit with the personality of a rock guitarist.___et me tell you a secret._ He leaned forward. __y stage persona is not who I am at all.__ina realized she had completely stopped painting while listening, enraptured with what he had to say. __hat are you then?__e gave her a mischievous grin that reached his eyes. __ight now, I__ just a guy standing in front of a pretty girl who makes his pulse race.

They__ stolen his life.And rebirthed him as a monster.

I__ be careful about watching me too closely.___hy?_ She smiled to match the sassy tone in her voice.The smirk that had lingered on his face dropped away, replaced by a serious expression. __ou might not like what you see.

Look at me, Regina.__he glanced up at him, appearing tiny. He stood almost a foot taller than her in his boots while she wore flats, which looked like ballet shoes. His palms heated and his heartbeat raced. Her scent that had teased him from afar now tormented him up close. God, he wanted to wrap himself in that scent, bury himself deep inside her.

She shivered as a blustery wind rushed past. She__ made a mistake in returning to the city. She should__e stayed in the castle with Antoine. She__ be warm in his arms right now, instead of being held prisoner.

Your life is very different from mine. For one, you can transform into a wolf._ __ can,_ she agreed. __nd you live with a vampire and gargoyle. That__ not the typical human way, is it?

The truth echoed in her head. On the same day she met him, he had tried to kill her. Her mate.

Remind me who you are,_ he said in a gentler tone, almost a please. __ow we know each other.___kay,_ she began. ____ Savannah Evans, a grad student and teaching assistant who teaches English at a college in Cambridge. I applied to the colony to work on my poetry and arrived six weeks ago. __e__e spoken many times. You__e praised my work, which I find a great honor as I__ a fan of your art.

What treasures he would give for one night with her. To watch her strip off one of her vintage dresses, revealing her satin skin inch by inch just for him.

Oh, is that all you__e looking forward to - a break from your studies?_ He peered down at her with a knowing smirk.

During the show, she studied him on stage. The way he strummed the guitar, the movement of muscles in his arms and torso, the sway of the tartan fabric with his movements. Her cheeks heated when she thought about running her fingers over his torso and under his kilt. Oh, the things he could do to her with that body.

She tore her eyes from his abs and gave in to the temptation to look further down. Over his kilt her eyes wandered and stopped, speculating on the promising bulge beneath the blue tartan. "Hope you like what you see...

I should tell you something about what happens after I play.""What's that?"He pulled her back into his arms. "I get excited...