urban-fantasy-romance

The boy stuck his hand out politely and shook hers, then extended it to Fergus, his eyes bright as stars in the night sky. "That's cool," he said, looking down at Fergus's hand and turning it sideways so he could get a better look. "You have little webs between your fingers. Does that hep you swim?"Marcus cleared his throat, looking embarrassed. "Tito, dude, it's not polite to comment on people's, um, oddities." He shrugged an apology at Fergus, who just laughed."I do not mind," Fergus said, grinning at the dark-skinned boy. He leaned down and whispered. "Can you keep a secret? I am actually a Merman from an undersea kingdom; that is why I have webs between my fingers." He held up one bare foot and said in a more normal tone, "Toes, too, see?"Tito's face was a study in conflicting awe and disbelief. "I never heard of a Merman," he said, dubiously. "I thought there were only Mermaids. And they're made up."Fergus snorted. "If you do not have any Mermen, how would get more Mermaids, eh?

Fen looked mildly amused by my antics. In fact, he was just short of full-on laughing. "Don't snicker at me, wolf. Being naked in your arms..." As I said those words out loud, a kernel of heat seared through me, heat that had nothing at all to do with the scalding temperature of the water. "Well... let's just say it surprised me, okay? I wasn't expecting to be ... unclothed or ... alive, for that matter." "Valkyrie, your nakedness does not bother me in the least." Did his eyes just flare a teensy bit? "It would've been counterproductive to heal you with your clothes on. What was left of them, anyway. I figured your life was worth more than your modesty." His lips went up in a cocky grin. "Plus, it kept me quite... focused on my task.

Sitting in a bar for hours on end wouldn__ help matters, but Tristan Archer figured he might as well try it out. It may take him far longer to get drunk than it would if he were human, yet he figured he__ give it a go. After the hellish few months he__ had, he would try anything at this point.He ran a hand through his short, auburn hair that tended to look brown in the bar__ lighting and sighed. He shouldn__ have accepted his friend Levi__ invitation to dinner and drinks at Dante__ Circle in the human realm. He should have rejected the offer and gone back to the thousand other things he had to do within the fae realm and inside the Conclave.Tristan wasn__ just any fae. He was a nine-hundred-year-old fae prince with responsibilities that lay heavily on his shoulders. He was also a Conclave member, where he helped govern every paranormal realm in existence with another fae member and two others from each race. That was how he__ become friends with Levi, a wizard and prince in his own right.So here he was, in Dante__ Circle, a bar owned and named after a royal blue dragon; the meeting place of seven women and their mates with a history he couldn__ immediately comprehend.Of course, it was because one of those women that he__ rather be in the fae realm instead of the dark bar with oak paneling and photos on the walls that spoke of generations of memories and connections. He__ been here a few times in the past, always on the outside of the circle of lightning-struck woman and their mates, but never fully excluded.They__ welcomed Tristan into their fold, even if they didn__ understand why it hurt him so to be that close to what he couldn__ have.Or maybe they understood all too well. After all, one of their own was the reason for his confusion, his torture. The object of his desire.__f you keep glowering at her over in the corner, you__l end up scaring her more than she already is,_ Seth said from his side.Tristan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, immediately regretting the action as soon as he did. The man next to him smelled of the sea. And hope. His heart ached and his dick filled.Seth Oceanus was a merman, a friend, and his mate.His true half.Or at least one of them.Not that he or Seth could do anything about it when the other part of their triad didn__ feel the same way.

He kissed her softly. "I think we both need time to get to know one another before we make love again. I don't want to rush things.""But mating us so we're connected for all eternity isn't rushing things?

Where she ended, he began.

She'd been the one to push him away this time, yet it hurt just as much as it had before. The door clicked closed behind him, and she gasped out a sob, her body shaking. Why had she said what she'd said? Why had she pushed him away like that?It made no sense. The only thing she wanted was to wrap her arms around him and never let him go.And that was why she didn't do it.Because once she did, she'd never let go. And she wasn't sure she'd survive if she had to watch him leave her again.

Who are you?" I asked as he turned and headed deeper into the cavern. "I am Fenrir the Wolf." "I'm sorry, did you say you're a wolf?

You say wicked like it's a bad thing.

It wasn't every day that a lion shifter next in line to the throne, dealing with a possible uproar and war in his Pride, found himself a soon-to-be father with a not-so-human potential mate after he'd left her all alone because he'd been forced to hurt her. There weren't any manuals for this sort of thing....

Son, if you were any farther from fine you'd be in Nebraska.

Er, hello, Chewie," he said politely."Woof," the dog said back."Chewie is a Newfoundland," Beka explained. "They're great water dogs. They swim better than we do, and even have webbed feet. They're often used for water rescue, and the breed started out as working dogs for fishermen.""Uh-huh... Chewie - I guess you named him for Chewbacca in Star Wars. I can see why; they're both gigantic and furry."Beka giggled. "I never thought of that. Actually, Chewie is short for Chudo-Yudo. Also, he chews on stuff a lot, so it seemed fitting.""Chudo what?" Marcus said. The dog made a snuffling sound that might have been canine laughter."Chudo-Yudo," Beka repeated. "He's a character out of Russian fairy tales, the dragon that guards the Water of Life and Death. You never heard of him?"Marcus shook his head. "My father used to tell the occasional Irish folk tale when I was a kid, but I'm not familiar with Russian ones at all. Sorry.""Oh, don't be," she said cheerfully. "Most of them were pretty gory, and they hardly ever had happy endings.""Right." Marcus looked at the dog, who gazed alertly back with big brown eyes, as if trying to figure out if the former Marine was edible or not. "So, you named him after a mythical dragon from a depressing Russian story. Does anyone get eaten in that story, just out of curiosity?"Chewie sank down onto the floor with a put-upon sigh, and Beka shook her head at Marcus. "Don't be ridiculous. Of course people got eaten. But don't worry. Chewie hasn't taken a bite out of anyone in years. He's very mellow for a dragon.

As soon as she was ready for work, she called out to Eric's closed door. "Anything in particular you want for breakfast?" "Yeah," he said, heading for the door. "But I don't think it's on the menu.

When I turned, I found myself looking at my reflection in the mirror. The dressing room lights surrounded it like a frame, but with the rest of the lighting off, only the center of the mirror was visible. Just us.His gaze locked on mine as his hands slid slowly up from my hips. His fingers splayed wide, teasing me as they made their slow journey up my waist while his lips were at my ear. "I want you to see how sexy you are, and hot you make me.

Come closer." His voice was more of a growl than a whisper. Hot.

His deep voice rumbled. "You are all that ever mattered to me.

I straddled his lap and sank onto him so slowly I almost lost it. Each inch of him filled my already sensitive body. Nose to nose with him, I whispered. "You come with me.'His mouth curved into a wicked smile. "Happily.

Love and hate aren't as far apart as you think.

Sam could feel his jaw drop open, but it took him a moment to gather himself together enough to shut it. He blinked at Jazz. "Did that cat just talk, or am I losing my mind?" Koshka laughed, a bizarre sound coming from something with whiskers and ear tufts. "So you believe in witches but not to talking cats? You have a very limited worldview, Human. You might want to work on that.