Savage Craving - Cecilia Lane Page 0,24

who is she to you?” Dash asked at his side.

Seth frowned at his brother. “No one. Just a job.”

“Sure, sure,” Dash said, grinning wildly. At Seth’s raised eyebrow, he spread his hands wide. “As much as I enjoy giving Trent shit, it makes my balls disappear to think about going up against him for real. You may as well have whipped out your dick and claimed your territory with that little exchange.”

Seth stiffened. “I don’t have a mate. I told you what I am.”

“You still have shifter blood, man. So you don’t have the fur and fangs. Who gives a shit?” He tapped his hand over his heart. “Knowing she’s yours, that comes from here.”

Hope jumped to life before he could get a rein on himself. A single image flashed through his head, and his body picked up the response. Lilah bent over that kitchen table, his hands on her. Fuck, he could practically feel heat growing between them.

Seth yanked back on the wicked thought and let the brief flare of hope wither on the vine. A gnawing ache filled his stomach, like he’d been starved for years and years.

She couldn’t be his mate. Even if he’d somehow tapped into that side of himself after all the years of being utterly shiftless, even if he wasn’t desperately reaching for straws, Lilah wasn’t for him.

“She hates shifters.”

Dash threw his head back with a laugh. “You sure managed to get yourself into a kettle of fuckfish, didn’t you?”

Chapter 9

Holy crap. What fresh hell had Seth dragged her into? All his promises and nice words about keeping her safe flew out the freaking window when he offered her up to Jasper Crowley’s kin. She’d done some research after the supernatural population went public. What she’d learned then had been the same as her experience as a teenager. Their families—clans, packs, whatever they wanted to call themselves—stuck together. Outsiders like herself weren’t welcome.

Not to mention, this was his room. With his people. In Bearden, of all places!

The flashes in his eyes surged back into focus. He claimed he wasn’t a shifter, but why the hell was he living amongst them?

Lilah turned to face her firing squad. Four pairs of eyes met hers, but none showed her open hostility. Mostly there was curiosity and a little pity, neither of which she expected from those connected to the man who wanted her dead.

They didn’t look like killers. Then again, no one really looked like a killer. That darkness lived inside a person and didn’t seep through as a warning to the rest of the world. The women in front of her could have been plucked off the street or strolled past her in the grocery store. Four different shades of hair ranging from light blonde to black, blue eyes and green and grey and brown. All utterly normal. Entirely human.

Then again, Lorne’s family had appeared the same until they showed their true selves.

Lilah shivered at the thought. Fear dumped into her veins. She’d been attacked, just like before. Jasper and his people wanted her dead, just like before. Only this time, the ones coming for her didn’t seem to care who saw or got in the way. She was powerless against that sort of force, just as she was powerless against their claws and fangs.

And she stood in the same small room with relatives.

The awkward silence lasted for a beat more before Hailey stepped forward with a wide smile. “I’m Hailey, which I think Trent mentioned back there. This one is Sage. Your name sibling, Kyla.” Hailey huffed a tiny laugh and rounded out the introductions with a final point. “And that’s Colette.”

Lilah darted a look around the small room. She needed an escape plan if they tried anything, but she’d been cornered. The only door was the one they’d entered through and unless she had some hidden superpowers, she doubted she could jump through the window above the bed.

Hailey brushed past her and into the bathroom, leaving her alone with the others. Lilah tried to give them polite smiles as the other woman rummaged for something, which they returned with increasing concern.

Don’t run, she urged herself. Don’t scream. No sudden movements. Act like they aren’t capable of changing into giant lionesses ready to rip a person limb from limb.

Seth trusted them. He’d also left out the teeny, tiny little detail of their connection.

“Here we go,” Hailey announced. A second later, she reappeared in the doorway with a white box in her hands. “You’re a bit