Authors: Shelli Stevens

Savage Revenge (28 page)

Had he?

The little blonde girl leaned closer. “My mom says you’re the worst witch she’s ever seen.”

Zach blinked. “Really? Who’s your mom?”

“Sharon Quinn.”

Zach buried his head in his hands. He’d accidentally turned Sharon’s hair green two days ago. She’d sworn she could teach him how to cast a
proper
illusion spell.

“They said they couldn’t even bleach it out. It’ll have to grow on its own.”

Zach peeked out from behind his hands. “Sorry.”

“Anything you’d like to share with the class, Zachary?”

Me?
He sat up straight. “No, ma’am.”

Her eyes narrowed. They darted between him and the little girl. “Good. Then let’s get to work.” She reached down and picked up a book. “Please open your books to page twenty-three of
Incense, Herbs and Potions
, please.”

Zach scooted back as far as he could and looked under his desk. It was empty. “Ms. Yashodhar?”

“Yes, Zachary?”

“I don’t have a book.”

She rolled her eyes. “Weren’t you given the syllabus?”

“No, ma’am.” He was lucky he hadn’t been given the boot, the way people around here treated him. They all acted like he had leprosy.

“Sarah. Share with Zachary.”

The little girl glared at him and turned the book toward him. Cover side out.

“Let’s begin.”

Zach sat back and prepared for what he was sure would be the most miserable night of his existence.

Jo waved her hand in front of her face and dove frantically for the windows. “Everyone stay calm!” She struggled with opening the old windows. Something was jamming them closed. She coughed, desperate to get the stench and smoke out of her classroom.

What in all the hells had she ever done to deserve this? How Zach wound up in the same class with children she’d never understand, but the Princess had strong-armed her into taking on the younger man and Jo had reluctantly agreed.

The entire week had been one disaster after another.

“Sorry, sorry. Let me help you with that.”

Two strong arms reached around her and began tugging the window open. She heard a deep grunt, felt the pull of that powerful body, and the window screeched open underneath her fingers.

Jo took a deep breath of fresh city air. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

That deep rumbling voice was going to be the death of her. Maybe if she’d been paying attention to what Zach had been putting in his cauldron instead of his strong hands, one bound in a leather glove, one not, she might have stopped him from whatever the hell he’d done.
It stinks like a half-cooked skunk in here.
“Get the other windows, Zachary.”

She felt more than heard his sigh. “Yes, ma’am.”

She risked a quick peek at his strong shoulders outlined in a white button-down shirt, dark jeans hugging an incredibly firm ass. That mop of dark curls begged for her fingers. He reached over and pulled on the window, opening it with another deep grunt that sent flutters through her stomach.

She had to get this unholy lust under control before it did her in. Zachary Beckett was her
student
, damn it. She had to teach him how to control and hone his powers. If Ro caught her drooling over the man she just knew Zach would be sent away. He was at the end of his patience with Zachary Beckett. The complaints against him were piling up as he screwed up one spell after another in spectacular fashion.

But if he were sent away he’d never get what he so desperately needed.

So she growled and she grumbled and she kept him at arm’s length. She prayed he never saw the way she looked for his bright smile, or the way she watched him those rare times when he threw his head back and laughed. She never let him closer than she had to. She was terrified he’d sense her attraction.

Still, if it wasn’t for his perpetual screw-ups, she wasn’t certain she would have been able to stand by her decision. There was no way the man could leave court without serious tutoring in the arcane arts. If he did, someone, somewhere, was going to kill his ass just for the strange stuff he tended to do without even thinking about it.

“All the windows are open, Miss Yashodhar.”

She watched him shake out the fingers of his gloved hand and wondered at it. He never took it off, never allowed anyone to touch it. He held out his left hand to anyone who wanted to shake, and she knew,
knew
it wasn’t his primary hand. The awkward way he tried to do things with his left one let her know the injury to his right was fairly recent too. The fact that he was in her class at all made her think it was perhaps less than a year old but more than six months. He’d been in court now for five weeks, and she’d never seen his ungloved hand.

What had he done to mess his hand up? It had to be pretty bad if the healers around here hadn’t fixed it yet. Maybe it wasn’t even human anymore? She snorted. She wouldn’t put anything past him.

The smoke was clearing, but the rotten skunk smell was lingering like a bad headache, throbbing behind her sinuses. “Everyone, class dismissed for the evening. Call your parents.”

“Way to go, Zachary.”

She hid her wince as best she could, but she knew everyone had heard a child mock the very adult Zach. “Everyone, out. Now!” She sighed. “Zachary, hold back for a moment.”

She watched the children gather their things and head for the door. More than one glared or shook their heads at Zach, blaming him for the catastrophe her lesson had become. She found herself shaking her head at him too.

Someone needed to take this man-boy in hand before he killed himself.

“What
exactly
did you put in that spell?” It was supposed to be relatively simple, a brew to relax and open up the third eye, allowing the magical senses to be brought to the fore. Instead it wound up closing off the sinuses. “Well?”

He shrugged. “It should have worked.”

“Tell me the ingredients you used.”

He began chanting them, his voice almost sing-song. Her horror grew as he listed out the herbs he’d placed in his cauldron. “Lord and Lady, Beckett! Half those herbs are poisonous!” And how the
heck
had poisonous herbs wound up in a novice classroom?

He shrugged. “They were what I needed.”

“What you needed.”

He nodded, giving her what she’d come to term his Bambi eyes. “Uh-huh.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose and tried desperately to remind herself why she hadn’t killed him yet. “Beckett, you can’t have those in here with ten-year-olds.”

“I was careful.”

She pointed toward the desks. “Those children are under my care, Zachary!” She shook her head, furious with both him and herself. She should have noticed what he was doing, stopped it before it got to this point. This was more her fault than his. She sat behind her desk, hoping it gave her more of an authoritative air despite the eau de funk clinging to her. “From now on, you use the herbs I tell you to use, understand?” He opened his mouth to object, but she stopped him with an upraised hand. “
Understand?
”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She hated when he got that hurt tone, but what could she do? There was no way he was qualified to work with those herbs. How were they supposed to open his inner eye? Through death? “Go home, Zachary. Try not to blow anything up on the way.”

She watched him walk out, leaving his jacket behind. Once she was certain he wasn’t coming back for it she started slowly and methodically banging her head on her desk.

What was she going to do with him?

Savage Revenge

Shelli Stevens

Taking her captive could prove his innocence…or make her a target.

Savage, Book 3

Agent and Alpha Nathan Larson has fled his pack, his agency and Washington State on a life-or-death mission to prove himself innocent of a savage massacre he’s pretty sure he didn’t commit.

So far he’s covered his tracks, but it’s only a matter of time. He needs a place to hunker down under the radar, and he intends to make it happen. No matter who becomes collateral damage.

Sage Christensen knows every shifter in this small California town, and the darkly attractive, brooding alpha attempting to flirt with her stands out like a flea on a white cat. She quickly realizes she was right to be wary when he follows her home and holds her captive.

Despite her refusal to be a compliant victim, she can’t deny their chemistry. Or the gut instinct that maybe he really is innocent. But with the trail of dead women growing longer, Sage begins to wonder if it was a mistake to trust her safety, her body—and her heart—to a man who has no idea how deep his dark side is buried.

Warning: This book has an Alpha male on the run, and a quirky novelist destined to be his captive. There will be bloodshed, lovemaking, and excitement aplenty.

eBooks are
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transferable.

They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B

Cincinnati OH 45249

Savage Revenge

ISBN: 978-1-61921-824-6

Edited by Tera Kleinfelter

Cover by Kanaxa

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: October 2013

www.samhainpublishing.com