Authors: Golden Angel
Tags: #Romance, #Erotica, #paranormal romance, #Paranormal, #werewolf, #shape shifter, #paranormal erotica
"Why?" Bethany demanded to know as
Steele unwrapped one arm from around her and held it out to bring
Bailey into their orbit. Her little sister snuggled in,
shooting Mr. Suddenly-Sharing a look of absolute adoration, before
turning a much less friendly look on Eli.
"I'm not sure how much you
know about shifters, but the prey animals are going extinct," Eli
said quietly, his expression pained. Behind Bethany, Steele
winced and she could feel some of his pain leaking through.
"We've lost the majority of the population of smaller animal
shifters over the last decade, some of them friends and family, to
diseases that ravage them and barely affect the larger
shifters. That's what Dr. Montgomery was researching, a way
to stop that. From what we've managed to put together, his
mate was a fox and when she and their kits died in the first wave
of disease, he pretty much lost it. He became entirely
devoted to his work and his work was entirely devoted to saving the
smaller shifters. I'll be frank, he's fucking insane and he's
convinced that the ends justify the means no matter how immoral the
means are, but he's also brilliant and his work could save the
population we have left."
Geezus... Bethany wanted to bang her
head against the wall. She could feel her mate's
astonishment, his reluctance acceptance of Eli's
explanations. Beside her, Bailey was chewing on her lower
lip, looking torn. And Bethany...
"At what cost?" she asked, although
she could already feel her resistance weakening. Yeah, she
thought Dr. Montgomery should be held accountable for what he'd
done to her and her family, but at the same time, if what they'd
gone through really could help people... still, she could testify
to how painful it was. And she hadn't even been a shifter to
begin with. "How do we know he's not lying? We weren't
shifters when he experimented on us, how do we know his work will
even help?"
"We don't. Not yet,
but," Eli took a deep breath, "we have a couple of squirrels here;
a young woman and her fifteen year old brother. They have the
Torch. It's a slow acting disease that causes high fevers and
a lot of pain, I'm told it feels like you're actually burning
alive. Until now, all we've been able to do is treat the symptoms
and supply patients with enough morphine to go peacefully.
It's already killed their parents and their aunt, the only family
they have left in the world, is starting to show signs of the
disease as well.
"We gave Dr. Montgomery
access to a lab and he's spent the last forty eight hours working
on something that will allow them to fight off the disease like a
larger shifter would. In us, it only manifests as something
similar to the human flu - a week of fever, dehydration, and some
vomiting - but the larger shifters have a 98% recovery rate. It
only kills the very old or the very young of our species.
What he's doing might change them, but all three of them have
talked to your brothers about what the change might be like, and
they're willing to take the risk in order to become well.
They won't be the last, I can guarantee that."
Green eyes stared at her
squarely, his doubt and shame gone, changed into a calm confidence.
"I made the decision to offer him life, under guard and in
our labs, with no chance of freedom or parole, in exchange for his
work, in exchange for
others
' lives. There will be no
experimenting on humans and he will be watched constantly by our
own scientists and guards. If he even attempts to escape,
that offer is forfeit, but I had to make it. He doesn't
deserve it, but the people he could save... they do."
Now Bethany was clinging to both her
sister and Steele, trying to deal with the conflicting emotions
inside of her. How could she argue with Eli when he put it
like that? And at the same time, she wanted Montgomery's
blood... she wanted it so badly she could taste it. Life
would have been so much easier if Kasim had let Bailey kill the
man.
Then again, that would
have been an automatic death sentence - and an awful death - for
the squirrel shifters Eli was talking about. And he was
right. They didn’t deserve that. It sounded like they’d already
been through so much. Losing their parents, only each other and
their aunt left of their family… of course she knew how too much of
that felt.
She stared silently back at Eli,
unable to come up with any words to say. What could she say?
The blond man looked away and then
back at the screen. "Hold on a moment."
He got up, leaving the view, and
Bethany looked at her sister. Bailey's big blue eyes were
filled with tears.
"This might not be so bad," Bailey
whispered, reaching out and taking Bethany's hand, leaning into
Steele's shoulder. Mr. Tall-and-Protective really was pretty
comfortable when it came to needing someone to lean on. "At
least this way, what we went through wasn't for nothing. It
might even do some good in the world."
"That's what we thought too."
The deep voice made both Bailey and Bethany perk up,
happiness flooding through them as they turned their attention back
to the computer screen.
The two grinning faces had them
squealing with glee. "Brock! Brice!"
They looked good... rugged and somehow
sharpened. Healthier too, with tanned skin and the blonde
streaks in Brice's hair seemed to have multiplied. Both of
them were wearing black tank tops that showed off their shoulders
and arms, which sported a few bruises and scratches. Bethany
assumed from training. It was almost weird to see Brock
smiling, but it looked good on him, even if his smile wasn't as big
as Brice's. Seeing her brothers looking so happy and healthy
made tears spark in her eyes.
"Where's Brady?" Bethany demanded, her
eyes darting around the screen, as if the eldest Bunson might
magically appear upon command.
"He's with Jessie, the
squirrel Eli was telling you about," Brice said, his grin widening.
"He's got a cru-u-u-u-sh."
Brock rolled his eyes but he didn't
deny Brice's statement.
"Wait, so he's found his mate too?"
Bethany asked, excited for her brother, but now also worried for
him. If whatever Dr. Montgomery did didn't work - and yes,
she realized that she was now totally on board with Eli using the
doctor to save the smaller shifters - then how would her brother
handle it?
"Ah, no, sweetheart," Steele rumbled
behind her. "What happened with us... well that was a one in
a million chance. Most people don't ever find their 'true'
mate. They just fall in love and get mated."
"Oh." Well that was
kind of disappointing, but also a relief, just in case this they
ended up not being able to help this Jessie.
"So..." Brock said, raising his
eyebrow and glaring over the top of Bethany's head, his blue eyes
icy. "You got us out of town and mated our sister right away,
huh?" The protective challenge in his voice made Bethany roll
her eyes. As if she couldn't take care of herself!
"Actually, she mated me first," Mr.
Obnoxiously-Smug said, before grunting as Bethany elbowed him in
the stomach. Bailey giggled. He squeezed her. "So
if you've got a problem with it, take it up with her."
"She's smiling, so no problem yet,"
Brock said, eyeing him. Brice smiled, nodding his head and
backing up his older brother's words. "It goes without saying
that if you hurt her, even Eli won't be able to find your
body."
"If it goes without saying, why did
you feel the need to say it?" grumbled Bethany, glaring at her
brothers. She wrapped her arms around her mate's waist,
snuggling into him. Steele just grinned, obviously not at all
bothered by her brothers' threat and pleased with her reaction.
"Just making sure he knows," Brock
said darkly. This time Bethany saw Bailey rolling her eyes
too.
"Okay, well enough with the family
stuff," Eli said, stepping back into the picture. His model
blonde good looks seemed even more streamlined and refined when
placed next to the Bunson brothers' more rugged features.
"Are you and Bailey going to be okay with this?" His
tone became drier. "I'd rather not have to worry about
guarding Dr. Montgomery's whereabouts from you as well as the rest
of the world."
The two sisters looked at each other
and then Bethany looked up at Steele. He nodded, although the
little lines around his eyes were tight. It bothered him to
let Dr. Montgomery live but... lives could be saved. Their
sacrifice could mean something. Letting out a long breath,
Bethany nodded and then Bailey did too.
"We understand," Bethany
said, speaking for all of them. She turned her gaze back to
the men on the screen. "Although if whatever Dr. Montgomery
does to Jessie and her family doesn't work or makes them worse,
I'll want to revisit this topic."
"Agreed," growled Brock, backed up by
another growl from Brice. She couldn't help but smile at her
brothers' growly ways. In some ways, they were more bear than
bunny.
She wished she could have seen Brady
too, but at the same time, she couldn't help but be glad he'd found
someone he was actually interested in. Bethany wanted
everyone in her family to find the same happiness that she had with
Mr. Sexy-and-You-Know-It. She just hoped that Dr. Montgomery
managed to save Jesse and the squirrel family, using the knowledge
he'd gotten from experimenting on hers.
Snuggling deeper into Steele's arms,
she felt him kiss the top of her head and she smiled.
Somehow, as long as she had him, everything would be
okay.
About the
Author
About me? Right… I’m a writer, I
should be able to do that, right?
I’m a happily married young woman, no
kids so far, and I like tater tots, small fuzzy animals, naming my
plants, hiking, reading, writing, sexy time, naked time, shirtless
o’clock, anything sparkly or shiny, and weirding people out with my
OCD food habits.
I believe in Happy Endings. And
fairies. And Santa Claus. Because without a little magic, what’s
the point of living?
I write because I must. I live in
several different worlds at any given moment. And I wouldn’t have
it any other way.
Want to know more about my
other books and stories? Check out
https://goldeniangel.squarespace.com/
or
http://goldeniangel.blogspot.com/
.
Thank you so much for reading, I hope
you enjoyed the story… and don’t forget, the best thing you can do
in return for any author is to leave them feedback!
Stay sassy.
Titles by Golden
Angel
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Poker Loser
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Poker Loser Bundle (Three books in
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