Cassie Fortuna flees back to her own
pack, broken-hearted, after discovering her intended’s interest in another
woman. Despite shifters being monogamous, it seems Ben isn’t.
As her twenty-fifth birthday
approaches, and her heat, she resigns herself to returning—there is no one for
her in Mystic River and her only sibling and her family live in Blue Star. Besides,
she’s over Benjamin Kraft.
Ben hopes Cassie came back for him
but is unable to breach her cold façade to finally share his dark secret.
Secrets have a habit of coming out, however, and Cassie is stunned by what she
learns. Intent on making things up to her, Ben succeeds in winning her back.
Having never gotten over him, she embraces their new relationship.
But Cassie and Ben could be in
danger, as well as someone else important to him when others learn his secret.
Is the risk worth the reward?
She was cutting
the crusts off a peanut butter and jam sandwich when she felt him. He moved
almost silently, but her wolf was attuned and threw itself against the
boundaries she’d enforced on it. His scent reached her next, that spicy
fragrance with a hint of musk, and Cass the woman swallowed a moan.
After setting the
knife down, she transferred the sandwich from the cutting board to a plate
before turning with it held in front of her like a tiny shield. Or an offering.
It took a massive
effort, but she met Ben’s stare with a cool, polite one of her own. “Hey, Ben.”
“Cass.” He
sauntered closer and leaned one hip against the fridge.
Having no desire
to engage in small talk, she snagged her cup and moved past him, now intending
to eat her breakfast in her room.
“Jett tells me
you’re back for good.”
“That’s right.”
She was nearly out the door when he moved with that deceptive speed he had,
grasping her elbow.
“I’d like an
explanation.”
When hell froze
over, not that she’d pretend she didn’t know what he was referring to.
With a calm she
didn’t feel, especially with her wolf begging for freedom, she shifted her
weight to face him, and her elbow came loose. “I changed my mind about you.
About … us. And I was too chicken to tell you to your face. Sorry. I’m such a
girl.”
He watched her
with the same steady regard she remembered so clearly, only without the warmth
he’d faked in the past. How he’d charmed her… Old news. She fought her humiliation and looked into his eyes.
Ben had golden
eyes, and she suspected his wolf was almost always at the surface but within
his iron control. Thank god for that control because he hadn’t allowed them to
become intimate, something that puzzled her to this day. Because surely, if
he’d played the amazing sex card—and she just knew it would be amazing because
his kisses made her melt—she’d have been a total pushover.
In any event,
passion couldn’t cloud her thinking, even if her wolf might not agree. Her
animal hadn’t yet matured, but it still knew what—who—it wanted. Her other side
was surely smarter.
“You’ve changed,”
he finally said as she waited him out. “What happened to you?”
You
happened. Shoving back the thought, fearful it
would echo in the room, Cassie lifted a shoulder, careful not to spill her
coffee. “Nothing happened to me, Ben.”
Shaking his head,
he backed up a little, and she breathed in the extra space. “I don’t get it,
but I will. I like puzzles.”
God help her. With
a smirk that hurt the corners of her mouth, she said, “I’m not a puzzle to be
solved, sorry. I came back to seek a mate. Jett has granted me permission to
make my choice.”
She blinked at the
sudden bleaching of his sun-kissed skin, as if all the life-giving blood had drained away. His eyes narrowed, and his
mouth set, a muscle clenching in his jaw. And then his face relaxed, and he
laughed. The sound grated across her senses, like fingernails on a chalkboard.
“Our Alpha has
been gradually changing the time-honored
rules. Accommodating the females more and more. Some don’t approve, but we need
to consider the period we live in, and I’ve been a supporter. Until now.”
“Excuse me?” The
mug of coffee and the plate were weighing her down heavily, like an extra tiny
punishment she had to endure as part of the interrogation. “What’s that
supposed to mean?”
“It means that
when flighty, spoiled females are given the right of choice, I question our
Alpha’s wisdom.”
Successfully
defeating the urge to throw her coffee in his face, Cassie found the right
words. “I suppose you’ll have to take that up with him. With my brother-in-law. Be sure to mention the
spoiled and flighty part.”
Her comment hit
the mark. Ben flinched, barely, but she caught it. He knew he’d crossed a
boundary, and she wondered what he’d do to fix it. He surprised her.
Passing a hand over
his face, he said, “Dammit, Cass. What happened between us? I can’t believe
we’re sparring like this. I can’t fathom how you left without so much as a
goodbye or an explanation. Aside from that note.”
“You’re sparring, Ben. I’d prefer not to
converse at all.” She made her exit as quickly as she could without appearing
to flee. How could she tell him what she’d overheard?
“It’s not over,
Cass.” His final words floated behind her, but she pretended not to hear. She
didn’t care to interpret his … warning? Promise? Threat?
She gained the
privacy of her room—shades of that fateful night—and shoved the door closed
with her hip. Her coffee was lukewarm, and her sandwich had the consistency of
flavored paste, but she grimly consumed both. She’d survived her first encounter
with Ben and hadn’t given anything away, and had seen him dig himself a hole.
With any luck, he’d widen it on his own and fall in.
Buy Links:
About the author:
Peri Elizabeth Scott aka Allyson Young lives in cottage country,
Manitoba, Canada where she and her husband pretend to work well together in
their seasonal business.
She has always enjoyed the written word, and after reading an
erotic romance, quite by mistake, decided to try her hand at penning one. That
was followed by a mix of spicy (Ally) and sweet (Peribeth) romances in various
genres as well as a post-apocalyptic adventure without a lick of romance by
Peribeth.
A bestselling Amazon author, a hybrid, and a coauthor, as of May
2020 she has published seven series and several
standalones, with others in the works.
