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“Whatis it, baby?”he murmured through their link.“What’swrong?”
“Nothing’swrong withus,”Samassured him.“Inever knewIcould be this happy.It’sjust…well,Iwish my little sister could have this kind of happiness, too.”
“Bringher up to theMotherShip,”R’ornsuggested.“I’llintroduce her to some of my friends.They’renotWulvenKindred,”he hastened to add, probably knowing thatSamwould worry if she thought her sister had to go through the same experience she had the night before with hisBeast.
Samshook her head.
“Itold her she should try dating aKindredguy butIdon’t think she’s really in the right place right now.She’s…having troubles of her own.Untilshe gets them settled,Idon’t think she’ll be ready to find the love of her life.”
“Youdon’t always feel ready when the love of your life comes along,”R’ornpointed out dryly.“Isure as hell wasn’t ready for you, baby.”HegaveSama squeeze and another long, lingering kiss on the mouth.“Butnow thatIhave you,I’mnever letting you go!”
Samsighed happily and kissed him back.Shenever had to be alone again, she realized.InR’orn, she would have a protector, a lover, and a companion by her side for the rest of her life.Sheonly wished thatHannacould have what she had—that she could overcome the curse herGifthad become to find happiness and love as well.
Butthere was nothing she could do for her sister at the moment.Andin the meantime, she could feel thatR’ornwas still hard inside her.Eventhough they had just finished making love, it made her want toBondwith her new mate all over again.
Shenever would have believed that having aKindredProtectorwould change her life so completely for the better,Samthought as she began to move onR’orn’sshaft again, drawing a low growl of pleasure from his throat.Orthat she could be so happy and content with a man she’d only known a week.Butthrough their newSoulBond, she understood thatR’ornwas indeed herFatedMate—the one she was meant to be with.Andthat made all the difference.
Butnone of it could have happened if she hadn’t been able to put aside her fear and allowed herself to be…Possessedby theWulven.
BOOK TWO: GUARDED BY THE GHOST
1
HANNA
“That’sit—you’re fired!”Mr.Harvey, the graveyard shift manager of theDenny’sthatHannawas working at, pointed one pudgy finger at the door. “Imean it,Hanna!I’vehad enough of your bullshit.Getoutnow!”
“Butit was an accident!”Hannapleaded. “Iwouldneverpour hot coffee on someone onpurpose—you must know that!”
“AllIknow is thatI’vehad enough of your excuses and the way you’re always jumping at shadows and staring at things nobody else can see, like a goddamned cat!” the manager—a middle-aged, balding man with a paunch—snapped at her.
Hehad never likedHanna, from the minute she’d first taken the waitressing gig three months ago.Andto be fair,Hannahad never liked him either.
Partof the reason was his nasty attitude and the fact that he stole tips from the servers—he would take them right off the table if no one was looking!Severaltimes after a kind customer had leftHannaa five or a ten-dollar bill, she had looked away for a moment only to look back and find it had disappeared.Thenshe would seeMr.Harveywalking away, whistling casually as he stuffed something into his pocket.
Healso demanded that the servers share their tips with him at the end of the night, even though he was a salaried employee with benefits and the waiters and waitresses were only making $2.15 an hour and had no health care of any kind.Sobasically, he was stealing from themtwice.
Peoplehad tried to complain but nobody seemed to care what happened to the overnight shift.Mr.Harveywas the only manager willing to take it, and the owner of that particularDenny’sfranchise seemed to think he was entitled to whatever he could get as a kind of bonus.
Anyonewould hate a manager likeMr.Harvey,Hannathought, but she had another reason to dislike him—she could actuallyseehis mean and stingy spirit while the other people working at the rundownDenny’swith him only felt the effects of it.
Itwas an angry littleImpwith a shriveled face and a swollen belly—aGreedImp,Hannathought.Itclung toMr.Harveyand sat on his shoulder, its tail wrapped around his throat like a wrinkled rope.Itwhispered in his ear—a constant litany of, “never enough…need more…get more…you’re entitled…the rest of them are all lazy…that should be yours…take it!”
Andthe manager listened to it and always did theImp’sbidding.Bynow it was so firmly entrenched that it was practically becoming part of him—its wrinkled red flesh merging with his own pasty white skin.Hannacouldn’t look at the ugly thing without a shiver going through her and though she tried to hide it, she was certain the distaste she felt must sometimes show on her face.
Ofcourse,Mr.Harveywasn’t the only one with anImp.Lotsof people had them—there wereLustImps,EnvyImps,PrideImps,AngerImps—name an unattractive human quality and there was anImpfor it.Somepeople had more than one—Hannacouldn’t bear to watch a session ofCongressonC-span—the lawmakers were crawling with the ugly, evil things.Andforget corporateCEOs—they were so taken over byGreed,Pride, andTheftImpsthey could barely be seen at all.
Ofcourse, theImpsdidn’tcausea person to act the way they acted but they were always out and about, encouraging the lowest and vilest human behavior.Andpeople who kept indulging in those behaviors often attracted their own personalImp, which clung to them and fed on them like a parasite, encouraging their disgusting actions.
Aperson with anImphad what was called a “fatal flaw” in the literature classesHannaused to attend.Onceshe had dreamed of becoming anEnglishprofessor and teaching the literature she loved so much, but her dreams had been crushed by her “Gift”—though toHanna, it was more of a curse.Havingher particular gift was kind of like having a type ofParanormalADHD—it was impossible to concentrate when the spirit world was constantly interfering in her life.
SeeingtheImpsor “DarkEntities” as herAuntLunacalled them, was only part of it.Hannawas also able to see and communicate with the spirits of the dead.Herolder sister,Samantha, had thisGiftas well—she had a popular ghost hunting show onYouTubewhere she helped lost and frightened spirits move on to the afterlife.TheirAuntLunahad a smattering of it, as well as theGiftofDivination, which she used to readTarotcards for people and advise them about the future.
SotheGiftran in their family.ButwhileHanna’ssister andAuntwere able to use theirGiftsto make a living,Hanna’sGiftonly hindered her and held her back—that was because herGiftwas more extreme than eitherSamantha’sorAuntLuna’s.
Shewasn’t just able to see and talk to dead people—she could also interact with them on the physical plane.Andthe same went for theDarkEntitiesshe saw, whichSamanthaandAuntLunaand pretty much everyone else on the planet, it seemed, were blind to.
Basically, this meant thatHannacouldtouchthe invisible spirits and entities all around her.Andby the same token, she could also be touched by them—they were aware of her and drawn to her—which was how the accident with the hot pot of coffee had happened.
