When the Starrs Align (8 page)

She looked around at those Warrick and Chance were fighting. Once skewered clean through, none of them regenerated either.

She roared to get his attention.
“Chance, they die here.”

“I know.”
He and Warrick were starting to tire. She could feel it if not see it. Despite the decimation around them, they continued to laugh with enjoyment as they butchered the undead. A short reprieve settled before she saw hundreds of bodies closing in on them once more from the mountains. It was only a matter of time before more came to lick the sweet blood from her mates’ bodies.

She raced over to Warrick and nudged him back to the portal behind her. How long did they have before it closed, anyway?

“Not yet. Shit.” He
brought his blade down to slice two vamps in half.

Where the hell did they come from? Damn, they’re fast.

“Like sliding through butter,” he teased as he sweated and bled while keeping the portal at their backs free of more vamps.

She watched for those trying to re-enter their world, but no one seemed to want to return. Instead they wanted a piece of the warlocks…and her.

A sharp cry had her swinging her head around to see Chance being bitten by three vamps while he struggled to throw off four more.

Honestly, this had gone on long enough. Calling on her tie to bring them home, she let out a rip-roaring cry, and the blast threw the vamps closest to her on their asses.
That’s a new one. Sonic roar. I like it.

Warrick helped Chance retreat some distance from their enemy. But before he could throw himself once more at the mass of evil wanting to suck them dry, she jumped in front of them and herded them back towards the portal.

“No, Regan. Our challenge is not yet finished.” Chance sounded oddly formal, and
not
himself.

She turned to seek Warrick’s help but noticed the odd tinge of red in his eyes, the fires of battlelust and the fever of the blood moon running strong.
Shit.
If they stayed here to fight, they’d die. And she had no intention of letting that happen. So she pulled out the big guns and shifted back into her human form.

Chapter Six

“What
the hell
are you doing?” Warrick barked. At least as a mighty jaguar, Regan had been somewhat protected against the vamps. But as a naked woman, she might as well have written ‘snack’ on her forehead and thrown herself at them.

“Oh good. You’re back.” She dodged two vamps who’d nearly had her. Then she danced away from a few more who stared at her as if she were their last meal. “Can we go now?”

He swore and yanked her back to his chest, then lifted her in one arm and cut through several who thought about touching her. “Chance, let’s go.”

“Have to stay and fight. Kill the… Regan?” Warrick saw the haze of something leave his brother’s eyes. “What the fuck is going on? Why is she naked?”

“Change back, Regan.” Warrick shot a fury of black fire and elemental ice at his enemy. He felt strong enough to fight into next year, but the nagging feeling Regan would pay the price if he lingered hit him hard. “We have to go.
Now.
Change back,” he yelled and tossed her towards the portal, keeping her in the air with his power.

Chance shook his head, added his power to Warrick’s, and watched as the burn in the red sky grew brighter.

A hand yanked each of them by their back pockets.

“Damn it, woman.” He turned around to glare at her. “I said change back—” He cut off in mid-sentence when a talon bit deep into his back.

Chance roared his rage but Warrick saw nothing but his mate’s green eyes glaring at him. “We’re going home.
Now,
Chance.”

She yanked Warrick with her. He stumbled through the portal and fell hard onto a solid slab of rock.

When he shook his head and tried to rise, he found himself under the heavy paw of a huge-ass mountain lion. One that looked as if she would eat him if he made a wrong move.

“Stay,”
she sent him.

As if he were a dog. He scowled at her but noticed her focus on something else. He looked over his shoulder and saw Chance struggling to close the portal. Around him, several beaten and bloodied mages added their strength, all of them floating in the sky like ravens in the night.

“Well? What are you waiting for?”
she asked him.

He didn’t rise but lent his strength to Chance’s, and in an instant the portal vanished.

“Open up to me,”
Regan ordered.

Bossy woman. Yet he loved her more than life itself.

Chance floated down to him. “You look like shit.”

“Ass.” He coughed and saw blood on his hand.

“Regan?” Chance frowned. “Why aren’t you shifting back?” Then his frown eased as he glanced from her to Warrick. “Oh. Open to her, idiot, so she can heal you.”

Warrick wanted to swear, but that suddenly seemed like it would take too much energy, so he opened to his love and to his brother. And then he felt it, that connection with the Great Mother.

Warmth and energy rushed into him, and he was aware of a cat licking his wound.

“Ow, that hurts,” he complained. Regan had a rough tongue in her current form. “But you know, we can continue this at home,
after
you shift back.” He stood with help from Chance, his wounds gone.

Others around them soon joined them, cheering in celebration.

“Well done, son.” His father beamed. “You and your brother were amazing. And it looks like we have Regan to thank as well.”

“Yes. She
is
a shifter,” their mother said with typical disdain. Then she smiled. “But at least she’s a handsome cat.”

Regan purred and rubbed her head under Warrick’s and Chance’s hands.

Everyone laughed and urged them to go home and recuperate. They’d earned it. Rumblings already sounded around them, about how the great Starr brothers—and their new companion—had closed not just a demon portal, but a vampire one as well. It was an unheard-of feat for a coven, let alone a pair of warlocks and their familiar. Tonight would go down in history as one of the great moments in magical lore.

“I’m beat. What say we get home?” Chance suggested, still petting Regan.

Warrick took his brother’s request and teleported the three of them home.

Regan immediately shifted into an infuriated woman. And damn, but that rage had him itching to take her all over again. But maybe this time he could be on the bottom. Or better yet, between her legs as he licked her to a happy state once more.

“You are such assholes! I know what you’ve Become. Dickheads!” She ranted and raved in her naked splendour, her gashes and bruises healing as she paced.

Warrick glanced at his brother and grinned. Chance whispered a spell and the three of them were sparkling clean, fresh and now completely naked.

“You… What did you do?” she asked with suspicion and turned around. Then she realised their state of undress. “If you think you can seduce me into not being mad at you, think again.”

Warrick laughed. “Now, Regan. We have you to thank for grounding us, for pulling us from the craze of the blood moon. How about we convince you to let us try to get in your good graces again?”

“Yeah,
mate
.” Chance and he moved into her space, backed her against the wall and crowded her as they rubbed against her. “Let us apologise for worrying you.”

She sighed as each of them chose a breast and began sucking with fervour. “Well, I suppose I should hear you out. Oh…” She spread her legs wider when Warrick eased to his knees and opened his mouth. “And I should…be accepting of…
God
, you’re good.”

She was so fucking sweet. He licked her leisurely, wanting to feast.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Chance whispered against her breast, then raised his head and kissed her. “We’re so sorry.”

“Yeah.” Warrick slid his fingers inside her creamy channel and couldn’t wait to see her come under his tongue. “But it’s all his fault about the rage. I’m the black warlock. I’m solid.”

“I’m white. So bright and full of energy.” Chance kissed her again and had her moaning as Warrick licked her and slid another finger over her ass, rimming her.

“Wear him down for me,” Warrick whispered. “Get us nice and trained and we’ll promise to be good all the time. Just for you, kitty.”

“Oh, forget it,” she rasped. “It’s too hard to be mad at men with mouths this magical.”

“Uh-huh.” Then Warrick showed her what a real man did with his tongue.

Chance made some magic of his own, and their little familiar—their lover, their mate—had them dancing her to her tune as she loved them with her mind, body and soul.

Also available from Total-E-Bound Publishing:

Creations: The Perfect Creation

Marie Harte

Excerpt

Chapter One

Planet Mardu, the Vrail System

A cautious glance around her showed Erin she’d picked the right establishment. Raucous music and drunken carousing made it nearly impossible to hear anything anyone said. The illegal haze of
popper
smoke sat over the din like a blanket of obscurity, and the intentional darkness in the gaming bar more than told her the law was just as welcome, as say, someone like her.
Not at all.

Furtively keeping to the deepest shadows in the place, she kept her eyes open for the one person she’d been guaranteed could help her. The prisoners on Eyra had assured her that for the right price, Cheltam would do anything. And if it meant crossing System law, so much the better.

Studying the slop of a watering hole, she had less and less confidence in the infamous Cheltam. Unwashed, hard looking men and women dotted the area. Shockingly, couples engaged in sex wherever and whenever they pleased, while others placed bets on anything from vid-displayed
threll
races to which woman over the bar would orgasm first. Not the best place to find herself a saviour. But with no other option, Erin would do what she had to in order to survive. A large body bumped her, and as she turned to apologise, the sight that met her stunned her into silence.

A large male shoved his trousers to his knees. He stood between the naked thighs of a heavily made-up female, one currently moaning and groaning as the male latched onto one of her bared breasts with a slick, open mouth. Slurping and sucking noises grew, grunts and straining flesh pressed at each other in odd places, and to her surprise, Erin felt heat rush to her face.
What? I’m surprised? Embarrassed?
Another thought occurred to her.
I’m sexually aroused?

Curious, as she’d never before felt the sensation, she watched the couple slam up against the wall, oblivious to their audience. The male pressed into the female, and without further pause gave in to her demands. He lifted her against the wall, wrapped her legs around his waist, then… Erin and several others shifted to get a better look. The male gripped something between his legs, probably his penis, and shoved inside the female with a long, drawn out groan.

They moved against one another, and the male began pumping his hips. The joining ended rather quickly, with the male’s sudden stillness, a groan, and the female’s cries for more.

Much like an animal coupling, Erin thought, no longer intrigued by the act itself. The pleasure the male appeared to have received, however, made her curious. In all her studies, she’d never quite exhausted human reproduction. Oh, she had the basics from books and such, and her sister was a font of information, but a live demonstration had been deliberately avoided. Even her schooling on the subject had been brief. Why had Canunn left off that part of her education? And why had Synster been so adamant to instruct her in the act? Was this male’s pleasure the reason her Handler constantly looked at her so oddly?

And why am I wasting time on this crap when I have more important things to do? Like keep my damned neck out of a peacemaker’s collar?
Disgusted with her rampant curiosity, which, if she weren’t careful, would be the death of her, Erin bypassed the ragged couple and sought the tall, scarred man she’d been told would lead her to Cheltam.

Trying to make herself appear much smaller, she hunched her shoulders, tucked into her stolen black netter’s jacket, and carefully stepped through the bar, trying hard not to invite undue attention. In addition to the darkness and smoke, the long collar and drape of her jacket sufficiently covered the parts of her not encased by long trousers and a thin sleeveless shirt. Boots and gloves hid her extremities. And the dark glasses on her face hid the unusual, mismatched hues of her eyes. One glimpse at her unique colouring and System law would be all over this place. The sinful denizens around her would have to be insane to pass up the exorbitant reward Blue Rim Labs offered for information on one of their ‘scientists gone rogue’. An out and out obvious lie, but they knew she’d never tell anyone the truth… not if she wanted to live.

She grimaced at thoughts of the prison she’d recently escaped. Four hellish years, almost her entire life, spent surrounded by drab green walls and Eyran scientists. Everything had a reason. Everything, down to the last detail, was planned. Tests, tests, and more tests. Pain and numbness, followed by experiments that even now made her shudder in remembrance. And Canunn thought she would come crawling back ‘home’ if given enough time in the
real
world?

Erin huffed and moved faster through the bar. With her brother and sister now taken care of, she had no other thought than vengeance on her mind. Too bad the law couldn’t be trusted worth a damn. She glanced back over her shoulder and narrowed her gaze, calling on her second sight. In seconds the haze in the room cleared, and she plainly saw a pair of peacemakers—the ones she thought might have been following her earlier—talking to one of the huge thugs working as bar security. The guard, a Ragga, one of the System’s strongest inhabitants, would be invaluable in a place like this. Very few could defeat a Ragga, and though Erin’s own manufactured strength had been tested, she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out if the practical application of what she’d been taught would hold.