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Taber allowed the snarl curling his lips to rumble through his chest. There was no
mistaking the wary looks the assassins were now giving them.
I missed dinner, Taber said clearly. How about a snack?
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The Man Within
The four men jumped in startled surprise as twelve fully grown Feline Breed males
growled in hungry menace.
Wait. One of them spoke nervously, holding his hands out, his gun held in a
clearly non-threatening manner as he laid it on the floor. No harm, no foul&
No harm, no foul? Callan asked mildly as he eyed the gun on the floor before
raising his head to stare at the man with brooding fury. Wrong. You broke into my
home, attempted to harm my woman, and you think you re just going to walk out of
here?
We re just doing our job. One shook his head desperately. Come on, Lyons,
you ve always let us go before.
Taber recognized the voice. One of the mercenaries who had been sent home in
defeat years before, smarting from the lazy, amused chase Callan had given him.
The rules changed, Brighton, Callan snapped. You don t just walk away
anymore.
Callan, we question them first. Kane moved into the room, watching the Breeds
warily. You know the score.
I know they re dead. It was as though the very air itself stilled with that
announcement.
There was no mercy in Callan s voice, no weakness. We ll send them back to their
owners in pieces. Isn t that how they sent back our scout last month?
Taber s jaw tightened at the memory of it.
The four assassins shifted nervously within the room.
Come on, Callan dared them. Show me what you re made of. Personally, I smell
the stink of a coward.
Callan& Taber warned him carefully. Step back, man. This is no time for
mistakes.
The mistake being an accidental death. Think of Merinus and the babe. She would
have to go on without you.
Callan. Her voice was faint, frightened.
Kane, get this shit out of here. Lock them up with the other bastard you re holding
until the garbage runs. We ll send them out then. Maybe in pieces.
It was a threat that pushed the intruders into action. A flare of brilliant light pierced
the darkness, blinding them as the assassins made their bid for freedom. Weapons were
dropped as the Breeds used senses well honed from years in captivity. They couldn t
see, but they could smell, hear and taste the evil flowing around them.
Taber s knife cleared its sheath at his side as he reached the first man. The weapon
sliced through flesh, severing the jugular vein. Blood sprayed around him as he
dropped his enemy to the floor and turned for another. The brilliancy of the light had
dissipated and he came face to face with Roni s horror-filled expression.
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Lora Leigh
Rage and grief filled him because he knew what he looked like. He knew, because
he had seen Callan in a similar rage. His canines were bared, blood covering the lower
part of his face, his chest. Another man s blood. The animal gloried in the scent of it; the
feel of his enemy s defeat, the knowledge that this time, Taber had been victorious. But
the man he was screamed out in rage against the fates, the cruelties, and the single
instant that his mate had seen the carnage and the animal within.
The agonized roar that echoed through the house was one of rage, pain and a
protest against the realities of a life never asked for, never imagined. A protest against
the loss of innocence he glimpsed in Roni s eyes.
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The Man Within
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The roar was unlike anything Roni had ever seen or heard. She stared at Taber in
shock as his head went back, his chest expanded and the primal sound of rage and
anguish ripped from his throat.
Everyone stilled. The assassins lay dead. There had been no mercy. Roni hadn t
expected any. But neither had she expected to see the bitter, raging pain in Taber s eyes
as he dropped the assailant, either. Blood covered him, staining his cheek, his neck, the
black cloth of his shirt, and running in a rivulet along the hardwood floor beneath his
feet.
God help her, how was she to ease so much pain? She wanted to run to him, to
clean the blood from him and whisper how thankful she was that he lived, but she was
held rooted to the floor, tears whispering down her cheeks as she witnessed the one
thing she knew Taber would not have wanted her to see.
As the sound of his fury echoed around them, his head lowered, his green eyes
glittering with an intensity she had never witnessed before and an expression that
terrified her. His legs ate the distance between them as he moved to her, gripping her
wrist and jerking her along behind him as he headed for the door.
Taber& Callan s protest was cut off when Taber turned back to him with a snarl
so threatening, so demanding, that the other man stood back, shaking his head in
regret.
Dammit, Callan, stop him. Merinus voice was filled with fear as Roni was pulled
from the room.
No one would stop Taber. No one could stop him now if they wanted to. Violence
and lust swirled around him, tightening his body as the animal surged ever closer to the
surface. Roni didn t even try to stop him. She followed him, nearly running to keep
from being dragged behind him, her heart thundering in her chest, shock ripping its
way through her body.
He had barely caught the assassin before the other man let loose on the trigger of
the submachine gun he held. The bullets would have ripped through the bathroom at
that angle, possibly killing them all. She remembered all too clearly watching the knife
slice through human flesh, the hatred and surprise on the other man s face as his gaze
locked with hers.
Taber pulled her into the bedroom, slamming the door behind them before he
turned to her. She didn t have time to gasp before he ripped the shirt from her back,
leaving her breasts bare, nipples hard, as he worked at the closure on his jeans.
Taber& She didn t know what to say. What to do.
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Lora Leigh
Mine. He bared his teeth as he pushed his jeans over his hips, freeing the thick,
desperate erection they had contained.
She whimpered as he reached for her. The sweatpants were stripped from her, the
legs ripping as he managed to free her from the material. He braced her against the
padded arm of the couch, lifted her leg and thrust hard and heavy inside the sensitive
depths of her pussy.
Roni arched in his arms, a strangled cry tearing from her throat as pleasure seared
her body, even as pain lashed at her heart. Her gaze was locked with his and in it she
saw the bitter fury and anguish no man should have to bear. Blood stained his face, his
neck. His eyes glittered with remorse, with hunger.
Roni& His voice was strangled as he paused, buried to the hilt within her, a
small measure of sanity replacing the bleak horror in his eyes. Roni&
She covered his lips, her fingers trembling.
Feel how wet I am for you, she whispered with a sad smile. How much I love
you inside me, however you need me, whenever you need me.
Tears filled her eyes as he blinked down at her. Part of the feral intensity had faded,
leaving instead an overwhelming sadness.
He would have killed me and possibly Merinus as well, she whispered a second
before he moved, his hips jerking convulsively, causing his cock to stroke the tender
depths of her pussy with hard demand. I love you, Taber. All of you, she cried out
then. I love you&
He groaned. A low, heavy sound filled with remorse, with thankfulness. He
gathered her against him, cushioning her head on the unsoiled shoulder as his hands
gripped her buttocks, his cock moving inside her.
Long, slow strokes caressed the inner heat of her cunt as he kissed her throat, her
neck. His thighs bunched, his back tensed, but still the deliberately careful movements
never slowed.
Mine, he whispered again. My woman. My love.
His thrusts increased then, his breath coming hard and heavy, his hips driving the
fierce erection as deep, as hard as he could as she clenched his shoulders, her legs
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