A Muse for Mishka (Wiccan-Were-Bear #12) by R.E. Butler

crowd.”
    “Sounds perfect.”
    She wrapped his ponytail around her hand and
kissed him, a soft purr in her throat. He gripped her thigh,
stilling the urge to find out how wet she was from just a kiss, and
sucked on her tongue. The car moved slowly, creeping forward as Vex
and Rage watched for trouble. The vehicle accelerated as they
cleared the alley and moved swiftly away from the restaurant.
    “This is not fair,” she whispered against his
mouth. “Wouldn’t we have privacy in the limo?”
    “Tomorrow this car will be as private as our
chamber.”
    “Promise?” she asked with a laugh.
    “Definitely. I’m also thinking about building
a restaurant next to the club.”
    “Can we have our own private booth so we
never have to make reservations?”
    “Whatever you like.”
    “Now that’s a dangerous promise. I like a lot of things about you.”
    He opened his mouth to tell her just how many
things he liked about her – loved about her – when the sound
of several vehicles accelerating filled the air along with Rage’s
snarl and Vex’s curse.
    Mishka pulled Harmony to the center of the
bench seat and covered her body with his own seconds before the
town car was rammed. She screamed and gripped him tightly as the
car spun in a circle and then was rammed a second time by another
vehicle. The impact jarred his bones, but he managed to sink his
fingers into the seat to ensure that Harmony was kept safe in his
embrace.
    “We’ve got incoming,” Vex shouted.
    Both back doors of the town car had been
crushed. Mishka watched as Rage launched himself from the front
seat with a growl loud enough to rattle the car’s windows.
    “You both okay?” Vex asked. A cut was already
healing on his forehead where he’d hit the steering wheel.
    “Who hit us?” Mishka demanded as he released
his hold on Harmony and cracked his knuckles.
    “Humans. Church members, I’m sure,” Vex
said.
    He disappeared, and Mishka listened as a
fight raged outside of the vehicle. He glanced at Harmony;
protective feelings for her surged inside him like a tidal
wave.
    “Kill a couple for me,” she whispered. “Put
this threat down for good.”
    He kissed her swiftly and twisted in the
seat, slamming his feet against the door. It wrenched open, and he
bolted out, stopping only long enough to slam it shut to keep
Harmony safe. As he turned to face the fight, he heard a gun cock,
and he darted forward, crushing the barrel of the gun and then the
hand of the male holding it. The man screamed, and Mishka grabbed
his throat, sinking his fingers into his skin and pulling out a
chunk of his flesh.
    Tossing the dying male aside, Mishka scanned
the intersection and saw the limo arriving. The doors opened as the
other guards joined the melee. Discarding his jacket, Mishka headed
into the fray, intent to secure his beloved’s safety in every
way.

 
     
    Chapter
10
     
    Harmony was both freaked out and turned on by
the battle outside. She’d seen her bandmates break up the odd fight
over the years, but what Mishka and his guards were doing to the
humans who’d engineered the accident was nothing short of
terrifying. The vampires moved so fast that she had trouble
tracking them. One minute Mishka was tearing the throat out of a
human and the next he had broken another’s neck. He was beautiful
in his rage. She could feel his emotions through their connection
as beloveds, and she knew that every move he made he did with her
in mind. He was securing her safety above all else, and he would
kill a thousand vampire-hating humans to do it.
    She gripped the door handle, her thoughts on
helping her mate and her people, but she knew if she opened the
door, she’d embrace the dark side of her power. She’d never used
her powers to kill someone, and even though she knew she was
powerful enough to do it, she was afraid to lose herself, afraid to
taste the darkness and not be able to come back from it.
    The door creaked open suddenly, and Mishka,
with his