Chosen by Blood by Virna Depaul

give a—”
    A firm knock interrupted them. Muscles pumped as if for battle, Knox stood there. He didn’t turn, not even when Mahone called for his visitor to come in.
    “I came as soon as I—”
    It didn’t matter that he was in Mahone’s office, that Mahone was watching him, or that he and Mahone had just been discussing something as important as his clan.
    He hadn’t been in the same room with her in years, but his body’s reaction to her presence was the same as it always was: instantaneous.
    Her scent hit him like a sledgehammer and was followed by a wave of longing so intense it almost felled him. His skin prickled and his fangs ached as he fought to keep them sheathed. He couldn’t stop the hardening of his dick, however, or the urge he had to grab her and transport her to the Dome. To his bed. To someplace where duty and time dissolved, and he could just be with her.
    She didn’t gasp or take a breath. Her words simply stopped. Something rare crystallized inside him.
    Had she gotten over him? Had she found someone else?
    Another emotion—pure, undiluted rage—filled him at the thought of her with another. It made everything else, every other emotion he’d ever felt, seem innocuous. Made him want to rip off his clothes—the luxurious symbols of civility that he normally loved—and make her see him as he truly was—primal, lethal, and fucking ready to prove to her that she was his, once and for all.
    Instead, he took a deep breath and willed himself to calm. He opened his mind. Just a hair. Just enough to sense the desire buried beneath her resolve. Enough to dismiss that foreign emotion of fear and tamp down his rage.
    When he was assured of his control, Knox slowly turned and faced the human female he’d wanted to bite from the moment he’d seen her. She was dressed conservatively in a white oxford shirt and navy blue pants, her auburn hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. Taller than most females, she was neither delicate nor bulky. While most would consider her average in looks and sex appeal, Knox saw what most didn’t.
    He saw the strength in her supple body.
    He saw her courage, her compassion, and her integrity.
    And at that moment, he saw the fiery sensuality that flared in her eyes before she banked it and stared at him with a practiced look of mild curiosity.
    Felicia had always tried to hide her attraction to him, but she’d always failed. Nevertheless, he’d abided by her wishes and kept his distance.
    But not anymore.
    Not-the-fuck-anymore.
    He didn’t speak the words, but given the way her eyes widened, she’d guessed at his thoughts.
    Knox dipped his head in a courtly bow. “Hello, Felicia. Imagine running into you here.”

FOUR
    PHOENIX, ARIZONA
    “ D idn’t you see the sign? We don’t serve your kind here.”
    Dex took another slow drink of his beer before spinning around on his bar stool. Leaning back, thighs spread wide, he stared at the guy in front of him.
    He was a were, too, which didn’t make an iota of difference.
    Dex’s “kind” didn’t fit in anywhere, not even with his own race. Not even with either of his races.
    Instead of responding, however, he drained the beer bottle. Lazily, Dex wiped his mouth and set the bottle down on the bar before signaling to the bartender, a pretty blond mage who’d been flirting with him earlier but now looked scared shitless.
    “I’ll take one more.”
    The blonde hesitated, but jerked into action when Dex glowered at her. She set a fresh bottle in front of him, then quickly backed away.
    He grabbed the bottle and raised it to his mouth.
    “I told you—”
    The ass-were growled as he tried to snatch Dex’s bottle.
    In one fluid motion, Dex slammed the bottle into the bastard’s face while grabbing the guy’s nuts in a punishing grip. He twisted for good measure. The guy howled pitifully as glass shattered, breaking his nose and slicing his skin. Dex just pressed harder, barely feeling the bite of glass on his own