Lisa Carlisle

“The five statutes loomed above the crowd, still and timeless. The last light of the setting sun cast an eerie glow around them. When she fixed her gaze on Mason's stone form, her heart thumped. She scanned every inch of his silhouette, wondering about the spark of life within the stone that would animate him into flesh. A warm-blooded male with a heated touch and sensuous lips that made her melt.”

“Lose the dress first next time. So you don't deprive me of the chance to see you naked, again.”

“That’s what you asked him?”“Yeah, why?” Gina scrunched her face with confusion.“I thought you were going to say something juicy.”“Like what?”“I don’t know, like if he would be your sex slave or something like that.”“Kelly! Why would I ask him that?”“He’s a hot guy, you’re a hot girl. We’re in a super romantic castle on the coast.” Kelly waved her hand around the room for emphasis. “Why the hell not generate some heat in between these cold stone walls?”

“What treasures he would give for one night with her. To watch her strip off one of her vintage dresses, revealing her satin skin inch by inch just for him.”

“Oh, is that all you’re looking forward to - a break from your studies?” He peered down at her with a knowing smirk.”

“I'm consumed with thoughts of you. Have you bewitched me?”

“Nobody's having any babies, yet," Mason said, spreading both arms wide. Still pale after the onslaught of questions, he managed to smirk at his brothers and add, "Although I'm enjoying the practice of making them.”

“Her eyes widened. "You showed them what you are?" "Aye. We put on quite the show. Shifted from stone, played our unique blend of music, and then flew into the air when the concert was over.”

“Heat radiated from him, penetrating her like the sun warming her on hot midsummer days. It coiled inside her, low in her belly, and sank lower. She recognized it, the magic between lovers. Intoxicating and intense. An all-consuming attraction. The air between them shimmered with energy, an irresistible force connecting them.”

“In decades past, the three clans of the island - tree witches, gargoyles, and wolves, had cloaked their land with many layers of protection. Their combined magic had created such a powerful force it had remained undetected by human technology. When a feud erupted between the witches and gargoyles twenty-five years ago it led to a division of land. Without reinforcements from the clans' combined magic, the protection seeped away.”

“Your life is very different from mine. For one, you can transform into a wolf.” “I can,” she agreed. “And you live with a vampire and gargoyle. That’s not the typical human way, is it?”

“What in bloody hell is going on back there?" Angus boomed. "Some kind of cross-species orgy!”

“I’d be careful about watching me too closely.”“Why?” She smiled to match the sassy tone in her voice.The smirk that had lingered on his face dropped away, replaced by a serious expression. “You might not like what you see.”

“Cameron’s mind registered what the rest of him already knew. He was insane about this woman, and he’d do anything to be with her, anything to protect her. She’d become his world. How it had happened, he didn’t know, but it had.”

“Why are you walking through the wood alone?”

“The truth echoed in her head. On the same day she met him, he had tried to kill her. Her mate.”

“It was time to take what he wanted. And what he wanted was her.”

“I told my brothers what happened. Are you ready to come meet them?" She straightened. "Aye." "I warn you," he teased in an attempt to lighten the mood. "They're big, burly bampots.”

“Patience, beautiful," he uttered in a low tone.”

“No longer was she living moment to moment in a hyper-vigilant state, she was reminded of more primal needs. She was a female in the arms of a very potent male.”