Cursed To Death

“I’m so sorry,” he said quietly, wondering how she could still be pleasant after what he’d done-money paid or not, it had to hurt like hell.

“Aw, sugah, it was just weave,” she said, laughing and kissing him. “Go

He didn’t understand. “Weave?”

She brushed the fallen hair off his chest and pulled it from between his fingers. “A girl can’t tell all her secrets,” she said, still smiling brightly, canines fully exposed. “But you could spring for the hairdresser… since four hours off the clock to get beautiful again is a real killer on the revenue.”

He nodded and traced her smooth hips with his palms. “Not a problem.”

She leaned down and took his mouth and then sat back, begi

“Excuse me?” Shogun held her hips firm, not letting her move.

“Oh, don’t get all tight on me and paranoid. Of course I’d know about her… Ya called her name about a half dozen times and then came so hard I thought I was go

“This stays here,” Shogun said, staring at her hard and then sitting up fast with her on his lap. He held her around the waist and spoke to her over a low growl. “You understand?”

Unfazed, she adjusted her legs to wrap around his waist as she kissed him and held him by the shoulders. “Everything that happens in here stays in here, always. House rules. I don’t even know what we were talking about.”

“I don’t see why we had to go,” Crow Shadow said in a forlorn voice as he and Bear Shadow trudged down the street. “They wanted us to stay until morning, and were even go

“Two things,” Bear Shadow said, counting off with his fingers as they walked. “Number one, these are human females, and the closer it gets to midnight, the more selfcontrol you’ll lose as your wolf makes you more aggressive… Gotta go before a tragedy happens.”

“Okay… True, true,” Crow Shadow said, rubbing the nape of his neck. “I can see that.”

“She was already fatigued, yes?” Bear Shadow said as they crossed the street.

“Laid out,” Crow Shadow said with a wide grin and then slapped Bear Shadow five.

Bear Shadow chuckled and shook his head. “That was my point.”

“So, what’s point two?”

“If you stay till morning, you stand the risk of getting attached.”

Crow Shadow nodded. “She was real nice.”

Bear Shadow nodded. “Mine was, too.” He let out a long sigh. “I made the proper excuses for us both… There was no reason to be dishonorable and hurt their feelings, after they were so… nice.”

“But, man, how the hell do you just get up out of some woman’s bed and not have her get her feelings hurt? We’re Shadow Wolves, we can’t lie… like-”

“We had to get back to the base, which is no lie-it is not my fault if she interpreted that as though we are soldiers… which is also not a full untruth. We are warriors.” He glanced at Crow Shadow from the corner of his eye and then looked straight ahead, speaking slowly and succinctly. “Warriors that have defied a direct order from our alpha, the commander and chief of the Shadow Wolf North American Federation, to guard the house. Hunter… is going to… 6 ip.”

Crow Shadow stopped walking, but Bear Shadow didn’t. Crow Shadow bent over and grabbed his hair with both hands. “Oh, shit! We didn’t even wait till Sasha got back safely… You know, to put our own eyes on her, man! Hunter is go

“Flip,” Bear Shadow called out, now a half block away.

Crow Shadow jogged to catch up to him. “What were we thinking, man?”

“We weren’t,” Bear Shadow said flatly. “I had absolutely no blood flow to my brain, and that is definitely no lie.”

“Like, when did it occur to you, man, that we were go

Bear Shadow let out a long weary breath. “Maybe after the third time I was done. Could have been the fourth.”

They walked along in companionable silence for several blocks, each man caught up in his own thoughts.

“But I would have liked to have breakfast with her, man, if this was going to be my last meal,” Crow Shadow said solemnly. “Southern hospitality and all.”

“If you would have stayed,” Bear Shadow said carefully. “You would have been on her body all night and she would have possibly wound up in ER in the morning. You didn’t need to add that to the list of offenses.”

“Okay, okay… But she was still nice.”

Bear Shadow stopped walking and his abruptness made Crow Shadow skid to a halt.

“Did you use protection?” Bear Shadow folded his arms over his barrel chest.

“Huh?” Crow Shadow’s eyes widened.

“Tell me you did not mate with a human female multiple times and not use human protection-just tell me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, man,” Crow Shadow said, waving his arms as he walked in an agitated circle.

“Great Spirit, I know this is my punishment for giving in to my weaknesses,” Bear Shadow said, opening his arms, closing his eyes, and turning his face to the sky in supplication.

“What the hell are you talking about, Bear! Stop yanking me around!”

Bear Shadow leveled his gaze. “Brother, brother, brother… human females are on phase once a month. They can get pregnant at any time. They aren’t like she-wolves that go into heat bia

“Shut… up…”

“You really didn’t know?” Bear Shadow rubbed the tension away from his neck.

“You should have told me that shit, man!” Crow Shadow walked in a circle. “I thought those skins were just to keep humans from catching diseases from each other-and since we purge all infections and whatever, I thought I didn’t need ’em… and she had ’em, but once it got going and the thing didn’t fit… she basically said she didn’t care and I got to howling and she was all hot and to the point of crying, like, and then… aw, man…”

“Yeah, that’s generally how it goes down, little brother.” Bear started walking, clearly disgusted. “They have large sizes, you know… Still might be uncomfortable, but beats a blank.”

“And you’re explaining this to me now?” Incredulous, Crow Shadow rounded Bear Shadow with a snarl. “I didn’t know they had different sizes! The thing she gave me only made it a third of the way up!”

“Magnums… Those will get you halfway covered, at least.”

“What? Like you couldn’t have told me before-”

“Did you get her name?”

Crow Shadow stopped walking. “Yeah, man… It was Cassie… Casey,” he called out behind Bear Shadow. “No, wait a minute. Kelsey! Man, don’t you get religion on me now-after the fact!”

“Got a last name?” Bear Shadow shouted over his shoulder.

“Fuck you, man!” Crow Shadow shouted.

Bear Shadow spun on him and hollered down the street, pointing. “No, fuck you, little brother, if this human female comes up pregnant with a half Shadow Wolf and you have to go to the clan council to stand before Silver Hawk and Hunter and Sasha to explain how this happened, when this happened, and then have to decide if you are going to take ownership to bring the child into the wolf pack, with or without the mother… It gets very complicated. Doc’s life is living proof of that! You don’t even know this woman’s last name or address, so you can’t claim you were caught up in love. This was boys’ night out! Kelsey was not your human woman that you wanted to get permission to make your life mate… and you bed her bareback? Are you crazy?”

“Okay, man, you’re scaring me, all right,” Crow Shadow said quietly.