Four-Letter Words by Evans, Gabrielle (best novel books to read .txt) 📕

sacrificing innocents for selfish gain wasn’t anything new, but Thane hadn’t witnessed evil on this scale since the original witch wars over seven hundred years ago. “Okay, so what are we going to do about it?”

Torren scrubbed both hands over his face and yawned loudly. “We’re going to sleep on it and come at this again tomorrow. I’m too tired to think right now.”

Thane didn’t want to be insensitive or appear uncaring. He worried about Mikko, and he’d do his part to stop these rogue witches. However, Torren’s suggestion sounded like an excellent plan to him.

He’d been sleeping and rising on vampire time for weeks. Torren might be exhausted, but for Thane, his day was just getting interesting. After all, he was still waiting on that private—and hopefully, naked—tour of his mate’s bedroom.

Chapter Six

When Thane had disappeared with his brothers just minutes after their arrival to the coven, Zasha had feigned disappointment. In truth, however, he was more relieved than anything. Thane’s short absence to attend to family matters had given Zasha ample time for a little excursion down to the kitchen to pilfer one of the donor bags on hand.

It wasn’t as though Thane didn’t know he was a vampire and needed blood to survive, but the guy would flip his lid if he knew the last time Zasha fed was nearly three days ago. He’d made it pretty clear back on the porch of The Council house that this type of fasting wouldn’t happen again.

Zasha hadn’t set out to intentionally starve himself. His supply in Casper had run dry. He hadn’t been able to restock, and he’d be damned if he was going to lose control and bite Thane again. So, really, he hadn’t had any choice.

Somehow, he doubted Thane would see things that way.

Having someone care and worry about him wasn’t a bad thing, but it was much different than how he was used to living. His family lived an entire ocean away, and he didn’t have many friends. One was dead because he’d turned out to be a sadistic piece of shit, and the other was an ex-lover. Sure, he interacted with a number of people on any given day. He even called some of them “friends.” In actuality, they were all just acquaintances he’d happened to know for a century or so.

Zasha didn’t trust easily, and he had no desire to win any popularity contests. He was reserved, slightly introverted, and he was probably a bit of a nerd. These were things he understood about himself, and that was okay. However, spending most of his time alone meant he’d never had to take someone else’s feelings or thoughts into consideration.

He took care of himself, answered to no one except maybe Leader Tuesday, and that was how he’d done things for most of his adult life. Now, there were all of these new rules. His actions no longer affected only him. Someone actually depended on him.

Thane didn’t need a nurse anymore, but he still depended on Zasha to make the right choices, to consider their relationship when weighing his options. Zasha didn’t want to let his mate down, and he was trying damn hard. Unfortunately, being mated was not something to be taught or learned. It was one of those many mysteries of life that had to be experienced to gain any kind of knowledge.

Then, just when he thought he might be getting a grasp on it, a butterfly would flap its wings, creating an imperceptible shift in the wind—or some insignificant crap like that. All Zasha knew was that one minute things were great, and then without warning, everything would blow up in his face. There was no rational explanation for these disasters. They seemed to crop up when everything was going right, just to point and laugh at him.

Well, this time, he wasn’t leaving anything to chance. He’d fed, done fifty pushups to work off some of his nervous energy, and even jerked off in the shower.

Feeling relaxed and content, he rested in the center of his bed, sprawled on his back while the warmth of the room dried the water from his naked body. With one hand splayed across his stomach and the other tucked behind his head, Zasha closed his eyes, waiting for his lover’s return.

Thane had only been in the room long enough to drop off his belongings, change his clothes, and hurry off to meet his brothers. His discarded T-shirt lay crumpled in the armchair by the window, and though it had been over half an hour since his departure, the light cotton still held his scent.

Each inhalation was filled with the alluring smell, and before long, Zasha’s dick began to swell once again. Since the night Thane had ravished him in the moonlight, he’d been able to think about little else. He’d never claimed to be a saint. Still, he’d held his reservations and remained careful when it came to the subject of sex.

That wasn’t to say he didn’t desire his partner. Hell, he was addicted to all things Thane, but until he could be certain he could maintain control, it was best to be cautious. If just a faint, lingering scent of the man could produce such reactions from his body, he could safely assume being in Thane’s presence would be ten times more tempting.

Sucking his bottom lip between his teeth to muffle his groan, Zasha curled his fingers around his hard length and arched up from the mattress. This was no good. He’d gone from relaxed to on-edge in two seconds flat, and he couldn’t meet Thane like this. If his mate walked through the door right then, Zasha had little faith in his self-restraint.

Holding his breath, he listened for footsteps in the hallway. When he heard nothing but his own pounding heart, he released his aching cock and hurried to his closet to pull out a small box. Quickly, he selected one of his favorite toys and a bottle of strawberry scented lube then tucked