Dawn Endeavor 1: Fallon's Flame by Marie Harte (book recommendations website TXT) 📕

other day.” She refused to meet his gaze. “I don't have any superpowers, no stamina, no incredible strength.”

“I don't know about that,” Fallon murmured, remembering all too well the hold she'd had on his beast.

She ignored him. “I'm sorry. I'm empathic. End of story. I can feel your disappointment and your disbelief. But I don't know what to tell you.” Jules watched her for a moment. “Fallon, I need you to stay back. I'm not going to hurt her, but I need to see something.”

“What are you going to do?”

Jules didn't answer him, and Fallon's beast didn't like the potential threat to the woman he considered his.

When his team leader vanished, Fallon swore.

“Oh my God. Where did he go?” Olivia scrambled to her feet, her mouth open. She squealed in fright when her feet left the ground. “Jesse, something's got me!”

“Dammit. Jules, let her go.”

Olivia settled back on her feet and raced into his arms. They watched as Jules materialized in front of them.

“How did he do that?” she asked, breathless. “My God, that's incredible!” And she had yet to see them shift into their beasts.

“Ask Jules if he wants her to see us change,” Tersch prodded.

Fallon mentally repeated the question as he stroked Olivia's back and hugged her tight.

“Not yet.” Jules sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Olivia, I just thought if you were scared enough, you might… Never mind. We'll take care of you out there. But if what Hayashi saw comes to pass, you'll need to know you can trust us. You'll follow orders, no question, or you're not coming along.”

She swallowed audibly. Fallon tried to calm her quivering frame. Talk about a lot to throw at a person. “I will. I promise.”

“Good. You can start now. I want you to get out of Fallon's hold.” “Fallon, don't let her go.”

Fallon tightened his arms. She couldn't move.

“Try harder.”

She squirmed, but all she did was arouse him.

“Now change, Fallon.”

“Jules, I don't know.”

“I do. She needs to know we can protect her. And we can't afford for her to panic on us if we have to change during the mission.”

“What's going on?” Olivia breathed, still struggling.

“I don't like it. No.”

Jules's entire stance changed. Aggression swelled from him in waves as he faced Fallon.

“You're refusing me?”

“Hell.” Tersch plucked Olivia from his arms. “Come on. Hayashi, let's continue this while they come to an understanding.”

“Good idea.”

His team leader growled low in his throat. “Get outside, now.”

“Fuck.” Fallon cast a last, longing look at Olivia and left the room. He didn't make it a foot outside before Jules knocked into him. Then all hell broke loose.

Chapter Seven

Olivia ached from her toes to the top of her head. The insane thought she'd had when Gunnar had offered to help instruct her had been one of relief. She worked out, and she'd had defensive training. How hard could it be to keep up with a super Circ? Even after witnessing Kisho's incredible karate skills, she'd been prepared for some defensive tutoring, even looked forward to it.

Two days later, she felt so stiff, she could barely move. Her sluggish brain did little more than suggest ways to rest so she'd experience less pain, but she didn't have the energy to turn over.

Gunnar had shown her ways to incapacitate men. From grabbing and twisting testicles to grabbing and twisting thumbs. Wrist locks, knee kicks, and the nose smash. Timing, Kisho had added, was everything. A woman of her size had an advantage, but she couldn't hope to defeat a man as large as the Circs training her. From what she'd read in the folder, Montaña's men would be tough to beat. Most of them had trained in his select mercenary camps, and those who hadn't had done time in South American prisons. Just the people she didn't want to run into in the middle of the jungle.

As if suffering extreme exhaustion weren't enough, she hadn't seen Jesse since his altercation with Jules. It felt as if every time she gained a foothold in her tentative relationship with the man, something else stopped her from seeing him. She'd been playing it cool, wanting him to come to her. And then Jules had put an end to that.

“Probably for the best,” she murmured. This mission demanded her full attention. In just three more days they'd fly south, where she might actually end up running for her life in the heart of the jungle. I am insane for even contemplating going.

But the thought of leaving Jesse and the others in the hands of untrustworthy men, possibly enemies, made her ill.

A knock sounded on her door.

“Come in.” She didn't bother to sit up. Clad in the same workout clothes she'd worn since the afternoon, when Kisho had put her through the wringer, she lay on her bed.

Gunnar poked his head around the door. If she weren't mistaken, he pulsed with disappointment. “Hell, I was hoping to find you naked and in the tub by now.” She grinned. “If I had the energy, I would be.”

“Jules wants to see you.”

“Now?” She groaned and sat up. And suddenly Gunnar was right there.

He knelt next to the bed, almost at eye level with her.

“You are huge.”

He grinned, and she noted how handsome he actually was. Whenever she was near Jesse, everyone else paled by comparison. “You have no idea.” She shouldn't have, but she glanced down at his crotch. To her shock, he looked very happy to see her.

Her cheeks heated. “Um, I'm not sure…”

“Come on.” He stood and picked her up as if she weighed nothing.

“Oh.”

“You're a sexy little thing. No wonder he's so hot for you.”

“Jules?” First Jesse, now Gunnar and Jules? Had she entered a dream state where everything seemed surreal?

“No, Fallon. Guy's had a hard-on for you since you walked into the damned house. He's a pain in the ass about it too. Nearly choked me when I mentioned we should hit it.”

“Hit what?”

He rolled his eyes. “I said