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

And the psychic waves of lust fanning out from Olivia's room only made it worse.

None of it helped his own damned hungers.

All this mating put him in mind of the one person he wanted nothing to do with. The same person responsible for saving his ass from Montaña's men if he could believe his hazy dreams.

Kisho sat up, threw on a pair of sweats, and sneaked out of his room. He heard Tersch and Jules approaching but needed a moment to himself. Though he'd spent the better part of the week in his bedroom, most of it had been spent sleeping while his body recovered. He'd toyed with pain as pleasure before, but the sheer hurt from the drop off that building had shattered his nerve.

He never wanted to feel that vulnerable again.

Lying there while Montaña's men laughed and kicked him had reminded him all too much of what he'd left behind so long ago. He wasn't a lost boy anymore. Circs had strength, power, and in his case, a rare ability to circumvent failure.

Too bad he couldn't see much about his own future, only that prick who refused to leave his dreams.

He skirted Ava and Mrs. Sharpe arguing, no surprise there. After leaving the house, he also avoided Jack and Melissa showing some skin in the middle of the heated gazebo beyond the garden. Just what he didn't need, the sight of more bared flesh.

He only wished it were Melissa who turned him on, not the thought of a naked Jack.

Though Circs were genetically disposed to bisexuality, needing sex with their own kind regardless of gender, Kisho knew his team only consented to touching one another because they had to, not because they wanted to. Sure, Tersch and Fallon liked fucking him. Jules loved his blowjobs. But when human and in control of their lusts, they never looked twice at Kisho.

Not that Kisho wanted them to, but it would have been nice to know he wasn't the only deviant on the team. His years spent in the navy had solidified his ties with the squad. They judiciously held to the “don't ask, don't tell” rule. But he'd never flaunted his differences, maintaining his privacy. For all the team had known back then, he had a different woman in every port.

Becoming Circ had certainly made them all tighter, but Kisho couldn't let himself completely go. He'd spent too many years on his own, too much time defending himself to the people who should have loved him, regardless of who or what he was. He couldn't afford to open himself up to the guys, no matter how much he might want to. Chancing a rejection from the only people he had left in the world was not an option. He'd kill for them, he'd die defending them, but he'd never give them a chance to turn away from him; he couldn't live with that.

Depressed because he didn't think he'd ever find a way to end his mating heats—what female Circ out there would tolerate a male who didn't want her?—he walked along the trail away from the house. But along the way, his mind grew fuzzy. The trail suddenly blurred, and then he was there.

Full lips quirked in a smile at something Kisho said. Laughing at him, teasing him, reminding him that as strong as he was, Kisho could never conquer this man. Angered, Kisho tried to take charge of the brute, but ropes bound him tight.

Knowing what came next, he struggled in vain to break free of the vision, but it only took him deeper.

“You break free, I'll leave you alone,” the male's deep voice promised.

“Fuck off.” Kisho couldn't handle the smug bastard. Always there, always watching, judging…

“You'd like that, wouldn't you?” The male fingered the front of his own jeans, where a large, telltale bulge resided. To Kisho's shock, blunt fingers prodded at the button and slid the zipper down to reveal a shadow of dark, curly hair. The scent of orange spice mixed with the cinnamon Kisho knew was his beast's way of fanning out his need.

“I'm hard and wet. Want a taste? Or don't you want your little friends to know what you really need?” the bastard asked, lowering his voice so Tersch and Jules wouldn't hear in the other room.

Kisho struggled to break free, but his beast refused to appear. Never before had he lost his ability to change, and the loss now scared the hell out of him.

“That's right. You're mine now. All mine, my little kitsu .” Large hands reached for him, powerful hands dragging him closer to his destiny, to his doom.

The vision faded as the dark of night returned. An owl hooted overhead, and to Kisho's shock, a slender gray fox watched him, frozen on the trail several feet in front of him.

“My little kitsu.” “Kitsu”—an archaic Japanese word for “fox.” His future beckoned, but Kisho wanted no part of it. The only thing he could see of his tomorrows: a curse he couldn't shake. He turned and jogged back to the house, needing the comfort only his fellow Circs, his lovers and friends, could provide.

But as he ran, he felt the fox's stare boring into his back, and the familiar words returned.

“You can run, kitsu, but you can't hide. I'm coming for you, and I'll have what's mine.”

Marie Harte

Marie Harte is an avid reader who loves all things paranormal and futuristic, but especially all things romance. Reading romances since she was twelve, she fell in love with the warmth of first passion and knew writing was her calling. Twenty-three years later, the Marine Corps, a foray through Information Technology, a husband and four kids, and her dream has finally come true. Marie lives in Georgia with her family and loves hearing from readers.

Loose Id(R) Titles by Marie Harte

Mirror, Mirror

Reaper's Reward

Saturnalia

Satyr's Myst

Tied & True

Willa's Wish

The CIRCE'S RECRUITS Series

Roan

Zack & Ace

Derrick

Hale

The DAWN ENDEAVOR Series

Fallon's Flame