The Epilogues: Part I: Badge of Honor (The Potentate of Atlanta Book 6), Hailey Edwards [year 2 reading books TXT] 📗

“Hmm.” I shut my eyes and scrunched my nose. “It was hazy at first, but yes. It’s becoming clearer.”

Amusement thick in his voice, he played along. “Describe this vision for me.”

“Well, it starts with you discarding that towel. Then you prowl up the bed and do naughty things with your tongue that may or may not involve nipples. Mine. Not yours. Just so we’re clear. After that, you and I explore the wonders of oral sex before discovering the wonders of regular sex.”

“I have a vivid imagination.” Midas’s eyebrows climbed. “And impressive stamina.”

“Yes,” I agreed, opening my eyes. “You do.”

“Permission to enact my fantasy, Ms. Potentate?”

Stretching across the pillows, feeling decadent, I hit him with my best come-hither purr. “I’m ready for you to ravish me.”

“I assume you’ll correct me if I get the sequence wrong.”

“Hey, they’re your dirty thoughts. I’m just giving them voice.”

A quick tug on the knot at his waist and the towel slid off his hips. He prowled up the bed until he covered me with his warmth and his strength. I linked my hands behind his nape to play with his hair.

“So far,” I praised him, “your recall is on point.”

A smile tipped the right side of his mouth, and his eyes sparked crimson. “I love you, Hadley.”

“I love you too, even if you broke from the script.” I patted his butt. “I’ve been thinking…”

“I’m scared,” he deadpanned, and I punched him in the arm. “Tell me, so I can stop imagining the worst.”

“The Society tends towards men taking their wives’ last names. That’s not always the case. I mean, look at Addie and Boaz. She’ll be a Pritchard. But that’s the deal they cut, the choice they made.” I wet my lips. “The pack’s outlook is similar. Anyone who mates into the alpha’s immediate family, regardless of gender, becomes a Kinase. That’s how your sister’s husband ended up Hood Kinase, right?”

“Yes,” he agreed, the muscles in his stomach clenching. “That’s right.”

“I’m not who I used to be.” I struggled to articulate the problem. “Hadley Whitaker is more me than I’ve ever been, but she’s not an exact fit either. Almost but not quite, you know?”

“What are you saying?” A breath punched out of his lungs. “Exactly?”

“I would like to be Hadley Kinase,” I said, almost shyly. “If that’s okay with—”

His lips crashed into mine with bruising force as a claiming growl rose up his throat.

When we broke apart, I was breathless and squirming beneath him. “Is that a yes?”

“That is most definitely a yes.” He nipped my bottom lip. “Hadley Kinase.” He smiled. “I like it.”

“It feels right.” I cupped his jaw. “It feels…like me.”

“It also feels like we’re about to be interrupted.” He drew back with a slow kiss. “I heard Bishop come in about thirty seconds ago.”

“What?” I thumped my head on the pillow. “No fair.” I kicked my feet. “Tell him to go away.”

“Tantrums aren’t sexy,” Bishop yelled from the living room. “Get your butt out here.”

Running my foot over Midas’s calf, I wiggled my eyebrows. “How fast do you think we can…?”

“Not fast enough,” Bishop called out. “Come on, kid. The night’s wasting.”

Leaning in, Midas nipped my ear hard enough to sting. “We’ll pick this up where we left off before dawn.”

“Fiiine.” I rose to kiss his soft lips. “Side with Bishop the Buzzkill.”

“I heard that.” Bishop banged on the door. “You should have woken up early if you wanted nookie.”

“Please don’t call it nookie.” I choked on a laugh. “Midas and I make sweet, sweet love.”

The gagging noises told me Bishop was retreating to the kitchen.

“Responsibility, here I come.”

With a shove, I rolled Midas off me then stood and began dressing for the night. I finished before him and stood in the center of the room with my hands on my hips. I turned a slow circle, but I couldn’t put my finger on what was bugging me.

Must be first-night jitters. But…it wasn’t my first night. I had no reason to be jittery.

Except I was official now. That made a difference. It made all the difference.

Warm lips pressed against my throat before Midas asked, “What is it?”

“I have the weirdest feeling I’m forgetting something.”

“Wedding invitations? Bridesmaid gifts? Groomsman gifts? Your cake? My cake?”

“Make it stop,” I begged. “Please.”

“It will,” he promised me with a kiss that burned down to my toes. “As soon as we’re married.”

On his way out the door, he held up his hand in the Vulcan salute, cementing my eternal love for him.

“Ready to boldly go?” Bishop held out my café mocha. “Sadly, your man has gone before you.”

“How long have you been waiting to use that line?”

“A gentleman never tells.”

“Good thing you’re no gentleman.”

We rode the elevator down to the lobby, and I walked past Hank, who scowled at me as usual.

Out on the street, I filled my lungs with city air, felt Atlanta stir, then set out on patrol with my bestie.

“Life is good,” I told him. “Life is so good.”

And it was only getting better.

Black Hat, White Witch

Chapter One

As I backed into the shop with a smoothie balanced on my latest bookish obsession, a romance between an owl shifter and a mouse shifter, I was greeted with screams and curses. Not literal curses. These days, I surrounded myself with human women who would clutch their pearls to learn I considered them a part of my makeshift coven. The uncomplicated circle of friendship satisfied the gnawing ache for community bred into all witches, allowing my power to slumber where it couldn’t hurt anyone.

Where I couldn’t hurt anyone.

Else.

“Rue.” Arden gripped my shoulders then marched me to the counter. “You ruined my cobwebs.”

“I heard what you did there.” I coughed up a wad of her artificial cotton decor. “What is all this?”

Stretchy cobwebs. Rubber spiders. Ceramic skulls. Foam tombstones.

“Halloween.” Camber escorted a life-size plastic skeleton to the door. “It’s next week.”

“I forgot.” As if any witch worth her salt didn’t