Bite Me (Pride, #9)

by Shelly Laurenston

“You can’t do this!” Toni protested. “This is kidnapping! A brutal, senseless kidnapping!” “Stop bragging,” Livy teased. “I know,” Jake joked. “Like she’s so important she just has to be kidnapped in a two-hundred-thousand-dollar car.”

“There’s a naked woman in your cabinet . . . and she’s eaten all the honey.”

“Your feline is showing,” Livy warned. “Because you’re not being rational and there’s an eight-foot, four-hundred-pound whiny baby over there begging me to claw the holy shit out of him.” “You are rude!” the polar complained.

But doing something this stupid—” He placed the helmet on her head. It fit perfectly. She lifted the visor, grinned. “How do I look?” “Like you’re welcoming death.” “Your faith in me is heartening.”

Someone put a lance in her hand. It was heavy and too long, but Livy held on to it. “How do I look?” she asked again. “Suicidal.” “If you’re going to be negative . . .”

“Is the problem that you live like a bear”—she leaned in, lowered her voice even more—“but fuck like a cat? And is that what has you completely freaked out right now? Because the cat in you is the side you can’t control?”

And no, we will not force Bo Novikov to shift to his animal form and put him on display in a gilded cage at the Sports Center so that the world can see what a true freak he is. And stop asking if you can!”

Sabina smirked. “Don’t know why you look like that. You could have nice, boring wild dog with science degree and breed nice, boring wild dog pups. You picked hillbilly wolf with unstable family. Now you have unstable pup. Yet so much shock. Sometimes you make no sense.”

But a PhD in psychology would allow me to understand my enemies so I can destroy them and their careers before they get in my way.”

“I’m more worried,” Cooper whispered back, “that he’ll become ruling overlord of the universe and we’ll have to find some kind of magic sword if we hope to destroy him.”

“Of course,” Bo snapped. “I’m not weak like him. I’m strong. Cossack strong.” Then Novikov walked into a wall, stumbled back, and passed out on the floor by the bed.

“You make me want to burrow,” Livy told him, her arms moving down to his waist as she snuggled into his chest. “Usually I want to burrow away from people,” she murmured. “You’re the first I’ve ever burrowed toward.”

“Don’t even, Dee-Ann. You can’t go to Russia.” “Ain’t nobody gonna stop me.” “Since the prime minister still so lovingly refers to you as The Murdering Twat, I think we need to come up with another option.

“I know you hate crowds without your camera. Unless, of course,” he felt the need to add, “you’re jousting bears. Because you’re that ridiculous. And no, I’m not letting that go.” “Fuck,” Livy said as she buried her face in her hands. “What? What’s wrong?” She looked at him. Actually, it was more of a scowl. She scowled at him. “I’m in love with you,” Livy snapped. “And it’s your fucking fault.”