Guild Hunter 03 - Archangel's Consort

not, would not, accept rebellion from a subordinate.
    “Yeah, I get it,” Lucas replied. “Surprises me though. She’s the perfect soldier down here, doesn’t ever give me lip. Got a mind as sharp as a razor.”
    Hawke flexed and unflexed his claws. “Yeah, well, she’s not yours.”
    A long, quiet pause. “I heard you were seeing someone.”
    “You want to gossip?” He made no attempt to hide his irritation.
    “Kit and the other novices saw you with some drop-dead gorgeous blonde a few weeks ago. At a restaurant down by Pier 39.”
    He thought back. “She’s a media consultant with CTX.” SnowDancer and DarkRiver held majority shares in the communications company, an investment that was paying off big-time as even Psy began to search for news reports free of the crushing influence of their dictatorial ruling Council. “Wanted to talk to me about doing an interview.”
    “When’s it going to be on?”
    “Next time you see a pig flying past the window.” Hawke didn’t play for the cameras, and he’d made damn sure Ms. Consultant understood that SnowDancer wasn’t planning to change its mean and carnivorous image to pretty and fluffy anytime soon. She could work with that or find another posi—A sudden thought sliced clean through his remembered annoyance, had his hand tightening on the phone. “Was Sienna with the novices?”
    “Yep.”
    It was Hawke who paused this time, his wolf taking a watchful stance, caught between two competing needs. “There’s nothing I can do about that, Luc,” he said at last, every muscle in his body taut to the point of pain.
    “That was what Nate said.”
    The leopard sentinel was now happily mated with two cubs.
    “Not the same.” It wasn’t simply a question of age—the brutal fact was that Hawke’s mate was dead. Had died as a child. Sienna didn’t understand what that meant, how little he had to give her, give any woman. If he was selfish enough to succumb to the unnamed but powerful pull between them, he knew full well he’d destroy her.
    “Doesn’t mean you can’t be happy. Think about it.” Luc hung up.
    She hasn’t slept with him, you know ... Don’t leave it too late, Hawke, or you might just lose her.
    Indigo’s words just over two months ago, speaking about Sienna and that cub who was stuck to her like glue whenever Hawke turned around. Aside from the fact the boy was a leopard, there was nothing wrong with Kit. He’d make the perfect ma—
    A crunching sound.
    His new sat phone bore a jagged crack through the screen.

 

     

     

     

     

Berkley Titles by Nalini Singh
     
    Psy-Changeling Series
SLAVE TO SENSATION
VISIONS OF HEAT
CARESSED BY ICE
MINE TO POSSESS
HOSTAGE TO PLEASURE
BRANDED BY FIRE
BLAZE OF MEMORY
BONDS OF JUSTICE
PLAY OF PASSION
     
    Guild Hunter Series
     
    ANGELS’ BLOOD
ANGELS’ PAWN
(A Berkley Sensation eSpecial)
ARCHANGEL’S KISS
ARCHANGEL’S CONSORT
     
    Anthologies
     
    AN ENCHANTED SEASON
(with Maggie Shayne, Erin McCarthy, and Jean Johnson)
THE MAGICAL CHRISTMAS CAT
(with Lora Leigh, Erin McCarthy, and Linda Winstead Jones)
MUST LOVE HELLHOUNDS
(with Charlaine Harris, Ilona Andrews, and Meljean Brook)
BURNING UP
(with Angela Knight, Virginia Kantra, and Meljean Brook)