Must Love Hellhounds by Charlaine Harris & Nalini Singh & Ilona Andrews & Meljean Brook

Author:Charlaine Harris & Nalini Singh & Ilona Andrews & Meljean Brook [Harris, Charlaine & Singh, Nalini & Andrews, Ilona & Brook, Meljean]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: General, Fiction, Fantasy, Vampires, Contemporary, Anthologies (Multiple Authors), Occult & Supernatural, Paranormal Romance Stories; American, Occult Fiction, Hell, Short Stories, Dogs, cookie429, Kat, Extratorrents
ISBN: 9780425236338
Google: Ql-0RAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0425236331
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2008-12-31T13:00:00+00:00

An hour later Raphael stretched and opened his eyes. His

lips stretched in an easy smile. “Hey. Now that’s a beautiful

sight to wake up to.”

I leveled my SIG-Sauer at him. “Tel me why the nice

puppy was chasing you.”

He wrinkled his nose and touched his mouth. “Is there

something on my lips?”

Yes, there is. “Raphael, concentrate! I know it’s hard for

you but do try to stay on target. Explain the dog.”

He licked his lips and my thoughts went south. Andrea,

concentrate! Try to stay on target.

Raphael remembered to look cool and leaned back,

presenting me with the view of a spectacular chest. “It’s

complicated.”

“Try me. First, what are you even doing here? Aren’t you

supposed to dragging around giant rocks right now?”

About six weeks ago, the lot of us had entered the Midnight

Games, an il egal, to-the-death fighting tournament. We did

it to prevent a war against the Pack. Both the Order and

Curran, the Beast Lord, took a rather dim view of this

occurrence. As a result, Kate was on medical leave, and

the Beast Lord, who had actual y ended up participating in

the tournament with us, had sentenced himself and the rest

of the involved shapeshifters to several weeks of hard labor

building an addition to the Pack’s citadel.

“Curran released me due to family hardship,” Raphael

said.

Not good. “What happened?”

“My mother’s mate died.”

My heart jumped. Aunt B was . . . she was kind. She

saved my life once and she kept my secret to herself. I

owed her everything. And even if I hadn’t, I felt nothing but

respect for her. Among boudas, as in nature among

hyenas, the females ruled. They were more aggressive,

more cruel, and more alpha. Aunt B was al that, but she

was also fair and smart and she didn’t tolerate any

nonsense. When you’re the alpha of a bouda clan, you have

a lot of nonsense thrown at you.

Had I grown up under Aunt B instead of the bitches who

ruled my childhood, perhaps I wouldn’t be so messed up.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you,” Raphael said and looked away.

“How is she holding up?”

“Not that wel . He was a very nice man. I liked him.”

“What happened?”

“Heart attack. It was quick.”

Shapeshifters almost never died of heart complications.

“He was a human?”

Raphael nodded. “They’ve been together for almost ten

years. She met him shortly after my father died. The service

was set for Friday. Someone stole his body from the funeral

home.” A low growl laced his words. “My mother didn’t get

to say good-bye. She didn’t get to bury him.”

Oh God. I gritted my teeth. “Who took the body?”

Raphael’s face turned grim. “I don’t know. But I’m going

to find out.”

“I want in on it. I owe your mother.” Aunt B had a right to

bury her mate. Or bury the thing that took her mate’s body.

Either way worked for me.

He grimaced. “Did you smel matches?”

I nodded. “It’s the dog.”

“Yeah. I picked up this scent at the funeral home and

trailed it here. There was something else under it, but the

dog stink is so damn acrid, it drowns everything else.”

Raphael gave me a hard look.

I motioned with my fingers. “Give.”

“I thought I smel ed a vampire.