The Last Emperor by Kari Gregg

Author:Kari Gregg [Gregg, Kari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-12-26T18:30:00+00:00

Sweat prickling his skin under his thin shirt, Nick added logs to the hall’s fire from a wood box next to the fireplace. Lydia sat on the sofa nearest the heat, her blue fisherman’s sweater a gift Nick had knit for her two Christmases ago, but so far, the adventure tour company had kept the lodge warm enough for the oddity of a visiting human. Additional layers were unnecessary. Nick intended to keep it that way.

“Him, I understand,” his best friend said, her eyes sparkling when Rolan settled beside her on the sofa. “Rolan won’t pass up a single night of sex while his heat is on him. Of course, he trekked back to the lodge rather than staying at the upper camp after hunting. But you?” Her gaze narrowed on Nick. “What the fuck?”

Nick could have told her, despite last night’s submissive displays, he didn’t trust the tribes—including the Ural tribe—with his human friend, particularly a human involved in mating another shifter. Many in the tribes still objected to pair bonds that bridged their species, and he also wouldn’t leave either Lydia or Rolan unprotected in an environment in which the tribes must have surely realized controlling the ones Nick loved most was a potential means of controlling Nick. By virtue of their relationships with him, Rolan and Lydia were targets. Nick had dared joining the hunt, risking hours away from Lyd, only because most of the security team he’d brought with him from the lands of men had stayed behind at the lodge with her.

“This is a working trip for me, not a vacation.” Nick pushed back from the hearth, a believable lie that would keep the ones he loved safe already swirling in his head. “As much as I would have preferred a night at the camp, I’m obliged to make myself available to Elder Benjic and the council to finalize negotiations.” He smoothed his palms down his thighs, brushing aside any lingering dirt and debris from handling the logs for the fire as readily as he set aside any qualms over manipulating his brother and best friend. “The faster we hammer out those details, the sooner we can return home.”

Having claimed another couch across the room, Benjic sniffed in disdain at the laptop he’d been working at since the pack had streamed into the lodge from their hunt.

Human or shifter, Lydia didn’t miss the slight. “Yes?” she said, drawing out the word in a disapproving drawl. “Something you want to say about Rolan, Nick, and I going home?”

A deep V furrowed the elder’s brow. “This is where His Highness belongs.” He tipped his head at Nick, then at Rolan. “The tribes are your mate’s home, too.” He scowled at her. “You? If you reject Rolan as your mate, you can go, but not them. Tribe should be with tribe.”

Lydia clenched her jaw, temper lighting up her dark eyes. “The tribes tried to kill Nick. Some would gladly finish the job if they could. Every day we stay in the territories, his danger climbs.

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