Every day this week I will be posting favorite scenes from the Kate Daniels series. I’d love it if you’d share your favorite scenes too. Be sure to check back in Friday for a look at Magic Triumphs and a chance to win a book from the series. Beware!! There are spoilers present. If you have read the series, proceed at your own risk. 

In book 4, Magic Bleeds, the arc takes a serious turn while the romance begins to take a more active role. Kate finds herself in a pickle when a formidable enemy descends on Atlanta, intent on making Kate pay a hefty price for her birthright. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Beast Lord is playing a dangerous game that leaves Kate’s emotions twisting in the wind. But where there is a will, there is a way and despite Kate’s fears…she never backs down from a fight.

“Curran has the top floor to himself.”

“It’s good to be the Beast Lord.”

We kept climbing. And climbing. And climbing. Five minutes later the stairs finally ended in a large door. Derek opened it, inviting me into a small room, ten by ten. Another door blocked the exit at the far wall.

Derek waited a moment.

The second door swung open, revealing two shapeshifters, an older bald man and a woman about my age, both in superb shape. They gave me the evil eye.

Derek nodded at them.

They plainly didn’t want to let me in.

Amber rolled over Derek’s eyes. “Move,” he said quietly.

They stepped aside. Derek motioned me in. “Please.”

The boy wonder had moved up the ranks.

We passed between the shapeshifters into a hallway. On the left was a small room. A third shapeshifter, a man about Derek’s age, sat there.

We strode down the hallway, the older man and the woman shadowing us. Curran’s guards definitely had doubts about my presence here. They were right. I was up to no good.

“The gym will be on the left.” Derek nodded at the hallway, where the stone wall ended, replaced by glass. “His living quarters are upstairs. There is a small stairway down the hall.”

He pointed to the doors as we passed them. “Private meeting room. Sauna.”

“And that?” I nodded to another door.

The bodyguards looked like someone had stepped on their feet.

Derek’s face turned perfectly neutral. “It’s reserved for the female guests.”

I opened the door. A huge canopied bed occupied most of the room, gauzy curtains drawn up like clouds above the snow-white comforter. The furniture was pale, blond oak with golden accents, elegant and light, almost floating above the polished wooden floor. A large dresser stood against the wall, next to a vanity table with a three-panel mirror. The middle of the floor was taken over by an overstuffed sofa facing a fireplace with a thick white rug by it. A flat screen hung on the wall above the fireplace. The far wall was frosted glass, strategically interrupted by clear stretches forming a bamboo design. The door stood ajar and through it I saw a pristine hot tub.

“Where is Barbie?”

The female shapeshifter snickered and choked it off.

“Is there a stripper pole?”

The older man winced. Derek looked pained. “No.” “Speakers for the mood music?”

Derek pointed at the corner above a small refrigerator. I bet there was cold champagne in that fridge.

I stepped out, shut the door, and pulled on an oven mitten. The shapeshifters watched me with great interest. I untied the cord securing the flame-retardant cloth on Teddy Jo’s sword and handed it to Derek, revealing a thick, asbestos-lined scabbard. “Hold this, please.”

He took it.

I grasped the onyx-colored hilt and pulled the sword free. It was a classic Hoplite blade, leaf-shaped, about two feet long. A spark ran down the metal, from the hilt to the point. The blade burst into blinding white fire.

The shapeshifters jerked back.

Derek’s eyes went wide. “Where did you get this?”

“It’s a loaner from the Greek angel of death.” I aimed the sword at the lock and touched it to the door. Blue sparks flew.

“What are you doing?” the female bodyguard snarled.

“I’m welding the bimbo room shut.”

 

*****

 

So that’s what the Beast Lord with no brakes looked like.

He landed on the floor of my living room. Muscles twisted and crawled, stretching and snapping. The gray fur melted, fading into human skin, and Curran stood on my carpet, nude and pissed off, his eyes glowing gold.

His voice was a deep snarl. “I know he’s here. I can smell him.”

I felt an irresistible urge to brain him with something heavy. “Did you lose your sense of smell? Saiman’s scent is two hours old.”

Golden eyes burned me. “Where is he?”

“Under my bed.”

The bed went airborne. It flew across the living room and slammed into the wall with a thud.

That was just about enough of that. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Saving you from whatever mess you got yourself into this time.”

Why me? “There is no mess! It’s a professional arrangement.”

“He’s paying you?” Curran snarled.

“No. I’m paying him.”

He roared. His mouth was human, but the blast of sound that shot out of it was like thunder.

“Ran out of words, Your Majesty?”

“Why him?” he growled. “Of all the men you could have, why would you hire him for that?”

“Because he has the best equipment in the city and he knows how to use it!”

As soon as I said it, I realized how he would take it.

The beginnings of another thundering roar died in Curran’s throat. He stared at me, mute.

Oh, this was too good. I threw my hands up. “The lab! I’m talking about his lab, not his dick, you idiot. He’s the only one I know with a Class Four lab in the city. He can take a blank piece of paper and read an invisible incantation on it.”

It must’ve penetrated, because he regained his ability to speak. “That’s not what I was told. Don’t lie to me, Kate.”

“Get out of my apartment!”

“I know he was planning a long night and you had no choice about it.”

The next time I saw Jim, I’d kick him in the throat. “Do I look like a fragile flower to you? I can kill Saiman three times before his body ever hits the ground. If I don’t want to sleep with him, no force on earth would make me. See, in our world, we have this pesky thing called reality. Before you ran over here in your beastly glory to rescue me, did that concept ever cross your mind?”

He opened his mouth.

“No!” I growled, pacing back and forth. “I’m not done. I need him for the Order’s investigation. He made going out with him a condition of his services, because you made him spend the Midnight Games between Mahon and Aunt B and this is his petty version of revenge. You knew I was guarding him, and you still went after him. You fucked up my personal life, now you’re trying to destroy my professional one. If you kill him tonight, I swear to God I will murder you.”

“Is he forcing you to sleep with him?”

One-track mind, Your Majesty. “No. But even if I wanted to jump into the sack with him and screw his brains out, you have no right to an opinion on it.”

Rage shivered in the corners of Curran’s mouth. He stalked back and forth like a caged cat. “I have every right.”

“Who says?”

“You. You gave me that right when you dumped catnip all over my bed.”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. He had me there. “I changed my mind.”

“What, again? Why am I not surprised?”

“What do you mean, again? You stood me up, remember?”

“You were relieved I didn’t show up.”

Argh. “Let’s review. I cooked the dinner. I made you a pie. I set the table. I took a shower. I put on makeup. I bought condoms, Curran. And then I sat in my kitchen for hours, waiting for you. I sat and waited for three hours. Then I called to the Keep and was told not to contact you again. And you have the audacity to snarl at me?”

He showed me his teeth. “The phone call came when Doolittle was setting my bones. It went to Mahon, who thought it wasn’t important. It never got to me. I had no idea you had called. It was a fuckup, it happened on my end, and I accept full responsibility for it. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“On that we’re in complete agreement.”

His eyes flashed. “But you, you didn’t even try to find me and figure out what happened.”

“You made me feel this small.” I held my thumb and index finger barely apart. “Was I supposed to crawl to the Keep, collapse at your feet, and beg you to take me?”

He snarled. “You were supposed to march to the Keep and punch me in the face. That would’ve been fine. But you ran away.”

The fury in his eyes made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“I was trying to avoid a conflict between the Pack and the Order, you stupid idiot!”

“Bullshit.” He kept going like he didn’t hear me. “You could’ve found me. You could’ve demanded an explanation. Instead your bright idea to deal with this mess was not to talk to me. Do you get off on having me chase after you like some sixteen-year-old?”

“Twelve tops. Sixteen is giving you too much credit.”

He bit the air. “Look who’s talking.”

My voice was so bitter I could taste it. “It doesn’t matter. I thought you wanted to be with me. You made me want”—I struggled with words—“things I didn’t think I would ever get. I thought we had a chance. But it’s over now. Thank you, Your Majesty, for curing my temporary madness and showing me how it was all my fault. I apologize for trashing your love-me gym. It was a mistake on my part. I will replace your bench and comforter. You can leave now.”

He stared at me. If he didn’t leave, I would kill him.

“Do you want me to spell it out? I’ll speak slowly. You broke my heart and now you’re stomping on it. I hate you. Get the hell out of my apartment, or I swear I’ll beat you bloody.”

His face was dark. “You want me to grovel? Is that it?”

“Come to think of it, groveling would be nice, but no, I just want you to go. Leave.”

His eyes flashed at me. “Make me.”

I lunged left and kicked him. He made no move to avoid it. My foot smashed into his stomach. Like kicking a tree sheathed in rubber. The kick knocked him back a couple of steps. He grunted. “That’s it, baby?”

I whipped about, picking up momentum, and kicked him in the head. He staggered back, looking a bit unfocused.

I forced a grin out. “Rang your bell, baby?” Shit. I’d hit him with everything I had and he didn’t go down. He should’ve been out like a light.

Curran shook his head and spat blood onto my carpet. The gold in his eyes burned me. He started toward me, his jaw set.

He wouldn’t take another kick to the head, and kicking his body was useless. I snapped a sidekick to his knee. He knocked my foot aside and grabbed at me. I dodged and hammered a punch into his side. He turned into it and my fist bounced off his back. Ow. I sank my heel into his knee again, driving it with all my power. He grunted, but kept coming. I grabbed a lamp off the nightstand and bashed him with it. He caught it, ripped it out of my hands, and tossed it aside.

I was almost to the wall. My room to maneuver shrank to nothing.

I smashed my knuckles into his solar plexus. He exhaled in a sharp breath and drove me into the wall. His forearm pinned my left arm. I hammered my right fist into his ear. He growled, caught my wrist, and locked it against the wall above my head.

I had no room to move. Game over.

He crushed me against the wall, bracing me with his body. I strained, trying to break free. He might have been made of stone for all the good it did me. Except he was made of flesh and he was stark naked.

I strained every muscle I had. Nothing. Outmuscling him was beyond me.

“Feel better?” he inquired.

“Lean over to the left, Your Majesty.”

“Want a shot at my jugular with your teeth?” He leaned to the right, exposing his thick neck. “Carotid’s better.”

“My teeth are too small. I wouldn’t cause enough damage for you to bleed out. Jugular is better—if I rip it a bit and get air bubbles into the bloodstream, they’ll be in your heart in two breaths. You would pass out at my feet.” A normal human would die, but it took more than an air embolism to bring a shapeshifter down permanently.

“Here you go.” He leaned his head to me, his neck so close to my lips, I felt the heat coming off his skin. His breath was warm against my ear. His voice was a ragged snarl. “I miss you.”

This wasn’t happening.

“I worry about you.” He dipped his head and looked into my eyes. “I worry something stupid will happen and I won’t be there and you’ll be gone. I worry we won’t ever get a chance and it’s driving me out of my skull.”

No, no, no, no . . .

We stared at each other. The tiny space between us felt too hot. Muscles bulged on his naked frame. He looked feral.

Mad gold eyes stared into mine. “Do you miss me, Kate?”

I closed my eyes, trying to shut him out. I could lie and then we’d be back to square one. Nothing would be resolved. I’d still be alone, hating him and wanting him.

He grabbed my shoulders and shook me once. “Do you miss me?”

I took the plunge. “Yes.”

 

*****

“…if you come to remove me, come in force, because if you try to separate me from him, I will kill every single one of you. My hand won’t shake. My aim won’t falter. My face will be the last thing you see before you die.

 

AHHHH…true love.