Marie Harte: Julian's Jeopardy

“I love when you get all cranky. No wonder Gunnar's half in love with you.”

“Yeah, right.” Ava's heart pounded. Her beast moaned to be let free and find the male that she needed.

It had been so long since her beast had tasted a true fight. That night in the woods a week ago wasn't nearly enough to sate the animal inside Ava begging for another bite of freedom. But it had been a thing of beauty to change , to see Gunnar's gorgeous berserker killing the enemy Circs left and right through eyes that could track in the night. Such a strong mate, a worthy male to respect and love.

If only the stubborn bastard would stop avoiding her.

The minute he'd laid eyes on her in her beastly form, after he'd pulled her from the men she'd been battling, he'd treated her like poison ivy. Staying far, far away.

Grayson gave her a shit-eating grin. “Fucker spent that night at the Islander warning me away from you. For some reason, he was convinced I was doing my sister. Uh, ew.”

She flushed. She'd hinted to Gunnar that she might be having an affair with one of the psychics working security around the mansion. Hell, he never gave her the time of day, yet he screwed anything Circ, to include Sheridan! Boy, did she have a bone to pick with the new little pregnant lady. Though she'd known Gunnar needed the release he found with his team, she didn't have to like it. And by God, all that nonsense was coming to an end.

Ava contained a snarl and said to her brother, “I don't know where Gunnar gets his odd ideas. But I do know that if you're going to leave, you need to do it now.

I can't cover for you anymore. Sheridan knows you're Circ, but she promised not to tell. The shielding exercises we taught her are helping her hide the truth from Fallon and Olivia. You know, it's a good thing you look like Dad.”

“And you look like Mom.” He grinned. With a white father and black mother, the two had never been mistaken for siblings, until they changed . Then they looked almost identical, with the exception of their obvious gender differences.

Ava continued, “The other psychics newly assigned to the place will think you went back to DC. Tell Lonnie I said hi when you see him.” Lonnie, what the family had always called Admiral Geoffrey London—good friend and faithful companion to her grandmother for more years than Ava had been alive.

“Will do.” Grayson frowned.

“What?”

“I don't know. I've been getting weird vibes from Lonnie lately. Probably the stress of the new platoon. Psychic soldiers and sailors can be a pain in the ass. They make the Circs look like prima donnas. Oh, that's right, they are prima donnas.” Grayson smirked. “Your Gunnar is a high-maintenance dude. You sure you want him?”

Ava smiled through her teeth. For two solid years, she'd waited and watched her wild man. The time had come to finally claim him as hers. Now, since they'd conquered Montaña, she just had to battle Tersch's inner demons. She had no doubt they'd soon find the worm Ricardo had worked for. She could feel it in her bones.

Her Circ bones.

She flashed her canines at her brother and blinked at him through eyes that now saw in shades of heat, to better ferret out prey. “Trust me, Brother. Your sister is going hunting, and I won't quit until I've bagged my man.” One way or the other, Frederik Gunnar Tersch, your ass is mine.