The Mating Intent-mobi Read Free Page A

his voice a smoky whisper. “The oil is a lubricant and makes penetration easier for a virgin’s first time. I’ll be very gentle, pixie. Take it nice and slow until you get used to me deep inside you.”
    A delicious shiver snaked down her spine and her entire body clenched. She was 25 years old and had lived her entire life according to what others expected. For once she wanted to put her needs first. Sienna wanted to embrace life and all it had to offer, to experience the pleasures of the flesh.
    Breaking the rules promised punishment. But as Gabriel pulled her into his arms, his gaze centered on her mouth, she didn’t care. There might be hell to pay, but as Gabriel promised, the pleasure would be worth the price.
     

 

Chapter 1
     
    Twenty-five years later, south Florida
    After 25 years, he’d finally see Sienna Bennett again. Scent her, taste her and then coax her into his bed.
    And then use her dark powers to destroy whatever the hell was killing his people.
    Gabriel Sanders headed for the storage shed holding topsoil needed for the nursery. Homeowners flocked to his business to purchase plants, wanting to beautify their concrete castles. Too much development in these parts infringed on his clan’s territory. They’d had to adjust with the growth, just as the wild creatures in the Everglades did. Those who had not died. 
    Inside the storage shed, the rich, fertile scent reminded him of Sienna, the Elf he’d never forgotten. They’d shared three incredible nights of sex, passion that stirred his cat’s feral blood, and then she’d vanished from his life.
    Gabriel lifted a 100-lb sack from the row of neatly stacked bags and hefted it over one shoulder. Carrying it outside, he walked past several greenhouses, the gardeners within lovingly tending the young plants.
    The brilliant sunshine beat upon him as a cooling breeze lifted strands of his hair. He passed the rows of cabbage and coconut palm saplings, passed the sections of citrus trees, their sharp and sweet scent tangling with the darker smell of the nearby swamp, and headed for his house.
    The dirt pathway snaking through the trees split after a half mile, the right fork leading to his home.
    He chose the left fork. Old farming equipment sat corroding in the humid air, the rusty flakes returning the metal parts back to the earth. He threaded through the machinery to a strip of land separating the swamp from his property.
    This section of earth leading to the sacred spring of Danu was lifeless, the soil gray as volcanic ash. A granite boulder guarded a narrow graveled pathway marching from the soil into a tangle of cocoplum trees protecting the swamp’s entrance. Upon the boulder was perched a silver-haired elderly man, jeans upon his stubby legs and a long-sleeved green shirt covering his thickset body. His feet were bare, and quite hairy.
    He was asleep. Again.
    Grunting, Gabriel lifted the heavy bag and sent it crashing down upon the man’s skull. He awoke with a startled yelp as the bag split, scattering soil in every direction.
    “In the name of the light that gives life, what did you do that for?” the man yelled.
    Gabriel folded his arms across his chest. “You’re supposed to be keeping watch.”
    “You could have killed me!”
    “A tractor trailer couldn’t split that thick head of yours.” He rapped his knuckles upon the bristling hairs covering the man’s head. Then again, Olin wasn’t a man. He was a goblin, and everyone knew goblins had skulls tougher than modern day Kevlar. It’s what made them effective as guards. They were hard to kill.
    Unfortunately, they were also notoriously lazy.
    The land eagerly siphoned the rich soil like a child sucking up the last of an ice cream soda. It would do the same to any unwary soul foolish or brave enough to set foot here without the protection of enchantment.
    Gabriel had once witnessed a desperate, fleet-footed fox shifter scurry across the gray lands, only to be sucked down, his