Page 8 of Taken by Moonlight

The entire crowd was cranked up, aroused and ready for action. Backing off, I slowly retreated. I fought the urge to turn my back andflee.

Never run away from a shifter. Not only can they smell fear, but it triggers their instinct to chaseprey.

My butt hit the swinging door and I backed into the kitchen, finallyturning.

Guy was gone. The entire kitchen staff was gone aswell.

Where the hell was everyone? I couldn’t go back into the lounge and start searching. I felt like prey facing a pack of wolves, only these wolves didn’t wantfood.

The very air throbbed with anticipation and sexual need, as if the males inside the lounge scented it with musk and their own fragrance to entice females into their beds. I fought the compulsion to go back into the lounge and inhale. Damn. This never happenedbefore.

Then again, I’d never worked a shift during the yearly sexauction.

My nipples hardened and my female parts pulsed with pure need. If I had been aroused before imagining Dante’s cock and his special endowment, I was overheatednow.

I ran my hands over my uniform, suddenly far too tight and restrictive. One whiff of that air and I wanted to rip off my clothing and dance naked for themales.

Dance until one of them, or several of them, threw me down on the floor and ravished me like a pirate did to amaiden.

As if compelled by an outside force, I opened the swinging door and entered the lounge once more. Wreathed by the shaft of bright light streaming from the kitchen door, I stood near theentrance.

Fifty male heads turned in my direction. Fifty sets of eyes, some reflecting green in the light, stared atme.

As if they were hunting and I wasdinner.

Nostrils flared. Murmurs began. Where the hell was Norm? The girls? AndGuy?

“Whoa.” I staggered back into the kitchen again, fighting my own instincts, holding my hands out in front forprotection.

Why had the entire staff left? And why was I alone? Was this some kind of crueljoke?

What about the auction? Was there even going to be anauction?

Didn’t matter. I had to get the hell out of here before fifty horny shifters decided I was the only available female and came after me, determined to satisfy theirlust.

Bracing my hands on the stainless counter, I struggled to get a grip. Trouble was, much as my logical brain screamed to flee into the night, my body yelled tostay.

Stay and find out what would happen. My nipples actually ached and I hurt with need. No, Iburned.

The swinging door opened. If this was a horny shifter, like a Brown were, I was toast. Gasping, I turned, clenching my fists, prepared to fight orflee.

Not to fuck. Notme.

But it was Dante, elegant in his tuxedo, his short-cropped hair gleaming blue-black in the overhead fluorescents, his dark eyes filled withconcern.

Seeing him I relaxed a little. He didn’t look lusty orsavage.

Onlyworried.

In seconds he crossed the distance betweenus.

“Peyton, are you all right? You’re trembling.” Dante gently gripped my shoulders, his dark gaze searchingmine.

Yes, I started to lie. “No.” I gulped down another shudderingbreath.

“What’s wrong? I saw you in the doorway and I could smell yourfear.”

He continued to rub my shoulders, soothing caresses that did anything to calm me down. Rather, it made me even morearoused.