To Hell and Back (Hellcat Series Book 4) by Sharon Hannaford Read Free Book Online

it wasn’t between her oldest best friend and her newest
best friend, Gabi might have gagged on it. Despite Kyle’s casual
demeanour and typically easy smile, his wolf was quite close to the
surface of his mind, watching his mate protectively, unsettled by
the proximity of so many unknown Vampires and Werewolves. Gabi
understood his wariness. Trish grabbed Gabi’s hand and admired the
ring with an excited squeal.
    “ It does look great, doesn’t it?” She turned it so Kyle could
admire it too. Kyle’s expression was one of feigned interest,
making Gabi grin. Squealing over jewellery was definitely a
girl-only thing, which, until about five minutes ago, even Gabi
hadn’t understood.
    “ You had something to do with this?” Gabi guessed from Trish’s
enthusiasm.
    Trish grinned triumphantly, and Gabi realised that her face
was thinner than a few weeks ago, making her eyes larger and adding
to her prettiness, but giving her a subtle edge of hardness. Trish
had had much softer feminine curves before the Lycanthropy virus
took hold and moulded her body to suit its own agenda.
    “ It took weeks of planning,” Trish crowed. “The hardest part
was finding black diamonds big enough to suit his lordship’s
requirements.” She nodded towards Julius, who was accepting
congratulations, and some ribbing, from Lance and Doug, Gabi’s
former SMV Hunter compadres. Gabi raised an incredulous eyebrow and
then frowned, re-examining her ring.
    “ Black diamonds?” she asked, feeling stupid. She’d thought the
ring was set with large semi-precious stones, maybe tourmaline or
quartz. Geez, the diamonds had to be at least a carat each in
size.
    Trish’s grin widened. “The blue stone is tanzanite, we
couldn’t find a diamond the right shade of blue, so he compromised
there, but very unhappily I might tell you.” Her eyes were
twinkling mischievously.
    Gabi was about to make her spill more beans when Julius’s hand
on her arm distracted her.
    “ There are some guests I would like you to meet,” he
interjected smoothly and very pointedly steered her away from her
friend. Gabi made a mental note to interrogate Trish
later.
     
    The list of Clan members and noteworthy guests seemed endless.
Gabi tried in the beginning to make an effort to remember names and
faces, but after half an hour she decided to settle for simply
remembering faces. Gabi noted with interest that many of the
honoured guests had brought with them their own human Feeders, and
that not only the Estate’s usual Feeders were present but a number
of temporary ‘recruits’. It was for the Feeders and Gabi’s guests
that the tables groaned with sumptuous food. Food, Gabi thought,
and her hunger must have been strong enough to filter through the
mental connection to Julius, as he abruptly broke off the
introductions with a brief note that they’d be back soon, and
whisked Gabi towards the nearest buffet.
    As she reached towards a tray of tiny hors d’oeuvres, she
sensed the warmth of a non-Vampire next to her; at the same moment
she sensed annoyance lancing through Julius. Before she looked up,
she knew the newcomer was Derek. He hadn’t yet given her his
congratulations like everyone else. Gabi sighed, but knew the
conversation was inevitable. She shot Julius a loaded glance. His
eyes narrowed, but he leaned down, kissed her full on the lips, and
then left the two of them alone. Males. Gabi scowled as she turned
from glaring at Julius’s retreating back to the dominant male
Werewolf on her other side.
    “ Thanks for coming,” she said, wanting to reach out and touch
him, but reluctant to give him any signal he might take the wrong
way. She liked to think they’d made it past the awkwardness, but as
she looked up into his steel grey eyes, she knew he wasn’t over her
at all. “It means a lot to have you here.” She tried for a light
but genuine tone, hoping to forestall an outburst. It didn’t
work.
    “ So you’ve really done it,” he snapped, his