Ruin by Raven Hush
$3.99
Monsters of New York
I thought our lives were shi*t until the night we found her. Then the safety we scraped together went to hell and took our mate with it.
I hate everything about the city.
Being forced to live away from open spaces where my beast can roam.
Stuffed into an apartment with the man I’ve called my brother for over a decade.
Trying to keep his a** out of trouble every damn night.
But being hunted means we can’t go home.
When my best friend is drugged in the only club shifters can safely negotiate in this hellhole I drag his furry behind outside … and walk right into the naked girl neither of us can resist, even though we terrify her.
Because she doesn’t know panther shifters exist.
Even when we’re her mates.
Be Warned: menage sex (MMF), m/m, anal sex
MONSTERS OF NEW YORK: SHARED WORLD
Monsters of New York is a sizzling paranormal romance series where passion collides with danger in the heart of the city that never sleeps. Each book introduces a new, irresistible shifter—each with its own dark secrets and primal desires. From wolves and bears to elusive creatures lurking in the shadows, these powerful beings navigate love, loyalty, and mystery in a world filled with human and supernatural monsters.
Set against the backdrop of New York's vibrant streets and hidden corners, every romance is an unforgettable journey where forbidden love and heated encounters could be the death of them—or the one thing that saves them. With danger always just around the corner, the shifters must face not only the threats of their own kind but the intense pull of a love that could change everything.
Uncover the secrets, feel the heat, and discover if love can tame the wildest beasts in Monsters of New York.
Excerpt:
I thought we lost her when Gray pulled that stupid fucking stunt and marked her.
“All because you couldn’t wait,” I groused. Thick shadows roiled beneath my skin, and my beast agreed, ready to tear free of my chest and rip into him.
It had been years since Gray and I fought, really fought. He was stronger than me, and faster too, if only by the slightest margin. But in his distracted state, I could take him.
We were both distracted with her. She would be the thing that ruined us.
“Has the bleeding stopped?” I paced at the foot of the bed, unwilling to settle beside Lottie for fear of tearing her newly healed wound open.
Gray marked her, so it was also his right to heal her. Panthers usually traveled and mated alone but we were a special package deal. We had never expected to find our one, either of us, yet here she was.
“It’s stopped.” Gray slid a hand behind Lottie’s head where I placed a towel so she wasn’t lying in the pool of blood that nearly ended her life. “She’s all right.”
“You don’t know that until she’s awake.” I was as close to ripping out the hair I had left as I’d ever come. “How could you be so stupid? Careless?” I shouted the words, uncaring if our neighbors heard us.
Hell, if—when—she got better, they’d all hear worse things than our fighting.
“I didn't hit an artery if that’s what you’re thinking,” he said tersely. “Whatever was in her system acted like an anticoagulant. Blood thinner.” He glanced up at me. “Though that’s not the correct term, but it will do for these purposes.”
I ignored the rest of his explanation. I was out for blood and he was who I needed. “She said she hadn’t taken anything.”
“Then like with you, she was … assisted.”
“No one gave me anything,” I objected before the penny dropped. “Wait. You think someone tried to date-rape me?”
“Essentially.” Gray stopped fussing long enough to look up at me. “Or someone who wants shifters to come into the open in a very, very bad way. What were you doing when I pulled you off that stripper again?”
I stared at him. “I don’t remember. Anything. Where … fuck!” I shouted at the ceiling. The neighbors would hate us after this. We’d be lucky not to receive an eviction notice. Again.
Gray nodded as though he expected the outcome. “It was the same for her. Did you see Lottie struggle to find her own name? Hers was a massive dose, or maybe on her being a human, it hit harder. I don’t know. She has a mark, here.” He pushed her hair aside to show a small reddish dot on the back of her neck where her hair would have concealed it and otherwise grit and dirt.
“The hell?” I reached out and pulled back, scared I’d damage her more.
Gray nodded. “That she just happened to be our mate could have turned into something ugly. What if we were shifters without a code? There are plenty of those around. She was naked, outside a nightclub, had no sense of herself…” He shrugged, though the unease that swept through me at his explanation lingered in his eyes.
I knew he hated she’d been in that situation and we hadn't been there to help her, even though we hadn’t known her then. That he hadn’t been there. I knew, because I felt exactly the same way.
“She was bait,” I whispered, repeating Gray’s words from the alley that hadn’t made sense then but clicked over now. My throat clogged with bile. I forced the stomach acid back to it space as I looked down at her. Hell be damned.
I climbed onto the bed on her other side, my jeans brushing her legs as I settled beside her, running my fingers along the mark Gray left on her. Purple edged the bruise so deep it was almost black in spots. She’d bear his mark forever, a shadow roiling beneath her skin. A part of his beast slept inside her that would respond to him in a way no one else ever would. She’d understand him like no one else ever could. Including me.
My heart ached. “I want that,” I whispered, tears pricking my eyes. I blinked them away as he lifted her still form in his arms and passed her to me. I took her with a reverence I never knew I possessed.
“She’s ours, Blake. Mark her. Feel her soul melding with yours.” He rubbed his own neck and I knew the damage he did to her revisited on him ten times over, only the mark she left on him would remain invisible.
“No,” I snapped, cradling her close. “I’ll mark her when she asks me, and not a moment before.”
Gray met my eyes. “And if she never asks?”
Panic gripped my stomach, and I bent over like I’d been stabbed, still clutching her to my chest. “Then I’ll live without it,” I answered him, the lie bitter on the back of my tongue like acid still resided there.
Gray offered me a smile I hated.
“No,” he said softly. “You won’t.”
- Series:
- /series-monsters-of-new-york/
