End of Night, page 1
END OF NIGHT
SHADOW SECURITY SERIES
BOOK FOUR
RAMONA GRAY
EK PUBLISHING INC.
CONTENTS
End Of Night
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Fall of Night Excerpt
The Ramona Gray Newsletter
About the Author
Also by Ramona Gray
Copyright © 2024 Ramona Gray
Published by:
EK Publishing Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-77446-188-4
This book is the copyrighted property of the author and may not be reproduced, scanned or distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Quotes used in reviews are the exception. No alteration of content is allowed.
Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events, or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
Edited by:
L. Nunn Editing
Cover art by
EK Designs
END OF NIGHT
Tiger shifter, Boone Jameson, isn’t interested in love, not when grief rules his life.
Until he meets Hedra Miller, the private nurse he hires to care for his ailing grandmother.
His instant attraction to the sassy and gorgeous human isn’t surprising, but his urge to be her mate is. Hedra’s ability to extinguish his sorrow has him eager to spend time with her in and out of the bedroom.
Too bad Hedra has a strict rule against sleeping with the boss.
Hedra’s no stranger to mistakes. And sleeping with Boone would be more than a mistake, it could cost her everything.
Unfortunately, ignoring her attraction to Boone proves impossible, especially when she’s a live-in nurse. Not sleeping with the sexy tiger shifter requires a level of willpower she doesn’t possess.
As Hedra and Boone grow closer, Boone’s grief and Hedra’s enemies threaten to tear apart their blossoming love.
But when Hedra’s life is in peril, Boone and his tiger will stop at nothing to save their mate.
For more information on the Shadow Security Series, go HERE.
CHAPTER 1
Hedra was an animal lover. A dyed-in-the-wool, lifelong animal lover.
Which is what made her decision to kill a tiny terrorizing poodle named Alfie so shocking.
Of course, said poodle had just shit in her shoe for the eighth time in three days.
That was grounds for murdering him, right? A jury would take one look at the cold poop smeared all over the bottom of Hedra’s bare foot and between her goddamn toes and declare her innocent.
The very victim of her murderous thoughts, the shoe-pooping vigilante himself, trotted into her bedroom. He had what could only be described as a satisfied grin on his evil doggie face.
“I’m gonna murder you, Alfie,” she said as she held her Croc in one hand and kept her shit-covered foot in the air. “Do you hear me, you little jackass? Your time on this earth has been cut short.”
“I can hear you threatening to kill my dog, you know,” Althea said from their shared bathroom. Hedra had helped her into the tub not ten minutes ago, and she could hear the old tiger shifter splashing around like a little kid.
“He pooped in my shoe… again,” Hedra said. A lock of her bright blue hair slipped from the clip that held it back and tickled her cheek. She blew it off impatiently. “I have poodle poop between my toes, Althea.”
“Maybe you should keep your shoes on instead of going barefoot like a hooligan,” Althea said.
“I was not barefoot,” Hedra said. “These are my extra pair of Crocs that I needed to change into because you deliberately splashed water onto my regular Crocs when I helped you into the tub.”
“Crocs are an abomination, and I will not abide them in my house,” Althea said.
“It’s your grandson’s house, not yours,” Hedra said.
She had the old woman on that one, and Althea knew it. After about thirty seconds of silence, Althea said, “Alfie also hates Crocs.”
On perfect cue, Alfie growled, grabbed Hedra’s Croc that wasn’t currently covered in shit and streaked out of her bedroom.
“He just stole my shoe, Althea,” Hedra said.
“He’s doing you a favour,” Althea said. “You can’t blame him for trying to save you from bad shoe choices.”
Despite her irritation, a grin crossed Hedra’s face. She loved spicy patients, and Althea Jameson was as spicy as they came. The tiger shifter might have been in her eighties and recovering from a broken hip, but she’d kept Hedra on her toes from the moment she took the job. She hadn’t been Althea’s live-in nurse for very long, but every morning, Hedra woke up happy and looking forward to what the day brought for the first time in a long time.
Is that because of Althea or her grandson?
She shut her inner voice down immediately. Thinking about Boone, about her employer, in even the vaguest of ways, always made her flashback to that slightly inappropriate moment they’d shared.
Slightly inappropriate? Girl, you were about to fuck him on his friend’s porch. I’d say that’s a tad more than inappropriate.
Yeah, probably. But what was done was done, and Hedra couldn’t take it back. She could only pretend that the moment had never happened, and she didn’t at all remember what the sexy tiger shifter’s lips tasted like or how good it felt when Boone touched her.
Spread your legs for me, little lamb.
Boone’s voice echoed in her head, and she shivered all over. Her nipples hardened, and her pussy went wet, and dammit, why couldn’t she get him out of her head? Her libido would cost her a job she really liked, not to mention free living accommodations.
She’d been standing with her foot in the air for nearly two minutes, and with a grimace, she hopped toward the bedroom door. “Althea, I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’m just going to wash my foot. Will you be okay?”
“Oh, for God’s sake, human, I’m not a toddler. I think I can manage not to drown for the five minutes it takes you to clean your foot,” Althea said irritably, her voice echoing in the small bathroom.
Hedra grinned again before hopping awkwardly out of the bedroom. Using the wall for support, she hopped down the hallway. Her choices were the pedestal sink in the half bathroom near the front door or Boone’s en suite bathroom.
She hesitated before heading towards Boone’s bedroom. She was flexible enough to get her foot into the sink, but it would be a hell of a lot easier to wash her foot in the tub in Boone’s bathroom. He’d met Chase for a sparring match this afternoon and wouldn’t be home for at least another half hour. He’d never know she’d used his bathroom.
She hopped into his bedroom, keeping her eyes averted from his unmade bed. It would be all sorts of wrong to lie in his bed and bury her face in his pillow, even if dog shit didn’t currently cover her foot.
Grunting and starting to sweat a little from the exertion of keeping her foot up, she made it to his bathroom, a soft ‘damn’ escaping her lips. In addition to a walk-in shower, Boone had one of those gorgeous old-fashioned claw tubs in his bathroom. Everything looked brand new, from the hexagon-shaped black and white floor tile to the gleaming white subway tile in the shower, and she had no doubt that Boone had renovated the bathroom himself. She’d quickly discovered that Boone loved home renovations, and he’d purposely bought his house because it was older and required a lot of work.
Using Boone’s body wash, she washed her foot and rinsed the tub completely clean before swinging her legs out of the tub. She grabbed a hand towel from the rack and, sitting on the side of the tub, dried her feet.
She wondered idly if Boone would consider letting her use his tub if she cleaned it afterward. She loved nothing more than sinking into a hot bath, and while the tub in her shared bathroom with Althea was perfectly serviceable, this tub was the gold standard.
It wouldn’t hurt to ask. The worse that could happen was he said no, right?
“What are you doing in here?”
Boone’s voice scared the hell out of her, but it was the sight of his sweaty, almost entirely naked body that sent her ass over teakettle back into the tub, banging the back of her head on the cold porcelain.
Wedged sideways into the tub like a turtle on its back, her scrub pants soaking up the water pooled in the bottom, and her legs stuck straight up in the air, Hedra gathered what little dignity she had left and said, “I had dog poop on my foot.”
Boone’s gaze dropped to her feet sticking up, and Hedra said, “I washed it off. That’s why I’m in here. It was an emergency situation. I’m not some weirdo who uses your bathroom when you’re not here.”
A grin crossed Boone’s face, and He
“It’s fine,” he said. “I don’t care if you use my bathroom.”
“Right,” she said. “Uh, how was sparring with Chase?”
“Good. I kicked his ass.” Boone grinned at her before scratching his chest.
She tracked the movement like she was a hunter stalking her prey. Boone’s upper body was gorgeous, with a light layer of dark hair, pussy dampening abs, and a treasure trail she longed to follow with her tongue.
“Little lamb,” Boone’s voice had turned low and intimate, and just the sound of it made her pussy wet.
She licked her lips and raised her gaze to his. The pure hunger in his eyes was a heady aphrodisiac. She clenched her thighs together, very aware of how her nipples tightened when Boone stared at her breasts.
He purred softly. “Stop looking at me like you want me to fuck you, little lamb.”
She tried to speak, but all that came out was a strangled sounding moan. Boone stalked forward until his chest nearly touched her breasts. His pupils went to slits, an indication he was speaking to his tiger, and she swallowed hard when a low growl escaped his throat.
His pupils rounded, and he leaned in and inhaled against her throat. “Your scent drives my tiger crazy. Did you know that? It’s all over the house, and we can’t escape it.”
“I…” she cleared her throat and tried again. “I’m sorry.”
He grinned at her, and she stared in fascination at his fangs. “Don’t be.”
He trailed one finger down her bare arm, sending goosebumps popping into life along her skin. Her desire to touch his sweaty, half-naked body was a raging fire inside of her.
“Boone, I…”
“I can hear you when you’re touching your pussy in your bed at night, sweet lamb,” Boone said with another low growl.
“Oh fuck,” she said.
He grinned and made a chuffing, purring sound.
“I’m… I’m very quiet,” she said.
He grinned, his pupils turning to slits again for a few seconds before he returned to her. “You are. You’re my quiet, soft lamb when you come on your fingers. But,” his finger traced along her collarbone, visible above her scrubs, “I have excellent hearing. Better than most tiger shifters.”
She couldn’t figure out if she was about to die from embarrassment or lust. It was obvious that Boone’s grandmother’s hearing had declined, but Boone was in the prime of his life. Hedra might have been human, but she’d grown up in a family of cheetah shifters and knew better than to use her vibrator, even if Boone’s bedroom was at the far end of the house. She’d thought she’d been so clever, using only her hand to masturbate instead of her buzzing vibrator.
Boone’s nostrils flared as he took another deep breath. “I lie in bed with my hard cock in my hand, listening to you touch yourself and wishing it was my fingers in your tight pussy. My tongue on that pretty little clit.”
She moaned quietly, her body nearly vibrating with need. Boone hadn’t kissed her, hadn’t touched her beyond a soft caress of her arm and collarbone, and she was so turned on she was about to have a wet spot on her scrubs.
“I jack myself off while you touch your clit,” Boone said with another soft purr. “I close my eyes and listen to your barely-there moans while I rub my dick and imagine you in my bed. Picture you riding me, my hands full of your perfect breasts, your tight cunt squeezing my dick with every thrust.”
“Fuck, Boone,” she said in a breathless moan. “I want -”
“Hedra!” Boone’s grandmother’s voice raised to a shout, broke through the haze of lust surrounding Hedra. “I want to get out of the tub. Where are you? If you’re taking a dump in Boone’s bathroom, use the spray. We don’t need the smell drifting down the hallway.”
Boone’s gaze cleared, and he stared at her with dawning horror. “Holy fuck, I can’t believe I just… I’m sorry, Hedra. That was so fucking inappropriate. I shouldn’t have…”
His pupils turned to slits for nearly ten seconds before he shook his head and cleared his throat. “Please don’t quit.”
She took a shaky breath as Boone backed away like she was on fire. “I’m not quitting.”
“Good, that’s good. I, uh… fuck.” He raked his hand through his short, dark hair, making it stand on end. “I won’t do that again.”
“Hedra!” Althea shouted again. “Where the hell are you?”
“I’m coming!” Hedra called. Her legs rubbery and her body throbbing, she left Boone’s bathroom and hurried out of his bedroom. She sucked in a few deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart as she walked toward the bathroom she shared with Althea. Christ, she hoped her nipples calmed the fuck down before she got in there. They poked against her bra and scrub top like they wanted to escape.
Girl, forget your nipples. She’ll smell your lust.
She stopped outside the bathroom door, staring at her bare feet. Crap. Her heart still thumping, she closed her eyes and thought about Dianne, about the way she’d looked lying on the hospital bed, her body broken and bruised.
It killed her lust immediately, and her stomach now rolling with nausea, she knocked on the bathroom door before stepping into the small room. “Sorry, Althea.”
“It’s fine,” Althea said grouchily. “My favourite thing to do is sit in a tub of cold water.”
The water was lukewarm at best, but Hedra didn’t have it in her to spar with the elderly tiger shifter in her usual manner. Thinking of Dianne had sent her into a guilt spiral like it always did.
Althea sniffed the air as Hedra picked up the big bath towel. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Hedra said.
“You smell upset.” Althea’s eyes, still sharp despite her age, narrowed, and she growled at her. “I don’t like to be lied to, human.”
“I’m fine, Althea,” Hedra said. “Stop growling at me, or I’ll leave you in the tub until you turn pruney.”
Althea rolled her eyes. “This is why I hate humans. They’re so sensitive.”
“If I were sensitive, I’d have quit my second day when you told me my ass was the size of Jupiter.”
“To be fair, it is a sizeable ass,” Althea said.
Hedra turned and wiggled her butt at the tiger shifter. “It’s an amazing ass.”
Althea snorted. “My grandson certainly thinks so.”
Hedra flushed bright red, and Althea laughed. “Don’t pretend you haven’t noticed him staring at it.”
“All right, let’s get you out of the tub,” Hedra said.
As she helped Althea stand, the tiger shifter poked her in the arm. “I don’t want my grandson with a human, so don’t fuck him.”
“I have no intention of fucking your grandson,” Hedra said.
Althea gave her an indignant look. “Why not? He’s a catch.”
“He’s also my employer,” Hedra said. “Come on, let’s get you out of the tub and into bed. I’ll make you a cup of tea, and you can watch the new episode of Shifters in Love.”
“That jaguar shifter is going to choose the lion shifter. I know it,” Althea said in disgust. “He’s as dumb as a post. He probably can’t even wipe his own ass without written instructions.”
Hedra laughed, and Althea gave her another gentle poke as Hedra helped her step out of the tub. “If you do fuck Boone, make sure you use a condom. The last thing I need is a bunch of human great-grandchildren running around my house and stinking up the place.”
