Eternal Beauty: Mark of the Vampire (A Penguin Special from Signet Eclipse) Read Online Free PDF

table. “I’m not even into that female. She’s a friend.”
    “Right.” Still laughing, Sasha reached for his own chop. “
Friends
is code for ‘I tried and was totally shot down.’”
    Valentin ripped a piece of meat from the bone. “You would know, Whiskers,” he uttered, invoking Sasha’s dreaded cub nickname. “Rejection has become your middle name this year.”
    “Boys, that’s not nice,” Wen said, giving each of them a pointed glare. “You’re family.”
    “That’s right,” Petra remarked. “And the family that gets dumped together stays together.”
    “You’re next, Pets,” Sasha growled playfully.
    “Seriously.” Valentin grinned, his mouth stuffed with food. “That bear Shifter doctor
friend
of yours isn’t going to wait around forever.”
    Petra rolled her eyes as she popped a grape in her mouth. Unlike the rest of her family, she consumed fruit, grains, and seeds—not raw meat.
    “Watch it, Pets,” Sasha said. “Or your eyeballs’ll stay like that.”
    “In a state of perpetual annoyance, you mean?” She snorted. “Sounds about right.”
    Wen laughed, then jumped in to quickly break up a fight as the boys reached for the same chop and ended up in a shoving match.
    “Don’t go back to your office tonight, Petra dear,” her mother said wistfully, sitting back down. “Take the night off.”
    “Yeah, sis,” Sasha said, giving his brother one last shove as he did as his mother asked and relinquished the chop. “You can have my pallet.”
    “He’ll wash the night drool off it first,” Valentin said before taking an enormous bite of the raw meat.
    Sasha flipped him off. “No, that’s your bed, asshole.”
    “Enough,” their mother warned.
    But Val wasn’t listening. “Oh, right. I’m the drooler and you’re the snorer.”
    Petra put her hand on her mother’s arm. “I can’t. I never got to check in on Malen, plus the Avians want to discuss a dual transition they believe is coming at the end of the week. I need to prepare.”
    “Malen,” Wen said thoughtfully. “That’s the young wolf Shifter female.”
    “Out by the caves, right?” Sasha added, his verbal sparring match with Val all but forgotten now.
    “Near there, yes.” The secretive edge to her voice was obvious. She needed to watch that.
    Glancing up from his thoroughly cleaned chop, Val said, “I heard there was some issue out there a few days ago.”
    “What?” Petra blanched, but forced herself to remain calm, cool. “What did you hear?”
    He shrugged. “A small brush fire or something.”
    Relief moved through her and she forced her expression to calm. Everything was fine. Small brush fires happened from time to time, and if they thought that was what went down out there, she wasn’t going to correct them.
    Petra turned, noticed her mother staring at her.
    “You’re not eating?” Wen said, her eyes concerned. “Are you ill?”
    “No. Just a little tired.”
    “Then stay home, rest your body. Work can wait.”
    To some, the henpecking and overly concerned ways of a parent might irritate at times, but Petra never felt like that. In fact, she felt quite the opposite. She adored her mother’s care and concern because it meant she was loved. Never once had any of them acted as though she wasn’t a part of their family, Shifter born or not.
    She leaned in and kissed the female on the cheek. “All is well, Mom. I love you.”
    The female’s eyes grew bright with adoration and warmth. “Love you, my pet.”
    Petra stood and grabbed her plate.
    “What about us?” Valentin said, looking ridiculously morose.
    “Yeah, Pets,” Sasha said, sticking out his bottom lip. “You don’t love us?
    “Awww, boys,” she began. “I always have love for the pathetic.”
    They grinned and Val turned to Sasha. “She was totally talking about you.”
    Laughing, Petra went into the kitchen and placed her plate in the tub sink—the same sink that had been in their home since before she could