Declawed

By Elizabeth Monvey

When Logan hurt the scientist who captured him, she had his claws ripped out as punishment. He’s rescued, along with two others, by Shawn, the man he knows is his true mate. Scared and ashamed, he runs from Shawn, knowing he could never be an equal.

Shawn is an Enforcer and follows after Logan when he leaves, knowing his mate is unable to defend or feed himself. It’s not out of pity, but out of love. In order to fight Logan’s demons, however, he has to teach Logan that love heals, it doesn’t destroy.

But everything changes when Logan finds out he’s expecting a child, engineered from the very scientist who took away his claws.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight Publishing
• Release date: Dec 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781772336122

Book preview

Published by Evernight Publishing ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2015 Elizabeth Monvey

ISBN: 978-1-77233-612-2

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: Katelyn Uplinger

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

For Jacey Holbrand. Honestly, couldn’t do this without you. THANK YOU for everything!

Special thanks to everyone at Evernight Publishing. I’m truly honored to work with the best publisher on the planet.

DECLAWED

Divergent Species, 2

Elizabeth Monvey

Copyright © 2015

Author’s Note

Thank you so much for purchasing Declawed. This is the second book of the Divergent Species series and it picks up almost immediately after the first book, The Bear’s True Mate. It might be enjoyed more if read in order. Book three will tie into my short story, Outlaw Wolf, featured in the Bad Alpha anthology.

Prologue

Logan sniffed the air and knew he wasn’t alone.

Several men followed him. A woman as well, although her scent was more faint. They’d been on his tail ever since he’d left the small shifter community near the Chena River State Park, heading closer to Ennix, Washington. He knew he shouldn’t have stopped, but he had needed to shift back into his human form in hopes his hunt might be over. It had only been for a few days, but long enough to pick up some unwanted company.

Something was seriously wrong in the shifter community. People kept disappearing. When his own boyfriend had not come home one night, Logan knew he had to do something. Although thinking about Mark made his stomach turn. He should count his blessings that that the man was gone instead of hunting for him, and while something inside him said to stop looking, something else urged him to know. Because whatever it was out there making shifters disappear, Logan knew it was bad.

He climbed quietly onto a mound of boulders, keeping low in an effort to stay one step above the people trailing him. His tail swished as he settled at the top to lay in wait. Minutes passed, and he saw one person ease by, dressed in camouflage, holding a gun.

Hunters.

Logan wondered if the man realized what type of animal he was actually hunting. Unlike the cats in the wild, he knew when to lay low and not alert others to his presence. He had no need to lay claim to any particular hunting ground so he let the human go by without bloodshed. He didn’t want to deal with the repechrcussions of the hunter’s death with the Shifter Council, plus he wasn’t the largest cat. A fact that Mark exploited quite often.

Logan sheathed his claws. As he backed away slowly, a sharp pinching pain sliced through his hind quarters. Logan growled and turned to look himself over and saw a dart sticking out of his flesh. At that moment, his legs went numb and he collapsed. He let out a roar as he clawed at the tranquilizer dart until it fell free and hit the stone rock with a clatter. The paralyzing agent worked quickly through his body, and he crumbled into a heap.

A woman dropped into view. Dark hair. Red lips. She wore a tight camouflage T-shirt that showed off her impressive rack, although in his present state all Logan wanted to do was claw the woman’s beautiful face off. She leaned over him and held up a pen light and opened one eyelid wide to sweep the brightness inside.

This is the one, the woman called out. Then she stroked the fur around his ear as she looked him over. Night vision for humans is possible by sufficient spectral and intensity range. Animals, however, have a layer in their eyes called the tapetum lucidum, which is what makes their eyes glow. Shifters have this layer of tissue as well, with one specific difference. The eye shine in shifters is always purple. That’s how we can identify you shifters, pretty kitty.

He growled at her but the sound rumbled through his chest with impotent fury. The woman smiled mockingly.

You’re quite small for a cougar, she said thoughtfully. I think I know just what to do with you.

Logan fought through the paralytic agent coursing through his body, letting his anger feed his fear. He managed to lift his paw long enough to swipe at the woman. He knew his claws had gotten their mark when she screamed and kicked him in the face. He relished the pain, however, because she was bleeding. He could smell her blood.

You’ll pay for that! she screamed.

It was the last words he remembered before darkness sucked him down into a blank void.

Chapter One

Months later…

Logan sat up in terror from the living nightmare that never left him. He fisted his hands, hoping to feel his claws but remembered at the last minute that he no longer had them. Just like he no longer had fingernails. The fucking bitch had stolen them from him in retaliation for slicing her arm. So he’d