Read Beyond Ecstasy (Beyond #8) for Free Online Page B

hers. It was one point of contact, chaste by anyone's standards, but something about the way he looked down at her as she climbed from the car…
    Her skin heated, and everything else disappeared. They were alone in the world, wreathed in a tension so palpable that it connected them as surely as their clasped hands.
    Then he smiled and tugged her toward the farmhouse. “Come meet Alya.”
    The words broke through the sensual haze, and she willed herself not to blush as they turned toward the porch. The woman standing there had hints of Hawk in her features. They had the same hazel eyes, the same nose, a certain similarity in the tilts of their chins.
    Alya's gaze locked on their entwined fingers. When she looked up, she studied Jeni appraisingly, curiosity warring with something darker. It wasn't judgment—Jeni was too familiar with that, would have recognized it in a heartbeat—but Hawk's mother definitely wasn't particularly happy to see her.
    That changed in an instant when she turned to Hawk. Her gaze warmed, and her mouth curved into a smile as she leaned one hip against the porch railing. “You better have a trunk full of that fine Sector Four whiskey, or Big John'll toss you halfway back to O'Kane territory.”
    “Big John's getting old,” Hawk replied with a grin. He tugged Jeni up the steps before releasing her to wrap his mother in a hug. “He couldn't toss me past the end of the driveway these days.”
    “Don't let him hear you say that.” Alya hugged her son fiercely, then released him and returned her attention to Jeni. “And who's this?”
    “This is Jeni.” Hawk settled his hand at the small of Jeni's back, warm and encouraging. “Jeni, meet my mother, Alya.”
    She held out her hand, willing her fingers not to tremble. “Hi.”
    Alya's grip was as warm and firm as Lex's. “Nice to meet you, Jeni. Welcome to my farm.”
    “Thank you. It's beautiful.”
    “It has its moments.” Alya turned for the door. “Why don't you two come inside? We have leftovers from breakfast, and you can get Jeni settled in.”
    “I was going to show her around first—”
    “Hawk.” Alya cut him off firmly. “I know you have manners in there somewhere. Your girl could use a bite to eat and a little time to catch her breath. Shipp'll be back from a run tonight, and that means a rally. Let her rest up.”
    Alya disappeared into the farmhouse, and Hawk exhaled on a laugh. “You should have been there the first time she and Lex met.”
    It wasn't hard to imagine. “Badass lady standoff of epic proportions?”
    “I wasn't sure if they were going to love or kill each other.” Hawk smiled. “Dallas had no doubts. He says Alya's the reason I'm the only new recruit who's never pissed Lex off.”
    “Makes sense.” So much about him still didn't, but at least he was comfortable here, relaxed in ways she'd only glimpsed back in Four, and even then only in the rooftop gardens he'd helped cultivate.
    Maybe he was right. Maybe everything she needed to know about him could be traced back to Six, to the wide-open spaces and the tilled earth and the quiet peace that hummed beneath the noises of a working farm. If people were products of their environments, then Hawk was Sector Six.
    And she only had a few days to learn everything she could.

    If Sector Six had a version of fight night, it was a rally.
    It had been fifteen years since the first one. Fifteen years since he'd rolled back onto the farm, young and angry and determined to rescue his mother, one way or another.
    Shipp had been the knight in shining armor that day. Though he was only five years Hawk's senior, Shipp had seemed decades older in maturity and poise. He was like Dallas—a person with the inner strength and charisma that it took to draw men looking for someone to believe in, along with the steel will required to get the job done.
    Fifteen years ago, that had meant preventing Hawk from committing patricide.
    At first, Hawk had resented Shipp for