00 - Beat of Temptation.pdf - privat - jessab

BEAT OF TEMPTATION (An Enchanted Season

Anthology)

Nalini Singh

For the Sexy Regency Cave Club:

Sharyn, Peta, and Nicky,

and honorary members, Doug and Rob.

Thanks for the Christmas memories.

(I’ll never look at a cave the same way again!)

Happiness

THE PSY COUNCIL TRIED TO OUTLAW

CHRISTMAS ONCE.

It was in the year 2019, four long decades after the

implementation of the Silence Protocol. The Protocol

itself arose out of the overwhelming incidence of insanity

and serial killing in the Psy populace. Driven to the edge,

the Psy made a choice. They conditioned their young to

feel nothing—not jealousy, not rage, and definitely not

joy at the thought of Christmas morning.

So it was that by 2019, only ice ran in the veins of the

Psy politicians who wanted to make Christmas illegal.

Since the Psy race controlled government then as it does

now, Law 5198: Deletion of Christmas and Associated

Holidays was near certain to pass.

There were a few minor hiccups. Some elderly Psy—

those who had been too old at the inception of Silence to

allow for true conditioning—weren’t certain they wanted

the holiday outlawed. But the old ones were few; the last,

unwanted vestiges of an emotion-filled past the Psy

preferred to forget. They were ignored, their fading voices

drowned out by the Silent majority.

Law 5198was read into the statute books and life moved

on.

Except that the humans and changelings, the other two

parts of the triumvirate that is the world, took no notice.

Christmas trees went up as usual, gifts were bought, and

carols were sung. Human business owners did a roaring

trade in mulled wine, fruit cake, and roasts with all the

trimmings.

In comparison, Psy who owned interests in companies

that usually profited from Christmas suffered a sharp drop

in income—Law 5198meant they could no longer

advertise their products in conjunction with the outlawed

holiday.

The Psy Council found itself faced with both a mass

revolt by the other races, and considerable opposition

from the very businesses that backed up its regime. Psy

might not feel, but they also did not appreciate their profit

margins being compromised. The businesses weren’t the

only ones who felt the negative impact of Law 5198 —

Enforcement could find no way to prosecute everyone

who violated the law against Christmas.

The churches simply acted as if the law didn’t exist. But

they, in their solemn dignity, weren’t the worst offenders.

The changelings, in particular the nonpredatory deer

species, took great amusement in walking the streets in

their animal forms, dressed up as Santa’s reindeer.

Then the horse-changelings decided it wouldn’t hurt

their pride to be harnessed two by two to large sleds in

order to transport shoppers around the cities. Finally, the

humans, the weakest of the three races—with neither the

psychic powers of the Psy, nor the animal strength of the

changelings—came up with the killing strike.

They changed the name of Christmas to the Day of

Happiness.

It was unacceptable for Psy to feel happiness. Those who

did had their minds wiped clean and their personalities

destroyed in a horrifying process known as

“rehabilitation.” But it wasn’t illegal for anyone else to

celebrate happiness. And if they wanted to do it by

singing songs, gathering with loved ones, and attending

certain ceremonies dressed in their Sunday best, well, that

wasn’t illegal either.

The powerful, deadly Psy Council was used to instant

obedience in all things. However, in the year 2021, the

Councilors admitted that wasting Psy resources to ensure

compliance with Law 5198 made no financial or strategic

sense. The law was quietly repealed.

Now, some forty years later, Christmas is a celebration

unlike any other. Though the Day of Happiness was

retired soon after the repeal of Law 5198 , changelings

and humans have always known that they are one and the

same thing. Of course, happiness isn’t guaranteed by the

magic of Christmas. Sometimes, a woman has to fight

with everything in her, with her pride and her fury, her

love and her anger, with her very soul, in order to claim

the joy…or the man, meant to be hers.

One

TAMSYN LOOKED ACROSS THE PACK CIRCLE

TO THE MEN AND women who stood on the other side.

Lachlan, their alpha, his hair going the white of wisdom

and age, was saying something to Lucas, who was barely

fifteen but carried the scent of a future alpha. The past and

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