Black Sheep by Alexa Harlowe & Brynne Weaver
- Alisha Eadle
- 7 days ago
- 10 min read
Black Sheep
by Alexa Harlowe & Brynne Weaver
Self-Published
Serial killer.
That’s not the first thing you’d think when you meet Bria Brooks.
She’s reserved. Polite. Charming, when she wants to be. But delve a little deeper. She’s cunning. Brilliant. Ruthless. Bria Brooks is not just a black sheep. She’s a wolf. And she has her heart set on a very elusive prize.
Caron Berger.
Trouble is, she’s not the only one.
Dr. Elijah Kaplan is also on the hunt for the enigmatic leader of the Legio Agni cult. Caron Berger is a phantom, and Eli is keen on catching the ghost. What he doesn’t need is a beautiful and brutal doctoral student haunting his steps. Especially not one who seems so breakable, or who tempts him to bend every rule until it snaps, or who calls to each of his darkest desires. No. He does not need that. At all.
When the pursuit of their elusive prey pulls these two hunters together, they find that their demons might not be so different after all. But just like bodies in a bog, secrets have a way of surfacing, and the ones that Bria and Eli keep are the deadliest kind.
As they draw closer to capturing their prize, can Bria and Eli harness their beasts before they destroy one another? Or will they learn that it’s not what you’ll do to win that matters, it’s what you’re willing to leave behind?
Genre
Triggers
Memories of physical and emotional abuse, graphic violence, torture, murder, BDSM and breath play (consensual)
Black Sheep has been on my TBR since I fell in love with Butcher & Blackbird, but I wanted to read some of her other work before meeting her at her book event in Maine. Now, I ended up only reading this, which bums me out, because there were some questions/comments about her other books that went over my head.
Oh well. One day.
I was curious if Black Sheep would be as good as Butcher & Blackbird, since it's a collaborative book with another author.
I loved it.
It had the dark elements of Butcher & Blackbird that I loved, had the humor I enjoyed, but it had just that extra something that made it different.
The emotion behind it, perhaps?
Not that the Ruinous Love trilogy doesn't have that element as well. It does. It just hit a little differently in this book.
It made me that much more invested in the story.
Not just the romance - which I loved.
Not just the spice - which was hot.
Bria's backstory was fascinating and heartbreaking. The events of her childhood led to who she is in the book, and while I wouldn't personally do the things she does, I understood her anger.
That's the brilliant thing about this book, and others in the genre.
Us readers don't condone murder. We wouldn't do it. Reading about it sometimes make our brains mentally gag.
Or gag in real life.
Like I did in chapter 1 on Butcher & Blackbird.
I never liked Orzo, but just looking at it in the grocery store turns my stomach.
Thanks for that, Brynne.
But these authors are able to weave a tale that makes us understand why. Throw in the fact that, while murder is wrong, they are eliminating some pretty bad people, and I find myself able to get past it.
Black Sheep had everything I love in a dark romance. It had an excellent story, and layered, interesting characters. I loved Bria's morally grey character, and how she interacted with Caron. They are total opposites in many ways, but they way he breaks down those walls is *chefs kiss.
The tension, waiting for them to find out the truth about each other just added to the story.
I loved everything. But there never seems to be a Brynne Weaver book without something that grosses me out, and this time, it wasn't even involving a murder. I don't judge those that do it, but spitting is gross to me. Spitting in someone's mouth ....
well, I just gagged a little writing that, so I will stop now.
If you love Brynne Weaver, you can't miss Black Sheep. (I wanted to look for more of Alexa Harlowe's work, but Black Sheep is the only one listed, which is a bummer.) If you are in Ruinous Love trilogy withdrawals after finishing Scythe & Sparrow (yes, I've read it, and the review is coming), Black Sheep will help. It's different, but just as good.
I don’t always fuck a man before I kill him, but when I do, I find there’s one thing they all have in common. They’re disappointing.
Fletcher picks up a bobblehead of soccer player Harry Kane. Her nose wrinkles as she taps Harry on the forehead and his head wobbles.
Fletcher: “What is this?”
Caron: “A bobblehead.”
Fletcher: “I see that, dick-for-brains. But why?”
Caron: “It’s a conversation starter.”
Fletcher: “Is it though? It’s ugly as fuck.”
Caron: “Well, we’re talking about it, aren’t we?”
Fletcher: “Oh, that’s right, Kap. I had been crushing on Dierdre for two years. Two fucking years. And she thought I was with you thanks to that stupid party. You ruined my chances. You got me vagected by the hottest lesbian at UCLA. Who’s the cockblocker now, hmm? Spoiler alert: it’s you. You’re a clam jammer, that’s what you are.”
I bellow a laugh.
Caron: “A clam jammer?”
Fletcher: “Jesus fuck, Kaplan. You’re thirty-one, not eighty-one. Take off the tweed and get with the times. A taco blocko. A fanny fencer. A muff rebuffer. You are all those things. And hence, you owe me.”
Dr. Kaplan enjoys a bit of bondage, it seems.
Bria: “Who’d have thought it would be a fish guy.”
Fletcher: “I take it back. You can’t go for her. The two of you together would be too much hotness. You’d either burn my retinas or cancel each other out, and I’m not sure which is worse.”
Bria: “Who is it?”
Samuel: “Richard Piston”
I bark a laugh.
Bria: “Dick Piston? Are you serious? He deserves it for that name alone. What did he do?”
Samuel: “He stole my shoes.”
Bria: “Doesn’t that happen daily in places like this? Do you kill everyone who steals your things?”
Samuel: “Yes.”
Bria: “Fair point.”
Bria: "I don’t owe anyone an explanation for anything I do, least of all a man who would rather carve out his own organs than have dinner with me.”
That hit didn’t just strike the bones of my chest. No, Bria reached right inside with a set of talons and raked them across my heart. She doesn’t look hurt, not with the malevolent glare she pins to my face, but she must be to bring it up. Hurt, or at least confused.
Caron: “I’m sorry for what you overheard. It’s not true,”
I say, my voice little more than a whisper.
Bria: “Clearly. You’re standing here with both kidneys as far as I can tell.”
Bria: “I feel compelled to tell you that I hate you,”
I breathe as he bites and sucks on my skin. I start tugging the collar of his jacket off.
Bria: “Just like I hate your leather satchel and your hideous tweed jacket that looks like it came from the hipster reject pile. If I could feel secondhand embarrassment for anyone, I would feel it for you.”
Kaplan’s dark laugh heats my skin as he nips my earlobe and a moan escapes my lips.
Caron: “Good. I’ll wear it every fucking day. I’ll even sew suede patches on the elbows.”
Caron: “Do you always get this wet for people you hate?”
Kaplan whispers against my lips as his finger dips beneath the fabric and slides across my silken folds. I swallow a moan as he circles my clit and nips my jaw.
Bria: “Maybe I do.”
Caron: “Hmm,”
he hums. His finger slips between my folds and into my pussy, and then his touch is abruptly gone. For a breath I feel bereft with need. But then I watch with predatory interest as he draws his finger up to his waiting tongue and licks the glistening arousal from his skin.
Caron: “Funny. It doesn’t taste like hate. It tastes like lies.”
My heart rams against my chest. A wicked smile lifts the edge of Kaplan’s lips. I can just make out that dimple in the dim light.
Caron: “But don’t worry,”
Kaplan whispers, his voice full of sex and seduction as he lowers his open jeans and his black briefs. He grasps the base of his erection, and then pumps once along the long, thick shaft. Precum glistens on the velvety tip. His other hand glides down my hip and to my thigh and he presses in close, raising my leg to rest behind his back as he centers his erection to my sex and pulls my thong to the side.
Caron: “I’ll still fuck you like it’s the truth, even if I know it’s not.”
Bria: “This is both a fitting and horrifying end to that atrocity of fabric,”
I grumble, glaring down at the top of his head as he huffs a laugh, wiping the cum and arousal that drips down my thighs.
Caron: “I paid a small fortune for this jacket, I’ll have you know.”
Bria: “That’s a depressing thought,”
I say as he lifts my leg, placing my foot on his thigh. The fabric in his hand slides gently across my swollen sex, my thong pulled to the side with his free hand.
Bria: “My uncle could have hooked you up from Cedar Ridge. They’d pay you to take their old man clothes away.”
Kaplan laughs.
Bria: “I’m being serious. They’ve got bags of tweed. Not that I should be encouraging your erroneous clothing choices.”
Caron: “I don’t think my clothing choices have ever been described as erroneous before.”
Bria: “That’s because everyone has been lying to you.”
Fletcher: “Oh my god. You had sex.”
Caron: “What the fuck?”
Fletcher: “Who was it?”
Caron: “How did you—”
Fletcher: “It was Bria, wasn’t it?”
Caron: “What the—”
Fletcher: “Holy shit. It was Bria. And she ate you alive.”
Fletcher cackles a delighted laugh.
Bria: “Dr. Kaplan… Do you have a naughty drawer at work?”
Caron: “I do.”
Bria: “How very filthy. I thought Berkshire University was meant to be a fine upstanding center of academic excellence.”
Caron: “Aside from my cock, there is nothing upstanding about me when it comes to you.
She probably thinks I’ve persuaded him with sex. She would be wrong. I obtained his approval before I had sex with him again. I just gave him a cookie for it, that’s all.
I shift a little in my chair to ignite the delicious soreness left behind by our encounter. Fine, I gave myself a cookie too.
Caron: “I won’t hide you away because you’re my dirty secret. I’ll hide you away because I’m the only one who gets to see you on your knees, Bria.”
Caron: “Tap three times if it gets too much.”
Bria: “Tug on my hair three times if it gets too much,”
she replies, darting her tongue out to swipe at the precum beaded on the head as I swallow the moan already climbing my throat.
Caron: “Doubtful.”
Bria: “We’ll see.”
Caron: “Indeed.”
My grip on her hair tightens and I add my other hand.
Caron: “Now take it like a good girl and make me come.”
Caron: “As long as you know that when I win, I’m going to tear you apart. I will not be gentle, Bria. I will not be kind. Unless you tap out, I am going to make you suffer in every moment of your pleasure. You’ll beg, Bria. I promise you.”
Caron: “You won’t be able to tap out, obviously.”
Bria: “Do you think I would anyway?”
I ask with a daring smirk. His pupils blow wide beneath his hooded lids.
Caron: “No. But I need you to pick a safe word.”
Bria: “Done. Tweed.”
Kaplan barks a laugh.
Caron: “Fine. Tweed it is.”
Caron: “Don’t forget to beg,”
he whispers.
Bria: “Don’t forget to make me.”
Caron: “If only you knew how badly I want to ruin you like you’ve ruined me.”
I don’t smile. There’s no cocky attitude in my expression when I look into his eyes. My voice is sincere when I speak.
Bria: “I’m begging you to try.”
Bria sighs and glares at me as I take a slow bite of a strawberry, my grin widening.
Bria: “Why are you so hard to despise?”
Caron: “Sex appeal.”
Bria: “Jesus Christ.”
Caron: “You are going to be the death of me, woman.”
A flash of something unexpected passes over her face, so brief and fleeting that it’s gone by the time her gaze rejoins mine in the mirror.
Bria: “I hope not. For you, I’d rather be the life. Only for you.”
Bria: “I don’t care about time, Dr. Kaplan. I want you to fuck me until you think I can’t take it, and when I do, I want you to fuck me harder still,”
Caron: “Who are you?”
Bria: “Haven’t you figured it out yet, Dr. Kaplan? You may think you have a demon in you…”
I say as I step toward him. I place my hands on his chest and rise up on my tiptoes to whisper in his ear.
Bria: “But I’m the devil he worships in the night.”
Bria: “Maybe Samuel was right,”
she says, her voice soft and unsteady.
Bria: “I can’t love anyone. But if I could, I would love you. I would have loved you forever.”
Bria: “Uncle, I…you were right. What you said. We’re not like other people. I tried. I thought I could be…different.”
I swallow, tears glassing my vision. I wipe them away with the back of my hand.
Bria: “I just…I want to thank you. For giving me this life. For choosing me. You might not think it’s true or feel it too, and that’s okay. But I love you. And if I fail this time, I just wanted you to know.”
Bria: “What if I fuck this up?”
Caron: “We’ll both fuck it up sometimes,”
I say, a kiss lingering on her tear-stained cheek.
Caron: “That’s what makeup sex is for, Pancake.”
Caron: “Daughter of the Devil. God grants no mercy in the desert sun.”
Bria’s back stiffens. She goes impossibly still. I can’t even see her breathe.
Caron: “Flower in the dust. In the darkest night you bloom.”
There’s a tremor in Bria’s fingers as she sets the photo on the mantle.
Caron: “I thought that I would teach you. It was me who learned from you. Things I’d never known. Things I thought untrue.”
I pause as she turns so slowly, tears gathering in her eyes. It’s the hope in them that breaks my heart.
Caron: “Yet I find that when I watch you, swimming for the shore, these things I thought untrue, I can deny no more. Flower in the dust. In my darkest night you bloom.”
#agegap #alpha #badass #bdsm #rich #chosenfamily #dom #forbiddenlove #morallygrey #oppositesattract #professor #revenge #rivalstolovers #secretidentity #submissive #touchheranddie #trauma
Comments