Category: Romance

Morgan Robinson Destruction Release Day & Giveaway

Kathi BartonLeave a comment

Anna didn’t know what to do with the man who acted like he was attached to
her hip. Every time she moved, just to get up and move to the bathroom,
he’d be right there with her, helping her into a panic attack. Not really,
but that was what it felt like to her.

Morgan wasn’t sure what he’d have to do to convince Anna that he wouldn’t
just up an leave her. She was a tiger too, and she knew they were mates
just as well as he did. But for some reason, he couldn’t get her to trust
him.

“I don’t think that I’d offer you my hand. You’d more than likely bite
it off.”

She growled at him.

“I’m not sure if you feel the same way I do about me growling at you,
but all it does when you do it is making me want to spread you out before
me and lick every square inch of you.”

 

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A fresh start was what Rogan Hall needed. A small town, out of the way, where no one knew her or her brother was where they’d start over. She worked from home, and they kept to themselves. The only thing Rogan couldn’t give up was her early morning run.

Like clockwork, she ran every morning, and again, like clockwork, the same family would pass her on the country road heading to who knew where. The little boy in the back seat would wave at her with such enthusiasm, it made her heart melt. However, that morning, everything would change. Only moments after the car passed her and drove around the bend, she heard a loud commotion. Another car barreled past her, and she found the quaint family’s car overturned and on fire. Rogan did the only thing she could do, she saved them.

Thatcher Robinson was on duty at the hospital when his parents contacted him through their link and told him about the accident and what to expect when the ambulance arrived. Thatch, his dad, told him they had to save the woman by changing her, but her burns were severe, and his dad wasn’t sure that the new tiger would survive.

When Rogan regained consciousness, she was unsure where she was, but she knew she was different. She could feel the tiger move just beneath her skin. Rogan knew very little about shifters, but what she did know had her cringing. Why someone would take it upon themselves to change her, she didn’t know, but when the young doctor, Dawson, said his brother was her mate, she was furious. If the big, bad, Thatcher thought he was going to order her around, he had another thing coming….

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Anna didn’t know what to do with the man who acted like he was fucking attached to her hip. Every time she moved, just to get up and move to the bathroom, he’d be right there with her, helping her into a panic attack. Not really, but that was what it felt like to her. Finally having enough, she stopped and turned to look at him. “Don’t you have anything else that you can be doing? I don’t even care if you go outside and play with yourself. Just leave me alone.” He grinned at her. “You’re not all that charming if that is what you’re going for. I have crushed bigger bugs than you.” “What is it about me that has you on edge?” She asked him how long he had to listen to her answer. “Okay, that was mean, but I’m thinking that’s your normal way of talking to people. By the way, I’ve got you an extension on your classes you’re taking. I don’t want you to be missing out on anything while you’re here.” “What I’d really like to do is gather up my shit and get the hell out of town.” He told her that he’d be going with her. “I don’t want you around at all, much less you going with me someplace. Did you read over that report that I got from Rogen? It tells you all the reasons that you should be running from me. Not spending all your time here with me. I’m a grown assed woman, and I don’t need you here holding my hand.”

“I don’t think that I’d offer you my hand. You’d more than likely bite it off.” She growled at him. “I’m not sure if you feel the same way I do about me growling at you, but all it does when you do it is making me want to spread you out before me and lick every square inch of you.” “You’re not helping.” He nodded and sat down after helping her to the bed again. “Why are you here? Really? There isn’t any reason at all for you to be sitting around like a puppy with your tongue handing out.” “Your brother Noah, or I guess you call him Junior, is out of prison.” That nearly had her falling to the floor. Had Morgan not been there to catch her, she would have ended up spread out anyway, without anything at all sexual about it. “I’m here until we can figure out where he’s headed. Well, I say that like I have any idea what I’d have to do to find him. But Rogen is doing it. She’s also trying to figure out how he got released.” “I call him that because he absolutely hates being called Junior, now that he has a record. So, he’s been hating it since he was about seventeen, I guess. Was Junior released or did he escape?

Is that what you’re telling me?” Morgan said that was one of the things that Rogen was working on. “I guess I should have figured that he’d be out soon. I’d forgotten to keep up with his prison term. My father is who I’ve been the most worried about. Him and my brothers David and Bud.” “Junior has a watchdog on him right now. As soon as Rogen was made aware of Junior being released, she put someone on all three of them. Your father, he’s bitching about his health and that the jail is making him lose weight. He needs it, but that’s beside the point for him, I think. He needs to lose weight, but not because of anything that they’re doing. He’s eating himself into a stupor. I think Rogen said that he weighs nearly four hundred pounds now.”

Anna asked him how she’d know shit like that. “It’s her job to know all kinds of shit. And some shit that I don’t even question her about.” “She didn’t strike me as the type that would be a coffee girl to anyone.” Morgan laughed and said that she’d be the one demanding the coffee. If she drank it. “My father, does she think that he’ll be getting out anytime soon?” “She didn’t say, but I’d not count on it. Now that he’s on her fucking list—her words, not mine—he’s not going to fart unless she knows about it before he does. I didn’t ask her what that was supposed to mean. Rogen scares me in ways that I had to tell you about. She’s a real ball-buster. Much, I’m sure, as you are.” Anna told him that she wasn’t that, but someone that had been knocked around more than most. “I believe you. Rogen also pulled up your records for hospital visits, as well as other things.” “What does it matter anyway?” Morgan asked her what she meant. “You’ve already decided that I’m not mate material for you. Just look at you. You’re sitting here in a pair of jeans that cost more than I make at my job. Or the job that I did have. He told me that if I missed a single day, he’d fire me. Then there are your shoes. What did you pay for them? More than two hundred bucks, I’m sure.” “Not that I understand what the price of my clothing has to do with you not being mate material, but I’ll tell you. My parents bought me the jeans for Christmas last year. I’ve not had a chance to wear them as yet, because I’ve been working harder than I should have taken over another man’s classes at the college. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy them, but it was taking up a great deal of my time.

The shoes? I have no idea who gave them to me. I’m thinking that it was Jonas, as he and I have the same sized feet. But as they were still in the box and had the tags on them, I can only assume that he didn’t like the fit of them and gave them to me.” She looked away. “Don’t do that, Anna. Just let me explain some things to you. I have money. A good deal of it, as a matter of fact. I’m a dean at the college, and I’ve never been one to spend a great deal of money on anything unless I really need it. Even then it had better have several uses, as well as last me long enough that I feel I got my money’s worth.” “I don’t have shit.” He said that he knew that. “Rogen again, I’m assuming. Why is she so hot on finding out what there is to know about me? As I’ve mentioned to you before, I’m not mate material to you.” Before she could think that he was going to move, he was over her, his legs on either side of her own. His hands held hers above her head, and he was looking down at her with such hunger that the need to look away from him was overwhelming. But she couldn’t do it. “Every time I look at you, all I can think about is seeing you large with our child. I have no idea why that thought keeps occupying my mind, but it does. To imagine you naked in my arms, another thought that I keep having is almost more than I can take and still not touch you.” He put both her hands into his one larger one and brushed his hand over her cheek. “You feel as soft as you look. The kiss from yesterday only makes me want more of you. To taste all that you have to offer. However, I won’t take unless you consent. As for not being mate material, I can only hope that I’m a better mate to you than you think you will be for me.”

He got off her then, her body suddenly feeling bereft of his warmth. Without saying a word, he sat down in the chair he’d been in and watched her. Anna had never wanted to cry so badly in her life. Looking at him, she let the tears flow while she told him off. “You’re a big man, aren’t you? Did you think to scare me into submission? Well, it won’t work. I’m made of stronger shit than you are, buster, and if you try that again, they’ll be wiping up your body for the next twenty years or so.” He asked her if she felt better. “Better? Hell no, I don’t feel better. I fucking hurt. And I’m terrified that I’m going to fucking fall in love with you and you’ll leave me to the wolves, so to speak, when you’ve had your fill. I know nothing about you other than what you’ve deemed it necessary for me to know. But you know everything there is to know about me, including, I’m sure, how much money I owe on my rent, which is overdue, as well as my college loans.” He didn’t say anything as he sat there for a few minutes. But he did stand up and tell her that Rogen was coming to see her. As he went to the door, he paused for a moment and looked at her. She could see his anger, and wanted to shield herself from it. Instead, she lifted her chin up to show him that she didn’t care what he did to her. “Your student loans were paid off as of this morning. As my mate and with me being the dean at the college, they waived those from their books. I didn’t do that. Someone in the offices found out and did it for you. Rogen paid up your rent so that your place would be there should you’d rather live there than in the home that I have for us both. I had nothing to do with that either.” Anna started to tell him to not do anything for her. “I’m leaving now. Not because I want to, but because you’re upset and saying things that you might regret later, though I highly doubt it.” The door closed behind him and Anna laid there.

If she’d been able to get up and go after him, she would have. Anna didn’t like that he’d had the last word. Sitting up in the bed a little more, she looked around the room. It just occurred to her that she had a better room here than she did at home. Not to mention anytime she pulled the nurse call cord, someone was in there almost as soon as she put the handheld call thing down. “Hello.” She looked at Rogen and asked her what the hell she was doing there. “Still in a shitty mood, I see. Morgan asked me to come by and give you this.” The thick file was tossed in her lap. It might well have hurt, it was that heavy, but she’d been healing more every day. Picking it up, she asked Rogen what it was. Instead of telling her what was in it, Rogen told her to open it and read it. Opening the file cover, there was a picture of Morgan. She’d bet anything that it was his license picture. The man even took great license pictures. Anna would bet that anything he did, he’d be perfect at it. “You mentioned to him that you knew nothing about him. So he had me do a thorough check on him, then print it up and hand it over. Some of the things in there, I’m sure even he’s not aware of. Or, more than likely, doesn’t care about.” Anna laid it down. “You can read it or not. I could care less. But you pissed off one of the nicest men that I’ve ever known. I don’t know whether I should punch you in the face for it or congratulate you for getting under his skin. I’m leaning toward the punch just so you know.”

“Why?” Rogen asked her what she meant. “Why did he have you gather this up? I didn’t mean for him to give me a whole rundown on his life.” “Didn’t you? I don’t know you that well, mostly because you’ve been pushing us all away since the moment you opened your eyes. But you don’t strike me as being one that trusts easily. Nor do you seem to think you have much reason to say you’re sorry, or to thank someone. Am I right?” She nodded at Rogen. “Yeah, I thought so. In addition to having this all gathered for you, Morgan also had me add you to all his accounts. To put your name on the deed to his home, as well as the beneficiary line to his life insurance policy. Including the one that the university takes out on him.” “Again, why would he do that?” Rogen shrugged. “You know. Don’t give me that bull shit. You know everything there is to know about someone before you even allow them to breach that little bit of an opening you allow others into. You protect this family like you would a newborn child of yours.” “Thatcher is my husband. As of a few days ago, we became parents. No one knows that as yet. With you coming into the family, I wanted to make sure that my son, Jimmy, was safe. I’ve checked you out, and other than a jaywalking ticket that you had your first day on campus, you’ve been as clean as whistle.” Anna said that she knew that. “What you don’t know, or I’m assuming you don’t, is that you have a warrant out for your arrest. Your brother Junior has said that you injured him last night. While I know that it’s not possible, I’d like for you to tell me why he’d do such a stupid thing.” “Junior is a lazy fuck. If he’d have to look for me for whatever reason he has in his tiny mind, then it would take too much effort. This way he can have me found with little effort from himself, and he can get, what I’m assuming, is the money I may or may not have on me. But he’ll still take his pound of flesh while he’s at it.”

Rogen said that Anna had turned him in, and that had gotten him in prison this time. “I did. I’m not going to deny that to him or you. He was a jackass, and killed that man as surely as you’re breathing.” “The man that he killed. How much do you know about that?” Anna looked away. “I thought so. You were in love with him, Bart Hodges. He killed him over a dispute that you were going to marry him and Junior didn’t want that to happen. Why?” “Because, as sick as this sounds, he wanted me for himself. But I wasn’t in love with Bart so much as he was in love with me. He was, I guess you could call him, safe for me.” Rogen asked if what Junior wanted was sexual. “No. Just as his domestic. He wanted me under his rule so that I could work, bring home the bacon, cook it for him, then clean up after him. And as wonderful as that might sound, I didn’t want to spend my life taking care of my brothers and father.” ~*~ Morgan was grading tests when someone knocked on his door. Seeing his father there, he put down his pen and waited for him to yell at him. He hadn’t any idea what he’d done, but his father had worn that same look on his face when he was upset about disciplining them as children. Since Anna had been nearly raped just down the hall from him, he’d been keeping his door open most of the time. Today was the first day that he’d shut it to get some work done. And honestly, he wanted to hide from the world a little.

It helped that Professor Long was dead, but he did worry he’d be caught up in something. “Rogen said that your mate will be released today. Did you know that?” He said that he didn’t, that she’d kicked him out three days ago. “Yeah, that’s what I’d been told she’d done to you. What are you going to do about her living arrangements?” “Nothing. Why?” Dad said that he didn’t think her being out there alone was a good thing. “Well, I think she’s a good deal stronger than you think, and can take care of her brother with one hand tied behind her back. She sure didn’t have any trouble taking care of me.” “You let her,” Morgan asked him what that had to do with anything. “I don’t rightly know. But it’s not setting well for me with you just abandoning her.” “I didn’t. I have a guard on her at all times. There are as many as five wolf pack members with her every place she goes. The car that has been lent to her in the guise of Rogen letting her use hers has a tracker on it, as well as a panic button. That was Rogen, in the event you thought that I was smart enough to do that.” Dad said that he didn’t have any doubt that he could do whatever he set his mind to. “Thank you for that. But about Anna. She’s pissed off. And me being around her isn’t making her any less so.” “What happened between the two of you?” Morgan leaned back in his chair, not even sure what he could say to his dad about all this. “You have no idea, do you, son?” “No. I mean, I never have rushed her. But she has it in her head that I’m going to take over her life and then make her do things like her brothers did. Also, I’ve been, through Rogen, keeping an eye out for her brother that’s been released. She’s working on trying to figure out what happened at the prison to have gotten him out.

Junior’s name isn’t on any kind of record as having good behavior, nor did he get an early release. But he’s on his way here.” Dad asked him what he’d want. “Her. And it’s not what you’re thinking. I thought the same thing. But he wants her to be his housemaid. Cooking, cleaning, and anything else that needs to be done. Also, she’s to work so that he won’t have to. Nice family she has there.” “We’ve dealt with worse, I’m sorry to say. Rogen, she’s got a handle on all them boys too?” Morgan said that she was looking into different areas, that all of them had been in jail until recently when Junior got out. “That has anything to do with why she’s shoving you away?” “Yes. All of it, as a matter of fact. She has it in her head that she’s only a half breed, and not fit for me. Also, she has this insane thing about money, and how she doesn’t have any.” Dad told him that he could understand that. “I can too. But I don’t have to like it. I’m giving her space. For now. As soon as I get information from Rogen, I’m going to go and see her. I’m going to tell her everything that I know.” “Rogen, she told me that you had her do a background check on you.” He nodded. “Did you read it?” “No. It’s not something that I can change now anyway. I know that there is nothing serious in it, or I’d have not made it into the position that I’m in now. The reason I gave it to her is that she mentioned that I knew everything about her and she knew nothing of me.” Dad asked him what he knew about her. “Not all that much, really. I know that she was working two jobs to put herself through college.

She’s smart in that too, not overwhelming herself by taking on too many at once. Her grades are great. Anna would have been on the dean’s list if not for the fact that she’s only taking classes part-time. There was only twenty-four dollars in her account until yesterday.” “You think she’s going to be upset with you for doing that without asking. I’m assuming that you didn’t ask.” Morgan just smiled at his dad. “I see. So you’re trying your best to make her upset with you, is that it?” “Pretty much. She is so beautiful when she’s mad. I don’t tell her that, of course. I don’t have a death wish. Besides, in order to ask me about it, she’ll have to contact me. And that is going to bring me to her. At least that’s my plan.” Dad laughed, asking him if he thought that was going to work. “I can hope, can’t I? Besides, Dad, she really is going to be in deep trouble if her brother finds out where she is. They think she’ll come to heel, I think, and she won’t.” “No, it’s doubtful that she ever did. Do you suppose she’s going to be hurt by them?” Morgan said if they did harm her in any way, they’d never live to tell about it. “No, I don’t think they will. And it’d not be just you doing the killing either. Your mom, she sure does like her. Oh, did you hear about having to meet up at Thatcher and Rogen’s house tonight for some surprise? Everyone is supposed to show up. I tell you, I hate surprises more than anybody does.” “I do as well. But think of it this way—they might have an announcement to make or something.” Dad perked right up. “I have no idea if that’s true, Dad. I was making a joke.

It probably isn’t that at all.” “Well, a man could hope, couldn’t he? They have been sort of hiding away in that house of theirs. I ain’t seen hide nor hair of them very much over the last week. What do you suppose they’re doing?” Morgan said that he didn’t have any idea. “Well, I’ll see you tonight then. And if you want me to, I’ll sweet talk that mate into coming over too. She likes me.” “Everyone likes you, Dad. You’re a charmer. And the biggest bullshitter I’ve ever met.” Dad just glared, but didn’t deny it. “I have to get to work here if I’m planning on meeting you at Thatcher’s house. After I grade these papers I have to find someone to come in and repaint this room. I don’t think the sucker has been redone since before I was born.” Dad looked around. “Yeah, I think you might be right on that one. It looks to me like it’s been puked on a couple of times too. Is that blood over there in the corner?” Morgan looked and wasn’t surprised to see something that did indeed look like blood. “If you want my opinion, I’d take out all these old windows and put in ones that are tighter, as well as something that will keep the wind out. I’d sure hate to come here some morning and find you a Popsicle or something.” “I’ve put in a request to find out if I can do that. This building is pretty old. I’m betting that they tell me that it’ll ruin the way the whole thing looks to have windows put in that are more efficient than the ones that are in the rest of the building.” Dad told him that he needed to put in something. “I agree. Tomorrow, while classes are about over for the summer break, I’m going to have my desk brought in here.

That way it’ll free up some room for me from this monster.” “That desk is older than you are, I’d say. You might want to ask one of your brothers if they want it if you can get rid of it. It’s a fine desk, but much too big for this room.” Dad looked around. “In fact, son, I’d take out some of these here shelves too. There is no cause for you to have all of them in here when you really don’t need them, do you?” “No. I don’t. That’s on my list too. I can redecorate anyway that I wish so long as it doesn’t harm the structure of the building. I think a bomb could explode in here and it’d not hurt anything within a mile of my office.” Morgan jotted down another note on his to-do list. “This room is supposed to be an upgrade to the one I had. It is, sort of, but not by much.” The door behind his dad opened and Anna walked in. Morgan stood up and Dad practically ran from the room, closing the door behind him. Morgan could tell without asking that she was spitting mad about something. Whatever she was pissed about, he was sure that he was the one that she was going to take it out on.

Connor House Of Wilkshire & Giveaway

Kathi BartonLeave a comment

Connor James was having a blast remodeling the old mansion, but he didn’t care for curtains, and his friends’ mates were giving him hell for it. Connor loved every minute of it.

Since acquiring the mansion, Connor was having a time dealing with the ghosts remaining in the home. He was able to see and speak with spirits and made it so anyone who entered his home could do so as well.

Roxanna Hornsby, also known as Rocky, was alone in the world and living in near poverty. Dealing with the dead was her burden to bear and she wasn’t known for being pleasant about it.

Roxanna knew some of her magical heritage, but most of the memory had been blocked from her to keep her safe. And when her grandmother came to her in her dream, the memories came flooding back. Roxanna was so much more than any of them thought.

 

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Kelly Dalton, was packed and ready to go on the trip of a lifetime. She was excited to spend a month in Europe sightseeing. Her budget would be tight, and she’d have to make the trip alone because her sister drained her checking account, but despite the lack of funds, Kelly was ready for the new adventure—anything to get away from her family.

Devon Wakefield was the tenth Marquess to the house of Wilkshire and a dragon shifter. Since the death of his father, he had been lord of the castle since he was ten. His life lacked only one thing—a mate—but he was in no hurry to find one.

Kelly was sorry to see her vacation end. One more stroll around the beautiful countryside then she’d have to go back home—to what she didn’t know. Her sister, Rachel, was so angry that Kelly didn’t pay for her trip that she set fire to Kelly’s apartment. There was nothing really to go back to, but she’d deal with that when she returned. In the meantime, she would enjoy her last couple of days in England. However, Kelly was unprepared for the sudden rain shower, and in the rushing water she lost her footing. Everything went black…

Distraught because Kelly was missing, the innkeeper called Devon to find her. When Devon found the injured young woman, he realized that he’d found his mate, and in an effort to ease her recovery he wanted to do something nice for her—he brought her family to England….

Noah Farley had been living in the States for a long time, and he was homesick. When Devon invited him to come home for a visit, he packed up everything he had and wasn’t planning on returning to his home in the city anytime soon, if ever. His dragon needed room to roam, and the city left his options too limited.

Bea Frost had made the buy of a lifetime, a castle in the country, and she made plans with her granddaughter Bryce, and daughter-in-law Laura, to move into it. Both Bea and Bryce were witches, and moving away from their current location, away from the Witches Council, would be like a breath of fresh air.

Noah’s family had lost the castle to back taxes before they had died. Its loss didn’t leave him much to go home to, but he was curious as to who had purchased the property. When he met Bryce, he was both surprised and pleased to find out that she was his mate. Bryce, however, didn’t care for dragons and wasn’t shy about letting him know that either.

The Witches Council consisted of three warlocks, Black, White, and Gray. When appointed, the mix was supposed to balance them out, but instead, the men had become evil and corrupt. Bryce had become too powerful, more powerful than the council combined, and the WC considered her a threat. Killing her human mother or new mate would be just the ticket to bring her to heal…

Jackson William hadn’t seen his father in centuries. Now his father was dead, he was now king, and the dragon council wanted to hold him responsible for his father’s crimes? And there had been many. The truth would be his salvation.

Nicole needed a job. A job that would put a roof over her head as well. She hadn’t had a decent meal in a week. But the ad didn’t say there were faeries and witches. Where there were faeries, there were dragons and Nicole was petrified of them. And with good reason.

The poison from the dragon bites flowing through Nicole’s veins left her weak and in a lot of pain. She was a mere human, and her body’s inability to heal from the bites left her vulnerable to new dragon attacks. Now this dragon, Jackson, was claiming to be her mate? Would this nightmare never end?

 

House of Wilkshire Series

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Connor knew that it would take Aisling a few weeks to get there. She was moving slowly across the United States. The pull was there for her to pay homage to the new king, but, like he would more than likely do if he didn’t know Devon was a great king, she was dragging her feet. Which, Connor thought, was a good thing. Things needed to be in place for her before she arrived. As yet he didn’t know what was going to happen when she got there. Nothing about her seemed to be out there for him to touch on, not even whether she was a nice person or bad. But being a dragon, he thought it was his duty to make sure that she was all right on her way there. Nothing terrible was going to happen with the dragon. She was—and this was all he knew about her—a dragon who had been hurt long ago. She’d been in a healing sleep for centuries, much too many for her to just be thrown into the modern world that they had now.

He could almost feel sorry for her. Dak, Aisling’s faerie companion, joined him in the house just as the men that were working on it left for the day. After explaining what was going on, they sat at the farmhouse table and Connor asked him a few questions. Dak, like most faeries, usually got things mixed up in his mind, and it rarely made sense when he was nervous. And Dak was very nervous. “I have done as you asked,” Connor asked him what had put him in a tizzy. “Sir. I am not in a tizzy. But I am nervous that we are going to be caught using a magical credit card that no one is getting paid from.” “Ah. Well, the one I gave you is attached to my account. They’re getting paid, Dak. I promise you.” The little creature looked so relieved that Connor nearly laughed at him.

“Did you get an apartment for the two of you? If she comes here, she’ll be expected to stay. Not having to deal with the selling of a house would be better for everyone all the way around.” “We have one. It’s much too big, I think, but she is happy. I don’t understand this, sir. Why not have her just come here now to protect her? She is a good dragon. I mean, she’s had trouble before, but she was younger then.” Connor said that he knew that about her too. But things were not ready for her. “You keep telling me that. I don’t understand.” “I don’t either, to be honest, Dak. But I know that there are pieces to her life that have to be finished before she can come here. Why? I’m not sure yet. I can only see a little of her future. No more than a few weeks in advance. She must come here when the snow is on the ground to stay.” Dak said that might still be a month away. “I know. And again, I don’t know why. Sometimes I do, most of the time I don’t. But I do what my dreams tell me, and in this, she’s not to come here until the snow is on the ground for a while.” “I’ll slow her down a bit, sire. But she’s worried a bit about the king. What should I tell her about that?” Connor told him to tell Aisling that the king was a new father and was not in the office.

“Aye, I like that one. Yes, I’ll tell her that. She already felt the newborn being brought into the world.” “Yes. He’s the king’s firstborn, so he’ll be too focused on that to worry about her right now. Just tell her that you’ve seen the activity around the place, and know it to be true.” Dak said that he could do that. “Remember, Dak, there are beings out there that would wish to kill her. Keep her safe. And if she is in trouble that she cannot get out of, or if you can’t help her, you call to me and I’ll be there.” “I know that. But she’s very careful, so you know. I don’t think she wants to be caught unawares either.” Connor told him to be careful too. “Oh, I am. I been scouting around the towns that we’re in and eating up a storm, I tell you. I surely hope we don’t take all that you have, sire. I’d surely hate if that happened.” “You don’t worry about me, Dak. I have all I need and more. You just keep her well-fed and do what you’ve been doing about other places to eat. That’s the best way to keep people from recognizing her.” Dak told him how she’d taken a liking to pasta with chicken. “That’s good. I like it very much as well.” “You told me before; she’s not your mate. Are you sure?” Connor told him that he was positive. “There are a lot of dragons around.

Is she by chance one of theirs? That would surely save her. Being a white dragon, she could be claimed by a dragon that isn’t her mate. Are you by chance looking to claim her?” “No. I’m sorry, Dak, but I am not. I have one out there. I just have to wait. As for her being one of the others’ mates, I don’t know that yet. I wish I could tell you that, but I just don’t know.” Dak said that was fine. His face was so disappointed looking that Connor nearly laughed at him once again. “You just keep watching over her, Dak, and we’ll know for sure when the time is right.” After the little man flew away, having found the answers to a few things that were bothering him, Connor went back to work. The house was completed, inside and out, but he loved to tinker around with the garden he was planning for the spring. As well as looking online for the perfect comforter and curtains for a few of the bedrooms. The faeries had done a great job on helping him with the house. They’d put it together the way it would have looked back when the original house was built. But since he wasn’t a huge fan of curtains in the first place, he’d not had any certain look in mind. It had taken Devon’s mate, Kelly, to explain to him that anyone staying in the rooms might not be as free with their nudeness as he was. Connor had a laugh about that every time he thought about it. Being caught one time swimming in the nude as a man when she’d come to visit had gotten him labeled as a man who went around naked all the time. Devon came into his home about an hour after Connor had placed an order. The Internet had been the biggest change in how they did things. It was wonderful to order just about anything you wanted under the sun, and have it delivered to you the very next day. Sometimes it would take more than one day, but it was great to have it quickly.

“Do you know this woman that is staying with us?” Connor said that he only knew her name, nothing more. “She’s a liar. And we’re pretty sure that she killed Davidson, Grandma’s friend.” “What’s his name? Full, if you have it?” Devon looked confused, then smiled. “Yes, I can send someone to look, as you well know.” “I forgot. Honestly, when I came over here it was just to bitch about her. Now that I remember you talk to ghosts, perhaps you can figure this out for me.” After hearing Davidson’s full name, Connor called for Newt. Newt was the oldest of the ghosts. He’d been there since the house was nothing more than a few timbers leaning together to form a wall. He’d been beaten to death one day when his master’s wife had gotten mud on the heel of her boot. It hadn’t been Newt’s fault, but as he’d been the closest to the man and his wife, he’d been the fall guy. Newt had been all of nine years old at the time. “I need for you to go to the ghost world and see if you can find me a man by the name of Richard Marion Davidson. He’s a warlock, and the grand lady at the king’s house is his friend.” Newt asked if he could have a go at the book again. “Yes, we’ll work on that tonight. I want you to read as much as you want to, Newt. Find out what you can about the man. Even if he’s not dead if someone knows anything about him.” Newt simply disappeared, and Connor turned to talk to Devon again. The smile on his face made Connor a little nervous. Then the woman upstairs, April, started wailing again. As Connor stood up, so did Devon. “You can hear her, of course, but you have no idea what it’s like for those of us that live here with her all the time. She is screaming and telling anyone that will listen that she’s been done wrong.

While I’m not certain what her crime was that had her ending up dead, she’s surely pissed off about it.” Devon asked what had happened to her. “Best I can tell? Burnt, then beaten. Duncan, the man that lived here for a while, said that she was caught doing something while watching her master’s children. The missus back then, she burnt April to show him that she’d fallen asleep while caring for the children. Which I don’t think is the entire story. I have yet to be able to get anything from her other than that she’s been done wrong.” “You made it so that anyone that comes here can see the people living here with you, didn’t you?” Connor said he thought that was easier than having to explain to people why he was talking to himself. “Yes, I can see that. Why don’t you let me try? I mean, it couldn’t hurt, could it?” “No. Go right ahead. I’m done dealing with her, and about ready to send her on her way.” Devon was the only one of his friends that knew he could do that. Sending ghosts on their way was something that he’d learned before he realized that he could use them if necessary. Or, like in this case, figure out why they’d not gone on when their time here was up. “Just be careful with her. She’s angry. And angry ghost have the power to shove things when they’re really pissed off.” “All right.” When Devon paused outside the door where she’d been staying, Connor thought that he was bothered by her screams. But all he did was straighten himself up a little more.

Then he yanked the door open so hard it was pulled from the frame. Connor stood back and let him have his way with the young dead woman. “What the hell is wrong with you? You’ll stop that caterwauling right now and answer me.” Caterwauling? Connor had to step back more from the door opening. His laughter would not help the situation one bit. But he was going to tease the big king by asking him who the hell he’d been hanging out with. ~*~ Devon was surprised when the noise simply cut off. Not only did the silence around them sound loud in the otherwise empty room, but the woman came out of the wall like she’d been hiding from him. When she came closer, he could understand why. “You’ve been burnt.” She bowed her head and brought what was left of her hair to cover the entire left side of her face. “Don’t do that. I wasn’t meaning to harm you with my words, but to see the destruction on one so pretty.” “They called me a liar and then burned me.” Devon just glanced at Connor, but didn’t point out that he was there. “I didn’t fall asleep and let the candle burn me. I was awake when the mistress came in to check on me.” “Did she usually check up on you at night?” April told him that she and the master had been out, and April had been surprised by the late visit.

“Tell me what happened that would cause your face to be burnt so badly. And you must know that the man here, the owner of this home, could have helped you in any way had you simply asked him to do so.” “I am ashamed of myself. I might well have asked him, but he is a big man, like you. But so was my master.” Devon asked her what else had kept her hidden away. “My master, his name was Connor as well.” “I see.” Devon could understand that. He lumped all teas, hot or cold, as nasty, simply because he didn’t care for the drink. But Kelly had shown him just recently that not all teas were the same. “Connor, Lord Connor James, Prince to the Castle Hillcrest, Dragon of Hillcrest Castle, would never harm anyone without just cause.” Devon pulled Connor forward and moved around the opening to show her who he was. Not that she would have missed him each time he came up to scream at her to stop what she was doing. Bowing to her, Connor stood up. It was then that Devon noticed her body movements. She was terrified of them both. “Neither of us wants to harm you, April. But you aren’t making things easy on us when you scream and wail about your unjust treatment all the time. I have been up here several dozen times. Had you only spoken to me, perhaps I could have gotten you the answers that you wish.” She told Devon that she wanted her life back. “You know as well as I do that you’re never going to have that. And making yourself a pain in the ass about it will not allow you to live here with the rest of the household. Tell us what happened, and we can figure it out to give you some peace.” “I know what happened.” He didn’t comment on her shouting at them, but she seemed to understand that she was screeching at them. “The lady came in and found me reading a book. I was told that I could do as I wished so long as the child was well taken care of.

He had only just had his nappy changed when she found me with a candle burning, and the book.” “Where did the book come from?” Devon didn’t know what good knowing that would do, but Connor explained it to both him and April. “Perhaps she was upset that you’d taken a book from the master’s library? Or that you’d stolen the book?” “I never stole anything. The book was my grandma’s. She’s the one that taught me to read and write. No, sir. She was mad because I could read. When she snatched the book from me, she told me not to try and be better than I was. It would get me tossed out if I did that. I told her that I could read well and that I could do some numbers too when I had the time to figure them out. No, she didn’t like me being able to read.” Devon was aware that this had happened a great many times over the centuries. His own sire had done the same thing when it came to his darkies, as he called them. Educating them, his sire would say, was the same as giving them a gun to kill you with. Devon had never been that sort of person. April was light-skinned, he knew, but she’d still have trouble from the master if she could read. “What happened that night?” April looked at them both but looked at Connor when he spoke the second time. “We’re not here to harm you, April. But we can certainly fix some parts of what might have happened to you. Not giving you your life back, however.” “I miss my family. I miss my husband and my own children. They didn’t even bury me when the master had the foreman kill me. They wrapped me in an old sheet with more holes in it than not and tossed me to the river. All I ever wanted was to work in the big house and have me some money for my kids. I didn’t even take any of their old things when I was told to toss them out. Never once.” Devon said that he was sorry. “Me too. I couldn’t see them anymore, because once I was killed off, they sent my family packing. I can’t see them anymore.” “I can maybe find them for you.” They both turned to look at Newt. “You just tell me their names, and I can do what I can to find them for you.

And if you ask Master Connor nice, and no more making him mad at you, maybe he’ll let you go to them too.” Hope. He could see it in her eyes and on her face. Hope was such a fragile thing, and this girl, this young woman, was placing all of hers on the word of a little boy who looked like he’d been nothing more than a servant at the house in a different time than April had been. “I’ll do that for you, but you must be more a part of this house than you have been. As Newt said, no more waking the household when you’ve got a mind to be depressed about your lot in life.” She said that she would behave. “Even if he can’t find anyone for you, you’ll have to abide by what he tells you. He’s good at what he does, April. So if you don’t care for his answer and revert to what you’ve been doing to all of us, then I will send you along. With or without him finding your family.” “I promise.” Newt took their names but didn’t leave right away. Devon had almost forgotten that he’d been doing him a favor first. Connor told him that he’d talk to him in the living room. After telling April that she could stay wherever she wished, the three of them went back to the living room.

The fire there was warm after spending time with the ghosts. Their bodies were like ice to be around, and their breath was often chilling too. “Mr. Davidson ain’t anywhere around that I can see him. Ain’t nobody seen him around either. If’n he was dead, someone would have seen the warlock, sir.” Devon asked him if he’d found his house. “I did. Right where you said it was. There was a scuffle there. Lots of broken stuff. Looked like someone was a looking for something too. The books are all over the floor and most of the drawers—the dresser kind, not the pants kind—was all pulled out.” “Thank you, Newt. You have taken a great deal of worry from me.” Newt didn’t leave like he thought he would, but looked at Connor. “Is there something else?” “Yes, sir. There be a bit more. There was a woman of the female kind that was bleeding there. I can tell that. She’s got her some magic too, but not like the man does.

Somebody’s been in the house since then too.” Connor asked Newt if he’d seen the man there. “No, I didn’t, but he’s been there. And just today, if my smeller ain’t broke. But he’s powerful hurt, he is. I can smell that on him too.” “But he’s not in the house. Do you think he’s close?” Newt said that he had a living friend that he could find to see that part. “You do that. And this living friend of yours— you contact him or her, and let me know what they want in exchange for doing this for me.” “I don’t know rightly if she’ll do much of anything, sir. She’s a bit on the stubborn side. And old to boot. My daddy would have called her a mule, but I don’t say such things like that to her. Roxanna, she’s a bit touchy about being called that.” Devon asked him who had started calling her that. “I think she told me once that the dummy wasn’t around to do it again, and that’s all I need to remember. I do. Every time I see her having a fit about something or somebody, I come back at a different time. She’s nasty mean.” Asking him to please ask her was about all that Devon could do. He was holding onto his laughter as hard as he could at the expression on the face of Newt. This elderly woman was someone that he might like to meet. But only on her good day.

After Newt left again to look for the family of April and to talk to his friend, Devon invited Connor to his home for dinner. The guy was too much of a recluse lately. Of course, he was just getting his house set up. “Nah. I think I’ll stay here tonight. The house is quiet for the first time since I moved in, and I think I might enjoy that for a while.” Devon laughed. “How’s Kelly? I meant to ask you that earlier.” “She’s wonderful.” Devon could feel his face warming. Just thinking about his wife made him feel all kinds of silly. Like a schoolboy’s first crush. “She’s taking the entire thing of waiting on the egg to open like she’s done it a million times. Jackson sent over a couple of the babies so she could watch the baby dragons interact. With the one that we kept and the other newborn, she’s learning a great deal. So am I, as a matter of fact.” They talked for a little while longer, mostly about the house and the ghosts that Connor had spoken to since coming back to town. They’d been friends for a great many years. And of all of his friends, he thought that Connor had had the least stable life in growing up.

His mother had lost her mind about the time that he and his sister had been born. Being an immortal and living so long could take its toll on a person. And since Lannie had been one of those proper wives to her dragon husband, she stayed quiet, out of his business, and kept his home perfect. Lannie had no contact with the outside world other than her husband. It had happened a great deal when someone didn’t go with the changes. Lannie hadn’t been able to. Then after the egg opened and Connor and his sister had been born, of the same egg, it had taken her over the edge of sanity quickly. Connor and Connie, Connor’s sister, had to raise themselves. Their father wouldn’t have a thing to do with them until they were old enough to have families of their own. But it had been much too late for making a family after that. Devon had always thought that was why Connor had enjoyed being around ghosts rather than people, even dragons. He’d been alone with them for far too long when he’d been younger. Devon asked about Connie then. “She’s doing well. Happiness seems to surround her all the time. She and her mate have two children now. All of them over the age of being called children, I guess. But I see Connie a few times a year. We keep in touch.

” Devon asked him where she was living now. “Her mate, Barron Spencer, was left a castle from an aunt or something. They’re very happy in England, and I’m very happy for them all.” “Maybe since you have a home now, you could invite them here for Christmas. I would love to see her again. I know Spencer. He’s a good man too. Someone that I might well have chosen for her.” Connor said that he’d ask, but not to expect too much. “They’re settled then.” “Yes. You have no idea. They have about the most picture-perfect life of anyone I have ever met.” Connor laughed. “Whenever I talk to her, she’s forever telling me how lucky she is, and that I need to find myself a mate too. I tease her by telling her that there are no women around that treat me as well as she did.” When Devon was on his way home, he wondered what to do about Sara. She was going to have to be dealt with, and soon. But Bryce wanted him to hold off. To find out what sort of things she was going to have to pay for. Knowing that Davidson was still alive would thrill his grandma.

Blaze Queen’s Birds Of Prey Release Day & Giveaway

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Blaze and her warrior sisters had been around for several millennia, their time of fighting in wars and conquering kingdoms now a distant memory. Before Queen Dante passed, she’d graced her prized warriors—the falcon, hawk, eagle, phoenix, vulture, and owl—with humanity as well as immortality.

Blaze, a hawk, had done many things in her immortal life. Now, making toys was a pastime she enjoyed. However, the owner of the print shop that made the blueprints for her designs had not only ripped her off but several other companies by giving them faulty blueprints and keeping the correct ones for himself to profit from. Blaze had caught the defect before she had put her project into production, the other firms hadn’t been so lucky and had lost millions. Given the opportunity, Blaze purchased the print shop.

Bryson had worked for the print shop for ten years. However, he had no knowledge of the owner’s dirty dealings. When the new owner stepped in, he was happy to still have a job and was eager to help in any way he could. What he hadn’t expected was the jolt he received when he shook the new owner’s hand. In that moment he knew two things, she wasn’t human, and she was his mate.

 

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Mercy and her warrior sisters had been around for several millennia, their time of fighting in wars and conquering kingdoms now a distant memory. Before Queen Dante passed, she’d graced her prized warriors—the falcon, hawk, eagle, phoenix, vulture, and owl—with humanity as well as immortality. A gift that Mercy, to this day, was having difficulty coming to terms with. Living as a human was not what she was born to do, nor what she wanted to do. Being an immortal in a life she didn’t want left Mercy feeling angry at the world and turned her into a workaholic.

As an intervention, Blaze arranged an extended vacation and guilted her into taking it. She made all the arrangements and wouldn’t tell Mercy where she was going, just to be at the airport and do as she was told.

Joel Oliver needed this job. Finances were tight, and Blaze said all he had to do was chauffer a rich woman around town. What he would receive would catch him up on the mound of bills piling up and keep the roof over his—and his thirteen-year-old daughter, Miley’s—head for a few months longer. Miley was in a wheelchair—and as a result, had a lot of medical bills—but he loved her more than his own life. However, Joel was about to bite off more than he could chew.

The woman was gorgeous, and he found her snarky, hateful, attitude amusing until she interfered with how he was raising his daughter. Now, all bets were off.

Mercy would normally laugh in the man’s face for his hurtful remarks, but for some reason, her heart shattered instead. After a night of the most mind-blowing sex she could’ve imagined, he was treating her like it all meant nothing…. She had just realized he was her mate, and he hated her….

 

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Prologue
The castle was going down, thanks wholly to her birds. Queen Dante sat upon her horse and watched as stone after stone crumbled to the ground. In a matter of moments, not only were the walls to the fort destroyed, but the king inside his castle was dead as well. Turning her mount, she headed back to the encampment to ready herself for the long ride home. The birds joined her not a half-hour later, their large bodies covered in dust and blood. “You have done well, my darlings.” They could understand her and she them, but no one else could. She had made them what they were, and she would be the only one to control them. “Have you fed well on his dying cattle? How does it serve a man to have his food dying? His people, they were fed no better, I saw.” The falcon—she had never named them—told her that the people were headed west. In a few months, maybe less, they would all be dead too. It bothered them when the people suffered because of the king or queen of the castle, but it was to be. Dante could not care for any more in her own keep. No one would attack her keep. If they tried, she knew them to be too stupid or too drunk on their own mead. She had her birds, all of them bigger than life, made large by the magic that she gave them. Looking at them as they landed around her, forever keeping her safe, she wondered why she had not thought of it sooner when her king was still alive.

“I would have set you upon him. You could have eaten him for your dinner. Though I suspect that it would have given you a great deal of belly pains.” The hawk told her that she was lucky he had died the way he had. That she would have killed him the first time he’d drawn back. No one would harm her again. “Yes, I guess that you would have. But I suffered greatly when he was living. No children to give me comfort in my old age. Though they might have been just like him, and that would have been too much to bear.” She would never marry again. Love wasn’t something she searched for. Not that she didn’t have someone to warm her bed on occasion, but it was nice to be able to send them on their way when she had finished with them. Her heart belonged to no one, and she would not submit to another man taking to her bed by force. All would be well—no one would threaten to come and take over her home. It was a safe place for all. The hawk used her beak to put delicate things upon the backs of the others. There was aplenty this time—barrels of smoked meats; pottery that they would use like it wasn’t worth a king’s gold. They raided the castle each time they conquered. Hawk was the best at getting in and out before they took the place to the grounds.

The eagle took off toward home. She would let the people know that Dante was returning simply by showing up. They would have a feast this night. The food upon the eagle’s back would feed them for many days. The barrels of spices found hoarded in the lower levels of the castle, would go a long way toward helping them trade for what they did not grow.

The phoenix, by far the most deadly of her birds, shed her feathers in anticipation of getting new ones. After a battle she would begin anew, each time getting stronger, and her feathers, brilliant now, would be brighter still. She could flame a fire so hot that stone would crumble under a man’s feet. The ground would no longer hold a seed within its belly to produce food, and she could kill a man with a single breath so that there would be nothing left of his body. Dante loaded the last of her things onto the back of the owl. She might be small, she had always thought, but she could carry more than her own weight. And she could pick up her horse, used to flying through the sky like a bird himself, and take him back to the castle as well. He would be fed and groomed before Dante ever landed on the ground. The vulture squawked at her and she turned to look at the two men there. They looked as if they might have been about to kill her, but the sight of such large birds had thrown them off their duty. In no time at all the vulture snapped both of them up and ate them down. A gruesome sight, but one that filled her heart with joy. She was safe again. The vulture took off too once she was loaded up. “Well, my falcon, it is just you and I left.” She told her that she was still armed. “Yes, well, probably not too bad of an idea seeing that they nearly shot us.” The falcon laid her body to the ground. She was the only one that was fitted with a seat, one that Dante rode on. Scouring the area, Dante, as always, made sure that the place she’d camped in was as neat and clean as she’d found it—sometimes in better shape. As she climbed on the back of her bird, she held her breath. “I do hate the height. I should have thought this through when I turned you into my warriors.

” Her laughter, should there has been someone around to hear it, might have caused them to think her insane. “Homeward, my love, and we shall eat well tonight.” She took no one with her on her battles except the birds. That was why she believed, her people were so loyal to her—she protected them, fed them better than she did herself, and made sure that there was plenty for them to trade and share for things that she did not provide for them. The soil was rich and would give forth a bounty like no other gardens. Flowers grew that were woven into pretty things and traded. There was a smithy available, as well as a doctor who doubled as a dentist. They had even acquired a gravedigger, who also made markers. A single merchant came by often, and his wagon, filled when he arrived, would be nearly empty when he left. With him came the latest news, and any posts that he had been asked to bring to the people. He would also, for a small coin, take out letters for the next time he was in the keep of a relative or friend. And today, there was such a missive. But it was for her, from someone that she’d hoped never to hear from again— the king of all the lands, who ruled the area around the seas, including where she lived. He was the only man that she answered to, though it wasn’t with any kind of happiness on her part.

After the others were settled down and the food that had been brought put into storage, she sat down and wasn’t surprised that the falcon came to see her. The room that she was in—the throne room, for lack of a better term—had no roof, and six perches for the birds when they wished to see her. Otherwise, they sat upon the top of the castle turrets, watching for anything that might befall them. “I am to wed. The king of all the lands, he has decided that my castle is the best there is, and he will marry me himself.” The falcon asked about his castle. “He says that it will be his son’s, which he does not have as yet. His last five wives only gave him daughters, from what I have heard, and they did not last long afterward.” The falcon asked her what she would do. Dante knew what would happen to her should he come here—he would kill her. Being in her fortieth summer, she was much too old to bear any children, and he would do better with a younger bride. One that could birth him the sons that he wanted. “He will kill me. We both know that. And you six will kill him or be killed. I worry so much for the people here too.” Dante thought of several plans and threw them out. It was in her head that if she should die, then she would do so on her own terms. “I will need a day to think about this. In the meantime, he says that he will be here in the new year. That will give us a month to provide for the people and make sure that they are not harmed.” ~*~ Dante worked as hard as the rest of her people. With her hair up in a rag, she didn’t look any different than any of the other men and women that toiled with her.

There was much to be done in the little time that they’d been allotted. Today they were drying all the beef and goat meat they had. It would last them for several months—where she was sending them for safety, they’d need that extra time. Long enough for them to breed more of their cattle and goats so there would always be food for them to eat. “What of the dried herbs that are left, my lady? There are barrels of it packed away for the trip. Shall we put them in bags to go?” She shook her head. “There will be no more barrels to use until the morn. What shall we do?” “Leave them. There is very little, correct?” The man said that there wasn’t enough for a good strong stew. “Good. They will think that you all died off from lack of planning, and that will keep you safe for a longer time. Leave it for them so that when the keep and castle are in ruin, the king will understand why.” Not that anyone was going to be coming to the castle to live, she thought. There were things in motion that would make sure that everything here was gone well before the lands were walked upon again. She looked to the sky when a dark shadow fell over her. Her hawk was making her way to the village that Dante had set up. Long ago, Dante had purchased lands far from where she was now and put them in the name of Mercy Dante. She knew so much about all their futures that it made her so sad to know that she’d never been there to see it happen. “My lady?” She looked at her man of arms, a man that had very little work to do but was brave and true to her. “We have plenty of things to go on the next load if you have a desire to send it on. Do you still wish for some of the armed men to go with them this time?

I’m to understand that we’re to fell trees for homes.” “Yes, that would be good. How many men can you spare today?” He told her all that she had. “Then send them on. I know that some of you are frightened to ride the birds, but you should have no fear. They would no more harm you than they would me.” He nodded and looked at her hawk. “I shall send you all on her. She is the most gentle of the six of them.” The carrier had been fashioned a week ago. It had upset her that it had taken so long to get it right, but it was safe now, and that was all she wanted. There were only a few short weeks to get the people gone from here with all that would keep them safe. Now all she had to do was make sure that the birds didn’t know the last of her plans. The platform had been made from several drawbridges from castles that they’d taken over. She had known that saving them would be helpful, but it had taken a great deal more work than she’d expected to put them together and have her fishermen weave a netting to carry it with. After several trials and failures, the carrier worked. Loading up the men on the first run of people, she noticed that they had put the several men that were afraid of the ride in the middle. One of them, a hardy man otherwise, had been knocked out with much wine. It had been funny to all around that it had taken so little of the wine to do that to him. But they didn’t know that she’d given him a bit of magic to help him travel. All was well when her hawk took off with the several dozen men to start on the homes that would be needed. Barrels would be next.

They had been sealed by the magic that would keep them well preserved. The other birds, her warriors for all time, had been taking jewels and other items to a cave that she had also covered in magic. It would help the people of the new village for as long as they lived, well beyond her body being anything but dust. Dante watched as several more people were taken to the new village. She would allow them to name their new place, so long as it would never be attached to the name of the castle. That would be bad for them and would bring much trouble onto their heads. When her hawk landed, she went to ask how things were progressing. “Well, my lady. They were no more off the platform for seconds when they started to work. I believe that you were good to get them started on this. ‘Tis only late winter, so they should be able to have a few of the buildings up before the rest are moved.” Dante agreed with her. No one else could understand the birds but her. It had, she knew, kept everyone safe all these years. “I can only make two trips there and back, my lady. ‘Tis not a long way by the way we fly, but the pack is heavy. Please forgive me for that.” “You have nothing to be sorry for, my bird of prey. You have done one more than I had hoped for this day. And when the others have finished their tasks for me in carrying away the riches and other things that they will need, then it will take no time at all to move the rest. Nay, you have done well this day in taking the men, and then the food to feed them while there.” Her hawk, who would someday be called Blaze, bowed before her.

Stacking up the loads that would be going on the platforms, she could see that they’d be taking away the last of it only the day before the king was to arrive. Dante was glad now that she had such good people working for her. They had asked nothing as to why they were doing this but had done it for her when in reality, it was all for them and her birds. Dante knew that the king would never make it to her keep. His ship and all his bounty would be deep in the waters he would try to cross to kill her and take her castle. The man was a fool to think that she would easily do what he wanted. But her plan still needed to be carried out…there would be other kings who thought to claim her land. Wiping at a tear, she looked around the keep she’d worked so hard to keep everyone safe in. It was then that she saw her son. Duncan was everything that she was and more. Each time she saw her son she would give him a little more of herself, teach him something of running a castle. He knew what he was to her, and that Mary was doing her a great favor in keeping him safe. Duncan would be a greater king than she ever was a queen, which was how it should be. She was glad now that she’d told him that he was to be mated to one of her birds. Leaving him to his work, she entered the castle to see what else was there that she could easily live without. There was very little left as it was, but she moved from room to room to make sure that nothing was left behind of any value. The only thing that she could see in the great room was the painting of herself. Dante wished so many times that she could have put her son’s portrait there with hers, but it was not to be. It would have been foolhardy to think that she’d be able to keep him safe if she was to let it be known that he’d been born to her.

Other kingdoms would have done a great many things to have captured him to bring her to heel. Dante would do anything to keep him safe, including submitting to a man again—a thing that she never wanted to do again in her lifetime. “I shall give this to our falcon.” She turned her head enough to find Duncan behind her and the doors closed to anyone walking around. “She will be a great person, I think. Sour to many except the one that she will love.” “You have seen this?” Duncan said that he’d seen a great many things. “Well, you know as well as I that it might not turn out the way we see it. There can be changes, you know.” “This I am aware of. As well as you not living past when the last person is taken from here.” She turned to look at him then, trying to see just what he was seeing. “I shall forever miss you, Mother.” It was the first time he’d called her that. Her heart, so tender of late, felt like it would burst into tears at all that would be gone in so short a time. Hugging him to her, she could feel that his body was getting stronger daily. He knew how to work, and did it without complaint. “I have been writing a book. It is just for you, my son. You will know things that I have known for some time. It will replenish the riches that I have put aside for you. Also how to keep the birds safe should they need it.” He nodded. “I will give it to Mary on the day that you travel.. I do not want the others to know that you are my son, even after all is finished here.”

“They will only know me as a man that you trusted. But I will need to tell them at some point. This you know as well as I. I will be their king when they need me.” She nodded, tears flowing quickly now. “Mother, you do know that I will take care that they are as safe as you made them here?” “I do, my son. I know that better than you could. You are not anything like your father, a cruel and terrible man. When you marry, and you will, I want you to know that she will only love you if you give her your heart. It’s important that you do that for her.” He said that he would. “Let her strength help you when you know that you are not armed to do it on your own. She will love you more and respect you forever for that.” “Will she be stronger than me, Mother?” Dante told him that she was sure of it. “Then I will be for her what you have been for these people—a person of worth. I promise you I will also protect her forever.” “That is all that anyone can do for their mate, my child.” He hugged her, something that neither of them were able to do often. “I shall miss you, Duncan, much more than I could ever explain to you. Go forth, protect all the people of your kingdom, and do what I say. Love your mate more than anyone, including yourself, and the two of you will be able to move mountains.”

Ryan The Sons Of Crosby Release Day

Kathi BartonLeave a comment

 

Melody Harmony had had a rough start. Mel had lost her parents young, and she fell in love hard and fast only to lose both her new husband and her unborn child to a drunk driver. As a result, Mel didn’t have much use for many people.

Mel loved kayaking on the river. On her morning run, she found a floater and called it into her friend at the sheriff’s office. The mayor showed up instead and cut the body loose and proceeded to fire her and her friend for their troubles.

Ryan Crosby was one of the two remaining Crosby brothers who hadn’t found their mates. When good friend and family, Jamie Nash, told Ryan his friend Mel was in need of a good attorney, Ryan was more than happy to help.

But when Mel showed up for the meeting, expecting to get things underway with the attorney, she was floored when his handshake nearly took her to her knees. The man uttered several times that they were mates. She wasn’t entirely sure what that entailed, but she was sure she wanted no part of it.

With the mayor harassing her daily, and a new mate sniffing around, Mel had some decisions to make fast. The only problem was, it might be too late to do anything about either one of them….

 

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Spencer Graham had been trying to get a hold of Jason Crosby for weeks, but he didn’t seem to answer emails, mail or the telephone. She had an idea that would make them a great deal of money, but she needed him to invest in her project before it was too late. So, barging into his home at 4 a. m. was the only solution as far as she was concerned. She didn’t, however, expect him to answer the door naked and proposition her as soon as she walked in the door. Spencer did the only thing that came natural to her, she knocked him on his ass….

Jason Crosby was nearly two thousand years old, and in all his days as a vampire, he’d never seen anyone quite like her, not that he thought that was a good thing. He didn’t. She was his mate, and he was only going the tolerate her because he had to….

 

Chase Crosby didn’t know what he wanted right now. He was trying to get a grip on who his new mate was. He was told she was an ice dragon, but that wasn’t right either, she was a protector of the ice dragons. He had so many questions, and all he could do was sit there while she was locked away in his freezer to recover from her injuries.

Emerald was a warrior, and she had no idea what she was going to do with a mate. Even though the vampire appealed to her, she was worried the people chasing her would hurt him or his family to get to her, and she couldn’t allow that.

A Homeland Security Agent had gone rogue and he was after Emerald. He didn’t know exactly who or what she was, but he was going to prove she’d been around for centuries, and it didn’t matter who he had to go through to get to her.

 

Elliot knew the little boy, Cody, was in trouble. When he found the boy hiding out in his greenhouse, he could see that he was starving and battered. The boy’s little dog didn’t look like he was faring any better. When the boy’s father, Duncan, busted down the door of the greenhouse, Elliot had had enough.

Hannah didn’t have much use for her idiot brother, Duncan. And when she heard her brother had murdered his wife, and her nephew Cody was on the run from his father, she wasn’t surprised. She was surprised, however, and elated to find out her sister, Julia, was alive. Julia’s slimy ex-husband, Nathan, had Hannah believing Julia was dead.

Elliot was sent to bring Hannah back. Nathan had learned that Julia had left town and taking Hannah would be his leverage to make Julia do as he wanted. Elliot knew Nathan was on his way, and they had to hurry to keep Nathan from finding her. What he wasn’t expecting to find was his mate.

Hannah had had enough of men telling her what to do and finding out Elliot was a vampire didn’t make the situation any easier. He would take it slow and tread softly, or she would stake him, simple as that.

Finding out Nathan and Duncan had banned together spelled trouble for everyone. Even though Hannah was now immortal, Elliot still worried about her because she could still be hurt, and no one touched his mate if they wanted to live.

 

 

 

Misty Quartermain met Sean Crosby in college. One night, before they’d met, he’d saved her from a vicious vampire attack and after that they become close friends. He’d shared his family secrets with her and took a little of her blood so that they’d always share a connection. Sean knew Misty wasn’t his mate, but he’d always felt protective of her. A few years later, when Misty and her family were in trouble and on the run, Sean enlisted his family to come to their aid.

Grayson Crosby had always been somewhat of a loner. He mostly kept to himself but was there for the family when they needed him. Sean said he needed help to keep his college friend safe so Grayson was there for him, maybe not enthusiastically, but there. He heard Sean making the family introductions and came out of the kitchen. His beast suddenly had the poor woman backed into the wall.

“You said that she knows all about us?” Sean said that she did and that he was terrifying her. “Yeah, I know, but my beast, he won’t let me go enough to help her.”

“Well, let me help you then. I’m sick of men running over me.” Misty doubled up her fist and hit Grayson square in the nose. Then, when he was going back, she swung her leg around and did a round house slap with her foot to his head. He went to the floor in a thud, breaking the end table behind him.

 

Melody Harmony had had a rough start. Mel had lost her parents young, and she fell in love hard and fast only to lose both her new husband and her unborn child to a drunk driver. As a result, Mel didn’t have much use for many people.

Mel loved kayaking on the river. On her morning run, she found a floater and called it into her friend at the sheriff’s office. The mayor showed up instead and cut the body loose and proceeded to fire her and her friend for their troubles.

Ryan Crosby was one of the two remaining Crosby brothers who hadn’t found their mates. When good friend and family, Jamie Nash, told Ryan his friend Mel was in need of a good attorney, Ryan was more than happy to help.

But when Mel showed up for the meeting, expecting to get things underway with the attorney, she was floored when his handshake nearly took her to her knees. The man uttered several times that they were mates. She wasn’t entirely sure what that entailed, but she was sure she wanted no part of it.

With the mayor harassing her daily, and a new mate sniffing around, Mel had some decisions to make fast. The only problem was, it might be too late to do anything about either one of them….

 

 

 

The Sons of Crosby Series
1.Jason http://amzn.to/2rBDG5A
2.Chase  http://amzn.to/2BcTznZ
3.Elliot https://amzn.to/2y7mPMm
4.Grayson https://amzn.to/2zGRO0E

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teri Bellville

Joyce Mirabello

Kate Fetzer

Leigh Smoak

Ann Ivey

Donna Steppig

Heather Angalet

Anna Russell

Kris Queroz

Jessica Foufos

 

If you have not gotten your prize please contact my PA Denise at denisek0319@gmail.com  

Happy Reading,

 

Homer watched the young miss. He’d not learned her name on this journey and hadn’t asked her. She was a great deal stronger, not just physically but also mentally, than he’d been led to believe. She didn’t talk all that much either. That, he thought, was sad. Someone had hurt her badly. The walking wasn’t so bad. He’d have to give her a little strength towards the end of the day, but not overly much. Twice she’d fallen. He’d bent to help her up, but she was up and going again in no time. “Why am I going here? Do you know?” He told her that he didn’t. That he’d only been there to escort her to the Crosby family. “I have a feeling we’re close. The thing, this mark, it’s getting itchy. Like it’s doing something to my insides.” “May I see it?” She nodded and lifted up her shirt for him to see. Homer knew that she wasn’t able to see it well. He told her what he observed. “It’s bigger, my lady. And in full color. Before it was just a tree. Today it is the colorful tree that Queen Killian has on her own crown.” “I’ll not ask you again ‘why me.’ I’m guessing that your answer will be no different than it was before.”

He only smiled at her. “I’m on the run, as you probably have guessed. I knew why before I fell a while back, but no longer. I think I hurt my head. Do you know my name?” “I do not.” She nodded and continued walking. “Do you know anything about your past? How you were hurt that first day I saw you, miss?” “Nope. I have these little…I guess you could call them little thoughts on what happened, but they’re there and gone too fast for me to catch. My dreams, as you know, are bad ones. But almost as soon as I wake, they’re not there for me to analyze any longer.” He knew that too. Her screams of terror had awakened him and Sky every night since they’d started out. “Do you suppose that I’m a bad person and the police are after me?” “Nay, I do not. The mark on you shows that you have a good heart, or the lady Killian would never have given you such. You must believe that you have a good soul too.”

She didn’t say anything more, so he didn’t either. There were things about her that he could have told her, things that he’d figured out on his own. Homer considered himself a good judge of character, and he was sure that he wasn’t wrong on what he’d observed about the young woman. If he didn’t miss his bet, she was of faerie blood. Homer also thought that she was perhaps in a pretty high position as a faerie, like perhaps a child of royalty and something else. He’d not quite gotten what the other part of her might be, but he had a feeling that she was stronger than he even thought that she might be. He’d also noticed when she didn’t care for something that they’d cooked, it would change. Meat would be added to whatever they’d found while they were looking. Sky had noticed that she could bring things to her when she might need them.

Then there was the packet she wore around her waist. It was a great deal like his own pockets—putting things in it, no matter the size or the weight, would not slow him down. Also, he had the ability to put a great many things in his pocket that he could pull out when he needed them, such as the table they were using to have their meal on. She knew her herbs as well. Even when they might be buried deep in a thorn bush for protection, she’d be able to locate them with nary a nick to her hands. He’d also saw that she thanked the good earth for what it had given her. Homer thought that she might not even know that she did it, her voice lower than that of a cricket rubbing his legs. Setting up their little camp, he made sure he used the magic that he’d been gifted so long ago that he could not remember who had given it to him. Putting a spell around the three of them, he knew that they’d all be safe for the night. “Do you know much about the people in Ohio that I’m to go to? I mean, other than that they’re vampires?” He said that he’d heard only through Mother Earth that they’d be the nicest people. “One of them, I think, will come to mean something to me. A mate. I don’t know what to think about that.” “You don’t care much for vampires?” She said that she didn’t have any idea. “Then what makes you think that you’d not like to be mated to one of them?” “I think it’s the simple fact that I had no say in it.” She turned on her side and looked at him.

The ground around her seemed to glow in that moment, and he was a little feared about that. He didn’t know why, but her magic—or whatever it was— seemed to be gearing up for something. Or maybe she was coming in to her own. “Do you believe me?” “I was thinking of something a mite too long there, miss. Can you tell me what it is you were asking me about?” She told him again. “I don’t know about all that. The queen, she’d not be sending you there unless she knew you’d be safe. And I was just thinking on how, not only is your mark a good deal prettier, but you seem to be having a bit more magic surrounding you too. Can you do me a favor, miss? Can you dig your fingers into the ground and tell me what it is you feel?” Her fingers glowed as they were buried deeper in the nice warm dirt. As it— whatever the glow was—moved up her arm to her face, he could see that she was enjoying whatever she felt. Not only that, but she seemed to be getting brighter for doing it. “There’s a town nearby that is gearing up for a day of fun. Everyone is making something to take to the picnic. There is a fire too, a large one that is roasting a pig.

I can almost smell the meat as it sizzles and pops to get done.” He nodded, keeping his thoughts to himself while she searched. “I’m seeing the family now, the one that you said I was to find. The Crosbys. There are a good many of them, aren’t there? Some of them, however, are not vampires, but more.” “I don’t know who you might be seeing, but there are a few of them that are special, even to those of us that work and live in the woodlands. There is the king and queen of dragons. I know of her, Emerald Crosby. She is said to be as old as any stone or tree that lives around here. One of the couples is the leader of their kiss. His name, I think, is
Jason. He’s a powerful vampire, but one that deals out justice with a good hand.

He has a group of vampires that answer to them. Also, the prince and princess of the faeries. They are very strong.” She asked him why he knew so much about them. “Around these parts all the earth knows about them. And all the faeries and brownies about. The trees told me that they’ve never been so cared for before. Also, the princess of the woodland creatures, Fairaday, she lives there. Have you heard of her?” “I don’t think so, but there is something there.” He nodded. “I think that we’re about to get a visitor. One of the Crosbys, I think.” When the young miss looked in the direction they’d been headed these past days, she stood up. Homer could see deep into the woods because of what he was, regardless of the time of night, and could see no one as yet. It wasn’t until Sky, his best friend and faerie, came to stand on his shoulder that he could see the man as he came at them. “Hello.” Homer moved to stand next to the young miss. The man, he thought older than him by a few hundred years, looked at them all before he smiled. “I’m Franklin Crosby. You’ve made it.” “We’re on Crosby land?” He said that they had been for a couple of days now, but he had to make sure. “I can understand that. The miss here, she was to be brought here for you to protect. The ladies, are they around so that I can introduce her to them? Queen Emerald and Queen Killian, they’re expecting her.”

“We’re all expecting her now. There is a man about—his name eludes me at the moment, but it’ll come to me. He’s a man of worth, I’m told, but he is down on his luck.” Homer thanked him. “Jefferson. His name is Jefferson Quinn. Don’t know much more than what I told you. But Emerald, she wants you to watch out for him. He’s going to need help.” Most humans did in Homer’s opinion. Homer cleaned up their mess. He’d been taught that you leave a place cleaner than you found it. That was a motto to live by. Taking out a few seeds, he planted some trees and two flowers. They’d be growing up to be fine trees even before he got too far away. His magic was something that few had, the ability to grow a full tree in a matter of tics on the clock he had in his rooms. Lord Franklin talked a great deal. It was hard for him to keep up with the large vampire. But the young miss didn’t seem to be having any such difficulties. When Sky landed on his shoulder, he asked her if she was all right. “I am. The young woman, her name is Brook. I don’t know her last, but that is what the faerie Rain said. She is my sister. We were brought to the queen on the same day.” Homer was created the same way. However, because he’d fallen from his blossom, he’d become a brownie and not a faerie. He was bigger than any faerie because of that, and he didn’t fly all that much. “She is faerie as well, Lady Brook. But because her father was a leader of a tiger leap, and her mother a faerie female in the human world, Brook has powers that we’ve not seen before.” A tiger and a faerie were her parents?

With her father being a leader of his leap, he would have had special powers to begin with. Mated to a faerie, it would have only enhanced both their magic. The child before them, Brook, she would be even more powerful than her sires.
He was proud as could be to be able to watch over someone so great as this one would become. ~*~ Sean knew that she wasn’t his mate. That only left Ryan to be mated with her. He didn’t know if he was more disappointed than he was happy for his brother. As he helped Jason moving things around in the front of his house, Sean asked Jason what he thought about her. “I don’t know, to be honest. I was thinking more about how she might fit in with us. Homer said that she has a faerie mother with a leap leader tiger as her dad.” He’d heard that too. “Are you going to help me with this, or do you want me to leave you to it?” After getting the couch where he thought it should go, Sean looked around. He was glad now that he’d gotten three of the sofas rather than just one of them and a love seat. The room needed a great deal of furniture. “It looks good, don’t you think?” Jason said that he did, and asked what else they had to do.

“Just the dining room table and chairs. I have already had help getting it off the truck. You’ll be happy to know that it’s on the deck outside the room. Brandy picked it out, so if you think it’s not right for the room, don’t tell her.” “I won’t.” Even before they took it into the house, Jason said that he loved it. “I especially love that it has leaves to go in it even though it’s huge now. And having this nice hutch in here means that setting the table will be easier too.” “I do too. Brandy said that it would match well, yet not be too much.” They got the table and the fourteen chairs in quickly. There were other things to be brought in, but nothing like the furniture. Jason helped him bring in the boxes of dishware that he’d picked out, as well as the new kitchen appliances, including a coffee and tea maker. With the help bringing it in, he had more time to unpack the stuff. “Thanks, Jason. I didn’t know what I was going to do when Ryan bailed on me.” “He and Misty are doing well together as partners, don’t you think? I mean, even if they weren’t taking on the cases at the shelter, they’d still be busy. Did you know that we’re going to help expand the building and the other areas so that they can have more room? And a place just for children.” Sean said that was what Elliot had told him. “She’s not your mate, then?” “No. When she and Homer arrived I was in the yard with Dad. Dad wants to make sure that the fire doesn’t go out overnight with the hog we’re roasting for tomorrow.” Jason said that he’d hired some pack to come in and chop some wood for it. “Joey, their master, was asking me the other day if we had some extra work for his pack. I guess they’re trying to get some money gathered up for some of them to go to college. Did you know that?” “I didn’t. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll have to find them more things to do if that’s the case.” Jason would too. He had a big heart since he’d met and married Jewel. She’d had to knock him around a little, but Sean was sure that Jason had gotten the point. He was a better man for it. “They’re coming to the picnic too. I’ve also invited that guy that’s been around town. Do you know any more about him?”
“I have a little information, but not a great deal. I’m sure that Emerald told you all that I knew.”

He said that she had, but it wasn’t much. “No. Dad has talked to him a few times. He said that he doesn’t talk much. I think that it’s because Dad talks so much. His name is Quinn, by the way. First name is Jefferson. Last time I spoke to the women, they were doing a deep check on him. I don’t think that they’re going to find much. I have the feeling that whatever is going on with him, it’s not of his doing.” “I’ll let you know what I find out. I’m sure that you’re right about him. I just wish that he’d open up some about what it is that we can help him with.” Sean thought that was a good idea too, but he’d also learned over his life that there were some people that could not be rushed into anything. “I’ll expect you over to the house early tomorrow. I have to get those tables set up and all the chairs out. I don’t have any idea why she did it, but Jewel ordered two thousand chairs to be delivered today.” “Christ.” Jason laughed. Almost as soon as the last box was in the house, Jason said that he had to get going. It was great to have had the help with the furniture, but Sean was excited to get to set up the boxed stuff on his own. He started in the dining room to unbox the dinnerware set he’d purchased. Sean had had another home up until a week ago. He’d not gotten a very large one when he’d first bought a home. It had never occurred to him that he’d need a bigger one for a mate and children. Right now he had a lot of nieces and nephews, but his dad was forever telling them that the more he had in the way of grandchildren, the better. Sean wondered if Dad had been as mushy with their mom as he was his new wife Brandy. After Sean got the plates unwrapped from the bubble wrap, Ryan showed up with two large pizzas and a box knife.

Sean was glad to see him. He told Ryan that while it was fun unpacking in his home, he hadn’t thought of how much of a mess it would be. Together not only did they get the dishes in the cabinet where they belonged, but they managed to get the kitchen set up as well. Ryan spoke about what he’d done yesterday as they worked “I put a bid in on the Humphrey house yesterday. I don’t know if you bought this one in the hopes of having a big family, but that’s what I did with my new home.” Sean told him that was just what he’d done. “I wondered. Also, I did what you did. I had the pack go in to clean and paint my current house from top to bottom so that it can be sold quickly. If I get the other house, I’ll have them do the same. Jason was just telling us that we should help out the pack more. With all this going on, I think we should be able to generate a good deal of businesses with the lands that Jason was able to get for us.” “I was thinking that too. I did notice that he was having one of the two hotels that he bought from the bank renovated. He and Dad went over the place a few days ago, and it’s a solid building.”

He and Jason played around with the fridge and were trying to figure out how to hook up the water to make ice when Emerald entered the room. “Christ, don’t you ever knock?” In answer to his question, Emerald knocked her fist against his head. She was smiling when she did it, and Sean was thrilled when she didn’t knock his head off. He knew that she could, but perhaps she thought that he’d been frightened enough of her. He was too. All of them were afraid of all the women in the family. “I have something to tell you both. It’s to go no further than the two of you.” They both told her that she could trust them. “I know that, or you’d be shit out of luck. The woman, Brook, she’s not either of your mates. I’m sorry.” “I’m sorry too.” Sean was glad to hear that from Ryan. Even with the look of disappointment on his face, he smiled at Emerald. “If she’s not either of our mates, then won’t everyone be able to figure that out as soon as we’re in the room with her?” “Yes, but that’s not why I’m telling you this. I want you to keep a very close eye on her for me. Her magic—and there is a great deal of it—is yet untested, and might get out of hand.

She has been using it, but not very much. If you see her in a spot where you think she might need magic, you two are to help her out. I don’t want her blowing up the pack master.” Ryan asked if she was going to. “No, I was just using him as an example because I just left his home. Did you know that he is retiring soon from the police department? I only found out because the town is going to give him his retirement gift at the picnic.” “No. Do they have a replacement yet? I don’t want the job, but I would think that they’ve had plenty of time to find someone if they were able to get him a gift.” Emerald just stared at him. Sean smiled back at her. “All right. When you have your poker face on, I know that you know but are keeping it to yourself.” “That’s the plan. Will you keep an eye on her for me?” They both agreed that they would. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this as yet, but your house sold this morning, Ryan. The couple that bought it were in the agency when you called it in. After the agent showed them a couple of pictures that he had on hand, they bought it right away.

I guess that it only leaves Sean’s house now.” Sean told her what he had planned on doing with his old home. He was going to see if it could be used when businessmen came to town, or simply for visiting relatives as needed. Emerald asked him if he’d been able to empty it out yet. Nodding, Sean said that he’d take her through the old house later if she would meet him there. She told him that she might have someone to come in and have a look at it with them when they did. “There are several businessmen coming in from out of town on Monday. If you’re finished with it completely, I’ll have some of the pack go over to the warehouse and put some of those things in it for now, if that’s okay with you.” Sean asked Ryan if he might need some help. “I don’t think so, but I’ll keep that in mind. They won’t need much. I was going to put them in a hotel in Columbus, but this will be so much better. Thanks for doing this.” “My pleasure.” After she left, the two of them polished off the pizzas and sat around on the new furniture while watching television. Sean looked over at Ryan when he’d not spoken for a while. Asking him if he was all right, Ryan nodded, then shook his head. “I was actually looking forward to having a mate. I didn’t think that I’d be this disappointed about Brook not being her.” Sean said that he’d had the same feelings when he’d met her yesterday. “I wonder what she’s doing here then? I mean, we were both prepared for her to be with one of us.

But I have a feeling that she’s here for another man, don’t you?” “I guess so. I mean, why would Emerald go to all this trouble if…?” Sean thought of something else. “Do you suppose that she’s telling you that she’s not your mate to throw you off? I mean, that would be just like her, don’t you think? To get you all disappointed, only to surprise you with her being the one?” “Nah. I mean, she could, I guess, but for some reason I don’t think that’s it. Why would she make sure that we both watch over her? I mean, that would get one of us killed if she were our mate.” There was that, something that he’d forgotten about—the jealousy that would be between the six of them. “Also, I’ve been thinking about this guy Quinn. Do you suppose that he’d going to take over the job of police captain? We don’t know that much about him either.” They talked about the different people that could take over the job in the station house. He even brought up that Brook might be the one that took the position. It could happen. As they joked and kidded about it more, Sean ordered four more pizzas. It was very hard work putting a home together. Smiling, he was glad that the place would deliver. Neither of them were ready to move off their respective seats.

 

 

Josiah McCray Bruin Release Day & Giveaway

Kathi BartonLeave a comment

Meadow Springs had been locked away in a hospital for several years. At sixteen she was a victim and sole survivor of the mass murder of her family. The ordeal had left her semi-comatose for a long time. Since she was the only survivor and couldn’t talk, the police tried to pin the murders on her, but it didn’t stick.

Josiah McCray was there the day that Meadow was brought to their home to go into hiding. The beautiful blonde in the wheelchair was a shadow of the woman she should be. All Josiah saw was his mate, and he loved her no matter what.

The killer was still out there, and Meadow had his identity locked inside her mind and the killer knew it. Everyone previously in charge of her care was now dead. There was no way that was a coincidence.

Meadow was a loose end, the one that got away. There was no way the killer could let her live….

 

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Demi Morgan was good at keeping her identity hidden, so when an attorney found her at a restaurant she owned, she was more than a little angry. Very few people knew how to find her, and she took her privacy seriously. His news that her mother had passed, several months ago, did nothing for her. Her family had never wanted her, and in turn she didn’t want them either. He knew her family, and he understood her feelings, but the will had to be read.

Reluctantly, Demi made her arrangements to travel back to her hometown in Ohio. Her intentions were to either decide to stay, or to sell the home her grandmother had left her. Living in the same town as her brother and sister didn’t appeal to her at all. When her brother, Nathan, coldcocked her in the elevator, an unlikely savior came to her rescue, Madden McCray.

Demi wanted to hire Madden to be her bodyguard while she was in town. Madden said as much as he could use the money, he told her he already had a job, but his brother, Lucian could use the work.

Lucian wanted to meet Demi before he accepted the job, and when her scent hit him between the eyes, his bear rolled over him—she was his mate. But reality hit him like a freight train. She had money—a lot of money—and he and his family had always been dirt poor. He wanted his mate too—more than anything, but he’d have to get past his pride first….

 

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Prologue
Doctor Walker watched the young woman. She’d been in his care for nearly six years now, and there had been no improvement at all in her state of mind. He had to either send her to a nursing home soon or to a home that would keep her as unknown and as safe as he’d done. Judson was sure that someone somewhere would find her here, and that just wouldn’t do—not in a constant catatonic state like she had been in. The poor girl had suffered like no one else ever had. He remembered the day that she’d been brought to his facility. It had been a cold day in December—the day after Christmas, as a matter of fact. Meadow had been in the hospital before coming here, her wounds too great to think that she was even going to live. But she had, defying all odds against her. The police and everyone else that had had anything to do with her trial had said that she’d brutally murdered her entire family, the staff, as well as the family dog.

But Meadow had been found unfit to stand trial, her state of mind making it so that she couldn’t answer their questions or help figure out what exactly had happened that day if she wasn’t the one that had killed them all. According to teachers, as well as neighbors, Meadow had been a fun, loving sixteen-year-old. She’d just gotten her driver’s license the day before. She didn’t have anyone that disliked her, nor did she have any boyfriends. And certainly, no lovers. The police had gone to the home of the Springs, a very prominent family in their hometown, to see where the father was. He’d been scheduled to chair a meeting, one that would start the process of next year’s holiday celebration. When they found the door open, it was called in as a simple breaking and entering. But it was worse. So much worse. “Judson, it’s that newspaperman again. He is asking the delivery people if he can sneak in and get a picture of the young woman. I have had him run off several times, but he just won’t give up.” His nurse of nearly forty years, and his wife of just a little less—Margaret—looked in the direction that he’d been looking. “She’s such a delicate thing, isn’t she? I can’t imagine why anyone in the world would think that she had the ability to do such brutality to someone, especially her own family. Not like they said had happened.” Not everyone knew the entire story. He did. He had been the doctor on call that day for the police. Acting coroner as well. Going into the house, knowing that it was going to be messy, he wasn’t prepared for what he’d seen. No one was, apparently, as there were several hardened police officers in the bushes losing their breakfast. After telling his wife to run the newspaperman off then call the police, Judson headed to his office. There he reached into his lower drawer and pulled out the false bottom. Only his wife knew that it was there, the file that he’d put together just after Meadow had come to his facility. Along with the pictures that he’d taken the day of the murders.

The butler had answered the door, from what they could tell. His body had been mutilated beyond knowing if he was male or female, except for the uniform that he wore. Blood was sprayed from the front door all the way up ten of the stairs in the house. After whoever had killed him with a single bullet to the heart, they had finished up by taking an axe to his face and chest. Then they moved through the house to the kitchen. The rest of the staff was there, as it was still early yet. Both the upstairs maids, as well as the cook and gardener, had been murdered in the kitchen. Their bodies not as unrecognizable as the butler’s, but almost as bad. The murderer had taken his time with the butler but seemed rushed with the other staff. The dog, a new puppy for Meadow’s brother, had been found with his neck broken, and his head had been split by tearing his mouth open until bones were shattered. Flipping through the pictures of the man and his wife, he went to the ones of the children. Mostly he was focused on Meadow and her brother. She had tried to save the little boy.

To him, it was as obvious as the nose on his face. They were found in his bed. The six-year-old had been murdered too, his small body not large enough for the damage that had been done to it. There was nothing left of his face, nothing of his chest. And in her effort to save him, Meadow had been cut badly, almost fatally. Covered in her brother’s blood, the ax had nearly taken her hand off; her blood loss was what had nearly killed her. Her head had been cut like the others, but to this day, Judson believed that the murderer had been nearly caught. By someone coming to the door? The police, perhaps? It would be unknown until Meadow was able to tell them. Nothing was final until she was able to point her finger at someone and say they had done this horrific crime. For as long as he lived, Judson would never believe that a child-like Meadow had been would ever have been able to do such a thing. Right now, he had to work on getting Meadow to a facility to hide her away again. With that idiot news reporter coming around now, he would eventually find a way in. Or worse yet, take her out of here to question her himself. It had happened before. When Meadow had been in the hospital, a person came in saying that he was her uncle—some distant one that only had just heard about the deaths. He hadn’t been there—Judson might have been a little more on his toes by asking for identification. But as it was, the man got all the way to the front of the hospital, with her unconscious, before someone thought that he might not have been who he said he was.

They had transferred her to his facility almost a week later when Meadow could be moved without causing any wounds to open again. “Judson, come here please.” His wife’s voice sounded strained. He hurriedly put his things away and rushed to see what was happening. Margaret pointed in the direction of where Meadow was sitting. “See it?” “No, I’m sorry love, I don’t—” Then it hit him. She was sitting there with her head tilted back, smiling. “She is enjoying the sunlight. Have you ever seen her do that before?”

“No. I stared at her just like you did and knew there was something different about her, but not what it was until I saw the smile. She’s smiling, Judson.” For the last two years, they’d been keeping her progress unknown to anyone but the two of them. They had nursing staff, of course. But since they owned several of this sort of home for people, they continued to rotate them in and out so that no one knew too much about any one patient. That was the way the people who had hired them liked it. Privacy was a huge thing. But they had stopped giving information even to her attorney. Margaret was the first person to have grown a dislike to the man. She called him oily. He hadn’t had any feelings for him one way or the other. But then once, when he’d come to see them about some other matter, he asked if they had any naked pictures of Meadow. “Why would we have those? She wears clothing while she’s here.” He asked if she took a shower or not. “Of course she does. We don’t allow our patients to be unclean. What sort of question is that?” “I just asked. You don’t have to get your binders in a knot. Christ.” After that the attorney, Lee Shiloh, didn’t come by anymore. The checks that they were getting came in the mail now. But he did want progress reports, every week. And they’d been saying the same thing all along—no change. And would continue to say that even after today. “We’ll have to get her moved, and soon,” Margaret said that she agreed. “I’ll look around for an out of the way nursing home and arrange to have her sent there. The only person we have to contact is her doctor.”

Doctor of Behavioral Health Max Little had been by to see the young woman regularly. He also brought her a birthday card and gift each year, and made sure that she had chocolate, something they had discovered, soon after he started bringing the confection, that Meadow didn’t care for. Doctor Little had said to give it to the staff or other patients, as his wife was the one that had picked it out year after year. And even after Mrs. Little passed away, Doctor Little still brought the candy. It was a habit now, he supposed. Making a call to the doctor, he asked about the sunlight in her face. Then he questioned how she might make a trip so that no one knew it was her or even noticed a person leaving the building. Judson told him about both the newspaperman and the attorney. “I think she’d be all right with it. So long as she’s not tied down on a bed. That frightens her something terrible.” They both knew why. She’d been tied up when they’d brought her into the hospital, and she had only wanted her brother with her. “Also, if you know of a nice place that she could go, that would be good too. My wife and I will certainly miss her, but I think that in light of recent events, we have to get her out of here.” “Yes, I agree. And as a matter of fact, I do know of a place. It’s in Ohio where all this began, as you know. I just made a trip that way a couple of weeks ago for their grand reopening of their facility. Nice place, Judson. You might even travel with Meadow so that you can have a look around.

Take the missus and make a vacation of it for a few days. I’m sure that we can figure out a billing so that it’s all taken from the estate. Plus, she might need someone there that she knows. You never know about patients like Meadow, and what their reactions might be.” “Yes, I remember when she was brought here. It was a mess until we found her little stuffed dog.” She had outgrown the dog now, but he’d kept it. If she remembered something, it might help her to have something of her brother’s. That’s who they figured it belonged to. “I’ll start packing up her things now. If you could see if they have the room and if they can accommodate her things, that would be wonderful.” “You just pack her up. I’ll call them right now to see what sort of arrangements I can make with them. It’s a very lovely place. From my understanding, the entire town is getting a makeover.” They closed the connection and he went to see who was left on staff. Meadow would be moved in the darkness of night. Her things would be packed up by him and Margaret, and by the next shift change, there would be no trace of the young woman. That was the way it had to be done. There was still a great deal of— “Margaret, what’s the date?” She had to look on her cell phone. “Oh my. That’s why we’re having that reporter around. The anniversary is coming up soon. They’ll want to get pictures of her and make up some sort of story like they have spoken to her. I’ll have to remind Max of that when he calls us later.” He did call back later, and after talking about the home in Ohio, he said that tonight would be the best time. As much as he hated to sedate her, after her progress from today, they knew that would be the only way to slip her into a body bag—to look as if someone had died—and ship her out. It was the only way and the safest way for her to be moved. “Margaret, we’re going to go out tonight too. Head to Ohio to be with Meadow when she wakes up.

” She thought that was a good idea. “We don’t have anyone here but her at the moment, and all the staff is on to other places as of the end of the shift tonight at eleven. We won’t even be missed for a few days. The cleaning crew comes in tomorrow, and by then, the place will be empty. Of everything.” “All right. I’ll pack us up an overnight bag. Also, we should act a little teary for her leaving us if we want that newspaper jerk to believe that she has passed away.” He thought that a splendid idea. “I have them on occasion. We’ll take the flight out then?” “Yes, it’s being arranged for us.” She nodded, and after she left him to go pack, he started gathering everything up that was related to Meadow. There wouldn’t even be a scrap of paper left behind, and Max was going to see to Meadow being loaded himself. Judson just hoped that things went well for her—that she’d continue to want to have the sun on her face, and that she smiled once in a while. At this point in her life, it was more than they could have hoped for. ~*~ Josiah nearly fell back when he saw the woman getting out of the car. She was beautiful. Long blonde hair that was braided and hung down her back. Her hands and face, from what he could see, were as delicate looking as she looked. And when they started helping her into the house, carrying her up the stairs, he stared at her for several minutes before someone hit him in the face.

“We can’t get her in the house if you’re going to stand there with your tongue hanging out.” Demi glared harder when he didn’t move. “Did you hear me? Get the fuck out of my way.” “She’s afraid,” Demi told him that they all were. “No, of you. Not afraid really but scared all the same, and she’s my mate.” “No fucking shit?” He didn’t know how to answer that in an affirmative way, so just moved out of the way and then knelt in front of her wheelchair after the door was closed behind her. “Josiah, are you sure? I mean, I don’t know the how of it, but could this be just that you’re worried for her?” “No, she’s my mate.” He put his hand on hers and pulled his back when she did. “She doesn’t like to be touched, does she? Gonna make it kind of hard for us, don’t you think?” He was nervous too, and making jokes was his way of dealing with it. Or talking too much too fast. Putting out his hand, he wanted to tell her who she was to him, but he only waited, telling her what was going on instead of what was on his mind. “He told my brother that you saw him. Saw his face.” She turned and looked at him, and Josiah was startled speechless by the color of her eyes. “You’re very beautiful, and the color of your eyes reminds me of the coldest ice on the pond by our home.

They’re not blue, but not gray either. Just beautiful.” He wondered if she could understand him. No one had told him the extent of her injuries, only that she didn’t talk and that she wouldn’t walk, even though the muscles in her legs were worked every day. When she finally put her hand into his, Josiah felt like he’d won the grand prize at work. She didn’t smile or look at him, but Josiah was all right with this for now. “We’re going to protect you here. This is my brother and his wife’s home.” Demi said that she’d been here before. “Really? When? I mean, surely that will help, won’t it?” “I don’t know, Josiah. It was a long time ago. She came here for Christmas a few times with her parents. I wouldn’t have remembered her except for seeing the color of her eyes. I think her fathers were the same color.” Meadow looked at Demi and then back at him. It was the first time that he felt like they’d made a connection, their eyes locking in some sort of understanding of each other. Josiah told Meadow everything that he could remember from Lucian, and he didn’t try and sugar coat it. She was his mate, and while he couldn’t lie to her, he wasn’t going to have her not be aware of what was going on. Wheeling her into the living room, he sat on the floor in front of her, needing to be as close to her as he could. When Moses said that dinner was ready, he sat with Meadow in the living room. None of them knew what she ate or how she ate it. Was she able to get a shower alone? Dress herself? The only persons they could ask were dead.

“We’ll just have to learn this as we go, I guess. I’ve never taken care of anyone in a wheelchair before, so this will be a first for all of us.” She looked away from him, and his heart hurt a bit. But she was looking at his mom, who had a tray in her hands. “Are you hungry? I am too. Let’s see what my mom brought us.” “She’s a lovely little thing, isn’t she, Josiah? My goodness, and to have gone through too much to get to you.” He’d not thought of it that way and told his mom that. “Well, she has to be strong. I mean, someone tried to kill her, and did her entire family. She might need you to help her, but I’d stay out of her way if she has it in her head to take care of business.” Meadow watched him as he put the tray over her lap. He started to stand and help her get up in the chair better, but she did it on her own. That was when he saw the scars on her arm, the ones on her wrist as well. She was looking at him when he turned to look at her face. “I’m sorry that you were hurt like this.” She didn’t say anything but did continue to stare at him. “When I find this guy, I’m going to rip his head off and feed it to him. Just so we’re clear on that. Unless, of course, you want to do it. I’m all for that as well. You’ll see that our parents raised us to think that if someone involved can do the job, male or female, then they should be the ones put in charge.” She ate her mashed potatoes first.

The gravy she scooped off and set it aside. There were green beans, which she ate too, but not the broccoli nor the carrots. The sliced ham was eaten, but not with her fork. Instead, she picked it up with her fingers and ate it that way. Josiah was laughing when she pushed the corn onto her spoon and ate it with the gravy that she’d set aside. “I’ll have to remember that. No broccoli or carrots and you like gravy over your vegetables, not the potatoes.” Josiah handed her his ham sandwich to see if she would eat it too. It took her a moment to figure it out—her hand, the left one, didn’t work nearly as well as the right. Dad bought them in pie later, and a glass of juice for Meadow. She had to use a straw—again, her hand did not work well enough to hold up a heavy glass. Josiah thought about holding it for her but knew that she’d tell him to fuck off if she could. Josiah had a feeling that she’d been doing for herself for a long time now. He also figured out that she didn’t care for sweets, at least what was brought to them. No apple nor cherry pie, but she did eat the whipped cream off one of the slices. And when he set an orange on her tray, Meadow looked at it as if she hadn’t any idea what it was. “When we were little, there wasn’t much money at home. All our gifts were hand made by my mom, and we did the same for the two of them.” He started to peel the orange for her, just to give her a taste if he could. “At Christmas we each got an orange, a rare treat for us, and an apple in our stocking. Mom still does that to this day, an apple and an orange at Christmas. Can you smell it?” She didn’t answer him, of course, but she did take a small bite of the fruit. When she opened her mouth again, he put small pieces up for her to take from him. He didn’t want her to get it all over her. Sharing the fruit with her, he told her about himself, what he was doing, and the house that he’d just gotten.

“It’s being renovated now. I have to think if I want an elevator in it or not. If we don’t have one yet, we’ll have one put in. I’ll have to ask Demi and Lucian, of course— they’re helping us out with the work being done on the house.” He thought about his car too, and that it was much too small for a wheelchair. “We’ll go shopping for a bigger car when this is over. That guy, he’s going to get his ass kicked all over the place when he gets around to coming here.” “I’d like to show her a picture, Josiah. There are six pictures in her file, all of them men that were talked to after the murders. And since she couldn’t be asked, no one ever pointed the finger at anyone else but her.” Demi handed it to him. “She’s doing things with you that she hadn’t before. She would never let anyone help her, and she wasn’t to be touched. You’ve done both in the few minutes that you’ve been together. If you’d show her the picture, we’ll see who we might be dealing with. I’m only going to show her one at a time, however.” He looked at his mate. She was staring at Demi in a familiar way. Josiah had a feeling that’s what she did to everyone she first met, trying to place them in her mind until she either trusted them or didn’t. “This is a picture of one of the men that might be coming here, Meadow.” She looked at him. “I’m going to show you a picture of someone. I don’t know what you’ll do if this is the man you saw in your home that night, but it would help us to know who we’re dealing with, all right?”

Nothing. But it was no less than he expected. Slowly he raised the picture up from in front of him to let her see a little of it at a time. When he had it upright, she only stared at it then turned away again. Josiah thought that could mean anything. He looked at Demi, asking her about what sort of reaction she was expecting. “I have no idea. But I guess I thought that if it was him, she’d be afraid. Or at the very least show fear on her face.” Josiah said that might not happen either, even after showing her all of them. “No. It might not, but we have to try. With a name, we can certainly figure out what sort of person we’re dealing with. If he has a record or not. What his MO might be like on other murders. He was just too good at the murders. It was too planned for him to have never done this before. Right?” “I guess.” Meadow put out her hand and Demi handed her the picture again. But she looked at it and put it down before putting out her hand again. Demi put the next picture in her hand. Neither of them said a word. “I don’t think that’s him either. And I think that she understands us more than that doctor told us she did. He seemed to think she was sort of brain-damaged. I don’t think so.” “I think you’re right.” The third picture got a reaction, but not what they had expected. Demi told him that it was of the doctor, Doctor Judson Little. Meadow had smiled. Then the fourth and fifth picture got no reaction. “Last one. It doesn’t mean that it’s the last one I’ll show her, but the last one in her file. A Doctor Little gathered these up, the file said when the trial was over.”

Meadow screamed. It brought his entire family running when she did that. Her tears tore at Josiah, and he tried to hold her. But she wasn’t having any of it. He was ready to give up on trying when his dad said that he had to hold her, to show her that they would never harm her. So, fighting his way past her fists and hands, he put his arms around her, lifted her from the chair, and held her in his arms. Sitting with her on the couch, he held her until she calmed down. It hurt him to have done this to her, but at least it was over. Demi said that they had a name now, one that they could work with, and it would go a long way in catching the bastard. When he wrapped a coverlet over them both, Josiah talked softly to Meadow, telling her how sorry he was that he’d done that. He stopped when he heard her whisper. “Don’t move, you fucking cunt. I will kill you like the rest of them if you do.” Josiah called for Lucian via their link and told him what she was saying.

Demi and he came in with a recorder and handed it to Josiah. “You should have seen them bleeding. The blood will be on the walls for the rest of your very short life, do you hear me? When I’m finished here, I’m going to rob this house of everything here. Then set it on fire. You never know what sort of DNA I might have left behind.” “She’s talking about the murderer. He talked to her.” Demi said that it appeared so. “Do you think that he talked to the rest of the victims? That he didn’t care if he talked to them because he knew they were all going to die?” “He didn’t burn down the house.” He looked at Meadow when she spoke to him. “He didn’t burn down the house because someone knocked on the door. He was frightened off. Someone scared him into leaving me there to die. I wish that he’d killed me.” Meadow started crying, and he held her tightly in his arms. She was aware, his mind told him. Not only that, but she was remembering things since she was shown the picture. Or, she remembered all along and now trusted that she was going to get help. Either way, he wasn’t sure this was a good thing. Now she would be able to point the finger, as everyone had wanted her to do from the beginning. “I don’t want you to die, Meadow.

You’re my mate. Do you know what that means?” She shook her head and he smiled. “I’ll tell you, but you have to look at me.” She did, and he was slightly afraid. Meadow didn’t like to be told what to do. Laughing, he told her that he was only joking, but he did like looking at her. She laid her head back on his shoulder then and said nothing more. “You’re my other half. My wife, by our laws. I won’t make you do anything, ever, that you don’t want to do, but I will protect you with my life. All my family will.” She looked at him then and told him that her family hadn’t been able to protect her and her little brother. “No, and I’m profoundly sorry about that. But we’re bears, and we protect what is our family.” “I lost them all that night. Everyone that meant anything to me. But Danny, he was only six years old. He’d be fourteen now if that man hadn’t killed him.” Josiah said he wouldn’t wish for her to die. “I’m alone. No matter what you say, I’m all alone, and everyone believes that I killed them all.”

“I don’t.” Meadow looked at him, and Josiah could see that she wasn’t sure to believe him or not. “I know that you didn’t kill them, Meadow. My family believes that as well. And we’re going to make sure that the world knows it too.” “How?” Josiah told her that he didn’t know, hadn’t a clue, but he’d do it. “I don’t know why he did that to us. Why? Why would he kill my family? They were good to everyone.” “I don’t know, honey. But I will promise you this. When we find him, and we will, I’ll straight up ask him. Not that it matters.” She asked him why. “Because the fucker is going to die anyway. You’ll see.”

 

 

Tristan The Manning Dragons Release Blitz & Giveaway

Kathi BartonLeave a comment

 

Wynter Dawn had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. She had gone to the mall to get a well-deserved birthday present for her mother when all hell broke loose. She had taken four bullets herself, but too many others had died. Now, the police were trying to say she was an accomplice and pin the blame for the others’ deaths on her. They were going for the death penalty.

Tristan Manning had never met Wynter before, but when Xavier rescued her from the courthouse, Tristan was called to Cooper’s home. When he arrived, the dragon tattoo, the one he’d had since birth, came alive and was clawing his way forward. The pain was excruciating. When he entered the room, Wynter was screaming in pain as her dragon tattoo was doing the same. When the dragons came forth in a burst of magic, both Tristan and Wynter passed out.

Eric had been tasked centuries ago with killing any and all newborn dragons before the eggs could hatch. But somehow he’d missed one and he needed to rectify that there would be hell to pay….

 

 

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Cooper Manning and his five brothers were true dragons. Centuries ago, when the humans had turned on their kind, their father sacrificed himself to save his sons by casting a powerful spell which allowed them to walk among the humans. Even centuries later, Cooper couldn’t seem to let go of the past and despised most humans.

Carson Langley was exhausted. After being forced to work thirty-six hours straight, she unwittingly complained to the new plant owner, now she knew she was fired. There was nothing left to do but go home and cry about it later.

Cooper was sent by his brother to retrieve the helpful woman and bring her back to the plant, and he wasn’t happy about it either. It didn’t help that when she answered the door she shared his sour mood, and when he touched her hand, the magic that surged between them meant only one thing—she was his other half, and she was human…. Cooper was seeing red.

Winnie wasn’t happy with Cooper at all. She had only done as ordered and had spent five years in prison because of it. Cooper was supposed to protect her, but he didn’t. Now the dragon king wanted her to protect them all from the new slayers in town? How was that fair? The sooner she completed her mission, the sooner she could move on and leave it all behind her.

Hudson had been told that Cooper had hired a man by the name of Wendall. He just wanted to meet him so he could measure his worth, but when the door opened, the woman behind it was writhing in pain. He only meant to help her, but the moment he touched her, her pain became his as well.

Winnie had been appointed by the Dragon Board to be their protector long before last names were given. She had hunted her first, expecting to be paid by coin, but was rewarded instead with magic and a title. She didn’t have time to take a mate, much less a Manning. She had too much work to do.

The word “no” wasn’t in Hudson’s vocabulary. Winnie was his mate and he’d do whatever he had to claim her.

With slayers lurking in the shadows, Winnie has her hands full, and can’t let a new mate distract her. She had to remain on her toes or all would be lost….

Lincoln figured the new artist in town would be one of their mates. He’d heard she was a real ball buster and thought that maybe she would be Tristan’s mate because Tristan said he couldn’t handle that. But when Ginger introduced him to her sister, Grace, he knew from the moment he touched her she was meant for him.

Grace was in shock. Garrett had taken her into his office when the show was still going on and told her that she had all but one of her paintings sold, including the twelve that she’d given him permission to sell. Twice now she’d had to put her head between her knees, which wasn’t easy with the dress she had on, in order to not pass out. Sold all but one? How was that even possible?

Lincoln sat at her feet on the hem of her dress. His attempt to calm her shaky nerves had her about addled, and when Grace suddenly stood, the dress ripped from shoulder to hip. Standing there trying to get herself covered, she felt her temper snap. Now, what was she supposed to do? Grace didn’t know whether to kick him or beg him to help her.

 

 

 

Micky had been alone since her fiancé had taken his own life, just days before they were to be married. The note he’d left had put all the blame on her. It was in his handwriting, but she wasn’t so sure that it was a suicide. She had her suspicions that it was staged to look that way, but the police were in a hurry to close the case and that was the end of it. So, Micky had packed up and moved to a small town in Ohio, took employment as a cashier in a grocery store, and kept to herself. She liked it better that way. No one else would die because of her.

Lucas Manning hated hospitals. His dragon hated hospitals even more. Only days after becoming an immortal, during a bank robbery, he took a bullet to the chest. By all rights, he should have died. His doctor told him he was under too much stress as well and if he didn’t do something about it, immortal or not, he could be in some serious trouble.

Taking the doctor’s advice to heart, Lucas decided to make some serious changes in his life. Eating healthier was a smart change, so he went shopping.

When the man put his things on the line she was in, Micky told herself that she was going to quit at the end of her shift. There wasn’t any point in working much longer. And the sooner she got moved, the sooner— She realized that the man was staring at her oddly.

“I’m sorry. Did you say something to me?” He shook his head and she started ringing up his things. A health nut came to mind when she rang up salad makings, coconut milk, and vitamins. When she was finished and told him how much it came to, he stared at her as if he’d never seen a woman before. “Are you all right?”

“I am now. What’s your name?” She pointed to her name badge, thinking that he was off his noodle. “My name is Lucas Manning, and you’re my mate.”

Micky could have gone her entire life without those words.

The Manning Dragons
Cooper http://amzn.to/2wrHvtu
Hudson http://amzn.to/2xqqpiR
Lincoln https://amzn.to/2H2lHxN
Lucas  https://amzn.to/2NHk9Zz
Tristan https://amzn.to/2XyhEMZ

 

 

 

 

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“Okay. I don’t understand, but I guess that’s all right too.” Winnie told her that her mom would be there soon. “You couldn’t just pop there and pop back here like you did for me? Nice that, but scary as fuck too.” “No, she’s in the car with Xavier. If I were to pop in, they’d have an accident. Not that it would hurt Hudson—he’s an immortal—but your mom might be hurt. Probably. I’d say that there is a ninety-nine percent chance—” “Shut up.” Winnie was having a blast. This was the third time that Wynter had told her to shut up. Winnie didn’t even mind. “Christ, of all the people I have to get tangled up with— Did they tell you that this sucker came up off my leg? Like it was begging to be petted? Who the fuck in their right mind would want to pet a fucking dragon?” “You sure do have a potty mouth. Do you kiss your mother with that?” Wynter just glared. “You’re also very good at that. Glaring, I mean. You might even be better at it than Carson.

She’s not as good as me, but she’s close to you.” “What are you?” Winnie sat down on the bed and touched the device that Wynter had on her ankle. When it fell off, while Winnie had hoped to distract the other woman, she just thanked her. “Now, again, what the hell are you? Something, I’m betting, that has you popping in and out of trouble all the time.” “Actually, I rarely pop in and out of shit. I usually just face it head-on. Something like you do.” Wynter said that she didn’t face anything. “Really? Okay then, tell me what happened on the night that you were arrested. Not the night, I guess, but when all those people were shot at the mall.” “No.” Winnie knew, but she thought that if Wynter told her, she might be able to find out why she’d been arrested. Something, though not likely, that she’d missed. “Don’t think that I didn’t notice that you didn’t tell me what you are.” “I am all.” Wynter nodded. “That’s it? You’re satisfied with me just telling you that I’m all? I have a feeling that you have about ten million questions right now.” “You say that you’re all. That guy, the attorney, he told me he was a dragon.

Okay, I’m a little stressed out right now, so let me ask you this. Will you prove to me that you’re all bad assed?” Winnie stood up. She could almost taste the other woman’s fear. Asking her not to run, she shifted to her true form. “Holy shit. You’re beautiful. And I’m betting that’s the point too—beauty to distract someone before you…. What? Blow them out of the water?” “You’re stressed out, I can feel it, yet you sound as calm as I am right now. Why?” Wynter laid down on the bed, careful to cover up the dragon. “We all know that he’s there. We might not know why he’s there or what he is right now, but we know about him.” “I have known all my life, so good for you. I didn’t know that he could come up off me.” She didn’t move, and Winnie felt a little sorry for her. “When I was a small child, about the time I started school, the other kids, they’d make fun of me. Even when I wore long pants to cover him up, it had gotten around that I was a freak. So, Mom, she homeschooled me until I was old enough to get out on my own.

I was going to be an attorney.” “I’m sorry about that too. There isn’t any reason that you couldn’t finish your education now. People will just think you’ve gotten a really amazing tattoo.” Wynter looked at her. “Well, whatever they want to think, you can tell them to shut up. You’ve been really good at that with me.” “I’m a convict, in the event you didn’t remember that. I’m going to be in so much trouble when they find out where I am.” She heard someone coming up the stairs. “Is that my—? Oh my God, it’s fucking moving. Up my leg and over my body.” Winnie tore the cover off Wynter’s leg and watched it climb up her ribs. It was digging its nails into her skin like it was using her flesh to help it move. And when the door flew open and hit the wall behind it, Tristan cried out too, falling to his knees, tearing off his shirt. Winnie watched as Tristan crawled to the bed, his hand stretched out and his dragon, which had been on his back, moving down his arm. Glancing at Wynter, Winnie saw that she was doing the same; her dragon was at her hand, his nose over her fingertips like he had consumed a part of her. As soon as they touched fingers the room exploded, and suddenly the two dragons left their bodies and were standing in the room. No one moved. Winnie had stayed when she’d been asked to by Wynter, and the dragons, a pair of them, turned and looked at her. After bowing before them, she saw them glance down at her sword. Putting it away, she apologized to them. “I hadn’t realized that I had pulled it, my lord and lady dragon.” Tristan and Wynter both were passed out. “Will they be all right?”

“Yes.” Their voices were the same too, blending together like only one of them was speaking. “They are our masters. We are their dragons. We have waited a great many years for her to be born and to survive life. They will rule us.” Cooper entered the room and they bowed before him. He looked clueless and terrified at the same time. When he sat in one of the chairs, Winnie wanted to laugh at him. But if she was honest with herself, she was just as clueless and terrified as he was. “They’re here.” She nodded, not sure what else to say to him. “I’ve read over the book. Sadie said that there had been a girl dragon born, but she was put under a spell that would keep her safe until a time when she could be ready to receive her mate. I’m assuming from the looks of things that Tristan is her mate.” “It would appear so. At least, the dragons came from them.” Kicking Tristan in the foot, Cooper told him to get up. “Shall I wake the young miss? I’d not kick her if I were you. She’s a tad on the stressed the fuck outside.” “So am I.” Tristan sat up and looked at the woman on the bed. “I had no idea what was going to happen when I got here. My dragon, he spoke to me. Freaked me out for a little bit, then I felt the need to come here. I’ll pay for the door.” Cooper looked at Winnie before speaking. “Winnie, the dragons—can you speak to them?” The dragons, again as one being, told him that they could speak well. He wasn’t sure if they were one being or two. Then the female spoke to him.

“We have been awaiting a great king and for the female to be born. We knew that you had been created, Lord Cooper, but the female, we had to wait for her to be born and for her to live. This is the seventh time that we have had a female born so that we could come to you.” She looked at Tristan then. “You are a great man, Tristan Manning. A good man for your mate too. You will, unlike others, have children that will repopulate the world with dragons. But sadly, they will never be as great or as large as the six of you.” Wynter woke up and moved back off the bed away from all of them. The female dragon moved to sit on the bed with her, but Wynter wasn’t having it. Standing up on her knees in the bed, she pointed her finger at them. “You just stay the fuck away from me. I don’t fucking know why you’re suddenly here— I’m fucking stressed out. I’m going to prison and I didn’t do anything, and now I have…there are two of you now, and I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do. You came from my body, damn it. Does anyone else find that to be fucking weird?” Tristan stood up off the floor and put his hand out to Wynter. “No. I don’t need any more shit going on. I could almost think that I’d rather be in prison right now than all this. Where is my mom?”

“I’m here, honey,” Winnie asked if they’d give her some time. While Carla held her daughter, Tristan looked as out of it as Wynter did. Instead of leaving when she told him to, he sat in the chair that Cooper had been in. “I have to stay. I don’t know what’s going on either, but I need to be here.” The dragons nodded at him. “They seem to think so too. I promise, if I freak out again, which I’m still wondering if I’m over the first time, I’ll yell for you. Also, if any more dragons come from us, I’m going to have a fucking stroke.” “We are the only two, my lord.” Winnie laughed when Tristan just stared at them. “They will be safe with us, Wendell the dragon protector.” Leaving them wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be. They were safe; she knew that for some reason, and her staying there, it wouldn’t make them any safer. Instead, she went to get answers. And she was sure that at some point, she’d have to hurt one of the dragons to get them to tell it all. Smiling, she thought that she might just hurt one of them for the fun of it. She so loved this family. Carson was pacing and Cooper was bent over the book that Sadie had given them. Xavier was the only one of them that looked relaxed and like he was having fun. She asked him what he was thinking about. “She’s not my mate. I have a feeling from just speaking to her once that she’s going to be hard on Tristan. Not that Tristan couldn’t handle her if she’s like the others—I’m sure that he could. But I can’t.” She cocked a brow at him and asked him why he thought that. “I’m delicate.” She smacked him on the shoulder and sat at the table.

The book and the pad of paper were shoved at her. Winnie shoved it right back at Cooper. She asked him what he’d figured out. “Nothing more than that she’s like us. Sort of like us, I mean. She was born a dragon and changed into a human, but she’s much more powerful than she looks. Her mother gave up her life for her by changing her into what she is now.

Her dad died sometime before she took Wynter to the safe home.” Winnie said that explained the footsteps disappearing in the snow. “I would guess that too. But that’s it. We’ve not found any more about her. There is nothing about her uniting with one of us and making two dragons, either. Can Wynter shift? I don’t know, because she’s denying having any kind of dragon in her. Can she do anything other than scream at us? I don’t know that either. There is nothing more here.” “We should have asked the dragons.” Everyone turned to Xavier. “I’m just saying they should know why they’re here. Also, they did say that they’ve tried this several times, to have Tristan and a mate to come together. I’m betting that they know just why they’re here and what they can do for us as a family.” “He’s right.” They started forward, to no doubt talk to the dragons, and Carson stopped them. Cooper asked her what she was doing. They needed answers. “Do you need them so badly at this very moment that you’re willing to scare that poor woman more? She had a lot of shit handed to her today. I doubt very much if she could handle much more without her having a stroke. Just let them settle, and then we’ll bombard them later.” She glared at Cooper when he started to push her aside. “Did that at all sound like it was a request? Did you think that I was kidding when I said, ‘let’s do it later’? I was not if you’re wondering. Sit your ass down and enjoy your family, before I make it so that you all are never able to have sex again.” They sat. Carson smiled at her. “Winnie, could you do me a favor and make sure these idiots don’t leave the table? I’m going to see about my baby and dinner. I’m guessing we’ll all be hungry in a little while.” Pulling out her sword, Winnie grinned at them all.

“Anyone want to try and get past me? Come on. It’ll be fun.” No one took her up on her offer. “Spoilsports.” ~*~ Tristan watched the dragons. They would answer his questions, which weren’t all that helpful to anyone, but he had to do something. Finally, after Wynter and Carla talked to each other for a while, Carla looked at him and smiled. Tristan smiled back. “We’ve been having some issues, I guess you could say,” Tristan told her that he could see that. “Oh no, the dragons are the least of our worries. I mean, it’s not to say that we’re not worried but…oh bother. I’m mucking this up.” “What she’s trying to say is that I’ve been trouble for her for a while now,” Carla told Wynter that she had not. “Well, I seem to have this dark cloud over me since I turned eighteen, and I can’t seem to get enough umbrellas to keep the black shit off my head.” “Wynter, there is no reason to be rude to the man. He looks as confused as we are.” Tristan smiled. “What is your name, young man? If you don’t mind me asking you that—I don’t mean to be rude.” So they were going to ignore the large dragons in the room. For now, he supposed, it was the best course of action. Clearing his throat, he put out his hand to Carla. She took it into her smaller and calloused one.

“I’m Tristan Manning. This is my brother Cooper and his wife Carson’s home. I have four other brothers, all of whom I believe you’ve met.” Carla told him that they had. “Good. And they told you, I’m assuming, that we’re dragons. The men are anyway. I’m so sorry about this.” “What do you have to be sorry for? About me being tossed out of college? Or about me being arrested for the murder of eight people at a mall? Could it because a dragon that has been on my flesh since I was born rose up off my leg? That it let your other brother pet him? Or could it—?” Carla told Wynter to behave. “Yes, ma’am, but you have to realize that I’m in over my head here. I’m a good person. Or I try to be. Why is all this crap going on?” “I would imagine that it has a great deal to do with what you are.” He looked at the dragons. “They’re a matched pair. And from what I’ve been told from my brothers, when yours was on your leg, it looked just like the one on my back. We, I guess you could say, were meant to be together.” “That is right, my lord. Since the beginning of the end of dragons, you were meant to be with a female that would be your match and mate in all things.” The female dragon laid her head down on the floor and the male joined her. “We have been waiting for generations for you, Wynter Snow. I think we were ready to give up hope that you’d ever be born.” “Great, I was born to be a screw up.”

Tristan laughed. “What do you find so funny? If they’re right, and at the moment I can’t see anything wrong with their logic, then we’re together. But I’m going to be spending the rest of my life behind bars, if they don’t put me to death instead.” “There will be no sentencing for any of those. I’ve spoken to my brother, and he said that you’re going to be exonerated for the mall incident, as well as what happened at the hospital.” She asked him what had gone on there. “You disappeared.” “Oh, yes, well, your brother freaked us all out with the dragon. Did they tell you that he rose up from my flesh so that he could pet him? What sort of fucked up shit is that?” She looked at her mom. “I’m sorry, Mom, but you have to agree—it’s messed up.” “I do agree. But what happens now? I mean, other than that the dragon is no longer a part of her.” The male dragon stood up. “Do you know what happens now? I don’t even know what to call you.” “We have no names as yet, my lady. We are just male and female dragon.” Wynter asked if they were to name them. “If you wish to name us that would be fine. But it does not matter to us. We both belong to the two of you. We are mates as well.” “Does this mean that I can’t shift into my dragon anymore?” That had only just occurred to him. And it would piss him off if he weren’t able to fly anymore. Male told him that he could. So could the young miss. “She’s able to be a dragon?” “Wait, wait, and wait. I don’t want to be a dragon. No offense to you guys, but I’m happy being the plain old human that I am.” Tristan told her that she wasn’t human, never had been. “Oh, but you’re wrong about that. I’m a human, damn it, and you’d better not be fucking around with me to make me anything else.”

“You’re immortal too.” He had no idea—insanity, he supposed—why he was aggravating Wynter like he was. She sure had a fine temper, and she was very expressive with her hands. Like the way she doubled up her fist at him. “You can’t hurt me.” “Why not?” He told her. “I’m not going to be your mate. It has nothing to do with this shit…stuff going on with the dragons, but I’m bad luck. I don’t even like to be around my mom so much—I don’t want her to be dragged into my trouble.” “I’m sure that it was all because you were going to meet me this way.” He didn’t even glance at the dragons, fearful that they’d tell him that that wasn’t it. “We’re going to get this all cleared up, and once we do, then you and I will live happily ever after.” “You’re certifiable; you know that, don’t you?” He grinned at her. “You’re not charming either. No matter how many other women have told you that. As a matter of fact, why don’t you go out and find one of them now? I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to see you.” “I’m not leaving you. We have a lot to talk about.” She said that she was done talking to him.

“I’m sorry that you feel that way, Wynter. But there are a great many things going on that we have to figure out. Like, why were you created with a dragon on your leg and not your back? Who were you parents? Where were they for all those decades before you were born? There are a great many things that we have to figure out. Plus, keeping you safe needs to be a priority—I don’t want anything to happen to you. For some reason, and I don’t know why we’ve never thought of this before, someone wants you to be in prison. To get you alone, perhaps? I don’t know. But it bears talking about.” Clara stood and so did Tristan. “I need to use the restroom. I don’t know that I’ll return here, because I think that Lord Manning is correct. You both need to talk things out. In the meantime, I’ll be making arrangements for a hotel or someplace that we can stay until we get those answers.” “I have a large house that we can all live in together.” Clara told him that was all right, but she could find something. “I insist. I can keep an eye on you both, and if Wynter wants, she can become her dragon. There is plenty of room for that too.” Clara left and Tristan stayed where he was. Wynter was jumpy enough without him lying on the bed with her like he wanted. Instead of talking to her about anything serious, he started telling her about himself. “I’ve been around for a very long time. When we were born, we were dragons; the world was a much different place than it is now. We, the dragons, blackened the skies when we were around. Helping out our human friends was easy for us.

Then they realized that we were worth much more dead than alive.” Wynter told him she was sorry. “Thank you. My mother, she’d been killed some months before my father gave his life for us to be human. And since then, we’ve been trying our best to blend in with humanity so they’d not kill us.” “I don’t understand any of this.” He said that he understood. They both looked at the dragons. “Do you really think it’s possible that I could turn into a dragon? Being that size would make people back off from me a little, don’t you think?”

“You’ll be much larger than them.” She looked at him. “Wynter, I know this is a great deal to throw at you, but we really do need some answers. Mostly it has to do with why you’re a dragon that no one told us about. Why are we paired with matching dragons? My head is overwhelmed with all this. I can’t imagine what is going through yours right now.” “My wound is healed. I’m betting if they remove this cast that I’ll be all right there as well. Is that part of the magic?” He nodded. “I’m terrified out of my mind right now. And all I can think about is you wrapping me up in your arms and holding me. Not that I’m asking you to do that, but I just need one thing to go normally. I really could use a dose of normal about now.” “I’m afraid that went out the door with yesterday’s wash.” They both laughed. “Come on downstairs and we’ll have something to eat, and talk. I’m sure that Winnie or Carson has the others tied to a chair or something to keep them away.” “I don’t have anything to wear but this gown from the hospital.” She looked down at herself.

“What I wouldn’t give for a nice thick pair of socks and some warm pants and a too large sweatshirt.” Before he could tell her to watch what she wished for, she was dressed in what she’d said. He had to admit, he thought, she certainly looked more comfy. When he started to tell her that she could do that, to change out of her outfit too, Wynter put her hand up. “I don’t want to talk about it. Nothing happened, all right? Please?” He nodded at her. “Good. I got dressed, and now I’m going to eat. I’m sure nothing will pop out of the kitchen in front of me, will it?” “I have no idea anymore.” She nodded and took his hand. The dragons said that they’d see them downstairs, as they needed to stretch their wings. “Do you want to watch them fly? It’s beautiful, and perhaps—” “No. There are no dragons. I’m visiting an old friend and I had a frightful dream, that’s all.” Tristan laughed and she grabbed his balls in her hand. “Don’t make me have to test that theory of yours about hurting you, buster. I’m fucking stressed out.” “Yes, ma’am.” Tristan walked behind her, thinking that he might just be as nutty as she was feeling. But Christ, she was beautiful, and her temper made her cheeks flush pink. He wondered if her nipples did the same. But he was smart enough to know not to say a word. Not until later, of course.

 

Kip The English Dragon & Giveaway

Kathi BartonLeave a comment

 

Dalton had barely survived the ambush. Her sister, Luann, had taken out a life insurance policy on her and had decided it was time to collect. Luann hadn’t counted on Dalton surviving the hitman’s attack.

Lord Kipling Newton, Duke of Winehammer Castle, watched his mate, Dalton, breathing from the hospital bed. He had just given her his blood to help her heal when the monitors started screaming. He thought his dragon’s blood had killed her for sure. Now she was resting and would recover.

Dalton wasn’t happy that all her choices had been taken from her. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Kip, it’s that she wasn’t asked, she’d told her grandmother. But Dalton was soon to discover that a few choices were the least of her worries. Her sister and brother were out for her blood.

Kip had his own issues to deal with. The only way to protect Dalton from his family was to marry her as soon as possible. Once she took the title of Duchess of Winehammer Castle, his parents couldn’t harm her, or could they?

Trouble had a way of finding them. Was the new love they now shared strong enough to survive the rough roads ahead? Find out in the final installment of the English Dragon Series—Kip.

 

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Danburn English is the ninth earl of the English castle. He and his dragon alter ego have been on this earth for a very long time. Danburn is accustom to his orders being followed to the letter, no questions asked, so when this feisty young woman bucks his authority he is beyond angry.
Kendrick Barrera can’t seem to get caught up. Every time she turns around, her sister is in trouble again. Now, because of her sister’s new mess, she’s being evicted and has nowhere to go.
Danburn’s intentions were to defend her honor, but when Kendrick intervenes, she steps in front of a punch intended for her mouthy landlord. Now Danburn has to step back and take a good long look at himself, and he doesn’t much like what he sees.
Kendrick doesn’t care for the overbearing lord of the manor and makes no bones about telling him so either. No one, especially him, is going to tell her what to do or how to act or dress.
There is something about the feisty woman that has touched Danburn’s heart. She has a rare honesty and bravery that has him take notice. A woman like that is hard to find and should be protected and cherished. The chemistry is there, they’ve both felt it, but controlling his mouth just might get in the way of winning Kendrick’s heart….

Cassie had just arrived in Danburn’s territory and she knew as a dragon she had to report to him. Whether she liked it or not, she’d gone from one ruling male, her father, to another. Being a female dragon, and unmated, she felt cursed for her lot.

Everette Welsh, Rett to his friends, was having a hard time making ends meet. He was a good attorney, but it seemed to do him little good. His good friend, Danburn, insisted he quit his job and come work for him. Rett had no intentions of taking Danburn up on his offer, but when his boss called him into his office and was demanding that he apologize for threatening a man who blackmailing him, the words “I quit” spilled from his mouth without thinking. However, once said, he felt better for it.

Rett found himself on the wrong end of a shotgun blast, and Cassie gave a bit of herself to save him. There were only three conditions of taking dragon’s blood that a human would survive, and the other two didn’t apply to him. Rett and Cassie were mates.

Only two things stood in their way: Rett’s obnoxious mother, and Cassie’s father, a lethal combination…

Quinn Langley knew her mother didn’t have long to live. Soon it would just be her and her little sister, Carmine. Nearly recuperated from her own injuries, Quinn knew the first order of business would be to find a job and get out of Danburn and Kendrick’s hair.

Danburn had invited his friends to his home to spend the holidays, and that included his good friend, Hanson McClain. Hanson’s parents had run off and left the estate in a shamble and near financial ruin. It had taken Hanson months to repair the damage, and he was ready for a break.

Quinn had no idea that her cousin, Kendrick, was mated to a dragon, and that she and her sister were the only humans in the house. And now, the handsome stranger, Hanson, also a dragon, had claimed that she was his mate. It was time to leave. The ever practical, Quinn didn’t want solutions just handed to her on a silver platter. She’d make it on her own. But in life things don’t always go as planned. Like it or not, Hanson’s parents were a problem she’d be forced to deal with, and she discovered her sister, Carmine, had abilities Quinn didn’t quite understand.

Thrust head first into a world of immortals, Quinn found she had a whole new set of problems. Now, the first order of business would be to protect her little sister and hopefully not die in the process.

The injured women in the bed, Emerald, had been poisoned with lead. Dana could smell it on her and he wondered why Danburn hadn’t. With Danburn being the king of the dragons he should have been able to smell it right off, or at least Dana thought so anyway. With the woman’s surly temper Dana should have left her there to suffer alone, but he could smell his mate on her. Since Em was an emerald dragon he deduced that his mate must be another gem to compliment his diamond.

Sapphire had been summoned with the rest of her sisters, Ruby and Opal, to Em’s side. The young girl, Carmine had powerful magic that could extract the lead from Em, but she wasn’t strong enough to get it all out on her own. The sisters would have to combine their magic with Carmine’s or Em wouldn’t survive.

Sapphire knew instantly that Dana was her mate and she wasn’t thrilled about it either. She and her sisters had been around for thousands of years, why did a mate have to muddy the waters now?

Dana wanted to take it slow. They had the rest of their lives to get to know each other. He wanted to court her and ease into the relationship. They were both immortal, so time was on their side, right? Melville James had other ideas. If he couldn’t have the emerald dragon he’d just take the sapphire. After all, her mate hadn’t claimed her yet, and by dragon law that made her easy pickings.

 

Griffith was a very old and powerful dragon and just the opposite of his twin James. The only thing they had in common was their looks, they were identical. James, although first born and immortal, didn’t inherit the dragon gene and had held that over Griff’s head their entire lives. Anything Griff got, James felt it should be his instead.

Griff found his mate, Lilac, by chance. She had just barely escaped James’s evil clutches, and the moment she saw Griff she was terrified that they were one and the same.

Lilac was a water faerie and daughter to the queen of faeries which made her queen of the water, but that was a secret she would have to keep to herself. That knowledge in the wrong hands could spell disaster, especially if James found out. Lilac was slow to trust, but Griff made it difficult not to love him. And when Griff suddenly disappeared, would he be able to forgive her for holding such a secret? Trust worked both ways and that was one huge secret.

 

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Kip watched Dalton breathing. She was hooked up to a lot of monitors still, but she was doing very well now. Just seconds after he’d given her his blood, he thought for sure he’d been too late. Every single thing in the room had gone off like a testing zone for sound. Not only had he been afraid, but the nurse that had brought him in the room had shoved him back, then called for the crash cart. It was over as quickly as it had started. Not only was the heart monitor going again, it was going at a steady beep, as well as a little faster. But her doctor assured everyone that it was normal, and they happily went back to their jobs. Christ, he was sure that he’d aged a hundred years in those few seconds. Dalton still had the heart monitor on, and a few times over the last ten days it had gone off. Not because it had stopped, but because it had sped up in a way that had startled all of them. However, in between the fast and the really fast, she was doing well. “Mr. Newton, I was wondering something.” He’d gotten to know her uncle Eric very well over the last few days. But it was her grandparents that he’d fallen in love with more. Charley, her grandda, was who he was sitting with today. “When you shift, what happens to yourself?

I mean, you’re still there, aren’t you? Please don’t think I’m being nosey. I just have never had the opportunity to have a straight forward conversation with a dragon before.” “I don’t think that at all. And Charley, you’ve talked to a great many dragons over the last week.” The man grinned hugely, and that made Kip smile too. “I’m still there. I can talk to my dragon, but I can’t make him do anything if he feels his way will keep me, or anyone I love, safer. I want you to know that as soon as I gave Dalton my blood, you three became my family as well.” “Thank you for that. I started to call you young man, but I’m thinking that you’re a great deal older than myself and my wife.” Kip told them that he was, a great deal so, and left it at that. “Yes. My granddaughter, she means the world to us. Even before she was born, we didn’t want to have much to do with the other two. I’m sure you’ll meet them soon enough. I don’t want to color your opinion of them, but I think we might have done that already.” “I have a few friends. You’ve met Kendrick and her husband Danburn. They have contacts in very high places.” Charley nodded and said government. “No. Higher than even that. The queen of faeries, Kassian. She can keep tabs on people all over the world if need be. She’s been keeping us updated on not only where the other two are, but also how close they’re getting to us. Cassie and the others too. They have connections beyond what the government will ever be able to top.

” “I’m glad to hear that.” Charley looked over at Dalton and continued. “When she was no more than about four, her brother locked her in a closet. I found out about it later, when she was already out of it. He had it in his head that no one would miss her if he starved her to death. I suppose in a way he might have been right in relation to those at the house.

No one cared for her there. I digress. She was locked in there for over a week. When Louis went to check on her, to see how weak she’d gotten, not only was she just fine, but she also knocked him on his butt with a ball bat that had been stored in there. You see, unbeknownst to her family, after the first time he’d done this to her, she began storing food in different areas of the house. Not only that, but water and something to use as a bathroom. Dalton, she learns fast. A hard lesson to be sure, but I think—I hope—it’s what made her be able to survive what happened to her the other day.” Charley excused himself when he started sobbing again. He had been doing that a great deal, also saying he wished that he’d been there more for her when she’d needed someone. Kip looked at the young woman that he’d be spending the rest of his life with and moved his chair closer to her bed. Taking her hand into his, he kissed the back of it, careful of the IV, and told her what he knew so far about her family “We have a good lead on this James person. I’ve not told your family as yet. I don’t want them to feel like they’ve failed you more than they already think they have. He was hired by Luann. Cassie believes that she’s taken out an insurance policy on you, and that they’ll be able to collect as soon as you’re dead.” Kip wasn’t alarmed when her hand squeezed his; she’d done this before. But he looked at her hand as he continued to speak to her.

“We think that they’ll be showing up any day now to see what happened in that you’re not dead.” “I’m a good deal stronger than they think.” He looked at Dalton when she spoke. It was only just above a whisper, but he could hear her fine. “Where am I?” “Ohio State Hospital. You’ve been here for a little over a week.” She nodded, but still hadn’t opened her eyes. “I’m supposed to let the staff know when you’re awake. Do you want me to do that?” “Not yet. I have a few questions of my own. Is Uncle Eric here?” He told her that he was, as well as her grandparents. “Do I know you? The reason I ask is, you’re holding my hand like I do, and I feel strangely attracted to you.” He laughed. “You don’t know me as yet. I’m Kip Newton. I gave you a little—well, a lot of my blood to save you.” She said he wasn’t human. “No, I’m not. Dragon.” She must have drifted off for a few minutes, but he had time to wait for her to wake again. When he was sure that she was out for a little while longer, he contacted Griff, his best friend of all the dragons that he loved. Have you found out anything else about her family? Griff told him that the grandparents were broke more than he’d been told in the first place. You mean they’re more than just behind on a few payments on their credit cards? They’re set to lose their home. Or were. Danburn took care of that for them today. I tried to do it myself, but he said that he didn’t want them to stress any more than they already are. Kip said that he’d thank him later. Also, this hotel is not something that they can afford. If I were you, I’d put them up in your house.

Everything has been taken care of—and so you know, you don’t want to ask. But the house is completely furnished, and all of Dalton’s things have been moved in as well. The faeries needed something to do, and you were top on their list.
I’ll make sure that I put them out something sweet for this. If you could take care of the hotel for me, as well as take their things to my home, I’d be grateful. Anything else? He knew that there was. Griff would tell him too, but in his own way. They’re on their way. I kind of figured that out on my own. But what aren’t you wanting to tell me? About fifteen years ago, your mate was in a car accident. No one has been able to put the blame on her siblings, but that is what the police are saying—off the record, of course. He asked him what had happened that made him mention it now. Someone saved her. She shouldn’t have been able to survive it—the accident had her running up under a semi’s rear. By all rights, she should have lost her head. Not only was she all right, but she was awake and coherent. We were all wondering if you’ve had a taste of her. Just a little would tell you what sort of creature saved her. Hang on and I’ll do that now. He didn’t want to. Kip wanted to make sure she was going to be all right with him doing such a thing to her. But he also knew that if someone had saved her before this, he would need to not just thank them, but also find out why they’d done it. Closing his eyes, he licked the back of her hand that he was holding. Kip, are you all right? He wasn’t sure, and told Griff that. I lost you there for a moment. It was almost as if you’d died or something. I’m processing. He was too.

It was too much of her. Whatever had saved her had been very powerful, and had put a spell over her to keep her safe. They’d also shared a little of themselves with her, so Dalton had a great deal of magic. But only in the sense that it gave her a boost in protection and safety. The best I can tell is it’s either a faerie, a vampire, or both of them. I have no way of figuring out which. Christ. Kip felt the same way. When Dalton squeezed his hand, he looked at her, then to the bottom of the bed where she was looking. I have to go. We have company. I’m betting that I’ll have more information when I get back to you. Griff told him to make sure that he did. Later. “Hello.” The being, he wasn’t sure what she was, seemed to be transparent. He wasn’t sure that she was able to answer him when he spoke again. “You saved her. Both times, I would imagine. I wish to thank—” “There is no need for that. I am only happy that she is with you now.” Dalton asked the creature if it was safe to be around. “I am. I have no form except one that makes you comfortable to look at me. This, I thought, would be fine in that I showed you my true self. I am a—I guess you would call me friend. Dalton, you saved me once, a very long time ago.” He looked at Dalton, but he could see that she was confused.

“I don’t remember you. Perhaps, as you said, you were in a different form?” The being nodded and changed. “The lady down the street. The one that my brother terrorized a great deal. I was only at the right place at the right time, Miss Haggard. You were in trouble, and I was there to help you.” “Yes, but you were injured yourself, and did not let that stop you.” She looked at him then. “Lord Newton, you should be aware that I have also made it so that your parents are delayed in coming here. A little magic here, a little there, and I have slowed them  widows to not arrive until you have death the problem with the young lady’s family.”

“We’re keeping tabs on them. They’re on their way.” She nodded and touched her fingers to Dalton’s toe. He felt the magic that she’d given her, and could see a vast improvement in Dalton’s health. “You enhanced her, and in turn, did the same to me.” “Yes. You are her mate, and in that, you would have received it as well even not touching her. I have no way of helping you any more, my dear friends. You will be as safe as you can be from now on. With the added magic that I have given you, and you being a dragon, Lord Newton, there is very little that will be able to defeat you. That being said, you still must take care. The world needs you both.” With that, she was gone. Kip looked at Dalton, who was staring at the place where Miss Haggard had been. When he said her name, she looked at him finally. Asking if she was all right, she nodded, then shook her head. “I would imagine that I could say the same for myself. When she said that you were hurt when you saved her, what happened?” She just stared at him, then laid her head back on the pillow. When she let out a long sigh, he thought that he could have gladly kissed her right then and there. “You’re my mate. Now, while I have no problem whatsoever with you being that, there are a few things that I should point out to you first. None of them are going to be anything that you can change, but you should know them all the same.”

He said that he could live with that. “Okay, first and foremost, you cannot make me do anything that I don’t want to. Secondly, I don’t know how to be a lady. I noticed that she called you lord. I’m assuming that means you have money and a title, correct?” “Yes. So do you.” She nodded and closed her eyes. “That’s all? I mean, you only have two points. I can live with both of them, by the way. I want to point out that you have money because I do. Also, I’ve had some friends take care of your grandparents.” “What’s wrong with them?” He told her when she sat up and glared at him. “I didn’t know. I mean, I knew they were having a little bit of trouble—their words, not mine—but I didn’t know they were that broke.” “They aren’t. Not anymore.” She nodded, lying back down. “You want more, or are you wanting to rest a little?” “I want to rest. While I do feel better than I did, I’m still feeling off my feed.” He didn’t say anything as her eyes stayed closed longer each time she closed them. “Don’t get too cozy in thinking that I’m always this laid back. I’m not.” “I never thought that you were.” When he was sure that she was resting again, he decided to find something to eat. Just as he was pulling on his jacket to leave her, Charley and Fern showed up with sandwiches and drinks. Kip figured it was time that he talked to them anyway. ~*~ Fern was glad for the new lease on life. Having things taken care of by the big man had been more than she’d ever thought to happen. Today he’d brought in a rocking chair so that she could sit with Dalton. It was the little things, she knew, that made her feel much better about Dalton and Kip.
“Did you know that I can hear you breathing hard? What is it, Grandma, that has you so worked up that you’re about to rock a hole in the floor?” Fern got up and sat on the side of the bed with Dalton. “You look amazing.” “I feel that way too. Kipling, he helped us out, did you know that?” Dalton nodded. She didn’t seem to be fighting off the drugs when she had a conversation as much as she had been before.

“Your grandda, he’s having lunch with the rest of the dragons to figure out what to do about Luann and Louis.” “You’d think they were twins, wouldn’t you? I mean, who names their children such alike names?” They both laughed. “I talked to Kip last night when he was here. He told me that you were going to be living with us. Since I’m sure that I have no idea what that might entail, I’m very happy that he’s taking care of you guys. You and Uncle Eric are all I have in the world right now.” “Luann took out a policy on you. What a thing to do. And now she’s all up in arms because she wasn’t able to collect.” Dalton asked her if she’d spoken to her. “No. But Kipling’s friends, they’re very informed. Louis was in jail. Did you know that? I didn’t. but I guess he’s going to be set free soon. I guess that the witness that they had somehow ended up getting killed. That is being looked into as well. These two…. I swear to you, Dalton, I have no idea how they are related to you.” “Me either. I guess they think that since I’m the black sheep of the family, they can do just about anything they wish to me.” Fern told her about the family that she was mated to. “We’re still working out the details about that, too. I’m not sure that I want someone in my life that can do the same to me as the other two are.” “I don’t think you need to worry about him, honey. Kipling seems to me like a very nice man. I’m sure that as a dragon— Just listen to me. Talking about a dragon like it’s nothing but a hound that came to wet on the front stoop.” “Where on earth did that comparison come from? Grandma, you’ve been hanging out with Grandda a lot since he retired, haven’t you?” Fern told her that she wanted the man to get a job. “He’s in his late seventies, and I’m pretty sure that he’s sick of working.” “Yes, well, he could be a greeter or something. I need my peace and quiet sometimes.” They laughed again, and Fern knew that she was only kidding. Charley had been her rock since the day she’d met him. “Enough about that. Tell me how you’re really feeling.” “Like I need to get up out of this bed and run. I have been feeling like I’m only here for some kind of newspaper shit. I would really like something to do.” Fern didn’t point out that she’d been napping a great deal and must have needed the rest. But she also thought that she understood Dalton better than most would. She didn’t need to run so much as she needed to be needed. “I’m to understand that you have a job picking out the living room furniture for your new home.” She made a sound that Fern was sure she’d gotten from some wild animal. “Didn’t Kip ask you to have some input on the house that he purchased? I’m enjoying the hotel, but I have to tell you, Dalton, having a home is so much better. It’s roots you can put down.”

“I had roots, Grandma, and some dickweed came and fucked it all up for me.” Fern didn’t bother asking her to watch her language. She would, if asked, but it wouldn’t last very long. Besides, Fern wasn’t too happy with the events that had brought Dalton here either. “Where are my things? Hopefully someone had enough sense to put in a new door.” “I heard Kip talking to someone yesterday, and all your things have been packed up and taken to the new house.” She started to complain, but Fern cut her off. “You have been hiding from Luann and Louis for years. Now that they’ve found you, I thought it was best that you moved again. I’m sure that they’ll never get to you where you’ll be living.” “That’s another thing I don’t like about any of this. I’ve had no say in what I wanted in anything.” Fern watched her pout, something that Dalton rarely did. “I’m sorry. I was out, so that was just mean of me to say. But I’m out of sorts, Grandma. I need to do something productive.” Taking the little computer that Kip had brought in for Dalton, Fern brought up the pictures of the house that he’d taken them to see yesterday. It was a huge home, lovely too, with all the decorations for Christmas. Although Kip had explained how it had come to be his home, neither she nor Charley had objected to the way things looked— inside or out, as a matter of fact. “Here. He said that if you don’t cook then to skip the kitchen. It’s lovely, by the way. I love all the new tile on the floor and the beautifully decorated back splash. Kip said that the faeries made it so you’d always feel like you were out of doors.” Fern handed the tablet to Dalton. “I’d start with the dining area if I were you. There is a table in the room that was left behind, I believe he told me. As well as a desk that they couldn’t remove from the home.” “There are built in china cabinets—did you see that?” Fern had, but looked at the pictures with her granddaughter. “Hardwood floors too. And the large doors leading out to the deck are great. Very open looking.” “The chairs are still being redone, he told us. I haven’t anything to tell you about those.” Dalton nodded and said she’d not change a thing in that room. Then she asked what the view might be out the doors. “There is a garden back there with bulbs, he thought. Also, there is a small pond that doesn’t have any fish in it, but could should you want them. Not a koi pond, but a real pond to fish in. Your grandda is happy about that.”

The next room that was in the grouping of pictures was the living room. Fern thought that Dalton’s little couch looked out of place in the huge room, but she did enjoy the colors in it. There was also a fireplace in the room that took up nearly an entire wall. “I would do this room in earth tones. It would be something to cozy up on the couch and watch a football game there.” Fern could see that too. A fire going, a group of people over enjoying the game with you. “I was thinking that the room could use two couches, but I could be mistaking the size of the room.”

“I was thinking that you could do one of those corner things. Do you know what I mean?” Dalton looked confused. “I have since changed my mind anyway. But if you’re going to go with only two couches, you should be aware that his friends come to each other’s house often. And they’re all big men. Like Kip.” “Would three couches fit in there, you think?” Fern nodded, and told her that she’d have room for a couple of recliners as well. “Yes, I think you might be right. I haven’t any idea how wide the fireplace is, but if those bricks around the sucker are standard, it has to be a least ten feet wide.” “I do believe that is what he told us.” She looked for the picture that Kip had had her ask Dalton about. “He wondered if you’d be all right with a large television here, over the mantle. He said that he has paintings in storage if you’d like to go that way, I guess. He said that he could put a TV in any room to watch games on.” “He watches football?” There was excitement there. Then Dalton looked at the pictures again. “I’m betting he watches things like a bunch of grass faeries, doesn’t he?” “No, I watch football. I played too, when— Well, I played it before too.” Kip kissed her on the cheek then sat down, pulling out food from the large bag he’d carried in.

“They said that if you’d like, we can go home tomorrow. That way you can have a nice look around the house before you decide on anything. However, because of all the to do about your being shot, we’re going to have to make sure that no one knows that you’re healed. Dalton, your grandda is coming up with drinks, and he said that you loved hot and spicy, so that’s what I got you.” Fern loved this man. She wanted to think of him as her grandson, but knew that he was a great deal older than her. And Charley had been going to hang out with the men of the family more and more all the time. It was good for both of them for Charley to spend time with someone he could talk to. Fern kept an eye on Dalton. She enjoyed the spicy sandwich, and like Kip, kept adding sriracha sauce to each bite. The smell of the dark red substance smelled too hot for her, but they were having fun outdoing each other, Fern thought. After Charley asked her for the third time if she was ready to go, they left the couple there to deal with the clean-up. As soon as they were in the elevator, she asked him what was going on.

“He needs to talk to her about Luann and Louis. The morons are on their way here.” She said that she knew that. “Yes, but they’ve purchased guns this time. It seems they’re thinking about taking care of Dalton all on their own. Also, Eric has decided to retire from his job. He’s looking for houses to be close to all of us.” “What does he have to say to her that he couldn’t say when we’re around?” Charley told her. “Oh. Well, I guess she would need to know some of that. The magic that he has, do you know how powerful he is? I mean, we both know with age comes more of it.” “He’s very powerful. Danburn, the man we had dinner with last night? He’s the king of all dragons, so he’s like super powerful.” There were faeries too that Fern had met. One of them, named Dot, had been with her every time she left the house. It was both nice and a little disconcerting to have someone right there that very few could see.

“Fern, we—you and I—we should go out and have us a nice meal tonight. Celebrate, I guess. Dalton is in good hands. We’re all paid up on our bills and house. I’d just like, this one time, to go out to eat and not have to look at the prices first. What do you say?” She wanted to point out that they’d not been the ones that had paid off everything, but he was right too. They did need a time to have a little fun like that. The two of them had been pinching their pennies until they about screamed at them. If she never ate another peanut butter and jelly sandwich again, she’d be fine with that. “All right. Let’s do it. But no more, Charley. I don’t want us to get like this again.” Charley said he didn’t either. “Good. Let’s go. I’m starved for someone to wait on me like I’m the queen of Sheba.” They were both laughing as they got into the long limo that had been there for their use. Whatever this man did for a living or had done, Kip was certainly taking very good care of them.

Jackson House Of Wilkshire Release Blitz & Giveaway

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Jackson William hadn’t seen his father in centuries. Now his father was dead, he was now king, and the dragon council wanted to hold him responsible for his father’s crimes? And there had been many. The truth would be his salvation.

Nicole needed a job. A job that would put a roof over her head as well. She hadn’t had a decent meal in a week. But the ad didn’t say there were faeries and witches. Where there were faeries, there were dragons and Nicole was petrified of them. And with good reason.

The poison from the dragon bites flowing through Nicole’s veins left her weak and in a lot of pain. She was a mere human, and her body’s inability to heal from the bites left her vulnerable to new dragon attacks. Now this dragon, Jackson, was claiming to be her mate? Would this nightmare never end?

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Kelly Dalton, was packed and ready to go on the trip of a lifetime. She was excited to spend a month in Europe sightseeing. Her budget would be tight, and she’d have to make the trip alone because her sister drained her checking account, but despite the lack of funds, Kelly was ready for the new adventure—anything to get away from her family.

Devon Wakefield was the tenth Marquess to the house of Wilkshire and a dragon shifter. Since the death of his father, he had been lord of the castle since he was ten. His life lacked only one thing—a mate—but he was in no hurry to find one.

Kelly was sorry to see her vacation end. One more stroll around the beautiful countryside then she’d have to go back home—to what she didn’t know. Her sister, Rachel, was so angry that Kelly didn’t pay for her trip that she set fire to Kelly’s apartment. There was nothing really to go back to, but she’d deal with that when she returned. In the meantime, she would enjoy her last couple of days in England. However, Kelly was unprepared for the sudden rain shower, and in the rushing water, she lost her footing. Everything went black…

Distraught because Kelly was missing, the innkeeper called Devon to find her. When Devon found the injured young woman, he realized that he’d found his mate, and in an effort to ease her recovery he wanted to do something nice for her—he brought her family to England….

 

 

Noah Farley had been living in the States for a long time, and he was homesick. When Devon invited him to come home for a visit, he packed up everything he had and wasn’t planning on returning to his home in the city anytime soon, if ever. His dragon needed room to roam, and the city left his options too limited.

Bea Frost had made the buy of a lifetime, a castle in the country, and she made plans with her granddaughter Bryce, and daughter-in-law Laura, to move into it. Both Bea and Bryce were witches, and moving away from their current location, away from the Witches Council, would be like a breath of fresh air.

Noah’s family had lost the castle to back taxes before they had died. Its loss didn’t leave him much to go home to, but he was curious as to who had purchased the property. When he met Bryce, he was both surprised and pleased to find out that she was his mate. Bryce, however, didn’t care for dragons and wasn’t shy about letting him know that either.

The Witches Council consisted of three warlocks, Black, White, and Gray. When appointed, the mix was supposed to balance them out, but instead the men had become evil and corrupt. Bryce had become too powerful, more powerful than the council combined, and the WC considered her a threat. Killing her human mother or new mate would be just the ticket to bring her to heal…

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Prologue

“Lord Jackson Le Rouge William, Duke of Willow, Prince of Dragonwyck, you are hereby given the title of king of your castle, owner of all that live there. And in accordance with our laws, you will now be tried for the crimes of your father, now deceased. Where do you stand on this?” “Stand, my lords? I don’t understand any of this. I have not seen my father nor my mother in decades. You call me here to tell me that not only is my father dead, but you cannot locate my mother.

Now you wish to make me responsible for the crimes for which you have beheaded him?” Jackson laughed a little, his heart hurting for this. “You also have made me king of a castle that is no longer anything but a single wall, a burnt out orchard, as well as many sheep and cattle that lay dead in their paddocks. A pond so dried up that it is a wonder that anything at all has grown since you came for him. Nay, I do not understand any of this. What crimes—as I know for a fact there are many—are you trying my deceased father for? Murder? Yes, he had plenty to account for. Filicide? Yes, that as well.

But you will need all the information before you are able to take me to task on those. What is it, man? I have things to care for to bury the worst man that ever took a breath. The only thing that he did do for this world was marry my mother, sire me, and then die.” “He killed off as many as two dozen of his own children. All daughters were given to him as a wife after wife produced him nothing but girls.” Jackson corrected the man. “You knew of this? His killing of his own blood? How can you stand there and condone such a thing?” “I condone nothing. I only heard about this when I arrived after being summoned here by you.” He turned to the room, then back to the four men at the table in front of him. They were there to sentence him, he knew that.

“I should like for you to clear the room of everyone but one, my lords. There is a story for you to hear that will sicken you to the very cores of your life. The reason that at a tender age of only two hundred years, I left my family home, never to return. Also, the very reason that you cannot, nor will you be able to, charge me with any of these crimes when I have finished telling the tale to you.” “You dare tell us what we can and cannot do, Lord Jackson?” He didn’t so much as blink at the men. He knew what he had, they did not. “What do you have, what story can you tell, that will be so horrific that you wish the room cleared?” The woman, his own mother in the front row of the court, stood up. All she did, Jackson knew, was to pull her scarf away from her face and open the hood that covered her head. When each of the men gasped, their faces pale with the site of her, everyone quickly cleared the room except for the six of them.

 

 

 

Levi The Stanton Pack Release Day & Giveaway

Kathi BartonLeave a comment

 

 

Rachel Spencer, Ray to those that knew her, was barely hanging on. She had called for help, but her father had nearly killed her before help had arrived. Unless Hailey could help her, with the magic given to her by Dane, Ray’s prognosis for a normal life wasn’t good.

Levi Stanton had been talking to his sister-in-law, Hailey, through their link. She had told him all about Ray and that Ray might be his mate, or Wyatt’s. Levi hoped she was, he had known Ray’s grandmother and loved the woman, but he was also terrified to find out. It was the fear of the unknown.

Levi was happy to find out that Ray was indeed his mate, but Ray’s decision to get help from Hailey would be Ray’s alone. Hailey, however, was afraid her blood wasn’t strong enough to help Ray, so Dane stepped in. Ray would need all the strength she could get to face her Aunt Caroline.

Caroline Spencer was on her way to town. No one told that woman no and lived to tell about it. And that was exactly what Ray was going to tell her too. There was no way on this earth that Ray was handing her little brother, David, over to that tyrant. She’d die before she let that happen.

 

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Dane had no idea who she was. She’d been shot and couldn’t even remember who she was hiding from. All she did know was she needed help, and when Julian Stanton found her, he took her to his family.

Brayden Stanton was just tired of everything. It was time to leave Africa and go home to family. He called his dad to tell him that he was fed up with the job and he was on his way home, and he was bringing a fiancée with him. She wasn’t his mate, but he was going to make it work. He realized his mistake the moment he proposed.

Danger comes at every turn. The women in Brayden’s life are surrounded with it. Both are lethal, but one has Braden’s heart from the beginning. The question is, can the family survive it?

 

 

Being a country lawyer was something Christian Stanton had always wanted to do. Taking a client he really didn’t want to represent was not what he had in mind.

Allie had been hired to teach the Stanton men hand to hand self-defense. She loved her job and was quite good at it. She knew about shifters but had never really worked with them before. And when the big cat shifted into a very naked man proclaiming to be her mate, Allie wanted nothing to do with him.

When it came to Allie, Christian was in big trouble. She was no pushover and the sooner he figured that out the better off he’d be….

 

Julian Stanton was eating breakfast and rethinking his life as a PI when a stranger walked into the diner looking for Tess O’Rourke. Julian felt the hackles rise on his neck. He wanted to take his gun out and blow this guy’s head off for no apparent reason other than he didn’t like him. He’d never had an instant dislike for a person before. He didn’t know who Tess was, but he was going to make sure this stranger didn’t find her.

Tess was at her wit’s end. Dexter had once been her best friend, now she couldn’t get far enough away from him. He was everywhere, attacking her at every corner, emptying her bank account, and now he was after her baby daughter, Ruby. Only the Lord knew what he’d do to the baby if he got his hands on her.

Sent by his parents to help, Julian was to be Tess’s escort to the family home for dinner. The hotel was no longer safe since Dexter had found her there too. When she opened the door, she shoved the most precious squalling baby girl into his arms that Julian had ever seen. And when the woman walked by him, her scent hit him like a brick.

The job went from a favor to personal in the blink of an eye, and Julian would protect the girls in his life with his own if necessary.

 

Hailey Whitehead was on the trip back home and everything was going as planned until a brief stop for lunch changed everything. The guy came into the diner waiving a gun and shouting orders and Hailey shot him.

Hailey knew what would come next, so when the cops arrived, she was on her knees with her pistol dangling from one finger and her permit to carry in the other hand. What she hadn’t counted on was an overzealous cop cuffing her too tight and leaving her on her own for far too long. By the time Jules Stanton discovered her predicament, she had nearly bled out.

Wyatt had performed the surgery on her wrist and he was worried that she would lose the use of her hand. He asked Dane to help her out with a few drops of her blood, but that didn’t go as planned either. Haylie had an unexpected reaction to Dane’s blood, and when she woke up, not only was she healed, she was no longer entirely human.

She was having the worst week of her life, and the Stantons “helping” her was only making things worse. She just wanted them to leave her alone. Now Colton, another Stanton, was telling her that she was his mate? The last thing she needed was a man ordering her around. Not no, but hell no!

 

The Stanton Pack
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Christian http://amzn.to/2gUfYgI
Julian  http://amzn.to/2GIKgMS
Colton  https://amzn.to/2nbOG5M
Levi  https://amzn.to/2KhvGS0

 

 

 

 

 

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Hailey held Ray’s hand and thought about what Denny had told her today. He’d been taking over her care since they’d gotten back to the house, and it had worked out well for her and Ray. Taking her to the doctor every couple of days would have been hard on her. “He destroyed her womb. There isn’t any chance that she’ll be able to carry a child and keep it. There has been much too much damage done for her to even take the chance. When she’s better, and I have to believe that she will get there, she should think about having a sterilization surgery done to prevent it from happening.

” She asked Denny if it would hurt her to get pregnant. “Yes, it could very well kill her.” Now here she sat with her friend, wondering what she was going to do with that information. Reaching out to Levi, who was still in France, she smiled when he laughed before speaking. They had become very close over the last week, and she was glad that he was happy. I took your advice, and I can’t thank you enough for it. I went and found some of the smaller, off the chart galleries, and had a blast. There are so many different things out there to see and create that I found myself buying things just because they were so unique. She laughed at his enthusiasm. Don’t be surprised if a large crate comes your way soon. I thought about waiting and bringing it home with me, but I couldn’t wait for you to see my finds. How is your friend? No change. But your dad told me that she wasn’t going to be able to hold a child of her own.

It breaks my heart how people treat their children. What would possess a man to do this to his own child? Not to mention what my mother did to hers. She felt her heart crumble for the pain of her stepfamily’s deaths. Cheer me up, Levi. Tell me some adventure that you’ve had since I spoke to you last. I’m so sorry, Hailey. She knew that he’d understand if she couldn’t answer him. Yesterday I had an encounter with one of the artists. I tell you, Hailey, I’m glad at that moment that you or the rest of the women weren’t with me. You would surely have cut him down. He was so pissed that I wasn’t buying anything from his booth when I was shopping. What did he sell? He was laughing hard, and it made her laugh too. Oh, I have a feeling this is going to be really good. I swear to you, it looked like he went and got him some wood out of the small parks around here and hot glued—I kid you not—he hot glued shells all over the pieces so that not one bit of the wood was showing. There were places on it that he might have run out of shells, so he drew them on some paper and stuck them there.

I swear to you, it was only beautiful to those like him. I don’t think he sold a single stick. She asked if he was making that up. And as soon as he started laughing again, her phone made a noise telling her that she had a message. See it? I had to sneak that picture. He has several signs in his booth that say no pictures. Why I have no idea, but there you have it.

She laughed even harder after seeing the picture, and she was so glad that Levi had told her about it. After they talked for a bit longer, really him only telling her what he’d been enjoying, Levi told her that he had an appointment and needed to get going. When are you coming home? He said that he was leaving in two days. I can’t wait to see you, Levi. I have a big hug here waiting for you. Hailey squeezed Ray’s hand and was shocked when it felt like she had given her a returning squeeze. Trying it again, she also floated into her head to see if she was awake yet and saw that her mind was going over the day at her office. Ray? She stilled for a moment in her memories. Ray, it’s Hailey. Do you remember me? I’d like to talk to you if you do. Hailey? He’s here, isn’t he? Hailey asked her who, knowing that she remembered her dad trying to kill her but testing her memory. My father. He’s in my office. I think he’s going to kill me. No, he will never bother you again. On this, you can go to the bank. There was a moment of relief, then fear took its place. You have to tell me what it is you’re thinking, Ray.

Your mind is going too fast for me to figure out. He hurt me, didn’t he? Hailey told her that he’d hurt her badly before anyone could save her. Yes, you told me that I had to scream, loudly, so that someone could come and save me. They did, didn’t they? Yes. Danny, the local pack alpha, came with his men, but Alan had already hurt you badly. Danny killed your father to keep him from hurting you more. Denny had told her that if she spoke to Ray in any way, she was to make sure she knew that she’d been hurt badly. And to be honest with her when she asked how badly. Hailey didn’t want to be responsible for telling her friend that she was more than likely going to be disfigured for the rest of her life, but she didn’t want to lie to her either. Ray, two things I want you to know right now. We have been keeping an eye on your places—home and business and even here. David is also with the local pack here. He’s as safe as you are. And the second thing? I’m calmer now, Hailey. I think I can take whatever it is you’ve been trying very hard for me to get on my own. How badly am I hurt?

Hailey felt tears roll down her cheeks and knew that it was now that she was going to have to be the one to hurt her friend. Hailey? Tell me, please. Alan used a knife on your face. He cut you from cheek to ear. The doctors had to reattach it to your head, but Denny told me that you’ve not lost your hearing. Your lips have been busted up, as well as your eyes. The socket was busted all to fuck on the left, and your other eye is swollen too badly for them to know the damage there. She paused when Ray asked her to. I want you to know that I love you very much, Ray. And think of you as my only sister. I love you too, Hailey. I felt that way the moment that you stood beside me that day. She could feel the sorrow in her voice, even if it was only in her head. The rest, please. My arm feels heavy, so I’m assuming that it was broken. Yes, in two places. They’re waiting for you to be stronger before they go in and repair it with metal rods. Also, your left hand was shattered when your father— Ray said not to call him that. All right.

I can do that. When Alan crushed your hand in the floor with his heel. They don’t know at this point, even if they go in and repair it if you’re going to have full use of it. There’s more, isn’t there? Wait for that, please. I know that you’ve been saving the worst for last. You have no idea how much I appreciate that but just wait. How is married life? Getting any better? Hailey told her that it was. I’m so happy for you. After everything that you’ve told me, I was hoping that I’d be one of their mates. But I’m supposing that they’d not want a freak like me in their life. Stop that right now, damn it. And you still might be. I’m hoping as much as you are for it to happen. Hailey let out a slow breath. The only thing keeping us from being true sisters is blood. And that matters very little to me. I love you just as if you were my sister. I’ve told you this before. Now, I’ll hear no more talk about that. All right? Yes, Momma. They both laughed. Hailey, fix me. I want you to do for me what Dane did for you. I know that you can do it. No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Ray asked her why not. I don’t know. But this shit that I have, it’s scary stuff, Ray. I’m only just getting used to some of it. The things that I can do are— I don’t want to be a freak of nature, Hailey. She could feel her sorrow and her pain. The timer on the meds she was getting automatically said she had about a minute to go before she’d be medicated again. Never mind. You’re right. Having all that juice, as you called it once, it could get me into more trouble than I usually am. The laughter from Ray was harsh and almost bitter.

Before she could talk to her more, the meds kicked into her system and Ray was gone from her touch. Hailey could still read and feel her memories and pain level, which was lower now, but there wouldn’t be any more conversation for a little while. Getting up, Hailey went to the window. They’d brought Ray home as soon as she was cleared to go. She’d have to go to the hearing sometime soon—her father was still going to be charged with attempted murder. Hailey watched the gardener fussing with the little herb garden that the cook had asked to have put in. It was just after Saint Paddy’s Day, and things were starting to warm up. Just last week while out running with Colton, she’d seen crocus and daffodils coming up. Today there were blooms on the strawberries that Ken, the nice man that worked for Levi, had planted for the households. The man was doing great after his brain surgery. It was little things, she knew, that would make her smile. In the last few weeks, things in her life had begun to shape up and be happy. At the beginning of her stay here with Colton, and then her recent marriage to the man, Hailey was trying to find one thing every day that she had to be grateful for. Life, she knew, had a way of changing when you least expected it to. Sitting down again, she started reading some of the homework she should be grading. Hailey, unlike a lot of teachers where she worked, loved her job a great deal. And the kids seemed to be having a good time in her classes, too. ~*~
Levi looked around the room again. He’d been staying at a lovely bed and breakfast for the last two weeks, wanting to try things that he’d never done before after a show. While he knew that he’d done well at the show, he wouldn’t know how well until he was home. He didn’t want to think about anything but having fun, as Hailey had asked him to do. Smiling, he thought of her asking him to have fun and knew that it had been a direct order from her. She was adorable when she got all mother hen like, and he loved that she was a part of the family. Hailey could be all soft and mushy seeing a puppy on the television, but she’d also be the one that could cut a person to ribbons if anyone dared fuck with her family. Which, thankfully, he was a part of.

Going to the limo that was to take him to the airport, he thought of the conversation that he’d had with his brother last night. The woman, Ray Spencer, was healing well, but the outlook for her life wasn’t good. She was depressed. Levi knew this from talking to Hailey. He also knew that Ray had asked for Hailey to change her into what she was. Hailey wanted to—she’d told Levi that—but she was also afraid. What if she didn’t get enough, or got too much of her blood and died? Levi thought about the question she’d asked him. “If she turns out to be your mate—and I haven’t any idea if she is or not—would you want me to change her?” He’d thought about that hard, but before he could come up with an answer, if he ever was to reach one, she spoke again. “As it stands right now, she will have to walk with a cane for the rest of her life. Her left hand will never hold another pencil or camera, nor will she be able to carry a child within her womb without it killing Ray or both of them. I just don’t know what to do.” “I don’t either, Hail. I mean, I guess I’d have to know for sure that is something that she could live with. The consequences. As for me telling you that you should do it, even if she turns out to be my mate that answer doesn’t lay at my feet. It’s her body, her life, and even her choice. You know that too.” She said that she did, but was confused about it. “I am as well. I don’t know what to tell you, love.

You and her, you’ll have to work that out. Or you could ask Dane.” She huffed at him. “You know as well as I do that Dane would have done it permission or not. She did the same damned thing to me.” They both laughed. “I think I will talk to Dane, however. Maybe this is all for nothing, and I can’t change her into anything. I’m a copy of someone, not the original.” Now that he was headed home—he’d be there tomorrow afternoon—he thought of nothing else. Not of her injuries—he knew them to be extensive—but of the woman being his mate. Levi already knew a great deal about Ray and thought that she was a great deal like Hailey. But he knew too that it could only be him hoping that she was a cuddly as her, and she might be an absolute terror. Not likely, but he didn’t know. He landed in New York as a stopover. All of a sudden, he didn’t want to go home. Not that he was afraid of her—no, it wasn’t that. But the unknown, about her being his mate, frightened him more than he wanted to admit. Levi knew just what sort of person he was—a slob that liked this his way.

“Dr. Stanton?” He looked up when someone said his name. His title wasn’t something that a great many people knew about, and fewer knew that he was an artist. Nodding at the man, he said that was his name. “I’m Lucas Young. I work with Young and Young Attorneys. May I have a few minutes of your time?” “No, I’m getting ready to catch a flight.” He didn’t tell him which one, nor where he was going when he asked. “What do you want? We can talk here.” Lucas looked around then back at him. Levi looked too but kept his eye on the man. Backing up a little, he knew that he was in trouble when someone put their hands on his shoulders and held him tightly. “You just had to make this more difficult, didn’t you? I said that you’d be hard, but no, the boss, he told me that you’d be a pussy.” Levi reached for his family, every one of them, to tell them what was going on. Lucas, or whatever his name was, kept talking about his boss when Dane answered him. I’m close to you, Levi. In the same store. Don’t look for me. I’ve got your back. He was never so happy to hear that she was close to him in his life. I’ve been following this fucking shit for two days. You have Hailey to thank for this, by the way.

She and that thread thing, that’s— Dane, I don’t suppose we can talk about this later, can we? This shithole has a gun in my belly. And the one behind me is trying his best to tear my shoulders from my body. She laughed, and he could have gladly strangled her. He wouldn’t, of course—she’d hurt him—but her laughter did ease his mind a great deal. When I tell you to move, I want you to do it. Just tuck your head into the chest of the man behind you. I’ll take care of the rest. She laughed again. You do have something else to wear home, don’t you? He asked her why just as she told him to tuck. And when he did, he felt the warmth of blood splatter down his neck to his chin. Lucas fell back but had a knife in his hand that scared Levi as well. Levi just stood there until someone touched his arm. It was Dane. “Come on, you’re okay.” She had to drag him away from the crime scene. When he looked back as they hid behind a magazine rack, she could see that the shorter man, Lucas, was sitting up with a blade in his hand now, and Shoulder Man’s head was lying in his lap. Levi looked at Dane. “You killed him.” She said that was what the plan had been. “And what about me? Why did you drag me away?” “So you don’t have to miss your flight home, dummy.” He would gladly have hit her if she wasn’t dragging him to the back of the store they were in. “I have you something else to put on. It’s not as fancy as your suit, but it’ll get you home. There is— ” “I’m going to be sick.” She paused in her dialogue to let him throw up several times in the trash can that was suddenly there. As she stood there, she pulled out a phone and started talking, like the person had been waiting for her to call. He supposed, in a way, they had been once he heard her end of the conversation.

“It’s done. And you will have to pick up the tab for a suit for my brother.” A pause in the conversation had him standing up and glaring at her. “I have to go. My brother has puke on his chin, and I have to get him home to his mommy.” “That wasn’t nice.” She grinned. “You’re not nice. I know you’ve been told that before, but I think, after what just happened, that I should be able to tell you that again. You are not a nice person.” “I saved your ass. And I’ll tell you all about it once you change and we get on the other flight home. By the way, you do have puke on your chin.” He wiped it off on his sleeve and saw that there was a great deal of blood there. “Don’t. Just don’t ask me now, all right? You’re safe, and now that we’re headed home, the rest of us can keep an eye on you as well.” He didn’t ask her, even though he was burning with the need to know. This person, whoever it was, they were going to kill him. He didn’t know that for sure, but he could feel it all the way to his bones. Sitting in his seat in first class, which he knew for sure his ticket hadn’t been for, he glared at Dane when she asked the stewardess if she could have something to drink almost as soon as they were in the air. “Here, you’re to take these.” He asked her what they are. “I want you to be able to listen to me with a clear head. Right now, I can tell that you’re pissed off and that you’re in need to ask the million and one questions that are going on in your head.

” Levi took them, then settled back in his seat. He should have made her tell him what he was taking, but honestly, he was so freaked out that he might have drank an entire bottle of liquor if she had handed it to him. “They weren’t after you.” He’d never thought of that. All of his brothers had PhDs so it could have been any one of them. “They thought they were getting Brayden. Because of me. But mostly because of the things that had been going on in Africa before he left.” “The thing with the donations and the houses.” She nodded and smiled at him. “I don’t understand. I thought that was taken care of months ago. Didn’t someone go to jail over that? Not to mention, I think that they even told Brayden he was in the clear.” “They did. And he is. But that doesn’t mean that the people who had to pay out the ass for stealing in the first place were happy.” He asked her why they had to wait until now to tell him. “Because that’s not all of it. And I need you to think very hard about what I’m about to tell you. Do you remember a man by the name of Roberto Perez? He would have talked to you at the show two weeks ago.” He closed his eyes, and he wasn’t at all surprised to feel Hailey there. After telling him to wait for her, she moved through his mind gently and found the man for him. He allowed it—he told himself it was because he was just too overwhelmed by this entire thing. “Perez wanted me to paint his wife, or something like that, in the nude at his home. I told him that I didn’t do that, not with a model and that I had a timeline of things that I was working on anyway. He didn’t seem too happy about it, but he did walk away.” Before he could open his eyes, Hailey showed him the rest of the man’s movement through the showing.

“This is freaky, isn’t it? I mean, it’s like having a behind the scenes sort of camera following you around.” “She’s good, and she has your back. But when she pauses, you listen to the conversation he has with this other man.” Hailey followed the man through the rest of the time he was at the showing. Then when the man was leaving, he pulled out his phone and called someone. “Hailey has that number, so don’t worry with it.” It hadn’t even occurred to him to do that when the other man spoke. “Did you get him to do it?” Perez said that he hadn’t. “Why the fuck not? My money not good enough for the fucker? You know what it is. He’s a fucking gay, isn’t he? That’s why he’s turning you down.” “I don’t know, sir, but I couldn’t get him to do it. He said something about having enough work on his timeline or something. I can try again.” The man on the other end said that he’d take care of the little fucker—meaning him, Levi was sure. “All right then. There is no reason for me to come to the rest of the showing. I’ll be home in two days, sir. After I arrive, we can work on something else to get him to your home.

” “What does he want?” Hailey said that she didn’t know. Even Dane, who could find a mole in a valley of tunnels, said she didn’t know either. Without knowledge of the man on the other end, she hadn’t any clue. “But you do think that it’s more than just me painting his wife? And just so we’re clear, whose wife is he talking about?” “That is what threw us both at the start, too. Lucas said his wife, and then the other man says his wife. I’m not sure. Perhaps they’re both lying, or they could really want you to paint their wives. Maybe together or some shit like that.” Levi didn’t comment. He had to think about whether Perez had come to the show on the second day. When he was sure that he’s not, he wondered what the hell was going on, and why him. Sure, he could paint, but who would go to that much trouble for him to paint their spouse in the nude? And for that matter, why did he have to go to their home? Most painters he knew would say no to that. It was going to be a short flight, but Levi had a great deal on his mind to sort through. And most importantly, to see if Miss Spencer was his mate.

Adrian The Whitfield Ranchers Release Day & GiveAway

Kathi BartonLeave a comment

 

Mason Jane Barnhart had nothing left to live for. She was dying and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Rather than suffer a long agonizing death, she wanted it to be on her terms. She’d let the icy water claim her, and if she was lucky, she wouldn’t suffer.

Oliver Whitfield had been watching the girl. He couldn’t believe that anything could be so bad as to want to take her own life. But when she jumped from the bridge he had to go in after her. His tiger, bigger and stronger, would have to save her. When they got her to shore, Evan said that changing her was the only thing that would save her. Oliver didn’t want to, but he couldn’t let her die. He had a strange feeling that she was supposed to be the mate to one of his sons.

Adrian wasn’t sure he was ready for a mate. The timing wasn’t right. He still had so much left to do while running for public office, and if word got out that she tried to take her own life, he’d have that scandal to deal with too. But when he caught her scent, he knew, she was his and all thoughts of not being ready for a mate fled his mind.

When Mason opened her eyes, she was fit to be tied. She wasn’t supposed to be here, she was supposed to be dead. That’s what she wanted. What had those meddling Whitfields done now?

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Dylan Hutchinson lived and breathed Army, and she’d been under cover so long she’d forgot what it felt like to be a civilian. But the last mission took a turn for the worse and not only was she hurt, but she’s been informed that she could no longer do her job. It’s either a desk job as a recruiter, or she’s out.

Evan Whitfield didn’t have to work, but he loved his job as a surgeon. And when as his tiger he found an old man wandering in the woods with Alzheimer’s and confused, he wanted to help the family. The family had a daughter in the hospital too, and they were struggling. Evan thought the daughter might be not as sick or hurt as she claimed to be, so he took it upon himself to check her out. Evan was surprised to find that she was not only hurt worse than they claimed, she was also his mate.

For a doctor, Dylan thought Evan was dense. What part of go away didn’t he understand? She wasn’t the mate or marrying kind. Her life was over, not beginning. He needed to just go away….

 

 

Sunny, or Sunshine Davis, is a well-known investigative reporter. After her recent article shuts down a drug lab, she just disappears. People everywhere are looking for her. Truth is she’s been shot and left for dead. Tanner, a vampire, has other plans for the feisty reporter. He needs her help, so he saves her. His old friend, Ollie Whitfield, owes him a favor, so he sends her there to lay low for a while.

David Whitfield is on a deadline with his publisher. When he’s writing, he’s in a world of his own. When his grandda, Ollie, asks him to hide out a friend, he’s all for it. He’d do anything for his grandda. What David doesn’t expect is for the woman he’s supposed to be hiding out to be his mate. A very hurt mate that has his tiger in a possessive uproar.

Because Sunny technically died before Tanner could revive her, she has a little difficulty remembering the events just prior to her death, but when she does the revelation rocks her to her core. And her baggage can put all the Whitfields in danger.

Josh had taken a month off from his Realtor job to get the construction finished on his house, but he was leaning toward it being a permanent vacation. He still liked selling houses, but something was missing. It didn’t excite him anymore and he was tired of the rat race.

All Carter wanted was to get a job and start her life over again. She had just spent the last ten years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit, and that made finding a job difficult, if not down right impossible. She didn’t want to go back to the halfway house, but things weren’t looking good.

Ollie Whitfield took an instant liking to the young woman and her sister, Rachel. He’d make sure his grandson gave her a job in the new greenhouse he was opening up. There was no since in her beating the pavement for a dead-end job when he had one for her. He just had to convince her of that. She had some dad-blamed notion in her head that she’d bring danger to the family.

Josh’s grandda had already told him of the scary things the woman could do, and he was worried that Carter and her sister might be taking advantage of an old man. But when Josh walked behind her at the dinner table and caught her scent, he was floored. He had found his mate and neither of them were prepared for it.

Carter knew he was a shifter, but the things she could do would get them all killed, and she wouldn’t allow that. She would somehow convince him that this mate thing was a bad idea.

 

 

 

Ivy Walton loved her job as a surgeon but hated her boss. What part of “I’m on vacation” couldn’t the woman understand? She’d just lost her house to a fire, and she needed this time away with her sister. They’d been on their way to the coast when Ivy’s car broke down, and this little town they’d found for repairs was a breath of fresh air. Ivy found the non-hectic life of a small town to be appealing to her raw nerves.

Adam Whitfield was a farmer and, like his brothers, a Bengal tiger. He had just purchased his grandparents’ home and was putting on the finishing touches. The home was large, too large for a single man, but he liked it. Furniture was still sparse, but he figured he could add to it in time.

When Adam met Ivy at a family dinner, he knew instantly who she was to him. But could a renowned surgeon be happy with a simple farmer? He hoped so. He hadn’t been looking for his mate when he found her, but now that he had, he wasn’t letting her go. If she went back to the city, he’d go too whether she liked it or not.

 

 

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Angus came to her with every little thing, Mason thought. So much so that she wanted to brain him. But she supposed that was a good idea until he was more comfortable with his new position as the front man for a place they were going to work with. Mason loved him, and that was all she needed to let things roll off her with this transfer of power. At least for the time being, it would be good for him to get answers before making a commitment. He’d make a good replacement for her at Mason Tile and Paper. Her brother was doing much better than she’d thought he would in so little time.

Mason was getting closer and closer to her time to run away. Not that it was really what she was doing, but her dad and brother thought that she was. And while they weren’t wrong about her leaving the firm, they weren’t right either. Mason Jane Barnhart had had enough of things in general. She also knew what no one else did—that she didn’t have long to live. For two days now, she’d been out walking about the tiny town. It was small compared to where she’d lived most of her life. Chicago was a nice town, one that she loved, but that too had been too much for her in dealing with everything. Everyone, even in a town as big as hers, had heard something about what had happened to her. Not all of it, but enough to ask her if she was doing all right. And at least daily, someone asked her about her health and wellbeing. No, she thought to herself. She was not doing all right. But she would only smile at them and nod.

Yes, Mason would say, I’m doing just fine. I’m over it. And that had to be the biggest lie she’d ever told anyone, especially her family. Not that either of them knew much of what had happened to her. Nor did they know the extent of her injuries that she carried to this day. Not just the emotional ones, but the ones that were on her flesh, so that each day she was sure it was going to be her last. And hiding it from her family and friends was taking its toll on her. She was going to die. A long and painful death that would not only drain her father’s business but also his health by staying at her side. Mason stopped by the little bridge she’d walked by a dozen times over the last few weeks. The first day she’d been by it had been a dry and sunny day. The water, not all that deep, was babbling around the low hanging trees, as well as the large stones in the waterway. The fallen trees that no doubt came from upstream formed cascading water sounds that had made her smile despite the circumstances surrounding her interest in the water. Then it started to rain, a deluge of water that seemed to have been an open spigot on the town and all the now swollen creeks. This was just what she was looking for in a way to end her life by falling to her death. Mason knew that drowning wasn’t a sure thing when it came to jumping into the fast running creek. But she’d been coming by here at its lower point, and saw that there was a great big stone in the middle of the waterway. And if her estimations were
correct, the fast-moving water was just about freezing.

There were icy formations along both sides where the water didn’t move as fast. Sitting on the railing, her feet dangling over the water, she wondered what the impact would be for her to fall directly on the large stone that had made its way above the moving water. It was a creek, she’d been told, that fed into the Muskingum River downstream from where they were. A long way to go, she thought, before anyone would realize that she’d jumped. “Hello.” She didn’t bother to look at the man. She’d seen him around town too. Actually, it was difficult to go into any place on the main drag without seeing Mr. Whitfield—Oliver, he’d asked Angus to call him. “Are you going to jump?” “I’ve not decided just yet. I was calculating in my head how hard the water would be, and the stone beneath it.” She looked at him then. “I have a lot on my mind, Mr. Whitfield. I thank you for your concern. However, this is nothing that I’d like to share with a stranger.

It’s a place I come to think, and I’d like to do that alone if you’d not mind.” “Yes, I can understand that. I’m Oliver Whitfield. If I’m not mistaken, you’re one of the workers that is with Angus. Good fella, by the way. I think he has a brother hereabouts, but I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting him just yet. Honey, is there anything I can do to help you?” It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him if he would push her into certain death, but she didn’t. Instead, she just looked out over the muddy, icy water. “I have a couple of doctors in my family. They’d be more than happy to talk to you, child.” “Do you have a gun, Mr. Whitfield?” He said that he didn’t. Realizing her mistake, she had to think fast about telling him why she’d needed a gun. “Then no, I don’t think there is a thing you can do for me. I was…there are a few snakes here and about in the water. I was going to practice on them. I have a permit to carry, but I don’t. Not anymore.” “I don’t mean to be rude, and my lovely wife would box my ears for this, but I don’t believe that you want a gun for that at all. Can you tell me about it?

I promise you on my wife’s heart that I’d never tell anyone else.” Mason shook her head. “I need for you to tell me what’s bothering you, child. I’m not leaving here until you do.” “At the moment, you’re the only thing bothering me, Mr. Whitfield. As I said, I have a few things I need to work out on my own.” He sat on the side of the bridge with her, his jean covered legs and high boots looking ridiculous next to her fancy worthless boots and lightweight pants. “Mr. Whitfield, I’d very much like for you to go away and leave me alone. I’m not going to share anything with you. There isn’t anything you can do, and even if there was, I don’t want anyone to be a part of this.” “This here creek, did you know that it’s called Narrows Creek? Been here since the man over there decided to widen his fields so that he didn’t have to cross a little bitty bridge in the spring when the creek flooded. And boy oh boy, it sure could flood.” She looked at the house that was on the other side of the field but said nothing. “That’s his home if you’re thinking that. He’s not lost anything since he had some people come in and widen and deepen this place for him. Don’t jump.”

Tears filled her eyes. The man was too smart for her own good. He was much too observant as well. Instead of answering him, even though she wouldn’t, she thought of what he’d said about Angus having a brother. “Angus doesn’t have a brother, Mr. Whitfield. I’m his sister, Mason.” She looked at him. “Mas Barnhart is our father. Not really Angus’s, but he is mine. Dad bought me off my mother so that she’d not abort me when she found out that she was knocked up. Not a good term, I guess, but those were her words, not his. Then a few months after I was born, no more than an infant, she was killed in an automobile accident.” She hadn’t expected him to say anything, so when he didn’t, she continued. “Angus’s mother thought that she’d get a great deal of money from my dad by claiming that my dad was the father of him. He wasn’t, of course, but that didn’t stop him from paying her off, and he still does when she shows up making a stink about shit that isn’t true, nor any of her business. Mostly, lately anyway, the shit has been about me.”

“You seem like a good girl. What on earth could she have on a child like you?” She just stared at the creek, watching it roar along the sides of the banks, pulling limbs and leaves along with it to make pretty colored swirls in the waterway as it flowed downstream. Trees, too, had been moved, probably a great distance, and were starting to pile up at the posts that held the bridge she and Mr. Whitfield were sitting on. “Mason, what happened to you?” “A man did. Not that you’d have to believe me or not. Frankly, I don’t have any proof at all that he even touched me that week. But he kidnapped me from campus where I was teaching, drugged me, and raped me, repeatedly, over an entire week and then some. There were others too. All men, who I found out later had paid a great deal of money to have their way with me.” She laughed bitterly, not even sure why she was sharing this with him. A last confession, she thought, because she was going to jump today. “I was the great Mas Barnhart’s daughter, his princess that was so untouchable. I haven’t any idea where that had come from, but there it was. And lucky for me, or not so lucky for me, I was able to escape with my life. Or so I thought.” She looked at Mr. Whitfield.

He had a kind face, one that she thought reminded her a great deal of her own father. She knew this man had sons, six of them. And he had grandchildren and a nice wife. Carefully she reached out her hand, meaning only to touch his cheek to see if it felt as soft and warm as she thought it might. But curling her fingers into her palm at the last minute, she thanked him for being there. The jump was easy. Mason just stood and leaped. But she wasn’t getting to the water as she had hoped—something was keeping her there. Turning her head to look at Mr. Whitfield, she saw that he was holding her back by her coat, and his grip was too powerful for her to shake loose. Mason did try to make him release her so that she’d not have to come back another day to try again. This was her last chance, she thought, and she needed it to work. “Don’t do it, child. We can work something out.” She reached for the zipper on her coat, pulling it down slowly as Mr. Whitfield strained to hold her back. She wanted to just rip it off, let him have the coat that he was holding so that she could die. But the strain on it and her body were making it go slowly.

“Please, I’m begging of you, child, don’t do this. There has to be another way.” “There isn’t.” The coat was undone and she let it slip from her arms. The water came up fast, and Mason closed her eyes for the impact. Hoping that it would kill her right away, she let out a breath that she’d been holding, and hit the water hard. She had missed the stone except for her arm. The water was so cold that it made her inhale sharply. The pain of it, like icy needles, felt as if it were tearing her flesh from her body. Mason didn’t care. She was going to be free soon, and that was all that mattered. Not fighting the current or the trees that banged into her, she let it take her under several times as she tried to get her bearings on where she was in the water. The water was rough, tumbling and turning her all around so that she didn’t know which way was up. Bashing her body off one thing to the next, she knew that her arm and leg were broken, useless to her in trying to hold herself under. And when she knocked her shoulder, the pain of it making her cry out, she swallowed more water, then nothing. The pain in her head took it all away.

~*~ Oliver had put out an emergency call for help when Mason stood up. He’d been talking to Evan since seeing her there, but he never dreamed in a million years that she’d do it right in front of him. Shifting to his tiger, he dove into the water after her, knowing that his cat would stand the cold a bit better than he would as a man. He had a difficult time finding her in the murky water. He’d see her for a second, but then she was gone. Oliver knew that they were farther down the creek than he’d told his family, but there wasn’t any time for him to get his bearings and find the girl. As soon as he had a good hold on her leg, he bit down hard, knowing that if he lost her this time, he’d never have a second chance of finding her again. The bones, already broken, shattered more under his powerful bite. “Dad, can you see me? Dad, I’m here.” He popped his head above the water in time to hear Evan yelling for him.

“Christ, bring her to me and I’ll see what I can do. They’re all coming, Dad. We’ll save her if we can.” Oliver swam as hard as he could to get to the other side, but he was an old man, worn out by hard work and age. Oliver wasn’t giving up, but he knew that he wasn’t going to make it to his son. Then he felt his burden become lighter and looked to his other son. Josh had come into the water as his cat to help him. It was a struggle, even for the two of them, to get her to Evan. As soon as his son was able to reach into the water and pull her out, Josh got out as well and helped him out of the freezing cold water. Oliver didn’t have the strength to shift—he wasn’t even sure that he had the energy to breathe. But his lovely wife, the woman of his heart, Eve, yelled at him through their link. While he’d never tell her this, she sounded like a choir of angels talking to him. You die there on the side of that nasty creek, Oliver Whitfield, and I will never forgive you. I won’t visit your grave, nor will I put any pretties there for you. Get up, you old coot, and move around before you freeze to death. He told her that he loved her.

I love you too. And you were so brave to save her. Now, you’d better be up and around before I get there. Or so help me I’ll— I’m up. Now hush, woman, I can’t hear what Evan is saying about her. It might have been for nothing. Evan was looking grave as he worked. Then he looked at him. She’s got some kind of sickness, Evan. I tasted it in her blood when I bit her. “You’re going to have to finish the job, Dad, or she will be dead before I can do a thing.” He asked him what he was talking about. “Change her. You’ve bitten her several times, it looks like. And she’s dying. Change her and she’ll live. And it’ll take care of whatever illness brought her to this point. As it is right now, she’s got so many broken bones, and with the loss of blood, I don’t know if she’d make it even if this were to have happened with a team of doctors around her. Change her, please.” He didn’t want to. Oliver wasn’t sure why, but he had a feeling that this little girl was going to be one of his sons’ mate.

Evan told him it was now or she’d be dead to someone. He bit down in her bruised and battered belly, and felt her scream that came up from her gut. She was poisoned with something nasty, the poor thing, and he had a feeling that she’d been right. Mason had been about as close to death as it came. It was another twenty minutes before he could move away from her tiny body. Ivy was there with them now, and so was his Eve, who had brought him some clothing. When Mason started to shake hard, they covered her with as many blankets and coats as they could find. All it did, he thought, was make her shake harder. It wasn’t until Carter showed up that he could see some improvement in her skin. But she gave her a couple of drops of her powerful blood to be sure. They all knew that Carter was a fae, and that she had shared her magic with Josh. But what it would do to a human, one that was just on this side of dying, no one knew. It might well be a moot point if she died right now. It was decided, however, that they’d take her up to the bridge and lay her down there, so that when the ambulance came, they’d just say that she had slipped on the icy bridge. It was plausible, he supposed. She was soaking wet and badly battered. Carter said she’d make it, so the authorities saw only what they needed to see, and he was grateful for that. “Her brother and dad, they don’t need to know that she was trying to kill herself.”

Eve agreed, but Evan wasn’t so sure. “If he needs to know, then we’ll tell him. But I think, for now, we should just let it go as a fall rather than her jumping. I think this is something that she’ll need to tell them. On her terms, I think, too. I’d want to hear it from one of you if you were thinking there wasn’t any other way.” “What about changing her?” Oliver told Evan he didn’t know about that yet as he pulled off his second coat to lay on Mason, to make it look as if he’d been the only one there. “All right. But think on an answer or something before we get in too deep with this. Her dad, he might even know that she’s been down of late. But I doubt very much that he knew that she was dying with what she had. That is more than likely what drove her here in the first place.”

He had to agree. But he’d not tell any of them what she’d said to him before she’d jumped. It tore at his heart when he thought of the sadness and pain that he’d seen there just before she slipped out of her coat. The ambulance was called, and he waited for them. The rest of them left him there so that the story was plausible. He held her hand while he sat there with her, telling her that it mattered little to him if she was one of his boys’ mate, he already loved her to pieces. When the ambulance pulled up, Ivy was on it with them. With a wink at him, she asked him what was going on. He told her the story that they’d agreed on. He’d found her there, lying on the bridge, and had covered her up with his coat. He didn’t have to explain why she was wet, no one asked, but once she was bundled up and taken away, Oliver sat there for a few more minutes, thinking of his part in this woman’s life now. He’d not changed anyone in his life.

Not even when he’d been younger had he had the occasion to do something so terrifying. His lady wife, Eve, had been a full-blooded tiger when they’d come together. And now, he’d just changed the life of someone, a stranger, so profoundly that he doubted very much she’d ever be able to forgive him. Oliver wasn’t sure that he’d ever forgive himself if it came to that. But she was alive, and she’d be all right. Oliver thought that was the best he could be happy for right now. “Are you finished feeling sorry for yourself?” He turned to look at Tanner when he spoke. “You saved her life, at great risk to yourself. And while she might have wanted to die, by her own hand, you have done something wonderful for her family. As you thought, she might not forgive you right away.

But Oliver, I have known you all my life, and no one can be upset with you for long.” “I’m not like my father.” He looked around and saw that it had turned rainy again, the clouds thick and heavy. “He could charm the pants off a nun, I’ve been told. By him, mostly, but I have heard it. I’m not the type of person that can make anyone do anything.” “Let me see your arm.” Oliver had hurt himself holding the girl so she’d not fall. It had just begun to hurt him when Tanner sat beside him on the cold, wet bridge. “You strained it badly, I’m afraid. You will need to be in more pain before you will be better. I would have thought that shifting to catch her would have helped.” “My cat was hurt. The current that had us, it was much stronger than I’d thought when I went in for her.”

He looked at Tanner. “She was dying. I just couldn’t let her do that to herself. Or her family. She is better now, I’m hoping. Do you think you can do that magical thing you do and tell me if I did a worse thing by doing this to her?” “I shan’t do that, Oliver. You know as well as I that she will live for a good long time now, and have no worries that she had before.” Oliver nodded, but wasn’t convinced that she’d not try again. “She will not. I shall tell you something, my friend. She is the mate to one of your sons, but I know not which one. And that alone will give her immortality, regardless of her being the wonderful tiger that I know she will be.” “Do you know this man? The one that she was talking about before she jumped?” He said that he didn’t. “I wish I did. I’d hunt him down and give him a good showing of my cat. Even as old as I am, I think I could make him wet himself.”

“Don’t do it, my friend. While I have no doubt that you could make him wet his pants, I think you should leave that for your son, her mate. But as I have said, you will need to see Ivy or Evan about your arm. I believe that you have dislocated your shoulder. Quite painful, I have heard, so you will, as I said, be in a great deal more pain.” Tanner stood up. “I wish to ask you something, Oliver, and you do not need to form an answer. And though I am quite aware of what you are going to say, I wish for you to think on it. Her father, I have heard, is a good man. What would you feel should this have been your despondent child, and a man—you, in this case—had the chance to save her from certain death, so changed her into something more? How would you feel?” Tanner disappeared, not waiting to see if Oliver had an answer or not. The sun was coming out and the rain was gone. The roads, he knew, would be slicker before dinner tonight.

Walking home, enjoying the chill of the day, he thought about the question that had been put before him. “I’d want her to be alive more than anything.” He knew that to be true, but he also didn’t know the other man, her father. His dad did, of course. Dad knew everyone. But Oliver didn’t. Making his way to the diner, Oliver decided to have a talk with his dad about it. “So you saved her life.” Dad was talking to him between customers. Oliver had an idea that he needed something to do like his dad had, if only to make him feel better about life. Dad sure did look better than he had a few months ago. “I know Mas. He’s a good man, and a better businessman than I’ve come across. If he has his little girl, then you can bet that he wouldn’t care if she was a donkey braying out her love for him.” “Dad, where do you come up with this stuff? There has to be a place that has a list of them. Every day you come up with something new, and just as goofy.” Dad laughed when he did. “I heard that the boys are going to be helping him out so that no one takes his company. It’s good to see someone still doing business within the family.”

“It is, I agree. And if’n you want me to, I’ll be there when you tell him what you did to his little girl. I didn’t know that— Say, you thinking what I’m thinking?” Oliver told him that he was still thinking about that girl braying like a jackass. “I never said jackass, you dummy. I said a donkey. But what if she’s one of the boys’ mates? Wouldn’t that be a hoot?” “It might be if I wasn’t so afraid that she isn’t,” Dad asked him why. “Because she’s a tiger, Dad. She’s no longer a human.” He didn’t tell him what Tanner had said. For some reason, he wanted to keep that to himself for now. “Oh, don’t go on about that. Whoever she’s mated to, you can bet your bottom pocket lint that this other person is going to be a darn sight happier with her being alive, don’t you think?” Amazed at his father’s sayings, Oliver just nodded. “There you go. And if she happens to be one of them boys’ mates, well, you had it right on to make her something that could be running with him. Don’t go looking for trouble, Oliver. You don’t need to. Trust me when I tell you, when it comes around, this here trouble that’s in your head, it’ll find you without you worrying yourself sick over it. Now, have some pie, then go on over and get that bum arm looked at. I can see that it hurts you.”

He walked over to the clinic after having a slice of pie with his dad. Oliver was glad to see that one of the other doctors was there today. Oliver knew that Evan was on call and Ivy had taken Mason in, so he’d not be embarrassed when someone set his arm for him. The man told him the same thing that Tanner had—it was going to be more painful before it started to get better. Once they strapped him to the table, really making him more nervous than before, he laid there just thinking about the woman, trying his best not to think of her as a girl. Calling her one when he could see that she wasn’t, Oliver hoped that she’d be all right. “I came by when I heard from Tanner. Oh, Oliver, I wish you could have said something. I would have picked you up.” Oliver was happy to see Eve—so happy, in fact, that he held her hand when the doctor came into the room. “You just lay there and let him fix you up. Then I’ll take you home and pamper you for a bit. I think there is even a little pie left over from dinner last night.” There wasn’t any pie—he’d had it before leaving the house this morning. But he’d not tell her. She’s been fussy with him again. And right now, he wanted her to be loving and comforting. The doctor grabbed his arm at the elbow, and all Oliver remembered after that was screaming his fool head off.