Excerpt From: Pack Alpha

Marissa took a drink of the coffee she’d picked up at the last gas station. The hot liquid burned her tongue and tasted like slug. It wasn’t Starbucks that was for sure. She had flown into the Texas International Airport and rented a car to drive the rest of the way to the small town her sister called home. Her mind was busy thinking about how her sister Elizabeth had been so excited about moving here, but looking at the passing scenery of trees, trees, and more trees, Marissa didn’t get it. It was so big and wide. No buildings, other cars, or people around.

Rolling her window down and turning Bon Jovi even louder on the stereo, she concentrated on the drive—not the reason for coming. She dreaded going into Pack territory, but Elizabeth was the only family she had left, and after finding her mate, Elizabeth wanted Marissa there for the mating ceremony.

That thought brought a smile to Marissa’s face as she glanced at the invitation on the seat next to her. She wanted Elizabeth to be happy, and Greg sounded like a nice guy. She’d spoken to him numerous times on the phone, and he’d always been respectful towards her. And that wasn’t common. A were who couldn’t shift was an outsider. And everyone except Elizabeth had treated her that way her entire life.

Marissa had left the Pack she’d been raised in as soon as she could. Never to step foot on any Pack territory again. That was until later today. Elizabeth, on the other hand, had stayed until she met Greg, a member of a different Pack. After the initial meeting, he had offered her a teaching position at the elementary school and she had taken it. He had been courting her ever since with the blessing of her new Pack Alpha, Gage Wolf.

Marissa chuckled, thinking of everything Greg had done to win her sister’s heart. He’d known he wanted Elizabeth and had patiently waited. It had taken Elizabeth a year to agree to the mating ceremony, but she finally did. Marissa knew one of the reasons Elizabeth had been holding off was because of her.

Marissa had the same instincts as any other were and with that came the need of a Pack, but she had given up on that a long time ago. She’d grown up alone and would always remain that way. In the middle between a shifter and a human. She had many gifts due to her genes—the extended life span, the wolf traits, and some enhanced features—but not enough.

But Marissa would put everything she had into this week and the ceremony that meant so much to her sister.

The differences between her and Elizabeth had grown as they had aged. That was why Marissa had never visited Elizabeth’s new home. She wasn’t scared being in Pack territory; she just didn’t want to face all the males and their egos. And from what she understood, the Pack’s Alpha or leader was pretty young himself.

When around other wolves, the female wolf inside her demanded she mate with one of her own kind. So, as long as she avoided everyone except her sister as much as she could and kept her urges inside, everything would be okay. She would not act like the wolf she couldn’t shift into.

And if the Alpha was anything like her old one, she’d just tell him where to stick it. The idea of telling the Alpha of a territory to go to hell made her smile wider and laugh harder. She wasn’t seventeen anymore. She wasn’t a scared little girl who had to follow everything someone told her. No, she was a grown woman. And she was going to enjoy the time with her sister.

She wasn’t dressed to impress the Alpha or any men in the territory as she currently wore a pair of hip-hugging jeans and a tight pink T-shirt. The paint on her toe nails matched the colour of her shirt, as did the flip-flops. It was a far cry from the suit she wore everyday as an office assistant. She felt free.

When she almost missed the turn off to the territory gate and turned the car sharply to the left, the back of the car skidded around and kicked up dirt. Laughing, she straightened the car and slowed her speed. She didn’t think Gage Wolf would be happy if she took out a couple of trees.

When she reached the gate, she stopped and waited for the guard. He didn’t disappoint. A man over six feet came over to the window and leaned down, smiling at her.

“Can I help you?” he asked in a husky voice.

Excerpt from: The Edge of Morning

The sun had already been up for an hour, but its heat hadn’t yet warmed the air. The crisp chill of the night still lingered. Next to twilight this was Sierra Hart’s favourite time of the day. She’d carried her mug of coffee out to the deck that ran along one side of the cabin and stretched out on the comfortable lounge chair. She’d found an old riding mower in the shed behind the cabin. Surprised that it still worked, she’d mowed down the wild growth immediately surrounding the building to give herself a small clearing. Beyond that, the Maine woods stretched forever.

What a shock it had been to learn her grandfather had left this to her—his cabin where he’d hunted as a young man and where he’d retreated after her grandmother died. The deed, which both the attorney and the county records verified, also included five thousand acres of forest and a small stream. It came to her at a time when she was at a crossroad in her life, relationship-wise and career-wise. Without a soul around for miles, she had plenty of space to do all the thinking she needed to.

She was idly scanning the trees at the edge of the clearing when she saw him—a huge silver wolf. Her first instinct was to barricade herself inside, but he made no effort to move closer to her, just stood there, watching her. A tiny breeze wafted from the forest across the deck, bringing with it an unusual sense of calm. She couldn’t have said why but instinctively she knew the wolf meant her no harm

She’d read about the organisations working to repopulate the wolf in northern Maine. An abundance of coyotes had demanded the presence of their natural enemy. But Sierra had never heard of a wolf coming this close to people without attacking. She watched him steadily, waiting for him to make a move, but he was as still as a statue. In fact, for a moment she actually thought he might be one, something she hadn’t noticed, until he lifted his snout and sniffed the breeze.

She sat up in her chair, prepared to bolt into the house if he made a run for her, but he held his position.

Her concentration was disrupted by the sound of tires on the so-called dirt road leading to the cabin. She wasn’t expecting any visitors so the sound of leaves crunching startled her. Who on earth would be coming here? No one except her closest friend, Nina, even knew where she was. Setting her mug on the little table next to her, she rose to her feet and walked to the end of the deck.

A black Montero Sport with tinted windows inched its way towards the cabin, finally stopping in the small gravel parking area. She waited, wondering if she should have a gun with her. Grandpa had been meticulous about teaching her with both rifle and handgun, and his entire collection was in the cabinet in the great room. Another bonus.

After a moment, both the driver and passenger doors opened and two men emerged. They could have been twins, dressed in black slacks and dark green polo shirts with a small logo over the breast pocket. One blond, one dark-haired, they sported short hair cuts, no facial hair and expressionless faces. Spotting her standing there, they walked towards her with steady strides.

Sierra leaned on the rail, bending forward. “Can I help you? This is private property.” Neither of them said a word until they were a foot away from her. Then the blond reached into his pants pocket, extracted a leather card case and pulled out a business card.

“Craig Danforth. Hagen Lumber Mills.” When Sierra didn’t reach for it, he set the card on the deck railing. “We’d like to talk to you about your land.”

She shoved her hands into her jeans pockets. “The same kind of talk you had with my grandfather? He wasn’t interested in selling and neither am I.”

“Miss Hart,” the other man began.

“Forget it. Save your breath.”

The other man stepped forward. “I don’t think you want to be hasty here. This is prime lumber property. Hagen is prepared to make you a substantial offer.”

Sierra clenched her jaw. “It’s prime forest, and it’s going to stay that way. Good day, gentlemen. Don’t bother coming back.”

The two men exchanged a look, then both nodded once and trudged back to their SUV. Sierra stood there, tense, until they drove away. When she turned to pick up her coffee mug, she noticed the wolf still standing there, only now his lips were drawn back in a snarl. She shivered then stepped back into the great room. Before she even poured another cup of coffee, she unlocked the gun cabinet, took out a rifle and a small 9mm handgun and loaded them. Next time she’d be prepared.

Excerpt From: A Demon in Dallas

"I can’t see a freaking thing down here, it’s too dark," Matt whined.

Hands clenched into fists, I glared at him, my jaw tense. "If you don’t stop whining, I’ll leave you down here to find your own way out."

Matt shut up. The trip to Texas had been his idea, and only two days after arriving, he had me combing the sewers, knee deep in God only knows what. As we headed farther into the labyrinth of tunnels, my already sour mood worsened. Why had I agreed to this? I should have known better.

After a few more minutes of walking on in the worst kind of uncomfortable silence, Matt mumbled, "I was sure he came this way."

He might have missed the glare I tossed in his direction, but I’d be surprised if he couldn’t feel my gaze burning a hole in the back of his head. I’d never have admitted it to Matt, but I was angrier at myself than I was with him. Yet again, I had let him talk me into one of his idiotic plans. Apparently, my stupidity knows no boundaries.

It wasn’t as if we didn’t have enough work to keep us busy in Maine, and you didn’t melt in Maine when you stepped out into the midday sun. That was always a bonus. But no, the idea of a nest of vampires that were getting too big for their cowboy boots had seduced me. It was always the damn vampires that did it. I felt drawn to them like a wolf to the moon— which made sense in its own perverse way. I was a hunter, after all. The need to exterminate the vermin was in my blood, embedded in my DNA.

Matt stayed by my side as we traversed the intricate network of tunnels. He didn’t have the sense of direction that I had been born with, so we had to stick together. If we split up, Matt would be sure to get lost and the last thing I wanted was to have to spend more time in the damn sewer than I needed to.

Placing a hand around my upper arm, Matt pulled me to a stop. He was about my height, if marginally broader, so when I turned we were standing face to face and close enough that I could see his remorseful expression. He let out a long sigh.

"I’m sorry I dragged you into this. You were right. We should have stayed in Maine."

His repentant tone dispelled most of the anger I had been holding onto. There was a reason I hadn’t wanted to come back to Austin, but Matt didn’t know about that. As far as he was aware, I’d walked out on that part of my life two years ago and I hadn’t looked back. I was good at hiding my feelings, even from Matt, who had become like a brother to me over the ten years we’d been hunting together. Or maybe I was just a damn good liar—too good.

I shrugged. "Don’t sweat it. I’m a big girl. I agreed to come along. Now that we’re here, let’s kill us some vamps, yeah?"

A goofy grin was his only reply. When we turned a corner, the dimly lit, narrow passageway opened up into a cavernous room. The stark brick walls held small fitted lights, but they let off hardly any illumination. Our prey was standing in the back, casually leaning against the wall when we entered. His eyes glowed yellow in the small beam of moonlight that filtered down from an overhead grating. Even from ten feet away I could smell the stench of death and decay on his breath. The room was just bright enough to see the vampire’s wide, toothy grin.

"Well, it’s about time y’all showed up," he said with a lazy Texan twang. "I ain’t got all night, ya know."

I took a few steps farther into the room to get a better look at the creature. He was wearing pale blue, flared denims and a floral shirt. He wouldn’t have looked out of place in the seventies—in fact, he probably hadn’t taken them off since the seventies. That would certainly explain some of the stink. But the strangest thing about him was his relaxed stance and calm demeanour. Most vampires feared hunters on sight. Reaching into my jacket, I pulled out my favourite silver- tipped stake.

"Oh, I’d put that away if I were you." He swaggered towards us and the stench increased, clogging up the already stale air until it was all I could smell. Some days, I really hated my damn job.

I shrugged. "Sorry, no can do."

"Someone could get hurt," he mused.

"Not someone," I corrected. "Something." It was damn near impossible to think of a vampire as human when their humanity had departed along with their soul. ‘Mindless, emotionless killers’ was the only term that fitted.

His grin broadened. "Details," he drawled, with a swish of his hand.

As we stared at each other silently, my mind went into overdrive. There was something off about this whole situation. His relaxed manner made me jittery. Vampires were undoubtedly the most conceited of the supernatural species, but he would have known we were hunters. So he was either stupid enough to think he could take us or he had a death wish. Of course, there could always be a third alternative—he wasn’t down in the sewer alone and that fact was giving him false confidence.

"Matt, pick up the slack," I instructed.

My eyes never wavered from the soulless creature in front of me. In the ten years we’d worked together, Matt and I had come to understand one another pretty well so I didn’t need to elaborate. In my peripheral vision, I saw him nod then walk back down the tunnel we’d just come through.

"Well, well. Not as stupid as you look." As the creature neared, his haughty smirk exposed yellow, razor-sharp fangs.

I was about to respond with something equally banal when a fight broke out in the tunnel behind me. The harrowing sounds of fists hitting flesh and snapping bones reached my ears along with Matt’s shouts of rage as he fought what sounded like four or five vampires at once.

"Raven! Raven, help me!" Matt shouted.

Damn. I thought about dealing with the creature in front of me first, but then a sound rang out that made my stomach lurch violently and all the air whooshed out of my lungs. Matt screamed— quite literally screamed. The chilling sound echoed off the damp sewer walls, reverberating through my body like it was a physical entity that had taken me by the arms and shaken the living daylights out of me. It was excruciating to listen to.

Excerpt From: Till Abandon

"Will you fucking die already?" Voltaire pressed the right heel of her gold Zanotti’s into the bullet hole in the man’s neck. The idiot keeping her from her date struggled—a futile effort, if she did say so herself. His cobalt-blue eyes stared up at her from his position on the floor, pleading for mercy while his body twitched. Wet sounds gurgled in his throat, then he coughed. Dark red blood flew everywhere, dotting the back of her heel and running like a red stream down the corner of his mouth. Pink tears leaked from his eyes.

"Damn it, now look what you’ve done." She lifted her foot off his throat to inspect the damage to her shoe. "I bought these today, specially for this occasion, and you go and fuck them up."

Men. Can’t train them, or horsewhip them in the middle of the street. What the hell is there left to do? Kill ‘em.

She knelt beside the man, who was getting bluer by the minute, and shook her head. "You know, that colour does great things for your skin tone." She grabbed the sleeve of his white shirt and wiped off her heel. Blood pooled under him, sinking into the plush, grey carpet. She glanced up at the digital clock on his desk. He had some fabulous things in this office—she’d take a tour of the house if she wasn’t so damned strapped for time.

Hah, strapped.

A dull buzzing started on the left side of her skull, annoying as a mosquito.

"Will you stop already with the fucking mind control? You’ve been trying it all night, and has it worked?" She lifted an eyebrow and projected her thoughts to him. Obviously not. You pissed off the Council and they’ve marked you for extinction. She bared her teeth. "Unfortunately for you, they gave you to me as a going away gift."

Tugging the bowie knife from her ankle strap, she slashed his throat with a flick of her wrist.

"That’s for taking up so much of my goddamn time."

She fished the disposable cell phone from the back pocket of her jeans and pulled off her black gloves with her teeth. Hitting the redial button, she straightened and stepped delicately over the body on her way to the door.

"Yes?"

"It’s done."

Voltaire paused at the threshold and took one last look over her shoulder to admire her handiwork. Damn, sometimes she astonished even herself. The married father of four hadn’t batted an eye when she’d sent him a drink at the bar then offered herself to him for the night. She gave him bonus points for not taking her to his marital home. Apparently Mr Moneybags kept an apartment downtown for his nightly hook-ups.

Fucking men. Is nothing sacred anymore? Sure, she’d been paid a couple of mil to kill him, but still.

Excerpt From: Lifesong

Emma

I remembered him. My wolf. His silver eyes. His fur warm against my skin and the words he’d spoken to me.

"This is a dream," I’d said, holding myself upright with the help of a nearby tree. "You’re not real."

He’d hidden his eyes from me. "Perhaps not, but I’m no dream, either." When I hadn’t spoken, he’d continued, "You’re awake, child. And though I cannot force you, I’d like you to come with me. The land beneath us is dying, and there isn’t much time. There’s something I need to show you."

I’d scanned the forest, peering at my house far in the distance.

"You’re the only one who can help us heal these wounds. The others…your parents won’t understand."

I’d taken another breath before kneeling in front of him. I’d stared at his eyes. "But how can I hear you? How can I understand you? You’re just a wolf."

He hadn’t moved. Ears perked. Tail wagging behind him. "To your eyes, perhaps."

"How do I know this is real?"

"You don’t."

His final words have stayed with me ever since. "The Earth will not find you if you come with me. I can keep you safe."

I remembered the memories he’d shared with me then-a black tree, dead and broken, strips of green energy seeping through the cracks, and the boy, his eyes the same silver as my wolf.

His memory still kissed my dreams-both the wolf and the boy visited me as I slept.

My body trembled, as if feeling his hands against my face, his cold nose resting in the palm of my hand. It was how I woke every morning, bleary-eyed and much too soon to see the dream to its end.

My dreams were my only escape from the prison into which my parents had deposited me. Too awake to return to my wolf, I blinked at the early morning sunlight. White walls with bars on the windows surrounded me. The ratty old mattress screeched under my weight as I rolled over, scanning the piles of books collected in every corner of the room.

Books about wolves, werewolves, romance novels and anything else I could get my hands on. There were no teachers, no recess. Just my books. My memories. But no matter how much I read, no matter how hard I tried to remember, nothing explained what my wolf had been, or why he hadn’t come back for me.

The staff at the ward insisted I hadn’t seen him at all, and if it hadn’t been for how real my dreams felt, I might have believed them. For the past six years, I’d struggled with the truth. Six years later and I still remembered him.

He’d taken me as far into the woods as we could possibly have gone. And pressing his forehead to mine, he’d shown me things that hadn’t happened yet, things that had happened to him and memories that somehow had appeared in my dreams after we’d met. The black tree. The Earth’s essence-the green energy humans had begun to siphon out of the ground with their heavy machinery. The more we took from the Earth, the darker the ground became.

The Earth was dying, and even though everyone else at the ward could see it, I was the only one who could hear it-the only one who could feel the Earth’s cries. That was what had brought me here in the first place. When my parents couldn’t stand my stories about Tucker any longer, they took me to the ward-to a place he would never find me.

He’d told me to find him when I was ready. When I was sure. He’d promised if I got lost, he’d seek me out. The days passed as if they were years, and as they did, the likelihood of Tucker’s return to me faded.

Aroused as a result of my most recent dream, I considered staying in bed, to close my eyes and only think of him. I couldn’t. The nurses were due back at any minute. Much too soon for me to get off, and way too early for my liking. Damn.

Rousing myself, I fixed my nightgown, the thin fabric falling below my knees as I closed my hands around the bars of the window. I scanned the world outside for Tucker, the same shape I’d searched for every morning and right before I went to bed. I’d never seen him, yet still I hoped for his return.

A bleak sky hung overhead, but I knew better than to hope for rain. Broken roads and tall cranes jutted from the ground in place of the trees I remembered from my childhood. The colours here were either brown, grey or black. There was no green grass or any wild flowers like the ones from my books. That part of my world had faded, shortly after my fifth birthday, into memory and fiction.

The destruction first started in 2018, following the earthquakes and storms that had begun in 2011 and increased every year. The quakes caused the lands to shift, to break off and fall into the sea. The storms scarred whatever remained. And as the Earth died, mankind tried to save what they could by building machines, ones capable of draining the essence right from the Earth. This essence, or the core as some called it, was hidden far beneath the surface. It was what brought life to the flowers, fields and farms.