by Lauren Dane
Kit, oh hell, Katie Faith, stood, draining her coffee. “I’m going to stop over at the Counter first. Then I’ll call my mom and see what’s going on. I’ve got Curtis helping out while I’m back and forth to the hospital. And Miz Rose is going to help. She knows the place backward and forward anyway.” Curtis was Aimee’s cousin and Rose Collins had worked odd shifts at the Counter for nearly thirty years. She was eighty now, but spry and smart and she could run the place with her eyes closed. And the leader of the Consort of Witches in Diablo Lake.
“I need to shower. I’ll go in to work for a bit. Call me when you’re ready and I’ll ride with you. I haven’t seen your mom in a few days anyway. I’ll also make sure all the pieces coordinating with his physical therapy and all that once he’s home are in place.” Aimee’s expertise with all the medical related stuff was a huge help.
Katie Faith hugged Aimee tight. “Thank you. Really.”
“That’s what friends do.” Aimee jogged from the room as Katie Faith began to tidy up the kitchen and wash out the coffee stuff.
She’d have to handle a lot of things. She’d need a place to live and not just to get laid, as Aimee so delicately put it. If—when—she came back, it would be for good and she wanted her own space to put her roots back down.
Roots were important. She had them here in Diablo Lake. Gradys had been there for generations. She fit there in a way she knew she’d never be comfortable anywhere else. At the same time, it was really important that she come back and make a place for herself on her own terms. She didn’t want to be that woman who got herself left at the altar, or Avery and Nadine’s girl. Not only anyway.
She may have not fit into Chattanooga as well as she had in Diablo Lake, but she was her own person there. She’d also learned a lot about herself. She would return, partly because her family needed her and partly because it was time. But she’d do it with some dignity. As much as she could anyway.
Looking through Aimee’s kitchen window, she caught sight of a man jogging down the street in the early morning stillness. She leaned closer to see who it was, not that the long, powerful legs and shirtless torso weren’t enough to enjoy in and of themselves.
As if she’d shouted a name, he turned and she stilled, her hands gripping the dish towel tight. How on Earth could she still be so totally gobsmacked every time she caught sight of the man? And how on Earth did he still look so good? And forbidden, which, well, come on, what girl with a lick of sense wouldn’t want that?
She did manage to lift her hand and wave. He must not have recognized her, either that or he hated her, because his wave in return was joined by a puzzled look and he kept on running.
Shrinking back from the window with a wistful sigh, she hung the towel up and headed to get dressed.
“I just saw Jace Dooley jogging,” she called out to Aimee as she finished with her makeup and came back out into the living room.
“Shirtless, right? Tell me it was one of those days.” Aimee waggled her eyebrows.
“Wait, this is a thing?” Katie Faith asked.
“Yes. He goes for a run every morning. You can see him twice if you’re up early enough. Unless it’s snowing he usually has his shirt off and tucked into his shorts. He’s one of the Lord’s finest creations.” Aimee hummed.
“I can’t believe you didn’t even tell me. What kind of friend knows Jace runs shirtless past a body’s kitchen window every single day and never bothers to say? It’s like I don’t even know you.” Katie Faith shook her head.
“You’re right. I sincerely apologize for my oversight. So.” Aimee looked her up and down. “Is this a thing then? I just need to know how to be supportive. Like should I be cheerleading you taking up jogging so you can get yourself and your jiggly boobs in his path? Or is this just an idle trip down memory lane when you had the hot and tinglies for him?”
She thought about it for a while. “I don’t know if it’s a thing yet. It could be a thing. If he’s single and I still like him. I’ve changed since then. I imagine he has too. But it’s not something I came back to town to do. In the meantime, I’ll be sure to set my alarm tomorrow so I won’t miss out. Just because I don’t have time to do anything doesn’t mean I can’t look.”
Aimee said, “It would be a crime against nature not to look at him.”
“Thanks for enabling me. I love you.” Katie Faith gave her a hug.
“Love you too. Now let’s get out the door and kick today’s butt.”
Don’t miss Diablo Lake: Moonstruck, available now wherever Carina Press ebooks are sold! And watch for the next Diablo Lake book, coming soon.
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Copyright © 2016 by Lauren Dane
Acknowledgments
As always, every book is a team effort. Thanks go to my husband, Ray, for building this life with me and for never complaining about how much take-out food I order when I’m immersed in a book.
Angela James, who is a fantastic editor and an all-around wonderful person who makes me better each time I work with her. Thanks to the Carina Press team for writing way better blurbs than I ever could and for the support and wonderful cover art.
When life comes at you hard and knocks you back, your intentional family is a lifeboat. Without all my loved ones I don’t know if I could have gotten through these last several years. But I’m here today and that’s so much because of them. Thank you for never letting me go.
Coming soon from Lauren Dane
and Carina Press
Blood and Blade
Diablo Lake Book Three
Also available from Lauren Dane
and Carina Press
Second Chances
Believe
Goddess with a Blade
Getting It Right
Goddess with a Blade
Blade to the Keep
Blade on the Hunt
At Blade’s Edge
Wrath of the Goddess
Diablo Lake
Diablo Lake: Moonstruck
Diablo Lake: Protected
Cascadia Wolves
Reluctant Mate
Pack Enforcer
Wolves’ Triad
Wolf Unbound
Alpha’s Challenge
Bonded Pair
Twice Bitten
de La Vega Cats
Trinity
Revelation
Beneath the Skin
Cherchez Wolf Pack
Wolf’s Ascension
Sworn to the Wolf
Chase Brothers
Giving Chase
Taking Chase
Chased
Making Chase
Petal, Georgia
Once and Again
Lost in You
Count on Me
From Lauren Dane
and HQN Books
The Best Kind of Trouble
Broken Open
Back to You
Whiskey Sharp: Unraveled
Whiskey Sharp: Jagged
Whiskey Sharp: Torn
About the Author
Lauren Dane is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over fifty novels and novellas across several genres. She lives in the Northwest with her patient husband and three wild children.
Visit Lauren on the web at www.laurendane.com.
E-mail: [email protected]
Twitter: @laurendane
You can write to her at: PO BOX 45175, Seattle, WA 9814
Catch up on the rest of the Goddess series from New York Times bestselling author
Lauren Dane!
GODDESS WITH A BLADE (Goddess with a Blade, book one)
BLADE TO THE KEEP (Goddess with a Blade, book two)
BLADE ON THE HUNT (Goddess with a Blade, book three)
AT BLADE’S EDGE (Goddess with a Blade, book four)
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ISBN-13: 9781488053825
Wrath of the Goddess
Copyright © 2019 by Lauren Dane
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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