by Alisha Basso
My head came up and pleasure suffused me. “He’s keeping me on?”
“Looks that way.”
I set the paper down and signed it.
“He’s tough, but he’s fair. Let’s go home.” she said, taking the paper from me and setting it on her desk.
“Yes, let’s.” It felt so good to know I wouldn’t be alone, but even as I thought it, I kept my barrier in place, unable to fully let it go.
We walked out of the OS together and got into her car. I watched the building disappear behind us and smiled. I had done good. It was time for rest and recovery. Then we would go after Wilding, who I was sure had Bleak, and get my questions answered, then arrest Bleak. That was when I would truly be satisfied. But that was all for another day. I’d worry about that tomorrow.
After twelve hours of sleep, I started baking. It wasn’t long before there was a knock at the kitchen door. I opened it to find Fox Echohawk.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hello, Lily.” He held up a bag and it gave off an amazing aroma.
“What did you bring me?”
“Breakfast.”
I opened the bag and peeked in. “Danish from Cottman’s! That’s my favorite. I’ve been trying to get the owner to fork over her recipe, but she’s being stubborn.”
I turned and headed for the kitchen. I stopped and turned back to ask him if he wanted my special blend of coffee. I smashed right into him.
He set his hand on my waist and my skin tingled at his closeness. I looked up at him, looked into those compelling eyes.
“How about some of my special blend coffee?”
He took the bag out of my hands and tossed it to the counter. Crowding me against the island, he said softly, “Yeah, that sounds good.”
He didn’t move and I simply couldn’t. My heart pulsed hard, afraid of taking this step, but needing it somehow.
He reached out then and undid what little defense I had left, flimsy though it already was, by tracing his fingertips over my face. My forehead, my cheeks, my lips. All the while staring steadily into my eyes.
“Val was right. I’m interested in you.”
I reached out and snagged one of his braids and pulled his head down. “I’m not sure I’m ready for anything like this. Can we take it slow?”
He smiled “Of course, I have a feeling you’re worth the wait.”
I sighed softly. Yeah, okay, my life was looking up a bit.
I might be under suspicion by the FDA for the use of illegal fairy dust, have a rogue mage who was still on the rampage and undoubtedly still hated my guts. In fact, he wanted me dead. I would need to figure out what the key around Olivia’s neck unlocked. I was still completely broke, but I had also just found myself a new job and a new place to live with a shapeshifter who was unpredictable and mysterious.
Fox stepped away and I let his silky braid slide through my fingers. “Can I take you out on a date?”
I looked up into his beautiful golden eyes. He smiled when I didn’t answer.
“Too fast?
“A little.”
He took another step back. Okay, I might have just snagged myself a new, gorgeous, and magically powerful boyfriend. If I decided to throw caution to the wind and go out with him. And in the meantime, I’d work at rebuilding my catering business with Nock’s Aunt Tilly as backup. Consulting for the OS with a vamp in charge would be interesting. But, there was always time to worry about tomorrow…well, tomorrow.
“Let’s have the Danish. Pour us some coffee. You know where the mugs are,” I said with a smile and a sexy grin spread across his face. I sighed. “I’ll get a plate.”
#
I had just filled my last cream puff when someone knocked. We were settling into Rayne’s place quite nicely. Nock loved his closet and Flynn was just as happy in his new home as he’d been at my old apartment.
I opened the door, and my heart stalled a bit in my chest. There stood Talon and his sidekicks.
“Oh, look, bad things do come in threes.”
I left the door open and headed back to the kitchen.
They followed. “We were worried,” he inclined his head. “You haven’t tried to save the world for two whole days.”
Laric chuckled. “Yeah, Lily, you’re boring us.” He leaned over and took a whiff of my cream puffs. I fidgeted slightly, hoping Talon didn’t notice. Of course they were made with illegal fairy dust.
“They look really good,” Storm said, his lavender hair pulled back into a queue at the base of his neck, wisps around his arresting face.
Laric looked hopefully at me, and it took all my willpower to keep a straight face.
I handed each of them one and watched as they took a big bite. Features transformed from anticipation into ecstasy.
“That is the best thing I have ever tasted. Could I get some to go?” Laic said. Storm nodded.
I went to the cupboard to get two pastry boxes, smirking to myself like a naughty little witch.
I put two in each box and closed the lids. “There you go.”
“What do I owe you?”
“Oh, these are on me,” I said, smiling.
After his fellow dust hounds left and closed the door behind them, Talon crowded me against the wall.
“I don’t give a damn if you’re flirting with the shaman, this isn’t over between us.”
“Yes, it is,” I said, succinctly. “We are just deluding ourselves if we think anything else.”
He narrowed his eyes and pressed his hips against me and, goddess help me, it felt so good.
He moved closer still, and my breath caught in my throat. He traced his fingertips down the side of my cheek, then cupped my face with both hands, tilting my head back as he kept his gaze directly on mine. “Lily, we can…”
“No, we can’t,” I reiterated more firmly. “Don’t make me set up rules.”
“Rules?” he said. “What rules?”
He wanted me to think he was giving into my demands, which I was not buying.
“No enrapping me. Ever.”
“Got it, but, Lily, I never enrapped you.”
“Not at the FDA?” I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t so much as swallow. I definitely couldn’t look away. He was always mesmerizing, but now more than ever. I wanted to ask him more questions, and blamed my sudden lack of oxygen for not being able to. But that wasn’t exactly the problem. I was being a weenie because it was cowardice that backed up my words. I didn’t want us to have this kind of connection.
“Nope, and not in your apartment or your kitchen. That was all attraction and desire. You did it to yourself.”
I opened my mouth and closed it again. “Ah, shut up.”
“What’s rule number two?”
“Hands off.” Did my voice have to come out so breathy like instead of telling him to keep his hands off me, it was like an invitation to put them all over me?
Now he lifted an eyebrow. “Huh—”
“No if, and or buts.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
I poked a finger in his chest and stared at him.
“Okay, okay, tough girl,” he said, lifting his hands.
“Promise?”
“Hands off,” he responded.
“Promise,” I reiterated.
“You’re asking for my word, then questioning my sincerity?”
“Promise.” I said desperately.
He sighed. “Not happening.”
I started to say something, then stopped as his answer sunk in. “Oh, Break take it! This isn’t up for negotiation? You can’t just refuse.”
“I have to refuse because I’m honest, Lily. And since I can’t pledge I’m never going to put my hands on you again, I’m not going to promise you I won’t. I might say I wouldn’t, but that’s a waste of breath. We both know who I am, rogue, bad boy, dominant fae. Whatever term you want to use, I’m going to get my way. Either we get tangled up again or we don’t; it’s as simple as that. You can’t go making rules abou
t it.”
“Yes, I can. You’re a grown fae, a leader, an FDA agent. You have self-control.”
He smiled and my knees went weak. “I don’t seem to have any around you.” He shook his head, I swallowed hard, and my hands clutched his shirt.
“So, what are the other rules?”
“Oh, shut up. What the hell does it matter what the other rules are?”
“I want to know what I’m up against.” He grinned. “You kinda like me a little, don’t you?”
“Getting under my skin is more like it,” I muttered.
“I’ll take it. It’s a start.”
“Hey, ko,” Laric said through the door.
“Coming,” Talon responded impatiently.
“I can make you one promise, though,” he said, low and husky.
“I can’t wait to hear it,” I said, not able to hide my sarcasm.
“I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do,” he whispered huskily.
“Oh, goddess,” I murmured, as heat flooded me.
“You look even prettier when you blush.”
“Get out,” I said, my voice strained.
He chuckled and disappeared out the door.
Had I just said I would worry about tomorrow…tomorrow?
“Why couldn’t my life be easy?”
“Because,” Nock chirped, materializing beside me, “simple is for sissies.” Then he went invisible.
***********
Don’t miss AfterMath, Book #2 in the Starbuck Chronicles where Lily is now an OS consultant working alongside powerful wardens and handling her vampire boss. But when it comes to a sexy shaman, what is she going to do when her heart is still not quite sure how she feels about Talon, that tantalizing fae dust hound that’s still on her tail?
Coming in 2015!
About the Author
Zoe Dawson is the alter ego of multi-published, award winning, bestselling author Karen Anders. Karen started her career because her grandmother gave her a book to read. That book made her fall in love with romance and started her on the trek to get published. She achieved that goal in 1996 with the publication of Jennifer’s Outlaw for Silhouette. Even with many books under her belt, she can’t wait for that next idea, that next exquisite sentence and, of course, the next hero and heroine who fall in love.
Books by Zoe Dawson
Going to the Dogs
Leashed, Book #1 Free
Groomed for Murder, #2
Hounded, Book #3
Collared #4
Fetched (companion novella to Hounded) #5
Tangled (companion novella to Leashed) #6
Handled (companion novella to Groomed for Murder) #7
Captured (companion novella to Collared) #8
New Adult Contemporary Romance:
Brave (stand-alone novella)
A Perfect Mess #1 (A Perfect Secret Series)
A Perfect Mistake #2 (A (Perfect Secret Series)
A Perfect Dilemma #3 (A Perfect Secret Series)
Connect with Zoe Online
Website:
http://www.zoedawson.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zoe-Dawson/437311359676596
Newsletter:
http://www.zoedawson.com
The Horsecaller Series
RAVER
By
Candace Carrabus
AN UNEXPECTED RIDE...
Lauren's hush-hush family history tells of an ancestor and his horse vanishing in a forbidden corner of their upstate New York farm. But on the other side of the mysterious portal lies a dying land bereft of its beloved steeds.
Lauren is enjoying a rare day with the horses to herself when a strange man arrives seeking a particular rider. Before she knows what's happening, she and her brother's prize stallion, Pindar, are abducted through the Ravery to Cirq where she is proclaimed the Horsecaller and expected to return their country to greatness.
There, she encounters Supreme Guardian Leinos who awakens her long-dormant hope for the future. Lauren denies she is the prophesied Horsecaller but is drawn into his quest to return Cirq to greatness. Soon, she's fighting giant venomous birds, a hostile queen, and the unfamiliar yearnings of her own heart.
But time is running out. Conspiracy threatens from all sides, and not everyone looks upon Ravers with kindness.
Will Lauren and Pindar bring Cirq's horses home before it's too late?
A story of life, love, and the secret places we dream about.
This is for Robert
FROM THE Crone Prophecies…
The ground will not shake from sacred hooves,
nor the wind carry a proud whinny,
nor warriors smell sweet horse breath
for two hundred and twenty-two courses.
But before the horses leave forever,
a new Horsecaller will come
along dark, unused paths.
Chapter 1
LAST, reckless hope. It was the only thing keeping Leinos standing in a driving rain staring into the spiraling mouth of the Ravery. The blurry opening grew larger by the moment. Yesterday, the portal had been no more than obscure myth. Today, terrifying truth. At his shoulder, his lifelong friend, Pheeso, who hated rain, gawked at the mysterious threshold, his lips set in a thin line and his face bloodless.
Two strides farther on, third-degree sage Vraz and high crone Sebira gazed at the yawning maw of the Ravery with fascination, not fear. Soon, they would dive into it. Or through it. No one knew for certain what it held or where it led. They risked everything on very slim chance. The downpour slicked the crone’s thin white hair against her head. Rain splashed off Vraz’s already bare crown. Sebira waved her arms through the air, coaxing the Ravery open. Tiny flames shot between her fingers and the vortex.
“If this is the mouth,” Vraz shouted over thunder and wind, “there is no escaping an exit through its ass.”
The comment did nothing to calm the pounding in Leinos’s head. Wherever they landed, Sebira intended to keep the portal open while Vraz searched that other place for the one they desperately needed. The high crone made vague references to a dream, a message received, and the certainty they would find the Horsecaller on the other side.
Leinos clapped a hand on the sage’s soaked shoulder. “Someone has to be first,” he said. “And when it spits you back out here, you will bring a Horsecaller. You will be heroes.”
If the Ravery returned them, Leinos thought. If the murky legends were true. If, indeed, the Ravery was a gate, and one that worked both ways.
It had to be.
Pheeso backed away. “Maybe this is the ass end,” he said. “But I am too pissing old to stand in a cold deluge waiting for a deranged sage and a mad crone to make up their minds.”
“Our minds are made, old man,” Sebira said. “The Horsecaller is there. We merely await the Ravery. It fully opens only at the height of the storm.”
With a grunt, Pheeso pulled the sodden hood of his cloak farther over his eyes, leaned against the broad trunk of a tree, and feigned sleep.
Blue light crackled through the clearing, and a clap of thunder nearly knocked them off their feet. Leinos held his ground and watched the Ravery swirl faster, sparks appearing at the center.
The familiar scents of wet dirt, wool, and leather were swept aside by a fusty combination of burning hair and rotten eggs. The storm darkened the morning to an unnatural green dusk, but he could still see the Ravery’s edges growing larger, obliterating the sheer rock face behind it.
The sage’s head barely reached Leinos’s chest but Vraz stood stave straight, facing the unknown. He was old, but it was hard to tell with sages. And Sebira? Ancient. The last of the living to know a horse. Her eyes gleamed with excitement. Cirq would never be able to repay them for what they were about to attempt.
“It is not too late to say no,” Leinos said.
Vraz’s shoulders hitched almost imperceptibly beneath his cloak. “You have already tried everything els
e,” he said. “Your exact words were, ‘it is our only hope.’”
True, not that Leinos needed reminding. If they failed, Cirq ceased to exist. He held Vraz’s intense gaze a moment, then nodded and stepped back.
Sebira stretched her hands toward the center of the spiral and got sucked in like spit going down the drain. Vraz grabbed the hem of her cloak and followed. The Ravery shrank on a watery whoosh and snapped shut with a hiss. Leinos and Pheeso jumped.
The thunder and wind stopped, and the clouds tore away. They were left standing in silence.
Chapter 2
LAUREN Gallagher dumped a wheelbarrow full of manure and studied the sky. Wind shredded the remaining clouds, and bright sunshine lit autumn’s wet leaves like a million tiny mirrors.
The storm had been brief and intense. Nothing like fall in New England. Taking a deep breath of the crisp, newly washed air, she whispered a brief prayer of thanks. The busy training stable was closed, and its owner, her brother Steven, had taken the day to visit their mother in the nursing home.
Lauren had the place—and the horses—to herself.
One more stall, and she could ride. This was her favorite time, after a downpour, when all the wood’s colors stood out in vivid relief, and the earth smelled of freshly sliced mushrooms.
Pindar enjoyed a good gallop, and Steven had said the stallion needed work, his way of asking her to put the horse through his paces. Steven didn’t get along with the quirky gray, but Lauren loved him.
She sifted through the last stall’s bedding, tossing manure and wet wood shavings into the wheelbarrow, and wondered for the umpteenth time how she—an indifferent scholar—had ended up writing computer code, and Steven—brilliant in college—got to play with horses all day.