by Dean Murray
Chapter 29
I was more than just disoriented when I woke back up—I was surprised. I'd never hit my head that hard and part of me hadn't expected to ever open my eyes again. I reached up to touch my head and saw that my hands were both bandaged.
That didn't make sense. I didn't remember Fenrir getting his teeth on me there, but then again it was always possible that I'd just stressed my skin too much on my palms too. I turned my head and started taking in my surroundings.
I was in a windowless room that was more than twice as big as my entire house back in Cold Springs. The lack of windows should have made it feel dark and foreboding, but the bright lighting somehow worked together with the dark wood trim to create something that felt both inviting and elegant.
The bed I was resting on was only slightly smaller than Jace's had been and included a canopy of burgundy velvet that hung down far enough in some spots that it very nearly touched the ground. I reached a hand out to the black wood and got a sense of age from it that I hadn't felt with anything else I'd ever touched.
The room had a curved wall, which made me think of Jace's bedroom, but rather than just being a quarter of a circle, this one was half of a circle. I wasn't surprised to see that there was a heavy set of wooden shelves built into the far wall, or that most of the space was taken up by a series of white-leather books that were eerily similar to the journals Jace and Kat used. Size, width, texture, everything looked exactly the same but for the colors.
Other than the bed and the shelves, the room was largely empty. There wasn't a breakfast nook or a desk. There wasn't even a television. It was a room for sleeping, not for working or socializing. In fact I suspected that the journals were there simply because their owner didn't like sleeping with them more than a few feet away from him.
I was a little nervous that my legs wouldn't work, but I was able to roll to the edge of the bed and when I put my feet down on the carpet I was able to feel the texture of the soft fibers that gave it such a luxurious look.
As I experimentally stood, I heard footsteps coming from the open door on the left. A second later my rescuer stepped into the room and I got my first look at him. In that last split second before I'd slammed into that rock I'd somehow thought it was Jace who had saved me, but Jace hadn't had a sword when I'd last seen him, and if he'd saved me he wouldn't have left me to wake up in a strange place all alone.
I didn't know what to expect when I saw my savior for the first time, but I never could have anticipated what I actually saw.
It was like looking at a dark version of Jace.
The blond hair had been traded for a brown so dark it could have passed for black, and he looked older, mid to late twenties rather than late teens, but it was Jace's incredible bone structure that framed eyes that were the exact same shade of blue as the ones that I'd fallen in love with just a few days ago.
The eyes were the same color, but they looked wrong somehow. It took me several heartbeats to realize that was because there was a brooding quality to them that I'd never seen in Jace. That more than anything else was what told me I wasn't looking at my Jace in some kind of weird alternate universe. My Jace could never have looked so cynical. Not in a million years, not through ten thousand incarnations.
It took an act of will to force myself to look away from those darkly captivating eyes, but once I did I took in the rest of my captor's appearance. He was wearing designer jeans and a silk button-up shirt that looked like it must have cost a few thousand dollars, but it was the sword that was the most shocking. His hand rested on it, but the gesture wasn't so much threatening as it was a reflexive attempt to make sure that the weapon was still there, still attached to his belt.
"Who are you, and why am I here?"
"My name is Kyle. Once upon a time I was your husband and you're here because I have a proposal for you."
—The Story Continues—
Publisher's Note:
If you've enjoyed this book, please consider signing up for the author's mailing list. By signing up you'll receive $10.00 worth of free books. We'll be offering a special discount to existing fans for the first week each new book is live, so signing up for his mailing list will mean that you'll always know about new releases with plenty of time to take advantage of the new release discount.
Author's Note:
I hope that you've enjoyed Reborn, and that you are as excited to see where Selene and Jace's story is headed as I am to get it out there for you to read it. For those of you who started out reading one of my other series, I want to express a special thanks for coming over and trying out the Awakening Series—I hope that you haven't been disappointed.
For those of you who Reborn has been your first exposure to my writing, welcome! I'll be releasing Immortal and Endless (the sequels to Reborn) in the first quarter or so of 2015, so there is a very good chance that both of those books are available for purchase as you read this, but if that isn't the case, please consider reading some of my other YA Paranormal Romance or YA Urban Fantasy series while you wait.
Acknowledgments:
Nearly all of the usual suspects need thanked again—I hope that you'll humor me as I do so. Writing is a solitary affair—just me alone in a room with my desktop—but once the rough draft of a book is finished an impressive team springs into action to help get the manuscript turned into a book that I can be proud of.
As always, RJ Locksley and Amy Jirsa-Smith did great work on the editing side of things catching countless errors and suggesting subtle changes that ultimately made the book a better, more marketable product.
My team of advance readers continue to be much better and more amazing than I deserve. A big thanks to Jenine, Janelle, Mei, Heather, Merissa, Mimi, Mom, Dad, Shalese, Matthew, Lachele and Kim.
Finally, I most definitely couldn't have done this without help from my wife, Katie. Not only is she my first reader and cover artist, she also supports me in a hundred other ways. If we have the year we're hoping to have in 2015, it will be as much her victory as it will be mine.
About the Author:
Dean Murray discovered the joys of reading at a young age and unknowingly ingested large doses of romance along with his science fiction and fantasy. By the time he realized what had happened it was too late to reverse the process and he spent his formative years (while his peers were still convinced that girls had cooties) trying to convince one specific girl to be his girlfriend to no avail.
As fate would have it, he's incredibly grateful that he failed in his attempts in second grade because it meant that he was able to eventually find his real happily ever after with his wife Katie to whom he's been happily married for more than six years.
Dean is the author of twenty published novels (and a host of short stories), which collectively have more than half a million copies in circulation, and he's currently writing six books a year in an effort to create the perfect, larger than life romance story—which he's pretty sure involves either vampire, werewolves, fairies or shape shifters.
You can find a complete list of Dean's work and keep up to speed on his current projects at DeanWrites.com. If you want to interact with readers who love Dean's writing as much as you do, please consider checking out the Reflections Facebook page or Dean's Forum.
Other Books by Dean Murray
Broken
Sometimes love finds you when you aren't looking for it.
The accident that forced Adri and her mother to move to a new high school also cost Adri her dad and sister. Adri just wants to blend in and buy herself time to grieve, but two of the most popular, gorgeous guys in school are about to take an inexplicable interest in her.
Adri will be forced into a world where the players aren't all human. She will be forced to choose between Brandon and Alec, and this time the wrong choice could get her killed.
Bound
The only thing worse than having no family at all, is having a family that is out to hurt you. That would all be bad enough for a nor
mal 17-year-old, but it's even worse for Alec Graves. A shape shifter's pack, his family, is the only thing stopping the other preternatural creatures out there from killing them.
Alec's pack isn't just neglectful, he's pretty sure that his father wants him dead. Alec is about to be sent to the front lines of a war between his people and everything else that goes bump in the night. His only chance of survival is to convince everyone around him that he's the perfect soldier, but there are lines that Alec won't cross, not for any price.
Publisher's Note: Dean Murray's ongoing Reflection Series has been a stunning success with hundreds of thousands of copies in circulation, and a rich, complex world where choices—right or wrong—have real, profound consequences. Unsatisfied with the restrictions imposed on him by writing inside of the conventional series structure, Dean has returned to Sanctuary and the characters so many fans have fallen in love with.
Bound is the first in Dean's new Dark Reflections novels, an alternate timeline set in the same world and featuring many of the same characters, but with a profoundly different backstory.
Dean finally answers many of the questions that his most dedicated readers have been asking themselves for years. What would have happened if Alec's father hadn't been murdered by the Coun'hij, how would Adri's life have changed if her family hadn't been shattered in a horrific accident?
The answers may surprise you, but one thing is for sure; you'll see new sides of familiar faces and when all is said and done, you'll never be able to look at some of them the same.
Readers new to Dean Murray's writing can start with Bound in the Dark Reflections Series or Broken in the Reflections Series.
The Greater Darkness
(Writing as Eldon Murphy)
Something powerful is stirring in the darkness. Something so ancient that even creatures who've been alive for hundreds of years have long since discounted this new threat as nothing more than myth.
Normal humans will be caught in the crossfire, but then that's always the way of things. Geoffrey has no memory of his past life or any idea how to survive in the violent, dangerous world in which he's trapped. Despite his best efforts, he's about to find himself in the middle of a conflict that threatens to sweep away everything, and everyone he's been fighting so hard to protect.
Frozen Prospects
The invitation to join the secretive Guadel should have been the fulfillment of dreams Va'del didn't even realize he had. When his sponsors are killed in an ambush a short time later, he instead finds his probationary status revoked, and becomes a pawn between various factions inside the Guadel ruling body.
Jain's never known any life but that of a Guadel in training. She'd thought herself reconciled to the idea of a loveless marriage for the good of her people, but meeting Va'del changes everything. Their growing attraction flies against hundreds of years of precedent, but as wide-spread attacks threaten their world, the Guadel have no choice but to use even Jain and Va'del in their fight for survival.
CHET: Whispers From the Past
By Larry Murray
Meet Charles Tucker, he has spent nearly 30 years living in denial, trying desperately to hide from his past and the events that shattered his heart beyond any possibility of healing. He can't let anyone close, for doing so would open him up to being hurt again, and there's no way he could survive another wounding.
Meet the Saunders family, new to the neighborhood and teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Mark, the father, talks a good story but is that all he is? His plan could hold the key to reversing his family's financial misfortunes, or it could wipe out everyone involved.
Meet Chet, a battered old '64 Chevy pickup that was there on the night Charles' life imploded. For nearly three decades, he has been locked away in an old barn, safely out of sight if not completely out of mind. For 29 years Charles has blamed the old pickup for the destruction of his life, now he's about to find that the vehicle that destroyed his life might be the key to his healing and a journey of unexpected miracles.