Sami had suggested they move back to Los Angeles. Although not a fan of the city, he’d have followed her to Siberia if she’d wanted.
“I’m going to put my gun away and get a quick shower, if that’s okay,” he said.
“Of course. Hurry, though. We’re having Chicken Cacciatore, and I know how much you love that.”
His stomach howled in response. Since becoming pregnant, Sami had been on an Italian food kick, and he didn’t mind one bit, although his waistline did.
He walked down the hall into the master bedroom and put his gun in the safe, then quickly undressed.
While deciding where they would live, they’d put a lot of thought into Sami’s parents’ house and whether to sell it or to keep it. She’d wanted to keep it, but she’d also wanted to make it theirs, thinking that an overhaul would get rid of the sadness she felt when she stepped inside of it.
They’d taken some of her inheritance money and redone the whole house, including the basement where they’d made the area into a playroom and a nursery. They also had a nursery upstairs, but Sami wanted to be prepared in case the twins were born with more vampire than human in them and they had to avoid the sunlight. It was a long shot, but they wanted to be ready, just in case. Sami did have a full-bred vampire in her family just a few generations back, and one never knew what DNA would be caught up in the mix.
She’d asked around through some of her mother’s vampire friends and found a doctor who would give her prenatal treatment, as well as deliver the babies. So far, the pregnancy had been stress-free on her, but she’d been instructed to take it easy and not to exert herself too much. Thankfully, she was taking the advice to heart.
He’d spent a lot of time thinking about what he wanted to do with his life. Not one to sit behind a desk, he knew he wanted to be on the move throughout the day. He also liked the idea of being on the side of the good guys, so becoming a cop had been a no-brainer.
Stepping into the shower, he sighed as the water hit his face, still unable to believe his good fortune. He had a home, a wife, and two kids on the way, as well as a job he loved. Could things get any more perfect?
Well, yes. The nightmares from his experience with Selene could completely go away, but he hoped with time, that would be the case. In all fairness, Sami seemed to be handling the aftermath of the horrible experience better than him.
He startled when Sami’s hands snaked around his waist, her breasts and belly pressed up against his back. He held onto her hands for a moment then turned around and kissed her slow and deep. Her belly was definitely getting in the way more often than not when they made love, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I missed my man in uniform today,” she murmured against his lips.
He chuckled and kissed her again. “And I missed my sexy vampire.”
“Your sexy vampire is very thirsty. These babies are—”
“There’s no need to explain,” he whispered, placing his finger over her lips. “Just take what you need, honey.”
As her fangs sank into his flesh, he hissed at the pain, but then sighed at the pleasure.
No, things definitely couldn’t be any more perfect.
The End
For more Operation Underworld trilogies, you can visit:
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About the Author
Carly Fall is a wife, a mother and a slave to the dog, Nicky. She loves to laugh, thinks chocolate and wine should be considered their own food group, and wishes Christmas happened twice a year.
She is the author of the award-winning Six Saviors series, the Supernatural Renegade Series, and other Paranormal and Urban Fantasy romance.
Read More from Carly Fall
Jace’s Destiny
Ashley C. Harris
Jace’s Destiny © 2017 Ashley C. Harris
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Copyright notice: All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Author’s Note
An important note from USA Today bestselling author
Ashley C. Harris.
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Dear readers, thank you so much for your purchase of the Heroines and Hellions boxed set series.
Due to having to move the release date up for this boxed set which was out of all the authors and publishers control, I was unable to finish the novel I intended for you all to receive.
* * *
So, instead below you’ll find a different short story from me titled Jace’s Destiny, BUT…. Everyone who clicks on THIS LINK and fills out the form will ALSO RECEIVE the full length novel I intended for you all to have. This will be emailed to you guys FOR FREE, as soon as it is done.
(Link to get your full length novel: https://www.ashleycharris.com/heroines-and-hellions-form)
:-)
In the meantime, please enjoy JACE'S DESTINY, a steamy short story that is totally different than the novel that will be emailed.
1
Destiny
I awoke, heart pounding like a junky on speed, to a terrible commotion coming from the room across from me, Daniel's room. Daniel! My thoughts called to my younger half brother. Shaking, I got out of bed and grabbed my knife. I love you! Please be ok! I thought as I trembled, knowing even if he was bound my brother could still hear me. He wasn't normal, my half brother, he was something different, something special... a hybrid.
Creeping outside my room, I knew Daniel would insist I run. Do anything but go face to face with the enemy. Instead, remembering the promise I made to my mom, I headed towards his room. Before I was even three steps in something stone heavy hit the back of my neck. Strangers’ arms grabbed at me, their nails sinking into my skin as everything went black.
* * *
Six Days Later
* * *
"Destiny," I heard the current head of the new AHB, the burrow who was in charge of imprisoning aliens and their half human children, call my name. I kept my eyes closed, pretending I was still asleep in my cell. "Destiny?" he barked more sternly. Still I refused to move until he motioned for the guards to storm in. Grabbing at me, they forced my limp body up, and then the tasers came....
"You are a strong-willed thing aren't you?"
I stayed completely mute.
"If I didn't have millions of dollars worth of government security tests to verify it, I'd swear you were one of them, a Guardian or a hybrid." He reached out and stroked my cheek as I turned my head away. Everyone knew after the Guardian alien invasion and world war, all remaining Guardians and hybrids were suppose to have been hunted down and executed.
"But you are somewhat special aren't you?" He gawked as he flipped through my families file, he already knew every answer he was about to ask. "Did you know your mother was healed of a fatal injury by her co-worker when you were only a child? That she later wedded that coworker, your stepfather, a Guardian who’d come from the stars? The father or your mutinied bug eyed half brother."
My face shot up, eyes tearing with rage. "What do you want?"
"Something very simple, the help of recovering a piece of missing property. I believe he operates under the name Jace."
>
I became very still and quiet at the mention of Jace's name. Jace was the first hybrid I had ever seen before m brother was born. My stepfather had kept him at our home for a few days after his childhood escape from the AHB.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said. He didn't see past me one bit.
"Understand this. You will find Jace, and do whatever you have to bring him into our hands. If you don't, we will pull apart your brother Daniel, limb by limb."
2
Jace
Thirty Days Later
Jace walked through the underground entrance, past the bouncer, into one of his nightclubs he secretly owned. This club in particular was his favorite because surrounding the areas where people danced, were walls of computers and online gamers; this is where everyone came to compete, where serious hackers gathered to battle, and Jace had made some mega cash there.
Thinking about it was almost enough to make him smugly smile, almost. He walked past a Guardian that was disguised as his office guard. Guardians were a certain breed of morphing space aliens that could become whatever shape they wanted and hide their forms. Their children that were half human, or hybrids, couldn’t morph their bodies but had powers and abilities that were way cooler, and super minds that made both the guardians and human race look like brainless chumps. Jace, a hybrid, was about to step inside his office when he heard a thought from one of his staff members. Destiny Shuman? That name stopped Jace dead in his tracks. The next second, in the blink of an eye, he used his super speed so he zoomed across the room, appearing in front of her. His super speed made both the bartender and Destiny jump. Jace only got closer. Dam, she looked the same. Older, hotter, yet just how he remembered.
Destiny had fair, almost see through skin, curly red hair, and freckles that dotted her cheeks like the stars in the sky. Her caring eyes seeped into a person like a sea of pure green. Jace noticed her body and plump lips tremble when he stood suddenly so close, towering over her. The way her curves and body shook with nervousness when he was near, Jace liked it.
She looked at him with so much dreaded emotion, so much to say, yet as he stared into her thoughts all he could hear was static. Either she was brain dead or someone was up to something who knew about Jace’s powers.
"This isn't any place for a kid. What are you—seventeen now?" he muttered. Of course he knew the answer.
"I'm almost eighteen," she responded with irritation as she tried to stand up straight and act brave; but her nervousness was apparent. "I'm the same age as you," she continued. Maybe in body but not in mind. Jace had a brain that preformed better than ten human brains together, which is how he’d escaped the human government and become an underground millionaire by the age of seventeen, but he decided not to remind her of that.
"You really shouldn't have come.” Then he was grabbing her hand, pulling her away from his employees and the crowd without explanation. In the blur of a second, before the hottie even knew she moved, he had her in his office with the door slammed shut. He got right to business.
"So somewhere on you is an onegite stone, am I right?" His gaze searched her body up and down as he tried to guess where exactly that would be. Her face filled with a hot flush that was enough to drive his hormones crazy. Focus. "Which means your kid brother either stumbled upon the one stone that can block hybrids from reading human and guardian thoughts, or you learned that secret from the AHB."
"My brother has known about the effects onegite since he was two. Right around the time he was able speak twenty languages.” She informed him.
Jace shrugged, by two he had picked up forty languages easy....
"He and I have traveled a long way to find you and we need your help."
"Everyone needs my help, what else is new?" He turned, hiding the emotion on his face that would have given everything away. "The question is, can you pay the price?"
"My parents helped you escape and hide you from the government way back when, before you had all this,” she said referring to his riches and underground clubs. “now we're the ones that need the favor."
He turned to her, a lazy grin creeping up his cheeks. God why did she have to be so beautiful? Why was she getting him involved in any of this? "Are you sure that’s the favor you want to cash? You might be better off using a card like that for another day," he warned, knowing trouble for everyone hybrid, guardian, or human, was coming again, that this was only the beginning. He wondered what his parents would have thought about what was about to go down.
"Yes," she said nervously as she drew him back to reality. "I need you to come with me, alone."
3
Destiny
Jace agreed to the meeting, but said he had to stop to get something first at one of his warehouses. I waited by the door with a sick feeling in my stomach as I watched him. He'd grown up to be definitely the hottest creature on planet earth. His deep violet eyes on me. Oh God I can’t do this... I can’t....
With the speed of a lightning bolt he was next to me again. His perfect skin almost touching mine.
“Something wrong?” he asked. I shook my head no. Thoughts of betraying him tangled with the threat of my brother being torn apart. “Ok, we can go-” he started to speak when his face turned. His eyes were on the door. "Change of plans."
Then I heard it, the sounds of cars coming. Jace grabbed my arms and whisked me away. There was heat coming off his body as we traveled so fast, his hard abs pressed up against my own soft flesh. We stopped moving, and then I heard a team bust through the doors. We were hiding inside some kind of vaulted basement.
Horror suffocated my lungs. He looked at me and I couldn't speak. The AHB said they wouldn't make a move until we were hundreds of miles away, yet they'd come so soon. I wanted to die.
"Jace," tears fled from my eyes. I let the onegite stone drop from my fingers so he would sense what was going to happen next and read my thoughts. I expected him to kill me, instead he just pulled me closer as we heard the sound of a gun. "I'm so sorry-"
"Don't," he stopped me, and then right as we heard the enemy at our door, his lips met my own. I don't know why, but he kissed me with a dangerous passion that caught me off guard and took my breath away.
Right as the kiss ended he took off. His super speed leaving me alone as Jace met the enemy outside. "They only sent fifty of you? I'm insulted," I heard him laugh. What followed next was the sound of humans and AHB officers screaming, as the most powerful hybrid of all, Jace, released his fury.
The question was, if he wasn’t captured in exchange for my brother’s life, would Jace, the man who’d just kissed me, help me save my brother?
* * *
THE END
I hope you enjoyed this short story, don’t forget to sign up for your additional full length novel HERE.
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Dead Certain
Kim Cleary
Dead Certain © 2017 Kim Cleary
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All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Dead Certain
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She thought they were safe. But the undead aren't the only enemy...
Meagan Greystone struggles with the dark arts. A major problem for a necromancer.
Her boyfriend Glynn Buckley has answered a plea for help, and dashed to the militarised city of Brimbank. More than a little annoying as Meagan was planning a perfect celebration weekend for their anniversary.
Annoyance fades when Meagan hears rumours of an uprising, she is determined to be by his side. She has the skills. She can help.
But this is no ordinary undead uprising. Something else is going on in the old city and Glynn is determined to have her safe at home.
He is no match for the tough and resolute Meagan. She's lost too many people she’s loved. No way will Glynn be next.
1
We savored our first proper conversation in the cemetery at Winterhurst. Across an empty grave surrounded by shards of wood, clods of earth, and shattered stone. My hair had been long then, gusting wind flung thick strands into my face, cold February air stung my skin. It looked like a bomb exploded in the buried coffin, and everything above it spewed up and out. Neither flesh nor bones though, its inhabitant had long gone.
Heroines and Hellions: a Limited Edition Urban Fantasy Collection Page 128