by Lauren Esker
"It's actually an alligator shifter named Angus."
"Is that a—Are you joking? You'd better be joking." He cracked up. "Noah Easton, you're the actual worst."
"You know you love me anyway."
"Yeah," she said softly. "I do. I love you, Noah Easton."
"I love you too, Peri Moreland."
A hard gust of wind hit them. Peri looked up, squinting, and her mouth dropped open when she saw that the sky was turning yellow with dust. The sun gleamed reddish and then vanished completely as the clouds swallowed it.
"Uh, so, I think I've changed my mind about being outside."
They retreated into a small art gallery and discovered they weren't the only ones taking shelter. Shoppers and tourists crowded the windows, holding up phones and cameras.
As Noah and Peri jostled for a place, her phone chimed with an incoming email. She took advantage of Noah's bulk to keep her from being elbowed or shoved away from the window while she read it. "Oh, Noah, you'll never believe who this is from."
He gave her a questioning look.
"It's from Ramona. Dear Peri," she read aloud, aware of a slight quaver in her voice. "Wendy and I are doing fine—oh, thank God. Please don't blame yourself for what happened. Your father and I don't blame you—speak for yourself, Ramona, but I appreciate the sentiment. I'd like to write to you sometimes if that's okay. Maybe we can get to know each other better. I hope you and Noah are all right. Love, Ramona."
She lowered the phone and had to press her fingertips against her eyes for a moment. Noah slid an arm around her shoulders, holding her against him in the crush of people.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I just ... maybe didn't burn as many bridges as I thought I did. That's all."
And then, with a crash of thunder that rattled the windows, the downpour was upon them. In moments the buildings across the street were nearly hidden behind a curtain of rain, the street and sidewalk swirling with water. The handful of intrepid pedestrian holdouts fled into nearby doorways, except for a few excited kids and a college-age couple who had decided to stay out in the rain. The kids in particular were thrilled, dashing around to splash through puddles which must be a novel experience for them.
For all the storm's ferocity, it was over just a few minutes. The rain tapered to a slow, steady dripping from the gallery's awning. Peri and Noah ventured out into a fresh-smelling, clean-washed world. The temperature had dropped by a good twenty or thirty degrees, still hot by Seattle standards, but chilly enough to make Peri shiver after the earlier heat. Muddy water churned in the street. The mountains had already emerged into the sun, and a few stray shafts of sunlight pierced the clouds, casting benedictions onto individual neighborhoods of the city.
Peri turned to watch the storm retreat across the city, a churning mass of dark, lightning-speared cloud. With the words of Ramona's email fresh in her mind, it seemed she couldn't have asked for a better metaphor for her life. The storm had torn through the city, scattering trash, breaking a few things—down the street, a woman on a stepladder was struggling to put right a sign that had broken loose at the corner—but, in the end, the storm had passed, leaving the world scrubbed clean, fresh and beautiful.
She could never get back the innocence she'd lost, could never fix the lives that had been lost and broken. But there was a whole world out there waiting for her, a world of new places to go, new people to meet.
A world with Noah in it.
As he looked down at her, framed against the returning sun, she smiled up at him. She couldn't find the words to articulate it, but all the infinite possibilities ahead of her were there in his eyes, a dazzling future she couldn't wait to explore.
Epilogue
Somerville, Massachusetts, just outside Boston
"Keep running back and forth like that, you're going to fall off," Noah said, amused.
"Knock it off, dork," was Peri's response as she leaning over the railing of the rooftop terrace.
She was in love with their new rental. It was actually a sublet, obtained through friends of Noah's parents—which Peri felt she should possibly resent, except how could she, when the place was this nice? It was a walkup on the third floor of a tall, narrow little house in a quiet block of tall, narrow little houses. The terrace—just behind the townhouse's peaked roof where most of their apartment was, and on top of the downstairs neighbors' back bedroom—looked down on a row of strip-shaped backyards, most full of trees. Small trees, to be sure, compared to the stately pines and cedars of her Washington past, but large enough that their branches hung over the railing and their lobe-shaped leaves were scattered in colorful drifts across the terrace decking.
When she craned her neck, she could just glimpse the front end of Noah's Camaro, restored to its gleaming cherry condition and parked in the narrow driveway between this house and their neighbors. A scattering of yellow leaves on the hood glistened in brilliant contrast to the car's red paint.
One thing she'd never really seen a lot of, through a lifetime in the Pacific Northwest, was autumn colors. There were definitely some color-changing trees and underbrush, especially over toward Boise, but the Seattle area and Cascades were forested in evergreens. Moving to New England in the fall had been a revelation.
She'd tried at first to discourage Noah from pulling up roots and moving across the country since he hadn't been accepted by a law school yet—not because she didn't want to, but because it was possible they'd end up moving again in a few months. But as he pointed out, the lease on his Seattle apartment ran out at the end of August, and they intended to move anyway. As a freelance journalist she could work from anywhere, so why not live in Boston for awhile? If neither of his applications to Harvard Law or to Cambridge were accepted, they could go somewhere else.
And so far, the Boston and Cambridge area was an absolute delight. Having a whole new city to explore, a whole new state, was going to keep her busy for months. She'd worried about being able to find things to write about in an unfamiliar place, but her first few hours sightseeing in Boston had made her realize that, if anything, the trouble was going to be narrowing down all her many new ideas to a manageable number of article topics.
It had also helped her more than she'd expected to get away from the Pacific Northwest and all its unpleasant associations. With several months now separating her from those awful days on the run, her nightmares had slowly begun to fade, and she'd stopped getting up ten times during the night because she thought she smelled propane gas or heard something rattling at the lock. But her first night in Massachusetts was the first time she'd slept through the night since going back to Seattle from Arizona.
Time passed. Things changed.
She had a feeling she was going to like living here.
"Come here and sit down," Noah teased gently. "You're making me dizzy."
"Excuse you for being too jaded to enjoy everything properly." But she joined him at the patio table. They both had glasses of chilled white wine, and Noah pushed hers toward her. She started to pick it up and paused as something clinked.
"Noah, there's something in my wine."
"Really?" He was grinning broadly now. "Now I know how Clark Kent kept his secret all those years, if all reporters are this obtuse about what's right in front of them."
"What? Ohhhh ..." She'd reached in to fish it out, but as soon as her fingers closed on the item, she realized what it was.
It was a ring.
"Noah," she breathed, lifting it out of the wine with exquisite care.
She'd never seen a ring like this before. It was a silver mermaid, her tail gracefully wrapping around to merge with the frozen ribbons of her long, flowing hair. Emeralds studded the mermaid's hair and tail, and her tiny hands formed the setting for a diamond.
"I was starting to think I was going to have to come over there and dump this glass of wine into your lap myself."
"Noah, this is amazing." She held it up to the late afternoon sun, turning it to watch the ligh
t sparkle on the emeralds. "Where did you ever find this?"
"I saw it in a jewelry store window display a few weeks ago. You've always made me think of a mermaid, with those glorious colors in your hair. Once I bought it, I just had to hold onto it for the right time."
"The right time for—" But he was already sliding out of his chair, dropping to one knee in front of her, and all she could think was: How did I not see this coming?
"Peri Moreland, my sweet mermaid." He clasped her wine-sticky hands in both of his. "I love you madly. You are my everything and my all, my lover and best friend, my partner in life and everything else. After only a few short months, I can't imagine my life without you. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
"Of course I will, you ridiculous, wonderful, beloved man." She held still just long enough for Noah to install the ring on her left hand before throwing her arms around his neck and kissing the breath out of him.
When they pulled apart at last, only far enough to rest their foreheads together, Peri laughed weakly. "Did you write that ahead of time?"
"You only get one chance to do a marriage proposal," Noah admitted. "Ideally speaking, that is. I didn't think you'd want to remember the day you got engaged as the day your fiancé flubbed the whole thing and accidentally asked you to Disneyworld or something."
"Or the day your fiancée fell off the roof and you had to finish the proposal in the emergency room."
"That either."
"I notice you managed not to write crib notes on your hand."
"I'm going to law school, love. If I can't memorize a one-paragraph marriage proposal, I'm doomed."
"I'm going to remind you of that when it comes time to memorize our wedding vows." She fell silent for a long moment, gazing at his face in the afternoon sun as if to memorize every beloved line of it, every shade of golden brown. "Wedding vows. I can't believe it. We're getting married. Noah, how? Where? How will we pay for it? I bet Ramona is going to want to help design my dress—or, wow, do I even want to wear a dress? I never thought about it!"
Noah laughed and kissed her again. "All of that in time. We don't have to do anything yet. We don't even have to tell anyone."
"As if. I'm showing this rock to everyone."
But he was right, she thought. There was no need to make any decisions yet—other than this one, which hardly felt like a decision at all, so much as a foregone conclusion. They didn't even know if they'd still be in Massachusetts in a year, what he'd be doing or what she'd be doing.
What she did know was that she couldn't wait to find out where they would be next year, and the year after that, and all the years to come.
There was no hurry.
They had all the time in the world.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Tiger in the Hot Zone! If you enjoyed this book and are new to the series, you can catch up on the previous books with the boxed set containing books #1-#3.
I would love to know what you thought about it; you can leave a review on Amazon or email me: [email protected]. You can also follow me on Facebook at laureneskerwriter or on Twitter as LaurenEsker.
If you’d like to be notified of my new releases, you can sign up for my mailing list by clicking this link: http://eepurl.com/cItfFv.
Cover photo credits: © Can Stock Photo Inc. Cover design by Layla Lawlor.
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What’s Next for the Shifter Agents?
For the past few books, the “coming next!” section has been a new Shifter Agents book, but the main reason why this book has been so delayed is because I’ve been doing a lot of prepwork for some new projects.
So here’s what you can look forward to in the coming months:
A new series of standalone, unrelated romances set in the Shifter Agents world, but taking place outside the agency. The first book, Keeping Her Pride, is written and currently in revisions. It will be out in early June, if not sooner. See the preview at the end of this book!
A new series about the Arizona Shifter Agents. The first book in that series will probably be either Caine’s or Costa’s book. Current status: outlining.
The fight against the anti-shifter Valeria organization will spin off into its own series, Knights of the Valeria. This one is going to be different from the other series I’m writing. Instead of standalone books, it will consist of (probably) four books which will follow the same two couples as they infiltrate the Valeria in Europe and attempt to destroy it from within. You’ll see lots more of Matteo in this one, as well as more extinct animal shifters! (For the record, Julius is a giant short-faced bear, or something similar to it.) Current status: the first book, tentatively titled Hit & Run, is about 30% done.
And there will be more Shifter Agents books as well! I’m planning another book about Jack & Casey from Handcuffed to the Bear, in which they take their romance to the next level (yes, it’s time for the M word!), and a book about Noah’s parents, Curtis and Clio, which is basically a Cold War-era romantic spy thriller.
So as you can see, there’s a lot coming up! I’d love to hear what you think—please send me an email or contact me on Facebook or Twitter if any of these sound especially appealing to you, because it WILL affect the order in which things get written! I want to work on all of them, so knowing what readers want to see most will help me decide which projects to focus on.
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About the Author
Lauren Esker is a writer, graphic designer, and lifelong Alaskan. She lives with her husband and pets on the highway in a former gold-mining district, not far from Fairbanks, Alaska’s second-largest city. She also enjoys reading, hiking, gardening, and art. In the past she managed the layout department at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (the local paper) and taught at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. She now writes full time. You can find her online at laurenesker.com.
Also by Lauren Esker
Handcuffed to the Bear – Shifter Agents #1. A bear-shifter ex-mercenary and a curvy lynx shifter searching for her best friend's killer are handcuffed together and hunted in the wilderness. Can they learn to rely on each other before their pasts, and their pursuers, catch up with them? Full-length romantic suspense novel.
Guard Wolf – Shifter Agents #2. Avery is a lone werewolf without a pack; Nicole is a social worker trying to put her life back together after a personal disaster. When he shows up on her doorstep with a box of orphaned werewolf puppies and danger in pursuit, can two lonely people find the family they've been missing in each other? Full-length shifter romantic suspense novel.
Dragon’s Luck – Shifter Agents #3. Gecko shifter and infiltration expert Jen Cho teams up with sexy dragon-shifter gambler "Lucky" Lucado to win a high-stakes poker game. Now they're trapped on a cruise ship full of mobsters, mysterious enemy agents, and evil dragons, and it'll take all their wits and luck to get out of this alive! Full-length romantic suspense novel.
Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing - Can the big bad wolf and a sheep shifter have a happy ending? Curvy farm girl Julie Capshaw was always warned away from the wolf shifters next door, but Damon Wolfe is the motorcycle-riding, smoking hot alpha wolf of her dreams! This paranormal romance novel is a romantic comedy spiced with action and red-hot sex.
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Keep reading for a special preview
Keeping Her Pride
Book 1 in a brand new series of standalone shifter romances!
Coming in June 2017!
(or possibly earlier)
What's more important, winning or falling in love?
A year ago, lioness shifter Debi Fallon was flying high as part of a wealthy and well-connected pride. Now, with the rest of her pride in prison (as of Handcuffed to the Bear), she's living in a cheap apartment and pulling long hours at a small accounting firm, struggling to prove to herself that she's not a failure and to everyone else that she's not a criminal like the rest of her family. To make things worse, she's been saddled with the firm's worst client, a mob-connected real-estate busi
ness run by a couple who are in the middle of dividing up the business as part of a nasty divorce.
With his soon-to-be-ex out to take him for everything he owns, and a custody battle over his cherished four-year-old daughter blowing up around him, the last thing Fletcher Briggs wants is another troublesome female in his life, especially a tall, sexy blonde with an attitude who's already making him rethink his current plans for lifelong celibacy. But Debi has a way of clawing through his defenses and straight into his heart.
Fletcher's touch sets Debi on fire, but nothing about her plans include falling for a client, and Fletcher has always put his company ahead of his personal life.
Can two ambitious people overcome their pride enough to realize the only thing missing from their lives is each other?
Chapter One
For her entire life, Debi Fallon had stood proudly on her own two, sometimes four, feet—at least as much as a person could when she was the youngest sister of five siblings, the junior partner in the family business, and the bottom lion shifter in the pride hierarchy.
She'd been a high-powered accountant with an expensive wardrobe and a luxury condo. She had set her own hours, selected her own clients when she wasn't keeping the books for the family business, cruised through the Seattle dating scene, and, aside from taking orders from her eldest brother and pride alpha Roger, she'd been very much her own woman.
Now ...
"Aargh," she muttered, rolling over at the buzzing of her phone on the nightstand. She had to fight her way to the phone through a tangle of blankets and pillows, and then claw her own mess of blonde hair out of her face in order to see the screen. She'd always been proud of her thick blonde mane, but for a bitter instant, she thought about cutting it all off.