Candy for Christmas: Hockey Player vs Ice Skater (9 page)

Ash turned her
head.

Rosewood, or Shifter
Town, as everyone called it, had the biggest shifter population in
the state. Which included a large number of predatory species who
were not known for being passive. As such, the sheriff’s
department, which occupied a three storey red brick building on
Main Street, had a few more deputies than average for a town their
size.

The room behind Ash
held about a dozen desks. About half that many officers had been
present when she’d walked in for her interview an hour before,
crossing paths with two female deputies who’d been leaving.

While chatting with
the other candidates, she had discreetly observed the remaining
officers. The first five minutes she’d spent imagining them as a
male shifter revue.

The job might have
been worth it for the eye candy alone.

When the scuffle
devolved and the unmistakable crack of a gunshot deafened her, Ash
ducked instinctively.

“Nobody fuckin’ move.”
The words were almost as loud as the shot had been and were layered
with panic.

Ash registered Cage’s
presence beside her. A strong arm wrapped around her waist and drew
her back into the office, behind the solidness of the wall. She
barely had a chance to glimpse a big male whose grip was locked
around the stock of a nine millimetre as tightly as his arm was
wrapped around the throat of a young deputy with an empty
holster.

The remaining officers
had their weapons drawn and levelled on the shifter.

“You aren’t puttin’ me
in a fuckin’ cage,” the shifter screamed.

Ash’s lioness scented
Bengal Tiger and a whole lot of alcohol.

And blood.

She smelled blood.
That shot had hit someone.

“Stay in here,” Cage
muttered subvocally. Then he drew his nine mil as he eased out into
the bullpen.

“Put it down,” he
ordered, voice granite, when he was in position.

Ash’s heart raced.
Already, adrenaline shot through her limbs.

She listened, hidden
from view, while Cage tried to talk the shifter down.

But the Bengal only
became more agitated.

She took a chance and
peeked through the window in the wall, between the slats of the
venetian blinds.

Cage had moved further
out, drawing the shifter’s attention away from his office. He and
the rest of the deputies had their weapons locked on the tiger.
Except the one on the ground, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the
chest.

Oh god.

A leopard shifter
slowly holstered his gun, showed his empty hands to the tiger, and
eased towards to the wounded man.

“Don’t move!”

“
Easy
. I’m just
trying to help my buddy. You don’t want him to bleed out.”

“I said don’t fuckin’
move!” The tiger pushed the gun more tightly against his hostage’s
head.

“He’s dyin’ man.”

“I don’t fuckin’ care.
You’re not lockin’ me up.”

There was so much
blood on the floor. If Ash hadn’t been a lioness it would have
turned her stomach. The longer the man went without help the less
chance he had of surviving.

She recognised his
from earlier, when she’d been watching the officers. He had been
clowning with the leopard. There was a stuffed bobcat on his desk —
someone’s idea of a joke — and a framed photo of a pretty brunette,
arms wrapped around two small feminine replicas.

Jeyzus
. Ash
pushed the thought of the small family from her mind and focused on
the standoff.

Most of the deputies
were shifters and had the accompanying strength, reflexes and
senses. They could make the shot, but they would risk the tiger
reflexively pulling the trigger on the gun sealed against the
hostage’s head.

They needed a way to
take him out while keeping the hostage safe.

Ash scanned Cage’s
office. Her eyes caught on a solid blue glass paperweight on his
desk. She weighed the merits of interfering. She wasn’t a
professional. She should probably stay out of it. Could make things
worse.

Then she thought about
that photo.

She crawled over,
grabbed the paperweight then returned to her former position.
Peeked out. She was a touch behind and to the right of the
tiger.

Ash took a deep breath
and stood.

Steadied herself.

Then she stepped into
the open doorway.

Get
Caging Ash

Shifter Town, Book
3
Novalee Swann

Lucas LeBray is the
biggest, baddest wolf in town. A sexy shifter who likes to pretend
there isn’t much more to him than fun and games. He owns the local
garage, which just happens to be directly across the street from
the deli owned by the only woman he’s ever wanted down to his
bones. The problem is, she’s miles out of his reach. Deserves
better than dirty, oil-soaked hands and the wolf that goes with
them.

Sofia Rivera is hard
up. Hot and bothered and the only thing that is going to help is a
dose of Lucas LeBray. She’s seen the tricksy wolf’s hidden core of
integrity, through the plate glass window of her store. Some
nights, she’ll turn out the lights and watch him across the street,
taking things apart and putting them back together. The way she
wants him to do to her.

So she devises what
should have been a simple plan. She takes a wrench to her car’s
engine and makes him a scandalous offer.
Trade services.
When she whispers those words in his ear, Lucas’s resolve to do the
right thing snaps and Sofia finds herself the focus of a
silver-eyed wolf who demands everything she has.

Get
Wolf Down

Excerpt
…

Rosewood,
Tennessee

Sofia Rivera stared
across the dark street. Through the fine drizzle that fell against
the bitumen, towards the man who drew her gaze like a beacon. He
was bent over a battle-scarred Camaro that glowed cherry in the
overhead fluorescents. The halo of light turned his hair to liquid
mercury.

Those splashes of
colour against the dark backdrop reminded her of a noir film. She
flattened a palm against the plate glass window that separated
them, as though that were the only think keeping her apart from
Lucas LeBray.

The big bad wolf of
Shifter Town.

She tilted her head as
she watched him work. Traced his outline in the glass. It was
summer, but the heat outside was nothing compared to what she was
feeling. The sizzle of desire that circulated in her blood.

How many nights had
she stood there? Imagined it was her body Lucas worked on? Too many
to count. If she had known the mechanic across the street would
become the star of every night time fantasy, every inappropriate
daydream, she may have thought twice about the location for her
shop. She watched him strip off his white singlet and run the cloth
across his face.

Then again, maybe
not.

She must be a glutton
for punishment. Because the man who twisted her insides didn’t even
know she existed. Oh, he came in to her shop every day — to order a
pastrami sandwich and a black coffee, which he promptly took back
across the street. Lucas LeBray wanted her food, but that was
all.

Sofia had never told a
soul about how she felt. Which was a damned good thing, since she’d
recently decided that it was nothing more than an intense physical
reaction to the sexiest shifter she’d ever seen. So what if she’d
once hoped for more? That wasn’t going to happen. And if it was
only physical, there was no reason she shouldn’t act on it… Which
was
exactly
what she planned to do.

Lucas removed the hood
from his Camaro, shaking his head in disgust at the gouges in the
paint and the dents in the metal. Ash sure had done a number on his
baby. He placed the panel to one side. One by one, he removed all
the dented sections.

He was pissed about
the damage — had already restored the Camaro once, after he’d found
it on the scrap head — but it wasn’t like Ash had done it on
purpose. Although, given recent events, she sure as hell wasn’t
sorry about it. He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his
face. Damned if he’d apologise. It wasn’t his fault that Cage and
Ash forgot he was there when they finally gave to the thing between
them.

It might be raining
but bloody hell it was hot. Lucas stripped off his singlet and used
it to wipe away the perspiration on his face. At least that’s what
he told himself.

Sofia was watching him
again.

That woman was gonna
kill him. Or bring him to his knees. Somebody ought to tell her
that shifters can see in the dark. Wolves better than most.

He remembered the
first time he’d walked across the street, into the new deli café
some non-shifter from New York had just opened. The first thing to
hit him were the amazing smells of salami, bagels, all kinds of
cheese, sundried tomatoes, pastry, chocolate and cinnamon. The
second thing he’d noticed was even more delicious than all those
scents. A pair of big green eyes peering out from behind the
counter.

That night he’d felt
those eyes watching him as he’d worked late, tuning up a Chevy
Impala. He’d started working late with alarming regularity.
Tormenting himself. Because Lucas had never wanted a woman as much
as he wanted Sofia Rivera.

Which was precisely
the reason he could never have her.

Get
Wolf Down

Shifter Town, Book
4
Novalee Swan

Connor Reid is complex.
He’s taller and stronger than anyone he’s ever met and has never
lost a fight. But the truth is, he may be an alpha but the grizzly
bear shifter is as sweet as a summer breeze and shy as a prairie
dog. He never planned to stay in Shifter Town. Then something
happened that rocked his world. Her name is Lily Amaretto.

Lily hasn’t known much
kindness in her life, and never from a man. When she accepts a job
working for the scariest male she’s ever seen, it’s about survival
and redemption. She doesn’t want to spend her life afraid of
shadows, but did she really have to start with the most lethal man
in existence? That’s exactly what Connor Reid seems like to her.
But there are other new and indefinable feelings he stirs. And the
things he does to her in her dreams.

What do two shy souls
do when they want each other badly, but aren’t quite sure how make
it happen?

Shifter Town is about
to find out.

To be notified when
Connor and Lily’s
story is available, please
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.

Novalee Swan writes
paranormal and contemporary romance. She loves creating sexy alpha
heroes who know how to scorch the sheets.

Novalee has a creative
writing degree that she puts to all kinds of use. She lives down
under where she writes with a fur baby called Emma for a foot
warmer. She reads too much (is that possible?), likes pretty
things, and jumps at any chance to travel.

She also
loves
to hear from readers.

Email:
[email protected]

Facebook:
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Website:
www.novaleeswan.com