Cat's Choice (31 page)

“If we ever make another sub-organization, I propose Cami not be able to name it, especially when she had fast food for lunch. The next thing you know, we will have ‘TACO’, ” Jo grumbled and everyone yelled , “Aye.”

STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT IN, THE CHOSEN’S WAR, THE DREKINN SERIES, AND THE OTHER JANA LEIGH BOOKS. THEY ARE LISTED AS FOLLOWS, THEN TAKE A LOOK AT THE OTHER JK PUBLISHING BOOKS RELEASED. I HOPE YOU WILL LIKE THEM!

Denver Pack by Jana Leigh

Alpha’s Mate

Tey’s White Wolf

Devon” The Beta’s Double Trouble

Cloe: Two for the Bite of One

Reggie: A Wolf’s Changing Heart

Blaine: A Wolf’s Second Sight

Lacy: Seeing Double

Jordan’s Misunderstanding

Trinity: Heart of the Shifters

Argus: Accepting the Challenge

Trace: Following His Destiny

Shea: The Last Hope

Other books include:

Dangerous Series:

Dangerous Trio

Dangerous Two

Dangerous Finale

Dangerous: Working Against the Clock

Dangerous: Off Limits

Cassidy Family Series

Playing With Zack

Killing Jared

Drekinn Series Book One

The Mating Call

Garrett’s Home

By

Shelby Lynn

Chapter 1

Garrett was running for his life; the beating was far crueler this time around. If Shannon hadn’t snuck in and risked his life to let him go, he had no doubt that he’d be dead right now. The sad part was that his Alpha could blust er about his preferences all he wanted, but Garrett knew the real man. He saw the looks the Alpha gave him; he was more than willing to ‘fuck’ anything out of him. The thought made him shiver even more. Garrett would rather die than to screw that beast. Having dreamed of a mate man y times, who treated him better than a piece of meat, was what kept him going. Surely, the spirits would not be so cruel, to give him a mate who treated him the same way his Alpha did. Was it too much to ask that others accept him for the person the spirits made him to be?

There were so many things that Garrett hadn’t shared with his Alpha. Since being orphaned at a young age , then wandering into what is now known as the, “The Cedarhill Pack.” Garrett had been under the Alphas ‘protection’. Right, like that shit really worked out for him.

Garrett learned early on the Pack is ruled with an iron fist. Since he had felt that fist more times than he could count recently, Garrett felt like he was an expert. Anyone, even slightly different is ostracized and sometimes even killed. Secrets we re just a huge part of their Pack. Hell , Garrett could have outed half of the men and the women in the Pack before he ran, but he knew the abuse they could face. Garrett refused to bring that down on anyone.

When Enforcer Jarrod had overturned Garrett’s room for the fun of it, he found the stash of magazines he had hidden for his pleasure. Garrett may have never actually taken his sexual preference to the Alpha like he was required to do, but he knew he was gay since he was a young cub. Enforcer Jarrod laughed his cruel laugh after leafing through them for a few minutes. Then he confiscated the magazines and headed straight for the Alpha’s house.

***

That night was the first of the beatings, even with the shift afterwards; it took three days to heal from the beating. For the next three weeks leading up to the full moon, they visited Garrett almost every day , trying to convince him to mate with Jessica. It wasn’t that anythi ng was wrong with Jessica; she wa s a sweet little thing, but she did absolutely nothing for him. No woman turned him on.

Garrett didn’t know how far he could run without passing out completely; he knew the Alpha would be hot on his heels, just to make sure Ga rrett kept his mouth shut. It wa s much easier to scare and intimidate the smaller and weaker Pack members. This time they worked him over g ood; his wolf wa s too weak to repair the damage they inflicted. Garrett could feel the anger beneath the weakness , b ut there was nothing to be done until he could rest and heal. Then he would bring hell to his Alpha; the man had no clue who he was dealing with.

Garrett may be smaller than most of the wolves in his Pack, but he made up for it in sass. It was probably why the Beta hated him so much, Garrett refused to back down, even when he was being beaten. Probably singing the ‘YMCA’ song didn’t help mat ters , but he refused to admit what he was on the inside was wrong. ‘Gay and proud of it’, was his motto, one that he was gonna live to the fullest now that he escaped. If only he was sure, he would make it out of here alive.

Garrett had no idea how far he had run or the dir ection only that his instincts were telling him that he wa s moving away from Cedarhill Pack lands. If he were to fall down right this moment and never move another step, Alpha Cedarhill would find him. That was not acceptable.

He refused to think about the friends he left behind; he hoped they knew that he was coming back. Alpha Cedarhill forbids any closeness between the Pack, so Garrett had been unable to tell anyone what his plan was when they took him this time. It was easy really, they always made sure to take him out of the compound to beat him, of course; they would hate if anyone found out how Garrett actually got his bruises. How stupid, like the members of the Pack didn’t know? They were just to o afraid to speak up. Many of them learned their lessons along the way; Garrett didn’t fault any of them for not fighting back. No, he had to keep moving, because he was going to bring back help for the others. The blood was starting to pool in his eyes, and his vision was blurring so much that Garrett didn’t see the truck bearing down on him.

HeVan Sent (Book 1 of the Nephilim)

By Lucy Kelly

Chapter 1

Addie Perez stumbled over some rocks and nearly wound up on her butt in an abandoned gull ‘s nest. When she started on this adventure, she hadn’t taken in the necessity of maneuvering around so much bird crap . Even with the bird crap , she was happy to be here. Like many other places around the world, she’d been drawn to this place. It figures the closest location to where she lived would be the last one she found before finishing her dissertation. If she had to have an obsession, at least she was getting a degree out of it.

This particular obsession began back when she was in grade school. She’d been on a sixth-grade field trip to a big museum in downtown Chicago. When she wandered past an exhibit on ancient India, it weirded her out when a symbol that had been carved on a building thousands of years ago, looked exactly like her odd birthmark. That’s when she became more interested in ancient civilizations than her current obsession with growing boobs and kissing boys.

Now here she was in graduate school and ABD for her doctorate in Archaeology. She remained a geek at heart; now, she was also a smart ass who could take care of herself. Though there were women in archaeology, it was mostly a male-dominated field. Professors adored using their students as free slave labor on their digs. Days in grueling conditions in out of the way places; no amenities, just meager pay and course credit. She’d grown a thick skin with all the pompous jerks treating her as if she didn’t have two brain cells in her head. She’d begun taking lessons in Aikido after another student got the idea that she was just around to keep the men happy. She chuckled at that memory—
he’d been crossing his hands over his crotch for days.

She happily put up with all their shit, because as she went further in her studies, she came across additional clues here and there to her own personal puzzle. She found small things that tied together with other things. Each time she felt drawn to an artifact or carving; something had pulled her there, and she made connections, added puzzle pieces.

She’d tried talking to her sister Grace about it, then stopped when she told her she was nuts. Then she went back to reading the latest true-crime book or watching reality cop shows on cable. For Grace, that paid off when she’d gone straight into the police academy from high school. She’d quickly risen up the ranks and got her detective’s shield a year ago. So her sister’s life was well on its way, and she was still in school at twenty-five.
Oomph… damn slippery bird crap !

Today she was clambering over rocks covered in excrement in the middle of Lake Michigan because she couldn’t let go of her obsession, maybe her sister was right, and she was nuts. She could have been spending two weeks slaving at a dig in Arizona for a meager stipend and academic glory, only she preferred to spend this last summer before finishing and defending her Doctoral Thesis on her personal theories.
I’m rethinking that decision right now since I’m covered in this blech!…well, if I find what I’m looking for, it’ll be well worth it.

She finally reached the top of the rocky incline from where she’d beached and tied off her pontoon boat. This particular island was quite small, so she didn’t expect to find anything; she felt though that she had to be scientific and thorough and leaving no stone unturned. Addie let out a chuckle at the bad pun.
It’s highly unlikely I’ll be turning over any of these rocks, she thought to herself—these granite puppies had been piled up here since the last glacier moved through.

Addie walked over to a mostly clear area of wild grass to have a rest. She pulled out her water and some antiseptic wipes. She’d done a song and dance to get permission from the Michigan National Wildlife Refuge and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in order to go over these islands for eight weeks this summer. Too bad the ranger, while signing off on her forms, didn’t warn her about wading through all this shit.

She was used to dealing with bad conditions; only on a regular dig there would be clean-up facilities, as well as the cooking, the cleaning, and other chores that were shared around.

With so many islands, Addie needed to be mobile. She was breaking camp and setting up a new one almost daily. And that ate into her time. Soon she was going to need to stop by Beaver for a hot shower and a fresh supply of wet wipes—she went through them fast enough.

She’d already been to Squaw’s Island; as the only privately owned island in the Beaver Island Archipelago, she shamelessly used her credentials to be allowed access for three days. Luckily, the island was small. Hopefully, the paper she promised to write about it, okay , she thought, maybe bribed the owners with was a better term , would be equally small. She’d started with the smallest island, Pismire, and was working her way up. She really hoped she’d find something before she got to Beaver Island. As the only inhabited island, it would be difficult to search without trespassing on private property, or getting shot at by a hunter after deer or wild turkey. Perhaps she could talk herself into believing the added danger made it exciting, nope, not really seeing the excitement there . If she were shot at, she’d have to make do with lording it over her sister.
And then watch her flip out, which was sooo much fun!