Freedom in the Smokies (22 page)

When he turned back around he found his mate still sitting in the same spot. He doubted she’d even blinked yet.

Soot covered her face, having found its way in between the edges of her helmet and mask. The only clean area was the figure-eight space where the goggles had rested.

Jaxon approached slower this time. “Sorry for the…” God, what was he supposed to say?
Sorry to shift in front of you? Sorry I was naked? Sorry to inform you we are destined to spend our lives together?

Their second chance generates a dangerous kind of heat…

Unconditional

© 2013 Lauren Dane

A
Cascadia Wolves
Story

As a cop, Michelle Slattery is familiar with the dark side of human behavior, but this case is way above her skill level. Mages have been scouring the country kidnapping witches, draining their energy, and leaving their broken bodies behind.
 

With Michelle’s best friend among the missing, she appeals to the Owen witches, who send her to the last place she’d thought she’d see a familiar face. The werewolves.

When a witch seeking help shows up at the Pacific Pack headquarters, Josh Neelan gets the shock of his life. She’s none other than his high school sweetheart, the one he left behind when he was bitten and turned. Their intense sexual chemistry still sizzles for a reason—she’s his mate.

As they begin to work through their issues, their rekindled romance quickly flames red hot. But the closer they get, the more dangerous the outside world becomes. And they realize magick-thieving mages are just the tip of the iceberg.

Warning: Bossy alpha wolves, witches who take no guff, sexytimes, bad words, and some violence.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Unconditional:

She double-checked the address before heading inside the building in downtown Portland. Allie had been missing for twenty-four hours now. Each minute that passed, the chances of finding her alive were lower and lower.

The contact at Clan Owen had sent out a call for help. They were feverishly working on several fronts on these disappearances and something else the witch she’d spoken to had only hinted at, but sounded pretty bad. He’d been sorry not to have been able to rush down and assist on the case, but he’d done what he could, which was to hook her up with Others who could help.

Which had worked out because she’d followed a few leads of her own—a blue SUV that had been sighted at the apartment complex with Washington plates had also been seen at two rest stops on I-5 heading north, and when Michelle had gone to them she’d found that same mage energy signature she’d caught at Allie’s apartment.

Michelle was on the right track, but the track itself was pretty narrow and faint and she was terrified of fucking up and missing something.

So there she was going through the revolving doors of the Pacific Werewolf Pack headquarters to seek their help with tracking. They had some sort of relationship with the clans now and heaven knew they had better noses than she did and there was the added plus that they knew the area.

She walked through one set of doors where two very large men stopped her. One raised a brow at her. “You’re armed.” His voice was a rumble she felt over the surface of her skin.

“I’m Michelle Slattery. Roseburg PD. Gage Garrity from Clan Owen sent me here to request some assistance in an investigation. My credentials are in my pocket if you’ll allow me to retrieve them?”

Eyebrow appeared to relax a little. “First things first. The weapon needs to be put in the bin. We don’t allow anyone in the building armed.”

She reached, slowly and totally within view, to remove her weapon from her under-arm holster. She popped the magazine out and made sure the chamber was empty before placing it all in the bin they’d indicated.

“Thank you. Credentials?”

Slowly, so he knew exactly what she was about, she pulled out her badge, handing it to him. He looked it over and turned his gaze and attention back to her, apparently satisfied with her documentation. “I haven’t been told about anyone coming in, but I only just started my shift a few minutes ago. What’s your business here?”

“I’m investigating the disappearance of a young woman.” She looked around and lowered her voice. Wolves were out to the humans, but witches were still debating the whys, whens and hows of revealing their existence. “A witch. I believe she was taken by the mages.”

He stood up straighter.

“I’m here to appeal for some help in tracking them. Gage said you had some sort of cooperative agreement thing with them.”

“You smell like magick.” Eyebrow gave her a once-over, clearly interested in more than the way she smelled. It was more admiring than leering. Novel and, well, nice. She wasn’t used to being found attractive in connection with being a witch.

She smiled, blushing. She didn’t know a whole lot about shifters, but she did know they had an affinity with witches. It wasn’t a blow to her ego, or her libido, to be standing in a lobby bursting with all that earthy magick wolves carried. They were sexy and that they found her sexy? Well that was sexy too.

And interesting. “What does my magick smell like?”

“Always a little vanilla. Like from yellow cake.” He paused and then nodded. “Yes, you smell like yellow cake.”

“I really like yellow cake.”

“Who doesn’t?” He grinned. “If you want to hang on a sec, I can call up to see who is available to meet with you.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that very much.”

She moved to the mini-reception area he’d indicated and checked her messages while he did whatever it was he needed to do.

“Do we have a problem here?”

She froze before turning slowly to face none other than Josh Neelan.

Josh tried not to gape at the witch whose ass he’d just been admiring. But it wasn’t her ass that stunned him into long silence as he took her in from the tips of her sensible work boots, up shapely legs, the nip at her waist, the swell of her tits—he remembered those quite well—and into her face.

“
Michelle?
”

She blinked and he scented her blush. His wolf pushed at the human in charge. He’d wanted her back then. More than he should have. Apparently his wolf agreed about wanting her now.

“Josh?”

Well now. A hundred years’ worth of memories fell down all around him at the sound of his name on her lips.

He sucked in a breath and it was filled with her. And with her magick. Fuck. She was a witch?

“I take it you two know each other?” Shaun, one of his wolves who had the door shift that afternoon, spoke, his brow rising.

“Yes. Michelle and I are both from Roseburg. She used to be a cheerleader.” He smiled at
that
memory. Her in tight sweaters and short skirts. Christ.

Shaun looked her over. “Yeah, I can see that.”

Josh did not like it one bit that Shaun looked at his Michelle that way. He gave the other wolf a look, but Shaun wasn’t cowed.

But the amusement he’d expected to see in her features wasn’t there. Just hurt and devastation and most likely
he’d
put it there.

“You’re here because you need our help?” He took her upper arm and moved her toward the elevators, keying in his code.

She nodded and disentangled herself from his hold.

“Let’s go up to my office to talk.” He led her into the elevator and punched his floor number and his code before turning back to her. “Damn, it’s really good to see you.”

He pulled her into a hug, burying his face in her neck. His entire system went wild at her scent as he dragged it in. Her body felt good against his. He’d thought he’d forgotten her, what it was to have her in his arms. But he’d been so, so wrong.

He pulled back as they arrived on his floor, his wolf displeased that she hadn’t relaxed into the embrace.

“This way.” He led her through the halls, finding himself having to stop from touching her. His wolf was agitated, pressing against his human skin, fighting for supremacy because it wanted contact with her.

He was better than this. He shoved the wolf back as he indicated a couch near the windows. “Sit. Do you want something to drink? Are you hungry?”

“Gage Garrity from Clan Owen sent me to ask for your assistance. My best friend was taken from her apartment by mages yesterday. There were signs of a struggle. I followed what little bit of a trail I could find up here. You guys are great trackers. I need your help.”

Mages. Great. He poked his head out of his office, speaking to his assistant. “Can you get us some coffee and sandwiches?”

“I don’t need to eat. I need to find Allie.”

He sat next to her on the couch she perched upon, and she edged away a little, pressing against the arm to keep her distance.

“This is dangerous. More dangerous than you probably know. Of course I’ll help. I need the facts first so we can figure out what’s happening. You’re a witch. You never told me?”

“You weren’t around to tell. And I know it’s dangerous. That’s why I’m so worried.”

“I need to explain. About leaving Roseburg, and you.”

“Don’t bother. That’s long past. Very ancient history and all that jazz. You moved on. Looks like to a far better life. I’m not here for that anyway.”

He didn’t want her to think it was about her. He hated that part. He’d left for his sanity, for the safety and security of those around him. He’d left to step into a new life and he didn’t regret that part. Still, it agitated him that she was upset in any way. And she was. She could say all the right words, but he could feel it in the tension of her body, hear it in the tone of her voice. Could scent the acrid burn of her emotions.

Freedom in the Smokies

Becca Jameson

He’s her alpha…and he knows how to push all her hot buttons.

Durham Wolves, Book 3

With a vampire still threatening the family, Micah Durham has no plans to follow his brothers into matehood. In fact, he’d prefer not to expose anyone else—human or shifter—to the dangers they face.

Yet when he returns from visiting a horse buyer, he’s beyond pissed to find his family has hired a new human trainer. A
female
human trainer whose “I’m your mate” scent steals his power of speech.

Kaitlyn Winston couldn’t wait to get out of California, and out from under her grandmother’s thumb, to take her dream job in her beloved Smoky Mountains. Except when she attempts to make nice with her new boss, their attraction sends them to his bedroom to make love.

The haze of passion doesn’t make their problems disappear, though. The life Kaitlyn left behind throws a left hook that could pull them apart. And the Durham’s old enemy is back, stronger than ever, and threatening to pick off the Durhams and their mates…one at a time.

Warning: Steaming hot sex in a tack room, saddles and saw horses put to good use, mutual masturbation, hot showers, and lovers’ spats smoothed over with intense make-up sex.

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B

Cincinnati OH 45249

Freedom in the Smokies

Copyright © 2013 by Becca Jameson

ISBN: 978-1-61921-841-3

Edited by Christa Soule

Cover by Lou Harper

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: December 2013

www.samhainpublishing.com