by Kat Simons
“You some kind of witch?”
“No.” After a moment, she sighed and shook her head. “Well, there’s no help for it. I’m gonna have to use brute force. It’ll take too long to get this off subtly.”
“We don’t have much time. It’s nearly midnight now.”
“Gee, really?”
He ignored her sarcasm. “Brute force?”
“Hold onto your valuable body parts,” she said and tried not to think about his exposed valuable parts. Then she wrapped her hands around the collar, easing her fingers gently under so the backs pressed against his neck. His skin was warm and another shiver danced down her spine.
“Wait.”
She met his gaze.
“What the hell are you doing? If I can’t break that with my bare hands, you can’t—”
He stopped short when she tugged and the collar came away with a quiet click.
“I’m not without some talent,” she murmured.
“Who are you?”
“Come on. We have to get you out of here. I just made a lot of magical noise with that little stunt.”
“Hold on.”
He grabbed her hand. The feel of his warm palm wrapped around her fingers sent tiny sparks of electricity dancing over her skin. He dropped his hold, but she saw his eyes widen with the same shock she felt. He inhaled deeply, and against her will, she watched the strong muscles of his chest rise and fall.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Cary.”
“Cary. I’m Deacon.”
“Nice to meet you.” Did that sounded as stupid to him as it did to her given the circumstances?
He smiled, a slow, deadly grin that made her pulse race. “Nice to meet you, too.”
She blinked and shook her head. “Come on, Deacon. We need to move.”
As he slid to the edge of the mattress, Cary turned her back to avoid embarrassing them both—despite the temptation to look over every inch of him. The sound of material moving over skin behind her didn’t help curb her less polite impulses, though, so she hurried to the door to see how the lightning bolts and fireballs were doing.
* * *
Slipping into his jeans, Deacon watched the woman as she peeked around the edge of the doorframe at the living room and the still popping spells Sheldon had set to keep help from reaching him.
She wasn’t the rescue he’d been expecting. He’d expected the damned faery to come himself.
Jaxer had convinced him to let the wizard “capture” him, so they could find out why Sheldon was kidnapping shifters. They’d only found a few of Sheldon’s victims—their bodies anyway. And they’d been little more than desiccated husks. The rest of the missing shifters… Even their bodies had vanished.
Wizards didn’t typically go after shapeshifters for sacrifice. They were too hard to contain, and most of them didn’t have the kind of magical energy an average human wizard could absorb through ceremonial magic. Shapeshifting wasn’t typically magic. It was just a species trait.
Deacon knew none of the shifters killed so far had had any actual magic. He was a different case, but he was pretty sure Sheldon didn’t know that. Jaxer did, which was why he’d come to Deacon in the first place, and Deacon had felt obliged to help even though none of the shifters taken had been leopards.
He suppressed an irritated growl. This was the last time he’d let the faery use him for bait. He’d been chained to that fucking bed all day with no sign of help. Then Jaxer went and made things worse by sending in this…woman to rescue him instead of coming himself. How dare he endanger someone else when this crusade against Sheldon was his own personal business? Bad enough he dragged Deacon into it.
But as Deacon watched the woman straighten away from the doorframe when a lightning bolt flashed, he realized there was something about her. He couldn’t deny the power she must have to break through the binding ring. Yet she looked and smelled like a normal, human woman.
Her light brown hair hung in long ponytail her back over a battered brown leather jacket. She wore jeans, hiking boots, and a purple t-shirt with a glittery Happy Halloween emblazoned over a maniacally grinning jack-o-lantern. Her blue eyes had sparkled when he’d called her a child, then flashed with irritation when he’d insulted her. And for reasons he couldn’t quite understand, he’d found it hard to look away from her, especially when she’d knelt next to him on the bed.
Something about her…something about her scent tugged at his instincts.
Who the hell was she? What was she? She had to be more than human, but none of his sense picked up anything particularly preternatural about her. So where did all that power come from?
Jaxer had some serious explaining to do.
Deacon shook off his preoccupation and walked up behind her to stare at the living room over her head. Black scorch marks marred the hardwood floors, and a layer of frost covered one side table. The air was heavy with electricity and the smell of burning ozone.
Despite the multiple magical eruptions, the apartment was in remarkably good shape. As he watched, a dagger flew toward the bedroom, dropped harmlessly a foot from the doorway, and disappeared as if it hadn’t existed.
Clever. Less clean up. And a testament to Sheldon’s power.
He couldn’t blame Jaxer for being worried about the little shit. But given a choice, Deacon would have taken a more…active approach to getting rid of the wizard.
Unfortunately, and he was reluctant to admit this even to himself, his approach probably would have gotten him killed. The bastard wizard was powerful. How Sheldon managed to be so powerful at his age was a mystery. But maybe that was the reason Jaxer was so obsessed with finding out the whys behind Sheldon’s actions.
If Deacon got out of this apartment alive, he’d ask the faery. In the meantime, he and this very human woman in front of him had to navigate the bespelled living room and get away before Sheldon got back.
Deacon drew in a slow breath and was hit again by Cary’s scent. Vanilla and cinnamon. And something else. Something that shot jolts of lust and need through his gut, making him lean closer to her just so he could feel the heat of her skin. He felt a possessive growl rising in his throat and swallowed it back, fisting his hands by his side to keep from reaching for her.
What the hell? He had more control that this. A lot more. He had to or people got killed. Resisting a woman, even one that smelled like heaven, had never been a problem before. With Cary, it took an effort to resist pulling her close and burying his face in her neck to soak up her essence.
If he didn’t know better, he’d think she was a witch, casting a lust spell on him.
His nostrils flared. That scent of hers…
It reached down inside him, calling to a deep instinct. As he breathed her in, his leopard whispered, Mine.
Out in the living room, wind-lashed hail whipped toward the bedroom without actually coming through the doorway. And behind that, a lightning bolt sizzled the floor.
“Sheldon didn’t make this easy,” he said, quirking a brow when she jumped at the sound of his voice.
“Are you dressed?” she asked without turning around.
He couldn’t help smiling at the slight panic in her voice. “Yes.”
“Okay. Stick close. Stay behind me and don’t try to dodge around me. Got it? That’s how we’ll get out of here alive.”
He frowned down at the top of her head. She must have some pretty powerful shields to get through that mess. But she wasn’t a witch?
He grunted a noncommittal response, and she swung around to face him. The flash of heat in her eyes made his pulse kick.
“Listen, buddy,” she said, her chin tucked back as she glared at him, “if you don’t let me protect you, we’re both dead. Okay? Don’t go trying to be a hero. Just stay close and let me do what I came here to do.”
She mumbled something unflattering under her breath as she turned back to the living room, and he had to fight a completely irrational urge to kiss her.
But as he breathed in the heady scent of her again, he wondered…
Don’t Miss The Trouble with Black Cats and Demons
Book 1 in the Cary Redmond Series
Out now!
Books By Kat Simons
Demon Witch Series
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Moonlit Strange
1 – Bone Lantern Witch
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The Cary Redmond Series
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1 – The Trouble Black Cats and Demons
2 – The Trouble with Ghouls and Serial Killers
3 – The Trouble with Leopard Queens and Shifter Wars
4 – The Trouble with Baby Gods and Vampires
5 – The Trouble with Magic and Faery Curses
6 – The Trouble with Wizards and Old Enemies
COMING JANUARY 2022
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Cary Redmond Short Stories
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When Cary Met Jaxer
When Cary Met Pickles
When Cary Met Marianne
When Cary Met Lucy
When Cary Met Angie
Cary and Deacon (Try to) Go on a Date
Date Night Take Two
Third Date’s the Charm
Cary vs the Goblin King
Dinner with the Jones
Cary and the Cursed Jack-O’-Lantern
Cary and the Demon Witch
Cary Goes to Hawaii
* * *
When Cary Met the Good Guys (Collection 1)
Dates, Dinners, and Other Disasters (Collection 2)
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Romancing the Leopard: A Tiger Shifters-Cary Redmond Crossover Novel
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Tiger Shifters Series
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1 – Once Upon a Tiger
2 – Along Came a Tiger
3 – Here There Be Tigers
4 – Her Tiger To Take
5 – To Tempt a Tiger
6 – Down Will Come Tiger
7 – To Catch a Tiger
8 – What a Tiger Wants
9 – Taming Her Tiger
* * *
Tiger Shifters Series Vol 1 (Books 1 - 3)
Tiger Shifters Series Vol 2 (Books 4 - 6)
* * *
Joan of Kerry Series
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1 – Joan of Kerry: Joan and the Abhartach
2 – Joan and the Leprechaun
COMING SOON
About the Author
Kat Simons earned her Ph.D. in animal behavior, working with animals as diverse as dolphins and deer. She brought her experience and knowledge of biology to her paranormal romance and urban fantasy fiction, where she delights in taking nature and turning it on its ear. Her Tiger Shifters series combines romance and the otherworldly with heart-pounding action adventure. Her latest urban fantasy romance series follows the adventures of Protector Cary Redmond as she tries to manage her personal life while saving the world. A lot.
For something a little different, Kat also publishes fantasy romance, science fiction romance, and the occasional hockey romance under the name Isabo Kelly.
After traveling the world, Kat now lives in New York City with her family. She is a stay-at-home mom and a full time writer.
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For more on Kat and her future books:
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Website: https://www.katsimons.com
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dxDRuH
