Some Were In Time
Page 1
Table of Contents
Title page
Acknowledgements
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Excerpt: Switching Hour
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
About Robyn Peterman
Book Lists
Excerpt Ariel: Nano Wolves 1
Book Description
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Some Were in Time
Book 2 of the Shift Happens Series
by
Robyn Peterman
* * * * *
Copyright 2015 by Robyn Peterman
Cover by Rebecca Poole, dreams2media
Edited by Mary Yakovets
Acknowledgements
Writing is singular sport but putting a book out is not. It takes a village and I am blessed to have an awesome village with great landscaping and tons of sunshine!
Rebecca, your covers rock and so do you. Thank you.
Mary, your editing has saved me from myself many times. This is a very good thing.
Melissa, Jennifer and Donna your input has been more valuable than you could ever imagine. I love you!
Donna, I would not be where I am today as a writer without you. You are the glue that holds my brain together! I adore you.
My Pimpettes, you ladies are the bomb and I am humbled that you pimp for me!
And last but not least, my family. Thank you for understanding that I have to let the voices out of my head and put them on paper! I love you all so much and none of this would be worth it without you.
Dedication
For Donna, you make this ride so much more fun. Thank you.
Prologue
"Just walk quietly and no one will get hurt."
A menacing dude with a long black trench coat, questionable breath and sunglasses growled out the order.
"Oh my god, could you be dressed more cliché?" I laughed and rolled my eyes. "You do realize I've torn the head off a Dragon?"
I hissed as I got shoved along a side corridor in the airport. This was not how my Jamaican vacation was supposed to end—not at all.
"You do realize if you don't shut up and move, you will cause many innocent human deaths," he ground out as he grabbed my arm in a grip I was fairly sure had snapped a bone. Thankfully we were out of the main part of the airport and there were no innocent humans around.
There were two goons on me but there were six on my mate, Hank.
"Smith, you son of a bitch, I don't care how many men you have on me. You touch her again and all of you will die violently in less than one minute," Hank threatened through clenched teeth.
Hank's fangs descended as he got angrier at our tormentors, which made him look hotter than hell, and his deadly Alpha magic swirled around him causing the goons to quickly back away.
"You know this douche?" I turned and slammed my knee viciously into Smith's man jewels, sending him to the floor in a blubbering heap.
"Nice shot," Hank said, congratulating me. I ducked a left hook from my other guard dog right before I connected the palm of my hand to his nose, jamming it up into his forehead.
"Thank you," I said with a smirk and a curtsey. "Seriously, who are these losers?"
I knew they were Werewolves, but I'd never had the displeasure of meeting them until now.
"They're colleagues of ours," Hank said with disgust as he stepped on Smith's head and aligned himself with me.
It was now two against six as Smith and his buddy were writhing on the floor in agony.
"These are WTF agents?" I asked, shocked at how easy it had been to take them down.
Both Hank and I were undercover agents for our national governing Council, unfortunately named WTF—Werewolf Treaty Federation. I had a difficult time buying that these idiots were too.
Hank nodded curtly and the six still standing began silently glancing at each other, trying to figure out what to do next. Clearly the now soprano Smith had been in charge.
"I'd suggest you tell us what you want," Hank said in a voice the made the hair on my neck stand on end. "You have five seconds or I'll let the love of my life have at your nuts. When she's done I'll rip your heads clean off of your bodies."
God, my man was sexy.
"Angela wants to talk to you," one stuttered as they all kept their distance from me and my castrating knee.
"Well, asking would have been a hell of a lot easier," I muttered with an eye roll.
"She's here?" Hank asked.
"Down the hall, first door on the right," another answered.
"We can make our own way there—alone," Hank stated firmly. "You will remove Frick and Frack and if I see you again, it will be the last time anyone sees you. Ever."
"And he means that, buttheads," I informed them as I stuck out my tongue.
"Not really helping here, Essie," Hank said.
"Whoops, sorry."
"We clear?" Hank inquired of the remaining agents.
They nodded and quickly hauled Smith and the other one back down the hallway.
"Angela's got some splainin' to do," I said as I grabbed Hank's hand and marched down the hall.
***
The interior of the room in the bowels of the airport left much to be desired—as did the company.
"Essie, you and Hank have five days left before you will report to Chicago," Angela told us grimly as she yanked at the hair on the right side of her head. "What happened to your escorts?"
My boss wasn't extremely pulled together on a good day, but today she was a freakin' mess. She sported huge circles under her eyes and her short, cropped hair was standing straight up on her head. Her suit was a wrinkled disaster and if I was correct, the rusty blob on the lapel proved she'd just eaten a chilidog without a napkin.
"Well, let's see," I replied with sarcastic glee. "One will have to have his nose surgically removed from his hairline. And the other, I believe his name is Smith, will never be able to father children due to the painful fact that his man bits are now embedded in his esophagus. Hank scared the rest of your pathetic henchmen off. And just so you know, Angela, I'm still on my vacation before I go back to work and potentially get torn to bits by some Dragons. Don't you think this is overkill?"
"I hate puns," she grumbled.
"Not intended," I shot back as I stared at her hard. "What gives? Why in the hell are you skulking around the Atlanta airport sending inept gofers to rough us up? You ever heard of email or a phone?"
I was surprised at how quiet Hank was considering the last time we'd met with Angela he told her how it was going to be—not the other way around. His narrowed gaze hadn't left my boss since we'd entered the room.
Granny and my BFF Dwayne were getting the car so they were missing out on the fun, but Angela never missed a beat. She clearly only wanted to talk with Hank and me.
"Phones can be bugged and email can be hacked," she stated wearily.
"True, but you haven't said anything worth knowing," Hank shot back softly through gritted teeth.
Angela blanched a bit and started in on the hair on the left side of her head. If she k
ept it up she'd be bald by the time we were done talking.
"Who's going to bug your phone?" I demanded.
My stomach clenched as Angela stared at the ceiling for a long moment. As far as I knew this was definitely not normal protocol.
"You'll be working with another undercover agent," Angela said. Ignoring my question, she let go of her hair to pull a flask from her purse and take a healthy swig.
"Who's the agent and who's bugging your phone?" I asked as I thought about asking for a sip. This day was quickly turning to crap.
I'd been so happy for the last week. Jamaica was paradise and coming back to the real world was something I didn't think I had to do for a few more days. The last several weeks had been a whirlwind of nightmare inducing incidents that were sure to land me in therapy for a couple of years. I just wanted to pretend I didn't have to kill anything for five more days. Was that too much to ask?
"Council doesn't know I'm here," she said as she gave up on the flask and pulled a full bottle of whiskey out of her purse. "Something is going down and I needed to connect in person."
"Would you like to be a bit more cryptic?" I snapped.
She heaved a large sigh and took a huge belt off the bottle. "I'm sorry about the greeting. My mistake. I'm just a little jumpy right now."
"As awesome as that is to know, you still haven't answered any of my questions," I said. "Spill or we're out. You don't own our butts again until five days from now."
"Hence the henchmen," she said.
"You've got three seconds to start talking," Hank informed her tightly.
"Fine," she grumbled. "There's intense infighting amongst the Council as to whether or not we're going to do a big reveal to the humans."
"Very bad idea," I said as I shook my head and shuddered. We had enough problems living in regular society without being hunted by humans who would most likely think we were dangerous freaks of nature.
"I happen to agree with you, but I'm not on the Council. I simply work for the imbeciles," she said. "At this point I have suspicions that the Dragons are involved."
"How?" Hank asked.
"Well, if I knew I wouldn't have abducted your asses in the airport," she yelled and then gulped down the rest of the whiskey. "I'm sorry. Forgot my manners. You want a swig?"
She held out the empty bottle.
"I'm good," I said. "So what exactly are we supposed to do about that?"
"Along with finding out if the Dragons are trying to crossbreed species, I need you to ascertain if they're in cahoots with any of our Council members."
"Mission impossible," I muttered under my breath.
"And that's why I'm assigning another agent to work with the two of you," Angela went on. "You'll rendezvous in Chicago with the agent in five days. The Council is on a retreat in Wisconsin and will be back in session by the time you have to report."
"Why the hell would anybody go to Wisconsin for a retreat?" I asked, confused. "I mean, I'd pick some place cool like Hawaii or Europe or Spain. No, wait, Spain is in Europe. My bad."
Angela gaped at me like I had two heads. I decided to ignore that. However, I thought my point was valid.
"Who's the agent?” Hank asked, getting the conversation back on track. "What's his name?"
"It's a her and her name is Dima," Angela said.
"Absolutely not," Hank hissed and bared his fangs.
"You have to realize that I have no choice here," she said nervously trying to plead her case. "I'm taking too many chances as is. I would never do it this way if life as we know it wasn't at stake."
"It's a very bad choice," Hank snapped.
"Lost here," I cut in with a raised hand. "Who the hell is Dima?"
"The question should be—what the hell is Dima?" Hank suggested with a calm that belied his anger.
"Okay, I'll bite. What the hell is Dima?"
Angela tried to take another pull off of her now empty bottle and shrugged her shoulders. "A Dragon. Dima is a Dragon."
"There's a clusterhump in the making," I said with a laugh born of utter shock. "The whiskey has clearly eaten your brain. Call me crazy, but I don't think the Dragon will want to work with me considering I ripped the head off of one of her kinsmen last week."
"She's a double agent," Angela explained. "She's on our payroll."
"Which means she's on theirs too," Hank said. "Shitty idea."
"You got a better one?" Angela asked, completely frazzled. "Because if you do, I'm all ears."
Hank's jaw worked rapidly and I could tell he was about to lose it on Angela. I really wasn't in the mood for a bloodbath. As angry as I was at my boss at the moment, I liked her. We still had five days of very well earned vacation left and I didn't want to deal with the guilt Hank would have for ending Angela's life. It would wreak havoc on my sex life. That was unacceptable.
"We'll work with her," I said as Hank's head whipped to me in surprise. "But she will drink the serum that prohibits the Dragon shift. She'll have to stay hopped up on it the entire time we work with her or it's a no go."
"Brains and beauty," Hank murmured as he grabbed me and planted a hot one on my lips.
"She won't be able to defend herself," Angela said hesitantly.
"Yep. But more importantly she won't be able to kill us. Those are our terms. Take ‘em or leave ‘em," I told her.
"I'll take them," Angela said after a long pause.
"Alrighty then. I'd say it's been nice seeing you, but it hasn't. We're leaving now and if any of your flunkies try to stop us it will be the last thing they ever do. I have five more days of deathless freedom and I am taking them," I said in a voice I usually reserved for the outdoors.
Hank stood and I followed him out of the room, leaving a defeated looking Angela behind. Not my problem.
"Here's the deal," Hank said decisively as we walked back down the hallway. "We are going to pretend this didn't happen. We won't talk about it or think about it until we have to leave Georgia and report to Chicago."
"I can work with that," I agreed. "You wanna know what would help a lot?"
"What?"
"Sex. Lots of sex."
"I can work with that," he replied with a panty-melting grin that made me want to jump him in the airport.
"Good. Let's go enjoy the rest of our vacation," I said as I slapped his very fine rear end.
"As you wish, my mate. As you wish."
Chapter 1
"Dang, it's beautiful here," I shouted to no one as I sped solo down the country road that wound along the sparkling blue ocean. Two days after the heinous meeting with Angela I was doing fairly well not thinking about what lay ahead. I was home and still had three more days of blissful vacation. Hung Island, Georgia was as close to paradise as you could get. I'd tried to run away a year ago, but fate and some psycho Were Dragons brought me back and I couldn't have been happier.
I pressed down on the accelerator and held my breath. On one side the ocean whipped by me in a blur—on the other side tall grasses and rolling hills. The siren of the police cruiser that rode up my ass from out of nowhere made my stomach clench. I blew out a long sigh and pulled over.
"Ma'am?"
"Yes?" I asked as I rolled down my window and peeked out from behind my sunglasses.
In the early morning glare of the sun the sheriff looked huge—hotter than hell and ginormous.
"You were driving forty-five miles over the speed limit."
I couldn't see his eyes as they were behind aviators, but the rest of his face matched his smokin' hot bod. "Are you sure, Sheriff?" I gave him my best sexy smile and a giggle.
His full lips thinned as he rocked back on his heels. "Speed detectors don't lie. License and registration, ma’am."
"You got it, Hot Stuff," I said as I handed over the requested paperwork.
Ignoring my wildly inappropriate endearment, he looked at the papers carefully while I did the same to him. God, they sure built them nice around here.
"I'm going to have to ask
you to step out of your car."