Lynxar Series - A Star from Far Away: Books 14-16 (3-Book Bundle)
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2014 by Melissa F. Hart. All rights reserved worldwide.
No part of this book may be replicated, redistributed, or given away in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the prior written consent of the author/publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
http://www.melissafhart.com/
Books in the series
Lynxar - Volume 1
Lynxar's Choices - Volume 2
Lynxar's Legacy - Volume 3
Lynxar's Ghost - Volume 4
The Ghost Rises - Volume 5
Triumph of the Ghost - Volume 6
Lynxar's searching Heart - Volume 7
Dreams of the Heart - Volume 8
Heartfelt Farewells - Volume 9
Strength of the Heart - Volume 10
The Heart of Danger - Volume 11
Deceptions of the Heart - Volume 12
A Heart for Family - Volume 13
Eye of the Beholder - Volume 14
Scars of my Past - Volume 15
Glory in Victory - Volume 16
The Storm to Come - Volume 17
World at War - Volume 18
A Heart that Beats Only for You - Volume 19
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Synopsis
Book Fourteen: Eye of the Beholder
Apple Muldoon is an artist who has fought her way tooth and nail out of a difficult time, and finally, she has achieved the skill and the recognition to show her work at one of the finest art galleries in Colossal City. At the gallery showing, she rubs shoulders with some of the city's best and brightest, including members of the city's superhero force, but the person who commands all her attention is the handsome caterer who introduces himself as Alexius Bellaron.
After a charged encounter, Apple cannot believe what she is feeling, but she would have a harder time believing that the man she spoke to was the last alien prince of a destroyed planet!
Book Fifteen: Scars of My Past
As Bellaron butts heads with the other heroes of the city, Apple find herself confronting a burned monster out of a nightmare. The handsome caterer finds her again and comes to her rescue, leading to the ignition of a fiery passion that threatens to consume them both.
Soon enough, however, it becomes clear that both Apple and Belleron are keeping secrets, and this could have disastrous consequences for both of them!
Book Sixteen: Glory in Victory
Belleron's history and Apple's own troubled past have been revealed, and both hero and artist have fled to mend their own broken hearts. However, neither have the time or the opportunity to mourn because the angels, the terrible beings that destroyed Bellaron's planet, are back, and they are on a mission to destroy everything in their path.
In the charged conflict, Belleron must fight the enemies who defeated him, and Apple must confront her own fears.
Book Seventeen: The Storm to Come
Apple and Bellaron have settled into a quiet existence, though with a baby on the way and super villains to fight, there's always plenty going on. In the blink of an eye, however, a peaceful day turns into the beginning of a terrible battle, one that will endanger the entire city. Bellaron must face an ancestral foe, and Apple does what she can to save the people around her.
Book Eighteen: World at War
Ace journalist Vicky Campbell and her millionaire superhero husband Bryan Hillman race the clock to find Apple Muldoon, the woman who can turn the tide of a vicious battle. They face a panicked city and a fight that is only barely contained. Before the battle is over, love is tested, love is found and love is lost forever.
Book Nineteen: A Heart that Beats Only for You
After the devastating battle against the angels, Lynxar's powers have multiplied even as his mind is tormented with loss. The other heroes of Colossal City are torn and cannot risk approaching him, but the only person who does not give up hope is his beloved Rachel. Leaving her child behind, Rachel enters the forest to heal her troubled love.
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Table of Contents
Eye of the Beholder
14 - Chapter One
14 - Chapter Two
14 - Chapter Three
14 - Chapter Four
Scars of my Past
15 - Chapter One
15 - Chapter Two
15 - Chapter Three
15 - Chapter Four
15 - Chapter Five
Glory in Victory
16 - Chapter One
16 - Chapter Two
16 - Chapter Three
16 - Chapter Four
16 - Chapter Five
16 - Chapter Six
16 - Chapter Seven
The Storm to Come
17 - Chapter One
17 - Chapter Two
17 - Chapter Three
17 - Chapter Four
17 - Chapter Five
17 - Chapter Six
17 - Chapter Seven
World at War
18 - Chapter One
18- Chapter Two
18 - Chapter Three
18 - Chapter Four
18 - Chapter Five
A Heart that Beats Only for You
19 - Chapter One
19 - Chapter Two
19 - Chapter Three
19 - Chapter Four
19 - Chapter Five
19 - Chapter Six
19 - Chapter Seven
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Eye of the Beholder
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Chapter One
Apple Muldoon stared into the eyes of the wolf, and she took a deep breath, drawing herself up to her full five-foot height.
“All right,” she said. “Let's do this.”
The wolf she spoke to was a metal sculpture almost eight feet high. Formed from twists of shining steel and wrought iron, it was enormous and menacing, an alien predator that glared out at the world from two bright green eyes of blown glass. It was an imposing piece of art, but Apple touched its cold nose with confidence, gaining strength from it as she had throughout the year she had spent working on it.
“Miss Muldoon? The first guests are coming in...”
She nodded at the gallery manager, tugging at her green velvet gown self-consciously. She had done showings before, of course, but most of them were student affairs where she had been able to wear the jeans and loose peasant tops that were her uniform when she wasn't in the studio. Those events had been full of her friends and her colleagues, and when the gallery managed a cheese plate, it was a really big deal.
Now, as the first guests made their way through the enormous echoing space, painted in shades of pale green and gold especially for her art, she knew that she was far out of her depth. The Hillman Center for Fine Arts prided itself on showcasing promising visionaries and artists, and the people who entered to look at her art now were among Colossal City's prime movers and shakers. The handsome man inspecting her copper woman statue could be none other than Mayor Mike McIntyre himself, and Apple's eyes widened when an Amazonian woman with a fall of lavender hair came up behind him, linking her arm with his. They conversed quietly for a moment, and Apple felt slightly faint at the idea of Lynxonna, one of the heroes of the city, stopping to look at her work.
Apple was momentarily distracted by the gallery manager asking her a quick question, and when she turned around, it was to find the tall heroine striding up to her. Apple almost squeaked in surprise. She had seen the heroes' battles on television and countless YouTube videos, but there was something awe-inspiring about the alien woman in the flesh. She was a full half-head taller than her husband, and in a quiet corner of her mind that was not consumed by nerves, Apple longed to sculpt the broad line of her shoulders, the dramatic sweep of her hips and the fine arch of her brow. Metal wouldn't do it, but perhaps clay...
“Are you the creator?” Lynxonna demanded, and her voice, a low contralto, vibrated with command.
“Er... yes? I think... no, yes, I am the artist.”
Lynxonna looked at her with narrowed eyes, then glanced at the copper woman statue again. It was an abstract form of a woman in mid-rising from a crouch and flinging herself forward. Apple had worked with martial artist friends to get the tension right, and she was rather proud of it.
“You don't look like a warrior,” Lynxonna said finally. “That piece captures a warrior's spirit.”
Apple started to stammer an explanation, of her friends Nidia and Laquesha who had tensed and leaped over and over again, laughing at her for her insistence on capturing just the right moment, but Lynxonna waved it away.
“Where I come from, no one but a warrior could capture such spirit, but you seem like a small thing.”
Apple frowned at that and thrust her chin up. “And where I come from, it's rude to say that people can't do the things that they did.”
Lynxonna looked momentarily taken aback, but by then, the mayor had caught up to her. Up close, he was a devastatingly handsome man with rather smooth good looks, but the smile he gave to his famous wife made his face come alive with love.
“Dear, I think you're scaring Ms. Muldoon. She's done amazing work; we should see all of it.”
Lynxonna eyed Apple for another moment, and suddenly her face broke into a surprisingly sunny smile. “If I've offended, forgive, and if I am wrong about your warrior spirit, may you teach me better,” she said. “Truly, your work is captures something that sings to me, and I must see more.”
With nothing more than that, she took her husband by the arm and led him off to look at another piece. The mayor smiled at Apple, calling, “I'd like to talk with you again in a bit!”
Apple let out a deep breath and tried not to sag with relief. She couldn't imagine that many people got away with talking back to a woman who could lift and throw cars, but she had done it. The rest of the opening should be a piece of cake, comparatively.
Chapter Two
Two hours later, however, she began to think she would rather simply go one on one against the lavender-haired heroine instead of discussing her artistic vision one more time. She was growing dangerously close to telling them that she chose the materials because they were the least expensive and the most durable, the colors because she had loved them since she was a girl and that the symbolism was based on her favorite television show.
Slowly and carefully, Apple made her way to the buffet tables, where there was a delightful repast laid out. The Hillman Center spared no expense, but she quickly realized what she had before only feared. She was a small town girl who loved fast food and boxed mac and cheese. If she couldn't eat it out of her hand while drawing plans for a sculpture, she had never had much use for it.
The table was heavy with beautiful foods, cheeses she couldn't name and a tray of delicate breads that looked frail enough to shatter at a touch, and she didn't know how to eat a single bit of it. Apple glanced around at the dignitaries circulating through the gallery, and she knew that she couldn't embarrass herself in front of them. Hell, as confused as she was, she might pick up an inedible table decoration and try to eat it.
Regretfully, she started to turn away from the table, promising herself a stop at her favorite fast food drive-through as soon as the event was over, but then her stomach betrayed her with a loud rumble. Mortified, she looked up to see if anyone had caught her, but instead, all she heard were two soft giggles.
Apple spun and found herself confronted with two small girls. They both wore beautiful dresses that likely cost a month of Apple's rent, but where one girl was simply a pretty blonde, the other had soft purple hair pulled back in a French braid.
“You're hungry,” the purple-haired girl pointed out. “There's food right there.”
“It's... it's not that simple,” Apple said, looking around nervously. Fortunately, they were in a sheltered place by a pillar, and no one could see her conversing with the two girls. She thought that they were perhaps six or seven, though they certainly could be no older.
“Of course it is,” the purple-haired girl insisted. “If you're hungry, you should get to eat. Everyone knows that!”
The blonde girl tugged her friend's hand, shaking her head.
“I don't like to eat when other people are looking, sometimes,” she said softly, and in that, Apple heard a little bit of her own anxiety. She herself was on the plump side, and enough rude comments about bigger girls daring to eat in public along with her anxiety about being able to manage the exotic cuisine made her cautious.
The purple-haired girl considered, and then nodded with the decisiveness of a born leader.
“Right. My name is Lynxienna, and this is Aurora. We're going find you some food that you'll like.”
With nothing more than that, she seized one hand, Aurora seized the other, and they were off. Apple thought about fighting against her tiny kidnappers, but the thought of another circuit of the gallery, discussing her methods and her vision as she went, made her a willing captive.
They took her away from the main halls of the gallery, leading her down a few darkened passages. She was just beginning to get a little nervous about where they were taking her when they opened the door to reveal a plain kitchen area.
There were still quite a few trays to bring out, but what caught Apple's eye was the tall man in the tuxedo who was having an intense discussion with one of the servers. He turned away from the server, and Apple froze when their eyes met.
He had a pair of the most intense green eyes that she had ever seen, as clear a green as spring grass, and for a moment, pinned by his piercing look, she could barely speak. His features were too stern to be movie-star handsome, but there was a wild kind of beauty to his face. His hair was a deep chestnut, and when he took a step closer, she realized that he would tower over her.
“The kitchen is—”
He broke off when he saw the two little girls who had led her here.
“And what are you two scamps doing back here? Did you decide to see if there was any more mochi for you? I told you before that two mochi apiece was plenty for you two.”
Lynxienna scoffed, tossing her head. “I could eat a million of them, especially the ones that are red-bean flavored,” she retorted. “And I know that you gave my dad more.”
“Well, your father saved the city a few times, maybe you'll get more if you do that,” he suggested. “Does he know you're here?”
Aurora shook her head.
“We'll go right back,” she promised, “only this lady was hungry...”
The man's eyes snapped back to Apple, who defensively took a step back. “The food looks fine, the food looks great! I swear, I'll just run back and...” She trailed off as her stomach rumbled again, and the man nodded decisively.
“All right,” he said, turning to the server. “Henry, could you please take these two back to their parents?”
As the server took the children away, Apple resisted the urge to simply follow them. Instead, she stayed right where she was as the tall man in the tuxedo looked at her carefully.
“So,” he said finally. “What's wrong with my food?”
“Your food?” she asked nervously.
He smiled. “Yes, my food. Usually The Hunt doesn't do catering, but Hillman requested us, and well, I like the guy.”
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Apple's mouth dropped open. Even she had heard of The Hunt. It was one of the premier dining establishments in the city, and the outrageous prices and long wait list only added to its appeal. Now that she knew that the food was being catered by The Hunt, she knew who the handsome man speaking to her was.
“You're Alexius Bellaron,” she said in a small voice.
He waved it away as if it meant nothing. “I'm Chef during working hours, but you should call me Bellaron. Now what was this I heard about you being hungry?”
She fiddled with her hands nervously. How could she tell a man who was famous throughout the state for his amazing meals that she wanted nothing more than a frozen pizza and a can of soda?”
“I... I wasn't sure how to eat any of the food you had out there...” she muttered, her face turning red with embarrassment. She expected him to laugh, or worse, to make a joke about how girls her size didn't seem to have any trouble eating, but he was only nodding sympathetically.
“It can be a little complicated in a buffet line and everyone rushing,” he said sympathetically. “And maybe I did decide to go a little form over function tonight. I'd hate it if anyone attending an event where I was catering went away hungry, though, so why don't you sit down and let me put together a plate for you?”
It was on the tip of Apple's tongue to refuse. She knew that she was needed back in the gallery, and the longer she spent in the presence of the oddly magnetic chef, the more she felt drawn to him. There was something about tall dark men who looked with so much concern at her that made her heart melt, and well, perhaps she had acted too foolishly or too hastily over it.
Lynxar Series: Boxed Set (Books 14-19) (Superhero Romance - Werewolf Romance) Page 1
