by Susan Hayes
Her smile lit up the room brighter than the winter sunshine that came in through the windows. “Well, White Knight is your family. I wasn’t sure you’d want me here.”
“Of course I want you here. You’re here half the damned time anyway. I see no reason not to make it official. You really should have told me though. And I’m still not sure I’m happy you’ve stolen my office.” He slanted her a grin, and his fingers flexed as he started considering how best to punish her for leaving him out of the loop, not to mention swiping his office. “I’m going to have a long chat with Remington, very soon.” He started moving toward her. “But first, you and I are going to have a quick refresher course on what happens when you sass me.”
She grinned and kicked off her heels, already moving backward and increasing the space between them as she ducked around her new desk. “You’ll have to catch me first!”
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THE END
Sneak Peek at Protecting Jazz
Sneak Peek at Guardians #3
Protecting Jazz
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“You’re here late again,” Jim noted. He glanced down at her from his vantage point halfway up the stepladder, a burned-out lightbulb in his hand. “You do realize you own this joint, right? You don’t need to stay after hours to impress the boss.”
Jazz adjusted the gym bag that hung over her shoulder and grinned up at the head of her maintenance staff. “Someone’s got to keep the paperwork flowing. If I don’t sign on the dotted lines, you don’t get paid.”
“Fair point.” Jim chuckled as he fished a fresh bulb out of the box and screwed it into the socket. “I do like getting paid.”
“Don’t we all.” Jazz held the ladder for him as he descended. “I’m heading home now, though, so you’re on your own. Have a good weekend and I’ll see you next week.” She started heading back down the hall toward the main doors, then stopped and glanced back at him. “And remember, no wild parties!”
They both laughed at her joke, even though it was the same one she made every night they saw each other. Which is damned near every night. I really need to get a social life.
She unlocked the doors and stepped into the middle of one of Seattle’s infamous winter storms. “Somehow snow seems preferable to this misery,” she muttered as a gust of wind blew the rain sideways, drenching her from head to foot. “Ugh.”
Jazz pulled her hood further down over her face and headed for her car, head bowed to avoid getting another face full of ice-cold water. She picked her way around the largest of the puddles, which meant the path to her car was more of a meandering track than a straight line. Anything to avoid having to drive home with soaking-wet socks and cold feet.
She was almost to her car when she heard the noise for the first time. A low, rumbling growl that came out of the darkness beyond the border of the parking lot. Jazz froze in place and cocked her head, praying she had imagined that sound. This was Seattle, for god’s sake, not the middle of a forest. There was no way an animal big enough to growl like that was wandering around the city. The threatening noise came again, and her heart started to race as a bucket-load of adrenalin was dumped into her system. Jazz lifted her head slowly, straining her senses to the limit as she tried to pierce the rain-soaked darkness.
Somewhere out there something was growling, and she needed to know where and what it was. A flicker of movement caught her attention, and she tried to make out the details. But the night was full of movement, and it was impossible to pick out a single shape amongst the shadows of the storm. Something snarled behind her, and she spun around, her eyes widening as she recognized the creature standing only ten feet away. There was a wolf in her parking lot.
What the hell? She stood her ground, knowing that if she ran now, it would easily catch her before she got to car. The animal’s dark gray coat was slicked down with the rain and drops of water dripped from its sides as it stood, watching her with yellow eyes that gleamed with a terrible intelligence.
“Oh please, god, no. Not again,” she whispered into the wind as fear welled up and threatened to overwhelm her. The wolf’s ears pricked forward at her words, and its lips curled up into a vicious sneer, revealing its fangs.
Searing heat coursed through her, and she bit back a hiss of pain as she tried to control the fiery agony and channel the change she could feel coming. The bones in her face shifted slightly, and she felt her canines extend. Shit, I’m losing control! The heat grew more intense, flaring bright behind her eyes and scorching her vision. When her sight returned, the world was different, and she knew her eyes had transformed. Stop now. She fought hard to control the beast trying to wake within her.
She looked around her with her new set of eyes and could easily pick out the second wolf lurking in the darkness. A rough growl rose from her throat, and she drew in a mouthful of air. An inventory of smells flowed through her brain from her heightened senses. Rain, earth, and the dead scent of concrete blended with the murky, muddled odor of stagnant puddles. Strongest of all was the scent of wolves and blood. The presence of blood sent the creature inside her into a howling frenzy as it fought to be freed. Pain lanced through her hands, and she knew without looking that her fingers had shifted into claws. A sharp yelp tore her attention from her inner battle, and she glanced back over at the wolf. There were two of them now. Dark gray and light gray, standing side by side, with bloodstained muzzles. They’d been hunting. Both of them watched her intently. Her beast snarled at them, and she bared her fangs as she prepared to fight.
The lighter wolf yelped again and took a step back, turning to snap at the darker wolf when it stood its ground. She fought the beast for control, unwilling to abandon her humanity. The wolf inside her howled, and the two other wolves cried out in answer, their voices carried away on the wind.
“I—will—not—do—this.” She panted each word like a prayer. Her voice was rough, the words were distorted as she tried to speak around the changes the creature within had already brought about. She knew that her newly grown fangs and other alterations had twisted her face into something less than human.
The lighter wolf made a noise that she swore was a chuff of laughter, and then it turned and vanished into the night. The darker wolf stared at her for another heartbeat, and then it followed its pack-mate into the darkness. It was only as they turned to go that her eyes picked out the detail that confirmed her greatest fear. They were both missing their tails. That meant there weren’t wolves loose in Seattle at all. There were werewolves. There were werewolves here, and they’d recognized her for what she was. The shock of that realization helped her force back the changes. She managed to lock up her wolf once more and sealed it behind walls built of will alone.
She hadn’t seen another werewolf since the attack that had left her an orphan, nearly eleven years ago. As the burning pain receded and her humanity returned, Jazz turned and ran to her car. She went straight through every puddle along the way, no longer caring about wet feet or anything else. Soaked to the bone and shaking, she threw herself into her car and locked the doors. “I’m in trouble,” she whispered to herself as she curled up in the seat of her car, shaking from fatigue, shock, and cold. “They’ve found me.”
To Keep Reading
Pick up Protecting Jazz today
The Guardians - Book One
Defending Kyra
Gareth Harkness is a supernatural predator born to hunt his natural enemy – vampires. Hunting isn’t his job, it’s his calling, one that doesn’t leave a lot of time for a normal life. He’s got a mission instead of a mortgage, and the only woman in his life is the nameless beauty who haunts his dreams.
Kyra Robinson is too pragmatic to believe in magic, monsters, or things that go bump in the night. She’s forced to change her attitude when a random encounter at her Vancouver nightclub puts her in the sights of a vampire who wants her for his own.
Kyra is desired by two men, the hunter, and the killer. After a lifetime of protecting herself, she’ll h
ave to put her heart, and her life, in the hands of a man just as dangerous as the creature hunting her.
**Publisher’s Note – This book was previously released as Whispers in the Dark
BUY IT NOW
The Guardians - Book Three
Protecting Jazz
Jazz Masters is a werewolf with a day job. Living in fear of the monster that lives inside her, she’s created a safe, if lonely world where she can control her darker half. That world comes crashing down around her when she crosses paths with a pack of werewolves who recognize what she is – a rogue she-wolf with no pack to protect her. Threatened and afraid for her life
Jazz turns to the only group that might be able to help her – the Guardians.
One look at Jazz is all it takes for the Guardian’s resident risk-taker, pilot, and playboy Jason Waters to know he’s interested. Not even the revelation that she’s a werewolf deters him from his new mission – Protecting Jazz from everything and everyone, including her dark side.
With the pack closing in, Jazz must make a choice – surrender to her fear, or fight for her life and a chance at love with the only man who’d die to protect her.
* * *
**Publisher’s Note – This book was previously released as On Jason’s Watch
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The Guardians - Book Four
Guarding Val
Valentina Farro is used to being the hunter, not the hunted. That all changes when a vampire seeking vengeance marks her and the rest of her team for death. Now, one of the fiercest members of the Guardians is fighting not just for her life, but the lives of her friends.
It should have just been another assignment, but nothing goes according to plan when the vampire Aedan Doyle is hunting leads him into Valentina’s life. Determined to keep the gorgeous warrior safe, Aedan appoints himself as Val’s personal bodyguard. Then he makes sure he’s guarding her beautiful body up close and personal, every chance he gets.
As the body count rises, Valentina and Aedan’s new bond is tested to the breaking point. Trusting each other with their lives is one thing, but finding the courage to trust each other with their hearts…that takes a different type of bravery.
* * *
**Publisher’s Note – This book was previously released as Guarding Valentina
* * *
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About the Author
Susan lives out on the Canadian west coast surrounded by open water, dear family, and good friends. She’s jumped out of perfectly good airplanes on purpose and accidentally swum with sharks on the Great Barrier Reef.
If the world ends, she plans to survive as the spunky, comedic sidekick to the heroes of the new world, because she’s too damned short and out of shape to make it on her own for long.
To contact her about her books or to arrange end of the world team-ups, you can email her at [email protected].
For all titles by Susan Hayes, please visit her website:
susanhayes.ca
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