by Bec McMaster
He looked away, toward where his daughter was smiling at Cole, trying to trap the kid's hand in a cat's cradle as they walked around the corner. Lily laughed, and his throat thickened. "You didn't have a choice, and in the same situation I admit now that I might have chosen the same path. And I made my own choices in response to what I'd become, decisions that I could rue until the day I die, if not for the fact that there's no point. You can't second-guess yourself. I can't go back and stop myself from leaving Abbie and Lily, and if I'm honest, my uncle probably would have shot me anyway. Then I'd still not be there when the reivers killed Abbie.
"So I don't blame you anymore. You did what you had to, and then you tried to make amends. Thank you for looking after Lily for me."
McClain's face wore a hard mask. "It was the least I could do."
Both of them stared at each other.
"Even?" Luc suggested.
McClain nodded gruffly. "Even."
Riley walked back out into the yard with a jug of water drawn from the well. Hot sunshine turned the blonde of her hair into a gleaming halo, though Luc had no aspirations that she was anything angelic. Grumpy, fearless, protective, stubborn, brave, and kind... That was his woman. The type of woman who wouldn't back down when those who belonged to her were threatened.
He couldn't help but notice that he wasn't the only one watching her.
"She suits you," McClain said simply. "And you suit her. I'm not going to lie. I don't understand it."
Because he'd wanted her too, and when weighed against each other, who was the better man? Luc's lips thinned. "The problem is you never understood her. You wanted her to be something she's not."
Another laugh. "You're probably right." McClain's voice dropped into wistfulness. "I'm glad she found you. She did what I could not."
"She believes in me." And more than that... "She makes me feel like I'm not just a man, but a good one. She's my everything."
Silence swelled between them.
As if they'd spoken enough on matters that bordered on personal, McClain looked around at the rubble of Haven. "You're going to stay here?"
"It's Riley's home," he replied. "And I like it here. I can keep the reivers and wargs at bay, and Riley's going to see if some of the others from Haven want to return."
"They won't want to live with you in their midst, Luc."
He shrugged. "Then they can stay at Absolution. Their choice." He looked up. "You're going then?"
McClain nodded. "Not much left for me here."
"You made them what they were."
"I'm a warg, Luc." It was hard to meet those eyes. There was none of the forgiveness there that he had found. "And I lied to them. That trumps everything. I'm no longer McClain, the man who built a haven for them. I'm the monster that hid in their ranks. The Council made a decision. For the services I rendered—" His voice thickened with bitterness "—they'll let me live, on the condition that I never return. I'll take Cole with me, perhaps head south."
"What about Eden?"
"What do you mean?" Riley asked, pausing beside them and offering McClain the jug of water. "What's up with Eden?"
"She doesn't know you've left, does she?" Luc asked, sliding an arm around Riley's waist.
"It's not safe for her out here," McClain said promptly, taking a mouthful of water and nodding a thanks at her.
"Does she think the same?" Riley asked.
McClain shrugged and looked away, tracking the horizon with his gaze. "Cole and I left before dawn. I've risked her life enough, I think."
"Man, you really don't understand women, do you?" Luc said.
That earned him a hard look. "What would you have me do? I know what her choice would be."
"Then let her make her choice," Riley said.
"No. At Absolution, she has a place, a voice on the Council, and the prospect of more... A husband, children. I want that for my sister."
McClain didn't say what else he was thinking, but it was clear in the tone of his voice – he wanted that for himself too. Luc knew what that felt like, the longing for something you didn't think you were worthy of. Finding it had come when he'd least expected it, but accepting it had only happened when he'd laid the demons of his past to rest.
He still wasn't certain he deserved it, but he was damned sure he wasn't going to let the chance slip away from. He squeezed Riley a little tighter.
"I'll keep an eye on Eden," Luc told him. "As payback for what you did for Lily."
A sharp nod. McClain didn't thank him, but then that had never been the way they'd worked. "We'd best get moving then," he said. "Before Eden sends out a search party."
"If she does, then I'm going to tell her exactly where you went," Riley muttered, taking the jug of water back from him.
"Wouldn't expect anything else," McClain said dryly.
Cole joined McClain, and they both kicked their starter motors over.
Lily's hand slipped into Luc's again as she watched McClain get on his bike. It filled him with hope. Each small gesture was a step forward for their relationship.
"Hope you find what you're looking for," he said softly, knowing McClain would hear him.
McClain gave them all one last nod, waved good-bye, and then he and Cole headed out into the Wastelands.
Luc didn't bother to watch them go, turning his little family back to the half-ruined house. The past was done. He was only looking forward from now on.
* * *
Want to find out what McClain's going to do with his life now? The story continues with The Last True Hero... Read on for an excerpt...
BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE BURNED LANDS...
- If you enjoyed Nobody's Hero, then get ready for The Last True Hero! Book two in the Burned Lands series, it will be available in early 2017, so make sure you sign up for my newsletter to receive news and excerpts about this release!
- Can't wait for more Burned Lands action and romance? Check out my London Steampunk series. I recommend starting with Kiss Of Steel. Not only is it the first book, but it also features a cocky, bad boy anti-hero who captured my heart from the very first moment he came onscreen. There's humour, heroes to die for, dangerous plots, sexy corsets, kick-bustle heroines, duels, steamy kisses (not-just-kisses), and vampires. They may not be your regular sexy vampires either.
- Thank you for reading Nobody's Hero! I hope you enjoyed it. Please consider leaving a review online, to help others find my books.
Not ready to leave the Burned Lands? Read on for a preview of what's next for Adam McClain...
THE LAST TRUE HERO
BOOK TWO: THE BURNED LANDS SERIES
Sometimes the monsters aren't so easy to see...
In the drought-stricken Wastelands that arose out of an apocalypse, Adam McClain never thought himself the hero. Kicked out of the town he created, and shunned by his friends and former allies when they discovered what he was, he's managed to find work as a bounty hunter. After all, who best to hunt the wargs and reivers that haunt the Badlands, than one of the monsters themselves?
She's the woman he can't have...
Mia Grey learned the hard way that men can't be trusted, and when McClain strides into her bar she knows that trouble just walked in. The rugged bounty hunter is her greatest weakness–but he's hiding something, and the last time a man kept secrets from her, she got her fingers burned. Tempting as he is, Mia's staying far away.
But when a horde of reivers strikes her town and captures her sister, the only one Mia can turn to is McClain. Together they might be able to rescue her sister from the slavers, but what will happen when Mia learns what McClain is hiding? Can she ever trust him again? And when the man who broke Mia's heart in the first place discovers the same secret, will McClain survive?
COMING EARLY 2017
SNEAK PEEK AT THE LAST TRUE HERO
Eight years ago...
THE FIRST TIME Adam McClain put the gun in his mouth, he couldn't pull the trigger. He'd found a nice lonely spot out in the Badlands, far enou
gh away from his sister that she wouldn't find the body, and one with a beautiful view over the Great Divide, which split the continent in half.
He didn't want to die. Maybe that was what stopped him. Or maybe it was the thought of his sister, Eden, who would be left alone in a harsh world, with no one to protect her. Or maybe it was his shame–the knowledge that he was not alone in feeling this way. The partner he'd once ridden with, Lucius Wade, would be staring at the same sky, feeling the same rush of blood through his veins that Adam felt as the moon became a glint on the horizon.
And it was because of Adam that Wade shared the same predicament.
So he took the coward's way out. He pulled the gun out of his mouth, and dropped it to the ground. Night was slowly falling, and with it came the heat in his blood, the moon's curse. He could feel it whispering through his veins, as the monster within fought to free itself.
Thou shalt not suffer a warg to live. That was the first law he'd ever learned, at the knee of his stern bounty hunter father. Adam had followed in his footsteps, hunting the wargs and shadow cats that lurked in the shadows of the wastelands, and it was only now that he recognised the irony.
As muscle ripped and bones tore themselves in half and reformed, he screamed his rage out into the empty night. It was the first time he'd shifted, and the agony of it was blinding. Soon there was nothing more than a monster remaining, and the man that Adam was, lay buried deep inside the brutish beast's heart.
When the sun rose in the morning, he found himself a man again, naked and panting on the blistering sands of the desert floor, with blood on his hands, and the taste of it in his mouth. It was a long walk back to where he'd been, his feet healing even as the harsh rocky floor tore them apart.
Adam put the gun in his mouth again. This time he knew the bone deep truth of what he'd become. His hands shook. Eden flashed into his mind again.
'Promise me, you'll watch over her, boy,' his father's voice whispered in his mind, from a memory long ago, when his father had ridden out that last time.
Adam had always kept his promises, even if he'd had to stab his best friend in the back to do so. His hands were shaking so hard when he pulled the gun out of his mouth the second time, that he actually crushed the handpiece.
A wink of pewter caught his eye from the black bag he'd brought with him. Adam stared at it for a long time, knowing that he didn't deserve it. The amulet was a promise too. A dream of another life. He'd taken it from Bartholomew Cane, the man who'd changed him into... this. Cane wore one himself, as did his warg partner, Johnny Colton. Though Adam wanted both their heads, he'd wanted what the amulet represented more.
A way to keep the beast at bay. A way to hide what he was in a crowd of humans. A means to pretend that nothing had changed, that he was still the man he'd always been.
Wade had promised them all vengeance. That was the only thing that kept his once-partner sane after what had happened between them. But Adam had something else to live for.
Atonement.
So he dressed himself in the spare clothes he'd bought–perhaps he'd known he couldn't really do–and then he started back toward the beaten up old motorcycle that had brought him here.
Eden would be wondering where he was, and Adam had promises to keep...
ALSO AVAILABLE BY BEC MCMASTER:
LONDON STEAMPUNK SERIES
Kiss Of Steel
Heart Of Iron
My Lady Quicksilver
Forged By Desire
Of Silk And Steam
Novellas in same series:
Tarnished Knight
The Curious Case Of The Clockwork Menace
DARK ARTS SERIES
Shadowbound
BURNED LANDS SERIES
Nobody's Hero
The Last True Hero (Coming soon)
OTHER
The Many Lives Of Hadley Monroe
About the Author
Bec McMaster is the award-winning author of the London Steampunk series. A member of RWA, she writes sexy, dark paranormals, and adventurous steampunk romances, and grew up with her nose in a book. Following a life-long love affair with fantasy, she discovered romance novels as a 16 year-old, and hasn't looked back.
In 2012, Sourcebooks released her debut novel, Kiss of Steel, the first in the London Steampunk series, followed by: Heart of Iron, My Lady Quicksilver, Forged By Desire, and Of Silk And Steam. Two novellas–Tarnished Knight and The Curious Case Of The Clockwork Menace–fleshed out the series. She has been nominated for RT Reviews Best Steampunk Romance for Heart of Iron (2013), won RT Reviews Best Steampunk Romance with Of Silk And Steam (2015), and Forged By Desire was nominated for a RITA award in 2015. The series has received starred reviews from Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal, with Heart of Iron named one of their Best Romances of 2013.
When not poring over travel brochures, playing netball, or cooking things that are very likely bad for her, Bec spends most of her time in front of the computer. In 2016, she debuted the Dark Arts series with Shadowbound, as well as the Burned Lands series with Nobody's Hero.
Bec lives in a small country town in Victoria, Australia, with her very own Beta Hero; a Staffordshire terrier named Kobe, who has perfected her own Puss-in-boots sad eyes–especially when bacon is involved; and demanding chickens, Siggy and Lagertha. It's possible she has a minor obsession with Vikings, and The Originals.
For news on new releases, cover reveals, contests, and special promotions, join her mailing list.
@BecMcMaster
BecMcMaster
www.becmcmaster.com
Acknowledgments
This story has lived in my head for at least six years, and it all started with Riley, a feisty heroine in a dystopian world, and McClain, the true-blue hero who would be her man. Halfway through chapter one, Luc Wade swaggered onstage and kidnapped her, in order to settle a debt with McClain. McClain was supposed to come to the rescue. Wade was supposed to get his comeuppance. The problem? The chemistry between he and Riley was scorching off the page, and Wade decided nope, he's not just the bad guy here. That's why this book is called Nobody's Hero. Because Wade was never, ever meant to be the one who got the girl.
As for McClain, he was just as important a part of Wade's story as Riley was, and I loved delving into this tale of a man who was honest, loyal, true, and yet kept a very dark secret from the world... He and Wade had a real bromance from the start, and I couldn't resist their scenes together.
I enjoyed every second of writing this book, but as with every project I take on, I couldn't have done it without a lot of help from these amazing people:
I owe huge thanks to my editor Kristin from Hot Tree Editing for her work in spit-and-polishing this manuscript until it gleamed; my wonderful cover artists from Damonza.com for taking everything I described and giving me the cover of my dreams; and Marisa Shor from Cover Me Darling for the print formatting. To the ELE, and the Central Victorian Writers groups for keeping me sane, and being my support groups! Special thanks to my family, and to my other half–my very own beta hero, Byron–who has always been unabashedly proud of this dream of mine, even when I didn't know if I could do it.
Last, not least, to all of my readers who support me on this journey, and have been crazy vocal about their love for the London Steampunk series, and anything else I write! I hope you enjoy this crazy little detour into a dark, sexy world!
