“Does anyone know if Colin owns property nearby?” Ethan asked, his heart heavy with the knowledge of Colin’s betrayal. However much that hurt he could not waste anytime dwelling on it. What he had to do was save Kate and kill his best friend. His best friend no more.
“I know where they are.” Ethan eyed Chaz.
“How?”
“You’ve been occupied the past several days. Colin was acting strange so I followed him.”
“Soooo.”
“I hoped my gut feelings were wrong. Guess not. I’ll give you directions once we’re on the road.”
Ethan unlocked the gun cabinet in the great room. Something he never did. But his senses told him Colin would not fight fair. A fool would take a sword to a gun battle, and he was no fool. As he walked toward the door he checked the clip which was full of silver bullets. He prayed to God he only needed one.
The SUV slid to a stop down the dirt road from Colin’s place. As Chaz, Pierre, Lucas, Roseland, and he approached silently by foot, Ethan worried about Kate. If Colin so much as put a hand on her he would… Hell, he planned to kill him anyway, but if he touched a hair on her head, he’d make it slow and torturously painful, even for a werewolf. The rage swirling around inside his body, along with his wolf, made him feral and deadly.
He might look human on the outside, but he was far from it inside. God help Colin because he was going to need it. Nothing was stronger than the hate and rage one wolf experienced when his mate was threatened. And Kate was his mate. Therefore, Colin was going straight to hell.
“Chaz, Roseland, see if there’s a back door. Pierre, Lucas, come with me but stay back.” Ethan kicked down the front door and came face to face with a grinning Colin. “How could you?” His hand came up and pointed the barrel of the gun straight at Colin’s heart.
“Oh come on.” Colin shrugged his shoulders, pulling his own gun from behind his back. “Did you think I would be your lap dog forever? Even you can’t be that stupid.”
A standoff. Silver bullet against silver bullet. Ethan calculated the odds. They weren’t good. Chances where they would both die. As much as the thought of dying and leaving Kate nearly paralyzed him in agony, he knew his death would be worth it. She would be alive and safe and that was all that mattered.
“Just tell me why? You could have left whenever you wanted. You were offered leadership of your own pack many times. Why do this?” Laughter, unfeeling and deranged pummeled the room. Colin’s blank eyes met his, and in that instant Ethan knew—saw the narrowing of those soulless eyes and his hand twitch. Ethan knew he’d gotten off one shot, but so had Colin. Excruciating pain tore through his chest. As Ethan’s broken body crumbled to the ground and his vision blacked out, his mind screamed, “Kate.”
When Kate heard the loud bang and saw the door crash open her heart leapt with hope until she saw Ethan and Colin in a faceoff, each holding their own gun. Guns she knew would be loaded with silver bullets. It made no sense to not have silver bullets as regular ones would not kill. And one glance at both men and she knew they were out to kill.
“Dear Lord, please don’t let Ethan die,” she prayed as her eyes were riveted to the scene. Words were exchanged between them. But all she could hear was her blood pounding in her own ears. At some point she felt her hands released along with her feet. Her eyes stared right through Chaz, and the numbness and pain in her arms and feet was forgotten. Ethan. All she could see was Ethan like a close up on the big screen. The cabin and everyone else in it had vanished, leaving Ethan standing there larger than life. And life was all she could think about. His life.
Two deafening cracks split the air and Ethan began to fall, his face contorted in pain. He collapsed like a marionette puppet having his strings severed. Kate heard ear piercing screams bombarding her from somewhere as she ran toward the man she loved. When she threw herself over his body her face and hands connected with fur. Bloody fur.
Back at Ethan’s log cabin, Lucas and Roseland carried in a hurt, bloody and very large wolf. Kate sucked in her breath and stared mesmerized as they carried Ethan down the hall to his bedroom. She wasn’t even aware she’d followed until her eyes locked on the wounded wolf. Lucas hunkered down beside him and stroked his mattered fur. He glanced her way with moisture in his eyes.
Kate’s knees buckled, and she collapsed to the floor. Shaking her head violently, she mumbled, “This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.” She refused to believe Ethan lay on that bed close to death. Roseland began bathing him to remove the blood. Kate stared. Her body paralyzed in numbness, and her lungs seared from lack of oxygen. Suddenly something clicked inside her body, and she rose up off the floor and walked to the bed—her eyes never leaving Ethan’s wolf form. Her voice came from somewhere far away.
“Get out. Please, all of you get out.” There was no way in hell anyone else was going to take care of her man…er wolf. When the door clicked shut, and they were alone, she climbed in beside Ethan and stroked his fur. His breathing was labored and his heart beat slow, but he lived.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were so beautiful? Your fur is like silk between my fingers.” She laid her head close to his and placed her hand gently on his heart. “Please, please, please don’t leave me.” A short time later a knock on the door brought her head up.
“Can I come in?” Kate recognized Lucas’s voice.
“Yes.” Lucas moved next to the bed. Stress and worry lines etched deep in his face. He barely resembled the man from earlier. The man her friend was attracted to. Which made her wonder where Deanna had been during this whole ordeal. “Where’s Deanna?”
“I had one of the younger wolves drive her home. She’s safe.” He stroked Ethan. “He’s still with us.”
“Why is he like this?”
“In wolf form, he can heal faster,” replied Lucas.
“He didn’t turn the other night,” stated Kate.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Oh.” Kate swallowed the lump in her throat the size of Mount Washington. “I thought silver bullets killed no matter what. How is he still with us?” Lucas glanced at her with tears in his eyes. She watched in silent agony as the tears fell one by one down his face.
“We can get hit by silver bullets. Only a direct hit in the heart will cause death. The bullet Ethan received lodged in the sac surrounding his heart. Not a direct hit like Colin had.” He snorted. “The bastard got what he deserved. Ethan’s not out of the woods yet. We could go and dig out the silver bullet, but one slip of the scalpel could force the bullet into his heart. Hopefully nature will take over and his body will reject the bullet and force it out on its own. Until that happens it could still poison him… he could still…”
“Who takes over if he dies?” She couldn’t believe she’d said the word.
“I do,” moaned Lucas.
“How will I tell if he…”
“Dies?” He finished for her. “He’ll turn human.”
“Can I be alone with him?” She knew she had no right to ask him to leave.
“Yes.”
She lay beside him for hours. She prayed and cried and prayed. No one bothered them after Lucas left. Ethan’s health changed little—at least as far as she could tell. Whenever Kate’s eyes closed, she shook herself to avoid falling asleep, and they would pop open again. Right before exhaustion and sleep overtook her for good she murmured, “Ethan, please don’t die. I love you.”
Kate had a wonderful dream. Ethan’s warm lips kissed her neck, and his voice whispered how much he loved her. Her neck tingled from his kisses, and heat pooled down below as his hand stroked her. Somewhere off in the distance, she heard herself moan.
“Kate, wake up darling.”
“Hmmm, Ethan?”
“Yes, my sweet, it’s me.”
“Ethan!” She sat up abruptly and glimpsed into the most beautiful brown eyes. Human eyes. “Ethan.” She breathed a huge sigh of relief. He took her hand and brought it to his lips for a gentle kiss. Then he swiped
her knuckles with his tongue. Flames ignited inside her body.
“Thank you for saving me,” he said.
“But how…” she asked.
“Even though I was unconscious, my mind knew you talked to me and prayed for me. I sensed your spirit inside me, willing me to live. You gave me what I needed to fight death. It wasn’t easy and I owe my life to you. He kissed her hand once again and met her eyes, which caused all the air to vacate her lungs. “I didn’t know how to say this before but I do now. I love you.”
Chapter Thirteen
On a bed of leaves deep in the woods, beneath the enormous harvest moon, lay Ethan and Kate naked. Ethan was positioned behind her, his arms circled around her waist and Kate’s pulse soared with anticipation. The time had come for her to join Ethan. Their hearts, their bodies, and their beasts within would join for the first time under the watchful eye of the moon. Ethan’s body shuddered against her backside as she knew he fought down his beast. He didn’t want to turn until she joined him completely. She glanced over her shoulder, peered into his golden-brown eyes and silently pleaded for him to start. She should have been afraid. But no fear existed inside her—only a sweet anticipation of what was to come.
“Ethan, I can’t wait much longer.”
He growled into her ear, “Me either. Are you ready sweetheart?”
Glancing back once again, she smiled into his face, then pulled his mouth down to her neck. She opened herself up to him completely. As he joined his body to hers, he sank his canines into her neck, and her body shook from the shock of the fiery pain. Then, pleasure took over as he moved in and out of her, the tempo picking up speed until her body trembled with a fierceness and hunger. She raised her backside, forcing him deeper and deeper into her body. As her arousal crested, a scream escaped her. She didn’t have time to comprehend what was happening as her body began transforming. Muscles tore and bones cracked. She tried to scream out in agony, but only the sound of a howl burst forth into the night to coincide with Ethan’s.
Troy watched from the netherworld as two beautiful wolves rolled around playing together—one large, gray and white, one slightly smaller and honey-colored. Noises came from them—a sound only a wolf would understand. Troy understood and his heart burst with joy. Ethan and Kate were mates. They loved deeply and nothing would keep them apart. His lineage and the lineage of mind-walkers would continue.
About the Author
Christine Donovan is an International Bestselling Author. She is a PAN member of RWA and belongs to Novelist, Inc. She lives on the Southeast Coast of Massachusetts with her husband, four sons, one granddaughter and four cats. When she is not writing or reading, she is either painting or gardening. She loves tackling DIY projects. Look for more Saviors of the Night Clan stories in 2019.
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Dr. Magic
Vampire Island, Book 1
Jo Grafford
A few months before her eighteenth birthday, Grace Livingston's tragic world collides with vampire Stellan Romolov's dark one.
Until then, she's suffered more than any teenager deserves to suffer. Shouldering the loss of a parent, practically raising herself, keeping honor roll grades, and applying for a coveted dance scholarship has left precious little time for a social life. After one earth-shaking dance with Stellan, though, she realizes every step in her broken journey has led her to this moment — and him.
It's an instant and explosive attraction.
She soon discovers the super hot and super sexy Stellan is far more than he seems. He sails ships and flies airplanes. He's also the billionaire owner and chief surgeon of an all-new medical resort on a private island: On a mission to save humanity by healing one broken or badly burned body at a time.
Neither of them realizes their meeting has awakened a curse set into motion more than a century before, and every moment they spend together puts all those they love in danger.
Grace
Keiserslautern, Germany
“That man. Do you know him? He’s been watching you ever since we walked in.” My friend Antjie shoved a handful of her reddish blonde waves over her shoulder and nudged me suggestively.
“Who?” I followed the direction she pointed, highly doubting any guy had been watching me all that long. I wasn’t dressed for an evening out and wasn’t wearing much makeup after crying most of it off earlier. Walking to the club had been a last minute thing, one of Antjie’s attempts to distract me from my misery.
Today marked the one-year anniversary my mother had lost her fight with cancer.
Then again, maybe Antjie hadn’t lied after all. There was a man looking in my direction, and an unexpected thrill of something ran through me as our eyes made contact.
For a second, I thought he looked surprised, but I may have misread his expression. The club was dimly lit, plus the haze of cigarette smoke wafted through the open double doors from the curbside cafe.
Even sitting, the man appeared tall. Tall and built. Dark blonde hair with a windblown look, tight navy t-shirt, and distressed jeans. He also sported an expensive looking silver watch, assuming the gems catching the light on the face of it were real diamonds. He brooded over a beer but nodded, unsmiling, and raised his stein in our direction.
Okay. My mouth went dry. He was total male model material, but there was no way a guy like him was scoping out a seventeen-year-old girl in jeans and tear stains. Nice try, Antjie, but you are sorely mistaken.
His friendly gesture probably had everything to do with the fact he’d caught us staring at him. I felt a flush rise to my cheeks. I hunched my shoulders and swiveled around to my friend. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’ve never seen him before.”
She gave a low whistle. “Well, that’s too bad, because he is all sorts of hot and hunky. Don’t even try to deny it.”
I risked another peek over my shoulder.
Yes, he was. Probably the most gorgeous man I’d ever laid eyes on. We lived near a gazillion pools and lakes, so a lot of people in this part of the country sported a tan. He didn’t, yet his pale skin seemed to suit him. I wouldn’t be shocked to find out he modeled for some exotically rich clothing line. Whatever indoor career he worked certainly left plenty of time for him to visit the gym. He stretched out his shirt in all the right places.
Antjie kept talking even though I was doing a terrible job of holding up my end of the conversation. “I don’t remember seeing him here before. Wonder if he’s new in town.”
I gave in to temptation and shifted sideways in my seat, giving my friend mental points for her gift of distraction. She’d sworn she would get my mind off my grief for a few hours, and it was working. My curiosity and interest were very much engaged. I could only hope it wouldn’t be so obvious from this angle that I was now shamelessly gawking at the stranger in question.
He sat next to two other equally gorgeous creatures who were clearly a couple. The woman had long hair of such a pale shade of blonde it was almost white. She wore a royal blue top studded with sequins. The V in the front plunged to a depth just shy of a wardrobe malfunction. The man she was with was dark skinned and dressed in all black. Not the biker kind of ensemble, either. He wore an impeccably tailored suit and a shiny pair of square-toed boots. His long legs were outstretched and crossed at the ankles.
The two of them couldn’t seem to take their eyes off one another. When the woman laughed at something he said, he moved so quickly it was blur. Somehow she ended up in his lap with her mouth sealed against his in a long, slow, very carnal kiss.
Whoa.
I dropped my gaze to the mug of beer I gripped with both hands. It was my one drink allowance per night authorized by my by-the-rul
es father. Earlier in the evening it had made me feel all grown up to order it, but I’d hardly touched it. So much for living in a country where the drinking age was sixteen. I could barely stand the smell of beer, much less the taste.
“Wow!” Antjie fanned her face. “Just wow!” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “He gives new meaning to the phrase ‘tall, dark, and handsome,’ doesn’t he? Some women have all the luck!”
I nodded, dumbstruck at the fact neither the man nor the woman seemed to care they were kissing in a room full of people. My throat clogged with envy and longing. To be wanted that way by another person had to be the most amazing feeling in the world. Unlike my somewhat random existence beneath the vague oversight of a widowed father who’d rarely been around most of my life, this woman looked like she actually mattered to someone. Like, really mattered.
Antjie leaned forward and squeezed my arm. “You should ask their friend to dance. He looks lonely.” Her tone was devilishly taunting.
I turned to her in shock. “Are you crazy? He’s way too old for us.” We were high school seniors, for Pete’s sake! He looked like he was in his mid-twenties. Not to mention I was still wearing my school clothes from earlier. Well, except for the heels Antjie had insisted I switch into.
But I found myself stealing yet another peek at the man. He was still looking my way. This time I was unable to tear my gaze away from his piercing blue one. There was an inexplicable hardness about him. A bit of a bored-with-the-world air that stopped just short of jaded. There was hunger, too. And interest. Undeniable male interest directed at…me?
Mystic Realms: A Limited Edition Collection Page 71
