Divided Loyalties, Ashwood Falls,
#4
By Lia Davis
Blurb:
Trained to hunt rogues and
protect the human race from the threat of shifters, Christa Baker is beginning
to rethink her career choice. Especially when her niece and nephew—who she’s
raised on her own—end up in the crossfire. Now she’s looking for a way out and
disappear off Shield’s radar for good. She never thought her out would be a
gorgeous wolf who kidnaps her after raiding Shield HQ.
Hayden Raines has always followed
the rules. As the Ashwood Fall wolf Marshal, he has to set the example for
those working under him. When he sets his sights on the beautiful human hunter things
go downhill, fast. Fate has a funny way of turning things inside out—because
the woman he kidnaps, the enemy he might need to protect his family from, just
happens to be his mate.
Warning: Contains one woman on a
path she’s not ready for, a man who thought things would be different, and a
heated exchange that turns out to be the best thing ever.
Ashwood Falls reading order:
Excerpt:
She whirled
around, and her breath caught. He was beautiful, but she’d noticed that in the
car. Well, beautiful for a man. Under the full moon’s light, she could make out
his handsome features. High cheekbones, full, kissable lips. She wondered if
he’d let her bite his lower lip…
Whoa. She really
needed to get a grip on her hormones. She turned away from him. Insanity sure
settled in fast. Or was it the fact that she hadn’t had a lover in…how long? Oh
hell, she was domed.
He growled low as
if knowing where her head was and, none too gently, grabbed her upper arm and
pulled her to one of the few houses that looked livable. Once inside, darkness
enveloped her, and she started to panic. It became hard to breathe, and her
skin tightened. She hated the dark. It was the only time she was completely
vulnerable. Things happened in the dark; people became monsters in the dark.
The man pulled
her to him, and she screamed and slapped at his chest.
“Christa!” He
gripped her face in his hands and held her steady. “Open your eyes.”
They were open,
weren’t they?
“Come on.” His
voice was softer, soothing.
She calmed a bit,
gripped his wrists where his hands still held her face, and opened her eyes.
The room was filled in a soft glow of candlelight. She met his green gaze and
lowered her shoulders.
“Sorry. I haven’t
had an attack in years.” Not since she started training for Shield—because she
knew how to kill an attacker.
Only now she felt
weak for the first time since that horrid day that changed her life forever.
Then her sister’s death had pushed her to stop the monsters once and for all.
She stepped back,
breaking all contact with the man to peer around the room. It had furniture,
although it was dirty, mostly from sitting for so long unused. There were
broken lamps on the floor and overturned tables. It looked as if there had been
a fight or someone had robbed the place.
From what little
she could see outside, with the partially torn-down buildings, she’d say the
small neighborhood had been attacked. By who she wasn’t sure. Shield hadn’t had
OPs in the mountains until Vance came on board and started talking about
Ashwood.
Yet, this place
looked as though it had been abandoned for some time.
“There won’t be
any running water or electricity until the morning.” The man paused, frowned,
and then said, “My name is Hayden. The male with me is Tanner, my brother.”
Then he walked
outside, leaving her alone.
She sagged into
herself and wrapped her arms around her middle.
You know how to find trouble, don’t you?
****
Hayden stepped
outside and looked up at the dark sky. His mate was afraid of the dark. Not
just afraid, terrified, as though something very bad had happened to her when
the lights went out. He knew that because he’d seen that type of fear before,
once with Addyson, the Pack Scribe, who’d spent about one hundred years as the
Onyx’s captive before she arrived in Ashwood Falls.
He also seen it
in his mother the day his father died.
Shaking out of
his thoughts before he was sucked into the past without the ability to come
back from it, he went to search for Tanner.
He found his
brother a few feet away, staring at the wreck of homes and other buildings.
“This looks worse than MoonRiver did.”
Hayden nodded.
They didn’t call MoonRiver their den anymore. Their den was now Ashwood Falls.
MoonRiver had died with its Alpha. When their mother, Luna, took on the Alpha
powers, she changed everything, even the location of the den.
“That’s because
Travis burned eighty percent of the den down.”
Tanner nodded.
“To keep the mutant virus from spreading.”
Travis Hunter was
the former Alpha of Hunter Ridge—the same den they stood in now—and now mated
to Shayna, the adopted sister of Blaine, the Ashwood’s leopard Alpha. The
couple made quite a pair. No one had thought that a wolf and a tiger could ever
be mates, but Shay and Travis were a bonded pair and so in love it made
Hayden’s teeth hurt to be around them.
“Can you clean up
most of the clutter? I mean put it in one pile or something.” Hayden hated
messes and disorganization. If he had to be here for God knew how long, he
wanted it halfway organized. If that was at all possible.
Tanner laughed.
“I’ll do it in the morning when the light is better. Your OCD is worse than
Mom’s.”
Hayden growled,
but he felt his lips rise in a grin. “Go rest. I’ll take the first watch.”
Tanner slapped
him on the shoulder as he moved toward the house Hayden had placed Christa in.
He had to fight the urge to not growl at his brother for being so close to
Christa.
Yeah, Hayden was
in trouble. Christa was his. He’d known the moment he saw her at Shield. His
wolf paced and nudged him to claim her, hard. And he’d have her as soon as this
screwed-up shit with Shield was straightened out.
First, he’d have
to gain her trust and make her see the truth.
About the Author:
Lia Davis is a mother to two
young adults and two very special kitties, a wife to her soul mate, a
paranormal romance author, and co-owner to Fated Desires Publishing, LLC. She
and her family live in Northeast Florida battling hurricanes and very humid
summers. But it’s her home and she loves it!
An accounting major, Lia has
always been a dreamer with a very activity imagination. The wheels in her head
never stop. She ventured into the world of writing and publishing in 2008 and
loves it more than she imagined. Writing is stress reliever that allows her to
go off in her corner of the house and enter into another world that she
created, leaving real life where it belongs.
Her favorite things are spending
time with family, traveling, reading, writing, chocolate, coffee, nature and
hanging out with her kitties.
GIVEAWAY!
Lia is hosting a
tour-wide giveaway of a $50 gift card to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, OR All
Romance eBooks (Winner’s choice), an eBook from her back list (Divided
Loyalties not included), and a swage pack. Just leave a comment and follow the
Rafflecopter instructions below to enter.
The giveaway is open
to international readers.
Thank you for having me over.
ReplyDeleteLove your books, Lia! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete