Hard As Steel: A Hard Ink/Raven Riders Crossover (1001 Dark Nights)
Read Hard As Steel: A Hard Ink/Raven Riders Crossover (1001 Dark Nights) Online
Authors: Laura Kaye
Tags: #Laura Kaye, #Raven Riders, #Hard Ink, #erotic romance, #motorcycle club, #1001 Dark Nights
HARD
AS
STEEL
A Hard Ink/Raven Riders Crossover
By Laura Kaye
1001 Dark Nights
Hard As Steel
A Hard Ink/Raven Riders Crossover
By Laura Kaye
1001 Dark Nights
Copyright 2015 Laura Kaye
ISBN: 978-1-940887-30-2
Foreword Copyright 2014 M. J. Rose
Published by Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.
Hard As Steel
A Hard Ink/Raven Riders Crossover
After identifying her employer's dangerous enemies, Jessica Jakes takes refuge at the compound of the Raven Riders Motorcycle Club. Fellow Hard Ink tattooist and Raven leader Ike Young promises to keep Jess safe for as long as it takes, which would be perfect if his close, personal, round-the-clock protection didn't make it so hard to hide just how much she wants him--and always has.
Ike Young loved and lost a woman in trouble once before. The last thing he needs is alone time with the sexiest and feistiest woman he's ever known, one he's purposely kept at a distance for years. Now, Ike's not sure he can keep his hands or his heart to himself--or that he even wants to anymore. And that means he has to do whatever it takes to hold on to Jess forever.
Laura is the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author of over twenty books in contemporary and paranormal romance and romantic suspense. Laura’s Hard Ink series has won many awards, including the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Romance Suspense of 2014 for
Hard As You Can
. Her upcoming Raven Riders series debuts in April 2016. Growing up, Laura’s large extended family believed in the supernatural, and family lore involving angels, ghosts, and evil-eye curses cemented in Laura a life-long fascination with storytelling and all things paranormal. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day. Learn more at
www.LauraKayeAuthor.com
.
Click to purchase.
The Hard Ink Series:
Hard Ever After
(1/19/16)
When Liz Berry called and invited me to participate in the 1001 Dark Nights project, I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Getting to work with passionate, creative, amazing people has been one of my favorite things about being a writer, and everything about 1001 Dark Nights delivers that and more. So my first thanks must go to Liz Berry, M.J. Rose, and the other fantastic Dark Nights authors. I’m so glad to get to be a part of this with you
and
to bring my readers more stories from the Hard Ink—and new Raven Riders—worlds.
Next, I must thank my Avon editor Amanda Bergeron for helping me make Hard Ink the amazing experience it’s been and for allowing me to contribute a Hard Ink story to 1001 Dark Nights. Everything about working with Amanda has been this author’s dream come true. Thanks, Amanda!
My next shoutout goes to the awesome Jillian Stein, an amazing friend, blogger, and social media manager for 1001 Dark Nights. You bring such fun and grace to everything you do for me and so many others, and I really appreciate it.
As always, I’d never finish a book without the encouragement and support of writer friends Lea Nolan, Stephanie Dray, Christi Barth, and Jennifer L. Armentrout. My publicist KP Simmon and agent Kevan Lyon are amazing and indispensable parts of my team, and so often help me make what I do go as smoothly as it can. Thanks, too, to my husband and daughters for always pitching in to help when deadlines loom—you guys are the most supportive family ever and I thank you for that from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate all of you so much!
Finally, I must thank my Heroes for being so awesomely generous with their time and friendship. And, last but not least, I thank the readers for taking my characters into their hearts and allowing them to tell their stories again and again. ~LK
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1001 Dark Nights story
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Table of Contents
An excerpt from Hard to Let Go by Laura Kaye
One Thousand and One Dark Nights
Once upon a time, in the future…
I was a student fascinated with stories and learning.
I studied philosophy, poetry, history, the occult, and
the art and science of love and magic. I had a vast
library at my father’s home and collected thousands
of volumes of fantastic tales.
I learned all about ancient races and bygone
times. About myths and legends and dreams of all
people through the millennium. And the more I read
the stronger my imagination grew until I discovered
that I was able to travel into the stories... to actually
become part of them.
I wish I could say that I listened to my teacher
and respected my gift, as I ought to have. If I had, I
would not be telling you this tale now.
But I was foolhardy and confused, showing off
with bravery.
One afternoon, curious about the myth of the
Arabian Nights, I traveled back to ancient Persia to
see for myself if it was true that every day Shahryar
(Persian:
شهریار,
“king”) married a new virgin, and then
sent yesterday's wife to be beheaded. It was written
and I had read, that by the time he met Scheherazade,
the vizier's daughter, he’d killed one thousand
women.
Something went wrong with my efforts. I arrived
in the midst of the story and somehow exchanged
places with Scheherazade – a phenomena that had
never occurred before and that still to this day, I
cannot explain.
Now I am trapped in that ancient past. I have
taken on Scheherazade’s life and the only way I can
protect myself and stay alive is to do what she did to
protect herself and stay alive.
Every night the King calls for me and listens as I spin tales.
And when the evening ends and dawn breaks, I stop at a
point that leaves him breathless and yearning for more.
And so the King spares my life for one more day, so that
he might hear the rest of my dark tale.
As soon as I finish a story... I begin a new
one... like the one that you, dear reader, have before
you now.
Dedication
To the readers, for wanting more Hard Ink! You guys rock hard. So hard.
Jessica Jakes had been lusting after Ike Young from almost the day she met him, back when she was a newbie piercer at Hard Ink Tattoo and Ike first came looking for a job as an artist. Which meant she should’ve been thrilled that her thighs had been wrapped around his hips for nearly an hour. Except she wasn’t in his bed. She was on the back of his bike. And she was running for her life.
The Harley’s roar ripped through the warm May afternoon as they drove country roads, piercing through farmlands and forests. But Jess couldn’t begin to appreciate the scenery. Not when her whole world was falling apart. She hugged her arms tighter around Ike’s broad chest, and he gave her hand a squeeze like he knew she needed it.
She did.
Ike banked the motorcycle to the right, pulling into a narrow gravel drive sheltered by trees. Jess wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. All she knew was that they’d ridden about forty-five minutes west of Baltimore into the rural rolling mountains near where Ike’s motorcycle club, the Raven Riders, had their compound. Around a sharp bend, the sparkling green-blue water of a lake further down the mountain came into view. The water quickly disappeared behind another copse of trees before they reached their destination, a tiny white house with a detached garage behind it.
With a columned front porch, dark-red front door, and brown stone chimney and walkway, the place sat sheltered in the shade of several tall, old trees, and had a quaint charm about it. For the first time since she’d learned that she was in danger, Jess smiled. Because hard-ass, no-nonsense biker man Ike Young had a cute little cottage. Who would’ve thought?
Ike parked, killed the engine, and gave Jess a hand off the bike. She was still wearing a grin when she lifted the helmet from her head and shook out her black hair.