Shifter Wars (39 page)

I rubbed his arm slowly. “It’s taken care of now. You have to let it go.”

He let out a hard breath. “I’m lucky to have you.”

I smiled. “Yeah, but do you think you can handle me?”

He laughed. “That’s one of the most loaded questions you’ve ever asked me. What I think is we can
handle
each other.” He bent down and kissed me lightly on the lips.

My heart rate ramped up to double-time. I leaned back and wagged my finger at him. “There will be no hanky-panky tonight. Doc would kill me if I injured you.”

His eyes sparked orange. “I’ll take it under advisement. But tomorrow, all bets are off.”

“You’ve got a deal.”

He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “I could spend a week in bed with you and still not be satisfied.”

I ran my fingers along his chest, circling one of his nipples, and he gasped. “Okay, Lion King, enough with the bragging. How ’bout we get some sleep?”

“You want me to go to sleep now? You’re a tease, Kyle.”

“Yes, I am.”

He wrapped his arm around me, tucking me close. Then he kissed me on the forehead and settled back onto his pillow. I snuggled my head on his chest and listened to his strong and steady heartbeat. It was a glorious sound. And as he relaxed and his heart slowed, a new sound overshadowed the rhythmic thuds. If I wasn’t mistaken, he was purring.

I had caused a lot of different reactions in men, but this was one for the books.

Chapter 50

I stood in the backyard of Griffin’s estate, breathing the frigid air. Trina opened the door and bounded outside in her pink parka. “Hi.”

I smiled. “Hello.”

“We’re going home next week.”

“I heard that. I bet you’re excited.”

“Yep. It’s fun to stay with Uncle Griffin but…”

“But it’s not home.”

“Nope.” Trina looked at me for a second. “You seem happy.”

“I am. I understand you told Griffin I was scared and lonely and needed him to watch over me.”

Trina looked contrite. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Not at all. Actually, I wanted to thank you for asking him to take care of me.”

She beamed. “You’re welcome.”

“I think it’s time to return the favor.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know you’ve been really upset because you haven’t been able to change into your animal.”

Trina bit her bottom lip before responding, “Yes. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to, now.”

I smiled at her and grasped her hand. “I think you’re wrong. You can change if you stop letting the fear control you. What if I stay here with you while you just give it a try? No pressure. Just relax and concentrate. Do you want to try?”

She nodded, and I helped her out of her parka. She walked a few feet away from me and stood looking out over the woods. I peeked over my shoulder and saw Griffin, Tim, and Stephanie standing at the window watching us.

I murmured my next words, knowing her shifter ears would hear me. “Breathe deeply, Trina. Let go. Your animal wants to meet you. I can picture her. She’s anxious to see the world through your eyes.” I tightened my fingers nervously on her parka.

Trina hugged herself and knelt down. She stayed still for a couple of minutes. Nothing happened. She looked back at me, tears shimmering in her eyes.

I smiled at her. “Don’t give up, Trina.” I thought back to my earlier visions and described the sensation. “Imagine your fur is tickling just below the surface of your skin. It wants to move, reshape itself.”

She nodded and leaned forward on her hands and knees.

Just when I thought it was taking too long, the ice crystals in the snow glimmered around her and took shape, encasing her body in a soft glow. I held my breath. White hair sprouted on her hands and face. Her face elongated and her clothes ripped away from her tiny frame as she grew, transforming into a white wolf.

She turned to me with a wolfish grin. I motioned to her. “Go on, have some fun.”

Tears streamed down my face as I watched her gallop up the hill and nip at the snow. Her proud parents, in the form of a large gray wolf and a collie dog, ran by me to join the white wolf, yipping with her.

Rose perfume filled my nose, and suddenly Marie was standing next to me. I looked up the hill, but no one seemed to have noticed her.

Marie followed my startled gaze. “They can’t see or smell me unless I want them to. You did a good job, hon.”

“Thanks. I wondered where you’d disappeared to these last few days.”

“I thought I would give you some alone time with your kitty-cat.”

I grimaced at her. “I was afraid you’d gotten in trouble or something. Maybe the angels had put you on lockdown.”

“Nah.” She smiled at me. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you missed me.”

“Don’t go crazy now.”

Marie winked at me. “Don’t worry. I’ll be around. But since Mr. Sexy is coming this way, I’ll bid you
adieu
for right now.”

I gaped at her. “
Adieu
?”

“I’m practicing up so I can talk to the gorgeous French vampire you work with. Yum-
mee
.”

I laughed as she faded away.

A few seconds later, Griffin’s arms wrapped around me from behind, and he kissed the top of my head. “Were you just talking to yourself?”

“Just enjoying the moment.” I really didn’t want to explain Marie right now.

He rubbed my arms lightly. “You did it, sweet.”

“No, Trina did it.”

“How did you know what to say?”

“My visions. I kept seeing my hands sprout white hair and only recently understood I was experiencing Trina’s memory. She was on the verge of changing the night she was captured, but she forced herself to stop for fear Brennan would kill her.”

We stood silently for a moment, and I sank into the warmth of his embrace. I watched in awe as Trina rolled in the snow. “White wolves are rare, aren’t they?”

“Extremely.” Griffin answered.

“What does it mean?”

“Myth says the white wolf will protect our pack from evil. Trina will play a huge part in our future.” He squeezed me tighter. “Sound familiar?”

I rested my arms on his. “A discussion for another day. Let’s enjoy this moment, and let the future take care of itself for now.”

Trina’s wolf interrupted our conversation, howling her first greeting to the world.

Thanks!

I hope you enjoyed the third book in my Mind Sweeper Series. My fourth and fifth books in this series will be released in 2015.

If you would like to know when my books will be released, please join my new releases email list at
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And if you are so inclined, please review this book as well.

If you turn the page, you can read a teaser for The Pursuit, book four in the series. This novella once again delves into Jean Luc’s and Talia’s world.

Mind Sweeper Series

Mind Sweeper
– Book 1

The Fledgling
– Book 2

A Mind Sweeper Novella

Shifter Wars – Book 3

The Pursuit – Book 4 (Coming 2015)

A Mind Sweeper Novella

Book 5 (Coming 2015)

Excerpt from

The Pursuit

AE Jones

Chapter 1

The woman lying on the lounge chair by the pool was movie-star gorgeous, even in death. Instead of a bathing suit, she wore a barely-there negligee of lavender satin. Early morning sun reflected off her expensively highlighted hair. Long lashes rested against her perfectly formed cheeks. And she had perky, bow lips. Talia had heard the expression before, but hadn’t understood it until today. This woman had obviously lived her life as the center of attention. Had that same attention lead to her death?

Well, at least her job with the Bureau of Supernatural Relations was never boring. There was always some supe messing up in front of humans, and she and her partner, Will, would then have to cover it up. But this? Her stomach turned. This was not something they could cover up easily.

“Should I call the police?” Will asked.

“No.” Talia knelt down and examined her more closely.

“No? I don’t like where this is going, T. We can’t take her body.”

Talia stood. “We take bodies all the time.”

“Yeah, supe bodies. Never a human.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything. If we don’t take her, how are we going to explain to the coroner about the twin puncture wounds on her neck?”

“
Damn.
”

She clenched her fists. “It’s still early. Hopefully we don’t have too much of a containment issue yet.” She looked across the pool to where a gangly man paced back and forth. His t-shirt read Vegas Pool Services. “The pool boy found her?”

Will smirked. “The pool
shifter
-boy found her.”

Talia cringed inwardly. She should have sensed he was shifter.
Shit.
It meant he’d probably heard what she’d said. She glanced over at him. Yep, his scowl confirmed it. What was
wrong
with her? She never slipped up on the job. She was at a murder scene, for God’s sake. It had to be the past week catching up with her. Between the shifter rebellion they had just squelched with the help of the Cleveland team and seeing Jean Luc again, she was still out of whack. But Jean Luc was on his way home, and she had managed to avoid having any type of serious conversation with him. She took a deep breath. Her personal drama would just have to wait.

“I’ll go talk to the witness. Can you go get the van and pull it around so we can load her in before the neighborhood wakes up? And give Nicholas a call. We don’t need our fearless leader stroking out on us if he hears about this from someone else.”

“Sure thing.” Will replied.

Talia walked around the pool to the man who had stopped pacing and now stood glaring at her.

“Sorry about the pool boy crack, it has been a long morning already.”

“Tell me about it. I wasn’t expecting to find a dead human at my first stop today.”

She held out her hand to him. “I’m Talia Walker from the BSR.”

He grabbed her hand and shook it quickly. “Steve Williams.”

“How long ago did you find her?”

He checked his watch. “I called your office right away, so about forty-five minutes ago.”

“Do you know anything about her?”

“Her name is…was Melanie Thomas. She was single. She moved in here about a year ago. Told me she was retired.”

Talia looked over at the woman lying on the chaise. She couldn’t be much more than thirty. Talia then took in the pool with the high fence surrounding it and the back of the large house before turning back to her witness. Her eyebrows rose in question.

Steve held up his hands. “Hey, I know how it sounds, but that’s what she told me. I think she had a sugar daddy…or whatever the norms are calling them these days. She paid me on time and the rest was none of my business.”

“Did you ever meet anyone else here?”

“You mean a vamp like you? Nope. I never sensed any supes around here.”

Talia narrowed her eyes at him.

He shrugged. “I saw the bite on her neck when I found her, which is why I called you instead of the cops. This is going to cause big trouble, isn’t it?”

Dead human. Killer vampire. She watched Will come around the fence carrying a body bag. Now they were exacerbating the situation by stealing the body. Big trouble. What a monumental understatement.

* * *

Jean Luc turned onto the Vegas Strip. At night, humans and supernaturals were drawn to the Strip with the neon promise of escape. But as he drove along in the early morning light the city seemed to wilt in on itself. As did the tourists who trudged from one hotel to the next, determined to visit as many sights as they could.

Jean Luc stopped at the light. He would be facing his own determined female soon enough. In truth, she was not his female anymore. But he planned to change the situation. If Talia would let him. She was not expecting him. He was supposed to be on his way back to Cleveland with Kyle, and the rest of the team, since the shifter case here was resolved. Instead, he had dropped them at the airport, and Kyle had given him a last minute pep-talk.

“Remember, she still cares for you. I can tell.”

Jean Luc was not as convinced as Kyle appeared to be, but he was willing to take a chance. He had pulled her duffle bag out of the trunk and placed it in her hands, turning her toward the airport doors. “Text me when you land,
ma petite
.”

Kyle spun around. “So what are you going to say to Talia?”

Why did she leave me? Does she still care for me?
“I do not know yet.”