The blurb:
Alana Knight has the power to control the minds of
animals, including shifters, who want her dead. A tragic past has meant that
Alana has spent most of her life in hiding. Concealed as a conservationist
she’s helped reintroduce wolves back into the wild. A dead body on her land
proves her enemies have found her. She has no choice but to call on her
protectors.
Detective Nick Valaskin has been secretly watching
over Alana for years. He had vowed to protect her since coming of age. When she
calls the police about a dead body on her grounds, Nick takes no chances and
goes to her protection. Face to face with his childhood companion, it’s not
long before passion burns between them. It puts Alana’s life in more danger
than Nick could have imagined. Torn between love and a promise Nick struggles,
but together they face Alana’s tragic past in the hope of preventing history
from repeating itself.
Story Excerpt:
“Hello, Miss Knight,” he called to her softly. She
looked up at his dark, sunken eyes and couldn’t help but pity the man, having
worked through the night, and still having to come and speak to her.
“Can I get you a coffee, Detective?” she asked him
with a nervous smile.
He looked up at her as she stepped down off the stool
and headed round the counter to the kettle, already anticipating his answer to
be “yes.”
“Coffee would be great, thanks,” he replied, returning
her smile. “I do need to ask you some questions, Miss Knight, about the body
and the break-in to your cabin. I don’t want to keep you in the dark here, for
your own safety.” He paused, so she turned around and met his gaze. She tucked
her long, wavy black hair behind her ear, the way she always did when nerves
got the better of her.
“We have found
evidence that the two incidents are related,” Nick said, and the sugar
container dropped from her hand, spilling its contents all over the side.
Alana was shaking, but she tried to clear up the mess.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered. “It was just a shock, that’s all. I’m fine.” She
tried to convince him as he put his arms around her. It surprised her how safe
she felt in his arms. Nick then nodded to PC Cox to finish the coffee.
She walked with him as he led her out of the kitchen
and into the front room.
The room had dark oak wooden floors, which were broken
up by a very large, silvery cream shag pile rug, neatly placed in front of a
small fireplace. The soft, inviting cream-colored sofa was placed opposite the
fire, with a large bay window looking out at the access lane to her property.
The walls were cream and the décor broken up with red curtains and cushions for
the sofa, and a red–colored beanbag resting at the side of the fireplace.
Around the room there were other red furnishing, lamps
and ornaments in the alcoves, but on the whole, it was a very minimalistic room.
Usually the room made Alana relax, but that didn’t happen today.
Nick let her go as she sat on the sofa. She sat with
her legs tucked up under her as she rested her head back.
If she was scared before, she was shitting herself
now. She had known there was more to the body being on her land when Aatu had
filled her mind with images of the murdering wolf confused with images of a
man. Her fears were further confirmed when she returned to find the cabin
broken into. The fact the Detective had found evidence to link the two was just
the icing on the cake. And now she couldn’t contact her father.
PC Cox entered the room and placed two cups of coffee
on the table next to the sofa. Alana managed a quiet “thank you” and he
returned her gratitude with a smile.
“Cox.” Detective Sorin said. “You and Lang head on
over to the cabin and make sure the forensics have everything they need. Then I
want you to circulate the perimeter of the two buildings, see if anything
gives.”
PX Cox nodded acceptance of his duties and backed out
of the living room. Alana looked at the detective, who was still standing,
waiting for him to speak. The silence in the room was broken with the sound of
the back door closing as the other two PCs left her house.
Nerves crept through her body, and her skin crawled as
the detective slowly removed his dark-grey suit jacket, his eyes focused on
her. He stepped closer to where she sat and started to unbutton his shirt at
the neck. Alana swallowed hard, unsure of what do to. One part of her mind told
her that he was just getting comfortable, while the other part told her to run.
She drew a deep breath as he moved down to the second
button. “What are you doing?” Her voice as assertive as she could manage, she
tried to hide the panic. It was the way he smiled at her then that had her
heartbeat thumping in her ears. It was a slow, easy smile, with eyes that
twinkled with mischief as he continued to watch her. He now moved on to the
third button and took another step closer to her.
Alana was about to stand up and make a dash for the
door as his hand slipped inside his own shirt. Curiosity got the better of her
and she sat still, waiting. He pulled out a black threaded necklace with a
silver pendant the size of a fifty pence piece.
Instantly she recognized the pendant, and adrenaline
pumped through her body and made her feel light headed. She stood up and
reached out to touch the circular coin with the figure of a wolf’s head
embossed on it. It had the word “Altor” inscribed, meaning “protector” in
Latin. An old family name her father had given to his protector, as his father
had done before that. She smoothed her thumb over the coin’s surface, and
looked deep into the detective’s eyes, not trusting what her gut was telling
her.
“Alana, your father sent me.”
Behind The Makeup:
Blurb:
Elizabeth
Rhey is a world class singer who has come home to North West London to complete
the final dates of her last tour. Then her way word brother gets in trouble
with the police again, and she is about ready to wash her hands of him. Only
he’s dead. She finds herself caught up in a police investigation, where her
past secrets catch up with her.
Gareth
Buchanan is Beth’s bodyguard. It wasn’t his chosen career, just one he landed
on after taking a break from the police force. When Beth’s brother is killed
and the investigation around his death unravels, he finds himself getting very
close to Beth. With a desperate need to protect her, Gareth is forced to
confront is own ghost.
Both their
lives are turned upside down as they find out who is behind her brother’s
death. Can they face their past to find peace for their future?
Excerpt:
“I’ll
call it in,” Smith said, reading his partner’s mind. “Control, this is Quebec
Delta four nine two, we are in pursuit of what we believe to be the intruders
of Belleview Road. The roads are dry and light with traffic. Do we have
permission to proceed?”
“Quebec
Delta four nine two, you have permission to proceed.”
Newman
flicked on the siren and started to give chase to the getaway car.
“We are
in pursuit of a red Vauxhall Corsa, registration Lima Echo 04 Foxtrot, Hotel
Lima. Current speed forty-seven miles per hour in a forty speed zone.” Smith
continued to give the control room details of which roads they were traveling
down and the speeds both cars were driving at. It was important to give as much
detail to the driving conditions of both vehicles, for both safety and
accountability, should anything go wrong. Sadly, in his experience, it usually
ended up with the failing to stop car causing an accident.
“He’s
heading out onto the North Circular.” Newman stated, as he predicted where the
car was going to head next. Duncan swallowed down the fear of his experience.
The North Circular was a busy road. Though this time of night traffic would be
light, it was still used as it is the main circular road to get from one side
of London to the next. Some of the corners are tight, and travelling at
excessive speeds… Smith tried not to think about it as they carried on driving
at a safe distance down the Harrow Road toward Wembley. True to Newman’s
prediction, the Corsa jumped through the red lights, and turned left down onto
the North Circular toward the A40.
Visibility
was much better due to the street lights that lit up the road ahead. Their
driving speed was now in excess of eighty miles an hour at times, with hard
breaking around some of the tight turns the road offered. The car in front
swerved across two lanes and slammed on the breaks to avoid hitting another
car. Smith pushed his feet down on the foot-well of the car and leaned back in
his chair as if he was willing the car to stop. Fortunately it was a near miss.
“This is going to end in tears,” Smith said out loud to Newman.
Newman
backed off from the red car to put more stopping distance between them, hoping
it would encourage them to reduce their speed, as the pressure to get away
would be reduced. He drove behind the Corsa in the left hand lane, anticipating
them to exit, but the red car suddenly sped up and drifted across the lanes to
the right side.
“The
A40 is up next.” Newman stated his prediction once again so that PC Smith could
relate back to control. They could see the traffic lights ahead that indicated
the crossroads of the North Circular and the A40. They were red. Both officers
looked at each other as Newman instinctively slowed his car. The red Corsa
carried on at high speed with no intention of stopping for the red lights.
There were a few cars drifting past, but not few enough. The sounds of horns
and tires screeching were enough to chill any warm-blooded animal. Both Smith
and Newman had no option but to watch and report back to control, as the red
car floored it through the red lights. Cars traveling from the left swerved to
avoid the Corsa. Amazingly, the red car made it through the junction without
getting hit. None of the other cars had collided with each other. But it wasn’t
over. Newman increased his speed to follow the red car once more as he
meandered his way through the now stationary cars on the junction.
“He’s
lost it,” Newman said as they watched the red car veer left and right as the
driver fought to control the car. The driver pulled the car off to the left
much too quickly, causing the Corsa to skid sideways across three lanes of
traffic, up onto the bank and wrap itself around a tree.
“Control,
we have an RTC on North Circular Road Southbound just after A40 junction,”
Smith said as he spoke into his radio. He hopped out of the car just before
Newman had brought it to a complete stop.
Newman
pulled the hand break up with such force, you could hear the gear mechanism
grind together and then jumped out of the car to follow Smith.
Smith
reached the back of the red car and could hear soft moans from the back
passenger side. As he opened the door, a young man was slouched across the back
seat, his head was oozing a crimson river and he wasn’t conscious. Smith felt
for a pulse, it was faint. Newman was busy assessing the front passenger so he
made his way to the driver.
The
front of the red Corsa was crumpled, steam from what he presumed to be the
radiator rose into the night sky. Smoke from the air bags joined the steam as
they danced their vapour in the street light rays. The driver hung half out of the
windscreen, his head at an awkward angle. Smith reached for a pulse, already
knowing there wouldn’t be one.
“Control,
this is Quebec Delta four nine two. We have one unconscious male with a head
injury,” He looked over to Newman for the condition of the front passenger.
Newman just shook his head. “And two fatalities.”
There
you are, the choice is yours. I wish you the best of luck.
Until next time, take care.
Jessica
xXx
