Publisher:
Purple Sword Publications
Number
of pages: 155
Word
Count: 60,000
Cover
Artist: Traci Markou
Personal
tragedy convinces half-werewolf Alexa York to get away to the town of
McCormick, Pennsylvania where she's charged with protecting Dr. Aiden
Joss, physician to the supernatural community. Not only does she need
the money, she needs the distraction. Unfortunately, she gets it in
spades when Joss's personal issues and a myriad of dangerously sick
patients make her new job nearly impossible.
A
mysterious disease is running its way through the New York Order of
the Amazons and leaving bodies in its wake. The same warrior who had
chosen her clan over Joss has asked for him help. Even though the
disease is real, Alexa has reason to believe his ex's sincerity is
not.
Given
the other numerous problems she has to deal with that are outside of
her job description, Dr. Joss might be the biggest threat to his own
safety. But, protecting him comes first. That’s difficult to do
when his efforts to find an antidote put everyone in his remote
clinic in danger, including Alexa.
I stood on the porch of Dr. Aiden
Joss’s luxurious home pissed as hell. Someone was supposed to meet
me at the airport in Philadelphia. I ended up having to take a cab
because all of the rentals were booked from the only airport about
twenty-five miles from the small town of McCormick, Pennsylvania. The
taxi driver must have mistaken me for an oil baron with the fare he
charged. He ended up having to leave me at the front gate because the
intercom was busted. Thankfully, being a human hybrid had its
advantages. After tossing my duffle over the ten-foot age, I followed
by leaping over. Some security.
The downpour turned my black wavy
hair into thick, cold tresses snaking down my neck and upper back.
Sadly, my duffle bag was just as pitiful as I looked, since it wasn’t
waterproof. I exercised more care when picking out my purse and
laptop bag.
The front door opened. A tall,
bulky man who looked like he missed his calling as an NFL linebacker
stood against the golden glow of the interior. His face was
criminal-hard, though something in his dark eyes said otherwise. He
wore a white shirt and jeans with a knee brace around his left knee.
He blinked.
“Oh, boy.” He hurried to
unlock the storm door and let me inside. “You must be Ms. Alexa
York.”
I struggled getting passed him
with my wet duffle and carry-on and drenched clothes clinging to my
cold body. “I am. I take it the phones don’t work around here
either.”
He took my stuff and set it
aside. “The power has been flickering all night. They just got the
lights back on about three minutes ago. The phone is internet, so
when the power goes out, everything goes out.”
I unzipped my cold, sodden
jacket. “I get it. No phone no phone calls. Which is why I was
stuck at the airport.”
He sighed. “Again, my
apologies, ma’am. With so much going on, I only had a chance to
worry about one thing at time.”
I glanced at him before
answering. So much going on? The house was quiet and not a soul in
sight. What could’ve possibly had him too busy to pick me up when
he knew I was coming? Heck, I was here to be his replacement while he
was on the mend. If he didn’t want me here, forgetting me at the
airport or not sending a car to pick me up worked in his favor.
He offered his hand to me. “My
name’s Sammy. I’m Dr. Joss’s med tech and assistant.”
“Med tech?” I looked him up
and down. “But I thought you were his—”
He chuckled. “I’m really his
assistant. I’m only his bodyguard when I have to be. And given the
kind of world that lies beyond those gates, I find myself playing the
latter more often.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “I’m
sorry if I sounded a little crotchety, but—”
Sammy waved his large hand. “No
need to apologies. I’d be a lot more than pissed had I been in your
shoes. Speaking of which, let me show you to your room so you can get
some dry clothes on.”
Snorting, I glanced at the puddle
forming around my duffle. “Dry clothes, huh. That would be nice.”
“No worries, Ms. York. I’ll
find you something.”
“It’s Alexa, by the way.”
Those close to me called me Lex. We weren’t there yet.
“Alexa, then.”
My room was upstairs on the
second floor along with five other bedrooms. Every piece of furniture
was stained pine and sitting against light blue walls. Thankfully, I
had my own private bathroom. When I looked out of the bathroom
window, I noticed a light coming from the woods somewhere behind the
trees.
Had it not been for Wesley Dane,
a full-blooded werewolf friend of my family, I wouldn’t be here to
play bodyguard for one of his closest friends. It wasn’t the
thousand dollars a day, tax-free money for my services that brought
me here. I needed the distraction more than everything.
“So how much do you know about
me?” After snuggling into a thick, warm robe, I dried off my hair
with a towel and opened the bathroom door.
Sammy was still there, though
keeping his distance by waiting in the hall. I thought it was weird,
but whatever, seeing as this was more his house than mine. “Enough,
he replied. “You’re half-werewolf, which is extremely rare.
You’re also married, which means either your husband, who’s a
full-blood, or Dane is going to tear Dr. Joss apart if anything bad
happens to you. Although, that sort of defeats the purpose of you
being the doctor’s bodyguard.” He half-smiled.
“Are you expecting me to be
torn apart?”
“No,” he chuckled. “But I
expect you’ll be put through the ringer.” He pointed at the fresh
clothes on my bed. “The best I could come up with are some sweats,
an oversized tee-shirt, and some thick socks we typically give the
patients. I promise I’ll have your clothes cleaned and dried by the
time you wake up tomorrow. That is, I hope you can stand the scent. I
bought some unscented detergent when I found out you were coming, but
I didn’t have a chance to wash those particular clothes in them.”
My lips pursed together in a grin
to keep from laughing. “Relax. My senses might be heightened
senses, but not that much. I actually like the smell of laundry
detergent. Flowers are preferable to anything else.”
“So those will be okay?”
I nodded. “They’re fine. And
thank you. For the robe and clothes and stuff.”
“Not a problem.” He thumbed
over his shoulder. “I don’t know if you’re hungry or anything,
but I have some chili on the stove, too. Your appetite is…?”
“Human. It’s one of the
things I actually like about being half-werewolf.” Compared to
others. I caught myself before saying anymore.
Over the last three weeks, I
wished I was more human than some freak living in the middle of that
world and the werewolf one. Perhaps things might have turned out
better between my husband and me.
I forced a smile to my face. “So
what kind of supernatural is Dr. Joss?”
Sammy sighed. “I’m not at
liberty to say.”
“Really? You know what I am, so
why can’t I know about him?”
“You didn’t ask Dane?”
My smile faded and I crossed my
arms. “I did, but he sealed his lips on that one, too. Said I’d
find out on my own.” The conversation took a nosedive after that. I
had to remind him that both Matt and my father would break him in
half if he sent me to a maniac’s house. Of course, I knew Dane well
enough to know he’d never do that either.
Chuckling, Sammy turned and
started down the hall. “I can’t say my chili is award winning,
but it did get an honorable mention at the state fair.”
So that was how he wanted to play
it. Good.
Following after him while he
spoke about the rules of the house and how I needed to be ready in
case emergencies happened in the middle of the night, I focused on my
sense of smell. The only thing that stung my nose was the scent of
alcohol. Not the rubbing kind either.
Sammy prepared me a small bowl of
chili with enough spices to burn a whole your sinuses. I hardly
touched it. While my appetite might have been human, my tastes was
more sensitive than normal when it came to spicy stuff. Thank
goodness there were plenty of delicious corn muffins to go around.
My duties were simple. I wasn’t
expected to participate in any life-saving measures, but rather watch
Dr. Joss’s back, since most of his clients were supernaturals. The
rest were those who couldn’t risk a report being filed with the
police department. It also meant that I might have to fly out in the
middle of the night or take a drive with him, since he still believed
in house calls. Sammy would hold down the house and make
arrangements, schedules, and contacts as they were needed. The only
thing Sammy asked I do that wasn’t on the list was keep an open
mind. I had no idea what that meant…
…until we heard a thump from
down the hall.
Sammy hobbled in front of me,
hurrying faster than I would’ve thought for a guy who had recently
twisted his knee. When he entered through the French doors, he
muttered a curse before limping into the room.
“A little help, please?” A
female shouted.
A man lay on the floor with a
whiskey bottle a few inches away from his fingers and alcohol leaking
into the carpet. The disheveled guy looked like he had missed a few
days of shaving and couldn’t afford a comb. His clothes stank of
booze and enough mustiness to imply he had misses a couple of
showers, too. He had black, medium-length hair that looked greasy to
the touch and was probably just as neglected as the rest of him.
Next to him was a woman with dark
blond tresses barely held together with a messy ponytail and plump
lips that didn’t need any lipstick to stand out. There was
something in those dark eyes that pleaded for help, but at the same
time they said she was tired. She wore a pair of white pants with
matching shoes and a black sweater. I bet anything she was a nurse.
Sadly, the man on the floor didn’t need any medical care.
“Ms. York,” Sammy said,
leaning to pick up the empty bottle. “This is Macy Innick, our
nurse, and the impeccable Dr. Aiden Joss.”
Macy huffed at the two of us. “A
little help here, please?”
I pointed, unable to take my gaze
off my new employer. “This is the genius who supernaturals trust
with their patient confidentiality?”
Macy managed to get him into a
sitting position before glaring bullets into me. “While he might
not be perfect, he’s still brilliant and your employer.”
I held up my hands and stepped
back. If she wanted to defend him, then more power to her. If he were
my boss, he had better be paying me in spades, gold doubloons, and
diamonds to clean up after his drunken foolishness. That wasn’t a
part of the job description.
Sammy managed to loop a hand
under Joss’s arm. “Believe it or not, his medical expertise is
one area where he’s quite sober, even if the rest of him isn’t.”
“And if he should have an
emergency tonight, am I supposed to drive him there in that smashed
state?”
He paused. “I hate to say it,
but yeah.”
A grin splayed my face. “You’re
funny.”
I turned and walked back down the
hall, knowing full-well that he was serious. When I reached the
kitchen, I grabbed an extra muffin and my cup of warm cocoa, and
headed upstairs to my room. No way was I driving that man to his next
medical-malpractice suit…assuming he even made it that far.
Marcia
Colette didn’t discover her love for reading until her late teens
when she started reading John Saul and progressed to works by Bentley
Little, Stephen King and Laurell K. Hamilton. Her reading tastes
convinced her to write paranormals where curses cause people to shift
into spiders, psychotic and telekinetic mothers are locked away in
attics, and murderous doppelgangers are on a rampage. Let's not
forget about the hunky werecheetah coalitions who live throughout
North Carolina. As long as she can make it believable, that's all
that matters.
Born
and raised in upstate New York, Marcia now lives in North Carolina
with her mom and beautiful daughter. They’re not raising zombies in
the backyard. There aren’t any hellhounds living in the den, only a
rabbit and a cockatiel. So where she gets her ideas is as much a
mystery to her as anyone else.
The
best place to find her--when she's not stirring up trouble--is on her
blog where she loves connecting with readers.
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