SYNOPSIS
Her voice is enchanting; his soul is black…
Madison Carter has been terrified of Scott Lee since the
night he saved her from an evil sorcerer – then melted into a man-eating
monster before her eyes. The werewolf is a slave to the moon, but Madison’s
nightmares are not.
Despite her fears, when Madison’s brother, Clinton, is bitten
by a werewolf, she knows there is only one man who can help. A man who
frightens her all the more because even in her nightmares, he also thrills her.
Together for the first time since that terrible night, Scott
and Madison drive to Clinton’s home only to discover that he’s vanished.
Frantic now, Madison must overcome her fears and uncover hidden strengths if
she hopes to save him. And she’s not the only one fighting inner demons.
Scott’s are literal, and they have him convinced that he will never deserve the
woman he loves.
*Stand-alone companion to the Cassie Scot series
PURCHASE
The Author
Christine Amsden has been writing science fiction and fantasy for
as long as she can remember. She loves to write and it is her dream that others
will be inspired by this love and by her stories. Speculative fiction is fun,
magical, and imaginative but great speculative fiction is about real people
defining themselves through extraordinary situations. Christine writes
primarily about people and it is in this way that she strives to make science
fiction and fantasy meaningful for everyone.
Christine currently lives in the Kansas City area with her
husband, Austin, who has been her biggest fan and the key to her success. They
have two beautiful children.
And then, another problem came along, this one far more
immediate: Someone outside was rattling the doorknob.
She froze, straining her senses, but it couldn't be Scott.
It was too soon and besides, she didn't hear the scraping of a key in the lock.
No, someone else was out there, but who? If she looked out the curtained front
window she could find out, but whoever it was would see her as well.
The next second, the decision was taken out of her hands.
She let out a tiny squeal when someone – or something – slammed against the
door and it splintered. Two more thuds and the door flew open, ripping the
useless chain free as it slammed hard against the opposite wall.
Two men stood framed in the entryway, both young, probably
around twenty. They were of average height, lean and fit, as if they worked
out. They wore jeans and t-shirts, one black, one green, and she knew – just
knew – they were both werewolves.
Her pulse raced, and she began to sweat. It wasn't the full
moon, but these two were dangerous. They had just proved it by making mincemeat
of the door.
She scrambled for the phone, but one of them saw her
intention and intercepted her, twisting her wrist painfully until the phone
fell from her fingers.
“Well, well. What have we
here?” asked the man who was not holding her wrist. Green Shirt, she called him
in her mind, since he otherwise looked enough like his friend that they could
have been twins. Or at least brothers. He smiled the wolf's smile. She could
practically see his canines. “Scott didn't say anything about bringing along a
snack.”
Madison tried to twist her arm away, but the second man, the
one wearing the black shirt, didn't let go.
“Think I should call Isaac?”
Green Shirt asked.
“Oh, I don't know,” Black Shirt
replied, his eyes roaming freely over Madison's body. “Maybe we could play with
her first.”
Play with her? Madison redoubled her efforts to free
herself, even knowing how useless the gesture would be. Think, Madison,
think. Don't let the fear take over.
“I dunno,” Green Shirt said.
“What if she belongs to the alpha? He might get pretty pissed off.”
“Isaac can take him,” Black
Shirt replied. He grabbed Madison's other wrist, then adjusted his grip so that
he held both of her wrists in one large hand. Yanking them over her head, he
used his free hand to fondle her breasts through her shirt.
Madison reeled, kicking out with both feet, one thought
clear in her mind: This can't happen. It didn't matter that the man
holding her wasn't really a man at all, but a werewolf. It didn't matter that
he could probably overwhelm her physically even without his supernatural
strength. This can't happen.
The resolve outweighed her fear. The fear didn't die or even
diminish, but it didn't rule her.
When Black Shirt tried to touch her again, she leaned forward,
found a bit of skin just above his elbow, and sank her teeth in – hard. She
didn't hold back and didn't let go, not even when she tasted blood.
“Bitch!” Black Shirt yelped. He
had to let go of her hands to free himself, and she used the opportunity to
twist away, heading for the open motel room door.
Green Shirt intercepted her, imprisoning her within the iron
bands of his arms. His partner stood, snarling at Madison, then approached, his
eyes full of all the terrible things he wanted to do to her.
To her surprise, Green Shirt pulled her away from his
partner in crime. “No way, man. Isaac may be able to take that other alpha, but
you can't take either one of them, and you may have to if you mess her up
without Isaac's say so.”
“She bit me!”
“I bet you taste awful, too,”
Green Shirt replied.
“Fuck you.”
“You gonna call Isaac or am I?”
Green Shirt asked, ignoring the insult.
“I'll do it. If I get my hands
on the little mouse, I may have to kill her.”
“Only if she doesn't kill you
first.”
“Oh, you're on. You. Me. Next
full moon.”
“Bring it.”
The two young men stared at one another for a long minute,
but though Green Shirt kept his attention on his packmate, he didn't loosen his
hold on Madison in the slightest. She struggled, feebly, but under the
circumstances she thought that if these two weren't going to kill or rape her
now, then she might have a better opportunity for escape later. The more
harmless they thought she was until then, the better.
It would have been a brilliant plan, she thought, if she
really wasn't quite so harmless. Even the mark she'd put on Black Shirt's arm
had begun its rapid healing, and now looked more like an angry bruise than
anything else.
When the two men stopped staring at each other, Black Shirt
got on his cell and called the aforementioned Isaac. She could only hear one
side of the conversation, but it didn't sound good for her. In the end, when he
hung up the phone, he looked at his partner and said the two words that sealed
her fate: “Bring her.”
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