Dark Assassins Series by Valerie Ullmer Book Tour and Giveaway :)
Kai
Dark
Assassins Book One
by
Valerie Ullmer
Genre:
Paranormal Romance
There
are two words that described Kai.
Remote
and Deadly.
And
until six months ago, he was fine with that description. But when the
vampire assassin spots a curvaceous woman, a human no less, who would
come to fill his thoughts, he would gladly shake his persona for a
moment in time with her. Instead, he kept his distance, watching out
for her and learning more about her every time their paths crossed.
But he had yet to speak to her. When a turn of events thrusts her
into his solitary life, he must decide whether to complete his
assignment, or protect her.
Olivia
Sabin had dedicated her life to her work; finding a cure for cancer.
She had hidden behind the mask of a scientist who cares little about
anything beyond her laboratory, and for a long while she believed it
herself. But when a mysterious man came to frequent the diner she
visited nightly, her awareness of him devastated her concentration,
and she came to look forward to the glimpses of him, however
brief.
When
she stumbles upon a horrific experiment at work, she knows he’s the
only one she can turn to. She’s willing to sacrifice everything in
order to protect him and others of his kind from the same fate. But
first, she needs to find a way to get him to hear her
explanation.
***Paranormal
Romance featuring HOT Vampires and Shifters. Contains explicit sex
scenes and each book in the series ends with a HEA.***
That
was the moment he spotted her from the corner of his eye. Her
mass of cascading dark, curly hair bounced against the burgundy
mid-length trench coat wrapped tightly around her to ward off the
chill of the late September night. But with her head
tilted down, he was unable to see her face. Even from the
distance of over two hundred yards, he could hear her mumbling to
herself. As hard as he listened, he couldn’t quite make
out the words. The coat did nothing to cover her curves
hidden underneath, and he found himself enthralled by the sway of her
hips. His gaze traveled down her curvy body, and his groin
tightened with every step she took. Before
he could contemplate his actions, he leapt from the deck and flew
down the mountain, stopping when he stood, hidden in the darkness, a
few feet from her. He forced himself to widen the distance
between them, and started trailing her. Experience
and his enhanced senses kept him out of sight from her and the others
who ventured out on the cold night. He soon found that she
was so absorbed in whatever happened to be on her mind that he could
have stood right in front of her, and she would’ve ignored him and
kept walking. He
trailed her as she closed in on the diner on the corner, learning
that the small eatery was her destination on most nights. She
chose that moment to brush her long hair out of her face. With
that tiny movement, her fragrance of lemongrass and green apple
drifted back toward him. A low snarl erupted from his
throat as his body stiffened in shock; the unexpected reaction to her
scent was so fierce, he was torn between his instant desire for her
and self-preservation. The sound he hadn’t managed to
smother must’ve reached her, because her head turned toward him and
her brows drew down in confusion. A split second before
her eyes landed on where he stood, he stepped back, pissed at his
infinitesimal loss of control. A silent sigh of relief
passed his lips as she shook her head, not able to spot in him the
dark, and continued on her way. In
his over two hundred year existence, he’d never been attracted to a
human. Blood was the one reason that he interacted with
humans, and even that could be taken from a donor without him having
him drink from the source. But as he tried to pass off a
reason he reacted to her in such an elemental way, he continued to
follow her, finding himself outside the door that read Blue Plate
Diner. Obscured by the door, his eyes tracked movement as
the waitress greeted her as if they were old friends. For
a reason he couldn’t fathom, he felt a surge of jealousy. He
was still a stranger to this captivating human, and she intrigued
him. Without
quite knowing why he had followed her, he opened the door and walked
into the chrome and tiled cafe, taking the time to pull up the hood
of his sweatshirt. He scanned the place and settled for a
booth at the back of the restaurant, where he could watch her without
being detected. By
the time he’d sat down and scanned for any possible dangers, she
had pulled out a laptop along with a sheaf of papers filled with
formulas he couldn’t decipher. Between typing and
writing in the margins of the already filled pages, the concentration
on her work was total. He
found himself mesmerized by the play of emotions on her face as she
worked. A smile for when she figured out a problem, or a
frown when something didn’t quite fit, and everything in
between. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. When
she bit her lip in concentration, it took all of his control to keep
his distance from her. He found that he had to grip the
table to keep himself still, when all he wanted to do was devour her. The
spell was broken when the waitress had placed a club sandwich with a
side of fries on the free space next to her elbow. He
forced himself to relax, but kept his eyes on her when she reached
for the sandwich absently and ate without really paying attention to
anything else but the work in front of her. After
several hours, her hand covered a small yawn. She glanced
at her watch, and he felt the side of his mouth tilt as she rolled
her eyes. Thanking the waitress, she reached for two tens
in her pocket and dropped them on the table before she packed up and
left. From
that night on, he made a point to arrive at the diner minutes after
she was seated, and spent hours scanning her face as he watched her
work. And every night, he slid into the shadows as she
walked home to her small cottage, with its bright white siding with
cornflower blue shutters that matched her perfectly. Each
night, he waited until she was safely inside with the door locked,
before he made his way back to his home on the mountain. His
attraction also came with a somewhat unwanted
reaction. Protectiveness. He estimated her
height at under five and a half feet tall, and although she walked
everywhere in their relatively safe little town—to her job at
Standard Biotech and her home, several blocks from the diner—he had
to tamp down his need to protect her. From what, he
couldn’t explain, even to himself.
Reaper
Dark
Assassins Book Two
A
wolf-shifter and his powerful human.
Reaper
had expected it to be an easy assignment. Break into a biotech
facility with minimum security and rescue a group of immortals who
were subject to deadly experiments and eliminate those who might try
to fight back. But the moment he walked into the glass prison and
spotted a human woman being held with the immortals, his mission
changed.
She
became his mission.
Before
Reaper had a chance to explain that he was there to help her, she
blinded him and the rest of his team and slipped away. Although she
had escaped him, a protectiveness that he'd never felt washed over
him, and he became determined to find her.
Ara
has always depended on herself, but there was something about the
shifter that made her want to trust him. She recognized him as
someone who was capable of protecting her as well as understanding
her secrets without turning her away, but before she could allow
herself to trust him, she ran.
But
with no resources and running out of ideas about how to protect
herself, will she be able to lower her defenses and allow the shifter
to help her?
***Paranormal
Romance featuring HOT Shifters and Vampires. Contains explicit sex
scenes and each book in the series ends with a HEA.***
It
had been close to a month since he last spotted the curvy brunette
who had come to occupy his waking thoughts, and if it weren’t for
his flawless memory, he would have thought she had been a figment of
his imagination. An emotion he couldn’t pinpoint clawed
inside him, a sense that he needed to find her before another danger
presented itself. That feeling led him to stand
outside a deserted neighborhood, his breath visible against the cold
night, at close to midnight. If he didn’t find her soon,
he would have to give up his search and go back to work. Every
night since he had lost her trail, he would scout a different
neighborhood in the mountain town of Snowfall, Colorado that
contained vacation homes, empty because of the off-season, hoping to
catch a glimpse of her. He had found evidence of her
overnight stay at several, but he hadn’t been able to track her
until after she’d left. Although he sensed that he had
been getting close, the time he’d spent searching passed with
excruciating slowness with no trace of the woman. Reaper
had first spotted her when his team had raided Standard Biotech to
rescue several immortals who had been imprisoned, and to his
surprise, the make-shift prison also contained…her. Hell,
he didn’t even know her name, but he knew her to be human. The
moment he walked into the glass enclosure that held her and the other
prisoners, he smelled her fear. It took him a moment to
locate her with her back pressed against the opposite wall, trying to
hide in the shadows. A low growl escaped his throat as the
guard in the room reached for her arm, wrenching her closer, as he
walked backward toward another exit. Reaper took a step
toward her, ignoring the insignificant human with the weapon. At
his advance, the guard released his hold on her to grip the gun with
both hands. Reaper’s mouth twisted into a smile that
promised pain. The
guard reached blindly for her the moment he spotted Reaper’s sneer,
but she held herself out of his reach, and at that moment he realized
that her fear had nothing to do with their raid. Her eyes
darted to the door, as if she expected someone to walk in and kill
her. Protectiveness swamped him, and that unknown feeling
had him wading through his own thoughts, too slow to reach her before
another tried. I
got her. Kai started forward. The guard
flinched at the quick movement, and he emptied the magazine into the
vampire’s chest. Kai grunted in pain, but kept his
progress until he reached the woman. Reaching an arm out,
Kai gripped the hem of her shirt. Before he could yank her
close, the guard smashed the butt of the gun down on Kai’s forearm,
breaking several bones and the vampire dropped to the ground. Reaper
darted forward and grabbed the guard by the throat, easily crushing
his windpipe, before he tossed him to the side without any further
thought. His eyes scanned the area because he expected the
woman to be right in front of him, close enough to touch, but when he
searched, there was nothing. Mine! He
raged inside his own head, not letting the others know about the fear
shivering over him at the thought of her gone. “Fuck,
Kai, can you see her?” The
vampire grunted as he righted himself, bleeding profusely from close
to a dozen bullet wounds, but he glanced around and he shook his
head, confirming that the woman disappeared. “I
can smell her. I still sense her fear,” Reaper said. After
searching for close to a half hour, Kai hadn’t healed enough to
continue, and Reaper had been forced to give up his search for the
woman. They
carried Kai back to his house where he could drink from his mate,
Liv, and regain his strength, but every instinct inside him told him
to keep searching for the missing woman. But without an
idea where to start, desperation and hopelessness made his muscles
and brain lethargic. Destiny
had given him a second chance later that same night. Liv
had been kidnapped by the now dead Dr. Ames, the one who had captured
and tortured the immortals. Reaper tried to suppress any
thoughts about why they’d captured the human woman and what they
might have subjected her to during her captivity. It was
the only way he could keep his instincts sharp as they raided the
warehouse to save Liv. While
they waited for Ghost’s signal to breach, the familiar scent
slammed into him, stealing his breath. The stiffening of
his spine alerted Jade, who stood next to him in formation. What? Jade’s
surprised outburst rang in his head. He
looked down and something on his face had alerted Jade to scan their
surroundings. The scent of fear lingered in the air, and
although the fox shifter understood what it meant, her brows drew
down in confusion at the intensity that must’ve shown on his face. Ghost,
the woman is here. Reaper needs to protect her, Jade
communicated through their mind link. Go. We’ll
call if we have problems. Ghost’s gruff voice gave
him permission. Reaper
didn’t wait; he took off at a run, desperate to reach her before
she could be spotted or killed.
Seth
A
Dark Assassins World Novella
Immortals
have been a part of Seth's world since he barged into Kai's life at
the age of twelve. And having a group of shifter and vampire
assassins he considered family, he thought that he'd seen it all and
that nothing would surprise him. But the one night he met Aubrey
changed his world, and he'd never been so happy to be wrong.
Aubrey
was used to seclusion, even before she had been turned into a
vampire. She'd never dreamed of a life outside her tiny little world,
but that was until she met Seth. Before she could understand her
reactions, she ran from him. But she couldn't stay away. The more she
gets to know him, the stronger the connection between them
solidifies.
When
Seth tells Aubrey that he is her mate, will she take a chance and
keep him forever?
***Paranormal
Romance featuring HOT Shifters and Vampires. Contains explicit sex
scenes and each book in the series ends with a HEA.***
Seth
kept his head down as the pen in his hand absently wandered over what
used to be a blank piece of paper, trying to ignore the group of
girls near the front of the classroom who had been trying to get his
attention for the past fifteen minutes. He could hear his
name randomly thrown into the conversation, but chose not to engage
them; he knew where that would lead. Each time he’d
turned down their offers of getting coffee or an invite to a campus
party, they seemed more determined to find something he wouldn’t
refuse. It wasn’t as though he didn’t want to find a
girlfriend. But when he had tried dating a few times
throughout the years he’d been in college, he been unable to find
any woman who attracted him for very long. He’d
made the mistake of asking Emily for a date, the one who had been
trying the most to get his attention several rows away since he’d
walked into the classroom, and it had been a disaster from the moment
he’d picked her up for dinner. She had taken a picture
of them together at her front door and then proceeded to text her
friends through the entire date, clicking pictures of her hugged to
his side, until he’d called off the date and drove her home. After
that one time, he had no desire to do it again, but he couldn’t
seem to escape her and her friends’ presence. Although
he’d been excited when he’d first started college two years ago,
he was glad to be graduating after this last semester so he could
start working full-time with Liv in the lab. Along with
Hunter, Liv and he hadn’t gotten any closer to figuring out what
made an immortal unique. An immortal’s blood—whether
shifter or vampire—could fend off diseases and had the ability to
regenerate, but there was no clue in the cells as to why. It
intrigued Seth, although he hadn’t wanted to or planned to become
immortal. But if they could find out the specifics, then
he could protect those closest to him, those he considered family. And
although he chose to concentrate on his career instead of trying to
meet the right woman, he couldn’t help but feeling lonely from time
to time. He knew that the possibility of finding someone
for him at school was slim. With his future his top
priority, he could push those thoughts aside and concentrate on
graduating. And after watching Kai with Liv and Reaper
with Ara, he knew that he couldn’t settle for anything less than
what they had. But
in order to move on, he needed a couple of classes that he’d put
off until the last semester of his senior year. He had no
interest in economics, but he needed it as a requirement to
graduate. Determined to keep his head down and concentrate
on studying, he blew out a breath as he leaned back on his chair and
hoped that this semester would pass quickly. Picking
up the sound of the back door closing, Seth glanced to his
right. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the woman who
started down the stairs of the auditorium classroom and took a seat a
couple of rows down from him. A hoodie covered her hair
and her face but something about her movements, quick and efficient,
drew his eyes over her. She must’ve sensed his scrutiny
because once she was seated, she glanced up and met his gaze. Beautiful. It
was the one word that came to mind when he gazed into her silver
eyes. He had suspected when she had walked into the
classroom, but her eyes confirmed his suspicions. He
watched as she scanned her surroundings before she settled her gaze
back on him. He couldn’t help the tilt of his mouth, a
smile that was for her alone. He widened his smile when he
could hear the audible intake of breath from the short distance away. He
found himself disappointed when the professor walked in and started
class, grabbing her attention away from him. Over the next
hour, he couldn’t have recited one word of the lecture and right
before class ended, he slipped out the door she had come through. He
leaned against the opposite wall and waited for her exit. Time
seemed to stall for several moments before the noise of shuffling
feet reached him. Most of the class exited through the
main doorway near the front of the classroom; for a moment, he
thought she had gone with the crowd. He breathed easier
the moment the door in front of him swung open. He watched
as she raised her hand to readjust the hoodie over her hair but froze
when she spotted him leaning casually against the wall. She
dropped her hands to her side, and he was able to see her without
obstruction for the first time. It
took him awhile to drag his gaze from silver eyes that were similar,
yet completely different. His gaze traced over her long
lashes that brushed against her skin as she blinked in
surprise. There was a sprinkling of freckles across her
nose and cheeks but what drew his gaze was her mouth. Her
lips were full and two-toned, peach and pink. They opened
as he continued his silence while assessing her. Her
reddish-brown hair framed her face, and something deep inside Seth’s
chest kicked, hard. When
he thought that she might not be interested, her gaze dropped to his
lips before continuing down. Her eyes scanned him until he
felt as though she was already intimate with his body. He
was grateful for the assassins and their training regimen over the
past couple of years because he had managed to fill out a bit and
added muscle to his mostly tall, gangly frame. “Hey
gorgeous, I’m Seth.” He
wanted to reach out and have some tangible proof that she was real
and standing in front of him in that moment in time, but he knew that
she would run from him before he learned anything about her. And
it was crucial that he got know her. Instead
of reacting to his endearment or his introduction, she leaned closer
as her eyes roamed over his face. Before she pulled back,
she took a deep breath. “Why do you smell like vampire
and several species of animal?”
Xander
Dark
Assassins Book Three
Half-human,
half-shifter.
Xander
has secretly yearned for a mate for most of his immortal existence,
and yet after three of his friends found exactly what he’s always
wanted, he’d come to believe that he’d missed his chance at
happiness.
Until
he heard her voice.
Frost
is a wildlife biologist and tracker and she has been assigned,
despite her adamant protests, to lead mercenaries into the mountains
of Snowfall, Colorado for the sole purpose of killing immortal
shifters. In order to protect those who have no idea the kind
of danger they are in, she agrees. As she leads the armed men
on a wild chase around the snow-covered pines, she could sense that
she was running out of time.
Until
she heard his voice.
Xander
understands exactly who Frost is the moment he hears her thoughts.
With the help of Kane and Gunnar, they eliminate those in her group
as they try to keep her safe. But during the fight, she is hurt
and all of his protective instincts flare to life. As Xander
learns more about her, he realizes that Frost might be the key to the
creation of the immortals, both vampire and shifter.
But
when she becomes a target from those who want to destroy the Dark
Company and Xander’s family, how far will he go to save
her?
***Paranormal
Romance featuring HOT Vampires and Shifters. Contains explicit sex
scenes and each book in the series ends with a HEA.***
Xander
glanced up from the thriller he was reading when he’d heard the
sound of car tires turning onto his driveway, realizing that time had
gotten away from him. Gunnar and Kane were coming over for
weapons training Ghost had scheduled on New Year’s Day, for a
reason that escaped all three of them. Xander had designed
and built the gun range deep into the woods behind his newly
completed house and Ghost had designated it the training center for
all of the assassins. And he couldn’t fault Ghost for
wanting his assassins to train. There had been another
threat to Dark Company that Ghost had downplayed, not giving any of
them details, but Xander could tell that he’d worried about it. Besides,
Xander had bought a Sig Sauer P226 over the holidays and it would be
his first chance to test it out. And although he would
never admit it aloud, he was grateful for the company so soon after
the holidays. Seth
and Aubrey had gotten married back in November and although he was
happy for them, and for Kai and Liv, and Reaper and Ara, he felt the
stark loneliness acutely. Shaking off his melancholy, he
opened the door. But before he could greet them, the three
of them froze. They could hear the distinct crunching of
snow and pine needles under heavy boots. “About
two miles north. Are you expecting anyone else?” Gunnar
asked. “No.” Xander
closed the door behind him and engaged the lock before he followed
the other two as they moved toward the sound at a quick clip. He
hadn’t even bothered to grab a coat, but the snow and cold barely
registered, even in his thin pullover and jeans. At least
he had his shoes on before his friends arrived. His
eyes searched for movement, sensing the other two close, as they
approached the origin of the sounds. “I
hear seven different strides…no, wait, make that eight. The
last one has a lighter footfall than the others. Woman,
possibly?” That
was when they heard the sound of metal slapping against a palm, as if
they were getting ready to fire a gun. Split
up and we’ll surround them. He used their mind link
so no one could overhear their conversation. Gunnar
and Kane met his eyes and nodded, once, before they disappeared into
the pines. Xander
heard the distinct steps, those trudging through the knee-deep
mountain snow at an almost prohibitive pace, grunting as they grew
tired from their trek. He knew that if they engaged them,
the assassins would have the advantage of stealth, along with their
ability to move freely. Got
eyes? Xander
received a flash of an image. Kane had gone for higher
ground and had a view from miles around. Yeah,
on three of them. Dressed in white camo. They
don’t seem very coordinated and they are dragging the barrels of
their AR-15s through the snow. Dumbasses. Xander
heard Kane’s sarcasm and bit back a laugh. Then
he heard from Gunnar. He and Jade were the best trackers
he knew. I got the others. There’s a
smaller figure, but whoever it is, their features are obscured by a
hood and bulky jacket. That one doesn’t have a weapon. Another
image flashed and this one showed the clearing where the entire group
sprawled out without any thought to formation or protection. Some
had guns strapped to their backs; others held the guns loosely in
their hands, unprepared to shoot at any sound or movement. Xander
soon moved into position and had eyes on them. He spotted
an older man with short cropped, dark hair sprinkled with gray as he
turned toward the small figure Gunnar spoke about. “What
animals made those tracks?” Xander
rolled his eyes. The snow was too deep for any definitive
answer. It could have been anything from a bear to a
fucking moose. He paused to hear the answer, but the
mumble that came did nothing to clarify who the person was with these
armed men. But something clicked and it made perfect
sense. I
think they are looking for us. They have magazines clipped
to their belts, handguns within easy reach, and knives for
hand-to-hand combat. They are looking for animal tracks,
and they are way too fucking close to where Reaper, Kai, Seth, and I
have houses. There’s nothing else up here that they
could be searching for. Xander
froze when he heard a feminine voice carry over to him. She
sounded closer than she had been even a few moments before. He
should have sensed her coming closer. But the only
question on his mind was why the fuck she was tagging along with a
group of mercenaries. He heard the voice again, a tinny
version of her voice, and for a long moment he couldn’t understand
the words. Until she stepped forward. No,
no. Not that way. Not that way. Something
warmed his chest as he heard her in his head as clearly as if they
were speaking aloud. A familiarity washed over him and he
felt connected to this woman in an elemental way. A
feeling of a peace settled over him. He knew this was the
first time he’d ever heard her voice. He was so stunned
and happy that he didn’t even question how they were able to mind
link. Can
either of you hear the woman’s thoughts? Woman? Gunnar
sounded confused. Kane’s
reply was quick and clipped. No. Hello? Hello? Xander
tried to get her attention. Can you hear me? He
held his breath when he heard her distinct gasp, knowing that their
mind link worked. His chest filled with dread at the
thought that she gave herself away, until he heard her next words. “I
spotted a grizzly bear in the trees to the west. Sorry, I
startled him and he ran off.” For
long seconds, the men in the clearing stared at the woman before they
were ordered to keep searching. Xander
stood close enough that he could see her curves underneath the heavy
white parka. And having the worst timing in the world,
Xander felt himself harden. He took a deep, cleansing
breath of sharp mountain air that instantly cooled his overheated
body. Yes,
I can hear you. These men, seven in total, are looking for
immortals. They have been contracted by my boss at US Fish
and Wildlife to kill them. Apparently the immortals are
supposed to become animals. Can you help me without
hurting yourself? They are heavily armed.
Jade
Dark
Assassins Book Four
Jade
never wanted a mate. She loved being an assassin and she had a family
in her fellow assassins, their mates, and little Silas. She truly had
everything she needed. But when Ghost assigned her to track the same
immortals who tried to kill Xander’s family, she couldn’t
refuse.
But
the complication arises when Ghost requests she partner with Noah, a
human and ex-special forces soldier. Jade has never worked with a
human before, much less one that hated her from the moment he laid
eyes on her. But she was a professional and if she could play a part
in destroying the immortals who threatened her family, she could
accept the human. If only she knew how to fight her attraction to
him.
All
Noah Hale wanted was to kill the immortals who lured his best friend
and fellow ex-Navy SEAL to his death. He had no desire to be teamed
with a beautiful tracker who mesmerized him the moment she turned her
emerald eyes his way. But in order to stop other soldiers from
pursuing the same fate, he needed to swallow his pride and work with
a group of immortals he didn’t trust.
As
Jade and Noah track the group of shifters through the mountains of
Colorado, the danger lurking around every corner threatens everything
they both hold close. Will they be able to find a way through,
together?
***Paranormal
Romance featuring HOT Vampires and Shifters. Contains explicit sex
scenes and each book in the series ends with a HEA.***
Jade
caught a scent of a human as she entered the fourteen-story building
in downtown Snowfall. It wasn’t just any human scent,
but something that made all of her instincts flare. She
knew that she’d never caught this particular scent before, but
something told her that this human might be important to her. She
tried to brush it off as quickly as the thought came, but she
couldn’t find it coincidental she smelled it in the same steel
building owned by Ghost and housed the headquarters of Dark Company. As
she dismissed the fleeting thought of searching for the scent, her
heart thumped once, hard, in her chest at the thought of not finding
its owner. She forced herself to walk toward the elevator
bank, ignoring the unwanted perusals she received from the men in the
lobby. Even in an unassuming hoodie and black yoga pants,
she drew unwanted attention. A side effect of being an
immortal. The
elevator opened as soon as she pressed the up-button and she kept her
gaze down as she walked into the elevator. She entered the
code to get to Ghost’s private floor, her movements too quick to be
caught by the human eye, before she squeezed into the corner. Jade
used her other senses as three men in suits and two women entered the
enclosed space with her. There was no need to glance at
the glass interior that covered the back wall to see what she looked
like. She
sensed eyes on her. Instead of searching out the gaze, she
whipped her long, straight dyed black hair into a bun on the back of
her head with quick movements before sneaking her hands into the
front pockets of her hoodie. Jade
waited patiently as the car traveled toward the penthouse, her
ultimate destination, but she couldn’t help but try to find the
intriguing scent from earlier. After
my meeting. All
she knew was he hadn’t used the particular elevator she was in and
the higher the lift took her in the building, the more his scent
dissipated. In
her entire existence, or what she remembered of it, she’d never
been attracted to…anyone. She’d never felt the pull to
find someone either. But lately, she’d felt increasingly
restless whenever she had any downtime and her skin tingled in a way
that had nothing to do with signaling immediate danger. It
was as though her body tried to convey something she didn’t
understand. Her
thoughts were interrupted when a man who had gotten into the elevator
with her on the first floor stepped into her personal space. “Hey,
beautiful?” Jade
rolled her eyes and raised her head to glare at the man. Of
course, he wouldn’t take the hint that she wanted to be left
alone. To emphasize the point, she crossed her arms and
leaned against the wall, moving away from his intrusion. The
man decided to take this as an invitation and moved to wrap his arm
around her waist. The move gave her a clear shot to his
ribs and she took it, gently moving her elbow back and making
contact. She flinched when she heard a distinctive crack,
realizing she hadn’t been careful enough. Before she
could apologize, the elevator door opened and he ran off without
looking back, holding onto his side. She
sighed. Jade
had never told anyone, not even Liv, who knew more about her than
anyone else. But she hated being the center of
attention. She’d gotten so desperate to avoid it that
she dyed her hair black in order to detract from her naturally soft
ginger hair, green eyes, and freckles that made her look young. But
instead of diverting attention, she somehow drew more. She
wanted to be known for her fierce fighting and being a good
friend. She couldn’t care less what she looked like and
even less if she had a mate. Xander had wondered about
Frost for decades before meeting her, thinking he’d missed
her. Reaper hadn’t discounted his own mate, especially
after Kai found Liv, but the moment he laid eyes on Ara, he knew she
was for him. It had taken Kai almost losing Liv to
recognize what he knew all along. And their Seth had grown
up and married Aubrey, the sweetest vampire and woman Jade had ever
known. She
enjoyed her life with her family, and loved her job because she
believed that she made a difference. But each time another
assassin met their mate, their mates took one look at her and
expected Jade to be the competition. She never blamed
them, but it hurt her a little each time it happened. Gunnar
was right when he described her to Liv as needing a lot of contact
and that she loved touch. But it wasn’t because she was
seeking sexual pleasure. Being physically close to her
family, being able to hold Silas and hug those close to her, made her
red fox relax in contentment. It was why she loved it when
Silas sought her out and they talked for hours about everything and
nothing. But
being sexually intimate with someone required trust. She
had ways to pleasure herself that didn’t make her vulnerable to
anyone. Jade
shook off her thoughts as the elevator car came to a stop on her
floor. She would find out what Ghost wanted and then head
to Xander’s. She promised Silas that they could shift
and run through the woods to Kai’s, where they would have dinner
with the rest of the family. As
soon as the doors opened, she caught the scent again, only
concentrated on this floor. Well…shit. Whatever
Ghost wanted, he had a human in his office, most likely her mate.
Hunter
Dark
Assassins Book Five
Half-vampire
and half-shifter.
The
one definitive belief panther-shifter Hunter and the other immortals
understood about shifters and vampires; vampire venom is deadly to
shifters and vice versa. But Hunter never worried about testing the
theory because he never wondered if he had a mate, even after a few
of his family had found their own. As he and two others stumble upon
and eliminate several rogue shifters, part of a larger group
determined to kill each of the assassins, Hunter also stumbles upon
the one woman destined to be his. There’s only one problem. She’s
part vampire.
All
alone in the world.
Despite
everything, Neri made a life for herself after she escaped from a
facility using her as a test subject. She has no past, no family, and
no connections to the world as far as she can remember. She stays to
herself and finds a routine, telling herself she isn’t lonely. But
everything changes when she spots Hunter and her first true memory
revealed. He was there the day someone injected her with an
experimental drug and changed into this cold being.
As
Neri and Hunter navigate their newfound relationship, their journey
becomes even more complicated when they learn Neri’s venom is
deadly to shifters. But with help from the other immortals, Hunter
and Neri reveal her past and realize the extent of the threat Dark
Company has been dealing with for years.
But
can their relationship survive with so much stacked against
them?
***Paranormal
Romance featuring HOT Vampires
and Shifters. Contains explicit sex scenes and each book in the
series ends with a HEA.***
Hunter trudged through waist deep powder, grumbling about the situation he was in and cursing whatever deity who made it snow four days into September. He was used to all weather, and the cold wasn’t the issue, it was the fucking drudgery of miles and miles of hiking through the stuff as he babysat Drew that grated on his nerves. It wasn’t as though he begrudged Jade her happiness at finding her brother after all these years. But they realized after Ghost had hired him as an assassin, the man had never grown up. He pranked all of them although each of the assassins had threatened him to knock it off or risk bodily harm. They would never kill him, but Hunter was thinking about breaking his jaw for the fact the crunch as his fist connected would satisfy him for half a second before he healed. “You can’t begrudge me a little fun. I’ve been looking for Jade all these years and I took my responsibility to my family seriously.” That excuse lasted for about fifteen minutes and other than Jade and her mate Noah, the others avoided Drew as much as possible. Hunter blinked and his gaze darted toward the left when a movement caught his attention. Less than a second later, he bit back a laugh when Kane took a header in the snow, sending up a puff of white into the air as he slammed down face first on the ground. When ginger hair, brighter than Jade’s, popped up, Hunter smiled. But as Drew stood, he wiped the snow off his shoulders several feet from where Kane lay, and Hunter cleared his throat before he sent a disappointed look toward the ginger. Ghost assigned he and Kane to training duty, despite their protests. Ax, Thomas and Isaac, Gunnar, and Reaper and Ara had tried to work Drew through the assassin's training regiment and all of them failed. Drew either ignored what they had to say or refused to take part in the exercises until they'd given up and threatened Ghost if they had to deal with Drew ever again. Ghost then foisted Drew onto Kai. Hunter expected Drew to be dead by the end of the day. Kai was the most patient of the assassins and after two days of unrelenting training, he had given up on Drew and walked away without a word. Hunter hadn’t been there, but Drew still flinched whenever they mentioned Kai. Kai had a similar reaction to the man, snarling whenever he came near. Jade and Noah couldn’t train him. Jade would never endanger her brother, even to teach him the basic of hand-to-hand combat or even tracking. They would end up catching up on all the years they missed from each other’s lives. And Noah, not wanting to do anything to hurt Jade, steered clear of Drew, especially after their tumultuous beginning. Hunter didn’t mind the tiger shifter... for about ten minutes at a time. He knew the sooner he and Kane trained him to Ghost’s standards, the sooner he could steer clear of him. Kane bent his arms to prepare for lifting himself up off the ground when all three assassins sensed movement toward the west. They all stopped and opened their senses for clues who was heading toward their position. Hunter scented shifters, multiple, converging fast. I’m guessing three. Not bothering to cover the noise. I’ve got point. Hunter cut through the snow with Kane on his right and Drew on his left. As he caught sight of a black glove out of the corner of his eye, he glanced down and cursed. They were in their black tactical gear. Hunter had chosen it because Drew needed to get used to moving around with weapons and ammunition, as most of his assignments would be raids and possibly combat situations instead of stealth, which most of them specialized in. They hadn’t planned on running into any trouble so close to the mountain where most of the assassins claimed land and built homes of their own. Because of this, Ghost moved his base of operation to Snowfall from Denver and claimed his own piece of land in the same area. These shifters should have realized they trespassed in dangerous territory. But if they were from Anzû’s group, Hunter knew they didn’t have enough sense or training to avoid a fight. Keep one alive. We need intelligence. Drew? Drew, without taking his eyes from the target's position beyond the pines and evergreens, nodded once. Hunter knew the kid had skin in the game. Because of Jade and the threat to her earlier in the year, a warrior replaced his teasing personality. Knowing Kane was always ready for a fight, Hunter turned his attention toward the tree line and observed as three shifters stumbled through before two more followed. They stopped in their tracks and their eyes widened as they took in three immortals, all decked out in black. Hunter wondered for a second if they would split up and run, making the assassins chase them through the fucking mountains. A growl escaped his throat and the new additions seemed surprised by them and the hostility coming from him. The shifter in front gave a war cry before all five of them charged.
Valerie resides in Denver, Colorado with her husband and their dog, Maddie.
While
she had been interested in writing a romance novel for years, it
wasn’t until she wrote her first book that she really became
hooked, and now she can’t stop. She has notebooks full of ideas,
and she plans to write most of them in the years to come.
When
she’s not writing or learning about the craft of writing, she can
be found surfing the internet way too much, watching Investigation
Discovery and thinking that her neighbors are up to no good, and
finding new ways to get her husband to laugh.
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