Blurb:
In the four months since hedgehog shifter Avery
Babineaux started investigating the disappearance of a young female werewolf
from the Portland Pack, he’s discovered his life’s passion. Now he’s
apprenticing under established PI Corbin Reid. Avery hopes his training with
Reid will help him finally bring Lacey home, but detective work isn’t without
its perils, and the potential dangers strain his relationship with his new
mate, Dylan.
Dylan Green would be perfectly content with his
mating and his motorcycle shop if it wasn’t for his constant worry about
Avery’s safety and the fact that Avery’s never home. Proud as he might be of
Avery’s determination to prove his worth and fulfill his promise to Lacey’s
father, Dylan can’t stand the thought of Avery being hurt. Yet what right does
he have to demand Avery give up his job when it’s clear Avery’s found his true
purpose? Still, Dylan wishes he could, and the appearance of a new police
detective who sets his sights on Avery only adds to the tension.
Something has to give, but stubbornness runs in both
their veins, and it might take a catastrophe for them to find a compromise they
can live with.
~*~
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Links:
~*~
Excerpt:
Running
naked through the woods was exactly what Dylan Green needed. Thank the weather
gods they’d held back the rain for the past few days. At least the ground was
drier. Although wet forest floors didn’t matter to Dylan’s wolf. He was ready
to stretch all four legs. It had been too long. Even longer since he’d run with
his mate.
“Can
you not get this heap to move any faster?” Avery practically vibrated off the
seat next to him. Good thing he’d chosen the Firebird over his bike today.
“Hey
now. Phoenix is not a heap.” Dylan patted the pristine dash, brushing over the
treated wood with love. After glancing at the speedometer, he said, “We’re
going the speed limit.” Which, yes, he knew was an anomaly for him, but only
when he was on his bike. Phoenix required more finesse.
Before
he could say anything else, Avery snorted and cut him off. “Phoenix?”
Unabashed,
Dylan kept his focus on the road. “Firebird. Phoenix. Phe and I have been
through a lot together. She’s pa—”
“Did
you just nickname the car you call Phoenix? And dear God”—Dylan grinned at
Avery’s pronunciation of God. It came out more like “Gawd.” He loved how
Avery’s accent took over when he was teasing or passionate or angry—“please
don’t tell me you’re about to say this mash of metal, oil, and leather is part
of your family, our family. I do not,
nor will I ever, claim a hunk of junk as a child. You can bet your ass I won’t
be wiping its behind.”
That,
in fact, was exactly what Dylan was going to say, but thinking about it at the
moment, he had to admit how ridiculous it sounded out loud. Though he’d never
say so to Avery.
Avery
continued, “And let me guess, you talk to your baby.” Dylan could practically
hear the giggle Avery was working so hard to suppress. “Does Phe talk back?”
The
road up to Forest Park was narrow and curvy, so turning to look at Avery would
have to wait. However, he did roll his eyes and reach over to pinch Avery’s
thigh. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said. “Cars don’t have verbal skills.” And,
yes, he did talk to Phoenix, because until Avery came along, Phe had been the
one thing in his life he’d pampered and taken care of that had never let him
down. So what if he talked aimlessly to a vehicle? He’d worked hard to build
her. That bond was unbreakable.
He
thought of Avery, then amended himself. Almost
unbreakable.
Phoenix
was his baby. She had seen him through many tough times, and he had done the
same for her, but there was no connection stronger than what linked Dylan and
Avery. Sitting only inches away and not touching, Dylan still felt Avery like a
second skin. So much so that, as he turned off the road to park near one of the
forest trails, he felt Avery’s mirth
in his bones. Without looking, he knew his mate would have a sparkle in his
earthy hazel eyes and a smirk on the lips Dylan craved so much.
He
even knew Avery would chuckle before he did, but that had more to do with
knowing the man than an actual feeling.
“So
what you’re saying is Phoenix doesn’t talk back when you ask how her day went?”
Dylan
pulled into an available spot, turned off the engine, and opened his door.
“You’re such a pain in the ass,” he replied with a wink and unfolded himself
from the front seat.
“Aww”—Avery
chased him from the car—“you say the nicest things.”
The
brush of Avery’s palm over his ass had the ever-smoldering embers of need inside
Dylan blazing to life, completely trumping the lighthearted teasing. How was it
possible he wanted Avery more every day?
“You
know,” Avery said in a low but conversational tone as they walked to where
Lucas, Sawyer, and Kirk were parking their bikes. “I like it when you’re a pain
in my ass. What do you say we blow this run and….” He trailed off, quirking his
brow at the obvious.
Dylan
groaned. Temptation had nothing on Avery Babineaux, and Dylan’s first instinct
was to give in to the suggestion, but then he remembered why they were there in
the first place.
In
the months following Avery’s rescue from the warehouse and Melnyk’s entry into
protective custody, Avery stayed true to his word. With help from one of
Lucas’s ex-flings, Avery was currently a proud PI’s apprentice. It would still
take months—many of them—for Avery to complete the hours of training needed to
gain his own license, but he was well on his way. Corbin Reid, Lucas’s ex’s
cousin, had taken Avery under his wing and in turn consumed most of his
downtime. Dylan had only rare moments with his mate, depending on Avery’s busy
work schedule—honeymoon phase or not. Visits to Wolfhound and even nightclubs
with Avery were few and far between. Avery spent long hours immersing himself
in the world of investigation and soaking up every little thing Reid was
willing to teach. And when he wasn’t working, he was searching for Lacey.
By
the time they’d broken the first link in the chain of the trafficking ring,
Lacey had been missing four months. They had just crossed over into February,
which made it six months, and from what they’d heard, the police were no closer
to finding Lacey than Avery was. It didn’t help that Wallace, the shifter
detective they’d been getting updates from, had gone silent once he transferred
into the Human Trafficking Task Force.
While
days turned into weeks and weeks into months, Avery hunted the dregs of every
single lead he could scrounge up. Dylan watched helplessly as the effects of
dead end after dead end weighed heavily on his mate. To say he felt useless was
an understatement.
Then
Mother Nature smiled down on them, with cloudless skies and sunshine in the
middle of the wet season. It gave Dylan and Avery the opportunity for the one
thing they both needed. Fun.
Dylan
hadn’t enjoyed a run in weeks, and it had been longer since he’d played with
Avery in the woods. A run was long overdue, and as great as a long hard fuck
sounded right then, Dylan knew Avery’s hedgehog had to be aching for freedom
too. Besides, having his mate naked and writhing under him was always a
possibility when they got home.
Or
in the car before they left the park. Dylan smiled, thankful he’d driven
Phoenix, even on such a beautiful day. It was an inspired decision. He could
definitely see some hot and dirty backseat action in his future.
Looking
down, Dylan’s heart filled at the contented look on Avery’s face. All signs of
worry and stress were vanquished for the moment. Dylan wondered, not for the
first time, if they would ever have a break, ever have time to enjoy their new
mating, or whether it would be a never-ending struggle, with outside forces
constantly interfering.
“What?”
Avery squinted, perplexed. Knowing Avery felt his concern warmed him.
Damn,
Dylan didn’t think he’d ever get enough of his mate.
Avery’s
nostrils flared, and Dylan knew he sensed his arousal as much as smelled it. He
pulled Avery to him and brushed their lips together. As with most things
between him and Avery, the kiss quickly deepened. Avery slipped his hand from
Dylan’s hip to his chest and tweaked his nipple. Dylan groaned and pushed his
tongue into Avery’s mouth, claiming what was already his. It was a battle of
wills Dylan knew all too well as Avery’s perfectly orchestrated dance of want
and desire balanced on a thin thread Dylan threatened to tear down each time.
All of Avery’s taunting and flirting—it was foreplay, and Dylan could hardly
wait for the fireworks. It was always worth the wait with Avery. Always.
“For
the love of God, could you two get a room?” Lucas complained as he walked up.
“Is it impossible to go five minutes without mauling each other?”
Dylan’s
only response was a chuckle into Avery’s mouth as he pushed his fingers through
Avery’s hair, holding him in place to prolong the kiss. He didn’t have to look
to know Avery flipped off Lucas, mostly because he heard the laughter coming
from their other friends.
When
he pulled his mouth away, Dylan rested his forehead on Avery’s, breathing
heavily. Christ, he loved the dazed, sated look Avery got when he was ready to
drop to his knees, his cheeks flushed, and his lips swollen. All because of
Dylan. Maybe Dylan should kick his own ass for not taking Avery up on his
offer.
~*~
Bios:
Piper Vaughn wrote her first love story at eleven
and never looked back. Since then, she’s known that writing in some form was
exactly what she wanted to do. A reader at the core, Piper loves nothing more
than getting lost in a great book—fantasy, young adult, romance, she loves them
all (and has a two-thousand-book library to prove it!). She grew up in Chicago,
in an ethnically diverse neighborhood, and loves to put faces and characters of
every ethnicity in her stories, so her fictional worlds are as colorful as the
real one. Above all, she believes that everyone needs a little true love in
their life…even if it’s only in a book.
Visit
Piper at:
~*~
Kenzie Cade was born and raised in the South where
she spends her days in the sometimes stressful field of private medicine
observing interesting people and committing them to memory for later use. When
she isn’t reading, experimenting with recipes, or being distracted by social
media, Kenzie spends time with her family, friends, and the
Pomeranian/Long-haired Chihuahua mix who likes to keep her company while she
writes. As a young girl, Kenzie dreamed of princesses and their white knights.
As an adult (or sort of adult), she dreams of princes and their proverbial
white knights, which she attributes the fellow Arkansan S.E. Hinton and her
novel The Outsiders. Writing to keep the fictional voices at bay, Kenzie enjoys
the journeys her characters travel to find their happy endings, and she loves
the challenge of writing a great love story.
Contact Kenzie at kenziecade.author@gmail.com. You
can also find her online at her blog: kenziecade.wordpress.com; on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kenziecade.author;
and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thekenziecade.
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