Haunted Blade by JC Daniels (Shiloh Walker) spotlight and excerpt

About the Book: 

Haunted, Hunted…Harassed.

Never let it be said that Kit Colbana had ever been given the easy road. Or even the semi-paved road. Only weeks after dealing with the mysterious—and murderous—being called Puck, she’s got another killer on her hands. Perhaps even two.

Some of the bodies turning up bring up haunting memories of a past she longs to forget, but as always, that past is chasing her at her heels, like a hated shadow.

As the body count racks up, there’s an imbalance of power, particularly among the vampire population, and Kit must yet again deal with ugly memories as one of the monsters who tried to break her is set free to deal with the imbalance of power. Yet while a power struggle rages in East Orlando, there’s another, more subtle battle taking place and Kit feels like the center of it all.

Arrogant? Maybe. But the dead bodies don’t bear the mark of her grandmother’s pet killer by sheer coincidence…and she doubts her nemesis being released is either.

Buy Links: 

Kindle | iBooks | Kobo | Smashwords | BN

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Excerpt :

“You’re trying to distract me.” I tugged my shirt down only to realize at some point, he’d already gotten my bra unfastened.  Swearing, I adjusted that and moved so that the table now separated us.  “Not funny, Damon.”

“I wasn’t trying to be funny.” He tugged at his jeans and went to stretch out on the couch, watching me with heavy lidded eyes.

So he was hiding something—and it was a wasted effort because I knew what it was.

“I already know you met with Malcolm. And apparently, you’re distracted—that makes me think you’re worried about something,” I said, pacing closer to him.  “Or you’d figure out how I know.”

His nostrils flared and his body tensed.

He didn’t move from that lazy, slumped position, but his lids lifted and the dark pupils of his eyes flared, darkening his deep gray eyes to near black.  “You’ve talked to him…and Marie.  Both in one day.  I didn’t know you even knew them.  Ambitious, kitten.  You investigating me again?”

I curled my lip at him.  “Funny.”

“I’m not laughing.” He reached up and caught the front of my jeans, tugging hard enough that he pulled me off balance and I ended up falling onto his lap.

He wrapped both arms around me, holding me tight even when I tried to wiggle into a less-awkward position.

“Damn it, you’re a caveman, sometimes,” I said, jabbing him into the gut and twisting around until I was somewhat comfortable. He relented and loosened his grip, letting me sit straddling his lap. “For the record, I am not laughing either.”

Jabbing him in the chest, I added, “No, I’m not investigating you, you dumb ass. He’s telling me that he wants me to do a job—says there’s a blade he wants me to find.”

Damon blinked, the action so slow it was almost comical. He did it a second time, this just simply closed his eyes and shook his head.

“You’re not taking the job,” he said after almost a full minute of silence.

I gave him a withering look.  “You’d do better to reword that, pal, because if I even thought you were trying to dictate how I could work and who I could work for, the two of us would be having the fight to end all fights, right before I kicked your ass out of my apartment, for like…forever.”

But if I expected those words to bring about any apology, clearly, I was mistaken.

Slowly, in a move that somehow conveyed all the power in his big body, Damon rose to his feet.  His hands hung loose at his sides as he studied me, head cocked.  “If Marie was here talking to you, and if you’ve been talking to Malcolm, I’m assuming you’ve already figured out a crucial detail.”

“Just what detail is that, big guy?” I asked, chin going up.

“The prick is dangerous.”

“Newsflash—I knew that quite some time ago.  I didn’t need to talk to Marie, or him, to figure that out.  I steer clear of him anyway.”

Stalking close, Damon reached out and hooked his hand around my neck, drawing me to my toes as he hipped his head.  “Then why are we having a problem here?”

I bit his lower lip, using that as a distraction.  It almost worked.

The knee I tried to drive up between his knees worked better.

Still, between the two, I was able to twist away from him and evade his grasp as I moved farther away.  As he turned toward me, blood welling on his lip, I held up a staying hand.  “We’re about to have even bigger problems if you don’t calm the hell down,” I warned him.

He held his position, watching me with glittering eyes as he swiped the back of his hand over his mouth. The small smear of blood that remained, he cleared with a flick of his tongue.  “We’re going to have a reckoning about this soon enough, you got that?”

“I’m scared.” I curled my lip at him, mostly to piss him off—I was plenty pissed myself.  “Do you honestly think I’m stupid enough to work for him?  He’s either fae or an ancient—or both—and you think I’m that crazy, even after what went down with Puck?”

Damon’s brows shot up, then slowly, his face relaxed.  “You know what he is.”

“Please.” Smoothing my shirt down, I tried to settle myself, but the anger buzzing off him was taking on an erotic edge and that was affecting me in very, very unsettling ways.  “Give me some credit.  I realize I haven’t been around the block as many times as you have, old man, but I’m not exactly an idiot.”

He rocked back on his heels, still eying me narrowly.  “Since you know what he is and you’ve already said you don’t plan to work for him…what’s the problem?”

“You!” Huffing out a breath, I crossed my arms over my chest.  “You big ass, you don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do!  You’re not my alpha! You’re not my sugar daddy, my boss or my master.  I love you, Damon, but you don’t get to control me—I don’t obey your orders but you think you can growl and snarl at me and I’ll meekly obey, after all this time?”

Read more here http://jcdanielsblog.com/haunted-blade-colbana-files-6/

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About the Author: 

J.C. Daniels is the alter ego of author Shiloh Walker and was created basically because Shiloh writes like a hyperactive bunny and an intervention was necessary.  J.C. is the intervention.  The name… J.C. Daniels is a play off of the three people who pretty much run Shiloh’s life.

J.C./Shiloh Walker has been writing since she was a kid. She fell in love with vampires with the book Bunnicula and has worked her way up to the more…ah…serious works of fiction. She loves reading and writing just about every kind of romance. Once upon a time she worked as a nurse, but now she writes full time and lives with her family in the Midwest.  She writes urban fantasy, romantic suspense and paranormal romance, among other things.

About Me…seriously

They always say to tell a little about yourself! I was born in Kentucky and have been reading avidly since I was six. Writing became more my focus in middle school-I had a very boring teacher and voices in my head.  There was also a book that didn’t end the way I wanted it to end-don’t ask me the book, because I don’t remember.  I just remember I started writing.  I never stopped.

About me now… hmm… I’ve been married since I was 19 to my high school sweetheart and we live in the mid-west. I started writing full time in 2004, which lets me write during the day and still devote more time to my family- three adorable children who are growing way too fast and my husband who doesn’t see enough of me.

I like to read.  There’s a shocker!

This list will vary, a lot, but personal faves include Nora Roberts, Stacia Kane, Ilona Andrews, Kresley Cole, Julie James, but my all time favorite is SL Viehl.  She writes sci fi and romance, but my favorite of hers is the sci fi series Star Doc.  If you haven’t read them, I think you’re missing out.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Blog

Review to follow. This is another great addition to the series!

Haunted Blade (A Kit Colbana Novel) by J.C. Daniels COVER REVEAL

Haunted Blade

A Kit Colbana Novel

By J.C. Daniels 

About the Book:

Haunted, Hunted…and harassed.

Never let it be said that Kit Colbana had ever been given the easy road. Or even the semi-paved road.  Only weeks after dealing with the mysterious—and murderous—being called Puck, she’s got another killer on her hands. Perhaps even two. 

Some of the bodies turning up bring up haunting memories of a past she longs to forget, but as always, that past is chasing her at her heels, like a hated shadow.

As the body count racks up, there’s an imbalance of power, particularly among the vampire population and Kit must yet again deal with ugly memories as one of the monsters who tried to break her is set free to deal with the imbalance of power.

Yet while a power struggle rages in East Orlando, there’s another, more subtle battle taking place and Kit feels like the center of it all.

Arrogant? Maybe. But the dead bodies don’t bear the mark of her grandmother’s pet killer by sheer coincidence…and she doubts her nemesis being released is either.

Releasing in September.

Pre order Links: 

Kindle | iBooks | Kobo | Smashwords



Other books in the series:

                 

and...


 

F*ck Club: Riley by Shiloh Walker (review) ADULT title

If you can't tell from the title, lol, this is an ADULT title





F*ck Club: Riley
by Shiloh Walker




Blurb:

"The first rule of F*ck Club...we don’t talk about it. We just do the job and get paid."

And Riley Steele did his job very well. He’ll be the first to admit that his current life isn’t the one he’d foreseen. It’s not even one he really wants, but after his parents died and he was left to care for two siblings and a mountain of debt, he was willing to do almost anything.

Now, after almost ten years of being paid to pleasure, he’s almost numb to it…and to women.

That all changes with one phone call. Brianna Sharpe, the girl he’d loved as a boy, is leaving an abusive lover and needs someplace to hide.

Opening his home to Bree is easy. Protecting his heart is a different story. She’d completely shattered it once already. But Bree has changed and Riley wants to think there might be a chance. Only...what will she do when she discovers his secrets?


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My review:

3.75 stars

F*ck Club: Riley by Shiloh Walker is an erotic contemporary romance that introduces Riley Steele, who found an unconventional way to support his siblings after their parents were killed. He’s never forgotten his love for his childhood sweetheart, Briana Sharp, even after they grew apart and she made unwise choices. Unfortunately, danger is swirling around them and they may never get a chance to find out if they can regain what they once had.

Filled with the author’s trademark tortured souls, this romantic suspense story is an entertaining exploration of the twists and turns life can take when evil intersects with it. I love the way both the heat and the danger gradually intensify, even as more is revealed about some of the secondary characters. I wasn’t crazy about all of the solutions because I think things went too quickly (although, granted some things were way overdue) and I wasn’t convinced about the punishments conferred, so I have to wonder whether things are being left dangling for future stories in the series. Despite this (and despite my dislike of the title of the series), this was a delicious introduction to a new series peopled by sexy and intriguing men and the women they love.

A copy of this title was provided to me for review

Shadowed Blade by J.C. Daniels (spotlight and excerpt)

SHADOWED BLADE

Shadowed Blade, Kit Colbana Book 5

Something wicked this way comes…

The arrival of a very important person in her office seemed to be the start of a lot of problems for Kit Colbana, investigator extraordinaire.  Claiming that he needed somebody with her special skillset, he sends her on a series of jobs that made little to no sense until one culminated with both her and her partner, Justin barely escaping with their lives.

Back in Orlando, they go their separate ways to recover, Justin heading to the house of a local witch, while Kit returns to the Lair, where she’s recently been living with her lover Damon, the Alpha of the Southern Cat Clans.

There’s barely a chance for to catch her breath before trouble of the highest order comes knocking on her door. This time, it’s the form of a psychic by the name of Nova.  Nova has bad, bad news…Justin has gone missing and so has the witch who was going to put him up while he healed. Colleen, one of Kit’s closest, dearest friends.

With all sorts of non-humans disappearing, fury doesn’t even touch what Kit is feeling as she heads out to hunt down the people responsible.

But Kit isn’t the only one out on a hunt…somebody is hunting for her…somebody Kit would rather never, ever see again.

*****

It was just pure dumb luck that I found her at all.

The… Well, I can’t say it was a house, but it had been her home. She’d left it weeks ago, maybe longer. It was dying, too.

Granted, when I’d been sent out to look for her, I’d thought maybe it was another wild goose chase—the first job had been a pain in the ass, too.

But this one…

Hell.

I was staring at a dryad.

A real dryad.

She turned her head and stared at me with eyes the color of good, strong oak. In her hand, she had a branch she used to draw circles in the earth.

After a few seconds of us studying each other, she went back to looking out over the river, her gaze sad.

“What is it you want?” she asked, her voice reedy and thin.

Like she was fading, dying as swiftly as the tree she’d left behind.

As I fumbled for an answer, she lifted the branch and plucked off one of the leaves. They were still green. But the moment she plucked that single leaf away, it withered, shriveled, and then it was dust—even before it hit the ground.

“I…” Uneasy, I licked my lips. “Your tree is dying.”

“No.” Those dark brown eyes came back to mine. “It is already dead. It died when I left it. It just hasn’t figured that out yet. It will. But that isn’t what you want.”

“Why did you leave it?”

“Because the wind whispered it was time.” She lifted a shoulder and the wispy strips of cloth that made up her garments drifted with the movement before settling back into black. She was more naked than clothed—covered at her breasts and hips. Her skin was a mottled mix of brown and tan. She could stand in the trees and scarcely be seen, but standing out here on the side of the road and gazing into the river, she stood out.

That was how I’d found her.

I’d been heading back to East Orlando, carefully thinking through the call I’d have to make, when I saw her. I’d been driving the backroads, mostly because I wanted to think, and all the traffic on the main roads annoyed me.

The last thought I’d had before caught sight of the woman had been…I never should have taken this stupid job.

My current client—I now realized—was a self-important, pompous prick. 

But I’d accepted the contract, and for another three weeks, I was giving him twenty hours a week for work of a sensitive nature. His term, not mine.

The first job, I’d been asked to find out if there was any truth to the rumors of a Green Man who might be living in Alabama—he had a locale and a few names; he wanted me to look around and see what I thought. I’d also been asked to talk to the families of a couple missing NHs while in the area. Missing non-humans was why I’d taken the damn job to begin with.

Missing people. He had connections.

There weren’t many who had more connections than the President of the United States of America, after all.

When I’d told him I didn’t see the connection between a possible Green Man and the disappearances, he’d pointed out that a Green Man would have ways of seeing things happening in nature that I could never see.

Well…true enough.

But if there was something weirder than a shifter in those decaying woods, then I hadn’t felt it.

My boss hadn’t seemed bothered when I’d been unsuccessful. But I hadn’t wanted to tell him I’d found a dryad’s tree…and no dryad.

Right now, though, I wanted even less to tell him I’d found the dryad.

“The wind told you it was time?” Raking her up and down with a look, I shook my head. “What else is the wind telling you to do?”

“The wind tells me to do nothing.” A serene smile curled her lips as she plucked off another leaf. This time, when it shriveled and faded, she seemed to fade a little more, too.

Oh, shit.

“Is that from your tree?” I asked softly.

“Yes. All that is left, all that is living.” She plucked another leaf. “Once it is gone...”

“So why are you killing it?”

“Because unlike Albus, I am not strong. I cannot stand up to pain and torture. Even cutting down a single tree would break me, and he has much more in mind than cutting down trees.”

Abruptly, she wrenched a handful of leaves, four, five, six… Dust blew around me and I rushed to her as she swayed, then staggered. She felt lighter than air as I eased her down. Her skin felt like the smooth bark on a young tree. “What are you talking about?”

She just shook her head. “It’s been a long time coming. This…this is best. I’ll see Albus soon.”

She tried to fumble a few more leaves off but her hands shook too much.

“Please.” She looked at me.

My phone rang.

She continued to watch me with those calm, patient eyes. Patient, solid. 

Like an oak.

I took the branch and stripped the remaining leaves off as the phone rang again.

By the third ring, she was withering away, turning to nothing but dust and ash that blew away in the soft, chilly fall breeze.

I answered the fourth ring.

“Ms. Colbana, I was calling for an update.”

“I found her.” Dragging a finger through the dust, I rose to my feet and stared down. Even the branch was gone. “She’s dead, sir.”

“He’s pissed.”

Shanelle Maguire was a beautiful bitch and she delivered the words in a stark voice as she dropped into the chair across from my desk.

“I gathered that.” I’d just finish talking to him myself. Whitmore was a pain in the ass. “Did he send you here to snarl and snap at me in hopes of making me do better?”

She snorted. “Like that’d do any good.” She skimmed her hands back over her hair in what I’d come to realize was a nervous habit. Beautiful bitch or not, I’d come to sort of like her over the past ten days. She was blunt and didn’t hold back the truth, something I could definitely appreciate. 

She was also manipulative as hell—something I less appreciated—but she knew how to make things happen. “Look, I was standing out—”

“This is my shocked face.”

“Shut up,” she said, sighing in annoyance. “I heard you explaining what happened. What were you going to do? She wanted to die. 

 Although…wow. Picking leaves off a tree branch—that’s crazy.”

“Dryads have a connection to their chosen trees.” I shrugged and thought of the forest giant I’d gone back to look at before returning home. It hadn’t turned to dust, but it was dead. It had been an oddity, standing there in the middle of the forest where so many trees had already gone brilliantly orange and yellow, but its leaves had been green…mostly. Some, though, had been going brown. Not yellow or orange, the way you’d think.

But brown.

All the leaves had been gone the second time I saw it and the branches hung despondent, as if the tree’s strength had simply drained out of it with the life of the dryad gone. I’d touched the bark and it had crumbled under the light pressure.

A few storms, a few hard rains, and it would come crashing down.

“So she just lay there, plucked the last few leaves and died, huh?” Shanelle wasn’t even looking at me. She was staring off at nothing, looking about as tired as I felt—although I doubted it was for the same reason.

“Faded into dust,” I said, carefully dancing around the fact that I wasn’t telling the complete truth. I’d had to do the same with Whitmore, but for some reason, I was reluctant to explain that I had been the one to strip away those few remaining leaves.

Whitmore had really wanted to talk to that dryad.

My gut was all twisted and hot as I remembered what she had said.

“Because unlike Albus, I am not strong. I cannot stand up to pain and torture. Even cutting down a single tree would break me and he has much more in mind than cutting down trees.”

Who was Albus?

Who was the he she’d been referring to? I had a bad feeling it might be my client—but there was no way I could even try to figure that out without questioning him; everything in me was saying Don’t…

I thought of asking Shanelle, probing gently. I knew how to dance around things and be subtle. It wasn’t my greatest skill, but I could do it.

While I was debating, though, the door swung open.

The sight of the man standing there was enough to distract me, though.

“Justin...”

I hurtled across the room and caught him up in a hug so hard, he was laughing and wheezing at the same time. “Careful there, Kit…I break.”

I didn’t care. “You’re awake.”

“Seems that way. Although if you keep squeezing the life out of me...”

Two weeks ago, Justin had almost died. The first week, he’d been in a coma. He’d started to stir, but another friend of ours, Colleen had used her healing to put him back under.

“The swelling in his brain has gone down, but there’s still a lot of healing to do—the area of the brain that controls magic has been heavily damaged and the longer he rests, the more likely it will be that he’ll regain full control.”

We’d agreed. He needed to stay asleep for a bit longer, but Colleen could only hold him for a few more days before she had to bring him back.

“I didn’t know she was letting you up today.”

He patted my back when I sniffed.

Absently, I’d realized Shanelle had left and I still needed to talk to her. But that could wait.

Buy links

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-- Shiloh Walker
http://www.shilohwalker.com/website/

Busted by Shiloh Walker (spotlight, excerpt and GIVEAWAY)

Busted

This book is part of series, The Barnes Brothers, but each book is self-contained, written to stand on its own.

Blurb:

Like his brothers Zach and Zane, Trey Barnes thought he had found the love of his life. But fate had other plans. A widower who’s had to raise his five-year-old son on his own, Trey has not allowed himself to be with another woman. Until he meets Ressa Bliss at—of all places—a children’s library program. The beautiful librarian is wonderful with his son, Clay, but every time Trey even considers asking her out, he is tortured by guilt.

Fate is indeed fickle. When the two meet again at a conference, this time the attraction is too powerful to resist. But is their connection and passion strong enough to survive Trey’s deep inner torment? 

Snippet #5

Fuck this. Trey pushed away from the wall and turned, half stumbling toward the bed.

If it all fell apart, well, he might as well enjoy it as much as he could before then.

He bumped into something on the way to her bed, swore. Did it again and then swore again, tearing his mouth away from hers only to have her catch his head and try to draw him back. Three boxes, a suitcase and a desk the size of a postage stamp turned the room into an obstacle course. Shifting his grip on her, he edged around the desk, a box—her teeth caught his ear. “You’re taking too long.”

He grunted as he reached the bed, slowly lowering her to her feet. 

“Sorry.” Holding her eyes, he reached down, catching the material bunched around her waist, dragging it up. “Can we do away with this?”

“Let’s.” She turned, presenting her back and sweeping her hair out of the way.

Catching the tab of the zipper, he dragged it down, watched as it the material spread open. Lust slammed into him as flesh was revealed. The band of her bra, the same bright murder red she’d slicked across her lips, interrupted the smooth skin of her back. But that wasn’t the only color.

Flames.

Twining around elegant, scrolled print. It started at her nape and ran down the line of her spine.

Desperate to see more of her, he shoved the material down over her arms. It caught at her waist, bunched there and he shoved it lower until it hung over her hips. She went to wiggle out of it but he caught her waist, eyes locked on the tattoo. And despite how his cock throbbing, despite the need that had his hands all but shaking, he found himself smiling, almost charmed.

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Previous books in the series:

                                                  

Darker Than Desire by Shiloh Walker (review)

4.5 out of 5 stars


Darker Than Desire by Shiloh Walker is the exciting conclusion to the stark and compelling 'Secrets & Shadows' series which has centered around the evil that permeates the small town of Madison. The ongoing investigation into murders past and recent is complicated by the continued reticence of those who were severely damaged by the actions of those they should have been able to trust. The man who is at the heart of the initial investigation may have been irrevocably injured, but his belief that he is unable and unworthy of emotional ties is challenged as he continues to lose those few who have found a way past the walls he has erected to protect his damaged psyche.


The body count continues to rise and the eerie occurrences taking place ratchet up the tension in the town and provides fodder for both malicious gossips and those investigating the various crimes. The physical and emotional scars borne by all too many of those touched by the heinous Cronus web are coped with in a variety of ways and every attempt to move forward seems destined to be countered by something that drags the players backward. The passion and acceptance provided by the woman who accepts her lover's faults may not be enough to offset the damage he has sustained, particularly if the ongoing murders continue to cast suspicion on him, but he will have to learn that he is not the only one who will have a say in his future.


This definitely dark and erotic romantic suspense tale has been unfolding with unexpected twists throughout the entire series and this particular tale definitely provides even more shocking revelations as it progresses. I love the combination of pathos and heat that characterizes the interactions of the main couple and the fact that there is some closure finally achieved for some of those we have come to know over the course of the series. There are fascinating interactions between those who have had their lives disrupted by all of the events, hidden or not, that have shaped the town and its inhabitants. This is an excellent end to a mesmerizing and sometimes uncomfortable series that explores the permutations of evil, revenge, justice and healing. It would be better to read all of the books in the series to particularly appreciate the events described but one could probably still enjoy this as a gripping standalone story.

© Night Owl Reviews 

I received a copy of this title in return for an honest review. 


Previous titles in the series:


                                     

Furious Fire by Shiloh Walker (Release day blast, excerpt, and GIVEAWAY)

  

We are so thrilled to bring you the Release Day Launch for Shiloh Walker's Furious Fire! Furious Fire is the eighth novel in Shiloh’s Grimm’s Circle Series published by Samhain Publishing! Think you know fairy tales? Think again...
  
                                           
 
 

Amazon ** Barnes & Noble ** iTunes

About Furious Fire: November 2014 The Grimm are coming to an end…the second to last book He is the love of all her lives…
 
Grimm’s Circle, Book 8

Thomas Finn, troublemaker, gunslinger, guardian angel…loner. More than a hundred and fifty years ago, he was shot in the back then brought back to life just in time to watch a demon masquerading as his best friend kill the love of his life.

Now, as a Grimm, he satisfies his need for vengeance hunting down demons like the ones that took Rebecca from him. His mission: kill as many as he can, then, when the time comes, go down in a blaze of glory. But with each kill, he comes closer to a line no angel should cross.

Her name was Rebecca. Then it was Tilly. Then Ada. Now, Kallypso. She’s lived so many lives, she can’t even remember when or why it started. All she knows is, she’s always searching for a man with golden eyes that make her burn. And when she finds him—as she always does—she knows that spark of joy means she’s only seconds away from death…again.

This time will be no different…unless something breaks the cycle once and for all.

Warning: Contains the Groundhog Day of star-crossed lovers, a pissed-off guardian angel, a demon-hunter with an axe to grind, and the battle to end all battles. Be warned…there’s pain ahead in this book. Oh, and that HEA finally happens. For these two, anyway.


Excerpt:

As for this life, it’s possible that back when I was still a little kid, I might have been too innocent to understand just what a demon was. Back then, I’d only believed in monsters. In evil.

Children can sense evil. If you watch them, you can see it. They know who to pull away from, who to trust…who to not trust.

Of course, not all children are able to do that. Evil can be so very clever. It knows how to hide. But sometimes a child can see things more clearly than we do. I think even when I was very young, I looked out at the world and saw the same things I see now…

The monsters.

That was the reason I wanted my mother to check under my bed, the reason I needed the lights burning even when I was past the age when my friends were no longer afraid of the dark.

They weren’t truly monsters, something I found out all too soon. Demons, in human skin, and that makes them so much more deadly.

If they looked like the demons we saw on TV or in books, it would be easier to stay away from them.

Maybe then, I wouldn’t have seen what I’d seen.

I was ten when it happened.

Lying in bed, hugging a pillow to my chest.

My mother had slipped out into the backyard and I knew something was wrong.

The neighbor…there was something not right with him.

My grandma had teased her about been moonstruck, but it was something far worse. Practically obsessed, she’d slid out into the backyard to flirt with him. She couldn’t see him the way I did.

That was a crucial piece of information. I’d finally figured that much out. It had saved me a lot of grief, something I hoped I’d remember when I died this time.

It would have saved me a lot of trouble if I’d known it last time around.

The last time…

Bits and pieces of those other lives filtered through my mind at odd occurrences, but none of those memories—or the lives—had been particularly happy. There were vague memories of a man. Wavy reddish-brown hair that tumbled into his face, eyes that glowed like molten copper, a quicksilver grin and a temper to match.

Thomas. Tommy…my Tommy.

His name was Thom and every moment of happiness in any of those lives was because of him.

And the moment I met him, I had to get ready. Because I’d be dead within weeks. Sometimes minutes, sometimes days. I’d never know.

But it always happened. I’d figured that out in my last life and I’d carried the knowledge through into this one.

So far, I’d managed to live longer than my average—I was twenty-six, practically a senior citizen.

If I could avoid him, I might even see thirty.

But if I avoided him, I’d never see happiness.

Talk about your trade-offs.

 

This will be the second to the last in the Grimm series…make sure you read it if you want to see how it all comes down…

CANDY HOUSES, Book 1

No Prince Charming, Book 2

I Thought It Was You, Book 2.5-Grimm's Circle Novella

Crazed Hearts, Book 3

Tarnished Knight, Book 4

Locked in Silence, Book 5

Grimm Tidings, Book 6

Blind Destiny, Book 7

     

About Shiloh Walker: Shiloh Walker is an award-winning writer…yes, really! She’s also a mom, a wife, a reader and she pretends to be an amateur photographer. She published her first book in 2003. Her newest series, Secrets and Shadows, launched in April 2014. Look for the newest book Deeper Than Need, to be followed by Sweeter Than Sin and Darker Than Desire. She writes romantic suspense, contemporary and paranormal romance, and urban fantasy under the name J.C. Daniels.  

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