Mistletoe
Kisses
Westmore
Wolves
Book
Five
Erzabet
Bishop
Genre:
Erotic PNR, Shifter, Holiday
Publisher:
All Romance eBooks
Date
of Publication: 12/1/2016
ISBN:
978-1-945193-88-0
ASIN:
B01MXI521W
Word
Count: 20000
Cover
Artist: Erin Dameron Hill
Book
Description:
With
some gifts, it’s all about the unwrapping...
Jess
looks forward to a holiday season of saving puppies and working at
the shelter. With her new sister-in-law taking over the Yuletide
Gathering, it’s run for the hills or wind up covered in glitter.
What she doesn’t anticipate is her brother lining up yet another in
a long string of bodyguards. She might be a wolf who can’t shift,
but that doesn’t mean she needs anyone’s protection. When things
heat up during the festivities, she finds herself face to face with
the one man who just might hold the key to her heart.
It
was supposed to be a two-week Ops for ridding the world of hybrid
wolves, not a babysitting gig for the spoiled sister of the Westmore
Pack Alpha. But when Thorne sets eyes on the curvy brunette, he finds
a fierce beauty with a soft interior just begging to be tamed, and
he’s just the gargoyle to do it.
Excerpt:
Thorne sat across
the desk from his new employer and tried unsuccessfully to shake away
the incredulous feeling gnawing at his gut. He’d come to Westmore
with the understanding that this would be a two-week Ops mission to
locate and destroy the violent hybrid wolves he’d been hearing
about. They a role to play in his father’s death, he was certain of
it, and now he could finally get the answers he was seeking and kill
a few in the process. But, as he sat across from the Westmore Pack
Alpha, he found himself staring at the man, completely disbelieving
his ears.
“That wasn’t the
job.”
“I want her
protected.” Thorne met Carrick’s eyes, and Thorne struggled to
hold in his frustration. This was why he’d been brought to the
famed Westmore Estate? The Alpha was legendary for taking down his
predecessors with nothing but brains and his own two hands…but to
suggest he babysit a female? He was no one’s nanny.
“You want me to be
a bodyguard? For a woman?” Thorne sputtered and erupted from the
chair, stalking to the window. He kept one eye on the comings and
goings outside and another on the man behind the desk. Thorne had
come at night, as requested, to see the estate at its most
vulnerable. What he hadn’t expected was to be insulted.
“Not just a woman.
My sister. And the job is a trial period for two weeks.”
“And after?”
The Alpha thrummed
his fingers on the desk. “We’ll talk about that if you’re still
here.”
What the hell was
that supposed to mean?
The door opened and
another man entered, closing it behind him. Thorne eyed the man and
waited to be introduced. The pinched look of the other man’s mouth
and worry lines in his face indicated he cared about this woman.
Interesting.
“Where is she?”
the Alpha demanded.
“Probably at the
shelter again. She’s not in her room and the guard at the front
gate said she took off around eight this morning. Something about an
adoption drive at Barks.”
“Thorne, this is
Reid, my second in command.” Carrick ran his hand through his mane
of dark hair and frowned. “Jesus, she knows I want her to be
careful. I keep telling her to quit, but she won’t listen. After
what happened with that fucking dragon…”
The other man, Reid,
unconsciously rubbed at his arm.
“You were
injured.” Thorne stepped away from the window and moved deeper into
the room. He could sense their unease. Perhaps something more was
happening here than met the eye.
“I was.”
Dragons? Now that
was interesting.
“I was told there
were hybrid wolves.”
“Originally, that
was the contract. Yes.” Carrick rose from the chair, came around
the desk, and leaned against it. “But we’ve come to find out that
the previous alpha may still have some support out there.”
“A dragon?”
Thorne raised an eyebrow. Dragon kind and Night Wing gargoyles were
not on friendly terms. Territorial disputes in his homeland had made
them natural enemies. But here? That would remain to be seen. Not
that he would mind tangling with one.
“An old bastard of
a firefighter, too. Seemed like he was setting more blazes at the end
rather than putting them down.” Carrick’s lips thinned and his
jaw clenched. “He endangered the life of my mate.”
Thorne considered
the Alpha carefully.
“If you’ve
rooted him out, then why am I here?”
“He’s not the
only one,” Reid bit out. “We know there are more out there. What
remains to be seen are when and where they choose to rear their ugly
heads.”
“Why don’t you
go to them?” It seemed a simple question, but the shuttered looks
from the men in front of him stopped the suggestion before it could
go any further.
“The Yule
Gathering is coming and I want no complications. Likely as not, there
are more of them out there and I won’t take a chance with my mate,
my sister, or my pack. I spoke with your last employer and he said
you were the best, most unobtrusive operative he had.”
“I am.”
And Thorne could
find the creatures the Alpha sought. All he had to do was give the
command.
Thorne wasn’t
boasting. It was the truth. People paid for his work and paid him
well.
“Good,” Reid
snorted. “If you’re tailing Jess, you’re going to need it.”
“Is she your mate,
this…Jess?”
“No.” A shade of
pink crept up the sides of the other man’s face. “More like…a
sister, if you want to know the truth.”
The Alpha sighed.
“And she’s stubborn.”
“Yeah…”
The two men glanced
at each other, a pregnant pause filling the room. Any information
withheld could jeopardize Thorne meeting whatever goal they had in
mind.
“What aren’t you
telling me?”
“Her last
bodyguard didn’t make it longer than a day.” Carrick closed his
eyes, a twitch of humor playing at his lips.
This ought to be
good.
“May I ask why?”
“He, ugh…went up
in flames.” Reid coughed, but underneath the sound Thorne was
certain he heard a note of laughter.
Flames?
“What did she do,
torch him?”
“Not exactly.”
Carrick cleared his throat and turned his face away in what Thorne
was sure was an effort to compose himself.
Were they hinting he
couldn’t handle a woman? It didn’t sound like she needed
protection in the least.
Thorne’s lips
curved up in a humorless smile. “If she’s such a force of nature,
then why the protection? I thought your females were fierce.”
Reid met Carrick’s
gaze and the Alpha cleared his throat until his second glanced away,
his eyes finding Thorne’s.
“Tell him.”
“She can’t
shift.” The Alpha sighed.
Reid crossed his
arms over his chest. “Won’t shift. There’s a difference. She
can but she doesn’t want to.”
“I don’t accept
that.” Carrick pushed off from the desk and went to the window.
“Well, you’d
better start. You and I both know that bastard damaged her. She may
be strong for a female, but her wolf is broken,” Reid replied, his
tone filled with frustration.
Thorne’s stomach
lurched at the thought. To hear that her beast had been harmed was
unacceptable. War with men he understood well, but not females. Women
being abused made his skin crawl. He’d seen much in his line of
work, but that was one thing he would not tolerate. It took a good
bit of doing to squelch an animal. He should know.
“What happened?”
“You’ve heard
what took place here? What the previous alpha did? The atrocities and
the genetic experiments?” Reid asked with a bitter twist of his
lips.
“I have. The
overthrow of the previous regime was unavoidable. Your prowess in
battle is legendary.” He nodded to Carrick in a show of respect.
He’d found the main source but some of the tendrils remained. And
he fucking wanted to tear out the rest of them by the roots. That was
why he came here.
Reid shook his head.
“That’s not what I mean. He took them…the girls. The women.
He…”
“Stop.”
Carrick’s voice was strained and his stance was tense. “We don’t
need to hash out any of the details.”
He didn’t.
About
the Author:
Erzabet
Bishop has had a love affair with books since she first started
reading. Just recently, she discovered that writing naughty stories
was even more fun. She lives with her husband, menagerie of dogs and
a mountain of books she is sure will crush her one day in her sleep.
You
can find Erzabet on Facebook, Pinterest, and Goodreads. Follow her
updates on Twitter: @erzabetbishop and her erotica blog.
Facebook
page: https://www.facebook.com/erzabetbishopauthor
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/ErzabetBishop
Tour
giveaway
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winners to receive an Alphas Unleashed eBook published by All
Romance.
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