Cover & Excerpt Reveal
by Jacqueline Rhoades
Wolver Series Book Three
There is a balm in Gilead, to heal the wounded soul…Jazz Phillips is on the run, fleeing from a fate most females in her pack accept as their lot in life; an arranged mating, something Jazz thought wasn't in her future as the Alpha's daughter and only child. She doesn't want to be the next Alpha's Mate. She doesn't want to be anyone's mate. She likes her life just the way it is until she finds herself stranded in the mountain town of Gilead, home to a small and close knit pack of wolvers. Once there, she begins to question her life as it was and begins to wonder about what it could be, especially in the arms of the wolver the people call Doc.
Doc Goodman claims to have settled in Gilead because he saw a need for his services but in fact, he's a runaway, too. He's rejected his wolver heritage and the warring politics that stripped him of everything he loved most. He's biding his time, waiting to die, until he meets the blue haired, foul mouthed beauty who shows him there are still things worth living for and the most important of them are worth fighting for.
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: July 1, 2013
Publisher: Indie
Excerpt & More
Purchase link: Amazon B&N Smashwords Excerpt:
Jazz unrolled and scooted backward on her ass, sandaled feet slipping and flailing on dead leaves and dirt. The tattered remains of the synthetic fabric of her capris offered little protection from the rocks and twigs tearing at her behind. She didn't care. She couldn't turn over and take her eyes from the glaring wolf who stalked toward her one foot at a time. Maybe she was better off facing the pigs.
"I'm human," she sputtered, a reminder that Pack Law forbid a wolf attack on a human and vice versa.
Griz solved the problem by flashing to human.
"You hit me," he said as a quiet and deadly statement of fact.
She scooted back a little further and raised her finger. "Ah, actually, it was a bite," she corrected. "Wolf to wolf," she added stupidly.
"What did I say would happen if you hit me again?" He took another step and opened his hand to show her his palm. He added a little spanking action.
It was a very large palm and the gesture reminded her of the Tooth and Fang and her ass in the air next to his ear. He'd threatened her then, too, except now there was no ice.
"I couldn't hit you. I was a wolf," she argued and held her thumb and forefinger a half inch apart. "It was a bite, a little playful nip." She inched further back.
Griz pointed to his shoulder where a splotch of blood stained his tee shirt. "That was no nip," he said and took another step.
Jazz's back hit the trunk of a large tree. She rolled to her right, gained her footing and ducked behind it. She poked her head out to the side. "Can we talk?" she asked.
He shook his head. "I tried that, remember? You said later and blew me off for the rest of the day. Every time I looked your way, you jumped and ran like a scared rabbit."
"What is this with the scared rabbit shit?" she said indignantly, "And I didn't blow you off. I just didn't think it was a good time or place to talk." Liar, liar, pants on fire.
"Yep, no more Hellcat," he went on as if she hadn't spoken, "From now on, you'll be known as Bunny, Bunny with a bright red tail."
"That's not funny."
"Wasn't meant to be."
Griz was angling to the left, so Jazz moved a little to the left, too, keeping the tree trunk between them. Her sandal caught on a root and she shook it free. The damn things were useless in the woods. She slipped it off and moved a little further around the tree. She was reaching for the second sandal when she had an idea.
She couldn't spend the rest of the night circling the tree. Griz was broad and weighed, well… a lot and while his legs might be as long as hers, she didn't have the same bulk to move. With a head start, she might be able to outrun him. She threw the first sandal and before he could bat it aside, she threw the second. She was off and running before he touched it.
It was a bad idea. The damn grizzly bear was faster than he looked. She got no more than twenty feet before he pulled her up short by the back of her shirt that was flying free behind her. The plastic buttons hadn't survived the change.
Neither had the rayon shirt. It disintegrated in his hands and the sudden release sent Jazz sprawling. She scrabbled to her feet and lunged ahead. He grabbed for her leg, but all he got for his efforts was a handful of shredded capris. Jazz laughed at this small victory. Griz stumbled behind her and she sprinted forward.
Her laughter became a yelp as he tackled her from behind. He grabbed her about the waist, turned and rolled with her and thus took the impact of the fall. Jazz took advantage of his breathy 'oomph' and threw her body forward. When her knee hit the ground, she pushed off with her other foot, ready to run again.
She should have known that a little 'oomph' wouldn't slow Griz down. He slung his arm around her again, this time where legs met torso, and lifted. Jazz was folded over his arm like a waiter's towel, her feet and hands hanging uselessly. She relaxed her body, hoping the dead weight would be enough for him to lower her the few inches she needed to touch the ground. She should have known better about that, too.
Griz hoisted her up and patted her bottom. She tensed. He laughed. She'd never noticed before how evil his laugh sounded.
"I like these," he said of her red and white striped panties. "Liked them the first time I saw them. Look kind of like candy." He ran his hand over her cheeks. "Real silk, huh?" He tapped her left cheek and laughed again when she jumped.
"Uh-huh," she squeaked, "Guess so." They were still in one piece, thank God. "Can we get this over with please?"
She was thinking about how much she hated the big bear and how good his hand felt on her ass. Damn! What was the matter with her? He really had driven her crazy.
His hand switched to her other cheek. "What's that, little bunny? Getting uncomfortable?"
"Yes!" Jazz squirmed under his kneading fingers. "Look, just do what you're going to do and put me down."
Griz's thumb slid between her legs to the damp spot that was forming. "You're enjoying this," he laughed.
"I am not!" It was no lie. She wasn't, but her body was and her damn wolf was almost howling with pleasure. "Put me down!"
"Okay."
He spun her like a dancer at the ballet; up in the air, twirling around and, with his hands at her waist, down through his legs. She landed gently on her back with Griz on his knees astride her thighs and her hands locked firmly over her head.
"You drive me crazy," he said before her head stopped spinning and she could breathe again. "From the moment I met you, it's been bar fights and neighbor fights and what you did back there could have gotten you killed."
"The pigs?" she asked in a tiny voice, because she knew, just that once, he really had saved her from a mauling.
"No, the other pigs. Your father's. How the hell was I supposed to concentrate when you're throwing yourself at fighters twice your size?" He put his forehead to hers and closed his eyes. "You could have gotten us both killed."
"I knew what I was doing," Jazz said quietly. But she didn't know what she was doing now. Her heart was pounding. Her body was heating and her wolf was looking for a place to chase her tail and do flips in the air.
"Glad to hear it, because I haven't known what I was doing since I rescued you in the parking lot."
"You didn't rescue me. I was doing…"
Griz groaned.
"Okay, maybe you helped a little, but…"
Griz groaned again.
"Griz? Big Bear? What's wrong?"
His eyes were still half closed and his face was the picture of a man fighting for control. Was he trying to hide some injury?
"What's satin made from?" he asked.
"Satin?" Damn! Had he lost his mind, too? "I don't know," she said now thoroughly confused. "Silk. It's made from silk."
"Ah," he said, nodding. "You should maybe ask for your money back." He shifted his hold of her wrists from his two hands to one and used the free hand to trace along the edge of her bra. "Although I kind of like it this way."
Jazz lifted her head as much as her position allowed and looked down at the moving finger. The satin cups of her favorite and only bra had been reduced to a spider web of thread.
"Shit," she said, dropping her head back to the ground.
"I could call this a lot of things," he chuckled softly and pressed his finger against a nipple already hardening with his play, "But shit wouldn't be on the list."
"You're such a charmer." She closed her eyes to enjoy the sensations his tracery was causing.
"I know," he laughed, "Get used to it."
"Get used to it? You don't want me, remember?" She shivered when his finger trailed along the center line of her body to her navel.
"I never said I didn't want you. I said I didn't want to want you. I never wanted what's happening between us or the shit that's happening around us, but I never said I didn't want you."
He puckered his lips and sent a cool stream of air over her breast to blow away the last of her former bra cup.
Her back arched and she closed her eyes.
~~~~~~
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Be on the lookout for Jacqueline Rhoades's next book, Guardian’s Faith , coming October 2013 and a Wolver Series Christmas novella coming November 2013
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