Authors: Lauren Dane
Sworn to the Wolf
Sworn to the Wolf
By Lauren Dane
Rain left her old life to find a fresh start.
But a wolf shifter mate wasn’t exactly what she was expecting...
A new name, a new job, a new life—far from the dangers of her old one.
Then Laurent walked into her restaurant and changed everything.
The second-in-command for the Cherchez Wolf Pack, Laurent didn’t expect to find his destiny in a roadside café. But there’s no doubt in his mind that waitress-by-day, artist-by-night Rain is his mate. And the urge to be near her, to protect her, to
have
her is intoxicating.
An unbelievably hot night leaves them both wanting more. But
more
with Laurent comes with an introduction to his extended family—of werewolves. Learning that supernatural beings are real is a shock, but becoming one turns out to be the best decision she’s made in her new life.
No matter how good things are with Laurent and the pack, Rain can’t run from her old life forever. When a threat on the horizon tests the life they’re building together, Rain will have to prove that her place is with the Cherchez wolves—no matter who says otherwise.
Previously published under a different title, newly revised by author
87,580 words
Dear Reader,
You know that moment when you’re reading a great book and you
hit around the 70 percent mark and you realize:
this book is going to
end
. And then you’ll be done with it. And will have to leave the
characters behind. And find another (hopefully equally amazing) book to read
next? So you want to slow down but instead you speed up because you just have to
know what happens. The next thing you know, it’s done, you’ve got that
happy-book-sigh feeling and...now you really do have to decide what book to read
next. The great thing about reading is that there
is
always another
fantastic book available, and I think you’ll find a few that will help with this
issue in this month’s releases, because they are awesome!
Shannon Stacey is one of our most popular authors and her
Boston Fire trilogy has not disappointed readers (or her editor)! But I’m
particularly excited about
Fully Ignited
because it brings us not only
the alpha men of Boston Fire but also a badass female firefighter who is
unapologetically good at her job. I love a strong, confident heroine who makes
no excuses for who she is, and that’s what we get with Jamie. Scott can’t stop
thinking about Jamie, despite the fact that she’s his temporary superior and not
sticking around. Chemistry can crush the best-laid plans, though, and while
Jamie and Scott might not be each other’s future...there’s no resisting the
right now.
Laura Carter debuts with a darkly suspenseful, erotically
charged Vengeful Love trilogy that’s a return to the glamorous, jet-setter
romances of Jackie Collins and Sidney Sheldon. In book one London city lawyer
Scarlett Heath’s neat little world is shattered when she meets Gregory Ryans,
the mysterious, irresistible CEO of GJR Enterprises—and her new client. Too
late, Scarlett realizes the truth about the hostile takeover she’s been brought
in to handle: the man she’s fallen in love with is out for revenge. And he’s
taking her with him. Gregory and Scarlett’s story continues across Rome and
Dubai in the next two installments releasing in April and May.
A.R. Barley is debuting in male/male contemporary romance
with
Out of Bounds
. A line of tape down the center of the room is the
perfect plan: boundaries established for college sophomore Jesse Cole and his
sexy new roommate, senior Nick Moretti. These two strong-willed men are as
opposite as opposite can get. But as their initial friction moves into
straight-up dirty talk, who wouldn’t want to cross the line?
Also in male/male contemporary romance, j. leigh bailey’s
heroes
Fight to Forgive
as they face family manipulation, past betrayal
and an uncertain future to find their second chance at love. Perfect for those
of you who love the second-chance trope!
We have two erotic paranormal romances for you this month on
two ends of the paranormal spectrum: vampires and shifters! In Dee Carney’s
Hunger Untamed
, a beautiful courtesan must overcome her fear of a
beastly vampire mercenary if she’s to avenge her sister’s death. And on the
shifter side Laurent, the second-in-command for the Cherchez Wolf Pack, didn’t
expect to find his destiny in a roadside café. But there’s no doubt in his mind
that waitress-by-day, artist-by-night Rain is his mate. And the urge to be near
her, to protect her, to
have
her, is intoxicating. Don’t miss
Sworn
to the Wolf
by Lauren Dane.
Speaking of erotic, check out the beautiful cover on Kira A.
Gold’s
The Dirty Secret
, and while you’re there, peek inside the covers
to find out what happens when an architect with a dirty mouth and a secretive,
sensual painter are thrown together and challenged to decorate a house. The real
challenge is figuring out how to complete the project while taking every
opportunity to discover what’s under each other’s clothes—and behind one
another’s personal walls.
This month’s mystery offering comes from Julie Anne Lindsey.
In
A
Geek Girl’s Guide to Arsenic
, the resident geek girl puts her high IQ
to work uncovering the killer when a man is poisoned at Ye Ole Madrigal Craft
Faire. Don’t miss the previous title in this series,
A Geek Girl’s Guide to Murder
.
Pick up one (or all) of these new releases this month and let
us help you solve your book crisis. Giving Readers Their Next Good Book Fix can
become our new imprint motto!
Coming next month: a sexy and captivating (literally) romance
from Amber Bardan,
Vengeful Love: Deception
with its continuation of Gregory and Scarlett’s story, and a
new author makes her debut!
As always, here’s wishing you a wonderful month of books you
love, remember and recommend.
Happy reading!
Angela James
Editorial Director, Carina Press
Author
Note
This is a heavily revised, expanded version of previously published title
Fire and Rain.
Chapter One
Rain smiled as she bustled from the kitchen to the dining room holding several plates. It had been a good morning at The Black Cat Café and Coffee House. When she added the tips she’d earned to what she’d made over the last week she’d be able to buy those sable brushes she’d been drooling over.
She dropped off her plates at their designated tables, topped off coffee and water where it needed it, and looked up to catch one of her regulars come in and take a seat. She waved as she approached his table.
“Morning, Shane. How are you today?”
“Hey, Rain. I’m good. And what’s up in your neighborhood?”
“Not much, the usual breakfast crowd.” Looking down at him, she cocked her head. “Hmm. Let’s see, two slices of whole grain, three egg scramble, latte with honey and soy bacon?” It wasn’t like she was performing a great feat of precognition or anything, he ate the same exact thing every time he came in.
He laughed. “Sounds good! Hey, I wanted to tell you that The Holt Gallery down in Pioneer Square is looking for up-and-comers for a series of shows they want to do to highlight new artists. You should take your portfolio down there.”
Hope burst through her. “Seriously? Oh wow, thanks for the heads-up.”
“You’re really good. I’d hate to see you lose a chance like this. You’re exactly the kind of artist they’re looking for. This could be a great opportunity for you and for The Holt.”
She squeezed his shoulder. “Thanks, it means a lot. It really does.” Before she got teary she took a deep breath and focused on her job. “Let me go and get this started.” She held up the ticket. “Although I’m sure Alex saw you when you came in and is making your breakfast as we speak.” Winking, she tossed her braid back and headed toward the kitchen where, yes, Alex, the cook and owner, was already scrambling the eggs and the bread was toasting. She loved the small café, it was warm and friendly and her customers felt more like friends and family than clientele.
Rain Foster had landed in Seattle the year before having walked—
run
—away from a life of restrictions. A life where she was destined to be one thing and one thing only, a pretty accessory on a man’s arm.
Her father had already made the choice for her, the son of a “business associate” who was also destined to be in the family business. Of course while some had family businesses where they repaired watches, she’d known most of her life that her father was a major boss in a crime syndicate.
There was no way she would have been allowed to be an artist. Her father only let her go to college because that’s what the daughters of all of his cronies did. Before they got married off to each others’ sons, that is. Then they’d sit at the club all day and drink, oh and occasionally play golf or tennis—
wouldn’t pay to let yourself get out of shape
. In between they’d have children to continue the cycle. The boys to take over for their fathers and the girls to marry and continue to have more children.
Thank god her mother cared about her wishes and dreams. Thank god her mother had helped her by squirreling away money over the course of the last few years Rain, who used to be Julia, lived there. That money got Rain as far away from her father and that life as possible and she had
her own
life for the first time. Her mother’s love bought her that freedom.
Though dangerous, her mother still waited for Rain’s call at a pay phone near her regular beauty salon back home every third Wednesday. Still, Rain hadn’t told her where she was for both their sakes. She did know from her mother that her father had been livid, still was as a matter of fact, but apparently felt she’d come back when she got poor.
Her father was wrong because she wasn’t going back at all. Not ever. Poor was one thing—it did suck—but she still had some money from her mother squirreled away and knowing she had something to fall back on in an emergency helped.
She was determined to make her painting a success. For now she shared a large warehouse space in Queen Anne with two other people and she had lots of free time to paint and enough money from her waitressing job to buy canvas and paint and to pay the bills.
Shaking herself out of her reverie with a sigh, she grabbed Shane’s order and his latte to take to his table. The lively chimes over the door sounded right as she turned. Smiling, she looked to see who’d come in.
Instead of one of her usual customers, she found herself looking at two of the largest men she’d ever seen and
my goodness weren’t they just the alpha male specimens
? Her mouth dried up and her heart leaped into her throat.
Her eyes slowly made the circuit up one and down the other. They were a visual feast. One of them had shoulder-length hair the color of wheat, sleepy, sexy amber eyes and was, for want of a more eloquent term, a muscle-bound hunk.
The other though was the kind of man to make any woman melt into a puddle. Dark and mysterious. Brooding even. His nearly waist-length black hair was tied at the nape of his neck. And her fingers itched to touch it. Eyes so brown they looked obsidian took in the room warily. His skin was hard and smooth with an olive tone much like Rain’s own. His nose was just a bit crooked, as if it had been broken more than once, and a small scar bisected his left eyebrow. But those small imperfections only seemed to heighten his wild, dangerous beauty. He was tall, although not quite as tall as the blond, but he was muscular and his blue jeans hugged those long legs and tight butt like they were painted on. She wanted to lean against one of the tables and fan herself as she had a nice, long, naughty and possibly-illegal-in-a-few-states fantasy about him. Whoo boy.
Instead she took a deep breath and approached them before the other servers saw and jumped in. “Good morning. How are you two today? Would you like to sit in here or on the deck?” Her heart skipped a beat when they both gave her their complete attention. But when the dark one smiled slowly at her the hair on the back of her neck stood on end and goose bumps rose along her arms. Holy cow she wanted to lick him.
“The deck please,” the blond one said, his voice low and rumbling.
Trying not to gulp like a cartoon character, she grabbed two menus and led them outside to the deck. She motioned to a table in her section. Electric heat sparked up her arm as the dark one brushed his fingers against her arm when he took the piece of paper from her. “Uh?” She blinked until she remembered what the hell she’d been doing. “Can I start you off with juice or coffee or espresso?”
“Two large orange juices, an Americano with room and a mocha please,” the dark one said, never taking his eyes from hers. She felt caught, like she was standing surrounded in warm honey and he was a very big spider. His voice was low and melodic.
“Great,” she squeaked out and cleared her throat. “Be right back with those.” Before she gave in to the absurd urge to lick him she tore herself away to go grab the drinks.
Laurent Cole stared at the retreating woman and a smile slowly erupted across his face. He watched her long legs, the sway of her ass, the glimpses of the band of flesh between her shirt and jeans. Her long hair reached her waist and was inky black. He wondered what it would feel like wrapped around his fist as he fucked her mouth. His cock hardened to the point of pain at the thought of her mouth, hot and wet, surrounding him, licking and sucking. He moaned softly.
“Laurent?” Andreas asked, amusement clear in his voice.
Laurent turned slowly and faced Andreas, his Alpha and best friend. “It’s her, Andreas. She’s the one.”
“Her? The one?” Andreas repeated, confused for a moment until realization dawned across his face. “You don’t mean... She’s your
Mate
?”
“I can feel it. When I first saw her it was as if every cell in my body sang out. Her scent...she just smells perfect. It’s like every other female in the world suddenly doesn’t count, hell, doesn’t even exist. The world just narrowed down to her.”
Andreas smiled slowly. “Ah. That’s how I felt the first time I saw Kari. It’s about time you found her. But you know human women are different.” He sighed and Laurent knew he was thinking of his own petite and very pesky wife.
Laurent laughed then and he and Andreas watched as the waitress froze in place and looked their way. “You deserve this. You’ve served me and the Pack for sixteen years. Kari is going to be as thrilled as I am. Hellie may not be that eager to share but I’m sure you can talk her around.”
Laurent smiled at the mention of Andreas’s daughter. “If this one is anything like Kari, I better take my vitamins,” Laurent said, never taking his eyes from the woman in question.
When she looked up and caught him staring, her answering expression was warm and a little shy as she brought the tray of juice and coffee drinks to them with effortless grace. “Here you go. Juices, fresh squeezed. An Americano with room—here’s cream for it, we also have soy milk, rice milk or nonfat milk if you’d prefer—and the mocha. Honey and sugar are right there.” She straightened. “Do you know what you want?”
“Yes,” Laurent said simply.
She waited but he didn’t say anything else. “Okay, care to share it with me? Hi, your waitress?” Pausing, she caught something out of the corner of her eye and scowled. “I’m sorry, I need to deal with this. I’ll be right back,” she said, stalking off to where a man lounged, lighting a cigarette dramatically. Laurent and Andreas watched her.
“Put it out now,” she said, hands on her hips.
The short, balding man took a deep drag on the cigarette and then blew the smoke in her face. Her eyebrows shot up in outrage. Wanting to kill the obnoxious man for daring to insult his woman, Laurent stood up, but Andreas put a staying hand on his shoulder. In any case, before he could do anything his woman was a blur of action. She grabbed the asshole, who tried to shove her off. Using the force of his movement, she twisted his arm, pushing it high up behind his back and heaving him out the door. She even managed to pull on his ear as she got him outside.
“You are a very maladjusted individual. Did your mother raise you that way? I bet she didn’t. Get out, Leon, and don’t come back. You’re barred. If I see you in here again I’ll kick your scrawny ass from here to Portland.” With a satisfied hmpf she closed the door in his face.
The whole place erupted in applause and she took a comical bow. “Back to your food now, nothing to see here, folks.” Laughing, she went back out to the deck where Laurent still stood, his admiration and the need to protect her warring inside him.
“Sorry about that. He’s been a problem for a few weeks. So do you know what you want?”
“Are you all right?” Laurent, still on his feet, asked, concerned and furious.
Confusion scattered over her face and then she got what he meant. “Leon, you mean? He’s an idiot.”
“You did look like you could handle yourself quite ably.” Andreas tugged on Laurent, pulling him back to his chair. “Give me the western omelet with two slices of sourdough.”
She looked to Laurent, who cleared his throat. Seeing her in action made him drunk with her. She was magnificent. “What do you recommend?”
“Well what do you like? Are you a vegetarian or vegan? Do you like eggs? Big meat eater?”
“Yes I like eggs and yes I eat meat.”
“The omelets are very good. Alex is a whiz. I had some of the smoked ham this morning before we opened and it was yummy. You can have the ham and eggs. Comes with two eggs done any style you like, toast and three pancakes. Or you can have the western omelet. The waffles are really good too. My personal favorite are the strawberry waffles with bacon—there’s just something heavenly about the way bacon tastes when it touches maple syrup or strawberries but I’m weird so don’t mind me.” Her eyes danced with amusement but there was a sadness there too, it touched him deeply.
“I’ll have the strawberry waffles with bacon then. Six slices though, I’m very hungry.”
She took the menus from them. “You got it.”
When she’d gone back inside Andreas began to laugh quietly.
“What?” Laurent growled, feeling a bit more like himself.
“You, my brother, are smitten.”
“Yes,” he said, smiling again. “I do believe I am.”
“It’s good to see. It’s time to have someone of your own, someone to love and cherish. You’ve spent four years protecting my Mate and my children. Sixteen years protecting me. I haven’t seen you interested in a woman like this. Not ever. It’s time to start your own family.”
Laurent simply nodded. He loved Andreas, Kari and their children very much. But Andreas was right, it was time to have it for himself.
* * *
“Rain, who are the hunks out on the deck? I’ll trade you tables,” one of the other servers offered.
Rain snorted. “Don’t think so! The blond one is wearing a wedding ring and the dark one is, well, mine. At least while they’re here.”
She checked back on her other tables, refilling coffee and juice. On a pass through his section, Shane had just stood to leave, tossing several bills down. “Don’t forget about The Holt. Call me if you need any help choosing pieces to put in your portfolio.”
“Oh really? I’d appreciate that a lot.”
Shane was just taking off in his career. He was a painter and also did large sculpture and multimedia works. He knew how hard it was to get a career off the ground and he’d been really supportive of Rain. They’d flirted a lot and up until tall, dark and sexy walked in she’d always been sad Shane had a girlfriend.
“It’s no problem. I mean it. You know my number. Call me if you need help.”
Rain hugged him and kissed his cheek. “Thank you so much.”
He laughed and waved as he left and she headed to the kitchen to pick up the orders for her handsome men on the deck.
She brought out their food and placed it before them. “Can I get you anything else?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact. Would it be possible for me to have your phone number?” Awkwardness was an uncomfortable thing for Laurent. He wasn’t used to this sort of thing. Women usually approached him. More than that, he couldn’t say he’d cared one way or another about any particular woman before. Until this one.