The Reunited
Authors: Shiloh Walker
P
RAISE FOR
T
HE
D
EPARTED
“[Walker] delivers an outstanding story fraught with sexual tension and a spine-tingling mystery.
The Departed
will keep readers turning pages faster than they think, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together.”
—Fresh Fiction
“Walker fans will be captivated by this fast-paced story with passionate characters and a suspenseful plot that will leave their emotions bare. A well-crafted combination of paranormal, romance, and suspense, this book has everything.”
—RT Book Reviews
“An entertaining romantic urban fantasy police procedural.”
—Genre Go Round Reviews
“Chilling [and] heart-wrenching . . . A richly emotional and wildly imaginative story that grips the reader with genuine, vivacious characters and a sinuous, flowing plot.”
—Fallen Angel Reviews
T
HE
M
ISSING
“Suspense that can rip your heart open and leave you raw . . . The characters are absolutely fantastic, from the leads to the side characters.”
—Errant Dreams Reviews
“Walker pulls it off brilliantly . . . [She] certainly has a future in paranormal and/or romantic suspense.”
—The Romance Reader
“Great romantic suspense that grips the audience.”
—Midwest Book Review
C
HAINS
“This book is a double page-turner. The story is thrilling, and the sex just makes it better—two great reasons not to put it down until the end!”
—RT Book Reviews
“Breathtakingly wonderful . . . Smoothly erotic . . . Utterly amazing . . .Will definitely keep your pulse racing!”
—Errant Dreams Reviews
“Exciting erotic romantic suspense.”
—Midwest Book Review
F
RAGILE
“[A] flawlessly sexy suspense novel . . . Exhilarating.”
—RT Book Reviews
“An excellently crafted mystery and romance!”
—Errant Dreams Reviews
“Suspense, romance, and an ending that I can’t say anything about—because that would be a spoiler . . . I recommend reading this one.”
—The Best Reviews
“Intense, sexy . . . Ms. Walker has created another unforgettable . . . fast-paced, edgy tale.”
—Fallen Angel Reviews
H
UNTER’S
F
ALL
“Shiloh’s books are sinfully good, wickedly sexy, and wildly imaginative!”
—Larissa Ione,
New York Times
bestselling author
H
UNTER’S
N
EED
“A perfect ten! . . . [A] riveting tale that I couldn’t put down and wanted to read again as soon as I finished.”
—Romance Reviews Today
H
UNTER’S
S
ALVATION
“One of the best tales in a series that always achieves high marks . . . An excellent thriller.”
—Midwest Book Review
H
UNTERS:
H
EART AND
S
OUL
“Some of the best erotic romantic fantasies on the market. Walker’s world is vibrantly alive with this pair.”
—The Best Reviews
H
UNTING THE
H
UNTER
“Action, sex, savvy writing, and characters with larger-than-life personalities that you will not soon forget are where Ms. Walker’s talents lie, and she delivered all that and more.”
—A Romance Review
“An exhilarating romantic fantasy filled with suspense and . . . star-crossed love . . . Action packed.”
—Midwest Book Review
“Fast paced and very readable . . . Titillating.”
—The Romance Reader
“Action packed, with intriguing characters and a very erotic punch,
Hunting the Hunter
had me from page one. Thoroughly enjoyable with a great hero and a story line you can sink your teeth into, this book is a winner.”
—Fresh Fiction
“Another promising voice is joining the paranormal genre by bringing her own take on the ever-evolving vampire myth. Walker has set up the bones of an interesting world and populated it with some intriguing characters.”
—RT Book Reviews
Titles by Shiloh Walker
HUNTING THE HUNTER
HUNTERS: HEART AND SOUL
HUNTER’S SALVATION
HUNTER’S NEED
HUNTER’S FALL
HUNTER’S RISE
THROUGH THE VEIL
VEIL OF SHADOWS
THE MISSING
THE DEPARTED
THE REUNITED
FRAGILE
BROKEN
Anthologies
HOT SPELL
(with Emma Holly, Lora Leigh, and Meljean Brook)
PRIVATE PLACES
(with Robin Schone, Claudia Dain, and Allyson James)
HOT IN HANDCUFFS
(with Shayla Black and Sylvia Day)
S
HILOH
W
ALKER
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
•
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Penguin China, B7 Jiaming Center, 27 East Third Ring Road North, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100020, China
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
THE REUNITED
Copyright © 2013 by Shiloh Walker, Inc.
Cover art by Tony Mauro.
Cover design by Rita Frangie.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
BERKLEY SENSATION
®
is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
The “B” design is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Berkley Sensation trade paperback edition / February 2013
Berkley Sensation trade paperback edition ISBN: 978-0-425-24697-9
An application to register this book for cataloging has been submitted to the Library of Congress.
Thanks to all the readers who kept asking for more of these books . . .
Ilona, thanks for letting me use your cat.
And a special thanks to Carrie Ann Ryan . . . I needed the physics help.
Thank God, always, for my family. I love you guys!
CONTENTS
ONE
H
E
knew her face.
Joss Crawford wasn’t prone to melodrama, he wasn’t prone to wishful thinking, and he didn’t much believe in fairy tales. He didn’t buy into those crazy stories of love at first sight.
But he knew there was a woman for him—he’d been searching for her his entire life, had dreamed about her always. He looked for her in every face he saw, waited for the moment he’d find her again.
And here she was, striding down the pavement, her face grim, her eyes dark . . . the sight of her was a punch, straight to his heart. She didn’t
look
like she should, part of his brain insisted. The rest of him didn’t care. He knew her, in his gut, in his heart, in his soul.
Standing rigid, barely able to breathe, much less move, he waited for her to look at him, to see him . . . to
know
him. But it didn’t happen.
In fact, she was so busy staring at the pavement and making a concentrated effort to ignore everything around her, she didn’t even seem to notice him. She went to go around him and he just couldn’t stop himself—he stepped right into her path so that she crashed straight into his chest, all lean limbs and long muscles and golden, sun-kissed skin, a nice, solid weight that he figured would fit his body just about perfectly. She stumbled and he reached up, closed his hands around her upper arms, where the cotton of her shirt kept him from touching bare flesh.
He wanted to touch bare flesh . . . after all this time, he figured he just about
needed
to. But not now.
Right now, she was watching him with dazed, distrustful eyes—wariness flashed through her gaze and he felt her tense.
“You . . .” He didn’t even know what to say. A total stranger, and that’s what he’d seem like to her, he knew. How could he tell her he’d been dreaming of her for always? Waiting. Searching. Absently, without realizing it, he stroked his thumb across her arm, and it rubbed across the bare skin just below the sleeve of her shirt.
As bare skin touched bare skin, he felt something . . . a buzz in his brain.
And more . . . he felt the echo of it in
her
brain. Followed by a blinding rush of knowledge.
Her pupils flared. She sucked in a breath.
“You . . .”
“. . . three . . . !”
* * *
I am too late,
she thought, running even as she heard the gunshots echo. She ran. She ran so hard. So fast. This could not be happening.
She burst through the cover of the trees just in time to see him stagger. See him fall.
“No!” She lunged for him.
But hard, cruel hands caught her arms.
Whirling around, she swung out, her hand striking that perfect, chiseled face.
She was on the ground a moment later, her eyes tearing from the blow. Her cheek didn’t hurt, not yet. It was numb, but already the numbness was starting to fade.
“You would dare strike me?”
Blinking the tears away, she stared up at the man she had once thought she could love. Such a mistake . . . such a horrid, awful mistake. “I know what you did.” She tasted blood now, and realized she’d cut the inside of her mouth when he’d struck her.
He smiled down at her. “Do you?”
“Yes.” She turned her head, staring at the fallen man. She lifted her hand. “Please . . .”