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.
He didn’t.
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.
Author Bio
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.
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