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Wolf Slayer
Linda Thomas-Sundstrom
Forbidden desireDescended from a long line of werewolf trackers, Tess Owen knows everything there is to know about hunting the big, bad beasts… Except what to do when you find yourself falling for one.Solitary, powerful Jonas Dale is a legend among his own kind – and among those who want to destroy him. He’s also undeniably sexy. Longing intensifies Tess’s hunt for this lone wolf and Jonas’s passion matches her own. Meanwhile, a common enemy stalks them both! Will their desire save Tess and Jonas or will it destroy them?
FORBIDDEN DESIRE
Descended from a long line of werewolf trackers, Tess Owen knows everything there is to know about hunting the big, bad beasts—except what to do when you find yourself falling for one.
Solitary, preternaturally powerful Jonas Dale is a legend among his own kind—and among those who want to destroy his kind. He’s also undeniably sexy. Longing intensifies Tess’s hunt for this lone wolf, and her prey’s passion matches her own. Meanwhile, a common enemy stalks them both. Will desire save Tess and Jonas, or will it destroy them?
“Show yourself,” she demanded, though her voice was softer, lower and almost a purr.
Her tone stirred Jonas’s insides in a strange way, as if he could feel its vibration from where he stood. That purr melted into his skin, sparked his nerve endings in a way that created its own electricity.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea, do you?” he asked. “I can’t speak to the actions of any of those others. I can only repeat that I mean no harm to you and leave it at that.”
“Can you prove what you say?”
“I can prove it by turning my back and leaving you alone and in one piece.”
“Or by showing yourself,” she suggested, with more tension on the string of her bow.
Jonas stepped into the moonlight, allowing the rain of silver light to wash over him. His shape-shift was completed in the few seconds it took him to reach Tess Owens.
He had her knife in his fingers, her hand in his and the tip of the razor-sharp blade she carried tight up against his chest before her blue eyes, wide with shock, met his.
Growling was the only way Jonas now had of speaking to her. That growl rumbled menacingly as he held her gaze and pressed the tip of the blade into his own flesh.
“Do it if you don’t believe me, wolf hunter. Go ahead.” Was it the shock of his shift, his appearance or his speed that stayed her hand?
Or maybe it was the look in his eyes as they met hers...
LINDA THOMAS-SUNDSTROM writes contemporary and paranormal romance novels for Mills & Boon. A teacher by day and a writer by night, Linda lives in the West, juggling teaching, writing, family and caring for a big stretch of land. She swears she has a resident muse who sings so loudly, she often wears earplugs in order to get anything else done. But she has big plans to eventually get to all those ideas. Visit Linda at www.lindathomas-sundstrom.com (http://www.lindathomas-sundstrom.com) or on Facebook.
Wolf Slayer
Linda Thomas-Sundstrom
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Dear Reader (#u17f9a30a-ccc2-5dc6-9c34-e62c478c69a4),
South Dakota. Hills. Forests of trees. Secluded cabins in the woods. Acres of uninhabited space. Can you picture it?
This is where I’ve set the latest book in my Wolf Moons series, and I’ve been excited to explore the extremely fragile and always volatile relationship between werewolves and the hunters who go after them. Because not everything is ever as it seems with these two sides of the supernatural spectrum...and well, sexy is sexy, no matter where we find it. Right?
Two opposites, attracting. Forces beyond their control pitting a man and a woman against each other, and against what each stands for, as a truly dark entity comes prowling.
This is Wolf Slayer.
Imagining stories like this one is the reason why I enjoy writing about the werewolf world. I always look forward to finding out what these tall, edgy, gloriously sexy weres can do to make my blood boil. And then I hunt, as they do, for just the right adversary in the form of a strong, independent woman who might turn up. In this case...plenty of sparks fly!
I hope you’ll love Wolf Slayer as much as I loved writing it.
Please do check out my website to keep track of what’s coming up next. Connect with me on my Facebook author page. Stop by and say hello. I’d love to hear from you.
Cheers—and happy reading!
Linda
LindaThomas-Sundstrom.com (http://www.lindathomas-sundstrom.com/)
Facebook.com/LindaThomasSundstrom (https://www.facebook.com/LindaThomasSundstrom)
To my family, those here and those gone, who always believed I had a story to tell.
Contents
Cover (#ua2c69f6f-f6a3-59e7-ae33-31ce5d11003f)
Back Cover Text (#u8650cda9-c1cb-5ebf-8c5a-6a6fc269155b)
Introduction (#u94c2bd2a-a3a4-574b-8ccc-3912e7693edb)
Title Page (#u51788416-3ecc-5cd9-a22a-a623ce3b51b1)
About the Author (#uab7e1db2-f013-5336-a1ed-12023dd90b1e)
Dear Reader (#u569f24eb-593e-5ba8-9af8-f58b5ce1d237)
Dedicatin (#u82bf1152-d45b-5af2-9673-37b00177baf9)
Chapter 1 (#ua01bbee7-ad8a-52f4-90ca-3725301b37bd)
Chapter 2 (#u75e2b5f6-9878-5169-9933-35165ecedf2b)
Chapter 3 (#u3fbe0b6f-afc1-5f8d-a111-eb6cafd31259)
Chapter 4 (#u07ddd27c-cbcf-5871-8abc-c40a47bd9989)
Chapter 5 (#uca615254-401b-5928-b690-a8773ee3c81f)
Chapter 6 (#u1c049a3f-589e-5213-a0d9-7d2772fc3108)
Chapter 7 (#uad30369b-de27-537f-971d-2312152eab20)
Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 25 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 26 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 27 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 28 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 29 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 30 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 31 (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1 (#u17f9a30a-ccc2-5dc6-9c34-e62c478c69a4)
Tess Owens didn’t like dark things. Or the full moons that brought dark things out of hiding.
Standing in the front yard of her secluded South Dakota home, she could see a vague imprint of the moon rise over the treetops. Familiar sensations tied to the big silver orb flooded her system in waves. Flush of heat. Spikes in her pulse. A sudden upswing of anxiety.
Full moons messed with her nervous system in a way Tess supposed similarly affected the creature she’d go after tonight when the stars came out. Although it was only late afternoon, her body was doing its thing, readying, gearing up for the time when adrenaline would push her beyond normal human limitations and she’d become the thing she had been created to be. Hunter.
Tonight, she’d need every ounce of strength she possessed if she met up with the dark thing that had taken up residence in the area. Because tonight was going to be special.
Rumors about the newcomer had been spreading throughout the towns nestled in the hills of South Dakota for a few days, and those rumors didn’t begin to address the level of danger this new threat posed. She had been aware of the trespasser since it arrived.
The thing in these woods wasn’t human. Its otherness was rich and dangerous. Acknowledging it gave her a thrill, because hunting anomalies is what her family had done best when they were alive. As bad luck would have it, she just happened to be the only Owens left in this part of the Dakotas, so the job was hers.
Hunting big bad creatures after nightfall wasn’t for everyone and definitely not for the faint of heart—especially the kind of hunting her family was known for among certain circles. As far back as anyone could remember, the Owenses had been big-game specialists, not after lions or tigers, but wolves of a certain variety—the kind that walked upright on two legs and often looked like everyone else until a full moon rolled around.
“Plenty of light tonight,” Tess muttered.
There were no clouds and not one hint of a storm system rolling in...unless she counted that damn newcomer as a special kind of storm. The werewolf that had dared to come here.
“Wolf,” Tess said, standing near her front gate and searching the area west of the tall pine trees. “I know about you. I can taste your presence.”
The fact that ninety-nine percent of the world’s population didn’t know Weres existed was a testament to how talented that species was at keeping secrets. But Tess and her family had been wolf hunters for nearly as long as werewolves had been around.
She was going to have to be careful, though. The nervous twitch in her shoulders suggested that this sucker had an ominous vibe. Tonight wasn’t going to be easy. Even now, Tess breathed in the uniqueness of this creature’s essence.
Either a particularly powerful new werewolf had moved to the neighborhood, or she wasn’t worth the O carved on the hilt of her hunting knife.
O—the symbol for a pledge some ancient-based Owens had made to cull werewolf numbers.
O—a sign that was symbolic for zero, as in the number of werewolves that had gotten past her family since they had moved to the Dakotas thirty years ago.
O—for the look on miscreant werewolf faces when a well-placed silver knife or arrow terminated their freakish existence.
“And now you,” Tess said, pacing the yard. Although some were rumored to be good, she hadn’t seen the good stuff in any of the man-wolves she had hunted. Those creatures left a lot of damage behind. And she had never set eyes on a full-blooded Were, male or female, because Lycans, as those pure-bloods were called, tended to run in secretive, close-knit packs.
“So why are you trespassing where you don’t belong?” Tess whispered. “It’s my duty to catch you, you know. My job. My calling. I take my vows seriously.”
After her first hunting expedition with her father at the age of eight, she had accepted her role and had never looked back. At the ripe old age of twenty-four, she had the family name to live up to and didn’t take that honor lightly.
She was fast, strong. Her life depended on those things. One mistake, one too many hesitations and death would be the result. Even talented hunters didn’t usually last very long.
“I know you’re out there somewhere, wolf. Will you offer me a game of hide-and-seek or just magically appear?”
South Dakota wasn’t a hotbed for supernatural activity, unlike big cities in the West and East. There were slim pickings here for monsters, so a werewolf hadn’t crossed her path in months.
“Until you.”
She paused to scan more of the forest. Being alone for so long had made talking to herself out loud an acceptable habit.
“A beast like you took down both of my parents, leaving me without backup. But don’t assume that means I’m weak.”
