Lauren Dane is one of our favorite authors. Between all of us here at TBRG we’ve read all of her books. So we are excited to share a snippet from her new book Unconditional, the latest book in her Cascadia Wolves series.
He led her to his office at Pacific. She was still pale, and his wolf noted the remnants of whatever spell that’d knocked her to the ground. Her scent was slightly off. A little dirty. And not the good kind of dirty.
“Michelle, I’d like you to meet someone.”
She looked up from where she’d been studying her phone. “Sorry. I was texting with Gage. They’re going to get in contact with Gina, and she’s going to call me when they get all that figured out.”
“No need to be sorry.” Gabe stepped into the office and the room seemed to shrink around them. “I’m Gabe Murphy. Tracy said she met you earlier. I wanted to stop in and introduce myself and extend our offer of help. Are you well?”
He took Michelle’s hand and before Josh knew what he was doing, he’d put himself in Gabe’s path, showing his teeth.
His back was to her so she wouldn’t have seen anything, but Gabe sure did. But rather than be upset or offended, he had to wrestle back a grin. Josh narrowed his eyes, promising retribution, friend to friend, if he got any teasing about this.
Josh made himself step to the side, placing his hand on Michelle’s shoulder. Her brows were up as she glanced back and forth between them both.
“Sorry, wolf stuff.” Gabe shrugged, his smile still in place.
She took his hand, shaking it.
“If you don’t mind my saying so, you don’t look well.” Gabe examined her closely.
“The spell that was used was…wrong. Gage told me it should wear off in a bit.”
“How about you eat something? I was just about to head home to see my babies. Why don’t you and Josh come along? Nick said he was going to grab some Chinese on the way to meet us. I’ll call and tell him to get extra.”
“Gabe, Nick and Tracy have two daughters. And a dopey three-legged dog named Milton who guards them with his life.”
Gabe laughed. “He’s really fond of all the food they drop. What do you say? You can fill us in on what you know. Maybe we can brainstorm something.”
“Are you sure?”
Gabe smiled, charming. “Of course. Nick would only whine about me and Tracy having met you and him not yet. He’s a handful that way.”
Her phone rang. “Excuse me a moment. This is Gina.”
She answered and turned to where she’d been sitting at his desk.
“Are you all right? Gina asked.
Michelle took a deep breath. “I think so.”
“I’d like to see you. To do a quick check of your shields and your aura. I want to be sure you’re unharmed. I’m sure Gage told you we’re learning all this as we go.”
“Tell her to come to my house for lunch. She can check you there.” Gabe announced this without so much as a pardon me for listening in on your phone call.
“You’ll get used to that. Tell him what your limits are. He might even remember it. But don’t count on it. Wolves, especially male wolves, are ridiculously overprotective. I’ll grab Damon and we’ll meet you at their place in a few.”
She hung up and looked back at both men, who stood, arms crossed over their chests, only making them appear more imposing.
“I’ve seen that one before. Lots of perps do that.” She put the phone into her pocket and stood. She was still a little dizzy but at least nausea had retreated some and she didn’t have double vision anymore. “Also, it’s rude to eavesdrop.”
Josh grinned at Gabe, who raised a brow.
“Gina is right. We’re really nosy and overprotective. We have great hearing so it’s hard not to eavesdrop on a phone call. It comes in handy sometimes though. There’s a bright side.”
Gabe Murphy appeared to be a bigger handful than Josh, which said a lot. Little tiny Tracy must be a powerhouse to keep him in line.
“We’ll meet you at your place.” Josh nodded at Gabe, who waved one last time and disappeared.
Their second chance generates a dangerous kind of heat…
A Cascadia Wolves Story
As a cop, Michelle Slattery is familiar with the dark side of human behavior, but this case is way above her skill level. Mages have been scouring the country kidnapping witches, draining their energy, and leaving their broken bodies behind.
With Michelle’s best friend among the missing, she appeals to the Owen witches, who send her to the last place she’d thought she’d see a familiar face. The werewolves.
When a witch seeking help shows up at the Pacific Pack headquarters, Josh Neelan gets the shock of his life. She’s none other than his high school sweetheart, the one he left behind when he was bitten and turned. Their intense sexual chemistry still sizzles for a reason—she’s his mate.
As they begin to work through their issues, their rekindled romance quickly flames red hot. But the closer they get, the more dangerous the outside world becomes. And they realize magick-thieving mages are just the tip of the iceberg.
Product Warnings
Bossy alpha wolves, witches who take no guff, sexytimes, bad words, and some violence.
