Part of the job had been resolved when Cassie and two other wolves had tried to circle around and attack the estate. Luckily Isaac and the others had stumbled onto them. The fight had been brief and bloody. None of our guys had escaped unharmed, but they were all going to make a full recovery, and the same couldn't be said for Cassie or the others.
I shivered a little at the thought, and Alec looked up with concern on his face. "Do you need another blanket?"
"No, I'm fine, just a little worried about Jasmin and the boys."
Now he did frown. He wasn't excited that he had to stay here instead of leading the tracking group. I personally was glad he couldn't go along, and not just because it was dangerous work. I wasn't positive he'd really come to terms with having killed Brandon.
"They'll be fine. You need to worry about getting better, and nothing else."
My pout met with just as much success as it usually did. After a second or two I gave up and nodded.
"Okay, I promise to be good and concentrate on getting better, if you'll come keep me company."
The flash of emotion, barely visible in Alec's eyes, was a source of hope and despair all at once. Eagerness, desire. Both curbed by the same iron will that'd continued fighting long past where most people would've given up and died.
I patted the bed next to me, wincing slightly as even that simple motion pulled on things that weren't meant to be pulled on. He stared at me for several seconds, and then sat down on the bed. I waited, and then when I was sure that was as close as he planned on getting, I slid closer, resting my head on his arm. As long as I was careful not to go too far, not to touch too much of him, I could get away with that much.
His half-imagined sigh sent little trills of satisfaction through me. He wasn't going to initiate contact. If I didn't know with an absolute certainty that he wanted to be with me, I would've despaired already. Still, Dominic had been right so many days ago. Alec was worth it, and as long as he still loved me, I was going to do my best to help him see that we belonged together.
Human or shape shifter, homely or gorgeous, none of that mattered. All that mattered was he made my heart beat faster, and I could no longer imagine my life without him. I guess you call that love.
—The Story Continues—
Publisher's Note:
If you've enjoyed this book, please consider signing up for the author's mailing list. By signing up you'll receive $10.00 worth of free books (including Torn, the companion book to Broken). We'll be offering a special discount to existing fans for the first week each new book is live, so signing up for his mailing list will mean that you'll always know about new releases with plenty of time to take advantage of the new release discount.
Readers are strongly advised to pick up Torn next and then proceed on to Splintered. The most cost effective way to purchase Splintered is as part of the Bitten Reflections Story Bundle. Bitten gets you the next six installments of the Reflections series—plus a bonus short story—for 37% off of the normal price.
Author's Note:
In some ways it feels like I've been at this for decades, in other ways it feels like I only just sat down to try and put Adri's story down in words. Now that it's live, I can only say that I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you haven't read Torn yet, please go check it out. When I set out to write Broken, I never expected that I was going to end up writing the same story from Alec's point of view, but I'm pleased with how both Broken and Torn have turned out, both individually and as a combined work.
They are done in very different styles, but ultimately that was exactly what I was after. I think there is plenty of cross-over of guys reading paranormal romance, and girls picking up more action-packed stories. Ultimately I think most of us just want a compelling story, but sometimes the labels that get applied to books get in the way of us discovering them, rather than helping as they are meant to do.
I think one of the things that made the Harry Potter books so successful was the fact that the whole family could share in the series. I remember as Twilight came out thinking that there were plenty of guys who would enjoy Twilight if they ever sat down and read it, but most of them wouldn't ever give it a try. My hope with Broken and Torn is that the two stories combine into something that both guys and girls can enjoy. The girls are likely to start out with Broken, while guys are likely to pick up Torn and enjoy the extra action there. Either way, my biggest hope would be that the guys can introduce their wives and girlfriends to Broken, and the girls can introduce their husbands and boyfriends to Torn.
We've included excerpts for both Torn and Splintered (the sequel for Broken and Torn) below.
Acknowledgments:
A big thanks to all of the fans who are doing so much to help get the word out. There are tons of you that I don't know, but I do want to make special mention of a few dependable souls that I'm very grateful to know, and who've helped in various ways with Torn, and who I suspect will continue to go above and beyond with Broken. Cassy & Mark, I'm glad you both turned out to be story addicts just like me. Thanks for everything. Dad, not everyone gets to be best friends with their parents. Thanks for all of the feedback and the ongoing support. Mimi, thanks for sticking with me long enough to get addicted and to fix some of my biology facts along the way. As always, Katie deserves special thanks. Without her, Alec and Adri's story never would have seen the light of day.
Thanks need to be expressed to Obsidian Dawn, www.obsidiandawn.com, for brushes used in the creation of Broken's cover.
Finally, a big thanks to the bloggers who've kindly reviewed Broken and Torn, done interviews and otherwise gone over and above by sharing their platform.
About the Author:
Dean Murray is a prolific author with more than 25 titles across multiple pen names and more than 350,000 copies of his work currently in circulation.
Dean started reading seriously in the second grade due to a competition and has spent most of the subsequent three decades lost in other people's worlds.
Things worsened, or improved depending on your point of view, when he first started experimenting with writing while finishing up his accounting degree. These days Dean has a wonderful wife and two lovely daughters to keep him rather more grounded, but the idea of bringing others along with him as he meets interesting new people in universes nobody else has ever seen tends to drag him back to his computer on a fairly regular basis.
Keep up to speed on Dean's latest projects at deanwrites.com. If you want to interact with readers who love the series as much as you do, please consider checking out the Reflections Facebook page.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Torn Excerpt
The silvery light of a nearly-full moon should have been comforting. For most people it would've been peaceful even, but it pulled at my anger with surprising strength as I bounded across the arid Southern-Utah terrain.
Darkly-furred, four-legged shapes ghosted through the darkness on either side of me as we slid between the softly-glowing pillars of trees. Jasmin, arguably the closest thing I had to a best friend, dove through a latticework of light and then it was my turn to feel the undergrowth grasping at my fur in an effort to slow my progress.
The warm evening breeze carried a host of aromas too subtle for mere human noses to identify. In our four-footed forms each molecule was unconsciously sorted and cataloged, leaving us free to concentrate on the elusive scent of our prey.
The other pack, a portion at least, was less than a mile away, far enough into our territory for it to be a killable offense if they were caught. They'd become increasingly arrogant over the last few months, but coming in
close enough to threaten our families was a whole new level of provocation. Even their leader, Brandon, wasn't usually so bold.
A stray eddy of wind played across my muzzle, and I knew they'd made their first mistake. I pressed into my second in command for a moment, conveying an order through posture and motion, and then nipped at Jasmin's heels, the two of us stretching out in a full sprint.
Free from the others, Jasmin and I streaked through the night with a speed the rest of our pack couldn't have matched. Jasmin pressed at my flank, curious at my decision until she caught the scent, and then an answering growl made its way past her fangs.
The trap was clever, but the other wolves didn't know the terrain well enough. I let my beast bubble up from the corner of my being where I usually kept it chained. Between one moment and the next, I went from running on four legs to two. As my transformation ended, a six-foot tower of muscle and claws sprang from the shadows. I ducked Vincent's first blow and retaliated with a gash that opened one side of his chest nearly down to the bone.
A dark-furred form leaped at Jasmin, but the other wolf mistimed the spring. Most of the other pack didn't appreciate just how nimble she was. Jasmin dodged to one side and then the two of them were circling, looking for an opening.
Vincent, the other hybrid, attacked with the strength and fury that'd earned him the position of second in his pack, but he hadn't been expecting to face me in this form. As a wolf I weighed in at a solid two hundred pounds, but would've still given up more than a hundred pounds to him.
Now I had at least six inches and seventy-five pounds on my side of the equation, and he was the one pressed onto the defensive as the fight progressed.
I caught flashes of action from the other fight as we circled each other. Jasmin sprang at her opponent, catching her behind the shoulders as Vincent reeled away from me in a shower of blood. I'd finally managed a deeper strike on his arm.
The high-pitched scream of pain as Jasmin began trying to crush her opponent's spine was answered by rapidly-approaching howls. Vincent attacked with renewed strength at the promise of reinforcements.
I was bleeding in a dozen places now, but the rage insulated me from pain and weakness. Both sides of my nature were united in hating Vincent. If I ever did manage to kill him, my questionable humanity wouldn't grieve. The world would be better for his absence.
I could hear the other pack now, panting with exertion, our friends hot on their heels. Vincent overreached in his effort to claim the kill, and I sunk my teeth into the muscled flesh of his shoulder as I finally made it around behind him.
My claws sank into his arms and legs as I repositioned to snap his neck, and then a hammer blow of weight struck me across the shoulders. Knocked loose from Vincent, I spun around in time to tear Simon from the air as he leaped at me again. It was the perfect opportunity to end a life nearly as evil as Vincent's, but one of the recent arrivals had bowled Jasmin over.
Leveraging a frame that was more than capable of picking up a small car, I threw Simon into the whirling ball of flesh and fangs. He didn't hit hard enough to snap his neck, but he knocked the other wolf off of Jasmin, and then Vincent was back on his feet.
The rest of the rival pack, save for Brandon their leader, came streaming past, but they didn't help their fellows swarm Jasmin and me over. None of them even slowed. Vincent took an angry swipe at the last, a small female, and then our pack burst from the trees. A second later, our enemies were in full rout.
Splintered Excerpt
Alec had been promising to take me somewhere new for nearly a week, but pack business kept getting in the way. I'd been expecting some posh restaurant in Vegas or maybe LA. The world kind of becomes your oyster when you've got your own jet.
The last thing I'd expected was a picnic up at the top of the mountain that cradled the Graves' estate between large, rocky spurs. It was perfect.
For Alec money was nothing more than a useful tool, but he understood I still wasn't comfortable having that tool used to purchase me things I didn't really need.
I'd set out determined to hike the whole way up to the top, but I was still a little weak. Apparently everyone had been right about just how much blood I'd lost the night our pack had destroyed the local rival pack. They'd been trying to absorb Alec's pack for the last several years and he hadn't really had any other options, but I knew he still felt uneasy about what had happened.
With his superhuman hearing and sense of smell, Alec knew I was struggling before I even did. He waited though until I finally admitted how tired I was, and then he scooped me up and effortlessly jogged to the top of the peak.
"Are all of you shape shifters such showoffs? At least the change in altitude should bother you a little."
Alec smiled as he came to a stop at the very top and set me down. I waited for a couple of seconds for him to respond and then shrugged and looked out over the arid, Southern Utah landscape.
The view literally took my breath away. I hadn't realized we were quite so close to Zion National Park with all of its incredible greenery. The stark contrast between the desert and the lush vegetation was striking.
"Not a show off, just really eager to get you up here so I could watch your face when you first saw all of this."
Alec had unzipped his backpack and started emptying it while he spoke. Working with his usual speed it was only seconds before he had a blanket laid out. He handed me a bottle of water and then helped me down.
"You weren't kidding when you said this place was special."
Alec smiled and then wrapped me in a light blanket. The heat had finally relented slightly. Not enough to actually make it comfortable, but this high up it was actually a little chilly. If I hadn't spent the last several weeks living in the air-conditioned haven of Alec's house, the cooler temperatures at the top of the mountain would almost have made the trip worthwhile all by themselves.
"I've been wanting to bring you up here for a while. I used to come up here a lot when I was younger. It was kind of an escape after everyone started gaining their wolf form. We were all so closely matched sometimes it seemed like we were always scuffling to establish who was dominant."
He'd sunk down beside me while he was talking, resting with his hands behind his head so he could look up at the few thinly-stretched clouds. I took the opportunity to move closer, cuddling up next to him. I didn't bother looking up at the sky. Truth be told, I had all the beauty I needed right in front of me.
His slight start as my head came to rest on his arm was disappointing but entirely predictable. He adjusted my blanket slightly so it was between us and then pulled me closer. He was perfectly happy to touch me as long as there wasn't any actual skin on skin contact. Every time I pushed for more he backed away or found somewhere else he had to be.
"That must have been rough. There are a lot of strong personalities down there."
Alec's chuckle wasn't really amused. "You could say that. At first it seemed like things changed up on a daily basis. Then Jasmin manifested her royal wolf form and things settled down a little."
We were venturing into unknown territory for me. Alec was usually so careful to keep me sheltered from his world.
"Was Jasmin dominant then? I mean if she was a royal wolf and you hadn't manifested your hybrid form yet did she win all of the fights?"
Alec rested his cheek on the top of my head. "Not exactly. If she'd been a little more heartless she probably could have killed me and cowed the rest of the pack. Even then though, it was becoming pretty clear that we couldn't have two separate packs in such close proximity. The need to keep the pack strong meant that even though she pretty much ran the show most of the time there was the occasional thing that I'd just refuse to back down on."
His muscles tightened unconsciously, like maybe he was remembering past pains. "She'd rip me up one side and down the other but on the most important stuff I'd simply out stubborn her. When the dust settled usually I at least got a compromise we could both live with."
&
nbsp; I hugged him tighter for a second. "That sounds a lot like what you guys do right now, just the other way around."
"Yeah. That's about the size of it. She's still hiding something from me, but I'm not willing to bleed her to try and get an answer, not when odds are she'll just refuse to tell me anyways."
That was edging towards a secret that wasn't mine to tell. "Let's talk about something happier."
He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. He'd probably heard my pulse spike. Sometimes the fact that he was a shape shifter instead of just a normal boy was pretty inconvenient. Of course if he wasn't a shape shifter, then he wouldn't really be Alec.
"Your mom is likely to be back in town pretty soon. Her latest contract has about run its course and it's looking like I'd have to throw a whole bunch of money at her if I wanted to keep her in Europe."
"I'm not so sure that's really an improvement in topics."
"You don't want to see your mom?"
"It's not that, it's just that I know we're not going to be able to spend as much time together. It's not like she's going to let me sleep over."
Alec shrugged. "I can arrange for her to stay away for another month or two, but with the kind of disposable income she'd get out of the deal it's very possible she'll fly you out there."
"That settles it. Bring her back home. Even the prospect of less time with you is better than being sent out of the country and not seeing you at all."
Alec's smile nearly made me cry. "You know it might be for the best. You need some time to get your bearings again. Going cold turkey is generally the best way to kill an addiction."
We'd been through this more than once since he'd killed Brandon. He'd been so sure he was going to die that he'd relaxed his normally rigid rules. Since then he'd done everything possible to keep me at arm's length. Everything short of sending me away.
Growing up with the example of his mother was a powerful object lesson regarding what happened to humans that got involved with shape shifters; but given enough time, I'd exploit that tiny piece of him that wanted exactly what I wanted.
"Unless you're sending me away there's no point in having this conversation. I'm exactly where I want to be. It's not like I'm throwing myself at you this very second. Have you come up with an explanation for that yet?"
Alec stared back up at the clouds rather than meet my eyes. "Not yet. D...my best guess is maybe that you've realized your best bet at getting what you want long term is to pretend like you're not impacted."
"Please. Do you really believe I have that kind of willpower?"
"After the things I've seen you go through I'd never doubt your willpower, Adri."
It was rare that I suffered from a panic attack in Alec's presence but the reference to what I'd lost, combined with my dreaded nickname nearly did the trick.
As my pulse sped up again Alec pulled me in close.
"Sorry about that. You do have to admit, it would help explain why you're still here."
"Right, gorgeous, rich boy who also happens to be the next best thing to a super hero. I must be out of my mind not to run for the hills."
"You don't like it when I spend money on you and the more involved you get with me the less likely it is I'll be able to protect you."
"If I let you buy me something will you quit trying to scare me off?"
"No, but it would make me feel better."
He said that last with his heart stopping blue eyes gazing directly into mine and I nearly stopped breathing. Somehow he hadn't realized yet that when he looked at me like that there wasn't anything I could deny him.
"Ok, you can get me a present, something small and relatively inexpensive."
Alec smiled and reached over to the backpack as he sat up. I let him pull me up and then felt my face freeze as he pulled out one of the largest velvet boxes I'd ever seen.
"Alec, no."
"It wasn't that expensive and you've already told me I could."
"I didn't think you'd have something already ready and waiting to ambush me with. I thought I'd at least have a few days to prepare myself."
He smiled again and I gingerly held my hand out. The green velvet lid swung up to reveal the most delicate necklace I'd ever seen. It was a thin glass heart set inside a slightly larger heart.
"I saw it when I was in Virginia last week for business and thought of you."
"It's beautiful. You shouldn't have, but thank you."
Alec slipped it around my neck and did the clasp, his fingers lingering a fraction of an inch from my skin but he pulled them back without ever actually touching me.
It really was beautiful; I looked back up to thank him again when a wave of weakness slid through me. Alec caught me before I hit the ground.
"Are you ok?"
"I think so. I thought I was past all of this recovery stuff."
He looked concerned but I'd learned to read his expressions better than I think he realized. He was worried, but not just about me. He spent a lot of time worrying. The rest of the pack, the town, his mother, his sister. It was a lot for someone our age to deal with.
"There's an uncommon amount of that going around right now."
Alec shook his head at my curious stare. "Dom and Jasmin both seem to be spending more time in bed than you'd expect based on the wounds they took putting down Cassie and the others. Isaac moved like an old man when we spared yesterday and Donovan is looking old lately."
I thought back and realized he was right, about Donovan at least. The old shape shifter always moved gingerly thanks to old injuries that had left his right leg permanently crippled. I hadn't thought anything of it at the time but Donovan was looking frailer lately.
The thought of Donovan getting to the point that his age was starting to show nearly made me choke up. I didn't have the extensive history with Donovan that Alec's family had, but he'd been unfailingly kind to me despite the fact that I'd endangered everything he cared about.
Alec correctly read my thoughts. "Don't worry; I'm sure it's nothing. I'll force him to take a couple of days off and I'm sure he'll be fine. He's only a bit past middle age for one of us."
I nearly protested, but Alec was right, it would take an actual order to get Donovan to slow down, and two days was probably pushing it. Donovan somehow managed to respectfully circumvent any order he thought prevented him from taking adequate care of Alec's family.
"Tell me about Christmas at the Paige house."
I blinked a couple of times. The progress I'd made lately notwithstanding, I half expected the question to drive me into a panic attack. Apparently Alec's presence was proof against a second near attack today.
"I don't know. We always used to do the standard kind of stuff. Presents, eggnog and the Christmas story. Usually Dad made us breakfast Christmas morning and then we'd drive out of the city later in the day and go sledding. I hadn't thought about what it would be like this year."
Alec nodded like he'd just checked a box off on some kind of mental list. "So snow's always been a pretty key ingredient sounds like."
"I guess. It hadn't really sunk in that we wouldn't be getting any of that this year. A month ago I would have thought that was a good thing, that it would be one less thing to remind me of Dad and Cindi. I think I might actually miss it this year though."
I rested my head against Alec's shoulder. "It doesn't really matter. The important thing now is that we're together for Christmas. Beyond that I don't really care what happens."
I was still safely wrapped in my blanket so Alec pulled me into a hug. Even taking into consideration his annoying efforts to protect me from the addictive effect of his touch, this was the happiest I'd ever been. I'd had plenty of bad times over the last year or so to offset the near perfection of my life now, but it still didn't seem like something that could last.
We just sat there in silence with his arms wrapped around me for several minutes before his cell phone rang. Sometimes I wondered if the slim device was some kind of super spy phone. It se
emed to get reception in some of the most incredible places.
He shifted around just enough to answer it without letting go of me with his right arm.
"What's up?"
Whoever was on the other end was talking too quietly for me to make out more than the occasional word.
"...Jack...now...no time..."
I could suddenly feel the energy radiating off of Alec as his beast woke and rose to the surface. His limbs hadn't taken on the fine tremble of someone only seconds away from changing shape, but he was obviously unhappy. Given the tight leash he kept his beast on, I would have been willing to bet that just about anyone else in the pack would have already shifted shapes and ripped a tree out of the ground or done something equally destructive by now.
Alec shifted the phone slightly, I couldn't hear whoever was on the other end anymore, but whatever they'd just said hadn't made things any better. The invisible ants marching up my arms went to double time and the metaphysical breeze that started on his skin and went outward turned into a full-blown gale.
"Stall them. We'll be down in eight minutes if worse comes to worst you two contain Isaac and tell Dom to sit on Jack. Keep Rachel out of the way."
Already moving with the unearthly speed he normally concealed even from me, Alec hung up the phone and started throwing things into the backpack.
"Jack's working himself up to a dominance fight with Jess. This couldn't have happened at a worse time. If we're not back before it starts odds are someone's going to die."
CHET
Whispers From the Past
By Larry Murray
Meet Charles Tucker, he has spent nearly 30 years living in denial, trying desperately to hide from his past and the events that shattered his heart beyond any possibility of healing. He can't let anyone close, for doing so would open him up to being hurt again, and there's no way he could survive another wounding.
Meet the Saunders family, new to the neighborhood and teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Mark, the father, talks a good story but is that all he is? His plan could hold the key to reversing his family's financial misfortunes, or it could wipe out everyone involved.
Meet Chet, a battered old '64 Chevy pickup that was there on the night Charles' life imploded. For nearly three decades, he has been locked away in an old barn, safely out of sight if not completely out of mind. For 29 years Charles has blamed the old pickup for the destruction of his life, now he's about to find that the vehicle that destroyed his life might be the key to his healing and a journey of unexpected miracles.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Excerpt from Torn
Excerpt from Splintered
Chet
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