The Lure of the Wolf (The Shadowmen Book 2)

Mighty warriors sworn to protect humanity, the shape-shifters known as The Shadowmen move between two worlds. Now their dark leader has exiled himself from the spirit world, opening the door to the forces of chaos...and to the power of love. Half wolf, half man, Aragon has abandoned his brethren to repay a debt of honor; he is sworn to kill a rogue Blood Hunter, though exacting revenge will doom him to a ghostly existence trapped between two worlds. But when a mortal woman unexpectedly calls him to her side, the heat of her soft flesh arouses a hunger in him that threatens to complicate his mission. Dr. Annette Batista, a dedicated healer, is determined to find her missing sister. With the amulet found at the site of her sister's disappearance, she unwittingly summons a shadowy warrior. She wonders if she can trust this powerful male named Aragon, who claims he can vanquish her sister's captor -- the very monster he's vowed to destroy. Or is Annette blinded by her shocking passion for the most alluring, mysterious man she's ever seen?

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One "No!" Aragon yelled, leaping from his knees. Jared couldn't die. Shifting into his were-form, Aragon had to save Jared or die trying. Breathing hard, his fangs and claws clenched with frustration, he threw the full force of his massive were-form at Jared, desperately trying to free him from the Sacred Stones' killing hold. But Aragon hit an invisible wall before reaching the powerful force that held Jared's dying body captive. "By Logos! Let him live!" Aragon cried, clawing at the barrier. The spirit wind gusted in response and slammed into him, throwing him back twenty feet. He sat up, dazed, shaking his head, finally realizing that it wasn't his lack of might that was blocking him from Jared, but a force greater than any power he'd ever fought. Before he could react, he heard a mortal woman screaming Jared's name. She appeared at the opening to the Sacred Stones, fighting the wind that had just thrown him as she plowed to the center where Jared hung in the air, twisting in agony. Aragon started toward the mortal woman to rescue her from the same blast of power that had thrown him. What had dazed him would kill her. But she flung herself at Jared before he could stop her -- and penetrated the barrier with ease. She wrapped her arms around Jared's convulsing were-form. Jared recoiled as she clung to him, desperate to save him; but the love pouring from her, one as powerful as the wind, had come too late. Aragon watched in horror as Jared's spirit separated from his body and rose toward the heavens. The mortal woman held Jared's lifeless body to her and pressed her mouth to his. Her cry of pain ripped through Aragon like a knife, rendering his heart in two. He'd not only caused Jared's death, but he, who'd sworn to protect the Elan, had just caused great sorrow to one of Logos's chosen. Instead of accepting Jared's death, the woman pressed upon Jared's heart hard with her hand and gave him the very breath from her lungs. Again and again she repeated the motions, refusing to give up, fighting with a valor worthy of any warrior. Then suddenly, Jared's spirit came diving back down from the heavens, and his body shuddered back to life to feel the full force of the mortal woman's love. Jared was saved. Aragon ran from the Sacred Stones, his soul burning from the pain and the damage he'd caused. To have sent his brother to his death, to have been so wrong about Jared, made Aragon unworthy of anything. It didn't matter that love had saved Jared, that Jared had found salvation from the assassin's poison corrupting him. That only proved how mistaken Aragon had been. He didn't deserve to live, much less lead the Blood Hunters. He'd had no choice but to leave the Guardian Forces. His fate should be far worse than the punishment decreed by Logos for such an act -- to be exiled as a faded warrior, one whose spirit would remain trapped in time for eternity, having substance neither in the spirit world nor upon the mortal ground. He didn't know how much time he had before Logos stripped him of his warrior's powers and threw him into the torturous void, but he knew there was one last thing he could do for his brethren: execute Pathos. The former Blood Hunter was a bane upon the mortal world and had shamed the honor of all Blood Hunters. It would be breaking Guardian Forces law to seek another's death outside of battle. But Aragon had little doubt that he and Pathos would fight to the end, so bitter was the draught in Aragon's soul. In the spirit world a warrior's honor became entwined with that of the man who trained him. If he fought well, he brought honor to the one who'd done the training. But if he were cowardly or traitorous, he shamed his mentor as well as himself. When Pathos had become purely evil, taking up with Heldon within two short days of being poisoned by a Tsara, one of Heldon's spiritual assassins, the betrayal cut like a knife that went deeper as Pathos became leader of one of Heldon's most vile vampyric rings -- the Vladarian Order. Pathos had led them to slaughter the Elan in a bloody reign of death that still echoed in the nightmares of mortals. Now Pathos led the Vladarians on an even more destructive path by making the ravenous beasts into an organized and deadly force. The souls of all mortals, not just the chosen Elan, were now in danger. Pathos must be stopped. And Aragon would be the warrior to do it. The rising sun chased the night chill from the Tennessee mountain air, but left Dr. Annette Batista shivering as if she stood in an arctic void. Too cold inside to accept the sun's warmth, and too isolated in her pain to rejoice with friends, she stood on Spirit Wind Mountain with her heart silently crying. Around her, Emerald Linton, Sheriff Sam Sheridan, Erin Morgan, and Jared Hunter spoke softly, relieved that Jared had survived. But their tentative snatches of humor were tense; Jared's near death, along with the cloud of evil hanging over them, weighed heavily on their hearts, etching lines of strain upon them all. For Annette it was worse. The pain she constantly carried sharpened to an excruciating point at the Sacred Stones cresting the deserted mountain. In the six months that had passed since her sister disappeared from the ancient worship site, she'd learned nothing more about what might have happened to Stefanie. Nothing had surfaced anywhere despite the numerous searches, the posted flyers, and the half million in reward money offered. Stef had come to the mountain to hike with her coworkers and disappeared without a trace. Amid the Druid-like pillars, Annette always felt as if she stood in an open doorway from this world to the next, at the threshold of a dark, vast void into which she wanted to jump to find her sister -- even if the black abyss was bottomless. The morning mists lingering over the dew-dampened ground twisted eerily around her ankles, swirling about the Stones like lost spirits searching for a soul to hear their cries. I'm here. Talk to me, Stefanie! she silently beseeched her sister. Where are you? What happened to you? Fisting her hands, she squeezed her eyes shut against the brightness of the fresh day. She prayed for an answer with her whole being, just as she had many times before, but the Sacred Stones remained silent. She heard only the whispering kiss of a breeze, the voices of her friends, and the wrenching "what if" tearing her apart. Stefanie had called the night before she'd disappeared and left a message for Annette to call her back; that she had something important to talk about. But Annette had been in surgery when the call came and didn't get out until well after midnight. With patients in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit still to see before going home, Annette had put off returning Stef's call until the morning. By then it had been too late. Stefanie was gone. What if Annette had called just as soon as she'd left the OR that night? What if she hadn't let her career take precedence over her family yet again? What if she had acted as fast with Stefanie as Erin had done this morning when Jared left? Would Stefanie still be alive? Annette had no doubt that Erin's love and quick response in rushing to the Sacred Stones had saved Jared Hunter. Though Annette had never seen Jared's Blood Hunter -- aka werewolf -- form, she no longer doubted that he was who and what he claimed to be. Nor did she doubt that there was a host of supernatural beings in the world. Since meeting Erin and Jared, she had learned that vampires were finding human victims at free health screenings offered by the Sno-Med Corporation and its twisted head, Dr. Cinatas -- the very company Stefanie had worked for. A company whom Annette hadn't questioned -- she had even volunteered to help during their health expo last week. God! She'd placed the blood of so many children into the hands of those monsters. She shivered again as a flood of pain and self-disgust washed over her. "Please!" she prayed. "Please let me find Stef. Let me find something, anything." Chest almost too tight to breathe, Annette slipped to her knees and pressed her palm into the leaf-strewn soil where Stef's backpack had been found the day she disappeared. But all she could feel was the damp chill of the ground. Odds were that her sister's body lay somewhere in the cold earth of the surrounding forest, somewhere close, but hidden. Emerald had tried to keep her optimistic even though everyone else had given up hope of finding Stef alive. The volunteer searches had ended several months ago, and every time she spoke to the people in town, she could see the resignation in their eyes -- if they spoke to her at all. Some avoided her, starting to turn down the grocery aisle before seeing her and quickly moving to the next, or crossing the street before reaching where she walked. They weren't being cruel, but a tragedy hanging in limbo with no hope of closure was hard to face. She saw it in her nightmares and walked with it every day. Yet she couldn't seem to resign herself as completely as Sam. Twilight's sheriff never sugarcoated anything and always pared truth down to the bone. He believed Stef was dead, and had believed it within days after she disappeared. He still did his job, though -- ran a crime scene investigation of the area, personally searched every nook and cranny within miles, tracked down every story of a woman found or a body discovered that buzzed along the law enforcement's national and international wires, and questioned every stranger or vagrant found within a hundred miles. Blinking hard against her tears, she saw something shimmering in the sunlight next to her hand on the ground and gasped as she recognized the golden-bronze amulet as Jared's. She reached for it. Before she even touched it, she could feel the warmth radiating from the metal into her fingertips. As she grasped it, a tingling shock danced from her toes to her scalp, and its heat went bone-deep into her hand, intensely comforting. With it clutched in her han...

About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author, Jennifer St. Giles, aka Jennifer Saints, J.L. Saint is no ordinary Georgia Peach. She's a Golden Heart, three-time Maggie, two-time National Reader's Choice, Marlene, RT Reviewer's Choice and Daphne du Maurier award-winning author.  Jenni writes in multiple genres, including: romance, paranormal, contemporary, historical and military and time travel.  She is a passionate patriot, event planner and the Vice-President of a charitable foundation which helps women and children's causes. Jenni believes fervently in following your dreams and never giving up. - See more at: jenniferstgiles.com

Reviews

News