Stricken
Marcia
Colette
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Purple Sword
Publications
Number of pages: 155
Word Count: 60,000
Cover Artist: Traci Markou
Book Description:
Personal tragedy convinces
half-werewolf Alexa York to get away to the town of McCormick, Pennsylvania
where she's charged with protecting Dr. Aiden Joss, physician to the
supernatural community. Not only does she need the money, she needs the
distraction. Unfortunately, she gets it in spades when Joss's personal issues
and a myriad of dangerously sick patients make her new job nearly impossible.
A mysterious disease is running
its way through the New York Order of the Amazons and leaving bodies in its
wake. The same warrior who had chosen her clan over Joss has asked for him
help. Even though the disease is real, Alexa has reason to believe his ex's
sincerity is not.
Given the other numerous problems
she has to deal with that are outside of her job description, Dr. Joss might be
the biggest threat to his own safety. But, protecting him comes first. That’s
difficult to do when his efforts to find an antidote put everyone in his remote
clinic in danger, including Alexa.
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Present day…
I stood on the porch of Dr. Aiden
Joss’s luxurious home pissed as hell. Someone was supposed to meet me at the
airport in Philadelphia. I ended up having to take a cab because all of the
rentals were booked from the only airport about twenty-five miles from the
small town of McCormick, Pennsylvania. The taxi driver must have mistaken me
for an oil baron with the fare he charged. He ended up having to leave me at
the front gate because the intercom was busted. Thankfully, being a human
hybrid had its advantages. After tossing my duffle over the ten-foot age, I
followed by leaping over. Some security.
The downpour turned my black wavy
hair into thick, cold tresses snaking down my neck and upper back. Sadly, my
duffle bag was just as pitiful as I looked, since it wasn’t waterproof. I
exercised more care when picking out my purse and laptop bag.
The front door opened. A tall,
bulky man who looked like he missed his calling as an NFL linebacker stood
against the golden glow of the interior. His face was criminal-hard, though
something in his dark eyes said otherwise. He wore a white shirt and jeans with
a knee brace around his left knee. He blinked.
“Oh, boy.” He hurried to unlock
the storm door and let me inside. “You must be Ms. Alexa York.”
I struggled getting passed him
with my wet duffle and carry-on and drenched clothes clinging to my cold body.
“I am. I take it the phones don’t work around here either.”
He took my stuff and set it
aside. “The power has been flickering all night. They just got the lights back
on about three minutes ago. The phone is internet, so when the power goes out,
everything goes out.”
I unzipped my cold, sodden
jacket. “I get it. No phone no phone calls. Which is why I was stuck at the
airport.”
He sighed. “Again, my apologies,
ma’am. With so much going on, I only had a chance to worry about one thing at
time.”
I glanced at him before
answering. So much going on? The house was quiet and not a soul in sight. What
could’ve possibly had him too busy to pick me up when he knew I was coming?
Heck, I was here to be his replacement while he was on the mend. If he didn’t
want me here, forgetting me at the airport or not sending a car to pick me up
worked in his favor.
He offered his hand to me. “My
name’s Sammy. I’m Dr. Joss’s med tech and assistant.”
“Med tech?” I looked him up and
down. “But I thought you were his—”
He chuckled. “I’m really his
assistant. I’m only his bodyguard when I have to be. And given the kind of
world that lies beyond those gates, I find myself playing the latter more
often.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “I’m
sorry if I sounded a little crotchety, but—”
Sammy waved his large hand. “No
need to apologies. I’d be a lot more than pissed had I been in your shoes.
Speaking of which, let me show you to your room so you can get some dry clothes
on.”
Snorting, I glanced at the puddle
forming around my duffle. “Dry clothes, huh. That would be nice.”
“No worries, Ms. York. I’ll find
you something.”
“It’s Alexa, by the way.” Those
close to me called me Lex. We weren’t there yet.
“Alexa, then.”
My room was upstairs on the
second floor along with five other bedrooms. Every piece of furniture was
stained pine and sitting against light blue walls. Thankfully, I had my own
private bathroom. When I looked out of the bathroom window, I noticed a light
coming from the woods somewhere behind the trees.
Had it not been for Wesley Dane,
a full-blooded werewolf friend of my family, I wouldn’t be here to play
bodyguard for one of his closest friends. It wasn’t the thousand dollars a day,
tax-free money for my services that brought me here. I needed the distraction
more than everything.
“So how much do you know about
me?” After snuggling into a thick, warm robe, I dried off my hair with a towel
and opened the bathroom door.
Sammy was still there, though
keeping his distance by waiting in the hall. I thought it was weird, but
whatever, seeing as this was more his house than mine. “Enough, he replied.
“You’re half-werewolf, which is extremely rare. You’re also married, which
means either your husband, who’s a full-blood, or Dane is going to tear Dr.
Joss apart if anything bad happens to you. Although, that sort of defeats the
purpose of you being the doctor’s bodyguard.” He half-smiled.
“Are you expecting me to be torn
apart?”
“No,” he chuckled. “But I expect
you’ll be put through the ringer.” He pointed at the fresh clothes on my bed.
“The best I could come up with are some sweats, an oversized tee-shirt, and
some thick socks we typically give the patients. I promise I’ll have your
clothes cleaned and dried by the time you wake up tomorrow. That is, I hope you
can stand the scent. I bought some unscented detergent when I found out you
were coming, but I didn’t have a chance to wash those particular clothes in
them.”
My lips pursed together in a grin
to keep from laughing. “Relax. My senses might be heightened senses, but not that
much. I actually like the smell of laundry detergent. Flowers are preferable to
anything else.”
“So those will be okay?”
I nodded. “They’re fine. And
thank you. For the robe and clothes and stuff.”
“Not a problem.” He thumbed over
his shoulder. “I don’t know if you’re hungry or anything, but I have some chili
on the stove, too. Your appetite is…?”
“Human. It’s one of the things I
actually like about being half-werewolf.” Compared to others. I caught myself
before saying anymore.
Over the last three weeks, I
wished I was more human than some freak living in the middle of that world and
the werewolf one. Perhaps things might have turned out better between my
husband and me.
I forced a smile to my face. “So
what kind of supernatural is Dr. Joss?”
Sammy sighed. “I’m not at liberty
to say.”
“Really? You know what I am, so
why can’t I know about him?”
“You didn’t ask Dane?”
My smile faded and I crossed my
arms. “I did, but he sealed his lips on that one, too. Said I’d find out on my
own.” The conversation took a nosedive after that. I had to remind him that
both Matt and my father would break him in half if he sent me to a maniac’s
house. Of course, I knew Dane well enough to know he’d never do that either.
Chuckling, Sammy turned and
started down the hall. “I can’t say my chili is award winning, but it did get
an honorable mention at the state fair.”
So that was how he wanted to play
it. Good.
Following after him while he
spoke about the rules of the house and how I needed to be ready in case
emergencies happened in the middle of the night, I focused on my sense of
smell. The only thing that stung my nose was the scent of alcohol. Not the
rubbing kind either.
Sammy prepared me a small bowl of
chili with enough spices to burn a whole your sinuses. I hardly touched it.
While my appetite might have been human, my tastes was more sensitive than
normal when it came to spicy stuff. Thank goodness there were plenty of
delicious corn muffins to go around.
My duties were simple. I wasn’t
expected to participate in any life-saving measures, but rather watch Dr.
Joss’s back, since most of his clients were supernaturals. The rest were those
who couldn’t risk a report being filed with the police department. It also
meant that I might have to fly out in the middle of the night or take a drive
with him, since he still believed in house calls. Sammy would hold down the
house and make arrangements, schedules, and contacts as they were needed. The
only thing Sammy asked I do that wasn’t on the list was keep an open mind. I
had no idea what that meant…
…until we heard a thump from down
the hall.
Sammy hobbled in front of me,
hurrying faster than I would’ve thought for a guy who had recently twisted his
knee. When he entered through the French doors, he muttered a curse before
limping into the room.
“A little help, please?” A female
shouted.
A man lay on the floor with a
whiskey bottle a few inches away from his fingers and alcohol leaking into the
carpet. The disheveled guy looked like he had missed a few days of shaving and
couldn’t afford a comb. His clothes stank of booze and enough mustiness to
imply he had misses a couple of showers, too. He had black, medium-length hair
that looked greasy to the touch and was probably just as neglected as the rest
of him.
Next to him was a woman with dark
blond tresses barely held together with a messy ponytail and plump lips that
didn’t need any lipstick to stand out. There was something in those dark eyes
that pleaded for help, but at the same time they said she was tired. She wore a
pair of white pants with matching shoes and a black sweater. I bet anything she
was a nurse. Sadly, the man on the floor didn’t need any medical care.
“Ms. York,” Sammy said, leaning
to pick up the empty bottle. “This is Macy Innick, our nurse, and the
impeccable Dr. Aiden Joss.”
Macy huffed at the two of us. “A
little help here, please?”
I pointed, unable to take my gaze
off my new employer. “This is the genius who supernaturals trust with their
patient confidentiality?”
Macy managed to get him into a
sitting position before glaring bullets into me. “While he might not be
perfect, he’s still brilliant and your employer.”
I held up my hands and stepped
back. If she wanted to defend him, then more power to her. If he were my boss,
he had better be paying me in spades, gold doubloons, and diamonds to clean up
after his drunken foolishness. That wasn’t a part of the job description.
Sammy managed to loop a hand
under Joss’s arm. “Believe it or not, his medical expertise is one area where
he’s quite sober, even if the rest of him isn’t.”
“And if he should have an
emergency tonight, am I supposed to drive him there in that smashed state?”
He paused. “I hate to say it, but
yeah.”
A grin splayed my face. “You’re
funny.”
I turned and walked back down the
hall, knowing full-well that he was serious. When I reached the kitchen, I
grabbed an extra muffin and my cup of warm cocoa, and headed upstairs to my
room. No way was I driving that man to his next medical-malpractice
suit…assuming he even made it that far.
About
the Author:
Marcia Colette didn’t discover
her love for reading until her late teens when she started reading John Saul
and progressed to works by Bentley Little, Stephen King and Laurell K.
Hamilton. Her reading tastes convinced her to write paranormals where curses
cause people to shift into spiders, psychotic and telekinetic mothers are
locked away in attics, and murderous doppelgangers are on a rampage. Let's not
forget about the hunky werecheetah coalitions who live throughout North
Carolina. As long as she can make it believable, that's all that matters.
Born and raised in upstate New
York, Marcia now lives in North Carolina with her mom and beautiful daughter.
They’re not raising zombies in the backyard. There aren’t any hellhounds living
in the den, only a rabbit and a cockatiel. So where she gets her ideas is as
much a mystery to her as anyone else.
The best place to find her--when
she's not stirring up trouble--is on her blog where she loves connecting with
readers.
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