Shifter Wars (Mind Sweeper Series Book 3) Read online

  I murmured my next words, knowing her shifter ears would hear me. “Breathe deeply, Trina. Let go. Your animal wants to meet you. I can picture her. She’s anxious to see the world through your eyes.” I tightened my fingers nervously on her parka.

  Trina hugged herself and knelt down. She stayed still for a couple of minutes. Nothing happened. She looked back at me, tears shimmering in her eyes.

  I smiled at her. “Don’t give up, Trina.” I thought back to my earlier visions and described the sensation. “Imagine your fur is tickling just below the surface of your skin. It wants to move, reshape itself.”

  She nodded and leaned forward on her hands and knees.

  Just when I thought it was taking too long, the ice crystals in the snow glimmered around her and took shape, encasing her body in a soft glow. I held my breath. White hair sprouted on her hands and face. Her face elongated and her clothes ripped away from her tiny frame as she grew, transforming into a white wolf.

  She turned to me with a wolfish grin. I motioned to her. “Go on, have some fun.”

  Tears streamed down my face as I watched her gallop up the hill and nip at the snow. Her proud parents, in the form of a large gray wolf and a collie dog, ran by me to join the white wolf, yipping with her.

  Rose perfume filled my nose, and suddenly Marie was standing next to me. I looked up the hill, but no one seemed to have noticed her.

  Marie followed my startled gaze. “They can’t see or smell me unless I want them to. You did a good job, hon.”

  “Thanks. I wondered where you’d disappeared to these last few days.”

  “I thought I would give you some alone time with your kitty-cat.”

  I grimaced at her. “I was afraid you’d gotten in trouble or something. Maybe the angels had put you on lockdown.”

  “Nah.” She smiled at me. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you missed me.”

  “Don’t go crazy now.”

  Marie winked at me. “Don’t worry. I’ll be around. But since Mr. Sexy is coming this way, I’ll bid you adieu for right now.”

  I gaped at her. “Adieu?”

  “I’m practicing up so I can talk to the gorgeous French vampire you work with. Yum-mee.”

  I laughed as she faded away.

  A few seconds later, Griffin’s arms wrapped around me from behind, and he kissed the top of my head. “Were you just talking to yourself?”

  “Just enjoying the moment.” I really didn’t want to explain Marie right now.

  He rubbed my arms lightly. “You did it, sweet.”

  “No, Trina did it.”

  “How did you know what to say?”

  “My visions. I kept seeing my hands sprout white hair and only recently understood I was experiencing Trina’s memory. She was on the verge of changing the night she was captured, but she forced herself to stop for fear Brennan would kill her.”

  We stood silently for a moment, and I sank into the warmth of his embrace. I watched in awe as Trina rolled in the snow. “White wolves are rare, aren’t they?”

  “Extremely.” Griffin answered.

  “What does it mean?”

  “Myth says the white wolf will protect our pack from evil. Trina will play a huge part in our future.” He squeezed me tighter. “Sound familiar?”

  I rested my arms on his. “A discussion for another day. Let’s enjoy this moment, and let the future take care of itself for now.”

  Trina’s wolf interrupted our conversation, howling her first greeting to the world.

  Thanks!

  I hope you enjoyed the third book in my Mind Sweeper Series. My fourth and fifth books in this series will be released in 2015.

  If you would like to know when my books will be released, please join my new releases email list at www.aejonesauthor.com or follow me on Twitter @aejonesauthor or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/aejones.author1

  And if you are so inclined, please review this book as well.

  If you turn the page, you can read a teaser for The Pursuit, book four in the series. This novella once again delves into Jean Luc’s and Talia’s world.

  Mind Sweeper Series

  Mind Sweeper – Book 1

  The Fledgling – Book 2

  A Mind Sweeper Novella

  Shifter Wars – Book 3

  The Pursuit – Book 4 (Coming 2015)

  A Mind Sweeper Novella

  Book 5 (Coming 2015)

  Excerpt from

  The Pursuit

  AE Jones

  Chapter 1

  The woman lying on the lounge chair by the pool was movie-star gorgeous, even in death. Instead of a bathing suit, she wore a barely-there negligee of lavender satin. Early morning sun reflected off her expensively highlighted hair. Long lashes rested against her perfectly formed cheeks. And she had perky, bow lips. Talia had heard the expression before, but hadn’t understood it until today. This woman had obviously lived her life as the center of attention. Had that same attention lead to her death?

  Well, at least her job with the Bureau of Supernatural Relations was never boring. There was always some supe messing up in front of humans, and she and her partner, Will, would then have to cover it up. But this? Her stomach turned. This was not something they could cover up easily.

  “Should I call the police?” Will asked.

  “No.” Talia knelt down and examined her more closely.

  “No? I don’t like where this is going, T. We can’t take her body.”

  Talia stood. “We take bodies all the time.”

  “Yeah, supe bodies. Never a human.”

  “Well, there’s a first time for everything. If we don’t take her, how are we going to explain to the coroner about the twin puncture wounds on her neck?”

  “Damn.”

  She clenched her fists. “It’s still early. Hopefully we don’t have too much of a containment issue yet.” She looked across the pool to where a gangly man paced back and forth. His t-shirt read Vegas Pool Services. “The pool boy found her?”

  Will smirked. “The pool shifter-boy found her.”

  Talia cringed inwardly. She should have sensed he was shifter. Shit. It meant he’d probably heard what she’d said. She glanced over at him. Yep, his scowl confirmed it. What was wrong with her? She never slipped up on the job. She was at a murder scene, for God’s sake. It had to be the past week catching up with her. Between the shifter rebellion they had just squelched with the help of the Cleveland team and seeing Jean Luc again, she was still out of whack. But Jean Luc was on his way home, and she had managed to avoid having any type of serious conversation with him. She took a deep breath. Her personal drama would just have to wait.

  “I’ll go talk to the witness. Can you go get the van and pull it around so we can load her in before the neighborhood wakes up? And give Nicholas a call. We don’t need our fearless leader stroking out on us if he hears about this from someone else.”

  “Sure thing.” Will replied.

  Talia walked around the pool to the man who had stopped pacing and now stood glaring at her.

  “Sorry about the pool boy crack, it has been a long morning already.”

  “Tell me about it. I wasn’t expecting to find a dead human at my first stop today.”

  She held out her hand to him. “I’m Talia Walker from the BSR.”

  He grabbed her hand and shook it quickly. “Steve Williams.”

  “How long ago did you find her?”

  He checked his watch. “I called your office right away, so about forty-five minutes ago.”

  “Do you know anything about her?”

  “Her name is…was Melanie Thomas. She was single. She moved in here about a year ago. Told me she was retired.”

  Talia looked over at the woman lying on the chaise. She couldn’t be much more than thirty. Talia then took in the pool with the high fence surrounding it and the back of the large house before turning back to her witness. Her eyebrows rose in question.

  Steve held up his
hands. “Hey, I know how it sounds, but that’s what she told me. I think she had a sugar daddy…or whatever the norms are calling them these days. She paid me on time and the rest was none of my business.”

  “Did you ever meet anyone else here?”

  “You mean a vamp like you? Nope. I never sensed any supes around here.”

  Talia narrowed her eyes at him.

  He shrugged. “I saw the bite on her neck when I found her, which is why I called you instead of the cops. This is going to cause big trouble, isn’t it?”

  Dead human. Killer vampire. She watched Will come around the fence carrying a body bag. Now they were exacerbating the situation by stealing the body. Big trouble. What a monumental understatement.

  * * *

  Jean Luc turned onto the Vegas Strip. At night, humans and supernaturals were drawn to the Strip with the neon promise of escape. But as he drove along in the early morning light the city seemed to wilt in on itself. As did the tourists who trudged from one hotel to the next, determined to visit as many sights as they could.

  Jean Luc stopped at the light. He would be facing his own determined female soon enough. In truth, she was not his female anymore. But he planned to change the situation. If Talia would let him. She was not expecting him. He was supposed to be on his way back to Cleveland with Kyle, and the rest of the team, since the shifter case here was resolved. Instead, he had dropped them at the airport, and Kyle had given him a last minute pep-talk.

  “Remember, she still cares for you. I can tell.”

  Jean Luc was not as convinced as Kyle appeared to be, but he was willing to take a chance. He had pulled her duffle bag out of the trunk and placed it in her hands, turning her toward the airport doors. “Text me when you land, ma petite.”

  Kyle spun around. “So what are you going to say to Talia?”

  Why did she leave me? Does she still care for me? “I do not know yet.”

  Kyle scowled at him. “What do you mean, you don’t know? Don’t you think you should figure those things out first…before you go see her? Am I going to have to tell you what to say, too?”

  A whistle sounded and a policeman gestured at him to move along. “I need to move the car, Kyle. I will speak to you later.” He shooed her toward the door.

  She had shouted over her shoulder, “Call me when you need help!”

  A car horn sounded and Jean Luc jerked back to the present. The traffic light had turned green. He put his foot on the gas and headed down the strip again. Talia was still magnifique. When he first laid eyes on her again a week ago, her beauty had almost stopped his heart. Not that he needed it to remain beating to live. She had cut her hair so it was now close to her face. It had been gorgeous when it was long and wavy, but now her face was the center of attention. Perfect mocha skin and brown eyes with flecks of gold. When she was angry or aroused, the gold actually glowed. And it was obvious her vampire powers had far surpassed even his expectations since he had trained her thirty years ago.

  He still had no speech ready for the moment he would knock on her door. But something would come to him. He had not remained alive for the past four hundred years without the ability to think on his feet.

  His phone beeped and he glanced over at it on the passenger seat. A text from Kyle flashed on the screen. Don’t blow it, Frenchie.

  2013 RWA Golden Heart® Winner

  Mind Sweeper

  Mind Sweeper Series Book One

  by AE Jones

  An angel, a demon and a vampire walk into a bar. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but it’s just another day in the life of Kyle McKinley.

  Kyle was born with the ability to erase memories, and the inability to keep her opinions to herself. She and her teammates—a vampire who looks like a sexy pirate with fangs, and a Shamat demon with a penchant for Italian pastries—provide supernatural damage control when humans see too much. Today’s problem? A sword-wielding angel and a demon had a supernatural smackdown during happy hour in a Cleveland bar, leaving behind a headless vampire and a dozen human witnesses.

  This latest supernatural slip-up is attracting all kinds of attention. So much attention that the police step in, and Kyle has to deal with Joe Dalton, a know-it-all human with the sexiest turquoise eyes she has ever seen. Kyle has no room in her life for yet another human who will treat her like a freak. However, Dalton definitely makes her naughty parts sit up and take notice, and it’s more than mutual. But before they can act on their attraction, they must join forces to solve a dangerous puzzle. And when they uncover the truth, the apocalyptic ripple effect forces Kyle to make a choice. Learn to trust again, or risk losing everyone she cares about, including Dalton.

  Mind Sweeper is available now for Kindle.

  The Fledgling – A Novella

  Mind Sweeper Series Book Two

  by AE Jones

  A Mind Sweeper novella that peeks into Jean Luc Delacroix’s past. He has lived for centuries as a vampire, but the 1980’s may be his biggest challenge yet. How does a nearly four-hundred-year-old vampire survive a decade of shoulder pads, big hair, and music videos? Simple. Concentrate on his job.

  Jean Luc and his demon partner, Misha, work for the Bureau of Supernatural Relations. Their task: keep humans from finding out about the supernatural. Not a simple thing to do when dead bodies keep turning up with their throats ripped out. So the team’s first priority is to stop a supernatural serial killer from striking again. The only problem is the beautiful bounty hunter who keeps interfering with the investigation.

  Talia Walker is a bounty hunter who also happens to be a newly turned vampire. She deliberately avoids other supernaturals and knows nothing of what being a vampire truly means. Her job: find a murderer and bring him to justice. The problem is she has never dealt with a supernatural bounty before…or an overbearing, ridiculously sexy vampire.

  When Jean Luc and Talia butt heads over the investigation, only Misha can see that their animosity has more to do with attraction than anger. And unless Jean Luc and Talia can set aside their troubled pasts and learn to trust each other, they may never have an opportunity to explore their true feelings. Especially when they come face to face with the killer.

  The Feldgling is available now on Kindle.

  Author’s Note

  When I was writing this book, I decided to have Kyle quote, in her own smart-mouth style, a wonderful line from the movie Casablanca. It made me smile that I was able to use a famous quote, but give it a paranormal twist. I also knew that as part of this book I wanted Kyle to spend some time in Nevada. So when I started doing research about various casinos, imagine my delight when I ran across the CasaBlanca Casino located in Mesquite, Nevada. It was kismet! Once I saw this, I knew where Kyle would be spending her time. While I used the name of the casino and city of Mesquite (which are indeed real), the characters and events that take place are fictional.

  I hope if you are reading this and live in Mesquite, you get a kick out it as much as I did.

  Acknowledgements

  I always seem to start these acknowledgements thanking Gabrielle from Cover Your Dreams. How can I not, when she keeps creating such stupendous covers for this series!

  Thanks to Faith, my wonderful editor who read this book and gave me suggestions that were spot on. I have learned so much from you on this journey.

  To Miranda Liasson, who has been so supportive as a friend and fellow writer. Thank you for everything!

  A special thanks to my friend Jayne who sat with me and helped figure out how to fix a scene in this book so that I could move forward. Couldn’t have done it without you!

  To the Lucky 13’s, my amazing Golden Heart sisters. This past year has been a whirlwind and having you all along for the rollercoaster ride has made a world of difference. Thank you so much for holding my hand through it all.

  To my friends and family who continue to shout from the rooftops about my books. Thank you for cheering me on! I really shouldn’t be surprised how incredible you all have
been. But I am in awe all the same.

  AE Jones

  Growing up a TV junkie, award winning author AE Jones oftentimes rewrote endings of episodes in her head when she didn’t like the outcome. She immersed herself in sci-fi and soap operas. But when Buffy hit the little screen, she knew her true love was paranormal. Now she spends her nights weaving stories about all variation of supernatural—their angst and their humor. After all, life is about both…whether you sport fangs or not.

  AE lives in Ohio with her eclectic family and friends who in no way resemble any characters in her books. Honest. Now her two cats are another story altogether.

  AE Jones: Shifter Wars

  Copyright © 2014 by Amy E Jones

  AE Jones: The Pursuit (excerpt)

  Copyright © 2014 by Amy E Jones

  Publisher: Gabby Reads Publishing LLC

  Cover Designer: http://coveryourdreams.net/

  Editor: http://www.demonfordetails.com/

  ISBN-10: 1941871054

  ISBN-13: 978-1-941871-05-8