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Rush of Pleasure (Primal Instinct) - Softcover

Buch 8 von 9: Primal Instinct

Byrd, Rhyannon

 
9780373775774: Rush of Pleasure (Primal Instinct)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0373775776 ISBN 13: 9780373775774
Verlag: HQN, 2011

Inhaltsangabe

Dangerous passion and primal instincts…

With his sinister good looks, Noah Winston is the one man—a human with Casus ties—who Willow Broussard has never been able to resist. Once enemies, then lovers, Noah broke her heart. Yet the powerful witch and paranormal private investigator can't turn him away when he needs her help in protecting his family, him—and the world—against their enemy…

As Noah and Willow work together, the secrets of their turbulent past are slowly exposed, each startling revelation drawing them closer. But when the enemy finally makes a move, Noah will need more than witchcraft and magic to survive. He'll need his friends, one hell of a plan and the undying devotion of a tenacious witch whose love is eternal…

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Rhyannon Byrd is a longtime fan of romance and the author of more than thirty paranormal and erotic titles. She has been nominated for three Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards, including best Shape-shifter Romance. After having spent years enjoying the glorious sunshine of the American South and Southwest, Rhyannon now lives in the beautiful, but often chilly county of Warwickshire in England with her husband and family. Visit her website at www.rhyannonbyrd.com.

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Sacred, Louisiana

The end of the world was a strange motivator, providing the kind of impetus that could make a man do things he'd sworn he would never be caught doing. Like coming back to places he'd vowed he'd never return to… Or seeking out people and memories he knew were best left to the past. The problem, of course, was that the past had ways of sneaking up on a guy.

In cases like this, it could even make you feel as if you were making the biggest mistake of your life.

As Noah Winston walked inside Broussard's, the rickety bayou bar where he'd worked as a teenager, that's exactly how he felt. Like a man walking the plank, heading toward his doom. And in Noah's case, that doom came in the form of a woman. A woman who just so happened to be from one of the craziest families the state of Louisiana had ever known, and who, incidentally, also happened to be a too–powerful, too–stubborn, pain–in–the–ass caste of witch.

His best chance of surviving this visit in one piece was to get the information he needed, and then get the hell out of Dodge before that particular hellion ever set eyes on him. The faster, the better. If he were lucky, she'd never even know he'd been there.

Despite that comforting thought, a clammy, uneasy feeling crept over his skin as he made his way into the dim interior of the bar, the door sliding shut behind him. A bead of sweat snaked slowly down his spine while chills spread over his arms, the whirring blades of the ceiling fan swaying precariously over his head doing little to battle the oppressive heat. At one o'clock in the afternoon, the business was deserted but for the two beer drinkers playing pool near the back wall and the towering brute lurking behind the till, polishing shot glasses that looked absurdly small in his beefy hands. The bartender eyed him with a look of bored indifference, until he caught sight of his pale blue eyes. Noah took a quick sniff, his heightened sense of smell alerting him to the fact that the guy was no more "normal" than he was. A grizzly–shifter, if he was reading the scent right.

Noah might have been more or less human, but that "less" part of the equation was becoming more evident with each day that went by. With every passing hour, his senses were becoming sharper, allowing him to interpret the world around him in a way that was more monster than man. His human self, it seemed, had become another casualty of the war that he and his friends were currently waging against an ancient evil named the Casus. Fortunately, Noah and his buddies, a group of shape–shifters and vampires called the Watchmen, had finally managed to defeat the majority of the monsters nearly two months ago back in May. But the Casus leader, Anthony Calder, had mysteriously disappeared at the height of the battle, before Noah could kill him. They didn't know where Calder was, but Noah had a good idea of who he was with. He also knew the bastard wasn't going to stop until he got what he wanted, and Noah was willing to die to keep him from getting it.

But that was going to be a battle for another day. For the moment, he was after the solution to a different problem. One that was less personal, but no less important. And one he knew he could help with, if he managed to stay a step ahead of Calder.

As if aggravated by the thought of that particular Casus, his arm ached with a renewed wave of pain, the scar left from Calder's fangs throbbing with a dull pulse. Though the injuries he'd sustained on the day Calder had been snatched from his grasp were nearly healed, Noah still didn't feel…right. Too many changes were taking place inside him, his system in a constant state of flux that often left him jittery and tense. Or maybe that was just his current bitter outlook on life. Either way, he was a guy who others went out of their way to avoid these days. One who no longer even tried to hide the raw, constant burn of worry weighing heavily in his gut.

Heading toward the bar, Noah kept his gaze locked on the giant behind the till. The guy set down another shot glass, slapped the dish towel over his shoulder, then braced his beefy hands against the scarred but gleaming wooden counter. Thick, graying brows drew together in a deep scowl over his suspicious gaze. "You thirsty, Casus? We don't welcome your kind here, but you can take something to go."

"I'm not a Casus." Noah fought to keep his tone easy, knowing it wasn't going to do him any good if he started shit with the shape–shifter.

"And I don't want any trouble. I just need some information."

"Not Casus?" The guy snorted. "You looked at your eyes in a mirror lately, son?"

Noah ignored the question. Thanks to his maternal bloodline, he had the same ice–blue eyes as the Casus, but he wasn't one of them. Not yet, at any rate. "I'm looking for Jessie Broussard," he said, making an effort to sound patient. "Do you know where I can find her?"

The scowl deepened. "What's yer business with Jessie?"

"I need her help."

"S'that right?" the guy drawled.

"I'm willing to pay for the information." He reached into his back pocket, pulled out a wad of folded bills and slapped them on the counter. The scent of the money filled the air, sharp in his nose, but the shifter didn't so much as blink.

Leaning closer, the guy eyed Noah with a dark, steady stare. "Do I look like the sort to be bribed?"

"You don't want the money, fine." His voice was tight, his irritation rising like the heat spilling in off the murky waters of the bayou that lurked just beyond the bar's entrance. "But I'm not leaving until I've spoken with Jessie. It's a matter of life and death."

"For who? You?"

Noah clenched his jaw as he pocketed the money. "Let's just say that I'm here on behalf of the Watchmen."

A gritty laugh rumbled from the giant's chest. "Those crazy–ass shifters? Hell, what makes ya think I care what they're up to?"

"Because a helluva lot of people are going to die if you don't."

The seconds stretched out, marked only by the whirring of the ceiling fan and the distant sounds of the pool game, while he stared the older man down.

Finally, the shifter muttered, "You can find her out back. Last cabin on the left."

"Thanks."

"Hell, don't thank me yet." Laugh lines crinkled at the corners of the bartender's eyes as he smiled. "Knowing Jessie, she's liable to shoot ya before you get yer first word out."

"Tell me something I don't know," he grated under his breath, turning and heading for the door. It was common knowledge that the Win–stons and Broussards had never gotten along. The human residents in Sacred believed the decades–old disagreement had been spawned by a particular piece of land that bordered both their properties. But those locals who were a part of the ancient clans—nonhuman races who lived hidden among the humans—knew the truth.

That truth being that Chastain witches generally disliked any species that fed on blood, such as the Deschanel, or vampires. And the only species they hated more than the vamps were the Casus.

The Broussards didn't care that Noah's family was human. Nor did they care that the only reason the Winstons had Casus blood running through their veins was because one of his ancestors had been unfortunate enough to be raped by one of the monsters a millennia ago. They distrusted the Winstons'...

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Verlag
HQN
Erscheinungsdatum
2011
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0373775776
ISBN 13 
9780373775774
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
384
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Product Safety Manager
enquiries@harpercollins.ie

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