Finally, the first draft of Tala Ridge Storm is done. The book is in editing, now, and should publish soon.
Here is a sneak preview of the cover and the first chapter of the book.
Blurb:
The Black Forest Huntsmen are back...
Just when Terrell thinks everything is calming down, a white-out blizzard arrives hours before expected, stranding a busload of second-graders in the middle of nowhere.
Can the shifters of Tala Ridge arrive in time to prevent disaster?
And if they can, can they face what's coming?
Chapter 1
Six
months ago.
Deputy Johnna Crow closed her front door and leaned on it.
She stared at the floor, trying to let the events of the day go. Sighing, she
let her head droop forward for a moment, then took a breath and stepped away from
the door. Unbuckling her duty belt, she walked to the gun safe and set the
Glock and belt inside before closing it and spinning the lock. She and Gary,
her husband, didn’t yet have children, but it was a good habit to get into for
when they did.
She hung her jacket on the solid oak coat stand her brother
made for her in shop class when they were teens. Thinking of her brother
brought a frown to her lips. Since Jack married Rose fifteen years ago, he’d
distanced himself from the family. Biting her lip, she thought back, huffing
when she realized she hadn’t heard from her brother since sometime last March.
Jack and Rose even refused to join the family for the
traditional family get-together at Easter. For the third year. Without Jack’s
two daughters there for the holiday, their mother fell into a depression.
Johnna understood her mother’s concern. She’d seen instances where narcissistic
men forced their spouses to withdraw from family and friends, but for a woman
to do it was even stranger.
“Is that you, Honey?” Gary called from the kitchen
Johnna raised her head. “Yeah, it’s me.” She walked down the
hall and leaned her shoulder against the kitchen door frame.
Sitting on a stool at the bar, Gary looked up and grinned at
her, his fingers busily peeling a potato. “You didn’t say anything, so I
started to wonder.”
Johnna walked up behind him, circled him with her arms, and
rested her head on his shoulder. “Sorry. Lost in thought. How was your day?”
“Not bad. At least, not bad after Mrs. Malone went home.” He
wrinkled his nose and shivered. “That woman is really strange.”
Johnna moved around the bar and smirked at him, amused that
her big, strong husband was intimidated by a little old lady. “Not strange,
just a geriatric female Lothario.”
“Yeah. She pinched my hip, today.”
“Did you swat her?”
“I can’t hit a patient. I’d be fired.”
She grinned. “Want me to hit her?”
Gary laughed, his brunette hair falling over his forehead as
he shook his head. “And have you brought up on charges of police brutality? I
don’t think so.” His eyes caught the light, and he grinned. “I slipped prune
juice in her grape juice.”
Johnna snorted, trying not to laugh. “Won’t you get into
trouble?”
“Only if I’m caught.” He shrugged. “Old buzzard can’t taste
anything, anymore, so she’ll never know. Anyway…” He sniffed and moved his gaze
back to the potato in his hands. “She’s so full of vinegar, it’ll probably be
good for her.”
Arms resting on the bar, Johnna shook her head and grinned.
“Anything else happen?”
“Mrs. Barr’s granddaughter came by to show us all her new
baby. She’s a cute little thing.” For a moment, he was lost in thought, then
blowing out a breath, he smiled brightly. “So, what had you thinking so hard
you forgot to let me know you’re home?”
“Hmm? Oh, I was thinking about Jack.”
“Why don’t you call him?”
She caught the grape tomato he tossed at her and popped it
into her mouth. “I don’t know. He doesn’t seem to want much to do with me,
these days. Any of us, really.”
“Which means he needs you more than he knows. Call him.”
“Maybe after supper.” Johnna glanced around the kitchen. “I
didn’t expect you to be cooking. What can I do to help?”
“This is the last potato. You can make the salad if you
want. Most of the makings are still in the fridge. I have chicken marinating
for the grill.”
Even after five years, his soft smile left her breathless.
“I’ll take over in here if you want to get the grill started.”
“Sounds good.” He carried a double handful of potatoes to the
sink and rinsed them. “Let me get these started, and I’ll get the grill going.”
With a nod, Johnna stood and stretched. “I need to change
out of this uniform, first. I’ll be right back.”
A few minutes later, wearing a green t-shirt sporting the
Colorado State University ram emblem, a pair of worn jeans, and her favorite
fluffy bunny slippers, Johnna returned to the kitchen. Pulling a hair elastic
from her wrist, she caught her hair at the back of her neck before glancing in
the pot Gary set on the stove. The potatoes weren’t boiling, yet, but it
wouldn’t take long.
Through the glass sliding door, she watched Gary turn his
college ball cap around, the bill to the back. After dousing the charcoal with
starter fluid, he dropped a match into the barbeque grill. Flames whooshed up,
then slowly died down. He sat in an Adirondack chair and settled his shoulders
against the wood planks behind him.
Biting her bottom lip, she watched for a moment, then sat at
the bar and pulled her phone from her hip pocket. She pulled up her brother’s
phone number and stared at it. She hesitated for a minute, then pressed the
call icon. The phone rang four times, and Johnna thought her brother was going
to ignore her call, again. When the call connected, all she could hear was heavy
breathing.
“Jack? Are you there?”
“Johnna?”
The pain in her brother’s voice pulled her to her feet.
“What’s wrong, Jack? Are the girls okay?”
Jack cleared his throat. “I’m bringing the kids to Tala
Ridge, but I have to go back. I have to try to get Rose out of there.”
“Out of where? What’s going on, Jack?”
“I need you to watch the kids for a while, Johnna. It’s too
dangerous to keep them with me.”
“Jack, what’s going on? What are you talking about? What
danger?”
“They have her. They have Rose! I have to get her out.” He
took a sobbing breath. “I need you to watch the kids for a while. Please,
Johnna!”
“Of course, we’ll watch the kids, but…”
“No! You can’t get involved in this. If you learn about
them, they’ll kill you!”
“Learn about who?” Brakes squealed, then the sound of the
motor got louder. “Jack…”
“I’ll be there by midnight tomorrow, but I can’t stay. It
was too dangerous to go by the house for anything, so I bought some clothes for
the girls, but…” He took a gasping breath. “Don’t tell anyone anything, Johnna.
Promise me.”
“Jack…”
“Promise!”
“I won’t do or say anything until you get here.”
“Midnight tomorrow. I’m ditching the phone so they can’t
find us.” Jack hung up. When Johnna tried to call back, the call wouldn’t
connect.
She stared at the phone in her hand. The back door opened,
and Gary walked in. One look at Johnna and his smile faded. “What happened?”
“Jack’s bringing the kids here. He wants to leave them with
us for a while.” She swallowed and looked up at him. “I don’t know what he’s
gotten into, but he sounded scared.”
“But what about school?”
“I guess we’ll have to enroll them here if they’re staying.”
She sighed, tried Jack’s number, again, then shoved her phone into her hip
pocket. “Let’s get supper done, and then we can fix up the guest room for
them.”
Gary frowned, then nodded. “Let me help with the salad while
the chicken and mashed potatoes finish cooking.”
Johnna gave him an absent nod. “I’ll need to put fresh
sheets on the guest bed.”
Mitch pulled her into his arms. “Whatever happened, we’ll
get through it. Please don’t worry.”
She tilted her head back to smile at him. “I’ll try not to.”
“Good.” Gary kissed her nose and squeezed her. “Let me check
the chicken, and I’ll be right back to help with the salad.”
“Okay.” When Gary pulled the glass door shut, Johnna moved
to gather salad makings. Fridge door open, she stared unseeing inside. Rose and her family. Jack met Rose when he
attended the University of Oklahoma. From the first time Johnna met her, her
intuition had screamed at her, warning her something was wrong with the woman.
Her cult-like family worried her, but Jack never listened.
She blew out a loud breath. Blinking, she opened the
vegetable drawer and pulled out lettuce, tomatoes, and mushrooms, and stood
there unmoving, the fridge door still open. How Jack and Rose could get
involved in something that would endanger their children…
Gary’s arm slipped around her shoulders. “You okay?”
Relaxing against him, she sighed and looked up at him. “I’m
okay. Just worried.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Thought you were going to try not to
do that.”
Taking a deep breath, she blew it out and smiled at him.
“You’re right. Worrying won’t help anything.”
She carried the veggies to the bar while Gary found a couple
of cutting boards and some knives. She would listen to Jack but decided if she
learned the kids were in danger, they were her first priority.
The following night, Johnna paced the living room floor.
Another glance at the clock told her it was almost one o’clock in the morning.
Gary sat in his recliner, watching her. “Fifteen minutes,” she mumbled. “If
he’s not here in fifteen minutes, I’m calling in a missing person report.”
After ten minutes, she heard the rumble of a motor coming up
the street. She stopped and held her breath, releasing it when the car pulled
into her driveway and shut off. Yanking the door open, she marched outside.
Johnna crossed her arms and tapped her foot while waiting
for her brother. Jack got out of the car, staggered, then opened the back door
and lifted out his sleeping seven-year-old daughter, Calendula. The family
called her Cally. Twelve-year-old Iris crawled out and followed her dad to the
porch.
Johnna opened the door and motioned them inside. As soon as
Iris was past the door, Johnna followed and closed it to keep the cool inside.
Gary moved to stand beside her and slipped his arm around her waist. She gave
him a smile, then watched her brother settle his youngest daughter on the sofa.
Jack gave Iris a quick hug, then turned to face Johnna and Gary.
“Johnna…” He took a step then folded in half and sprawled on
the floor.
“Daddy!”
Johnna caught Iris by the shoulders and gently handed her
off to Gary. Dropping to one knee, she rolled Jack to his back. She frowned at
the dark moist spot on Jack’s black denim jacket. Unbuttoning the jacket, she
gently pulled the torn shirt from Jack’s chest and gasped. A set of deep, jagged,
perpendicular slashes stretched from just under Jack’s arm to his
bellybutton. Her gaze jumped to Iris.
“What happened?”
“It was a bear.” She sobbed and shook her head. “I knew
there was wolves, but they had bears with them! And lions and tigers!” She
turned into Gary’s chest and cried, her indecipherable words muffled against
Gary’s shirt.
Johnna exchanged glances with Gary. Gary nodded. “Let’s go
to the kitchen, Iris. We’ll get the first aid kit for your dad.”
Clinging to Gary, Iris staggered alongside her uncle. Before
they left the room, Johnna cleared her throat. “Iris, where did this happen?”
Still crying, she looked over her shoulder. Her words were
garbled, but Johnna understood. “At home on the farm. In Oklahoma.”
Releasing the fear that danger approached the house, she
nodded. “Go with Gary.”
Removing Jack’s jacket and the shirt was awkward. Johnna
considered going after her scissors to cut him out of them but finally managed
to pull them off. The jagged slashes looked puffy, red with infection.
“Idiot! Don’t you know to treat wild animal scratches?”
Jack moaned and blinked at her, eyes feverish. “I had to get
the kids to safety.” Tears trekked down the sides of his head into his red hair.
“They have Rose!”
“Who? Who has Rose?”
“Shifters.”
Gary dropped to his knees beside her, the first aid kit and
several towels in his hands, half of them soaked.
“Shifters? What’s that?” Johnna took one of the soaked
towels and dabbed at the cuts, cleaning away the blood.
Fading in and out of consciousness, Jack moaned and
shuddered, his eyes rolling up to show only white.
“Here. Let me.”
Johnna gave Gary a nod. She had first aid training, but as a
nurse, he was more experienced with wounds. Leaning back to give Gary room, she
glanced at her nieces. Iris sat on the couch beside her sleeping sister. Her arms
were wrapped around her pulled up knees, her bottom lip caught between her
teeth. “He’ll be okay, Iris.”
Iris gave her a hesitant nod. “He won’t change into a
shifter?”
Johnna glanced at Gary’s upraised eyebrow and shrugged. “No,
he won’t change.” Iris swallowed hard and breathed out a sigh of relief.
Questions buzzing in her mind, Johnna held Jack’s hand while
Gary opened a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. After stuffing a large towel beneath
Jack’s side to keep the liquid off the oak flooring, he poured it over the
wounds. The scratches fizzed. Jack jerked and gasped, then lapsed back into
unconsciousness.
Working quickly while Jack was out, Gary cleaned the deep
scratches and smeared them with antibiotic ointment. Sitting Jack up, the two
of them managed, not without difficulty, to wrap his chest in gauze. Lowering
her brother back to the floor, Johnna and Gary sat back on their heels.
Johnna glanced at Iris. After she was reassured her father
wouldn’t change, whatever that meant, the girl leaned back and dozed. Blowing
out a quiet breath, Johnna met Gary’s worried gaze.
His frown creased his forehead. “Shifters? Change? What are
they talking about?”
“Beats me.” Johnna brushed her hair back with both hands,
then pulled them down her face and pressed her fingers to the sides of her
neck. “I don’t have a clue.”
She tilted her head and studied her unconscious brother. A
frown wrinkled the skin between her eyebrows. “Last time I saw him, he didn’t have
so many muscles. When did he get so ripped?”
*****
Jack Baskett waited
until everyone slept then crept out to his car. He backed out of the driveway,
gasping as pain washed through his chest when he twisted to look out the back
window. With a last glance at Johnna’s house, he murmured a prayer for his daughters.
He wished he could stay, but if he did, Rose would be lost forever. If she
wasn’t already. His vision blurred, and he blinked to refocus his eyes. Right
hand pressed against the wound Johnna and Gary bandaged, he sighed and drove
away. Johnna would keep the girls safe.
The two safe houses he
stopped at on the way to Tala Ridge were abandoned, all weapons and supplies
removed. He only knew of one more safe house. Surely the shifters hadn’t found
all of them. He desperately needed medical care and weapons. He glanced at the
GPS on his phone. Eleven hours of driving. Stopping at a red light, he bowed his
head and closed his eyes. Eleven hours to safety and help. The driver in the
car behind him honked when the light changed, and he didn’t move. Gasping, he
sat up, realized where he was, and pressed down on the accelerator.
Later, he went through a
drive thru at La Junta for coffee. In Garden City, he picked up a burger at the
Burger King window, then stopped for gas. In Wichita, he stopped again for gas.
When he pulled his credit card from the machine, he set it on top of the pump. A
tall man in the next bay nodded at him, then jerked back to look again. “Hey,
mister, you’re bleeding!”
Jack’s head felt like it
was spinning when he looked down at the pavement. Sure enough, blood pooled at
his feet. “Accident in my workshop. I’m on my way to the hospital.”
Ignoring the man’s offer
to call for help, Jack half-fell into the driver’s seat of his car. With a
wave, he drove away from the pumps, leaving his credit card on the pump. He
glanced in the rearview mirror. The man stood staring after him, concern on his
face. As soon as Jack felt safe, he pulled off the main highway and found a
deserted area to park.
Shivering, realizing he
was going into shock, he pulled a Huntsman issued first aid kit from the back
seat and re-wrapped his ribs and chest as tight as he could stand it. He dug to
the bottom of the kit and found a saline IV solution. He inserted the needle,
hung the bottle from the headrest on the passenger’s seat, and leaned back to
get some rest while replenishing his liquid. If he didn’t find help soon…
Pushing that worry
aside, he snagged the blanket Iris wrapped up in earlier and settled it around
his shoulders. He couldn’t stop until he reached the safe house. Rousing an
hour later, he tossed the empty solution bag into the back floorboard and
headed back to the highway. At Webb City, he stopped for gas. He fumbled for
his credit card, then used his debit card when he couldn’t find it.
After pumping the gas,
he sat dazed and dizzy in his seat until the station attendant came out to
check on him. Blinking, he waved at the man and drove away. A while later, he
glanced at his GPS. Twelve miles to get to Joplin, Missouri. Fifteen miles to
the safe house. He blinked at the glare on the windshield. His headache spiked,
and his vision blurred.
Ahead of him, a car
stopped suddenly. Jack slammed on the brakes but couldn’t stop in time. Brakes
squealed. Bumpers smashed, glass shattered. He hit his head on the steering
wheel just before the airbag deployed. Pain bloomed in his head and his chest,
making his previous headache seem inconsequential.
When the car came to a
complete stop, he fought against the airbag, but couldn’t get it to deflate.
Finally giving up, he slumped. All that held him in his seat was the seatbelt
and the airbag. “I’m sorry, Rose,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
I can't wait to get started on the next book in the series, Tala Ridge Hunt.
Take care and stay safe,
