Earth
Enchanted
Brynna Curry
Blurb: Writer Liv Corrigan has the
worst luck with men -- her telepathy tends to make them run for the hills. When
she meets widower and ex-cop Jack Roarke, she decides to keep her talent
hidden. Things are looking up until their third date crashes and burns as the
man who murdered Jack’s wife turns out to be after him too.
Injured, Jack retreats with Liv to his house under armed guard. But with Liv’s
mysteries rapidly coming unraveled, a diamond-thief killer to stop and passion
in the air, the safe house is anything but safe for their hearts!
Excerpt – contains some violence,
language
No light reached here in the bowels of the city.
The air was thick with the stench of garbage, smoke, and prostitution for those
lovely people who didn’t care enough to rent a room.
Summer heat in northern Alabama, the thermometer
had been bursting at 103 degrees by noon, made the smell walk like a living
thing. Sissy passed her penlight beam over the building’s brick wall. Graffiti
announced the sort of things one human being could do to another. ‘Mickey,’
Jack’s informant, always showed on the signal, but not this time. He had a gut
feeling to grab his wife, turn and run as hard and fast as he could. The
premonition flashed through him dark and heavy.
Copper, the raw taste of fear, slid over his
tongue. Both drew, half expecting to find the informant dead, definitely to
find trouble. Neck deep in a suspected smuggling ring, they’d had their share
of scrapes lately.
Jack screamed at her and his dream self, though
he knew she couldn’t hear him.
“Run, baby, please.”
Why? Why do I have to watch over and over again?
His heart and soul cried out from the wrenching pain. Please, God, have mercy!
Just let me die with her this time.
He finally felt the prickles of warning on the
back of his neck. The nauseating pain spread from the base of his skull to his
temples and lastly in front of his eyes. Finally able to see the threat, Jack
knew, the vision came far too late. Someone was watching them, unseen from high
atop the neighboring building.
“Get out, Sissy!” Jack screamed. “It’s a trap!
Run!” He fired two shots in the direction of his unknown attacker.
Three shots pealed through the dark. Two pinged
off the brick. She turned toward his shouted warning and barely had time to
call out before the third slammed into her chest. Dazed, she clutched her
breast.
Jack returned the fire instinctively, getting
off another six rounds, before the gun dropped from his hand. A dark stain
spread across her white silk dinner blouse. He caught her as she cried out and
crumpled to the ground. He pressed his hand over hers, a futile attempt to
staunch the wound.
All that blood, so much gushing out of the hole
in her heart. Oh, God!
It pulsed and dripped across her hand where his
ring rested on her slim finger. An hour ago, it had seemed they had a lifetime
to live, love, but now they might have minutes only. Maybe not even that long.
He’d seen men die, had killed before, but nothing compared to watching the
woman he loved bleed to death in his arms. There wasn’t anything he could do.
“Help us! Somebody!” He rocked her back and
forth gently, and dug his cellphone out of his pocket. The alley fell silent.
Her attacker had accomplished his mission.
Another vision came, along with a sickening
sense of loss. She would be gone before help would come. Helpless, Jack fought
back the drowning tears and grief he already felt, and lied to her. “It’s going
to be all right, Sissy, just hold on to me.” He stroked her hair, kissed her
cheek. She shuddered in his arms as though she’d never be warm again. He dialed
9-1-1. “Detective Jackson Roarke. I need a bus at…” He rattled off the address.
“Officer down, I repeat officer down. Bullet wound to the chest. Hurry, damn
it!”
“Don’t lie to me. I’m as good…as dead. You see
it.” Her breath hitched as blood gurgled from her throat and stained her lips.
“Catch them for me, Jack. Promise me.” She
clutched his shirt, pleading.
“I will, but you’ll help me. You’ll be there to
help me.”
She nodded.
He looked back toward the gaping mouth of the
alley. Where were the medics? He couldn’t panic, couldn’t afford to let his
mind go frantic. Maybe he was wrong and what he saw wouldn’t come to pass. When
he was about to give up all hope, the screaming sirens ripped the night air.
Help was here. His vision had to be wrong, born of panic instead of the gift.
Serena must live.
“Almost here.” She was so cold. How could she be
so cold already?
“I love…Jack…tell…Sorry.”
“Don’t say it, not now.”
“Live.” She whispered, “Just live.”
He felt Serena’s spirit leave her body before
fingers left a trail of blood to mix with his tears. Her bright green eyes lost
their spark, faded and then saw nothing. His vision had happened. Serena Roarke
was dead.
He shook her, rocked her, begged and pleaded. He
cursed God and the devil, but she was beyond him now. Jack looked down to the
bright red covering the concrete, her and him. Never again, he thought. Even
though he wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. He tossed his shield on the
ground, where their weapons lay in her pooling blood. Cradling his dead wife in
his arms, Jack curled into a ball, rocked her lifeless body, and sobbed
inconsolably.
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About the Author: Brynna Curry was born south of the
Mason-Dixon Line. After living all over the southern states, she finally landed
in North Alabama where she lives with her husband and their three children.
Growing up, books fueled her dreams and imagination, ultimately becoming her
salvation during the hardest times in her life.Writing is her passion, but she
enjoys the fun of sharing those stories with others by reviewing books and
working in publicity.
When she isn’t writing or promoting, she’s often
found haunting the library for new books to read or just spending an quiet
evening at home with Jackie watching old westerns on TV. Although her wizards,
shifters and vampires are as real to her as anyone, she insists love is the
truest magic and with it every day is another wonderful adventure.
Brynna’s
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