First Surrender (10 page)

Pausing, she could hear only the wind and waves outside. There were residual scents in the house but that made sense. She stepped inside the room, her boots silent against the rich hardwood floor. Two steps in, she realized she wasn’t alone. It was like an abrupt assault on her senses and her inner animal simply knew.

Before she could turn fully around, she was tackled to the ground by a huge male. Definitely supernatural.

Strong, muscular arms encircled her from behind, throwing her to the ground, the male on top of her. Somehow he managed to angle their fall so he took the brunt of the impact on his arms. All the air left her lungs in a whoosh as panic slammed through her. She hadn’t heard him, hadn’t even scented him. That alone told her how dangerous he was.

Though all her animal instinct told her to fight, she knew she was at a disadvantage. Going limp, she didn’t struggle. The second she was set free or her captor loosened his grip, she was running. Wolves might be strong, but jaguars were wicked fast. In human and shifter form.

“What the hell are you doing sneaking around in wolf territory in
my
alpha’s fucking house?” a familiar male voice said near her ear, a trickle of his fresh scent that reminded her of the beach in winter enveloping her.

She hadn’t scented him before, probably because of her own fear and panic at doing such a stupid thing—but now his scent covered her. She shivered at the sound of Max McCray’s voice. Kincaid’s second-in-command. He was supposed to be at the Crescent Moon Bar tonight working.

Lauren swallowed hard. “I want
my
family’s fucking jewels back,” she gritted out. There was no sense in lying. He’d be able to scent the bitter, acidic stench if she tried. She could normally cover her scent well, but right now she was nervous and couldn’t keep her gift under control. Blind panic hummed through her, her inner jaguar telling her to run, run,
run
.

But she couldn’t. Not with Max’s massive body on top of her, keeping her pinned in place.

She was ashamed to admit that she’d had more than a handful of fantasies about the dark-haired, muscular shifter with the piercing blue eyes. None like this, with her flat on her stomach and him behind her… Okay, that was a lie. She’d had those types of fantasies too. Of course they’d both been naked and she hadn’t been working as a thief.

Acknowledgments

I owe a big thank you to Kari Walker, Cynthia Eden and Carolyn Crane for reading early copies of this story. Thank you all for your insight! I’m so lucky to have you as friends. And as always, I owe thanks to my lovely readers. You all are amazing and I hope you enjoy this new series!

Complete Booklist

Red Stone Security Series

No One to Trust

Danger Next Door

Fatal Deception

Miami, Mistletoe & Murder

His to Protect

Breaking Her Rules

Protecting His Witness

Sinful Seduction

The Serafina: Sin City Series

First Surrender

Sensual Surrender

Sweetest Surrender

Deadly Ops Series

Targeted

Bound to Danger (2014)

Non-series Romantic Suspense

Running From the Past

Everything to Lose

Dangerous Deception

Dangerous Secrets

Killer Secrets

Deadly Obsession

Danger in Paradise

His Secret Past

Paranormal Romance

Destined Mate

Protector’s Mate

A Jaguar’s Kiss

Tempting the Jaguar

Enemy Mine

Heart of the Jaguar

Moon Shifter Series (paranormal romance)

Alpha Instinct

Lover’s Instinct (novella)

Primal Possession

Mating Instinct

His Untamed Desire (novella)

Avenger’s Heat

Darkness Series

Darkness Awakened

Taste of Darkness (2014)

About the Author

Katie Reus is the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author of the Red Stone Security series, the Moon Shifter series and the Deadly Ops series. She fell in love with romance at a young age thanks to books she pilfered from her mom’s stash. Years later she loves reading romance almost as much as she loves writing it.

However, she didn’t always know she wanted to be a writer. After changing majors many times, she finally graduated summa cum laude with a degree in psychology. Not long after that she discovered a new love. Writing. She now spends her days writing dark paranormal romance and sexy romantic suspense. For more information on Katie please visit her website: www.katiereus.com. Also find her on twitter @katiereus or visit her on facebook at:
www.facebook.com/katiereusauthor
. If you would like to be notified of future releases, please join her
newsletter
.