Books by Patricia Rodriguez

If you like this book try the others in this series:

 

Things will never be the same

 

Lost love found

 

The hunted becomes the hunter

 

Chrystal’s Dragon heart

 

 

Also see:

 

Tarsa: Fire Princess

 

New books coming soon in 2014:

 

Escape From Shifter’s Gates - A Shifter's Gate Series Book One

My Fallen Angel

 

 

Chapter One

 

 

Had it really been four months since she had lost her husband?  In one massive explosion, she and her son had lost everything, their home, his father, everything, gone!  

 

It was a shock to find out her husband had been a true monster, even though she had always thought him one. 

 

Four months prior at the Militant facility located in Vancouver, Canada.

 

“They are all dead?  My husband was in there,” Josie said calmly looking at the smoke coming out of the facilities’ windows in disbelief.  She could not tell anything was wrong with the building.  The structure looked okay on the outside but she knew there had been a bombing because while she was out on her run she felt the ground tremble.

 

“Ma’am, I am sorry but there isn’t anything you can do.  The bodies were destroyed in the explosion,” The militant soldier said, “Maybe contact someone higher up.  I cannot do anything for you Mrs.  Logan.  Please leave.”

 

The soldier escorted her to her car roughly shoving her into the driver’s side thrusting a mental order into her mind.  You will not come back if you know what is good for you.

 

A man shrouded in the shadows watched as Mrs. Logan drove away.

 

“Who was that?”

 

The soldier did not flinch when the voice came up behind him.

 

“That was the Doctor’s wife.  There was no evidence that she knew anything about who she was married to,” The soldier explained, he would do his duty but he did not want an innocent woman and child killed.

 

“The Doctor created the Orb and he will be honored if it works the way he said it would.  Don’t kill the wife just make sure she stays out of the way.  For now,” With the order given, the man disappeared back into the shadows.

 

“As you wish sir,” The soldier responded not turning around.

 

 

Present time 2233- Flagstaff, Arizona 

 

It used to help her think straight, taking a walk.  However, this walk did nothing to clear her head.  She let her mind drift over the horrible day that brought them to the mountains as she stopped to catch her breath.

 

Josie had been on her morning run when she felt the ground move beneath her feet.  She instantly turned around to head home.  As she passed the houses on her way back home people were standing outside.  One neighbor waved Josie over.

 

"Did you hear?”  The elderly woman asked.

 

"No," Josie answered the woman waiting impatiently for her to explain.

 

"The base was bombed,” Mrs. Johnson said as she leaned closer to Josie and whispered, "They think that it was sabotage."

 

Josie kept her face impassive and thanked Mrs. Johnson as she excused herself.  She turned and continued home in stunned silence.  When she got home, she changed her clothes.  As she dressed, she decided to go find out what had happened.  Her husband never, ever allowed her on the base, but under the circumstances, she would break that rule.

 

Josie drove to the base to find out if anyone made it out alive.  After they informed her that her husband had died, she found herself driving home with her mind in a fog.

 

She blindly turned into the drive and pulled into the garage.  She closed the garage door the minute the car was clear and put the car in park.  She sat for a moment with her head on the steering wheel trying to remember how she got there.  She didn’t understand what was happening.  Her whole life had changed in a blink of an eye.

 

Finally finding the strength to drag herself out of the car, she entered the house.  Walking from room to room she finally ended up in her husband’s library.  She looked around for some sign of what was going on. 

 

Her husband had become a stranger the last two years.  He was coming home late or not at all.  Sometimes he wouldn’t come out of his library, and his crazy request to call him “Doctor” was, well, crazy.  She had put it down to his work, thinking that had been the real cause.  It had to be. 

 

Maybe he was having a nervous breakdown.  Now she’d never find out. 

 

She walked around the room slowly.  Against the walls were shelves filled with books from floor to ceiling.  There were Greek statues scattered around the room.  She touched every surface, wondering what her husband would have been like if he’d stayed away from the militant.  She walked over to the bookcase and touched the copy of “The Canon of Medicine”.  This was her husband’s favorite and rarest book worth a fortune.  She ran her finger up the spin to the top quickly removing the book from the shelf.  The sudden movement caused the book next to it to shift.  She quickly clutched at both books hoping to keep them from falling to the floor.  Keeping “The Canon of Medicine” in her hand, she pushed the wayward book back in its spot.  

 

She paused when she heard a soft click.  She cocked her head toward the sound.

 

That was strange to the right of the statue of Aphrodite the wall panel looked opened.  Cautiously she walked toward the wall and gently pushed on it.  The wall moved slightly.  She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.  There appeared to be a light shining through the crack.  She pushed harder and it gave way opening wider.  She put her head into the room giving her a better look.  Surprised that she hadn’t known this room existed she entered without thinking about the consequences.

 

As she entered the room, she had a strange feeling almost like deja vu.  She stopped in the middle next to a metal table and looked around.  There were several large machines on one wall.  On a table against another wall was a Centrifuge next to a microscope.  She turned to look at the wall where she entered the room and gasped.

 

In horrified bewilderment, she took it all in.  On the walls were photographs upon photographs of shifter’s in different stages of shifting.  Some of the pictures were of the shifters while being dissected.  Some were pictures of a man touching the women!  She couldn’t quite tell who the man was so she went closer for a better look, GOD NO!  Her husband!  She turned her head from those poor women trying to shut out the memory of what her husband had done to her.

 

In shock, she had to hold back the urge to throw up as bile rose in her throat as the despicable uninvited memories flooded her hazy mind.

 

The worst memory was her husbands and her first date:

 

She asked questions wanting to know more about him but he deflected them.

 

“I don’t want to talk about that now I want you to kiss me.”  Luke grabbed the back of her head and kissed her roughly and when he shoved his tongue into her mouth she pushed on his chest to make him stop but he didn’t.

 

Suddenly she was on the ground on her stomach.  She didn't know how she got there.  Luke was shoving her face hard into the dirt.  She was dazed.  It was as if she was in a dream while he lifted her hips to shove her skirt up, and ripped off her panties.  

 

  It all happened so fast she didn’t know what he planned on doing until his grip on her hips got painful and he thrust into her.  There was pain as he thrust a couple of times more.  However, it was over so fast she wasn’t sure it had really happened until he gently rolled her over and brushed the tears off her face.  His voice was without emotions.

 

 “There it is done.  Now I think we should get married.”  Luke kissed her tear covered dirt smudged bruised face.  He helped her stand on shaky legs and escorted her to his car to take her home.

 

He wasn’t a very big man but he was stronger than she was and he had over powered her.  She never told anyone.  What would she have said when she didn't make a noise, didn't fight him, all she did was cry.  Who would have believed her anyway? 

 

When she opened the eyes she hadn't realized she shut, another picture caught her attention she blinked rapidly to focus.  It shouldn't have surprised her but it was a man strapped to a table.  His eyes were full of anger but he was beautiful with defined muscles and a chiseled face.  It took her a few minutes to pull her gaze from the striking man.  She knew his eyes would haunt her for the rest of her days. 

 

As if in a dream, no she thought, a nightmare she pulled her attention from the photos.  She left the room calmly closing the wall behind her.

 

She stood in the middle of the library her mind racing.  What if the militant knew about this room?  What if they knew about her husband?  Danny wasn’t going to be safe.  She had to get her son and herself out of town!  She ran upstairs to her bedroom thinking desperately.  They were going to need cloths. 

 

As she went to grab an overnight bag out from under her bed she realized she still had the rare book in her hands so she tossed it into the bag then flung some clothes on top of it.  Then running to her son’s bedroom she grabbed some things for him.

 

Running down to the garage, she dumped the bag onto the back seat.  When turning to shut the car door she saw some camping gear on a shelf.  Grabbing it, she pitched it in the back along with the other bags.

 

She felt like she was moving in slow motion.  As she opened, the driver’s door a sudden terrifying thought crossed her mind, what if the militant thought she knew about the room.  They WOULD kill her!  Moreover, it was highly likely that they knew about the room or at the very least, they would find it as she had. 

 

She quickly ran back into the house grabbing cleaning supplies from under the kitchen sink.  Her mind now racing going over what she needed to do to make sure any evidence of her being anywhere near that damn room was gone.  Retracing every step she had made she wiped at every surface even if she hadn’t touched it.  She left the hidden room for last.  With a trembling hand she calmly cleaned the wall of all finger prints.  Satisfied she had cleaned all signs of her being there she walked out the door without a backwards glance.

 

She pulled out of the garage slowly taking one last look at her beloved home.  She headed toward the school to pick her son up.  Driving carefully through town, just like any other day, she reached her sons school as the last bell rang.  She sat out front hoping her son would be one of the first ones out.  Sure enough Danny came running up to the car.

 

“Mom, why are you here instead of the parking lot?”  Danny asked getting into the passenger’s seat.

 

She turned sideways looking at him when he entered the car.  He was mature for his seventeen years.  He was a tall lanky young man taking his looks from her side of the family but he inherited his dark hair from her husband’s side.  Her heart hurt looking at him.

 

“Did you hear about the base bombing?”  She asked him watching for some sign of distress.

 

“Yeah we heard about it right after it happened.  Is it dad then?”  His tone didn’t waver.

 

“Yes he didn’t make it out,” She told him as a tear leaked out from the corner of her eye.  She had never been in love with her husband but he was the father of her son and she felt sad for Danny.

 

“Mom, I knew something was wrong with dad for some time now.  I am not surprised that there was a bombing or that dad was there,” Danny was sad but his father hadn’t been there much for him especially when he needed him.

 

“Okay then," She said as she turned back to the steering wheel, "We are leaving town and disappearing,” She informed him.  

Chapter Two

 

 

They did just that, disappeared.

 

Pulling her thoughts back to the present she looked around and was startled to find she had made it to the bridge again.  She looked up at the sun.  It was later than she thought.  She’d left Danny at the camp site alone and the sudden need to get back to him was beating at her.  She sadly turned heading back to the camp.

 

Josie walked back through the woods.  As she approached the clearing she saw Danny next to the fire cooking dinner.  When had her son gotten so strong?  This was her damn dead husband’s fault.  The bastard she mumbled under her breath.  They wouldn't be in this situation if her husband hadn't been so crazy.  She silently seethed.

 

She walked up to him putting her hand on the top of his head.

 

“Mom, don’t do that.  Here sit down I made us dinner,” Danny pulled his mother’s hand out of his hair handing her a plate full of something greenish.

 

“What is this?”  She moved her plate around looking suspicious at the runny slimy stuff on her plate.  She raised an eyebrow at the congealing mess.

 

“We can’t be picky.  I found some edible plants,” Danny picked up a fork full as he put it into his mouth he stopped abruptly.  He smiled around his fork trying not to gag but not succeeding.

 

Josie watched him wide eyed as he quickly spit it out.  He wiped his hand across his face and vigorously rubbed his tongue against the roof of his mouth trying to erase the awful taste.  He stopped and looked at his mother.

 

"Maybe I shouldn’t have cooked it,” He said sheepishly laughing.  He picked up the bag that was sitting next to him pulling out an energy bar.  She found herself laughing as he handed the bag to her.

 

When she reached into the bag to grab her meager dinner she stopped laughing abruptly as her fingers grazed the book from her husband’s library.  She withdrew her hand from it quickly as if it had burned her.  That book was a terrible reminder of that day and it had some very bad, very scary secrets in it.  She shivered as she found the energy bar.  Dropping the bag next to her feet she opened her dinner as she glared at the bag wishing she could will it to disappear.  She had thought about throwing the book out several times but something about the notes intrigued her.  She had thumbed through it a few times hoping it would tell her something about the mad man she had once been married to.

 

“Well this is better than nothing,” She said as she took a bite of the bar.  They ate in silence.

 

“It’s going to be dark soon.  I want to go for another walk.  I'm going to head to the bridge to watch the sun set I’ll be back,” She told him. 

 

It had been so long since she wanted to enjoy anything she hoped that watching the sun set would erase the memories of the hidden room back home.  Those pictures still haunted her dreams though some of the dreams weren’t nightmares.

 

One dream in particular kept repeating itself over the last couple of weeks.  The man with the angry eyes was in her dreams.  She knew his eyes would haunt her but never in her wildest imagination did she expect then to excite her.  The one thing that dream had done was erased the memories of her husband.

 

She smiled to herself as she hummed.  She made it to the bridge in a few minutes.  Taking a deep breath of the fresh air, it was beautiful here, and she was starting to enjoy being out in nature.  Even though they were almost starving her smile wavered as she thought of their dinner.  How was she going to keep them alive?  She wasn’t going to worry right this moment.  Everything will take care of itself. 

 

Sighing she approached the edge of the gorge warily starring at the wooden and rope bridge.  It looked rickety.  She tapped the first wooden plank gingerly with the tip of her toe.  She pulled on the hand rail, it held firm.  Deciding it would hold her she walked slowly onto the bridge avoiding a broken plank about half way out.  She stopped just past it. 

 

She used to love watching the setting sun.  She took another deep breath ‘god so beautiful'.

 

Suddenly she heard a board crack and a small whimper beside her.  She whirled around catching the blur of color as it plunged through the broken board!  Not thinking about the danger she threw herself down on her stomach reaching her right arm down through the hole.  She grasped expecting air, but to her surprise she caught something.

 

Her fingers wrapped around fabric of something small.  She inched herself closer to the hole so she could put her other hand through the opening to get a better grip on the bundle.  She pulled what seemed to be a small child up into her lap.

 

It was a child, a little girl with dark curly hair, and huge bright blue eyes.  Josie held the girl out so she could look at her.  Gently pulling the tiny thing back into her she let out a sigh of relief murmuring to the little girl who was whimpering, “You are safe, it’s okay you’re safe,” Josie repeated over and over as the small trembling frame started to calm.

 

“Are you okay?”  A deep male voice asked. 

 

With the blood pounding in her ears he sounded miles away but he had to be standing at the start of the bridge. 

 

“I don’t know.  This little girl fell through a broken board.  Please be careful, the bridge is…”  She yelled over her should.  She halted in mid-sentence as a pair of strong male hands grabbed her by the shoulders pulling her to a standing position.  He then picked both her and the child up into his arms.

 

“The bridge is not stable,” She murdered against his neck still holding onto the little girl for dear life.  She could feel his warmth and the fear she felt disappeared.

 

Her warm breath on his neck sent a shiver down his spine.  He’d been watching her and the boy since they arrived on his mountain.  He didn’t trust that they weren’t here to spy on him.  However, after a couple of weeks he realized that they were on the run.  He shouldn’t have kept watching them, but she brought out his protective streak and he found himself watching her more and more.  When he saw she was heading to the bridge tonight he didn’t want her anywhere near the gorge after dark.  He could kick himself for not knowing Kai had followed him or he would have been there to stop her from going on the bridge.  Well it’s too late now.  The woman had saved Kai despite the danger to herself and he owed her for that.

 

 “I know the danger the bridge holds and I’ll keep you safe,”

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 17.12.2013
ISBN: 978-3-7309-7723-1

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