Ice Maiden Read online

  An electric influx had the power surging, then sparking. Hunter looked over at Stefan and Celina. “That storms is going to cause a power outage.”

  He’d only stopped by for a quick visit, not even sure of the impulse that had brought him here. But he was long used to listening to it. These power surges that had been going off and on over the last hour, … building in static and flares to whatever this was … something he’d never seen before.

  Celina shook her head. “What is going on?”

  Stefan walked to the massive wall of windows at the back of the living room, “It’s not an electricity issue. Something, … someone is out there.”

  Another spark lit up the room.

  “Did you see that?” Hunter walked closer to the window studying the energy. Bizarre. And that said a lot of him, a man who lived bizarre.

  “I did,” Stefan murmured thoughtfully. “But I’m not sure what it was.”

  Another flash lit the room.

  In the fading light, Hunter caught sight of a woman.

  “Is she … a ghost?” Celina asked, stepping closer to Stefan.

  “No.”

  Stefan’s words synced with Hunter’s. “But it’s like a holographic image.”

  “She’s young.”

  “Mid to late twenties, hungry, afraid, … and … injured.” Hunter wished the image had stayed long enough to learn something else. Something helpful outside of the massive dark wells of pain gazing out from her white face. What was unmistakable was the metallic smell of blood, her blood. He turned to look at Stefan. “I’ve never seen anything like this. Have you?”

  “Yes and no.”

  “A little more detail would help,” Hunter said with a note of humor, even as the light flashed again at a different location, showing the same woman, only slightly different. “Can we tell if this is real time? Is this slices of her past? Is she close? Is she trying to get here? Lord, she’s not teleporting, is she?”

  He seriously hoped not. It looked like something out of a horror show, and the end result couldn’t be good. The next flash came faster, then another and another, completely surrounding them in the living room, as the three stood in wonder and, yeah, on his part at least, … in horror. Each with a macabre flash of the same woman.

  The images and flashes were constant now.

  “Is she dangerous?” Celina cried out.

  Stefan wrapped an arm around her and held her close. “We all are in different circumstances,” Stefan said, but his voice was barely legible over the crackling electricity.

  Then suddenly it all stopped.

  And silence reigned.

  Until a knock sounded on the door.

  *

  Bethany leaned against the wall adjacent the doorway, sagged against it was more like it. But she was vertical. The trip had been horrific, but what waited for her? … Other energies were here. She hadn’t expected that. Hadn’t allowed herself to consider that. She’d been so focused on him.

  Nocturne meowed at her feet.

  “Sorry, buddy. I just need a moment.”

  What if she was wrong? What if this person wasn’t who she thought he was? What if he didn’t care? What if he didn’t remember her? What if he couldn’t help? She leaned heavily against the wall—as her own vision narrowed down to a small pinpoint of light. And now the effort to stay upright was too much, and she did a slow slide to the ground outside the door.

  Of course outside. She was always outside.

  In the far recesses of her consciousness, she heard a hard knock on the door. She wanted to run, to cry out a warning, but it was too late …

  The darkness choked her before she could say a word.

  Strong arms reached for her. She was shifted, carried inside. Light warred with the darkness. Softness warred with the extreme hardness of her world. Compassion, caring, opened up old wounds that leaked with pain and sorrow.

  She wanted to cry out a warning, but somehow they already knew.

  She wanted to let them know why she was here, but somehow it didn’t matter.

  She wanted to tell them who she was, but somehow they didn’t seem to care.

  With the last of her strength, she opened her eyes, trying to see if she were safe or had bet on the wrong door.

  Fear struck her heart as she struggled to free herself from the man who carried her. “No,” she cried out. “No, it can’t be.”

  “Shhh, you’re hurt,” he said gently. “Let me help.”

  “No, … it’s you. You’re the hunter.” There she’d said it. The reality of losing crashing into her, tears leaking from her eyes. It was over. The war was won. She’d lost.

  “I’m Hunter, yes,” he said, staring down at her in his arms. “That’s my name. I’m not, however, hunting you.”

  “No,” she whispered. “Not yet.”

  With the last of her energy, she whispered, “But you will.”

  Find Book 19 here!

  To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.

  Simon Says…: Kate Morgan (Book #1)

  Welcome to a new thriller series from USA Today Best-Selling Author Dale Mayer. Set in Vancouver, BC, the team of Detective Kate Morgan and Simon St. Laurant, an unwilling psychic, marries all the elements of Dale’s work that you’ve come to love, plus so much more.

  Detective Kate Morgan, newly promoted to the Vancouver PD Homicide Department, stands for the victims in her world. She was once a victim herself, just as her mother had been a victim, and then her brother—an unsolved missing child’s case—was yet another victim. She can’t stand those who take advantage of others, and the worst ones are those who prey on the hopes of desperate people to line their own pockets.

  So, when she finds a connection between more than a half-dozen cold cases to a current case, where a child’s life hangs in the balance, Kate would make a deal with the devil himself to find the culprit and to save the child.

  Simon St. Laurant’s grandmother had the Sight and had warned him that, once he used it, he could never walk away. Until now, her caution had made it easy to avoid that first step. But, when nightmares of his own past are triggered, Simon can’t stand back and watch child after child be abused. Not without offering his help to those chasing the monsters.

  Even if it means dealing with the cranky and critical Detective Kate Morgan …

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  About the Author

  Dale Mayer is a USA Today best-selling author, best known for her SEALs military romances, her Psychic Visions series, and her Lovely Lethal Garden cozy series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Broken But … Mending series). Her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life, a stand-alone novella; and the Broken Protocols series, starring Charming Marvin, the cat).

  Dale honors the stories that come to her—and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!

  To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields, with books available on résumé writing, companion gardening, and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.

  Connect with Dale Mayer Online

  Dale’s Website – www.dalemayer.com

  Twitter – @DaleMayer

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  ICE MAIDEN

  Dale Mayer

  Valley Publishing

  Copyright © 2020

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information sto
rage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN-13: 978-1-773363-96-7

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