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  Table of Contents

  SASSY BLAZE

  ABOUT THE BOOK

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  ABOUT CLAUDY

  SASSY BLAZE

  BY Claudy Conn

  Editor: Alicia Carmical

  Cover: Dawn Sullivan

  About The Book

  Zoie is working to get her PhD, but is suddenly caught up in the middle of the war being insinuated into the once peaceful world of the Bracken Pack.

  A hunk of a hybrid enters her world. He makes her blood sizzle. She wants him. But, lust, is a dangerous thing for woman like Zoie. She is afraid that if she gives him her body, her heart will follow.

  Can she trust him? Who does he favor? Is he a player who will leave her broken-hearted?

  The Brackens have taken sides with their long-time friends and neighbors, the Wolfe Pack. As they push to uphold Caleb’s alpha right to the Rahound Pack they encounter the sinister Rocco, Caleb’s uncle.

  Rocco is ruthless and enlists the aid of rogue shifters, vampires and a warlock with a special gift. That warlock opens a portal to the demon world, and the Red Demons talons hold a poison that is deadly to shifters.

  Rocco promises these sinister figures a great deal. Will the Bracken and Wolfe packs be able to defeat them? They appear to be surrounded.

  Chapter One

  “HM, HM, ZOIE, you are looking good,” Carmen Ferrer said as Zoie slid onto the bar stool next to her.

  “Am I? I feel like a wreck,” Zoie said, and laughed as she smoothed her hand over her curves and settled in. “Just threw this little black number on at the last minute. Do thou think this is too low?” She touched the scoop of the bodice. “It is a bit lower than I like, but I didn’t have anything else handy.”

  “Damn girl, I wish I had enough to hold up a neckline like that!” Carmen snorted.

  “You…” Zoie made a face. “…are perfect—model perfect.”

  Carmen took her friend’s shoulder and made her face the bar mirror behind the counter. “Have you ever really looked at yourself?”

  Zoie grimaced but did take a look at her image. Her mother was what her father called to her and her two brother’s shaking heads, “A hot Latin beauty.” She had been lucky enough to inherit her mom’s honey colored and soft skin. Her father was a big Scot and she got a length of red tinged auburn hair and blue eyes from him. But she was too busy to do much with herself these days. She didn’t date. She didn’t mingle with friends. All she did was work towards her PhD. This was her first night ‘out’ in ages.

  Their attention was caught by Aric Wolfe, owner of the Wolfe’s Den, a popular bar with shifters and humans alike. He had sidled up to them, a wide grin across his handsome features as he leaned in and put his elbows on the bar counter between them. “Ellie called and said something about they were all distracted by Karla’s babies who shifted into pups again and were running havoc at Mom’s. They finally caught them.” He chuckled. “And they’ll be here soon. What can I get you in the meantime?”

  Zoie was a Bracken, daughter of the Bracken alphas and her family had been friends with the Wolfe pack before she was born. Carmen Ferrer was also a Bracken, but their friendship with Ellie, Karla, Jordan, Nicole, and Emma went back to school days.

  Zoie and Carmen laughed, and Zoie said, “Where is Lael? She should answer for giving them that ability.”

  “She is off tonight, looking up a spell she means to perfect. At this point, with so many rogues joining up with Rocco, we just might need a few witchy spells.”

  Rocco was trying to take over the Rahound pack, and he didn’t care what he had to do to accomplish it. Both the Wolfe and Bracken packs had sided with Rocco’s nephew and rightful alpha heir. Zoie believed and worried that they were headed, all of them, into an outright bloody war.

  Carmen and Zoie both mumbled a few choice words about Rocco, his methods, and his rogues.

  Aric grit his teeth. “Yeah, it seems more rogues are coming in every day.” He moved off and returned with their drinks, but even as he set them down, he turned and Zoie noticed him wave to Charlie, one of the bartenders to take over for him.

  Mildly interested, she watched as Aric walked towards the front entrance of the busy lounge, but as she put the bottle of beer to her lips, she stopped and froze.

  At the entrance was the most gorgeous hunk of male flesh and blood she had ever seen. He stood well over six feet, and in his black leather jacket and tight jeans, he pulsated primal sex. Beneath the jacket, a black tee was spread over a muscular chest. From his substantial neck hung a simple gold chain. Expensive looking black boots finished a wardrobe very few could carry off. When Zoie brought her eyes back to his face, his incredibly handsome face, the breath caught in her throat before his bright green eyes locked with hers.

  She couldn’t look away.

  Her nipples perked up and her body warmed. The muscles of her sex clenched and she found herself squeezing her thighs together. What the hell was wrong with her? She had never had such a reaction to a man ever before. Would he smell her attraction to him across the room? What would he think? She had to look away, but, before she could, he broke the connection as he turned to shake hands with Aric.

  She watched the two men move off to a corner table totally in her view.

  Carmen nudged her and said, “Didn’t you hear me? Zoie? I said, pretty soon I will be calling you Professor Bracken, won’t I?”

  “What? Yeah, oh…hopefully. That’s why I can’t stay late tonight. I am taking over one of Professor Hendricks’ early classes tomorrow.”

  Carmen sighed and reached for the pretzels. Zoie shook her head. “How do you stay so skinny with all that you eat? It is downright annoying.”

  She drank down her beer and motioned for another. “You can’t mean that. I’d give anything to have your full curves.”

  Zoie smiled and eyed the hunk sitting with Aric, and lifted her chin in his direction to say, “Who is he I wonder.”

  “I dunno, but he sure is purty,” Carmen said with a smile.

  They laughed and touched shoulders before Carmen began complaining about her latest ‘romantic interest’.

  “So, what does it boil down to?” Zoie asked. “I will tell you what it boils down to. You want one man and none of these guys you keep dating is ‘the one’. Furthermore, we both know who the ‘one’ is.”

  “Forget it. It won’t work and this guy, well…oh, I don’t know,” Carmen mused out loud. “It is like this. Yeah, he is hot. Yeah, he is a good guy, but hey, maybe I am just easily bored. It is, well, I like Black & Tan.” She sipped her beer. “This is good, and a perfect example. Sure, I like Black & Tan, but do I want it all the time? Jeff is the same as Black & Tan.”

  Zoie laughed. “The wolf you want is all your favorite beers wrapped into one, and like I said, we both know who that is.”

  As they talked, Zoie
tried to concentrate on the conversation at hand, but she couldn’t help glancing towards the hunk at the corner table with Aric. His presence somehow created a fever in her blood, and made her twitch with need.

  “What are you doing?” Carmen interrupted her wayward thoughts. “Don’t look at him. He is not for you.”

  Zoie looked away, and as Carmen continued to recite a list of the reasons she hated her boss, Zoie tried discreetly to sneak another look towards the hunk in the corner.

  Her chair needed a bit more angling if she was going to be able to ‘look and not be seen’, so she pushed off the bar that circled her stool, which caused her seat to swivel. She lost her balance and made a surprised sound as she recovered her seat, during which she grappled for the counter to hold herself in place.

  All the while, she realized Mr. Green Eyes had been staring at her.

  Once again, their gazes entwined and she felt a connection. She was, of course, being ludicrous, she told herself. He was just some hot dude and she was making too much of it.

  However, her body seemed to be in tune to the stranger. Her nipples were taut and needy, and she felt a wetness turn into a pond in her panties.

  Green eyes were twinkling at her.

  She was sure of it. Oh, somebody save me, she thought, and insecure, turned hastily away. Damn, damn, double freakin’ damn. He must think I am an awkward idiot. She hurriedly smiled at Carmen, who had her eyebrow up.

  As she regained her composure, her friend shook her head and said, “Okay, sweetings, forget that one. He looks dangerous. Stay away from him.” Carmen poked her arm. “You listen to what I say.”

  “First of all, what makes you think I am going anywhere near him? Second, even if I wanted to, he wouldn’t want me. He looks like he goes for the blonde, tall and leggy sort, and third, what do you mean by dangerous?”

  Carmen laughed out loud. “I love you. You are such an idiot. Don’t you know how blistering hot you are? You’ve got that innocent ‘I’ve never done this’ look going on with those eyes of yours, but your body says otherwise. Holy shit, woman, you make men drool. I can’t believe I haven’t jumped you yet.” Carmen giggled and shook her head. “I mean, how can you not know all that?”

  Carmen had always been good for Zoie’s ego, but she never quite believed her. “You see me through the eyes of a friend.”

  “Yeah, I do, and you are a babe,” Carmen answered, and nudged her shoulder with her own. “But I don’t want you giving…” She ran her finger in the air over Zoie’s curvaceous body. “…that guy any of what you have going on.”

  Zoie laughed out loud. “No chance of that, because like I said, he isn’t the sort to be interested in me. I’m just barely 5’3” to his what…6’2”? Where would I come up to on him?”

  They both laughed.

  “Yeah, well,” she pursued. “He is the sort to blow your mind in bed, take your heart, and walk away without a backward glance. So forget him.”

  “Yeah.” Zoie sighed. “But…blowing my mind in bed might be worth it. I have never really had a great bedroom experience, as you well know.”

  “Because you stuck it out with that jerk all through college and he was useless. All he cared about was getting himself off.” Carmen snorted.

  Zoie didn’t answer but snuck another peek at the table where Aric and the stranger sat, deep in conversation, and wondered what they were talking about that looked so serious.

  She looked away and then, all at once, a masculine scent wafted through her nostrils and she turned to find him towering over her. He said, “Hi…my name is Owen Slade, and Aric suggested I introduce myself.”

  “What?” Zoie said, staring into those green eyes. “Why?”

  “A bit of a story, but the short version is, I asked him to introduce me to your father, but he said it might be better if I went directly to the alpha’s daughter for that introduction.”

  “Introduction…? What is going on? Why do you need one?”

  “I have information he needs to know.”

  His answer was clipped. She frowned. “You are a friend of Aric’s…of long standing?”

  He smiled. “Long enough.”

  “I…” Zoie started, and was interrupted by a squeal as a feminine arm was thrown around her.

  “Sorry, sorry, sorry,” a tall blonde said as she hugged both women at the bar.

  “Ellie!” Carmen and Zoie greeted.

  She was joined by Jordan, Karla, Nicole, and Emma and the laughter began.

  Owen Slade backed away before Zoie was able to answer him, and when she had a chance to turn back to him—he was gone.

  The happy group of women moved off to a huge round table while Karla told them about the latest escapade with the triplets, as comfort foods were laid on the table.

  Zoie stole a fry from Jordan and got her hand slapped. “Get your own.” So saying, she stuffed another one in Zoie’s mouth and laughed.

  It was great for Zoie to let loose. This past year had been tough on her with her studies and her GA work.

  An hour later, Zoie rose and everyone objected, but, with a hand on Carmen’s shoulder, she said, “Gotta go, early class and I still have a paper to do.”

  Emma threw her a kiss. “We understand, go, go, cariña, but next time, don’t let so much time go by.”

  Outside, the air was cool and crisp as it brushed her cheeks. The sky was overcast and the street was dark.

  She hugged herself as she walked past the only street lamp between Aric’s place and where she had parked her car.

  As she took measured steps in her heels, she felt an odd sensation scurry up her spine, and frowning, she dove into her oversized bag for her car keys. She stopped as she fumbled for them in each compartment of her bag. Finally, keys in her hand, she realized she was holding her breath. Every instinct was on alert.

  Something was off. She was an alpha shifter, a kick-ass alpha shifter who had been trained by two brothers. She could hold her own. But, even so, all her senses were on high alert when an aroma blasted her nostrils and made her dive for the shadows.

  Three of them. They were the ones—the rogue shifters who had approached her father yesterday about applying to the Bracken pack for membership.

  Her father had turned them away, none too politely. They had then demanded an invitation to the Scenting Ceremony her mother would be hosting and once again, her father had refused them. They had left Bracken Mills (her father’s lumber warehouse) in a very bad mood.

  All that time, Zoie had quietly watched and listened from the register where she had been helping out that day. She had gone to her father and whispered, “Those rogues will be trouble.”

  “Aye, they will, but we will be ready for that brand of trouble,” he said softly, and touched her cheek.

  Oh yeah, she remembered their very pungent scent. She peeked around the corner of the building, where she used the darkness for cover.

  And there they stood, at her jeep, leaning against it, their arms folded as they conversed with one another. They had not yet seen her.

  Zoie got a bad feeling about this. How could she not? This was no coincidence.

  Her father had often told her that there was no fine line between evil and good. Not a fine line, but a big fat one and that she would know it when she saw it.

  Right then, those rogues, they were on the wrong side of that line. She could smell intent on them. They were looking for payback, and she had no doubt they meant to send a message to her alpha father by using her.

  She knew that they had first been shunned by the Wolfe pack and now her father’s pack, and for good reason. Both Tristan Wolfe and her father knew what sort these rogues were and that they had aligned themselves with Rocco. Joining their pack was something they meant to use for Rocco’s game.

  Zoie knew exactly what to expect from them as she ducked into the alley that ran the length of the building where she hid, and hoped they had not noticed her or picked up on her scent. She used the shadows to hurry alon
g.

  As she raced down the alley’s length past the dumpsters, she threw her bag behind one of them, pulled at her clothes, threw off her heels, and made a point of remembering where she had left them to retrieve them later, and Zoie shifted into wolf!

  The North Woods would lead her home, and with any good luck, they wouldn’t realize she wasn’t coming to her car, or pick up her scent, until it was too late for them to do anything about it.

  A serpentine stream cut through the grassy pasture at the back of the building. She hurried towards it and dove into the wetness. She stood on all fours, panting a moment while she looked at her reflection. She was a silver wolf with dark markings around her eyes and nose, the markings, her father had said, of a future alpha.

  She looked over her shoulder. So far, so good. There was no sign of them following. Even so, she had better pick up her pace and get the hell out of the area.

  She stayed in the stream as she made her way towards the woods that would lead her to Bracken land and home.

  She needed to call to her pack, but didn’t want to giveaway her position, so she kept her nose to the ground as she raced out of the stream and headed for home.

  It was just at that moment, she heard the unmistakable sound of crackling twigs in the distance.

  Hurry, hurry, had to hurry. Reach, lunge, race…weave through the trees.

  She was the only daughter of an alpha pair with two sons. She had been taught early on how to avoid predators in the woods, so she backtracked to the stream and continued down its winding length until it forked. Her scent would be nearly impossible to track in the water.

  Because the stream wasn’t deep enough to swim, she knew they could pick up her scent in the wind. She raced over the rocky bed…racing now for the woods as the stream narrowed to a trickle.

  She was fit, and she was angry. Zoie was fast, but there were three of them…and if they caught up to her, she would be in trouble. Snarling as she raced into the heart of the woods, she had to get close enough to Bracken so she could howl for help.