Warrior: The Elect 3

Warrior: The Elect 3

Years ago, former Special Ops officer Carter Owens made the biggest mistake of his life. He met the woman of his dreams—and didn’t fight to keep her. Now that he’s learned Jamie Wade is still alive, and that she bore him a son, Carter plans to protect his family at all costs. Right after he’s rescued her along with several other Elect members being held prisoner in a private hospital.

He isn’t prepared to find her battered, drugged-up, and half-starved. Whatever her captor wanted, the madman hadn’t gone after it humanely.

When Jamie awakens, she’s stunned to find herself free of the abuser who tried and failed to make her admit she’s a telepath. As a police detective, she is driven to join the investigation into the organization that held her and her son captive. But first she’ll have to overcome Carter’s overprotective nature.

Which isn’t going to happen anytime soon, because first she has to recover—and convince him that their out-of-control sexual chemistry isn’t a good enough reason to stay.

Loribelle is offering up 1 ebook of any of her books, including Warrior as a prize on this blog tour. Please leave a comment to be entered. I'll draw a name from all the comments left and email the winner on February 4, 2013. Please leave your email address in the comment so I have a way to contact the winner.

Excerpt from Warrior: The Elect 3 below. I want to thank Loribelle so much for allowing me to help spread the word about her newest book in this series, which releases on February 5, 2013.

Jamie awoke groggy and afraid, waiting for the nightmare to start over again. Her tormentors never left her any respite—never gave her time to recover—and punished her when she refused to cooperate. The fury directed at her lately had been so much worse than the beginning. She was sure she wouldn’t live much longer, and that sucked. Regrets. She had so many.

As her mind started to clear and no orderly rushed in to drug her up again, she realized something was different. It took effort to pry open her eyes, which wasn’t so unusual, but the surroundings were. The first thing she noticed was the small body tucked up next to her. Kaden. Her son was safe and with her. Hope and loved filled her, making her chest hurt the relief was so intense, but her sense of well being was quickly replaced by fear.

Was Kaden safe or were they both prisoners now? Where were they? The room they were in was spacious and bright. She could see a balcony outside the double doors at her right and rolled her head to look at what was on the left. The impossible. Carter Owens—the man she’d never been able to forget. She was reminded of him every time her son smiled. She hadn’t heard from him in seven years, and there he sat sleeping in a chair. Her mind might have been clearing, but this was too unreal. She just couldn’t believe it. Had her tormentors added hallucinogens to their drug cocktail?

“Carter,” she tried to say, but it was more of a croak. Her throat was dry, parched and hoarse from weeks of screaming. It didn’t matter, though—he was awake in an instant, then on his feet and moving toward her with a smooth masculine stride she still dreamed about.

“Good morning, Jamie. How are you feeling?”

“I’m alive? I’m really here with you and Kaden?”

“Yes, sweetheart, you’re alive and with us.” Something in his expression made her think it had been a damned close thing too.

“Where are we?”

“Someplace safe. No one will get to you here.”

That didn’t tell her anything, and she shifted into cop mode. Moving hurt, but she managed to sit up. As the sheet fell to her waist she saw she was wearing a man’s T-shirt and nothing else, and had an IV in her arm. She kept Kaden tucked to her side—protecting him—and watched Carter. She was wary—suspicious. She was all for being free, having her son back, but it seemed too sudden and Carter too secretive.

She’d always had an uncanny ability to read people, to know when they were lying or telling the truth, and she reached for that talent now. Focused on the man she hadn’t decided yet was real or apparition.

“Okay. How did I get here, then? How long I have been here?”

“I went in with a team and brought you and my mother out two days ago. We just moved you out of our infirmary last night, once Esme was convinced you were stable.”

She knew Esme was his sister, but she’d never met the woman. She’d ask about that later. Right now she was more concerned with her injuries and how long it would take to recover.

“I was out for two days?”

His eyes darkened with fury, then narrowed on her when she flinched. “The last injection they gave you would probably have killed you. We got you here just in time.”

She wasn’t surprised. The more she’d fought that sadistic bastard Dr. Stine—the more she refused to cooperate with him—the more insane and rabid he’d become. He had to be stopped.

“The hospital. That place needs to be shut down. I need a phone. I need to call my supervisor and make a statement.”

“That’ll be a little hard to do, baby. You’ve been officially dead for six months.”

That was crazy, but her talent for truth reading had her believing it. That talent had made her an excellent detective and it didn’t fail her now. But her memory was full of holes. She’d lost six months? And for what?

“I think you need to start at the beginning, but can I have some water first?”

“Of course. Are you hungry?”

Surprisingly, she was. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt real hunger. The drugs had kept her body numb along with her mind. She nodded as Kaden stirred at her side.

His eyes opened and he gave her his pure innocent smile. “I told Dad you were alive. I told him to bring you home.”

“And he did.” She smiled back at her son—the joy of her life. He looked happy and healthier than he ever had. She blinked. “You’re not sick?” she asked carefully.

“No.” He shook his head. “Dr. Zach said as long as I take my medicine I won’t get sick again.”

She shot Carter a questioning look. “We’ll explain everything, I promise. Let’s get breakfast first,” Carter said. She didn’t want those answers delayed, but she guessed by his warning expression a lot of the answers shouldn’t be shared with a six-year-old. “Okay.”

“I’ll go see what I can find. Kaden, why don’t you come with me?”

Her arms tightened around her son, unwilling to let him go yet. Afraid this was all just a dream. He snuggled closer and the terror began to recede a little. He tilted his head back to look at her.

“I’m glad Dad brought you home, Mom. Everything is okay now.”

God, she hoped so. He wiggled out of her arms and bounced across the room to take his father’s hand.

She was stunned seeing them standing together. They looked so much alike and so in-accord. Not for the first time, she thought she should have told Carter when she discovered she was pregnant.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’ll get to that.”

She blinked. Surely she had not just heard his voice in her head. Maybe she was still at the hospital. Maybe this was a delusion. Stine had kept insisting she was a telepath and didn’t believe her when she said she wasn’t. God, she was imagining things now.

“You aren’t imagining anything, Jamie,” Carter said from the doorway. “We’ll back in a few minutes with food.”

“And clothes,” she called after him, but that wasn’t what occupied her mind.

Had she really heard him mentally? It seemed insane, but… She could hear the truth in his voice and sometimes Kaden just knew things he shouldn’t. The same intuition she had. Or something more? She spotted a stack of gauze on the nightstand and picked a few up. Then she yanked out the IV and pressed against the welling blood. Sighing, she swung her feet over the side of the bed and rose cautiously. She needed to use the facilities and was desperate for a shower. She also needed to get a look at how badly injured she was. Every inch of her body hurt, but nothing felt broken or cut.

Author Bio

Loribelle is a former Army MP who traded in her combat boots for motherhood, flip-flops and all the Diet Coke she can drink. (She almost misses the combat boots.) She’s the author of more than twenty books, none of which her children are allowed to read. Ever. Visit her website, www.loribellehunt.com, or www.facebook.com/loribelle.hunt for information on new releases.