Half-human, half-Kindred, Luc Lazare doesn’t want more complications in his life. He's focused on protecting his shapeshifting family and love is the last distraction he needs. Skye Cross has the ability to talk to animals. Her most recent animal rescue mission–stopping an alleged dog fight–actually involved shifters in a primal battle. Her investigation leads her to Luc, a man whose powers both unsettle and intrigue her. Skye quickly finds herself caught in a dangerous world she never knew existed, while relying on a man she couldn't possibly trust. Coming from two different worlds, can Luc and Skye overcome the obstacles fated to keep them apart? Enjoy an excerpt from Animal Instincts The predators moved in on me. Trying not to show the anxiety that threatened to consume me, I curled my hands into fists and edged backward. They continued to advance on me. My heart was pounding, my blood racing. Knowing they could sense my fear, I tried to control it. Futile. No escape. The hyena broke from the pack and rushed me. If I turned my back on it, I was dead for sure. I kept putting one foot behind the other and the wolf and the lion picked up their pursuit. The hyena’s muscles bunched and it flew through the air at me. I threw up my hands to protect myself, but it never reached me. Instead, it was as if an invisible wall stopped it cold. It shrieked and fell to the ground in a heap. What do you think you’re doing? Go! The predators stopped and I sensed their sudden fear. Now! the voice in my head thundered. The animals fled and quickly disappeared into the night. I flipped around. At first I didn’t see him. Then I caught a movement to my right and nailed him where he stood. Dark hair whipped around features so rugged they could have been cut from granite. High cheekbones. Broad forehead. Square chin. His eyes appeared silver in the moonlight, and they glowed at me, tightening my stomach and making it hard to breathe. Trembling, I gasped. “What just happened?” “You got into something that doesn’t concern you.” Forget about it. I started. He hadn’t said the last bit out loud. There was something about him so powerful I almost agreed. I fought the desire to give in. “I’m not forgetting about anything. Who are you?” I felt as if he were trying to push the command into my mind. Glaring at him, I pushed back. “What are you?” he asked. “Someone who protects animals.” His silence told me that wasn’t exactly the explanation he was looking for. My pulse threaded as he stepped closer. I sensed both threat and something less tangible, something that made my stomach knot and my throat tighten.

Detective Ethan Grainger is horrified when a public official is found dead in the park, killed by an animal. He immediately fears it’s a shifter kill and heads for The Ark, where he seeks out Nuala Lazare, a Kindred pregnant by Ethan’s late partner Shade. He’d come to terms with Chicago’s supernatural underground, but because Nuala holds him responsible for Shade’s death—and because he is attracted to her—he’s avoided her until now. Ethan is the last man Nuala wants to see, and she has enough to deal with being near term and realizing her fatherless child will be a half-breed like her brother Luc, who experienced tremendous prejudice and guilt while growing up. She plans to move from The Ark to live like a human for her daughter. Ethan must keep Shade’s child from being corrupted by the criminal element of the Kindred Lazare clan. Which means he must get close to Nuala—not an easy task. As they get to know each other, their attraction becomes unbearable. Will Ethan keep his loyalty to his murdered partner or succumb to the irresistible temptation of his chemistry with Nuala?

Detective Isabeau DeClercq moved to Chicago to get justice for her parents’ murders. She found Kindred Nik Lazare’s invitation to The Ark casino, the heart of Chicago’s supernatural underground, near their bodies. Nik’s dark reputation precedes him. Half-Kindred, Half-Powers, Isabeau wants to prove him guilty the human way, to honor her parents. Nik just wants to stay away from Isabeau when Pop orders him to work with her investigating a Kindred kill at the zoo. But soon a meeting of souls that defies logic consumes Isabeau and Nik