Cooper signaled he was about to open the doors, and Jac braced for the onslaught. Cooper slid them back, cold air rushed in, and he dropped the streamers out the opening and gauged the wind direction and drift. Whispers of smoke wafted into the cabin, and Jac’s skin tingled. Soon enough, they’d be on the ground and the fight would be on. She glanced at Mallory. Her face was calm, her eyes fiercely focused. Following Mallory into battle was easy. Jac trusted her completely—fighting forest fires, fighting her personal war—she’d never be alone again.

Cooper motioned for them to line up. Mallory was incident commander, so she and Jac would jump first. When Jac dropped into the sky a few seconds before Mallory and counted down, she knew with absolute certainty Mallory would be right beside her. When she pulled her chute and looked back to check it, Mallory’s chute opened, and they steered down together, landing almost simultaneously. Jac rolled, disengaged her chute, and quickly stowed it. She joined the others clustered around Mallory, who was directing the crew to collect the equipment crates and assigning posts. When everyone moved off, Jac was the only one remaining.

“You’ll be here.” Mallory indicated a spot ahead of the fire front where they were going to cut. She pointed in another direction, then tapped a spot on her map. “The safety zone is here. You clear on that?”

“I am,” Jac said.

“I’ll be down here.” Mallory circled a spot at the end of the line. “Not far. If you need me.”

“I know.” Jac touched Mallory’s cheek with her fingertips. “I know you’ll never be far. Neither will I.”

“Then I’ll see you when we beat this one,” Mallory said.

“You can count on it,” Jac said.

Mallory nodded briskly, tapped Jac’s helmet, and turned away.

Jac shouldered her pack and pulled out her pulaski. Time to cut and dig.

Mallory turned back. “Hey, Hotshot.”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

The flames dancing in Mallory’s eyes had nothing to do with the fire, and Jac felt the burn in every inch of her. She touched a finger to her chest in a silent salute. “Roger that, Ice. I love you too.”

Blood Hunt Excerpt

Keep reading for a special preview of BLOOD HUNT,

Book Two in L.L. Raand’s Midnight Hunters series.

Sylvan, the Wolf Were Alpha, forges an uneasy alliance with Vampire Detective Jody Gates, heir to a powerful Vampire clan, to battle a shadow army of humans and rogue Praeterns bent on destroying any hope of legal acceptance of the non-human species. With outside forces threatening to destroy the Praetern Coalition, several female Were adolescents turn up missing, and chaos descends upon Sylvan’s personal guards when Sylvan and her new mate are overtaken by breeding frenzy. While Sylvan struggles to protect her Pack, Jody fights her destiny as well as her growing hunger for human reporter Becca Land.