Samhain Publishing

Wind whistled through the eaves of the house and pellets of ice clinked against the windows but she was cozy and warm inside. A shiver shook her as she thought about getting caught out in that storm. She’d been right. It was the mother of all storms.

As she reached for her wine, Cody’s head lifted and his ears perked up.

“What is it, boy? Do you hear something?” It was probably just a tree falling from all the heavy snow and ice.

Cody got up and ran excitedly towards the door. When Sera didn’t move fast enough, he let out a little yip and ran back to get her. He was practically spinning in circles in front of the door by the time she got there.

Nerves prickled along her skin and she reached for the baseball bat she kept in the umbrella stand by the door. Who on Earth would be out in this weather? It could just be a hiker who had gotten caught in the unexpected storm. Or it could be something worse. Cody wasn’t a very good judge of character. Huskies never met a person they didn’t like. She couldn’t be sure it was a friend on the other side of the door, because to Cody, everyone was a friend.

Sera reached out with her psy-senses but didn’t feel a thing. Whoever was on the other side of that door was either half-dead or shielded tight as a drum. Stupid psychic senses didn’t help when she really needed them.

Weak thumps pounded on the door and Sera peeked through the window to see who was there. All she could make out was a heavily bundled form slumped against the wall. Whoever it was, he was in bad shape.

Clutching the bat in one hand, she opened the door with the other. A mountain of a man blew in, along with about a foot of snow. It was all she could do to push the door closed and keep her eye on her visitor at the same time.

“Who are you? What are you doing out in this storm?” she asked as soon as she secured the door.

Puddles had already formed from the snow and seeped through her wool socks. She moved around the man to get a better look at him. Her stomach sunk to her toes and her head spun as she saw Jake’s brown eyes staring back at her from under a layer of ice.

“Ser—” he said right before he pitched forward and landed face first on the floor.

“Oh, for the love of little green apples!” she swore as Cody hopped ecstatically around Jake.

This was just what she needed right now. Trapped in the house with a passed out sheriff who thought she was a freak of nature. It was very tempting to leave him sprawled on the floor like a fallen Sequoia.

Too tempting.