Title: Dispelled
Series: Null for Hire
#1
Author: Terri L.
Austin
Genre: Urban
Fantasy
Release Date: November 1,
2016
Blurb
They call me an
abomination. A mutant. A curse on their kind.
I don’t let it bother me. Much.
My name is Holly James, and what they say is
true. I’m a freak of nature—a null. My mere presence zaps the magic from
Others, rendering them powerless. That’s why they hate me. But here’s the
kicker: I’ve found a way to profit from my lack of mojo.
Whether it’s acting as a mystical wet blanket
in a dispute between pyromancers or keeping hormonal shifters from changing
during a sweet sixteen party, I provide a highly specialized service. For a
hefty fee.
When a young witch turns up dead, clutching
an amulet cursed with black magic, my estranged grandfather asks for my help.
In return for nullifying the necklace, Gramps promises to find my missing
mother—a witch who vanished after my birth. Of course there’s a catch. He wants
me to assist Cade McAllister, the arrogant sorcerer in charge of investigating
the case.
Cade resents my existence, let alone my
attempts to help. Still, I’ll do whatever it takes to find my mom. For my own
peace of mind I have to know what happened to her, and I won’t allow anything
to get in my way. Not even this crazy, irrational longing I feel for a hot
sorcerer with the sexiest scowl I’ve ever
seen.
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Excerpt
Cade stood on my front porch looking good
enough to eat. He’d shaved, and his irregular features were even sexier now
than when they’d been surrounded by stubble. The scar was more pronounced, too.
Dressed in a white button-down, he’d rolled
up the sleeves, showing off his tanned forearms. Leaning one hand against the
doorpost, he crossed his long legs at the ankle.
My gaze slipped over him, taking in his
jeans, worn and faded in the right places. My eyes may have lingered on the
bulge at his fly for the briefest second. His scuffed, black cowboy boots had
seen better days.
He looked perfect.
“We need to talk,” he said, moving past me.
“Let’s talk in the car.” He didn’t respond,
so with an eye roll, I swung the door closed and turned around.
Before he could bank it, I saw the heat in
his gaze. He’d been checking out my backside. Mission sit-up-and-pant:
accomplished.
“I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “You’re not
going.”
“Au contraire, I am going.”
He squinted. Fine lines framed the outer
corners of his eyes. “The only reason you’re alive, Null, is because you don’t
present a threat to Others. The minute that changes, you’re dead.”
“I’ve been dealing with Others for a long
time, Cade. I keep telling you, I can handle myself. Now, did you find any
information about the shifter London was dating? Or that vampire, James
Sharpe?”
“Did you hear me?”
“Yeah, yeah, dead null.”
He twitched his lips, baring clenched white
teeth. If we were animals, that look would have sent me packing in the other
direction. But I was all human, baby, and I wasn’t budging.
“Also, I need to take a look at London’s
file.” I wanted to see pics of what he’d found in her house. Surely it hadn’t
always been as sterile as the day I snooped through it.
“Forget it. That’s evidence.”
Of course, precious rule number one. “I’ll
barely look at it. You can even turn the pages so I won’t sully it with my
little null fingers.”
“No.”
McAllister was a stickler for his details and rules. He
wouldn’t let me touch the original, but… “Didn’t you at least make copies?
That’s not evidence. Technically speaking.”
He closed his eyes for a second and sighed.
“Fine,” he ground out. “If it shuts you up, you can look at a copy.”
That was almost too easy. Still, there was a
hint of smugness in my grin. “See, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?”
He took a step toward me, narrowing the space
between us. Heat rolled off him, and his delicious smell, mixed with the fresh
scent of laundry soap, teased my nose. “Do you really want to play games with
me, Little Null?”
I could think of a couple that might be fun.
Instead I said, “I could easily kick your ass at Twister. I’m very limber.”
In the dim entryway, most of his face was
cast in shadows. But those eyes. They glimmered greener than normal and were
full of strong emotions. Anger. Irritation. Sexual frustration. Maybe a
dangerous combination of all three? “You want to fuck with me, I’ll fuck right
back. But I don’t recommend it.”
His words conjured up images of him moving on
top of me, sliding inside me. I felt a little lightheaded from the thought.
Clearing my throat, I placed my hands on my hips. The tips of my breasts
brushed his shirt, making my nipples hard. His prolonged gaze at my chest told
me he noticed. I couldn’t allow myself to get distracted this way. I had a job
to do, a reward to collect. Screwing the sorcerer didn’t play into it.
“What I want is a look at your file and a
trip to The Raven,” I said. “Since I’m the one who brought all this information
to the table, the very least you can do is provide protection.”
He held my gaze and nodded. “One condition.”
“Look, McAl—”
He pressed his finger to my lips, silencing
me. “We do it my way. It’s the only shot you have of getting out of there
alive.”
I may be reckless at times, but I wasn’t an
idiot. I liked living as much as the next girl. I nodded, but he didn’t remove
his finger. Instead, he used the pad to slowly trace around my lips, robbing me
of expertly applied pink gloss. My knees almost buckled when he put the same
fingertip in his own mouth, sucking it.
“Tastes like peppermint,” he said in a low,
rumbling voice.
If I’d let things continue last night, I’d
have had that mouth all over me. Heat suffused my body as I stood transfixed,
unable to look away. Not too full, not too thin. Those lips were just right.
And they knew how to kiss.
“Understand me?” he asked.
My gaze slowly trailed up his face. As I
stared into his amused eyes, my cheeks felt like they were on fire. He knew
exactly what I was thinking. “What is your way, Sorcerer?”
“Tonight, we’re a couple. You’re going to
keep that smart mouth shut and let me ask the questions. Oh, and one more
thing.”
I raised a brow.
“You’re crazy about
me.”
“If I were dating you, McAllister, I’d have
to be crazy.”
Author Bio
Terri L. Austin is a
mild-mannered writer by day and a reality TV junkie by night. She lives in
Missouri with her family, and loves to hear from
readers.
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