Heartsblood Fusion

By A.M. Burns

Spring is in the air in Yellow Sky, Texas. Tal O'Duirwood and Alex Carlson have decided its time for their wedding, but before they can complete the preparations, a werepuma who happens to be an international terrorist comes to town. Even with the help of the Yellow Sky Coven and their allies, can the guys stop a nuclear explosion and still walk down the isle?

• Language: English
• Publisher: A.M. Burns
• Release date: Feb 21, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465844347

A.M. Burns

A.M. Burns started writing in high school for a way to pass the time. Over the years his writing and imagination have developed to the point where he was ready to share his stories with the world. He has a vast love of nature, and hopes that is conveyed in his writing. In his adult life he has lived in California, Colorado and Texas. He is a member of the Colorado Springs Fictions Writers Group. A lifelong love of birds, lead him to become a falconer and he currently enjoys hunting with his tiercel red-tailed hawk Zephyr. In addition to his hawk he shares his home with several dogs, a couple of cats, various rodents, a pair of horses and his loving partner.

Book preview

Heatrsblood Fusion

A.M. Burns

Published by Mystichawker Press

Copyright 2011 A.M. Burns

Snashwords Edition

Edited by Laura Culley

Cover by Mel Kary

For More Information on A.M. Burns visit http://www.amburns.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, incidents or places are either a product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblances to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locals are entirely coincidental.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Heartsblood Fusion

by A.M. Burns

A big cat screamed. It was close by. We’d been tracking a missing couple for several days and the signs pointed to abduction. After going over the spot where their car had been found, I was fairly sure a wer had a hand, or paw, in it. Believe it or not, there are still parts of the Texas panhandle that are wild enough that people can disappear. The only reason we got involved in the case was that Geraldine, Geri, Beggay had caught a strange scent near her home. Geri, my lover Alex Carlson, Charles Colfax and I tracked the scent and it led us to an abandoned car along the Canadian River. The scent and tracks were of a werepuma. One of the rarer forms of Lycanthropy, I haven’t encountered a werepuma in nearly a hundred years.

I didn’t like it, but I motioned the gang to split up. Geri, slipping into her coyote form, disappeared in the sage brush to the north. Charles and Alex swung to the south, while I went straight up the middle.

"Be careful," I told Alex through our mental link. We’ve only been together six months, and I still get nervous when he might be in danger. We haven’t completed the bonding ritual that would tie his life to mine. We’ve discussed it, but the time just hasn’t felt right yet. I lived nearly two thousand years before we met. Now after just six months with him in my life, I couldn’t bear to lose him. Loss kills more dragons than all the magic swords in the world and I finally understood that.

"Tal, I’ve got Charles with me, I’ll be fine," he replied with a mental kiss.

The cat screamed again.

He’s just killed a deer over here, Geri howled.

I ran toward her howl.

"Geri’s got a visual," I called to Alex. Even though he shared my knowledge, I knew he still had difficulty understanding the various weretongues.

"We’ll head that way."

"Keep your eyes open for any sign of the couple," I advised. It could be he’s got them around here somewhere. Their trail leads this way.

"Charles says he just got a blood scent," Alex said, as I closed in on the sounds of a big cat feeding. We’re going to follow it.

In my heart I wished he wouldn’t, but if Geri and I had the werepuma in our sights, the danger to Alex decreased. I was just fine with him rescuing the humans while we took out the lycanthrope. I spotted Geri sitting under a salt cedar tree. Her attention focused on something just down the sandy hill. Her head came up as I crouched down.

Damn, she growled. He just spooked.

The werepuma spooked badly enough that he didn’t bother running quietly. He crashed through the bushes, making a terrible ruckus as he ran. Geri bolted after him and I followed.

"I think we found them!" Alex called.

As we ran, the wind blew the scents of Alex mingled with Charles’ undead odor right into our faces. That must have been what set the werepuma off.

"He’s heading right for you!" I replied, wishing the werepuma hadn’t gotten a head start. Take cover. Even with my superhuman dragon speed, the werepuma was fast enough to out sprint me. Geri, still in her coyote form, fell behind.

A black-tipped tail disappeared over the crest of a hill. A bright blast of magical force lit up the night. Fear for Alex tore at me. I lost control of my human body and the dragon roared forth.

The werepuma moved cautiously around the back of a tree. It looked like he was trying to keep something between himself and Alex. Charles was nowhere to be seen. I roared. The cougar looked up. Even in the dark of the night, he saw my black-scaled body towering over him. He glared. There had to be something wrong with him. He should have cowered or run or something, but he stood his ground and glared. Then, with the speed only a werecat has, the werepuma ran at Alex. Without stopping to think about it, I launched myself over the crest of the hill. A single beat of my wings carried me down toward the cougar. Alex got off another magical leven bolt, but with an uncanny dodge, the cat slid under it. Instead the bolt hit me. It stung. My claws wrapped around the werepuma and I slammed it into the ground. Something in it snapped, and it went limp in my grasp. My wing hit Alex, and he went down hard.

My shift back to human happened as I released my hold on werepuma. I took the couple of steps between me and Alex. His lanky form lay in the dirt. His green eyes were open, but slightly unfocused. I knelt at his side and brushed a lock of red hair from his forehead.

Are you okay?

His eyes focused a bit more. Wow, your wing packs a pretty good wallop. He smiled at me and I knew he was going to be alright.

Sorry about that. I bent down and kissed him.

Hey no problem, you got the bad guy. Sorry about the leven bolt, he replied, sitting up slowly.

I smiled at him. It just tickled.

Tal, why did you kill the guy? Geri asked, resuming her human form. Her gray eyes looked at the crumpled form of the man lying in the dirt. I hadn’t even realized he’d turned back to human, let alone that he was dead. My only thought had been for Alex.

It was an accident, I said. I slammed him into the ground a bit too hard. I offered Alex a hand up. His long fingers curled about my shorter ones and I pulled him off the ground.

So where’s Charles? Geri asked turning from the corpse.

He went back there. Alex pointed behind the boulder just south of us.

Charles, you back there? Geri called out.

Found them, the vampire responded. But you need to take a look at this.

We followed the trail of footprints in the dirt. Around behind the huge boulder, Charles worked at untying a man from a tree. The woman, whose arms were covered in blood, sat on the ground nearby, her face buried in her hands as she wept. The marks showed that the werepuma was trying to infect them with lycanthropy. As he pulled his arms from around the tree, the man also showed signs of being savaged. Long scratches ran down his arms and sides.

Damn, Geri swore as she stepped closer to them. Why would he do this? She looked at me with pleading eyes.

I shrugged. Werepuma’s are rare. Maybe he was trying to make more. I looked at the woman, she was pretty enough. Maybe he was making a mate. Or maybe he was just sick.

Do you mean something other than the obvious? Alex asked as Geri knelt down beside the woman.

He didn’t run from me, he just glared and then he attacked you, I explained. It was almost like he wanted me to kill him.

I hope you did, the man said weakly as he stumbled toward the woman. Whatever he was, I hope you killed that thing. He