Wake Me

By Alexa Bourne

Her psychic dreams come true.

Sarah McKinley’s attempts to take her foreknowledge of crimes to the Seattle Police Department marked her as a troublemaker and were never taken seriously. Starting over in Austin, she plans never to reveal her gift, but shortly after she arrives, the dreams begin again, and the local police want to know why she has knowledge only the killer could possess.

Detective Jesse Cordell watched his mother con people with her “psychic ability” all through his childhood. He hones in on Sarah, who has means, motive, and opportunity to have murdered the victim in his current investigation. Instinct tells him she didn’t commit the crime, but she definitely knows more than she’s letting on.

Can he put aside his doubts and join forces with her, against everything he believes in, to find the real killer? Or will he do his job and put her behind bars? After all, there’s no such thing as the “psychic ability.” Or is there?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Decadent Publishing
• Release date: Oct 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781613337547

Alexa Bourne

Alexa Bourne is a teacher by day and a romance writer by nights, weekends, and all school holidays. She also teaches online classes for writers throughout the year. She writes romantic suspense and contemporary romance for Decadent Publishing and is thrilled to have the chance to share her love of Great Britain with readers everywhere. When she's not concocting sinister plots and steamy love scenes or traveling and exploring new cultures, Alexa spends her time reading, watching brainless TV and thinking about exercising. She loves to interact with readers, so visit her web page, hang out at her blog, follow her on Twitter or drop her a note at : www.alexabourne.com or http://alexabourne.blogspot.com, http://www.facebook.com/AuthorAlexaBourne or follow her on Twitter @AlexaBourne.

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Wake Me

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2014 by Alexa Bourne

ISBN: 978-1-61333-754-7

Cover art by Gilded Heart Designs

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC

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www.decadentpublishing.com

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Wake Me

Hidden Destiny - Book One

By

Alexa Bourne

~Dedication~

For Jean Martin, my mother, my friend. (No, Ma, you weren’t in the dream.)

Chapter One

Sarah McKinley didn’t need to hear the cops talking to know the truth. Thanks to her supposed gift, she could fill in some of the details about the girl’s death no one understood yet. Dead for hours, floating like a piece of trash, she whispered.

Excited chatter sailed through the crowd around her. College kids on their ways to classes gawked, appearing intrigued to find a coroner van along with three police cars by the ancient water fountain.

How do you know? the young woman on her right with the bluish brown hair asked.

Damn. Huh?

You said a woman’s dead.

Who’s dead? someone else asked.

What? There’s a body?

I thought I heard one of you say it. Or somebody closer to the front. Would they believe her? Or had she whispered herself into a whole world of trouble?

The buzz around her head grew louder as more students joined the crowd. Yellow tape secured the crime scene several yards away, but limbs still stuck over the cement edge of the water fountain.

A guy in plain clothes ducked under the tape and ventured toward them. A gold shield hung from his belt. Can anybody tell me what happened?

She can! a male voice from behind called out.

Hoping to take attention off herself, Sarah joined the other students in whirling around to see who the guy meant. Several voices rushed toward the man, accosting him with different versions of the crime. Sarah floated through the sea of people, away from the crowd.

For the nine months she’d lived in Austin, she’d never mentioned a word about her so-called psychic gift. Almost a full year had passed. She’d started to think she would be normal again.

But a brand-new dream reminded her she would always be different.

Heading toward the street, she picked up her steps. Don’t look back. You’ve done enough damage.

Miss! Hey, wait up!

Damn. She slowed her feet. No point in trying to run. She’d look guilty of something then the cops would have a reason to haul her off the school campus in cuffs.

Turning, she came face-to-face with the striking plain-clothes cop. I’m Detective Cordell with Austin Police. He stood at least six inches taller than she, his jet-black hair sheared in a standard cut for police. The bulk of his chest stretched the material of his short-sleeved dress shirt. With dark eyes and sexy confidence, he was all sorts of captivating. If he hadn’t been such a threat to her freedom, she might even have called him handsome. Do you have a minute? I’d like to ask you some questions.

There died his charm.

I don’t, I’m sorry. I’ve got class off campus. She began to turn away from him.

He grabbed her elbow. This will just take a few minutes. He continued to smile, as though trying to make her more comfortable, like they were about to discuss the weather instead of a dead body.

Sarah gripped her bag of gym clothes in her arms. How can I help you, Detective?

What can you tell me about the scene?

She glanced around his torso—his very wide torso. There were a bunch of college kids standing around the water fountain. Someone mentioned a body and dirt lines leading to the fountain. The word is she’s been dead a few hours. So sad. She returned her gaze to him. Do you have any leads yet?

Someone in the crowd said you knew the victim. Is it true?

Wrapping the bag’s strap around her fingers, she shook her head. No, I didn’t know her.

Huh. Okay, did you see anything, or do you know how she died?

I only repeated information I heard through the crowd.

For a few moments, neither of them spoke. While his startling eyes drilled into her, Sarah’s nerves tightened.

Miss, if you know anything about this, it’s best to tell me.

I’m telling you I can’t help. I know she’s dead, but I don’t know who did it. Isn’t finding the killer your job?

Smile widening, he shoved both hands into his pockets. You seem a little hostile. Why?

I’m sorry. Calm down. If she didn’t, he’d have a reason to follow her, to hound her, to question her further. It’s not every day I come across a murder.

Twice now you’ve mentioned a crime happening. What makes you think this wasn’t an accident or a suicide?

Fuck. She needed to get away. I told you, I’m just repeating what I heard.

The bell on the clock tower gonged. Sarah glanced at the massive spindly clock hands, then toward the crime scene, before her gaze returned to the detective. I’m going to be late for class. Can I go?

He pulled a business card from his pocket. "Sure. Here’s my card in case you hear anything else about the victim."

When she reached for it, their fingers touched. A surge of energy zinged up her arm. His eyes flashed open a little wider. For several seconds, they stared at each other.

You have a good day, Ms. McKinley.

How the hell did he know her name? Never mind. In seconds, she’d be free of him. Good-bye, Detective. Good luck.

She struggled to be nonchalant as she walked away. Once she’d passed the hundred-year-old oak tree, she risked another peek at the scene. Detective Cordell still watched her. Another man, shorter, rounder, dressed the same way as Cordell, strode over to him, nabbing his attention.

After nine diligent months in