Alley Cat: Cats & Conjure, #4

By Asha King

Adelaide Deveraux has at last come into her powers, but her gifts have come with a price: she has lost the love of her life. Now surrounded by allies but still utterly alone, she's seeking to build a new Sanctuary and provide shelter for those who need it, even though none of it will heal her broken heart.

Tiger-shifter Erik Wells was willing to sacrifice everything to save Addie from the psychopathic sorcerer after her, including his life. But despite paying the ultimate price and annihilating their enemy once and for all, he still isn't at peace. Some greater power is seeking to resurrect Erik, willing to move heaven and hell to see him breathe again. Whether that power is good or evil, he doesn't know, and he's running out of time as something's hunting him in the underworld, seeking to destroy his very soul.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asha King Books
• Release date: Mar 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524249823

Book preview

cover.jpg

Adelaide Deveraux has at last come into her powers, but her gifts have come with a price: she has lost the love of her life. Now surrounded by allies but still utterly alone, she’s seeking to build a new Sanctuary and provide shelter for those who need it, even though none of it will heal her broken heart.

Tiger-shifter Erik Wells was willing to sacrifice everything to save Addie from the psychopathic sorcerer after her, including his life. But despite paying the ultimate price and annihilating their enemy at last, he still isn’t at peace. Some greater power is seeking to resurrect Erik, willing to move heaven and hell to see him breathe again. Whether that power is good or evil, he doesn’t know, and he’s running out of time as something’s hunting him in the underworld, seeking to destroy his very soul.

Alley Cat

Cats & Conjure #5

Asha King

Books by Asha King

Now Available

Near to You

Bad Moon Rising

Somebody to Love

Wild Horses (Stirling Falls #1)

Wild Horses: Cold, Cold Winter (Stirling Falls #1.5)

Sympathy for the Devil (Stirling Falls #2)

Circle of Friends: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?

The Book of Love

Cats in Heat (Cats & Conjure #1)

Cat Scratch Fever (Cats & Conjure #2)

Stray Cat Strut (Cats & Conjure #3)

Cinders: A Midsummer Suspense Tale

Beauty: A Midsummer Suspense Tale

Snow: A Midsummer Suspense Tale

Beast: A Midsummer Suspense Tale

Coming Soon

I Who Have Nothing

Cat’s in the Cradle (Cats & Conjure #5)

Year of the Cat (Cats & Conjure #6)

Gimme Shelter (Stirling Falls #3)

Gold: A Midsummer Suspense Tale

Red: A Midsummer Suspense Tale

Alley Cat

Copyright © 2016 by Asha King

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Edited by Adrienne Jones

Cover Art © 2016 by Asha King

First Edition March 2016

All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

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

img1.png

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this or any copyrighted work is illegal. Authors are paid on a per-purchase basis. Any use of this file beyond the rights stated above constitutes theft of the author’s earnings. File sharing is an international crime, prosecuted by the United States Department of Justice Division of Cyber Crimes, in partnership with Interpol. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is punishable by seizure of computers, up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 per reported instance.  Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material.

Your support of my livelihood is appreciated.

Chapter One

Fall light, a rich gold-yellow, moved like syrup through the greenhouse windows, drenching the tabletop plants and old stone floor.

More plants hung in pots, while smaller ones sat on shelves, each thriving in the warmth, plush greenery broken up by pops of color as some continued to bloom. Autumn was still early, no sign of frost yet, but the earthy air of the greenhouse, damp and fresh, suggested the plants would endure the winter quite well.

Still, as lovely as it was, and as much as she enjoyed her mornings coaxing the plants to flourish, Adelaide Deveraux longed for her old kitchen in her grandmother’s house, with the porch just outside and herbs growing in small mismatched pots. That kitchen was long gone now, the fire having taken from her every remnant of her former life.

Did the people of her old town think her dead now? She hadn’t had a lot of friends, but it was a small village where everyone knew everyone else, and her absence would’ve been noticed. She’d been a bellydancing instructor and administrator assistant at the local community center, and one of the few black women in town, so everyone knew her.

That had been two months ago, and lifetimes had been lived since then. As far as the residents knew, she’d been home sick for a week, and then the house burned down. There would be no evidence of bodies in the charred remains. Had the police been called? Did the neighbors remember anything?

More than likely, she’d been swept aside and forgotten. Her grandmother had lived there for years until she was institutionalized before her death, humans so quick to disbelieve their reality was a little more magical than they’d ever realized. Addie herself hadn’t believed, suppressing her natural gifts and birthright as a Sanctuary.

That is, until...him.

Thoughts of Erik brought fresh tears to her eyes that she fought to blink back. During the day, she held it in. She was quiet, a little withdrawn, but she maintained calmness. The house, once a home to a long-dead Sanctuary, was still saturated in magic, and had grown to respond to her now. Her moods affected the whole energy of the place, and now that people relied on her—both the guardians who lived with her and those who came for help—she had to keep her rage and despair leveled out.

At night, though, she cried. Silently, endlessly, until exhaustion claimed her. And then she dreamed of Erik, of his strong arms around her and his breath against her neck, the heavy weight of him on top of her. When she woke, and forgot for blissful moments he wasn’t there, peace enveloped her.

And then she remembered.

Addie gave herself a shake and continued tying the ends of the last of the herbs that needed to be dried. Once she was done, she hung them in place, gave the greenhouse a final look, and then prepared to head back to the house.

Technically Sanctuary was merely the house and not the land beyond, but the longer she stayed, the more magic seeped into the land. Eventually—after years, perhaps—the entire tiny island might be her domain, but for now, she felt a quiet little tug any time she stepped out of the old farmhouse, its magic sentient and knowing its mistress was away from safety, even by only a few steps.

Of course, she wasn’t alone now and didn’t worry about any danger.

She lifted her cardigan from beside the door and stepped outside the greenhouse, slipping the hand-knit sweater on and breathing in fresh air. A black cat—not so originally named Cat now, as she couldn’t stand to keep calling it hey you—darted past her legs. It wasn’t the only cat on the island now; they’d been popping up in the woods over the past few weeks, somehow making it across the lake to take up residence in her trees. Much like she had at home, she fed them and continued to wonder why they followed her.

But Cat, though, was entirely tame and rarely left her side except to hunt mice around the property. She streaked ahead of Addie toward the house; the cat would disappear for a few hours to do whatever it was cats did, and then appear sometime later, usually in the evening.

Addie glanced around as she shut the greenhouse door. Although only a couple of people lived with her—a Sanctuary’s guardians, sworn to protect her—at least one if not two were in view at all times, no one stepping too far from her. Out here, on the island, all had been quiet after defeating the sorcerer Lincoln and his ilk that had been determined to own her, but convincing the others to leave her was out of the question, and so she let them remain.

They had nearly everything they needed anyway. Renovations on the house ensured the wiring and plumbing was up to date. A well on the property provided water, installed solar panels kept them off the grid. Much like the herbs for magic flourished under Addie’s touch, so did fresh produce in the garden. Next year she planned to have a chicken coop, but for now, additional supplies were picked up from the neighboring marinas as needed.

From the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a figure patrolling through the trees—broad shoulders, massive height, his shaved head gleaming. Murphy was a shaman and longtime friend of Erik’s, and he’d fortified the additional security around the island’s perimeter. If anyone set foot in the place, even injured parities looking for Sanctuary and healing, Murphy would likely know and everyone would be on high alert.

Addie gave him a little wave and moved toward the house, tugging her cardigan tightly around her. Wind swirled her long skirt and her bare feet padded softly over cool earth, up the path to