Title: Unhidden (The Gatekeeper
Chronicles, Book #1)
Author: Dina M GivenGenre: Adult Urban Fantasy,
Paranormal Romance, Horror
Book Description:
It’s not always easy to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys, especially when a trained killer may be falling in love with her evil hunter…
It’s not always easy to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys, especially when a trained killer may be falling in love with her evil hunter…
Emma Hayes, a former
military Special Forces Operative turned mercenary-for-hire, finds her tightly
controlled world turned upside down when she becomes the target of attacks by
powerful supernatural creatures.
Emma must use every skill in
her arsenal to stay alive as she tries to solve the mystery of why she has been
targeted. Her list of enemies keeps growing - from Zane Shayde, an evil Mage,
to a secret branch of the US government - and she doesn't know if there is
anyone left she can trust.
To complicate matters
further, Emma is inexplicably drawn to Zane in a way she does not quite
understand, even knowing her life is forfeit if captured. Who is he and why
does he have this effect on her? How can she fight someone who calls to her,
body and soul?
Emma is left haunted by
questions, doubts and fears as to why she has been targeted, when they will
come for her next, and how she will possibly survive against an enemy she
doesn't understand.
Dina Given lives in
rural New Jersey – home of farms, horses and the largest hot air balloon
festival in North America – with her husband, two crazy kids, and one rescue
dog. She is an exercise enthusiast and avid lover of food and wine (hence the
need to exercise). Dina also works full time for one of the largest healthcare
companies in the world. She attributes her ability to juggle family, work and
writing to her obsessive, hyper-focused, Type A personality.
Author Links:
Claws, teeth, and a slavering black tongue rose over me as I lay
prone on the floor. It could have easily ripped my throat out or killed me in a
dozen hideous ways. It seemed to realize this, too. Its jaw cracked and popped,
unhinging so wide it could make a meal of my head in one bite. Hot, putrid
saliva dripped onto my face, leaking into my open wound and searing it like
acid. I hissed at the sensation and turned away; however, I couldn’t escape its
fetid breath.
It leaned in, eager and hungry, while I was frozen. I would meet
death in the jaws of an inhuman beast. It would drink my blood, feast on my
organs, and gnaw on my bones for dessert.
Darko’s hoarse voice called from down the hall. “Don’t kill her!
We need her.”
The thing paused and let out a high-pitched wail of anger at
being deprived of its dinner. The sound shattered my fear.
I threw up a knee, violently slamming it in the creature’s
crotch. Thankfully, it was humanoid enough, that it had the same effect as any
other male. He howled and rolled off me into the fetal position. I immediately
scrambled backward, sliding along the marble floor. My left arm, screaming in
pain, remained limp at my side.
With my right arm, I reached over my head to grab the gun. As my
fingers wrapped around the grip, the familiar feeling was like coming home
again.
I pointed the Glock down the length of my body, and without a
moment’s hesitation, I pulled the trigger in three quick, precise squeezes. The
head of the creature I had nut-cracked exploded in a spray of blood and gore.
Shifting the gun’s sight, I found the second creature barreling
down the hall toward me. The first three shots hit him square in the chest, yet
he hardly slowed. I lifted the gun slightly, took a deep breath and held it,
then squeezed the trigger, putting a round straight through its eye and into
its brain. That time, it stumbled yet still kept coming. I put four more rounds
into its head, not missing a shot, before it finally crashed to the floor only
inches shy of my feet.
Darko merely stood there, a sly, half-smile tugging at the
corner of his mouth while I unsteadily got to my feet, pushing myself up with
my gun hand. Despite the fact that Darko carried no weapon I could see, for a
moment, I considered shooting him. He had set me up, kidnapped an innocent
girl, and commanded those creatures. Even though he had stopped them from
killing me, I was sure he wouldn’t hesitate if he got what he wanted from me.
With him only a few yards away, I had a clear shot. I pointed my
weapon at him, and for the first time today, he reacted. The blood drained from
his face, his eyes darting around, seeking escape. He quickly came to the same
conclusion I had—there was no escape for him.
My finger tightened on the trigger, but before I could get off
the shot, a monstrous animal bounded from the shadows behind him. It leapt past
Darko, springing at me on all fours. It was the size of a bear with dry, scaly
skin, and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Two tusks extended from the roof of its
mouth, past its jaw. It bellowed like a foghorn as it charged me.
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