Living Nightmare

Table of Contents

 

 

 

“Exerts much the same appeal as Christine Feehan’s Carpathian series, what with tortured heroes, the necessity of finding love or facing a fate worse than death, hot lovemaking, and danger-filled adventure.”

 

“A terrific grim thriller with the romantic subplot playing a strong supporting role. The cast is powerful, as the audience will feel every emotion that Andra feels, from fear for her sister to fear for her falling in love.
Finding the Lost
is a dark tale, as Shannon K. Butcher paints a forbidding, gloomy landscape in which an ancient war between humanity’s guardians and their nasty adversaries heats up in Nebraska.”

—Alternative Worlds

 

“A very entertaining read ... the ending was a great cliff-hanger and I can’t wait to read the next book in this series. . . . A fast-paced story with great action scenes and lots of hot romance.”

—The Book Lush

 

“Butcher’s paranormal reality is dark and gritty in this second Sentinel War installment. What makes this story so gripping is the seamlessly delivered hard-hitting action and wrenching emotions. Butcher is a major talent in the making.”

 

 

“Starts off with nonstop action. Readers will race through the pages, only to reread the entire novel to capture every little detail . . . a promising start for a new voice in urban fantasy/paranormal romance. I look forward to the next installment.”

—A Romance Review (5 Roses)

 

“This first book of the Sentinel Wars whets your appetite for the rest of the books in the series. Ms. Butcher is carving her way onto the bestseller lists with this phenomenal, nonstop ride that will have you preordering the second book the minute you put this one down.”

—Affaire de Coeur
(5 stars)

 

“Absorbing . . . Butcher skillfully balances erotic, tender interactions with Helen’s worries, and intriguing secondary characters further enhance the unusual premise. Fans of Butcher’s romantic suspense novels will enjoy her turn toward the paranormal.”

 

“Ms. Butcher offers fresh and delightfully creative elements in this paranormal romance, keeping readers engaged as the story unfolds.
Burning Alive
is a well-crafted beginning to this exciting new series, and will have fans of the genre coming back for the next adventure in the Sentinel Wars.”

—Darque Reviews

 

“An exciting romantic urban fantasy . . . Shannon K. Butcher adds her trademark suspense with plenty of tension and danger to the mix of a terrific paranormal thriller.”

 

“
Burning Alive
is Shannon Butcher’s first foray into paranormal romance, and what a doozy it is! Filled with sizzling love scenes, great storytelling, and action galore, fans of paranormal romance will rejoice to have Ms. Butcher finally join the genre!”

—ParaNormal Romance

 

“A different twist on the paranormal genre. . . . Overall, Shannon K. Butcher has done a good job with
Burning Alive
, and I will definitely be reading the next in the series.”

—Fallen Angel Reviews

SIGNET

Published by New American Library, a division of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:

80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 

First published by Signet, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 

First Printing, November 2010

Copyright © Shannon K. Butcher, 2010

All rights reserved

REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

 

 

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

 

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

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

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

 

 

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

eISBN : 978-1-101-44506-8

As always, I want to thank my beta readers for their continued support. Thanks also to Dawn Shelton for catching all those little mistakes that would otherwise slip by. I don’t know what I’d do without you ladies.

 

N
ika wasn’t crazy, and the only way to prove it was to dig up the bones lying inside her sister’s frozen grave.

The shovel bit into her palms, rubbing them raw. A cold gust of wind threatened to rip down the hood of her heavy coat and suck the precious heat from her skin. She turned her back to the wind and kept digging. There wasn’t time to crawl into the car she’d stolen and warm up. She had to finish this before the Sentinels found her and took her back to Dabyr.

Nika was now much stronger than she had been a few months ago when she’d barely been clinging to life, but with each pitiful half shovelful of dirt, she realized she wasn’t yet strong enough to be doing this. Not alone, and certainly not in the dead of night—the only time no one would be around to see her desecrating a grave.

It was dangerous to be here in the dark. She knew that, but she had no choice. No one would listen to the crazy girl without proof, and the bones lying six feet down were the only tangible evidence she could find that Tori was still alive.

Tori was out there. Nika could feel her baby sister’s presence inside her splintered mind, amidst all the other sinister, alien beings who shared the space. Tori wasn’t like she used to be—she wasn’t the sweet, innocent child the Synestryn had taken—but she was still Nika’s sister. She was still loved. She deserved the chance for freedom, no matter the cost to Nika.

Besides, if Nika could bring her home and stop the torture Tori endured, both their lives would be better. They were connected—though not as strongly as they’d once been—and Nika wondered sometimes how her sister had survived this long.

The night the Synestryn stole Tori, Nika had promised her she’d never leave her alone. Now, almost nine years later, she’d kept that promise despite the fact that it had nearly killed her more than once.

Tori was slipping away, and Nika had the feeling that her sister was doing it by choice, that she was pushing them apart for a reason Nika couldn’t understand.

Nika refused to give up on her. With or without help, she was going to find Tori and free her from her captors. Or die trying. That was definitely another alternative—perhaps the more likely one, given the way her muscles were already burning with fatigue.

If she couldn’t finish the simple job of digging a hole, how could she possibly execute a rescue mission?

After an hour of digging, she’d barely made a dent in the frozen soil. At this rate, she’d still be here come daybreak, when the authorities could see her and drag her to the closest hospital’s mental ward. She couldn’t go back there. Eight years of being restrained and questioned and tortured by doctors with fake smiles and dead eyes was more than she could stand. If she had to go back to that life, she really
would
be crazy.

And even if that was not where she ended up—if she went back to Dabyr—the chances of escaping the watchful eyes of the Sentinels again were slim. She was going to have only one shot at this—one shot to prove that Tori was still alive and needed to be rescued.

Time to dig faster.