The Awakening: Britton (Entangled Covet)

The Awakening: Britton

Abby Niles

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s

imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is

coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by Abby Niles. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or

transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the

Publisher.

Entangled Publishing, LLC

2614 South Timberline Road

Suite 109

Fort Collins, CO 80525

Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.

Edited by Nina Bruhns and Robin Haseltine

Cover design by Curtis Svehlak

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62266-344-6

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition November 2013

The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of the following

wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Jeep, Carolina Panthers, Coach, Kit Kat, Beefaroni, Ziploc,

Children of the Corn
, Candy Land,
The Waltons
, Mack, iPad, Polaroid.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Author Bio

Don’t miss these Covet titles…

This book is dedicated to all the women out there in love with men who drive them absolutely crazy…and

wouldn’t want their lives any other way.

Chapter One

Carnal Ridge, North Carolina

“I would lick that man up one side and down the other.”

Detective Val Calhoun tightened her grip on the pen and prayed for patience with her coworker. Not

that these types of comments were anything new. If it wasn’t Raquel making some sort of off-color remark

about the supposed living god who frequented SPAC—the Shifter Protection and Concealment side of the

Carnal Ridge police station—it was Nancy, or Jean, or Tammy…

Women really could be just as bad as men.

“I’d pay good money to see that man out of uniform,” Raquel continued. “I bet his abs are to die for.”

She snapped her fingers. “What are the chances we could get a calendar made for charity? One with him as

January through December. I’d bet we’d make a killing at it.”

No doubt they would. It wasn’t just the women at the PD who had fallen under Officer Britton

Townsend’s spell, it was the entire Carnal Ridge female population. It was sickening to watch.

Either way, Raquel’s comments meant only one thing.
He’d
walked into the department and ogle-the-

hottie time had commenced. Val would just have to suffer through it until he left.

“January would be nothing but snow and him in a scarf… Oh! And the summer!
Girl
, we’d get him

under an outside shower on a sandy beach, water running down his body, hair slicked to his head.” Raquel

fanned herself. “Is it getting hot in here?”

“Just for you.” And every other female…

Raquel shot a perturbed look at Val. “There is something seriously wrong with you.”

“Why? Because I don’t share in the let’s-lust-after-Officer-Townsend fun time?”

Raquel’s plump lips pursed. “
Mmm-hmm
. You keep telling yourself that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

But she’d already lost Raquel’s attention as the half-shifter stared off to the other side of the department

again and made an appreciative
whew
noise. “
Damn
. I’d like thirty minutes alone with that man.”

“You can do better than him,” Val muttered. She finished writing her notes, closed the file, then tossed

it onto the growing stack sitting on the corner of her desk, refusing to glance in the direction that had

Raquel so riveted.

“Oh, definitely. He’s not the introduce-to-my-daddy type. He’s the give-me a-rockin’-good-time-in-bed

type.” She sighed. “Those
eyes
. Have you seen anything like them?”

Unfortunately, no. Britton’s dark looks, cocky attitude, and electric blue eyes were what made all the

women’s knees turn to mush. That, and his tight ass. The ultimate bad-boy persona. With the leather jacket

to boot. And he played it up. With every woman he came into contact with.

Except her. Thank the
Dea
.

“It’s like that gaze strips you naked every time he looks at you,” Raquel said as she tucked a strand of

auburn hair behind her ear and bit her lower lip.

Val made a
bleck
ing sound, and went to work on the next file that needed her attention.

“You look ravishing today, Raquel,” a deep masculine voice purred. Val could just picture the tilted

smirk on his face that made the women’s ovaries scream.

Officer Townsend.

Britton.

Brit to the ones completely gaga over the blue-eyed devil.

Thankfully Val had been cured of such an idiotic notion long ago.

A giggle came from Raquel. A. Giggle. Val had to keep from snorting.

“You’re looking mighty fine today too, Brit.”

Gag me.

The desk wobbled, causing Val’s pen to scribble a line across the paper. She ground her teeth, but

didn’t bother looking up. “Get off my desk, Townsend.”

“You really could take some wardrobe lessons from Raquel here, Princess.”

Taking a deep breath, she lifted her head, hating that her heart had the same reaction as every other

woman he encountered—it fluttered. Every damn time she had the misfortune of crossing his path.

Pushing away the sensation, she met and held those mesmerizing ice-blue eyes made all the brighter by

his olive complexion and jet-black hair and brows. His eyelashes were way too long for a man and only

magnified the color of the irises.

All those good looks wasted on a douche bag.

She lifted her brow, going for bored as she tried not to notice how well he filled out his uniform.

“You’re the last person I dress to impress, Townsend.”

“Obviously. But one would think you’d put in a little more effort for some of the other men.”

His put-down, as always, was her cure. Reminded her what a deplorable jerk he could be. Thank the

Dea
for that, or she’d be like all of the other vagis in this place—wet and throbbing.

Leaning her elbows on her desk, she cocked her head. “Think what you want, but I’m the one sitting

behind this desk. Not you.”

Her comment had the intended effect. Anger tightened his normally smirky lips as his jaw clenched.

She suppressed a smile.
You want a fight. I’ll give you a fight.

“At least we know you didn’t sleep your way to the top.”

“Nope. Just took the job from an incompetent jerk.”

Raquel gave a little squeak of horror. “Jeez, Val.”

Go figure. He was the biggest dick of the century, and all Raquel could see was Val being mean to the

hottie.

She shrugged. “The truth hurts.”

And she wouldn’t lie. She got great satisfaction from watching Britton shake with fury. Which he was.

Quivering with it. She fought another smile. And in three…two…one…

Britton spun and stalked out of the department.

“Why do you do
that
?” There was no mistaking the frustration in her coworker’s voice. “He’s so pretty

to look at, and you always chase him off.”

“He started it.”

“Did you ever think maybe there’s a reason for that? Most of us here are just waiting for the two of you

to explode in a fit of lust.”

Shocked, Val spun on Raquel. “Have you lost your
mind
? Britton Townsend is the last man on this

planet I would invite into my bed, and I’m pretty sure he feels the exact same way about me.”

“Whatever you say. I just know that watching you two go at it has become everyone’s favorite show.”

She leaned closer. “We have a pool going, you know?”

“What the— A
pool
?” Val gave a short, sarcastic snort and shook her head. “You guys need to get a

life.
Seriously
. Betting on when Britton and I will hook up is a complete waste of money. Because it’s
never

going to happen.”

“Oh, it’s going to happen. That much passion can’t be contained.”

“Passion? It’s called loathing, Raquel.”

“Sure it is. Anyway, I’ve given you a month. Just hold out that long, okay? An extra four hundred

bucks would buy that gorgeous Coach clutch I’ve been drooling over.”

Without waiting for a reply, Raquel sauntered off. Val stared after her. Four hundred
dollars
? She

worked with a bunch of crazies. As if she and Britton would
ever
hook up. She couldn’t stand the pompous

ass. Yeah…so there was a little jolt of attraction. No matter what Britton thought, she
was
a red-blooded

woman and he
was
hot. But that was as far as it went. His foul mouth ensured that.

“Val?”

She glanced over to see Detective Roy Brastic hastening toward her. His handsome face was set in a

pensive, pinched look that immediately set off warning bells. She straightened. “What’s up?”

When he stopped at her desk, he leaned down and whispered, “Elder Harwood and Councilman Seeder

are here. They want you to meet them in the conference room.”

What would cause the elder and his second in command to come to her? She was usually summoned to

come to them. Normally, members of the High Council steered clear of SPAC, not wanting to draw

attention to their secret division inside the homicide unit at Carnal Ridge PD. The human detectives didn’t

have a clue they were working side-by-side with several shifters, and everyone wanted to keep it that way.

Roy gave her a concerned glance that reflected how she felt. “Something’s up. Something bad.”

Yeah, it was.

Inhaling, Val pushed to her feet and made her way to the conference room where they usually spread

out evidence on complex cases.

What could’ve pushed the councilmen to come all the way down here? Things had been pretty quiet.

Shifter crime had stayed shifter business and hadn’t collided with the human world.

Almost four years ago, Elder Harwood had flown up to Jersey and offered her the head position here in