Wild Cat
Praise for the novels of Jennifer Ashley
WILD CAT
“Danger, desire, and sizzling-hot action!
Wild Cat
is a wild ride. Jennifer Ashley walks the razor’s edge of primal passion as human and Shifter fight for their lives, their families, and a love that breaks all the rules. This is one for the keeper shelf!”
—Alyssa Day,
New York Times
bestselling author
“
Wild Cat
is a riveting read, with intriguing characters, page-turning action, and danger lurking around every turn. Ashley’s Shifter world is exciting, sexy, and magical.”
—Yasmine Galenorn,
New York Times
bestselling author
PRIMAL BONDS
“[A] sexually charged and imaginative tale…[A] quick pace and smart, skilled writing.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“Humor and passion abound in this excellent addition to this series.”
—
Fresh Fiction
PRIDE MATES
“With her usual gift for creating imaginative plots fueled by scorchingly sensual chemistry, RITA Award–winning Ashley begins a new sexy paranormal series that neatly combines high-adrenaline suspense with humor.”
—
Booklist
“A whole new way to look at shapeshifters… Rousing action and sensually charged, MapQuest me the directions for Shiftertown.”
—
Publishers Weekly
, “Beyond Her Book”
continued…
“Absolutely fabulous!… I was blown away by this latest release. The action and romance were evenly matched and the flow of the book kept me glued until the last page… Paranormal fans will be raving over this one!”
—
The Romance Readers Connection
“Ashley has created a riveting tale that… explores different interpretations of human and nonhuman interaction.”
—
Fresh Fiction
THE MANY SINS OF LORD CAMERON
“Big, arrogant, sexy highlanders—Jennifer Ashley writes the kinds of heroes I crave!”
—Elizabeth Hoyt,
New York Times
bestselling author
“A sexy, passion-filled romance that will keep you reading until dawn.”
—Julianne MacLean,
USA Today
bestselling author
LADY ISABELLA’S SCANDALOUS MARRIAGE
“I adore this novel: It’s heartrending, funny, honest, and true. I want to know the hero—no, I want to
marry
the hero!”
—Eloisa James,
New York Times
bestselling author
“Readers rejoice! The Mackenzie brothers return as Ashley works her magic to create a unique love story brimming over with depth of emotion, unforgettable characters, sizzling passion, mystery, and a story that reaches out and grabs your heart. Brava!”
—
RT Book Reviews
(Top Pick)
“A heartfelt, emotional historical romance with danger and intrigue around every corner… A great read!”
—
Fresh Fiction
THE MADNESS OF LORD IAN MACKENZIE
“Ever-versatile Ashley begins her new Victorian Highland Pleasures series with a deliciously dark and delectably sexy story of love and romantic redemption that will captivate readers with its complex characters and suspenseful plot.”
—
Booklist
“Mysterious, heartfelt, sensitive, and sensual… Two big thumbs up.”
—
Publishers Weekly
, “Beyond Her Book”
“A story full of mystery and intrigue with two wonderful, bright characters… I look forward to more from Jennifer Ashley, an extremely gifted author.”
—Fresh Fiction
“Brimming with mystery, suspense, an intriguing plot, villains, romance, a tormented hero, and a feisty heroine, this book is a winner. I recommend
The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
to anyone looking for a great read.”
—
Romance Junkies
“Wow! All I can say is
The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
is one of the best books that I have ever read. [It] gets the highest recommendation that I can give. It is a truly wonderful book.”
—
Once Upon A Romance
“When you’re reading a book that is a step or two—or six or seven—above the norm, you know it almost immediately. Such is the case with
The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
. The characters here are so complex and so real that I was fascinated by their journey…[and] this story is as flat-out romantic as any I’ve read in a while… This is a series I am certainly looking forward to following.”
—
All About Romance
Berkley Sensation Titles by Jennifer Ashley
PRIDE MATES
PRIMAL BONDS
WILD CAT
THE MADNESS OF LORD IAN MACKENZIE
LADY ISABELLA’S SCANDALOUS MARRIAGE
THE MANY SINS OF LORD CAMERON
WILD CAT
JENNIFER ASHLEY
BERKLEY SENSATION, NEW YORK
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada
(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)
Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand
(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
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 websites or their content.
WILD CAT
A Berkley Sensation Book / published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley Sensation mass-market edition / January 2012
Copyright © 2012 by Jennifer Ashley.
Excerpt from
Mate Claimed
by Jennifer Ashley copyright © by Jennifer Ashley.
Cover art by Franco Accornero.
Cover design by George Long.
Hand lettering by Ron Zinn.
Interior text design by Laura K. Corless.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
ISBN: 978-0-425-24578-1
BERKLEY SENSATION
®
Berkley Sensation Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
BERKLEY SENSATION® is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
The “B” design is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks go to my editor, Kate Seaver, and everyone at Berkley Publishing who puts so much hard work into editing and producing these books. I’d also like to thank the readers who love the Shifters and encourage me to write more about them. For more information about the Shifters and their world, visit the Shifter series site on the web page
www.jennifersromances.com
.
CONTENTS
H
eights. Damn it, why does it have to be heights?
Diego Escobar scanned the steel beams of the unfinished skyscraper against a gray morning sky, and acid seared his stomach.
Heights had never bothered him until two years ago, when five meth-heads had hung him over the penthouse balcony of a thirty-story hotel and threatened to drop him. His partner, Jobe, a damn good cop, had put his weapon on the balcony floor and raised his hands to save Diego’s life. The men had pulled Diego to safety and then casually shot them both. Diego had survived; Jobe hadn’t.
Diego’s rage and grief had manifested into an obsessive fear of heights. Now, going up even three floors in a glass elevator could give him cold sweats.
“Way the hell up there?” he asked Rogers, the uniform cop.
“Yes, sir.”
Shit.
“Hooper’s pretty sure it’s not human,” Rogers said. “He says it moves too fast, jumps too far. But he hasn’t got a visual yet.”
Not human
meant Shifter. This was getting better and better. “Hooper’s up there alone?”
“Jemez is with him. They think they have the Shifter cornered on the fifty-first level.”
The
fifty-first
level? “Tell me you’re fucking kidding me.”
“No, sir. There’s an elevator. We got the electric company to turn on the power.”
Diego looked at the rusty doors Rogers indicated, then up, up, and up through the grid of beams into empty space. He could see nothing but the gray dawn sky between the crisscross of girders. His mouth went dry.
This cluster of buildings in the middle of nowhere—which was to have been an apartment complex, hotel, office tower, and shopping center—had been under construction for years. The project had started to great fanfare, designed to draw tourists and locals away from the heavily trafficked Strip. But construction slowed, and so many investors pulled out that building had ground to a halt. Now the unfinished skyscraper sat like a rusting blot on the empty desert.