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The swell of psychic energy rose in the room once more and Neal grimaced as it pushed him back once more.

“Want some help?” Brad asked, a vicious smile on his face, one that made him seem far too old.  Far too bitter.  Far too angry.

Ana shoved between them and Brad deflected his next psychic strike—just like she’d suspected he would.  He scowled at her.  “Ana, get out of the way.”

Behind her, she heard Neal snarl, sensed his moving—quick. Too quick.

Several things happened at once.

Voices emerged from the hall behind them, deep, angry and full of authority.

The vampire who’d been shooting pool with Duke appeared from the mess of bodies, grabbing Neal as Ana turned.  Neal’s hand was only inches away from her, caught in midair.  The new vampire stood there, holding Neal’s wrist with apparent ease while the weaker man struggled ineffectively.

“Get the fuck off of me,” Neal snarled.

“No, Dominic, I think you’re good right where you’re at.”  The female voice was hard and cold, and Ana felt something inside her shrivel with fear as Kelsey Hughes came storming into the room.

The redhead paused in the door, taking in everything with one quick glance.  Her husband Malachi sauntered past her and flicked a look at Neal that had the vampire’s eyes going wide with apprehension.  Two other instructors trailed in after him—and Duke.

Planting her hands on her hips, Kelsey demanded, “What in the hell is going on here?”

“Nothing, Ms. Hughes.” Wrapping an arm around Brad, Ana pulled him against her.

Kelsey cocked a brow and glanced from Neal to the siblings.  Neal still had his wrist suspended in mid-air and the vampire—Dominic—stood there still as a statue, like he could hold that position all night and well into morning.  “Nothing.  I feel several spikes in energy, there’s broken glass, I walk in right as is somebody coming at you—from behind—and you want me to buy that line?”

Blowing out a breath, Ana said, “It’s my fault—Brad came in a bad time and he—”

“The kid did what nobody else in here had the decency to do.”  Dominic cut in. He let go of Neal but before the younger vampire could back away, Dominic got in his face.  “You like taking swings at kids and woman?”

“That kid attacked first,” Neal snapped.

“Yeah, after he came in and found you putting your hands on his sister. Although she’d done made it clear she didn’t want your hands on her.”

Neal’s response was cut off as a low, eerie growl whispered through the room.

Automatically, all eyes followed the sound—

To Duke, standing in the door way and staring at Neal like he’d just found his midnight snack.  Kelsey shifted, casually placing her body in between the two men, blocking their view of each other.  Her voice calm and cool, she said, “Neal, is that right?”

___________________

Just a quick reminder on the contest:

• Runs through 12/1.
• Read the complete rules here.
• Comment @ my blog (Not via facebook, amazon, myspace, etc) to enter. Each comment gets you one entry. You can enter via blog comments once each day.
• If you post a link to the contest and then email me @ contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com, that will get you an additional ten entries. Put link in the subject line.
• If you preorder and forward the receipt to contest4shiloh(at)gmail.com, that will get you an additional twenty entries. Put receipt in subject line. Please remove all sensitive personal data.
• You can enter each way-if you post a link, comment and preorder, that is 30 entries, as well as one entry for each day you visit the blog to comment. You could get up to fifty entries for the grand prize.
• Names will not be shared/sold/traded/spraypainted on a billboard.
• Please note, to enter for the small daily giveaways done during the week, you must comment @ my blog.
• Daily giveaways will be Monday-Friday. Winners will either be posted here or notified via email so please make sure you check back often.
• Please do not cheat-trying to comment more than once a day, using different names/emails, is cheating and you’ll likely end up disqualified and barred from entering future contests.
• Do not post to sweepstakes sites. These contests are for current and potential readers and I do not want to them to be posted at sweepstakes sites. Should this contest end up at sweepstakes sites, I reserve the right to end the contest without warning and without giving away the rest of the prizes in the contest.
• Each (daily) contest thread will be closed within a day or two of its original posting.  So enter while it’s open!