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About Shattered
Paranormal Agent Alex Kane uses her visions to prevent disasters in her job at the Grey Raven Agency. Lives depend on her. Emotion is a weakness she can’t afford.
But when she teams up with a new partner, Empath James Emerson, to prevent her latest vision of horror, she finds out the future has other ideas. The moment they meet, a steamy vision of their future together throws Alex off balance.
Now Alex has two disasters to prevent – a catastrophe filled with death and destruction, and the truly terrifying prospect of falling in love.
A fast-paced enemies-to-lovers Fantasy Romance you won’t want to put down!
Read an excerpt below!
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Shattered is the first book in Closer to the Sun, a new series that combines Romance, Urban Fantasy, and Suspense. It follows the lives of ordinary people with extraordinary talents as they navigate a world that is – and is not – exactly like our own.
Each book is a complete story following a different set of characters in an interconnected world with overlapping plotlines. They can be read independently and in any order, but you will get the best experience reading them in sequence.
The closer you fly to the sun, the farther you have to fall.
Excerpt from Shattered
Chapter One: Visions
The world fell away, shattered into a million sparkling pieces.
Back arched, head flung back, muscles locked in release.
Nothing existed but the two of us, here and now, one moment of perfect bliss.
Wrapped in his arms, my name on his lips.
‘Al-’
“-ex, are you alright?”
What? Where am I? Echoes of the vision clung to the edges of my mind. My head was spinning, my heart was racing, my entire body was on fire.
I opened my eyes.
For one jarring moment, vision and reality blurred. I found myself staring into the same shockingly perfect face. There was no mistaking him, despite the layer of polished professionalism. His dark hair was brushed neatly back now, and he wore a collared shirt, but it was very clearly the man from my vision.
I blinked and shook my head slightly, trying to chase away the vestiges of the vision.
Reality slowly asserted itself. Details swam into focus. My hand on the doorframe. A desk, a table, and a handful of chairs. Tall glass windows and the city beyond. The young assistant, Theo, hovering at my elbow, looking concerned.
Two people sat at the small conference table, watching me. One was the man from the vision. The other was Director Grey. My boss.
What the hell was that?
Usually my visions were about important things – buildings blowing up, world leaders assassinated, natural disasters, terrorist attacks – not about … that. Yesterday’s vision was more typical, if particularly gruesome. It was full of fire and blood and broken glass, and frightened people who would die if I didn’t save them. Not happening.
That was all that mattered, not … whatever the hell just happened. I pushed the lingering effects of the vision aside. It took more effort than I would ever admit, but I managed to slam down hard on the remnants of emotion, and focus on the task at hand. I can react later. Right now, I have a job to do.
“Alex?” Director Grey was waiting for an answer. What did she ask again? Was I alright? Good question.
“I’m fine. Just a little dizzy,” I lied easily. “Motion sickness from the flight.” It wasn’t that much of a stretch – it had been a long flight.
“Good. Thank you for coming in to the office on such short notice.” She was smiling pleasantly at me. It was an unnerving expression to see on the face of the most dangerous woman in New York.
The man across from her was not smiling. Tension radiated from every line of his body, from the way he held his muscles stiff, to the way he was now glaring at the table in front of him. I kept my face composed and blandly professional as I took the chair farthest from him. Details from the vision kept creeping into my mind – his eyes closed, his skin slick with sweat. Damn.
Heat seared through me. I shoved it down again, harder. Not the time. Focus. He spared me an angry glance. I looked back with a completely neutral expression, grateful that he couldn’t see inside my mind.
Director Grey ignored his apparent hostility. “I’d like you to meet your partner for this mission, James Emerson. James, this is Alex Kane.” At the word ‘partner’, my stomach dropped. I should have seen that coming, that was the point of this mission briefing, and the reason I’d flown to agency headquarters in the first place. “You’ll be working together-”
“No,” he snapped. The word echoed loudly in the sudden, tense silence.
“What was that, James?” The Director asked him, in a deceptively mild tone. Even I could hear the steel underpinning her calm question, and a hint of surprise. Diana Grey was not accustomed to being defied.
He didn’t seem to care. “I said no. I’m not working with her. Two Empaths in one room is a bad situation. It never ends well.” He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Why would you want another Empath on the same job anyway? I’m the best you have, and I don’t need backup.” Did he just call me … backup? Oh, hell no.
“Agent Emerson,” she interrupted, before I could protest. He opened his mouth to say something else, but she cut in again. “Alex isn’t an Empath.”
“Yes, she is,” he insisted.
“No, I’m not.” I cut in, sinking ice into my tone.
His head swiveled toward me sharply. He studied me intently, as if he could read my secrets on the surface of my face. “What are you, then?” he asked, speaking to me directly for the first time. His gaze was intense and deeply unnerving and gave me a sense of being cut open and dissected, my secrets spilling out for all to see.
For a moment, I was frozen in place, unable to answer or even move. When I didn’t immediately reply, Grey answered for me. “Alex is a Clairvoyant. The best, in fact.” Under other circumstances, I’d have been thrilled by the praise from her, but my full attention was focused on the man watching me.
“A Clairvoyant?” He looked deeply confused for a long moment as he visibly absorbed this new information. Then his entire expression changed. The scowl vanished, his eyes widened and his eyebrows rose. He blinked once, slowly. As though seeing me for the first time, he scanned me with his eyes, an appraising expression on his face. The feeling of being exposed intensified. I held his gaze impassively, careful to give no outward sign of my discomfort.
“A Clairvoyant,” he repeated. He leaned slowly back in his chair, expression now speculative. His hands laced together on his stomach, index fingers forming a triangle. “So you have visions. Of the future.” The corner of his mouth twitched, as though holding back a smile.
“That’s what Clairvoyant means, yes.”
The almost-smile became a smirk. “Visions that come true,” he said slowly, with a strangely careful emphasis on the last word.
Realization dawned on me, and rapidly growing horror. He’s an Empath. He didn’t see my vision, but he felt my response to it, and he clearly put two and two together. Oh, god, kill me now. I kept a neutral mask over my rising embarrassment, but it didn’t matter. If he could read my emotions, he’d see exactly how mortified I was, and there was nothing I could do about it. The smirk broadened into a wicked grin. His eyes sparkled with amusement. I felt sick.
“Oh, this is going to be interesting,” he murmured.
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