She was his mate...the only one who could save him.
His Wicked Touch, a standalone paranormal romance from New York Times bestselling author J. Kenner writing as Julie Kenner, is available now!
Bound by his cursed heritage, shapeshifter Luc Agassou must constantly fight the call of the great cat that lives inside him. His only hope for controlling the beast within is to find his one true mate, but after years of searching, he is no closer to finding his love. Or his redemption. Desperate, he stays hidden in the shadows, locking himself away from those he might harm.
Caitlyn Raine has spent her life trying to escape the shadow of her terrible childhood and has given up on the possibility of ever finding someone to love. Instead of romance, she pours her passion into her work. A detective, she’s made it her mission to track down and lock away the human monsters that roam the dark streets of New Orleans.
From the moment they meet, the attraction between them is combustible. Luc is determined to have her, certain she is his mate, his redemption, his love. But there is a killer on the loose in the Crescent City, and all signs point to Luc. Can Cate overcome her own fears and leap into the dark … trusting that their love will save them both?
His Wicked Touch was originally published as Wild Thing by Julie Kenner and has been lightly revised and expanded for this reissue.
Download your copy today or read FREE in Kindle Unlimited!
Excerpt
A tear slid down her cheek, and she roughly brushed it
away. "It's only a birthday," she said, her whisper directed toward
the panther.
The great cat stared back, then settled himself on the
cool stone, his regal head resting on crossed paws.
"Time to see what I've got here," Cate told
it. At midday in the summer heat, the zoo was almost empty, so no one would
hear her talking foolishly to a cat. As she lifted the lid on the box, though,
all thoughts of idiocy left her head, replaced with an intense sense of wonder.
There, nestled in the velvet-lined interior of the
box, lay the most beautiful glass perfume bottle Cate had ever seen. The
product of exceptional artistry, the bottle evoked an erotic sensuality, warm
silver intricately intertwined through cut, cool crystal. "Oh," she
whispered, the word little more than a sigh, as she lifted the bottle out.
Obviously an antique, the bottle was more solid than
it looked, and despite its almost ephemeral beauty, she didn't worry that she
would accidentally break it. This bottle had seen the world, and she let her
imagination fly as she pictured it decorating the dressing tables of royalty,
holding specially commissioned perfumes or scented oils for a king's mistress.
Because surely a bottle such as this had witnessed both passion and intrigue.
This was no casual gift, and Cate was baffled that
Alma—a woman she barely knew—would give her such an extravagant present.
Although the bottle was empty, Cate couldn't resist the urge to tug at the
stopper, but it was stuck fast. Not that it mattered. The bottle was bone dry
and probably had been for some time. And it wasn't as if she'd ever take the
time to fill it with her favorite fragrance. That was hardly her style, though
she was happy to add the beautiful bottle to her dressing table.
She held it up to take a closer look at the fine
crystal. The facets caught the light, breaking it into a rainbow of color. And
when she shifted the angle, sparks seemed to leap from the bottle into the
humid Louisiana air.
In front of her, the cat raised itself, then stood
rigid. Its nose twitching and its eyes near-slits.
"What is it," she whispered. "What's
wrong?"
The cat didn't answer. And Cate realized that she'd
actually expected it would. Absurd.
Instead, it began pacing, more frenetic than before.
It circled the habitat, faster and faster, as if searching for a heretofore
unnoticed exit.
Still holding the bottle, she stood, then moved to the
fence. The cat stopped, turning to face her. Their eyes met, and she lost herself
in the deep color of the beast's irises. She stood, mesmerized, as seconds
turned to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to eternity. She'd been drawn in,
and now the panther was filling her head, overwhelming her senses. She was the panther. Stalking. Caged.
Anguished.
Wanting. Needing.
Needing her.
Gasping, Cate jumped back, the spell broken. She
glanced at her watch—barely a minute had passed. Had she drifted off into her
own daydreams? Or had the panther called to her, reaching out to meet her mind?
Once again, she had to wonder at her far-fetched
imagination today. A mind meld with a panther? Because, yeah, that was so much
more likely than the reality that she’d simply drifted off because she was overtired
and sleeping so poorly.
That was it, of course. A reasonable, rational
explanation. And Cate clung tightly to it.
But at the same time, she couldn't shake the
overwhelming sense of foreboding. The sense that she was being stalked.
That there were demons in the dark, and they knew her
name.
"Do you know?" she whispered to the panther.
"Do you know what's happening?"
And then, drifting on a wind that was surely born of
imagination, Cate heard the whispered reply—I
know, Caitlyn. I know that you are mine....
Kim's 4 Star Review
Luc Agassou is a
cursed man who is looking for the one person to save him from it. The problem finding that one person to save
him is not something easily done. Caitlyn Raine is trying to escape the shadows
and find a beast who is terrorizing her city. When these two meet Caitlyn
doesn’t know that he is the one man who haunts her dreams but can he help her
overcome her past and save them both?
I was gifted this
book in exchange for an honest review.
Caitlyn (Cate) Raine
is finding her way in the new city. She
loves her job and has settled in with her new partner. She has always known that there was something
different about her but not knowing her father played a role in that. Cate is a
woman with strong beliefs, and a bad childhood. She throws herself into her
work and is always trying to help out others.
She isn’t looking for a relationship but in her dreams, he is there, consuming
every want and desire. Too bad she has no clue who he is.
Luc Agassou has
known that he is not like everyone else.
His alpha male side comes out in more ways than he wants. After a self-imposed confinement to tame the
beast within while looking for the one woman who was supposed to be the answers
to his prayers. After several months in
a cage watching every female that walks, he lost hope that he could be saved. That
was until the one woman who visited the zoo regularly finally showed her true
self one day and he knows that she is the one, his mate!
When Luc and Cate
meet it like the world has stopped and the electricity around them builds.
Their connection is unlike anything they’ve seen or felt before. Cate does know
that when she is with Luc, she loses all senses and lets him take her to places
she would never have before and makes her feel things she never imagined. Cate
finds her attraction to Luc overwhelming. After years of being told that she
was a bad girl all her life by her mother, she finds it hard to give into her
desire for him, although that is what she really wants to do. Running from Luc isn’t the answer as he had
no problem finding her thanks to their connections. When he lets her into his life in a way he
has never done before and shares his secret it only make her want to help him
even more.
I’ve been a fan of Julie’s for a
while now. I’m not a person who usually
reads paranormal books but since it was Julie who wrote it, I thought, Why not?
This books was so intense a times that I could feel what I was reading. This is
a rarity for me but somehow Julie was able to get me to feel the connection
with just her words. I’m glad that I did give the genre a try or it could be
Julie is such an amazing writer that no matter what type of books she writes
she knows how to pull her readers in and give them a story that hooks them the
moment they open the book. Julie made me feel things that no other author
has.
About the Author
J. Kenner (aka Julie Kenner) is the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal and #1 International bestselling author of over seventy novels, novellas and short stories in a variety of genres.
Though known primarily for her award-winning and international bestselling erotic romances (including the Stark and Most Wanted series) that have reached as high as #2 on the New York Times bestseller list, JK has been writing full time for over a decade in a variety of genres including paranormal and contemporary romance, “chicklit” suspense, urban fantasy, and paranormal mommy lit.
JK has been praised by Publishers Weekly as an author with a “flair for dialogue and eccentric characterizations” and by RT Bookclub for having “cornered the market on sinfully attractive, dominant antiheroes and the women who swoon for them.” A five time finalist for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award, JK took home the first RITA trophy awarded in the category of erotic romance in 2014 for her novel, Claim Me (book 2 of her Stark Trilogy). Her Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series (as Julie Kenner) is currently in development with AwesomenessTV/Awestruck.
Her books have sold over three million copies and are published in over twenty languages.
In her previous career as an attorney, JK worked as a clerk on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and practiced primarily civil, entertainment and First Amendment litigation in Los Angeles and Irvine, California, as well as in Austin, Texas. She currently lives in Central Texas, with her husband, two daughters, and two rather spastic cats.
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