Book Title: Hunt In The Night (Blood and Bonds series #3)
Author: S. J. Coles
Publisher: Pride Publishing
Release Date: August 6, 2024
Genre: Contemporary Paranormal Mystery/Cop
Tropes: Bi Awakening, Vampire, Men In Uniform, Gay For You
Themes: Coming out, forgiveness
Length: 71 136 words/282 pages
Heat Rating: 4 flames
It is book 3 of 3. It does not end on a cliffhanger.
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Hunting killers is Mason’s job. But falling for a vampire is the scariest thing he’s ever done.
Blurb
Detective Inspector Mason Walker is good at his job. He has never focused on much else in his life. Women come and go. Friends take time he doesn’t have to spare. The job is constant. He works hard and has built a reputation for determination and integrity.
Now his skills are needed more than ever. The level of violence in York has risen, involving both the haemophile and human communities. These are unexplored waters for Mason, with both political and professional implications, and Mason is afraid to lose his way.
But there’s been a murder—a haemophile—and Mason’s facing the question of not only who committed the dreadful crime but how? Nothing seems to be adding up. And being assigned a haemophile partner, Special Officer Cai Bracken, a freelance detective working for the Met Police, only increases his tension.
What’s really unnerving is that Cai is not only making Mason question his professional convictions, but his personal preferences, too…his most personal preferences.
With so much at stake, can Mason really cope with overhauling his police work and his personal life all at once?
“It’s not personal, Mason,” he replied quietly. “My human life? It’s”—he frowned—“It’s fading. I’ve lost a lot of my memories from before I was turned. Eventually, I’ll lose all of it.”
Something cold and dark uncurled in Mason’s chest. “Wow. That really happens?”
“It really happens.”
Mason took a moment to find his voice. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. I just didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten you on purpose.”
Was there something in his tone? Heat crawled into Mason’s face. He stared fixedly ahead for the rest of the drive.
The night porter let them into the impound lot after checking their IDs. He took them over to a white van at the back then left them.
The vehicle was large and new, not a scratch on it. Mason peered through the driver’s window and smiled with satisfaction. The sat nav on the dashboard was brand new. He climbed in and turned the key in the ignition to activate the electrics. Bracken got into the passenger seat as Mason clicked through the sat nav’s settings.
“There,” he said, pointing at a location logged in the GPS list. “This is somewhere he’s been almost as much as his compound in the woods—off the A19 in the middle of the national park, just like we thought. This is the Fort.” His elation dimmed at the look on Bracken’s face. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” he said quietly, opening the door. “I just need some air.”
“What’s wrong?”
But Bracken was already gone. Mason got out and called after him. “Bracken? What is it?”
Bracken was several meters away, standing still and breathing deeply. “There was something in that van. It makes me feel ill being near it.”
“Like what?” Mason said, retrieving the keys.
Bracken didn’t answer. He kept his back turned as Mason opened the back doors. Mason stared at the rows of guns, knives, weapons, rope and other unspeakable things neatly hung on hooks or stowed in boxes.
“Jesus Christ.”
Bracken looked over his shoulder then away. “Yeah…nice guy, this Michael Heron.”
“You sensed weapons?”
“Not the weapons. Blood. Dead haemophile Blood.” His shoulders were tense. “Like I could feel it in Kelly…but a lot more of it.”
“I can’t see anything,” Mason said, flashing his phone torch around the interior of the van.
“It’s been cleaned up. But it still makes me…” He shuddered. “I don’t know. I just have to get away from here.”
“Wait, Bracken.”
But Mason was alone. He muttered under his breath, locked the van and returned to the car. Bracken wasn’t there. He turned around in time to spot a dim figure stepping out of the streetlight into a park.
Mason followed with his phone torch. He found Bracken on a bench next to some play equipment. The shadows were dark around them. He was as motionless as marble. Mason stepped closer.
“Sorry,” Bracken said in a thick voice. “You have no idea…” He stopped, raised his head and smiled a thin smile. “It’s been ten years. But I’m still not used to being…this.”
Silence hung between them for a long time. Then Mason heard himself ask, “What’s it like?”
The shadows on Bracken’s face shifted. “I can’t even explain. Everything’s just very…intense.”
Mason perched on the end of the bench. He could hear Bracken breathing. He remembered his dream and hurriedly pushed the thoughts away before the heat rose in his body again.
“I’ll organize a raid on the Fort.”
“You mean you don’t want to breach it yourself tonight, guns blazing?” Bracken’s tone was amused but still strained.
“I’m aware I may have been hard to work with,” Mason admitted in a soft voice. “It’s like Dr. Kumar said. We’re not used to not-knowing what to do next.”
Bracken looked at him. Mason sensed his gaze even in the dark. “You know what to do,” he said quietly. “You’re a good cop.”
“You hardly know me.”
His smile glinted in the dark. “Humans give a lot away without realizing.”
Mason went cold and hot all at once. “Like what?”
S.J. Coles is a Romance writer originally from Shropshire, UK. She has been writing stories for as long as she has been able to read them. Her biggest passion is exploring narratives through character relationships.
She finds writing LGBT/paranormal romance provides many unique and fulfilling opportunities to explore many (often neglected or under-represented) aspects of human experience, expectation, emotion and sexuality.
Among her biggest influences are LGBT Romance authors K J Charles and Josh Lanyon and Vampire Chronicles author Anne Rice.
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