While still a child in Redding, California, Shyla Ericson killed her father to end years of abuse. She'd left town shortly thereafter, changed her name, and started a new life, eventually becoming a highly decorated DEA agent.
But some history doesn't stay buried.When Shyla goes undercover to bring down drug kingpin Victor Champlain, the case takes her back to a town that hasn't forgotten her, and to a past she thought she'd left behind.
Then, she meets Brennan Miles, a genetically altered kidnap victim, who has been turned into a weaponized super-human. Victor helped Brennan escape from a hidden genetics research facility known only as The Institute, where he'd been held and experimented on for years. In return for his freedom, Brennan now works for Victor as his bodyguard.
Shyla is drawn to Brennan's strength, and to his humanity. Even after she discovers his secret - he must have human blood to survive. Shyla knows she can't take down Champlain by going through Brennan - he's too strong - and he's loyal to Victor.
Can she face the demons of her upbringing and learn to trust again? Her life, and Brennan's, depends on it.
About the Author:
Michelle Bellon lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and their four children. She loves to travel with her family. She is desperately confused as to why she lives where it rains all the time because she lives for sunny days and blue skies. She drinks coffee until she's manic and loves to dance.
She was raised by her loving mother and cherished grandmother in areas along the west coast. An avid reader at a young age, she read everything she could get her hands on and took ballet for many years.
She married Pablo Bellon in her early twenties and relished her time as a stay-at-home mom for many years before she decided to go to college. She graduated with her nursing degree in 2005. Then when she and her husband decided to have their fourth child she took leave of her medical career to be with the baby. It was during this time that her writing career was born.
It started when she began to have dreams about stories and characters. She knew they would be great books but doubted whether she had what it took to take on the monumental task of writing a novel. Though she loved to read, she'd never considered it possible that she would one day write a book of her own. It seemed too fantastic.
However, those dreams kept haunting her and one day she decided that maybe instead of doubting whether she could or not, she would simply try and see what happened. What could it hurt?
Six months later, she sat back and stared in complete disbelief at the final page of a young adult novel and said, "I think I just wrote a book." What next? So she set to doing the research on what it took to publish a novel. That's when she discovered that writing the book was the easy part. Publishing and marketing that book was another beast altogether. She also discovered that her book was somewhat of a mess. It needed a lot of work!
So she immersed herself in the business. She found a writers critique group. She read everything she could on the craft of writing. She went to conferences and listened to the wisdom of authors and editors. She researched on the internet until her eyes felt like they were bleeding. But most of all, she wrote. And wrote. And wrote. Until she began to feel like she might, just might, have a chance at making a name for herself in this tough industry.
