Synopsis
Tortured beyond
Endurance…
Kelly Wachowski has no memory of her life before she was five. Despite being
one of the ‘found’ children and her uncanny ability to assimilate languages,
she’s managed to live a normal life for twenty years until the day she was
kidnapped. Tortured beyond endurance she prayed for death while she dreamed of
a boy long forgotten—Noah.
A Hero with a Secret…
Samson Noah Kukailimoku is another ‘found’ child. His existence was kept secret
by the Polynesian family who adopted him. Now he’s a highly decorated naval
officer, and part of an elite unit whose mission is to rescue children like
Kelly. The closer he gets to finding her the more he connects to her and shares
the pain of her torture and the dreams of their shared past.
A Love That Is More
than a Dream…
After her rescue, Kelly is convinced she’s losing her mind as she experiences
Noah’s life in a waking dream. Knowing she’s in danger, Noah must save Kelly
from herself and those tracking her, moving Heaven and Earth to protect her.
Linked by their past, danger and deception follow them everywhere. Together
they discover a love and passion surpassing all of their dreams, but before
they can have a future together they have to solve the mystery of their past.
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Author
Bio
I
was born in Seattle Washington, but soon moved to a small town North of there,
which is where I grew up. I’m the oldest of five children, so it was a lively
household, and reading became my way to block out the noise. I am an avid
reader. I love every genre, but romance and happily ever afters have always
been my favorite books. I remember in middle school my biology teacher taking a
Rosemary Rogers book away from me; I didn’t understand why—she was certainly
teaching me aspects of biology!
As I grew up, I would
write stories to entertain myself and my younger siblings. I often wrote their
book reports for them. My brothers were only one year apart in age. I wrote a
report for the oldest his senior year, he turned it in and got a B+. The next
year John turned in the same report to the same teacher and got an A-, the year
after that the youngest turned it in to the same teacher and got an A. The
teacher liked it better each time he read it!
I’ve worked in
corporate America for most of my life, where a lot of creative writing takes
place (and if you don’t believe me, you really don’t know corporate America). I
blogged to all my employees when I spent six weeks in India—they considered me
quite the smartass. My corporate life has allowed me to live in Washington,
Texas, Belgium and California.
I have been with the
same man for seventeen years. He was born and raised in Texas, and twelve years
ago I whisked him, kicking and screaming, to Southern California. Luckily he
loves me and wants to be where I am, but he’s still a Texan at heart (although
he doesn’t miss Texas summers). I’m a very lucky woman who enjoys swimming,
traveling, babysitting her nieces and nephews and doing lots of “research” with
her husband for upcoming books.
After being such a
fan of romance all my life, I was reading Sophie Oak’s Bliss and Siren in the
City series last year, and they weren’t coming out fast enough. I started
thinking about a place up in the Northwest, and characters started spinning in
my head. Then came Chance. Once he was there, he demanded to be put down on
paper. I don’t really write the stories. For real, the stories just come out of
my fingers onto the computer screen. Half the time I’m surprised by what ends
up being typed!
Chapter
One
“Tell me where
you came from.”
It always started
this way. First the question, then the excruciating pain as the electric
paddles were held against her temples. The smell of her burning flesh.
Then they would take the rubber bit from her mouth and ask another
question. Another question she couldn’t answer.
“How many of you are
there?”
She prayed to all the
saints her mother taught her that this time she would pass out. It was
the only thing to ever stop the questions. Stop the pain.
“I don’t know!” she
wailed, as the bit was shoved into her mouth. She squeezed her eyes so tight
she saw stars before the shocking red flames took over her very being.
“Where did you come
from? Where are the rest of you now?” They yanked the bit from her
mouth, making her lip bleed.
“Just tell me what
you want me to say…” her voice didn’t sound like her own. For hours or
months, she wasn’t sure how long she begged them to tell her what they wanted
her to answer. The paddles were again placed on her temples. Fire
exploded behind her eyes and her teeth actually tore into the rubber bit.
****
She wasn’t strapped
down. She stretched and it felt wonderful, until the pins and needles
started. Where was she? She wanted to see if they noticed they
forgot to buckle the straps. She tried to look around. She
couldn’t. She was blind. They’d blinded her, the shock therapy had
blinded her. Oh God. She trembled in horror for long moments before
realizing it was her eyelids, they were swollen shut. She tried to touch
them to make sure it was the only thing wrong but pain seared her arm.
Moving slowly to
restore some circulation to her limbs, she realized she was lying on something
soft. Rolling just a little so she wasn’t lying on her arm, she fell on
to a hard cement floor. It hurt, it was cold, but at least she could
move. Trying to stand up, she used the cot as leverage, but her legs
wouldn’t support her.
She crawled and
bumped her head against a wall. Using it as a guide she followed it
around the small room with cement walls, basically a cell. Mostly empty
except for the cot and the toilet, there was a tray with something that felt
and smelled like bread and cheese. She wolfed down some of the food, but
there wasn’t anything to drink. Crawling over to the toilet she flushed
it, then greedily drank handfuls of water.
“Good to see you’re
back with us Kelly.” She hadn’t heard any door open or anything else to
indicate she wasn’t alone.
“Who are you?
What do you want from me?” Cringing at the desperate edge in her voice,
she clamped her lips tight. God, how she wanted to beg for water that
didn’t come from a toilet, for food, or a blanket, or to go home.
“Who are we?
You don’t get to ask the questions, we do. We want to know who all of you
are. We know about you and the four others. You all showed up
twenty years ago. Why did you come here? Where did you come
from?” The woman’s voice was calm and soothing. It was like they
were having a polite conversation, but Kelly knew the horror awaiting her at
the woman’s command.
“I told you, I don’t
remember anything before waking up in Dad’s police car.” Kelly’s voice
was raspy from all the screams, but at least it was even.
“But Kelly, Mike
Wachowski isn’t really your father now is he?” Again the woman’s speech
was calm and soothing. “You appeared out of thin air twenty years ago and
were adopted into his family, isn’t that right?”
It wasn’t a question,
and Kelly didn’t reply, but suddenly realized what was coming next. She’d
forgotten. This wasn’t the first time she’d woken up in this room and
drank from the toilet bowl. Doubted it was even the tenth time. It
had to be the shock treatments. They were messing with her memory.
She didn’t remember when she’d been kidnapped, but it had to have been
well over a month, oh God, could it have
been a year?
She sat there,
turning her head away from the direction of the voice. She waited, and
then heard more people entering the cell, knowing what came next. Holding
up her arms she didn’t have long to wait, they were there, grabbing and
dragging her out.
****
“Noooooo-aaaahhhhh!”
“Shove the bit in
again. I don’t want her biting through her tongue. Hopefully this
new dosage will break down the damn barrier.”
Whatever chemicals
they gave her burned as they made their way into her system. She moaned
around the rubber bit and struggled with the restraints as the paddles were
placed against her temples. Maybe they’d finally kill her and her
suffering would end.
First black, then
white, and then the red of fire and pain. Coursing through her like
molten fire, through every molecule, forcing her to lose control of her bodily
functions.
The colors burst in
front of her, yellows, purples, pinks and blues. Ripping the head off one
wildflower she pushed it against her nose and inhaled the fragrance, and then
threw back her head and laughed. The sun was up and warm against her bare
shoulders. Charging forward, she giggled as the flowers brushed legs, the
soft grass squishy between her toes. She soared over the log in her path,
and then she saw him.
Noah was her best
friend. She knew he wanted to be alone, but he needed her.
Tiptoeing behind him, she jumped up to surprise him as he turned around.
He gave her a dark look but she smiled at him and flung her arms wide, watching
as his face suffused with laughter. He scooped her up and twirled her
around. He was nine and she was five, but their age difference didn’t
matter, they were best friends. Grabbing his silky black hair as he twirled
her, she hugged his neck, and Kali was content. Nothing was better in her
world than loving Noah, he belonged to her.
“Don’t be sad
anymore, Noah.”
“I’m not sad, Kali.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I’m leaving with the
others.” She’d known. But she didn’t want him to leave. “Kalani,
you need to understand, let me show you.” He touched their foreheads
together.
“No, I don’t want to
see.”
“Open up Kali, you
need to see. Let me show you.”
Kali relaxed and let
him share the other universe needing their help. He revealed everything.
So many things didn’t make sense, but the pain and suffering was easy to
comprehend, and more, she could see what it was Noah and the others were
supposed to do. It was simple, they were to be themselves and just help a
little.
He was right, he had
to go, it was important. Kali started to cry. She knew it meant she
would have to leave everything she loved, her Nana, the meadow, and everything
else, because there was no way Noah was leaving without her.
Giveaway
