Today I am so pleased to welcome Hailey Turner to Joyfully Jay. Hailey has come to share an exclusive excerpt from her latest release, A Vigil in the Morning. She has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

 

Excerpt

“You should call Patrick.”

Jono decided the better part of valor right then was to pretend Sage wasn’t glaring at him at half past nine on a Wednesday morning. He grimaced as Victoria finished washing out the knife wound on his side with saline and started to apply the poultice. Her thick black hair was tied back in a ponytail, and her scrubs that morning had kittens playing with yarn balls on them.

“Stop moving,” Victoria told him, never taking her eyes off his ribs.

She was seated on the coffee table, her potions case open and supplies scattered around her. Victoria worked as an RN at Mount Sinai and had a standing contract with Marek to help heal the migraines he got from his visions. It had expanded into caring for multiple pack members when needed, and she didn’t seem to mind the extra work.

Jono rarely needed her services, but silver and aconite poisoning was something every werecreature needed help with. His body couldn’t heal the damage on its own in a timely manner. He’d spent the better part of the night after Leon drove him home getting sick in the toilet. Leon hadn’t left his side, and everyone else had met them at the flat. Which meant there was no escaping Sage’s wrath, but at least Emma and Leon were making breakfast for him.

Jono,” Sage said.

“He doesn’t need to know about this right now,” Jono gritted out as Victoria started taping a bandage over the poultice.

Sage frowned at him, mouth twisting angrily. “You should have let me tell him what was going on when he called last night.”

Jono shook his head sharply. “I don’t want to worry him.”

“The Krossed Knights are hunting you and you think Patrick will be fine being the last to know?”

“He won’t be,” Emma called from the kitchen.

Jono lifted a hand to rub at his eyes, wincing at the pull in his ribs. His skin felt clammy, and his head hurt. Sage’s anger was only making his shit mood worse, mostly because he knew she had a point.

“You know why Patrick was sent to Chicago. It’s not like he can just up and leave from working this case. I want him to keep his head in the game. If Patrick is worrying about me, he won’t be worrying about himself,” Jono said.

“All I’m hearing is an excuse. Patrick hates being lied to. You know that,” Sage argued.

“This isn’t lying. It’s…just not telling him the whole story.”

“Obfuscation doesn’t make this situation better.”

“No, but it’ll keep Patrick focused.”

“A hundred dollars you’re sleeping on the couch for the next few months when he finds out,” Marek said as he came out of the kitchen.

“A hundred dollars he’ll be sleeping on our couch,” Sage retorted.

Victoria straightened up and began putting bottles and jars away. “All right. I’ve done what I can. The purge potions are in the fridge. Take one bottle every six hours for the next two days. That should clear your system of the poison, but you’re going to find shifting difficult until it’s all out of your system. I’d advise against changing forms until you feel completely better in your human body.”

Marek approached Victoria and handed her several hundred dollars in cash from his wallet. “Thanks for coming by this morning. Do you need a ride home?”

Victoria held up her mobile. “I’ll catch an Uber.”

“Charge it to me.”

“Later. I’m going to sleep when I get home.”

Victoria pulled on her puffy coat and waved goodbye before leaving the flat. Jono glanced down at his chest and grimaced at the red and black lines branching away from the bandaged knife wound. At least he was no longer bleeding, but he still felt like shit.

“When Patrick finds out we kept from him the fact you were nearly killed, he’s going to be pissed at all of us,” Sage said in a low voice.


Blurb

The devil you know is never the one you should trust.

Special Agent Patrick Collins is dispatched to Chicago, chasing a lead on the Morrígan’s staff for the joint task force. Needing a cover for his presence in the Windy City, Patrick is ordered to investigate a politician running for mayor. In the lead up to election day, not everything is what it seems in a city where playing to win means appeasing the gods first and the electorate second.

But Chicago brings its own set of problems outside the case: a stand-offish local god pack, a missing immortal, and Patrick’s twin sister. Fighting Hannah and the Dominion Sect provides Patrick with a sinister reminder that some blood ties can never be cut.

Left behind in New York City, Jonothon de Vere finds himself targeted by hunters who will go through anyone to kill him—including the packs under his protection. With a bounty on his head, Jono is forced to make a choice that Patrick would never approve of. Doing so risks breaking the trust he’s built with the man he loves, but not acting will give the rival New York City god pack leverage Jono can’t afford to give up.

When Patrick and Jono reunite in Chicago, Patrick must confront the fraying of a relationship he’s come to rely on for his own sanity. But fixing their personal problems will have to wait—because Niflheim is clawing at the shores of Lake Michigan and the dead are hungry.

A Vigil in the Mourning is a 102k word m/m urban fantasy with a gay romantic subplot and a HFN ending. It is a direct sequel to A Crown of Iron & Silver. Reading the first book in the series would be helpful in enjoying this one.


Bio

Hailey Turner is big city girl who spoils her cats rotten and has a demanding day job that she loves, but not as much as she loves writing. She’s been writing since she was a young child and enjoys reading almost as much as creating a new story.

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Giveaway

Hailey has brought books to give away to along her tour. Follow the Rafflecopter below to enter. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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