Perfect Reflection Read online

  Perfect Reflection By Jana Leigh and Bryce Evans

  Perfect Reflection

  Shifter Justice

  Book One

  Authors: Jana Leigh and Bryce Evans

  Editor: Caroline Kirby

  Artwork by JK Publishing, INC

  Published by JK Publishing, INC

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it or it was not purchased for your use only, then, please return to Smashwords.com, and purchase your own copy.

  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales are entirely coincidental.

  © Copyright April 2013 JK Publishing Inc.

  All cover art and logo © Copyright 2013 by JK Publishing INC

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

  JK Publishing website: www.jkpublishingbooks.com

  JK Publishing bookstore: www.shop.jkpublishingbooks.com

  Dedication

  From Jana Leigh

  To my best friends who always have to listen to me talk about planning the perfect murder. I love you!

  To my mother who forced me to read even when I didn’t want to when I was young.

  To my family who listens to my rant and rave when I have issues thinking and writing. I am so proud of my husband and daughter who are graduating this year, my husband from college, and my daughter from high school. I am way too young to have this happening already.

  To my business partners (editors, shoulders to cry on, and women who kick me in the ass, frequently) there are no words for my appreciation of everything you do daily to make us authors look good! I would love to thank my publishing company, but I own it, and that seems kinda weird.

  To my authors, I am amazed daily with the imaginations you all have.

  Finally, to my fans, thanks for sticking with me, been a long road, but finally have found my groove!!

  Table of Contents

  ~Prologue

  ~Chapter One

  ~Chapter Two

  ~Chapter Three

  ~Chapter Four

  ~Chapter Five

  ~Chapter Six

  ~Chapter Seven

  ~Chapter Eight

  ~Chapter Nine

  ~Chapter Ten

  ~Chapter Eleven

  ~Chapter Twelve

  ~Chapter Thirteen

  ~Chapter Fourteen

  ~Chapter Fifteen

  ~Chapter Sixteen

  ~Chapter Seventeen

  ~Chapter Eighteen

  ~Epilogue

  ~Books by Jana Leigh

  ~Excerpt from Reaching Rissa

  ~Excerpt from Once Forgotten Twice Loved

  ~Excerpt from Meridian Warriors

  Prologue

  These records had to be fucking wrong, there was no way that asshole was supposed to be the Prince of Wolves, as the “Redeemer,” he was supposed to have gotten everything. The wolf paced around the room, stupid Elders think they know everything. His mother, boo hoo, turns up pregnant from a visiting wolf, she cheated on her true mate. How was that even possible? His father had solved that though when she gave birth, and he scented the betrayal on the babies. He killed her, took him, and gave his snotty ass twin away to the cheating bastard. Too bad the bastard had no clue she had two children. It was the ultimate price, although the asshole had no idea he was about to pay the piper for his indiscretion.

  His whole life all he heard was how special he was. His father chose him to keep, to raise and groom him to become “The Redeemer.” Only he could plan this out to perfection, make his DNA donator pay for everything he had done. Ruined his father’s life, ruined his family, hell, ruined his life. Now, now he was going to pay, all of them would. His plan started so long ago it made him laugh; all of his little chess pieces were almost in place. His father taught him the game, and he had the patience to play it through.

  It had started out small, his father taking him hunting when he was barely able to walk. Taught him how to use a blade to kill a deer before he could shift into his wolf, his father said he needed to know how to kill with his hands. Being a wolf was not a tool he would use to extract his revenge, because in his wolf form they could track him, as a human he could mask himself.

  When “The Redeemer” figured out he loved the feel of blood running through his fingers, he learned all he could. Then he was given his purpose; his father gave him the task of helping all those unsuspecting bastards who were being cheated on.

  He could remember when he was five, his father took him and showed him what cheating bitches did. They spread their legs for anyone and laughed behind their mate’s back. His father showed him what must be done, silencing them and making sure they couldn’t destroy another family.

  He could hear him now, “If you are not true mates, your mate will cheat, she will leave you, search for her true mate. They are all whores of the wolf teaching, none of them understand that there is no true mating, because female wolves will never allow themselves to mate to just one wolf, it is not in their nature.” His father was doing a service to mankind by teaching him to kill, they would all thank him and bow to him, he was “The Redeemer,” and soon they would all know.

  ***

  She woke up shivering. What was wrong with her? She felt like she had been hit by a truck and finally opened one of her eyes. When she looked up, the light was too bright so she jerked them closed. Good God, she thought, try again, she knew that she was not in her home. Where the fuck was she?

  She turned her head and opened her hooded eyes. What the hell? It looked like a construction site. Her back and legs were so cold and she was shivering all over. She tried to get up, but her hands were tied to something. When she opened her sluggish eyes further, she was strapped to a steel table where her hands were tied to each end of the table.

  Missy looked down toward her legs and they were strapped to the table, too. Shit, she was naked and strapped to a cold steel table. Missy started to panic. All she could remember was being at the Coastal for drinks. Looking around the room, she tried to find anything that could help get her untied. There were tools everywhere, littering the floor and on the other table but too far for her to reach.

  Plastic was wrapped around the windows. Nothing looked familiar to her. There were papers that looked like plans lying on a table near the door. It appeared to be a new building under construction.

  Missy jerked her head to the right hearing footsteps. She looked at the door when she saw someone walking down the dark hallway. When he got further into the light, Missy couldn’t believe it. What was he doing here and why was she tied to a table?

  “Ah, I see you have finally woken up. It wouldn’t have been any fun if you had slept through it. Do you know who I am?”

  Missy’s eyes narrowed as he came up beside the table, putting his hand on her arm, rubbing up and down. She grimaced as she felt his touch; fuckin’ bastard was going to pay for touching her.

  Missy finally found her voice, “Look, we had some good times, but this is going too far. Let me loose now and I will leave.” His answer was moving his hands further down her chest, finding her breasts, and squeezing them hard.

  “I am going to give you freedom. You have cheated; when you came on to me, I
could see it. Your mate would not be happy to know you are with me right now, would he?” he said and laughed at her discomfort.

  “Hey stop, and let me up. NOW!” she yelled.

  He finally looked down at her and smiled. He walked over to the table and pulled duct tape out of a bag. Then he cut off a piece of the tape and walked back over to Missy. She was watching him closely and when he got closer, she knew he meant to put the tape over her mouth.

  “HELP…” Missy screamed.

  “I am going to help you, show you the error of your ways, so when you meet the devil you can fully accept what you have done wrong. And give him a message for me, will ya? I am sending someone special to him soon, he needs to be ready for his gift.” The Redeemer laughed, held up the knife, and looked down at her.

  Chapter One

  Jewel woke up to the phone ringing. “Shit,” she swore and untangled herself from her blankets. She looked over at the clock. It said five thirty a.m. Who would call her this early in the morning? This couldn’t be good. Jewel reached over and switched on the lamp beside her bed. Narrowing her eyes, she went to grab her phone, but it dropped to the floor.

  “Dammit.” Jewel leaned over the bed looking for that blasted phone. She found it, flipped it over, pushing it on. “Campbell!” she barked into the phone.

  Jewel listened to her partner, Vander Collins, telling her that there was another murder. She rolled herself off the bed, sitting on the side, pulling out her notepad, and writing down the location of the crime. The whole time beginning to wonder if there was something more to this whole case than what she thought.

  “I’ll be there in an hour. Got it.” Jewel got up, stretching as she walked to the bathroom. She slept in the nude so she didn’t have to waste any time in taking her clothes off before she stepped into the shower. Also, it didn’t hurt not having on clothes when she shifted.

  Jewel Campbell was a shifter, a wolf shifter to be exact. She loved being in the nude, except in front of others. There was a line she would draw, she thought and laughed. Shit, this was already starting out to be a fan-fuckin-tastic day.

  Jewel was a natural beauty. Her hair was dark-brown with blond highlights in it, long, down past her shoulders, but she wore it up most of the time at work. She had dark-green eyes. It was like looking at green moss hanging from a tree. Jewel was always being hit-on because of her looks. She had long legs that should have belonged to a supermodel. Plus she was buff, being a shifter and working out in the gym in her basement, she had sculpted muscles most men would be jealous of.

  She married her high school sweetheart, Josh Campbell. They weren’t true mates, but they loved each other so much they decided that they were soul mates, then a drunk driver killed Josh two years ago. The pain was still fresh and right on the surface when she worked. She had lost so much, her parents, her best friend and mate, it sucked.

  Josh had been a shifter, too, as well as her best friend and confidant; sometimes she wondered why wolves searched so hard for their true mate. It was crazy, finding the one who was destined for you would seem to be a perfect thing; however, being a cop she had seen some of what a true mate could do to you. Women who refused to leave their abusive true mate until they killed them because that was the way it was supposed to be. Well not her, she picked her mate, Josh had been everything she wanted in a mate. He listened to her, took care of the things she forgot, and knew all of her little idiosyncrasies. Besides, she had felt a pull toward him, at first convincing herself he was her true mate. However, when he died, she knew he wasn’t and kept the secret to herself. According to their ancestors, when you lost a true mate, it was devastating and debilitating, to the point where some wolves would waste away. Most of her pack realized when she didn’t react a certain way that Josh wasn’t her true mate, although they never said anything to her.

  Josh would have healed if they could have gotten to him in time and stopped the bleeding. Jewel refused to date anyone since Josh died. Not wanting to go through that pain again, she shut herself off. Dating was a huge no no, but sex, well that was another story, although lately that had dried up, too. Jewel was thinking about investing in another Big Boy to help her out. Hers had just about outlived its purpose, and replacing batteries so fast was a pain in the ass.

  Josh would tell Jewel to take more time off so they could go to her farm, approximately twenty minutes outside of Atlanta, to run as her wolf, it relaxed her. She felt like the farm was her true home and hoped that when she retired, she would move to the farm and leave the city life behind her. Jewel loved the silence and the ability to run through the woods without anyone coming across her. Jewel’s wolf always let her know when she was itching to get out. She never missed a weekend in honor of Josh, which cut down on her sex life. Since the murders happened, Jewel hadn’t been to the farm in a month. Most of her time was taken investigating the murders. Her wolf was getting impatient. Jewel really was going to have to make some time, even if it was just an hour or two. Not shifting for long periods could be dangerous. Jewel often had to take down shifters who refused to accept their other half; they turned bat shit crazy and required someone to kill them. It sucked but was a fact of life. And Jewel had enough problems—going bat shit crazy wasn’t an option. Her partner wouldn’t let that happen.

  He was with her through the death of her husband and the subsequent stages of grief. Vander was a true friend and would do anything for her, and her wolf loved him. For ten years, they had been through thick and thin. They joined the force at the same time and went through the academy together; though he was human, Jewel had been drawn to him. It surprised her about as much as him. They found each other on the first day of the Academy, Jewel had a bit of a chip on her shoulder and was a hardcore bitch, they met when she was chewing out another cadet for something or other—she had forgotten what. Vander had stood back and watched, then clapped when she was done, they formed an instant bond.

  Vander knew that Jewel was one hundred percent in love with Josh, he respected that about her. Jewel respected Vander and would do anything for him, but they were very clear with each other on the line between friendship and anything else. He was her best friend, her confidant, and her partner, in some ways he was closer to her than anyone else was. However, he also respected the friendship. Vander once said fucking her would be like incest. Jewel had agreed, and then they had gotten drunk together and laughed about the thought.

  She teased him that he was good looking, but he knew it. Vander had short hair that was dark-brown with brown eyes. He was built pretty well, too, with muscles in the all the right places. He never had a problem finding the women. They flocked to him.

  She would never forget the day Vander discovered she was a shifter. Jewel and Vander were pinned down in a gunfight. A bullet ricocheted off the wall and hit Jewel in the leg. It was just a flesh wound but enough blood to let Vander know that she had been shot. He pulled her pant leg up to try to stop the bleeding and the wound had already healed. Vander was shocked. So she invited Vander to the farm that night and she and Josh told Vander that they were shifters, then Josh showed him. They still laugh about that today and how Vander just about passed out.

  Jewel looked down at the car radio and saw it was six-thirty a.m. on the dot when she pulled into the construction site. Vander was walking up with a cup of coffee in one hand and a can of diet coke in the other, handing her the unopened can. Before she took another step, she popped the top on the can and took a long drink, needing the caffeine.

  “Okay, tell me what you’ve got?” Jewel said after taking in enough of the drink.

  Vander smiled at her then looked out toward the site. “The Superintendent of the site got to work this morning at around four forty-five a.m. He had an early shipment coming in, so he had come in earlier than normal. When he got to the site, he went to his office. It’s that trailer over there.” Vander pointed to a small trailer in front of the construction site. “He waited for his shipment and when they pulled into the site,
he walked over to that door and waited for them to park the truck. The guys driving the truck walked into the site to see where he wanted the steel put. Sams, the Superintendent, noticed a light on in one of the rooms and went in to shut it off. The guys followed him thinking that was where he wanted the steel put. When they entered the room, he found the victim. He immediately got the guys out of there, went outside, and called the police. The Victim is strapped to a table just like the other VIC. It’s the same M.O. as before, too.”

  Jewel looked up at Vander. “Don’t say it.”

  “I think we have a serial killer,” Vander whispered, knowing Jewel could hear him. She glared at him and then lifted her head and sniffed the air, the stench of death was present, but she could scent something else, something that was bothering her, it was the same scent from before.

  Jewel walked into the construction site with Vander. Nobody was allowed to go into the room until Jewel gave her permission. This was her case, her baby. The Captain knew that Jewel was diligent at her job. The FBI called her in sometimes to consult on their homicides. She could tell them things that their Profiler couldn’t. Jewel could see things about the crime, things no one else could.