The Griffin's Secret. Cate Masters

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      Cover Copy

      In this contemporary re-telling of Grimm’s classic fairy tale The Griffin, two people must risk everything to free themselves from the invisible prisons that keep them from love…

      Jackson Grant had it all—the girl he loved, his Harley, and his guitar. Until a tragic accident stole it all away. Now, more than scars and a tattoo remain. Jackson has a secret. Cursed by his dead girlfriend’s mother, he can never fall in love again or his beloved will die. With his heart on lockdown, he keeps to himself—until a roadie gig with Malcontent, the world’s most popular band, entwines his fate with sweet, wounded Layla’s…

      Music is what Layla lives for. She has no choice. She’s bound by magic to serve Malcontent, cursed to propel them to stardom with her musical powers. Then Jackson appears and gives her hope that he’s the hero who will save her. A reluctant hero, yet one she can’t resist. But freedom will come at a price—and who will pay…?

      Books by Cate Masters

      Rock Bottom

      Twice In A Blue Moon

      Griffin’s Secret

      The Goddess Connection Series

      Goddess, Awakened, Book One

      Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation

      Griffin’s Secret

      Cate Masters

      LYRICAL PRESS

      Kensington Publishing Corp.

      www.kensingtonbooks.com

      Copyright

      Lyrical Press books are published by

      Kensington Publishing Corp. 119 West 40th Street New York, NY 10018

      Copyright © 2014 by Cate Masters

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

      All Kensington titles, imprints, and distributed lines are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotion, premiums, fund- raising, and educational or institutional use.

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      Kensington Publishing Corp.

      119 West 40th Street

      New York, NY 10018

      Attn. Special Sales Department. Phone: [phone].

      Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

      Lyrical Press and the L logo are trademarks of Kensington Publishing Corp.

      First Electronic Edition: May 2015

      eISBN-13: 978-1-61650-705-3

      eISBN-10: 1-61650-705-5

      Printed in the United States of America

      Dedication

      For Gary, always

      Chapter 1

      The inky midnight sky met the black strip of road somewhere ahead of Jackson Grant’s motorcycle like the mouth of hell waiting to gobble him up. He gunned the Harley and gritted his teeth. “I’m all yours.”

      The scent of salty ocean spurred him toward the Atlantic shoreline. The speedometer needle twitched in its climb past ninety. He hunkered low against the bike—the only thing he loved that he could still hold. But sometimes surviving wasn’t necessarily the best option, or even a good one. Because sometimes, when fate or the universe or a sadistic ruling entity tried to steal everything a guy loved, he just had to throw his hands in the air and say fuck it all.

      Jackson did. For one crazy instant, he was free. No more worry or sorrow. Nothing but right there, right then. With an uncommonly warm May air buffeting his face, he soared through the night. He’d almost forgotten how amazing happiness could be. He threw back his head and actually laughed.

      “How dare you.” The familiar female voice boomed through the darkness and into his head.

      Killjoy. He squeezed the handlebars and revved the engine faster. “Good-bye and good riddance.”

      A sneering chuckle echoed, and lightning flashed, igniting the surface of the ocean. Each eruption of her malevolent mirth crackled through the deep sky, brilliant white neon veins crawling across midnight velvet. Her amusement grew into full-blown laughter, and the smooth dome overhead began to roil, dark clouds billowing like wild black horses at full gallop. Still, she laughed.

      Sonofabitch. Could she never leave him alone? No matter how often he moved from one obscure town to another, she traced him.

      “What’s so funny?” he yelled at the night.

      Her raucous humor grew louder. So did the thunder.

      To hell with this and to hell with her. “I said, what’s so funny, bitch?” A twist of his wrist nudged his speed higher, motorcycle engine screaming.

      Out of nowhere, headlights blazed in his eyes, dazzling him to blindness. With mere seconds before he smashed against its grill, his precious Harley a permanent hood ornament, Jackson jerked the handlebars away from the oncoming vehicle’s path. Its horn blasted through his ears and vibrated through his skull. Darkness engulfed him as he plunged out of the intense spotlight. Still half-blind, he swerved to where he thought the road was. The front tire bumped and swiveled across gravel. The back tire slid from behind, coming around low to the front.

      A screech split the night, brakes resisting the driver’s attempt to stop.

      “No.” A thick, cold lump hardened in his stomach, and every muscled turned to steel as he braced for impact.

      The truck veered sideways, a wall of white sliding right in front of him in slow motion.

      Christ, she wouldn’t. Would she? Jackson barely had time to beg, “Don’t do this.” He pitched forward and held tight. The Harley’s rear wheel spun beneath the truck bed.

      “Don’t you want to die?” Her laugh became louder and meaner.

      “No. Not yet.” He released the handlebars, rolled off, and hit the ground seconds before the sickening crunch. Metal twisted with a groan, almost like an animal dying. Not again. Please.

      Too late. As if to fend off its attacker, the Harley reared up and over. The truck slammed atop the bike, the visual of the crushing weight knocking the breath from Jackson as he scrambled backward, out of range. Springs creaked as the larger vehicle bounced along the motorcycle before the truck’s tires caught blacktop again and sped away.

      “Wait, you can’t leave me here alone!” The night swallowed Jackson’s yell.

      “Why should you have anything you love when you destroyed what I love?”

      Wanting to tear her apart, he gulped back his fury. “I didn’t.” He thought he had no tears left to shed, but his cheeks were wet.

      “You will live as long as I live. Suffer the same agony.” Her cackling swelled like a storm cloud.

      Like he hadn’t paid enough? “I can’t go on like this.” He couldn’t take much more. At twenty-seven, he was bone weary of this world, but not quite ready to join the Twenty-Seven Club. Not before leaving his own mark on the music world. “Stop laughing!”

      “I always laugh at fools. And you’re the biggest