Lie Down with Dogs Read online

  No dice. I still didn’t believe them. Not entirely.

  “It is.” He lent his surety to mine.

  “I don’t trust him.” I didn’t need to say who. “He’s up to something.”

  “He’s the Black Dog.”

  “Yes.” I exhaled. “He is.”

  “I won’t let him out of my sight in Faerie long enough for him to mark a tree,” Shaw promised.

  “You’re going?” I stepped toward him. “Is that allowed?”

  He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “I explained our situation to them.”

  “Oh.” Tingles spread through my cheeks.

  “Bare bones,” he assured me.

  The skeletons in both our closets were dancing a jig now. “You told them I was your compeer?”

  Pale skin rushed up his throat and into his cheeks. White haunted the rims of his eyes. “No.” His voice went hoarse. “I would never do that to you. That is your decision. I wouldn’t make it for you.”

  Right there, that was the difference between Rook and Shaw. Rook got what he wanted through the manipulation of circumstance. Helping me achieve my goals—like staying alive—had benefited his endgame.

  Don’t get me wrong. Shaw had manipulated me too, and that stung. It still pissed me off that, in the grand and boneheaded tradition of men who thought they knew best for their women, he had made a bad situation much worse by lying. He made a life-altering decision for me, just like Rook. But Shaw had almost died to save me from the exact same cage Rook had rushed me into and then barred the door closed behind me.

  I knew then I didn’t need a couch or ginger beer or a perfect afternoon of contemplation to make the call. Life was not perfect. Making my decision based on an ideal that wasn’t realistic was foolish.

  I rolled onto my toes and brushed my lips against Shaw’s.

  White swallowed his irises and his body jerked, electrified. “What was that for?”

  “You’re a smart guy.” I tilted my head back. “Figure it out.”

  The fingers of his left hand tangled in my hair. “You decided.”

  My smile broadened. “I did.”

  He searched my face. “To be with me.”

  Caught by him, I cut my gaze from left to right. “I don’t see anyone else here.”

  His right hand cradled my cheek, and he lowered his forehead to mine. “This won’t be easy.”

  I turned my face into his palm and nipped it. “Nothing worth having ever is.”

  Thierry’s story concludes in the novel Old Dog, New Tricks.

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  Author’s Note

  Dear Readers,

  When I wrote Heir of the Dog as the first book in the Black Dog Trilogy, I planned Thierry's journey to span those three novels and no more. But then I attended the RT Booklovers Convention, and all that changed. Heir won the American Idol Contest, and that brought two agents with fresh ideas into the mix. The next thing I knew, the trilogy had expanded to include one more title – Dog with a Bone.

  Dog with a Bone is a prequel to the series in the sense that the novella cuts a hole into the ceiling of Thierry's past and gives us a glimpse of those first steps that set the events of the trilogy into motion one year later.

  With that in mind, I hope you have fun meeting Thierry as a bright-eyed cadet in Dog with a Bone and enjoy watching her mature through Heir of the Dog, Lie Down with Dogs and Old Dog, New Tricks into a woman who knows when laws should be upheld and when they are meant to be broken.

  Best,

  Hailey Edwards

  About the Author

  A cupcake enthusiast and funky sock lover possessed of an overactive imagination, Hailey lives in Alabama with her handcuff-carrying hubby, her fluty-tooting daughter and their herd of dachshunds.

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  She loves to hear from readers. Drop her a line here.

  Hailey’s Backlist

  Araneae Nation

  A Heart of Ice #.5

  A Hint of Frost #1

  A Feast of Souls #2

  A Cast of Shadows #2.5

  A Time of Dying #3

  A Kiss of Venom #3.5

  A Breath of Winter #4

  A Veil of Secrets #5

  Daughters of Askara

  Everlong #1

  Evermine #2

  Eversworn #3

  Black Dog

  Dog with a Bone #1

  Heir of the Dog #2

  Wicked Kin

  Soul Weaver #1

  Copyright Information

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the publisher or author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in the critical articles or reviews and pages where permission is specifically granted by the publisher or author.

  Lie Down with Dogs

  © 2015 by Hailey Edwards

  All rights reserved.

  Edited by Sasha Knight

  Cover by Damonza

  Interior format by The Killion Group