Awakened in the Midlife: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel (Fanged After Forty Book 7)

AWAKENED IN THE MIDLIFE FANGED AFTER FORTY BOOK EIGHT LIA DAVIS L.A. BORUFF CONTENTS About Awakened in the Midlife 1. Hailey 2. Hailey 3. Hailey 4. Luke 5. Hailey 6. Hailey 7. Hailey 8. Hailey 9. Luke 10. Hailey 11. Luke 12. Hailey 13. Hailey 14. Hailey 15. Hailey 16. Hailey 17. Hailey 18. Luke Witching After Forty Series About L.A. Boruff More Paranormal Women’s Fiction by L.A. Boruff About Lia Davis Other Books by Lia Davis ABOUT AWAKENED IN THE MIDLIFE Fanged After Forty Book 7 Mortals might struggle with work-life balance, but with each passing day, Hailey is on the verge of mastering it. Embracing her newfound responsibilities isn't the easiest thing she's ever done, but the perks of being vampire royalty are worth it. Being the mate of the American vampire king does not... suck. Working with the vampire council to form a task force to pursue rogues is the first order of business. It means adding another branch to the Bond Girl Agency, but in her new position, Hailey's got plenty of time. In fact, her calendar is suddenly so light she's going to have time for a trip to Milan to help clean out the personal effects left behind by the wicked former council members. Nothing could go wrong with that, right? {Insert Evil Vampire Laughter Here} If she and the crew aren't supposed to awaken a long-imprisoned immortal power with a serious taste for revenge, this may not be Hailey's luckiest trip ever. And the idea that her life is getting easier? Forget it. It's all hands on deck for the search to find the vengeful mega-evil and put a stop to her plans to punish the entire world. Hailey has no choice but goes all in for the latest fight of her life. Does this make two... or three? Who knows at this point. 1 HAILEY "How far do we have to walk?" Kendra stepped through the portal and looked around. As the one who controlled our handy dandy portals, she had to be the last one through. The crazy rip in the air disappeared, and Kendra sighed. "Did you crazy vampires hear me? How far do we have to walk?" Ignoring her ‘crazy vampires’ comment, I checked my phone and grimaced. "It looks like a mile." Then I remembered I didn’t need to grimace now that I was a vampire. A mile was a walk in the park. "Pfft." She rolled her eyes and stomped toward the road. "You bloodsuckers won't care about a mile, but me, my thunder thighs, and my jacked-up thyroid aren't too keen on walking a mile." Howard snorted and draped an arm over her shoulders. "I'd be happy to carry you." Kendra gave him the side eye but blushed. "You wish. Let's go." "Hang on," Jax said. "We have to wait for the hunter, Janice. She's meeting us here." He looked down at his phone. "Yep, right here. We sent the coordinates to Pearl." It was just past dark, but I could see as well as if it were mid-afternoon. A perk of being a vampire. One of many, in fact. A woman stomped out of the woods, bent over as she dusted off her knees. She was pretty, in an I-can-kick-your-ass sort of way, and tallish for a woman. If I had to guess, I’d say she was just under six feet, but not by much. Her short, blonde hair brushed her shoulders and framed her face. Her eyes were brown with flecks of gold in them, and she had a little upturned nose. Janice looked like she'd be more comfortable with a long sword in her hand than the cell phone that was currently there. She ran her fingers through her short hair and picked off a twig. "Ugh, damn portal." She wasn't close enough for Kendra or Howard to hear, but the vampires who'd come with us: Jax and me, Grim and Nash, Paige, and the vampire who'd come to tell us Meredith had gone off the rails, Clinton. I didn't know what she meant, but it wasn't important now. "Hello," Jax said warmly and held out his hand. To her credit, she didn't flinch away. So many hunters were nervous around us or on the extreme defensive. Pearl's people had been constantly on edge when they were here. Janice seemed like she'd just been on a stroll through the woods and found a picnic to join. "Nice to meet you. I'm Janice." We made introductions, and when Jax got to me, I smiled brightly. "I'm happy to have you come stay with us. Improving relations with the hunters is so important to us all." It felt like a political line, but it was very true. "I'm eager to do my part." She grinned, and a spider dropped from her ear. I reached over to help. Her eyes tracked my hand, not missing a beat, but she didn't flinch. Good for Janice. "Spider." I held it by its strand of web to show her. "May I ask why you've got twigs and spiders in your hair?" She chuckled and dusted off her legs again, completely missing a big dirt streak on her outer thigh. I reached over and dusted it off as she explained. "Yeah, Agent Walker got me this portaling stone thingy, but it only works for going home. We don't have the magical technology to use an object to portal anywhere in the world." “Which Agent Walker?” I asked. There were several—our friend Drew, then his grandmother Pearl, plus his siblings and parents. Janice grinned. “Pearl. The OG.” Kendra stepped forward with a grin. "May I see your stone? You're speaking my language right now." "Oh, sure." She fished the stone out of her pocket and handed it over. It looked like a piece of crystal she could get at any new-age store. "We have a witch in North Carolina who helps us with outward portals, but she got it wrong this