Spotlight & Giveaway: LEOPARD’S HUNT by Christine Feehan

Today, HJ is pleased to share with you Christine Feehan’s new release: LEOPARD’S HUNT

In this pulse-pounding novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Leopard series, animal instinct unites two elite shifters whose heads are at war with their hearts.

Gorya Amurov might be known as his family’s peacekeeper, but the leopard inside him wants nothing more than to claw to the surface and unleash hell. A harsh life has shaped him into a vicious fighter with a calm exterior, but Gorya knows it’s only a matter of time until he loses all control. Deep down, he truly believes he’d be better off dead, and that no woman will ever accept him as a mate….

Maya Averina has spent years hunting the criminals who destroyed her life, and she always takes down her prey. She keeps to herself, stays under the radar, and never loses focus. But with her body burning up and her mind distracted by her first heat, an ambush takes her by surprise. Now she’s trapped, an unmated female shifter about to be sold off to the highest bidder. Maya is ready to fight her way out—until the most dangerous, powerful man she’s ever encountered arrives to set her free….

Enjoy an exclusive excerpt from LEOPARD’S HUNT 

“We’re conducting an experiment to see if you can stand me being this close to you.”
His voice was that same low, matter-of-fact, mesmerizing tone that brushed over her skin like velvet. This close to him, she could see that his eyelashes were long and

dark, like the soft bristles of his mustache and trimmed beard. His jaw was strong. From a distance he might look young—because technically he was—but this close she could see lines carved into his face that aged him.
The knots in her stomach unraveled a little, but the heat didn’t lessen in the least. “I had no idea you were so dramatic. I think we both know I don’t mind you being close to me, Gorya.” It was all she could do to keep her hands from trembling—and not because she feared he might hurt her.
The look in his eyes intensified. His fingers stroked along her inner thighs and then, when she gasped and in- voluntarily jerked her legs, his palms settled around the tops of her thighs.
“The question is, how close? We will be sleeping in the same bed.” This time the fingers of his hand brushed along the top of her right hand around her fist and stroked her tense muscles where she clutched her knife. “I know you have the harebrained idea you’ll be taking the guest bedroom, but that isn’t going to work for either of us. Mainly me. I want you right next to me.” His voice dropped another octave. “Close.”
Her stomach dropped right out of her body. Her lungs quit working. Every instinct told her to raise the knife, but her brain had stopped functioning. She could only stare at him in shock. He didn’t move back; he just continued to stroke her thigh as if he didn’t notice she was frozen—or that blue flames were flickering like magic inside her. She wasn’t certain she liked the sensations he was creating in her, but a part of her was glad she couldn’t move so the feelings had no chance to end before she could decide.
“I think, going forward, Maya, you’ll see being close to me isn’t so bad. I like that you don’t want others close to you. I’ve never liked them near me or touching me. It feels different with you. Does my touch feel different?”

His fingers moved to her face. Gentle. Barely there. A stroke along her cheek. Tucking hair behind her ear. Tracing her ear before bringing the pad of his thumb to her lower lip. She swore her heart skipped a beat.
“You have to remember to breathe.”
“I’ve forgotten how,” she managed to blurt out.
His lips curved into a slow smile that took time to find its way to his eyes. When the light finally hit the frosty gray, it turned his eyes that bluish color that made her melt inside. “We’re just getting started, my little hellcat. This is step one in a long list of steps.”
She shook her head, not taking her gaze from his smile. She would have tolerated a lot to see him smile. “I think step one is as far as we should go. I might pass out from lack of oxygen.” She tried to interject humor into her voice, but she didn’t think she’d pulled it off.
Was this what it felt like to want a man? She hadn’t thought it was possible for her to feel desire. She tried to touch Wraith. Was she rising again? Feeling her heat? No, Wraith was sleeping soundly. Maya couldn’t blame her leopard for the edgy, unfamiliar, turbulent sensations Gorya was producing in her with just a few brushes of his fingers on her skin, his voice and the dark passion in his eyes.
“I’m quite capable of giving you mouth-to-mouth.” This time his smile was so seductive it bordered on sin.
Her heart ceased beating and then began to pound. He shouldn’t be so appealing to her, not when she knew what he was. Not when he couldn’t deceive or hide from her. She knew that beneath that easygoing facade was a deadly killer, and that only excited her more. He matched her in every way. She could never live with anyone she couldn’t show herself to.
What was she thinking? Living with him? She looked at his hands. He didn’t have them covered with gloves. He wasn’t trying to hide the fact that he was Amurov, shifter

or bratva from her. The tattoo that started just below his knuckles took all four fingers to create the Amur leopard. Most, when they saw it, thought it represented the bratva, specifically the Amurovs’ territories. They were feared throughout the world. Few realized that the tattoo was an identity for the family, and they were the ones to be feared.
“I’m quite capable of biting.”
His white teeth flashed at her. Pressure coiled hot and tight in her stomach. Was she actually flirting with him? Encouraging him? She couldn’t want this to go any further. His fingers were still moving over her face. Just little strokes on her skin. Tracing her cheekbones. Stopping for a moment while she caught her breath. Brushing over her lips just for a tiny second so that she felt sparks. Anticipation.

Excerpted from Leopard’s Hunt by Christine Feehan Copyright © 2024 by Christine Feehan. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
 
 

Giveaway: 1 finished copy of LEOPARD’S HUNT (18+, U.S. only)

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Meet the Author:

Christine Feehan is the New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the Carpathian series, the GhostWalker series, the Leopard series, the Shadow Riders series, the Torpedo Ink series, and standalone romantic suspense novels.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/726126/leopards-hunt-by-christine-feehan/