URIEL: The Price (The Airel Saga, Book 6) (Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (22 page)

He turned off the water, thinking,
It’s time for the terrorists of the world to live in fear instead of us fearing them
. After he shaved, he grabbed a pair of shorts from the dresser in his bedroom and slipped them on. Much better. Nothing like a comfortable pair of shorts.

In the kitchen, he pulled a dinner from the freezer and zapped it in the microwave. He turned the package over and saw that this dinner offered a tasty slab of chicken with mashed potatoes and a brownie to boot.

He chuckled. K certainly wouldn’t approve. A microwave dinner and a soda? He could hear her exclaim, “Not healthy!” and see his wife’s playful frown.

The smell of fake chicken filled the kitchen. He was too tired to cook tonight. Plus, he hadn’t had a chance to restock his refrigerator. He sat down on the leather couch and began to eat.

Not bad, for a TV dinner. Not like K’s cooking, though. Not much like anybody’s cooking.

Now that he was on the subject, he couldn’t help but think about K and his daughter, Samantha. It had been three years since…he shook his head, trying to shove the thought from his brain.
Wow
.
Three
years
.
Time
flies
.

Finished, he got up and threw the empty container in the trash, feeling a little celebratory. He was done with the mission and that meant only one thing.

Vacation—after a good night’s sleep.

He turned off the lights and his alarm clock and crawled into his king-size bed. He was going to sleep in, which would be a nice change from the multiple all-nighters he’d pulled in the last year. He closed his eyes and drew the covers around his chin. No matter how hot it was outside, he had to be under the covers.

Once he had breathed in deep and let it all out in a long sigh, he relaxed his legs and arms. His eyes became heavy. Thoughts of his family consumed his mind until he fell asleep, which usually took a couple hours, but tonight he had a feeling he would fall asleep right away. He wished he could see K and her sparkling hazel eyes and the smile she reserved for him and him alone.

Then there was little Samantha, with her cute pigtails bobbing as she ran down the steps to meet him. The workday tensions melted when he felt her tiny arms hugging his neck. She always smelled like soap and lavender, no matter how dirty she was or how long she’d gone between baths. It seemed like just yesterday he was home holding K and Samantha in his arms. He hated to go to bed alone, again. So alone.

Three years earlier…

Read the rest of Sweet Dreams, available now.

Also by Aaron Patterson

Sweet Dreams (Book 1)

Dream On (Book 2)

In Your Dreams (Book 3)

Breaking Steele

Twisting Steele

Melting Steele

Airel (Book 1)

Airel (Book 2)

Michael (Book 3)

Michael (Book 4)

Uriel (Book 5)

Uriel (Book 6)

19 (Digital Short)

The Craigslist Killer (Digital Short)

Zombie High (Digital Short)

Elena’s Secret: A Vampire Diaries story

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Aaron Patterson

Aaron Patterson is the father of three kids: Soleil, Kale, and Klayton. He is the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author of The Mark Appleton thriller series, The Airel Saga, and The Sarah Steele thriller series. He worked in the construction field for 11 years and is now a full time writer. He was home schooled and has a bachelor’s degree in theology. He loves to hike, snowboard, camp, and drink coconut lattes. He is also the founder of StoneHouse Ink and co-founder of StoneHouse University. He speaks all over the country on the subjects of eBooks, writing, and the changing publishing world.

Connect with Aaron at his blog:
http://theworstbookever.blogspot.com

Friend him on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/aaronpatterson

And follow him on Twitter:
@mstersmith

Sign up for Aaron’s newsletter for updates on his new books, and way cool deals including free eBooks. You will not get bugged with a ton of emails, you’ll get a message only when he has something awesome to announce or give away. Sign up here: http://eepurl.com/tQWHb

Chris White

You know what they say—that behind every great man is an unstoppable rebel force—and it’s true. Like Moriarty was to Holmes, C.P. White is the reversed polarity doppelganger behind it all. He blogs about weirdness on the C.P. White Media Blog and spins dark tales, psychological thrillers that you’ll want to read with the lights on. He works in the front office writing romantic YA paranormal fiction with Aaron Patterson, collaborates with illustrator Joey Zavaleta on the Great Jammy Adventure children’s books, and even plays sometime editor to his award-winning author friends. Both personalities will fight to the death for a bowl of high quality mac-n-cheese. C.P. doesn’t mind living with spiders, but only because his house is old and they were there first. He prefers riding bikes and playing nice, he dislikes boring people on general principle, and is apt to launch bottle rockets through open windows. Both agree that their least favorite thing is dog exhaust on the bottom of their shoe. You can learn more about author Chris White, as well as author C.P. White, at
http://www.cpwhitemedia.com
.

All rights reserved as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher.

StoneHouse Ink 2014

StoneHouse Ink

Boise, ID 83713

http://www.stonehouseink.net

First eBook Edition: 2013

First Paperback Edition 2013

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to a real person, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Uriel: a novel/by Aaron Patterson & Chris White

Cover design by © Claudia McKinney -
phatpuppyart.com

Published in the United States of America