Fly By Night by KC Kendricks (Sundown saga #5)


KC Kendricks has created a unique being in Sundown as he is not your typical shapeshifter. Sundown’s back-story and origins are fascinating as is the relationship between Sundown and Fallon. Combine their super hot sex scenes with true love and caring, then add in some comical relief with Fallon’s police detective partner, Juny and you have an exceptional plot. - Delightful Divas by Lasha Lieutenant 

Fallon Roxbury has a few secrets. His lover Sundown is a shapeshifter, and his entire Clan is under Fallon’s protection. He can usually handle the job but the universe has conspired to align a few unusual events. A body was found at the old rail yard where the shapeshifters once had a village, the clan’s nestlings are about to mature, and his lover and his police partner are suddenly behaving like best friends. 

When the clan elders confirm the identity of the murderer, Fallon has more trouble. The suspect is one of the city commissioners and the evidence points to him killing more than once. It’s up to Fallon to find legally admissible evidence to connect his cold case to the more recent murder. He’ll need some specialized help for that, the kind only Sundown can provide. 

Bit by bit Fallon gathers evidence, not only about the murders, but about the secrets Sundown has kept. It’s a sobering reminder that looks can be deceiving, and the shapeshifter he shares his life with isn’t human.  


INTRO

Juny dropped us out at my place with the admonishment to be ready on time in the morning. We promised we would, then made a beeline for our bedroom. I stripped in record time, tossing my clothes in whatever direction seemed handy. 

“Okay. It’s almost one o’clock. We have to be up no later than six o’clock.”

“Then we need to hurry.” Sundown’s jeans hit the floor and he kicked them aside. He pushed the covers down and with a twist of his lithe body landed on his back.

I threw a sock at him. “Where’s the woody, shapeshifter? You’re not giving me anything to work with.”

His hands covered his genitals. “It’s dark in here. You don’t know what I’m hiding from you.” 

I straddled his thighs. “Sure I do. I’ve licked it, sucked it, stroked it and sat on it. I know, babe.”

He snickered as he reached for me. “I can say the same thing about yours. Tell me what you want, Fallon.”

I went down into his arms and they closed around me and held me. “This is good. Just to be able to rest for a moment.”

“You’re going to sleep?”

I nibbled the soft skin of his neck. “Nope. Kiss me.”

He turned his head and our lips met in a soulful kiss that said everything there was to say between us. He sighed into my mouth and I teased his lips with the tip of my tongue. The kiss deepened, meant to arouse now. I didn’t need any encouragement. I was hard and aching. He thrust up against me letting me feel how he wanted me. The human way he wanted me. 


EXCERPT

In the vision, I stood in the rail yard. The roundhouse was off to my left. Damn, it was an impressive structure. The old photos didn’t give a person a clue of its true size. A young Butch Esler was getting out of a light blue nineteen sixty-nine Mercury Cougar to greet a man in work dungarees. They argued about money. Esler wanted to harvest the product. I heard the name of the other man - Gordo. 

Gordon Myers. So Harwood was correct. Harvest what? 

Marijuana, of course. They were growing it on railroad property. Gordon said someone had snuck in and destroyed their plants. Esler didn’t believe him and claimed Myers had sold the plants. They scuffled. Esler shoved him against the car. The man fell. Esler grabbed a shovel leaning on a shed wall and struck him on the head.

Something else viewed the scene with me.

I jerked and pulled away. “That’s enough, babe. That’s all I need for now.” I downed a healthy swallow of my drink and set it aside. 

“I’m sorry to distress you.”

His heat was reassuring as his arms came around me and I held him close. “You haven’t. You’ve helped Juny and me more than you can imagine. I need to process all that.”

“Do you not have questions?”

I stared at him. It was polite for him to ask because he knew, through our telepathic connection, I did. “Was Klun himself first, or someone else? Someone older?”

“He has always been Klun.”

So Klun had taken in the other Chal. Sundown had once told me only the catalyst could blend beyond the skin of another. Had he lied to protect me, or his species? My stomach clenched. Something was really off with what I’d seen but I didn’t know what. 

“Remind me to never get him angry.”

“Klun studies you. To him, you’re different from other humans in that he knows he can trust you. This unsettles him.”

The Watcher had trust issues? What the fuck did they think I had? “Does the same to me, babe. Come closer.”

“Fallon, we are skin-to-skin now.”

“Exactly. So how, if only the catalyst can join with another, did Klun absorb the others?”

He sucked in a sharp breath and pulled away from me as a mental wall rose between us. “Forgive me, beloved. I don’t think it is wise to divulge this to you.”

“They have to pass through a catalyst, don’t they?” It was my best guess but I knew immediately it was wrong. “Then how? Tell me, Czun Dun Nhunfi. I require this knowledge to understand what was shown to me.”

“Please, Fallon. Let this go.”

I shivered as more of what I’d gleaned from him made sense. “I can’t. You told me once about the race that enslaved the Chal and found this world. They brought you here and made your people work for them stripping this planet’s resources. You called them the Others.”

“I beg you to leave this alone, beloved. Please do this for me.”

Fear radiated off him. Only once had I known him to be scared - when the nestling Ozli was threatened. I loved him, but I couldn’t drop the subject.

“I need to know. Tell me. You said there are only Chal and catalysts. Are the Watchers really those you call Others?”

“No! Do not say this! Do not even think it! The Elders will panic and move us from this place if they discover you believe this!”

I grabbed his arm. “How? Why? Why would the Chal risk allowing any of the Others live?”

“To know if they ever return!” He yanked out of my grasp. “You have no idea what you risk.”

“Then you’d better fucking tell me!”

I hadn’t meant to shout at him, but I was well and truly scared. Every time I turned around I got in deeper. I’d never be free again, not until I died. I knew too much about the aliens who made themselves look like us to live and work among us. 

Sundown shook his head. “We are ashamed of what we did. You know this and yet you continue.”
His words made no sense at all. What had they done? Yes, they broke free of their captors and went on a killing spree, but after being enslaved and mistreated, I didn’t blame them. 
Oh, God. I stared at him as a flash of insight hit me.

“The Others are other Chal, aren’t they?”
 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Fly By Night
Book 5 - the conclusion of the Sundown saga
is available at:



 
Universal link to additional booksellers: https://books2read.com/u/m0JZJb
_ _ _ _ _ _ 
The Sundown Saga:
Book 1 - The Back Stairs
Book 3 - River Walk
Book 4 - Moon Dances
Book 5 - Fly By Night

This series is best enjoyed when read in order. 

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 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 
Visit my bookshelf at: 

Social media links:
Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys

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