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  Table of Contents

  Get Tracy’s Free Starter Library

  About Kiss Across Chaos

  Praise for the Kiss Across Time series

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Did you enjoy this book? How to make a big difference!

  About the Author

  Other books by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  Copyright Information

  About Kiss Across Chaos

  She is an honorary daughter, he is an absent son…

  Jesse Hall, unsung hero of the war against terror, is entwined in Veris’, Brody’s and Taylor’s extended, informal family, but has never understood why. She isn’t a vampire and can’t time travel. Yet they seem to like her—everyone except Aran, who is never there.

  Aran is busy with his burgeoning career in Washington and building a life away from the confines of the family. As a time jumper, he will never be “normal”, but he lives his life as humanly as possible while milking time for everything he can.

  Both are content. Sort of. Yet time travel defines their lives and when Jesse’s latest house-sitting assignment sends her to Arlington, time itself ensares them in dangerous complications and they must work together to unsnarl themselves…

  This book is part of the Kiss Across Time paranormal time travel series:

  1.0: Kiss Across Time

  2.0: Kiss Across Swords

  2.5: Time Kissed Moments*

  3.0: Kiss Across Chains

  3.5: Kiss Across Time Box One

  4.0: Kiss Across Deserts

  5.0: Kiss Across Kingdoms

  5.1: Time And Tyra Again*

  6.0: Kiss Across Seas

  6.5: Kiss Across Time Box Two

  7.0: Kiss Across Worlds

  7.1: Time And Remembrance*

  8.0: Kiss Across Tomorrow

  8.1: More Time Kissed Moments*

  9.0: Kiss Across Blades

  10.0: Kiss Across Chaos

  11.0: Kiss Across the Universe

  11.1: Even More Time Kissed Moments*

  12.0: Kiss Across Forever

  The characters and events in this series are interconnected from book to book. Reading the books in order is strongly encouraged.

  [*Short stories and novellas featuring the characters and situations in the Kiss Across Time series].

  A Vampire Time Travel Romance Novel

  Praise for the Kiss Across Time series

  Cooper-Posey's writing is always brilliant.

  There's something fascinating and cerebral about a "Kiss Across Time" story that's more than your usual fantasy-time-travel-story.

  Creative and Amazing!

  I really love how original Tracy manages to be in a genre where everything seems to have been written.

  I loved reading this rich, complex and interesting tapestry of interwoven lives and loves.

  GOLD! More compulsive reading for the Kiss Across Time series!

  Cooper-Posey is a master storyteller, but how she manages to create these elaborate interconnected storylines that flesh out character development is incredible.

  I haven’t read a book in this series that I don’t like.

  Starts out with a bang! Couldn't put it down. It's a whole lot of fun.

  Chapter One

  It was a perfect day, up until Brody opened his mouth. Jesse found it twice as hard to deal with because it was Brody who said it.

  Jesse stood in front of the big picture window of Brody’s, Taylor’s and Veris’ luxury log house in the Canadian Rockies when Brody uttered his simple, awful observation. She was there because Alannah had picked Jesse up from her last housesitting assignment on Long Island three days ago. For two nights, Jesse had slept on the sofa in Alannah’s L.A. apartment. She’d spend tonight there as well. Tomorrow, Alannah would jump her to Arlington, her next housesitting job. Because Jesse had been in Alannah’s apartment when Taylor, Alannah’s mother, phoned about Thanksgiving, Taylor had insisted Jesse come to their house for the day, too.

  Four years ago, Jesse might have made an excuse to get out of it. She’d been fresh out of the Marines and still finding her way and was stupid into the bargain. Since then, she had got to know everyone in the family a damn sight better, so when Taylor invited her to the family dinner table, Jesse didn’t hesitate.

  So Alannah and she tucked a pecan pie and big, fresh organic avocados they’d picked up from the Grand Central Market into a carry bag, then jumped to the house on the side of a mountain where Veris, Brody and Taylor currently lived.

  It had been fifty degrees in Los Angeles when they left. Here, the outdoor thermometer by the big picture window overlooking the mountains and the town of Canmore sprawling along the valley, showed it was minus fifteen. Jesse blinked at that, then remembered to convert to Fahrenheit. Five degrees. It was still damned cold. A foot of snow showed beyond the window, smoothing out the bumps and lumps in the landscape, turning it into a white rolling plain.

  But it was lovely and warm inside. The house being full of people didn’t bother her, either. A fire crackled and popped in the giant stone fireplace at the end of the big front room. The smell of roasting turkey perfumed the air.

  Jesse’s stomach growled.

  “And welcome to you, too,” Taylor said as she got to her feet and came over to hug her. Taylor was one of the Blood, so she had heard the rumble from across the room. So had everyone else in the room, most likely. There was little true privacy when you were in the company of vampires.

  “It’s been a while since I had a turkey dinner,” Jesse admitted.

  “Still eating hand to mouth, then, Jesse?” Rafe asked from the depth of the armchair he was sprawled in.

  “Still my self-appointed life coach, then, Rafe?” she shot back.

  He just grinned. So did everyone else. Brody came over and hugged her, too. Veris didn’t, but he never did, and Jesse didn’t mind. He nodded at her from his perch on the window seat, next to Rafe’s chair. Alex and Sydney—Queen Morrigan, although she was wearing jeans, so she was just Sydney right now—were sitting together on the sofa, with Remi taking up the third cushion. London and Neven were on two dining chairs, pulled up close to the fire. London sipped something that steamed gently and smelled divine.

  The three people on the second sofa—Nial, Sebastian and Winter—were from a different timeline, but they were frequent visitors here. Jesse was still trying to figure out Nial, though. He made the hair on the back of her neck lift far too frequently, and her hand reach for the Glock that no longer lived on her hip. But he never looked at the other two wit
h anything but warm regard, and Winter and Sebastian were deeply attached to him. That had to count for something, Jesse supposed. She lifted her hand and waved at them.

  Winter raised her glass of whatever in acknowledgement. Sebastian winked.

  From the floor above, Jesse heard giggles and chatter, light feet bouncing and moving about. All the younger kids would be up there on the big landing space where the chairs, lounges and bookshelves encouraged reading. They were not reading, though.

  “So who is cooking?” Jesse asked, looking around the big room.

  “Marit is in the kitchen, bathing in the heat from the stove,” Brody said. He grinned, his dark eyes dancing. “It’s summer in Australia. Her blood is thinned.”

  Jesse glanced at Veris. He could hear what Brody said, even from across the room, and even though Brody hadn’t raised his voice, but he didn’t react. He and Marit had found a mutually agreeable position of truce over the last few years, especially as David, the only other polytemporal in the known worlds and the source of Marit and Veris’ long term disagreement, tended to keep his distance.

  “I’d better go and help Marit,” Jesse said.

  “Me, too,” Alannah said.

  “Nah, I got this,” Jesse said hastily, for Alannah was cursed, when it came to cooking. Everything she touched turned to charcoal and crumbled. Jesse was clumsy in the kitchen, but she didn’t burn things and she could take directions. Marit was the closest to the best cook in the house. Rafe was superior in skill, but he was clearly taking a day off.

  Or perhaps Marit had shoved him out of the kitchen so she could linger there out of Veris’ way.

  An extra loud thud came from overhead. “Why don’t you make sure the kids aren’t climbing the drapes?” Jesse suggested to Alannah, as everyone looked up.

  Alannah left via the main door, heading for the stairs.

  Jesse took the avocados and pie through to the dining room, where the long table had been extended and was being set for the meal, then into the kitchen.

  Marit wasn’t alone. The tall redheaded woman—a different sort of red from Marit’s bronzed locks—Nayara, stood in the corner made by the counters, sipping another steaming drink, while Cael, her partner, plucked silverware from a big varnished box lined with red velvet.

  Both of them nodded at Jesse. They were from somewhere in the future on this timeline, a fact that still tickled Jesse’s funny bone.

  “You came back just to eat turkey, then?” Jesse teased them.

  “We have turkey in the future,” Cael assured her gravely. “Although I prefer lamb, myself.”

  He was Greek and human, Jesse reminded herself. Nayara was the vampire—or she was when she was in her own time. When she used psychic talents to jump back in time, the symbiot that made her a vampire went into stasis, which was how she could drink mulled wine and eat turkey.

  Jesse had learned a lot about the different forms of time travel just by sitting at Veris’ table and keeping her ears pinned back. A direct question would make the jumpers and vampires clam up and toe the metaphorical dirt, too self-conscious to reply to a civilian, non-jumper and human. But getting them to reminisce over an amusing moment or a hairy one always revealed more than they realized, if she listened well.

  Jesse pointed at the glass in Nayara’s hand. “Best be careful. That stuff will take your head off. You’re not used to it.” She hugged Marit, who wore a thick sweater and fleece-lined pants and still looked cold. Her nose was pink, but the rest of her was tanned and glowing with good health.

  “Roasted potatoes for you and mashed for everyone else,” Marit said, before Jesse could asked.

  “You shouldn’t have made them for me, first time around, or I wouldn’t keep asking,” Jesse said. She adored the roasted potatoes the way Marit did them—they were crisp on the edges and soft in the middle and soaked up all the flavors in the roasting pan. Cooked with onions, they were far superior to mashed. “What can I do?”

  Marit let her gaze move over the food and utensils sitting on the scrubbed pine island. “Peel carrots, shell peas—oh, avocados! Yeah, peel a couple of those and we’ll put them in the salad.”

  Jesse got to work, while chatting with Marit and Nayara and Cael, as he moved in and out of the kitchen, laying plates and cutlery and condiments on the long table.

  The afternoon drifted along pleasantly. There were enough people in the house who could eat food that the dinner was a noisy, joyous occasion, with lots of empty wine bottles lining up in the center of the table. The vampires sat at the table with them, a single glass with an inch of champagne sitting before them for toasts, for Veris would not let anyone toast with an empty glass. The old pagan considered that to be beckoning the worst of ill luck.

  Despite not eating with everyone else, none of the vampires looked upset or anything but contented. They talked and laughed as much as anyone else.

  Five children sat at the table, although Jesse judged that Liberty wouldn’t be a child for too much longer. She was twelve, looked older and was going to be tall just like her uncle-father, Alex. She had enormous, exotic black eyes and hair and smooth olive skin, and a way of watching everyone that drew attention to her, even though she said nothing.

  Sydney sat beside her, and the two of them were clearly very close, for they would put their heads together and murmur and laugh.

  It was a glorious meal, finished off with their pecan pie and custard—an Aussie custom that Marit insisted everyone try. The custard was oddly delicious with the sharp sweetness of the pie.

  Nayara scraped her bowl and diffidently asked if there was more, while Cael smiled and kissed her hand.

  “Home life is somewhat fraught at the moment,” Cael explained. “And it’s not often we get to relax like this, back in time.”

  “Amen to that,” Brody murmured. “The hazards never end.”

  Veris stood and served Nayara another slice of pie, and Jesse passed the jug of custard along.

  The doorbell chimed from the big front room and everyone paused, looking at each other.

  Taylor got to her feet. “It’s not Thanksgiving in Canada,” she reminded them. “It’s a normal Thursday here.” She went into the front room.

  Veris smiled. “We actually forgot about the Canadian Thanksgiving,” he admitted as he passed the pie down the table. “It’s in early October, but Canmore just got noisier, not quieter, like the States does for Thanksgiving.”

  “Someone’s coming,” Sydney said, her head tilted as she listened to something happening in the front room. She sat up and glanced at the children. “Remember the Game, hmmm? Just for the next little while.”

  They all nodded solemnly.

  “Yes, Your Majesty,” Aimee added. She was nearly as old as Liberty and was already beautiful.

  “Aunt Sydney for now,” Sydney corrected.

  Aimee nodded.

  “Mom,” Liberty added and grinned. “With holes in her jeans and no bra.”

  Rafe snorted. “Oh, you’ll pay for that later, darling daughter.”

  “She will,” Sydney said, her tone serene.

  Liberty didn’t look worried.

  Alannah nudged Jesse’s arm, while holding one of the last bottles of wine over her glass.

  “Not right now, thanks,” Jesse told her. “Why aren’t you comatose? You’ve drunk a whole bottle all by yourself.”

  “Practice,” Alannah said, and winked.

  “Also called college,” Brody said, from Jesse’s other side.

  “Everyone, it’s Kit,” Taylor said from the door.

  Jesse turned in her chair to look toward the archway into the front room. Kit McDonald, the park warden who lived in Canmore, stood in the archway, towering over Taylor. He wore the heavy coat the wardens used in winter and held the brimmed hat and his gloves in one hand. Snow dusted his boots. “Sorry to disturb you folks,” he said easily. “I forgot you use the American calendar.” His gaze lingered upon Alannah, who was carefully pouring the remains of the bott
le into her glass. “Everyone came up for Thanksgiving, then?”

  “Everyone but Aran,” Taylor said.

  “He’s too busy buying and spending political favors,” Alannah added. She rested her arm on the back of her chair as she swiveled to take in the two standing in the archway.

  “Something up, Kit?” Veris asked, getting to his feet once more.

  Kit hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “I have a whole salmon in the truck that I thought you folks might like.”

  “Fresh salmon?” Marit said, her attention caught.

  “Should be,” Kit told her gravely. “I pulled it out of the Clearwater this morning.”

  “You don’t want it, Kit?” Taylor asked.

  “I caught two. I’m salting the smaller one, but I haven’t got room for the big one and you’ve got lots of people around your fire, so…”

  “Oh, I would love some salmon steaks,” Marit said. “They’re so expensive back home.”

  Veris glanced at her and Jesse knew Marit’s use of the word “home” to describe Australia had prodded him. Then he smiled at Kit. “I guess that’s a yes, thank you. I’ll come out and get it.”

  “No need,” Kit said. “Stay and finish your meal. I’ll put it on the verandah. It’s cold enough outside it can sit for a while.” He tapped the hat and gloves against his thigh. “Well…I’ll get going.” He nodded at everyone once more, his glossy black hair gleaming in the light from the antique-style light over the table. “Happy Thanksgiving.”

  Taylor took him back out to the front room, and Veris sat once more, while everyone listened to the murmur of the voices at the front door. The vampires at the table would be able to hear the conversation far more clearly.

  “He stops by a lot, then?” Alex asked Veris, his brow lifting.

  “Often enough,” Brody said. “He built a log house on the other side of the valley and likes to talk house-building with Veris.” He frowned. “Canadians are usually more aware of American holidays…” He met Veris’ gaze.