Showing posts with label Werewolves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Werewolves. Show all posts

Friday, August 28, 2015

Virtual Book Tour: Bad Alpha

BAD ALPHAS Anthologies
Two Multi-Author Anthologies
from Evernight Publishing

Bad Alpha features a select collection of stories with shifters so ruthless they will stop at nothing to protect their pack. These aren't sugar-and-spice heroes. Our alphas are feared, inked, and don’t ask questions first. They take what they want, never give in to their enemies, and think love is for the weak—until they meet their mate. Are you ready to learn how to tame a savage heart?
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Bad Alpha: Manlove Edition features a select collection of stories with shifters so ruthless they will stop at nothing to protect their pack. These aren't sugar-and-spice heroes. Our alphas are feared, inked, and don’t ask questions first. They take what they want, never give in to their enemies, and think love is for the weak—until they meet their mate. Are you ready to learn how to tame a savage heart?

Buy links: 

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Bad Alpha Regular Edition:
 “For Blood” by J.R. Gray
The only way to end the war and stop the bloodshed is to marry the enemy. Every fiber of Roman wants to hate Victoria, but the more he sees, the more he craves her. Can he fight their past demons to be with her?

“Destiny Realized” by Khloe Wren
Leonardo has been the clan's alpha for 300 years. Ruling his people has always been his one and only priority. Until he, along with his brother and sister, stop at a broken down car near their home in the Flinders Ranges on the edge of Outback Australia. The woman they rescue turns both Leo and, his brother, Valentino's lives upside down. A mate was the last thing Leo wanted, and everything Val had ever hoped for.
Felicia is on the run. Again. Her baby's daddy broke her daughter's arm the last time he caught up with them so she's desperate to stay ahead of him. But her car breaks down and trouble finds her. A killer takes advantage of her failing vehicle and she fears all is lost for her and her little girl, until another car stops and she finds herself in a whole new world where she may just have found the future she's always wanted but never dreamed she'd have.

“Exiled Alpha” by Amber Morgan
Rachel Jacobs is a wolf on a mission. To save her pack from destruction, she's turning to the werewolf who nearly destroyed it once before. Arkady Gusev is everything her father ever warned her against - so why does she find him so irresistible?
Arkady Gusev isn't looking for a pack or a woman. But when Rachel walks through his door, she throws down a challenge he can't resist. Is this exiled alpha about to come home?
“Drakon’s Prize” by Moira Callahan
Being the Alpha of a misfit clan of Dragons comes with its share of troubles. When the supernatural Council comes to Drakon Blackwood with yet another false claim against his clan he knows it’s time to make someone pay. Preferably with their life.

Allegra Hanson doesn’t work for the Council, and yet she’s been roped into assisting them in their investigation into the Blackwood clan’s supposed activities. Against her better judgment she goes to the clan’s lands to do what she can. What she never planned on was her visceral reaction to the Alpha.

The Blackwood clan land is valuable. Not for its location, but for what lies beneath the earth’s surface. Many will do anything to get it, one will stop at nothing, and is willing to kill Drakon’s woman to get it. Allegra is his, and there’s no way Drakon will lose the most precious prize of all.

“Tiger’s Mate” by April Zyon
Streak politics, and differences in opinions forced Kurt Owens to choose his own path. While it may be outside of the law in many regards he sees it as ensuring justice for the true victims of crimes when the system fails them. It’s his way of seeing the guilty pay, and keeping his own inner beast in check with the violence, and blood it craves.

Everyone thinks having a super power would be great. Alexa Harold would beg to differ. She’s been cursed to see ghosts, the dead not yet having gone to their final resting place, or judgment, or wherever they belong. They track her down, and harass her until she’s ready to go mad. Learning early in life what she needs to avoid has been the only saving grace in keeping her sanity intact.

Then she sees a man who couldn’t possibly be real. It was just her luck that such a prime specimen would in fact be deceased. Only he isn’t, and he’s taking notice of her. With a little temptation, some mystery, and a taunt he leaves her wanting more.
Kurt never thought he’d find his mate outside of the streak, or streak functions. While those of a supernatural inclination aren’t exactly rare, they have had to be careful and keep their population down. Alexa is the woman for him the only one he could ever want or need. And when her life is put in danger by his own past Kurt won’t stop until everyone understands to get to this tiger’s mate, they’ll have to get through him.

“Dark Heart” by Elyzabeth M. VaLey
The world is changing. Vampires are coming out and they’re not remotely similar to the sensual Hollywood portrait made of them. Little by little, Shifters are being unmasked and integration is waning. Panic is spreading. The government is losing control. Private agencies, such as SOA struggle to find a solution, but as the darkness grows, can one even exist?

Ten years ago, Daryl Jones lost his pack to a group of demon vampires. Since then, he not only lost his will to battle for good, his life has become a spiral of drinking, fighting and fucking anything in sight. In his opinion, a pretty perfect existence. Until, he meets the new SOA representative sent to convince him to go back to the lab. With mile long legs, a tight little ass and a smile to kill for, when she offers him a bargain, how can he possibly refuse?

Silvia Adams, has one mission: convince Daryl Jones to work for SOA again. The agency needs him to get back into the lab and help develop a serum to neutralize the growing number of vampires. She knew it wouldn’t be easy task, but with her job on the line, she’ll do anything it takes, including, bargaining with the shifter and surrendering to her deepest desires. Only problem is, she might have bartered for more than she can handle.

“Resisting His Mate” by Lynn Burke
Warrick Keaton eludes a forced pairing with one of his kind. No one is going to choose his mate for him, not when he wants nothing to do with being tied down to a woman. He never expects fate to intervene in the form of a freezing, barely alive female. With his independence in jeopardy, Warrick fights his inner hawk's desire to stake a claim on her.

Clare Byron longs to escape her domineering ex-husband, a jealous bear shifter determined to keep her prisoner. She seizes the opportunity to run and lands in the arms of another alpha—exactly what she doesn’t want or need.

For Warrick, Clare is everything he's ever wanted in a mate and all that he's run from.

For Clare, Warrick is freedom in a way she never dreamed possible—the one man who will own her heart yet give her wings to fly.

“Alpha’s Vixen” by 
Jocelyn Dex
Dax is overwhelmed by desire when he catches the white fox trespassing on his land, and that totally pisses him off. He refuses to mate, no matter how much the fox inside him wants it, Dax definitely does not.

Opal is instantly enamored with the menacing black fox, but isn’t surprised when he chases her away—no one ever wants her, the freak-of-nature albino.

When theft and violence bring them together again, will they give in to passion, or will their hang-ups force them apart?

“Always Midnight” by Ashlynn Monroe
Taryne Michael is all her younger brother Travys has ever had for stability. When fifteen-year-old Trav doesn’t come home after he fights with her she spends the next week searching for him. He finally comes home he’s not the same boy who slammed the door the night he left. Something is very wrong and when she discovers he’s been transformed into a werewolf she’s at a loss as to what to do. The violent, angry boy isn’t the little brother she knows how to deal with. Teenage hormones are nothing compared to the animalistic young man emerging from the boy she’d raised.

Ax Greyson is a lone wolf, an alpha without a pack. He enforces laws non-shifters don’t know about. Celo Valley, is a place where two species co-reside. The werewolves keep the humans blind to their existence by being careful. Someone isn’t following the rules. Someone is killing, with no regard for secrets. When killing the woman seems like the only way to keep his people’s secret until Ax’s instincts find another way.

Mate…the word is the only thing that can scare a man like Ax.

“Becoming His Mate” by Harper Shaddock

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Bad Alpha Manlove Edition:

“Bully Boys” by Nicola Cameron
When Victorian solicitor Arthur Finter is forced to cut down   dangerous London alley after work, he stumbles upon pit bull shifter Alpha Gunner Jones in the middle of a dogfight with a rival shifter pack. The hardnosed bully boy scents Arthur and recognizes him as his mate, but will events orchestrated by the other pack separate them before Gunner can lay final claim?

“The Alpha’s Assassin” by Doris O’Connor
Bear shifter Zayden Reid makes his living doing what he does best—killing people.  The sought after assassin doesn’t have to think twice when he’s offered a lot of money  to kill the Alpha  of a wolf pack, until he scents his mate.

As the Alpha of his pack Quinton Thorn is used to giving orders. He may be gay, but that doesn’t mean he’s weak, and he’ll squash any challenge to his leadership with ruthless efficiency. When the threat comes from a source he trusts, however, can he afford to give into his feelings for his mate, knowing that he’ll endanger everyone under his protection?

The mating bond cannot be denied, no matter what the consequences, and they might well kill.

“Discarded Pup” by Angelique Voisen
Betrayed by his beta and abandoned by his pack, Cole Reyes wasted the last ten years of his life rotting behind bars. A cage is no place for a wolf, and wounds left open, fester. Cole has zero tolerance for mercy.  The time Cole spent in prison didn’t just bleed out all the decency he once possessed.  It broke him. Made him hard and unforgiving. Cole’s vengeance starts now, beginning with his beta’s new toy.

“Yellow Eyes” by Gale Stanley
The brutal war between shifters and humans is over, but each side still sees the other as a threat. The only thing they can agree on, is that they can’t agree. Humans live east of the bridge, shifters live west. Camden is a halfbreed, the product of a rape that happened during the war. Neither side wants him, but he lives with his human mother. 

The night she dies, Camden goes west looking for revenge. He knows he won’t find his father, and he’ll probably get himself killed, but he doesn’t care. As long as he takes a shifter with him, he’ll die happy.

Wyat is alpha of the pack living in the west. He’s a warrior who believes in separation of the races. Then on the night of the full moon, he discovers a half-breed hiding in the alley. The man’s scent makes him burn with lust, and against his better judgement, he takes him home—and discovers that sleeping with the enemy might just lead to a better future.

“Destined” by L.D. Blakeley
Caleb Stokes has had a shit night. Too bad catching his boyfriend in flagrante delicto with the club DJ isn't the worst thing he’ll witness before the night is through. Marick Gevrees has no time for romance. He has even less time for a tipsy twink looking for a man to fill some Daddy fetish. But what the hell is he supposed to do when said twink wanders headlong into the middle of a bloody vendetta that could result in the exposure of his clan? 

“Trouble” by James Cox
Tremarc is sleeping his way through the entire Bear Shifter Clan. He’s sent to the moon, under the colonized dome to stay out of trouble. When he meets sexy alpha Lyon and his mated human, Quinn his life takes a sharp turn that may just find him his happy ending or get him kicked out of yet another bear shifter clan.

“Outlaw Wolf” by Elizabeth Monvey
 Dekker ran away from his pack in an order to protect his lover and Alpha, Grey, when he overheard two higher ranked wolves talk about killing him.
When Grey finds him six months later, Dekker tries to convince the man he loves to go away. But Grey won’t take no and as the two talk it out, their mutual attraction overwhelms them. 

In desperation, Dekker renounces Grey as his Alpha. But when another force tries to punish Dekker by silencing him forever, Grey must choose which stand he’ll take…being the alpha for all his pack, or being the man Dekker needs, even if it means breaking the rules.


Top Three Actors I’d Like to Shag on SHERLOCK
by Nicola Cameron

I suspect this is going to come as a surprise to a lot of people because – ta da – it does not include Benedict Cumberbatch. While Le Batch is certainly a most talented thespian and quite handsome, he simply doesn’t trip my trigger the way these blokes do.

#3 – Mark Gatiss
Yes, I know he’s gay. Yes, I know he’s married to Ian Hallard. He’s also smart and sarcastic and insanely hilarious and a natural redhead. Add in gorgeous sea-blue eyes, an interesting nose, plus a chestful of crisp amber fur that makes me want to run my fingers through it, and I start drooling a bit. Actually got to meet him once – he’s even better looking in person. Sorry, Ian.

#2 – Rupert Graves
Oh, come ON. Total and complete silver fox. Big chocolate eyes. Wicked bad boy grin. Rides a motorcycle and knows how to play guitar, plus he knows a metric buttload about monkeys. Did I mention he plays a lot of football (what we call soccer), too? He just strikes me like he’d be an utter ball in bed. And considering that he has five children, I’m guessing he knows what to do when he gets there. Sorry, Susie.

#1 – Martin Freeman
Quite apart from storm blue eyes, sandy hair just turning grey, and delightfully mobile lips, the man’s charisma extends about three feet from his actual body. Apparently one critic once compared him to a depressed potato. To that critic, I can only say, “Shut your whore mouth.”
Have you ever seen the movie Nightwatching? It’s about the creation of the painting The Night Watch, and Martin plays Rembrandt. In one scene, a servant is trying to seduce him and he’s looking at the floor. Suddenly his eyes flick up and immediately lock on you as if he knew where you were all the time. My uterus went TWINK the first time I saw that.
In the second, he’s going down on another servant girl. Yes, it’s tastefully shot, you don’t really see anything, and he’s an actor, but any woman would look at that scene and immediately think, “Oh, he knows what he’s doing. And he likes it.”
Sorry, Amanda.

Blurb for “Bully Boys”
When Victorian solicitor Arthur Finter is forced to cut down a dangerous London alley after work, he stumbles upon pit bull shifter Alpha Gunner Jones in the middle of a dogfight with a rival shifter pack. The hardnosed bully boy scents Arthur and recognizes him as his mate, but will events orchestrated by the other pack separate them before Gunner can lay final claim?

Excerpt from “Bully Boys”
When Arthur awoke, he was in bed. The awful scene in the alley drifted through his memory, dim now from sleep. It was just a nightmare. Oh, thank goodness.
He tried to turn over, and couldn’t. Looking up, he saw that a length of hemp rope had been tied around his right wrist and woven with very little slack through an unfamiliar brass headboard. The other end of the rope had been attached to his left wrist, effectively pinning his arms wide.
Lifting his head as high as possible, he stared around his prison. It appeared to be a small bedroom, lit only by a coal fire in a blackened grate. A row of hooks on the far wall held various items of clothing, and an armoire hulked in the corner. A plain wooden table stood next to the bed, bare of anything except a candlestick with an unlit candle.
He flexed his feet and found that his legs were bound as well, with the same amount of slack given to his arms. To make matters worse, someone had removed his clothes before tying him to the bed and covering him with a thin blanket.
Panic set in, making his heart lurch. “Help!” he shouted. “Please, I need help!”
The door opened and his hopes were dashed as the handsome werebeast sauntered in, carrying a wash bowl and water jug. He’d taken the time to rinse the blood from his face and slick his hair back, and an old, threadbare towel hung casually over one shoulder.
“Someone’s up, I see,” he said in an East-End accent.
Arthur fought down his fear and gave the man his best glower. “Untie me immediately, sir!”
“Can’t do that. At least, not just yet.” The man approached the bed, giving him an appreciative look. Arthur belatedly remembered his nude state, and cringed under the cheap blanket that protected his modesty. “I suppose you want to know why you’re here, then.”
“Indeed I do,” Arthur said, hoping he sounded braver than he felt. “I am a solicitor, sir, and if you do not untie me this moment, you will find yourself in grave trouble with the law.”
The man shrugged. “Won’t be the first time. Doubt it’ll be the last.” He moved to the bedside table and deposited the jug and bowl on it, then sat down on the mattress. That blue gaze trailed over him dispassionately, but there was a flicker of something else as well, something that tugged at Arthur’s senses and caused his breath to come faster.
The man grabbed the edge of the blanket, dragging it down to just below Arthur’s waist. The solicitor flinched as the cool air of the room hit his skin, causing it to break out in embarrassing gooseflesh.
“You’re trim. I like that in a bloke,” the man said conversationally. “Don’t spend all of your time on your arse, do you?”
Arthur gaped at him. “I—how—that’s none of your business!”
“Oh, but it is my business.” His captor sounded amused about that. “Everything about you, Mr. Arthur Finter, is my business. Now that we’re to be mates and all.”
The bizarre comment would have made Arthur laugh in other circumstances. “If you mean we’re to be friends, sir, I can assure you that I feel no such friendship with anyone who ties me to a bed and terrorizes me in such a manner!”
The man tilted his head to one side, and Arthur was forcibly reminded of his other shape. “You’re tied to my bed to make sure you don’t run away,” he said. “I know you saw what happened in the alley, and I’ll explain it in good time. As for terrorizing you, it wasn’t what I had in mind for us tonight.”
He reached out and touched one of the tiny nubs on Arthur’s chest, tracing a circle on it. The caress caused Arthur to gasp, an indecent zing of pleasure arrowing down to his groin.
“Thought so,” his captor said in satisfaction. “You long for the touch of a man, Mr. Finter. I’ll be that man for you tonight and ever after. We’re mates, you and me.”

Purchase Links for Bad Alpha: Manlove Edition

Bio
Nicola Cameron is an expatriate Chicagoan who has lived in England, Canada, Holland, and Sweden, and keeps a confusing amalgamation of languages in her head as a result. Currently located in the clavicle of Texas, she has finally mastered the proper use of "y'all," much to her Chicago family's dismay.
Despite a healthy interest in sex since puberty, it wasn't until 2012 that Nicola decided to try writing about it. As it turned out, the skills she picked up during her SF writing career transferred rather nicely to erotic romance. When not writing, she wrangles cats, smooches her husband, makes dolls of dubious and questionable identity, and thanks almighty Cthulhu that she doesn’t have to work for a major telecommunications company any more (because there’s BDSM, and then there’s just plain torture...).
                                                       
·         Website: http://www.nicolacameronwrites.com
·         Blog: http://www.nicolacameronwrites.com/blog
·         Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nicolacameronwrites

·         Twitter: https://twitter.com/YesItsNicolaC

Giveaway:   $25 Evernight Publishing GC


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Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Spotlight: Rush


Rush
Penelope Rivers

Genre: Gay Werewolf, M/M PNR

Publisher: ARe Books

Date of Publication:  July 1, 2015

ISBN: 9781943576142

Word Count: 50,000

Cover Artist: Erin Dameron Hill

Book Description:

Out of desperation and danger comes love. What a rush!

Strapped for cash, Dante Kinnaird agrees to sell a sample of his werewolf DNA to the owner of a security company intent on breeding fierce and fearsome dogs. Dr. Crios Mantzaris Karras III, a brilliant but arrogant scientist, creates the serum and gets on Dante’s last nerve. Dante can’t wait to cash his check and get away from this man.  

Crios’s ego takes more than a beating when his hybrid were-dogs become uncontrollable and terrorize the countryside. Dante knows he must make things right, and puts aside his feelings for Crios as they team up to stop these bloodthirsty monsters.

In the heat of battle, he never expected those feelings to change.


Excerpt:

Two hours later, Dante sat strapped in the chair as Crios ran his fingers over his bare arm, seeking out a vein so he could draw blood. The other man didn't hesitate before thrusting the needle straight into his inner elbow. Dante barely felt the needle dipping into his skin. To him, being prodded was nothing. 

Crios examined the dark crimson liquid that filled the syringe, his eyes gleaming. "Interesting."

"What's interesting?" Blood was blood, after all. 

Crios sighed as if dealing with the questions of the common man was oh-so-exhausting. "Werewolf blood looks the same as human blood."

A grin covered his face before he could stop it. "Did you think that werewolves bleed blue or something?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Blue blood? Whoever heard of such a thing? This is reality, not a comic book." Miffed, Crios shook his head. "I just wasn't sure what to expect. I've never worked with werewolves before, so for all I knew your blood could have had a different consistency and color than a human's."

"I take that to mean you haven't been gene mashing werewolves and animals for long?"

Crios picked up the vial of blood and transplanted it into a metal vat beside him. "No, I haven't. I didn't even know that werewolves existed until Norm shared the truth with me. And even then, I was skeptical until I did the research myself."

"I wonder how Norman discovered werewolves." He reminded himself to ask Norman when he returned from the restroom. Werewolves were a pretty well-kept secret, and for a good reason. If the human population discovered their existence, then their kind would never be left alone. 

Pulling a white cotton ball from his pocket, Crios rolled it between his thin fingers. "Norm told me that he saw a werewolf transform when he was walking home from a bar. After that, he couldn't get thoughts of werewolves out of his mind. He dug around and found out all about them."

Well, it looked like Dante hadn't needed to wait until Norman returned from the restroom to question the man after all. "The werewolf who was seen should have been more careful. Most of my kind tries not to transform in the presence of humans. It'll put us in danger."

"Accidents happen, I guess." Crios shrugged. "Open."

"What?"

"Open your mouth." Crios rolled his eyes. "I have to do a swab."

"Oh." He blinked in surprise before opening his mouth wide. Maybe he was being ridiculous, but he could only pray that his breath didn't stink.

The man ran the cotton swab along his cheek and then opened a plastic bag and put it inside. As Crios laid the bag next to the blood sample, Dante couldn't help but feel mounting curiosity in regards to this brilliant but socially inept person.

"Have you always liked science?" He noted how natural Crios appeared floating around in his lab coat. 

"Science isn't something I like as much as it is something that is in my blood." Crios pushed the glasses further up his nose. "I come from a family of scientists. My mother and grandfather were brilliant chemists. I, however, chose to specialize in a few different scientific fields. I figured that I'm smart enough to work in several different scientific areas at once."

I love how he had to add a little self-plug in there…"You just made it sound as though you don't like science."

"Like I said, science runs in my blood. That's all there is to it. It's not a matter of me liking or disliking it."

"But what's the point spending your life doing something you hate?" He'd rather spend his life trying his best at something he enjoyed even if he was crappy at it. "It sounds like you're setting yourself up for years of pain and misery. I don't know why you'd do that."

"I don't hate science. I just don't particularly like it." Crios stopped talking as his face became the color of a freshly plucked plum. "Why on earth am I talking to you about this? I shouldn't have to defend my life choices to a perfect stranger."

"Sorry."

Crios huffed and pulled another cotton ball from his pocket. "This is why I hate dealing with people. It's always so exhausting."

Other people were exhausting? Dante had once had to run fifty miles in one go, and that had tired him out less than this conversation. "Sorry I'm such a trial."

In response to his jab, Crios said nothing. Zilch. Nada. The guy probably hadn't even noticed his tone. 

"Do you have any family?" He wanted to know how Crios had ended up so much like, well, Crios.

"They're all dead." Not even a smidgeon of emotion crept into Crios's crisp voice. Dante had heard someone become more emotional about a deceased goldfish. 

Still Dante's stomach twisted. "I'm sorry." 

"Don't be. My parents were non-existent in my life even when they were alive." Once again, Crios delivered the earth shattering information with emotional detachment. It was strange that the man blew up over the eggs on his sandwiches, but spoke without remorse about his own dead family. 

"Still, you have to miss them." It would be impossible for him not to. 

"No, I really don't." 

The man had to miss them a little. "Not at all? Oh, come on." 

Annoyance flickered in Crios's steely eyes. "No, I don't. Not at all. Not even in the slightest bit."

The words made Dante fall silent. 

"Open," Crios snapped, prodding his lips with a cotton ball. 

At once, he opened his mouth.


About the Author: 

Penelope Rivers is an erotic novelist of M/M romance novels and short stories. A hopeless dreamer, she spends her day thinking about all things fantasy, romantic and not. It is her view that when you start choking on the occasionally dry bread of life, you need something sinfully delicious to chase it down with. Currently, she lives in Utah with an abnormal amount of pets.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009714120727

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4998872.Penelope_Rivers

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Monday, May 25, 2015

Guest Blog: The End? Really? by Marcia Colette

Stricken
Alexa York 
Book 2
Marcia Colette

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Purple Sword Publications

Date of Publication: 5/6/2015

ISBN: 
ASIN: 

Number of pages: 167
Word Count: 66,020

Cover Artist: Traci Markou

Book Description:

Personal tragedy convinces half-werewolf Alexa York to get away to the town of McCormick, Pennsylvania where she's charged with protecting Dr. Aiden Joss, physician to the supernatural community. Not only does she need the money, she needs the distraction. Unfortunately, she gets it in spades when Joss's personal issues and a myriad of dangerously sick patients make her new job nearly impossible. 

A mysterious disease is running its way through the New York Order of the Amazons and leaving bodies in its wake. The same warrior who had chosen her clan over Joss has asked for him help. Even though the disease is real, Alexa has reason to believe his ex's sincerity is not.

Given the other numerous problems she has to deal with that are outside of her job description, Dr. Joss might be the biggest threat to his own safety. But, protecting him comes first. That’s difficult to do when his efforts to find an antidote put everyone in his remote clinic in danger, including Alexa. 

Available at Purple Sword

Excerpt: Chapter One

Present day. 

I stood on the porch of Dr. Aiden Joss’s luxurious home irate as hell. Someone was supposed to meet me at the airport in Philadelphia. I ended up having to take a cab because all of the rentals were booked from the only airport about twenty-five miles from the small town of McCormick, Pennsylvania. The taxi driver must have mistaken me for an oil baron with the fare he charged. He ended up having to leave me at the front gate because the intercom was busted. Thankfully, being a human hybrid had its advantages. After tossing my duffle over the ten-foot wall, I followed by leaping over. Some security. 

The downpour turned my black, wavy hair into thick tresses snaking down my neck and upper back. Sadly, my duffle bag was just as pitiful as I looked, since it wasn’t waterproof. I’d exercised more care when picking out my purse and laptop bag. 

The front door opened. A tall, bulky man who looked like he missed his calling as an NFL linebacker stood against the golden glow of the interior. His face was criminal-hard, though something in his dark eyes said otherwise. He wore a white shirt and jeans with a brace around his left knee. He blinked. 

“Oh, boy.” He hurried to unlock the storm door and let me inside. “You must be Ms. Alexa York.” 

I struggled getting past him with my wet duffle, carry-on and my drenched clothes clinging to my cold body. “I am. I take it the phones don’t work around here.” 

He took my stuff and set it aside. “The power has been flickering all night. They just got the lights back on about three minutes ago. The phone is Internet, so when the power goes out, everything goes out.” 

I unzipped my sodden jacket. “I get it. No phone, no phone calls. Which is why I was stuck at the airport.” 

He sighed. “Again, my apologies, ma’am. With so much going on, I only had a chance to worry about one thing at a time.” 

I glanced at him before answering. So much going on? The house was quiet and not a soul in sight. What could’ve possibly had him too busy to pick me up when he knew I was coming? Heck, I was here to be his replacement while he was on the mend. If he didn’t want me here, forgetting me at the airport or not sending a car to pick me up worked in his favor. 

He offered his hand to me. “My name’s Sammy. I’m Dr. Joss’s med tech and assistant.” 

“Med tech?” I looked him up and down. “But I thought you were his—” 

He chuckled. “I’m really his assistant. I’m only his bodyguard when I have to be. And given the kind of world that lies beyond those gates, I find myself playing the latter more often.” 

I closed my eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry if I sounded a little crotchety, but—” 

Sammy waved a large hand. “No need to apologize. I’d be a lot more than pissed had I been in your shoes. Speaking of which, let me show you to your room so you can get some dry clothes on.” 

Snorting, I glanced at the puddle forming around my duffle. “Dry clothes, huh. That would be nice.” 

“No worries, Ms. York. I’ll find you something.” 

“It’s Alexa, by the way.” Those close to me called me Lex. We weren’t there yet. 

“Alexa, then.” 

My room was upstairs on the second floor along with five other bedrooms. Every piece of furniture was stained pine and sitting against light blue walls. Thankfully, I had my own private bathroom. When I looked out the bathroom window, light was coming from the woods somewhere behind the trees where it shouldn’t be. 

I sure hoped Dane had told me everything I needed to know about this so-called mission. I would hate to learn something the hard—painful—way. Though that would never be his intention, I also knew his idea of what information was important to know was different from mine. 

Had it not been for Wesley Dane, a full-blooded werewolf friend of my family, I wouldn’t be here to play bodyguard for one of his closest friends. It wasn’t the thousand dollars a day, tax-free money for my services that had brought me here. I needed the distraction more than anything. 

“So, how much do you know about me?” After snuggling into a thick, warm robe I found hanging on a hook, I dried off my hair with a towel and opened the bathroom door. 

Sammy was still there, though keeping his distance by waiting in the hall. I thought it was weird, but whatever, seeing as this was more his house than mine. “Enough,” he replied. “You’re half-werewolf, which is extremely rare. You’re also married, which means either your husband, who’s a full-blood, or Dane is going to tear Dr. Joss apart if anything bad happens to you. Although, that sort of defeats the purpose of you being the doctor’s bodyguard.” He half-smiled. 

“Are you expecting me to be torn apart?” 

“No.” He chuckled. “But I expect you’ll be put through the wringer.” 

Guest Blog:
The End? Really?

Many authors look forward to typing those words "The End" at the end of their manuscript. The story is over, all loose ends (for the most part) are resolved, and the hero and/or heroine are happy for now. I've always imagined my favorite authors sitting back with a huge smile on their faces and thankful that Fate is on their side, as they've met their ferocious deadline. 

The end has never been "The End" for me. That doesn't mean I don't so things like celebrate my accomplishments in some minor way. I always treat myself to a few days of rest before I start that next story or I have that dessert I normally don't eat. After slaving over a book that has most likely taken me from an emotional high to an emotional low and back to that high again, I deserve something to regain my sanity, right?

For me, even though "The End" has come, it doesn't mean I stop thinking about a story. Thousands of questions bombard me. Do I want a sequel? Do I want to make this a series? Do I want to leave it at one book and explore a spin-off world? Stricken, though you might think it’s a first book, is actually a second book in my Alexa York world. Stripped was published by a different publisher back in 2009 (I think), so this second book is a long-time in the making. That wasn't planned—I swear. And if you're really curious, there was another book that featured Alexa York that was released back in 2006, which was my very first contracted book. That one is in the process of being rewritten for submission to my publisher for a re-release (fingers crossed my editor likes it). Let's face it. I'm Alexa York's biggest fan girl. If all goes well, there will be a fourth book, too. In fact, I'm in the process of writing a story for Alexa's sister Genevieve that will also be an urban fantasy with romantic elements. And thanks to Stricken, I'm toying with the idea of a spin-off series. 

You see? There's really no true "The End", as I suspect is true with other writers, too. Ideas are always churning and molding in our brains until we finally have a chance to put fingers to the keyboard. Series like Women of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong took thirteen books. Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series is another one. Kim Harrison is still forging ahead with The Hollows, thank goodness, though I'm a few books behind and desperately need to catch up. How long has Harry Dresden been around? Woohoo!

Sure, there comes a time when an author has to put "The End" on a series. But as long as readers keep reading, it'll be a while before we authors truly stamp "The End" on our books. As a reader, too, I’m extremely grateful for that. 

Thanks for indulging me!



About the Author:

Author Marcia Colette didn’t discover her love for reading until her late teens when she started reading John Saul and progressed to works by Bentley Little, Stephen King and Laurell K. Hamilton. Her reading tastes convinced her to write paranormals where curses cause people to shift into spiders, psychotic and telekinetic mothers are locked away in attics, and murderous doppelgangers are on a rampage. Let's not forget about the hunky werecheetah coalitions who live throughout North Carolina. As long as she can make it believable, that's all that matters.

Born and raised in upstate New York, Marcia now lives in North Carolina with her mom and beautiful daughter. They’re not raising zombies in the backyard. There aren’t any hellhounds living in the den, only a rabbit and a cockatiel. So where she gets her ideas is as much a mystery to her as anyone else.

The best place to find her--when she's not stirring up trouble--is on her blog where she loves connecting with readers.

www.marciacolette.com

http://marciacolette.wordpress.com/

http://twitter.com/MarciaColette

https://www.facebook.com/marciacolette

http://www.goodreads.com/marcia_colette



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Thursday, May 14, 2015

Blog Tour: Clearer in the Night



Clearer in the Night
By: Rebecca Croteau

Cait’s used to being an outsider. The odd girl out, the one with the alcoholic mother. The one whose sister and father died. The one who might just have telepathy. These things she could manage, could hide just enough to get by. Now a werewolf’s bite forced her outside the whole human race.

Two men -- the one night hook-up who shows up at her hospital bed, and the rescuer worker who may be following her -- seem to know more about her condition than she doe … and about this strange world of magic she’s pulled into. As Cait plunges into this darker reality, painful secrets of her past are churned up and she’s forced to confront her new identity. Torn between the between the sweet and too-hot-to-be-true Eli and possessive, darkly sensual Wes, Cait must decide whom to trust and which side to choose... before it’s too late.

Buy Links:
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Excerpt 

“You shouldn’t have gone. You should have stayed where I could see you.” She was twisting the hem of her cardigan in her hands. The buttons hadn’t been done up right. Her eyes were wide, staring.

“Mom,” I said, approaching her like I approached a kid crying at drop-off time—hands out, and with a soft smile. “I’m sorry you were scared, but I just went for a run, and then I went into town to check in with Sarah, and make sure everything was okay.”

“You could have disappeared. Just like them. Vanished, no trace, and everyone thinking you’re dead.”

I stared at her for a long minute, then reached out a hand and put it on her arm. She jerked it away, and the pictures rattled on the wall again. “Mom. Dad and Sophie are dead. They died when Dad drove his car into the lake.”

She gave me a look of pure and total disgust. “Their bodies were never found.”

“Because our lake is silty and impossible to search. When you swim, you can’t even see your feet at the end of your legs. The coroner said that there was no sign that anyone got out of that car alive, Mom. They died. A long time ago.” I put my hands on her, and she shrugged them off, harder.

“That’s because someone stole them from us, Caitlyn. I thought you knew that. No wonder you’ve hated me all this time. You thought I drove them away, but they were stolen. Stolen from us.” She was smiling now, earnest and lit up from the inside. My stomach, however, was in knots.

Author Bio


Rebecca, Ree to her friends, lives with her family in the wilds of New England. She is owned by two cats, and enjoys discovering the various ways that one can enjoy string. She is fueled by coffee, and strong autumn breezes.

Author Links
Pinterest: ReeCroteau
Google+: ReeCroteau
Twitter: @ReeCroteau


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