Excerpt: Identity Shift (part 3)

IDENTITY SHIFT Excerpt 3

She gritted her teeth and rolled over. One man lay unmoving, out cold. The other was conscious and hurting, by the sound of his labored breathing. Her own shoulder throbbed. Blood drizzled wet and thick as sludge down her brow.

Blake. Please let him be safe.

She sensed him long before she heard the pad of his big paws slow into a walk. HJHhHHHHHH   is breath was hot on her face as his big head gently nudged her face, a long, low growl rumbling deep from his chest.

“Blake,” she managed, smiling a little even as she winced and managed, “I’ve always wanted a big…cat of my…very own.”

In the long seconds it took him to shift back into human, she forced herself into a sitting position.

“Are you all right?” He crouched beside her, unashamedly naked, his stare sweeping her from top to bottom.

“I’ve been better.”

A corner of his lip curled up into a half-smile at her dry sarcasm. “It’s been a rough couple of days.”

“You could say that.”

 “Just give me a minute.”

“I won’t be going anywhere,” she said drily. Only, all irony was forgotten when she watched him stride toward the motorcycle in his loose, easy gait. She drank in the flex and shift of his smooth ass cheeks, the extension of muscles at the back of his long hard thighs and calves.

He bent and lifted the Ducati back onto its wheels.

Oh, dear lord, give me strength!

She swallowed past her too-dry throat, all pain temporarily forgotten.

He straightened with a crooked grin and a devilish glint in his stare.

The bastard. He knew!

He wheeled her battered Ducati toward her, expelling a whistle of chagrin at the damage. A side fairing and mirror had torn free, the windshield badly cracked, the frame scratched and seat torn.

He stopped beside her. “The clutch and brake levers look fine, seems to be just cosmetic damage. The engine should still run without a problem.”

She forced her stare on the bike and not at his towering Michelangelo nudity. “Yeah, insurance will just love me.” She grimaced, making a move to get up, but failing.

He flicked the Ducati’s stand down. “Here, let me help.” When he stepped in front of her, legs apart, his hands out, she couldn’t even swallow this time. It seemed almost irreverent, this lust that stirred hot in her blood when every part of her felt bruised and sore.

She placed her hands in his. “Thank you.”

Blake pulled her upright. “I saw what you did. Jumping from the stallion and tackling those men. Very brave.”

Wow. Evidently cat vision really was much sharper than human sight.

She disengaged her hands from his. “Or foolhardy. Take your pick.”

His eyes flared with possessiveness and another emotion she didn’t care right then to define. “Since they wouldn’t have hesitated to take the shot, most definitely brave,” he rasped.

She shivered, the chill that skittered up and down her spine more from his stark tone of helpless rage and less her near stroke with death. 

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My "Pet of the Month"

I'd like to introduce my Birman cat, Bundy AKA Bundy Cat. 
He's roughly thirteen years old and still going strong. He goes all cross-eyed when he's trying to focus on food when I have it in my hand. We think he might have been hit by a car at one stage as there's an area on his spine he doesn't like to be touched (happened before we were given him.) He's one of four cats in our household and just a tad spoilt *g*

Galactic Inferno

Book 2 of the Alien Hunger series is accepted! *smiles* I'll post its release date - hopefully May -  and the cover of Galactic Inferno just as soon as I can =) 
I already have plans for book 3 - possibly set on the aliens world. Can't wait to start it!! But WAY too much other writing grabbing my attention right now =))

Breaking Dawn

So I missed seeing this movie at the cinema, though my two eldest girls went and loved it. Actually, Teagan has loved them all, Shannon, not so much--until this one.

I actually found the beginning a little slow (maybe cause Miss Four was tugging on my sleeve and constantly wanting something lol) but the storyline did get me in the end, even with very little action scenes (yes, I love me some action). 

Definitely worth the time to watch it - and had to click back a few times to check out Ms Meyers standing amongst the wedding guests =))

7.5/10

Audio Book: Night's Cold Kiss

I haven't listened to a lot of audio books, but my good friend and occasional CP Tracey O'hara sent me the link to her book Night's Cold Kiss to have a listen. WOW. I totally love it!! Linda R. Joseph does a fantastic job!

Click on the link above, click on 'sample' (beneath the cover) and have a listen. I'm thinking I might need a copy for when I go on my next long drive =) 


And...for those who love a gorgeous cover - here's Tracey's 3rd installment of The Dark Brethren, plus a couple of her German versions (below) =))

Excerpt: Identity Shift (part 2)

 IDENTITY SHIFT Excerpt 2:

The front door crashed open, the deadbolt clanging as it skidded across the floor.

Blake cursed, locking the bathroom door behind him and plunging them into darkness. Her vision quickly adjusted and she watched him move to the open window, effortlessly tearing the fly screen from its wonky frame.

 He turned to her, gesturing that she hurry and climb through. “It’s a bit of a drop, but you should be fine.”

Should be fine?

She swallowed back hesitation and clambered through the opening, stifling alarm at the tell-tale creak of a floorboard just outside the bathroom door.

She closed her eyes, too scared to look below.  She’d always had an unhealthy fear of heights. Add would-be murderers on the other side of the flimsy door and she grappled not to freeze with terror. Taking a breath, she gripped the sill and swung down, hanging by fingertips that threatened to give way.

Gunshot boomed and ricocheted above. She gasped, her eyes cracking open and her heart jerking crazily in her chest. Clearly there was no need for the silencer anymore. She had to jump.

She looked below.  Holy shit! The ground appeared to undulate, a writhing inky sea of shadowed asphalt that was easily a twenty foot drop.

Blake jumped onto the sill in a crouch. “Go!”

She took a breath and let go, sprawling onto the ground seconds later in a bone-jarring thud. Her pulses jerking, she looked up. Blake leaped into the air, landing effortlessly on the balls of his feet with his knees bent.

For a big man he was as graceful as a cat.

A half-thought edged her consciousness for one ludicrous moment before Blake took her hand and dragged her upright.

“Are you alright?” At her nod, “Let’s go.”

They sprinted toward the end of the pitch black alley where dumpster bins cast big, menacing shadows along one side of the musty, urine-scented brick walls. Jake abruptly stilled, tugging her against him as a dark van screeched to a stop at the end of the alley, blocking their exit. “Act like lovers.” Then his mouth was covering hers, kissing her with knee-knocking, nerve-awakening skill.

This isn’t real…this isn’t real.

And yet the funeral, the adrenaline and danger of being hunted like criminals, somehow, impossibly, it all faded as his citrus and spice scent teased and beckoned, his arms encompassing her like a warm blanket as the tip of his tongue parted her lips.

She felt safe, secure—like all the bad stuff in her life was no more.

99c Read AVAILABLE AT:

Amazon

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Smashwords

All Romance Ebooks

Belated (giggle-worthy) photo

I'd posted this picture on facebook then completely forgot about posting it on my blog LOL! A special moment - my first print book (even if shared in an anthology). I've made it my mission this year to write longer length stories - as well as one or two of my usual novella/shorts, so hopefully a few more print books will be sitting on my shelf from this year =))
Ahhh, the smell of fresh print and a shiny new cover!!!! BWG. Seriously though, you just can't beat it...

Working on...

While I'm waiting for the edits of Galactic Inferno to come back, I've been working on quite a few different manuscripts.

Larakyte: A fantasy novella for Ellora's Cave. Picture a shape-shifter heroine going all out to be chosen by the king as his next mistress. All so that she can sway his mind about her dying race who are hated and too often murdered by the humans.

Chameleon: This one is a longer-length series (8okish) set in Australia with three different shape-shifter packs. The first book focuses on the shape-shifter leader they call the Chameleon. 

Dimensional: A single title book based on an entrepreneur who finds himself unwittingly going into different dimensions. He sees the different paths he's travelled, good and bad. And in the end he has to make the ultimate choice.

Eva's World: This heroine attracts cats to her like a magnet, but she's always felt alone. Her one constant is the man she dreams about every night. She finds the place he's created for their first meeting. Its here that she learns more about herself than she thought possible.

Movie of the Month

If you love drama and older-style movies based in a time when racism was rife, with tear-jerker scenes, then this movie, The Help, is for you. Set in the 60's in Mississipi, it's about a young college graduate who returns to her hometown with the hopes of being a novelist and/or journalist. She upsets the whole town when she interviews the black women working for the wealthy, white families, the same women who raise their white children with little thanks in the process.
A real eye-opener. 8/10

Pet Names for Characters

I've been working on my fantasy novella, tentatively titled, Larakyte, and wanted to find a perfect pet name for the king's newly discovered 'mistress' - I found a great site - Girlfriend Pet Names.
Some of the more unusual 'pet' names include:

Dumpling
Giggles
Hot Pants
Egg Head
Pussy (*g*)
& Pinup.

Just for the record, I went with "Angel". It fit my heroine perfectly =)

Book of the Month

Something Wicked is up for February's Book of the Month at Long and Short Reviews (LASR). If you've read this book and loved it, please vote =)))

Differences in Reviews

It always amuses me how differently people view a bunch of words, how what one person can see as scorching hot, another one can view as too low on the heat scale. I've had some really varied comments on my free read, DISCOVERING SOFIA at Amazon - and have to thank the readers who scored me four and five star ratings. 
BTW - if you've read one of my books and enjoyed it, please rate it on Amazon, B&N etc - it really does affect the overall rankings =))
Anyway...I thought I'd share two of my lowest reader ratings - note their different opinions *g*

 XXX Rated, be aware: (1 star)
 I learned a valuable lesson with this book, I purchased based on title and description, wish I would have read the available text first.... this is not just a romance fiction it is very adult and very crude sex details in just the first 3 pages. I'm still trying to remove it from my Kindle. When I chose the option to remove it from the Kindle it just went into my archive and I haven't yet figured out how to totally remove it yet. 

 low on the heat scale: (2 stars)
 Granted this was a freebie, but the heat factor of this story was not very high, thus I'll not be keeping it for future reading.