Vixenwriter

Still working and moving so how about a little snippet from de La Vega Cats: Revelation?

“I’d planned,” he paused to lick over each nipple. Her groan echoed with his, “to take my time with you. To woo you before we had sex.”

She reached down, getting his jeans opened up. “I hate that plan. I think the new plan, unless you truly don’t want to have sex with me, should be having sex with me. We’re adults, I don’t think you’re going to marry me tomorrow morning because we get down.”

How about a sneak peek of my next Federation novel, INSATIABLE? I wrote this particular scene while listening to Oh Fortuna from Carmina Burana. In fact, this scene came to be early on and I had to put it aside until the time was right. I can still see Daniel’s face, hear the pinging of spent shells hitting the road beneath his feet.

A hand shoved her to the ground. Shouts rang out, wrapped in the pop, pop, pop of weapons fire. She stayed, her arms clutched around his ankle. He changed his stance so that she rested between his legs, changed his stance to protect her better. And he did it all automatically.

She did not look at the men in the trees, did not look at the men crouched at the next corner shooting round after round, all set to kill her. They would not harm her; she knew that instinctively. Knew Daniel Haws would kill a thousand men to save her, knew he’d give his life for her. This last bit scared her more than the men trying to kill her. This last bit was a bigger threat than any, because he was her everything, and she would not survive losing him. So she looked up at Daniel, into his face, and held on to her certainty that no one was better than he.

Spent shells showered around her head, glittering in the sunlight

with a sick sort of beauty. The ones that touched her bare skin burned as they bounced, hitting the ground, still smoking. Their metallic ping sounded over and around the other sounds, all chaos. The stench of the powder within the shells hung in the air, stinging her nose, making her eyes water.

His face was stark, a mask of furious, righteous anger, a vengeful angel. Each shot brought the energy rebounding through his upper body, and she watched, fascinated, as it bounced against him over and over, but he never lost his focus.

All around her she heard screams of rage and pain, the percussive thump as bodies hit the ground. The thick, coppery scent of blood mixed with the stench of the spent shells, the acrid wash of fear coating it all.

They’d been ambushed as they neared the portal and had fallen back into a small garden off the main street. Julian, Vincenz and Marame had split off as Carina grabbed her blaster. Andrei had melted off, disappearing like smoke, only to appear for a moment in a splash of red and disappearing again.

Daniel, brooking no argument, had shoved her down and begun shooting at the men trying to close in. She curled into a ball, not wanting to choose that moment to push back. He was the expert. She wasn’t so stupid she didn’t understand that when an expert gave you instructions, you took them.

She wanted to help, but she wanted him to live, wanted to live herself. So she stayed at his feet, looking up at him as the light glinted from his hair, dark like roasted kava, so beautiful, even as an avenging angel, he shone.

The paving stone she rested her elbow on splintered, driving shards of rock into her skin. She barely held in her cry of pain, but it sang through her system nonetheless.

Moments later, he said her name, hauling her up to his side as she struggled to get to her feet. He didn’t drag her, he simply held her with one arm, shooting with the other as they rounded a corner and Julian came out, pulling them both into the building and slamming the door in their wake. If she hadn’t been so terrified, the sheer gallantry and skill he showed would have wowed her.

The silence settled in, deafening after the chaos outside.

Daniel set her down in a far corner, patting over her, holding his bloody hand up as if she’d done it on purpose. “Are you all right? Did you get shot? Tell me now!”

“I-I don’t think so.”

“Blood! Carina, you’re bleeding.” He tried to rip her clothes back to look, but she slapped at his hands. His face was set; he was on a mission.

“The rock splintered. It hit my arm. I’m cut, not shot. Stop! Stop it!” She yanked his hair, hard, and finally he seemed to hear.

He froze, blinking several times until he pushed her sleeve up with a hiss. “Stay right here. Do not move.”

As if she would with him in such a lather! “Bossy,” she managed to say, and his shoulders eased a bit as she’d intended.

Marame looked over and grinned. Andrei was suddenly there, kneeling, looking her over, a question in his eyes. Vincenz stood near the windows, out of sight but watching the street. Every once in a while, he looked over at Carina, and she smiled, reassuring him.

“Move,” Daniel said to Andrei. He settled at her feet and began to clean her arm when Andrei moved to the side.

Andrei tweezed the small shards of rock out of the wounds.

Julian came back in. “We have to move. They’re not too far away, going house to house. Can she travel?” He indicated Carina with a tip of his chin.

Be Sure To Visit Today’s Other Snippeters!

Emma Petersen
TJ Michaels
Ashley Ladd
Lissa Matthews
McKenna Jeffries
Shelli Stevens
Eliza Gayle
Mari Carr
Elisabeth Naughton
Juliana Stone
Lauren Dane
Shelley Munro
Taige Crenshaw

Here are a few questions I’ve received lately – please feel free to ask more and I’ll do my level best to answer!

Will you be writing a book for Adrian?

I sure hope so. After I finish the next futuristic for Berkley, I’ll send in the proposal for Adrian’s book which I of course hope my editor likes enough to buy!

Please please tell me you will be/won’t be putting Raven and Adrian together! (this is a very popular comment/question from both sides)

For the time being, I’m going to continue being coy on this issue. I do know who he’ll end up with and I can promise you she’ll be worthy of him. But for now, I’m not revealing who the HEA will be with.

When will Tri Mates be out in print?

I don’t know. I’ve asked for years and you’d think as it’s my book and they’re a publisher that I’d get an answer. Sadly, I have never been given an answer to this question, no matter who I ask. I’ve been told I’ll know when I get an email telling me so. I know mutiple readers who’ve written Ellora’s Cave to ask directly but none has received a response. If you’d like you can give it a go – books@ellorascave.com – perhaps they’ll let you know. I wish I had a better answer for you all.

Will you and Megan Hart be writing about Kate and Leah again?

I’d sure love to! We’ve talked about it and at some point I’m sure we’ll work out a storyline and just go for it. As Black Lace is no more, we’d have to find a new publisher, but it’s definitely something we’d like to do again.

Today I’m over at the lovely Juliana Stone’s blog giving away a copy of Coming Undone for her Ten Days of Hunger contest!

G’wan over and say hey!

The totally awesome Vivian Arend is running a contest at her blog – I’ll let her speak for herself:

Any reason for a party is a good one, right? Well, here’s a great excuse- March 24th is the one-year anniversary of my first publication, and I’m taking the second half of March to celebrate the stories and the people who have made the journey so special.

Lauren is one of those people. Not only because she’s a kick-ass writer who blew my eager-reader socks off, but also because as I stepped into author-dom, she’s been one of the people I’ve admired. Hop on over to my blog today, March 21st, to help me say thank you to Lauren for all that I’ve learned from her–whether she knew I was watching or not. I’ve got virtual chips and dip, and a chance for you to win some books.
Because a party is a good thing–let’s make some noise!
——————

Vivian Arend
Romance, Hot and Wild
www.vivianarend.com

Today’s Snippet Saturday topic is Family – one of my very favorite things to write about! Since I did my Cascadia wolves last week, I thought this time I’d toss out a passage from MAKING CHASE. I love the Chase family so much, I’m always thrilled to revisit them.

CHASE BROTHERS: MAKING CHASE by LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2007, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, Samhain Publishing

“We’ll make sure the picnic goes smoother. There’s gonna be a lot of us. We’ll put her near Momma. No one will mess with her then. Oh and Maggie too. We’ll be on the outside. No one’s gonna hurt her, Matt. We’ll keep her safe. One thing we all need to keep doing is let this town and the people like Melanie know Tate is one of ours and we believe in her.”

Matt didn’t know what else to say. Family did what family needed to do. Still felt good though.

He caught up with Tate. “You still up to dinner at my parents’ house?”

She sighed. “There’s no choice. She’s bound to have gotten at least five calls by now and she’ll just hunt us down at home if we don’t go over there and tell her the story firsthand. And speaking of hands, yours looks like hell. I want to clean it up better and I’m quite sure your mother has first aid supplies.”

He grinned. “Come on then.” He waved at everyone else. “See y’all in a few.”

Polly met them at the front door, anxious. But instead of cooing over Matt’s hand, she pulled Tate into a hug and it made her want to cry. She towed Tate down the hall and into Edward’s study, closing the door behind her and leaving Matt in the foyer.

“Let it go now, honey. Give the tears up to me and be done with them,” Polly crooned as she rubbed Tate’s back.

As soon as Polly gave her permission, it was like her body just let it go and a sob so deep wrenched from her body that it buckled her knees but Polly just went to her knees with her and continued to rock her and rub her back while she wept.

“It was wrong, Tate. What he said was wrong. What they’ve done to you is wrong. They’re wrong. You’re a good person. You love my son and he loves you. You’re worthy of this wonderful gift you and Matt have. Don’t you let them take the certainty of who you are from you. You’re strong. You survived worse than those idiots in town who can’t stand to see anyone else happy. You hear me? You give me those tears you’ve been holding back for so long and let them go. You’re safe here.”

So Tate let it go. Cried and cried and cried until there was nothing left and long minutes later, totally spent, she let Polly help her to the couch.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall apart like that. I don’t even know where it all came from.” She accepted a box of tissues and a glass of water from Polly who sat across from her and clucked. Her voice was rusty and every few seconds she hiccuped.

“It came from inside you. Where you’ve pent it up to be strong for everyone else. Tate, I know you, girl. You take everyone else’s burdens for them. But you can only take on so much before it breaks your back. Sometimes you need to let it out. Tonight must have been very ugly.”

“He called me a whore. A whore.” Tate shook her head, still shocked. “I didn’t hear it firsthand. That was the first time Matt punched him apparently. But I heard Matt telling Shane everything Ron said. Men. They must think we can’t hear them at three feet away.”

“They don’t know we multi-task as well as we do.” Polly nodded her head . “You’re not a whore. He’s wrong. You know that.”

“I do. But it hurts anyway. He accused me of being a gold digger. Polly, I’d never use Matt for his money. Not ever. I’ve worked hard for everything I’ve achieved in my life. I love Matt, I’d never hurt him like that. Ever.”

“I expect it does hurt, being misunderstood and misused. It’s shocking to be faced with so much hatred. I know you love Matt. Matt knows you love Matt. Hell, honey anyone with eyes in their head can see you love my son. They are bad people. Wrong. The people in the world who count know the truth and that’s all that matters. As for the rest of them? Don’t let them see you hurt, Tate. They aren’t worth it and you’re better than they are. You hold your head up because you have every right to.”

Tate nodded, blowing her nose.

“There’s a bathroom right through there, sweetie. Wash your face and come out when you’re ready. I expect Edward is holding Matthew back out there. Can I let him in? I know he wants to help.”

Tate needed that, needed to see Matt, to be held by him. “Yes. Let me get cleaned up and I’ll be out in a minute.”

She went into the bathroom and looked at the ruin of her face. Her eyes were red and swollen as was her nose. Every last trace of eye makeup was gone or dripping down her cheeks. She looked like she had the starring role in a B-horror movie.

Still, after a few minutes of cold water compresses she began to look and feel better and she knew it was time to face the music.

The first gut wrenching sob broke Matt’s heart. His father had simply put his arms around him and held him as they’d listened. Edward had urged him to let her cry it out, to let Polly mother her because she needed it desperately.

Matt wanted to rush in and take over, wanted Tate to open up to him that way but he understood Tate never would have let him bear the pain she held inside. Thank goodness his mother had been there and known just what Tate needed.

For long minutes she’d cried and cried and Matt had wanted to climb the walls. Her siblings arrived and they’d all stood in the hall and listened to her grief leave her body. Maggie held tight to Kyle, Shane to Cassie. The Murphys clutched each other and they’d all held vigil.

Twenty minutes later, his mother had come out and told them all very quietly that Tate needed a few minutes to clean up and to go on and get in the dining room. She sent Matt in to her, knowing they both needed it. Before he closed the door, Anne approached him quietly and said, “Melanie Deeds has a bill coming due.” He couldn’t have agreed more.

The door to the bathroom finally opened and her bottom lip trembled as she stepped into his embrace.

“Oh, Venus, I love you so much. I wish I could protect you from all this.”

She didn’t answer, instead just pushed herself closer to him.

After several minutes he kissed her gently. “You okay? Do you need more time or do you want to go and eat dinner?”

“I can’t face anyone. You all must have heard.”

“Heard what, Tate? Heard you being human? Heard you being mothered instead of doing all the mothering for a change? We love you. I’m glad my mother could help and I’m sorry you had to see all that tonight. Come on, everyone is waiting and they want to love you. Let them comfort you for a change.”

“They’ve all got enough to deal with.”

“Tate, don’t be selfish right now. They need to help. I need to know you’ll lean on me from time to time. You take so much on, give us all the gift of being the strong ones every once in a while.”

“You’re going to make me cry again.” The way she clutched his shirt made him want to keep her indoors and shield her forever.

“It’s okay to cry you know. It’s not a weakness.”

She made her little hmpf sound and he knew then she was on her way back to being all right.

They walked out into the dining room and her siblings came to her, pulling her into an embrace. Matt put his arm around his mother and they watched until Liv burst in, pregnant and pissed as hell.

“Where is that Melanie and who’s gonna hold my hair?”

Marc came in after her, grinning. “Liv’s a little excitable after we got a call about what happened tonight. She wanted me to drive her around looking for Melanie but I talked her into coming here instead.”

Cassie laughed and Maggie joined her as the three of them hugged each other and then Tate.

“If you’d just gone into labor early this afternoon none of this would have happened. Truly, Liv, I blame you.” Tate blinked up at Liv, who laughed and hugged her again.

“I’m trying, sweet thang. Orgasms, spicy food, cod liver oil and this baby is blowing me off. Gets it from her father. Oops, did I say her?”

Marc burst out laughing as everyone excitedly discussed Liv’s slip and the gender of the next grandchild.
Matt pushed Tate into a chair and made her a plate. “Eat it.”

She shrugged, obeying him as she began to eat. Others noticed and began to fill plates and eat. His momma beamed at them all, doting over everyone, making Liv sit and get her feet up.

The dinner was a nice way to exorcise the demons of the evening. Being with family washed that all away.

Be Sure To Stop By To Visit Today’s Other Snippeters!!

Leah Braemel
Emma Petersen
TJ Michaels
Ashley Ladd
Lissa Matthews
McKenna Jeffries
Eliza Gayle
Shelli Stevens
Lauren Dane
Shelley Munro
Jody Wallace
Taige Crenshaw
Eliza Gayle
Mari Carr
Elisabeth Naughton
Juliana Stone

Today I’m back with the Writerly Wednesday series and my guest is the fabulous Victoria Janssen!

Dialogue Tricks
Victoria Janssen

The first time I tried to write a novel (the one I started over and over and over again), I workshopped it with a very small group of friends. One wrote journalistic nonfiction, one was writing, essentially, memoir, and one was a published poet and writer of mainstream literary fiction. As you can imagine, I learned all sorts of useful things from these other writers, despite them being well outside my genre.

One of the things the poet said to me has stuck for all these years. She told me, and I paraphrase, that dialogue is one of the most essential methods of characterization. No two characters should speak alike.

There’s an exercise one can do, which involves taking a piece of one’s story and stripping out everything but the dialogue – all the names, all the tags, all the physical business, even the order of the sentences that provides clues – and then seeing if you can tell which character is saying what.

So in that first novel, I decided I would tackle this craft issue. I did it with what I considered to be a trick. Not that using tricks is bad. And eventually they start to sink into your skin and you no longer notice you’re using them, and they’re not really tricks any more.

My trick was simple: to assign each character one notable feature for their speech that would work with their personality. One character was in a position of power and confident about it. She tended to ramble when she spoke, assuming everyone would want to listen to her, and mostly spoke in statements. A second character was diffident and frightened. He was careful never to ask anyone a question for fear of appearing weak; he would often turn his questions into statements. A third character was speaking what was to her a foreign language, so her phrasing reflected that; also, since one of her main character traits was her anger at her situation, that too affected her speech patterns.

First character: “Here, put this on. It’s freezing in here, we should have shut the window. Ziya collected clothes for you yesterday. And there’re a couple of extra quilts in the closet if you need them.”

Second character: “If I do not deviate, I am safe.”

Third character: “You are giving up. Foolish. You are free. Not shut up in their labs.”

I don’t make those decisions so mechanically any more, but it’s good to know that if I need to, I can go back to the trick.

#

http://victoriajanssen.com/

http://victoriajanssen.blogspot.com/

Sorry about the delay – alas, stomach bomb did indeed hit oldest boy, sigh.

So according to random.org my two winners are: Collette and Ina

Ina – you win a copy of Standoff and Wolf Unbound (email me with your format preferences, please!)

Collette – you win a copy of Trinity and a copy of Sweet Charity

Email me with your format preferences and I’ll get the books your way!

How about a scene from Standoff?

CASCADIA WOLVES: STANDOFF by LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2008
Al Rights Reserved, Samhain Publishing

Lex paced at the private airfield. Anxiety rode his nerves and he wasn’t sure what it was. His people had gone over the field an hour before and all was clear. It was probably Nina. She’d been pissed off that he’d made her stay back at the house. Could be his brother too. Cade was livid but Lex had refused to let his brother come to get Grace. Two Alphas at the airfield in a time of war? Absurd. And there was the little fact of hello, Lex Warden, big bad Enforcer?

“Megan, you there?” he asked into the wrist mic.

“I’m here.” He’d stationed her at the other end of the field to keep an eye on things. She had a good eye, one of the very few people he trusted totally.

“Something feel off to you?”

“Yes. But I’ve checked in with everyone and so far so good. I’m sure it’s just the stress of not hearing back from Tee yet.”

The control tower let them know the plane would be landing momentarily and they moved back as the sleek, small jet taxied down the runway and came to a halt.

He saw Dave come down the steps followed by Jack and then a glimpse of Grace and Hiroshi after her. Breathing sigh of relief, he motioned to have the car brought close and walked to greet them.

He wasn’t able to stop his grin at the sight of his sister-in-law. So serious, intellectual and compassionate, but she had a quirky sense of humor and God knew she adored Cade and she kept Nina in line, which he had to admire in a big way.

“Okay, everyone can let me go now.” She tried to get around them to move toward the car but looked up to see Lex and smiled. “Hey, any news?”

He put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “Nothing. But they had to plan and get ready. Lots of humans in the area so they’re probably just watching and waiting for dark.”

He opened the door and that’s when he heard it.

Jack had too and shoved her down, landing on top of her. A helicopter had dropped three wolves carrying automatic weapons onto the tarmac and as they ran toward the car, they shot.

“Get her in the car, now!” Lex screamed and Jack moved faster than any wolf Lex had ever seen. In one deft toss, Grace landed in the car and Jack slammed the door, staying just outside.

Megan came running and in a moment of utter unreality, Lex watched a bloom of red cover her chest. She looked down and then fell. Lex transformed and charged their attackers as his own people came from all corners of the airfield, shooting, growling, transforming.

“Oh my God!” Grace shoved at Jack to get out but he held her there as she watched Megan get shot. She realized it was their normal car and she rifled under the seat until she found her traveling bag, just a basic medical bag but she thanked the heavens she’d been compulsive enough to carry it everywhere before going out the other door and running around the back of the car toward Megan.

Dave saw her and moved to grab her as Jack growled her name and charged. But she was an Alpha, damn it, she was fast and powerful and she would not let anyone but her brother’s people die out there that day. She jumped around Dave who knocked into the last standing attacker. The wet sounds of teeth meeting flesh and strangled cries sounded in her ears right as the white-hot pain of a bullet ripped through her chest.

But she kept moving until she reached Megan.

“Megan, honey, you have to change. You have to. I can’t help you. Not like this.”

She leaned down and spoke in her sister-in-law’s ear. “The wound is too much. You can’t heal as a human. Come on, I order you to change, damn it. Bring your wolf, Megan. Come on!”

Her fingers were slick with blood as she grabbed Megan to hold her close. She realized it was her own as her left arm began to go numb.

“Grace! Fuck, fuck. You’ve been shot. Damn it, why didn’t you stay put?” Jack reached her and fell to his knees. “Come on. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

She turned to him and snarled. “I’m not going anyfuckingwhere! This is my sister, she’s my wolf and she has to change or she will die. You will help me bring her wolf and you’ll do it now. LEX!” she screamed and Lex approached, naked from his shift back to human form. Grief on his face when he saw Megan.

“Shit, Grace, you’re… No, not both of you. Get in the car or I will put you in the trunk.”

“We’re wasting time! Bring her wolf! She can be healed if we bring her wolf. NOW. Damn it, now.”

And the whip crack of authority in her voice finally made them hear her. Both men looked to Megan who barely breathed and began to chant at her, put their hands on her, ordered her wolf to emerge.

And then in a shower of power, weak and warm but there nonetheless, Megan found
her wolf.

“Get her into the car and back to the house now.” Grace stood and fell to her knees.

“Hospital.” Jack picked her up and Lex his sister and they jumped into the car.

“No. Not the hospital. They’ll have to make a police report. We can’t risk any more exposure. Take me home. I have medical supplies there, I’ve stored them just in case. Let me transform once I know Megan is all right. For now…” she paused as more blood pulsed from the wound just inches above her heart, “…the bullet passed through. Silver.

Tear strips from your shirt and pack the wound. I’m losing blood.” The Pack doctor had headed to the haven as there were several pregnant women who needed her care. Grace had to stay human until she knew all was well.

Dave drove the car faster than was totally safe but Hiroshi kept an eye out for anyone following and called ahead to the house.

Grace slumped back into Jack, feeling his anxiety and worry for her. “Grace, you have to be all right. Change now.”

She shook her head. “Can’t. If I do, I may be too weak to change right back. If Megan needs me…”

She lapsed in and out of consciousness. A normal bullet and her metabolism would already be healing but the silver, even just passing through was poisoning her, impeding healing.

“Cade is going to rip my head off.” Lex brushed the hair away from her face. “You were hell on wheels out there today, Grace. You saved Megan’s life. But if you ever disobey like that again, I’m gonna kick that tiny little ass.”

“And whose army?”

“You shouldn’t let her hang around Nina so much,” Dave called from the front seat.

“We’re here. Hold on, they’re opening the gates for us now.”

“Megan on the low table in the living room. Bring my supplies.” Grace had to do that one last thing and then she could transform.

She heard Hiroshi relay the order and allowed herself to rest again. It began to hurt to breathe and she figured there was internal bleeding to deal with as well.

They skidded to a stop and the doors yanked open. Cade. The scent of Cade rushed through her system as Jack got out, still holding her.

“What the fuck? Whose blood is that?” Cade demanded in the background. They apparently hadn’t told him, which was wise. Hiroshi began to explain as Jack followed Lex and took them into the living room. She heard Cade’s bellow of anger in the background.

People rushed around Megan but Grace pushed them back until she could ascertain Megan was all right. Her breathing was normal as was her blood pressure. Grace turned in slow motion to see Cade, throwing aside the wolves who’d been trying to hold him back while she did her check. She coughed and wiped a hand over her lips, staining her skin scarlet. Lovely.

“Okay,” she whispered and fell to her knees. Cade surrounded her, crying out her name as she let her wolf take over.

Be sure to stop in to visit today’s other Snippeters!
Emma Petersen
TJ Michaels
Ashley Ladd
Lissa Matthews
McKenna Jeffries
Eliza Gayle
Mari Carr
Elisabeth Naughton
Juliana Stone
Lauren Dane
Shelley Munro
Taige Crenshaw

Still moving. It occurs to me that moving is all shiny until you actually, you know, have to do it. And then it becomes this horrifying list of things you have to do that are more tedious than the last. Around three kids. And now I remember why we lived in a house that is far too small for the 5 of us for so long, LOL.

My husband is rocking this (as he usually does, he’s that kind of person). He’s the point man over at the new house as I drop off, pick up, run to new schools, fill out paperwork, run back, pick up, oversee homework, pack boxes, oh and yep, write that book I have due on Monday. So of course – we needed to add sick kiddos to the mix. My sweet middle kiddo has picked up a stomach thing, now mini-me has it. It appears to be moving away from us though, thank goodness, and boy the oldest has as yet been untouched as he eats his way through my kitchen like a locust.

Anyhoodle, around carting boxes and kids all over creation – I haven’t been blogging and have missed a goodly portion of a week celebrating digital books and I feel terrible because I love digital books.

Before I get back to work I’m going to do two things – post a snippet of Revelation, the next de La Vega Cats book (starts immediately after Trinity ends) and have a contest!

It’s rough, I’m still working on it – but how about a tiny taste of Max and Kendra?

de La Vega Cats: REVELATION by LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2010, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, Samhain Publishing
Releasing in July!

Max barreled into the room, barely leashing his fury as he saw her, pale and sweating, on her knees. The scent of her magick painted the air, heady, sticky sweet. His cat relaxed a tiny bit, but the man felt the bite of the claws reminding him to stay vigilant. The cat didn’t give a fuck about anyone but her.

“You mind telling me what the hell just happened?”

“She’s been working a spell. It took a lot out of her. But she drew on you. Took that spell farther than I could have and I’ve got thirty years on her.” Rosemary pushed the hair from Kendra’s face and man and cat had had enough.

“All this time? One spell?”

Renee nodded. “She was amazing,” she said to Galen as he edged into the room, Jack on his heels. “I just was the back up, she did this thing, this sort of dance and she spoke in a beautiful language.”
“She’s bleeding.” He stood at the edge of the circle. “Can I touch her?”

Mary stood, brushing her hand over the edges of the two circles. “Broken.” She looked to Max. “Touch her.”

He did more than that. He picked her up, cradled her against his body and only barely leashed his need to run out of there with her. She turned into him, snuggled against his chest and he gave her touch. Gave her affection and strength. And she received.

“Here, let me get at her cut.” Renee knelt, Jack touching her shoulder, Galen watching over the room, his thigh against Jack.

Kendra took a deep breath and sighed, some of her bonelessness was gone.

Renee looked up at him from where she cleaned the slice he’d cleaned only the day before. “Touch. It helps her too. Don’t need to be a shifter to let yourself be comforted by the ones you love.”

And now the contest! This one is a grab bag of sorts. Reply to this post with a genre preference (paranormal, contemporary whatever and you can put other details if you like – shifters, small towns, outer space, etc). I’ll choose two winners by noon pacific tomorrow. Winners will receive an ebook from that genre. Might be mine, might be from another author, heck, might be both!

Good luck!