Some more from BENEATH THE SKIN
Mar
27
2012

A whole world exists…beneath the skin.

De La Vega Cats, Book 3

Gibson de La Vega is the Bringer, one of the Alpha’s right-hand cats. It is his job to mete out justice and defend the law that holds their jamboree together.

After a contentious meeting with another jamboree, he’s shot—Mia stumbles onto the scene and saves his life. He’s immediately drawn to the female who dug three silver bullets from his body. Even after he discovers she’s a Porter, a family his own harmed grievously half a century before.

Mia has enough in her life. She’s recovering from a vicious hate crime—an attack using silver has affected her ability to do what she loves most. The last thing she needs is a bossy alpha cat like Gibson. A de La Vega no less.

Despite the myriad reasons to stay away, even as they continue to hunt down the would-be killers, their attraction deepens into something else entirely.

The answers they find bring that threat far closer to home than anyone could have imagined and it’ll be up to Gibson to end the mess once and for all. And up to Mia to stand at his side, even as he risks his life…

A super hot alpha male with a gruff façade, and an uppity female who’s not buying it. Some violence. Some red-hot sex. Bad words. Lots of fun.

de La Vega Cats: BENEATH THE SKIN by LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2012, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, Samhain Publishing
Releasing in digital formats April 3

“You got shot? Gibson, what did I tell you about that?” Imogene opened the door mid-lecture before she hauled him into the foyer, looking him over with a mother’s eyes.

No matter that he was the most feared Bringer in the country, that gaze took him right back to about seven years old and he had to resist the urge to make an excuse.

“It’s not like I wore a sign around my neck saying shoot me.” He frowned, but his mother was made of far sterner stuff than to even give the look a second glance.

“Mami, let him get inside.” Max came out and put an arm around their mother as he shot his brother an apologetic glance. “Come through. Kendra’s worried and I want to hear the whole story.”

Kendra looked up from her screen and came over. “I won’t fuss. But I’m glad you’re all right. Sit, and after you talk business, someone is totally going to tell me who this Porter family is and why it’s all so escandalo!”

Max heaved a sigh, but Imogene laughed. Kendra lightened Gibson’s heart. She was perfect for his overly serious older brother. She made him laugh, poked at him and didn’t take him too seriously. Max’s leadership was only enhanced by her at his side.

“Look, I met with Bertram’s Bringer this morning along with his human lawyer. I set them straight on what the rules were and then told them to get out of our territory before calling to get the permission they needed to be here. I checked in with Max when the meeting ended. I had my people follow them to the state line. I thought it was over. Apparently not.”

“They used silver. It’s not even an overreaction, it’s just totally nonsensical. We’ve never had beef with them. Hell, they’re some tiny little jamboree. I don’t think I’ve dealt with them at all before this.” Max ignored the sound of their sister-in-law Renee entering the house along with their brother Galen, and Galen and Renee’s other mate, Jack.

Renee walked right up and hugged him tight before kissing both cheeks. “This isn’t good. I am not a fan of my best boys getting shot. Gibson, did you look too good to someone’s wife or something?”

Kendra, who also happened to be Renee’s sister, laughed. “Dude, there’s some other mystery too. Porters, whoever they are, are involved.”

Galen shot him a look.

God. Women. “Let me finish the story before getting to the Porter thing.” He told them the rest of the story, all he knew anyway, and then turned to Kendra and Renee.

But before he could say a word, Renee shoved a mug of something mildly stinky into his hands. “First drink this. It’ll help with the poison the silver left behind.” He should have known better than to have assumed he’d get away without some of her potions. She was a healer. A nurturer. He pretended to be annoyed, though she touched him with the way she cared for the people in her life.

Of course it tasted like the bottom of a shoe, so he gulped it down and fought back the grimace he wanted to make.

“Cats using silver on each other. What is the world coming to?” His mother nearly growled.

“I don’t know what this is all about, but if I don’t get answers and very soon, I’m going to have to get mean.” Max began to pace and his wife watched him carefully.

“Let me tell you the story of the Porters and de La Vegas. Cesar’s father and his brothers were all very close. Jorge, that’s Cesar’s father, took over jamboree leadership from their father when he was a pretty young man. His right-hand cat was his next oldest brother, Silvio.”

Imogene, warming to the story, took Gibson’s hand before she continued. “Silvio had an eye for the ladies.” She rolled her eyes. “Legendary, even for a de La Vega male. He began to court one of the cats in the jamboree.”

“Oh uh oh, I can see where this is going.” Kendra shook her head.

Today’s prize is a signed copy of Trinity and Revelation. What do you all think about series about families? Want more? Less? Only in certain genres? I’ll choose a winner from the comments to this post and announce it on Monday April 2!

32 comments to “Some more from BENEATH THE SKIN”

  1. Karin Anderson
    March 27th, 2012 at 5:00 am · Link

    I like family related books. It is fun to meet the brother or sister in a book and then find out they get their own story later. Sometimes it would be nice to put a little time in between their stories, though, to seem a bit more realistic.



  2. Vic
    March 27th, 2012 at 6:33 am · Link

    I love this group of people! Can’t wait for this book! Thanks for the great excerpt with the whole gang. We need to clone you so we can get more awesome books a year.



  3. Vic
    March 27th, 2012 at 6:36 am · Link

    Oops – forgot to comment on your question. I really love family series. (and friends as well) I really enjoy seeing the whole group dynamic and seeing the sibling interactions. No one can scrap nastier than siblings and then circle the wagons and beat anyone else who even thinks about criticizing. 😛

    I do agree that siblings who hook up with mates back to back may seem unrealistic but I KNOW Karin was referring to putting more time in the story timeline and not make us wait longer for the next book! 😉



  4. CrystalGB
    March 27th, 2012 at 7:08 am · Link

    I love series with families. It is always great to read the siblings interaction with each other and for each sibling to find their HEA.



  5. Melanie J.
    March 27th, 2012 at 7:31 am · Link

    I love Family/Friends Stories. My favorites involve them. The Colter’s – mMaya Banks, The Brown’s – Lauren Dane, The Riley’s – Jaci Burton, The Kowalski’s – Shannon Stacey.. the list goes on!



  6. Melissa B
    March 27th, 2012 at 7:53 am · Link

    I LOVE connected families ~~ it’s such a pleasure to go back and revisit places and people we’ve come to know through books. I love to see how couples from books past are doing, how kids we’ve met are growing up, just little snippets, but it’s so fun to get vicarious peeks into their lives…I love it!

    Don’t enter me in this one, I have the books that are prizes ~ and they are AWESOME!! But since family connections is one of my fav themes I had to share 🙂



  7. Carinne
    March 27th, 2012 at 7:58 am · Link

    I love series! Can’t wait for the next one!



  8. Diane
    March 27th, 2012 at 8:01 am · Link

    I love families and re-visiting with them is awesome, getting to know how they are and where they are at.



  9. Hailey
    March 27th, 2012 at 8:10 am · Link

    I love families! The genre doesn’t really matter to me.



  10. Michelle Bledsoe
    March 27th, 2012 at 8:57 am · Link

    My favorite books center around families. I really enjoy the family stories that involve young children. These stories give me hope in a time when it seems family is losing some of it’s meaning. Lauren thank you for such heart warming stories about families that you have given us.
    Have a great day.



  11. Melissa Lamb
    March 27th, 2012 at 10:41 am · Link

    I love series about families!! I think that with a family series the author can go into more direction and get more emotion out of each character. I really love the Brown Sibling series of your Lauren!!



  12. Jordan H
    March 27th, 2012 at 11:03 am · Link

    I love family series, doesn’t matter the genre. I enjoy the closeness between the characters and how we get revisit characters in future books to see how they’re doing.



  13. Mariann with Belle's Book Bag
    March 27th, 2012 at 11:20 am · Link

    Hi Lauren,
    I love series about families. They are some of my favorites!! I love the interaction between the family members. Thanks for the chance to win.
    Mariann at Belle’s Book Bag 😛



  14. Lori T
    March 27th, 2012 at 11:26 am · Link

    I love, love, love connected stories. I really enjoy getting to revisit characters from past books and to be able to read about famlies.

    Beneath the Skin sounds really great.



  15. azteclady
    March 27th, 2012 at 11:29 am · Link

    Families or groups of friends close enough to be family? It all depends on the writer. Yes, I know it’s a non-answer but it’s also the truth. Some authors are absolutely amazing at making me see these people as a unit.

    In other cases, I can’t help but think “sequel bait” and that usually turns me off, not just the book I’m reading, but the author.

    Of course, what is ‘sequel bait’ to me is quite likely to work for a whole bunch of other readers, so authors just have to do what they do, right?



  16. IP
    March 27th, 2012 at 12:08 pm · Link

    For me the baiting worked. When I won Beneath the Skin I simply had to have the other books as well and ordered Trinity and Revelation. Was the right decision! 😀



  17. SheriV
    March 27th, 2012 at 12:38 pm · Link

    I love families. I love how with family series you can check in with characters you’ve fallen in love with from before. I especially love your family series. 🙂



  18. Viki S.
    March 27th, 2012 at 12:45 pm · Link

    I love series about families even if they aren’t the traditional blood related family.



  19. StacieD
    March 27th, 2012 at 12:48 pm · Link

    I love series that focus on families. With each new story you get a look at characters from previous stories from a totally different perspective. Family dynamics are always interesting.



  20. becky jean
    March 27th, 2012 at 2:02 pm · Link

    I LOVE stories about close families and friends! I really enjoy revisiting characters, and I like to see families and friends continue to grow.



  21. Angie Hammons
    March 27th, 2012 at 2:27 pm · Link

    I think series that are centered around families or friends makes the story richer. I get invested in a family in the first book and can’t wait to read the next see what is going on in their lives. It is like sitting down with a friend and talking about everything that has/is going on in their lives.

    Thanks for the sneak peak! Can’t wait for the release!



  22. Amy Kathryn
    March 27th, 2012 at 2:31 pm · Link

    I love family series for all the reasons mentioned above but I also have to go with Azteclady somewhat. There reaches a point where I can go no further; it seems a rehash or too much. I like how you switched from wolves to cats with a nice transition but still kept a somewhat familiar world. Different but not!



  23. Christine
    March 27th, 2012 at 5:11 pm · Link

    I already have both books but I can’t wait beneath the skin



  24. bn100
    March 27th, 2012 at 6:41 pm · Link

    Great excerpt! I like a series about families in any genre since you can read more about the characters in later books.



  25. Susan W.
    March 27th, 2012 at 8:04 pm · Link

    I love series about families. I want to know what happens with the secondary characters in a book and I like finding out what happens after the happily ever after of characters from previous books.



  26. Jet
    March 27th, 2012 at 9:37 pm · Link

    Families in series are great, and it tends to lead you to getting sucked into the story more and how you get more points of vews on each character and how they see each other.



  27. Alaina
    March 28th, 2012 at 1:10 pm · Link

    i really enjoy the family stories.. like finding out how the parents/childen/grandchildren are (nora roberts is a great one for this).. im reading one now (changeling series by dani harper) and its brothers and a sister… and when they move to the next book, you still see interaction with the characters and i love that!



  28. EmmaD
    March 29th, 2012 at 1:43 am · Link

    I like family series. Think it is mainly about getting to know people more and it feels intimate getting to know the stories of an entire family.



  29. Jennifer Butler
    March 30th, 2012 at 5:39 am · Link

    Great series! I think that the dynamic between the family makes for a great story. Everyone has their part and it is great. Kendra is funny and Max is great, love his parents. Can’t wait for this book!



  30. Tiffany
    March 30th, 2012 at 8:03 am · Link

    I like family stories. I agree with the other above, that how much I enjoy it depends on the authors. Sometimes you have “connected” family stories where the family has no real purpose in the story or is barely present. I don’t like that.



  31. Christina @ Biblio Thoughts
    March 30th, 2012 at 10:02 am · Link

    I like family stories, but mostly only the paranormal/supernatural kind, especially with shifters. I’ve always liked how close shifter families are.



  32. Marc
    March 31st, 2012 at 7:13 am · Link

    Reading stories about inter related people (family/friends) always gives me that feeling of coming home when I open the next book. I love it.



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