The following excerpts are intended for a new adult audience, ages 17+
BLOOD CHOSEN
Book Three of the Blood Series
coming summer 2013!
May 6
BLOOD CHOSEN
Book Three of the Blood Series
Julia has Awakened and in so doing bound herself to her one true soulmate, the king to her queen. The blood-binding which was foretold between fang and claw ultimately rescued her from certain death, the Circle of Protection is now complete.
Yet, another would-be queen vies for the position of ultimate ruler and believes she has found an ancient loophole that will upset the new balance of potential peace that has been put into play by Julia's prophesied reign. Jacqueline will stop at nothing to achieve her goals, even using the dreaded Were to further her victory.
Cynthia and Adrianna form an unlikely alliance to survive against an enemy that now has help for his madness to take shape. Emmanuel, the Feral and Truman find themselves drawn to defend and protect a new order with a past that haunts their efforts, while a broken Were rises to a position of power through sacrifice and the one woman that holds his heart.
Can Julia and her one true mate bring peace to the species and rescue the ones they love? Will the Blood Singers fulfill their destiny to unite three groups of sworn enemies to come together as one?
The following excerpts contain spoilers to those that have not read SINGERS & SONG....
May 14, 2013
Julia stood, looking at
Jason from ten feet away.
It might as well have
been ten miles, so much distance separated them.
“How could I
have ever loved you?”
“I don't
know... wife,” he
said, his gaze level on her face, anger vibrating through the
room like a bullet that ricochets.
It was crazy, Julia
knew it, but he made her feel guilty for everything.
I guess ya can't feel guilt unless you own it,
she thought.
Julia turned her back
on her husband, her soulmate steps away but within arms reach and
ignored everyone but Cyrus and William, who lay on the floor, more
dead than alive.
“What do I do?”
Cyrus laughed. “That's
easy, just put your wrist above his nose.”
Julia's brows came
together, her hair slipping forward as she began to reach out with
her arm but she hesitated. “What'll happen?”
Cyrus' smile faded, his
expression turning serious. “Biology,” he said simply just as
Julia's arm grazed the tip of William's nose.
With a choking roar,
William's back bowed, his mouth opening to reveal fangs that sprang
from the flesh that held them like ivory hooks now free.
William scooped Julia tightly against himself and sunk those deadly fangs into her arm before her next breath, her
fear a tangible thing.
Julia gasped as he
gulped her blood.
For the second time
inside a day.
Jason and Scott came
forward.
For all his rage-filled words,
Jason's face held the same expression that Scott's did.
Fear.
Not for themselves.
For Julia.
A small passage
“Oh... shit sandwich,” Adi said in a shaky
voice. Cyn barked out a laugh brought on by pure adrenaline and
nervousness.
Tony got closer, scanning their faces and said,
“You bitches are mine.”
Gawd, Cynthia thought, he's like a
B-rated movie or something. Some of her dismissal of his lack of
intellect must have shown because his brows dropped above his eyes,
casting them in shadow and hiding them from the first light of the
day....
April 23, 2013
Excerpt
Jacqueline swiveled to him. “Tell me you can do
something.”
“I can't... what about you? You're this
tight-ass Singer...”
His airway closed and his palm flew up in
supplication, the bitch stole his breath... and not in a good way. “I
didn't mean it as a dis....”
It opened.
“Jacqueline,” she said off-handedly.
Tony nodded at the introduction.
“I simply meant maybe you can sense something.”
“No,” she answered in a curt word.
Well, damn, chop my nuts off, Tony thought.
Jacqueline paced, a ripple of disquiet building as
the scent of the pack grew stronger.
Suddenly, Jacqueline knew what to do.
“I'll cover our tracks while you squire us
away.”
“How?” he scoffed.
“Is the why of it really important?”
she asked.
Because he liked to fucking know from what corner the shit was gonna fly so he wouldn't get caught in the stink.
Tony could smell the other Were. They'd take them
and for some reason, this Singer bitch's skills were down for the
count for them. Too bad she was all up his ass. Why couldn't she have
a blank spot with him?
His fucking luck.
Jacqueline didn't ask his permission and he
remained silent. Of course he wanted to know what kind of Singer mojo
she had going on. But it was obvious she had the upper hand.
For now.....
*
BLOOD SINGERS
Book One of the Blood Series
FREE at the following retailers:
NOOK
Apple
Smashwords
A sub-species of human beings....
Twenty-year old, Julia Wade, a young woman tragically widowed, is in the middle of a bizarre bid of two mythical species who are vying for the unique properties she offers; her blood. The vampires need her to balance the food load of the human species and give them their coveted “Lightwalkers.” The Were wish to be moonless changers; a Rare One can make that a reality.
Julia wants to belong to herself.
Can she free herself and begin a new life?
William & Julia:
Update Nov. 6, 2011:
This is the first novel I wrote and it was finished in 2007. I put the manuscript away and when I arrived at the idea for the Death Series, I began that. Now that I have three books completed in both the Death Series and Savage as well, I have revised Blood Singers and it is now available.
Other Titles in this series:
Julia wants to belong to herself.
Can she free herself and begin a new life?
Page 154
The Feral
He began to salivate before she pushed it through the slot, her wrist and part of her forearm vulnerable to injury.
The man sprung forward, scooping the prey out of her grasp and lightly scratched her with his talon as she withdrew.
Their eyes met for a moment as she snatched her arm back through the narrow distribution slot. She cradled the arm against her chest, the blood from the scratch soaking her T-shirt beneath.
Adriana
Adi had never been more glad for the one foot thick acrylic partition. She knew who would be the victor between the two of them if he escaped...
For the first time in her life, Adriana was scared. Scared of another wolf.
He was more Alpha than any she'd ever known.
And she didn't scare easy.
Page 49
Actually, she didn't. She looked up at the oversized pudgy Elvis rendering. His mouth clown red, his tassels and studs on a grotesquely distended belly in an unflattering white was not something she wanted in attendance. Even if they were in cheesy Vegas. Even if they had stolen away to get married.
Jason huffed, planting his hands on his hips. “Okay, I see you don't see that as a sign, Elvis is the Symbol of Vegas.” His eyebrows raised and Cyn giggled.
“I think he looks pretty gay, Jason,” Kevin agreed, smoothly siding with Julia.
“Thanks for the love, ya ass,” Jason said.
Kev barked out a laugh. “Anytime, pal.”
Beaten, Jason looked over the small pamphlet of chapels, finding a few more on the list. His eyes shifted to Julia's, hazel with flecks of green. “The only thing you don't want is him?” he jerked his thumb toward Icky Elvis.
Cynthia rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Jason. No chunky monkey in white polyester. It's a no-go.”
He glared at her and Julia said, “Yeah, that.”
Jason sighed. He and Kevin put their heads together as Cyn came over to Julia, giving her a look from head to toe. “Glad I could get you out of those fugly boots, Jules.”
Julia smiled, Cyn had outdone herself. Julia didn't look great in white but as Cyn had explained it, “you've earned white, virgin princess, but let's work with the weirdness that is your complexion.” Julia had rolled her eyes, letting Cyn transform her.
Julia caught sight of herself in what could only be described as a fun house mirror, her long dress, grazing the floors, spiky ivory heels peeked out from underneath the hem, a platform gracing the bottom. Cyn had pinned her hair in an elegant up do, leaving a few wisps hanging down.
A row of creamy pearls with a champagne-colored wash encircled the base of her throat. Her mother's.
A lump gathered in her throat and she looked away from the reflection of her sweetheart neckline, satin and lace colliding in a fine webbing that cradled her breasts. The absence of her parents on this important occasion best left to future reflection.
Like never.
Jason had dressed in a deep navy suit, his tie a subtle crimson. A slash of color against the whiteness of the shirt.
Julia thought it looked a little like blood against the backdrop of white and shivered as a subtle feeling of foreboding stole over her. It was shattered when Jason flashed his smile, stabbing the pamphlet with his finger.
“Found it, babe!”
Julia leaned forward and he drew her in next to his body, looking at where he pointed.
“Gnome Chapel.”
She cocked her brows. “Really, Jason?” He smiled nodding.
“That's just switching out one creepy audience member for another,” Cynthia said with revulsion.
“Nah baby,” Kevin said, pulling her tight against him and pressing a kiss to her temple, almost crushing the bouquet of lavender flowers she held.
“Hey! Watch the flowers, graceless.” She giggled.
Kevin grabbed the bouquet, jerking it up over his head, slamming his lips against hers, his free arm coming around her back and pressing her harder against him.
Julia agreed, gnomes were creepy too. She looked up at the bigger-than-life-sized Elvis statue and sighed.
Choices, choices.
Anything was better than Elvis.
Page 25
Julia felt something integral slip into place, the pain slipping away and becoming a burning mass.
“Hey whack-job!” Kevin said, going for the gun at the same time that Jason did. It wasn't choreographed and as their bodies moved, a gap opened and Terrell pointed the barrel.
At Julia.
All that focus, a warm liquid pain that she buried for the moment came to her in a sliding push. With nothing but raw emotion, she looked at the black hole of the gun and gave a mental shove as the hammer pulled back.
It clicked.
Time slowed down, Jason twisting the gun away even as the bullet rushed toward Julia, Cyn screaming in the background and Kevin landing on Terrell, their bodies crashing to the floor.
Julia moved as the bullet entered the curtain of her hair instead of the fragile bones of her face, its course veering at the last moment and she fell sideways away from the trajectory. Hitting Cyn, they both stumbled into the lockers.
“Julia!” Jason hollered, sprinting to her side, kicking the gun away as he came. His eyes frantically took in her body, checking for damage.
She was unscathed.
Miraculously.
As sirens wailed in the background Jason turned around, leaving Julia in Cyn's arms and grabbed a fistful of hair on the top of Terrell's head. Using it like the dull side of a hammer he picked his head up and slammed it into the floor.
Again and again.
Cops came and pulled him off but the damage was done. Terrell lay in a pool of his own blood, spreading into the soles of all who had gathered.
Page 50
The cabbie stopped a scant five minutes after they'd left the terminal.
“I let you off here. Eight dollars,” he said without verbs.
Julia frowned. Don't speak English, fine by her, but be civil. She handed him the twenty and he gave her the change.
She slid out of the taxi and found herself on a cement sidewalk surrounded by a wall of people. She didn't make eye contact with anyone but went to the first bus she saw and showed the driver her two bucks, five dimes and one penny.
“How far?” she asked.
He searched her face. “How far do ya need to go?” he asked, a kindness in his eyes.
She paused, aware of a line forming behind her. “As far as this will get me,” Julia said, leaving it in his hands.
He nodded. “Let's play it by ear, okay miss?”
She nodded, so grateful for the unexpected kindness she felt her eyes glisten again. She had turned into an absolute cry baby. All it took was him saying that one phrase Aunt Lily had used, her home that was so far away coming to the forefront of her consciousness without mercy. She swiped at the wetness on her cheeks and gave him a watery smile as she moved to the back of the bus.
She sunk down in the seat, putting her knees up on the seat in front of her and looked out the window. As she gazed through the filthy glass the bus pulled away in a plume of noxious exhaust, leaving the depot for parts unknown.
Julia shut her eyes, remembering...
William & Julia:
She listened to his blood as a melody.
Her blood to William was a symphony.
There really was no comparison....
Update Nov. 6, 2011:
This is the first novel I wrote and it was finished in 2007. I put the manuscript away and when I arrived at the idea for the Death Series, I began that. Now that I have three books completed in both the Death Series and Savage as well, I have revised Blood Singers and it is now available.
Other Titles in this series:
Julia has been ripped from the escape she'd planned for herself. When she awakens to discover that her reality has shifted to include a supposed soul-meld with a man she hates... and who hates her, she rebels. Julia doesn't want to be Queen of the Blood Singers if it means captivity in a gilded cage.
Broken from the horrific events surrounding her friends, Cynthia migrates to the very city that Julia resides in and determines to find her as the police follow the bread crumbs she left in her wake. Detective Truman's discovery at her apartment exposed her departure for the escape it was.
The Feral has come full circle and must begin a new life from the shadow of the old. His placement in the hierarchy of the pack is uncertain when he finds that he has an integral enemy already in place and a pack member to protect. While he desperately seeks answers to what had been... what could be.
Can the vestiges of Julia's former life be restored so she might reunite with her one true love or has that door closed forever because of supernatural circumstances beyond their control?
Broken from the horrific events surrounding her friends, Cynthia migrates to the very city that Julia resides in and determines to find her as the police follow the bread crumbs she left in her wake. Detective Truman's discovery at her apartment exposed her departure for the escape it was.
The Feral has come full circle and must begin a new life from the shadow of the old. His placement in the hierarchy of the pack is uncertain when he finds that he has an integral enemy already in place and a pack member to protect. While he desperately seeks answers to what had been... what could be.
Can the vestiges of Julia's former life be restored so she might reunite with her one true love or has that door closed forever because of supernatural circumstances beyond their control?
*
August 3
Written July 28
August 3
Alan frowned
thoughtfully. “Five-eight, blonde hair, green eyes, slim, rocking
hot bod. Scared, desperate. A no-show...” Alan spread his hands out
to the side.
Truman waited.
“Heard you've been through some domestic stuff.”
Alan's eyes
became wary. “Yeah. So?”
“Heard they
never found the perp that beat your sister.”
Alan stared at
Karl. The seconds turned to moments.
“You know
anything about that?”
Alan shrugged.
“Nope. But,” his eyes drilled Truman. Hazel ones. Honest eyes.
“Good riddance. I hope his dick falls off.”
“Nice
sentiment, Alan.”
He shrugged.
“You ever have anyone hurt by violence?”
Karl nodded.
“Yeah. Can't escape it with what I do.”
“Fair
enough. Now tell me, no bullshit. Where is Cynthia Adams?”
Truman opened
his mouth to lie. But in the end, he told the truth. He was so tired
of lying. He just couldn't bring himself to tell another.
“Taken.”
“By who?”
Not
who, what,
Truman corrected.
He kept that
part to himself.
Written July 28
“Whoa, pony...”
Cynthia said, raising a palm.
“It's actually wolf,”
Adi corrected.
“No shit?” Cynthia
asked, gulping as she unconsciously took a step backward.
Adi grinned. “I shit
you not.”
“Huh. That's kinda
bad for me.”
“Nah. We're not
asshats like the Homer Pack,” Adi said.
“Oh great, I'm so
relieved,” Cynthia said in a droll voice. She was so on board with
believing that- not.
“Listen, Blondie....”
“Bite me,” Cynthia
said.
“Don't tempt me,
dollface.”
*
"Julia... don't look at me like that," Scott's eyes bore down on her face with care, concern and anger.
"I'll look at you any way I want. After all," she cocked her head and pegged him with her bourbon eyes, smoldering with heat, hatred, "we're soulmates, right?" she spat with derision.
Scott's eyes narrowed. How could he be bound with someone like her? It wasn't possible, he wasn't the committing type.
Scott didn't choose this.
Julia read his expression. "Don't worry about it, Scott. You were the Big Ass Protector. You've done your Boy Scout duty, you can dump my ass, nothing is stopping you."
No... nothing was stopping him.
Except, Julia was his.
His to protect, his to take care of.
Eventually, his to love.
It wasn't about choice, it was a mandate from the fiber of his being, inexplicable, tangible.... and as he looked at her angry face, so obviously against her will....
Page 16
“Will this be a
gentlemen's promise? Will this relinquish my coven of recompense by
blood or other?”
A formal question
asked in the old way. It caused a valley in the conversation.
Merlin's eyes became
hooded. “You have my word of honor.”
“I will take it,”
Gabriel said, sticking his hand out. Merlin slipped the coolness of
his inside Gabriel's grasp and for a brutal moment their flesh was crushed together
in promise.
However dark.
It was done....
Page 25
Merlin
surreptitiously wiped the bead of sweat that slid down his skin and
dampened the collar of his long sleeved button down. He had met
Gabriel, as requested, in the outdoor eatery where the cattle grazed
in their concrete pasture. Pioneer Square was the backdrop to their
covert meeting. Even with the shade of the umbrella above the table
they were seated at and using sunblock with the highest zinc count, a
light smolder played across his skin. It was microscopic, humans
would not ken to it but it would have been obvious to a supernatural.
It was obvious to
him, the discomfort of his body a slow broil.
Yes, as the leader
of the southeast region he was part Singer, part vampire. He could
tolerate daylight, but it was a near thing. An almost allergic
reaction would settle on his body and he itched for the night, the
relief it afforded him.
Not that Merlin
would admit that to the Rare One before him. Impervious to the time
of day, he could do all that vampire could, more skilled as a point
of fact. However, he did not need to drink blood. It was a shame that
the Rare Ones who were male were sterile in their breeding potential
with vampire. It was the female that was so precious.
And the northwestern
region that Gabriel ruled had procured one.
Then lost it. Most
puzzling.
Gabriel lightly
drummed his fingers and looked at the pale leader opposite him and
realized that the politics of their meeting had already begun. He
steepled his fingers, his shoulder length hair slid forward in golden
waves, framing eyes that were the deepest amber, startling. He
pierced Merlin with his shocking golden gaze and said what he hoped
would end it, repay their coven.
“I have come to
offer recompense for your assistance with the location of the Rare
One.”
Merlin cocked a pale
blond brow, his Singer heritage lending him a fair complexion. He
would have traded that in an instant for the tolerance to full
sunlight. Alas, it was not so. The only advantage he was afforded was the echo of humanity of his outward shell. But his internal
composition was creature of the night. The human faรงade
a wonderful window dressing for many things, he supposed. He came
back to the comment at hand. It would not do to become distracted
while dealing with another coven leader.
“And what do you
offer, blood?” Merlin guessed, disgruntled.
When Gabriel
outlined the payment and what Merlin would need to accomplish that
task, Merlin thought on it for a long moment, his stare never
breaking from Gabriel.
Finally, he replied,
“Agreed.”
Page 43
Julia squirmed against the intimacy even as she
began to press forward. It was almost like a witch's spell, cast by
genetics, directed by fate....
