Sneak Peeks of future novels

So I wanted to give a little peek into the projects I have going on right now! So below will be excerpts from Shifting Truth (books 2 of the shifting blood series), Alpha Wolf (book 2 of the The animal within series featuring Tony and Natalie) and finally the book closest to completion Kemp (book 2 of the champion series). Please remember I have done NO editing on these blurbs and some stuff will get changed a bit in all likelihood. Still a sneak peek is a sneak peek.


SHIFTING TRUTH
I kept still and silent. It had been a tough year and though I wasn’t injured anymore I was worn out. Trudging through four feet of snow over the course of the past few days hadn’t helped either. I didn’t even dare to breathe. The werewolf was in his full moon phase, meaning the four days the full moon affected werewolves was in the middle of its cycle and as he was crazy he didn’t have the usual control that came with age. The problem wasn’t really that it was a Were I was hunting so much as which one.

I had been hunting him for two days now, hoping to take him alive and hoping his pack could reason him back to sanity. It was rare but did happen occasionally. If I had been smart I would have killed him before the full moon. Things would be harder now. But I owed Rick more than that. I owed him my sanity and my grip on my own beast. I couldn’t just kill him like I did the others that failed to surrender.

So here I was dragging out a job that promised me more pay the sooner it was dealt with. All because I felt sentimental about the ass. Being in a long standing relationship was making me soft. I would have to blame Jason and Brian both when I got back, if I ever did.

Instead of eating yummy Christmas deserts made by both of my favorite males I was hunting a pissed, crazed, previous friend werewolf across the states. Here we were, in Maine, in woods that seemed a million miles from anywhere. At least he wasn’t in some village eating the locals. It was the only bright side to this whole mess.

I didn’t know what sent Rick over the edge; he had always had such control, being in the military taught you that, and being a wolf in the military you made extra sure you learned control. He had helped me tame my beast in the worst of times, and he had helped me get back into fighting condition after my fiasco with the blood mage and a fallen fey. I couldn’t bring myself to kill him but soon it’d be my only option.
I looked out from behind the barn, what the hell a random barn was doing in the middle of nowhere I didn’t know and as it was helping me I wasn’t about to question it so much as casually wonder and accept it as part of life less than a second later.

He was still there, still sniffing around in the snow. If this had been sane Rick I would have made a dog joke but it wasn’t. Oh screw it.

“Rick sniffing is supposed to be beneath a werewolf. I guess you really are a dog’s cousin after all.”

He looked up and growled. Ok Bethany now that you have the five hundred pound beast’s attention what are you going to do with it?

It was an easy question to answer as he charged me less than a second after I finished thinking it.

“Oh shit.”

I got up and ran turning to shoot and hoping like hell I kept my footing. I had silver bullets and they stung but not enough. He kept coming and I kept shooting until I had emptied the clip.

“Stupid guns need to hold more fucking bullets!”

I dodged as he leaped. Luckily I landed in a snow drift, as you could die in the deep ass ones generally this wasn’t lucky but if it came between being trapped in snow or being torn up by a werewolf you choose snow every time.

Sadly he wasn’t giving up that easily and started digging. He soon found me, lucky for me I had reloaded.

“Rick don’t make me do this.”

His answer was a snap, at my face. I shot him in the forehead and he backed up, but he didn’t go down. These bastards had a lot of fur and a lot of muscle, getting through it all to their brain was tough, even with a gun.

I pulled myself up to my full height, not an imposing height I assure you, and continued to shoot at a slightly confused, and massively pissed off, werewolf. He seemed to get more strength from it not less. He turned and when my clip was once again empty he attacked. I had my enchanted knife on me I could throw, hunting werewolves with swords was too damn hard as close combat was not ideal, and although that hadn’t stopped me before I tried not to make a habit of it.

I stabbed it into his neck as his jaws closed around my arm and flung me like a rag doll. I looked down at it; it was barely hanging on now. He was pausing, rethinking his next attack. I was weak, but the enchanted silver knife was still in his throat polluting his blood stream, as were all the bullets he hadn’t shaken out.

I used this time to wrap my arm in my jacket; I noticed the cold now that I wasn’t wearing it. I could still move my left shoulder but I wasn’t using the arm anytime soon. The venom of the bite spread through my system. Weres and vamps had venom to incapacitate their victims making it easier to kill them. Luckily for me it didn’t stop me, but it still hurt like hell.

I screamed and dropped. The bleeding intensified and I could feel the burn going through my entire body. He and I were on the same page right now, pissed and injured. The red haze covered my eyes and for once I didn’t fight it. Rick was strong, and he knew me and my tactics. He was ex military, Special Forces at that. I would use this and bring him in dead or alive.

“Rick I didn’t want to have to do this but you give me no choice. You’ve pissed off the wrong half vampire. And now you get to see what my venom is like.”

I ran right at him, something that caused him pause considering our vast size differences. I leaped and landed on his back. I grabbed at the fur and pulled ripping out chunks of hair and flesh. Finally the hunger built so much I couldn’t control it anymore and I did the one thing I had hoped to never to do to Rick. I fed.


ALPHA WOLF
“Who says I am letting you go now that I have you?”

I wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. I looked around for help and couldn’t find a soul near enough to rescue me. Tiffany was flirting with all the men that had arrived with Tony. So were most of the other girls, except Darcy who was watching Chell’s New York friend Chris tell some story about his pets. She had shadowed him since the wedding had technically ended. There was something there mark my words.

“Well I was going to go get something to eat so you have to let me go. You wouldn’t want me to faint in your arms would you?”

I knew it was the wrong thing to say when his smile went from innocent to devilish and he tightened his grip around my waist making my heart double time it…again.

“If you faint I promise to carry you up to my room, make you comfortable on the bed and take very good care of you when you wake up.”

He could set a straight man on fire with that look. Jesus talk about incapacitating someone.

“Thanks but I said it before and I will say it again. I'm not interested.”
His face went confused as he pulled back but held my hands so I couldn’t escape. He had a strong grip but he didn’t hurt me. I had a feeling he was a lot stronger than he was letting on. Normally I would fear someone so strong, I tended towards safe men. Well no man was one hundred percent safe but you know boring, plain, content with the status quo men.

Tony would be one of those guys to push and it would end up bringing you to new heights or destroying you. I didn’t want to chance destruction. Still I wanted so badly to kiss him, just once to see if it was as good as I was imagining but I knew if I did I wouldn’t stop.

“I don’t know why you continue to lie to me and more importantly yourself. I know you are attracted to me and so do you.”

KEMP
I ran towards the fire knowing that if Viktor were awake he would warn me away. He had been accidently starting fires since we had come home from the cavern. I had not been able to help him learn much more than the words to the spells leaving him unable to control his powers. He knew the spells but he didn’t know how to use them properly.

On the plus side, Viktor had shown amazing progress in Elvin healing powers, but then his family was well known for that power. I could train him in that. His battle magic, the fire and tornadoes, the hail, it was his Elvin magic working with his mage magic. I couldn’t help with that.

We had kept the fires contained and outside away from people where I could easily put them out. So far. It seemed our luck had run out. Likely, after this, I wouldn’t be able to use my room either; this was one hell of a fire. Aunt had gotten him a room next to mine as befitting a Kemp.  Now that room was on fire burning down around him while he slept.

“Viktor!”

I got singed and flinched. My arm was so hot it was cold in minutes; I knew that was a bad sign but I didn’t let it stop me. I could feel my panic rising and worried about what would happen if it consumed me before I accomplished my task. What if I couldn’t get him out before he burnt to death? How would it feel to lose him? Well it was obvious I guess. I was in here choosing to chance having to lose an arm over losing Viktor.

“Elainne!”

I sighed slightly relieved he was a Kemp. My panic could wake him from anything.

“Elainne where are you?!”

“Here! Viktor!”

He came rushing over and grabbed me into his arms running towards the door. I could have run by myself, it was after all my arm, not my legs that were injured. It would make him feel better to have me near though.

 Burning wood was everywhere. There wasn’t even any fabric in the room. It was all ash by now. Luckily the castle wouldn’t burn down, there was enough stone to stop it from spreading to far before being put out but this room wouldn’t be habitable for a long time.

A beam from the ceiling fell into our path. I reached out the arm that wasn’t burnt and let my power flow from me. I couldn’t stop the fire because I hadn’t mastered my new power levels and I didn’t want to blow the house down around me on accident. I did manage to make it go down enough that we could get through safely though.

Once out of the room my aunt, and servants with water, came running into the hallway. She swiped a hand and the fire went out. Luckily, aunt had full control of her powers.

So far, the other fires had been while we practiced outside, safely away from other people and very small, but most importantly, where she hadn't known about them. This time he had burnt down a room in her palace.

“What the hell happened in there?!”

It wasn’t a question but a command. My arm lost feeling and I rubbed below the burn trying to get blood flow to it again. I couldn’t heal myself so I would be in a lot of pain for a bit.

“Niece your arm!”

I nodded towards my aunt but Viktor was already grabbing it and trying to heal. He must have still been caught up in the nightmare he was having that started the fire because flame shot out and I dropped screaming in pain.

He was grabbed and pulled away from me. He let them do so without struggle. His face was ashen grey and I knew what he was thinking. That in the cavern he had been the one to kill me, using fire. He hadn’t wanted to ever learn to use fire but as the most destructive element, I had insisted he learn to control it. Because he feared it, he wasn’t mastering it. You had to respect the elements but if you feared them, they controlled you.

My aunt whispered a healing spell and I felt her power pour through me as my arm began to heal. Soon it was nothing more than pink marks that she had someone smear an ointment on and bandage up. I swallowed trying to hide my relief so as not to appear weak. It was hard to hide considering I was relieved I wouldn’t lose an arm.

“Let my Kemp go.”

They must have heard the steel in my voice because they did as I asked. They dropped his arms. He dropped to his knees staring into a hell only he could see. I sighed and knelt in front of him snapping my fingers. My aunt sent everyone away and soon it was just the three of us in the hallway. Snapping wasn’t working so I slapped him. That did get his attention. He grabbed my wrist but didn’t squeeze, didn’t hurt me at all.  A Kemp always knew his charges touch even in the deepest of hazes.

“Viktor what did you dream about?”

He flinched as if I had slapped him again and I sighed hugging him tight.

“It wasn’t real Viktor. What you saw in there wasn’t real. You are here to protect me everything will be fine.”

It had been touch and go for a while as my father had thrown us in the jail until the mermen hadn’t waited for us to take the fight to them. They had gone for the Elvin bases before Madeline and Mason could get back. Having full access to our powers made us battle worthy. Our freedom for our help. We had agreed.

Viktor had protected me as much as I had allowed but when I had been struck by a merman’s blade he had drawn upon our connection to release a fire that had burned with the power of both our magic. I had been healed but he had seen the fire and seen me injured and couldn’t think of anything but the cavern and his vision. It was like this every time we practiced with that element. He couldn’t learn because of his fear.

“I burned you.”

“You were still in thrall of the dream.”

He didn’t hug me back but he didn’t stop me from hugging him either. He needed the reassurance even if he didn’t want it.

“How long as he been starting fires niece?”

I sighed and looked at my aunt standing and letting Viktor follow or stay sitting. Always his choice.

“The cavern wasn’t kind. Viktor fears the fire and when I try to train him in the other elements he does fine, he’s even excelling at healing, but he fears the fire…”

“So it controls him not the other way around.”

I nodded. Lying to my aunt was never a good idea. She always found out.

“He needs to control his battle magic. I think because the two are combined in him and I can only teach the Elvin half…”

“He isn’t learning what he needs to control everything. He needs a mage teacher.”

As my aunt finished I nodded. If she banished Viktor, and she might he was a danger to everyone until he learned control, I would go as well. It would leave her without an heir again so hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.

“He needs to be taught. Your uncle wants to know what we should do about allies. I think the mages might be the answer to both our problems.”

That was how we found ourselves walking from my aunt’s kingdom to where the mage’s were rumored to live. It had only been two months since the battle against the mermen and already we were on another epic journey. I sighed, the things I did for this kingdom.

There you have it. Proof I am indeed working on the second books those series I am getting emails about. I have NOT started the second books to the hidden world series yet but an outline is completed. As it is a recently published project however I plan to finish these works in progress first. Not to mention i have a few other things in the works. Some FREE short stories, some novellas and so on. I hope you all enjoy this sneak peek. Stay tuned for more info on the upcoming novellas and free short stories!