Excerpts
These are excerpts from my published works or works in progress.
Tuesday Teaser 2/17/2015: Rose
It’s mid February! Wolf’s Princess is still not done, but I’m really moving forward on it now. I have three main scenes left to write, or about 12,000 words. It is at 91,200 right now, so that will put us over 100,000 words.. I am considering a short-ish epilogue too. I have hopes the rough draft will be complete by March 8. It’s sad that I hurt my shoulder shoveling snow. (The one and only day I had to go out is the one and only day this year we had snow!) It slowed me down in my writing. You wouldn’t think typing would hurt a shoulder, but it does!
Anyway, here is a snip of what I wrote Sunday. It should be interesting to those of you who want to know what happens with Sara and Stone. 🙂
Even taking her time, Rose finished the dishes in less than an hour. She was wiping down the sink when the mudroom door opened and Stone came in. Rose blinked at the beaming smile on his face. She had rarely seen that open, happy smile since he had come back from Kansas two years ago. It chased away all signs of grimness, leaving him a handsome young man of twenty-one.
“Rose!” He came to her with a bounce in his step, oozing excitement. “She said yes! She agreed to my mate claim, and the marriage is going to stand.”
“You forgave her? You love her?”
His eyelids swept down and then up, showing a sheen of moisture. “Yeah, I love her. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been so hurt. But we’ve talked about it, and we’re going to put it away and never talk about it again.”
“That’s good, Stone. I’m so happy for you. Have you…” Rose cleared her throat. “Are you going to spend the night at her uncle’s house? Or will you wait to, um.” Doggone it, she was blushing!
Now his smile shaded into knowing male satisfaction. “Tonight.” His caramel-colored eyes glowed. “Tonight,” he repeated, “we’re going to… Tonight is our wedding night. But where can we go? I don’t want her walking through the streets tonight, even with me for her escort. Whichever way the vote goes, things could get rowdy.”
Rose smiled. “I know exactly where you should spend tonight. Come with me, and I’ll show you.”
She led him up the steep, narrow staircase to the third floor. “This is the room Ms. Mary used. I think it will work just fine for your wedding night.”
She opened the door to the pink room and flicked on the light. Stone sent a quick glance around the pretty, feminine room, but his gaze settled on the bed for a long moment. He turned to her and gripped her hands. “It’s perfect,” he said, squeezing her hands.
“I’m happy for you, Stone,” she said again. “You’re a special man, and I believe Sara truly loves you. I’ll take some time and clean up in here.”
He lifted her hands to his lips and kissed them with brotherly affection. “Thank you, Rose. You’re the best.”
The day passed slowly for Rose. She finished tidying the kitchen, and then changed the sheets on the bed in the pink room and tidied it. She stood in the doorway when she was finished, looking around the room. It was pretty, a more appropriate place for a wedding night than the boring gray room across the hall where she and Sky had lost their virginity. She smiled a little. She didn’t care what the room looked like as long as Sky was in it.
She stilled, staring blankly at the wall. As long as Sky was in it. Did she care for him? Yes, of course, she cared for him. Did she love him? She wasn’t sure it was love. Did he love her? She’d seen what true love looked like. It was Taye, face white with terror, when Carla’s labor went too long with Little Feather. It was Tracker sitting side by side in the firelight with Tami, telling her without words he would always be there for her. It was bossy Shadow, sitting patiently while his wife laughed at their daughter braiding his hair into ridiculous loops. It was the pride on Quill’s face when he watched Ellie play with their children.
She closed the door on the room, and on her thoughts, and went downstairs to see if Katelyn needed help with lunch.
Tuesday Teaser 2/10/15 Wolf’s Princess
Here it is, Tuesday again, and I have nothing new from Daughter of the Wolf Clan. I guess you’re stuck with another snip from Sky and Rose’s story. 😉
First let me say that my search for a new apartment is over! Now I’ll hopefully be able to devote more time to writing! Well, at least until it is time to start packing (groan). I will be moving at the end of March, so here’s to a lot of writing for the next five or six weeks!
And now, a little snip from Wolf’s Princess:
Rose went back to the guestroom and was reaching for one of her suitcases when Sky stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
“Rose, wait.”
She stood up to face him. “Yeah?”
He swallowed, loosening his tie with sharp jerks. “I’ve imagined this so many times,” he whispered. “Having you here with me. I never thought it would come true.” He fell silent for a minute, his blue eyes looking dark in the low light. He brought his hand up to touch her face. She shivered under the brush of his fingers over her cheek. He trailed them to the corner of her lips, over her jaw, to her throat. “So beautiful. Rose, I want to kiss you.”
The expression on his face made her heart thunder. No one had ever looked at her with that kind of raw longing. Who would have dared with half the Pack guarding her at all times? There were times in the past eight years when she would have welcomed a kiss from anyone. At twenty-four, she was the oldest virgin she knew of, and she wanted to experience a man’s lips caressing hers. She tilted her face up. “Then kiss me.”
She felt the shudder that went through him. The hand he stroked her throat with lifted to cradle her cheek. She closed her eyes and held her breath, agonizingly eager, and almost more nervous, to feel his kiss. It was a long time in coming. She was about ready to open her eyes when his lips brushed lightly over hers. He did it again, and this time his lips stayed on hers. He licked the seam of her lips and when she gasped, he invaded. That was all it took. Like a bundle of dry twigs struck by a spark, her whole body flashed into flame.
Tuesday Teaser 2/3/15: Wolf’s Princess
I’m moving! That is, I put my notice in at the rental office on Friday and today I made about a half dozen calls to other rental offices in search of a new apartment, preferably one with a balcony. I had to leave messages at some, but I have appointments to view three apartments on Tuesday and Wednesday.
I’m kind of freaking out about it, because moving is a LOT of work! I have lots and lots of stuff. Fabric, yarn, more fabric, books (ye gads, the books!!!) and tons of other craft supplies. And I’ve been spending the past three days cleaning because they’ll be bringing people through to view my current apartment. Yikes! The front hall closet is stuffed to the gills with all kinds of stuff, about half of which I can probably throw away or donate. And the bedroom? Holy moly. That will take me an entire day to clean. (did I mention the books?)
What does that mean? It means I haven’t spent much time writing, and I won’t be spending very much time writing this week. So… no new snip from Kit and Olivia. I hope you’ll be satisfied with a snip from Rose and Sky. This scene takes place after they’ve been in Omaha for a few days. I hope you enjoy it! Now I’m going to sit in my newly cleaned living room with a heating pad on my aching back (cleaning is hard work!) and read the new Jeaniene Frost book.
It was nearly four hours later that Sky went upstairs to join his mate. Instead of the usual weary frustration dragging at his feet when he climbed the stairs, tonight he bounced up the steps, eager to see his mate in his bed. Her scent would be on his sheets and pillows. She would be there to welcome him. He would inhale the scent of her hair and savor the warmth of her body beside his while they talked. Yes, he reminded his libido firmly, just talk.
A thin line of light showed under the closed door. He took a deep breath and turned the knob. When he stepped inside his bedroom he looked immediately at the bed. The glow of the lamp made Rose’s blonde hair look more yellow. She was curled on her side, propped up by pillows in pink cases which she must have brought from the other room. He liked the pink mixed in with his gray sheets. They were pretty and feminine just like his mate. Her head was bent over an open book and it took Sky a moment to realize she had fallen asleep while reading.
“Rose,” he whispered.
She didn’t stir. He approached the bed and put light fingers on her hair. The book slid out of her limp grasp and fluttered shut on the bed beside her, but she didn’t waken. Some of his excitement ebbed away, but seeing her sleeping so soundly in his bed gave him a sense of satisfaction. He could shake her awake, but he didn’t want to. She was so beautiful, so infinitely precious, that the heat of tears stung his eyes. He blinked it back, drinking in the lovely sight of her in his bed. He wished he could make her understand how much he wanted her. Not just sexually, although the sight of her in his bed was doing interesting things to his body. No, Just having her close made his wolf happy. And it made him happy, too.
He picked up the book and put it on the bedside table. With careful hands he removed some of her pillows and tossed them on the floor before arranging her on one side of the bed. He waited for her to wake up, but aside from humming a little and opening and closing her mouth like a fish a few times, she slumbered peacefully on. He cursed himself when he caught sight of her long pale legs under the hem of her night shirt. The fit of his pants was already uncomfortable; looking at his mate seemed to make them shrink. He pulled the blanket up to her chin out of self preservation.
He turned off the light before getting undressed. She didn’t want him to kiss her without her invitation, so he doubted she would appreciate the sight of his arousal. He even considered wearing something to bed, but he had nothing that would work as pajamas. So he went commando as usual when he lifted the blankets and slid in beside her.
A quiet joy filled him when he breathed in her scent and felt the warmth of her breath on his shoulder. Eight years of dreaming and longing were forgotten in a moment.
She shifted an inch closer to him and gave a low, lady-like grunt.
“Rose?”
“Thank you for the lamp,” she mumbled.
At least, he thought that was what she said. He leaned up on one elbow to look at her. She appeared to be still sleeping. “You’re welcome.”
“The mayor doesn’t like you. Said he shoulda gotten rid of you a long time ago.”
“I know,” he responded, staring down at her closed eyes and relaxed face. “Rose? Are you awake?”
“Mmm,” she said, flopping a heavy hand onto his breast.
He froze. His erection, which had begun to subside, roared back to life. She was soundly asleep, but even asleep her touch affected him. For a second, he regretted insisting she share his bed. No, he didn’t regret it. It might drive him half crazy, but sleeping beside her was worth it. He would tempt her and tease her and show her how much he valued her, until she accepted his mate claim. Then they would do more than just slee—
A tiny sound jerked his head toward the door, his body tensing for an attack.
Low to the floor, two green orbs glimmered. A sniff confirmed what Sky suspected. That damn cat jumped up to the bed, glared at him for a long challenging minute, then sauntered over to Rose’s ankles before turning in a circle three times. Mitzi plopped her overfed self down, shot one leg up in the air and began to thoroughly wash her lady parts. She paused to sneer at Sky, and then, supremely blasé, went back to her bath.
Sky laid his head back on the pillow, swearing to firmly shut the door tomorrow night. Then, to calm himself, he took in a deep breath tinged with his mate’s scent, and fell asleep.
Tuesday Teaser 1/27/15: Daughter of the Wolf Clan
Before we get to today’s snip, I want to give you an update of Rose and Sky’s story. It’s moving along. I finally got the write The Scene I’ve Been Looking Forward To For The Past Two Years. Yes, Rose has finally accepted Sky’s mate claim and they have lost their virginity! It’s a looooong scene (about 10 pages) with hot passionate kisses, a few giggling fumbles, tender possessiveness, heartfelt confessions… OK. I really like it. I may do a little trimming, but in general, I think it’s one of the best love scenes I’ve ever written. I shared a few snips of it on my Facebook Page and I’ll post a few here next week. I know a lot of you are anxious to get to read Rose and Sky’s story, and I’m anxious to get it out to you! I have four major scenes left to write, and several smaller scenes, so four chapters plus an epilogue. Should be about 100,000 words. For comparison, Wolf’s Glory, Wolf Tracker and Ellie’s Wolf were all around 75,000 words.
And now, back to Olivia and Kit:
The first woman, the taller one, took a menacing step. “Dev, you’re coming pretty close to insubordination, aren’t you?”
Devlin held her eyes for a moment before looking down. “Not intentionally, Maria. But I was with Kit when he found his mate yesterday, and I believe the mate bond exists. For him to service another female would be wrong.”
“Fine.” Maria’s smile made Olivia touch the knife on her belt. “If they’re mates, let’s see it. Service your mate, Kit, and we’ll all be witnesses to your bond.”
“I’m nah human,” Kit growled.
“Human enough to give the little girl sex. Do it, Kit. Prove she’s your mate and she lives.”
Tricia jumped up from the blankets, wearing only her shirt and a leer. “Your choice, Kit. Either give your mate sex or watch her die.”
Kit’s roar was cut off by a third woman, walking from the back of the cave with two mountain lion kits in her arms. She was smaller than either of the other two women and her mouth was curved in a smile that didn’t have even a hint of a leer.
“Maria. Tricia.” The third woman shook her head. “Why taunt poor Kit like this? Leave him and his mate alone.”
“You always had a soft spot for him, Juanita,” spat Maria. “He’s brought a human to the pride.”
The curvy woman called Juanita shrugged and rubbed her cheek against the fur of one of the babies in her arms. “She’s his mate.”
“Human,” insisted Maria.
“She probably wasn’t even born when the pride was slaughtered. She’s not responsible.” Juanita turned to Olivia with a smile. “Here, hold my sons.” She plopped the kittens into Olivia’s arms and ignored both Olivia’s stuttering protests and the hisses from the other people in the cave to fasten a cold stare on first Maria and then Tricia.
“This stops now. Kit deserves to find some happiness. His mate is off limits. I mean it.” She lifted black eyes to glare at everyone else in the cave. “No one bothers Kit or his mate or they answer to me.”
All eyes dropped, even Maria’s and Tricia’s. Juanita gave a satisfied grunt and turned back to Olivia and Kit. She smoothed hand over Kit’s feline face with a loving smile. “I’ll miss you as a lover, sweetie, but I hope you’ll be happy with your mate.” She picked up his paw and kissed it before turning to Olivia. “What’s your name?”
“Olivia Stensrud.” Holding the kittens squirming to get loose was hard. They each weighed at least twenty pounds, and their claws were already sharp. Juanita took pity on her and removed them. She leaned close to say, “Be good to Kit, Olivia Stensrud. He’s special. Let him service you as soon as possible. Until you’re fully mated, the pride won’t accept you.”
“Uh.” Olivia blinked. She didn’t want the pride to accept her. She wanted to go home, where her family would surround her with love, and where no man could get within fifty yards of her without her brothers bristling like the wolves they were. “Thanks.”
Juanita leaned in to press a quick peck on Olivia’s cheek. “You two get out of here now. Take your mate back to your lair, Kit, and get to know her better.”
Kit didn’t say a word. He picked Olivia up, tossed her over his shoulder and ran out of the cave back to his own.
Tuesday Teaser, 1/20/15: Daughter of the Wolf Clan
I am moving right along on Wolf’s Princess now. I just finished writing the big love scene between Rose and Sky. It took me the entire weekend to write! It’s amazing what a little love making will do for the level of affection and trust between mates. They are both pretty happy now! Maybe next week I’ll share a little snip of Wolf’s Princess, but for today, you get another helping of Kit and Olivia. 🙂
With supreme indifference to the threat of Kit’s claws, the woman turned and walked out of the cave. Eyeing Kit uneasily, Olivia walked after the woman, expecting Kit to stop her. But he only fell into step beside her, growling a quiet rumble under his breath. She tried to edge away from him, but he grabbed her arm to keep her close.
“Let go of me,” she snarled, every bit as ferociously as her aunt Glory could.
After a moment, he dropped her wrist, but stayed close. Olivia swallowed and kept her eyes on the woman. As they passed out of the cave, the warmth of the sun fell like a welcome blanket over her. She looked around to try to fix landmarks in her memory for her escape. The sense of warm comfort was shredded by the woman’s mocking laugh from a few yards away. “Hurry up, little human.”
Olivia followed, still casting thorough looks around to memorize the terrain. They were on a rocky mountainside so steep that if she tripped she’d slide thirty feet almost straight down. Nothing was familiar. She had no idea how to get home from here. There was a narrow ledge that went from Kit’s cave to another cave about a hundred yards away. The woman ran with light, sure feet along it, utterly confident she would not slip. Olivia took a deep breath and started after her, more slowly and carefully. She could feel the warmth of Kit’s body right behind her. Kit’s large, furry, naked body. it made her uncomfortable. He should have put some clothes on. The wolves of the Clan tended to wear as little as possible, but they wore at least breechcloths when they were in human form. Kit wore nothing at all. It reminded her that only a few minutes ago he had tried to rape her. So why did he seem like a friend? The woman might be her enemy, but she was Kit’s pack mate.
The other cave was larger than Kit’s, and dim after the bright morning light. A quick count told Olivia that there were about twenty adults there, mostly men, and about a dozen cougars. A group of ten children were herded to the back of the cave at the sight of her. Olivia was relieved everyone was clothed in pants and shirts, although they were barefoot. Clearly, this cave was a living area, as there were piles of blankets scattered along the wall and woven baskets with lids beside the blankets.
As she stood just inside the cave, every eye turned to her and silence fell. In the quiet, the mewling of kittens rose. The woman folded her arms over her ample bosom and stalked forward to stare into Olivia’s eyes. Olivia let her eyes drop so as to not challenge the Alpha female. She jumped when Kit’s arm curled around her waist and he leaned his hip against hers, but his warmth was comforting. It shouldn’t be comforting!
“Kit has brought a little human girl to our pride,” the woman announced loudly. Her lip curled. “What do you all think of that?”
Little? Olivia wanted to argue. She wasn’t as tall as her cousin Victoria, but she was above average for a woman. And she wasn’t a girl. She was nineteen now, old enough that even her father and brothers agreed she could have suitors. The two she’d had so far were boys she’d known all her life, and with her father sitting on the other side of the fireplace, working on his carving with a large knife instead of his usual small chisel, they hadn’t dared to even hold her hand.
“She’s human.” Scorn dripped from the voice. Another woman came from the rear of the cave, looking ready to spit at Olivia. She was shorter and slimmer than the other woman, but with similar coloring and features, and with a bitter expression that scared Olivia. “I say we kill her.”
Olivia was almost glad of Kit’s arm clamping around her and the snarl twisting his feline face. “Oleeya is mah madte. Mine!”
“So you’ve said. Repeatedly.” The first woman’s smile was cruel. “But from what I heard at your lair, she doesn’t agree. Do you, girl?”
Death colored the air shuddering in Olivia’s lungs. “I haven’t accepted him yet.” She laid one hand over the arm clenching her waist. “I need more time to get to know Kit before I accept him.”
“Liar.” It was the second woman, the bitter one. “All you humans are liars.”
Olivia forgot about not challenging anyone. She drew herself up and glared. “I am not a liar!” Well, maybe a little bit of a liar, but only to save her life. “In the Wolf Clan, a man courts a woman to give her a chance to accept him.”
“But you aren’t his mate yet, are you?” The woman pulled her pants off, and threw herself on a nearby pile of blankets, opening her legs so everyone could see her privates. Olivia felt her eyes stretch into wide circles before she jerked her gaze away. “Kit!” the woman bellowed. “Come service me. Now.”
Kit shook his head. His long hair brushed over Olivia’s shoulder. “I gih sex only Oleeya. Candt change back human now.”
“I don’t care,” snapped the woman. “I demand you service me now.”
There was a gasp and a murmur at this. Another voice rose, and it was familiar to Olivia. The dark-haired man from yesterday pushed to the front of the people. Devlin. “Tricia, the rule has always been that whichever form you queens are in, your partners will take the same form to give you sex. Kit can’t take full cougar form, so you both have to be human. He’s too upset to change right now, but even if he wasn’t, he can’t give you sex. He’s mated.”
The first woman, the taller one, took a menacing step. “Dev, you’re coming pretty close to insubordination, aren’t you?”
Devlin held her eyes for a moment before looking down. “Not intentionally, Maria. But I was with Kit when he found his mate yesterday, and I believe the mate bond exists. For him to service another female would be wrong.”
Tuesday Teaser 1/13/15: Daughter of the Wolf Clan
This week you’re getting a longer snip. Well, slightly longer. If you recall, we left Kit curled around Olivia, waiting for her to wake up so he could make love to her. In the cat culture, making love isn’t the same as it is for wolves. Luckily, they are interrupted before Kit can do what he intends. Or maybe Olivia has gone from the frying pan to the fire! I hope you enjoy it. 🙂
“Kit?” She craned her head to peer over her shoulder at him in the dim light. Yes, she could see traces of the lion man who had kidnapped her. The dark blond hair that fell past his shoulders and his strangely bright yellow-green eyes were familiar. The wide mouth with the gently curved lower lip and the soft shape of his face were not.
“Yes,” he said, sounding pleased. He bent his nose to the nape of her neck and inhaled deeply, just the way Uncle Taye did to Aunt Carla sometimes. “You slept such a long time.”
His tongue touching the side of her throat, licking up to her jaw, made her scramble to get away from him. “Let me go!”
The happy pleasure died from his face, replaced by something dark. His arm clamped painfully over her waist, yanking her back. “No,” he said flatly.
“You have to! I’m freezing.”
“I’ll give you sex. That will warm you up.”
“No!”
She kicked and clawed, trying to get free, but it was hopeless. He looked slender, but he was as strong as a wolf warrior. He wrestled her face first into the blankets and crushed her beneath him. Her flailing arms failed to hurt him no matter how hard she tried to strike the body on top of her back. When he spoke his voice sounded regretful.
“You prefer rough sex? But you’re so easily broken. Wouldn’t you rather cuddle?”
“No! Get off me!”
Her voice was muffled against the blanket. She struggled to buck him off, but she couldn’t budge him. Were his hands actually trying to pull her panties down? She clamped her knees together, hooking her ankles together with all the strength she had. How did he dare to treat her like this? She had never felt a man’s bare body pressed against hers. Even Rob hadn’t taken off her clothes in his father’s stable. It made her feel horrifyingly vulnerable, and that helpless feeling made fury surge through her.
“Stop!” she screamed. “Kit, stop it right now!”
His teeth fastened on her shoulder near her neck with a growl that vibrated through her like a drum in a parade. Or maybe that was her heart pounding? His teeth hurt, but the pain was drowned by rage.
“Stop, Kit!”
Olivia found fresh strength, enough to allow her to throw him off her back for almost three whole seconds. He pounced back on her, but this time she was ready, and chopped the edge of her hand into his windpipe just as her uncles had taught her. He tumbled back a couple of feet and sat on his bare haunches, glaring at her and breathing hard. Olivia saw, by the state of his arousal, the fight hadn’t dampened his enthusiasm. The skin and muscle of her shoulder throbbed where his teeth tore her skin. Where was her knife? She didn’t dare take her eyes off him to search for it.
A shadow blocked the sun from the front of the cave. Kit turned in a silent bound that put him between her and the cave mouth. Olivia jerked her panties back up and fumbled to pull one of the blankets free to wrap around herself to hide her nakedness. Kit didn’t seem bothered by his nudity, but it was clear he was bothered by the faceless, black silhouette at the front of the cave. He snarled something in that slurred language, his voice so distorted by his rage Olivia couldn’t decipher the words. The shadowy figure said something in calm reply. Olivia blinked with surprise at the feminine voice. When Kit snarled again, the woman’s voice rose to a whiplash of command.
“You braw a female tuwa pride?” the woman demanded.
“Mahmade.”
Kit’s voice was a low, dangerous growl, his body crouched as if ready to spring. Behind him, Olivia looked frantically around for her clothes. Her jeans and shirt had never seemed to be protection before, but right now she was agonizingly aware of being vulnerable without them. She saw them folded a few yards away, and her knife was a beautiful thing, peeking from under her shirt.
“You, human girl.” The woman’s voice was as confident and commanding as an Alpha’s. Was she the cats’ Lupa? “Come here.”
“No!” screamed Kit. “Mahmayde sday wid me!”
He was nuts. Only a crazy man would scream at his Alpha female like that. Olivia edged toward her clothes, flicking a cautious glance between Kit and the woman, desperately wanting to be dressed before the Lupa exploded.
“Girl! I said come here.”
“Yes, ma’am. Just let me get dressed.”
“Right now, bitch,” the woman snarled.
When Kit let out a bone rattling roar, the woman snapped in perfectly spoken English, “Shut up, Kit. You brought her to the Pride. She’s my business now.”
“She dresz furz.”
Olivia didn’t wait for the Lupa’s permission. As she rushed to fumble her way into her pants, she was transfixed by the sight of Kit growing several inches and hair sprouting over his back. His change was nothing like her brothers’. When the Wolf Clan let their wolves out, it happened in a blink. This took transformation took over ten seconds, and the thin noise that came from Kit’s throat was pained.
The shadowy figure of the Lupa moved forward, emerging from the glare of the sun to reveal a woman as tall and broad as Aunt Glory, but with waist-length black hair and dark eyes in a harsh-featured face with thin lips. Her jeans and shirt were very tight, showing a lush body. She glared a cold challenge at Kit.
“Are you defying me, boy?” she asked.
Instead of an angry growl, the tone was gentle. So gentle it made Olivia shiver. When Uncle Taye spoke in that tone enemies died. But he never used that tone within the Pack. Did this woman treat her own people like enemies?
“Mah madte.” Kit sounded less angry, but still stubborn. “Oleeya mah madte.”
“Girl, are you finished dressing yet?”
Olivia scrambled into her shirt, shoved her feel in her boots sans socks, and surreptitiously patted the hilt of her knife on her belt. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Follow me.”
Tuesday Teaser 1/6/15 Daughter of the Wolf Clan
Here we are: our first Tuesday Teaser of 2015! I am making good progress on Wolf’s Princess. I am really liking Sky now that he’s stopped being an idiot. I might interrupt Kit and Olivia’s story to throw in a couple Rose & Sky teasers in the next month or so.
As you read this snip, please remember that Kit has never lived among humans. Enjoy!
Kit searched out dry wood and hurried back to his lair to build a fire to keep his human mate warm. After building the fire to a nice glow, he curled around Olivia, reveling in the bare skin of her back touching his chest. Cuddling soothed something wild inside him. She smelled right. She smelled like him. He lay on his side almost on top of her and put his chin on her shoulder to watch her sleep. At last he felt calm enough to go back to his human form. The pain of the change was brief as he went from his half-form to human. He couldn’t smell her as well in his man form, but he could still feel her stomach where his arm lay over it, and her breath warm on the fingertips he caressed her lips with. Her hair was almost as pale as her belly. It was shorter than his, soft and straight. He used his fingers to comb the tangles out of it.
Safe in his lair with his mate beside him, he was able to think more clearly. What if Olivia wouldn’t be happy to be his mate? She had seemed to resist at first. He hoped he was wrong and she would be glad he had taken her. He hadn’t had a choice either. All he knew was she was his. Whether she was happy or angry didn’t change that fact.
“Olivia,” he breathed. Her name was strange, but easy to say when he was in man form. He still wasn’t sure if she was pretty as the humans viewed prettiness. She was beautiful to him. Her white skin almost glowed in the dim light. Her belly was firm, the teats beneath their wrappings seemed firm also. Perhaps she hadn’t yet given birth to kits. That pleased him, although it seemed strange. She was fully mature, past the age where she would have dropped her first litter.
Maybe it was a human thing. Kit had watched them sometimes from a distance, but he didn’t understand their ways. Justin and Devlin had told him that some human females accepted only one male. Not just one male at a time, but only one male for their entire lives. But that was ridiculous. There were few females but many males among the humans he’d watched. The males must fight each other for the right to claim a female, just as his pride did sometimes when Maria or the others were in heat. Then the pride queens demanded sex from several of the males at a time.
But maybe the human males felt about their mates the way he felt about Olivia. They prevented any other males from servicing their mates and would kill any male who approached. Kit would kill any male who came near Olivia. He was the only one who would give her sex. Kit bent to inhale at her female spot. To have such an alluring scent she must be in heat. He felt fierce and wild from it, just as he and the other males did when one of their females went into heat. She would wake up demanding he give sex. He relaxed into her body, falling into a light catnap while he waited to please her so thoroughly she wouldn’t ask for another male.
“Wake up, Olivia,” he whispered into her throat. “Wake up so I can give you pleasure.”
Chapter Three
When she woke, Olivia’s back was warm but her feet were freezing. She wondered sleepily if she had kicked the blankets free during the night. A slow languorous stretch made her aware of an ache in her back and … something warm and firm pressed against her? A glance over her shoulder shocked her. A man with a bare chest leaned over her, his wild tangle of hair brushing her shoulder and chest. Confusion was partially banished by memory, but nothing reduced the terror that leapt into her throat. She was naked except for her underwear, and he –she darted a quick glance down his body– was completely naked.
They weren’t lying on a bed, only a couple folded blankets on a dirt floor in irregularly shaped rock room. A cave? Light was coming in from the narrow opening at one end, about six or seven yards away.
“You’re awake at last,” the man said, wrapping his arm more tightly around her middle. “I was worried.”
She forced herself to not claw at his arm, but she couldn’t control her galloping heart or her wild breathing. “Who are you?”
“Don’t be afraid. I’m Kit. Your mate.”
Tuesday Teaser 123014: Daughter of the Wolf Clan
This next section in Kit and Olivia’s story doesn’t have a lot of action, just a bit of information from Kit’s point of view. The cat pride is very different from the Wolf Clan, as you’ll learn. Enjoy!
Kit climbed the steep slope to his lair, carrying his mate tightly against his chest. His cave was a hundred yards from the rest of the Pride. They all knew he preferred to be alone. He brought his kills to the Pride to share, and sometimes went to them to give sex to one of the queens, but rarely did any of them come closer to him than the bottom of the slope. He would still share his kills with them, after he had set aside a portion for his human female, but he wouldn’t be giving the queens sex any longer. He had a mate of his own now, like Justin. He wondered how Justin was doing living with his mate’s human pride. Kit could never live under such confining conditions. He was a cougar for all that he couldn’t make a full change. Living in a human pride would kill him. Even if his human mate begged him to join her pride he would refuse.
In his arms, Olivia was still deep in the sleep he’d laid on her. He walked into his lair and paused to inhale her scent. His. His mate. That scent made him want to roll around in it. He needed to have her scent on him, marking him as hers. He wanted her to smell of him. Gently he put her down on the tangle of woven wool blankets he habitually curled on to nap. When would she wake? When she did, would she want him to service her immediately? He put his nose close to her crotch to sniff. She was human so he couldn’t tell if she were in heat. Often Maria, Tricia and Juanita demanded sex even when they weren’t in heat. She smelled good there. It was a happy scent. That is, her scent made him happy. He growled in anticipation.
What should he do until she woke? She needed grooming. The small cuts from his claws still hadn’t healed. That was something he could do for her. Carefully, gently, he licked over her face. She tasted of tears and her throat shamed him with the old blood from where he had accidently cut her skin with his claws. He hadn’t meant to hurt her, but she had tried to deny him. He would have to learn to control himself around her. As a human, she was frighteningly fragile. His clawed fingers fumbled a little with the buttons on her shirt, but he was able to remove it and the thick undershirt she wore beneath it. He stared in confusion at the strips of fabric she had wrapped around her chest. Was it a bandage? He sniffed cautiously for blood and decided it must be something she used to protect her teats. He wanted to lick her there. Maria loved to have her teats licked and nipped. He left her chest wrappings alone and carefully groomed her belly, shoulders and back with slow swipes of his tongue.
How long would she sleep? Any of his pridemates would have thrown off his compulsion by now. Humans were weaker that cats. Maybe it would take her longer to wake up. He would wait for her to wake to service her, but he wanted her right now. At least he could rub against her and absorb her scent while he waited for her. She wore boots and socks and heavy pants with a belt and a knife on the belt. He approved of the knife. As a human female she had neither claws nor strong sharp teeth with which to defend herself. A knife was a good thing for her to have. He removed her pants, socks and boots, but decided to leave the cloth she wore around her hips in place too. He would love to groom the pink flesh between her legs, but she might be angry if he did that without her invitation.
He pondered that. Did he have to wait for an invitation? She belonged to him. When he’d first found her she had tried to deny him. Now that she was here, in his lair, wearing his scent, she would realize that she must submit to him. But he should at least wait until she woke. Females could be moody and unreasonable when it came to sex. So he satisfied himself with sniffing the rich scent from her female place and cleaning thoroughly between her toes and along the arch of her slender feet.
After he had finished grooming her he realized that with the sun down his lair was cooling rapidly and her body was chilled. She was human and would feel the cold more than he did. He had never had a fire in any of his lairs before, but he’d never had a weak human female either. A small fire would be good for her. He could put her clothes back on her too, but he didn’t want anything between their bodies when she woke and demanded sex. His pants joined hers on the floor beside them. Was she like Maria who liked her lover to be rough and screamed at him to go faster, thrust into her harder? Would she buck against him, trying to throw him off to force him to dominate her? Or was she like Juanita, who liked to play during sex and cuddle after? Or maybe was she like Tricia who indulged in the act only when her need was riding her hard, and clawed the males away as soon as she was satisfied. He hoped she liked to play. She was so delicate he might break her if she demanded he be rough with her. It was in his nature to take control during sex. Maria loved that. For her, sex was a battle. Playful would be good. He liked to play and he liked cuddling, too. Cuddling Olivia was something he would love to do.
“Wake up, Olivia,” he breathed into her hair. “Wake up, mahmadte.”
Tuesday Teaser 12/23/14: Daughter of the Wolf Clan
Christmas is *this* close! I still have some cleaning to do before the family starts arriving tomorrow, and the laundry pile is about to fall over and drown the kitties, but other than that I think I’m ready for the holiday. I hope your plans are going well too!
Here is your Tuesday Teaser from Kit and Olivia’s story. Kit is distantly related to Eddie Madison. but unlike Eddie he clues in pretty quickly that if he treats his mate roughly it hurts her. Everyone in his Pride plays rough, and since they’re all cats, they heal quickly. Olivia, he sees, doesn’t recover quickly. I think Kit is going to be a great hero! I hope you’ll enjoy this next snip.
Chapter Two
Kit ran carefully with his precious burden. His feelings about this female confused him. He didn’t like people outside the pride. He didn’t get along even with his own pridemates, and they at least left him alone most of the time. Humans were cruel. Why this one smelled so fascinating he didn’t know. He knew only that when he’d first seen her he had wanted to break her neck. Until he scented her. Then all he wanted was to get as close to her as possible. A year ago one of his pridemates had claimed a human female as his mate and gone to live with her pride. Family, the humans called it. Kit had thought him crazy. Give up the freedom of living in the wild with the Pride in exchange for a confined life with humans? But now he understood. This female was his. Utterly his and he would keep her with him, never let her go, ever. He would go to almost any lengths to make her happy. Part of him, the sliver of human reason that dimmed when he was in his shift, whispered he was acting crazy. Kit ignored the whisper. It didn’t matter what his human side thought.
“Kit!” the female said insistently again. She had tried to talk to him from time to time, but now wasn’t the time to talk. He glanced down at her, inhaling her scent, but didn’t respond. He needed to keep his attention on the rocks and trees. He was moving with all the speed he could muster, so he could have her safe in his lair before dark. It hurt him when he saw the bruises his fingers had left on her throat. Devlin had tried to warn him to be more gentle. Human females were so fragile. The bruises should already be fading, but since she was a human, he would have to take far more care with her. He resolved to never hurt her again.
Maria might not like that he was bringing a human female into the Pride. She and Juanita and Tricia were the queens and they shared all the males of the Pride between them. They might not like another female to share their males with. He didn’t care. This human, Olivia, was his. He wouldn’t allow any other male to give her sex. Olivia would be his queen. If she objected to him giving sex to the other queens he would forsake them. When Justin, his pridemate, had found his human mate last year, the human female had demanded that he service only her. That must be exhausting for Justin. Maria sometimes required three or four of the males to satisfy her when she was in heat. But Kit would be happy to spend all his time pleasing only Olivia. He snarled at the thought that she might want to invite other males to please her. He would kill any male who so much as sniffed at her. He was the youngest of them, but they all feared him. Not only was he the fastest and strongest of them in spite of only being able to take a half-form, but he was sometimes able to control their minds if he bothered to make the effort. His eyes could force them to surrender if he thought it hard enough. It was seldom worth it. His teeth and claws were easier to use. But sometimes it was good to have everyone walk away unbloodied.
He leapt from one spine of rock to another ten feet away and felt the female tense in his arms. A glance down at her showed her pale blue eyes staring up at him. In spite of a light tan, he could see her skin was naturally pale. Her fine white blond hair was long enough to flutter in the wind created by his speed. he wanted to pet it. He didn’t know if she was beautiful the way humans counted beauty, but her long bony face with its narrow long nose and high cheekbones was beautiful to him.
She tried to hide it, but he could scent her fear. Her neck with the bruises from his fingers, speckled with tiny gouges from his claws still troubled him. Once he had her safe he would tell her he regretted hurting her, but he had no time to sooth her fear now. Yes, after he had brought her to his lair, he would speak to her. There he would be secure enough to resume his man form and assure her she was safe with him. He would protect her and any kits they had. First he had to get her to his lair. He had to hide her so her pride couldn’t find her and take her away from him.
*
How long could he run like this? Olivia looked up at the sky and saw the sun was almost down. It had been at least four hours since Kit had picked her up and carried her away. His pace was faster than any racehorse and his heart rate and breathing weren’t labored. Olivia estimated he had carried her at least sixty miles. She had tried to pull a few of her hairs out and let them drop on the ground along the way from time to time. Even her father would have trouble tracking her all this way with no scent markers from her. But by now her father, brothers and the ranch hands would be searching for her. They would easily track her horse to where Kit had attacked her. After that she wasn’t sure how plain the trail would be, especially with Kit carrying her so her scent wouldn’t linger on the ground. But he was leaving some prints. Even though he crossed running water several times and moved over hard rock, surely her dad and brothers would be able to track him. She just had to leave some clues behind to help them.
Her dad would be disappointed in her. She wasn’t supposed to be more than a mile from the ranch house unless she had one of her brothers with her. According to Uncle Shadow even that was too far for a woman alone. His daughter Victoria had to scheme to get any freedom at all. Luckily Aunt Glory could stand up to Shadow better than anyone, so Vicki did get some freedom. Poor dad must be frantic to find her now. Olivia was sorry she’d pushed the limits of her freedom so far. When her dad and brothers caught up to her they’d put her in lock down for sure.
“Kit!” She’d been trying to get him to pay attention to her for the past three hours, but he’d always ignored her. Since he was running on relatively level ground now, she dared to squirm gently in his grip. “Kit, please! Let me down just for a couple minutes. I have to… I need to go to the bathroom.” When he paid no heed she pinched him and screamed, “Kit, are you listening to me?”
He glanced down at her with that alien face showing something fiercely feral and clamped his arms even tighter. “No.”
“Yes!” she snapped back. “Unless you want me to pee all over you.” She wasn’t making it up. She really did need to go, but the real reason was that her urine would be like a red flag to anyone tracking her. “Kit! Please!”
Maybe it was the “please”. He leapt up to a rock crevice and set her down. He waved a hand—paw—at the crevice. “Hurry.”
Olivia’s legs almost folded. She staggered and might have fallen if Kit hadn’t steadied her with a hand under her arm. After only a second he let her go and took one half-step back. He wanted her to pee into the deep crack in the rock. The scent would be harder for her father and brothers to catch there. She unbuckled her belt and found those rabid golden green eyes watching her carefully. Honestly shocked, she stopped.
“Can’t you go away for a minute?” she asked stiffly.
“No.”
“Then you have to turn around,” she demanded.
“Why?” he asked in apparent confusion.
“Because it’s not polite to watch someone go to the bathroom!”
That strange feline face showed bafflement. Was he totally untamed? Didn’t he know anything about common courtesy? Privacy? She felt suddenly cold. He really was feral. “Kit,” she began. Saying please seemed to help before. She tried it again. “Please step away and turn your back. It’s not like I’m stupid enough to try to run off. I know you’d catch me to two seconds. Okay? Please?”
After staring at her for a long minute he did as she asked. It was embarrassing for her, but she quickly did her business and did her best to leave evidence for her father to find. Before she had even finished buckling her belt Kit was back, swinging her up in his arms and sprinting off again. Even her father couldn’t cover ground this quickly. Her urine scent would be gone before he came this way. Helpless tears stung her eyes and in spite of her efforts, she couldn’t force them back. Kit looked down at her as he ran. His eyes really were pretty, in a fierce, non-human sort of way. Intense and staring steadily in hers, his eyes filled her sight. She felt like he was trying to hypnotize her. Her effort to look away failed.
“Sleep,” he commanded in a fierce purr-growl. “Sleep, mahmade.”
And somehow, without her meaning for them to, her eyelids dropped and she slept.
Tuesday Teaser 12/16/14: Daughter of the Wolf Clan
Oh, dear. Today’s teaser is very short. Sorry! Does it help if I tell you I’m writing the first love scene between Sky and Rose? Well, it’s not a full love scene. I have to ease them into this. After all, they’re both virgins. Rose is giving off confusing signals and Sky is reluctant to push her for fear of frightening her. But they’ve just woken up in the same bed, and they must have drawn close together in sleep, because when Sky wakes up Rose had her face pressed into his chest and they have their arms around each other. Sky wakes first and just lays there with a huge smile on his face, because his mate is sleeping so trustingly in his arms. Then Rose rolls away from him onto her back and his hand ends up in an interesting place. They both freeze, shocked yet delighted. I wonder how far I should have them go before Sky forces himself to stop and let Rose flee to the shower, leaving him alone in his pristine white sheets?
Well, here is the teaser from Olivia and Kit’s story:
He hauled her up into his arms and began running. She had never travelled so fast. How could he run so fast? He was running uphill, carrying her in his arms like a baby. Even her wolf-born brothers and cousins couldn’t run like this. Over his shoulder she could see Devlin shaking his head, getting smaller and smaller.
“I told you not to challenge him,” he yelled, but Kit had carried her so far so fast that the words were very faint.
He was moving too fast for her to try to throw herself out of his arms. A spill on the steep mountainside could be fatal. Kit would get tired soon; he had to. Maybe then she could get away from him. His heart pounded calmly and steadily against her cheek, not seeming to labor at all. The wind created by his speed forced tears from her eyes. Yeah, it was the wind that made her cry. Olivia blinked the hot tears away, determined to fix landmarks in her memory to follow back home when she’d gotten away from him.
And she would get away. She might have been willing to allow him to court her, but the way he’d treated her showed her he’d be a terrible mate. Escape might be difficult, but she was her mother and father’s daughter. She could track and survive in the mountains as well as either of her brothers. Even if she wasn’t able to get away on her own, her father and brothers would come for her very soon. Grimly she settled into the steely arms that held her against a warm chest, waiting for her opportunity to escape.
See? I said it was short. Sorry! More next week!
