This will be the last teaser from Taye and Carla. I hope to get at least a little written in Olivia’s Mate this coming weekend, so next Tuesday we’ll finally get back to poor Kit and Olivia. That’s the plan at least. 🙂

I realize from a couple of comments on Facebook that I haven’t made the re-issue thing clear. So let me take a minute to tell you what I have planned.  I have requested the rights to Sleeping With the Wolf and Wolf’s Glory back from the publisher.  I plan to publish them myself.

This is NOT because I don’t like the publisher, I absolutely LOVE Liquid Silver Books. The are professional and pay on time. If an unpublished romance author asked me where she should submit I would recommend Liquid Silver right off.

Anyway, I should receive the rights back on December 1st. Of course I can’t self publish them until all the various online retailers remove them from their shelves, so they may not be out until a few days or maybe a week later. I plan to make Sleeping With the Wolf, Book 1 of the After the Crash series, free. Amazon doesn’t allow books to be started off at free, so it will be $0.99 there until it is price matched. That could be anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks. I will also send it out in epub and mobi formats in my DECEMBER NEWSLETTER a few days before I load it up. Wolf’s Glory will retail for $3.99.

I hope that clears up any confusion. My apologies for not making it plain sooner. I promise, anyone who wants to read the little additions will be able to do so without spending money. Really, it’s unfair to expect someone to spend money for something they already have. Especially around the holidays!

The stranger eyed Carla with interest. “This is your mate?”

Taye squeezed her shoulder. “Yes, this is Carla,” he said proudly. “Sweetheart, this is my cousin Jumping Stag from the Clan. We call him Stag.”

Carla nodded at the stranger, and was surprised by his eyes. They were vibrant blue in his sun-browned face, even brighter than Sky’s eyes. He smiled, and Carla saw the family resemblance. His teeth were glowingly white, and the same dimple that Taye hid beside his mouth flashed briefly. She thought he might be about the same age as Taye. “Nice to meet you.”

“You were on the airplane too?” Stag asked. “You’re from the Times Before?”

Carla agreed that she was.

“I came because your advice is needed. And Taye’s. You are happy with him. I can smell it. You care for him. You share your body with him.”

“Um, yes,” Carla said, embarrassed. With these wolves and their noses she couldn’t lie.

“My mate is from your world. Her name is Sherry. She is beautiful, with skin like that coffee the traders bring, but so skinny and her legs were broken…” He trailed off and took a deep breath. “She says I’m unnatural. A monster. She calls me a liar. No one can make her happy. Please tell me what I can do to make her love me.”

Carla sank into her new chair. “You’re a wolf, right? Wolf-born, I mean. Has she seen you change?”

“Yes.” Stag dropped to his haunches in front of her. Taye settled onto the arm of her chair and put his arm around her shoulders. “We’ve all told the woman that I will be a good husband. I can provide for her and our pups.”

“Pups? Did you call her future children pups?”

Stag’s handsome face showed surprise at her accusing tone. “I think so,” he said cautiously.

“Good grief.” Carla huffed out a sigh. “Back in the Times Before we didn’t have wolves, only movies—stories about men who turn into wolves and eat people. Horror movies.” Carla was aware of the whole Pack listening. “She’s probably scared. You have to think of it from her side. The plane she was riding in crashed. That is pretty scary right there. Now she has a stranger—who turns into a wolf—telling her she belongs to him and he wants her to have his pups. Can you understand why’d she be scared?”

Stag sighed and looked at Taye. “How did you get your mate to accept you so quickly?”

Taye caressed Carla’s shoulder. “I was lucky. It took my parents three years, remember? I promised Carla that I wouldn’t demand sex until she was sure she wanted it.” He looked down at Carla with an inquiring look on his face. “What did I do, sweetheart, to convince you?”

“Well … You did so many nice things for me. The hot water, and the stove, and the guitar…” Carla had been thinking about this for a while and struggled to put her feelings into words. “You showed me you cared. Words are nice, but they say actions speak louder than words, and it’s true. I knew I could never go back to the Times Before. I had to make a new life here. You made me feel safe. I didn’t even know that until Pete challenged you. I was scared of you at first. I was afraid you would rape me, but you didn’t. Pete would have. And you treated me like an equal. Mostly. I felt like you respected me.” She fiddled with the end of her braid, frowning. “Almost right away you proved you cared about my feelings. You made me believe I was important to you.”

Taye lifted her hand to press a kiss to her palm. “You are important to me. At first it was because my wolf had chosen you to be my mate. I would have felt like that whoever my mate was. It was natural to want to protect you and make sure you were comfortable. I began to admire you when you took the man who tried to steal you down with a kick. I liked that you could take care of yourself. Liking and admiration and respect are a good beginning for a couple starting a life together. Now it’s more than just liking. I love how generous you are to people. You share your music with joy, like you have with the Pack and you will with Mr. Gray and his family tomorrow. And you listen to me when I talk about things that are important to me like my parents, and my new cousin. I love the way you decide what is right and do it, even when I might not like it, like when you insisted on accepting the guitar as a gift. I love you because you make me happy to see you.” He kissed her temple tenderly.

Carla forced her tears back. Taye loved her. It was more than just lust for him. She put her hand over the arm he had over her shoulders and squeezed gently. “We were lucky,” she told Stag, who was watching them wistfully. “I think it will take more time for you. Be patient with Sherry. Maybe treat her like a sister for a while until she gets used to you. And,” Carla paused to clear her throat. “It might be good to wear clothes around her. In the Times Before people didn’t run around without clothes on. It makes us uncomfortable.”

Stag glanced around the room full of naked men.

“I’m getting used to it now. But at first … It was pretty hard.”

“The Grandmother requires clothing in camp,” Stag told her. If you don’t like it, order the Pack to wear clothes.”

Carla blinked and turned to look up at Taye. “I can do that?”

“Sure. You’re the Lupa.”

She looked out at the Pack gathered around. “From now on, wear clothes.”

There was a general groan. “Always?” said Jelly plaintively.

She considered. “No, only when you’re inside the den.”

“That’s not so bad,” said another man with relief.

Stag looked at Taye. “Will you and your mate come to the Clan so the women from the Times Before can see that they can be happy with a wolf?”

Taye nodded. “In a few weeks, maybe. Aren’t Shadow and Glory happy together?”

“They seemed to be, the first day. Then Glory found out she couldn’t go home, and she went crazy. Poor Shadow is begging her to love him again, but she only punches him and tells him to drop dead.”

Taye coughed to cover a laugh. His cousin was fifty pounds heavier than he, and five inches taller, and so fierce that his reputation was known for hundreds of miles in all directions. The mental image of a woman with pink hair defying his ferocious cousin was amusing.