The Between. A race of people between light and dark. Good and evil. Human and animal. The world discovered their existence over a decade ago, and so far the balance between humans and Between has been precarious at best. One bite is all it takes to cross the line from human to Between. It doesn’t matter what species of shapeshifter bites a human–only the soul can dictate what kind of animal is most suited to a Between. Many humans think they’re dangerous and should be locked away, while others covet their power.
On a fateful camping trip, fiery Oregon beauty Rhiannon Reid is kidnapped and turned into a “Between”–a magical shape-shifting creature. Now forced to prove her worthiness to the group’s golden king, lion-shifting Elan Delacourt, the two test each other’s strength and character–but lose themselves in the hot-blooded battle…
This is an unedited excerpt, it may differ slightly from the final version.
Elan rolled his tight shoulders, shoved his hands in his pockets, and left the room to wander down the hallway that lead to his suite. He smiled tiredly to the Guards positioned along the hall, and they nodded back.
His eyes burned with grit, and he knew he should sleep, but doubted he’d be able to. The way his muscles felt, he’d probably do better if he spent an hour in the gym before he crawled into bed. What he should not do was call Rhiannon to see if she was still up. Nor should he walk down the long pathway to her house and just surprise her. So far, she’d protested neither, no matter how late he worked. She just slid her hands over his body and kissed his as greedily as he kissed her. No questions, no accusations, nothing but a quiet understanding of the momentary escape from reality they both needed.
And, God, he needed.
It was dangerous and stupid to crave her like he did. Even more dangerous was that he enjoyed talking to her as much he enjoyed fucking her. Sex was one thing, but any other kind of intimacy shouldn’t even factor into this affair. He was supposed to be winning her over, not the other way around. Damn it.
“Sire.” The Guard stationed outside Elan’s suite snapped to attention and held the door open. “You have a visitor.”
The other man didn’t specify who, but he didn’t need to. Only a handful of people had the security clearance to be allowed in the king’s private quarters, and when Elan stepped into his sitting room, he drew in a lungful of her sweet scent.
Rhiannon.
Tilting his head, he waited for the feel of her boundless energy to vibrate along his senses. It didn’t come. Frowning, he followed the smell of her into his bedroom and over to the wide expanse of his mattress. She lay curled on her side, one palm tucked under her cheek in sleep. His chest tightened with a tenderness he didn’t want and shouldn’t feel. The pose made her look impossibly young and innocent, something he knew wasn’t true. A smile curved his lips. The woman more than matched him in insatiable wickedness.
Reaching out to push back a flaming curl gently, he watched her eyelashes flutter. She yawned, rolled onto her back, and stretched. Those changeable eyes locked on his face, unpredictable as her moods, and she smiled. “Mmm. I tried to stay up, but the bed looked too inviting. What time is it?”
“Very late. Or very early, depending on your definition.” He let his fingertip trail over her soft cheek, down her throat, and across her collarbone as he mapped his way to her cleavage.
Arching into his touch, she chuckled. “I wore myself out today. Kira has me teaching Pilates to the poor, unfortunate guys on your Guard. The women on the Guard are loving the show, and I’m pretty sure Kira’s just enjoying watching the men be tortured into flexibility.”
He knew that. Every move she made was reported back to him, but listening to her animated retelling made him smile. “How’s my brother doing with it?”
“Very well.” She licked her lips and stared at his mouth, desire shimmering in her gaze. “And flirting with me outrageously while he shows off for his people.”
Elan’s hand froze, hovering over her silken flesh. He shoved back the totally unfamiliar jealousy, reminding himself that the more Between Rhiannon liked and cared about, the more successful his plan would be. He closed his mouth tightly, hiding the fact that his fangs had elongated to deadly points.
Sitting up, Rhiannon tugged her shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor beside the bed. “It’s good that I’m keeping in practice with my teaching for when I go back to Portland. I’m going to have to hit the ground running at the gym.”
His muscles tightened as the blow of her leaving hit his gut the same way his jealousy had. That she was leaving wasn’t a surprise–that he hated the idea was. It was a bad sign and it worried him. Shoving his hand into her red-gold hair, he pulled her head around until he could slam his mouth over hers. The possession in the gesture angered him because he knew he had no right to feel it.
Her lips parted under his, welcoming his kiss. He groaned and filled his hands with her breasts, desperate to touch her, to claim her. The lace of her bra maddened him, kept him from softness of her flesh, the tightness of her nipples. A quick jerk and the fabric gave under his superhuman strength. He threw the offending garment in the same direction as her shirt.
It’s been a crazy month this month. That’s not bad, by any means, but it’s kinda nutty.
First off, I met a great guy and now seem to have landed a boyfriend. For someone who’s been the ruling queen of Singlelandia for years, this is a little odd. I’ve codenamed him Professor Moriarty (yes, the villain from Sherlock Holmes–he picked the name, not me!)
Then, last week, I went to Comic Con with my best friend, the Mad Madam M. Here’s a picture of us waiting for the trolley.
Note all the signs at the Gaslamp Quarter station had been translated into Klingon for the “invasion” for Comic Con.
And the moment I got home, I became sick as a dog with a nasty summer cold. Having been single for so long, this is just the natural course of things to handle being ill on my own. Chicken soup? Check. NyQuil? Check. Advil? Check. Hot tea? Check. Okay, we’re as ready to battle the forces of evil as we’re going to be. But things are different this time, because I have Professor Moriarty threatening me with spankings if I don’t get into bed and get well immediately, if not sooner. On the one hand, it’s kind of sweet and a very novel experience to have someone concerned over every little sniffle. On the other hand, I’ve been doing this for a while now, and I think I know how to deal with a cold without someone telling me where to go and what to do.
Ah, well. I think I’ll keep him.
Also, if you haven’t yet, you can pre-order Sexy Beast 9, which comes out in about 3 short weeks. Check out an excerpt of my story here. We got a rockin’ review for the whole antho from Romantic Times. Go us!
So, one of my upcoming characters is going to be a travel journalist. Someone who travels the world and writes interesting and entertaining stories about where he or she has been. Sometimes this is about something the Average Joe or Jane could try and sometimes it’s something no one would ever want to try if they had a choice in the matter.
To get ready to tackle this hero, I interviewed a couple of travel writers: Tim Cahill and Rolf Potts (both pictured above). I met Rolf at one of my scholarly conferences in 2009, and ended up helping him with a story he was writing, and then I hit him up when I needed help writing this character. He suggested I talk to Tim, who happened to be doing an event in my town just then, and poof! A second interview with a second travel writer. I’m having a great time comparing and contrasting their answers to my questions. Even when there are differences, there are similarities, so I’m getting a great feel for the kind of personality that would be a life-long vagabond.
This is going to a be a reeeeeeally interesting character. I’m loving it! Note that this character is actually a shape-shifting panther and Latino, with dark hair, eyes, and skin, so he doesn’t look a thing like either of my travel real-life travel writers, but that’s probably for the best since I want an even mix of both Rolf and Tim in the hero. (If you haven’t guessed yet, this hero is going to be in ON THE PROWL II)
Also, I’ve totally gotten hooked on reading travel writing stories. I’ve blown through Rolf and Tim’s books (and loved them!), moved on to Bill Bryson and Pico Iyer, and…well…I see a few exotic settings coming up in my future books. This is just too much fun!
This week is Romantic Times week, and I’m going to be doing a flat-out headless chicken run for the whole conference. Not that I mind, especially. That’s kind of how you have to roll at these get-togethers. There’s workshops and parties and presentations and parties and reader events and promotion and parties. Did I mention the parties? There might be one or two, I’ve heard.
One of the big things that I had to prep for was getting some pretty give-away stuff together. I have magnets, and I did some cute excerpt booklets that people can take, but my favorite goodie is the bookmark designed by Croco Designs that shows off the cover of my Novemeber release, Primal Heat. For those who don’t know, Croco designed the Aphrodisia Author website and blog as well as many other lovely author sites, including mine. I always love what she does for me.
Here’s the bookmark. I want to pet it, hug it, squeeze it, and call it George.
So, in joyous, super duper, fantabulous news that is just smothered in awesome sauce, I sold a new three book deal to my Aphrodisia editor in the last month, with the help of my truly talented agent, naturally. (Squeeeee!)
It was basically a deal of sequels, which is cool. I’m doing the sequel to On The Prowl first. For those who read the original, the two stories in this book revolve around Miguel’s cousin and his mate, and Enrique’s (the villain in the last OTP story) younger sister, who now has to find a mate and redeem her family name. No pressure, right?
Then I have the sequel to Every Witch Way (which is going to be renamed, but I don’t know what the new title will be. Stay tuned!). This one has werewolves and vampires and serial killers, oh my! Plus, some seriously wicked naughtiness going on between an elf and a human. You’ll have to check it out to learn more, but it’ll be fun, I promise!
The last one is the sequel to Untamed, and the first story is about Pierce’s cousin, who also has a thing for boys and girls. Must be a Vaughn family trait. Hee. The second story gives you a little more conclusion to Breck and Tam’s story. What, you didn’t think I’d leave you hanging with them, did you? Naaaah!
Oh! I almost forgot! I also got an offer to be in a new shapeshifter anthology, and my novella for that one will be the sequel to my Sexy Beast 9 story, which comes out in August. This one is about Elan’s younger brother Max. He needed to get his comeuppance, and my editor agreed. Can’t wait to write it!
For those who don’t get the Nina Simone reference in the blog title, here’s a sneak peek of her awesomeness. She’s got a voice that can just rip my heart out.
It looks like I’m going to be doing a ton of traveling this year. In the month of April alone, I’ll be gone three out of the four weeks to go to conferences. Oy to the vay, dude!
So, here’s the line up of where I’ll be running around this year. Some of these places people can come see me. Some, not so much.
April:
PCA/ACA: The Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. I’ll be there getting my geek on and presenting about romance as a scholarly discipline.
Library Conference: This is an annual event in California where I’ll be presenting on librarianista type things. Should be entertaining.
RT: Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Columbus, Ohio. I’ll be at the print signing, which is open to the public and for those actually going to the conference, I’m doing a panel called Sextopia, where I talk about incorporating sex into worldbuilding when you’re writing. Come see me!
June:
Trip to my best friend’s house in Idaho. I haven’t seen her in a while and I miss her muchly, so I can’t wait to go hang out. Plus, she has a super cute puppy that never fails to entertain.
July:
RWA: This one’s in Nashville, Tennessee. I hope I can make it to RWA this year. I’m planning on it, but this might be the one that goes by the wayside. Fingers crossed! I hope to see you all there!
August:
Trip to my aunt’s house in Texas. No, you’re not invited. I don’t care how good a cook she is or how much you beg, you can’t come. I’m hanging out with my aunt, cousins, nieces and nephews (my cousins’ kids, and I know they aren’t technically my nieces and nephews, but I’ll call them what I want. I’m up to four on that side of the family!). I always come home with lots of stories from Texas.
I’m exhausted just thinking about all the travel. The last part of the year, I’m just going to spend recovering!
First, I’m resolved to get some new proposals to my agent and start cranking out more novels. We’ll see how that goes. I have some ideas that I’m pretty stoked about, but can’t say more than that right now. Wish me luck.
Second, let’s talk about what I know is coming down the pipeline this year. My release schedule is pretty locked in already, which makes some of the new year feel more solid. Promotion is never ending for the authorly, ya know?
I have two new books coming out from Kensington this year. The first is the Sexy Beast IX anthology in September with the fabulous Lisa Renee Jones and Vonna Harper. In my part “Between Lovers,” I’m introducing a new world with modern day shifters out and about in the real world. The Between, they’re called.
Here’s the totally unofficial blurb:
The Between. A race of people between light and dark. Good and evil. Human and animal. The world discovered their existence over a decade ago, and so far the balance between humans and Between has been precarious at best. One bite is all it takes to cross the line from human to Between. It doesn’t matter what species of shapeshifter bites a human–only the soul can dictate what kind of animal is most suited to a Between. Many humans think they’re dangerous and should be locked away, while others covet their power.
It’s a perilous time to be a Between and even more perilous to rule the Between. Elan Delacourt’s soul made him a lion, a king, and he’s been juggling human-Between politics since his father unveiled their people to the world. Then Elan finds that one of his own is kidnapping women and turning them into Between illegally. To make matters worse, he’s murdering the women and dumping their mutilated, half-changed bodies where humans are most likely to find them. This shifter must be stopped, and quietly, or all the peace Elan has fought and sacrificed for will evaporate like mist on summer day. When Elan’s security teams finally track down the offender, they find someone else has done their dirty work for them.
Rhiannon Reid never imagined a spontaneous camping trip into the wilderness would end her life as she knew it. She’d never even met one of the Between until one was torturing her for days on end, sinking his fangs into her flesh, and laughing while the agony of change ripped through her body. One moment of inattention is the only opportunity she gets, and she takes it, killing her kidnapper while trying to escape him.
She’s solved a problem by slaying the rogue shifter, but created a whole new one by surviving to tell the tale. Elan he has to ensure her silence about how and why she was turned. Ruthless commonsense dictates that he have her killed–it’s the only sure way to know she’ll never talk. But . . . he just can’t do it. The riskier approach is to make her happy enough to be a Between that she no longer cares how it happened. That’s a challenge he finds himself eager to take on–a king’s duty is never done until his subjects are fully satisfied.
Then there’s Primal Heat in November, which is also in the present day, but has ancient shifters showing up from a distant world to claim what’s theirs.
This is also a totally unofficial blurb.
The world changed in the blink of an eye. The Kith returned to Earth, and humans learned the terrible truth. They were lesser beings, slaves, abandoned to colonize a barbaric planet the Kith discovered centuries ago. They might have gone on in ignorance, but the Emperor of the Kith knows that his One is among the Kin. He sensed her the moment she reached maturity, and he will tear the planet apart if he must to find her, to claim her, to bond his mind and body with hers.
Wicked Lord
Sergeant Major Bren Preston doesn’t believe for a second that the powerful Kith brought an entire armada across space for a woman. No matter what the Kith ambassador claims–or how attractive she finds Lord Farid Arjun–she knows Earth will never surrender to the Kith fleet. But when she finds that her own commander, General Arthur, wants the planet for himself, she’ll have to decide what she’s willing to risk to save her people. Farid might be able to help her. For a price. He’s desired her from the moment he first saw her, and he’s not going to settle for less than everything she has to give. Her body, her heart, her mind, her hard-won independence. She’ll have to surrender herself to him if she wants to save Earth.
Carnal Empress
Jana Townsend was once a normal woman with a normal life. Until the day Emperor Kyber showed up and claimed her for his own. Nothing had ever felt so right, so perfect. But it was over far too soon. General Arthur’s men captured Kyber and spend months torturing him before Jana and the Kith forces can free him. Now, Jana and Kyber can’t find the common ground they’d once had. Both of them have changed, become different people, but the bond between them can’t be broken. They’re too damaged to move forward, but they crave each other too much to let go. The only thing they can agree on is that before the Kith leave Earth, they have to keep the planet from General Arthur’s clutches. For Kyber, justice and vengeance go hand in hand, and working with Jana to fight a common enemy shows him that the one thing he can’t lose is her.
Check out my upcoming releases page on my website to see what else I have coming from other publishers and to see an excerpt from the two books I just mentioned!
In the insanity between Thanksgiving and Christmas (or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Yule or…pick your winter holiday), it’s rough to get any writing done.
I mean, it’s exciting and awesome to get to see friends and family that you might not keep as close in touch with as you should. But this one time a year, you get to see them. That’s fabulous! Something to be truly thankful for.
However, amidst the holiday shopping sales, wrapping paper, holiday parties, family visits, etc it’s rough to squeeze in some you time. For me, the you time means writing time. And I have a Januray deadline! I’m not freaking out at all. No siree, I’m on top of stuff. This holiday thing isn’t sending me into a grab a paper bag and hyperventilate style panic. Pshaw!
All I can say to you is, enjoy your holidays, try not to panic too much, and make sure to pamper yourself as much as you pamper your loved ones. You deserve it too!
I’m so excited about this book, I can’t even contain it. It is, hands down, my favorite book I’ve written to date, so…here’s a little squee and all the info and excerpts I can throw at you!
The biological warfare of the twenty-first century changed the planet in astonishing ways, transforming humans into shape-shifters who love to walk on the wild side—reveling in danger and the explosive desire that consumes them…
Desire For A Price
Half-human, half-lynx, Delilah Chase makes her living as a professional thief. But when half-human, half-hawk Hunter Avery catches her trying to steal his priceless ruby, he makes her a proposition: spend a week in his bed, or take a trip to jail. What follows is seven days of unrelenting, primitive passion neither can live without…
Desire With No Limits
As the owner of Tail, the most notorious techno brothel in New Chicago, mink-shifter Lorelei Chase specializes in fulfilling all of her clients’ kinky fantasies. She just has one rule: Never sample the goods that her customers or workers offer. But every day, jaguar-shifter Nolan Angelo and wolf-shifter Pierce Vaughn tempt her to break that rule—until she ultimately gives in to a burning lust that knows no control…
Delilah Chase perched on the corner of the building, her hand braced on the ledge in front of her as she swept her gaze over the city below. From ninety stories up, it looked clean, beautiful, an ocean of multicolored lights against pure ebony.
But Delilah knew the truth. Up close, it was gritty, dirty, and dangerous. A place where someone like her flourished.
She grinned and let the adrenaline humming through her body take over. Her claws slid forward, scraping against the slick metal ledge. She ran her tongue down a long fang, her smile widening. It was always this way when she was on a job. Half cool, calm professionalism, half unadulterated thrill seeking.
Schooling herself to patience, she tilted her wrist and checked her chrono. A few more minutes and the virus she’d seduced a young computer techie into feeding into the building’s security system would kick in. She’d have a quarter of an hour to get in, steal the priceless ruby her client wanted, and get out again.
Kitten’s play, this job.
Still, every case had its risks, and the moment a thief got too cocky was the moment they slipped up. If all went well, by the end of the night, multi-trillonaire Hunter Avery would be missing a gem and Delilah would have a sizeable commission in her encrypted cred account. So, things had better go well. She gauged the distance between the skyrise she stood on and the one she needed to break into. Tricky, very tricky. Timing was everything. The lynx within her purred at the challenge.
This was going to be fun.
Balconies circled the entire penthouse. Not surprising a family of red-tailed hawks would build the glass and mercurite sanctuary for themselves in the middle of the city. High enough they couldn’t see the grime of the real people below.
The newsvids had reported on every aspect of the Avery family’s lives for as long as she’d been alive. Their fortune was one of the few to survive the Third Great War, which made them newsvid darlings, beautiful people in an ugly world.
Delilah had heard all about it when Hunter’s parents were killed in a tragic industrial accident. A few years after that, Hunter’s uncle died, and Hunter had all but disappeared from public view. The buzz on the street whispered that Hunter had done the killing himself, his mind twisted from seeing his parents’ death. A bitter little smile curled Delilah’s lips. Figures that he’d get away with murder. The rich always did.
Now, Hunter was practically a recluse in his tower penthouse, only allowing a trusted few in for business purposes, and only leaving for a few business meetings or high-society parties a year. Which meant conning her way in wouldn’t work, so breaking in was her best option. Her client said Avery was in Los Angeles at a board meeting and wouldn’t be home until the next day. Her intel had confirmed it, so tonight was the night to get what her client wanted.
If a tiny part of her was curious to see the inside of the Averys’ ivory tower, and got a malicious thrill from stealing from the richest man alive, she’d never admit it to anyone else.
Her chrono vibrated against her wrist, letting her know the window of opportunity had opened. Reaching behind her she pulled her grappler gun out of her knapsack, aimed it at the balcony railing and fired. A gossamer-thin strand of mercurite shot from each end forward to form molecular bonds with the railings on both buildings. She flipped a setting so the grappler would move along the wire. Taking a breath, she said a quick prayer that the virus worked and she wasn’t about to get fried by the security field that electrocuted any unauthorized life forms attempting to enter.
Then she tightened her grip on the grappler, jumped, and let gravity carry her down the wire with a soundless rush of speed and wind. Her heightened vision took in every detail as she went. So, she knew the exact moment something started to go wrong. The mercurite was designed to dissolve after one use. It left no evidence behind. The wind was especially intense this evening and she might just reach the end of that one use before she reached the other building.
Shit, shit, shit.
Heart pounding so loud in her ears it drowned out everything else, she tilted her feet forward and hoped for greater speed. Tensing every muscle as she hit the perfect spot in her downward flight, she kicked her legs hard. She swung up and around the wire, launching herself into the sky. The cable slackened and she knew it was no more than silver powder beneath her. She twisted midair, flipping until she landed lighter than a cat’s paw on the edge of the railing. Triumph rushed through her, making her grin. Perfect.
She loved it when a plan came together. Almost as much as she loved it when the plans went awry and she had to think on her feet. It was why she was the very best at what she did.
Dude, I am so stoked! This is my first contemporary story for Kensington (okay, so the crazy aunt might be a psychic. I could resist a little hint of paranormal!), and it was a lot of fun to get to write a baaaaad boy hero. He’s a tattooist, hell on wheels, and sexy as all get out. Yum. Plus, he drives my heroine up the wall, which she really needs.
Here are the details. Christmas came early this year, baby!
Under the Covers anthology by Crystal Jordan, Lorie O’Clare, and P.J. Mellor
“Naughty or Nice” by Crystal Jordan
Dayna Sharp has the perfect job, the perfect man…the perfect life. So why is the prospect of marrying Mr. Wonderful so perfectly boring? It’s a question Dayna can’t shake when she brings her fiance home to meet her spectacularly un-boring family–and finds herself pursued by a bad-boy bearing gifts that could burn a hole in more than her Christmas stocking…
“Nativity Island” by Lorie O’Clare
Marine biologist Mercedes Porter isn’t accustomed to hot weather on Christmas – or to being half a world away from home on her favourite holiday. But here she is, stranded at a seaside lodge on a tiny island. The only other guest is a darkly mysterious, undeniably gorgeous stranger who certainly knows his way around the mistletoe – and, before long, around Mercedes…
“Escaping Christmas” by P.J. Mellor
The best things in banker Samantha Harrison’s life are her dog, her friends, and her boyfriend – pretty much in that order. But everything changes when, right after knee-buckling, tree-trimming sex, her man breaks the news that he’s leaving her for another women – walking out with her pride and her pooch. Determined to recover both, Sam soon finds herself in Christmas, Texas, handcuffed to the hottest lawman she’s ever seen – and hoping for some naked justice…
For more information on a million places to order this smokin’ hot holiday anthology AND to read an excerpt of “Naughty or Nice”, click here!
BETWEEN LOVERS
It looks like I’m going to be doing a ton of traveling this year. In the month of April alone, I’ll be gone three out of the four weeks to go to conferences. Oy to the vay, dude!
