"Rise from the Grave" Now out!

I'm super excited to bring you the news about my newest release. "Rise from the Grave" A short from the Lionheart Abyss series.

Valdis isn't having such a good day, and the grumpy litch from a few towns over isn't about to make it any better.

Click here to get it.

Silver Mane Part 13

     “What’s going on? Why does Kavos suddenly have such a problem with me?” Ana stood her ground and stomped her foot into the dirt, tears behind her eyes. She just finally started to feel like she was making ground with the pack and then this whole mess. He was so mad at her when really she was the one that had almost just died.

     Alice sucked in the cool evening air and sat down. Her fur kept the chill off of her. Ana was too mad to be cold, at least at this point in her range. “Sit please.”

     “I’m not your pet to command!” Ana snapped back at her.

     Alice again took another deep breath. She wasn’t the beta of the pack so there would be no rolling, but she did respect Ana as an alpha. As odd as the situation was, she really did love her alpha, and this was her choice in mates, so be it. “Forgive me Miss, I just didn’t want you to stand through a very winded explanation.” She lowered her head and didn’t look the human in the eyes.

     Ana looked at the wolf before her, her gaze softened as she noticed her body posture. The wolf kept her head down and for once Ana started to feel bad for the wolf. She decided to sit down. She was still mad about what was going on, but at least she would get some answers. If this was going to continue, she was going to leave. This wasn’t what she signed up for, again, she didn’t want any of this. She never asked to be a slave, and the tears finally burst through. “I’m sorry, this is all just too much. None of it makes sense, and I just can’t.” She buried her face in her hands and let the tears run down her face and pool in her hands.

     Alice sat there watching, she didn’t know if she should just continue or let the girl cry. Humans are so confusing to her and she cocked her head. Without thinking she scooted over to the woman and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her close to her chest. Ana snuggled into her fur and slowly stopped crying. Alice took that moment and told her a story from all too long ago.

     “Many moons ago, before the Elders created the council, before the humans made their castles there was only the night.” Her voice was calm and soothing, this was the story of their pack. One that every pup had heard at one time or another. She knew it by heart. “In the night there were monsters. Some lived in the water, some in the sky, but the ones that lived on land, fought for it. There was never enough land for each to have his own.” She took a deep breath and ran her paw through the woman’s hair. Her eyes closed as she continued the story. “There were two clans. One of fur, and one of blood. We hunted together at one point, but those days didn’t last forever. One hard winter animals became scarce. Food was limited and the two clans were getting possessive over the limited food. The blood clan turned towards humans for food. Their new prey quickly became their favorite. The humans however, entranced by their charm and beauty turned against the other creatures. They turned on the wolves that lived in the area. The fur clan was hunted, skinned and hung on walls. The blood clan, they blended in with their prey. Sense then, the two have turned against one another. They will never hunt together again.”

     Ana had found comfort in the wolf’s voice and by the end of the story her tears had stopped all together. “So that’s why you hate each other? Because vampires started killing humans and wolves though it was wrong.” Her statement showed that she was paying attention.

     “In short I suppose that would sum it up fairly well. Of course there is much more to it, but I won’t bore you with politics.” Alice looked down at the woman who had curled up in her lap. She missed her pup in that moment and her heart hurt, the sadness welled up to her eyes like it hadn’t done for many many moons.

     Ana interrupted her thought process with a simple question this time. “Why was Kavos so mad at me then?” Her brain could wrap around the concept of hating the vampire for killing people, but why be mad at her. She was in trouble and some random woman helped her.

     “The simple answer to that, is because he cares.”

     “And the longer answer?” Ana prodded.

     The wolf sucked in a deep breath while her brain tried to figure it out herself. At least how to explain it to a human. To a wolf, it was simple, but she didn’t quite think that Ana would understand it the same way. “First off, he was in a panic because he didn’t know if she has already claimed you. That would have been all sorts of bad. You would then be the most important piece in a very bloody war. Another reason I’m sure is that if anything happened to you while you were in his care, Stela would,” She tried to find the right words without telling Ana the gruesome truth. “Well, let’s just say that your she-wolf wouldn’t be so happy or forgiving about that.” She couldn’t help but laugh a little at her own wording. “Mostly though, he was scared. Scared of loosing you. Of that blood sucker stealing your would or hurting you.”

     “But she actually saved me.” Ana tried to point out, thinking that it would make the entire mess easier.

     “He didn’t know, nor do I think it matters at this point. First off, you are safe, so that’s good. Second, and the bigger of the two issues, we now know there are vampires in the area.”

     “The people in the village seemed to know her and respect her. The guy was about to hurt me, and when she stepped up in turned into a puppy.” Alice twitched at the word. “Oh sorry.” Ana laughed a bit as she wiped away her final tears.

     “Of course they do. Her family, or at least she, has been around for most of their lives. They all know her so to speak.” Alice explained.

     “Doesn’t that mean then that the town would be more accepting of the pack then?”

     “Yes and no. I doubt they realize what she is. However, it does seem that they are accepting of long living families. I don’t think our problem will be with the town. More so with them.” Alice let the silence creep over the two in the small cave. The rest of the pack should be back any moment. She pulled the exhausted Ana into her arms and against her chest and within moments the woman was fast asleep.

Rise from the Grave pre-orders open!

     That's right, pre-orders are open and it will release this Saturday (5/27) and with the pre-order it will arrive directly on your device when it goes live.

Get it first, here.

Silver Mane update

     I finally got myself back on track and am happy to announce that this Wednesday there will be another Silver Mane post. I'm also working on a few other little things that are exciting to me, so be on the lookout.

Organization

     I keep finding myself running into the same problems week after week and I can't seem to figure out how to fix it. So again, I'm going to try something. I'm a very visual person and it's how I learn easiest. So today, I gathered all my projects and mapped them out in their stages. Perfect. Now that I can see everything it helps.

I goofed again

     This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but I lost track of the days again. I do have some good news about it though. I at least have the next few chapters outlined. So I'm hoping that over my next few days off that I can get those all typed up and ahead of the game.

Two Weeks!

     While I did miss a few days, today is day 14 of my daily writing. As in I have for 14 day's, wrote 1,000 words. I can't even believe it myself. Odd considering I've done NaNoWriMo for a few years now. I always come close (around 30,000 or so) I've never actually won. This little project however, is showing me what I can actually do. It's also been a wonderful help for brainstorming.

Summer Time

     It's that time of year again, school is letting out and summer starts. The downfall, that beautiful teacher that you had a crush on all year, is now gone. Your shot of getting banged on her desk, sadly gone. Here's some good news, you can go check out my series "Lesson Learned" and relive all those juicy moments. It's free for all you Amazon Prime members.

Sad news

     The day finally came where a ten hour work day derailed everything. I've cheated myself from making progress. That also sadly means that I didn't get around to finishing up this week's werewolf Wednesday  post. I am however, able to make posts easily here from my 'new' phone. So I can at least do some small things.

Almost 10,000 Words

     While I haven't been as focused on my blog as much. To be honest, I haven't really had a lot to say. At least not about any of this kinda thing. Plenty of other ranting but I don't think you all want to hear about that. Anyway! I have been happily writing at least 1,000 words a day. I just passed day nine today and it feels so good to see those numbers. I mean about 90% of them are just trash and ramblings. Heck one day I even counted down the last ten words by just writing out said words. Sad, but I at least did it. I refused to shortchange myself.

   

Silver Mane Part 12

Start Here

     Ana kept pace with the woman, the illusion never breaking as her eyes stuck fast to the ground. She fell into a rut. She knew what she was supposed to do, after all she was just a runaway slave, and you don’t go running off after someone just saves your life. The woman stopped and turned on her heel, her head held high. “Oh, I’m sorry dear, didn’t realize you were still following me. Can I help you?” There was a deep hunger in her eyes as they narrowed at Ana.

     The young girl was taken aback. She honestly didn’t know quite what to say or really what was going on. “No.” She ended up stammering out the simple word while fear welled up inside. She didn’t have to say much more because finally Kavos had caught up to her and she spotted him in the crowd. “Oh!” Her full attention turned towards him and the mysterious woman turned to look as well. She wrinkled up her nose as he came near. There was a low growl and immediately Ana realized something was off between the two. “Thank you again miss.” She bowed low trying to break the tension of the two. “This is my half brother,” it was the lie that they ran with, after all it was simple enough. “I got separated.”

     Ana was about to say more but Kavos stepped up, his chest was pushed out and every muscle was tense. “I’ll be taking her home now.” There was a growl as he wrapped his hand around Ana’s wrist. It was so tight that she began to worry that he might actually hurt her, or worse, shift back.

     The woman turned her attention to the girl. She held Ana’s gaze and spoke only to her. “If you ever get tired of running with animals, come find me again.” She smiled, it was a wicked smile. She knew everything. Even Ana could tell, but she didn’t know how.

     Kavos growled again deep in his throat and pulled Ana away before she could say anything. Her eyes were fixed on the woman as she disappeared into the crowd. As the two seemed to rush from the city. As soon as the thriving village was behind them Kavos shifted back into his wolf form. It seemed a lot less painful but it didn’t seem any more pleasant to watch. Without word or warning he grabbed at Ana. His paws gripping her shoulders hard. “Did that bitch touch you? What did she do!?” He was yelling and shaking the small woman.

     His anger scared her. Ana couldn’t understand what was going on. She couldn’t help herself and started to sob while the hulking white wolf stood there shaking her and yelling. She tried to find her voice in the madness that was going on around her. “Kavos… Stop… Please.” She could only get one word out at a time while he shook her. The pressure on her shoulders was starting to hurt and she could feel his claws digging into her skin. Tears raced down her face leaving clean trails where they went.

     “Kavos!”

     Ana melted at the voice that echoed around them. It was enough to stop the white wolf in his anger but he didn’t let her go. Either way, Ana didn’t care. Stela was there, she was safe. Her wolf was there and everything was going to be okay.

     Stela stood up on her hind legs, making herself as tall as she could and she squared her shoulders while she made her way down the small rocky ledge she had been standing on. “Let her go Kavos.” There was a bellowing growl deep within her chest. Her movements were slow but deliberate. Kavos let Ana go and took a stumbling step back as his mind returned to him. “What happened?”

     Ana ran to the alpha and threw her arms around the large wolf. Stela picked her up as if she was a child and the woman ran her hands through the animals thick fur. It was beginning to feel like home. She took a deep breath and smelled the scent of her wolf and for the first time she really started to notice her. Stela was always dark to her, but now that she looked she could see how her back was much darker than the front, save for one small patch at the base of her neck and between her shoulder blades.

     “There was an enemy in the village. She was after Ana. Or Ana was after her, I don’t know and I don’t care. All I seen was her,” His paw pointed to the woman who was curled up his alphas arm. “following a blood sucker.” He spat the last words. It was so out of character for him to be so mad, normally that was Aurel, but for some reason Kavos felt as if for the first time, this human had put him in danger.

     “Calm down Kavos. Alice, please go take Ana back to the den.” Her eyes never left her second in command. Alice stepped up and held out her arms, and Ana was dropped into them.