Release May 28th, 2021 – preorder now!
Back Cover Blurb:
Thirteen Zodiac Assassins
Forged in the Darkness of the InBetween,
Ruled by the Shadow Side of their Stars,
The Only Hope for the Light of Humanity.
What Would You Sacrifice To Find Your Place In The World?
A Zodiac With No Power
Cancer needs to prove that he can be an asset despite not having an offensive power like the other Zodiacs. When Lyon’s children are taken by humans, he volunteers to go with the Zodiac leader, his mate, and the Kellas Cat Outbreeder to find them. But just as the mission starts, Cancer and the Outbreeder find themselves alone with a kitten as their only guide to find the children, mercenaries tracking their every move, a black jaguar sizing up Cancer for his next meal, and the power of the looming supermoon threatening to upend it all.
A Woman Between Two Worlds
Half paranorm and half Native American, Nokomis has struggled to be accepted as an Outbreeder, taking in every unwanted cat, creating a haven for the old and injured and traumatized, yet never measuring up in the eyes of the arrogant Kellai. Ordered to provide a familiar for one of the Zodiacs’ adopted children, a Kellas Cat deemed “tainted” by her association with the other paranorm species, she ends up with a Zodiac who needs to believe in himself if they stand a chance of surviving.
A Home Threatened From Above And Below
With the Master of the Dark and his coven rising out of Hell, and humans experimenting on the paranorms they capture, can the Zodiacs defend the only home they’ve known, or will they finally have to abandon the dark of the InBetween and seek refuge in the light that’s proven just as dangerous?
Excerpt:
“Nokomis.”
She caught his gaze.
“You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”
“And how many women do you know?”
“Very few. Basically none.”
“What?” she asked, startled. “How can that be? There are women throughout the InBetween and the human world. There must be women you’ve…” Her face flushed hot and she wished she could retract the words as soon as she said them.
“Slept with?” he said, his lips twitching with humor.
“Well, yes.” She threw up her hands. “I shouldn’t have asked that, it’s none of my business.”
Cancer caught one hand and pulled it across the small table, kissing her knuckles then tracing one of her more jagged scars. “What if I want to make it your business?”
She blinked and blushed even harder. Steam must be coming off my face by now.
“I guess you’d answer the question then,” she said, gently pulling her hand from his.
He rested his elbows on the table, food forgotten, his fingers clasped together. “I have met many women. I slept with some of them. But did I know them? No, not one.”
“That’s semantics.”
“There’s a world of meaning found between ‘met’ and ‘know’.” He nailed her with a look, all humor gone. “That world is one I want to explore. With you.”
“You are royalty,” she threw at him. “There is too much that would keep us apart.”
“I’m only half-royal, and any chance I had to be a prince was lost centuries ago. I am a half-breed, just like you. Though,” he said, taking a sip of his water, “I don’t like that term. It’s derogatory, and minimizes the beauty found in the blending of families.”
“The Kellas Cats don’t see it that way.”
“Neither do most, if not all, of the other species, but it doesn’t matter what they think, does it?”
“It matters a great deal if you want to live in their world.”
“And what if you chose to live in another world?” Cancer asked, his words laden with meaning.
Meaning she was terrified to contemplate. Before she could respond, he held out his hands and waited for her to take them.
“I can see you’re unsure about this. I get it. So let’s start with something simple.”
She took a deep breath, releasing the tension that had threatened to choke her. “Like what?”
He released her hands and eased out of the settee, going to the stereo built into the cabinets. He turned it on and ran through some stations until he found a slow song.
He held out a hand. “Dance with me?”
She ran a hand down her hair, startled by the idea. “I’ve never danced before.”
He moved his hips back and forth, not once catching the rhythm of the song.
She bit back a giggle.
“See? Nothing to it,” he said, dancing around, his hands flying all over the place. “Join me.”
She got to her feet and stood still, not sure she could do any better job then he was, but his enthusiasm proved to be infectious. She found herself bending her knees and bobbing, while her hands moved back and forth trying to match the movements of her lower body.
They danced around the small space until the song stopped and was replaced by a faster one.
Cancer kicked his feet out and flung his arms over his heads, his mouth wide, his eyes wider. “Let go, Nokomis! Feel the music!”
She tried to copy his herky-jerky movements but she burst into laughter, barely able to breathe, much less keep up.
The third song came on, another slow one, and they stopped dancing. Cancer’s face was flushed, his excitement cooling to serious. He stopped moving and held his arms out to the side, beckoning her.
“Come closer,” he said.
She closed the scant distance between them and looked into his brown eyes, her heart pounding from the interest she saw in them. This was new, this was real, this was now.
He wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her up against his body, his heat washing over her. Delicious, raw, sweet heat that seeped into her, melded with her until he felt as much a part of her as anyone ever had.
He placed her left hand on his waist, then took her right hand in his and held it. “The trick here is to not use fancy footwork. Just…sway.”
Cancer dropped his head and pressed his ear against hers, his breath tickling the tender skin on her neck as he swayed to the music. She followed his movements, her body relaxing, getting used to the closeness, the intimacy she’d never experienced before.
He turned his head. “This is how it starts,” he whispered in her ear.
Goosebumps rose on her skin. She leaned her head farther to the side to expose the column of her neck; an invitation for his lips to touch, his teeth to nibble, his tongue to taste. “What starts?”
His silence made her rise on her toes, made her back arch, made her lean in closer, weightless, breathless in anticipation of the answer.
“The knowing,” he said, his voice so deep it vibrated through her.
🦋
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