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Friday First Kiss #120 :: Charity by Sylvia McDaniel (Historical Western)

The moment I crack open a new book, I always rush through the beginning, the budding relationship between the hero and heroine, and anticipate that spontaneous moment when one of them makes their move. The First Kiss. The first turning point in every story.

Every week here on the blog, I’ll be sharing First Kisses from my books and those of other authors.

 

This weeks Friday First Kiss comes from, Charity (Book 1 in the Angel Creek Christmas Brides Series) by Sylvia McDaniel

 

For a man who had been open and honest with her, it seemed like a door had slammed shut. Turning to her, he offered her a spoonful. “Taste it and tell me if you like it.”

Holding the spoon to her lips, she opened her mouth. Mere inches separated him from her and she moaned at the texture of the meat. “Delicious.”

The savoriness ignited her hunger as she licked her lips and he moved even closer. 

“Since the ceremony, I’ve wanted another kiss.”

Once again, his lips covered hers and the caress of his mouth ripped her breath away. Oh no, what would he want next?

* * * *

Lewis longed to kiss her since that first peck in the church. That smooch had been just a sealing of their vows and commitments to one another. 

This kiss…this kiss sent his blood rushing to the center of his body like a wild horse charging across the prairie. Like a bull rider holding on for dear life as he rode that hunk of pure raging terror. Like a lion roaring in the jungle, proclaiming he was king. Lewis was shocked at his body’s reaction.

The feel of her full lips beneath his, soft and resilient, as he pulled her against his chest, her breasts snug. Just when things began to get heated, he heard the chili boiling over. 

Reluctantly, he released her and turned back to the stove and stirred the sauce. When he whirled back to her, she stood mesmerized. Her emerald eyes large, held his gaze as she stared at him in shock, her hand touching her lips. 

Oh yes, that kiss affected her the same as him. A smile radiated from his face and he laid his hand on her arm. “Are you ready to eat?”

“Uh, yes,” she said, shaking her head like she was breaking the spell. 

 

 

Charity (Book 1 in the Angel Creek Christmas Brides Series) by Sylvia McDaniel

A Mail Order Bride, Secrets, Lies and a Christmas Miracle

Five Charleston women desperate for marriage minded men and the chance to rebuild their lives, after the Civil War answer an ad in the Grooms Gazette. Charity Kingston has to get out of Charleston or face life working in a brothel. But the past follows her to Angel Creek, Montana, revealing her Irish temper and the brothel owner’s demand for payment of her debt. 

After the war, Lewis Brown is given a chance at a new start in life. Taking a dead man’s identify he begins his new life as a saloon owner in Angel Creek. Imagine his surprise when a mail order bride comes with the saloon. In one twist of fate, his past is exposed, his secrets revealed and his worst nightmare confirmed.

Lewis and Charity need a Christmas Miracle.

 

 

 
About Sylvia McDaniel

Sylvia McDaniel is a best-selling, award-winning author of western historical romance and contemporary romance novels. Known for her sweet, funny, family-oriented romances, Sylvia is the author of The Burnett Brides a historical western series, The Cuvier Widows, a Louisiana historical series, Lipstick and Lead, a western historical series and several short contemporary romances.

Former President of the Dallas Area Romance Authors, a member of the Romance Writers of America®, and a member of Novelists Inc, her novel, A Hero’s Heart was a 1996 Golden Heart Finalist. Several other books have placed or won in the San Antonio Romance Authors Contest, LERA Contest, and she was a Golden Network Finalist.

Married for twenty years to her best friend, they have two dachshunds. One that reigns Queen Supreme over the house and the other a puppy that terrorizes the Queen and a good-looking, grown son who thinks there’s no place like home. She loves gardening, hiking, shopping, knitting and football (Cowboys and Bronco’s fan), but not necessarily in that order.

Website | Bookbub | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads 

 

 

The post Friday First Kiss #120 :: Charity by Sylvia McDaniel (Historical Western) appeared first on Lily Graison.

Angel Creek Christmas Brides

 

 

When 5 high society Southern Belles decide to become mail-order brides, they head to the wilds of Montana and find a little bit of Christmas magic. 

Read all about these books below, then click the Amazon button to pre-order your copy!

 

Book 1: Charity by Sylvia McDaniel

A Mail Order Bride, Secrets, Lies and a Christmas Miracle Five Charleston women desperate for marriage-minded men and the chance to rebuild their lives, after the Civil War answer an ad in the Grooms Gazette. Charity Kingston has to get out of Charleston or face life working in a brothel. But the past follows her to Angel Creek, Montana, revealing her Irish temper and the brothel owner’s demand for payment of her debt. After the war, Lewis Brown is given a chance at a new start in life. Taking a dead man’s identify he begins his new life as a saloon owner in Angel Creek. Imagine his surprise when a mail order bride comes with the saloon. In one twist of fate, his past is exposed, his secrets revealed and his worst nightmare confirmed. Lewis and Charity need a Christmas Miracle.

Releasing November 2nd

 

 

Book 2: Julia by Lily Graison

Julia Hamel always dreamed of a Christmas wedding and hers would be a dream come true if she wasn’t marrying a man she’d never met. Traveling across the country as a mail-order bride took a leap of faith, and she’s determined to make the best of her new life despite that fact her husband seems to be hiding something. But nothing she does seems to please him and Matthew’s distant despite her best intentions. When she meets a mischievous old man and takes his advice on how to make her husband happy, his ideas backfire in the worst possible ways and as Christmas draws closer, Julia begins to think leaving home may have been the worst mistake of her life.

Matthew Bailey never wanted a wife—until he saw Julia. He married her without much thought and hoped her presence would be enough to finally distract him from the fact it was the one time of year he wished he could forget. Painful memories keep him distracted and when the girl who mistook his kindness for a wedding proposal stirs up trouble, Matthew has to decide what he really wants. If its Julia, then he has to bare his soul and confront his past but dredging up those old memories is still painful. Can the love of a woman he knows nothing about be enough to make him want to live again? And will Julia stay once she’s seen the worst in him?

Releasing November 9th

 

 

Book 3: Ruby by Hildie McQueen

Five friends travel west to find love, what they don’t expect is for the storm of the century to hit Angel Creek at same time. Snowbound with new husbands can pose quite an interesting turn of events.

After the Civil War, Charleston, SC is left devoid of eligible men. Ruby Henderson and four of her closest friends decide to travel west as mail order brides to find love. Upon arriving, she instantly regrets the rash decision. Especially upon meeting her husband to be who looks more like an outlaw, than a doctor.

Trevor Collins decides to put his distrust of women aside and marry. His new bride is more beautiful then he could have imagined, which makes him wonder about her true motivation for coming west. Will his wish to be a good family man win when the ugliness of his past rears its ugly head?

Even a giving heart has its limits.

Releasing November 16th

 

 

Book 4: Sarah by Peggy McKenzie

Confederate widow, Sarah Caldwell, has lost everything. Her husband. Her home. Her fortune. And now, she will lose her young daughter if she doesn’t leave Charleston before her contemptible in-laws convince a court to grant them custody. When Sarah’s four best friends decide to answer an advertisement for brides somewhere in Montana Territory, she decides to join them praying the law won’t follow.

An injured expatriate of the Union Army, Quinn Cassidy, is now the sheriff of Angel Creek. He likes the tranquility of this little mountain town and vows to protect it. But, when five beauties from Charleston step off the stagecoach, he wonders if he can. The dark-haired woman, with the little girl in tow, walked into his life and into his heart. Now, he needs a Christmas miracle to keep his new bride out of his jail.

Releasing November 30th

 

 

Book 5: Anna by Everly West

With no family in Charleston, Anna Tuttle decides to join her friends and become a mail-order bride. But she wasn’t prepared for the way her indulged life would change. And yet her rugged husband is doing his best to help her adjust to her new life as a ranchers wife. But she wants more.

Lonely, Levi Jackson orders a mail order bride, but instead of a strong vibrant ranching woman, he receives a pampered southern belle. Will she back out of the marriage before they’ve even had a chance to begin or can Levi help her learn how to love.

Will the Southern Bell let Levi show her the true meaning of family and Christmas?

Releasing December 7th

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Coming Soon – A Christmas Holiday Romance Series!

 

Today is the big reveal of the secret project I’ve been working on! In collaboration with authors Sylvia McDaniel, Hildie McQueen, Peggy McKenszie and debut author Everly West, the Angel Creek Christmas Brides series will release starting November 2nd. My contribution, JULIA, will be available on November 9th! 

 

Julia: Angel Creek Christmas Brides

Julia Hamel always dreamed of a Christmas wedding and hers would be a dream come true if she wasn’t marrying a man she’d never met. Traveling across the country as a mail-order bride took a leap of faith, and she’s determined to make the best of her new life despite that fact her husband seems to be hiding something. But nothing she does seems to please him and Matthew’s distant despite her best intentions. When she meets a mischievous old man and takes his advice on how to make her husband happy, his ideas backfire in the worst possible ways and as Christmas draws closer, Julia begins to think leaving home may have been the worst mistake of her life.

Matthew Bailey never wanted a wife–until he saw Julia. He married her without much thought and hoped her presence would be enough to finally distract him from the fact it was the one time of year he wished he could forget. Painful memories keep him distracted and when the girl who mistook his kindness for a wedding proposal stirs up trouble, Matthew has to decide what he really wants. If its Julia, then he has to bare his soul and confront his past but dredging up those old memories is still painful. Can the love of a woman he knows nothing about be enough to make him want to live again? And will Julia stay once she’s seen the worst in him?

Read an Excerpt Here

 

 

To see the photo’s I used as inspiration for this story, visit the JULIA: ANGEL CREEK BRIDES PINTERST PAGE.

The post Coming Soon – A Christmas Holiday Romance Series! appeared first on Author Lily Graison.

The 129th (Old) Soldiers Reunion

The 1889 Civil War veterans gathering to collect their pensions.

 

In the town I grew up in, there is a yearly event that everyone looks forward to and this week marks the 129th Soldiers Reunion Week. The Soldiers Reunion is (credited as) the longest running patriotic celebration in the United States not based on an official holiday. The tradition began in the county seat town (Newton, NC in Catawba County) on July 4, 1889, when Civil War veterans answered a statewide call for recognition of their wartime service and to register for pensions. The gathering, then on Court Square, led to annual veterans’ reunions, starting the popular patriotic event then called Old Soldiers Reunion.

The Catawba County Museum of History – which is located in the downtown 1924 courthouse – displays a patriotic exhibit of historic military displays all week and is free to the public. Events around town include a Classic Car Show on Courthouse Square on Sunday, outdoor concerts with street dances on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, a ‘patriotic’ baby parade, and a “Pet Mania” dog show. Then on Thursday, Reunion Day, downtown surrounding the 1924 circa courthouse, craft vendors, artists, craftsmen and food trucks line up around the square. A memorial service is held at 10 a.m. honoring veterans & members of patriotic organizations in the county who have died during the past year is followed by a Jazz concert and a fish fry at the American Legion for the counties veterans….then the fun begins!

4:00 p.m. marks the start of the mile-long parade around town, which gets bigger every year (last time I went it was over an hour and a half long). 8,000 – 10,000 people show up for the parade and if that wasn’t enough, afterward, there’s a seniors dance and more music. The week is finished with the (29th annual) Southern Biscuit Soldiers Reunion 5K Run/Walk and on Sunday, the Soldiers Reunion Centry Bike Race will take place. 

It’s a full week of fun and as a teen, I never missed a day of it. Now, as I’m older, I skip out on a lot of it, even the parade. Sitting in the 90+ degree heat isn’t my idea of a good time anymore but for thousands today, it’ll be the place to be!

********************************

As a side note, my great-great grandfather, Reuben Travis, fought in the civil war and lost his right arm. I found the following information about him on Ancestry.com where his military record lists his name as “Reuben D Traffensteadt.” (Not sure what year it was changed to Travis.)

 

Reuben and Polly “Traddensteadt” Travis

TRAFFENSTEADT, REUBEN D., Private

Born in Catawba County, NC where he resided as a farmer prior to enlisting in Catawba County on July 4, 1862, for the (civil) war. Wounded in the right arm at Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 13, 1862. Right arm amputated. Hospitalized at Richmond, Virginia, where he was discharged on February 13, 1863, by reason of disability. Discharge certificate gives his age as 31.

Reuben was my paternal grandmother’s, grandfather. He was born April 15, 1829, Coincidentally, “my” birthday is April 15th as well–139 years apart. How neat is that?!

 

 

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Nightingale, Willow Creek Book #8 Preview

 

We’re a little over a month away from the release of NIGHTINGALE, book #8 in the Willow Creek Series and I’m so excited to finally be able to share this book with you! These two characters have been whispering to me since book 6, when it first because clear little Betsey Atwater had a crush on the new boy in town. This story takes place twelve years later and today, I’m going to share the first two chapters with you! 

 

 

 

NIGHTINGALE
©2018 Lily Graison

 

Chapter One

 

 

Willow Creek, Montana – July, 1884

 

That old shotgun had hung above the mantel for so long dust fell from the barrel when Ben pulled it down and checked to see if it was loaded. Betsey’s heart slammed against her ribcage as she watched him. “What are you doing, Ben?” When he crossed the room without answering, his booted feet hitting the wooden floor at a fast pace, her pulse matched his rapid footsteps. “Ben Atwater, you stop right this minute and tell me what you’re doing!”

He spun on her, the look on his face one she’d never seen before. Her good-natured brother had been replaced by a man with vengeance in his eyes. “I’m going to go kill that little bastard, that’s what I’m doing.”

Her breath caught in her throat, her weak stomach once again souring and as she watched Ben stalk across the yard to his horse, she willed her lunch to stay in place as she chased after him. “Ben, wait.” The words, I’m going to kill him, rang inside her head until she heard nothing else. When he climbed into the saddle, she screamed, “Ben, stop!” 

“Stay here.”

“Ben, just listen to me!” Betsey ran across the yard after him, the tears she’d been trying to hold back blurring her vision. When he guided the horse away from the house and took off at a gallop, those tears started to fall. She wiped them away, turned and ran for the small barn behind the house. She saddled her old mare quickly, forcing more tears away and climbed into the saddle long minutes later. “Yah…let’s go Pansy, run!” 

She hadn’t pushed the poor horse so fast in years and hated doing it now but she could barely make out Ben on the horizon and leaned down over Pansy’s neck and urged her faster. She knew where he was headed and if the pig-headed mule would have just listened, she could have told him he wasn’t there.

When she finally reached the small farm, Ben was already shouting up a storm. She raced the rest of the way to the house and barely let Pansy stop before she was off her back and running. “Ben!”

He turned on her, his face red, nostrils flared. A muscle ticked in his jaw and she’d never seen him so furious. “Go home,” he said before turning away.

“He’s not here, Ben.” Noah glanced her way before looking back at her brother. “You can check if you like.”

“He doesn’t need to.” Betsey grabbed Ben’s arm and looked at Noah and Keri Lloyd with regret in her eyes. “I”m sorry,” she said, looking at them both. “I tried to stop him.”

“What’s this all about?” Noah asked.

Ben looked down at her. “You going to tell them or should I?”

Her face flamed. She averted her gaze and tugged on his arm again. “Please, don’t do this,” she whispered. “I’m begging you, Ben.” She stared at the ground between them, the past three months playing in fast motion through her mind. The joy and heartache so consuming she could barely breathe around it and her queasy stomach rolled again. She looked up, Keri’s gaze locked on her face before lowering. Betsey realized her mistake when Keri’s eyes widened as she looked at the hand Betsey had laid against her stomach.

“Betsey?” 

Keri’s soft voice caused that aching pain she felt to turn into humiliation. She averted her gaze and looked up at Ben, tugging on his arm again. “Please, let it go.”

“I will not.” He looked from Noah to Keri, then back again. “Where is he?”

Noah sighed. “I wish I knew. He took off a month ago. We’ve not seen or heard from him since.”

“Did he know, Betsey?” 

Ben’s question was directed at her and the lump in her throat kept her from answering. She shook her head and flicked a quick glance to Keri again.

“Know what?” Noah asked, looking from the shotgun Ben held to her tear-streaked face. “What’s this all about?”

“This is about Aaron knocking up my baby sister and telling her he didn’t want to see her anymore—”

“That’s not the way it happened—“

“—And I’m not about to let him get away with treating her like a saloon whore.”

“Ben, stop it, please.”

“Is this true?” Noah asked.

“Oh, Betsey,” Keri’s soft-spoken words tearing at her nerves.

Ben pulled his arm from her grasp. “He’ll make this right or so help me—“

“What can we do?” Keri asked.

“Please let it go, Ben.” Betsey’s words were drowned by the suddenly raised voices as everyone tried to speak at once. “That’s enough,” she said, grabbing Ben’s arm again.

“No. He can’t treat you like this!”

Everyone seemed to be shouting and the noise, coupled with nausea and her harried nerves cause the last of her composure to crumbled. “Stop it, all of you!” She jerked on Ben’s arm so hard he stumbled back a step. “He didn’t want me!” The tears were back, choking her as she sobbed. “He didn’t want me, Ben. He’s gone. Just let it go.” 

She looked at the three of them, Keri’s eyes filling with tears. Betsey turned and ran to Pansy, climbed back into the saddle and took off at a fast clip. The tears came unbidden, and she cried until her heart felt hollow. She’d loved Aaron Hilam for as long as she could remember and he’d used her. He took the love she offered him and gave nothing back and the minute life got too difficult to handle, he left, even as she begged him to stay. She wasn’t enough for him. She never had been and as she raced across the prairie, she screamed, “I hate you Aaron Hilam! I hope you never come back!” 

Her regret and heartache burned through her body until she was screaming from the pain and she vowed to never let another soul hurt her. She’d lived with the abuse of her drunken father and the taunts of ignorant Willow Creek residents who looked down their nose at her and she’d not live the rest of her life being scorned by anyone. She didn’t need them. She didn’t need anyone and she certainly didn’t need Aaron Hilam. What he’d left behind was all she needed. She laid a hand to her stomach. She’d give her baby the love she’d desperately wanted her entire life and never received and would not let that man near her again. One broken heart was enough to last her a lifetime and if she never saw Aaron Hilam again, it would be too soon.

 

 

Silver Falls, Montana – December 1884

 

He’d shot a man. The barrel of his gun still smoked, the scent of gunpowder thick in the air, the sound of crying and loud voices ringing in his ears. 

The old man lay by his feet, gasping for breath as the front of his shirt bloomed red, his blood leaking from the bullet wound. Aaron stared down at him wondering how he’d ended up here. 

A glance to his right showed the Indian girl he’d been talking to, Morning Dove, still crumpled in the street. Her lip was bleeding, fat tears sliding down her face. Two women helped her stand and Aaron didn’t miss the grateful look she flashed him before she was led away. He wasn’t sure what the look was for, though. Was it because he’d stopped the old coot from beating her senseless in the street or the fact he’d shot him because if his eyes weren’t deceiving him, she’d been smiling as she turned away.

A man wearing a badge stepped into his line of sight, the word Marshal hammered out on the top of the shiny star. “Drop the gun.”

Aaron did as told and took a step away from it when the marshal bent to pick it up.

The old man was bellowing like a dying cow and those on the street looking on were huddled in small clusters. The marshal spoke quietly to a man helping the fella he shot off the ground, then turned to face him.

“Let’s you and me go over to the jail and have a little talk.”

Aaron inhaled a deep breath and headed across town. This would only add to the problems that had been weighing heavy on his shoulders over the last several months. He’d made so many mistakes over the past year, it was no wonder things like this kept happening. He was convinced some cosmic force was getting even with him for the way he’d been treating people in his life as of late and it had every right to. Lord knew he had a lot to atone for.

A sign by the door of the marshal’s office read Josiah Lincoln, Marshal. The office was one big room with a single barred cell along the back wall. A desk sat on the right with two chairs in front of it, a pot-bellied stove on the left-hand wall. The small space smelled of coffee and gun oil and there were only two windows which let in very little light.

“Have a seat.”

Aaron pulled one of the chairs away from the desk and sat down as instructed.

The marshal took his time rounding the desk. He put Aaron’s pistol in one of the drawers and blew out a breath as he sat down across from him, the width of the scarred wood separating them. He removed his hat and ran his fingers through his hair, then met his gaze. “What happened?”

Good question. Aaron wasn’t sure where to start. “Old man pulled a gun on me. My bullet hit what I was aiming for, his didn’t.”

“And why did he pull a gun on you?”

Another good question. “Well, close as I can figure, he didn’t want me talking to Morning Dove.”

“What were you talking about?”

“Nothing in particular. She caught me staring at her so I apologized. It’s not every day a man sees an Indian and lives to tell about it.”

“No, guess not.” The marshal rubbed his chin, the rasp of a shadow beard loud in the stillness. “And Walter figures into this how?”

“Is Walter the old man?”

“Yes.”

Aaron nodded. “He came barreling down the sidewalk toward us and the girl flinched before he even reached her side. The moment he got close enough, he grabbed her arm and jerked her toward him hard enough her feet flew out from under her. She started babbling about how we were just talking and trying to pick herself up and the old man slung her against the side of the mercantile. When she tried to grab his arm, he hit her.” 

He clenched his jaw as the scene flashed back inside his head. He’d lost count of how many times he’d seen his uncle hit his ma or how many times he’d wanted to kill him for it and seeing that old man take a fist to that girl made something inside him snap. “He punched her in the face three times. That last one was hard enough her head snapped back and hit the wall loud enough her eyes rolled in her head a bit and I just—“ He clenched his fists and looked out the window into the darkened street. “I jumped him. We rolled into the street, tussled a bit, and I gave him a few punches to the head to let him know how it felt. When I saw Morning Dove standing beside us, I stood up and turned to see if she was all right. The old man got to his feet and when I looked his way, he pulled a gun and pointed it at me. I did the same. Luckily for me, his shot went wild.”

The door opened and a man he hadn’t seen before nodded his head at him, then looked at the Marshal. “Everyone I talked to that saw what happened said Walter pulled his gun on him.”

The marshal flicked a quick glance his way and looked back toward the door. “How is Morning Dove?”

“The same as she always is. Fretting over Walter and wringing her hands.” The man blew out a breath. “Her face is pretty bruised up. Doc Tibbens said he’d look after her when he was finished with Walter.”

“Is it serious?”

“No. The bullet caught him in the shoulder but he’s making a fuss loud enough to make a person think he was riddled with bullets.”

“Not surprised.” The marshal turned back to face him. “You’re not from around here.”

It wasn’t a question. “No, sir. I’m from Willow Creek. I’m just passing through.”

“So you’ll be leaving, then?”

“Had planned on cutting out first thing in the morning unless you mean to keep me.”

The marshal eyed him for long moments. He glanced at the man still standing by the door, then back at him before reaching into the desk drawer. He laid Aaron’s gun on the old battered desktop and slid it across to him. “I trust you to not shoot anyone else. Anymore trouble out of you and I’ll throw you in that cell and let you rot.”

Aaron grabbed his gun and tucked it back into his hip holster, then stood. “Wouldn’t think of it, Marshal.” He tipped his hat to him, did the same with the fellow by the door and left before either of them could call him back. 

The streets were quiet now, full dark cloaking the valley. He walked the wooden boardwalk that ran along the crooked row of buildings in town to the end of the street, to the two-story house with a sign that read, “Mabel’s Boarding House,” in bright red letters near the front gate. 

He blew out a shaky breath as the day’s events filled his head again. Most of it had been pleasant and took his mind off things weighing heavy on him for months now. Meeting Morning Dove had distracted him enough he’d forgotten his troubles but as usual, more came chasing on its heels. His life was one catastrophe after another as of late. He was beginning to think the universe had it in for him. Luckily others had seen what happened or he’d still be sitting in that jail right now, probably in the small cell he’d seen along the back wall of the building. 

His ma always told him curiosity killed the cat and now he believed her. An innocent conversation with an Indian girl nearly cost him everything. His thoughts went back to Morning Dove and the strange look she’d given him as she was led away. Had he seen her smile? The thought would puzzle him from here on out because he wasn’t about to search her out to ask. Wherever she was, he hoped she stayed there. He had enough problems in his life without heaping on more. His ma’s angry words, Noah’s disapproving gaze, and the broken look on Betsey’s face when he left her standing underneath the willow trees that grew along the bank of the creek would haunt him forever. 

He’d tried to outrun all his problems but woke too many nights with the image of Betsey standing under those trees, raindrops mingling with the tears falling down her face, and he always woke with a hollow ache in the center of his chest. He’d left a mess back in Willow Creek and the longer he ran from it, the worse the festering wound in his heart would grow. He’d disappointed so many people in his life and he had to fix it. His twenty-second birthday was coming up and it was high time he started acting like a man and stop running. It was time to go home.

Thoughts on how to fix all the wrong’s he’d done filled his head until he reached the gate outside the boarding house. He’d returned too late. Mabel had told him she locked up promptly at seven and if he wasn’t there, he’d have to sleep in the street. He’d hoped she’d been joking but the windows were all dark except for a single glowing pane at the back of the house. He stared at that light wondering if Mabel would answer the door if he knocked long enough and had opened the gate and stepped onto the rock walkway to the porch when he heard someone calling his name. He turned and saw a shadowy figure hurrying his way. When they were close enough to see clearly, he sighed.

Morning Dove offered him a tiny smile as she stopped on the other side of the gate. Her buckskin dress hung to her knees, matching trousers covered her legs, and her boots looked well worn. Her hair was a silky fall of thick, straight strands that fell down her back clean to her waist and it was so black it had looked blue when he’d first saw her standing out by the mercantile. 

He nodded his head to her in way of greeting. Her face was bruised, her lip twice the size it should be but it was the look in her eyes that puzzled him. She looked almost—happy. 

 “I would thank you,” she said, her soft voice holding a melodic, musical cadence that still surprised him.

“No need.”

“You are wrong, Aaron Hilam. Not many have ever stopped Walter when he felt need to punish me and I thank you.” She shifted on her feet and looked behind her, back down the street. When she faced him again she asked, “Will you be staying in Silver Falls?”

“No, I’m leaving in the morning.” The moon wasn’t bright enough to see much but he didn’t miss the brightness in her eyes at his words. 

She threw a quick glance over her shoulder, then took a step closer to him. “I would ask a favor of you”

“What kind of favor?”

“One I will repay to you tenfold.”

 

CHAPTER TWO

 

Willow Creek, Montana – May, 1885

 

Miranda Talbert was Willow Creek’s oldest living spinster. She was thirty-two years old, tall, had a trim figure, and was pretty in a mousey kind of way. She was also head over heels in love with Dr. Evan Reid, who barely knew she existed. Miranda tried to act indifferent to him but everyone in town knew. Everyone, that is, but Evan Reid. Miranda was also a kind soul and would help anyone in need, which is what brought Betsey to her door once again.

Betsey had wished most of her life she wouldn’t end up like Miranda but at the ripe old age of nineteen, she’s changed her mind. After the pain the men in her life seemed to dole out, she was perfectly happy taking the title of town spinster. If Miranda could do it and survive, she would too. “You’re sure this is all right, Miranda?”

“I’m positive, Betsey” Miranda beamed. “Don’t worry about a thing.”

Betsey watched her turn back to the house, the door slowly easing shut and told herself everything would be fine. She hurried down the steps in front of the house Miranda shared with her mother and headed across town, hurrying past those who chose to dally on the wooden sidewalk. The evening sky was painted in shades of purple, orange and red and cast the town in soft light. If she could have her way, she’d be at home, rocking on that old chair on the porch, watching the day give way to night but one rarely got what they wanted, especially her. 

Music from the saloon filtered into the street as she neared it. The two-story building was the most popular establishment in town and unfortunately, the only place hiring. Taking a job there had raised more than one eyebrow and she’d had to listen to Ben rant and rave about it for a solid week. She let him say what he wanted and sighed in relief when he stopped yelling at her. End of the day, it didn’t matter if he liked it or not. The money he made at the Avery Ranch was barely enough to support them and if Ben ever took a wife, where would that leave her? She had to have a means to support herself and if working the saloon was what she had to do, then so be it.

She stopped at the edge of the sidewalk and waited for the wagons ambling down the street to pass before she stepped down and hurried across the rutted dirt road. Horses and wagons filled the street, the noise of multiple voices and music filling the air. It was week’s end and every cowpoke and ranch hand for miles around were slowly making their way into town and she hoped they’d brought their money with them.

This side of the street was more congested than the other, the sidewalk filled with people. She stopped, waited for a group to pass and looked across the road as she waited. That’s when she saw him. The noise around her faded until she heard nothing but the blood rushing past her ear drums. 

She’d prayed nightly Aaron Hilam never came back home but there he was, sauntering into town as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He stopped by the hotel and the crowd parted in such a way she had a clear shot of him as he dismounted his horse—and helped the girl he’d been riding with to the ground. She stared at them both, her heart racing so fast she felt dizzy. It wasn’t until someone touched her arm that she was able to look away.

“Are you all right?”

Keri Lloyd was petite with spiraling blonde curls and was among a very short list of woman in town who had never looked down her nose at her. Keri’d had her share of hardships just like she had. They were a lot alike. The fact she was Aaron’s mother made it difficult to like her though. How could she like Keri so much when she was supposed to hate her son? 

Betsey swallowed to moisten her dry throat and nodded her head. “Yes, I’m fine.”

Keri didn’t look at if she believed her. “Are you sure? You’re entirely too pale. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I have.” She glanced across the street. “Aaron’s back,” she said, then looked at Keri. “Did you know?”

The look on the woman’s face said no, she didn’t. “This is the first I’ve seen of him.” She gave her a hesitant smile and hurried to the edge of the sidewalk. Betsey grabbed her arm.

“Keri—don’t tell him.” She’d had this discussion with Keri so many times, she was tired of it but she stared at the woman and willed her to agree.

“Betsey…”

“Please, Keri. I’m begging you. I’ll do it myself.”

Keri didn’t look as if she believed her. “Do you promise?”

“Yes.” And that wasn’t a lie. She would tell him—with her last breath on this earth. “I promise, I’ll tell him.”

Keri stared at her for long minutes then nodded her head and smiled. “All right. I’ll leave it to you to let him know, then. I’ll let Noah, Sophie and Nathaniel know not to say anything to him.”

She said her goodbyes and hurried across the street and Betsey watched her every step of the way. When she reached Aaron’s side and embraced him in a hug so tight his face turned red, she took a step back and hoped she blended into the crowd.

The woman Aaron had helped down from the back of his horse still stood by his side. Her clothes were made of buckskin and she wore trousers. Her hair was long and black and even though she couldn’t see her face, it was hard to miss the fact she was an Indian and seeing her with Aaron made her heart hurt. 

He’d been gone eleven months, two weeks and three days and the pain was as raw as it had been when he left her under the willow trees by the creek crying. She gave him one last look and turned away. She wouldn’t dwell on him being back regardless of how much her heart begged her to do so. She’d vowed to hate him until she died and that’s exactly what she was going to do. If luck was on her side, he was just passing through—him and his Indian girl.

As she tried to ignore the fact there was a woman with Aaron, she bumped into three people and she realized she couldn’t see. Her vision was blurred to the point she was looking at the world through a distorted haze of tears. She stepped out of the line of foot-traffic and  into the small alleyway between the buildings, blinding tears spilling from her eyes faster than she could wipe them away. It took near to ten minutes to compose herself, her silent chant of, “He left you and now you hate him,” still ringing in her ears as she started stepped back onto the sidewalk and headed toward the saloon. 

The place was packed as usual for a Friday night. Smoke filled the air and made it hard to breathe. She hurried across the sawdust-strewn floor and ducked around the corner and down the dark hallway that lead to the small kitchen at the back of the building. The stale scent of dust, mold, whiskey and sweat lingered in the air. The space was sparse as always. A few boxes lined the walls, a broom stood neglected in one corner and a single, round table took up most of the room, every chair sitting around it filled.

Betsey had never judged anyone. She had no right to. Her life certainly wasn’t worth bragging about. Growing up, she’d been the only daughter of the town drunk. The girl who wore hand me down clothes, rarely bathed, and depended on her brother for every bite of food she put into her mouth. Her worthless pa was now dead but she still depended on Ben and probably always would in some form but looking at the women sitting around the table in this small kitchen, she counted every blessing she had and thanked every deity known to man for what little she had. She knew everyone had hardships and the things life handed you either made you stronger or killed you slowly and these women were strangling on their misfortune. 

Ruby, one of the older woman working the upstairs rooms, greeted her with her usual head to toe glance. The woman was as wide as she was tall. Her large breasts all but spilled from her dress and Betsey tried to ignore her dark nipples peeking through the lace of her bodice. Her face was pockmarked, her bulbous nose red, the small veins and broken capillaries harsh against the paleness of her face. Her hair was also the most garish shade of red she’d ever seen. It bordered on orange and the wiry texture made it stick out on all sides but she was the closest Betsey had to a friend in here. Ruby mothered her more often than not and even though she’d never tell another living soul, she liked her more than she was willing to say. 

“What’s wrong, dumplin’? You look like your favorite dog done died.”

Betsey pushed her hair behind one ear and laid her basket down. “Nothing worth mentioning.”

“You been crying?”

Betsey wiped underneath her eyes and blinked to moisten them. “The smoke is irritating. I’m not used to it yet.”

Ruby didn’t look as if she believed her. “Well, if you ever do have a problem needs dealing with, you be sure to tell ole’ Ruby and if I can’t fix it, I know a man who can take care of any problem you have whether it’s illegal or not.”

She was grinning when Betsey looked back over at her and the smile hid nothing. She may have mentioned her friend in a casual manner but she had no doubt Ruby had such a friend. With the sort of men who walked into this saloon, it wouldn’t surprise her at all if there wasn’t a gun-for-hire sitting out there amongst the patrons at the card tables at this very moment.

“You don’t have money troubles, do you? I done told ya with your looks, you’d be rich in no time if you came upstairs.” 

Sylvie, a woman with hair as black as night—and a soul to match it— shot a sneer in her direction. “As if we need another woman in here taking what little these dirty bums can afford.” She inhaled deeply from the cigar she was smoking, blowing a puff of gray smoke into the air before looking at her in a sideways manner. “You just stick to what you know, songbird, and we’ll get along just fine.”

Ruby pulled her shoulders back and stood to her full height, the animosity between the two palpable. “Jealousy doesn’t become you, Sylvie. It just makes you look all the more desperate.”

Someone snorted a laugh. “If my tits hung as low as Sylvie’s, I’d be a jealous bitch, too.”

Laughter filled the room, the girls around the table cackling as Sylvie pushed back from the table, shoved it out of her way and yelled, “Fuck you, Opal. Like you’re such a prize.”

Opal laughed boisterously then yelled, “I am. Hell, my tits have seen more action than those deflated water sacks you’ve been carrying around do. They’ve seen more cock than your worn out old snatch ever will, too.”

Ruby grabbed Betsey’s arm and pulled her into the hall and away from the fight that was minutes away from taking place, Opal’s grinning face the last thing she saw as she was led out of the room. 

The laughter, shouts of anger, and ribald teasing faded as they headed toward the saloon and disappeared completely when they stepped around the corner.

“Don’t pay them no mind, Betsey. You know Sylvie’s just looking for a fight and she don’t care who it is she picks it with.” 

“I know.”

Ruby tugged on her arm until she turned to head to look at her. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

Betsey sighed. Even if she poured her heart out to Ruby, her situation would still be the same so what was the point on lingering over it? She smiled, shook her head and said, “I’m just tired and stressed, that’s all. I’ll be fine once I have something to occupy my time.”

“Well, go on with you, then. There’s enough rowdy cowboys out there to make you forget every trouble you have.” She gave her a small nudge toward the bar. “You just be sure to let ole Ruby know if you need a friend with specialized skills.” 

Betsey watched her walk away before turning to face the bar. Vernon looked her way, ran his gaze down her simple homespun dress and shook his head before pushing a tray of drinks at her. “Take these over to table three before starting, Betsey. We’ve got a rowdy crowd tonight.” He gave her another look from head to toe. “And you’ve got to wear something other than those unflattering frocks you’ve been wearing in here. These men won’t give you a second look wearing that.”

 She sighed. He’s asked her three times to wear one of those low cut, short dresses the girls upstairs wore and as much as she hated the idea, she wasn’t sure she could put it off much longer. She grabbed the tray of drinks and headed into the mass of sweaty bodies filling every space inside the building and dreaded every step she took.

End of Excerpt

 

NIGHTINGALE releases August 7th. Pre-Order your copy today!

New Release and Giveaway

 

 

I noticed today while doing website maintenance that–I never hit the ‘publish’ button on this post! So…without further ado….

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Back in September 2017, my writing friend, Alexandra Marell started talking about a Sci-Fi Romance ‘world’ she had been thinking about and the books she’d like to write for it. I helped her brainstorm ideas for her new series and by the next day, I had a plot bunny–one I sat down and banged out 1,000 words of in record time. The plot bunny turned into a story, then a full-length novel and now, seven months later, Dragon Fire, my first ever Sci-Fi Romance has been published.

I love writing westerns. I love the simplicity of the time period, the struggles the people back then faced and the fact men were men. They worked hard, loved their families, and were fiercely protective. One of the things I try to do when writing them is to stay as period correct and factual as I can. Researching is time-consuming an sometimes more difficult than others and for this reason alone, I think that Sci-Fi plot bunny ran so fast and furious through my head.

Science Fiction doesn’t hold the same restraints as historicals do. It pretty much –  if you can dream it, you can make it happen, so I did. Writing Dragon Fire was very liberating. It gave me a creative outlet to just let my imagination run wild without having to stop and “look things up” and I don’t remember the last time writing a book had been so much fun.

For those of you who read my westerns–don’t fret. I WILL NOT stop writing them. They are where my heart is. Willow Creek book 8 is nearly done so look for it very soon but for now, take a look at PRISON MOON: DRAGON FIRE and be sure to heck the end of the post for a special giveaway!

 

Prison Moon: Dragon Fire (Prison Moon Series)

Science Fiction Romance

 

Abducted by aliens and housed in an airtight room with twenty other girls wasn’t Sara’s idea of a good time. Neither was being dropped into the jungle of a Prison Moon, but for the rest of the galaxy, it was. She was the entertainment. The game? Survive the lawless alien criminals who ran wild or die trying, but there was no outrunning a dragon, and he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to let her go.

T’oren has spent the last several centuries sleeping beneath the rubble of an abandoned temple. The wars decimated his world and now was used as a dumping ground for the vilest creatures in the galaxy. A Prison Moon where it was kill or be killed. He slumbers to escape but awakes when a female, the first he’s seen in centuries, stumbles into his lair. And now that he’s seen her, he’s not letting her go.

But the corporation that runs the Prison Moon One has other plans. Broadcasting a televised event across the galaxy of an Arena fight between a live dragon and any willing to fight him will bring in more viewers, and money, than they could imagine. All they had to do was catch him and to do that, they had to take the girl.

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GIVEAWAY

To enter for a chance to win an eBook copy of Prison Moon: Dragon Fire, read the rules below and fill out the entry form. You get one free entry. To gain more entries, do any or all of the additional options.

There is No Purchase Necessary to win.
All entries are verified so no cheating! Additional entry options are not required to enter, but the more items on the list that you complete, the more entries you gain.
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Prison Moon – Dragon Fire – 1st Chapter Preview

It’s #TeaserTuesday so I thought I’d share a bit more about my upcoming book in the Prison Moon Series is set to release on April 24th! I’m beyond excited to share this new world I’ve created with Alexandra Marell. Take a peek below at the first chapter of my contribution to the series, DRAGON FIRE.

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Prison Moon: Dragon Fire – Sci-Fi Romance

by Lily Graison

Abducted by aliens and housed in an airtight room with twenty other girls wasn’t Sara’s idea of a good time. Neither was being dropped into the jungle of a Prison Moon, but for the rest of the galaxy, it was. She was the entertainment. The game? Survive the lawless alien criminals who ran wild or die trying, but there was no outrunning a dragon, and he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to let her go. 
 
Toren has spent the last several centuries sleeping beneath the rubble of an abandoned temple. The wars decimated his world and now was used as a dumping ground for the most vile creatures in the galaxy. A Prison Moon where it was kill or be killed. He slumbers to escape but awakes when a female, the first he’s seen in centuries, stumbles into his lair. And now that he’s seen her, he’s not letting her go. 
 
But the corporation that runs Prison Moon One has other plans. Broadcasting a televised event across the galaxy of an Arena fight between a live dragon and any willing to fight him will bring in more viewers, and money, than they could imagine. All they had to do was catch him and to do that, they had to take the girl.

 

 

 

1

__________

SARA

The screaming finally stopped. Sara closed her eyes and sighed in relief. The wild beating pulse in her head from the artificial light caused the headache she couldn’t get rid of to pound harder with each beat of her heart and the screaming only made it worse. Not that she blamed the girl. If it had been her on the receiving end of that last attack, she’d still be screaming too.

Everyone shifted nervously, some in small clusters talking in hushed whispers. Every face she looked at wore the same shell-shocked expression. Hers probably did too. Foul odors filled the room, the stink of unwashed bodies and human waste lingering in the air, and it took every ounce of willpower she possessed to not throw up. She tried to block it out, to imagine she was somewhere other than the cargo hold of a spaceship headed for who knew where. She snorted a laugh. Aliens. It was still too fantastical to believe but she did. She’d seen them. 

She’d been a skeptic until she stepped out of the shower and her entire dorm room was flooded with light so bright she’d been momentarily blinded. The darkness that followed was a blessing she fought to get back after opening her eyes to this. A small metal, doorless room filled with frightened women who either spent their time crying, complaining or screaming to be let out. Hence the headache.

A section of the wall to her left opened to reveal a door that hadn’t been there before. The chirping noise she’d come to recognize as some sort of language filled the room moments later. One of the aliens she liked to call Big Heads walked in and the screamer started up again. Sara’s head throbbed more intensely at the shrill noise. She would have thrown a shoe at the girl if she’d had one on.

Three aliens stopped just inside the doorway. As many times as she’d seen these guys, she still stared. The alien’s neck was as long as her arm, its head three sizes too large for his body. She wasn’t sure how he even held it up but somehow managed. His bug-like eyes were large bulbs sticking off the side of his head and as horrid as they looked, they smelled even worse. Like ammonia mixed with wild onions. Every time one got near, her sinuses burned. Maybe it was the slimy substance that clung to their skin or some pheromone only other ugly aliens would find attractive. They were brown for the most part but dark green strips slashed across their flesh in neat rows. She would have nicknamed them something closer resembling a lion but Big Head had popped into her mind first. They all wore dark gray, one-piece suits of some kind, each with a wide belt around their waists where gadgets of varying size hung in small pockets along the belt.

The Big Head who walked into the room made a motion with his hands that looked as if he wanted them to stand. Those able to do so wasted no time obeying him, herself included. The last girl who didn’t was still lying in a heap over along the wall. Sara glanced the girls way. As she’d been most of the day, the blonde stared straight ahead at nothing, her eyes unblinking. Her torn clothing hung off her slim frame, scratches and blood staining her thighs. Tears filled Sara’s vision. She blinked them away and turned back to the same aliens who’d done such vile things to the poor girl. The memories still made her my stomach churn. If she lived to be a thousand, she’d never get the images out of her head. Had it been her, she’d be lying over there staring at nothing, too.

She gritted her teeth and turned her attention to the Big Heads, leaving the girl to her fate. She wiped tears she wasn’t even aware she’d been shedding away with one shoulder. They did no one any good to shed now, anyway. Life as they knew it was over.

The chirping language they spoke spilled from one of the Big Head’s fish-like mouth before he pointed at the door. He grabbed the blonde closet to him and shoved her out, then grabbed another. They were being moved. As much as she feared what these aliens were going to do with them, sitting in this stinking hole of a room was getting to be too much. She’d take a walk and breathe fresher smelling air if they wanted her to. 

The corridor was dark with small green lights lining the floor of the walkway. It was colder here with a faint odor she couldn’t place but it wasn’t human waste so she inhaled deeply to clear her head. The metal under her feet felt like she was walking on ice and she’d have given anything for shoes—or clothes. She crossed her arms over her bare chest when she neared the Big Head on her way down the hall, not that it mattered. It wasn’t like he couldn’t see she was a fan of the Hollywood wax with just a glance. Thankfully it was growing back in but not nearly fast enough. 

Being the only girl abducted in her birthday suit drew more attention than she liked, even from them. The blonde they’d taken turns amusing themselves with early came to mind and she shuddered before lowering one arm in an attempt to cover her bare lady parts. 

A doorway at the end of the corridor came into view. The line of girls in front of her slowed and she watched as each girl was ushered inside. No one screamed after going in so it was too soon to panic. As she was ushered forward, her headache grew along with her racing pulse. The doorway loomed ahead, the light coming from inside almost blinding. When she stepped inside, the room was bare. The walls were white, the light overhead, bright. A noise on the other side of the wall drew her attention and she peeked around the corner—and wished she hadn’t. Her racing pulse stuttered, then raced when the girl in front of her was grabbed, the Big Head just on the other side of the wall taking her arm and sticking it with something that resembled a needle. The girl fell as if dead, another alien there to catch her before she hit the ground.

Sara screamed as the Big Head waiting behind her pushed her forward, the needle-like thing in the other ones hand biting into her skin moments before the world went dark.

__________

SARA

Voices pulled her from sleep. Sara opened her eyes and groaned. Her headache was worse and a spot behind her right ear pounded so hard it stung. Raising her hand, she brushed her fingers over the spot and winced. It was tender and wet. Pulling her hand away, she saw her fingers smeared with blood. 

“It’s an implant.”

A girl with long red hair was staring at her. She looked ragged, her curly hair in tangles around her face. Dark circles lay like bruises underneath her green eyes and even though she was thin, her pixie-like features didn’t look as gaunt as some of the others. This girl had been taken recently. Sara sat up and wiped the spot behind her ear again. “What kind of implant?”

The girl tilted her head a fraction to the right, motioning to the front of the room. Three Big Heads were there, talking. Sara’s eyes widened. It wasn’t the chirping she’d been hearing since waking up on an alien spacecraft, but actual words. They were speaking English. Or rather, she was hearing English. She rubbed the spot behind her ear again. “It’s a translator?”

“I think so.” The girl slid closer. “I didn’t understand them before today so I’m assuming that’s what the wound behind my ear is from. They did knock us all out. I’m thinking it was to insert something into our heads.”

“Wonderful.

The girl looked at me and the corner of her lips turn up into a tiny smile. “I’m Marcy, by the way.”

“Sara.” A glance around the room told her it wasn’t in the same one they’d been in before. This one was clean and feces-free. “Do you know what’s happening? Why we’re here?”

Marcy shook her head. “Not really, but I don’t think its good, whatever it is.” She took a shuddering breath. “From what I’ve been able to hear, we’re to be used for some sort of entertainment.”

Sara raised an eyebrow. “Entertainment for who? And how?”

“Don’t know.” She motioned behind us. Sara turned and when she saw what Marcy pointed at, she gasped. 

A large section of the wall was glass, or something similar, and beyond it sat thousands of stars in a vast ocean of darkness. Since the moment she woke after the abduction, she’d prayed this was all a bad dream, that someone spiked her drink and she was having a really bad drug-induced trip, but what sat beyond that window wasn’t anything her imagination could come up with. 

There were two planets in the distance and sitting between them and the ship was a ring of scattered rock that spanned the entire length of the window from left to right. The rocks varied in size. Some were as large as a bus, others as small as a basketball. It looked like an asteroid belt of some kind. 

Further in the distance, behind the two planets, a massive cloud of stars glimmered like diamonds. The entire thing shined in shades of gold, blue, red and purple. A nebula, if she wasn’t mistaken. One large enough to see its brilliance with the naked eye. As much as she wanted this to be a bad dream, she could no longer deny it. She really was in an alien ship—in deep space. 

A series of hissing noises filled the air, and a few screams followed as gravity seems to disappear to leave them floating in mid-air. Sara reached out to grab anything she could and found Marcy’s arm. Long minutes later, the artificial gravity returned and they fell back to the floor. Grunts and groans followed, Sara’s elbow aching and she laid there a few moments, then sat up. 

She looked at the window again. They were landing. The planet wasn’t blue like earth. The colors below were varied with wide oceans of red, green and teal. As they drew closer, the window turned white, her view of the planet below gone.

Chortling laughter filled the room. Four Big Heads leaned against the wall looking at them. One said, “Welcome to your new home,” before they all started to laugh harder

“Get up,” another said. They stood and for the first time since waking, Sara realized she was clothed—sort of. The thin gown she wore was loose fitting and sleeveless. The cut was low in the front with a deep “v” which bared more breast than it should. Not that is mattered. It was barely long enough to cover her ass and nearly see-through but she wasn’t about to complain. It was better than being naked. Plus, everyone else was just as scantily dressed as she was. Soft sandal-like shoes were on her feet and held on with a series of straps that crisscrossed over the top of her foot and tied in the back. They weren’t much, the soles not very sturdy, but it was better than being barefoot.

She glanced at Marcy who still stood by her side. She’d said they were to be entertainment. In this getup, it wasn’t hard to figure out what kind.

They were ushered out of the room and back into the corridor, the same green lights as before glowed dimly along the edge of the floor. They were led into a massive room with a door on one end that was nearly as tall as the entire ship. The floor beneath her feet vibrated and shimmied, the hissing sound from before rumbling past her ears. A solid thunk and bounce later and she assumed they were on the ground.

The other girls murmured and huddled together. She tried to count heads but everyone was standing so close together she gave up. There were at least twenty. Maybe more.

She flicked a gaze to Marcy and noticed the worried look on her face. Her own probably held the same. She had no idea what lay beyond those doors and she didn’t want to find out. Marcy stared at that massive door probably wondering the same thing she was—what would they find on the other side?

“We’re going to die.”

The whispered words are spoken to her left. Sara turned her head to see who’d said it. The girl was tall, her skin tanned a warm tawny brown, her hair so inky black it looked blue under the harsh lights. When she looked over at them, Sara could read every thought going through her mind with one look into her eyes. She really did think they were going to die. 

As the door jolted and hissed, then started to lower, Sara’s first look outside at this alien planet came into view and she was inclined to believe the girl. They probably were going to die.

__________

SARA

The barren landscape on the other side of the door didn’t look inviting. If anything, it was terrifying. 

The Big Heads ushered everyone out and Sara lingered in the back as long as she could. Marcy looking her way was the only thing that got her moving. She knew next to nothing about Marcy but she was the only person who’d spoken to her and like it or not, she was closest thing to a friend she had at the moment.

Sara’s first look at the strange planet was deceiving. The dry, cracked ground they walked out on was a wide sea of nothing. It stretched all the way to the horizon. A shrill scream filled the air and she turned her head to the right, then sucked in a harsh breath.

On the other side of the ship was a jungle of trees, vines, and thickets of bushes so dense the entire area looked as dark as night. The scream she heard was followed by another, then a snort of breath, moments before the ground shook. “What the hell was that?”

Marcy took a step closer to her side. “I don’t know and I don’t want to find out.”

The tall black haired girl from the ship still lingered close by. She turned to look at them and shook her head. “I told you, we’re going to die.”

Marcy scoffed. “Well, aren’t you just a bucket of sunshine.”

“I’m not being a smartass, I’m just not foolish enough to think everything is going to turn out all right.” She pointed to the barren landscape we stood on, then to the jungle. “We either die out here in the nothing or die in there where I’m pretty sure there are things willing to eat us. We are on an alien planet, you know. I’d hate to even think what waits for us in there.”

Well, when she put it that way. Sara shook her head. “Safety in numbers, then?”

The girl looked at her, then to Marcy. “Safety in numbers.” She reluctantly nodded. “I guess its better than dying alone.”

Marcy crossed her arms over her chest and whispered under her breathe, “Bucket. Of. Sunshine.”

Despite their predicament, Sara smiled. It was the first time since waking up on the ship that she’d felt the desire to do so. Looking at the black haired girl she said, “I’m Sara, by the way,” then jerked her thumb to the right. “And this is Marcy.”

“I’m Emma.” She looked to the jungle. “Not that exchanging names will help us much.” 

“Well, if things go as bad as you say they will,” Marcy mumbled, “Then it’ll give you someone to scream for when you’re dying.”

Sara bit her lip and turned her head so Emma didn’t see her trying not to laugh. She understood Emma’s fear. Her own was climbing pretty high but fear kills and she wasn’t about to die. Not yet, anyway. She’d fight until she wasn’t able to fight anymore.

One of the Big Heads banged something on the metal floor of the ship and they turned in unison to look at him. He stood at the top of the landing staring down at them. 

“Humans,” he said, the words slightly accented. “Welcome to Prison Moon One.”

Prison Moon? That didn’t sound inviting.

Marcy leaned her way. “I hope his use of the word prison doesn’t mean the same thing it means back home.”

“Me either.”

“To prove we’re not heartless, we’re giving you two choices.” The Big Heads voice boomed in the stillness. He pointed to the barren landscape to our left. “You can take your chances in the Wastes or,” he paused and pointed back to the jungle, “try to survive in there.”

The other Big Heads standing nearby made that weird chortling sound Sara came to recognize as laughter. Whatever the joke was, it was apparently on them.

“The Wastes are uninhabited but there’s very little food and even less to water.” He shifted and pointed to the jungle. “In there, you’ll find fresh water, fresh meat if you’re lucky enough to catch and kill it, and an abundance of wild berries and fruits. It will be up to you to figure out which are poisonous and which are not.”

Someone in the front of the group snorted and said, “I’ll pick door number two.”

Sara couldn’t agree more. The jungle held shelter and food. Only an idiot would stay in the Wastes.

The Big Heads fishy mouth split and it looked as if he was trying to smile. He glanced at the other aliens and they seemed to share in his amusement. “Here’s where the other shoe drops,” Sara whispered.

Marcy raised her hand and chewed her thumbnail. “I’m sure you’re right.”

“The jungle holds a few dangers. There are animals who will find you a tempting treat and will most likely kill you so I suggest if you see one, you don’t linger to see if it’s friendly or not.” A few gasps from the girls cause the Big Heads to laugh again. “There are also high cliffs and sheer drop-offs that you’ll need to be careful of and—“

“Here it comes.”

He raised his huge head an inch higher. “There are the prisoners.”

Someone up front said, “Prisoners?”

Sara couldn’t see who said it but it made little difference. Everyone had to be thinking the same thing.

“This is a prison moon,” Big Head continued. “A penal colony for the most dangerous beings in the galaxy. Death sentences are exchanged for banishment and as for the others, when no one else can control them, they are left here. And forgotten.” 

“I guess it does mean the same thing, Marcy.”

“Aren’t we the lucky humans?”

The Big Head drew her attention by doing some weird thing with his mouth again that she assumed was a smile. “Aside from being home to the most vile creatures in the galaxy, Prison Moon One has a duel purpose. You would think life would never get boring in the vast reaches of space, but it does so, everything that happens on this little planet is live streamed to the far reaches of the solar system and for a price, anyone can watch.” He paced to the far side of the doorway and pointed to the sky. “Those are the eyes and ears of this place. They see everything and they’ll be watching you, constantly.”

Someone near the front of the group yelled, “For what?”

The Big Heads laughed again. “For our entertainment, of course.” 

Sara turned to look at the monitors. They were huge triangle shaped prisms and as she watched, one piece broke off from the rest and flew over the jungle, another close behind the first. They were drones of some kind but far more sophisticated than anything she’d seen back on earth. “Reality TV,” she whispered.

“What did you say?” Marcy asked.

“I said, its reality TV.” She shook her head. “It’s like those, lost in the wilderness, shows, where the camera follows people around and watches them try to survive.” She pointed to another set of the prisms shaped drones as it broke off from the rest and headed their way. “Only this time, we’re the stars of the show. Us and those criminals they drop off and forget about.”

The Big Heads voice rose and Sara turned back to face him.

“Four times a year supplies are dropped off for the inmates,” he said. “Food, clothing, medicine. Nothing is rationed. It is every man for themselves here and everyone knows their place but … the inmates get restless after being confined for long periods of time with nothing to do but fight to survive.”

Marcy took a step closer. “I have a very bad feeling.”

She did, too.

“Every six months we drop a special sort of supply.” He mouth pursed. “The species of aliens kept here vary but they all have one similarity—the desire to mate. That would be where you come in. ”

Her heart slammed against her ribcage. “And there it is.”

 “As this moon is home to mostly males, female companionship is a prize worth fighting over—so we let them. Some of them are sexually compatible with your kind, some are not, but they won’t care. They’ll mate with you anyway, regardless of the outcome. Some of you will be selected and extracted for The Arena Games. Those inmates not fast enough, or are unwilling to chase you, are allowed to battle to the death in order to claim you. Those of you not selected for the games, will have to survive on your own, and not get caught.” He nodded to the monitors hovering in the sky. “And the entire galaxy gets to watch as you try. So you only have two choices. Let them catch you—or run.”

The moment the words were out of his mouth, Sara heard it. The rustle of branches, the pounding of feet against the ground, snarls, and growls that filled the air loud enough she barely heard the massive door on the spacecraft close. She glanced at it as the hiss of air stirred the dirt around her. It was leaving.

She turned back to the jungle. The noise was getting closer, blood rushing past her ears so fast she heard nothing but the wild pulse of it. 

The natives were coming.

She grabbed Marcy’s arm and tugged her forward, then grabbed Emma. “Move!”

“But they’re in there?” Emma screamed.

“Then die out here of starvation.”

She didn’t wait to see if either of them was going to follow. Honestly, she didn’t give a shit. She barely knew them and their lives meant nothing to her but hers sure as hell did so—she ran.

She ran straight into the jungle where the snarling and growling grew louder and hoped like hell she didn’t meet what was on the other side.

 

End of Excerpt

______________________________________

 

DRAGON FIRE Releases April 24th!

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The post Prison Moon – Dragon Fire – 1st Chapter Preview appeared first on Author Lily Graison.

Dragon Fire Preview

Since today is ALIEN ABDUCTION DAY, I thought I’d share a bit more about my upcoming book in the Prison Moon Series is set to release on April 24th! I’m beyond excited to share this new world I’ve created with Alexandra Marell. Take a peek below at the first chapter of my contribution to the series, DRAGON FIRE.

Prison Moon: Dragon Fire

by Lily Graison

Abducted by aliens and housed in an airtight room with twenty other girls wasn’t Sara’s idea of a good time. Neither was being dropped into the jungle of a Prison Moon, but for the rest of the galaxy, it was. She was the entertainment. The game? Survive the lawless alien criminals who ran wild or die trying, but there was no outrunning a dragon, and he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to let her go.

Toren has spent the last several centuries sleeping beneath the rubble of an abandoned temple. The wars decimated his world and now was used as a dumping ground for the most vile creatures in the galaxy. A Prison Moon where it was kill or be killed. He slumbers to escape but awakes when a female, the first he’s seen in centuries, stumbles into his lair. And now that he’s seen her, he’s not letting her go.

But the corporation that runs the Prison Moon One has other plans. Broadcasting a televised event across the galaxy of an Arena fight between a live dragon and any willing to fight him will bring in more viewers, and money, than they could imagine. All they had to do was catch him and to do that, they had to take the girl.

 

Pre-Order your copy exclusively at Amazon.com and Kindle Unlimited!

Amazon US: http://lilygraison.com/Lullaby_Amazon

 

 
1
__________

SARA

 

The screaming finally stopped. Sara closed her eyes and sighed in relief. The wild beating pulse in her head from the artificial light caused the headache she couldn’t get rid of to pound harder with each beat of her heart and the screaming only made it worse. Not that she blamed the girl. If it had been her on the receiving end of that last attack, she’d still be screaming too.

Everyone shifted nervously, some in small clusters talking in hushed whispers. Every face she looked at wore the same shell-shocked expression. Hers probably did too. Foul odors filled the room, the stink of unwashed bodies and human waste lingering in the air, and it took every ounce of willpower she possessed to not throw up. She tried to block it out, to imagine she was somewhere other than the cargo hold of a spaceship headed for who knew where. She snorted a laugh. Aliens. It was still too fantastical to believe but she did. She’d seen them. 

She’d been a skeptic until she stepped out of the shower and her entire dorm room was flooded with light so bright she’d been momentarily blinded. The darkness that followed was a blessing she fought to get back after opening her eyes to this. A small metal, doorless room filled with frightened women who either spent their time crying, complaining, or screaming to be let out. Hence the headache.

A section of the wall to her left opened to reveal a door that hadn’t been there before. The chirping noise she’d come to recognize as some sort of language filled the room moments later. One of the aliens she liked to call Big Heads walked in and the screamer started up again. Sara’s head throbbed more intensely at the shrill noise. She would have thrown a shoe at the girl if she’d had one on.

Three aliens stopped just inside the doorway. As many times as she’d seen these guys, she still stared. The alien’s neck was as long as her arm, its head three sizes too large for his body. She wasn’t sure how he even held it up but somehow managed. His bug-like eyes were large bulbs sticking off the side of his head and as horrid as they looked, they smelled even worse. Like ammonia mixed with wild onions. Every time one got near, her sinuses burned. Maybe it was the slimy substance that clung to their skin or some pheromone only other ugly aliens would find attractive. They were brown for the most part but dark green strips slashed across their flesh in neat rows. She would have nicknamed them something closer resembling a lion but Big Head had popped into her mind first. They all wore dark gray, one-piece suits of some kind, each with a wide belt around their waists where gadgets of varying size hung in small pockets along the belt.

The Big Head who walked into the room made a motion with his hands that looked as if he wanted them to stand. Those able to do so wasted no time obeying him, herself included. The last girl who didn’t was still lying in a heap over along the wall. Sara glanced the girls way. As she’d been most of the day, the blonde stared straight ahead at nothing, her eyes unblinking. Her torn clothing hung off her slim frame, scratches and blood staining her thighs. Tears filled Sara’s vision. She blinked them away and turned back to the same aliens who’d done such vile things to the poor girl. The memories still made her my stomach churn. If she lived to be a thousand, she’d never get the images out of her head. Had it been her, she’d be lying over there staring at nothing, too.

She gritted her teeth and turned her attention to the Big Heads, leaving the girl to her fate. She wiped tears she wasn’t even aware she’d been shedding away with one shoulder. They did no one any good to shed now, anyway. Life as they knew it was over.

The chirping language they spoke spilled from one of the Big Head’s fish-like mouth before he pointed at the door. He grabbed the blonde closet to him and shoved her out, then grabbed another. They were being moved. As much as she feared what these aliens were going to do with them, sitting in this stinking hole of a room was getting to be too much. She’d take a walk and breathe fresher smelling air if they wanted her to. 

The corridor was dark with small green lights lining the floor of the walkway. It was colder here with a faint odor she couldn’t place but it wasn’t human waste so she inhaled deeply to clear her head. The metal under her feet felt like she was walking on ice and she’d have given anything for shoes—or clothes. She crossed her arms over her bare chest when she neared the Big Head on her way down the hall, not that it mattered. It wasn’t like he couldn’t see she was a fan of the Hollywood wax with just a glance. Thankfully it was growing back in but not nearly fast enough. 

Being the only girl abducted in her birthday suit drew more attention than she like, even from them. The blonde they’d taken turns amusing themselves with early came to mind and she shuddered before lowering one arm in an attempt to cover her bare lady parts. 

A doorway at the end of the corridor came into view. The line of girls in front of her slowed and she watched as each girl was ushered inside. No one screamed after going in so it was too soon to panic. As she was ushered forward, her headache grew along with her racing pulse. The doorway loomed ahead, the light coming from inside almost blinding. When she stepped inside, the room was bare. The walls were white, the light overhead, bright. A noise on the other side of the wall drew her attention and she peeked around the corner—and wished she hadn’t. Her racing pulse stuttered, then raced when the girl in front of her was grabbed, the Big Head just on the other side of the wall taking her arm and sticking it with something that resembled a needle. The girl fell as if dead, another alien there to catch her before she hit the ground.

Sara screamed as the Big Head waiting behind her pushed her forward, the needle-like thing in the other ones hand biting into her skin moments before the world went dark.

  


__________


SARA


 

Voices pulled her from sleep. Sara opened her eyes and groaned. Her headache was worse and a spot behind her right ear pounded so hard it stung. Raising her hand, she brushed her fingers over the spot and winced. It was tender and wet. Pulling her hand away, she saw her fingers smeared with blood. 

“It’s an implant.”

A girl with long red hair was staring at her. She looked ragged, her curly hair in tangles around her face. Dark circles lay like bruises underneath her green eyes and even though she was thin, her pixie-like features didn’t look as gaunt as some of the others. This girl had been taken recently. Sara sat up and wiped the spot behind her ear again. “What kind of implant?”

The girl tilted her head a fraction to the right, motioning to the front of the room. Three Big Heads were there, talking. Sara’s eyes widened. It wasn’t the chirping she’d been hearing since waking up on an alien spacecraft, but actual words. They were speaking English. Or rather, she was hearing English. She rubbed the spot behind her ear again. “It’s a translator?”

“I think so.” The girl slid closer. “I didn’t understand them before today so I’m assuming that’s what the wound behind my ear is from. They did knock us all out. I’m thinking it was to insert something into our heads.”

“Wonderful.

The girl looked at me and the corner of her lips turn up into a tiny smile. “I’m Marcy, by the way.”

“Sara.” A glance around the room told her it wasn’t in the same one they’d been in before. This one was clean and feces-free. “Do you know what’s happening? Why we’re here?”

Marcy shook her head. “Not really, but I don’t think its good, whatever it is.” She took a shuddering breath. “From what I’ve been able to hear, we’re to be used for some sort of entertainment.”

Sara raised an eyebrow. “Entertainment for who? And how?”

“Don’t know.” She motioned behind us. Sara turned and when she saw what Marcy pointed at, she gasped. 

A large section of the wall was glass, or something similar, and beyond it sat thousands of stars in a vast ocean of darkness. Since the moment she woke after the abduction, she’d prayed this was all a bad dream, that someone spiked her drink and she was having a really bad drug-induced trip, but what sat beyond that window wasn’t anything her imagination could come up with. 

There were two planets in the distance and sitting between them and the ship was a ring of scattered rock that spanned the entire length of the window from left to right. The rocks varied in size. Some were as large as a bus, others as small as a basketball. It looked like an asteroid belt of some kind. 

Further in the distance, behind the two planets, a massive cloud of stars glimmered like diamonds. The entire thing shined in shades of gold, blue, red and purple. A nebula, if she wasn’t mistaken. One large enough to see its brilliance with the naked eye. As much as she wanted this to be a bad dream, she could no longer deny it. She really was in an alien ship—in deep space. 

A series of hissing noises filled the air, and a few screams followed as gravity seems to disappear to leave them floating in mid-air. Sara reached out to grab anything she could and found Marcy’s arm. Long minutes later, the artificial gravity returned and they fell back to the floor. Grunts and groans followed, Sara’s elbow aching and she laid there a few moments, then sat up. 

She looked at the window again. They were landing. The planet wasn’t blue like earth. The colors below were varied with wide oceans of red, green and teal. As they drew closer, the window turned white, her view of the planet below gone.

Chortling laughter filled the room. Four Big Heads leaned against the wall looking at them. One said, “Welcome to your new home,” before they all started to laugh harder

“Get up,” another said. They stood and for the first time since waking, Sara realized she was clothed—sort of. The thin gown she wore was loose fitting and sleeveless. The cut was low in the front with a deep “v” which bared more breast than it should. Not that is mattered. It was barely long enough to cover her ass and nearly see-through but she wasn’t about to complain. It was better than being naked. Plus, everyone else was just as scantily dressed as she was. Soft sandal-like shoes were on her feet and held on with a series of straps that crisscrossed over the top of her foot and tied in the back. They weren’t much, the soles not very sturdy, but it was better than being barefoot.

She glanced at Marcy who still stood by her side. She’d said they were to be entertainment. In this getup, it wasn’t hard to figure out what kind.

They were ushered out of the room and back into the corridor, the same green lights as before glowed dimly along the edge of the floor. They were led into a massive room with a door on one end that was nearly as tall as the entire ship. The floor beneath her feet vibrated and shimmied, the hissing sound from before rumbling past her ears. A solid thunk and bounce later and she assumed they were on the ground.

The other girls murmured and huddled together. She tried to count heads but everyone was standing so close together she gave up. There were at least twenty. Maybe more.

She flicked a gaze to Marcy and noticed the worried look on her face. Her own probably held the same. She had no idea what lay beyond those doors and she didn’t want to find out. Marcy stared at that massive door probably wondering the same thing she was—what would they find on the other side?

“We’re going to die.”

The whispered words are spoken to her left. Sara turned her head to see who’d said it. The girl was tall, her skin tanned a warm tawny brown, her hair so inky black it looked blue under the harsh lights. When she looked over at them, Sara could read every thought going through her mind with one look into her eyes. She really did think they were going to die. 

As the door jolted and hissed, then started to lower, Sara’s first look outside at this alien planet came into view and she was inclined to believe the girl. They probably were going to die.

 
 


__________


SARA


 

The barren landscape on the other side of the door didn’t look inviting. If anything, it was terrifying. 

The Big Heads ushered everyone out and Sara lingered in the back as long as she could. Marcy looking her way was the only thing that got her moving. She knew next to nothing about Marcy but she was the only person who’d spoken to her and like it or not, she was closest thing to a friend she had at the moment.

Sara’s first look at the strange planet was deceiving. The dry, cracked ground they walked out on was a wide sea of nothing. It stretched all the way to the horizon. A shrill scream filled the air and she turned her head to the right, then sucked in a harsh breath.

On the other side of the ship was a jungle of trees, vines, and thickets of bushes so dense the entire area looked as dark as night. The scream she heard was followed by another, then a snort of breath, moments before the ground shook. “What the hell was that?”

Marcy took a step closer to her side. “I don’t know and I don’t want to find out.”

The tall black haired girl from the ship still lingered close by. She turned to look at them and shook her head. “I told you, we’re going to die.”

Marcy scoffed. “Well, aren’t you just a bucket of sunshine.”

“I’m not being a smartass, I’m just not foolish enough to think everything is going to turn out all right.” She pointed to the barren landscape we stood on, then to the jungle. “We either die out here in the nothing or die in there where I’m pretty sure there are things willing to eat us. We are on an alien planet, you know. I’d hate to even think what waits for us in there.”

Well, when she put it that way. Sara shook her head. “Safety in numbers, then?”

The girl looked at her, then to Marcy. “Safety in numbers.” She reluctantly nodded. “I guess its better than dying alone.”

Marcy crossed her arms over her chest and whispered under her breathe, “Bucket. Of. Sunshine.”

Despite their predicament, Sara smiled. It was the first time since waking up on the ship that she’d felt the desire to do so. Looking at the black haired girl she said, “I’m Sara, by the way,” then jerked her thumb to the right. “And this is Marcy.”

“I’m Emma.” She looked to the jungle. “Not that exchanging names will help us much.” 

“Well, if things go as bad as you say they will,” Marcy mumbled, “Then it’ll give you someone to scream for when you’re dying.”

Sara bit her lip and turned her head so Emma didn’t see her trying not to laugh. She understood Emma’s fear. Her own was climbing pretty high but fear kills and she wasn’t about to die. Not yet, anyway. She’d fight until she wasn’t able to fight anymore.

One of the Big Heads banged something on the metal floor of the ship and they turned in unison to look at him. He stood at the top of the landing staring down at them. 

“Humans,” he said, the words slightly accented. “Welcome to Prison Moon One.”

Prison Moon? That didn’t sound inviting.

Marcy leaned her way. “I hope his use of the word prison doesn’t mean the same thing it means back home.”

“Me either.”

“To prove we’re not heartless, we’re giving you two choices.” The Big Heads voice boomed in the stillness. He pointed to the barren landscape to our left. “You can take your chances in the Wastes or,” he paused and pointed back to the jungle, “try to survive in there.”

The other Big Heads standing nearby made that weird chortling sound Sara came to recognize as laughter. Whatever the joke was, it was apparently on them.

“The Wastes are uninhabited but there’s very little food and even less to water.” He shifted and pointed to the jungle. “In there, you’ll find fresh water, fresh meat if you’re lucky enough to catch and kill it, and an abundance of wild berries and fruits. It will be up to you to figure out which are poisonous and which are not.”

Someone in the front of the group snorted and said, “I’ll pick door number two.”

Sara couldn’t agree more. The jungle held shelter and food. Only an idiot would stay in the Wastes.

The Big Heads fishy mouth split and it looked as if he was trying to smile. He glanced at the other aliens and they seemed to share in his amusement. “Here’s where the other shoe drops,” Sara whispered.

Marcy raised her hand and chewed her thumbnail. “I’m sure you’re right.”

“The jungle holds a few dangers. There are animals who will find you a tempting treat and will most likely kill you so I suggest if you see one, you don’t linger to see if it’s friendly or not.” A few gasps from the girls cause the Big Heads to laugh again. “There are also high cliffs and sheer drop-offs that you’ll need to be careful of and—“

“Here it comes.”

He raised his huge head an inch higher. “There are the prisoners.”

Someone up front said, “Prisoners?”

Sara couldn’t see who said it but it made little difference. Everyone had to be thinking the same thing.

“This is a prison moon,” Big Head continued. “A penal colony for the most dangerous beings in the galaxy. Death sentences are exchanged for banishment and as for the others, when no one else can control them, they are left here. And forgotten.” 

“I guess it does mean the same thing, Marcy.”

“Aren’t we the lucky humans?”

The Big Head drew her attention by doing some weird thing with his mouth again that she assumed was a smile. “Aside from being home to the most vile creatures in the galaxy, Prison Moon One has a duel purpose. You would think life would never get boring in the vast reaches of space, but it does so, everything that happens on this little planet is live streamed to the far reaches of the solar system and for a price, anyone can watch.” He paced to the far side of the doorway and pointed to the sky. “Those are the eyes and ears of this place. They see everything and they’ll be watching you, constantly.”

Someone near the front of the group yelled, “For what?”

The Big Heads laughed again. “For our entertainment, of course.” 

Sara turned to look at the monitors. They were huge triangle shaped prisms and as she watched, one piece broke off from the rest and flew over the jungle, another close behind the first. They were drones of some kind but far more sophisticated than anything she’d seen back on earth. “Reality TV,” she whispered.

“What did you say?” Marcy asked.

“I said, its reality TV.” She shook her head. “It’s like those, lost in the wilderness, shows, where the camera follows people around and watches them try to survive.” She pointed to another set of the prisms shaped drones as it broke off from the rest and headed their way. “Only this time, we’re the stars of the show. Us and those criminals they drop off and forget about.”

The Big Heads voice rose and Sara turned back to face him.

“Four times a year supplies are dropped off for the inmates,” he said. “Food, clothing, medicine. Nothing is rationed. It is every man for themselves here and everyone knows their place but … the inmates get restless after being confined for long periods of time with nothing to do but fight to survive.”

Marcy took a step closer. “I have a very bad feeling.”

She did, too.

“Every six months we drop a special sort of supply.” He mouth pursed. “The species of aliens kept here vary but they all have one similarity—the desire to mate. That would be where you come in. ”

Her heart slammed against her ribcage. “And there it is.”

 “As this moon is home to mostly males, female companionship is a prize worth fighting over—so we let them. Some of them are sexually compatible with your kind, some are not, but they won’t care. They’ll mate with you anyway, regardless of the outcome. Some of you will be selected and extracted for The Arena Games. Those inmates not fast enough, or are unwilling to chase you, are allowed to battle to the death in order to claim you. Those of you not selected for the games, will have to survive on your own, and not get caught.” He nodded to the monitors hovering in the sky. “And the entire galaxy gets to watch as you try. So you only have two choices. Let them catch you—or run.”

The moment the words were out of his mouth, Sara heard it. The rustle of branches, the pounding of feet against the ground, snarls, and growls that filled the air loud enough she barely heard the massive door on the spacecraft close. She glanced at it as the hiss of air stirred the dirt around her. It was leaving.

She turned back to the jungle. The noise was getting closer, blood rushing past her ears so fast she heard nothing but the wild pulse of it. 

The natives were coming.

She grabbed Marcy’s arm and tugged her forward, then grabbed the Emma. “Move!”

“But they’re in there?” Emma screamed.

“Then die out here of starvation.”

She didn’t wait to see if either of them was going to follow. Honestly, she didn’t give a shit. She barely knew them and their lives meant nothing to her but hers sure as hell did so—she ran.

She ran straight into jungle where the snarling and growling grew louder and hoped like hell she didn’t meet what was on the other side.

 

The post Dragon Fire Preview appeared first on Lily Graison.

New Book, New Series, New Adventures!

I’m so excited to share a project with you I’ve been working on for months. I’ve had a secret love affair with science fiction romance for a very long time (Thank you Ruby Dixon) and after years of reading it, I took the plunge and wrote one myself. It has been an exhilarating change of pace and has allowed me the opportunity to let my imagination run wild and take a brand new adventure right along with my characters. I love my historical westerns and have NO PLANS to stop writing them so, fans of the Willow Creek Series and my new Silver Falls Series, don’t panic! I have more of those books coming in 2018, Nightingale, Willow Creek book 8 in the next few months.

In the meantime, take a look at DRAGON FIRE, my first contribution in the Prison Moon Series I’m writing with my author friend, Alexandra Marell. Her first book in the series, PRISON MOON: ICE HEART is available at Amazon.com and FREE on Kindle Unlimited!

Prison Moon: Dragon Fire

by Lily Graison

Abducted by aliens and housed in an airtight room with twenty other girls wasn’t Sara’s idea of a good time. Neither was being dropped into the jungle of a Prison Moon, but for the rest of the galaxy, it was. She was the entertainment. The game? Survive the lawless alien criminals who ran wild or die trying, but there was no outrunning a dragon, and he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to let her go.

Toren has spent the last several centuries sleeping beneath the rubble of an abandoned temple. The wars decimated his world and now was used as a dumping ground for the most vile creatures in the galaxy. A Prison Moon where it was kill or be killed. He slumbers to escape but awakes when a female, the first he’s seen in centuries, stumbles into his lair. And now that he’s seen her, he’s not letting her go.

But the corporation that runs the Prison Moon One has other plans. Broadcasting a televised event across the galaxy of an Arena fight between a live dragon and any willing to fight him will bring in more viewers, and money, than they could imagine. All they had to do was catch him and to do that, they had to take the girl.

 

Pre-Order your copy exclusively at Amazon.com and Kindle Unlimited!

Amazon US: http://lilygraison.com/Lullaby_Amazon

 

 
Read An Excerpt

They stayed by the pool for most of the day. It wasn’t until the sun lowered in the sky that Marcy’s stomach growled loud enough they both frowned. The moment she heard it, hers growled too. 

Sara stood and walked to the crumbling opening in the wall that led into the jungle. She hadn’t seen anything move out there in the entire time she’d been sitting there watching. Not a bird or even the sound of an insect buzzed nearby. It was as if the jungle around the ruins was portioned off as if some invisible barrier separated it from the rest of the world. Was it? Was this part of the jungle protected? She turned to Marcy. “What do you make of the silence surrounding this place?”

Marcy sat up from where she’d been lounging near the pool. “What do you mean?”

Sara gathered her hair and attempted to braid it, but with nothing to secure the end, it wouldn’t last. She stared at the silent jungle. The more she saw no movement, or heard the sound of anything moving, the more the entire place felt more—eerie. “Well, remember when we stopped in front of the ruins? And nothing moved or made a sound?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it’s like that here, too.” She motioned toward the jungle. “Nothing is stirring back here, either. It’s just weird.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the trees. “It almost makes me think something is keeping everything away?” Like maybe whatever made that loud sighing noise earlier? 

“I hope not.” Marcy stood, a worried look crossing her face. “If things aren’t hanging out near the ruins because of something bad, then us being in here is pretty stupid, don’t you think?”

She bit her lip and looked toward the doorway to the lower chamber again. Marcy had a point. “Maybe.” Her stomach growled again a moment later. “It doesn’t really matter. We can’t stay here anyway. We’ll starve if we don’t find food soon. My stomach already feels like its ready to gnaw at my backbone.”

“Same here.” Marcy crossed to where she stood. “As much as it terrifies me to go out there, I know think we don’t have a choice.” She took several deep breaths and lets them out before saying, “I’ll let you lead the way.”

“Why me?”

Marcy grinned. “Because if there’s anything out there going to eat us, it’ll get you first.”

“Unless it sneaks up on us from behind.” She laughed at the look on Marcy’s face and stepped out of the ruins.

They left the pool of water and the shelter of the ruins behind and ventured into the jungle again. The trees weren’t as densely packed here and they walked a good distance before she saw the first sign of disturbed dirt. She had no clue if the tracks were old or newly made, but she steered them in the opposite direction they were going just in case it was something large enough to eat them.

Something rustled the branches low on the ground a few feet ahead of them. They froze, both staring at the underbrush. A tiny blue creature the size of a small rabbit popped out from under the brush but it looked nothing like a rabbit. She wanted to say it was a small troll. Its body was skinny and it stood upright on two legs, its head was slightly larger than the rest of it and it had no hair. Ears that hung and drooped off the side of its head to rest near its shoulders made it look almost cute. It saw them, it’s large dark eyes turning their way. The creature blinked, looked toward the brush again, then scurried in the opposite direction.

“I don’t know what that was but I want one.”

Sara snorted a laugh. “For all we know that cute little critter had teeth sharp enough to chew bone in half.”

Marcy laughed. “I doubt that. It was too cute to be vicious.”

They kept walking, cautious now that they’d seen the first animal that inhabited this place. She was pretty sure not everything here would be tiny and cute like that blue thing was and she knew it was only a matter of time before they found it.

They’d walked nearly three hundred yards from the ruins when she heard the first grunt. Marcy grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. She must have heard it, too. 

A loud crash echoed behind them. The underbrush shook and small creatures came pouring out from under it by the dozens. A moment later something huge crashed through the brush and stepped into her line of sight. It stood on two legs the size of mini tree trunks, its arms muscular and long, its hands nearly touching the ground. Razor sharp spines jutted out of its back and the thing had tusks the size of her leg that curved up out of its mouth toward its forehead. “Okay, Marcy, I’ve seen enough.”

The trees behind him moved and more—things—come crashing out into the open. The locals had found them.

Marcy screamed so loud it caused every hair on her body to stand on end, her own screams joining in when those things started toward them. They both turned and ran.

It didn’t take long for those creatures to close the distance between them, the ground shaking as they ran, the snarls and growls she’d heard earlier once again filling the air. They should have stayed inside the ruins. Whatever kept animals from getting too near it had to be less scary than the mass of bodies slowly gaining ground on them now.

A bellowing roar tore through the air long minutes later, a flash of red light filling the sky in her peripheral vision. Intense heat flared at her back and those snarls and growls turned into screams. Gooseflesh dotted her arms at the sound. Was something larger than those creatures they’d seen chasing them in pursuit off them now? 

Sara hiked up her knees, her arms pumping at her sides as fear drove her to run faster, Marcy half a step behind her. She hoped she kept up. She didn’t want to die because her new friend was three-seconds slower than she was. 

The screams behind them grew and her heart felt ready to race from her chest. The dense thicket of trees seemed to thin as they ran, then disappeared completely when they ran out onto a grassy area. It took her only seconds to realize the ground ahead of her was gone. 

“Sara, stop!”

Marcy’s scream joined her own as she saw the edge of the cliff and tried to stop but momentum kept pushing her forward even as she tried to turn and reach for Marcy. The landscape flashed by, then she saw nothing but the blue-pink haze of the sky as she fell. Her screams echoed through the canyon as she tumbled, the ground below her hundreds of feet down. Her stomach crawled into my throat, Marcy’s voice as she screamed her name fading as she plummeted, the cliff growing further and further away. 

Your life really does flash before your eyes right before death and all Sara could think of was how she’d wasted what time she’d had. Her impending death caused her muscles to relax, her pounding heart racing so fast she grew dizzy, her vision going out of focus moments before a dark shadow blotted out the sun. It fell over the side of the cliff and headed straight for her. She stared at it, her vision going dark around the edges as one clawed foot came into her field of vision before clamping around her body as another burst of heat and flame filled the air. 

Her last thought as she blacked out was, there’s no such thing as dragons.

 

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Get These Two Holdiay Romances FREE!

 

 

Looking for a few Holiday reads? Both of my contemporary romance Christmas stories Blame It On The Mistletoe and That First Christmas are both on Kindle Unlimited AND FREE as part of a special book promotion Dec. 16th – 20th. Pick up your copies at Amazon.com!

 

Blame It On The Mistletoe

by Lily Graison

Contemporary Romance

Format: eBook

Length: Novella

Released: Dec. 2009

When Macy Carter’s parents order her to bring her live-in boyfriend Sean home with her for Christmas she has no idea that her little white lie is just about to snowball into a fabrication of monstrous proportions. Sean isn’t her boyfriend, he’s her boss. Now she has to reveal the lie she’s been telling her family for the past two years or hastily concoct an elaborate ruse to fool them instead.

When Macy tells Sean Mathis of her predicament he does what any gentleman would – he laughs and then agrees to help her out. Little does he know that one misplaced word in their little scheme will backfire and land them both in the hot-seat.

Secluded in the mountains, surrounded by snow and good will, Sean and Macy can’t help looking like the perfect couple. So perfect that the family decides a Christmas wedding will make it a holiday none of them would ever forget!

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That First Christmas

by Lily Graison

Contemporary Romance

Format: eBook

Length: Novella

Released: Dec. 2008

Meredith Gunter has always been Daddy’s little girl. Spoiled all her life, she’s never had to ask for anything and expects to get exactly what she wants. When she wrecks her car on the way home from college for Christmas break, she finds herself stranded on the mountain in the middle of a snowstorm, in a one-room cabin with a man she can’t help but want.

Travis Gregory has lived alone on the mountain for the last four years. He has little contact with the outside world and prefers it that way. When he spots a girl on the side of the road, his conscience won’t let him abandon her. The redhead captivates him instantly.

Worlds collide when Travis and Meredith try to co-exist in his one room cabin. Can they fight their growing attraction when the nights get longer and the storm isolates them from the rest of the world? Can two people, from such different worlds, ever truly be happy together?

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