Lynn Thompson's Blog, page 45

Blake-A Montana Dayton Novel Ch.6:2

I set my food down on the counter and flew to the back door, still locked, good. I stood there for a moment holding my breath then slowly opened the door and peeked outside. There, on the ground sat another nest of leaves. I closed the door and re-locked it, my whole body vibrated in disbelief. I wrapped my arms tightly around my chest in an attempt to stop the shakes, calm down and clear my head from the numbness that had taken over. Killer rubbed his side against my leg. I slid down the door, wrapped my arms around his big, thick, neck and I willed myself not to cry.

After a few minutes of resting my head in Killers fur, I realized he needed to go out. I needed to brave the outdoors too, the sun was setting and I needed to grab my gun and my bags out of the truck. I also needed to take pictures of the nests.
“Wait here Killer I have an idea.” I ran upstairs to get my camera before finding Killers leash and collar.
“I’m sorry to have to do this to you boy, but I want you as close to me as possible.” I secured his collar and shortened his leash. “We’re going to have to watch our step when we go out front, I want to get some pictures before the nests become disturbed.”
We managed to get back outside without causing too much damage. Killer avoided the nests and whined at the sight of them. I snagged the gun out of my backpack. Feeling a little safer I gave Killer some slack to do his business, but didn’t let go of the leash. I put the memory card back in my camera and grabbed everything I could carry out of my truck. The rest could wait until daylight. I snapped some pictures of the nests, went back inside, and proceeded to search my house, making sure it was locked down tight.
I heated my food, started a fire, and sat down on the couch before turning on my favorite zombie movie for a distraction. I also wondered where the hell my protector was. A knock on the door rattled my nerves, Max stepped inside.
“Re-lock the door behind you.” I hadn’t heard or sensed him coming up the drive. That’s how freaked out I was.
He gave me a questioning glance, sat down beside me and directed his attention to the movie.
I ignored him, the adrenaline rush from earlier faded and left me frazzled, exhausted, and in no mood for conversation.
Eventually I made my weary limbs get off the couch for coffee, pie, and a painkiller. I put my uneaten dinner in the fridge and cut two slices of pie, one for me and one for Max, who was still in silent mode. I handed him the pie and we continued to watch the movie.

I stirred the next morning in my own bed. The other side of the bed was empty, but rumpled. I glared at the dent from Max’s head lingering on the pillow. He’d slept in my bed again. What did Max not understand about sleep on the couch or go away?
I closed my eyes and stretched out; I was tempted to stay in bed for the rest of the day. I didn’t want to deal with anything. I imagined Max leaving, my home being safe again, and snuggled deeper under the blankets. The smell of coffee, eggs, and bacon awakened my senses and brought me back to reality. My stomach growled, I threw off the covers and sat up.

Apparently Max thought it necessary to take off most of my clothes last night. I planted my feet on the floor, wearing only a tee-shirt, boxers, and fluffy pink socks. I smirked, I was sleeping with the guy, without the sex, so I why should I complain.

I slipped on a robe and a moment later stepped into the solarium. Max was no longer in the house. His energy still lingered in the air, but my internal sensors told me he’d left. Curious as to who was cooking in my kitchen, I rounded the corner and almost ran into ghost boy.

“You startled me.” Ghost boy said, putting his hand over his heart. “I’m Chase.” He held out his hand to me. “I hope you don’t mind I’m here, but Max needed to run some errands and didn’t want you to be left alone.”

Great, another protector, a cute one, but nonetheless. I plastered a smile on my face. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Max said you only eat fresh eggs.” He sauntered back into the kitchen. I followed him. “I know a lady who has chickens, so I brought some over, eggs not chickens. She told me to tell you that if you ever need a chicken to let me know.”

The thought of owning a live chicken or having one killed made me squeamish.

“I will, thanks.”

“I hope you’re hungry. I made breakfast, and was going up to check on you when you almost ran into me. Max says you don’t eat breakfast, but I figured I’d try anyway.”

“Breakfast sounds great.” I poured myself some coffee and wondered what else Max told Chase about me.

Chase loaded up some plates for both of us and we sat down at the guest island.

“I also took the liberty of bringing the rest of your stuff in from the truck. I set up Killer’s auto pet feeder in the solarium, and I took Killer out with me when I cleaned up the mess outside.”

“Thanks. Any idea what kind of nest sat on my doorstep?” I already liked Chase; he was boyishly cute, polite, and charming.

“No, and Max didn’t say anything. He took some pictures of those things in front of your doors and left very unhappy.”

I put my plate in the sink and refilled my coffee. “So what’s on the agenda for today?” I giggled. “Are you supposed to lock me in my room or something until Max gets back?”

“No,” Chase laughed. “Even though I think he’d be thrilled if I did. You’re the first female I’ve seen him attach himself to since I’ve known him.”

“And how long is that?”

“About five years, he likes you. I can see why.”

I raised my eyebrows. I didn’t want to go there, besides Chase didn’t know me well enough to make that particular comment.

“Well, I’ll make life easy on you, I have some work I need to get done today, so I’ll be a good girl and stay inside.”

“I appreciate your kindness.” He replied with a big grin.

“Make yourself at home.”

I found Killer in his usual spot by the fireplace and gave him a pet before heading back upstairs to get ready for the day.

After I showered and got dressed, I cleaned my room and booted up my laptop. I checked on all of my investments, putting myself in a comatose state of mind. When I started to yawn I closed the computer window I worked in and picked up my camera. I spent the next couple of hours printing the photos of my ankles, writing notes, and doing research. I couldn’t find anything about the unusual nests or the hand prints. Needing a break, I headed back downstairs for more coffee.

Chase sat on the floor with his back against the couch and Killers head lying on his legs, glued to the TV. My second favorite zombie movie held his attention. I probably could’ve snuck outside and he never would have known. I moved silently into the kitchen, refilled my coffee, and popped some popcorn. Resident Evil was just what the doctor ordered. I sat down next to Chase. Startled, he almost jumped out of his skin. His knees flew up clocking Killer in the jaw, making Killer jump too. Chase’s glazed over eyes stared at me like I was a zombie. I busted out in giggles.
“I take it you haven’t seen this episode before.” I said, hitting the pause button.

He shook his head. “No, I haven’t and you scared the crap out of me.”

“If you forgive me I’ll share my popcorn with you.”

“It’s a deal.” He dug into the popcorn.

By the time the movie ended I was itching to ask Chase a ton of questions, I also longed to go outside and walk around or go riding.

“Resident Evil is awesome, mind if I play another disk?”

“Help yourself. Any idea when Max might be back or where he went?”

“No idea.”

“Why is he looking into this? This situation isn’t his problem.”

“He works in things like this.”

“What does that mean?”

“You like him, don’t you.”

Why did everyone always change the subject on me? I blew out a breath. “I don’t know, I’ve got more work to do,” being stuck in the house was even worse than shopping.

I sat back down in front of my laptop, lit a smoke, and put Max’s name into more than one search engine on the Internet, coming up empty. Getting depressed I closed my laptop, found a good book, and went back downstairs to hang out with Chase. We ended up watching almost all of my Resident Evil movies and eating the rest of my pie for dinner. Max never showed that night, which was a huge relief.

I left Chase absorbed in Alice’s chaos and went to bed.

 

Blake-A Montana Dayton Novel Ch.6

When I went back downstairs Max was gone. Reveling in the silence I picked up my shopping list and rechecked it as I went through every room to make sure I had written down everything I needed. I added binoculars, a small notepad, and a folder. I wanted to document everything that happened and keep notes. I knew Rose would be showing up any minute, so I ran back upstairs, which I immediately regretted, took half a pain killer, found my gun, and stashed both of them in my backpack. Next I checked to make sure my ankle pictures were still on the memory stick in my camera. I took the card out, and stashed it in my backpack also. I was having trust issues.

“Come in Rose.” I said as I sat down to put on my boots.
Rose bustled in. “I’m finally ready to go, or as ready as I’ll ever be this year. We need to stop by my house and get my luggage then we’ll hit the road.”
“Relax Rose, take a deep breath, I still have to let Killer out and give him a bone, he’s staying home this time.”
I stood on the deck waiting for Killer to finish his business and let my eyes drift over the landscape. I released a sigh of relief. I didn’t see Max anywhere and nothing seemed out of place. As soon as Killer finished up he ran inside and planted himself in front of the fireplace.
“Be good Killer, I’ll be back tonight.” I gave him an extra-large rawhide bone to chew on for the day and scratched behind his ears.

Rose and I drove in silence for the next hour, both of us deep in our own thoughts. When we arrived at my first destination Rose looked over at me.
“I’m staying in the truck” she said. “You make shopping into a marathon race and I don’t want to get left behind.”

“I don’t blame you, I’ll be right back.”

I grabbed my shopping bags and got right to it. Rose was right, I entered the store and raced through the aisles. My motto, go in and get out as quickly as possible. Stores make me claustrophobic, the aisles are too narrow, and too many people liked to gather and talk in them, creating endless road blocks to maneuver through. I rushed out of the store in no time flat. We did this for all of the other stops I had to make and then drove towards the airport.

“We’re early.” Rose said. “Let’s stop for some coffee and pie first.”

I pulled into the first parking lot I found. The street leading to the airport had restaurants and hotels on both sides. We parked at an all-night coffee shop and claimed a booth by the window, ordered coffee with key lime pie and dug in.

“Give me all the juicy details.” I said to Rose, knowing she understood what I was talking about because her face turned bright red.

“We’re just having a good time together.”

“Is the relationship serious?”

“Well, he didn’t want me to leave and I don’t want to leave either, so I guess it’s as serious as it’s going to get.”

I grinned, their affair could get more serious if she let loose, she’d been alone for a very long time. I watched her as I finished my pie. She purposely dressed down today in jeans, a blue sweater, and brown boots. She’d pulled her hair back in her normal braid, but left the sparkling hair clips out. I knew this was how she was going to be dressed during her visit with her kids and it made me sad she felt like she had to be someone else so she wouldn’t embarrass her family. She should be able to stay up in the mountains with me, everyone up there liked her just the way she was, including Bear. A smile spread across my face.

“What are you smiling about?”

“I’m just happy Bear likes you for who you really are.” I said as I waved for the waitress. “I wish you could stay.”

“Yeah, me too. Bear’s a good guy. He’s going to get in touch with you after Thanksgiving for the meeting, is that alright?”
“That’s fine with me, I’ll cook dinner for him or something.” Hopefully the psycho creature wouldn’t hanging around my house by then. Because honestly, I didn’t think it was a psycho human anymore after thoroughly examining the mutated hand prints the thing left on my ankles.
I ordered a whole Key Lime pie to go before we drove the last mile to the airport. We sat at the toll both waiting to pay the fee when I noticed a tear slide down Roses cheek. I gave Rose a questioning glance.
“I’m alright,” she sighed as she stared out the passenger side window. “I’m going to miss the mountains, you know my family isn’t that bad, they just want me to grow up.”
“No worries Rose, I like your family, they just need to relax a bit and give you a break. You’ve done your job raising them.”
“They’re professionals,” we both laughed.
Rose’s family were wealthy, successful, suit wearing, briefcase carrying professionals. They leaned closer to the stuffy side if anyone asked me, but since no-one ever did I kept the thought to myself.
I found a close parking space in the terminal and we both dug Rose’s luggage out from underneath all of my stuff. We hauled it into the airport and gave it to the lady at the counter, she printed out Roses tickets, and we took the escalator to security. I handed Rose her Christmas present, which I hoped she’d unwrap on the plane. The small package contained a small pewter dragon wrapped around a ruby colored thin crystal I’d put on a long chain for her to wear while she was in Cali. She could easily hide the necklace under her sweaters, so it wouldn’t be seen. We gave each other a big hug and I watched her go through security. I cringed, I was now officially alone with Max and ghost boy.
I made one last stop at a Mexican food restaurant on the drive out of town to pick up a spinach and cheese blue corn enchilada with green chili, sour cream, and three sopapillas. I needed some comfort food for the next couple of days.
My mouth watered as the scent of the enchilada wafted through the truck and my stomach growled. I was so distracted by the thought of kicking my feet up by a nice roaring fire, reading a book, and eating, that by the time I pulled into my driveway I’d forgotten about retrieving my gun out of my purse for protection. I had my dinner and pie in my hands, and was jogging up the steps to my deck when I came to an abrupt stop. A nest of leaves built similar to a underground burrowing animal rested in front of my door. I didn’t hesitate; I unlocked my front door, avoided the mess as much as possible, stepped in, and slammed the door behind me, locking it. An icy numbness rapidly consumed my shaking hands, goose bumps slithered over my skin. I wasn’t hungry anymore.

Introducing–>> H.M. Jones

As this weeks featured author:)

H.M. Jones lives in the beautiful PNW. She spends most of her time making sure her children are well rounded, open minded citizens of this world. The remainder of her time is spent writing, reading and visiting bookstores with her best friend, Mr. Jones.

H.M. just released her debut novel, Monochrome, in Oct. 2013. She was a student of English literature for both of her B.A. and M.A. degrees. You’ll see her favorite authors peeking from the corners of her pages, if she did her job right.


url https://www.goodreads.com/HMJonesWrites
website http://www.hmjones.net
twitter username HMJonesWrites
genre Fiction, Fantasy, Suspense



A young mother battles postpartum depression, marital troubles and addiction. Her weary mind plagued with horrible thoughts not her own, she decides to end it all. Suddenly, her mind and heart begin to race, her vision blurs and goes black. She awakes in a strange, dull, monochromatic blue world.

Here, she comes face-to-face with the most beautiful and ugliest moments of her life, choosing those that she will lose forever, and those that are too precious to let go.

In a world where many choose a living death, and no one is above suspicion, will her handsome Guide help her fight her way back to the beautiful life she left behind, or will she succumb to her ugliest urges and let her sweetest memories disappear into the blue?


















Attempting to Define is a series of four books of poetry. Attempting to Define: Love is the first of the series. This small poetry collection looks at the light and dark sides of romantic love. The poetry is unassuming in form, introspective, playful, sometimes heartbreaking and often sardonic, but always honest. The love we experience is, after all, tainted by our own faults.

Attempting to Define: Motherhood is the third book in a series of four books. The first two books, Attempting to Define: Love and Attempting to Define: Mourning were released January 2014. This specific collection tackles the idea of motherhood and all the sagging, nagging woes and uplifting, soaring joys that come with it.











For more of H.M. Jones books visit: https://www.goodreads.com/HMJonesWrites

Blake-A Montana Dayton Novel Ch.5

We stared at each other while we ate, or should I say while he ate. My stomach growled, but at the same time I couldn’t eat any food. I also didn’t feel like talking. I pushed my food around my plate while trying to conjure up a plan. I didn’t want to lie to him again, but I also didn’t want to tell him the truth about what happened to me today or where I’d disappeared to. My thoughts were a jumbled mess. So many unanswered questions kept popping into my head. What was that thing? Why did the animals not sense it? Where did it come from? Why me? I needed time to think without him around.

After dinner I refilled my coffee and went into the living room. I settled into my chair, took the other half of the pain killer and lit a smoke. I heard the dishes clanking and the water running in the kitchen, which gave me a few more minutes to think. My mind was a blank though. I couldn’t come up with any excuse or lie for what happened to me. I’d have to wing it when Max started asking me questions. Maybe I could avoid his interrogation until I had the answers I needed.
Max sauntered into the living room carrying a cup of java and sat on the couch. “Can I have one of your smokes?”
I handed him the pack.
“Look Max, you really don’t need to stay. I’m just a little sore and need some rest. I’ll be here for the rest of the night. I’m taking Rose to the airport in the morning and I’ll be home for the next few days taking care of business.”
“You’re beautiful. I love those hot pink socks.”
My jaw dropped. I didn’t expect the conversation to head in that direction and was at a loss for words. I started laughing so hard I couldn’t stop. Almost every time I had a nervous reaction I would laugh, and Max made me nervous more often than not. When I finally got my breath back I glanced up at Max.
“You’re crazy Max, you need to leave. Rose wouldn’t be happy if she found you here in the morning.” And neither would I.
“Give it up Montana. I’m not going anywhere. I stopped by early this morning with Chase and you weren’t here. We went to the barn and Lightning was gone. I waited for you to come back. When Chase walked into the house with you all scratched up and unconscious I became concerned. After he put you on the couch and I made sure you were alright I got pissed that you left the house without me and got injured. I’m staying tonight. I’ll be gone before Rose comes to get you, but I’ll be back before you get home. Are you ready to tell me what happened today?”
“No, I have to wrap my head around this.” I glared at him. I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t just go away.
“If you insist on staying you can sleep on the couch. Goodnight.” I left him sitting in the living room and fell into bed fully dressed, which was probably a good thing.


 Max had his arms wrapped tightly around my waist, he snuggled behind me, sound asleep. I pictured pushing him off the bed and grinned, but his hold was solid and I could barely move.
I laid in my spot not moving an inch for a few minutes contemplating on how to get out of his vice grip, while enjoying the closeness of his body at the same time, before prying his hands apart. My emotions were too wound up when it came to Max. I wanted him to go away, I didn’t want to enjoy his touch. I was happy being single.

“What are you doing?” He whispered in my ear, creating little shivers that floated over my skin.

“Let me go Max.”

“What if I don’t want to?” He asked, but rolled over onto his back anyway.

I rolled onto my back before flipping to my stomach. Hot licks of pain ran over my road rash skin, the slash on my hip started to throb, my behind ached to the touch.

“Why aren’t you on the couch?” I’d just about given up on getting rid of him.

“You were having nightmares.”

“I don’t remember having nightmares.”

“Ah, I’m sure that’s because once I crawled into bed with you they stopped.”

I didn’t believe him for a minute. I eyed the clock, 7 a.m. I might as well start my day. I scooted over to the edge of the bed still on my stomach and tried to think of a graceful way to get out of bed. Finding no gracefulness to getting up I swung my feet to the floor, pushed myself up with my hands, and cringed when I stood. I stumbled into the bathroom to check out my damaged body and shower, ignoring Max, who was laughing into his pillow. One glance at him showed me he was at least shirtless and I didn’t want to know or think about what other parts of clothing he didn’t wear under the covers.

I tugged off my shirt and sweats and examined the scratch marks on my lower back and the gash on my hip. The gash had a red, angry flare around it, but didn’t look infected. My behind felt like it should be black and blue, but I didn’t see any bruises. I grabbed at my socks and when I peeled them off I noticed black and blue hand marks on both of my ankles, or what I assumed were hand marks. The bruises seemed more elongated than a normal hand print, which seemed wrong. Maybe from the hands slipping? I rubbed my fingers over the prints coming to the conclusion some kind of psychopathic person had grabbed me.


My head rested against the shower wall thinking of how to fit some of the pieces together when I heard the door open.

“Now, what do you want?”

“I brought you some coffee and pain killers.” Max said, sitting down on the edge of the tub.

I opened the shower door a crack and peeked out. He wore a black thermal long sleeved shirt and blue jeans. I stared at the five buttons on his shirt and imagined unsnapping them and running my fingers over his chest.

“I’m getting out now.”

“Would you like me to hand you a towel?” He asked, grinning wide.

“No, I’d like you to go somewhere else.”

He tried to pout, but the grin still reached his eyes. “I’ll be downstairs if you need anything.”

I waited until the door closed behind him, jumped out of the shower and turned the lock on the doorknob. I hurried putting the salve on my scrapes, got dressed, threw on some makeup, and fluffed my hair with my fingers. The bump on my head felt smaller, but still throbbed.

Slinking into my bedroom and looking around to make sure I was alone I took some pictures of my ankles. Satisfied I had some evidence I swallowed half a pain killer and went downstairs. I found Max standing in my kitchen looking lost.

“What are you doing?”

“Attempting to cook breakfast, but I can’t find anything in your kitchen to cook. Tell me again why you only have protein drinks.”

I turned on the TV and started rummaging through my yoga disks, I needed a good stretch.

“I usually don’t get hungry until around lunch.”

I found the DVD I was looking for and put it in the machine.

“You do know breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” He replied, watching me closely.

“Hence the drinks,” I carefully began stretching.

“There’s bacon in the freezer, help yourself. As far as eggs go, I won’t be getting any until I find someone with chickens. Fresh are the best.” I didn’t consider myself a health nut. I just didn’t like supporting big corporations if I didn’t have too, besides fresh eggs trumped store bought eggs anytime.

“Chase knows someone. I’ll mention it to him.”

“You mean the ghost kid?” I snickered.

“He’s real. Is that helping?” Max had defrosted the bacon in the microwave and now it sizzled in the pan.The smell of bacon frying made my stomach growl.

“The yoga? It has to, I’m driving today and don’t want to take a ton of painkillers. I also don’t want to explain why I’m stiff and sore to Rose.”

“So why aren’t you taken?” Max asked as he sat on the couch with a big plate of bacon and Killer on his heels drooling. I think he cooked the whole package.

I thought about his question as I watched him slip some of the bacon to Killer. I wasn’t expecting the discussion to turn to me again.

“I’m a selfish person Max. I don’t like to share and I’ve been told I can be too blunt in my honesty. I tend to hurt other people’s feelings easily and I‘m not a relationship kind of girl. I like my independence.”

“You’re beautiful and sexy, even though you’ve lied to me several times since I met you.”

I ignored him and finished my workout. An uneasy quiet engulfed my living room. I glanced at Max, his gaze was glued to my ankles. My sweats had ridden up my legs during my stretching and the hand prints glared an ugly purple color on my white skin.

His eyes flashed angrily. “Talk to me. Tell me what happened.” He picked me up and set me on the couch so he could examine the bruises better. “These are hand prints.” He touched them gently, sending an electric current up my legs and into my belly.

My heart started racing and all of a sudden I wanted him to kiss me. I slid back against the couch as fast as I could and quickly covered my ankles, willing my heart to slow down and my mind to come back to reality.

I scowled at him. “If you must know, I took Lightning out yesterday morning for an early ride and was on my way home when I realized someone was watching me. I stopped and dismounted so I could scope out the area. The animals didn’t react to anything abnormal, so I decided I would walk them the rest of the way home. I was almost out of the woods when someone or something yanked my feet out from under me and started running, dragging me.”

I leaned toward him and looked him in the eyes. “I didn’t see anything Max. I didn’t see it coming and I didn’t see what had a hold of me.”

I closed my eyes, visualizing the moment. “The shadows from the leaves seemed off and I’d catch a glimpse of the sun filtering through the trees.” I took a deep breath and exhaled, opening my eyes I sat back. “I can’t explain it, like a shadow blending in with its surroundings? I saw a tree coming toward me at close range and grabbed it. Whatever had me let me go and I swung around with enough force to hit my head on the bottom branch.”

Okay, so I didn’t tell him the whole truth, he didn’t need to know I was most likely on his property scouting.

“Where was your gun?”

My face lit up with surprise, his lips twitched the tiniest bit in amusement.

“Yes, I know you have a gun Montana and I know you carry it when you go out. Where was it?”

“It was in Lightning’s pack. I forgot to take it out when I dismounted and I didn’t want that thing to feel threatened enough to attack me if I reached for it. I thought I would see it coming.”

What could I say? I’ve never had to re-con my property before or keep a constant eye on my life, all of this was new to me.

He got up, started a fire, and stood in front of the blaze.

Thank goodness he didn’t ask me about my wet shoes.

I walked over to him. “Rose will be here soon and I have to get ready. Max, is anyone else in danger here?”

He turned and pulled me closer him, wrapping his arms loosely around my back.

“No Montana. This thing seems to only be interested in you. I need to find out why, promise me you’ll keep your gun on you at all times.”

He kissed my neck, sending flames shooting down to my toes.

“You should forgive Killer.” He breathed across my hair. “He can’t sense this thing, no animals can. I’m sure he would protect you if he could.”

I laughed, nervousness wracked my body from being in Max’s arms and I didn’t like the desire his closeness evoked in me. “He won’t be able to protect me if you keep feeding him all that bacon. He’ll be too fat.”

I picked up his plate, only three slices of bacon remained, poured myself some more coffee, and climbed the stairs to my bedroom. I sat on my bed and lit a smoke, willing my nerves to calm before Rose arrived.

 

Blake-A Montana Dayton Novel Ch.4:2

I came around to a wet tongue on my face and attempted to brush it away, but an iron grip held my arm down. At least I was warm again I thought as I slowly opened my eyes. I blinked a few times, blackness enveloped me. My heart slammed into my chest, I freaked out. I was blind. I jerked upright and my head spun; dizziness engulfed me, someone gently pushed me back down. I counted to twenty and inhaled deeply, the dizziness started to subside. The desire to know where I’d ended up, who had me and why I couldn’t see encompassed me.

“Relax.” Max said softly.
The situation was worse than I thought, Max found me. It would probably be easier fending off complete strangers.
“I’m blind.” I whispered.
He chuckled. “You’re not blind; I have a black cloth tied around your head, covering your eyes. I’m going to remove it slowly, so your eyes can adjust to the light without giving you a blinding headache. Are you ready?”
Relief flooded me.
“Yes.”
He removed the cloth. I blinked my blurry eyes open. I was home, laying on my couch, with a fire roaring in the fireplace.
“How long have I been out?”
“We’re not sure. Chase found you unconscious behind the barn this afternoon. He brought you up here and went into town to get the Doc. The Doc says you‘ll be fine, he left some pain killers for your head and some salve for your scrapes. No concussion.”
“Where’s Chase?” I asked, glancing around the room.
“He went back to my place. What happened? It looks like you were dragged all over the place.”
“Where’s Killer and Lightning?” I took my time sitting up and thought about what lies I would tell him next. I shifted under the blanket that covered me and blushed. I was as naked as the day I was born. I touched the salve covered cut on my hip and groaned, it was tender.
“Chase found Killer and Lightning in the barn right before he found you. Lightning’s still in the barn and Killer’s asleep by the fireplace.”
I glanced at Killer and yawned, sleep sounded wonderful to me.
“I need to relax in a bath and get dressed. You can go home now, we’ll talk later. Thanks for all your help.”
Yep, bath, cozy clothes and sleep. I couldn’t wait.
I stood up with the blanket, steadying myself against the couch for balance as a bout of dizziness hit me again.
“Does Rose know anything about this?”
“No, she’s still out with Bear.”
“Don’t say anything to her. She’s leaving tomorrow and I don’t want her to worry.” I made sure the blanket was fully wrapped around me and made my way towards the stairs picking up the bottle of pain killers on the way. I would need them later.
“Where’s my backpack?”
Max wrapped his arm around my waist. “It’s on your bed.”
I tensed when Max’s hip slid against mine. He was too close for my comfort zone.
“You really don’t have to stay, I’ll be fine.”
His eyes narrowed into a grimace.
“I’m not leaving and you’re too weak to kick me out. I’ll start your bath and cook us some dinner. We can finish our conversation from yesterday. Remember I’m supposed to be protecting you. That’s hard to do when you leave your house before the sun comes up without telling anyone where you’re going.”
He helped me up the stairs and sat me down on the bed before stomping into the bathroom. I rummaged through my backpack for my smokes as I listened to the bathtub fill up. I also found my gun where I left it, in Lightning’s pack. I stashed the gun under my mattress. We were back to the protector thing again and even after today’s events I didn’t want him protecting me. I took a painkiller out of the bottle, bit it in half and gulped it down with some water.
I didn’t say anything when he came out of the bathroom. I just marched the best I could past him locking the door behind me. I let the blanket fall to the floor and examined my damaged body. I had some scrapes on my lower back from where my shirt and jacket road up while being dragged, and my butt, arms, and shoulders glowed pink. The nastiest injury was the one on my hip. It looked like a small, sharp tree branch or rock sliced through my skin. I had a knot on the side of my head that hurt to the touch, but all in all I was just sore and dirty. The salve sat on the counter-top reminding me Max had been in the bathroom to help me. A small bout of depression hit me from getting ambushed. Well at least I’m not paranoid, I thought to myself, something was stalking me. I had the war wounds to prove it. I climbed into the tub, stretched, and promptly fell asleep.
I awoke, startled, to loud banging on the door.
“Montana!” Bang, bang, bang. “Montana! Are you alright?” Bang, bang.
“Stop banging on my door! I’m fine and you’re giving me a headache!” I yelled as my head started throbbing to the beat of my heart.
“Dinners ready. Do I need to come in and get you?” Max said quietly and passionately.
“Give me a couple of minutes.”
I closed my eyes for a minute and took several deep breaths, all of this attention I was getting lately was driving my crazy.
A cup of coffee waited for me on my dresser when I finally made my way out of the bathroom. I took it as a good sign, he wasn’t too mad. The last thing I needed to deal with was a mad Max. Giggling at my joke I found an ashtray, lit a smoke, and drank the coffee. I dressed in some gray sweats and warm fluffy hot pink socks before heading downstairs.

Introducing–>>Kyra Halland

As this weeks featured Author

 

Beginning with the Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander and the Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Leguin, Kyra Halland has always loved fantasy. She has also always loved a good love story. In 1990, as a new stay-at-home mom with a young baby, she finally decided to combine those two loves – like chocolate and peanut butter! – by writing the kinds of romantic fantasy novels she wanted to read.Complicated, honorable heroes; heroines who are strong, smart, and all woman; magic, romance, and adventure; and excursions into the dark corners of life and human nature mixed with a dash of offbeat humor – all of these make up Kyra Halland’s worlds. She is excited to share those worlds with readers, who she hopes will enjoy her stories and characters as much…more

Beginning with the Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander and the Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Leguin, Kyra Halland has always loved fantasy. She has also always loved a good love story. In 1990, as a new stay-at-home mom with a young baby, she finally decided to combine those two loves – like chocolate and peanut butter! – by writing the kinds of romantic fantasy novels she wanted to read.Complicated, honorable heroes; heroines who are strong, smart, and all woman; magic, romance, and adventure; and excursions into the dark corners of life and human nature mixed with a dash of offbeat humor – all of these make up Kyra Halland’s worlds. She is excited to share those worlds with readers, who she hopes will enjoy her stories and characters as much as she does.

Kyra Halland lives in southern Arizona. She has a very patient husband, two less-patient cats, and two young adult sons. Besides writing, she enjoys scrapbooking and anime, and she wants to be a crazy cat lady when she grows up.

url https://www.goodreads.com/kyrahalland

website http://www.kyrahalland.com/

genre Fantasy, Romance

 

“Why is it that every man who wants to rule this land desires you?”

Urdaisunia was once the greatest civilization in the world. But now it lies in ruins, conquered by the barbarian Sazars, wracked by plague and famine, and threatened by enemies from all sides.

Rashali, a widowed Urdai peasant, has vowed to destroy the Sazars and restore her land to greatness, even if it means sacrificing her own life.

Prince Eruzasharbat, heir to the Sazar throne, walks a dangerous line between loyalty and treason in order to do what is best for all the people of Urdaisunia.

The gods, who once favored Urdaisunia above all other lands, cannot agree on who should be allowed to rule the land – the Sazars or the Urdai, or another ruler chosen by war. While they argue, Urdaisunia and its people are dying.

Then a chance meeting between Rashali and Prince Eruz leads to a wager between two of the gods, and sends peasant and prince on intertwining paths of danger, intrigue, love, and war – paths that will change their destinies, the destiny of Urdaisunia, and even the fate of the gods, forever.

Epic romantic fantasy for adults and older teens.

 

 

Stuffy Professor Roric Rossony has no idea how much his life is about to change when he hires free-spirited Perarre Tabrano to translate ancient books for him. Then his life changes even more when he digs too deeply into lost and forbidden books of magic and finds the last thing he expected! Transformed overnight from respected scholar into the most-wanted criminal in the Vorunne Dominion, Roric sets out with Perarre on a journey to discover the origins of magic, a journey that will change their lives, and the way magic works, forever.

Epic fantasy with a romantic twist, for adults and older teens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Juzeva: Born a princess of the beautiful land of Savaru, dedicated to the service of the magical Source Azara, she is forced to marry a man she doesn’t know for the sake of her country’s survival, and finds herself trapped in a web of evil and betrayal…

Sevry: The last king of the war-ravaged land of Savaru, he is tasked by Azara with finding the secret that his aunt Juzeva carried with her when she disappeared – the secret that will bring Savaru back to life – and finds himself hounded by evil men who want to use that secret for their own terrible purposes…

Lucie: The cherished only daughter of a Ceryrian baron, haunted by visions of a desperate man, she is unaware of her true heritage and the power she holds to restore life to a long-dead land…

Then Sevry, Savaru’s past, and Juzeva’s secret catch up with Lucie, leading her to adventure, danger, and a love that will forever change her life and the lost land of Savaru.

 

 

 

 

Check out more of Kyra Hallands Books at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6950045.Kyra_Halland

The Infinity Program by Richard H. Hardy Release Day Book Blast!!

Title: The Infinity Program

Author: Richard H. Hardy

Genre: Science Fiction

Paperback available at: Amazon

Book Description:

Jon Graeme and Harry Sale are unlikely friends. Harry is a world-class programmer, but his abrasive personality alienates co-workers. In contrast, Jon is a handsome and easy-going technical writer, the low man on the IT totem pole.

Sharing a love of nature, the men set out together, planning to go their separate ways–Jon on a hike and Harry, fly fishing. Three days later, Jon arrives at the rendezvous point, but his friend is nowhere in sight. When Jon finds Harry unconscious on the floor of a cave, Harry claims to have been lying there the entire time. But he is neither cold nor hungry. What Jon doesn’t know is that Harry fell into an underground cavern, where he came into contact with an alien quantum computer.

Back at work, Harry jettisons his regular tasks and concentrates exclusively on inventing new operating language to access the alien system. In the process he crashes his office’s Super Computer and is fired. Jon convinces the company to give Harry a second chance, arguing that the system he has invented will make them millions.

Jon has no idea what havoc Harry is about to unleash.

Excerpt:  http://www.scribd.com/doc/210402741/The-Infinity-Program-by-Richard-H-Hardy-Chapters-1-3

About the Author:

Richard H. Hardy was born in Glasgow, Scotland, during a week of relentless bombing raids just before the close of World War II. The day he was born an incendiary bomb fell on the church across the street from where he lived, so he is fond of saying that he entered the world with a big adrenaline rush.

His family later moved to England and then on to America.

After college Richard bounced through a series of temporary jobs as he traveled around the country, wanting nothing more than to write fiction. A job driving a library van allowed him free time to write several short stories and work on a novel.

He and his wife moved to New Hampshire, where he took an entry level job at a software company. He was soon promoted to the technical writing department and ended up producing over 500,000 words of online documentation. After a few years he was promoted to the programming department and ended up as the Senior EDI Programmer, creating EDI maps and writing UNIX scripts and troubleshooting on AIX systems throughout the U.S. and Canada.

After he retired, he started writing fiction again. The Infinity Program is his first published novel.

Where to find Richard H. Hardy:

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Goodreads

Blog

Website

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Blake-A Montana Dayton Novel Ch.4

At 4:00am the next morning my alarm beeped annoyingly. I couldn’t figure out why so I hit the snooze button, rolled over, and fell back to sleep. At 4:10 the alarm shrilled at me again and I realized I should have been out of the house already. I sat up and rubbed my face. I wanted to curse the thing that plagued my land. I pictured Max, he would work. This was my hideaway from the craziness of the world and my well being was being disrupted.

I tried to rise, but my body didn’t want to move. Wonderful, my muscles ached from the intense exercises routine I put myself through the day before. I stretched, stumbled to my clothes, got dressed, gathered my stuff, and made it down the stairs without falling. I put some coffee in a thermos and called for Killer.
“Come on Killer. I know no one in their right mind would be up this early, but we have to go.”
After a little coaxing he followed me down to the barn. He had no interest in Pumpkin this morning; his brain seemed to be as sluggish as mine. Ace stood silently in his stall. The moon let enough light into the barn for me to see, and I had my talisman on. I took these as really good signs. I hoisted the saddle and reins, strapped them on a sleepy Lightning, mounted her and set off for the bridge.
When we crossed over the stream I dismounted, got out my flashlight and maps, and then poured myself some coffee. I sat down, lit a smoke, and blearily scanned the maps. My body still hurt and my brain was still sleepy. I glanced at the bridge, sorely tempted to cross back over and go back to bed, but this was my home. I didn’t want protection. I wanted to be left alone. Darkness settle over me. The treetops barely let in any light from the moon. I couldn’t be sure if would find anything out here, or exactly what I was searching for, but I would sense it. I concentrated on the task before me, to find something, anything.
Almost positive this property belonged to Max meant I had to keep an eye out for him, and I had to take into consideration that his property covered a much bigger area than mine. I wasn’t sure where to start.
I sat, searching the map for landmarks so I wouldn’t get lost when I spotted a small picture of a house almost dead center in the property. I didn’t find any roads, but I didn’t have the best printout of the map either, and I was surprised I came across the house in the first place.
I drank another cup of coffee, slowly bringing my brain to life.
“Okay Killer, we’re walking from here, keep your eyes open.” I whispered through chattering teeth from the morning chill.
“We’re going to follow the edge of the property, wrap around and come back down the other side. We need to avoid the house at all costs. Maybe we‘ll find something.”
I led Lightning while moving the flashlight from right to left on the ground in front of me. I’d never done any tracking before, but I was confident I would know the difference between animal tracks, footprints, and something strange.
I took in the darkness around me and wished I could tell time by examining the stars. I didn’t own a watch and forgot my cell phone at the house.
What seemed like hours later we stopped, the sun still hadn’t risen. Maybe this thing was just haunting my property. Ready to head back I scanned my surroundings and realized I was lost. The forest surrounded me in a veil of surrealistic overtures, making every tree look like the next. Damn! I pulled out my map, some food and coffee. I found my landmarks on the map, but hadn’t seen any on the walk. I hadn’t paid any attention to the landmarks on our jaunt through the woods and wanted to kick myself for my lack of awareness. I wasn’t sure what to do at this point so I leaned my head back against the tree I sat in front of and closed my eyes.


 The next thing I knew the sun shined brightly on my face, creating a red glow under my eyelids. The suns warmth brought me fully awake. I yawned and stretched before checking my map again. I searched for the sun between the trees, and led the animals away from it. I only had to walk about a mile before I cleared the trees and there it was. I couldn’t believe I’d been this close. The stream gurgled right in front of me, the bridge – nowhere in sight. Okay, so this morning didn’t turn out quite as I planned. I closed my eyes, told myself not to panic and pictured this as a adventure.
I love to read books. Every chance I get I usually have a book in front of me. This seemed to be the perfect time to find out if I had any kind of imagination similar to my favorite authors.

I smiled to myself and closed my eyes for a moment. I was the lost maiden trying to get home to my prince before the big bad monster found me. Lightning was my trusty steed that ran as fast as the wind and Killer was my vicious wolf that would fight till the end. I imagined Max as my prince, but scratched the idea right away.

Shaking my head I tried again with no prince involved. I had to save the queen from the evil wizard who was going to lock her in the dungeon. Lightning was my trusty steed and Killer was my big, bad wolf. The second scenario worked better for me. Feeling less panicked and considering writing a book I took on the role of a hero, hopped on my trusty steed, then headed upstream hoping I’d find the bridge soon.

I rode for a while with no success before coming to a shallow section of water. Lightning and I trudged through the stream and were hiking up the bank when I heard a loud whine. I glanced back; Killer paced the bank behind us with his tail tucked between his legs. With a long sigh I jumped off Lightning and called to Killer a few times. He wanted nothing to do with the water, so much for my vicious wolf. Oh well, my imagination didn’t seem to warrant any serious writing on my part anyway. I would leave that up to my favorite authors.

I cringed when I stepped into the stream. The icy water started to seep through my boots and jeans immediately. Great! I was still lost and now I was going to freeze to death because I had to get my dog. I crossed the stream, coaxed Killer through the shallow water, finally got him across, and squished back up the bank. I had to get home now, my freezing wet pants glued themselves to my legs. I shook my legs and jumped up and down for a minute to get some feeling back in my feet. Tired and cold I yanked the map out of my jacket and found the area I thought I might be in. I smiled. If I was right my cozy cabin was close. I snatched up Lightning’s reins, thinking I’d stay warmer if I walked, and had only taken a few steps when my skin began to crawl. My adrenaline soared and panic pulsed through my blood.

I searched the riverbank, turned around in a full circle and reached in my jacket pocket for my gun. Empty. My hand skimmed over my other pocket, empty too. I glanced at the pack on Lightning’s back. Was my gun in the pack? I wanted my gun, yet I didn’t want to take the time to look for it and I didn’t want to make whatever was threatening me feel threatened enough to attack me. Crap.Why hadn’t I kept my gun on me? I glanced over my shoulder, but didn’t see anything. I wanted to run; instead I slowly moved my head searching the area around me one more time. I noticed Killer and Lightning patiently waiting. I grimaced. Was I losing my mind? Not even Lightning reacted to the invisible intruder. Did I really have two defective animals?

I cleared my head, even if I’d lost my mind I knew I had to move. Though my nerves stood on end, and my hands shook I started walking. Better to be a moving target. Right?

My gut kept telling me something circled me. Strange shadowed blurs of movement contorted tree branches in my peripheral vision. As soon as I’d turn my head to get a good look the movement would be gone. I started to sidle up to Lightning to get my gun. Several things happened at once. My hand brushed Lightning’s saddle an inch away from the pistol grip, a roof blurred through my vision beyond the trees, then something yanked my feet out from underneath me, and started running with me in tow.

I landed with a hard enough thud to knock the breath out of me. Once my lungs filled back up with air my body went into motion. My arm flailed, trying to grab a hold of the ground to slow me down. Whatever had me sped up, along with my heart. Don’t panic, don’t panic, I repeated to myself as a blur of trees and branches flew past me at a fast pace. I had to save myself. I twisted, noticed a tree coming toward me, and made a split second decision to grab it and hold on for dear life. The tree came up fast, I twisted again and reached out for it. I was able to latch on the small trunk and wrap my arms tightly around the bottom. My nails bit into the bark. at the same time my feet hit the ground and my body began to swing around due to the momentum of the twist. I saw what was going to happen next, but couldn’t stop it. I commanded my arms to let go of the tree before my head made contact with the lower branch, but my arms wouldn’t budge. I quickly turned my head, so I wouldn’t smash face first into the branch, and felt a searing pain rage through my body.

Blake-A Montana Dayton Novel Ch.3:2

Everyone appeared perfectly comfortable talking and cooking around the grill. I sat down on the back stairs for a little me time before dinner. The sun had set, darkness covered the peeks of the trees even though the stars lit up the sky. The night was ghostly quiet, not one creature stirred. The whole scene set an eerie landscape around me. I almost didn’t feel like I sat on the same planet as everyone else.

“Nice evening,” Bear said, startling me out of my reverie.
“Yes it is.” I replied as he sat down next to me.
“Thank you for taking Rose to the airport for me.”
“Not a problem.”
“I have a special day planned for her tomorrow, so I’ll be picking her up early in the morning.” Bear grinned before becoming serious. “I’ll be taking Max home tonight per Roses request.”
“Thanks.”
Bear shifted on the stairs, glanced back to make sure Rose and Max were busy, then leaned into me, “I understand you just met me and may not want my advice, but be careful of Max. He’s not an open person and no-one around here knows him very well.”
“I’m already doing that, I promise.” I stood up, “their taking the steaks in.”
Bear was right, I didn’t know him well enough to trust his advice and I didn’t know Max well enough to trust him either. I could only trust my instincts on both of their intentions. Bear didn’t seem to have any bad intentions, Max I wasn’t sure of.
Everyone sat down at the island Rose added for entertaining. The steaks melted like butter in your mouth and somehow baked potatoes and salads were added to the menu. I hadn’t even noticed those being whipped up, but the meal ended up being exactly what I needed.

Dinner was an amazingly quiet event. Rose sat next to me and Bear sat next to Max. Bear and Rose seemed happy watching each other. I caught Max staring at me a few times. Killer sat at the end of the table waiting patiently for leftovers, and because of his good behavior he was rewarded with some steak bones. Killer took them to the fireplace to gnaw on them while we cleaned up and somehow, afterward, Bear got Max to the door and out of the house.
“I’ll walk you home Rose.” I said wishing I hadn’t put away my gun. Rose seemed to be in a hurry after everyone left and I didn’t want to keep her any longer.

I called to Killer, he glanced at me, picked up a bone and made himself more comfortable in front of the fireplace. I left him laying in front of the cozy warmth and followed Rose down to her house. I stepped inside, china cabinets surrounded me, covering every wall. The china cabinets were filled with crystal balls, amethysts, different colored crystals, and of course the assorted dragons, fairies, unicorns, and Pegasus. Some were made of glass, others pewter with the crystals sitting on top, and some were ceramic. Rose loves her dust catchers. I couldn’t help to feel relieved that I wasn’t the one who had to clean all of her knick-knacks.

“Help yourself to some cookies,” Rose said, snapping me out of my thoughts. “I picked up your favorite, Oreos. As you’ve already been told Bears taking me out tomorrow, so I want to give you a few things tonight. I’ll be right back.”

I scanned the kitchen and found a fat baby dragon cookie jar. I tried not picture the shapes of her glasses and other dishes as I snagged a couple of cookies and sat down at the kitchen table. She returned a moment later with a big bag that smelled like Rosemary and made herself comfortable.

“I made these for you,” she said as she pulled out several bunches of Rosemary tied with silver strings. “Like I said they’re for protection, you can put them anywhere, and they’ll last for a while. Keep the ones you don’t use in the fridge, so they don’t dry out.”

“Thank you Rose.”

“That’s not all,” she reached into her pocket, “I also made you this.”

She pulled out an amulet. The amulet was made out of a black leather pouch, sewn up with dark blue beads, and attached to a black beaded necklace. Three small crystals hung from the bottom.

“The crystals on the bottom are blue, green, and black tourmaline. Blue for communication and psychic awareness, green for creativity, prosperity, abundance, the green also represents the life energy of plants, and the black protects against negativity. I filled the pouch with a few things for protection also.” She handed it to me. “You should keep it on you at all times.”

I examined the amulet before putting it on. I could smell the rosemary through the pouch. “I don’t know what to say Rose, this is beautiful. Thank you.”

Really, I didn’t know what to say to her. Apparently this whole protection/rosemary thing was a newly added quirk of hers. I already had several crystals I still needed to unpack from her that carried different healing powers. I stood up to give her a hug.

“There’s one more thing.”

I sat back down. I was ready to go home.

“I prepared the loft for Chase. He’ll be staying here while I’m gone.” Rose sat back in her chair.

So much for my vacation.

“I know you wanted some alone time, but Chase is a nice kid. You’ll like him. Plus he loves Pumpkin and will take good care of her while I‘m gone.”

“I thought he lived with Max.”

“He does, but the horses are over here, and this gives him his own house to stay in for a while. He’s also offered to keep the house clean for me and help you out if you need anything. I know you haven’t meet him yet, and I‘m not sure if you’re going to meet him before I leave, so I‘ll describe him to you. He‘s tall with long blond hair he usually keeps tied back, blue eyes, and he’s very smart and charming. He’s kind of cute, and I believe he’s somewhere in his twenties. He’s not interested in girls right now, but there are a couple of girls focused on him. You shouldn’t have to worry about that though; he promised me he wouldn’t have any company while I’m gone. He understands you want some peace and quiet this winter.”

“That’s fine Rose,” I said, she was starting to ramble. “I’ll keep an eye out for him.”

“Good, I’m glad you’re alright with it.”

I wasn’t sure if I was alright with it, but I didn’t want to tell her no. She’d already done a lot for me.

“I think that’s all.” Rose said starting to stand up.

“Actually before I leave I wanted to ask you why you’re giving me this talisman.” The rosemary I understood and it smelled good.

Rose thought about my question for a minute, “you’re going to be alone in the middle of the woods and even though I like Max, I think he might have some weird Wuju surrounding him. He’s also very interested in you, I could tell tonight at dinner. He was staring at you all night. Please be careful of him.”

The talisman wouldn’t fend off Max, but this was the second time tonight I’d been told to be careful around him.

“Do you know something about him that makes you feel that way?” I asked.

“No, I don’t know much about him at all. He’s attracted to you and it bothers me.”

I laughed “I can handle him Rose,” maybe, “besides I thought you wanted me to have a man. What does Wuju mean?”

“Wuju is something I thought of while watching him tonight. I’m not sure it’s a bad thing, but there’s something he’s not telling us, like he’s very secretive. I do want you to have a man. I‘m just not sure if he’s the right one. Chase might be a better match.”

“Well, don’t worry about it. I’m sure Max has better things to do than hang out around here.”

“That’s part of the problem. I’m not sure anyone knows what he does except for Chase, and he’s not talking. Max might have all the time in the world to hang out with you.”

I hoped she was wrong.

“What’s Max’s last name?” I stilled a big yawn. “And what time is your plane leaving?”

“In the late afternoon. We’ll run your errands, then you can drop me off. I know how much you like shopping.” Rose said jokingly. “It’s Grey, Max Grey.”

“Thanks.” I gave Rose a hug and thought about how much I hated shopping. “I’ll be home. Come get me when you’re ready.”

 After checking on Lightning and making sure everything was ready for the next morning I trudged back up to my house while staying alert for anything out of the ordinary. I let Killer out, stoked the fire, kicked off my shoes, and searched the house. No Max, no strange intruders. I found some geographical maps of both properties and printed them out. Getting information on Max could wait until later, I was exhausted. I threw a few things into my backpack, along with my camera, extra bullets, and some food. I made sure my gun was still stashed under my pillow and wondered if I was getting paranoid. Pushing the thought aside I set the alarm and dropped into bed.

Introducing–>> E.M. Reders

As this weeks Featured Author

At the age of 16 E.M. Reders watched a certain boy wizard movie and instantly wanted to read the books. Since that day she has been an addictive reader of fantasy both YA and Adult and now 10 years later is bringing her own fantasy series to life. When she isn’t nose deep in her Kindle or typing away she is chasing round 2 (soon to be 3, or 4 if you include the husband) children and a crazy dog.

url https://www.goodreads.com/EMReders

website http://emmareders.blogspot.co.uk/

twitter username Emmareders

genre Fantasy, Fiction, Romance

 

 

‘The vampire world is a dangerous place at the best of times, but especially so during a war. Though there is one safe place left.

‘Dead Fang Hotel’

But it’s not a sanctuary for all its residents.

For Bree it is nothing but a prison. A prison in which to hide from her enemies and the horrors of her dark past. She hates the place and after being carted back there after yet another attempt at escape decides that she has had enough of her constant captivity. Things have to change. The biggest change comes in the form of a tall, dark, sexy as hell vampire assassin.

Dancing at the Flesh & Blood – an exclusive vampire strip club, has never bothered Amber. But when one of the members takes an added interest in her and hires her to dance for him, and him alone, will she be safe? And can she resist the handsome vampire’s charms?

Lochlann has grown bored with life, he’s seen everything, done everything, the world and all the people in it mean nothing to him… until he sees Amber dance.

As the pair spend time together their attraction grows, but can Amber overcome her fear of being within biting distance of vampires?

And can Lochlann control his urge to consume all that she is?

 

 

 

 

 

She had warned him over and over that her past was dark, deadly. But never had Gabriel expected to witness that darkness himself. Now after months apart he finds himself back at ‘Dead Fang Hotel’ desperate to save the woman he loves, but not from the enemies she has spent the last decade hiding from… but from herself.

Bree never thought she would find someone to love, someone that was worth living for until she met Gabriel. Now finding herself without him and her death drawing ever closer she has fallen into old, dangerous habits.

Can Gabriel and her friends save her from her greatest enemy… herself, before it is too late?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whole once again and finally with the man she loves Bree has only one thing on her mind…Revenge. And she’ll take get it any way she can.

But the news of her continued existence has reached the ears of her enemies, and while Gabriel is busy arranging his retirement as an assassin Bree has joined forces with Brad to kick Antonio where it hurts.

With Gabriel constantly away and a huge contract on her head that just keeps getting bigger and bigger with every move she makes, can Bree survive long enough to finally punish those that made her existence so painful? Or will the assassin that is stalking her every move be the one to finally take her down for good?

Join Bree and Gabriel in the final instalment of the Fangless Trilogy, where all Bree’s secrets finally come to light.

All the dancers at Flesh & Blood are fond of the Al, but none as much as Beth. After a close call with one of the members she can’t deny her feelings any longer, but finds that while those feelings are returned something is holding him back…a secret, one which threatens to keep them apart if she lets it.



Al always knew the truth would be hard for Beth to take, and recent events haven’t helped. But when someone from

Beth’s past becomes a problem and she turns to Tristan for help, he’s given a chance to open her eyes and allow her to see the truth…not all vampires are bad.