Aimee Easterling's Blog, page 14

Become a Writer: Step 2 Market

While I strongly believe that you need to become good at your craft to succeed as an author, very few people will actually see your perfectly honed book unless you put in the time to get the book in front of the public’s hungry eyes. So part two of my series for aspiring authors covers the flip side of the coin — marketing your work.

 

Listing a book for sale

If you have no clue how to take the file on your computer and turn it into a book available to be bought, these titles provide a good place to start.

Let’s Get Digital — This title covers why it’s probably better to self-publish rather than querying agents and publishers if you want to make a living at this gig.
10 Step Self-Publishing Boot Camp — I highly recommend this book for the beginning author since it walks you through many of the current best practices to turn your manuscript into a book-for-sale.
Gotta Read It and How to Write a Sizzling Synopsis are both great books for polishing a blurb. (Read them in that order!)

 

Marketing basics

Next up are the basic recommended practices for taking that book-for-sale and turning into a book that’s actually selling.

Lets Get Visible — This is probably the first book I’d recommend for understanding bestseller lists and basic ebook marketing.
Write. Publish. Repeat. — If you’ve heard people talk about perma-free, series, and similar methods of building up your reader base quickly, then you’ll want to get these details straight from the horse’s mouth.
Successful Self Publishing — This is another good beginner marketing book for authors, with more of an emphasis on extroverted activities like speaking in public and podcasts.
Your First 1000 Copies — This book covers that integral method of keeping fans engaged — the email list. (If you want to move on to an intermediate text on this subject, I recommend Email Persuasion.)
Going Wide Unboxed — Although I recommend that beginning authors get their feet wet in KDP Select (staying exclusive to Amazon), this title will help you if you instead begin wide (selling not only on Amazon but also on Nook, Google, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, etc.).

 

Diving in deeper

Okay, now you have a mailing list, understand how and when to put your book on sale and book ads to promote the price promotion, and have decided whether to stick to Amazon or go wide. What’s next?

Chris Fox’s Write Smarter, Write Faster series is particularly good at helping you analyze how your book fits into the broader market and how to tweak subsequent books to better fit into their niche.
Prosperous Creation — The beginning of this book turned me off, but there’s good stuff later on about how to turn your writing income into less of a boom-and-bust cycle.
Help! My Facebook Ads Suck — If you hang around in author circles, you’ve likely considered signing up for Mark Dawson’s extremely pricey facebook ads course. I tested out both the course and this book and preferred this book. On the other hand, if you need a lot of handholding and prefer to learn in a video and forum format, Mark Dawson does have a FREE three-video starter course available on his website if you sign up for his email list.

How about you? Are there other marketing books (or courses) that have really floated your boat? If so, I hope you’ll click on the facebook link and comment below!

 

Become a writer: Step 1 Write

I have a feeling that, deep down inside, everyone who reads dreams of someday cranking out their own book. Just in case that’s a new year’s resolution of yours, I thought I’d run a series of posts over the next few weeks containing reviews of books and courses that helped take me from dreamer to full-time writer.

This week, I’ll start off with the most important part — learning to write! Without further ado, here are some great resources to help take you from scribbler to novelist.

 

Start with structure

Even if you’re a pantser (someone who writes books by the seat of your pants) rather than a plotter (someone who writes outlines), understanding basic story structure is key. Great starter books include:

Save the Cat — Excellent worksheets and basics to get you started. (Don’t be scared off by the “Screenwriting” part of the subtitle.)
Take off your Pants — In addition to the catchy title, this book provides a very character-based way of structuring your novel that really helped my writing grow.
Super Structure — This is a good book to read when you’re at a more intermediate stage. I learned some good tips on pacing and signposting therein.
Write to Market — In some ways, this book should be in a separate category (marketing). But it’s important to understand what kind of books readers are looking for before you even start, so I stand by including this title here.

 

Leveling up with details

Once you’ve written your first novel and are no longer daunted by the idea of making a story hang together from beginning to end, you’ll be ready to level up with some of these more laser-focused writing books. Here are the ones that have helped me grow over the years:

Various courses/books by Holly Lisle. You can get many of these as ebooks on Amazon, but I recommend buying directly through her site both to support the author and to download extras and participate in student forums. Specifically, her flash fiction course (FREE) taught me to write short stories in a few short sessions, her create a plot clinic is a really awesome brainstorming guide, and her how to write a series (much more expensive) turned my fourth series into my best by far.
Romancing the Beat — This is an excellent, short and easy-to-read romance-novel primer. It’s basically Save The Cat twisted around to match the romance novel.
Be a Sex-Writing Strumpet — This book got me over the hurdle of being afraid to include sex scenes in my books.
Writing Vivid Emotions — An excellent, short tutorial on how to mix emotional cues into a story more subtly. I haven’t read this author’s entire (long!) series, but can also recommend Writing Short Stories to Promote Your Novel.
On Writing Romance — This text feels a little old school in places but has some good tips in the middle on the actual craft of building a romance.

 

Edit down to a polished draft

Finally, the part that is taking me the longest to learn — editing. While I do use a proofreader to catch those last few thorny mistakes and sometimes pay a developmental editor/beta reader to catch big-picture flaws, an author really needs to know how to do at least some of this herself. A couple of books that really helped me out here are:

2k to 10k — Despite the focus of the book’s title on productivity, it was the editing section that did the most for me. (Plus, I love her fiction books, so I know this author comes from a place of good storytelling.)
Self-Editing on a Penny — This is a good starter book for those of you just beginning to edit your own work.

Actually, as I look at the two measly books included in this section, I can see why editing still gives me fits — I need to do more reading on the subject! I hope you’ll use the link to facebook below to comment on what other books or courses you recommend.

Happy writing!

Ember’s favorite cupcakes

A huge thank you to everyone who’s made Rogue Huntress‘s release such a great success! Since I can’t send you real cupcakes in exchange for your assistance, here are some virtual ones created through a partnership between the Endangered Wolf Center and Sweetology. I think Ember would have loved them. Obviously, she would have chosen the chocolate….

While I appreciate everyone who bought or borrowed a copy and spread the word in any way they saw fit, I have to admit that I’m most grateful for kind reviews like these:

“The twists are page turning and the emotions that are brought out are heartwrenching and heartwarming” — Sara F

“Lots of tension and drama in this werewolf family story” — S

“Intense and full of emotions” — dora la exploradora

Reviews help readers who’ve never heard of me consider taking a chance on a stranger’s book. So if you want to make my day, please consider dropping by Amazon and letting me know what you think of this third installment in Ember’s quartet. Ember and I will be endlessly appreciative.

(And if you haven’t tried out Ember’s cupcake approach to solving crime yet, you can start the series with no risk by downloading a FREE copy of Huntress Born today only. Enjoy!)

 

Rogue Huntress: Chapter 3

If you missed the first two chapters, please start here.

Unfortunately, our mate bond returned to its former state of noncompliance within the hour. I’d shifted back into human form as soon as we lost sight of the police barricade, but furless lips proved far less capable than lupine skin at bridging the chasm I’d recently created between myself and my mate.

“Can you tell me about Dakota? Is she a criminal, a loose cannon, or someone with full blessing of the shifter government?” Sebastien asked, his words more tentative than they had any right to be. Because he was my mate. He shouldn’t have had to nibble around the edges of these enigmas like a lone wolf seeking a hole in a clan’s defensive perimeter.

Still…. “I can’t,” I told him honestly, knowing even as I spoke that my companion would instead hear: “I won’t.”

The trouble was—the shifters hunting us would execute Sebastien if they thought he possessed even a fraction of the information I’d already let slip. Tonight, we were heading toward a safe house where we could rest and lick our wounds for the foreseeable future. But we could only hide out there for so long. Eventually, I’d need to reenter shifter society and Sebastien would go back to his ordinary life…at which point the professor’s remaining naivety might be the only armor protecting his tender human skin.

I couldn’t say any of that, though, without risking the precise ignorance I was trying to nurture. So we drove in silence for another endless hour, the sweetness of cake donuts gradually disappearing beneath the scent of my mate’s bitter frustration. And then, finally, Sebastien proved his tenacity by opening his mouth yet again.

“Ember, I know you’re tired,” the professor murmured even as he skillfully followed the GPS’s directions and turned onto the tree-lined driveway leading toward our final destination. “But sometime soon, we need to talk….”

Meanwhile, his hand drifted down to settle upon my bare knee, ruining any impulse I might have harbored to keep him safely at arm’s length. Warmth, contact, precious unity. When we were physically touching, I could almost believe that Sebastien and I might find a way to make this unconventional relationship work against all odds. Could almost believe that the professor’s lack of an inner wolf wasn’t an impassable hurdle too tall for me to overcome. Almost….

But then the SUV ground to a halt in front of a large white porch and my mate’s calloused fingers slipped aside so he could shift the vehicle into park. Reality asserted itself like a slap in the face and I peered down at my burner phone in an unlikely attempt to change the subject.

Not that I expected rescue from that direction. After all, Sebastien and I had ditched our own personal devices hours ago in an attempt to prevent both sets of pursuers from tracing us to our current lair. The only person I’d contacted using this replacement phone had been my father…

…Who, true to form, had performed the hazardous errand I’d requested of him with ruthless alacrity. “Dad found it,” I breathed, excitement revving up blood that had slowed to near hibernation levels as we approached a safe place to spend the night.

“Found your brother?” Sebastien demanded, interest in our previous line of discussion fading as he leaned forward to read over my shoulder.

“The key was under the egg compartment as expected,” Dad informed us. “Decoding Derek’s message now. More information to follow.”

Wolfie’s message was terse yet welcome. And, in response to the good news, the mate tether that had hung lax and ungainly between me and Sebastien only a moment earlier tightened up, relaying similar emotions emanating from the other end of the bond.

My mate was exhausted after spending more than twenty-four hours avoiding guns and bombs and dangerous enemies. He was understandably wary of the secrets I continued hugging to my chest like a miser. But Sebastien was also committed to finding and protecting my kid brother while keeping me close by his side.

So I hadn’t blown it after all.

Breathing easily for the first time in hours, I pushed open the car door even as the professor accepted our truce with equal willingness. He hefted our stolen rifle onto his shoulder and slipped out the opposite side of the SUV, mouth remaining blissfully shut in the process.

Sebastien was ready for anything and was willing to follow my lead even when lacking the explanations he so roundly deserved. Perhaps that meant I should trust him with information about our mate bond, if nothing else. After all, how could the Tribunal possibly expect me to keep secret a physical connection Sebastien and I already shared, one that impacted every step we took and every thought that filtered through our brains?

Later, I decided, acknowledging my own cowardice even as I succumbed to it. Then I led my mate out of the darkness and into the light, entering a building where the nation’s strongest werewolves forged deals and stabbed each other in the backs.

Our safe haven was, perhaps, not so entirely safe after all.

Don’t miss the rest of the story in Rogue Huntress!

Rogue Huntress: Chapter 2

If you missed chapter 1, please start here. Otherwise, keep reading to see how Ember and Sebastien deal with their police roadblock….

***

But we were given little leeway to worry about that worst-case scenario. Because the vehicle three cars in front of us pulled away with a grind of unhappy gears, leaving the uniformed female free to leapfrog her compatriots and stalk toward our waiting SUV. “Driver’s license and registration,” she demanded, eyes narrowing as she took in the Sebastien’s nearly imperceptible hesitation to obey.

So Sebastien was aware of our current danger despite the dulling effects of hours of driving combined with a severe deficit of sleep. I relaxed back onto my haunches even as my mate hastened to fumble through paperwork in the glove compartment, giving the officer no further reason to doubt his good intent. “It’s right here,” he murmured. “I just need a minute to get it out….”

Meanwhile, a wordless plan filtered from my companion down our mate bond so clearly it might as well have been a movie playing in my mind. Sebastien planned to charm the cop, to charm her then to sidetrack her with…donuts?

I glanced into the floorboards between us where a half-empty box of pastries lay tucked nearly out of view. Sebastien must have stopped to load up on sugar as I dozed away the journey. And while I appreciated his selection—all chocolate all the way—I didn’t see how rings of fried dough were going to get us out of this roadblock without relinquishing more information than we cared to divulge. Only in cartoons could cops be lured away from the scene of a crime with a donut dangling from the end of a homemade fishing pole….

I couldn’t guess at Sebastien’s end game, but the first stages were clear in my mind. My lap, he murmured silently, actual words coming down the tether this time around. And I obeyed without question. Wriggling between the steering wheel and the professor’s rock-hard chest, I stretched upwards to lick sloppily at my human partner’s stubbled chin.

To my surprise, the cop’s professional mask broke into a girlish smile at the display. “She’s a handful, isn’t she?” the female asked as Sebastien pretended to wrestle me aside in an attempt to reach the wallet sticking halfway out of his back pocket. I expected the policewoman to succumb to impatience as the two of us engaged in a dance so intricately intertwined that it might as well have been choreographed. But instead, the woman merely added: “How old is she?”

“Old enough to know better,” my mate grumbled, his feigned embarrassment enough to force a real whine from my lupine lips. But while my animal half cringed at the counterfeit reproof, my rational human side was beginning to get an inkling of Sebastien’s plan at long last.

Because there was a hint of canine tang to the officer’s nearby clothing. She owned pets—a neutered male and a spayed female dog if I had to guess. Which meant….

“How about we just start with your name?” the policewoman prodded, pulling out the computer I’d hoped would somehow manage to slip from her fingers and shatter onto the pavement before she got ahold of our registration. Half of me thought that a cute and cuddly “dog” could perhaps be forgiven for lunging forward and prompting precisely that chain of events, but…

…Donut, the professor repeated for the second time that evening. And now I understood what Sebastien wanted with sublime clarity. His plan was not only brilliant, it was also tasty. Given that perfect combination of metaphorical and literal good taste, I gladly moved to oblige.

Down onto the floor mat went my two front paws, up into the air went the top of the cardboard box, sliding into my mouth went the first donut out of six. Yum, chocolaty goodness, I thought, barking out a yip of crumbs and excitement even as I swallowed the sweet concoction in one great gulp. Donut, my wolf agreed, her voice silent yet smug.

And as my psychology-professor mate had predicted, the female cop was far less sanguine about the encounter than I was. Losing track of words, job, and even that dratted computer, the female nearly fell through the window in an effort to snag a collar that wasn’t actually present around my furry throat.

“A dog can’t eat chocolate!” the cop roared as she landed half in and half out of the vehicle.

The struggle that ensued was as amusing as it was edifying. Sebastien twisted and turned so artfully that he managed to come up with no more than a handful of fur despite the fact I hadn’t moved out of his way quickly enough to prevent being caught. Then I was scampering in seamless synchrony, scarfing down donuts until a mere dog would have required the fast action of a vet.

With every bite on my part, the female cop’s eyes grew rounder and her efforts to halt my feasting increased in intensity. “We have to stop her! Now!” the woman gasped.

Her elbow came in contact with Sebastien’s jaw as she struggled to catch the tip of my tail. And pain ricocheted down the mate bond so severely I froze for a split second to ensure Sebastien hadn’t been seriously harmed.

Luckily, the accidental contact had produced only a glancing blow…which hadn’t, I now noticed, prevented my mate from assembling an impressive array of props to finish setting the scene for our deception. Insurance and registration papers lay face up on the dashboard while a driver’s license had slid halfway out of the open wallet on the professor’s left knee. Together, the lineup of documentation proved we weren’t breaking any laws…but at the same time, Sebastien had made it abundantly clear that typing our data into one of those portable computers wasn’t going to be worthy of anyone’s time and attention.

To ensure the law-enforcement officer got the message, Sebastien cleared his throat and looked the policewoman directly in the eyes. “I just need to start driving,” he explained breathlessly. “Ember knows to settle down once I get the SUV into gear….”

For my part, I continued to wreak as much havoc as possible. Tearing into the cardboard box the donuts had come in, I chewed up a piece that did taste significantly better than it looked due to the saturation of sweets and oil. So that’s why the average dog continued consuming wrappings after running out of the food inside….

And maybe it was the cardboard that did it. Whatever the reason, our ploy worked at last. “Go,” the lady cop told us, stepping backwards without another glance at papers that would have blown our cover wide open. She waved us onto the shoulder so we could bypass the pickup truck parked in front of us, then called out a final word of advice as we rolled away. “The vet on Third Street is open until seven….”

“Thank you!” Sebastien answered, reaching over to settle his warm hand atop my furry forehead. True to the image filtering down the bond toward me, I’d settled obediently into the passenger seat as soon as the vehicle slipped into gear. Now, I smeared the passenger window with my nose as I barked a farewell to the trio of watching cops.

And that’s how my mate and I circumvented a police roadblock armed with nothing more than a boxful of chocolate cake donuts. Our weapon of choice—and ability to work in tandem—were almost unbearably sweet.

Stay tuned for the next chapter in tomorrow’s post!

Rogue Huntress: Chapter 1

If you’ve been reading along with Ember’s adventures, I hope you’re as excited as I am to see what she gets up to in book three. But if you’re new, these chapters will definitely contain spoilers. So you’ll want to start your adventure with Huntress Born. Enjoy!

***

Shifter teeth, human blood, glints of ivory against ravaged skin. I woke, gasping against the restraints that snugged limbs tight against my body, only to find my lupine form swaddled by ungainly human clothing. The pants and shirt had fit perfectly when I first fell asleep and would again as soon as I….

“Ember, don’t shift back!”

My mate’s voice cut through the haze of returning reality, his deep tones underlain by the sweet scents of chocolate cake donuts combined with his personal bouquet of books, sandalwood, and wolfless man. Blinking watery eyes against the soft light of evening, I wriggled out of no-longer-useful clothing and came erect on all four paws in the passenger seat of my deceased cousin’s SUV.

Before us, three cops walked down a line of stopped vehicles toward us. A tough-looking woman, a guy so skinny he verged on emaciated, and the stereotypical donut eater. They didn’t look particularly menacing, but….

“Wolves or humans?” Sebastien asked, his voice filling with grim urgency. And despite the necessity to focus on current danger, the question sent me spinning backwards into a memory so vivid it might as well have been a continuation of my recent dream.

Blood sprayed across my body like the fine mist from a malfunctioning juicer, my cousin’s form disappearing within a maelstrom of spinning stones and chunks of ripped-apart asphalt. Sebastien slammed me into the ground to protect my fragile body. But my companion couldn’t block the sight of an exploding bomb taking out both a government compound and a family member I’d known for my entire life.

Meanwhile, on the other side of a thin line of night-darkened trees, Dakota’s pack howled a promise that no innocent bystanders would survive the ordeal. None except me and my not-quite-mate….

Not that Sebastien and I had been entirely innocent by the time we fled the scene of the crime. We’d slain four werewolves during the course of our own escape, and now both angry government agents and surly shifters were hot on our trail.

These advancing officers could be either or neither, another danger to overcome or merely one final roadblock on our path to a safe spot to spend the night. It was impossible to tell which while the SUV’s encircling metal cut off all outside air….

I whined and pawed at the side window, hoping Sebastien would understand my wordless plea. All day long I’d dodged his questions, this most recent descent into lupine form a symptom of my subconscious desire to shut out the relentless, if polite, interrogation that had flowed from the professor’s lips for hours on end. Going to sleep then donning fur had solved that problem at last. But now my lupine form meant I couldn’t communicate using much-needed human words. All I had was wolf skin and wide eyes that failed to convey the intensity of my distress.

Only, the fickle bond that had proven no more than a liability for most of the preceding day must have clicked into gear while I slept. Because glass slid down without the necessity of words and air whooshed in to fill the space around me. I inhaled deeply then sighed out my relief. Humans. Dakota’s lackeys hadn’t found us quite yet.

Unfortunately, my relief was short-lived. Even though no werewolves waited in the wings, these cops each wielded a hand-held computer into which they were keying other drivers’ identifying information. Unconsciously, my ears pinned back while a whimper emerged from my furry throat.

SHRITA can’t find out we ’ re here.

If given a choice between SHRITA and shifters, I have to admit that I would have chosen the wolves. Because government agents were remarkably effective despite lacking claws and fangs. They’d kidnapped my mate yesterday, had been implicated in the disappearance of my brother weeks before that, and might even now be hunting Sebastien if anyone managed to survive last night’s bloodbath.

SHRITA also possessed full access to police databases. As a result, I couldn’t let the professor’s driver’s license fall into these police officers’ waiting hands.

I tried sending that knowledge down the tether that tied me and Sebastien together. Tried…and failed as the phantom thread slipped away from my searching muzzle and disappeared into the void that kept us resolutely apart.

Sebastien might have been able to guess that I wanted the window rolled down seconds earlier, but he wasn’t receiving my far more important transmission now. And how could I expect him to when our mate bond hung as loosey-goosey between us as a pan of uncooked custard?

Want to keep reading? Stay tune for chapter 2, coming up tomorrow on the blog!

Let’s give thanks for great books!

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, I thought you might enjoy skimming the cream off my recent reading list. All of the books below are quality fantasies, most with a strong romantic thread. I read them and loved them — maybe you will too?

C.J. Archer dependably delivers strong, young heroines living in a vivid historical fantasy setting with a romantic arc that spans several books, and this series is no exception. The Watchmaker’s Daughter delivers a magical experience just like the one promised by the cover and I highly recommend it!

The Queen of the Tearling is young adult fantasy with fascinating worldbuilding applied so lightly you’re always on the edge of your seat waiting for the next tidbit. There’s a heroine who, from the outside, appears completely unlikable but somehow manages to feel heroic in the moment, great secondary characters, and a riveting plot. Definitely worth the read, although book two got a bit darker than I would have preferred. (You’ve been warned!)

Moving on to adult books, Amanda Bouchet’s A Promise of Fire kept showing up on recommended reading lists for me, but something about the cover turned me off. Imagine my surprise to finally look inside and find page-turning fantasy romance in the vein of Sherwood Smith’s Crown Duel, with lots of smoldering, even more adventure, and unique worldbuilding thrown in for kicks. This may be my favorite book since I reviewed last!

Even though I downloaded this FREE book quite some time ago, I put off reading it because Christine Pope has burned me in the past with cliffhangers so brutal they don’t quite make up for her extremely high quality writing. Imagine my surprise when I finally got brave and discovered that Dragon Rose is a standalone retelling of Beauty and the Beast with rich, tangible writing, a very relatable heroine, and a happily ever after all in one book. If you need some succulent brain candy for the holidays, download this one first.

I don’t even know how to begin describing Grace Draven’s Radiance without making the story sound trite and shallow. In reality, this is a succulent book, full of fantasy and romance in perfect measure. And, for the first time, I finally understand the appeal of the alien-romance subgenre.

C. Gockel’s Soul Marked is the perfect blend of fantasy and romance with engaging worldbuilding (Norse mythology) and a love story wrapped up in one book. Plus, the author included subtleties of race (notably hair troubles) that deepened the story without making me feeling like I was being preached at. Currently FREE in Kindle Unlimited.

How about you? Have you read any great books recently that straddle the border of fantasy and romance? If so, I hope you’ll click on the link below to comment!

 

Incendiary Magic is now FREE!

Did you miss Incendiary Magic when the novella was in the limited-edition Fire Kissed box set? If so, you’re in luck! Fire Kissed is no longer available, but this intro to my Dragon Mage universe is now free on all retailers:

 

 

Happy reading! And if you enjoy what you read, I hope you’ll consider writing a review or telling a friend. Thanks in advance for your help!

Rogue Huntress: Cut scene

I’ve been doing a bit of slicing and dicing this week as I smooth my current work in progress into a more streamlined form. Usually, excised portions of a novel aren’t worth sharing because they were cut for a reason — boring! But this small flashback merely marred the flow, and I thought you might enjoy seeing it here since it won’t show up in the final book. Don’t worry if you haven’t read the rest of the series yet. Ember is looking back to a time before Huntress Born begins, so you won’t spoil anything with the read. Enjoy!

***

Sunlight streamed in large windows while my bare feet relaxed against the supportive chill of a well-maintained tile floor. When last I’d entered the Pinnacle kitchen, I’d been playing hide and seek with my now-deceased cousin, trespassing where I didn’t belong. The resident chef’s brows had risen as a much younger me slid into the cavity beneath the sink, and the long knife in his dominant hand waved like the swaying hood of a cobra.

“What is a pup doing here?” the shifter had demanded, a hint of alpha bite invading his tone. And even though no one else had initially noticed my approach, chopping and chattering now ceased throughout the kitchen as every gaze arrowed in on my huddled form.

“Hiding,” I whispered, less concerned about the chef’s thinly veiled threat than about my cousin’s imminent approach. Malachi had found me the last four times I’d been the pretend prey and he’d teased me mercilessly as a result. This time, I resolved to beat him at his favorite game no matter what it took. Which meant the chef needed to get off his high horse and quiet down.

“As well you should be,” the chef answered, misunderstanding my one-word reply. “Every alpha in the Pinnacle would eat you for breakfast then use your finger bones as toothpicks if they found you here. Skedaddle, pup. Go home to your mommy.”

The male finished off his speech with a broad smile, exposing teeth that had sharpened ever so slightly with the rise of his inner wolf. Both animal and man were enjoying this showdown, were looking forward to the first whiff of urine as I peed my pants in terror.

But I was the beloved child of Wolfie Young. There was nothing for me to fear even when surrounded by the strongest alphas the country had to offer. One high-handed chef definitely wasn’t going to get a rise out of me.

So I merely rolled my eyes as I spat out a reply intended to annoy. “Are you really such a bad cook that your customers have to eat little children instead? Maybe you should use a recipe next time.”

Triumphantly, I curled my lips back off teeth just as sharp as those of my opponent. And as undercooks and dishwashers gasped in surprise, Malachi ruined my moment of triumph. Slipping in the door, my cousin murmured, “Gotcha,” and watched me wilt back down to the pup I really was.

Now, my adult self shook off the haze of memory and pondered the irony of the now-empty kitchen before me. I was back in the Alphas’ Pinnacle, hiding away in the massive retreat complex’s kitchen once again. Only this time around, the alphas who had fondly overlooked my childhood games were hunting me with blood in their eyes.

Time, I decided, for cake.

Huntress Bound: Chapter 3

If you’re just tuning in, this excerpt will probably make more sense if you start at the beginning….

I should have realized that my wolf hadn’t surrendered to my earlier admonitions. She was merely biding her time and waiting for the right moment in which to strike.

Now, as exhaustion rounded my shoulders while the lack of nearby family gnawed at my gut, my inner beast grabbed the reins out of my tired fingers. Pushing open the bedroom door with human hands, she drew us toward what she considered the solution to all of our problems—a session of snuggling with our recently bonded mate.

And I’ll admit it—I didn’t really resist. After all, the day felt like it had lasted for an eternity, and the steady susurrus of Sebastien’s breathing drew us forward like flames entice a moth. So my wolf and I were united as we passed through the dimly lit corridor, pausing only after we were able to peer greedily upon our mate’s enticing body.

He was asleep. Sacked out on the sofa with one arm wrapped around a cushion and the opposite leg visible atop the thin blanket that he’d fallen asleep beneath. Resting, the professor’s scent was less intense than usual, but also more complex. Old books and brilliant sunshine filled my nostrils, and beneath that came the merest hint of slippery elm.

Then I lost track of rational thought as my own inner beast subsumed me yet deeper beneath her control. Shedding shirt, underwear, and borrowed pants alike, we slipped into our lupine skin as seamlessly as a fish dives beneath the surface of a pond. Mate, the wolf whispered silently inside our combined body, raising her snout to nuzzle at Sebastien’s stubbled cheek. Ours.

The professor sneezed as our eyelashes brushed up against his nostrils. But although he stirred, he didn’t wake. Instead, the human merely pressed his back further up against the sofa cushions as if welcoming us into his personal space.

My wolf needed no further encouragement. Leaping onto the sofa as lightly as any house cat crept onto an off-limits kitchen counter, she settled in beside the slumberer. Then, my own nature squashed beneath her stronger will, we all three fell soundly asleep.

***

I woke to the distant tolling of a doorbell, and for one split second I forgot where I was. My dreams had been redolent with sensations—scent, sound, and even the heady tingle of hands sliding across naked skin. Claiming moon, my wolf whispered, reminding me that we had, at long last, discovered our mate.

Of course, Sebastien hadn’t yet discovered us back. Still, when I opened my eyes, I granted both woman and wolf time to soak up his tantalizing presence. Surely we possessed enough leeway for such a small indulgence as that.

Together, my inner beast and I basked in Sebastien’s beauty. Dark stubble coated the professor’s jaw, but the shadow only made him appear stronger rather than unkempt. A wisp of sable hair lay across one high cheekbone, and it was all I could do not to stretch out my neck and nose the tendril aside. Meanwhile, twitching orbs beneath his eyelids proved that the professor was still deeply asleep.

Our mate was just as enticing in daylight as he’d been beneath the moon last night. But the color of the pillow was oddly muted while the medley of scents swirling between us threatened to overwhelm my human mind. And, gradually, I remembered succumbing to the unthinkable—cuddling up beside a one-body in the skin of my wolf.

My location, unfortunately, wasn’t the only problem marring the morning’s tranquility. Voices carried in from outside the house, too soft for me to make out individual words but with their inherent tension abundantly clear. Then fists hit the door in a cacophony that was bound to wake my resting bed-mate sooner rather than later. Time was quickly running out.

Sure enough, Sebastien stirred at last, his arm tightening around my middle as he came gradually awake. And I knew even as my mate hugged me that I wouldn’t make it out of the room without being sighted if I remained in lupine form. Which meant it was time to shift.

After all, waking beside an unexpectedly naked woman is better than opening your eyes onto the snarling visage of a wolf…right?

My inner beast didn’t entirely agree. She argued that we wouldn’t snarl. Would instead lick and tease and make nice. Still, she allowed the transformation at last, helping me shed my fur and regain my skin in the end.

Our internal debate had slowed the shift, though. So we had only a split second to spare before Sebastien’s eyelids lifted, his face widening into a sleepy smile that skewered my wolf and me both with its tenderness.

“Ember, sweetheart,” he murmured, his hand rising to trail across my bedhead even as his lips parted to breathe out my name along with an endearment that melted my human side into a sticky pile of saccharine goo.

Luckily for the sake of both of our skins, my wolf was less susceptible to words. Predators outside, she reminded me, forcing us to wriggle out of our mate’s willing arms and rise onto our human feet.

And as we came erect, Sebastien woke more fully as well. I saw the moment his rational brain won out over his instincts. Saw when he took in my completely unclad nature, noted his eyes roaming from my still grubby feet up to my erect nipples before landing on my reddening face.

Our companion liked what he saw—I could smell his simple animal attraction swirling around my own. But, at the same time, he was uneasy about the fact that I’d ended up in his bed uninvited like some sort of stalker girlfriend.

The fact I wasn’t even his girlfriend made the whole thing ten times worse.

“Ember…” my mate began, brow furrowing as his scent turned bitter and harsh. But even in human form, I could make out the sound of footsteps moving around the side of the house, suggesting that Sebastien’s annoyance was the least of our current worries. Any minute now, whoever had been pounding on the front door would break into the back. At which point we’d both be sunk.

Looks like you were right, little brother, I thought. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. I really should have fried that laptop when I had the chance….

Then, turning to my mate, I voiced my subsequent thought aloud. “Do you have any files on your computer that you absolutely can’t live without?”

Wolf-like, Sebastien cocked his head to one side in question. He hadn’t heard the men at the door, didn’t realize that we were already operating on borrowed time. In fact, I got the distinct impression he wasn’t going to let me out of the room without a long-winded conversation neither of us had time for.

So I instead pushed a little compulsion into my words as I commanded: “Tell me.”

“No,” my mate answered, his frown deepening so dramatically that I thought the wrinkles might cut their way into his very bones. “I back up everything onto the cloud….”

Even as he obeyed my request, though, I could see Sebastien’s scientific interest being piqued by my lapse into werewolfism. Further questions would certainly be piling up within my mate’s analytical mind just as they had the day before.

But I didn’t have time to indulge him. Instead, I snagged my discarded clothing then hightailed it back toward the professor’s unoccupied bedroom even as I cast my reply over one naked shoulder.

“Great,” I answered. “In that case, I apologize in advance. Answer the door, delay them as long as possible, and I’ll be back after your visitors have left the premises.”

Want to know what happens to Ember and Sebastien? Keep reading in Huntress Bound!