Selena Illyria: Draven Crossing: Torger's Addiction

Draven Crossing: Torger’s Addiction

Copyright

© 2010 Selena Illyria, All Rights Reserved

Werewolves, Urban Fantasy, Dragons

Torger threw the book in his hand away in disgust. “How the hell can she read this crap?” he mumbled to himself. A glance at the cover showed a half naked couple in an intimate embrace. The blurb had been promising, declaring it a breakout paranormal novel with lots of praise heaped on it by other supposed bestselling authors. He wouldn’t know who any of those people were. It was only a few months ago he’d started reading books in the romance genre. And it had all be an accident out of boredom. Now he was paying for it in spades. Not only were the sex scenes hot enough to melt lead but reading them had fueled his fantasies and giving him a few new ones to contemplate and it was all Isadora’s fault.

She’d left the book out and had made him wait in her office. It wasn’t his fault that he’d picked up the book and read a scene or two. Now he couldn’t stop reading the books. First it had been a popular paranormal, erotic romance series. Next he found himself ducking into bookstores during lull times and buying anything that the author recommended. It was like a sickness he couldn’t shake. If any of his friends or even his fellow police officers found out he was reading those books, he’d not only never hear the end of it, he wasn’t sure his alpha wolf status of all the wolf packs would hold up. He couldn’t have beta wolves making fun of him, or the rest of the packs losing respect for him because of his chosen reading material.

“I can see it now. Torger, alpha wolf of all the packs loses position because he can’t stop reading Angela Knight books.” He shut his eyes and groaned. Despite those possible consequences, he couldn’t stop reading the books. Right now, he found himself hooked to the latest Karen Marie Moning book while reading the latest Diana Castilleja book at the office, and then at home, he had a few Chris Marie Green Vampire Babylon books sitting on his nightstand. He never left home without a book tucked in his messenger bag. Just in case I get bored or something. At least that’s what he told himself.

Just a few days ago, he’d almost been caught by Officer Petra Anderson, his werewolf beta in his pack. She’d come into his office just as he’d reached the part where the villain was revealed when the door had popped opened. He’d barely had time to hide the incriminating novel. Luckily she didn’t notice how oddly shaped his pile of paperwork was. And worse, his friend Jackal was staying at his place. The dream-walker was a great friend and very open-minded and understanding but Torger doubted that the man wouldn’t rake him over the coals for his latest reading obsession. Best friends kind of took that privilege and ran with it. “I have to find a place to stash the books.”

He looked around his office and muttered a curse. Everywhere he looked, he could see his various hiding places for the books. His book case was littered with them hidden behind other books. The growing mountain of paperwork on his desk had a few books stacked underneath it all. He didn’t even want to think about his filing cabinets. The messenger bag that hung on his coat rack was empty of the damning contraband but his jacket wasn’t. The inside pocket contained a mass market edition of the latest Marie Treanor vampire book. He looked down at his desk and spotted his laptop. Nausea rose up. The physical books hadn’t been enough. Then he’d discovered eBooks. Reading material that wouldn’t take up room on a shelf or could be hidden behind a password. They were like crack cocaine. He’d just kept buying them. More. More. More. A new release here, a few backlist books there and suddenly he had over a hundred eBook files tucked away in a file folder marked Family Jewels. And those books were worse than what he had in print. They were filled with hot, sexy erotic scenes. The list of author names rolled through his mind; Lexxie Couper, Jess Dee, Rhian Cahill, Cynnara Tregarth, Michelle Hasker, Dawn Montgomery, Sherri King, Madeline Oh, Aubrey Ross, Moira Rogers, Lena Austin, Belinda McBride and more, so many more.

The time he snuck in for reading the books became longer. It was stress reading for him. When things got tense, most people smoked a cigarette or went to the spa. He read. Romance books. Erotic Romance books. And things were pretty damn stressful at the moment. A serial killer was on the loose in his territory. The person was killing people on his watch and he had nothing to go on. The coroner’s report and the CSU’s reports had said the same thing, no trace, no fibers, no fingerprints, no tissue or blood, not even a scent to go by. Scrubbing a hand over his face, he prayed that they’d get a break soon, otherwise his little addiction was going to go public. The need to read was increasing. Each minute no new information came up was another minute he just wanted to forget his troubles and lose himself in a book. With great reluctance, he began to gather the books up from around his desk. Once he had all of them, he dumped them into a bottom drawer and locked it up, vowing to take them home later. The only thing that remained of his addiction was the acceptable Laurie R. King Mary Russell series. He wouldn’t get grief for that book because it was a mystery.

Torger was just about to get up and go for lunch when his door slammed open and a vision in pink strode in, anger clear on her face.

“Call these lunkheads off, Torger. I’m here with news,” Isadora declared. For a moment he stood there staring at her. Today she was dressed in a pink pencil dress with thin straps. Never mind that it was currently fifty degrees outside, unusually cold for late Spring, but that the dress did wonderful things for her figure. It hugged her full hips and generous bust perfect. All he could do was stare and appreciate what stood before him. The clearing of a throat drew him out of his perusal and he shook his head.

“It’s okay guys, you can go. The pink dragon won’t eat me,” he joked. Isadora blew out a puff of smoke. A pale pink mist floated up into the air and everyone stilled. She’s riled up. He sighed and waved a hand. “Go, guys. It’s okay, really.”

His officers looked at each other and then turned on their heels and left. As soon as the door shut behind, them, he realized he was trapped with the object of his lust and fantasies. His heart rate increased as breathing became a chore. Heat flooded his body and his wolf stood up and noticed that the female it wanted to mate with was standing before it. His tail wagged animatedly and his mouth hung open. Don’t do anything stupid, Torger warned his animal. The wolf tilted its head to the side as if to say, Who? Me? Torger almost rolled his eyes but did nothing to indicate the internal dialogue he had going on. Isadora would notice. Blowing out another breath he focused on calming his body. It was bad enough that his blood had started to head south and his cock was semi-hard. Tingles had started at his toes and worked its way up his legs. Have to regain focus.

“Isy,” he greeted.

She glared at him. “Isadora,” she corrected him.

He shrugged. “Isy, what do you want?”

Her jaw clenched and her nostrils flared. Slim lines of smokes trailed out of her nose. “Careful wolf. I eat people like you for breakfast,” she warned. Her voice had gone from soft and sweet to smoky and dangerous.

A shiver raced down his spine. He fought the urge to let it show. Wolves were fodder for dragons. He’d never seen Isadora change but didn’t doubt that the pink dragon would be huge and far too much to handle.

“Fine. We’ve established that a dragon would win the pissing contest. Doesn’t tell me what you’re doing here. You said you had news.” He leaned back in his chair and studied her. Her shoulders slid down and her posture relaxed. Dark circles marred perfect mocha skin under her eyes. Her full lips thinned. The soft lure of her perfume was mixed with sweat and the slight tinge of stress. Torger’s senses became alert. His wolf let out a soft warning growl. His mate, the woman he had his eye on to be with wasn’t taking care of herself. With a new awareness, he eyed her figure which seemed to be smaller. The dress may have hugged her curves but her waist had shrunk enough for him to notice. Her dark brown eyes didn’t have the usual sparkle. Her perfectly coifed hair, streaked with pink highlights looked dry, not as soft and lacked shine. He clenched his jaw and said nothing but he knew one thing, if he were taking care of her she would be well loved and relaxed. She’d also never leave his bed.

“I just got a report that the Council has issued a statement contradicting Draven’s, saying that you don’t have things under control and there’s another victim you’re hiding from the public. But my sources tell me that that’s a load of hogwash.” Without invitation she sank into the visitor’s chair in front of his desk. “Torger, my sources in the Council are telling me that Drew Marten is chomping at the bit to enforce quarantine for the town.”

She looked up, worry in her gaze. “People are emailing me, demanding answers. I don’t know what to tell them, Torger. The citizens are ready to fight for their town but they’re scared. If the Council does enforce a shutdown of the borders, we won’t know what to do. I need something to say to them. A word from the Alpha of all packs could go a long way. I need you to give me something, anything.”

Her voice had lost its rough tone. Now she was back to her old self, only worn down and tired. He stood up. Ignoring every instinct screaming in his mind to not do what could rebound on him, Torger made his way around his desk and went to her. Crouching down, he settled next to her. He reached out and cupped her hand, stroking his thumb over the silken skin. “You can tell people this; I’m going to do everything in my power, even if I have to give my life, to catch the sonofabitch who’s doing this. We won’t have to shut our borders.”

Isy’s eyes widened. Fear now tinged her perfume. “Torger—Don’t do something stupid.”

He reached up and brushed back her hair. It was softer than it looked. “Why, Isy? Are you worried about me?”

Grinning, he watched emotions dance across her face. She licked her lips, then shook her head and snatched her hand back. “Don’t think you can treat me nicely in private and then be rude in public.”

“Answer the question.”

Her teeth came out to scrape her bottom lip. He groaned inwardly, watching straight white teeth dig into plump, pink flesh. The air around them became thick. Everything narrowed down to him and her. There was no serial killer. No stress. No work. Her job didn’t matter and right now he wasn’t the chief of Police for Draven’s Crossing. She wasn’t a pink dragon shifter. He wasn’t an Alpha werewolf of the packs. Soft scents drifted past his nose. He wasn’t sure what the aroma was but it soothed him. His wolf lay down, head resting on its front paws. Rising up next to her, he brought his face closer to hers. Her warm breath ghosted across his lips. The skin tingled. He flicked out his tongue hoping to catch some of her taste on his mouth. She dipped her head to bring her face closer. Their lips were only millimeters apart. He wanted to close the distance so badly. His muscles strained with the effort to stay still. Her eyes widened and her scent shifted to something sharp.

“Damn it. I’m not doing this now.” She stood up so quickly the chair rocked then wobbled back in place. “I have to go.”

Before he could stop her, she rushed to the door, jerked it open and rushed out. He gritted his teeth and let his head fall forward until his chin touched his chest. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. She’s not ready yet.” With a sigh, he rose up and made his way to his desk. After sitting behind his desk, he unlocked his bottom drawer and pulled it open. Shifting through the pile of books, he read the titles and chose a dark, urban fantasy, romance.

“At least I have my books,” he sighed. His phone rang and he put the book away. “Great, duty calls.”

As he shut the drawer, he prayed that this wasn’t a call informing him of another body.

Jianne Carlo: Lucky In Red

Early this summer Passions in Print, a division of Man Love Romance, asked my friend and fellow author, Lynn Lorenz, to do an anthology for their new heterosexual-focused line. Lynn and I began our careers together around the same time a couple of years ago with the same editor, Georgia Woods.

We’d often spoken of doing a Viking story together, so when Lynn approached me for this anthology, I jumped at the chance. And when she told me that Belinda McBride was on board, I was thrilled, having recently met and bonded with Belinda at the EPIC awards in February.

I’m amazed at how easily Lucky in Red came together.

We had one brainstorming Skype session where we decided on our heroes - the Lobos brothers, the premise - stained red dresses, and the location - Sleeping Dog, Texas (thank you Lynn J).

After that, we each wrote a first paragraph, exchanged stories, and that was it. We wrote our tales independently, and lo behold, at the end of the day we had one discrepancy – I had an acrylic counter, and the others had stainless steel.

Isn’t that incredible?

I feel like pinching myself. Never did I imagine an anthology could be so easy. And we had such a blast doing this too. Of course, I’m all up for the three of us doing another one.

Like Lynn and Belinda, I, too, love writing about wolves. Their fierce loyalty to their mates and cubs, the delicious alpha qualities of a male wolf, the to-the-death maternal protectiveness of the females, all these qualities are so appealing for a romance novel.

A few fascinating sub-characters show up in Lucky in Red.

Carnation Rosa, an older woman, who earns her nickname by decapitating the heads of two dozen carnations each year at the county fair: her sidekick, Cleo, who’s addicted to the cactus-wine made by the town’s pastor and his wife, and a wolf-hating sheriff who’s trying to repeal the ban on hunting introduced by the Lobos brothers. Not to mention the mischievous devil of a ring bearer who wreaks havoc with a handful of marbles as the bridesmaids at a wedding advance up the aisle.

Lucky in Red is sexy, funny, and fast-paced and we all hope you enjoy reading the three stories!

Cheers,

Jianne

Moon Myths and Moon Cake: Lena Austin

What is the best-known myth about the full moon? That it triggers a werewolf’s transformation of course. However, that’s not the only moon myth out there, back in day people believed all sorts of strange things about the moon. Let’s explore some of those other moon superstitions.

• One of the oldest moon myths is that if you stare at the moon for too long you’ll become a lunatic and every full moon thereafter will send you into fits of insanity.
• In some ancient cultures, young girls were warned against sleeping in the moonlight, lest they become “moonstruck” and attract monsters.
• Some believe that moonlight shining into one’s bedroom will bring bad luck. It is said that if you greet the moon with a polite curtsy or bow it will ward off the ill luck, and you may even be granted a wish.
• Another well-known belief is that witches and sorcerers will “draw down the moon” to use its power for their spells. This has remained a part of Wiccan tradition even today, and modern witches still Draw Down the Moon. Sadly, I as a Wiccan have never dropped down on all fours and started howling.
• It was believed the waxing of a new moon it the best time for lovers to divine their future, the best time to begin a new journey or business venture, and the best time for farmers to plant their crops (except runner beans, which are sown at the wane). This is also the best time to hold wedding and to have a baby. That’s not all though – livestock slaughtered when the moon is waxing is said to give better meat.
• Bowing to the new moon and turning over silver coins in your pocket was believed to double the amount of money by the end of the next cycle.
• If in company, the first person to see the new moon should kiss one of their companions right away, for if they do so they may expect a gift in the near future. But! The new moon should not be seen for the first time through glass (eye glasses are ok) or through the branches of a tree – for this is a bad omen. The best way to see it is in the open air via a glance over the right shoulder (in which case a wish may be made).
• Pointing at the moon was believed to insult the man in the moon, and if you did point you would be banned from heaven.
• To see visions of your future lover, say this to the first full moon of the year, “All hail to thee, moon, all hail to thee, I prithee kind moon, reveal to me, Him/Her who is my life partner to be.” If all goes well you will see your future love in your dreams.
• In ancient times, Chinese people believed that there were twelve Moons as there were twelve months in one year. It was believed that the Moons were made of water. The name "mother of moons" is associated with that of Heng-o.
• The Full Moon in January is called the Wolf Moon. It is named after the hungry packs of wolves that howled at night. The Algonquian tribes of Native Americans had many different names for the Full Moon through the year, reflecting their connection with nature and the seasons, hunting, fishing, and farming.

How to Make Moon Cakes

Moon Cake "A cake-like crust topped with a creamy vanilla, cream cheese pudding and smothered in whipped topping with just a hint of chocolate syrup. Served cold." Ingredients: 1 cup water ½ cup margarine 1 cup all-purpose flour 4 eggs 1 3.4 oz packages instant vanilla pudding mix 3 cups milk 1 8-oz package cream cheese 1 8-oz container frozen whipped topping, thawed ¼ cup chocolate syrup Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and lightly grease a jelly roll pan. 2. In a large saucepan, bring water and margarine to a boil. Remove from heat, and mix in flour with electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Spread evenly in prepared pan . 3. Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes. Set aside to cool completely 4. In large bowl, combine pudding mix, milk and cream cheese. Mix with electric mixer until smooth. Spread evenly over cooled crust. Top with whipped topping and drizzle with chocolate syrup. Chill in refrigerator and serve cold.