Monday 30 June 2014

SENTINELS OF VARNUSE ~ When The Walls Come Tumbling Down #18

# 18.
Quinlan stood at the edge of the camp. He’d insisted on taking his turn at guard duty. They hadn’t brought a lot of people with them on this mission. As Quinlan hadn’t wanted to let the enemy know they were coming, or how many was in his group. If he’d done things the proper way a full battalion would have taken them forever to get mobilised. Calder, the Pard of the Panthean sentinels wasn’t happy about his decisions, but Quin didn’t care one bit. As it was he had listened to Talon and just taken a few. From his inner circle and some of them weren’t even guards or sentinels. The truth was Quin just wanted his husband back.

The fact wasn’t wide known that Brayden was missing and quite a few times he had had to pretend that Brayden was just indisposed in that moment, or resting due to the child. Truly, it amazed him how the citizens of Panthea had taken it so well when they found out exactly what Brayden and Javier were. Some of the older citizens who remembered the tales of old were damn near ecstatic about the reintroduction of the shifters into their society saying it was an honoured privilege to welcome and protect them. The amounts of gifts that had been showered upon them both proved just how much they were loved, and all their attention had made Brayden feel like less of a freak. But one of those same citizens had done the unthinkable and betrayed their king by kidnapping the King’s Consort. If Quinlan ever found out who that person was, they would rue the day they had ever been born.

How dare they put their hands on Brayden?

How dare they take from Quinlan, their king?

Taking a moment he remembered back to the strange message that had been left in the throne room. Three words: Ormand has them. The question was—who was them? Who else besides Brayden was taken? Doing a search no one had turned up missing. Maybe they’d been trying to tell them Ormand had raided and stolen members form other communities in the known world, but for what purposes?

Quinlan stilled as he heard a noise behind him, he waited as Lord Dalziel approached him. No matter what the others though Quinlan still didn’t trust that he was telling them the truth. There was something else going on inside the man, and Quin had every intention of finding out exactly what he was hiding.

“You still think I’m a part of the group who took my son?” Fane Dalziel stated.

Quinlan heard the sadness in his words but he held his tongue.

“I can see I have much to prove to you before you see that I’m telling the truth.”

“Only one man can verify if you are being honest, and that man is dead. So forgive me if I’m having a hard time swallowing your tale.” Quinlan turned away and scanned the darkness looking for anything that might be out of place. He had a niggling in the back of his brain that something was going to happen. Something that was going to change the way Panthea was ruled.

“I can help you if you let me. When I mated with Thayer, I was gifted certain powers, I’m sure you yourself have felt you are changing... better senses... your getting stronger. Even your intuition will become clearer. These are part of mating with an ancient one.”

“What are you talking about?” The truth was Quinlan had suspected for a while now that he was changing. The further into the pregnancy Brayden got the stronger the sense prevailed.

“Thayer explained it to me like this: being mated to one of the ancient ones, we needed to change just enough to balance them out. We were the string tethering them to all that exists. He told me how most times if one dies so does the other, but in our case I guess that wasn’t true.” Fane shook his head. “The funny thing is, at night when all is quiet, I can almost believe Thayer’s still alive—it’s like I can still feel his heart beating inside my chest.”

Cold dread raced over Quinlan at these words. As he listened he realised that is exactly as he felt. He could feel the double heartbeat inside him. It was the one thing keeping him sane. Knowing Brayden was still out there somewhere waiting for him to come and get him, was tearing at his soul. If Fane Dalziel could also feel the double heartbeat, what did that mean? Did it mean that King Thayer was still alive? Or did it mean he wouldn’t ever know if Brayden was dead unless he saw the body with his own two eyes? He didn’t want to believe it was the latter because that would mean he would soon be mourning his heart, as well as the loss of his child. For safety reasons his other children had been sent to stay with Ingrid’s family well away from Panthea. None but he and Ingrid knew this detail.

“What do you think it means?” Quinlan asked, all the while dreading what the answer might be.

When Fane answered his voice was filled with emotion. “I don’t know, but I can tell you this. Since Brayden has been taken, the feeling of Thayer keeps getting stronger. I think maybe Thayer’s spirit sees I didn’t do a good job looking after our sons. I didn’t protect them like I’d promised. I think maybe Thayer is telling me my life is now destined to join his. Maybe I’m not meant long for this world anymore.” A sad smile crept over his lips, “And honestly I can’t wait to be reunited with my Thayer. I’ve lived alone in this world and mourned my husband for too long.”

Quinlan reached out and placed his hand on Fane’s shoulder and squeezed it gently. “Maybe this is your reward for keeping Bray safe until he could be returned to me.”

“I should have prepared him for what was to come. I was too afraid he wouldn’t believe me, and then I acted like a crazy man while trying to keep him safe. I honestly didn’t want him going through what I did. If you never mated then his cat would never manifest. He wouldn’t have to fear losing you like I lost Thayer.”

“You denied your son what he needed most. You denied him love—my love.” When Fane went to interrupt Quinlan silenced him. “I know you must have loved him in your own way, but you denied him me. I have always owned his heart as he has mine.”

“I’m sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing.”

“Yet you let Ormand run free. Allowing him to gather whatever followers he has. You should’ve been preparing us all for what was to come. Instead you hid Brayden away from the world, and now we have no clue as to where to find my husband. This information we’ve been given might not even be correct. But I can assure you of one thing.” Quinlan turned his cold gaze on Fane. “When I find Ormand and his associates, they’ll pay. If any harm has come to my husband and child I will destroy them all.”

Fane nodded. “And I’ll be standing at your side helping you kill them all.”

Sunday 29 June 2014

Friday 27 June 2014

Just Found Out...




Just found out I have to go back in on 10 JULY 2014 and have more of the same Basal Cell Carcinoma removed... Third time lucky I guess.

Thursday 26 June 2014

The End...Now What's Next?

I'm still not feeling 100%. Every time I think the virus is going away it comes back... The doc says it just has to run it's course.

Well yesterday it took 12 very long hours for me to finish typing up Lancaster's Way 2: A Different Way Of Seeing... it came in at 34,110 word count. It's now been sent to one of my beta readers, James A for his opinion.

So what do I do next? I really still need to get my shit together for Wayward Ink Press on The Gaean Prophecies 1: Admetus Gaea... and the same for Fireborn Publishing on... to be honest I'm not sure I have 4 stories in mind. 

They are as follows:
1) Taking Chances 1: Lie to me
2) The Diamond Rose 1: Undiscovered Hearts
3) Day Walkers 1: Real You
4) The Soul Guardians 1: Loving Callum McKenzie

Feel free to chime in if you have a preference... sometimes the easiest thing for a writer is asking someone else to choose.

PS: Em says it better be The Diamond Rose 1: Undiscovered Hearts, or she's kicking my arse... Seeing as she has the series name tattooed across her sternum.

Wednesday 25 June 2014

Guest Blogger ~ EM Lynley

BOUND FOR TROUBLE by EM Lynley
BDSM/Mystery from Dreamspinner Press

Buy Links

Blurb:
Daniel “Deke” Kane is a broken man, facing the end of his career in the FBI. He’s on desk duty after a botched drug raid left the suspects and two children dead. He’s got one chance to prove himself, or the only thing he’ll be investigating is the Help Wanted ads.  

Ryan Griffiths has been on the run for ten years. Forced onto the streets when his father kicked him out, Ryan earns his living in other men’s beds. Finding his john dead in a hotel room drives him under the radar until a favorite client gives him a chance at a safe, clean life. But Ryan’s relatively stable new world shatters when Deke Kane catches up with him.

When Deke’s tasked to take down a drug dealer with terrorist ties and a taste for the dark side of BDSM, his only chance to get close is the suspect’s interest in Ryan, and he convinces Ryan to become a confidential informant. In return, Deke offers Ryan immunity from his past. As Ryan falls under the drug lord’s domination, Deke finds himself falling for Ryan. 

Excerpt:
 Five minutes later there was a knock on the door of the private playroom. Then Ryan opened it and came in. He was still wearing those see-through plastic shorts, and up close in the bright lights, Deke got more than an eyeful.

 “You wanted to play, sir?” Ryan asked.

 Deke stared at him. The new piercing glinted in the lights, the nipple still swollen and red. The other nipple was peaked and hard in the chilly room.

 “If you’re going to Petrov’s place, you should take another camera. Place it in any room we couldn’t get one in yet.”

 “Okay.”

 Deke handed Ryan the camera; it was small enough to drop into a shoe or boot. Good thing, since there was no way he could hide it in the see-through shorts. “You remember how they work?”

 “Yes, you told me five times.”

 “Fine.”

 “Sit down.” Ryan nodded toward the bench.

 “Why?”

 “You have to do something. I can’t go back out there without a few new marks or people will get suspicious.”

 Deke glanced around at the whips and riding crops and floggers. “I don’t know how to use any of this stuff.”

 “Then just spank me. Leave some good handprints.” Ryan peeled the plastic shorts down and Deke stared, trying to pull himself together. Ryan put a towel over his lap and lay down, completely naked, across Deke.

 The red welts on Ryan’s ass and thighs caught Deke’s gaze. He ran his fingertips across them, feeling the warmth of the skin where Ryan had been caned or hit with the crop. Ryan squirmed on his lap.

 “Sorry,” Deke whispered. A moment later he realized he hadn’t hurt Ryan. Instead, Ryan’s cock hardened against Deke’s thigh. Deke’s cock responded. Ryan could probably feel it against his stomach, and Deke froze for a moment. Then he looked down at Ryan’s perfectly shaped ass and the welts and raised his hand and brought it down on one cheek with a loud slap.

 Ryan’s hips jerked. Deke watched the spot turn pale pink. He put an identical mark on the other cheek, then rubbed the spots like he’d learned. Curious after his session with Roy, Deke had looked up how to give a proper spanking, just in case he had to administer another. He’d never expected it would be Ryan, naked and squirming, ass-up on Deke’s lap.

 Two more strokes and Ryan let out a pleasurable sigh that had Deke hard as stone under him. A few more strokes and Ryan was pressing his hips against Deke. He went for the spots that made Ryan react the most. Then Deke found he didn’t want to stop. He kept going, feeling Ryan tremble and moan beneath him until he finally shuddered and came on the towel.

 Deke rubbed Ryan’s ass for a few moments. The welts made lines across his handprints, and he liked the way the raised flesh felt under his fingers. He wondered how they’d get past this moment, but Ryan straightened up, face flushed, cock still jutting from his body. Deke tried to look away but ended up catching Ryan’s gaze.

 They stared at each other for a moment, sharing something neither would say out loud.


ABOUT EM LYNLEY
EM Lynley, a Rainbow Award winner and EPPIE finalist, has worked in high finance, high tech, and in the wine industry, though she'd rather be writing hot, romantic man-on-man action. She spent 10 years as an economist and financial analyst, including a year as a White House Staff Economist, but only because all the intern positions were filled. Tired of boring herself and others with dry business reports and articles, her creative muse is back and naughtier than ever. She has lived and worked in London, Tokyo and Washington, D.C., but the San Francisco Bay Area is home for now.

She is the author of Sex, Lies & Wedding Bells, the Precious Gems series from Dreamspinner Press, and the Rewriting History series starring a sexy jewel thief, among others.

Find EM Lynley Here

Tuesday 24 June 2014

The Good News Is...

Well, this is probably only good news to me... but, I'm no longer feeling sick... I'm still not 100% but a heel of a lot better than I was this time last week.

News Ahead: I have two chapters of longhand notes to Type up on Lancaster's Way 2: A Different Way Of Seeing before I can send it off to my wonderful Beta Readers.

Did I tell you all that I bought tickets to go and see Queen Ft Adam Lambert on vocals... the concert isn't until 1 October 2014... but Em and I will be in the stands cheering and singing along with the best of them... Okay, so maybe that will be only me and Em will be pretending she doesn't know who the hell I am.

I may be attending the Mid-Summer Festival in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in January  or February 2015 -- I'm not quite sure which month it's in yet.

I've also been invited to participate in a book signing convention up at Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia in May of 2015 it's called Naughty Sinner's Book Bash By The Beach -- so I'll have to organise to have some print books by then at the moment I only have one in print... so I better pull my finger out and get cracking. I'll let you know re as I know more

Monday 23 June 2014

So Much To Do & No Time To Do It In.

As you can tell by the heading I'm run off my feet, but still as crook as... But I have no time to stop.

Things I need to get done by the end of this week.

1- Finish Typing up the last three chapters of: Lancaster's Way 2: A Different Way Of Seeing.
2- Finish building my new filing cabinets: well the hubs is doing that so that I can finally rearrange all the files and separate: home, work, and writing.
3- Finish setting up spare room for: my stepson to come and stay for the school holidays (we haven't seen him in about 6 years so I'm excited).
4- Finish catching up on: all the household chores that never got done while I've been ill. 
5- Think which story I'm doing for: Fireborn Publishing and get started on it... I'm thinking about The Diamond Rose 1: Undiscovered Hearts... mainly because it's already half written.

Mind you this whole list depends on when I receive edits from MLRPress, and Totally Bound publishing... as they come before everything else.