By Jaime McDougall
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Blurb:
Running
from a nightmare stalking her every move, Phoebe Martin arrives in Echo Falls
hoping she has finally found a safe place to stop. But trouble has a way of
catching up and soon the signs are there.
After a vicious attack in an alley, policeman Aidan O'Bryan is left with Phoebe as his only path to understanding why the Echo Falls werewolf pack - his pack - is being attacked. When another pack member is killed, Phoebe is forced to confront her past before she loses Aidan and everything she has come to love.
Love and duty become one as Aidan strives to prevent Phoebe from becoming the next victim. But with Phoebe just as determined to protect Aidan and her new home, secrets from her past threaten to tear them apart. Will love give Phoebe the strength to trust Aidan and face her fears, or will her past destroy her future?
After a vicious attack in an alley, policeman Aidan O'Bryan is left with Phoebe as his only path to understanding why the Echo Falls werewolf pack - his pack - is being attacked. When another pack member is killed, Phoebe is forced to confront her past before she loses Aidan and everything she has come to love.
Love and duty become one as Aidan strives to prevent Phoebe from becoming the next victim. But with Phoebe just as determined to protect Aidan and her new home, secrets from her past threaten to tear them apart. Will love give Phoebe the strength to trust Aidan and face her fears, or will her past destroy her future?
Excerpt (Chapter One):
Keep
running, keep running, keep running. Phoebe’s lungs burned as her mind screamed the
mantra. Keep running, keep running.
How many
steps can there be?
She
should know. She lived in this apartment building.
Tears
ran down her cheeks and her lungs burned for air. Only the random irrational
thought broke through the panic keeping her feet moving down the steps. Keep
running. Keep running. The light of the emergency exit came into view.
Almost there…
The door
to the stairwell slammed open with a hollow boom. She tripped and clung to the
railing to steady herself.
Keep
running.
The
shock of the cool night air sent a shiver of relief through her body. She’d
come out a side exit into an alley. If she could just get to the front –
Suddenly
she was thrown to the ground from behind. She hit the concrete, what little
breath she had knocked from her lungs. Blood began flowing from where her head
hit the ground, and small sparks of light floated into her vision.
How did he
catch up so fast?
Desperately
she tried to gulp down as much air as she could, willing her lungs to
cooperate. Instinct kicked in as the attacker slashed at her, and she curled
into fetal position.
A dog. He’d turned into a dog. A
big dog with vicious claws and teeth he used to tear into her exposed back,
thigh and shoulder. She slowly regained her breath but could only use it to
scream her throat raw.
Her
vision faded, taking the small sparks of light with it. Searing pain ripped
through her shoulder as a claw dug down against her bone. One last, long scream
tore from her lungs before she was left gasping and sobbing, her fear slowly
smoldering into rage.
Things
can’t end like this.
She
opened her eyes as the dog stood over her, trying to get to her throat. A paw
came into her line of vision and she saw her chance. She reached out, grabbed
it and squeezed with all the strength she had.
The dog
yelped and tried to twist away, but she held on with all the strength she had.
She knew she’d only bought herself time. She couldn’t move the dog off her and
she couldn’t squeeze his paw all night. He tried uselessly to bite her, his
jaws having no strength so long as she squeezed his paw. But she could already
feel her strength waning.
Suddenly
the weight of the dog flew off her, taking the paw out of her grip. Without
thinking, she used her one cooperating arm to drag herself toward the front of
the building.
She
shivered, her arm giving out, and caught a glimpse of a second dog. No. A
wolf… Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she listened to the dogs fighting,
the battle just a few steps away. She tried her best to curl up against the
building wall and willed the growling and snapping to go away. They sounded
like they were tearing each other to pieces.
The
universe granted her wish, the battle ending with the sound of two bodies
hitting each other and a sharp whine. She shivered and softly whined as well,
dreading the approach of the winner as one of the dogs yelped and ran away.
A few
moments later warm, human hand brushed the back of her head and she screamed
again. If it could be called a scream. Her throat burned and rebelled at her
abuse of it.
“Ssh.
You’re safe now.”
She
tried to scream again and move away, but her body wouldn’t obey her commands. She
groaned as the full force of the pain washed over her.
He
murmured and she relaxed her desperate grip on staying conscious. Sleep seemed
so tempting, the black abyss singing a siren’s song to her. Her rescuer – or
captor – tried to soothe her, but something dark and dangerous in his voice
betrayed him. He was different. She tried to bat away his hands but gave
up after a few attempts, not sure if her good hand was actually moving.
As she
slipped into the darkness, she wondered if death had merely granted her a short
reprieve from the inevitable.
Jaime McDougall is a citizen of the world, currently
loving life in beautiful country Victoria in Australia. She loves eating sushi,
kidnapping her husband and naming her pets in honour of science fiction
authors.
A love of fiction has always coursed through her
veins and she told stories as a child even before she knew how to write them.
Settling into one genre was never her style and she has plans for novels in
women’s fiction, urban fantasy and more – all with a touch of romance.
She has been published in Chicken Soup for the
Soul: High School: The Real Deal and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Campus
Chronicles. She has also enjoyed writing the So You Want ebook series for authors looking to establish their
names online.
You can connect with her at her website, http://www.inkyblots.com and on Facebook.
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/#!/JMScribe
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/authorjaimemcdougall
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Wow! I can't wait to read this. Thank you so much for sharing. Definitely going in my tbb pile.
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting me on my VBT. I hope you and your readers enjoy the book. :)
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