Stacy Mantle dropped off an exclusive excerpt for your enjoyment today as part of her virtual book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. Stacy will be awarding a $15 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour so check out her other stops here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/07/virtual-excerpt-tour-shepherds-moon-by.html. The more you comment, the better your chances are to win!
The Territorial Council isn't thrilled with her new title of Shepherd, but they don't have any more control over the appointment than they have over her. All they can really do is wait for her to screw something up - which Alex is determined not to do.
Everything changes when a chance encounter with a genetically modified Shifter leaves Alex shaken and initiates a quest to locate its maker.Despite years of training, Alex finds herself woefully unprepared to tackle the new threat.
To make matters worse, she must work with a mysterious man who's been trying to kill her since the day they met...
I evaluated my surroundings, discovering I was in what appeared to be someone’s living room. A baby grand piano sat in the corner; an overstuffed couch sat nearby – its comfort frustratingly out of reach. The walls were painted a calming pale eggshell. The relaxing colors would have been encouraging to any normal person. But I wasn’t normal. Despite my inability to read this Ursidae’s mind, surprisingly I was still able to access his senses. Through him, the rooms pungent scent of death was sharpened, awareness tingling over my skin like the touch of a desert cactus. The layers of pale paint did not disguise the fact that this room had seen more than its share of blood.
A lot of blood.
The good news, and the only good news that I could see, was that the chair I was tied too was not centered on a thick layer of plastic. Normally that would calm me down, but there was too much past evidence of blood on the walls.
Tristan was noticeably absent from the scene and there was no sign of Nia — nor any sign of her brother. I wasn’t sure if I should be angry or relieved. After all, I had just met the family and within minutes, had been knocked unconscious and taken captive by an Ursidae.
The soft notes of the piano suddenly rang out in the stillness of the night. I lifted my eyes to meet my guard.
A chill raced through me as he sat quietly staring. Stalking.
His dark eyes gleamed with a ferocity I had only seen in the wildest of animals. The feral animals. The ones that could be called, but could never be controlled. Never be tamed…
A second man stood in the opposite corner. A familiar man.
Unable to believe my senses, I refocused on him. He wore the same boots, the same designer dress pants — he always did prefer Armani’s progressive style. The cologne he wore was applied heavily enough to be uncomfortable.
Stacy has a B.A. in English, a post-baccalaureate in Secondary Education, and an MBA with an emphasis on Marketing. She is active in animal rescue and is a nationally-known pet industry authority. She currently resides in the deserts of the Southwest with several cats, a few dogs, and a very understanding husband. You can learn more about her at http://www.StacyMantle.com.
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Buy the book at Amazon(Paperback and ebook), BN (Paperback, Ebook), Lulu(Hardback), or Smashwords(ebook).
What a fascinating excerpt. This really sounds like an awesome story.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! It's a new concept in the genre - the idea of having a "shepherd" (or in this case, a shepherdess) in charge of a whole community of Weres and Shifters. Hoping everyone enjoys the read!
DeleteGood for you, Stacy, working on animal rescue causes. I'm an animal lover too and have done my share of fundraising and projects. It's very rewarding and too may times heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteThank you Catherine! Rescue is a world where we need all the help we can get. We are having a couple of giveaways at my other sites too - it would be great if someone in rescue won them. One is a giveaway for a basket of pet supplies (dog or cat - we have one of each!) and that is at my writer site: http://www.stacymantle.com/virtual-tour-begins-in-3-2-1/
DeleteThe other is at my PetsWeekly site and is for Fancy Feast cat food (3 cans) and a fun little cheese board - we have 20 prizes. Hope you'll enter and even if you don't want them, maybe you know a rescue who could use the prizes. :)You can enter that one at http://www.petsweekly.com/en/contests
Thanks for stopping by on my virtual book tour!
Thank you for hosting Shepherd's Moon today!
ReplyDeleteAnother intriguing excerpt thank you.
ReplyDeletemarypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Another excellent post! Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteandralynn7 AT gmail DOT com