A Surprise Gift -- A Sneak Peek

I took a peek at the countdown clock on my Blogger account today and noticed that we officially have less than 100 days until the release of Burn the Night: the Final Book of the Dark Days series on June 28. So, I've pulled together all the threads and tied up those loose ends with some neat and hopefully unexpected answers.

Does Aurora finally succeed in her quest for dominion over the planet and destruction of mankind?

What plans does Mira's father Nick have for her and can she escape?

Will Rowe finally corner Mira and be her demise?

Will the Daylight Coalition expose the nightwalkers' secret to the world?

Will Mira finally have the strength to get Jabari permanently out of her life?

Can the Great Awakening be stopped?

And will Mira and Danaus have their happily ever after?

All these questions and more will be answered in Burn the Night. But for now, as a celebration of having less than 100 days until the release, here is a brief snippet from the book that comes out on June 28.



“Damn it, Mira!” Danaus taunted in a low whisper, a smirk pulling at one corner of his mouth. “Are you going to need a tissue or can you pull it together?”

I threw the hunter a dark look, but otherwise kept my comments to myself. The ceremony was going to start soon, and Barrett had generously allowed us to attend since we were the only people that James saw as both friends and in a twisted way family. I wasn’t going to be the one that started trouble.

Yet, I could understand Danaus’s teasing all too well. As we stood there in the quiet forest, a ring of werewolves around us, I tried to focus on the bare-chested James next to Barrett and the rest of the Rainer family. Unfortunately, my mind drifted too often to my recently lost Lily and Tristan. Two people I had taken into my family, into my heart, that were stolen from me through violence and treachery just a few months ago. Watching James being inducted into the Savannah Pack, I tried to reassure myself that he would be safe and that no one would strike at him in an effort to get to me. He was now a part of Savannah, but there was a safe distance between me and him.

A hollow ache echoed through my chest. Months had passed and still I found myself conjuring up ways that things could have gone differently, resulting in one or both of them being alive today. It was a futile act that only extended my pain, making me more vulnerable to the world around me, but I had Danaus at my side.

The hunter had returned from Venice with me and moved into my town house in the historic district of Savannah. I had opened my house to him outside of the city, but he proclaimed that living together was a bit fast for him. But even that was said with a smile, as he tended to spend most of his evenings wrapped in my arms at my home. Danaus had left Themis behind, and a part of me was relieved to have him out of Ryan’s grasp. The warlock leader of the so-called research society was more trouble than either of us was prepared to deal with. I had no doubt that Ryan still had more schemes that included us, but for now he seemed content to let us live in peace in Savannah.

Determined to earn his keep, Danaus took a job as a bartender and occasional bouncer down at The Dark Room. The exclusive club that catered only to nightwalkers and lycanthropes suffered a bit of a shake-up at his presence, but things had settled back into their normal routine. I hadn’t the heart to tell him that as part owner of the Dark Room, I was the one paying his salary each week. Danaus needed to feel independent and yet still connected to the dark other world that pulsed just beyond the notice of the humans.

To my surprise, Danaus’s fingers brushed against my hand hanging down at my side before he finally entwined his fingers around mine. Stop thinking about them. Let them rest, he admonished in my brain.

Will he be safe?

He will be safe.

Some of the tension finally flowed out of my shoulders and I squeezed his hand as I resisted the urge to lay my head against his hard shoulder. Danaus had become my rock, my one shining lighthouse in the storm, my last hold on sanity in this world. More darkness and evil lay just over the horizon, but I knew that I would at least have Danaus at my side.

Keep thinking thoughts like that and I’m going to need a tissue, Danaus teased.

Asshole, I replied, mentally chuckling at him. I should have known that he would be a silent specter in my thoughts. I had been too dark lately as the world grew quiet. The naturi had left my territory and there was no word from the coven. Not even my father Nick had popped in recently to torment me. Now in my spare time, I paced the floor and stared out the window with my arms folded over my stomach, waiting. I didn’t know what it was, but something bad was coming.



Are you interested now? Here are some links if you would like to pre-order your copy so you don't forget about it coming out later this summer.

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books a Million

Borders

IndieBound

Powells

Thanks for all your support and stay tuned for more goodies ahead of the release of Burn the Night.