Goodreads Giveaway!

I'm hosting a Goodreads giveaway from now until November 22. Just in time to get a paperback edition of Once Broken to read over the Thanksgiving holiday! I'm giving away three copies to readers in the United States. Sign up today! https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/70151-once-broken

One Last Teaser

Release day is upon us, and I can't tell you how excited I am about that! It has been time consuming and a ton of work, and there have been times when a Sam Adams Octoberfest was needed to keep me sane. But self-publishing is so much fun and is a learning experience like no other. I can now do things with a Word document that I never thought possible (thanks to some tutelage from my patient husband and lots of studying). :P So! Here's one last snippet that I want to share with y'all before Once Broken goes live. This is from the Prologue and helps provide a little insight to Remi's beginnings as a hunter. Enjoy!

The light from a pair of headlights came upon us as a car drove up the driveway and came to a stop behind the truck. I tried to stay on my feet, but wobbled and fell to my knees. Without a word, the werewolf – if that’s really what he was – gathered me up and carried me toward the car.

“Is she alright?” A man’s voice came from somewhere to my left. He had an accent that was familiar to me, that of a native Spanish speaker. His question was so full of concern, I wondered if I was supposed to know him somehow.

“Yes.” I felt the werewolf’s answer reverberate through his chest. Looking up at him, I saw him nod his head toward where Dominic had fallen. His lips were set in a grim line, saying so much without another word.

The other man drew a cross with his fingertips, head to chest and shoulder to shoulder. The reverence of the gesture put a tightness in my chest and brought tears to my eyes.
He walked to my husband’s body and looked for a moment before nodding his head. Coming back to us, he explained his decision.

“Listen closely. This will have to be reported to the police, and this is what we’re going to tell them . . .”

I tried to focus as the dark-haired man told me how to be secretive about what had just taken my husband’s life, but I was preoccupied by the horror of what I had seen.

Up until then, I had been content to accept the world around me at face value and never think twice about it, just like any other person. Of course I had seen creepy creature movies and read the legends woven in popular stories, but like almost everyone else, I believed the stories to be nothing more than mere fantasy. Entertainment.

Well, it sure as hell wasn’t entertaining anymore.

A Taste of Dove Creek

Here is the opening of Chapter Two, where the town of Dove Creek is explained. As you can see, it's a lovely little town . . . Riiiiiight. Enjoy!

Dove Creek has long been a hub of supernatural activity. Back during the oil boom of the 1970’s, the town population swelled to its all-time high. Almost overnight, it became larger than anyone ever thought possible. The oil gushed and the money flowed. Talk started up about how Dove Creek could come to rival Westview, the city on the other side of the lake. This tiny town was moving up in the world.

Then the murders started.

At first, people believed there was a serial killer on the loose. A body here, a disappearance there . . . They could find a way to justify the rising death toll. The local law enforcement even found a suspect: Wilson C. Scott. He was tried and convicted, framed for murders he didn’t commit and got a middle initial in his name just like every other notorious killer.

And the murders didn’t stop.

People fled Dove Creek just as fast as they had flocked in. Coupled with waning oil prices, the dark mark of death overshadowed any hope the town had of becoming a full-fledged city. The only people left were the ones whose families had been here for generations; my family and Gabriel’s family were among them.

There were a few people who decided to stand up and do something rather than cower in the church pews and pray like the rest of Dove Creek did – and still does. People in this town know that there are abnormal occurrences and creatures that by all accounts shouldn’t exist, but they don’t acknowledge them. Not out loud. There’s a church on every corner. There are enough seats in the pews for every man, woman, and child, and that’s not counting the choir lofts. It leaves little doubt that people know something isn’t right about this town.

Why this town? A long time ago – no one knows how long exactly – a Crossroads settled in right around Dove Creek. This is a supernatural Crossroads I’m talking about, not a place where two roads intersect and people pause and stare at each other over their steering wheels at a four-way stop. Don’t think of a crossroads as a fixed, tangible thing. It’s fluid. It’s a place where the various planes of existence blur together ever so slightly, where the veil between them is at its thinnest.

Demons figured out a way to crawl out of the Plane of Perdition to torment the Mortal Plane. It’s been Old Testament around here ever since.