I am so excite that today
Shelves of Books has featured me on her blog!! She has a wonderful drawing going on over there to become a character in my book and a member of Beast's wolf pack so don't miss it! The link is posted under giveaways on
her site.
Here is your sneak peek at After Star's Prologue!! (It may change a tiny bit once my editor gets it:-) Enjoy!!! Add TBR list on
goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18493278-after-star?from_search=true
Prologue
Tayla
I stepped through the now empty house.
My shoes clapped on the bare floor where a beautiful Persian rug once lay. The
sound echoed as if pronouncing someone dead, like the hollow of a tomb. My gaze
hovered over the spot where the grand piano once stood. A ghost-like memory of
a haunting melody vibrated in my ears. My chest tightened, but I refused to
shed tears over the memories. I stepped towards the stairs made from polished driftwood.
My hand outstretched, until my fingertips curled around the dimpled wood of the
hand rail. I knew these stairs well, but everything was different—empty. The
knot in my throat tightened. This would be the last time I’d climb these stairs
in this lodge where my life was changed forever.
The thump of my shoes was deafening to
my wolf enhanced ears. I was no longer the girl that climbed these same stairs
last April. I wasn’t even human any more. The curse had snagged me with a
barbed hook, and I was lucky I had even survived the change. My foot thumped
against the next stair, and my mind wondered back to that night in the meadow
where I had made my Choice and the eight werewolves that had died because if
it. That was eight that we knew of. How many more died in other packs because
of me? Because of the Choice I made?
I crested the stairs and pushed my squeaky
bedroom door open. Moonlight trickled in through the drapeless windows, forming
square patterns on the floor. I walked into the light as if it was the
comforting blanket I craved. The silver shafts melted on my skin like a lover’s
embrace. I still didn’t understand the reason why werewolves felt so connected
to the moon, but it was like we were a part of it somehow and it a part of us.
I had my theories. The simplest was that the moon was a celestial body just
like Star and the power she had used to curse man to werewolf form. But we
still knew so little about all the changes Star instigated in us.
I sighed and leaned my forehead against
the cool glass window. The meadow plants were yellow, dry from the heat wave
that consumed all of the month of June and was continuing into July. Gone were
the luscious green plants of May. The month the curse had been broken and I was
forever turned werewolf.
Yet, I loved this place. My eyes roamed over
the meadow where I had first meet my mom in wolf form, where Beast had cut and
infected my finger with wolf venom, where I wrestled Beast and ended up a muddy
mess, and if I could see through walls, I would turn to look at the mountain
Beast and I had climbed to stargaze. I rubbed my hand over my aching heart. This
lodge had once been a symbol of my bondage to the curse, but now it was my
home—a home I had to leave. Sadness swelled in me. I loved these mountains,
running in wolf form through the tress. I was leaving so much behind. It just
wasn’t fair.
I tried to be understanding, to see the
good in this move, but honestly I was angry. Even with Kyle miles away in a
mental institution, his influence still affected my life. His parents refused
to let the wolf attack go, even if it had been Kyle’s stupid fault in the first
place. They kept pressuring the authorities to hunt down the wolf pack and execute
them for their crime. I snorted and my fists clutched at my side. As if any of
this was our fault!
Arms circled around my waist from
behind, and I stiffened. My shock lasted only a moment. I knew those strong
arms and the woodland scent that clung to them.
“Beast,” I sighed. His real name was
Jameson, or James for short, but in private I still called him Beast. My body
melded to his in complete surrender. His arms tightened to take my weight and
his warm breath caressed my ear.
“Tayla, you are letting your emotions
blind your senses,” he said, concern evident in this voice.
“You don’t know that.” I couldn’t help
but defend myself. I didn’t want him to think I was weak. “I just let you think
you surprised me.”
The reflection in the glass told me he
was amused. “Love, you can’t lie to a wolf. Your body betrayed the truth.”
I scowled. “The truth is overrated.”
“Perhaps, but I appreciated the opportunity
nonetheless. It isn’t very often I can sneak up on you.” His lips skimmed my
neck before nibbling on my ear, heating my skin. Need rose up in me, need for
him to take the pain and frustration away. I clung to the man that held my
heart captive. I turned ever so slightly, tilting my head back just enough to
look into his caramel eyes. My hand brushed over his lips like a feathers
touch, asking. A deep rumble resonated from his chest, and his lips found mine.
They moved with a hunger that I matched. My hands tangled in his dark brown
locks. My wolf sang through my blood with a fever to take more, a sign I needed
to stop.
With great effort, I loosened my grip on
James and took a heart wrenching step back. He let me retreat with a frustrated
sigh. He respected mine and my mothers’ wishes for me to be eighteen and
married before we went any further, but it wasn’t easy upholding my promise
when I yearned for him like he was the missing piece to my soul. He was the one
constant in my ever- changing life, and without him, I’d surely shrivel up and
die.
I couldn’t look up at him, knowing I’d
see his eyes streaked with the most breathtaking ethereal silver. It glowed
with a light of its own, as if his Alpha powers enhanced the color. I could
hear his breathing calm, along with my own. I turned to look out the window
again, resisting the urge to peek at his alluring eyes.
“I am really going to miss this place.”
I folded my arms around my torso, trying to keep myself together.
James stepped toward me and stroked my
arms. “Tayla, we can come back. I’ll never sell this house. There’s just too
much heat from the law right now. If we had stayed it would’ve only been a matter
of time before they snag one of us. And the pack is tired of all the restricted
runs.”
“I know.” I laced my fingers through his
and rested them on my bicep. “But it doesn’t make it easier.”
“Give it time. It’ll grow on you. Idaho has
loads of open land to run unnoticed.” He placed a kiss atop my head. “It’s a
perfect place to start our lives together. I’ll even let you have a say in the
house design.”
“You might regret that promise,” I
teased, my lips curving into a small smile.
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