A Sneak Peek

I will be meeting with my writer-in-residence this week at the local library and if she likes my short story, I’ll be putting it up on Amazon Kindle Select in what I hope will be a few days.

I’d give you a sneak peek at that but it’s short so I think you might prefer a look inside Blue Crescent…Black Moon. I’m still proofing BC as I call it, but it will be up there soon. Welcome to the world of The Sullivan Boys…

Sammie headed for one of the three libraries Amelia had shown her. She found a book that contained Ryan’s family history with the first entry dated as 1543…

Sian Sullivan was a young man, working long days in the fields in an effort to support his pregnant wife. With winter approaching, he needed to get his crop in. Times were hard enough in Ireland now without letting a crop die in the field. It grew late and the coming storm helped to darken the sky even more quickly. He suddenly realized that he needed to hurry if he was going to get home safely. Sian started toward the farmhouse. He could dimly see the light in the window, far in the distance, when he heard the howl.

“Easy Sian,” he said to himself. “It’s just old McGregor’s hound. Nothin’ to be scared of.” Then he heard it again. Closer this time. He swallowed hard but there was little saliva to swallow. His pace quickened. The light from his kitchen window grew closer. But then he heard a twig snap. He froze for just an instant and then began walking even more quickly. Keep it together, bucko. Just a noise. Not far to go now.

If only he’d gone home when Siobhan had called him for dinner. But no, he had to keep working. He could have been home safe by now. He noticed how his hands trembled. Then another howl. So close this time. He heard his wife call him.

“Sian! Come in this instant. It’s not safe out there.”

Snap! Snap! Then the thudding of padded feet and suddenly he was knocked to the ground. He screamed and tried to get up, but the weight on his back held him down. He turned just enough to see golden eyes inches from him. A large jaw, the drool splattering on his face from giant canines. He screamed again, but it was cut off as the wolf sunk it’s teeth into his throat. The only thing that saved his life was his wife running out onto the porch and firing the rifle into the air. The wolf growled, but backed off. Siobhan ran to Sian and took him into the house. She bandaged him and cared for him, but on the full moon, he shifted. Unwilling to be parted from the love of her life, Siobhan begged him to turn her.

****

With the lunch rush over, Sammie went into the kitchen of her bakery. She put a tray of croissants into the oven as the bell over the front door rang, followed by a gust of hot air. She sniffed the air, drawn to an unfamiliar scent: cedar, rain, and something warm, like sunbaked earth.

Wolf, her instincts whispered.

Mate, Summer yelped, awakening in Sammie’s mind.

As she dusted flour off her hands, a deep male voice called out.

“Sammie, where are you?”

Talk about impatient, she thought, but aloud she said, “I’m coming. Hold your horses.”

Before she could finish, a tall, striking man in a business suit raced toward her. “You can’t come back here! Oh, you’re back?” He cut short Sammie’s protest by grabbing her hand.

“Come on,” he barked. He pulled her through the kitchen, out the door, and down the alley.

She tried to dig her heels in and slow him down, but to no effect. “Are you crazy? What are you doing? Let me go!” she yelled, hitting his arm with her free hand.

With annoyance clear on his face, he turned to her. Her breath caught as he hoisted her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing. “Put me down!” she screamed, kicking her legs and pounding her fists on his back.

“Be quiet!”

“No, I won’t be quiet!” Just as she drew a deep breath to scream, she felt a firm slap on her backside, not playful, not gentle. Just a desperate attempt to silence her. She yelped.

“I said be quiet!” he ordered.

“How dare you?” She was about to reach down to swat his backside in return when his run slowed and she heard a car door open. He lowered her and shoved her into the back seat of a large SUV. Another man grabbed her from inside, as a second pulled her legs in. The first slammed the door shut and jumped into the front seat.

“Go!” he ordered before his door was completely shut.

Tires squealed as Sammie sat up, swatted and kicked at the two men who book-ended her. “Get your hands off me! Who are you people? Are you…” She paused. This was so unreal. She recognized him, yet realized she didn’t actually know his name or anything about him.

“I’m someone who doesn’t want to see you dead.”

“Dead? And your plan is to go full caveman? I’m not going to die…” Instinct made her duck as the car rocked slightly from the explosion. Eyes wide, she stared out the back window as smoke poured into the sky with orange flames licking at its base. Moments later, sirens could be heard.

She looked to the front as she pointed to the back. “Is, is that my bakery?” she asked in a soft voice.

The man–she still didn’t know his name–turned his eyes away from the smoke and looked at her. “I’m afraid so,” he said gently.