In two weeks, I'll be releasing the second book in my THE INSTINCT series, a scifi romance featuring barbarians and offworlders clashing with romantic results.
Here's a look at the first book, A CIVILIZED MATING. Enjoy!
Talzec growled, his gaze still on Skye. “Why are there
two offworlders in my camp right now?”
Lisa stepped back behind Maht.
Xav moved to position himself firmly between Skye and Talzec, which had Talzec looking even grimmer.
Suddenly,
Skye’s sense of self-preservation vanished as anger at the unfairness
and weirdness of the situation took hold. She darted around Xav before
he could stop her and walked right up to Talzec, stopping only a foot
away.
Jesus, she could feel that intense heat bleeding from his
body into hers as his energy sought her secrets. She tried to hold him
out while looking for cracks in his psychic shield. She needed to know
how he’d react to danger if she had any chance of surviving.
She
poked him in the belly and felt absolutely no give in his muscle.
Suppressing a totally inappropriate shiver of need, she stood firm.
“Look, buddy. It’s been a shitty week, and you’re not helping.” She
ignored the gasps of those around her and continued. “Your barbarian
stole my friend, sexed her up, impregnated her, and now claims her as
his mate. You can’t just steal people. She’s an offworlder. She has
rights.”
Talzec didn’t blink as he watched her, and those
fascinating golden orbs of his kept flashing to blue and back again.
Darts of red swirled, then vanished, while his tattoos moved faster.
Totally not human, Skye. Remember that.
“And what of you, little human?” he asked in a beastly growl.
“I’m
here to help her. She’s my best friend.” She put her hands on her hips,
trying to look bigger and failing miserably under his larger-than-life
presence.
“She defeated two Nasuhl warriors. And Maht,” Xav said,
startling her to hear him so close behind her. She hadn’t felt him at
all, so focused on Talzec.
Talzec frowned, which made him look even sexier—
meaner. “An offworld female defeated a Vyctore warrior?” He scoffed, his disdain evident.
She
saw red. Without thinking, she tapped into his energy and forced him to
step closer with a telekinetic tug. Then she hooked a foot around his
ankle and yanked.
A normal man would have fallen on his ass. Talzec stumbled and immediately caught his balance.
“I told you,” Xav said and
laughed at the giant tower of rage now looming over her.
Talzec
leaned down and opened his mouth to say something. Then he sniffed and
froze. His head whipped to Xav, who nodded. Straightening to his full
height, he ordered Xav to take her to his quarters.
“To my hut?” Xav sounded surprised. “Not the guest quarters?”
“Do what I told you to.” The quiet threat in Talzec’s tone said more than a shout could have.
Whispers
around them turned into loud discussions of shock and awe that an
offworlder had dared confront their leader. “Maht, you and Lisa come
with me.” He turned on his heel and walked away.
Xav hustled her
with him, so that she almost had to run to keep up. They entered a hut
on the far side of encampment, right next to a larger structure that
held a banner over it signifying the leader’s home. That much she knew
from her studies of the barbarians.
Great. She’d now be sequestered right next to a giant with a chip on his shoulder about offworlders.
Inside
the hut, she saw open windows facing the forest. A large pallet on the
ground made up of furs and skins took up most of the room, with a wooden
cabinet to one side and a table and chairs on the other. Large by her
standards, but small when occupied by a barbarian. The place was simple
but clean, and it smelled sweet, probably from the yellow blossoms
dangling on the vines right outside the windows.
She’d barely
stepped inside when Xav grabbed her and dragged her down under him on
the pallet, which was surprisingly comfortable.
“Hey, stop.” She
tried to slap at his hands, but the man moved faster than she could
follow. She had a hard time mimicking his movements because there was
little pattern to them. This, at least for him, seemed new.
To
her shock, he’d bared her breasts. Now naked from the waist up, she
couldn’t think about much more than keeping the rest of her clothes on.
“Xaveht!”
He shifted off her, and she was naked.
“Wh-what are you doing?” ended in a high-pitched squeak when he removed his loincloth and boots to reveal perfection...
