What's Going on with Tala Ridge Witch?
Here is the cover of the next book in the Tala Ridge Shifters series.
While working on what I thought was a chapter of Tala Ridge Witch, I realized it was a completely separate, but background, story about Magnus.
So, I am writing a short story about Magnus and Bess titled Dragon's Treasure. This story will explain why Magnus moves to the Tala Ridge Ranch for a while with his mate, Bess.
Here's a snip of Dragon's Treasure:
A frown marred Magnus' face. “Romeo
and Juliet?”
“It’s about star-crossed lovers.
The Montagues and the Capulets were enemies. Their kids met and fell in love.
It’s so sad. They both die.”
Magnus’ mouth dropped open. He
opened the book he held, found Romeo and Juliette in the table of contents, and
thumbed through the book until he found the first page of the story. After
reading two pages, he snickered. By page five, he was laughing out loud, his
robust voice filling the library.
“Shhh, Magnus! You can’t be so
loud in here.”
He laughed until he choked. With
each breath, first smoke, then flames flashed from his mouth, setting the book
in his hands and the library table beyond it on fire. Bess squealed and started
beating the flames with her denim jacket, but dragon fire was too hot to beat
out. Magnus was laughing so hard, he was no help. He couldn’t pull the flames
back. Bess inhaled sulfurous smoke and started coughing. Somewhere, a smoke alarm
started blaring.
Suddenly realizing he was
endangering his mate, he coughed once, then sucked in all the flames, leaving
the book a pile of ashes at his feet and the table badly burned. “Bess, are you
alright?”
Waving a hand in front of her
face to try to get a clean breath of air, she shook her head. “What are you
doing?”
Magnus sucked in the smoke and
held it until it soaked into his lungs. As a dragon, smoke and flames didn’t
damage him, but his mate was a bear shifter. She could not only be hurt, but
she could die if the smoke inhalation was severe. He caught her shoulders in
his hands and held her away from him, inspecting her face. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be okay. Give me a minute
for my lungs to heal.”
Four men wearing helmets, turnout jackets, and
pants rushed into the back of the library hauling a fire hose with them.
Finding no fire, they stopped and stared at the burned table. As one, they turned
and looked at Magnus.
He looked down at his scorched
clothes and swallowed hard. “Uh oh.”
Other News
Free Books
Today, May 21, 2022, through May 25, 2022, I am setting two of my short books,
Wolf's Heart and
Wolf's Sorrow, free on Amazon! If you don't have them, be sure to get them. If you do, please let your book friends know they can get them free for a limited time!
Audiobook: Wolf's Man
I have selected Brian A. Powell and Warittha S. Powell as narrators for Wolf's Man. Their audition was fantastic. I look forward to hearing their rendition of the rest of the book. My target date was a bit off for what will be required for the narrators to complete the work and for ACX to approve it and publish it. When I have a solid target date, I will let you know when the audiobook will be available.
After my hospital scare, I am feeling much better. The meds prescribed seem to be helping. I am home and working again. I hope you, too, are doing well.
Take care and stay safe,
