Cover art by BRose Designz; Promo Image by Silver Dagger Blog Tours
We’re officially less than 1 month away from the release of Book 5 in the Of Cinder and Bone series. To celebrate, I’ve created a Goodreads giveaway. Enter to win a free paperback copy of the book from now until April 22nd, 2022. Don’t miss your chance to own a copy!
In a modern day world teeming with marauding dragons, there is only one solution: The Wild Hunt.
Dr. Rhett “Jack” Jackson and Dr. Kamala Anjali have worked for the Knight Division capturing wild dragons for years, but now the government has decided to hold a tournament called The Wild Hunt. Jack, Kamala, and their teammates Calloway, Libby, Agent Shannon, and Yousef, must capture five of the deadliest dragons alive before the opposing team or they lose their jobs at the Knight Division. Jack and Kamala are also chasing after Kazuma Okegawa, the yakuza lieutenant who has been trying to kill them. Okegawa is planning a hostile takeover of the worldwide illegal dragon trade and if he succeeds, everyone will be in grave danger. Between the Wild Hunt and Okegawa’s plot to destroy everything in his path, Jack and Kamala have to rely on each other to stay alive in the middle of an inferno.
Of Claws and Inferno is the fifth book in the Of Cinder and Bone science fiction/contemporary fantasy series. It follows Of Cinder and Bone, Of Blood and Ashes, Of Dawn and Embers, and Of Fury and Fangs.
We’re coming up on the release date for the fifth novel in the Of Cinder and Bone series, Of Claws and Inferno, so here’s your second excerpt! Spoiler alert, as always. Read the first excerpt here if you’re not caught up yet.
CHAPTER FIVE
ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES
The abyss gazed back.
That was what Faye Worthington, MIT engineer and designer of the Knight Division’s dragon tracker technology, had learned over the last year.
“Hold your arms out, please.”
Faye spread her arms and legs. The guard swept her from head to toe with the metal detector, then gave her a pat down. She smirked when he returned in front of her, fluffing out her natural blonde locks around her shoulders. “Wow. You didn’t cop a feel. I’m proud of you.”
The guard gave her a stony look. She smiled wider, batting her lashes. “You have ten minutes, Ms. Worthington. Don’t make him late for his appointment.”
“Of course. Then I’d be late, since we have the same appointment.”
She heard a loud buzzing noise and then the iron gates unlocked in front of her. The guard pulled them open and she walked through them, her stride easy, relaxed, despite how she actually felt inside. Her stomach wouldn’t stop doing jumping jacks. She hadn’t been able to eat anything as a result. It annoyed her to no end.
Another guard opened a second door for her into the visitation area of the Cedar Junction Massachusetts Correctional Institution. Her heart thumped clumsily against her sternum as she walked through the maze of tables to the one designated for her and the room’s only occupant.
The man sitting at the table was of indeterminant age. His features were plain and ordinary as could be but for his dark brown eyes. Somehow or other, the fluorescent lights didn’t seem to reach them, as if they were perpetually in darkness, like twin black holes set in his brow. His head was completely shaved bald and beneath his dark red jumpsuit was a compact, muscular frame.
“Well, well, well,” Winston, hitman extraordinaire, drawled, his mouth stretching into a pointy grin. “Look what the cat dragged in.”
Faye snorted as she pulled the chair out from the table and sat down. “Excuse you. I’m wearing Prada. Nobody dragged me anywhere.”
Winston chuckled as he glanced over her exquisite red dress. “Acknowledged. I’m flattered you dressed up for me.”
Faye rolled her eyes. “You wish, bastard. Do you know how many members of the press are showing up to this farce? I have to keep up appearances. Besides, pretty sure having a nice rack will positively influence the media to give me sympathy points.”
“You’re being downright tactical about it, huh?”
Faye shrugged. “Can’t hurt my chances.”
“Chances, heh. Even without me talking, it’s pretty open and shut. I ain’t a rich politician. I was never getting off for this shit, even if I had gone with a fancy lawyer.”
Faye crossed her arms, her blue-grey eyes fixed intently on him. “And why didn’t you? We both know you’ve got the means to make it happen.”
Winston rubbed his scalp, his handcuffs jingling. “Why bother wasting the money?”
“Aren’t you up against the death penalty because you wouldn’t talk?”
Winston shrugged. “Lived a good life. If they wanna kill me, they can go ahead. Wouldn’t do what I do for a living if I were afraid of death.”
Faye’s eyes narrowed. “You said do, not did.”
Winston smiled. “Did I?”
“Uh-huh. You’re up to something.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You offered to meet with me before we go to the sentencing. Why?”
Winston touched his chest, pretending to be offended. “Blondie, I’m hurt. Are you saying you didn’t want to say goodbye? After all, this concludes our little cat-and-mouse game. They’re not going to let us have another private chat after this point. Especially not if I get the needle.”
“Let’s just say I’m skeptical that you don’t have some scheme to break yourself out of prison waiting in the wings.”
The grin returned. “You really think I’m capable of it?”
“I am more than sure you are. As much as I’d like to believe that I won our game, I’m not convinced. You let me win. I take issue with that.” The pretend amiability left her expression. Steel replaced it. “I’m not a child, Winston. You said you wanted a worthy opponent. You said you wouldn’t mind a beautiful Valkyrie like me putting you in the ground. So tell me what’s really going on here? Why didn’t you try to break out of prison to come after me?”
Winston clucked his tongue. “Too easy. That mystery you’ll have to figure out on your own. You’re smart. I’m sure you’ll get there soon enough.”
Faye shot him a sour look. “So then you brought me in here just to screw with me?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what? Do you expect me to humanize you and ask twenty questions like the Iceman Chronicles or something?”
Winston flashed his teeth. “You know goddamn well I ain’t human, blondie.”
“Ain’t that the truth?” She sat back in her seat and scrutinized him. “Fine. If I’m not here for you, then I have to figure I’m here for Stella.”
“Winner, winner, chicken dinner.”
“What’s there to say? She’s in hot water, same as you, only worse because she shot Deputy Burns in the leg in front of the whole precinct. A lot of cops got hurt during that raid on her safe house, too. She did opt for the fancy lawyer, but we both know she’s not getting out of this either.”
“You’re assuming I brought you here to tell you something and not the other way around.”
Faye blinked in surprise. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I want to know if she’s sent anyone after you since she’s been in slam.”
“Oh. That. Yeah, she has.”
Winston scowled. “Tell me.”
Faye ran a hand through her hair. “Let’s see. There was the suspicious package delivered to our front door. We had to evacuate and call in the bomb squad, but it turned out to be a false alarm. All that was inside the box was an hourglass and a note that said, ‘You’re living on borrowed time.’ Technically speaking, it could’ve come from one of Jack and Kam’s enemies, but I wouldn’t put it past Stella. A week after that, I was walking to my car and Jack called me. Apparently, that shorted out the nice little car bomb someone attached to my Honda Civic and set it off early.”
“Jesus Christ,” Winston swore.
“Yeah, she’s a real piece of work, your ex-wife. When the bomb didn’t work, she sent McKenzie.”
Winston sucked his teeth. “Oh, that punk.”
“Yeah. He was hiding behind a dumpster when I got out of my evening hair appointment. Tried to strangle me in the parking garage.”
He snorted. “How did that go for him?”
Faye smiled. “Three broken ribs and a gunshot to the right foot.”
Winston whistled. “Atta girl.”
“And then there was Silicon Valley.”
Winston frowned. “What happened in Silicon Valley?”
“Sniper. I was leaving a conference center after a lecture about the dragon trackers. I sneezed right when he pulled the trigger, which made him miss. The bullet hit the trunk of the Uber I’d been about to get in. Total dumb luck. I took cover before he could try for another shot.”
“Did they catch the culprit?”
Faye shook her head. “Unfortunately, they think he was perched on top of a hotel. Once he blew the shot, he probably just went back inside to his room and waited it out. No one remembers seeing anything and the hotel’s old school, no cameras on the rooftop or in the hallways.”
“And when did that happen?”
“Six months ago.”
“Nothing since?”
“No.”
Winston’s frown deepened. “Don’t you think that’s suspicious?”
“I don’t think anything. I know it is. Stella’s sentencing is this Friday. Dollars to donuts, that’s when she makes her final play.”
“And just what are you going to do about it?”
“I’ve survived her twice already. Third time’s the charm. I’ve been in martial arts and sharpshooting classes since last April and I’m licensed to carry. If she’s stupid enough to try anything, then she won’t have to worry about a needle.”
Winston nodded. “Good girl. Death penalty’s up in the air for me, but the stuff they managed to unearth about Stella almost guarantees the death penalty, especially with her accepting the contract on Dr. Anjali while she was pregnant. Juries and judges aren’t supposed to be influenced by things like that, but in truth, they are. You try to kill a kid or a baby under their watch and you’re done. That’s why I never went after anyone younger than twenty-one, no matter what the price tag was. Stella doesn’t have my scruples. Predators are most dangerous when they’re cornered. This is the endgame, blondie. You’d better be ready.”
“I will be,” Faye whispered. “And this time, you won’t be there to stop me from pulling the trigger.”
“I’ve had time to think about that. And I realized this whole time you’ve been toeing that line between vengeance and justice. To some degree, I’d hoped you’d be able to keep your hands clean. Protect without becoming a killer, like me. But life doesn’t work that way. That first kill changes you.”
Faye tilted her head slightly. “When was your first kill?”
Winston met her stare for a long while, then exhaled. “I was nineteen, fighting a war I probably shouldn’t have been fighting, but it’s not like I knew that at the time.”
“Mm. Did you regret it?”
Winston grinned, but she could see the dark edges to it. “What? You think I come from some tragic backstory, blondie? That I’m a broken little boy who kills to fill that hole inside of my chest where my soul used to be? Nah. This ain’t one of them stories. I can’t dance or roll my tongue, but I can kill people pretty good. It’s the only thing I’ve ever been good at and when I lay my head down at night, I sleep like a baby. I don’t see their faces. Never have. Probably never will.”
A chill spilled through her. The matter-of-fact nature of his confession scared her more than almost anything else she’d ever heard him say.
Faye licked her lips. “They told me no one’s been able to ID you. You don’t have any family? Friends?”
“Do you think I’d tell you even if I did?”
Faye snorted. “Yeah, guess that was a stupid question. I’m going out on a limb here and guessing you left home to join the military, then faked your own death, changed your face and name, and came back a new man. That’s why no one’s recognized you even after your trial went viral. The last time they’d have seen you, you’d have been a teenager. Doesn’t matter if your family’s still alive; they’d have no way of recognizing you. The tip line turned up bupkiss, given your reputation. No one in your assassin’s guild is gonna give you up either since they know it’s a death sentence if they do. If you’ve taken any government contracts, they’re not gonna talk either to avoid implicating themselves. Given the circles you’ve traveled in, why are you still alive, Winston?”
“‘Cause I didn’t talk and I didn’t cut a deal,” he grunted. “If I’d have done either, oh, yeah, trust me, I’d be worm food right now. Great thing about having a reputation for going on a few decades is that if other killers and their handlers know you don’t talk, then there’s no need to waste resources trying to shut you up.”
Faye narrowed her eyes. “So you’re telling me no one’s tried anything with you since you’ve been caught?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Let me guess: the mob guys in Boston that you pissed off when you killed that driver?”
“Bingo. But their guys are sloppy. Too used to using brute force. They’re pretty easy to stop, comparatively speaking.”
Faye jumped slightly as she heard the guard knock on the door to give her a warning that her visitation had ended.
Winston smiled. “Time’s up, blondie. Gotta say, it was fun while it lasted. You’re something else. Watch your back.”
Faye smiled in return. “You’re a monster. You deserve to rot in a jail cell and I’m glad that I’m the one who put you in it. Just like I said I would.”
“Yeah,” he said, his eyes glittering with strange and troublesome things. “Just like you said you would.”
Faye stood and pushed in her seat before dusting off her gorgeous dress. “Goodbye, Frank.”
“Goodbye, blondie.”
She left without looking back.
–
Find out the conclusion to the cat and mouse game between Faye, Winston, and Stella in Of Claws and Inferno.
It’s time for our first look at the fifth book in the Of Cinder and Bone series, Of Claws and Inferno! Below the synopsis is a sneak peek at the action. Enjoy!
In a modern day world teeming with marauding dragons, there is only one solution: The Wild Hunt.
Dr. Rhett “Jack” Jackson and Dr. Kamala Anjali have worked for the Knight Division capturing wild dragons for years, but now the government has decided to hold a tournament called The Wild Hunt. Jack, Kamala, and their teammates Calloway, Libby, Agent Shannon, and Yousef, must capture five of the deadliest dragons alive before the opposing team or they lose their jobs at the Knight Division. Jack and Kamala are also chasing after Kazuma Okegawa, the yakuza lieutenant who has been trying to kill them. Okegawa is planning a hostile takeover of the worldwide illegal dragon trade and if he succeeds, everyone will be in grave danger. Between the Wild Hunt and Okegawa’s plot to destroy everything in his path, Jack and Kamala have to rely on each other to stay alive in the middle of an inferno.
Of Claws and Inferno is the fifth book in the Of Cinder and Bone science fiction/contemporary fantasy series. It follows Of Cinder and Bone, Of Blood and Ashes, Of Dawn and Embers, and Of Fury and Fangs.
–
CHAPTER ONE
THE MAD HARVESTERS
The abyss gazed back.
That was what Dr. Rhett “Jack” Jackson, MIT scientist and Knight Division dragon hunter, had learned over the last year.
Jack wiped the sweat from his brow, brushing his dark brown hair away from his sticky forehead, and then concentrated on the high-powered binoculars in his hands again. He winced as a bit of reflection off the water seared his retinas for a brief moment and then did another careful sweep of the area before him. Nothing yet.
He sat back on his haunches and popped open his canteen of cold water, the ice cubes inside it rattling around as he took a sip. He set it down beside him and then checked the digital screen built into the forearm of his gunmetal grey armored suit. The screen showed him numerous dots indicating the massive flock of flamingos several yards away, feasting on the spirulina algae that made Lake Natron its unique reddish-orange color. He adjusted the dragon tracker to expand the area and studied it. Still no sign of their mystery guest who had been gobbling up flamingo eggs and leaving behind torn up bird corpses as of the last two weeks. However, the lake’s natives had been kind enough to give him detailed information about the sightings of the unidentified dragon interfering with the local ecosystem. They’d said it usually fed around this time, so he just needed to be patient. Which, unfortunately, wasn’t exactly Jack’s strong suit, but the more retrieval missions he went on, the more he learned to be patient.
Besides, he had a two-year-old daughter back home. Parenting a two-year-old meant he’d had to acquire oodles of patience lately.
“How’s it coming, boss?” a male voice said through the link in his ear.
“Somehow both boring and weird?” Jack said. “I’m not sure how that works.”
“Life’s funnier that way,” Yousef al-Badri mused. “I take it our party guest is being shy, then?”
“I can’t imagine he or she can smell me, not with what’s going on in the lake. Maybe they just want me to get a tan.”
“You are pretty pale sometimes, cowboy.”
Jack pretended to scowl and deepened his voice into indignation. “That’s racist.”
Yousef laughed. “My bad. I need work sensitivity training.”
“Clearly.” Jack’s forearm beeped. “Oh, wait a sec. We might be on.”
He picked up the binoculars again and focused on the muddy bank roughly forty yards out where he spotted several nests clustered together. A few of the pink birds had nestled on top to nap in the afternoon sun, but some had been left bare as the flamingoes had gone into the caustic waters to feed. The beeping had indicated that the dragon tracker picked up on a reading consistent with a dragon. He swept the area twice and didn’t confirm a visual, frowning as he glanced down at the screen again to see a blob quite a bit larger than the dots that represented the flamingos. “I don’t know if I should have Faye take a look at my equipment or if I’m going blind. No visual, but I’m getting a reading on the tracker.”
“You sure the sun hasn’t cooked your brains?”
“Not yet, I don’t think.” Jack rubbed his sinuses, then his eyes, and checked the area again.
And this time, he spotted something unusual.
Lake Natron resided in northern Tanzania near an active volcano known as Ol Doinyo Lengai. It was part of the reason the lake had such unique characteristics. The mud had a curious dark grey color over where he’d been set up for observation, and he noted that there was now an odd-looking mound of it to the right of one of the flamingo’s nests. He zoomed in further and further, peering at it, and then realized what he was actually seeing.
The dragon had crouched down beside the nests and blended into the mud. From snout to tail, Jack calculated it had to be twelve to fourteen feet long. Its wings were folded against its back, which had small spines running down the length to a spiky tail. It had a fin with three prongs along the base of the skull and webbed feet tipped with sharp black talons. He estimated the dragon was about the size of a large hyena. It peered up at its prey with beady red eyes, its black forked tongue darting out every few seconds. Its shoulder muscles bunched and its hind legs tensed.
Then it pounced.
The dark grey dragon leapt onto one of flamingoes atop its nest and seized it by the throat. The bird squawked in distress and immediately beat its wings, trying to free itself. The others around them took to the skies in panic. The dragon slammed it into the mud and closed its jaws around the animal’s throat, blood spilling everywhere. The flamingo yelped out its last breaths and then finally stilled. The dragon dropped the limp carcass and sniffed the eggs before beginning to swallow them whole one at a time.
“Holy shit,” Jack muttered.
“Have we got a visual?”
“Oh, yeah. Based on the size, the natives and the conservationists were right to be concerned. It can probably wipe out a serious number of wildlife in a short amount of time based on what I’m seeing. There’s only a handful of fauna that can survive in these conditions and it could make mincemeat out of them.”
“Alright, so what’s the plan?”
“They told me it’s very agile, which is why their attempts to capture it haven’t worked. I’m going to see if it responds to any of the usual stimuli. So far, they said it doesn’t appear to be aggressive.”
“Copy that. Be careful, cowboy.”
“Ten-four.” Jack glanced down at his utility belt and opened the pocket on his left side, withdrawing a thin silver whistle. He put it to his lips and blew for several seconds. Much like a dog whistle, Jack couldn’t hear anything.
But the dragon’s head creaked around and those beady red eyes locked onto him.
Jack lowered the whistle and licked his dry lips. “If I were in a movie, this would be the part where I said, ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this.’”
The dragon roared, its grey wings extending out from its body, and then flew straight at him.
“Shit!” Jack leapt to his feet and slid down the muddy hill in a hurry. At the bottom of the hill, there was a miniature camp with his supplies and weaponry awaiting him. He scooped up the net launcher—an over-the-shoulder device similar in size and build to a grenade launcher—and then his helmet. He slapped on the helmet and hailed Yousef as he sprinted towards the shallow outskirts of the lake. “We’re on, Yousef! Fire up the engines!”
“I’m on it, cowboy.”
As he ran, a shadow swept across his 6’2’’ form. Jack ducked and the dragon flew over his head, missing with its sharp talons by mere inches. The dragon wheeled around in mid-air and swiped at him again. Jack threw himself into a roll. The dragon missed a second time. Jack knelt in the shallow, muddy water and peered through the net launcher’s scope, sighting down the barrel for a shot. “Non-aggressive, my ass.”
He fired. The diamond wire net shot from out of the barrel end and opened as it flew through the air towards the dragon. It flapped its wings once, hard, and the net missed it by a few inches. Jack cursed under his breath and slid it around on its strap to his back as the dragon dove at him again. He waited until the last possible second, then rolled to one side. The dragon hadn’t compensated for flying that low and lost its trajectory. It splashed into the shallow, salty waters and rolled a few feet away, hissing in annoyance. The reptile struggled onto its feet and faced him again, shaking the water off its scales as it crept forward.
“Alright, so we know you don’t like the whistle,” Jack said, keeping an eye on the agitated dragon as he hit a few things on his armor’s display. “Let’s see if maybe we need to change the tunes.”
Once more, the dragon’s muscular shoulders bunched in attack position and its hind legs tensed to propel it forward at him.
Until Kitty Kallen’s soothing voice filled the air.
The dragon’s hissing lowered in volume. Instead of pouncing, it remained in the same spot of shallow water, now focused on the sound of “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” playing from the speakers in Jack’s forearm. To the average person, it wouldn’t sound like anything more than a great song from 1945. However, to a dragon, there were subtle notes that the Knight Division had picked up that seemed to sooth the powerful creatures into a far less aggressive state.
“That’s it,” Jack said. “I’m not here to hurt you. Take it easy.”
As the song continued playing, Jack eased closer to the creature. It eyed him, snorting uneasily, but remained standing still. He cautiously held out a hand and the dragon barked at him, displeased. He rethought the gesture and instead checked the water where they stood, which was up to his ankles. He spotted one of the only fish who could survive in Lake Natron’s waters—the alkaline tilapia—and managed to snatch one up. He held the wriggling fish out to the dragon. It continued watching him warily, but snapped up the fish when he offered it. The dragon swallowed the fish whole.
Jack held his hands out in supplication. “We good?”
The dragon continued eying him.
Then it tackled him right off his feet.
Jack landed in the shallow water with a pained groan, winded, his shoulders pinned by the dragon’s legs. “I guess that was a stupid question, wasn’t it?”
He unholstered his tranquilizer gun, but to his surprise, the dragon didn’t try to bite or scratch him. Rather, it peered down at his helmet as if simply curious, the tip of its tongue lightly touching the visor. Jack decided to follow his instincts and kept perfectly still beneath the reptile. After a moment, the dragon folded its wings, indicating a change in mood from aggression to docility.
“Talk to me, Jack,” Yousef said.
“I think we’ve reached an understanding,” he said, though strained. “The frequency seems to be working. I’m up close and personal. Looks to be a female, so we need to sweep the area for a nest in case she’s already migrated and laid hers.”
“Got it. Do you have a clear shot?”
“Not sure. Scales appear to be incredibly thick. I’ll try to find a soft spot.”
“Alright, I’m inbound for pick up. Be careful.”
Jack cleared his throat. “No offense, madam, but I’ve got two girlfriends who are very jealous women. You wanna get off the goods now?”
He reached up to push the dragon off of him, but it hissed and shoved down on his shoulders again to keep him flat. The salt deposits in the water dug into his back painfully. He could hear the distant sound of the rotors on Yousef’s helicopter as it approached. In general, dragons didn’t like any flying vehicles. He didn’t want to scare her off, so he’d have to gamble on what he knew about dragons around her size.
Jack drew his penlight from another pocket of the utility belt and set it to strobe. The dragon focused on the flashing light and sniffed at it curiously. Carefully, Jack angled the barrel of the tranq gun at the creature’s belly, which had white scales from its chest to its hindquarters. He could see spaces in between the scales where its flesh would be and took a deep breath, praying before he pulled the trigger.
The dart hit a spot below the dragon’s sternum. The prick of the needle made the dragon roar and snap at his head. Jack dodged and brought up his right forearm to block the next bite. The dragon worried him like a dog with a bone, trying to chomp through the armor, and he fired a second dart near the first one. The dragon still didn’t drop, so he shoved a foot against its midsection to get from under it. He struggled onto his knees as the dragon’s jaws closed even harder over his arm, trying to keep him from getting loose.
“Okay, now you’re just being a bitch!” Jack rolled and then jerked his arm hard in the opposite direction. His arm yanked free and he reached for the net launcher on his back as the dragon charged him again. He fired just as it reached an arm’s length away. Too late, the dragon tried to launch itself into the air. The net wrapped around its upper torso and pinned its wings to its sides. It flopped into the shallow water with a yelp a scant foot from Jack’s legs.
He heaved a sigh of relief. “Jesus Christ. No wonder you’ve been giving the locals so much trouble, girlie.”
Jack withdrew a nylon band from his belt and carefully straddled the wriggling creature, slipping it onto her jaws once he’d pinned them closed. He tied her hind legs with a tether and then carefully hauled her back onto the muddy banks of the lake just as he spotted Yousef’s helicopter on its way over. As it approached, the dragon’s movements slowed. He checked her pulse and it was steady. Depending on the dragon, the sedatives in the tranquilizer gun didn’t always take effect immediately. He’d have to consult with Libby about the animal’s initial resistance.
Yousef landed the helicopter in the shallow end of the lake. He was a tall, broad-shouldered guy with a bright smile and a goatee, dressed in a Kevlar vest, black t-shirt, and cargo shorts. He helped Jack load the unconscious dragon inside. A cage with shatterproof glass, air holes, and food and water awaited her. They shut her safely inside and then swept the area for signs of a nest. After half an hour’s search, they found her nest away from where the flamingos collected, closer towards the volcano. Like many reptiles, it had buried the eggs most of the way. They were oval-shaped and had a faint greyish tone, about the size of an alligator’s eggs. Jack and Yousef collected them all and put them safely inside a basket to be transported back with their mother.
Once they finished loading them up, they called in the capture to the Knight Division headquarters.
“We’ve got our troublemaker in custody,” Jack said as he snapped photos on his cell phone. “I’m sending over proof as we speak. We’ve got twenty eggs we’re bringing with her too.”
“Good work,” Agent John Shannon’s gravelly voice said without much inflection.
“What, did I catch you before coffee, old man?” Jack snorted. “You sound like that stick up your ass got even bigger while I’ve been gone.”
“You don’t know the half of it, smartass,” Shannon said.
Jack frowned. “Wait, I was just trying to annoy you. What’s up?”
Shannon sighed. “You’ll find out when you get here. I need you back on the first thing smoking. We’ve got trouble.”
Jack and Yousef met eyes, both men worried. “How bad?”
“I’m not a fan of irony, fellas, but the Knight Division might be going extinct.”
TO BE CONTINUED
Excited yet? Of Claws and Inferno is available for pre-order for a special release price of only .99 cents. The price WILL increase to $4.99 on April 23rd, so grab a copy now. Don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads To Be Read shelves as well! You can also enter to win a $10 Amazon gift card.
In a modern day world teeming with marauding dragons, there is only one solution: The Wild Hunt.
Dr. Rhett “Jack” Jackson and Dr. Kamala Anjali have worked for the Knight Division capturing wild dragons for years, but now the government has decided to hold a tournament called The Wild Hunt. Jack, Kamala, and their teammates Calloway, Libby, Agent Shannon, and Yousef, must capture five of the deadliest dragons alive before the opposing team or they lose their jobs at the Knight Division. Jack and Kamala are also chasing after Kazuma Okegawa, the yakuza lieutenant who has been trying to kill them. Okegawa is planning a hostile takeover of the worldwide illegal dragon trade and if he succeeds, everyone will be in grave danger. Between the Wild Hunt and Okegawa’s plot to destroy everything in his path, Jack and Kamala have to rely on each other to stay alive in the middle of an inferno.
Of Claws and Inferno is the fifth book in the Of Cinder and Bone science fiction/contemporary fantasy series. It follows Of Cinder and Bone, Of Blood and Ashes, Of Dawn and Embers, and Of Fury and Fangs.
After surviving a vicious attack from a dragon in his own home, Jack and Dr. Kamala Anjali investigate who sent the dragon to kill him. Unfortunately, their list of enemies is long. Plenty of people have an axe to grind with the two scientists responsible for the rebirth of the previously extinct dragons that are now flourishing on every continent of the planet. Jack and Kamala rejoin with their team at the Knight Division to hunt down the culprit and put an end to their revenge scheme once and for all.
But will it cost them everything?
Of Fury and Fangs is the fourth novel in the Amazon and USA Today bestselling Of Cinder and Bone series, following Of Cinder and Bone, Of Blood and Ashes, and Of Dawn and Embers.
You’ve been patient and the time has finally come. Here’s the next book in the Of Cinder and Bone series.
Cover Art by BRose Designz
Someone wants Dr. Rhett “Jack” Jackson dead.
After surviving a vicious attack from a dragon in his own home, Jack and Dr. Kamala Anjali investigate who sent the dragon to kill him. Unfortunately, their list of enemies is long. Plenty of people have an axe to grind with the two scientists responsible for the rebirth of the previously extinct dragons that are now flourishing on every continent of the planet. Jack and Kamala rejoin with their team at the Knight Division to hunt down the culprit and put an end to their revenge scheme once and for all.
But will it cost them everything?
Of Fury and Fangs is the fourth novel in the Amazon and USA Today bestselling Of Cinder and Bone series, following Of Cinder and Bone, Of Blood and Ashes, and Of Dawn and Embers.
Of Fury and Fangs hits bookshelves October 24th, 2020. Add it to your Goodreads shelf here and make sure you’ve already liked my Facebook page to stay updated for when I post excerpts. The pre-order will be available within the next couple months, so stay tuned and be sure to spread the word!
You know the drill, people. It’s out. Go read it. Spread the word.
Plus, enter to win a $20 Amazon giftcard as we kick off day one of the blog tour. Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered! Remember, today is the last day to purchase it for .99 cents. It will go up to $4.99 tomorrow.
We’re just one week from the release of my all-new novel in the Of Cinder and Bone series! So let’s hit you with one final excerpt before it arrives to your digital bookshelves.
Please be warned: this is a minor spoiler for new charactersand there is a bit of violenceand language.
“Closing in on the compound,” Agent Shannon said as quietly as possible. It wasn’t easy. He could hear the low growling hiss slithering out of the throat of the dragon standing several feet away, hidden in the brush. She hadn’t taken her yellow eyes off him since he’d appeared. He felt her glare like razor wire raking down his skin. Calloway stood to her left, one gloved hand on the dragon’s neck, the other holding a pair of binoculars.
The building had once been a Home Depot, if the lingering orange paint on the roof was any indication. The empty parking lot had grass poking out between the cracks in the concrete and an overturned cart that had been turned into a nest, perhaps for rodents of some kind. It was in a bad part of town on a long stretch of road in the backwoods, hence why the retail store hadn’t survived in the long run. It sat on a couple acres of land as well, so it had no immediate neighbors and no houses across from it that would notice anything.
The only thing out of the ordinary was the semi-tractor-trailer parked at the loading dock behind the building.
“Four men,” Calloway said.
“They armed?” Agent Shannon asked as he opened his equipment bag.
“Looks like handguns mostly.”
“Right. Tether the dragon, will ya? Don’t want her breathing down my neck while we get ready.”
“Give her a break already,” Jack said over the comm-link. “If she hasn’t spat venom into your eyeballs by now, you’re safe.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“I’d take a picture and get it blown up to a 24 x 36 print, then frame it on my wall.”
“Guys,” Calloway said as he set the binoculars aside. “Cool it. I know we’re all a bit tense about catching these clowns, but we need to keep focused. Where are we at with SWAT?”
Shannon checked his phone. “ETA twenty minutes. They were running short on staff this morning. We’ll maintain surveillance until they arrive—”
Before he could finish that sentence, the tractor-trailer rattled as a roar bellowed from inside it.
Two of the men came running down the ramp, shouting something at the ones standing at the top of the loading dock. Seconds later, a Highlander dragon came barreling out of the truck bed at full speed. One man had already begun sprinting across the empty parking lot; the other hastily climbed onto the loading dock and screamed for them to close themselves inside the garage. Unfortunately, the other two men got there first and locked the door on him. The dragon flapped its wings and landed on the loading dock. Its long, spiny tail lashed behind it as it crept towards the man, who drew a .9 mm Beretta and took aim at the dragon.
He fired. Both shots ricocheted. One hit the wall. The other hit his right thigh.
“Shit!” Calloway hissed, grabbing his helmet. “Shannon, we gotta go!”
“Goddammit,” Shannon complained. “I’ll get the net launcher ready. You go.”
“What’s going on?” Kamala demanded.
“Highlander dragon’s loose,” Calloway said as he raced down the grassy hill towards the loading dock. “The crew bailed. He’s got a guy pinned. I’m gonna intercept.”
The man tried to crawl away from the dragon, his injured leg trailing blood in a long smear on the concrete. The dragon clamped its jaws down on his ankle and dragged him back. The man shrieked and kicked at it with his other leg in vain.
“Highlander dragons react to loud noises,” Kamala said. “See if you can distract it.”
“Hey, Lake Placid, over here!” Calloway shouted.
The dragon dropped the man’s ankle and snapped its head in Calloway’s direction. The man tried to wriggle out of range, but the dragon hissed and he curled into the fetal position to make himself a smaller target.
“What else ya got?” Calloway asked.
“Eyes,” Jack said. “Got anything that can blind it?”
“Yeah, a flashbang.” Calloway addressed the man. “Cover your eyes!”
He pulled the pin and flung it towards the dragon. The flash grenade bounced once, twice, and then ignited. The entire parking lot flashed with blinding white light for an instant.
The dragon roared in pain and backed away from Calloway, its head whipping to and fro in panic. Its deadly tail slashed at the air around it in erratic swipes, trying to hit something, anything, now that its vision had gone out.
“Calloway!” Agent Shannon barked as he approached with the net launcher in his hands. It was about the size of an automatic rifle with a wide, open barrel. He planted his feet and aimed as his partner moved over to one side.
Just before he could pull the trigger, the door to the abandoned building flung open and the dragon smugglers opened fire.
Agent Shannon cursed and raced for the other corner of the building for cover. Calloway followed him and narrowly escaped the men’s gunfire.
“This is going great so far,” Calloway said, flattening himself against the brick as the shots continued tearing holes in the wall.
Agent Shannon handed him the net launcher and drew his gun, waiting for a pause in the gunfire. “I’ll try and take them out. If I can’t manage it, I’ll see if I can lead them away from the dragon.”
“Any chance you guys can request a chopper?” Jack asked.
“Wouldn’t do us much good. There isn’t one close enough to make a difference. We’re on our own for now.”
“I’ve contacted the incoming SWAT team,” Libby said. “They’re hauling ass now, but they’re still ten minutes out even with their sirens going to cut through traffic. Be careful.”
“No worries, little bit,” Calloway said. “We got this. If we can manage to trap it, how the hell am I going to sedate it with scales that thick?”
“Underneath the jaw is a soft spot,” Kamala said. “Inject it there.”
“Gotcha.” He glanced at Agent Shannon as they heard the telltale clicks of the smugglers’ guns going empty. “Ready?”
Shannon nodded. “Follow my lead.”
He gauntleted the Beretta in his fist and whipped around the corner, firing twice. One of the men cried out and hit the ground with a shot to the leg and another in the shoulder. The other one took cover behind the tractor-trailer. The first injured man had managed to wedge himself in a corner away from the snarling, blinded dragon.
“Listen up,” Shannon said as he pressed up against the other side of the tractor-trailer. “I’m a federal agent. Lower your weapon and come out from around the truck with your hands up. I am authorized to use lethal force if you do not cooperate. If you fire on me or my partner, you will be shot.”
“Federal agent, huh?” the remaining smuggler said, his voice heavy with a New York accent. “Killing you oughta make my rep forever, then.”
“You sure you wanna go down this road, son?”
“Hell yeah.”
The tires behind Shannon’s legs abruptly punctured and deflated as the man ducked and tried to sneak a shot. Shannon knelt and held still as the truck groaned under the weight of the trailer as it shifted to one side. The smuggler closed in on him, all but emptying the clip in hopes of hitting him through the tire. A bullet grazed Shannon’s shoulder, but he didn’t budge.
Just as the smuggler got close enough for a point blank shot, Agent Shannon grabbed the man’s wrist and jerked his arms up. He fired a single shot into the man’s temple. Blood splattered against the side of the tractor-trailer and the man crumpled to the concrete.
Agent Shannon kicked the gun away from his twitching fingers just to be safe. “Clear.”
Calloway rounded the corner with the net launcher as Shannon went to subdue the other smuggler with the two gunshot wounds. The dragon still couldn’t see, but he could tell it knew where he was, based on scent and sound. It charged him each time he tried to get a clean shot, snapping its jaws or flicking its tail in his direction, missing him by a few inches. Calloway finally got just far enough away to fire, but then the dragon spread its wings and vaulted into the air.
“Son of a bitch,” Calloway whispered. “This just went from bad to worse.”
Of Dawn and Embers is out July 20th, and don’t forget there’s a Facebook Launch Party you can attend for a chance to win a free paperback copy. Pre-order now for a special price of .99 cents. It will go up to $4.99 on July 21st, so grab while you can.
Are you ready for the next excerpt of Book Three in the Of Cinder and Bone series? Here it is! Please be mindful of spoilers for Of Cinder and Bone and Of Blood and Ashes!
CHAPTER ONE
UNTETHERED
“Jack…why is there a dragon in our backyard?”
Dr. Rhett “Jack” Jackson spit out his coffee and gaped at his pregnant girlfriend. “Wait, what?“
He pushed his chair out and stumbled to Dr. Kamala Anjali’s side. She had the curtain drawn to one side, her jaw hanging open slightly, her brown eyes wide as they beheld the mythical beast that was calmly sniffing the red snapdragons in her garden. Jack rubbed his eyes with his palms just to be safe, but there was no mistaking it. He ripped the sliding door open and padded out onto the neatly cut grass in his faded grey MIT t-shirt and black pajama bottoms.
“Pete? Is that you?” The scientist asked, of course knowing the creature wouldn’t answer, but he just couldn’t help himself.
The dragon Pete hadn’t changed much since the last time he saw her. She stood at the height of the average horse with long limbs and a muscular, streamlined body covered in leaf-green scales aside from her belly, which was a pale cream. Her wings were folded along the groove of her spine, rustling slightly as she lifted her head as he approached. She blinked large golden eyes at him and her tail lashed in the rose bushes behind her, scattering pale pink petals. Her long, sharp fangs protruded down over her lower jaw, but it was closed; she had a muzzle on. She flared her nostrils as he cautiously extended his hand towards her snout, palm flat. The dragon sniffed it and a soothing set of vibrations filled the air.
“Goddess above,” Kamala whispered as she reached Jack’s side. “It is her.”
The dragon chittered slightly in delight and nuzzled Kamala’s cheek, then blinked in confusion at her protruding belly. Kamala laughed slightly in spite of her puzzlement and rubbed the bumpy crown of the dragon’s head as she sniffed her enormous stomach. “Well, I guess introductions are in order. Pete, meet the baby. Baby, meet Pete.”
“Kam…how the hell is this possible?” Jack asked, pushing one hand into his dark brown hair. “How did she get here? How did she even find us?”
“Excellent questions,” Kamala agreed. “Which we will answer momentarily. First, we need to keep her out of sight before the neighbors start panicking. Do you think we can sneak her into the house?”
“I don’t know,” he said, scanning over their eight-foot wooden fence to see if anyone had spotted them yet. It was still early, barely past seven o’clock in the morning. Cambridge tended to wake up on the early side, as both the MIT and Harvard students and alumni would be flitting about getting ready for the day. “She’s kind of skittish about small spaces. Let’s try to get her into the garage.”
Kamala clucked her tongue. “Come along, Pete.”
She walked back inside and the dragon followed with slow, steady steps, ducking its head beneath the threshold. Pete’s forked tongue darted in and out, testing the air, as she glanced about the two-story house. The den had vaulted ceilings, so she had no trouble standing on all fours. She sniffed the couch as Jack pulled the sliding door shut and tugged the curtains together. He gave the dragon a nudge and she got moving again, following Kamala to the two-car garage. Jack’s trusty old Mazda Protégé and Kamala’s powder blue Volkswagen Beetle were already inside, but it wasn’t too cramped. Kamala led the dragon between the two cars and gently pushed on her shoulders until the creature sat on its hindlegs.
“Did anyone see us?” she asked.
“Not that I noticed, but if she flew in here, there’s got to be somebody who saw her,” Jack said, taking his phone out of his pocket and Googling dragon sightings in the last hour. He noticed quite a few hits; mainly a blurry figure or a short video of a shadow sweeping someone’s backyard. Neither he nor Kamala had any social media accounts, so he had to check to see if dragons were trending, and they were at the moment. Plenty of people were trying to prove or disprove the sightings, but no one had convincing evidence yet.
“I don’t get it. The government shut down our project almost six months ago and seized her as well as our other dragons. How could she possibly have gotten loose?”
“Dunno,” Jack said, pacing between the cars and rubbing the five o’clock shadow he hadn’t shaved off just yet. “Maybe they were transporting her somewhere and she busted out. Does she have any abrasions or injuries?”
Kamala flicked on the overhead light and examined the dragon. “No injuries, but take a look at this.”
Jack stepped next to her and peered at where her fingers rested on the dragon’s neck. He could see one of her scales had been removed, so there was just smooth pale skin beneath it. The species of dragon that Pete was, varanus lacerto, had multiple epidural layers: thick outer scales about the size of a quarter, and then a protective layer of fat over the muscle. Someone had removed the first layer by force, it appeared, and there was a small scar as if she’d been sewn up from an incision.
“Shit,” Jack muttered. “Dollars to donuts that’s where they placed a subcutaneous tracker.”
Kamala shut her eyes for a second. “Which means the bastards are on their way right now.”
“More than likely,” Jack sighed. “Dammit. Ten bucks says they’ll find some way to blame this on the two of us.”
“I’ll take that bet,” she groused, stroking the dragon’s swan-like neck. “That still doesn’t explain how the hell she found us. She’s never been anywhere aside from MIT campus. Is her sense of smell truly powerful enough to locate us from literal miles away?”
“In theory? Yeah, I guess so. She imprinted on us at birth, and dragons’ senses are sharp as hell. Even though we’re indoors, we’ve lived here for a good while, so our scent’s on everything around here by now. Still, this is insane.”
Kamala smiled a bit. “Yes. But in spite of it all, I…missed her.”
Jack rubbed the bumpy scales over Pete’s right eye and listened to her purr. “Yeah. Me too, Kam.”
The doorbell rang.
Jack shut his eyes. “And here comes trouble.”
“I’ll stay with her,” Kamala said. “Make sure they show you a bloody warrant first.”
Jack shuffled back to the door, snorting. “Like that’ll matter.”
He shut the garage door, grabbed his coffee from the dining room table, and then opened the front door.
“Morning, assholes!” Jack said brightly. “What would you like to steal from us this time?”
Two men stood on Jack’s welcome mat. The one on the left was tall, sturdy, and had brunette hair and deep frown lines with a no nonsense expression on his face. He wore sunglasses, a black suit, black tie, a white dress shirt, and polished shoes. The one on the right was slightly shorter, pudgy, and had curly brown hair and a beard. He wore a lab coat over a stained Firefly t-shirt, khakis, and sneakers.
“Climb down off that cross, Dr. Jackson,” the man on the left said, folding his sunglasses and tucking them in the pocket of his suit.
Jack stared at him and then pointedly tilted the mug enough to spill coffee on the man in black’s shoes. “Oops. Clumsy me.”
The man sighed laboriously and shook his feet. “So infantile. You know why we’re here. Where is it?”
“What?” Jack asked innocently. “Oh, your hairline? I think it’s on the back of your head.”
“The dragon,” the man snarled. “Where is the dragon?”
Jack leaned against the doorjamb and purposely slurped his coffee before answering. “Oh, I’m sorry. Have you lost one of our dragons? What a pity. It’s almost like you two chuckleheads and the rest of your department have no idea what you’re doing.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” the pudgy man insisted. “The handler was careless.”
Jack glanced at him. “You’re really not helping your case here, buddy.”
“Dr. Jackson,” the man on the left said through his teeth. “Where. Is. The. Dragon?”
Jack leaned in, pronouncing every word slowly. “Up. Your. Ass.”
The man stared at him with his dead brown eyes for a long moment before smirking. “You know, if you weren’t so high-handed and pretentious, I’d probably like you. Fine. We’ll do this by the book.”
He reached into his suit jacket and withdrew a document, slapping it against Jack’s chest. “Here’s the warrant you’re about to ask for. Not that it matters.”
He jabbed a thumb at the man beside him. “Dr. Whitmore’s got the tracker to prove the asset is within these premises. So scurry along and go get it before I call local P.D. to kick the door down.”
Jack scowled and flipped the document open, again slurping his coffee obnoxiously loud and reading it as slowly as possible. “Well, seems everything’s in order here. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll see what I can do about facilitating the evidence of your complete and utter ineptitude.”
“It wasn’t my fault!” Dr. Whitmore whined, but by then, Jack had slammed the door in both their faces.
Jack returned to the garage and handed Kamala the letter. She growled and crumpled it in her small fist. “Four hours. She’s been missing for four hours according to this nonsense. They couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were on the heel.”
“Agreed,” Jack said. “But this is a fight we can’t win right now. Maybe we can use it later, but we have to turn her over to them.”
“Bastards,” she spat.
“Hey,” Jack said gently, kissing her temple. “Stress levels, remember?”
She exhaled, rubbing the top of her swollen stomach. “Right. Pete won’t go willingly. Find out if they have a tranquilizer first. I’ll administer it so she doesn’t get upset.”
“Will do, angel.”
Jack opened the front door again. “Agent Shannon, I assume you have something that can subdue the dragon.”
“Yes,” he said. “What about it?”
“Mind handing it over? I’m pretty sure she’ll rip your face off if she sees you coming at her with one.”
Agent Shannon lifted a thick eyebrow. “You want me to hand you a tranquilizer gun? So you can knock me out and take the asset and run?”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Actually, I don’t want your big, ugly body on my driveway. You’ll scare my neighbors and cause the property value to plummet.”
Agent Shannon sucked his teeth and glanced at Dr. Whitmore. “Doc?”
“He’s right. The dragon is, uh, rather averse to your presence. It’s imprinted on the two of them and should allow them to inject it.”
The government agent gave Jack a long stare before walking over to the large unmarked truck with a long, metal trailer attached. He unlocked it and pulled out a silver briefcase. He popped it open and withdrew a tranquilizer gun.
“Any funny business,” Agent Shannon said, slapping it into Jack’s hand. “I take you down.”
Jack smiled. “Yeah, because that worked so well last time.”
Agent Shannon sneered. “It was a cheap shot, Jackson. Want to try me again when I’m paying attention?”
“No, I think I’ll just let you live with the shame of knowing a civilian put you on your ass.” Jack slammed the door shut a second time and headed into the garage.
Kamala took the tranquilizer gun and gave it a detailed once over, checking that the dosage looked correct and would subdue the dragon. She sighed and pressed her forehead to the dragon’s, her voice slightly hoarse. “I am so sorry, meri priya. We will save you. I swear it.”
She injected the sedative. The dragon flinched slightly when the tiny needle pierced her skin. The effect was almost immediate. Pete swayed and Jack caught her upper body, lowering her to the ground as gently as he could. A thin green film slid down over her golden eyes and she fell asleep in minutes. She even snored, which they both thought was cute.
Jack heaved another sigh and walked over to the garage door. He hit the switch and the door rumbled and roared as it slid up from the ground. Agent Shannon and Larry were already standing there with an altered version of a hand truck. It was collapsible and about eight feet long and a couple feet wide. Agent Shannon smiled as he spotted Kamala.
“Dr. Anjali,” he said politely. “Don’t you look radiant.”
“Don’t you look smug and unintelligent,” she replied, and then swept back inside the house without another word. He chuckled and helped the chubby scientist load the dragon onto the carrier. They wheeled her up into the trailer and locked it shut. Dr. Whitmore got inside the truck and Agent Shannon slid his aviator sunglasses back onto his face.
“Thank you for your cooperation, Dr. Jackson.”
Jack smiled again. “I hope you step on a Lego. Barefoot.”
Agent Shannon bared his teeth in a grin and climbed inside the truck. He backed out of the driveway slowly and then pulled off into the street. Jack spat the sour taste in his mouth out into the bushes and returned inside.
Kamala stood in the kitchen, furiously stirring a spoon into her chamomile tea. “This is unacceptable.”
“Yep,” Jack agreed, pouring the remainder of his coffee down the drain.
“Who do they think they are? They lose our dragon–they risk her life with their idiotic inability to comprehend her abilities–and then demand that we return her to them without any consequences whatsoever? I have never heard of anything so ridiculous in my life.”
“Yep,” Jack agreed, rinsing out the mug.
“What if someone had gotten hurt, eh? What if some gun-toting moron with a twitchy trigger finger spotted her before she came to us? She could be gone, just like that. Taken from this world through no fault of her own.”
Jack stepped up behind her and slid his arms around her shoulders. Kamala’s stiff spine slowly relaxed against the front of his chest. Her eyes drifted closed as he ran his large hand over her belly in soothing circles. He kissed her ear, his voice low and soft. “I know. And we’re not going to let them get away with this. We’re going to give them hell. We’re not going to give up on the fight until our dragons are back where they belong, safe and sound.”
She shook her head slightly. “You always know just what to say.”
“Hardly,” he said. “You were stirring that tea pretty hard, Dr. Anjali. I just didn’t want you to break my favorite mug.”
Kamala turned in his arms. “Yes, we both know you’re terrified of my superhuman maternal powers. I’ll try not to scare you so much.”
“You kidding me?” he said, lacing his fingers over the small of her back. “I’m counting on them to save us someday. You should be wearing a cape instead of stretch pants.”
She sighed. “Oh, don’t bloody remind me. I went up another size this week. I need to get this blasted child out of me before I become a manatee.”
Jack choked on a laugh. “Stop it. You’re gorgeous no matter what size you are.”
She pursed her lips. “Don’t try to get back on my good side, Dr. Jackson. Remember, it’s all your fault that I’m like this.”
“Oh, lest we forget. The rugrat was conceived the first time we, uh, fondue’d, and I believe you were the one who initiated that.”
Kamala blushed. “Point taken.”
She pressed her forehead against his and sighed. “This sucks.”
“Yes,” he said softly. “It does. But you know what doesn’t suck?”
She glanced up at him. “What?”
Jack leaned in and kissed her gently between words.
“Slow…” Smooch.
“Heartfelt…” Smooch.
“Intimate…” Smooch.
“…oral sex.”
Kamala collapsed into stunned giggles. “You are an idiot, Dr. Jackson.”
“What? I mean, am I wrong?”
Her smile turned a bit wicked. “Not in the slightest. It would be an excellent distraction from the chaotic morning we both just had.”
She eagerly gripped his hand to drag him into their bedroom, but then her cell phone rang. She sighed and answered it with a brisk, dismissive tone. “Yes?”
“Kam,” Faye Worthington’s resigned, annoyed voice said. “I’m in jail.”
Hungry for more? Pre-order Of Dawn and Embers now on Amazon for a special price of only .99c through July 20th! Remember, the price will increase to $4.99 on July 21st, so grab it while you still can!
That’s right, folks! Book three in the Of Cinder and Bones series is now available for pre-order. Best of all, you’re getting special pricing!
From now until July 20, 2019, pre-order Of Dawn and Embers for only .99 cents! Grab your copy now. It returns to its normal price of $4.99 on July 21, 2019, so don’t miss your chance!
