Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriors central page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…a fun way to sample new books and find new authors! (Also welcome to the Sunday Snippet visitors!)
NEW RELEASE! The snippet is from Two Against the Stars (story below the excerpt):
Her handler lay sprawled on the cheap imitation tile floor, a pool of blood spreading from the back of his head. He’d evidently fallen or passed out from the drugs he’d done, striking his head on the commode as he toppled. His sporadic breathing was labored and halted on a harsh exhale even as she stared at him. His head lolled to the side and his entire body went limp.
Her heightened senses confirmed Dobkin’s lifeforce had fled.
The handler’s death left her numb. He’d never assaulted her, nor beaten her, as some of the other handlers did with their charges, but he’d been casually cruel since they met. He clearly didn’t see her as a person in her own right. Indeed, not as anything but a tool to use for the Combine’s profit and his own advancement.
“I’m not going to be used for anyone else’s purposes ever again,” she said.
The story:
Empathic priestess Carialle has escaped the evil Amarotu Combine, but she’s hardly out of danger. Not when she risks everything to rescue a drugged man from a crooked veterans’ clinic. By lulling the clinic staff to sleep, she reveals her powers. And once again, criminals are after her and her rescuer.
Marcus Valerian, a wounded Special Forces veteran, never expected to have his life threatened by the clinic that’s supposed to help ex-soldiers like him. But when he wakes from a drugged state to find a lovely woman urging him to run–he does. In his family’s remote fishing cabin, he suffers the agony of withdrawal, soothed only by her powers.
In their idyllic hideaway, the two also discover a nova-hot attraction flaring. But can they stay alive long enough for it to become more? Not if the Combine has anything to say–they are not giving up until Marcus is dead and Carialle is their weapon
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I love her determination and hope this means she is now free. Congrats on your new release! 🙂
Intriguing snippet! I love finding female MCs that aren’t typical – and Carialle sounds fascinating.
That’s a bold declaration. Somehow I don’t think it’ll be all that easy to accomplish, though!
What a woman. And what a description of the handler and his death. You are amazing with story after story so fine. Hugs across the country.
Another great new release! Congrats!
Hope his means she’ll be able to get free
The determination in that last line – fantastic. Tweeted.
Love her determination to get away. I’m halfway thru reading this story. Loving it!
It’s revealing that she pauses to have a semi-kind thought for the jerk, but I’m glad she ends on such a determined note. Great snippet.
Death by toilet. Seems appropriate, because he was a sh#t. Just because he could have been worse doesn’t mean he was good! Now, I hope she can keep her promise to herself!
And congrats! 🙂
Sad that “casually cruel” makes him a step above the rest, especially since it’s enough to make her have ambivalence about his death.
I hope she can stick to her guns and stand up for herself!
A sad end, but self-inflicted. I admire her spirit.
Thanks for all the comments! Yes, Carialle has had to be strong in many ways, more challenges ahead of course.
Really enjoyed this excerpt, I hope she can keep that vow!
I hope she’s able to keep that promise to herself.
Great last line. Very determined. I like her.
Dark and powerful snippet!
Love her determination.