Happy Vampire Lumberjack Day to Us!

Huzzah, huzzah! It is finally here!

Just a little over two years ago we signed our first contract with Samhain Publishing. The fact that we’re getting ready to submit our tenth (and eleventh, AND twelfth…) stories to our awesome editor should tell you just how well that went for us.

Our first book was Cry Sanctuary, a little tale about werewolves hiding in the mountains, too worn down to fight back against the corruption running crazy through their kind. Today the fourth (and final, for the moment) book in that series is available as an ebook.

Sanctuary Unbound is the story of Cindy and Adam, our werewolf doctor and our vampire lumberjack. After months and months of jokes about the vampire lumberjack, maybe the quirkiest part of all is that he isn’t really a joke. He’s a scary, serious badass who might decapitate at least one person with his bare hands.

We needed to give this series some breathing space, so this book (hopefully!) ties together the loose ends and running plot threads from throughout the series. I never, ever advise anyone to read these books out of order, because as hard as we tried to make sure someone going in cold wouldn’t be completely lost, there is only so much we could do. A battle between two communities kicks off in Cry Sanctuary and comes to its close in Sanctuary Unbound.

Which doesn’t mean this is the end of this world. Next month you can find out just how shady Adam’s dark past really was–and how the first Sanctuary town came to pass. (Not to mention why it needed to! What happened to start the wolves down the path of corruption?) A Safe Harbor has the answers, and the Building Sanctuary series will continue in October with Undertow.

As for our present day wolves…don’t give up hope. A little time may pass first, but the end of this book brings about a world of change for all of our current heroes & heroines, some of whom just might be back to tell new stories in a new series. (Nothing’s final until we’ve written it, but if we haven’t dropped enough Keith & Abby hints by now…)

So happy release day to us and the Vampire Lumberjack and his Werewolf Doctor. And to us, who are pretty excited (and a little sad!) that we’ve closed the door on our first Samhain series. Luckily there are still lots of doors left to open, and many of them in this universe!

SANCTUARY UNBOUND

Length: Category Novel | Rating: Hot | Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Themes: Shapeshifters, Vampires, Witches & Wizards, Supernatural Politics, Evil Plots Need Foiling
On sale at: My Bookstore and More, Amazon, Books on Board

READ AN EXCERPT

A blonde in jeans and a flannel shirt watched them as they drove down the main street, one hand shading her eyes from the dwindling sunlight. Joe waved at her through the Blazer window, and she smiled broadly as she approached the SUV.

“The town’s doctor,” Dylan said, distracting him from the act of coasting to a stop. He had to slam his foot down on the brakes and nearly rear-ended Joe’s vehicle before he managed to park the car. The blonde’s gaze flickered to him and, for one moment, all he could see in her face was pure, undiluted strength, the kind that came from living through hell and getting up on the other side.

The dark hunger inside him stirred, attracted to the strength of her in the same way the young alpha female in Bedagi Creek had called to him. But he’d known Emily from childhood, leaving his hunger for power strongly tempered by an utter lack of desire. The blonde burned with magic so bright it could turn a man inside out, and had a body that might make him willing to go through the pain, if it meant getting a chance to touch her.

“Oh shit.”

Adam jerked his attention to the rearview mirror and glared at Dylan. “Got a problem, puppy?”

Dylan refused to avert his gaze, which was most of the reason Adam liked the kid. Dylan didn’t care if the man staring him down could break him in half, he’d do what he thought he had to and damn the consequences.

Apparently now he thought he had to be a nosy bastard. “Cindy’s not going to let you snack on her. And if Joe or Keith catches you eyeing her like you’re thinking about it, they’ll get Buffy on your ass.”

“Excuse me?”

“They’ll kill you really, really dead.”

Not an inconsequential threat, but Joe and Keith were still youths, neither of them fifty years old. And Adam hadn’t been thinking about blood for once. Which might be worse. “Mind your own damn business, Dylan.”

The doctor leaned close to Joe’s window for a few more moments, then nodded and began to walk toward Adam’s car. When she drew closer, he could see the brittle tinge of wariness in her eyes.

Judging by the way the couple in the back separated and surged to opposite sides of the seat, little–if any–of that wariness was directed at him. Adam jerked the keys from the ignition and pushed open the door with a small sigh of relief. He tossed the keys on the front seat and glanced at Dylan. “If the car needs to go somewhere else, you take it.”

“Sure thing.” Dylan opened his own door and climbed out, a cautious smile on his lips. “Hey, Cindy.”

“Dylan. Hi, Sasha.”

“Hi.”

Cindy turned to him and held out one hand. “You must be Adam. Gavin’s told me a lot about you.”

Touching her was asking for trouble, but he did it anyway. Her hand felt small in his, but not soft. She wasn’t Sasha, with her fragile delicateness. Cindy’s smooth skin hid strength, maybe even a hint of danger.

It turned him on more than a little.

“Cindy.” He smiled, the wide, easy grin he used on the rare occasions he wanted a woman to smile back. “So you’re the doctor Sam told me about.” A small lie, since he didn’t think Sam had told him more than that she had a doctor.

She arched an eyebrow and laughed. “The first thing Gavin told me was that you’re a charming, horny bastard.”

Son of a bitch. It figured the old wolf knew him well enough, even after all this time, to know the sort of temptation Cindy would present. “Gavin hasn’t forgiven me for flirting with his wife in the early eighties. He holds a grudge.”

“Right. He and Sam are at my place. Come on, I’ll show you.” She turned on one heel and walked across the street, her hips swaying with each step.

He was still watching those hips when Dylan spoke up from behind them, his voice worried. “Did something happen? Did someone get hurt?”

Cindy spared them only a quick glance over her shoulder. “Gavin’s not feeling well.”

It was the one thing guaranteed to drag Adam’s attention away from the way Cindy’s jeans hugged her ass. Her tone might have been casual, but he’d heard the minute strain, the way her voice came out a little flat. Amusement died and he caught up to Cindy in two long strides. “Then let’s go.”

Her house proved to be close to the center of town, a smart placement for their doctor, he supposed. It seemed like a nice enough little home, but on the inside it looked more like an office. Chairs and a couch lined the walls of the entryway, and the two rooms he could see into could best be described as clinical.

Cindy ignored them both, instead leading him down the hall, past the kitchen into a comfortably homey room where Gavin sat in a recliner, his face ashen.

He’d kept up with Gavin by phone, infrequent calls every month or two, Adam’s only real contact with the world past Bedagi Creek. The last time he’d actually seen Gavin had been over a quarter of a century ago, when his oldest friend had arrived in Maine with a sweet-faced young woman with too many scars and too much power. Time had still been kind.

Gavin and time had had a falling out at some point in the last thirty years. His friend looked old. Rundown and worn out and half-dead. He looked up and grinned when he saw Adam. “‘Bout time you showed up.”

Adam had to fight to smile and keep his voice light, burying his worry deep. “Just biding my time. Figured Sam would leave you and shack up with me if I waited long enough.”

“In your wildest dreams, Dubois.” Gavin jerked his head to the chair beside his. “Have a seat. Never thought I’d get you out here.”

Adam sank into the chair. “Never thought I’d come. But what can I say? Only you would send a moon-crazed wolf, a witch and their boyfriends out to fetch me. You got my attention.”

“Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, doesn’t it?” He leaned his head back and turned his grin to the blonde. “Cindy, love. Tell Sammie I can have a beer, would you?”

“Hell no.”

“You’re a harsh woman, Dr. Shepherd.”

“Mmm.” She winked at Adam over Gavin’s head. “May as well get the truth out there before your guest starts to think I’m a nice lady.”

Adam stretched his legs in front of him, grateful for the chance to do so after so long trapped in a ridiculously small car. “Trust me, Dr. Shepherd. Gavin here is hoping I’ll think you’re a nice lady. Never much fancied them.”

“Cindy can handle the likes of you,” Gavin grumbled. “And she is nice, in spite of that.”

“Mm-hmm.” He met Cindy’s gaze. “So what did the old bastard do to put himself in this state?”

“The old bastard is sitting right here.”

Cindy ignored him. “Had another heart attack. It’s one of the hazards of being an old bastard.” Again, a thread of tension bled through her nonchalant words.

“Another heart attack?” Adam looked back to Gavin. “Hell, man, how many have you had?”

“Three.” His friend fidgeted with the upholstery covering the arm of the recliner. “It’s like the lady says. I’m not as young as I used to be.”

Neither was Adam, but time had a way of passing him by in his tiny remote cabin. Before young Emily had taken a shine to him, he’d gone for months at a time without seeing anyone besides the casual bedmates who came to him to feed a man’s hunger as well as a vampire’s.

Footsteps sounded in the hallway, and Adam got another shock when Sam stepped through the doorway. Granted, few women well into their seventies possessed Sam’s strong body and ageless complexion, but worry had left its mark on her face and fear in her eyes.

She hid it well as she swooped down to kiss his cheek. “Welcome to Red Rock, you impossible man.”

Flirting with her when Gavin looked like he had one foot in the grave seemed like overkill, but he didn’t know how else to handle the shock of seeing two of his oldest friends looking old. “I thought we agreed you’d leave this sorry ass and come live with me. I waited twenty years.”

“Only twenty? You’re too impatient.” Her voice sounded strained, and Adam felt the first stirrings of panic. Nothing put that edge of fear in Sam’s voice. Combined with the doctor’s tension, it painted a sorry picture for Gavin–and for Red Rock.

Cindy leaned close to Sam, one comforting hand on the taller woman’s shoulder. “I have to head to Keith’s and check on Joe. Radio if you need anything, and I can be back here in a minute.”

“Thanks, Cindy.” Sam squeezed her hand, and Adam caught the look that passed between them. Samantha considered the doctor a friend, someone from whom she’d accept support, and it said more about Cindy’s inner strength than anything else he’d seen.

His attraction to that strength made it so much harder to watch her leave.