“A mean, green bee,” Shadow said. “Mommy, we have to help her! Please, can’t we go to her?”
“You’re not going anywhere but back to bed, little man.” Kat kissed him on the forehead. “But I’ll sit with you a while to make sure you’re all right.”
“But—but the pretty lady!”
“It’s all right, honey—it was just a dream,” Kat soothed. And then she carried him into the bedroom and shut the door.
“Poor little thing—he seemed so upset!” Neh’sa remarked. “And what dramatic coloring he has.”
“Yes, he’s a shadow twin,” Liv explained. Usually when Twin Kindred mate with a woman, she has twin boys, like her mates. But sometimes a third is born—a shadow twin.”
“They have it kind of rough because they don’t look like their brothers and they don’t have a twin of their own to grow up with and call a mate with,” Sophie added. “As for the hair and eyes, Kat told me around puberty, they’re supposed to change completely.”
“Oh?” Neh’sa said. “Will he have auburn hair like his mother? Or black or brown hair like his fathers?” She had met Deep and Lock and liked them both.
“None of the above.” Sophie shook her head. “Supposedly when the hormones hit, they’ll change his hair to black and his eyes to white—a total switch. Weird, huh?”
“That would be interesting to see.” Neh’sa thought of the little boy’s gorgeous bone structure. “He’s going to be a very striking looking male when he grows up.”
“Undoubtedly,” Thorn murmured.
Just then, Kat came out of the sleeping room and shut the door softly behind her.
“All right…” She sighed and sank back down on the couch. “He’s mostly asleep again. I tell you, I wish these dreams would stop—they make him so upset. He went on and on about the ‘pretty lady’ and how she needed our help.”
“Do you think there could be something to it?” Liv asked. “I mean, it’s strange but we’ve all seen strange things since the Kindred came to Earth. Do you think there’s some girl somewhere we ought to be looking for?”
“I don’t know.” Kat frowned. “I don’t think so but right before Shad closed his eyes, he said the strangest thing.”
“Oh? What did he say?” Sophie looked interested.
“He said, ‘Don’t worry, mommy. The Goddess says it’s all right if you don’t believe me—she’s going to let me help the pretty lady myself when I grow up.’” She shook her head. “Isn’t that weird? I swear, when he started talking about the Goddess I got chills.”
“Maybe it was some kind of dream about his future,” Liv said thoughtfully. “They do say shadow twins have special powers, right?”
“I’d rather not think about it, okay?” Kat looked at them pleadingly. “It’s hard enough for Shad as it is, not having a twin like his brothers. He doesn’t need to feel singled out in any other way, you know?”
“I know, honey.” Sophie put an arm around her comfortingly. “It’s going to be all right. He’s such a bright, special little boy. He’s going to find his way—you’ll see.”
Kat sighed. “From your mouth to the Goddess’s ear.” She leaned over and picked up the drink she’d abandoned earlier. “Hey, let’s stop talking about depressing stuff, okay? This is supposed to be a party. So let’s have some fun!”
Neh’sa agreed with the sentiment completely—she wanted to have fun with her new friends and her new mate whom she loved so much.
But she couldn’t help letting her eyes drift to the bedroom door…couldn’t stop seeing the little boy and hear him crying,
“The pretty lady, Mommy—she’s in trouble!”
Epilogue
“All is in readiness, my Sovereign.” The sentient scholar-worker groomed his antennae eagerly. “The scout is dispatched and it carries with it one of the Druvian E’lo stones.”
“And you’re certain it will work?” Sovereign X'izith demanded. “You’re certain the stones are functional?”
“We made many trials, my Sovereign,” the worker buzzed, nodding. “The stones will work.”
“Test her once more before giving her the stone,” the Sovereign instructed. “We must make absolutely certain—we do not wish to bring any but the ten’sora back to the Hive.”
“The test shall be made and you will see, my Sovereign—this female is the one. The answer to all our prayers to the Nameless Ones,” the worker promised.
“You had better be right or I will rip off your head and eat it,” the Sovereign muttered savagely.
The scholar-worker began grooming his antennae nervously—almost compulsively.
“That will be unnecessary, my Sovereign. You will see—this is the female and soon she will be ours.”
His certainty satisfied X'izith.
“Very well.” He rubbed the twisted scar tissue around his breeding barb restlessly. Soon he would make use of it again—he would impregnate this special female with grubs as many times as it took for his successor to be born.
Soon there would be grubs enough to fill the royal and the common nurseries alike, which now stood empty and waiting. Soon there would be workers and drones and guards and warriors—all the components they needed to take over this little solar system and after that, the entire galaxy!
Soon it shall be done, he promised himself. By the Nameless Ones, Lords of Darkness I swear it. The Hive shall live forever.
The End…?
Nope! There is always another Kindred coming. Look for Kindred 21 in the near future but before that, you'll be seeing a Kindred novella called Seeing with the Heart, hopefully coming out in September. Here’s a blurb to give you a taste:
Seeing with the Heart: a Kindred Tales novella
Braxx is a Beast Kindred with a painful past. A traumatic crash stole his brother and his bride from him and left half of his face horribly scarred. Desperate to avoid the pitying and disgusted looks he gets whenever he goes out, he takes a job as a scout, travelling across the universe to find new trade partners and power sources for the Kindred. He thinks he'll never love again until he comes back to Earth and meets Molly.
Dr. Molly Reynaud has a doctorate in Cultural Anthropology. She's also completely blind and has been since a car accident took both her parents and her sight at the age of sixteen. When she is chosen to do a field study on the elusive Tal'ossi people from Tal'os Trenta, she doesn’t expect to have feelings for the Kindred warrior who is supposed to guard her there. But she can't seem to help the instant connection she feels to Braxx and she knows he feels the same for her.
Though he wants Molly desperately, Brax is scarred on the inside too--such a perfect female isn't for him, he's certain. If she knew his past, if she could see his face, she wouldn't want him--or so he tells himself.
Then the unthinkable happens--Molly is kidnapped by the Deep Dwellers of Tal'ossi and taken down to the subterranean depths as a bride for their leader. Braxx must go after her and suddenly the idea of claiming turns from a wish to a necessity.
Can Braxx overcome his tragic past and save the woman he loves? And can Molly convince him they belong together? Both of them will have to practice Seeing with the Heart or they will be parted forever…
Hugs to you all, and thanks, as always, for reading. Now read on for a taste of Stone Cold Fox, the third book in the Cougarville series.
Evangeline
***PS--If you've enjoyed Surrendered, please take a moment to leave a good reivew HERE. Good reviews are like gold for an author--they let other readers know it's okay to take a chance on a new series which means I can keep writing for a living to feed your Kindred cravings. ; ) Hugs, Evangeline
* * * * *
Stone Cold Fox: Book 3 of the Cougarville series
Cougarville's mechanic, and resident Alpha fox, shelters a mysterious woman who ignites his protective animal instincts when evil forces try to tear them apart.
Jo Ferrell has been cast out of her home for reasons she doesn’t understand. The grey streak
in her hair is gone, her body is younger, and there’s an ominous shadow chasing her. With nowhere else to go, Jo finds shelter in a shed whose owner she wants nothing to do with—but he’s too much to resist.
Reese Cooper has never felt a pull towards a woman like he does towards Jo and his Fox is desperate to claim her as their mate. After offering her a place to stay, Reese finds it difficult to resist his beautiful new roommate. But when dark magic threatens their happiness, Reese will use all of his strength to protect the woman he loves…if he’s not too late.
Read on for an excerpt and to see the sexy cover… ; )
Stone Cold Fox by:
Evangeline Anderson
Prologue
Jo ran blindly through the forest, the blackness of night pressing against her eyelids as heavy as felt. Her heart thundered in her chest and her breath tore in her throat—heavy and hot—and still she could hear the thing right behind her. The shadow creature that had been hunting her these past nights had finally decided to take her.
Only Jo had no intention of being taken.
It must be a demon of some kind, Jo thought as she crashed through the underbrush and ducked under a low hanging limb. She could feel its darkness—its hunger to consume.
And her magic was useless against it.
She’d felt it behind her for weeks—ever since she’d been forced to leave Avalon, the only home she’d known for years. It kept getting closer and closer and that night she’d decided to take a stand.
Using the implements she’d managed to take with her before the Elders escorted her to the gates and put her out for good, Jo had cast a circle around herself—a circle of warding and protection. She was a Third Level Wiccan and she knew what she was doing—she’d been confident that the circle would protect her.
But the shadow creature had walked right through it, as though it wasn’t even there.
How? she wondered wildly as she ran, trying to keep from falling. How could it get past my magic? She practiced strictly white magic and lived by the Wiccan rule of three that stated any energy a witch put out into the world would return to her three-fold. A creature of evil shouldn’t have been able to break past the magical boundaries she’d set and the shadow thing was most definitely evil—Jo could feel it in her bones.
Maybe the Elders were right. Maybe my magic is turning dark, she thought. But that couldn’t be—she’d followed the path her mentor, Miranda, had set out for her so carefully all these years, always avoiding the temptation to seek greater power through dark channels. She’d even stopped herself from seeking retribution from those that had wronged her—though she had been very greatly wronged before she found her way to Avalon.
And now she was trying to find her way away from Avalon and away from the shadow creature chasing her.
Please Goddess, she thought, sending a prayer heavenward. Please, help me get away! Help me find safety somewhere—anywhere!
As if in answer to her prayers, the clouds parted and she saw a break in the trees up ahead. The moon overhead was new and thin but it shone as brightly as it could to help light her way.
There! Jo gulped in a breath and somehow pushed herself faster, running full tilt until she thought her heart would burst with the effort. The shadow creature was right behind her, she could feel it reaching for her—one clawed hand scrabbling at the ragged back of her dress. Its cold fingers sent ice down her spine and she knew if it caught her it wouldn’t just eat her body—her soul was what this thing was hungry for.
She reached the edge of the forest and saw a smooth expanse of lawn with a big Victorian house in the middle of it. There was a ramshackle old shed behind the house.
Jo’s heart quickened—she was mostly a Hearth witch, meaning her powers strengthened inside a home where people dwelled.
The shadow creature’s fingers tightened on the back of her dress, causing the skin of her back to ripple helplessly into goosebumps.
Goddess! she prayed again. Help me!
Suddenly the thin sliver of the new moon seemed to glow even more brightly. A beam of its light stabbed between the pines and maples that made up the borders of the forest and found the creature that was trying to consume her.
Jo heard a low hissing sound and then the strangling pressure at her throat was abruptly gone as the thing loosed its hold on the back of her dress.
She staggered out of the forest and ran, sobbing with exhaustion and fear, into the shelter of the shed. She threw a glance over her shoulder before she went in, fearful that the shadow thing was following her—she didn’t want to be trapped in the shed, cornered with nowhere to go.
But mercifully, the thing stayed just within the borders of the forest. Jo could see it sliding back and forth like a dark wind in the trees, hissing and muttering angrily to itself.
She felt a rush of pure relief so intense it nearly made her faint. The creature couldn’t get to her. Safe—she was safe in here.
But for how long?
Want to read the rest of Stone Cold Fox? You can find it HERE.
Pre-order your copy now to see it pop up on your Kindle August 1st. Hugs and Happy Reading!
Evangeline
Also by Evangeline Anderson
**Please note--these are Amazon/Kindle links. If you have a Nook or other reading device, please check my website for links to all other formats**
Brides of the Kindred series
Claimed (Also available in Audio and Print format)
Hunted (Also available in Audio and Print format)
Sought (Also Available in Audio and Print format)
Found (Also Available in Audio and Print format)
Revealed (Also Available in Print format)(coming soon to Audio)
Pursued (Also Available in Print format)
Exiled (Also Available in Print format)
Shadowed (Also Available in Print format)
Chained
Divided
Devoured (Also available in Print)
Enhanced
Cursed
Enslaved
Targeted
Forgotten
Switched (Also Available in Print)
Uncharted (Also Available in Print)
Unbound (also Available in Print)
Surrendered (Also Available in Print)
Mastering the Mistress (Brides of the Kindred Novella best read between Enslaved and Targeted)
Bonding with the Beast (Brides of the Kindred Novella best read between Unbound and Surrendered.)
Born to Darkness series
Crimson Debt (Also available in Audio)
Scarlet Heat (Also available in Audio)
Ruby Shadows (Also available in Audio)
Cardinal Sins (Coming Soon)
Alien Mate Index series
Abducted (Also available in Print and Audio)
Protected (Also available in Print and Audio)
Descended (Also available in Print and Audio)
Severed (Also available in Print and Audio )
The Cougarville Series
Buck Naked (Also available in Audio)
Cougar Bait (Also avialable in Audio)
Stone Cold Fox (coming August 2017 in e-book and Audio)
The Institute series
The Institute: Daddy Issues
The Institute: Mishka's Spanking
Compendiums
Brides of the Kindred Volume One
Contains Claimed, Hunted, Sought and Found all in one volume
Born to Darkness Box Set
Contains Crimson Debt, Scarlet Heat, and Ruby Shadows all in one volume
Stand Alone Novels
Purity (Now available in Audio)
Stress Relief
The Last Man on Earth
Anyone U Want
Shadow Dreams
Mastering the Mistress
Hunger Moon Rising
Cougar Christmas
Planet X (Also available in Audio)
Deal with the Devil (coming August in e-
book and Audio)
YA Novels
The Academy
About the Author
Evangeline Anderson is the New York Times and USA Today Best Selling Author of the Brides of the Kindred, Alien Mate Index, Cougarville, and Born to Darkness series. She is forty-something and lives in Florida with a husband, a son, and two cats. She had been writing erotic fiction for her own gratification for a number of years before it occurred to her to try and get paid for it. To her delight, she found that it was actually possible to get money for having a dirty mind and she has been writing paranormal and Sci-fi erotica steadily ever since.
You can find her online at her website www.evangelineanderson.com
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