by K. Aten
“What?”
“Dude, like how much money do you have?”
Keller had a twinkle in her eye when she answered Jesse’s question. “Enough to last a lifetime.”
The werewolf’s mind boggled at the idea. “Mine or yours?”
“Yes.”
Jill shook her head. “Jesus. Maybe I will give up my practice and move in with you guys. I can be your full-time vet, taking care of all furry things great and small.” The laughter was comforting and started the transition of what once was, to what would become. Annie stood and started cleaning up her food mess, and Jesse, Jill, and Keller were looking through the photos of the one hundred and twenty-five year old mini-mansion that Keller had bought.
Sarah disappeared into the bedroom while they were all busy. She emerged a minute later but instead of going back to the dining room table with the others, she went over to the baby grand and sat down. The music had been complete for months, but there was never a right time to share it. She took something out of her pocket and set it on top of the glossy black instrument, then she began to play. The song started simple, her voice with the quiet backing of the piano.
Would you be my Juliet?
’Cause you can bet
I’d make a terrible Romeo
I’d go too fast
And maybe I’d go too slow
But look at me sitting here beneath
Serenading to your beauty
Staring up at your window
I can't help my attraction
It’s all the living I know
What would I do if I had no fear
If I had another million years
If I could do it all again
Would I roll down the same roads
Would I have the same kind of friends
Well I don’t know, but
This Romeo sure hopes so
What would I say
If I never once saw your face
Would I know what I had missed
Would I wind up in this place
Still longing for your kiss
You spend most nights in the glow
Of the street lights, me down below
If we said goodbye to our eternity
Trapped in another life
Would you still cry for me
Now we’re left with one thing
It’s a pretty little metal kinda ring
Is it worth the gamble and the guess
If I asked you the question
Would you hazard to say yes
Well I don’t know, but
This Romeo sure hopes so
Yeah, I don’t know, but
This Romeo sure hopes so
This Romeo sure hopes so
Keller had walked over to the piano while she was singing and froze when she saw the rings on the lid. “Sarah?”
A mumbled “Oh my God” could be heard in the background, obviously Annie.
The singer looked up at her soul mate. “Yes?”
“You are really serious?”
Sarah nodded. “Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Yes!”
“Okay then, yes!”
Annie snorted. “Does anyone else speak their language?”
Jesse looked at her slyly. “Maybe someday.” The nerdy werewolf got nothing but wide eyes from her girlfriend. “Heh.”
Later, when Jill, Annie, and Jesse were getting ready to leave, Sarah pulled her sister aside. “You’re really okay then?”
Annie smiled at her sister fondly. “I am, I’m great actually. And congratulations, you finally did it!”
Sarah laughed. “I finally did it. And she loved the rings.”
“You knew she would.”
The older sibling shook her head and her eyes seemed to be looking far away, to a conversation that felt like a lifetime ago. “No, I hoped. There is a difference.” She refocused on Annie. “What about you? Are you ready?”
“Ready for what?”
Sarah cracked a smile. “Ready for everything!”
Annie winked back. “Nope. Where’s the fun in that?”
Sarah shook her head and slung an arm around her sister’s shoulder as they made their way to the door of the condo. “Where indeed?”
EVENING FELL AND the city grew dark. Two women looked out into the night though the floor-length window. They stared down at the dark serpentine shape of the river below. Sarah had her arm draped around Keller’s shoulder, much the same way she had earlier with her sister. Keller lifted her hand to stare at the twinkling band on her finger. “You know, we won’t be able to see the river from our new house.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Keller looked up at her soul mate. “But you love to look at the river here.”
Sarah pulled her in tighter and smiled down at her lover. “I’ll be able to see you. There is no river in the world worth that.”
“No, I suppose not.” Keller sighed and looked back out the window, into the city they would leave behind. Just another city for Nobel Keller, just another life. Except for in the next one, all the ones to come, she was no longer alone. She turned her head and looked up at Sarah. “Welcome to the future, Miss Colby, I hope you enjoy the stay.”
The singer smiled back. “No, welcome to our future, Miss Keller. And I hope to never leave.” And then they kissed. Because when someone promises you forever, that’s what you do.
About the Author
Award winning author and Michigan native, K. Aten brings heroines to life in a variety of blended LGBTQ fiction genres. She’s not afraid of pain or adversity, but loves a happy ending. “Some words end the silence, others begin it.”
2019 GCLS Goldie winner
Waking the Dreamer - Science Fiction/ Fantasy
Other K. Aten titles to look for:
The Fletcher
Kyri is a fletcher, following in the footsteps of her father, and his father before him. However, fate is a fickle mistress, and six years after the death of her mother, she’s faced with the fact that her father is dying as well. Forced to leave her sheltered little homestead in the woods, Kyri discovers that there is more to life than just hunting and making master quality arrows. During her journey to find a new home and happiness, she struggles with the path that seems to take her away from the quiet life of a fletcher. She learns that sometimes the hardest part of growing up is reconciling who we were, with who we will become.
ISBN: 978-1-61929-356-4
eISBN: 978-1-61929-357-1
The Archer
Kyri was raised a fletcher but after finding a new home and family with the Telequire Amazons, she discovers a desire to take on more responsibility within the tribe. She has skills they desperately need and she is called to action to protect those around her. But Kyri’s path is ever-changing even as she finds herself altered by love, loyalty, and grief. Far away from home, the new Amazon is forced to decide what to sacrifice and who to become in order to get back to all that she has left behind. And she wonders what is worse, losing everyone she’s ever loved or
having those people lose her?
ISBN: 978-1-61929-370-0
eISBN: 978-1-61929-371-7
The Sagittarius
Kyri has known her share of loss in the two decades that she has been alive. She never expected to find herself a slave in roman lands, nor did she think she had the heart to become a gladiatrix. But with her soul shattered she must fight to see her way back home again. Will she win her freedom and return to all that she has known, or will she become another kind of slave to the killer that has taken over her mind? The only thing that is certain through it all is her love and devotion to Queen Orianna.
ISBN: 978-1-61929-386-1
eISBN: 978-1-61929-387-8
Rules of the Road
Jamie is an engineer who keeps humor close to her heart and people at arm’s length. Kelsey is a dental assistant who deals with everything from the hilarious to the disgusting on a daily basis. What happens when a driving app brings them to
gether as friends? The nerd car and the rainbow car both know a thing or two about hazard avoidance. When a flat tire brings them together in person, Jamie immediately realizes that
Kelsey isn’t just another woman on her radar. Both of them have struggled to break free from stereotypes while they navigate the road of life. As their friendship deepens they realize that sometimes you have to break the rules to get where you need to go.
ISBN: 978-1-61929-366-3
eISBN: 978-1-61929-367-0
Waking the Dreamer
By the end of the 21st century, the world had become a harsh place. After decades of natural and man-made catastrophes, nations fell, populations shifted, and seventy percent of the continents became uninhabitable without protective suits. Technological advancement strode forward faster than ever and it was the only thing that kept human society steady through it all. No one could have predicted the discovery of the Dream
Walkers. They were people born with the ability to leave their bodies at will, unseen by the waking world. Having the potential to become ultimate spies meant the remaining government regimes wanted to study and control them. The North American government, under the leadership of General Rennet, demanded that all Dream Walkers join the military program. For any that refused to comply, they were hunted down and either brainwashed or killed.
The very first Dream Walker discovered was a five-year-old girl named Julia. And when the soldiers came for her at the age of twenty, she was already hidden away. A decade later found Julia living a new life under the government’s radar. As a secure tech courier in the capital city of Chicago, she does her job and the rest of her time avoids other people as much as she is able. The moment she agrees to help another fugitive Walker is when everything changes. Now the government wants them both and
they’ll stop at nothing to get what they want.
ISBN: 978-1-61929-382-3
eISBN: 978-1-61929-383-0
The Sovereign of Psiere:
Mystery of the Makers Book 1
Psiere is a world of intrigue where old ideology meets new. The Makers built massive pyramids on each continent and filled them with encrypted texts and advanced technology. The two suns, Archeos and Illeos shine down on a mostly undiscovered planet with a psionic race of people living on land, and violent sea people below the water. The Queen seeks to make the world a better place for all Psierians but her daughter, Royal Sovereign Connate Olivienne Dracore, seeks only to solve the Divine Mystery. The connate makes her living as a historical adventurist and wants the answer to two important questions. Who were the Makers and where did they go? Because she is the heir, Olivienne travels with a security force and resents it every moment. Every one of her captains has either quit or been injured trying to keep up with the risk-taking woman. That’s where Commander Castellan Tosh comes in. Capable, confident, and oh-sodashing, she is forced to switch career corps to take charge of Olivienne’s team. Sparks fly from the moment they meet and things only get hotter as they chase down the clues to the greatest mystery of all time
ISBN: 978-1-61929-412-7
eISBN: 978-1-61929-413-4
Running From Forever
Sarah Colby has always run from commitment. But after more than a year on the road following her musical dreams, even she yearns for a little stability. Her sister Annie is only too happy to welcome her back home. When she meets Annie’s boss, Nobel Keller, she’s immediately drawn to the woman’s youthful good looks and dangerous charisma. The first night together leaves Sarah aching for more, but the second shows her the true
price of passion.
ISBN: 978-1-61929-398-4
eISBN: 978-1-61929-399-1
Burn It Down
Ash Hayes was failed by the system at the tender age of sixteen and suffered an addiction. As a result she lives her life weighed down by the guilt of her past. To atone for childhood misdeeds, Ash trained as a paramedic after high school and eventually became a firefighter with the Detroit fire department, along with her childhood best friend Derek. Friend, confidant, brother, he has been her light in an otherwise dark life. When tragedy strikes on the job, injury and forced leave from the department are the least of her concerns. Suffering from even more guilt and depression after the loss of her two closest friends Ash is set adrift in a sea of pain.
When Mia Thomas buys the house next door, Ash finds friendship in the most unlikely of places. It’s Mia’s nature to help and to heal. Many would say she has a knack for finding the broken ones and leading them into the light. But Ash’s secret still lives deep inside her. Before the firefighter can even think of a future, she has to amend her past. Like the phoenix of legend, Ash has to burn her fears to the ground before she can be reborn.
ISBN: 978-1-61929-418-9
eISBN: 978-1-61929-419-6
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Silver Dragon Books, Troubadour Books,
Yellow Rose Books and Young Adult Books.
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Table of Contents
Also by K. Aten:
Copyright © 2019 by K. Aten
Acknowledgments
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
About the Author
Other K. Aten titles to look for:
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