“We can’t.” She barely heard her own words. Her pounding heart said otherwise.
“We can.” He insisted, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs. “I want you.”
She shook her head and stated more firmly, “We can’t.”
“I’ll make sure your dad doesn’t hear or your sisters—”
“That’s not it.” She wetted her lips, tasting him still. Wanting him. But it couldn’t be. “I already have plans to leave Alaska.”
Any hint of desire flowed out of his handsome face. “Why would you leave Alaska?”
So said most every Alaskan. They couldn’t understand.
“I’m expanding my business, and I can’t do it from here. If we got involved…” She looked upwards. Please let her not cry about this. “It just wouldn’t be good because one of us would have to give up our dreams.”
“What if I said you were my dream?” Lucky nudged his nose against hers.
Why didn’t he just push her away and let her go? Why did he have to be so damn amazing? No matter the ache in her body or the way her chest swelled, she couldn’t start something with him. After this whole totem pole thing was done, she was gone. New York, London, Paris. She’d be the world’s top designer.
Ametta slipped out of his hold and backed away. “I’m not.” Her back hit the wall. “You need a good woman who wants an Alaskan log house and fills it with children. She’ll let you be her hero and her your damsel. That’s not me. I’m no one’s damsel, and only I can be my own hero.”
“You don’t know what I want.” Lucky’s gold flecked gaze followed her as she inched into the hallway. “But I will show you.”
She escaped fast into the other bedroom and shut the door. Not bothering with the light, she slid into the bottom bunk of the bunk bed she once shared with Kinley. She wrapped up in the blanket and pressed her back against the wall.
Lucky’s words ran through her head again and again. She didn’t doubt him. What she questioned was her own will power. She had to be strong and stay true to her dreams.
But alone in the darkness, she could let herself fall for him just a little and wrap imaginary arms around her as she drifted off to sleep.
TOTEM SERIES
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Three sisters.
Seven totem tokens.
One chance to save their world.
SILENT WHISPERS (TOTEM #2)
It’s not only the dead who whisper upon the wind.
An ancient totem pole has gone missing, and its pieces are scattered across Alaska. Restoring the seven totem tokens may be the only way to save every shifter in the world.
Kinley Dorn, a geeky architect with a heart of gold and a polar bear shifter, jumps at the opportunity to help her family find the lost pieces. Their idea of “helping” involves staying indoors to research online. Work leads Kinley to sexy lynx shifter Ransom Averill. He coaxes her away from the safety behind her computer and into the path of a rampaging giant. Terrifying as the monster might be, she must brave its mountain because the owl totem is calling to her through silent whispers.
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Release date: October 31, 2016.
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CLOAK OF SNOW (TOTEM #3)
No one messes with Saskia Dorn’s family and gets away with it.
The same murderous shifters who had hunted her sister have attempted to steal a magical totem pole. Since the pieces are scattered across Alaska, Saskia, a polar bear shifter, takes her search to the tundra for any signs of the lost totems.
Instead she finds Sedge, the latest reincarnation of the old Inuit Bear god, who just happens to be the man who broke her heart.
They come across a small native village tormented by the Jinxioc, evil gnomes with an appetite for human flesh. Sedge declares he will rid the people of the menace, believing a totem token is nearby affecting the devils’ behavior. At his side, Saskia battles to save the tribesmen, but it could mean sacrificing herself.
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Release date: November 14, 2016
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TOTEM #4 - Tentative release date: January 9, 2017
TOTEM #5 - Tentative release date: January 23, 2017
TOTEM #6 - Tentative release date: February 6, 2017
TOTEM #7, #8, and #9 release dates yet to be determined.
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OTHER WORKS BY CHRISTINE RAINS
Paranormal Romance
Of Blood and Sorrow
Fearless
The Marquis (The 13th Floor #1)
The Alpha (The 13th Floor #2)
The Dragonslayer (The 13th Floor #3)
The Harbinger (The 13th Floor #4)
The Oracle and the Vampire (The 13th Floor #5)
The Ghost (The 13th Floor #6)
The 13th Floor Complete Collection
Paranormal Erotica
Ghost Dancer (The Paramours #1)
Poltergeist’s Pleasure (The Paramours #2)
Lovelorn Spirits (The Paramours #3)
Big Yearning (Sasquatch Susies #1)
Big Longing (Sasquatch Susies #2)
Big Burning (Sasquatch Susies #3)
Horror
L’il Gal Al and the Zombies of Amarillo
Geeky Erotica
Loose Corset (Dice & Debauchery #1)
Layers of Lace (Dice & Debauchery #2)
A Masked Kiss (Dice & Debauchery #3)
UNTETHERED REALMS
Tap into worlds, wings, and spec fic things!
Untethered Realms is a group of speculative fiction authors. We reside in the weird and fantastical. For more information about the Untethered Realms authors, please visit our website and sign up for our newsletter. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to my team of awesome critique partners and beta readers: T.F. Walsh, Tara Tyler, Patricia Lynne, and Clare Dugmore. You help bring out the best in my writing.
For Untethered Realms, I’m so grateful to be part of this wonderful group of writers. Raise your bears and toast a great cheers!
Thank you to my husband and son who must put up with a wife and mommy who is lost in the supernatural Great North. You are my compass, my way back home.
A huge thank you to my dear friend and critique partner/editor/formatter Cherie Reich. I would never be able to do this without you. I’ll say it again and again how lucky I am to have you as a friend. I am forever in your debt.
Finally, thank you to my readers. You guys are the best.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christine Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She’s married to her best friend and fellow geek living in Indiana. They have one son who is too smart for his parents’ own good and loves to pretend he’s Batman. Christine has four degrees which help nothing with motherhood, but make her a great Jeopardy player. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s going on adventures with her son or watching cheesy movies on Syfy. She’s a member of Untethered Realms and S.C.I.F.I. (South Central Indiana Fiction Interface). She has one novel and several short stories and novellas published. Totem is her biggest project to date, and it comes along with her own dream of one day seeing Alaska.
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Dark Dawning (Totem Book 1) Page 9