SHATTERED BONDS by Faith Hunter, copyright Faith Hunter
Shook again. Water had not penetrated into deep coat. Had not washed into paw pads. Beast would not freeze.
Pulled in air over tongue and over scent sacs in roof of mouth. What Jane called Flehmen response, but Beast called scenting. Stopped. Held muzzle into air and smelled again. Caught stink of cat on air. Sucked in air again, hard and long, showing fangs, smelling with nose and part of brain that Beast had stolen from ugly dog, good nose, what Jane called bloodhound.
Smelled cat. Was male. Did not smell like lynx or bobcat. Was not small feral cat humans used as mousers. Was different. Was … bigger. Scent was old and no tracks showed in snow. But cat had been on Beast’s territory. Back feet landing in prints of front feet, Beast stalked scent. Followed old cat smell many short steps, body in crouch, to tree on edge of hunting territory. Male cat had left spoor near tree. Old scat. Male cat was healthy. Strong. Bigger than lynx. Beast sucked in scent through nose and mouth. Cat was not lion from Africa. Cat was not leopard. Not Puma. Was not werecat like Ricky Bo. Beast knew those smells. Did not know this cat. Beast pawed scat and saw bones of rabbit in scat. But. Cat was gone.
Beast clawed tree, shredding bark. Clawed and clawed, marking territory. This is Beast territory. This is Beast is hunting ground. Snarled again. Shook more water out of pelt. Left spoor at ground under tree, on top of male cat scat. This said, Beast place. All who hunted here would know it was Beast place. Went back to pool of water and drank. Beast water. And when Beast sees deer again, Beast deer. Beast food.
Beast screamed, mountain lion cry bouncing up hills like human ball on walls. Beast shook, flinging more water, and shoved off with all four feet, Straight up jump, what Jane would say was too high, but Puma concolor knew was good jump. Landed on top of rock ridge. Raced into trees and down top of hill toward house that was human home.
SHATTERED BONDS
Mass Market Paperback | 400 pages | $7.99
Published by Ace | Oct. 29, 2019 | ISBN 9780399587986
ABOUT SHATTERED BONDS
Jane Yellowrock must dig deep and find strength within herself if she is to survive in the latest novel in this New York Times bestselling series.
Jane Yellowrock is vampire-killer-for-hire, but her last battle with an ancient arcane enemy has brought her low. She seeks retreat in the Appalachian Mountains to grieve the loss of her friends, and to heal—or to die—from the disease brought on by her magic.
But malevolent elements in the paranormal community still seek to destroy Jane, and a terrifying foe stalks her, even into the safety of the hills. With nowhere to run and her body failing, the rogue-vampire hunter and her inner Beast must discover a way to defeat this new threat, and find a form that gives her a chance to fight another day.
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Her Rogue Mage novels—Bloodring, Seraphs, Host, and the RPG Rogue Mage—feature Thorn St. Croix, a stone mage in a post-apocalyptic alternate reality. The Soulwood series is a dark-urban fantasy / paranormal police procedural /para-thriller series featuring Nell Nicholson Ingram, an earth magic user and Special gent of PsyLED. Faith writes full-time, tries to keep house, and is a workaholic. She gave up cooking for lent one year and the oven hasn’t been turned on since. Okay – that’s a joke. She does still make cold cereal and sandwiches. Occasionally, she remembers to turn on Roomba (that she named Duma$$ because it fell down the stairs once.) Faith researches in great detail, and tries most everything her characters do. Research led to her life’s passions – jewelry making, orchids, bones, travel, white-water kayaking, and writing. Jewelry-making was the occupation of two of her characters: Thorn St. Croix, the Rogue Mage, and the main character of BloodStone, written by her pen name, Gwen Hunter. She fell in love with the art form. Faith makes, wears, and sometimes gives away her jewelry as promo items to fans and as prizes in contests. See her FaceBook Fan Page at http://www.facebook.com/official.faith.hunter for pics. She works with stones, pearls, crystal, and glass, wire wrapping larger, undrilled, focal stones. Labradorite, Amazonite, apatite, aquamarine, and prehnite are her favorite stones. Faith loves orchids. Her favorite time of year is when several are blooming. Pictures can be seen at her FaceBook page. And yes, she collects bones and skulls. Many of her orchid pics are juxtaposed with bones and skulls —a fox, cat, dog, cow skull, goat, and deer skull, (that is, unfortunately, falling apart) and the jawbone of an ass. She just received a boar skull, and the skull of a mountain lion (legally purchased from a US tannery) killed in the wild. She and her husband RV, traveling to whitewater rivers all over the Southeast. And that leads Faith to kayaking – her very favorite sport. Faith discovered whitewater paddling when she was researching her (Gwen Hunter) mystery book, Rapid Descent. She took a lesson and—after a bout of panic attacks from fear of drowning—discovered she loved the sport. Faith is one of the founders and a participant at the now defunct and archived www.MagicalWords.net, an online writing forum geared to helping writers. And she is a voracious reader. Under other pen names, notably, Gwen Hunter, she writes action adventure, mysteries, and thrillers. As Gwen, she is a winner of the WH Smith Literary Award for Fresh Talent in 1995 in the UK, and won a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award in 2008. As Faith, her books have been on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists, been nominated for various awards and won an Audie Award with Khristine Hvam. Under all her pen names, she has more than 40 books, anthologies, and complications in print in 30 countries. For more, including a list of her books, see www.faithhunter.net, www.gwenhunter.com, and www.magicalwords.net. To keep up with her daily, join her fan pages at Facebook.
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Tour-Wide Giveaway! Prizes include a necklace made by Faith Hunter, Amazon gift cards, and copies of SHATTERED BONDS! Open to US residents only.
Daniel M
October 28, 2019 at 3:47 pm
haven’t read any yet
Amy Woolard
October 28, 2019 at 11:31 am
I have not yet read this series but I am so excited to start it! I will let you know what I think!! Thank you!
Jayne
October 24, 2019 at 4:38 am
I have not read any of this series.
Sandra Preti
October 23, 2019 at 7:50 am
I haven’t read the series yet, but I’m eager to read them all!
steph y
October 21, 2019 at 11:09 am
I haven’t read them yet, but I’m looking forward to it.
BookLady
October 19, 2019 at 8:03 pm
I have not yet read this series, but I plan to.
shelly peterson
October 19, 2019 at 8:02 pm
I have not read any yet.
Susan Smith
October 19, 2019 at 7:18 pm
I haven’t read any of these books before.
Rita Wray
October 19, 2019 at 8:14 am
I haven’t read it yet.
Lori
October 19, 2019 at 6:06 am
That cover is incredible! Thanks so much for sharing this one. 🙂
Lori recently posted…Review: Beyond the Horizon by Ella Carey
Mary D
October 19, 2019 at 5:55 am
I was on the fence about this series for a few years. I finally put my big girl panties on and started the first book last week. I’m now on book number five and hooked line and sinker! This is one hell of a series. I’m so glad I finally started it.