Today's Spooktacular Spotlight Author is Brenda Dyer!
She brings with her today, the second book in her Prophecy Series.
Stay tuned, at the bottom of this post there is important info on Brenda's awesome giveaway!!
Stay tuned, at the bottom of this post there is important info on Brenda's awesome giveaway!!
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/337666
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/prophecys-child-brenda-dyer/1116227419?ean=2940044664968
His secret will shatter her world.
Katherine Colby’s life splintered ten years ago when her lover suddenly vanished, leaving her with more than a broken heart. But when Kal unexpectedly makes an appearance, her safe, dependable existence is shattered once more. Drawn into Kal’s deadly world of vampires and demons, she must now put aside her hurt and anger and learn to trust him. Can she forgive past deceptions and find the courage to love again? Or will she turn away the one man who owns her heart and soul?
Her secret will change his life.
Powerful, and lethal, Kal is a vampire warrior, sworn to protect humans from demons. Loving Katherine too much to pull her into his dangerous world, Kal deserted her, believing his decision was best for them both. But not even time could assuage his yearning for the woman who has captured his heart. As fate tosses them together once again, Kal must fight to win Katherine’s trust and forgiveness before evil separates them forever. But is he ready to become the man she needs him to be? Or will he lose the one woman he can’t live without?
How About A Sample?
Excerpt from Prophecy’s Child:
The moment Katherine saw Kal, anger surged through her.
He looked entirely too comfortable—and sexy—sitting on her couch. He’d removed his leather jacket and draped it over the back of the sofa. He wore a tight fitting, navy blue shirt with long sleeves. Damn him. He may as well of had no shirt on, because every muscle he possessed was clearly defined. Faded jeans showed off his corded thighs. When she noticed his socks, she almost chuckled. They were white with red over the toes and heels.
He leaned forward to accept the beer. “Thanks.” He twisted off the cap and took a drink. The muscles in his throat worked up and down as he swallowed.
Katherine’s heart did a little jig. She wanted to kiss her way up his throat and lick the beer from his lips.
Stop this crap right now. You better get your shit together and fast. Think about Ike.
That thought cooled her yearnings and put the brakes on her wayward thoughts.
Still clutching her wine, Katherine sat on the armchair, her spine rigid.
Kal’s eyes met hers as he set the bottle on the coffee table. His blue irises glowed with tenderness. “It’s great to see you again. You look…” His gaze traveled over her face, down her neck before moving lower, where it lingered on her breasts before taking the same path back to her eyes. “Beautiful.”
Heat flooded her cheeks and her pulse pounded. Embarrassment and longing churned through her, two emotions she didn’t need right now—they were weaknesses. She tried to stare him down, but couldn’t. Damn him—and her wayward feelings.
The hateful words she wanted to say stuck in her throat. With him acting so damn nice, it threw off her rage game.
Nice? Pleeease. He’s a selfish bastard that cares for no one but himself. Never allow him to fool you again.
Even if a part of her yearned for Ike to have a father in his life, she’d learned the hard way Kal was not a long-term commitment kinda of guy. No way would she allow Kal to sweep into Ike’s life only to sneak back out without a word. Her son’s heart was at stake, and she’d do whatever it took to protect him.
Katherine glared at him. “Let’s drop the niceties, and get down to why you’re here.”
Kal’s smile faltered.
“As you’ve already guessed, you are Ike’s father—but don’t worry, it won’t change your life. You don’t have to be involved in any way, physically or financially.”
Kal rested his forearms along his thighs and clasped his hands. “But I want to be involved…in both ways.”
“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear. I don’t want you involved. Ike doesn’t know you’re his father and he never will.”
Silence pulsed between them.
Kal was the first to break the staring contest. “Look, I understand why you’re—”
“You understand nothing.” Fury almost choked her. “Nothing! Do you understand that?”
A muscle ticked along his jaw. “You have every right to be upset, but if you’d give me a chance to explain—”
“Oh, now you’re giving me permission to be angry?” She laughed, but the sound was more of a snort. “That’s very generous of you.”
“Damn it, that’s not what I meant. If I could go back and change what I did, I would, but I can’t. All I can change is the present and future.”
“Then do it somewhere else.”
Kal remained quiet for a moment, then he spread his arms wide. “I’m sorry. Obviously I handled things poorly. But if you give me a chance, I’ll explain everything.”
Nothing he had to say could take away the hurt, fear and heartache she’d suffered. And honestly, she didn’t want to hear his lame-assed excuses. But he sure as hell would hear how his decision ten years ago had set in motion the avalanche that crashed into her, changing her life.
“I wish I could say I regret meeting you, but that would be wrong,” she said with a controlled, hard tone. “You gave me the greatest gift—my son. But other than that, the rest was just a waste of my time.”
His eyes flared wide, but he never broke eye contact. A part of her wished he would. It’d be easier to keep talking if she didn’t have to see the pain her words inflicted.
Please. He was incapable of feeling real pain.
She took a gulp of wine before placing the glass gently on the coffee table. She forced her gaze back to his. He continued to stare.
She took this as his way of asking her to carry on.
Katherine stood and paced in front of the window. Her arms crossed tight over her chest as snippets of the past bombarded her. The only way she’d get through this in one piece would be by blocking all emotions. Look at it like an outsider.
Finally, she stopped walking and faced him. “You want to know how naïve and stupid I was back then?”
His face paled. He picked up his empty beer bottle and absently peeled off the label.
“Even though cutting off your cell phone was proof positive you were a lying bastard, I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t accept you’d taken off like that…because of all the times you confessed your deep and undying love for me.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm and it had the desired effect. With each word uttered his, face turned whiter, and the tick in his jaw grew more pronounced.
“The first week after you…disappeared, I tried to convince myself you’d been hurt. I even phoned a few hospitals in the area. But surprise, surprise. There was no patient named Kal Clansmon.”
“Katherine, I’m so sorry.”
“Save it.” She stormed over to the coffee table and grabbed her wine glass, draining it dry. The alcohol warmed her limbs and loosened her tongue.
“I tried to focus on my classes, but I couldn’t keep up. Depression can be a debilitating little bastard. Anyway, a month passed and I found out I was…” Tears stung her eyes, but she swiped them away. “Pregnant.”
Kal stood, but she backed away, holding out a hand. He slowly sat, but his rigid posture said he’d be on his feet in the blink of an eye.
“I couldn’t stay in college—I was so far behind in my studies at that point. Plus, I needed to tell my…parents. So at the end of the semester, I packed up and went home.”
Katherine resumed pacing. This trip down Memory Lane threatened to drop her right back into the black pit of misery she’d struggled so hard to climb out of.
“As you may or may not remember, my parents are very religious. When I informed them they would be grandparents, they didn’t take this news very well. Actually, they said I was the daughter of the devil, and they kicked me out.”
Kal bolted to his feet. “My God.”
“They allowed me to take my clothes and my car. And since all my friends and their families attended the same church and were of like minds, I had nowhere to go.”
Katherine didn’t tell him about eating from garbage cans, begging for spare change, or the deep hopelessness that wrapped her in its deadly grip. She didn’t tell him about the dark day she sat crying silently in the waiting room of a doctor’s office, awaiting her turn to terminate her pregnancy, or how she ran out the moment her name was called. Or how she seriously contemplated ending her own life—how the thought of her unborn child was all that kept her from giving in.
Nor did she tell him that shame drove her from the small, close-knit town she’d lived in since birth to start over on the west coast where no one knew her. The moment she left, she’d severed all ties with her parents and God. Never again would she waste time on a God whose love was based on too many conditions.
Those thoughts she kept to herself, and they’d stay forever locked away. They were hers. These struggles had helped shape the woman she was today.
She shrugged, hoping to appear nonchalant, though inside, her emotions rolled like an ocean during a hurricane. “A child normally expects their parents to shelter and protect them, but not mine. They tossed me away like garbage. My God-fearing parents felt it was God’s will that they turn their backs on me. I sinned and had to pay the price.” She squeezed her eyes shut for a second. “Although, they were kind enough to let me know they’d pray for my soul and the soul of my child.
“For nineteen goddamn years I tried to be the model daughter. And when I needed them the most…” Tears spilled over her lashes and her throat ached. “They…Oh, God...”
A damn burst, and years of pent up frustrations and hurt flooded over her carefully constructed barriers. She hugged her middle in a feeble attempt to keep herself together. Kal and her living room blurred as tears tracked down her cheeks. A hoarse sob tore from her lips. “How could they do that to me? I needed them—I had no one—nowhere to go.”
Furiously, she fought to harness her emotions, but when Kal’s arms encircled her and pulled her into his embrace, her willpower wobbled.
Katherine wanted to scream at him to release her, but tears clogged her throat. She couldn’t force the words out. With her hands planted on his pecs, she tried to push out of his grasp. Her efforts were pitiful. Instead, he held her face next to his chest with one hand on the back of her head.
“You’re not alone anymore,” Kal whispered against her hair. “Please, Kat. Give me another chance—I’ll make it up to you and Ike. I promise.”
A moan, sounding like a wounded animal, ripped from her throat. Instead of escaping, she gripped his shirt tight as if her life depended on it, and buried her face under his chin.
If only she could believe his words. She was so lonely and tired of shouldering all the responsibility.
The feel of a strong pair of arms around her was her undoing. Just for a moment, she’d allow herself this weakness. And for the first time in years, Katherine let go of her self-control and cried.
Kal scooped her up and carried her to the couch. He sat with her cradled on his lap. One hand slid up her back, and the other smoothed her hair away from her wet cheeks.
God, it felt so good to be held and comforted.
He whispered words she didn’t understand, but they soothed her. She clung to him and soaked up his heat and strength.
When her tears turned to hiccups, she became acutely aware of Kal’s hard chest under her cheek and the steady rhythm of his heart. His familiar scent conjured up memories of the nights they’d spent holding each other after making love. Funny, she’d never questioned his love for her back then. When it finally sunk in that he’d left, it had come as a complete shock.
Maybe because her internal walls were still down, or maybe because she was too exhausted to care, Katherine closed her eyes and whispered, “Why did you leave me? I loved you.”
Kal’s arms tightened around her. “I was stupid—stupid and scared. Not a day has passed that I didn’t think about you—about us, and what could’ve been. I loved you then, and I still love you, Katherine.”
He cleared his throat. “But I wasn’t completely honest with you. There are things about me you don’t know. I foolishly thought you’d be better off not knowing. I should’ve told you.”
Katherine held her breath waiting for Kal to continue. But he stayed quiet as he fiddled with a strand of her hair.
That was it? This was his excuse for leaving? He was scared?
Oh weeell, that explains it. He chose to abandon her because he was scared. And hey, didn’t matter his choice started her descent into hell. It was all good. No harm, no foul.
Feeling like the biggest fool alive, Katherine scrambled off his lap.
The walls guarding her heart slammed back into place. “I want you out of my house and never come back.”
Kal jumped up, stalked around the coffee table, and stopped in front of her. “I can’t do that.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she leaned forward slightly. “Let me make this crystal clear. I may despise my parents, but I hate you with a passion so intense I’m afraid I’ll explode. As sick and twisted as they are, at least my parents discarded me because they thought they were doing God’s will. You abandoned me because you’re a worthless coward!”
“For Christ’s sakes, Katherine. There’s more to it than that.” He grasped her arms. “If you’ll stop insulting me, I’ll explain everything.”
“Let me go,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Not until you hear me out.”
“Let me go right now, or so help me.” She tried to jerk her arms out of his clasp, but he tugged her closer.
He stared down at her, his blue eyes dark with anger. “You’ll what? Tell me how much you hate me? You’ve done that—repeatedly. I need you to sit down and listen to me.”
With a violent tug, she yanked free. “How dare you demand anything from me? And if you think you have any rights where Ike is concerned, then you are more deranged than I thought. Now leave before I call the cops.”
“Let’s get something straight right now. I’m going to be there for my son whether you like it or not.”
Without thinking, she drew her arm back then shot it forward. As her hand connected with his jaw, a sharp crack filled the room. His head snapped to the side.
She didn’t see him move. But before she had time to register the burning pain on her palm, his body was tight against hers, the hand she’d slapped him with pinned behind her back, and her chin held steady in his taut grip.
His expression turned thunderous; brows pulled together and eyes blackened with an emotion she couldn’t name.
“Don’t do that again, Katherine.”
“Or what? You’ll hit me?”
“I’d never touch you in violence, and it hurts me you’d suggest it.” His face lowered until his lips were a hair’s breadth from hers. “My touch would only bring you pleasure.”
His words shot straight to the throbbing flesh between her thighs. Desire tried to drop-kick anger aside. Neither would budge, so both fought for supremacy.
Desire won.
Her breathing turned to shallow gasps, which brought her breasts in contact with his hard chest. Her nipples hardened.
Come on. Just do it. You’ve pleasured yourself to his memory for ten years. Those memories are old, stale. Why not make a new one to use for the next ten years? Because his touch comes with a price you’re not willing to pay—your heart.
Kal released her chin and then smoothed his hand over her cheek until he cupped the back of her head. His fingers tangled in her hair. “Katherine,” he whispered before his lips claimed hers.
A Little Face Time With The Author
K.S. Hello and welcome to the blog. I am very excited to have you here. Why don’t we start off with a small introduction? Tell us a little about yourself.
Thanks for having me today, Katie.
Well, I’m really a very boring person. I’m married with two teen sons—one is 17, the other is 21. We live on a hobby farm. I love gardening, reading, writing—of course, lol—and painting. I eat oatmeal every morning, even though I hate it. I love sweets, but had to cut down. *Sigh* Sometimes getting older sucks.
I started writing in 2008, realized I liked it, and haven’t looked back. Only thing I hate about it is I spend way too long sitting.
K.S. Any interesting writing quirks or stories you would like to share with my readers?
I have to write the rough draft in long hand. LOL, I’ve tried on the computer, but my mind goes blank. So, I’ll write each chapter out long hand, then type it up.
K.S. When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? What sparked the desire to pen your first novel?
I started writing in 2008. But the idea behind my first novel, Love’s Prophecy, had been swirling around my head for at least a year before that. I had the back story in place, and the history behind the story.
K.S. What genre do you write?
Paranormal romance—recently I have been told I write erotic paranormal romance, lol.
K.S. What would you say has inspired you most in your writing career? Or, who is your favorite author and why?
Hands down, J.R.R Tolkien is my favorite author. And he is the inspiration behind my writing career.
K.S. What does your family think of your writing?
Hmmm, I don’t know. They don’t say too much about it, lol. I do know no one in my family has read my books. Too bad for them. I told them that my novel Love’s Prophecy won first runner up at the 2012 R.O.N.E Awards, and all they said was, do you get any money for it?
K.S. What was one of the most surprising things you learned while creating your book/s?
The most surprising thing I learned while creating my books is holy freaking crap, I have a wicked imagination, lol!
K.S. What inspires you?
My characters and my stories. I want to share them with others.
You can find out more about Brenda and her work at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrendaMDyer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrendaMDyer
Website: http://www.brendamdyer.com
GIVEAWAY!
Brenda would love to give away a copy of her latest release. For your chance to win, stop by her blog (today only) and answer her secret question. One lucky winner will get this book absolutely free!!! What are you waiting for? Go! Now! http://www.brendamdyer.blogspot.com