by Ben Reeder
“Wow, you’ve been busy,” I said. “What’s all this for?”
“My backup plan,” she said. “You’re the only person who knows about this place. It’s yours if you ever need somewhere to go. But tonight...this is where I first tried to have sex with you.”
“I remember,” my voice was rough as the memory of her taking her top off played through my head.
“I wanted to do it right this time. I finally feel like I know who I really am, and I want to…” She stopped, then kissed me again, her hands on my cheeks, the point where our lips met feeling like everything was pouring through me and into her, and like she was trying to pour herself into me through that kiss.
“So do I,” I said. Monkey brain was in full, ecstatic agreement. She reached for the hem of her top, and her phone rang. My eyes rolled and I tilted my head back, frustrated by the power of technology to ruin a moment. She pulled it from her pocket and looked at it, then smiled at me.
“Damn, how does she do this? I really need to take this, then I’m all yours.” She hit the answer button. “Hi, Mom….Yes, I’m with Chance right now… I know you did, but I’m not going to… Mom, believe me, drugs are the absolute last thing you’d ever have to worry about with him...You’re right, Mom, I have changed...Mom, stop. There is so much about me you don’t know. Look, we’ll talk about this later… Well, you better get used to that tone, because I’m not going to be living under your roof after tonight, and I’m not going to that damn prep school… Good-bye, mother.” She pulled the phone away from her ear and ended the call, then turned it off just as it started to ring again. “Now, where were we?”
“You’re moving out?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she looked down, then back up at me. “It’s time for me to become my own woman. But that isn’t where we were. Oh, yeah, I remember. We were about to go back to have dinner with your Mom and everyone else.”
“I think you skipped ahead a little bit.”
“You’re right, I did,” she slipped into my arms. Her features softened a little, and the bite marks on her shoulder reappeared. “I completely skipped the part where I stop being an alpha werewolf and you stop being the mage of New Essex for a little while and we get to just be naughty together.” She pulled her top over her head.
“This isn’t naughty,” I told her. She dropped her shirt on my head, and we fell onto the mattress giggling and laughing. My magick was still weakened, I had just been told I was the mage for New Essex, and there was a powerful warlock running around in my city, doing who knew what. I had a very full plate, but right now, my family was safe, and it had gotten just a little bigger. I had a small (in more ways than one) army at my back, and Shade and I were closer than ever. Big things were coming, maybe bigger than I could handle. But that was for tomorrow’s me to handle. Right then, I had a woman in my arms who loved me as much as I loved her. The rest of the world could wait for a little while.
Dear Reader:
Thanks for reading True Colors. In many ways, this was the hardest of the books to write for a couple of reasons. One, it was the one that was most vague to me in terms of what was going to happen. All I knew for sure was that this was the book where Shade really came into her own. And two, it was the one that was the crucible for Chance and Shade, both together and individually.
When I first started writing The Demon’s Apprentice, I had a clear idea in my head of where this arc would go, but I had moments early on when I wondered if I would ever get this far. Now, as I near the completion of the first arc and start planning the second stage in Chance’s adventures, I am truly grateful to everyone who has stuck with me thus far, the folks I call True Believers. You are the reason I’ve made it this far. Your support makes all the difference.
As always, I’d like to ask you to leave a review for True Colors on Amazon once you’ve finished reading it. I try to listen to my readers, so this is how you help to improve each book. It’s also one of the best ways to help your favorite authors out.
So, thank you again, and I hope you’re enjoying the ride. I know I am. I’ll be working on the seventh book in the series, tentatively titled Reign of Angels. My hope is to get it out in 2019, along with another manuscript for my agent. In addition, I have at least one spinoff series in mind for Lucas as well. 2019 is going to be an exciting year, and I’m glad you’ll be there with me for what’s to come!
If you enjoy the Demon’s Apprentice series, please take a moment to look at the offerings from some of my fellow indie authors as well on the next pages.
Sincerely,
Ben Reeder
The Harrowing of Twilight
History winds toward an inevitable end. Strangers wield cold iron. A lost world hides within eldritch darkness.
Beneath a silvered moon and through a twilight grove, Tommy Maple is on the run.
Bestial, naked, and filled with forgetting, the feral hunt has fallen upon him. As autumn again falls across the land, hawk and owl ghost behind. His people faded, his world waning, Tommy seeks only to lose himself.
Yet this is not to be.
Soon Tommy is snared, caught by a nameless stranger. She reveals to him secrets he had once thought lost, a people hidden in the very shadows behind the world. She burns with mortal-born glamour, a power Tommy has not seen in centuries. Entranced by the story she tells, he agrees to a terrible journey. He shall follow her into the Twilight, a land of shadows and ever-winter.
Here, he finds darkness dire.
As savage and slavering miscreations hunt them from the darkness, Tommy is forced to face the terrible ramifications of his own life. He soon finds himself in a web of a bent and broken history, a sundered story that stretches back over a thousand years.
He finds himself captured by his own choices.
Here, the Herald of Autumn faces a Telling which changes everything.
The Harrowing of Twilight is a thrilling addition to JM Guillen's Irrational Worlds. If you like strangeling darkness, inhumanly beautiful fae, and snarky supernatural characters, you'll be enchanted by J.M. Guillen's fantastical tale. Get your copy and join the wild hunt today!
Grave Dealings (The Grave Report book 3)
Don't make deals with the paranormal. They're better at it than you, and they never play fair.
Paranormal investigator and soul without a body, Vincent Graves, did just that—a deal made in desperation. Now it's coming back to bite him in the middle of a case.
He has 57 hours to investigate a string of deaths involving people who've made some devilish bargains. Too bad devils don't deal in good faith. It'd be easy enough, if he didn't have to deal with things such as:
Being hunted through the streets of Queens by a dark elf with a motorcycle fetish.
Ending up the target of a supernatural hit.
An old acquaintance dragging him to a paranormal ball where he could end up on the menu.
And having one of his closest guarded secrets brought to light...
Not great for a tight clock, because if he doesn't get to the bottom of this case in time, Vincent and company might just lose their souls.
Dirty deals are never done dirt cheap. And the supernatural always collect—big!
Give The Otter King R.R. Virdi a visit on his website!
The Nasaru Chronicles
Jo is your average, everyday seventeen year old girl.
Wait, no she's not. Not by a longshot.
She is a girl with a secret. Possessed of powers no one would believe even if they knew that she had them. The ability to create illusions at a thought is a dangerous weapon in the most responsible of hands, and Jo's aren't exactly squeaky clean.
Ever the trouble magnet, Jo is accustomed to finding more than her fair share of problems - most of which she brings on herself. The rebellious daughter of a senator and a diplomat, she has a rap sheet and has been kicked out of nearly every prestigious private school on the Eastern Seaboard.
This time, she's vowed to make an actual effort. Not t
o fit in - that'd be impossible - but to just not get kicked out.
Of course, this would be the school that turns out to be the favorite hunting grounds of a homicidal ghost.
What could possibly happen?
Don’t forget to check out EM Ervin’s website!
