One last time... #MFRWHooks #Paranormal #Shapeshifters

Welcome to this week’s Marketing for Romance Writers Book Hooks blog hop. Today I’m sharing a snippet from my paranormal erotic romance The Eyes of Bast. Anyone who’s followed me for a while will know I’m a huge ailurophile (that is, a cat lover). Hence I had great fun writing this feline shape-shifter tale.

Blurb

Trust your heart. Follow your dreams.

Shaina Williams’ grandmother bequeathed her that wisdom, along with an old pendant from the Islands, carved from an ocelot’s tooth. When instinct tells Shaina to visit the feral cat trap she’s set in Central Park, she listens to that inner voice. She discovers she’s caged a magnificent black tom, but the cat inexplicably vanishes after she tends to his wounds. Seeking the errant feline, Shaina encounters instead a handsome stranger whose slightest touch sets her body on fire. As the day dawns after a night of ferocious passion, her mysterious lover is forced back into his true shape—the tomcat she rescued.

Born a cat, Tom was transformed into an unwilling shape shifter by a sorceress who craved a human plaything to satisfy her perverse lusts. Centuries old and irresistibly powerful, Delphine Montserrat will stop at nothing to find her runaway familiar. Shaina vows to do whatever is necessary to defeat the vicious but seductive witch and save the man she believes is her soul mate—even though it might mean losing him forever. 

 

The Hook

I drew him against my breasts and, naturally, his lips sought mine. Tabasco and brown sugar flavors mingled with his usual wild and earthy taste. My sex felt sore and inflamed after his most recent ravishment, but that didn’t stop me from craving the sensation of his relentless cock pummeling me again. However, with something like resignation, he pushed me away. Residual arousal rippled along my skin.

“Tom?”

“I’ve got to go. Every minute we are together increases your danger. She’s somewhere in this city, seeking me. She’ll find me, before long. She’ll find us and when she does, she’ll punish you as viciously as she will me.” With a grace that almost made me sob, he rose to his feet and headed for the bathroom. “If you’ll lend me some money, I can be on an outbound bus in a couple of hours.”

I followed him, standing in the doorway as he splashed water on his face and under his arms, then patted himself dry with my towel. Despite his washing, his musky odor filled the tiny cubicle. I ached to hold him tight, to never release him. Still, I knew that he wouldn’t lie to me. He wanted to stay with me. I had no doubt of that, could feel it in my very bones. But he didn’t dare.

I watched, feeling totally helpless, as he dressed himself in the jeans and jersey he’d worn that evening we’d met in the park. Had he left them here? I couldn’t recall. All that I remembered was that incredible sense of connection—physical, emotional, spiritual. How could I let him go?

I slipped into my robe, somehow not wanting to be naked when he was clothed. My mind whirled as I sought some way to keep him with me.

“You can’t run forever, Tom. We’ve got to find her, before she finds us, so we can break the spell.”

“Find one woman in this hive of eight million souls?” His laugh was bitter. “You’re dreaming, Shaina.”

“Gram always told me that dreams point the way to truth.” I clasped the pendant I never took off, the one she’d given me as a girl, an abstract feminine shape she’d told me was carved from an ocelot’s tooth. The relic from her home island felt warm under my fingers. “You’re my dream, Tom—my heart’s desire. I won’t let you go.” I squared my shoulders and stepped closer, blocking his route to the door.

“Ah, woman—I don’t want to go.” He clasped me to his chest and once again, the world cartwheeled around us. Reeling with desire, I sought his lips and felt him surrender to me. One last time. I could almost hear his thoughts.

 

Be sure to visit the other great authors joining today’s Book Hooks Hop!