Cover Artist: Kanax
Description:
Love blooms across species, culture, and time.
Stranded in another dimension, on a primitive version of Earth, Dr. Susan Barlow needs to find a way to survive. There’s no electricity, no cities, and to her shock, no humans. Instead, she faces a population of werewolves, vampires and incubi. The people are vicious but she must find her place among them. And live.
An illness is killing Sorin’s pack. As alpha it’s his responsibility to save them, but it’s a battle this warrior doesn’t know how to fight. Then a blue light in the sky brings a creature he’s never seen. She calls herself human, but to him she smells like hope.
Sorin offers Susan a safe haven in return for a cure, but she’s not that kind of a doctor. She’s a doctor of physics, not a physician. Yet as they search for a cure to save a dying people, they find something special—each other.
But even with Sorin’s protection, Susan can’t help but wonder how long she can survive in a world without humans…
Warning: Feral shifters, power-hungry vampires, and a sole human female suffering culture shock.
Stranded in another dimension, on a primitive version of Earth, Dr. Susan Barlow needs to find a way to survive. There’s no electricity, no cities, and to her shock, no humans. Instead, she faces a population of werewolves, vampires and incubi. The people are vicious but she must find her place among them. And live.
An illness is killing Sorin’s pack. As alpha it’s his responsibility to save them, but it’s a battle this warrior doesn’t know how to fight. Then a blue light in the sky brings a creature he’s never seen. She calls herself human, but to him she smells like hope.
Sorin offers Susan a safe haven in return for a cure, but she’s not that kind of a doctor. She’s a doctor of physics, not a physician. Yet as they search for a cure to save a dying people, they find something special—each other.
But even with Sorin’s protection, Susan can’t help but wonder how long she can survive in a world without humans…
Warning: Feral shifters, power-hungry vampires, and a sole human female suffering culture shock.
Before
Susan could explain anything about dimensions and gateways, the door to Kele’s
chamber crashed open, and Susan jumped to the balls of her feet, prepared—to
what, fight? Was she nuts?
A
female blocked the entrance, her muscular physique hinting at enough strength
to twist Susan into a pretzel without breaking a sweat. The newcomer flung her
black hair over her shoulder.
Rising
with grace, Kele straightened her dress before addressing the intruder.
“Mother.”
“Daughter,
I heard you’ve brought home a stray along with the Apisi alpha.” The female’s
stare drilled into Susan, her sneer far from welcoming.
Susan’s
breath caught in her throat. Black, soulless eyes ate her gaze. Her fingers
clutched the lapels of her jacket as she pulled it closed. She wiped her sweaty
palms on her pants and offered her hand. “I’m Dr. Susan Barlow.”
The
female shifter narrowed her eyes, nostrils flaring.
Susan
withdrew her untouched hand, then hid it behind her back and glanced at Kele.
Maybe she should have sniffed her mother instead? She wished someone would give
her the Dummies Guide to Shifter Society and a little time to study it.
Kele’s
mother crossed the room in two great strides and swung her arm.
Susan
did her best impression of a statue. She didn’t budge as the impact of the slap
swerved her head to the side and dragged her gaze from mother to daughter. Both
of them were flushed with emotion yet at opposite poles of the color
spectrum—one dark as an oncoming storm and the other pale as the moonlight.
The
back of Susan’s heel caught the edge of the cushion and she landed hard on her
back.
The
bitter flavor of blood swept over her taste buds. “What the hell?” She rubbed
her jaw and glared daggers at the crazy woman looming over her. Just as
quickly, she schooled her expression to something less threatening before she
insulted the bigger shifter further. With the tip of her tongue, Susan explored
her mouth. She didn’t encounter any big gaps, so no lost tooth. A small
blessing.
Kele’s
crazy mother hovered over Susan’s face and bared her teeth. In beast form, her
expression would have appeared fierce, but in human form it seemed terrifying.
With an easy grace, she flipped Susan onto her stomach. A bony knee pressed
between her shoulder blades, making her kiss the floor. Pain shot across
Susan’s upper back and neck.
“How
dare you come into my den and not submit to me.”
“She’s
not a shifter!” Kele shouted. “You can’t expect her to know how to be polite.”
Something
ran over Susan’s hair, and the sound of sniffing followed. She tried to take a
deep breath but the weight on her back made it difficult.
The
nutjob exhaled in disgust. “What is she?”
“A
human.” Kele peered at Susan’s throbbing face as she stroked her hair. “Please,
I wanted to teach her how to behave before meeting you and father.”
“Your
father.” The bitch snorted. “It’s bad enough he’s entertaining a vampire and
dealing with trespassing alphas. We don’t need any more vermin within the den.”
Susan
was jerked from the ground by her hair and dragged across the floor. Pain shot
into her scalp while she scrambled to support her weight with her legs.
“Let
go. Let go.” The shifter world was more brutal than anything she’d ever
experienced. Susan slapped at the crazy woman’s hands tangled in her hair.
“My
daughter took too many liberties in offering you shelter. You’ll need to find
another den to take you in.”
At a
loss, Susan yanked and squirmed but only made the pain worse. Out of the corner
of her eye, she saw Kele leap.
The
petite blonde used her wiry strength to jump across the room and land on her
mother’s back. The collision knocked them both to the ground in a knot of arms
and legs.
Untangling
her limbs from the struggling shifters, Susan could finally elbow the bitch in
the face. The impact made a satisfying crunch. She pulled back her arm for a
second shot, but Kele grabbed her and half carried, half dragged her out of the
chamber.
“Hurry,
we need to reach my father before she beats you into cinders.”
Not
needing any further incentive, Susan ran after her new friend. “Your people are
crazy.”
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About the author:
Annie Nicholas writes paranormal romance with a twist. She has courted vampires, hunted with shifters, and slain a dragon’s ego all with the might of her pen. Riding the wind of her imagination, she travels beyond the restraints of reality and shares them with anyone wanting to read her stories. Mother, daughter, and wife are some of the other hats she wears while hiking through the hills and dales of her adopted state of Vermont. Annie writes for Samhain Publishing, Carina Press, and Lyrical Press.
