Here are two new releases by one of my favorite authors. I love Mandy's world building, and her characters set the pages on fire.
Mating Behavior
by Mandy M Roth
BLURB:
Paranormal Shifter Romance
Wolf shifter Alan has a problem—he wants his best friend Katie in the worst sort of way, but Katie's human and for a shifter male to choose a human for a mate is a death sentence—for both of them.
Katie is so in love with her best bud, Alan, that she can’t see straight. Problem is, Alan doesn’t seem to see her that way. All she wants is for him to tear her clothes off and have at her but, sweet, reserved Alan would never… or would he?
EXCERPT:
Alan Becker stared over the orange glow of the campfire at the angel before him. She was tired, as he expected she might be when he’d called for a break. With his supernatural strength, Alan’s endurance was off the charts in comparison to that of a human. Katie had no idea he wasn’t like her. Hiding the fact he’d not broken a sweat or gotten the least bit winded on the hike thus far had been hard enough. The angel, who now looked to be on the verge of nodding off, was pushed beyond her limits. It damn near tore his heart out to see it. Katie hadn’t complained once so far on the trip and that made it all the worse. It was his place to take care of her.
They’d stopped long enough to eat and for her to warm up. As much as he disliked the idea of starting even the smallest of fires, which they would sit by for an hour or two at best, Katie needed a break from the hike.
Her unruly, dark brown hair naturally went to blonde surrounding her face, falling from her knit cap. Katie didn’t seem to notice or care as she tucked her knees to her chest and rested her chin upon them. If Alan didn’t know first-hand how cold Katie got, he would have thought the thick mittens and sweater she wore were overkill considering just how mild the March weather was. He’d been shedding layers most of the day and even now, as the sun hid on the other side of the mountain causing the temperature to drop, he was hot. Hot because of what he truly was—more than human but not quite a complete animal—and hot because of who he was with, Katie.
He grit his teeth as his cock dug painfully at the confines of his jeans. It seemed to be in a permanent state of arousal around Katie. The girl needed only to exist to make his heart flutter and his pulse speed. The urge to leap forth, do a partial shift and claim her as his own reached levels Alan wasn’t sure he could sustain without a meltdown. He swallowed back a lump in his throat, positive his tongue was swelling at almost the same rate his cock was.
Damn her for looking so tempting.
In truth Katie was layered up to the point her sexy, petite frame was unrecognizable, but he could see those big brown eyes reflecting pools of firelight back at him. The very thought of those eyes staring up at him as Katie took his cock in her mouth had Alan biting back a moan. She was passionate about everything in her life and he had little doubt she’d be a pistol in the bedroom as well. He could almost feel her nails digging into his back as he rode her into oblivion.
He clenched his fist, trying to wash the erotic images from his head before he lost control of himself. “Hungry?”
I know I am and it’s not for food.
She nodded. “A little. How much further do we have to go?”
The weary tone of her voice sobered him instantly. “Depending on how long we rest here for,” he ran a hand over his scratchy chin, “I’d say we should be to our campsite a little before nightfall. Unless you want to go straight to the cabin?”
Katie rubbed her mitten-covered hands over her legs. “You mentioned the old wolf dens near the spot your dad used to take you camping.” The slight pull of her mouth told him just how exhausted she was. Katie had been elated at the idea of seeing dens, even ones that were no longer in use. Seeing her weak smile was all the heads-up Alan needed to know she required rest. “I’d love to camp near them.”
“Anything you want,” he said, doing his best to ignore the way she bit at her lower lip.
Anything you want? What? How can I be whipped when I haven’t even sampled the goods?
He groaned and then coughed in a quick attempt to hide it. Alan wasn’t the type of man who followed a woman around aimlessly, bending to her every whim. Well, at least he never thought he was the type to do that. Katie had a way of leaving him tongue twisted and his chest tied in knots at the idea of her being unhappy. Only Katie possessed that certain something that left him longing to touch her, or to even be in the same room with her.
Alan poked the fire with a long stick for a while, unsure how much time had passed, and pretended to be more worried about keeping the fire going than the fact Katie was now watching him closely through tired eyes. She watched him often when she assumed he wasn’t looking. He used to wonder what she was thinking, but anymore he had to fight to keep from tackling her to the ground and sinking his cock into her. She had no idea his feelings ran so deep. Hell, up until he’d caught the scent of another man on her some six months ago, he didn’t even realize what he felt for her was so intense.
Jealousy is funny like that.
Alan had thought she was a fling. Minus the actual sex part, of course. A temporary obsession because she represented everything he couldn’t have—a beautiful, intelligent, human female for his own, to take as his mate, his wife and the mother of his children.
Temporary my ass. I’ve been hot for her for years.
The pack had a strict no-mating-with-humans policy and anyone who didn’t adhere to it found themselves on the receiving end of what they could only hope was a quick death. Not to mention the human involved was sentenced to death as well. Humans were to have no knowledge of their kind.
End of story.
No exceptions to the rule.
The council members had laid the laws of the pack down long ago and each generation followed it to the letter. Any who didn’t paid the ultimate price. He’d seen a werewolf punished for crimes against the pack when he was just a boy and the memory stuck with him. Seeing a man hung naked by his feet from a tree and ripped to shreds by shifted wolves wasn’t something he was ever likely to forget.
While Alan was more than willing to forfeit his own life for a night of passion with Katie, he wasn’t ready to sacrifice her life as well. Granted, he wasn’t heavily active in any pack, not even the one he lived closest to now, but still, going against the grain was deadly. Shifters of any kind were more common than humans would want to believe. In the city he bumped into at least one shifter a week. Hell, he’d even had a house party once and one showed up. The chick had been some sort of cat shifter and looked as if she wanted to gouge his eyes out. Being part wolf left the feeling totally mutual, so Alan didn’t take it to heart. Though, he did have his carpets and furniture steam cleaned to get the smell of cat out of them once she was gone. There was really nothing worse than cat hair stuck to his suit, then his sofa, then his bedding. Sleeping with her would have at least given a good reason for it. As it stood, the bitch just seemed to shed a lot as she'd wandered around his place snarling.
If he did give in and claim Katie as his own, the risk of another shifter discovering what he’d done was too great. If they caught the scent of his mark, it would only be a matter of time before news of his deed reached the head of the local pack. Within an hour, someone would be sent to eliminate Katie.
I won’t risk her.
Katie’s eyelids drifted downwards and she rocked slightly. Afraid she might fall face first into the fire, Alan drew upon his supernatural speed and moved next to her. Had she been awake, he would have never risked moving even a tenth as fast as he could. There would be no explaining away something like that. It wasn’t like he could slap a pair of glasses on and assume a new identity, or rush through a telephone booth to shift forms.
Real life wasn't like the movies. And secret identities required more than capes. They required never revealing one's self.
Alan pulled Katie into his arms, inhaling her sweet scent and groaning inwardly as his cock twitched. It had been a long hike up the mountain. He could hear her tiny breaths as she'd hiked behind him, smell the light sheen of sweat upon her skin and vividly picture himself licking it off her.
She hadn’t slept well the night before, tossing and turning before waking with a scream lodged in her throat. She then went on to obsess about his safety, doing a complete head-to-toe check over him prior to leaving for their camping trip. It was cute in a “fuck I’m hard again” kind of way.
The Unabashed
by Rory Michaels
A Macon Valley Ménage Story
M/F/M Contemporary Western Erotic Romance
BLURB:
Logan Kanuho and Albert Hargrove have been friends since Logan moved to Macon Valley from the reservation. For years they’ve talked of little else than finding a woman to satisfy their manly needs and to be a bond between them. Albert found their one perfect woman but hasn’t felt the need to share her until now.
Misty Hargrove doesn’t know what to think when her husband of one year cashes in on her offer of anything he wants for their anniversary. She never expected him to select a threesome with his best friend. Can these three see to their baser needs while also seeing to their hearts?
Warning: This short story contains m/f/m ménage a trois, light bondage, voyeurism, explicit sex, strong/frank language and cowboys who will melt your socks off. The heroine is mild-mannered and eager for a guiding hand sexually. If you’re looking for long drawn out plots and sweeping romances, or women who are tough as nails, this isn’t your book. This story has a very strong willed alpha male in it. This is a short story that won’t apologize to anyone for any reason. If you want hot, dirty, sexy and to the point, you’ve found it. If not, it’s best to move right along, this isn’t the book for you.
