Happy Birthday Jessica Stevens

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to Jessica Stevens, happy birthday to me.

If you haven’t guessed, today is my first Author birthday. So today I would like to celebrate with you for your chance to win a copy of one of my books and a £10 Amazon voucher.

All you have to do is leave a comment and say which book you would prefer, share this blog post on Facebook and tag me in it so I can contact you if you are the lucky winner. It is that easy. Your names will go into a hat and be picked out randomly by my youngest J on Friday 14^th August 2015. Please be sure to tag me when you share this post so I can contact you if you are the lucky winner.

So I will leave you with the blurb and an excerpt from each of my books to help you choose.

 

This is where it all began, Alana:

 

The blurb:

Alana Knight has the power to control the minds of animals, including shifters, who want her dead. A tragic past has meant that Alana has spent most of her life in hiding. Concealed as a conservationist she’s helped reintroduce wolves back into the wild. A dead body on her land proves her enemies have found her. She has no choice but to call on her protectors.

Detective Nick Valaskin has been secretly watching over Alana for years. He had vowed to protect her since coming of age. When she calls the police about a dead body on her grounds, Nick takes no chances and goes to her protection. Face to face with his childhood companion, it’s not long before passion burns between them. It puts Alana’s life in more danger than Nick could have imagined. Torn between love and a promise Nick struggles, but together they face Alana’s tragic past in the hope of preventing history from repeating itself.

 

Story Excerpt:

“Hello, Miss Knight,” he called to her softly. She looked up at his dark, sunken eyes and couldn’t help but pity the man, having worked through the night, and still having to come and speak to her.

“Can I get you a coffee, Detective?” she asked him with a nervous smile.

He looked up at her as she stepped down off the stool and headed round the counter to the kettle, already anticipating his answer to be “yes.”

“Coffee would be great, thanks,” he replied, returning her smile. “I do need to ask you some questions, Miss Knight, about the body and the break-in to your cabin. I don’t want to keep you in the dark here, for your own safety.” He paused, so she turned around and met his gaze. She tucked her long, wavy black hair behind her ear, the way she always did when nerves got the better of her.

 “We have found evidence that the two incidents are related,” Nick said, and the sugar container dropped from her hand, spilling its contents all over the side.

Alana was shaking, but she tried to clear up the mess. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “It was just a shock, that’s all. I’m fine.” She tried to convince him as he put his arms around her. It surprised her how safe she felt in his arms. Nick then nodded to PC Cox to finish the coffee.

She walked with him as he led her out of the kitchen and into the front room.

The room had dark oak wooden floors, which were broken up by a very large, silvery cream shag pile rug, neatly placed in front of a small fireplace. The soft, inviting cream-colored sofa was placed opposite the fire, with a large bay window looking out at the access lane to her property. The walls were cream and the décor broken up with red curtains and cushions for the sofa, and a red–colored beanbag resting at the side of the fireplace.

Around the room there were other red furnishing, lamps and ornaments in the alcoves, but on the whole, it was a very minimalistic room. Usually the room made Alana relax, but that didn’t happen today.

Nick let her go as she sat on the sofa. She sat with her legs tucked up under her as she rested her head back.

If she was scared before, she was shitting herself now. She had known there was more to the body being on her land when Aatu had filled her mind with images of the murdering wolf confused with images of a man. Her fears were further confirmed when she returned to find the cabin broken into. The fact the Detective had found evidence to link the two was just the icing on the cake. And now she couldn’t contact her father.

PC Cox entered the room and placed two cups of coffee on the table next to the sofa. Alana managed a quiet “thank you” and he returned her gratitude with a smile.

“Cox.” Detective Sorin said. “You and Lang head on over to the cabin and make sure the forensics have everything they need. Then I want you to circulate the perimeter of the two buildings, see if anything gives.”

PX Cox nodded acceptance of his duties and backed out of the living room. Alana looked at the detective, who was still standing, waiting for him to speak. The silence in the room was broken with the sound of the back door closing as the other two PCs left her house.

Nerves crept through her body, and her skin crawled as the detective slowly removed his dark-grey suit jacket, his eyes focused on her. He stepped closer to where she sat and started to unbutton his shirt at the neck. Alana swallowed hard, unsure of what do to. One part of her mind told her that he was just getting comfortable, while the other part told her to run.

She drew a deep breath as he moved down to the second button. “What are you doing?” Her voice as assertive as she could manage, she tried to hide the panic. It was the way he smiled at her then that had her heartbeat thumping in her ears. It was a slow, easy smile, with eyes that twinkled with mischief as he continued to watch her. He now moved on to the third button and took another step closer to her.

Alana was about to stand up and make a dash for the door as his hand slipped inside his own shirt. Curiosity got the better of her and she sat still, waiting. He pulled out a black threaded necklace with a silver pendant the size of a fifty pence piece.

Instantly she recognized the pendant, and adrenaline pumped through her body and made her feel light headed. She stood up and reached out to touch the circular coin with the figure of a wolf’s head embossed on it. It had the word “Altor” inscribed, meaning “protector” in Latin. An old family name her father had given to his protector, as his father had done before that. She smoothed her thumb over the coin’s surface, and looked deep into the detective’s eyes, not trusting what her gut was telling her.

“Alana, your father sent me.”

 

 

Behind The Makeup:

 

 

 

Blurb:

Elizabeth Rhey is a world class singer who has come home to North West London to complete the final dates of her last tour. Then her way word brother gets in trouble with the police again, and she is about ready to wash her hands of him. Only he’s dead. She finds herself caught up in a police investigation, where her past secrets catch up with her. 

Gareth Buchanan is Beth’s bodyguard. It wasn’t his chosen career, just one he landed on after taking a break from the police force. When Beth’s brother is killed and the investigation around his death unravels, he finds himself getting very close to Beth. With a desperate need to protect her, Gareth is forced to confront is own ghost.

Both their lives are turned upside down as they find out who is behind her brother’s death. Can they face their past to find peace for their future?

 

Excerpt:

“I’ll call it in,” Smith said, reading his partner’s mind. “Control, this is Quebec Delta four nine two, we are in pursuit of what we believe to be the intruders of Belleview Road. The roads are dry and light with traffic. Do we have permission to proceed?”

“Quebec Delta four nine two, you have permission to proceed.”

Newman flicked on the siren and started to give chase to the getaway car.

“We are in pursuit of a red Vauxhall Corsa, registration Lima Echo 04 Foxtrot, Hotel Lima. Current speed forty-seven miles per hour in a forty speed zone.” Smith continued to give the control room details of which roads they were traveling down and the speeds both cars were driving at. It was important to give as much detail to the driving conditions of both vehicles, for both safety and accountability, should anything go wrong. Sadly, in his experience, it usually ended up with the failing to stop car causing an accident.

“He’s heading out onto the North Circular.” Newman stated, as he predicted where the car was going to head next. Duncan swallowed down the fear of his experience. The North Circular was a busy road. Though this time of night traffic would be light, it was still used as it is the main circular road to get from one side of London to the next. Some of the corners are tight, and travelling at excessive speeds… Smith tried not to think about it as they carried on driving at a safe distance down the Harrow Road toward Wembley. True to Newman’s prediction, the Corsa jumped through the red lights, and turned left down onto the North Circular toward the A40.

Visibility was much better due to the street lights that lit up the road ahead. Their driving speed was now in excess of eighty miles an hour at times, with hard breaking around some of the tight turns the road offered. The car in front swerved across two lanes and slammed on the breaks to avoid hitting another car. Smith pushed his feet down on the foot-well of the car and leaned back in his chair as if he was willing the car to stop. Fortunately it was a near miss. “This is going to end in tears,” Smith said out loud to Newman.

Newman backed off from the red car to put more stopping distance between them, hoping it would encourage them to reduce their speed, as the pressure to get away would be reduced. He drove behind the Corsa in the left hand lane, anticipating them to exit, but the red car suddenly sped up and drifted across the lanes to the right side.

“The A40 is up next.” Newman stated his prediction once again so that PC Smith could relate back to control. They could see the traffic lights ahead that indicated the crossroads of the North Circular and the A40. They were red. Both officers looked at each other as Newman instinctively slowed his car. The red Corsa carried on at high speed with no intention of stopping for the red lights. There were a few cars drifting past, but not few enough. The sounds of horns and tires screeching were enough to chill any warm-blooded animal. Both Smith and Newman had no option but to watch and report back to control, as the red car floored it through the red lights. Cars traveling from the left swerved to avoid the Corsa. Amazingly, the red car made it through the junction without getting hit. None of the other cars had collided with each other. But it wasn’t over. Newman increased his speed to follow the red car once more as he meandered his way through the now stationary cars on the junction.

“He’s lost it,” Newman said as they watched the red car veer left and right as the driver fought to control the car. The driver pulled the car off to the left much too quickly, causing the Corsa to skid sideways across three lanes of traffic, up onto the bank and wrap itself around a tree.

“Control, we have an RTC on North Circular Road Southbound just after A40 junction,” Smith said as he spoke into his radio. He hopped out of the car just before Newman had brought it to a complete stop.

Newman pulled the hand break up with such force, you could hear the gear mechanism grind together and then jumped out of the car to follow Smith.

Smith reached the back of the red car and could hear soft moans from the back passenger side. As he opened the door, a young man was slouched across the back seat, his head was oozing a crimson river and he wasn’t conscious. Smith felt for a pulse, it was faint. Newman was busy assessing the front passenger so he made his way to the driver.

The front of the red Corsa was crumpled, steam from what he presumed to be the radiator rose into the night sky. Smoke from the air bags joined the steam as they danced their vapour in the street light rays.  The driver hung half out of the windscreen, his head at an awkward angle. Smith reached for a pulse, already knowing there wouldn’t be one.

“Control, this is Quebec Delta four nine two. We have one unconscious male with a head injury,” He looked over to Newman for the condition of the front passenger. Newman just shook his head. “And two fatalities.”

 

 

There you are, the choice is yours. I wish you the best of luck.

Until next time, take care.

 

Jessica xXx