TJ Michaels

In Shards of Ecstasy, De’Alla Isaacs is tasked with guarding an Atlantean crystal called a Piece of Eight. The demon, Asmodeus, who would prefer that she give up her treasure has a bit of a problem – Dee’s mate, Faison. Well, good old Asmo, bad guy extraordinarily, has decided that Faison has to go. And he’s gonna make it hurt. Bad.

Enjoy this excerpt from Shards of Ecstasy, available from Barnes and Noble, Amazon and the publisher, Ellora’s Cave. Afterward, be sure to check out the other Snippet Saturday authors via the links at the end of this post.

Have a great weekend!

Faison opened his eyes and froze. The shades were up and revealed a coal black sky. Black? What time was it? He remembered falling asleep reading the journal but it had been broad daylight, barely nine o’clock this morning. How much time had passed? And wasn’t he supposed to be somewhere? Damn. His mind went blank as a freshly washed old-fashioned chalkboard.

He sat up in bed and foundhimself slammed back down to the mattress.

“What the hell?”

“No, human, the question is whothe hell.”

It was that guy who had been harassing Dee last night. Dev… Uh, Dal…? D-something-or-other? “How the hell did you get in here?”

“I will ask the questions before I kill you, but unfortunately for you I don’t have any questions.”

“What? You’re not making any goddamned sense. What the fuck do you want?”

“Again, wrong question. It’s who the fuck do I want.”

Faison tried to get up again. Crap. Couldn’t move an inch.

“What are you?” Though in truth, he knew he faced a demon if Uncle’s journal was correct. A demon who wanted the Chosen for his own ends. This was so not good. At least Dee was nowhere around.

“Finally a question that makes sense. I am your undoing. I am the one that will fuck your little water elemental until she begs for more, then begs me to stop. Until I drill a hole through her body straight into her soul. Then I’ll fuck her some more before devouring her life’s energy.”

Oh hell no! This pasty-faced asshole threatened to hurt Dee?

“You won’t touch her, Devon, David or whatever the fuck your name is.”

“This body’s name is Devon.”

“Fine, then whatever your real name is.”

The thing moved fully into the room then dropped its illusion of being a Seattle techno-geek. A mouth full of razor-sharp teeth looked completely out of place in the handsome face of the demon. He truly was an angel of light, gorgeous to look upon but with an aura so dark and perverted it almost caused Faison physical pain to be in the same room with it.

“Damn, you are one ugly motherfucker,” Faison taunted.

The thing laughed. The sound was a mix of chimes and the sound that metal makes when it scrapes across metal, like a train trying to come to a screeching halt on the tracks.

“Your Chosen should have been mine.”

“Listen, I don’t choose who the woman is interested in, so don’t be mad at me.”

“Enough!” It lifted a hand and Faison’s two-hundred-ten-pound self was tossed through the air like a measly lightweight. But at least he was no longer stuck to the bed flat on his back.

Snippet Saturday authors:
Leah Braemel
Lissa Matthews
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Delilah Devlin
Eliza Gayle
Shelli Stevens
Lauren Dane
Jody Wallace
Helen Kay Dimon
Sasha White

Snippet Saturday is the brainchild of national bestselling author and wonderful friend, Lauren Dane. Each Saturday our group of authors selects excerpts from our work and shares them on Saturday mornings. This week’s theme is *wait for it, wait for it…* BAD MOODS.

This is going to sound crazy but I love bad moods in a book. Whether the bad guy is pissed off about something, or our hero/heroine are mad at somebody, the little bit of “grrrr” can add both tension and spice to a book.

In this Snippet, Kenoe Hatsept is having a really bad day. He’s been kidnapped, has to play dumb until his team comes to rescue him, then there’s the threat of a non-stop torture of the sexual kind. Our boy is pissed off, but it all works out in the end.

So enjoy! And be sure to visit all of the Snippet Saturday authors through the links at the bottom of the post.

Order: Samhain Publishing | Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble

The second the blindfold was removed, Kenoe forced stark terror into his eyes.

They hadn’t changed a bit. As with most Hatsepts, neither kept their fangs sheathed. Lowan still wore his thick, white hair tied back into a mid-length ponytail, complementing his slender build and fine-boned features. With the exception of the hard lines around his mouth and the cruel light in his blue-white Hatsept eyes, he appeared as youthful as ever.

Myles, on the other hand, was still a big brute of a Hatsept, and the ugliest vampire this side of creation. Hair cut almost too short to consider a buzz, he sported a jagged scar. It stretched from the corner of one eye down to the base of his chin, compliments of Kenoe, a silver blade, and a nasty allergic reaction to the knife used to inflict the wound. Myles had always believed only weaklings took allergy meds. Shortly after the cut became infected and refused to heal, he’d changed his mind.

Kenoe looked around. The vampires providing security might not all be on the Top Twenty Most Wanted list, but he recognized several of them as wanted in one capacity or another. Another vamp walked into the room, capturing Lowan’s attention. This time Kenoe’s eyes went wide for real. Not wanting to be noticed staring, he dropped his gaze to his lap and listened as Lowan and his new guest engaged in a hushed conversation.

This fucking vampire played both sides. Not a rogue, but an informant who’d passed information to the Council on more than one occasion. If this vamp had been his team’s main source of information in London, no wonder they hadn’t been able to find Lowan until the Knightsbridge Seekers double-crossed him. And there was no way Kenoe could get this information to Collins before he reported that Kenoe had been successfully apprehended. Hell.

Knife held between his teeth, Myles stepped forward and unzipped Kenoe’s trench coat. With a familiar, spine-chilling gleam in his cold eyes, he slipped the blade underneath the bottom of Kenoe’s black form-fitting T-shirt and cut the fabric from his body. The quiet hiss of the ruined fabric played louder in his ears than the informant’s clunky departing footsteps on the stone tile outside the door.

Lowan stepped back into the room just as Myles reached to stroke Kenoe’s groin.

“No,” Lowan commanded harshly.

Myles growled, but backed off.

“You are only to supervise, Myles. Call Kimora. Give him a dose of Vigelium. It’ll keep him hard for hours. Have Kimora suck him off until right before he orgasms, then hold him there over and over. He is not allowed to come until he tells us Alaan’s plans. My guess is the Seekers will arrive sometime before midnight, but I want to be sure.”

In spite of the tight rein on his emotions, Kenoe almost sighed with relief when Lowan stalked from the room. But then again, that left him alone with a disgruntled Myles.

Kenoe didn’t know this Kimora person, but he wished she’d hurry up and get in here. The old saying, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” didn’t apply. Kenoe would take any demon over Myles any day of the week.

Leah Braemel
Lissa Matthews
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Delilah Devlin
Eliza Gayle
Lauren Dane
Jody Wallace

Shelli Stevens

Last year, I had the wonderful opportunity to receive a note from Tracey in Iowa. She started a bookclub through the local library and introduced erotic and paranormal romance. Tracey’s club had received a copy of Carinian’s Seeker-Vampire Council of Ethics Bk1, with a few extra goodies from me. She was kind enough to send a thank you note and tell me about her club.

Since then, I’ve learned that some of their favorite authors are: Kate Douglas, Devyn Quinn, Sharon Page, Gena Showalter, Rhyannon Byrd, J R Ward. Lauren Dane, Lora Leigh, Shelly Laurenston and Elizabeth Amber. This is awesome because some of these authors are also favorites of mine as well as good friends.

I don’t think there is any better feeling than knowing someone enjoys what you write enough to tell you so. It made my day, and when I had crappy days later in the year I’d think of these wonderful readers and make my day all over again! We’ll have a reader’s blog day soon so you all can talk to these ladies and they can take the opportunity to talk to their fav authors.

So here’s a picture of the awesome ladies in Iowa! Tracey is the gorgeous chicklet in the front on the left. Next to her is Babe (I love that nickname!), and in the back row is Lisa, Karen the Librarian and Jill.

I absolutely love Snippet Saturdays and I’m so glad to be a part of such a fabulous group of authors. This week’s theme is the Black or Dark Moment. You know, that moment when it looks like everything has gone to hell in a handbasket with holes in it. All is lost and there is danger all around.

Today, I’ve chosen a snippet *at my daughter’s insistence, since this is her favorite book* from Carinian’s Seeker where our heroine is in big trouble and the hero is SO not happy about it.

Enjoy Carin’s spot of trouble, then visit the other Snippet Saturday authors through the links at the bottom of this post.

Excerpt from CARINIAN’S SEEKER
Copyright 2007, TJ Michaels
All Rights Reserved, Samhain Publishing

Order at:
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Rest was impossible. Everything smelled like his wife. Every corner of their apartments made him think of something she’d said or done. Tired of tossing around in their bed, Bix showered, packed a bag and left the apartment for the communications center. He would sleep in his office there and be ready the moment Tameth had something.

He walked into the huge high-tech building and all conversation stopped. Every eye turned towards him. He knew he looked like hell because that’s what he felt like.

Without a word, Alaan walked to the nearest phone, called down to the main building and had the cooks bring Bix food and blood.

He felt useless. Everyone was hard at work, either in Carin’s labs loading the modified ammo into cartridges under Kenoe’s direction, or here in the comm center trying to help Tameth wade through Natasha’s endless electronic files, looking for any sign of where she’d fled. Carin had been missing for more than thirty-six hours, yet all he could do was wait.

Stalking around the comm center like a caged animal, Bix had never felt so close to losing it. They just had to uncover something and fast. The more time it took for them to get to Carin, the more time Sidheon had to harm her.

When he’d walked into Carin’s life, he’d had no idea the rogue had been keeping a quiet eye on the woman, coveting her all this time. And Natasha, the jealous bitch, had taken her to every loyal vampire’s worst enemy.

His head snapped around at the urgent call of his name.

“Bix, we’ve got something,” Tameth yelled over the din of male voices filling the room.

“Where?”

“Northern California. Stinson Beach, to be exact.”

“Alaan…”

“Already done, buddy, already done.” And he was out the door, a trail of vamps right behind him, fully aware of what needed to be done. In seconds, the room emptied of everyone but Tameth and Bix.

“Tameth, send the data to Stealth One and Two.”

“Yes, sir.” Her fingers flew over the keyboard. “Hey, you all right?” Tameth asked.

Bix didn’t answer, couldn’t form the words. He had to concentrate on what he thought he felt. He had to be sure because it would simply kill him to be mistaken. Just out of reach was a flutter in his mind, an awareness he hadn’t realized he would miss until it was gone. The bond with Carin. Faint, but there just the same.

He couldn’t have a conversation with her yet, but she was alive. Whatever they’d given her must be wearing off.

“Tameth, how long is the flight to California?” he asked, already moving towards his office to grab his bag.

“In our stealths, about two and a half hours.”

“How soon can we be off the ground?”

“The planes were readied the moment we learned Carin was missing. Ten minutes to get the pilots in the cockpits and we’re out of here.”

“Make it happen.”

“Done.”

Leah Braemel
Lissa Matthews
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Delilah Devlin
Eliza Gayle
Lauren Dane
Jody Wallace
Sasha White
Helen Kay Dimon

Thanks to Mizz Mandi over at Smexybooks (follow her at @smexybooks on Twitter), I am hopelessly hooked on this danged series.

My first Karen Moning book EVER was Darkfever, the first book in the Fever series. After tearing through each novel, I’m excited to see Shadowfever, the conclusion of the series, to get all my questions answered. At the same time I’m sad to see Barrons, Mac and all their friends (and enemies) leave the stage.

To celebrate the end of our nail biting, er, I mean the end of the series, I’m joining forces with Smexybooks - we’re giving away two hardcover copies of Shadowfever! Just visit Smexy and join in on the Dreamfever discussion (<--- click here) for a chance to win.

Starts at 9:00am (Eastern Time) on Thursday, 01-13-2011
End at noon on Friday, 01-14-2011
Mandi will post the names of the winners right after the contest ends.

Release day is coming up fast, so if you're announced as a winner, PROVIDE YOUR MAILING ADDRESS - (NO P.O. BOXES) to me via e-mail as soon as humanly possible so we can get your order scheduled to ship as soon as the release drops!

NOTE: U.S. and CANADA only due to customs issues with shipping.

Have fun and good luck!

Stay to the light!

TJ

Happy Snippet Saturday! This week’s theme is music and I absolutely love, love, LOVE the book I’m featuring today.

In Shards of Ecstasy, De’Alla Isaacs is a sassy go-getter, owner of her own international corporation. But she’s not just a smart, snappy executive, she’s also Chosen – a descendant of Atlantis, a water elemental tasked with keeping a Piece of Eight safe from their mortal enemy, Asmodeus, Prince of Hell.

In this Snippet, Dee has just met her mate, an air elemental…though she doesn’t know he’s one of her kind yet. What she does know is that Faison Dow, a gorgeous R&B singer, has a no-good-dog reputation and is trying to woo her. And he’s pulling out all the stops. Hubba hubba hubba!!

Enjoy this Snippet from Shards of Ecstasy. Then visit the other Snippet authors through the links at the bottom of the page.

SHARDS OF ECSTASY
a Hearts of Fire novel
Order at Ellora’s Cave | | Amazon

Dressed in a pair of tailored gray slacks and a black dress shirt open to the middle of his chest, Faison appeared on stage. The crowd exploded. An overhead spotlight illuminated his skin. Immediately his dark gaze found and settled on her, picking her right out of the crowd with ease. Almost like some kind of De’alla radar. And that gaze brought with it a beam of lust and light that seared her to her very core. And it felt good. Right. And she was out of her damn mind to think so.

God the man was sexy. All that dark hair and those beautiful eyes. And lord, forget about that sinfully handsome face. To her surprise, she even enjoyed his snarky sense of humor and odd pursuit of her. It made her feel good to know that Faison really wasn’t an old hat at flirting or getting a woman out of her clothes. Oh and forget about the fact that his voice set her pussy on pure-dee fire.

Then Faison played to the crowd as he made his way up and across the stage. With one toe planted on the very edge, the man sang to her. His eyes never left hers and she didn’t have the strength of will to look away. Nor did she wish to. As the words of the melody drifted out to the audience, to Dee the crowd melted away until it was just the two of them.

Faison seemed to glow, as if his aura flowed out of him as he poured his heart and soul into his music. Suddenly the breeze picked up and Dee sensed that this particular love song was more than words set to pretty music for Faison. It reached deep and unexpectedly touched her heart just as the warm summer air wrapped around her body and gently embraced her. The elemental energies inside her reacted to the wind’s touch in a way she’d never experienced before, as if her gift craved to open up to the flow of air around her. It was strange yet comforting. Unsettling yet exhilarating. Foreign yet welcome.

Dee had heard Faison sing plenty of times in Japan, both in person and on CD. Even on a couple of soundtracks for a few Japanese movies while she’d been in Tokyo. Something about his voice had always called to her. Called to her enough that she’d kept up with his albums. But to her, it had been about his songs and only the songs because the man himself had such a rotten reputation that it stank to high heaven. Yet here she was drawn to him like a moth to a flame, happily flying into the fire without a care for how the heat might destroy her.

The song was over but the spell remained. Even as he moved about the stage and worked the crowd Dee felt as if her very soul swam in him, connected in a way that didn’t make sense.

*It would make perfect sense if you simply believed what your instinct is telling you.*

“She, your timing sucks,” Dee silently grumbled.

Besides, Dee knew her instincts couldn’t be correct, not if Angela’s story from so many years ago was right. Faison would have to have a crystal that matched hers, a Piece of Eight. And so far she hadn’t seen anything. Even right now while sweat poured from his body and his shirt was open nearly to the waist there was nothing around his neck. No pendent. No necklace. So he couldn’t be the one.

So what was this thing she was feeling? Could she just be so horny that a rogue like Faison made her hot and wet? Sticky and needy?

Perhaps he was Asmodeus? That would explain why she was out of sorts, right?

No, no, no, no and no!

Her sisters had made it pretty clear what being in that demon’s presence was like. She didn’t feel drained of life in Faison’s presence but energized and, to her surprise, deeply cherished. But if Faison didn’t have a stone, why did she feel so gaga around him?

Hmmm, she didn’t feel nearly as loopy or attracted to the guy she’d recently met, Devon something-or-other, also knows as Mr. Faceplant in the Sand. He was cute, nicely built and very smart. Not to mention he wanted to fuck her brains out. Question was how the hell did Dee know that? She wasn’t empathic like her sister, Charlotte, but there was no mistaking the nasty and deliberate emotions she’d picked up from the man. Or was it herself? It was hard to tell. It seemed as if her thoughts were not her own when around that guy. A simple thought about sex turned into the raunchiest fantasies imaginable. It made her extremely uncomfortable.

But not because she was uncomfortable with her sexuality. No, the thoughts made her uneasy because she was comfortable with what she wanted in bed. It didn’t make sense because to Dee sex was beautiful and nothing about it was tainted, out of bounds or wrong. So why did it feel wrong in Devon’s presence? Why was it so dark, forbidden and perverted?

But enough about Devon. The concert was almost over and just thinking about seeing Faison at the private after-party set her pulse to a gallop. Maybe he would kiss her again. Replaying the reaction of her body to his kisses in her mind, she certainly hoped so.

Interesting. She’d gone full circle from thinking she was a fool to come here to straight anticipation of spending a few minutes in Faison’s embrace.

“Gods, what a mixed-up elemental I’m turning out to be.”

Snippet Saturday authors:
Lissa Matthews
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Delilah Devlin
Eliza Gayle
Shelli Stevens
Lauren Dane
Jody Wallace
Sasha White