Just an quickie update, and an excerpt to thank you for your patience.

The book is really moving--I had to go back and rework a few minor things after the plot decided to throw a curve ball at me. The book is already almost full-length for the industry standard as far as romances go but it's still got some ways to go before I'm done, which means... yay? More story for you!

I'm hoping I'll be done in May and can get edits done in June, then the ebook out to my backers. The print book, of course, takes longer--formatting won't take long, but there's proofs to order. Since I had the cover professionally done, I don't anticipate there being problems but I never say never.

I hope to have a book in hand to show you guys by sometime in August.

Okay, now let's look at an excerpt!

Excerpt

 “Ivy, damn it!”

He caught my arm before I made it ten feet. I stood there, staring toward my cabin. Even when he moved in front of me, I didn’t look up to meet his eyes. Maybe it was childish but the distance between us now left an odd, empty ache in my chest and if I saw that shuttered expression for even another second—

“I’m sorry.”

The gentle tone managed to do what the awkward stares and Jonas’s distance hadn’t.

It lit the fuse to my temper—and that eradicated the empty, awful ache in my chest.

Jerking my head up, I gave him a wide-eyed look. “Oh, well…that’s dandy. We’re all good now, Jonas. You ready to go to place and fuck? Or would you rather go to yours? Is it closer?”

He went rigid. “That’s not—”

I knocked his hand off my arm. “You don’t get to ignore me for an entire evening, then apologize and think that just makes it all better.”

“I’m not expecting it to make it all better,” he said. He moved in front of me when I tried to go around him, blocking me. “If I was thinking straight, I would have canceled the date after some news I had earlier, but I…”

Wide shoulders rose and fell and he lifted his face to the sky. “Fuck. I had this thought that if I could just see you, everything would be better. But that was selfish and you deserved better. I am sorry.” He lowered his head and met my eyes.

This time, despite the frustration and hurt I felt, I looked into his eyes—really looked.

It wasn’t distance, I realized.

The misdirected anger melted.

I closed the distance and cupped his face in my hands. “Talk to me, then. Let me help, even if it’s just by listening.”

Brow furrowing, he shook his head. “You don’t want this mess in your head, Ivy.”

“Have you noticed the mess that’s followed me since we met? Stalker guy who killed his mom and if it wasn’t for a bear…who happens to turn into a human and back, by the way, that stalker guy might still be trying to chase me around his dumb car.” I tried to smile and inject some levity.  “And now I’m hiding out here until it’s safe to go home. And I miss my birds.”

Jonas growled, his eyes going black. “I want to kill him. For making you sad even for a moment, I want to kill him.”

“That’s kind of extreme.” It was. And yet it made my heart melt.

“Okay.” Voice still growly, he said, “I’ll kill him because he’s a threat to you and you won’t be safe until he’s dead.”

“I can keep myself safe.”

Something softened in his eyes. “Yes. You can. You’re strong. We saw that the first night.”

The glow came into his eyes and I touched his cheek. “When your eyes glow like that…is it because the bear closer to the surface, or however you put it?”

“Yes.” Jonas lowered his brow and touched it to mine. “We want to take care of you, but we like that you don’t need us to.  A strong mate is a good thing.”

I stilled. “Mate?”

Jonas groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. “Can you forget we said that?”

“Um, no…?” My heart lurched in my chest and I caught onto his biceps, feeling strangely dizzy. Mate…that sounded more…permanent than girlfriend.  Didn’t it?