Quote of the Moment

"I'm half living my life between reality and fantasy at all times." - Lady Gaga
Showing posts with label witch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label witch. Show all posts

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Thorns Entwine the Blade (Trinity Torn, 2) - Excerpt

The sequel to Mind Behind the Mind is finally out in the wild!

Yes, Thorns Entwine the Blade (Trinity Torn, 2) is available to purchase in ebook format. The paperback will be available in either December or January.

Per usual, I have an excerpt below that will hopefully draw you in, as well as the blurb.

If you'd like to purchase a copy, either pop over to Books2Read which has a list of all available retailers, or you can use these direct links to the major online retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, Google Play, and Smashwords.

And if you do read Thorns, please consider leaving a review on your retailer of choice. Thanks, and happy reading!

He grabbed a luminorb from the sitting room, but when he returned to the bedroom, he still couldn’t enter. Face your demons, Bastian. The thought was his own, but he heard Tessa’s voice speak it. If she had forgiven him his dalliance, he should have been able to forgive himself.

One step forward, and his scabbard tapped his leg. Yes, he had his sword this time. So, he threw the door open and barged in.

Bastian half expected to find Arian stretched out on the bed, naked and beckoning. But the sheets weren’t rumpled, as they had been when he’d stormed out after he’d realized she’d duped him. After she’d searched his clothes scattered on the floor for the book of prophecies...

No, everything was neat and orderly, the bed made, as if Arian had situated her home in preparation for her return. Such arrogance. A person who took the time to tidy her home before she fled it didn’t fear pursuit. Well, this time he’d turn her into the fool.

He inched closer to the bed and the scent of bellberries struck him. Memories rushed back so suddenly that he stumbled, grabbing the bed to catch himself. Arian’s touch, the soft feel of her skin, and the haze floating through his mind. The need. The want.

Then the anger.

He growled, and the monster inside him bared its teeth, ready to rip a throat out. Arian’s throat.

Just as the spell had shattered with his fury on the night Arian had tricked him into her bed, the current one disintegrated. Arian had left a trap, but only Bastian could have triggered it. She’d known that he’d come here.

The lust and shame clung to his spirit, but he wouldn’t allow it to conquer him. His hunter backed down and waited.

Arian should have known this little spell wouldn’t get its hooks into him, not even as powerful as her compulsion. Then why had she set it?

To distract him. She hadn’t wanted him to find something in here. Too bad.

He spun in his current spot, brushing his vision across every object in the tiny room – it only held her bed in one corner, a small nightstand next to it, and a large wardrobe.

The wardrobe would have made the most sense. There could have been any number of hidden compartments in one so large. But no, when he looked at it, he felt emptiness.

Knowledge, a surety that beat through him like a second heart. His innate talent guided him, striking down the possibilities, rendering his need to physically search for what he sought unnecessary. Under the floorboards? In the mattress? No, looking there would only waste his time.

Bastian grabbed hold of his power and pushed it, forcing it to stretch out as he examined the room again.

And then his eyes snagged on the luminorb on a shelf above Arian’s bed. Yes.

Bastian scrambled on the bed, destroying the neat folds of the blanket, dirt smearing onto the off-white. He’d rather have trampled on Arian herself. He grunted and snatched the luminorb, then jumped down.

It didn’t look any different than the one in his other hand, aside from being dark. He rotated it, but found nothing out of the ordinary. But he knew it wasn’t ordinary. His head throbbed with insistence.

He tried to turn it on, but it wouldn’t light up.

Well, he’d have to take it with him and figure out its secrets later. He tucked it into a pocket and proceeded back to the sitting room.

And his head pounded more fiercely. Perhaps he’d pushed himself too far. Or he needed sleep. He still hadn’t rested after they’d returned from their journey.

Bastian stepped into the sitting room, and the three lit luminorbs, including the one in his hand, flashed to a brilliant, blinding light. The hilt of a blade struck his mind, or at least that was what it felt like. He covered his eyes and staggered into the bookshelf.

Arian. Another trap.

No. The throbbing in his head plummeted to his gut, and he realized this wasn’t her doing, but his own. He’d wished all the lights brighter earlier, and he’d pushed his innate talent to find what Arian had hidden. It must have drawn out the magick inside of him.

Tessa had warned him.

Bastian growled and threw the luminorb he held to the floor. It shattered, and the other two lights grew brighter. He pressed the palm of his hand to his temple. “No!”

Inside, the hunter snarled and snapped and thirsted for blood – Arian’s, Jermaine’s, it didn’t matter whose.

The remaining lights burst, and then the pounding and pressure within vanished, the monster crouching down in submission.

His body wrung out; he was almost as exhausted as he’d felt after healing Tessa. Bed, he needed to head to bed. He staggered out of Arian’s house.

And he had to be more careful in the future. His innate talent might have been a boon in the past, but now it was looking more like a curse. He couldn’t allow himself to let the magick in again.

Never.

A witch hunter refuses to embrace his magick, threatening to consume him from the inside out...

Bastian shuns his witchblood – he’s a witch hunter, after all, and to prove it he hunts down the treacherous witch who betrayed her own kind. But denying his powers is a grave mistake, one which awakens a monster inside him. And when he finally loses control, he commits an act that he dreads Tessa will never forgive him for.

Tessa battles with the memories and emotions her ex-lover Thane funneled into her, to the point where she’s unsure if all of her thoughts are truly her own. Her sudden rise to High Priestess, a new witch on the Council, and two conspiratorial Council members only add to her burden. She fears her mind will snap. And when events force her hand, unhinging her sanity even more, she risks losing herself completely.

But a new menace on the horizon promises to strain both Bastian’s and Tessa’s fights with their internal and external demons – a prophecy from a tattooed apparition threatens to destroy all of Leera...

Monday, October 16, 2017

Ebook and Paperback Giveaways for Mind Behind the Mind

This past Friday, on October 13, it was the one year anniversary of my publication date for Mind Behind the Mind (Trinity Torn, 1).

I really can't believe it's been a year, and that I'm now elbow deep in revisions of the sequel! I was so happy to have finally released it into the world. And well, I felt the need to celebrate the anniversary, so... it's giveaway time!

I am currently running two giveaways, one for ebooks and one for paperbacks. Three copies of each format are available. Both giveaways run through October 30, 2017. Details on both are below.

First, the ebook giveaway is through Amazon. You do have to follow my Amazon Author page to enter the giveaway, but that's not too hard, is it?

Here's the link for the ebook giveaway: Amazon Ebook Giveaway - 3 copies available!

Second, the paperback giveaway is through Goodreads. You don't need to do anything to enter, but I'd love it if you'd add the novel to your To Read shelf! Link is below, with some of the information as well.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Mind Behind the Mind by Alexa Grave

Mind Behind the Mind

by Alexa Grave

Giveaway ends October 30, 2017.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

The ebook giveaway is restricted to those who reside in the United States, and the paperback giveaway is for residents of the United States and Canada.

Please spread the word about both giveaways to whoever you think might be interested. Good luck, and happy reading!

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Mind Behind the Mind, Trinity Torn Book I - Excerpt

Release day for Mind Behind the Mind is tomorrow! Am I nervous? Of course I am. But I'll survive.

I thought today would be a good time to post an excerpt. Promise, I won't prattle on this time. If you like the excerpt, though, please considering purchasing a copy from Amazon. It will be available in paperback in November and other ebook retailers in January!

And now part of the beginning of Tessa's and Bastian's story...

Bastian stepped from the shadows and removed his cloak, draping it over her shoulders. The moonlight touched his face, his expression stoic and firm – so unlike the playful grin earlier.

Tessa inhaled his scent, sweat and spice. He must have used clove oil in his wash water. She felt his longing rise with the close proximity of their bodies, and her own hunger heightened, a warmth tickling her insides.

“What brings a witch hunter to a small town in Shandipur Province?” She lifted her hand and traced her finger along his shirt. His muscles tensed under her touch.

He watched the path of her finger. “Just traveling; no particular job. Funny thing, that’s usually how I find them.”

A twinge, an inharmonic chord, passed through Tessa. Something in his statement felt like a lie. “You must have incredible luck.” She lifted his chin to gaze in his green eyes. “You thought you might find a witch in Sierka?”

He opened his mouth and inhaled sharply.

Bastian attempted to encircle her waist and pull her closer, but Tessa stepped back. She shouldn’t have done that, shouldn’t have gotten so close. So she turned to the starry sky, hoping she could regain her will. The wave rolling off Bastian jumped, still a surge of desire, but confused hiccups marred the consistency.

“Did you think you’d find a witch here? You didn’t answer me.”

Bastian’s emotions drew in. “They can be anywhere.”

Tessa recalled a story her mother had told her as a child – a good distraction. “Well, I think you’re right. There’s one here.”

He moved next to her, hand gripping the hilt of his sword. “What?” All his desire vanished, replaced by eagerness and alarm. And something else underneath, darker and more feral.

“There, the constellation.” Tessa pointed. “The story of the witch in the sky. She follows you, even in a town like Sierka.”

Bastian removed his hand from his sword, the beast inside him quieting. “Yes, I know, but that one’s already dead. The sun is her head, rolling through the sky by day, soaked in blood.”

“So gruesome. My mother told me she’d find her head one day and have her revenge.” Tessa laughed. “Fairy tales.” A tale Tessa wished would come true. If it weren’t for that first witch hunter, she wouldn’t be anguishing over the one standing next to her.

He loosened his hold on seriousness, laughing with her. “She’d never do it. The witch hunter who got her, she’s on the other side of the sky.”

A witch who believes one of her own kind could never kill...

In a world where people believe the crimson sun is a dead witch’s head and the witch hunter who killed her stalks the night sky, a witch who ventures outside of Haven risks losing her life. Tessa is one such witch. Like many of her kind, she hopes to help the people of Leera, not harm them, and she’s on her first mission to heal an ailing man named Jeremiah. But when she crosses paths with a witch hunter, instead of avoiding him like she knows she should, she succumbs to her desires and ends up in his bed.

The local Enforcers believe a witch is behind Jeremiah’s sickness, so they call Bastian to town. He’s a young witch hunter who normally has a knack for sniffing out witches. But when he runs into the striking Tessa, she scrambles his senses. He’s inexplicably drawn to her and abandons his usually cautious nature.

As Tessa and Bastian uncover clues about Jeremiah’s illness, Tessa has to face the possibility that another witch may have had a hand in the incident. And if Bastian learns she’s a witch, he may point his finger at her. Then her head will surely roll.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Mind Behind the Mind Cover Reveal and Pre-order

A year ago today, I put up my pre-order for Fractured Fairies, starting my Baker's Dozen Experiment. All of the short stories have been published in that experiment, but now it's time for my long awaited novel to be released!

Coming to the end of the experiment doesn't mean I'll stop publishing - of course not! I have many planned titles, but I just won't be doing a monthly release schedule. Let's face it, keeping up that kind of schedule is hard without kids, and I still have a toddler at home that makes it hard to write.

Oh, you want me to stop rambling? Sorry about that. Force of habit.

Today, the pre-order for Mind Behind the Mind, the first novel in my Trinity Torn series, is up on Amazon! Release date is October 13, 2016. It will be available in paperback and at other retailers in the future; dates to still be determined.

What's the great thing about the pre-order? Well, I have it at a discounted rate. Mind Behind the Mind is currently available for $2.99, but when it goes live on October 13, the price will go up! So, if you want the lower price, snag a copy now.

I suppose you'd like some kind of sneak peek. For now I have the blurb below - you'll have to wait for release day for an excerpt (my newsletter subscribers got to read a snippet, so if you want an earlier peek for future releases, please Sign Up).

And below the blurb is the cover for Mind Behind the Mind. I think it's beautiful, but I'm biased. The cover art (excluding the text) was done by AM Design Studios.

Now, for what you've been waiting for:

A witch who believes one of her own kind could never kill...

In a world where people believe the crimson sun is a dead witch’s head and the witch hunter who killed her stalks the night sky, a witch who ventures outside of Haven risks losing her life. Tessa is one such witch. Like many of her kind, she hopes to help the people of Leera, not harm them, and she’s on her first mission to heal an ailing man named Jeremiah. But when she crosses paths with a witch hunter, instead of avoiding him like she knows she should, she succumbs to her desires and ends up in his bed.

The local Enforcers believe a witch is behind Jeremiah’s sickness, so they call Bastian to town. He’s a young witch hunter who normally has a knack for sniffing out witches. But when he runs into the striking Tessa, she scrambles his senses. He’s inexplicably drawn to her and abandons his usually cautious nature.

As Tessa and Bastian uncover clues about Jeremiah’s illness, Tessa has to face the possibility that another witch may have had a hand in the incident. And if Bastian learns she’s a witch, he may point his finger at her. Then her head will surely roll.