A Prepublished Novel in the Process of Revisions and Rewrites

Monday, November 3, 2008

Halloween Mini Tales Finalists! Place your vote today!


Here we go. I am posting the two best stories and counting on you to vote for the one you like best. Please email your story votes privately to me at gothscribegirl@aol.com. After the winner is announced I would be happy to post all the stories for you reading pleasure. They are all wonderful! This has been a grueling project, LOL

Good Luck to Helen Hardt and Rhonda E. Dove!

And selected stories are:

The Wolf’s Reclamation

Kayla Fontaine’s skin itched with a wicked fever. Every inhale brought his masculine scent to her. She stood at the foot of his bed, her eyes marking the subtle rise and fall of his hairless muscled chest. She closed her eyes, reigning in the need that heated her from within. Tyler Jackson. She memorized his name, everything about him. He was her hunt, her need, her way out. He just did not know it yet.

“I know you’re there.” The deep resonance of his voice bounced off the undecorated walls of his bedroom.

Kayla’s heart froze in time, her breath closed off. She opened her eyes and stared at his shadowed face. She feared his rejection, even if she understood its possibility. Against reason she relaxed her poise.

“Who are you?” He shifted under the thin sheet.

She sensed his reserve and leapt, clearing the foot of the bed and landing with her hands beside his head and her knees on either side of his hips. His hand whipped out. The glare of a bedside lamp spread across the room with a warm glow. She growled. The vibration resonated so deep in her chest she felt his body shake between her knees.

His eyes widened and in those dark chocolate depths she saw herself. Glowing gold eyes, a wolf trapped in the light. She smelled the man beneath her, a man showing no fear.

“You’ve been following me.” A statement. A fact.

“Yes.” She relaxed her arms and slid closer. She felt his exhale brush against her face. She released a breath of her own, letting it wash over him. His eyes closed, his deep inhale pushing his chest against her body. His hand slipped from the bedside table to her leg.

“This is crazy. What the hell is going on?” His fingers tightened on her thigh.

Kayla shifted above him, allowing him a chance to glimpse the abnormal bulk of muscle, the densely fine hair that covered her body. “Do you see me, really see me? The woman inside?”

His eyes tightened. “Yes.”

“You could make me that woman, only you can do that.”

“How?”

“Trust me enough to love me, if just for tonight.” She slid closer and breathed across his face.

“This is still crazy, am I dreaming?”

“No.” She shifted against him. “Believe in me for one night, and I will believe in you for a lifetime.”

His head barely nodded before she took the kiss of life he offered. The grip of his hand tightened on her leg and he flipped her on her back, kicking away the sheet. A tear fell from her eyes as he merged with her. She felt pleasure and pain, her body changing under his commanding thrusts. She saw him with human eyes; felt him with human hands. He gave her a new life and she vowed to make his whole.

Written by Rhonda E. Dove

~~~~~~

Logan's Curse

Onyx fur vanished as Logan emerged from wolf form. My breath caught at his silky black hair, his muscled chest.

“Mary, my love.” His baritone voice cracked as his vocal cords adjusted. “It’s been so damn long.”

“We can’t waste time talking,” I said. “Each Samhain you change a little sooner. Take me to bed.”

He trailed his finger down my cheek, tracing my jaw line. Sparks erupted on my skin. “Let me look at you through my own eyes.”

“But you see me all year.” I needed him. His lips on mine. His body inside me. We had so little time.

“It’s not the same, Mary. Please.”

He pushed my lace robe from my shoulders, his calloused fingers lingering on my naked flesh. I cupped my breasts and held them out in offering.

“So beautiful. So ripe and full.” His golden hands covered mine and his thumbs circled my nipples. Fire shot through me and landed between my legs.

“Logan.”

He leaned toward me and covered my mouth with his.

His heated tongue slithered over my lips and plunged inside. He groaned and squeezed my breasts, then moved one hand upward, fisting it in my hair and urging me closer. The kiss was hungry, firm, drugging. He tasted of vanilla cream, of musky man.

Of sweet memory.

We devoured each other for precious moments, until I ripped my mouth away. I panted, breathless, as I pierced his warm blue gaze with mine. “You. Inside me.”

His eyes smoked. “You’ve never looked lovelier, Mary. Your nipples are like pebbles of carnelian.” He pinched one, then the other. I shivered.

“Are you wet for me, love?”

Wet. Gushing. “You know I am. Make love to me.”

He lowered his head and his firm red lips, swollen from our passionate kisses, encircled my nipple. He sucked, gently at first, then harder, until he tugged and bit me. “Ah, yes, Logan. Just like that.”

He swirled his tongue over the plump flesh, licking and nibbling, until he seized the other nipple and suckled. Juice trickled down my inner thigh.

“Logan. Lover. Please.”

He swept me into his arms and carried me to the bed. The bed that had once been ours. His body covered mine, wisps of black chest hair tickling my tender nipples. My sex throbbed. Ached.

“Look at me, Mary. Look into my eyes, and remember who I am.”

“I always remember, Logan. I never, never forget.”

He entered me in one smooth thrust. Sweet joining of bodies, of souls. He surged, claiming me, loving me, and my body shuddered, exploding into nirvana as he plunged, his golden muscles tensing when he spilled into me.

“Mary. I love you. Always.”

“And I love you, Logan. Forever.”

He released me, and within minutes my ebony wolf returned. He left the bed and settled in his usual spot by the door.

“One day, Logan, we’ll break this damned curse.”

I closed my eyes, recapturing my lover’s warm caress, praying I spoke the truth.

Written by Helen Hardt

~~~~~~~

I look forward to seeing which way the pendulum swings on these. Thank you all for participating.

D~

8 comments:

  1. WOW, NOW I SEE WHY YOU HAD SUCH A HARD TIME MAKING A CHOICE. WHAT A NICE WAY TO SPEND LUNCH. NOW I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO WORK!
    I THOUGHT THEY WERE BOTH PROVOCATIVE, BOTH HEATED MY BLOOD AND MADE ME WISH MY HUSBAND WAS HOME! I LOVED LOGAN.

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  2. Both are wonderful stories! Nothing like a spicy wolf tale to stir the blood...

    Looking forward to the results! :)

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  3. I hit the button before I was done. sorry.
    Kayla, on the other hand is a woman I can admire, a go-getter who likes to take chances... Wish I had her gumption. In the end, I hope they both get what they want, their HEA.

    This is hard!

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  4. I like the first one best. Don't know why... Probably because my daughter is screaming at me and I can't have one thought to myself now...

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  5. Logan's Curse was hot, HOT.

    Thanks, everybody. This was a great blog and great stories.

    ~Tanya

    www.tanyahanson.com

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  6. Why can't there be two winners?
    But if I had to choose it would be Wolf's Reclamation. A lot was said with not a lot of words.
    Let's break rules and have two happy writers!
    It's your contest and you can do whatever you want to. Right??
    Have a good one Dayana.

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  7. Both stories are excellent. But I loved the first line in Logan's Curse and the remainder of the story drew me in from "take me to bed". Loved the characters.

    My vote is Logan's Curse.

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  8. Oh wow, so close -- one vote! Congratulations to Rhonda! And thanks to everyone who voted. I'm so glad both stories were so well received.

    Helen

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