Werewolves!

A year ago this month, my first werewolf novel was released. Salad on the Side was also my first M/M novel. I wrote it partly on a whim and partly after challenges and discussions with friends, and I figured that was that.

Of course, it wasn't. The characters grabbed my attention, and since then another novel and a novella in the series now known as Real Werewolves Don't Eat Meat have been released; a third novel is under contract. (The series is available from MLR Press.)

Not only that, but I started getting ideas for other spin-offs. One of those, Beta Test, will be released a week from today from Passion in Print Press. Beta Test is a heterosexual romance novel featuring Justin Ruel, Beta of the City Pack (a werewolf pack based in Boston, Massachusetts) as the hero who meets his true mate, Tareth McConnell--a human woman, in a universe where humans aren't even supposed to know that werewolves exist. When I introduced Justin Ruel in Salad on the Side, I didn't think a lot of him one way or the other, but when I wrote more about him in the sequel Veggie Burgers to Go, I realized he needed his own story. And now he has one.

Here's a short excerpt from Beta Test:

 

Panting, Justin looked at Tareth’s flushed face and full lips, and had a sudden urge to see that face looking up at him while those lips were wrapped around his cock. He had never wanted a woman as badly as he wanted Tareth. His entire body ached for her touch. It was all he could do to keep from tearing off her clothes and plunging his cock inside her. Somehow he had the feeling Tareth wouldn’t mind that a bit.

Slow, he reminded himself. Coherent thought wasn’t really happening at that point, but he remembered that he’d given his word to take things slowly with her.

Besides, their food would arrive soon, and whatever they were doing would be interrupted.

She looked at him, head tilted and confusion in her eyes. She’d said something to him, and he hadn’t answered. “I like you too,” he said hoarsely, feeling like a high school kid. “A lot.”

She kissed the hollow of his throat. Shivers ran through him, and his cock grew even harder. That was one of his sweet spots.

“I’m glad,” she said.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with--”

She cut him off. “That didn’t happen, remember? This has to do with the fact that I’ve been attracted to you since the first time I saw you, and I had such an amazing time with you today. Now we’re here, and I know what I said would happen. I don’t think it’s going to be easy to stick to that.”

“Not for me, either.” He slid one hand under the hem of her shirt and focused on her smooth skin under his fingertips. She closed her eyes and moaned softly. On impulse, he pulled her onto his lap, turning her to face him while straddling him.

She opened her eyes wide and stared into his. “I want you.”

“Oh, god, Tareth.” He breathed deeply and tried to calm his desire. With her so close, his attempts had no success. “I want you too. You don’t know how much.”

“I think I do.” She reached down and pressed her hand against his cock. He hissed in a breath, and she smiled. “Oh, I do know. I thought I would bring you back here for more kissing, but here we are. You’re so hard, and I’m so wet, and it would be so easy for you to fuck me right now.”

Her face colored, telling him that she didn’t often talk like that to her lovers. He liked it. “You should have worn a skirt. Then you wouldn’t even have to take anything off.”

“I thought about it.” She moved her hips, grinding against his erection. “I wish I had.”

“Don’t.” If she kept that up, he would shoot in his pants like a kid. That wasn’t where he intended to come. One way or another, protected or not, when he came he would be inside her.

“You don’t like this?” she asked innocently, repeating her move.

Fluid leaked from his cock. He pictured her touching her tongue to it, which did absolutely nothing to settle him. “I love it,” he growled. “But I’m not going to make a mess before dinner.”

“Oh.” She blushed again. “Should I get off?”

He tried to come up with a joke for her unintended double entendre, but most of his brains had apparently gone down between his legs. “Yeah. Just for now.”