Tuesday Teaser November 30, 2021

11/30/2021

My teaser this week is from Electric Candle (Book Two of The Sleepless City). This series was written with Anne Barwell.

Forge heard Simon grumble, “The next time I say, ‘stay back,’ maybe you will.”

Lucas darted around and caught the guy from the back, hustling him out the door. Forge faced the other two, did his best to appear to bulk up, let his eyes turn to solid blue and showed his fangs.

The two remaining men grabbed each other’s arms, trying to back away, but there was nowhere to go when Forge sprinted and blocked their retreat to the back.

“What the hell!” One guy stumbled and would have fallen had Blair not flashed in and snatched him up by the shirt collar.

Forge swallowed a laugh. From Blair’s expression, he was definitely surprised he’d caught the guy. Lucas was guarding the door again, so Forge relieved Blair of his burden and shoved the guy hard enough he crashed into Lucas.

Without missing a beat, Lucas’s eyes glowed gold and he growled. The guy gulped, pulling out of his grip. Lucas pushed the door open and gave the guy a hearty shove out into the parking lot.

“Duck,” Simon yelled and grabbed the last of the men. Lucas dropped to his knees and the last guy skimmed over his back and sailed outside.
A few minutes later, everything had calmed down, chairs had been righted, and Sally was back to getting food out to the customers.
“Thank you,” she said when she made her way to their table.
“I doubt they’ll be back,” Simon told her.

“Have you seen this?” Sally asked Blair, gesturing with another beer, the cap still in place. “It’s the sexiest thing.” She patted Blair’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’m not interested in your boyfriend, you’re safe.”

Blair cocked an eyebrow at Forge. “Seen what?” he asked.

Forge took the bottle Sally offered. “Sometimes, she’ll get me to do this all night.” His fangs slipped down, and he hooked one under the bottle cap then pushed it out with his tongue. He caught the cap and tossed it on the table, grinning broadly as the rest of the men laughed.

Later, as they were getting ready to leave, Ben asked, “Why would this cambion want to collect sperm or eggs?”

“I’ve been wondering that myself. I can’t come up with a reason,” Forge said as they left the bar. The dark sky was littered with some clouds and stars.

Lucas stopped a few feet from his Jeep, put his head up, and howled.
“Lucas, there is no moon tonight,” Simon said, sounding unimpressed. He unlocked the passenger door of his car for Ben. “You’re riding with us.”
“But I—” Lucas sounded out the two words carefully.

“You are not driving when you start howling. We’ll get your Jeep on the way to work tomorrow,” Forge said.

“Come on, Lucas. Here’s your big chance with a vampire and a human together in one car.” Ben leaned against the door and waved at the backseat.

Lucas grinned and got into Simon’s car. “Oh, yeah.”

Blair laughed, and after he and Forge were driving home, he said, “I hope Ben doesn’t regret encouraging Lucas.”

Forge smiled and nodded but kept quiet. He had plenty to think about and only a small fraction of those thoughts revolved around their case or what Lucas might do.