Haunted Sanctuary Blog Tour & Giveaway with Moira Rogers

THE BACKSTORY

From the time we announced the final Red Rock ebook in 2009, people have been asking us when we’d go back to the Sanctuary world and write more about werewolves and their witch rivals.  In the beginning we didn’t want to return–we had our four books and our two prequel novellas, and those were the stories we had to tell.  But people kept asking, and we kept saying, “Well, what if…okay, no, but maybe if…”

A watched pot never boils, and I’m starting to think a watched plot is the same way.  The harder we tried to force ourselves to come up with the right story, the more they slipped away.  Finally we set the idea aside for a while, reluctantly admitting that maybe it had been too long in any case.  We’d missed our window.  It was time to work on other–

BOOM!  That was our idea, knocking us head over heels.  It hit us so hard we sat down and wrote Haunted Sanctuary instead of the book we were supposed to be writing.   It wasn’t the story we’d originally imagined.  It takes place in a new town, with a new cast of characters, and is set several years after the end of Red Rock Pass.  You don’t have to be familiar with any of the previous books to pick up Haunted Sanctuary…

…but hey.  Any excuse to give away books is good for us!

 

THE BLOG TOUR

Thanks to the generosity of Samhain Publishing–and with the assistance of many awesome bloggers–we get to spend the next twenty days giving away 80 ebooks!  Those of you who haven’t read the Red Rock Pass books will have twenty different chances to win the entire set in the ebook format of your choice.

In honor of that, we’re going to be revisiting some of our favorite scenes from each of the four books…and maybe showing a few sneaky peeks at the next chapter in the Sanctuary Universe!

 

TODAY’S SNIPPET

Haunted Sanctuary: New Beginnings
aka Start As You Intend to Go On

As we head into the final leg of our blog tour, it’s only fitting to end with our new beginning–and a few peeks at Haunted Sanctuary.  And this first excerpt shows exactly how we chose to begin.

By upending the hero and heroine’s lives, of course!

Of course, this was our second new beginning.  We actually wrote an entire different start to this book before realizing that we were dipping our toes into the pool instead of jumping in.  Different series have different tempos, and it had been a while since we wrote a Sanctuary book.  So the phantom ending disappeared into the ether, and we turned poor Eden into a werewolf before the end of chapter one.

Whoops.

Fortunately for her, that was exactly what she needed to prove her own inner strength.  Unfortunately for our hero…well.  It was what he needed to prove his own self-control.

* * *

Eden dragged in a shaky breath before burying her nose in the sleeve. “It smells like you. I don’t even know how I know that, but it’s comforting.”

“Your sense of smell will be a lot more pronounced now.” He could handle teaching, offering her information, and he knew a woman like Eden was bound to appreciate it. “People think wolves have the best sniffers out there, but it’s not true, not compared to a lot of dog breeds. Sound, though—that’s a big one. Your brain will block out the worst of it, but loud noises might be painful until you get used to them.”

Her gaze dropped to his chest as her eyes narrowed. “I can hear your heart.”

“You’ll be able to see in the dark too.” He rose and held out his hand. “Hungry?”

“Starving.” She let him pull her to her feet but didn’t release his hand. “Jay… Thank you for taking care of me.”

His skin tingled at her touch. She’d slept two feet away from him, he’d seen her naked, and now she was wearing his shirt. Not just wearing, but luxuriating in, like his scent was the only thing she wanted on her body ever again.

He bit his tongue. Hard. “You’re welcome.”

She swayed toward him, like she was fighting the urge to close the distance between them. Her fingers clenched tight as she turned away. “I can feel her. She’s me, but she’s separate. And she’s not confused.”

“Good.” Too many new wolves went nuts from the sudden shift in sensory input, not to mention the lifelong implications—the transformation was irreversible, those changes unavoidable. Adjusting was hellish, and some people couldn’t do it at all.

If Eden was one of them…

It didn’t bear consideration. Jay would have had to end her misery, and how the hell would he explain that to Zack? To Eden’s father?

How would he handle it himself?

She cleared her throat. “Am I supposed to want to sniff you?”

“If you want to check me out.” Only shit, that sounded like an invitation. “You’re going to want to test other wolves. That’s unavoidable.”

Silence. Eden edged closer, as if she couldn’t help herself, her gaze fixed on his throat. “If you don’t want me to, I think you better run or lock me in the bathroom or something.”

“Yeah? Well, I’m going to do neither,” he answered. “I wish we had a couple of days for you to hide away from the world and deal with this, but we don’t. We’ve got to get you solid on your feet and head back out to the farm.”

She moved in a rush, slamming against his chest and burying her face in his throat with a distressed whimper. Her fingers dug into his shoulders in a painful grip that only eased after her first gasping breath.

Jay wrapped his arms around her, already regretting his blunt words. “Hey, you’re okay. You’re fine, Eden. Just fine.”

“I know.” The words sounded more frustrated than scared, but the nervous energy pulsing just under her skin didn’t fade. “I don’t have time to fall apart. I need to be stronger.” She dragged in another breath. “Why do you smell so safe?”

“Because I’m strong. Because you know me already.”

“Because I trust you?” She turned her cheek to his shoulder with a sigh. “Tell me I can do this, and I promise to believe you.”

That much, at least, was easy. “I’ve seen people way weaker than you handle this. You can do it, no doubt at all.”

* * *

THE CONTEST

 

Leave a comment to if you’d like to be entered to win a set of the Red Rock Pass ebooks!  And keep an eye open for the new book, Haunted Sanctuary, on sale now from Samhain Publishing and available to purchase at Samhain, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, iTunes & Books on Board!

**BP Note: We will announce our winner on Feb 5th.  Good luck!  Don’t forget to check out our review of Haunted Sanctuary going up tomorrow**