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

Sanctuary Lost: Power Games Revisited

aka Revenge of the Underdogs
(or wolves, as the case may be)

Alphas have all the advantages, or so it can seem sometimes.  In the Sanctuary world, they’re tougher, stronger and more dangerous.  They heal  faster, move faster and when they want to, they can put weaker wolves in their place with just a few words–or a little bit of magic.

There doesn’t seem like much that can balance that, but everything has its downsides.  For the wolves who follow the older traditions, that power comes with a price.  The weight of responsibility can weigh heavy, and when protective urges are more instinct than thought, you can paralyze a strong wolf by threatening someone they care about.

Brynn is just as protective as anyone in Red Rock, but she has a different set of instincts driving her. And sometimes freedom from responsibility is as good as a secret weapon…

* * *

They made it two more steps before she stopped him again. “He’s an alpha, Dylan. What if I can’t fight him? The instincts are so damn strong and I don’t know how to control them. What if he tells me to do something and I just do it?”

He grasped her upper arms, bent to meet her eyes, and whispered hoarsely, “You try like hell, Brynn. That’s all either of us can do.”

She stared at him for an endless moment, and her terror gave way under the fierce determination in his eyes. Dylan was like her, and he’d risked everything to defy Alan Matthews and keep Abby safe. “Okay. Okay. Let’s do it.”

The front door creaked, and so did the stairs. Halfway up, mocking laughter rang out. “Come on up. We’ve been expecting you.”

Dylan hesitated, but only for a moment. Then he dragged Brynn up the rest of the stairs and ran for the sound of Alan’s voice, his gun at the ready.

Sam’s voice cut through a second before they hit the door, a pained, muffled scream that sounded like a denial. Then a sound Brynn recognized all too well—a fist hitting flesh.

They spilled through the door into a nightmare. Alan sat on the bed with Sasha at his feet, his hand wrapped tightly in her hair. On the other side of the room, three men were attempting to restrain Sam. Someone had bound her hands behind her back with brutal efficiency, but judging from the awkward angle of one of their arms and the blood and rising bruises on their faces, getting her under control had cost them.

A pleased grin spread over Alan’s face. “This is my best day ever,” he murmured, jerking Sasha’s hair a little as he watched Dylan and Brynn. “If Abigail dropped out of the sky and landed in my lap right now, life would truly be complete.” He winked at Brynn. “You made that happen once. Surely you can do it again.”

“No.” One word, but she put everything she had into it, everything she could summon up with the wolf howling a warning inside her, screaming at her to run.

Dylan twitched and raised his gun, ignoring the warning snarls from the men in the corner. “Let her go.”

“The witch?” Alan questioned with a laugh. “No. No, I don’t think so. They can do such interesting things.” He picked up a knife from the bed beside him. “Like this, for instance. If she tries, I’ll bet Samantha over there will recognize it. This”—he thumbed the blade lovingly—“will hurt even the strongest wolf. But the magic fades eventually. You have to…recharge them.” He tossed the knife behind him, and one of the three men with Sam caught it.

Alan turned his attention to Sasha. “So beautiful.” He pulled her head back and hit her across the mouth, chuckling when she recoiled with a cry. “I forgot how beautiful some humans can be.” His thumb traced her split lower lip. “So wounded.” Then he shrugged and licked his thumb clean. “And useful.”

Sam’s snarl of rage filled the room, and the ropes holding her arms snapped as she surged to her feet—

—and stopped again when Alan’s fingers closed around Sasha’s throat. “I can tear it out with my bare fingers,” he whispered, his eyes fixed on Sam’s face. “You remember, don’t you?”

Furious, helpless power raged through the room as the werewolves forced Sam to her knees again, and Brynn recognized the horrifying truth of Sam’s existence in one moment of insight. Left to her own devices, she could tear every man in this room apart—but the protective instincts that came with her power left her trapped in the face of someone else’s pain.

* * *
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 January 22nd from Samhain Publishing and available to pre-order at Samhain, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, iTunes & Books on Board!