Doing this snippet from Hope of the Future. For a limited time, I’ve added her to my collection of free gifts you can snag if you sign up for my e-news (newsletter). Yes, you’ll get the full book to download for free!

Drew kept his mouth well away from hers. “Keep talking about diseases, honey. Don’t you worry. I’ll wait and finish ya off . . . for good.”

Hope swallowed the lump forming in her throat and fought the urge to cry. Her heart tightened.

She refused to allow her fear to take over. That wasn’t her. She had absorbed too many humans feelings from being around them all these years. Hope didn’t know how to be herself anymore, but she planned to die here and now, before facing the others who came.

Adding extra sweetness to her tone, she said, “I can’t wait.”

“Oh, you can,” he said and cut the front of her shirt open. He jerked, twisted, and snatched it from her body, then threw it to the side. “And you will—”

The door crashed open. Everyone’s attention moved toward the entrance. Guns went off from all sides. Cayla rushed in behind Ronin. Once through the doorway, they both fired their automatic weapons. Others swarmed in behind Cayla and Ronin, providing cover fire.

Relief tingled through Hope. Drew didn’t have time to react before Ronin targeted him. A hail of bullets struck him in the chest and spun him around, flailing wildly. The kidnapper’s gaze met Hope’s the instant he stopped spinning and collided with the floor. His eyes glossed over and death retrieved his soul.

Hope’s attention shot over to Ronin. There was a protective determination in the set of his jaw. His gaze flicked over her shoulder and the gun went off once more. Bullets whizzed past her head, like an angry swarm of bees. The moist sound of bullets fup, fup, fupping into flesh and bone came next, followed by the thump of the man as he hit the floor.

Cayla appeared next to Hope under a hail of protection to cut her free. “You’re okay,” with tears in her eyes, she shouted to be heard above the noise.

Progress on Royal Blood

As of this second, I’m at page 93/317