Dreamspinner Press
Published August 16th 2019
Cover Artist: Cate Ashwood
Buy links:
Dreamspinner Press | Amazon
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Chris T. Kat here today talking about Romances and the new release Nemesis (Alpha Unit One #2). Welcome, Chris!
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Romances
Thanks so much for having me on your blog today! Dreamspinner Press has released my new m/m shapeshifter novella, Nemesis, Alpha Unit One: Book Two, on August 16th. It’s a continuation of Alpha Unit One, New York.
I don’t know about you, but when I was a child, and even as a teenager, I never read romance books. I read suspense and horror stories, and if the author dared to put in a romantic element into “my” books, it would make me really mad. I actually hated those parts when characters professed their love for one another because it took me away from the suspense part. Even as an adult, I read those parts with gritted teeth and was happy when the romantic parts were over.
After my first child was born, my reading interests started to shift slightly, so that I didn’t mind the romance parts so much anymore. I still wasn’t a fan of them, but they didn’t drive me crazy anymore either. After my second child was born, I realized that I had started to enjoy the parts where people found out they loved each other, and books without a romantic element in them began to bore me. When I found my “home” in the m/m world, I needed the story to have a romantic part. It didn’t need to be sexual, simply that these guys found love and happiness. Nowadays, I rarely read books without romance in it. If I do, I’m always waiting for someone to fall in love with someone else and, if that doesn’t happen, I feel let down. I don’t necessarily need the falling in love part in my books, established relationships work just fine for me.
I guess nowadays I need my fill of warmth and joy and I hope that’s comes across in my own writing as well. Nicky is definitely a bundle of happiness, especially when he’s in his cub form, and Sam adores his partner and would do anything for him.
Blurb:
Nicky Reed may have won the battle regarding baby shifters working as policemen, but he’s not so sure about the war. His mate and superior officer, Sam Black, is still overprotective with a capital O. As a result, Nicky sometimes finds himself repressing some of Tiny’s—his snow leopard cub other half’s—natural urges. Which leads to frustration on Nicky’s part.
With a new drug called Nemesis killing in record numbers, Alpha Unit One must find out who’s behind this horrible narcotic and get it off the streets—a tall enough order without press accusations that baby shifters are to blame for the team’s lack of success.
Their investigation into Nemesis leads Nicky and Sam and the rest of the team into unexpected waters. Will the stress rip the squad apart? The baby shifters may find themselves unable to perform the job they love: protecting the people of New York City. And Nicky may be in over his head—in more ways than one.
Excerpt from Chapter One:
Nicky
Where did you hide it? I shrieked. I couldn’t help myself. This couldn’t be asked in a normal tone of voice—not anymore. Where the hell did she put it?
You’re obsessed with that freaking ball, you know that? Connor prowled along Annie’s back in his shifted form as a polar fox kit, his white fur a stark contrast to her orange-and-black stripes. He seemed so very small in comparison to Annie, and it didn’t help one bit that a pregnant Annie was an even bigger Annie than normal.
Where is it? If I’d been in my human from, my lower lip probably would’ve wobbled. Although maybe not, because in my human form, I wouldn’t lose it about my most favorite ball—ever.
It has to be here somewhere, Annie replied in a startlingly soothing voice. She only used that tone when she played with Connor and me in our baby-shifter forms. We’d dubbed it her mother-voice, which she hated. Of course we liked to tease her mercilessly with that. But… but not now. Now I needed to find my ball!
You kicked it away, I muttered, you go and find it. I want it back!
“Having trouble with the kids, darling?” Jake, Annie’s human mate, crouched low and petted her head, grinning. Annie gave him a withering stare that would’ve sent anyone else fleeing, but not Jake.
Connor proceeded to walk back and forth on Annie’s back, sometimes jumping and barking. Very funny. Why was no one helping me find my ball? It was bright red and fit perfectly in my mouth. Didn’t they see how important it was to find it?
I plunked my butt dejectedly on the floor and tried to control the urge to cry. Lunch break was supposed to be fun, not the end of the world. Which it was. At least for Tiny—my name for my snow-leopard-baby-shifter form—who very much ran the show at the moment.
A big hand lifted me up in the air, and Roland’s mangled face came into view. While strangers still shied away from him and I still caught the others sometimes throwing pitying looks at him, I had no qualms. When he held me close, I reached out with my paws and pressed them against his cheek. He smiled, and I gave the tip of his nose a swift lick.
“Ugh.”
That certainly wasn’t the reaction I’d hoped for. He liked me doing this. Sometimes. I think. Or not?
My ears drooped and my whiskers trembled as I stared at him. Roland settled me against his chest and repeated, “Ugh.” Not aimed at me, then.
Curious, I turned my head, and sure enough, Annie had shifted back into human form and was now assaulting… uh, kissing… Jake. I mirrored Roland’s “ugh” with a protesting mewl. Jake’s hands were tangled in Annie’s long reddish braid while she held him as closely as possible to her body.
Connor shook himself as he too shifted back to human, causing his white-blond hair to fly around wildly. “Please,” he groaned. “Get a room. We’re supposed to be tough cops, not some lovey-dovey… I don’t know whats.”
Jake freed himself from Annie. “If you can be a tough cop and a baby shifter, I don’t see why I can’t be a tough cop and a lovey-dovey something or other.”
I gazed back at Connor, waiting for a witty reply, but none came.
Turning my attention back to Roland, I wondered why he had picked me up in the first place. Which reminded me—my ball!
A cry escaped my mouth—it was supposed to be a growl, but try growling when you’re a snow leopard cub—and I climbed up on Roland’s shoulder for a better vantage point.
“There’s no need to cry, kiddo. I saw that ball go underneath Sam’s desk.”
I bunched my muscles to jump to the ground, but Roland closed both hands around my middle and stopped my forward momentum. Irritated, I wriggled in his hands. Let me down!
Before Roland had a chance to say anything, the office door banged open, revealing a wild-eyed Sam. My Sam, to be precise.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris T. Kat
Chris T. Kat stumbled upon the M/M genre by luck and was swiftly drawn into it. She divides her time between teaching, taking care of her family, reading, and sometimes writing. She enjoys a variety of genres, such as romance, paranormal, and suspense. She also buys way too many fabrics and spends a ridiculous amount of time behind her sewing machine.
Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/christi_kat1
e-mail: christi_kat25@yahoo.com
Nicky Reed may have won the battle regarding baby shifters working as policemen, but he’s not so sure about the war. His mate and superior officer, Sam Black, is still overprotective with a capital O. As a result, Nicky sometimes finds himself repressing some of Tiny’s—his snow leopard cub other half’s—natural urges. Which leads to frustration on Nicky’s part.
Nicky and Sam are back and there is a new drug on the streets, Nemesis. As the team works to stop Nemesis from claiming more lives, Nicky finds himself rethinking his every move.
When an international case involving a series of ritual murders lands in his lap, strait-laced and logical Agent Leon Armstrong is going to need some help.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 