I’m excited to be featuring Rebekah’s Ganiere’s new release, Red the Were Hunter, and who wouldn’t with such a vibrant cover! Check out the excerpt and click here to enter the Goodreads giveaway.
Blurb
What if you were the key to an ancient prophecy that would begin to heal your lands, but fulfilling your destiny meant you had to turn your back on everything you’d been taught to believe in?
Redlynn of Volkzene, member of the Sisterhood of Red, is heartbroken to discover another girl kidnapped and her best friend slain by werewolves. Defying the head of her order, she sets out to kill the beast she believes responsible. The King of the Weres– But there are worse things in Wolvenglen Forest than the wolves.
Adrian, reluctant heir to the throne of Wolvenglen, and his band of wolf brothers are bound to protect the humans; especially the Sisterhood. Finding Redlynn unconscious in his woods, awakens in him a passion he’s never before experienced and a protective instinct that has him ready to turn on his own men. Problem is, a female is the last thing Adrian needs complicating his life.
But all is not as it seems in Wolvenglen Forest and to save the missing girls before time runs out, Redlynn and Adrian must move past their inner demons and learn to trust each other. In the search for vengeance however, sometimes you must give up what you desire most.
Red The Were Hunter won 2nd Place in the Hook, Line and Sinker Contest and is a current finalist in the Great Beginnings Contest.
Excerpt
Another girl had been taken. One moment the small village of Volkzene was silent, with Redlynn drifting off to sleep to the rhythmical sounds of her clock ticking; the next a scream pierced the night.
Redlynn leapt from her bed, grabbed her sword, and tore out to the street. People in their nightclothes, brandishing torches and lanterns, filled the village center.
“Where are they?” she called at the nearest neighbor.
“Cantrel’s.” The woman ran for the safety of her home.
Anya! Redlynn sprinted toward the south edge of the village. Her best friend was on guard alone at the Cantrel’s hut. Breathing hard, the cold night wind whipped her wavy, red hair into her face and raised goose bumps on her skin. The sound of her blood pumping in her ears drowned out the buzz of the village folk.
“Anya,” she screamed. “Anya, where are you?”
Redlynn charged through the crowd gathered outside the hut. “Move,” she yelled. The other members of the Sisterhood and villagers backed away at the sight of her.
The smell of blood hit her. She stepped over the threshold, the horror slapping her with force. Her heart faltered and a cry escaped her lips.
“No-o-o-o!” she screamed. “Anya!”
Anya’s mangled body lay sprawled on the floor, her bow still clutched in her fingers. Redlynn’s mind numbed, unable to process the scene. She spun slowly on the spot. An arrow stuck in the wall next to the door. Bits of wood were strewn about from the smashed kitchen table. Coals tumbled from the fire, and little more than charred cinders remained of the curtains. A pail of water lay discarded nearby. The Cantrels huddled on their bed in the adjoining room, Mrs. Cantrel sobbed into her husband’s chest.
“Sasha, my Sasha,” Mrs. Cantrel moaned.
Anger and despair ripped through Redlynn’s gut. Her sword hit the floor with a clatter and she collapsed to her knees, gathering her best friend’s bloody body in her arms. She sucked in large gasps of air, tears streaming down her cheeks. The very last of my loved ones.
Anya stared blankly into the night, her eyes transfixed and cloudy. Redlynn stroked her hair and tried in vain to piece the skin together on Anya’s neck and torso. At just nineteen, Anya had been through so much in her short life. Too much, and now it was over. Sadness gave way to anger, and bile scorched her throat.
“This is your fault,” Mrs. Cantrel screeched, pointing at Redlynn. “Where were you? You were supposed to stand guard with Anya.”
Redlynn swallowed the angry words she wanted to say. “I’ll find Sasha,” she promised the teary-eyed mother.
“Find her? Those beasts have probably already torn her to bits. You’re the protector, and where were you? Asleep. To let my Sasha be taken, and poor Anya to be murdered. If you can’t even do the one thing we’ve kept you around for, what good are you?”
The words slapped Redlynn in the face. Her throat went dry. She searched for something to say. Something to soothe the mother, to soothe herself. “I’ll find her.”
“Get out of my house, Cursed!” Mrs. Cantrel screamed.
Redlynn’s heart thundered in her chest. She laid Anya down, grabbed her sword, and pushed out the door, past the crowd of Sisters and villagers. Running flat out, she made for the village gate.
“Red!”
The sound of her name stopped her. Breathing hard, her body surged with adrenaline. Her head pounded with the need for vengeance. Her heart ached from the pain of Mrs. Cantrel’s words.
“I hope you aren’t thinking of doing anything foolish.” Lillith stepped calmly from the shadows, her red stone necklace glowing faintly in the dim light.
Redlynn locked eyes on the head of her Order and ground her teeth.
“You know it’s forbidden to go into the woods.”
“We need to go out there. Strike them now. Take the fight to them and end this.” Redlynn continued toward the gate. “We need to become the hunters we used to be. Not the village guard we are now.”
Members of the Sisterhood gathered around.
“Do not defy me on this, Red.” Lillith crossed her arms over her chest. “It won’t end well for you if you do.”
Redlynn closed her eyes and sucked in the chilled night air, trying to get her mind to focus. Anya was dead. Another girl was gone, and they just stood around arguing, like always.
Sasha made the second girl this month; twelve all together. There had been five new girls inducted as full-fledged members of the Sisterhood this year. All of them carried off by Weres. It made no sense. The Weres hadn’t attacked the village since before her time. What changed?
A frigid wind hit her skin. Frost from the ground seeped through her stockings, making her shiver in her nightgown. The rage inside dimmed, giving way for a need to understand what had happened.
“Tell me,” she demanded, wiping tears from her cheeks. “What happened this time?”
Lillith’s voice carried into the night for all to hear. “The Weres came in a pack of three. Snuck in and stole Sasha out of her bed, like all the others.”
Redlynn let out a shuddered breath. Anya, a good fighter, would’ve been no match for three. No one was, but perhaps Redlynn herself. I shouldn’t have left her alone.
“Who was on watch?” she asked.
The Sisters looked at each other.
“Who saw them come through the gate?” Her eyes raked over the group of women.
“I did.” Lillith’s back straightened.
“Why was the alarm not sounded?” she yelled, taking a step closer. “How could you let this happen?”
Lillith’s gaze flicked to the crowd, and then snapped to Redlynn. “Don’t take that tone of voice with me, Red. I am the Head of the Order, not you.”
Redlynn gripped her sword tightly, trying to hold her temper in check.
“We need to take care of Anya,” one of the Sisters said. “Before the moon passes.”
Redlynn took a deep, cleansing breath. She had to keep it together. “I’ll do it.”
Lillith stepped in Redlynn’s path, blocking her. “You don’t need to—”
“I will do it.” She glared at Lillith before stepping around her.
Lillith glanced away, as everyone did from her cursed golden eyes. “We’ll move her to the Hall and prepare, while you clean up.”
It was not a request.
Author Info:
Rebekah is an award winning author. Her first novel Dead Awakenings, debuted in January 2014. Red the Were Hunter, the first in her Farielle Series, will be published May 1, 2014. Her trilogy The Society will be released in early 2015 by Kensington’s Lyrical Press. Rebekah is the VP of Communications of the RWA FFP Chapter as well as a member of her local Los Angeles and Orange County Chapters. In her spare time when she isn’t writing you can find her moderating on Savvy Authors.com and in her local SCV Writers group, or hanging out with her husband, four children and dog, rabbit, two bearded dragons, three tortoises and a handful of fish. The escaped snake has yet to be found.