KB Alan

Those lovely folks over at Excerpt Monday are promoting Bound by Sunlight and some other great looking May and June releases. For them, I’m posting the excerpt from Bound by Sunlight, for my regular readers, I say go check out the other new releases, I will be! 😀

Excerpt from Bound by Sunlight

“You’ve never been bound?” he asked, picking up the straps of her tank top.

“No.” It was more of a breath than a whisper, but he seemed satisfied with her answer. She felt a soft spark against her shoulders and looked down. He’d severed the straps of her top, which were left to dangle above her breasts. Magic. He’d used magic. A tiny niggle of fear tried to work its way through her. He seemed to know and brought his warm hands back to her face, tilting her head up enough that she knew she was supposed to meet his eyes. Why did she find that so difficult? She forced herself to follow his unspoken demand.

“I will not harm you tonight. Not with magic. Not with anything else. I will bring you pain, but only as much as will pleasure you. Do you understand?”

She saw patience and assurance in his eyes, wondered what he saw in hers. Shame washed through her now—that she had come to him so unprepared, unworthy. He shouldn’t have to deal with a novice when he was used to those at the club. His fingers on her chin tightened.

“Do you understand?” he asked again.

“Yes.”

He knew there was more, she could see it in his face, see him trying to figure it out. As long as he didn’t ask, she wouldn’t have to admit to her insecurities. He cocked his head as he studied her.

“What distressed you now?”

She wanted to look away. The feeling of easy surrender had vanished. But she had to answer him. Had to keep meeting his eyes. Not just because of the compulsion, but because she had asked for this. Asked him to help her. He deserved to have as much of her courage as she could muster.

“I’m sorry. I’m not very good at this. I don’t know what to do.”

“You don’t have to know what to do. That’s what I’m here for. You’ll do what I tell you, when I tell you. Won’t you?” His voice was hard, uncompromising.

“Yes.”

“Then there’s nothing for you to fail at. It’s my responsibility to make sure this goes right, not yours. Your only responsibility is to tell me if I go too far.” He stepped closer, allowing his heat to envelope her. She felt moisture gather in her pussy and it got a little bit harder to draw breath.

“Let’s start over.” He pulled her chin up higher now that he was closer to her. Her neck ached a little at the strain. It felt…good.

“Do you believe that I won’t harm you, even though I have every intention of bringing you pain?”

“Yes.” She didn’t know why, and it might be foolish, but she believed him. It was the reason she was here.

He rewarded her with a small kiss to her lips. She opened for him but he drew away. She sighed.

“Do you believe that I will bring you pleasure?”

“Yesss.”

This time he smiled as he kissed her. She tried to chase his lips, but his hands kept her in position.

“Do you understand what you’re supposed to do?”

Uh oh. What was she supposed to do? Hadn’t he just told her—oh.

“Yes.” Another kiss, she wanted another kiss. A real one this time, damn it.

“Tell me.”

“Whatever you tell me to do.” She parted her lips in preparation. She would have to be fast this time.

“And?”

No kiss? What was he doing to her?

“And…umm. Oh, and use my safe word if you go too far.”

“Good girl.” He met her lips with his, but it wasn’t gentle this time. He thrust his tongue into her mouth, taking what she had tried to take, giving what she needed. She whimpered when he pulled back.

“Tell me your safe word again.”

She didn’t want to, didn’t want to ever say that word again. He seemed to understand.

“Choose another word. It doesn’t need to be that one. Shouldn’t be something you don’t want to say.”

“No, it’s all right—”

His fingers tightened against her skin again, reminding her who was in charge. He wasn’t asking. He was telling.

“I, maybe…Snowball!” God, all she could come up with was her childhood cat’s name. Was he smirking at her? She narrowed her eyes at him but his face had gone expressionless again. He leaned down and gave her another quick kiss. Then he let her go, stepped back, taking his heat with him.

“If you use your safe word, I’ll stop what I’m doing so we can talk about it. Don’t be afraid to use it, it doesn’t mean I’m going to send you away.”

She managed to nod her understanding.

“You have a lovely body.”

She didn’t. Her size eight curves weren’t quite proportioned the way she’d like and—

He smacked her ass and she jumped as much as the chains would allow, which wasn’t much at all. Why she should be shocked she had no idea, but she looked at him for an explanation.

“You.” He put his hands on top of her head then ran them over her face, rubbing her eyebrows, exploring her cheekbones, tickling her ears and caressing her chin.

“Have.” Her skin tingled as his hands moved down her neck to her now heaving chest.

“A lovely.” His fingers molded to her breasts, giving a sharp, barely painful squeeze before continuing their journey.

“Body.” He reversed his hands so that his fingers led the way over the curve of her stomach to the juncture of her thighs. He folded his hands along the curve, careful not to touch the part of her that needed touching the most.

“Oh,” she managed to whisper. Her whole body shuddered at his intense look and careful caress. The desire in his words and his eyes did more to relax her than anything else he could have done. She didn’t realize how worried she’d been about the fact that by presenting herself to him, rather than having him choose her, she would have a hard time believing he wanted this, even a little bit.

She looked down at her top. He was running a finger down its center, from neck to hem. As his finger slid past, the fabric parted, splitting down the middle. It was almost like a breath of heat, but maybe she was imagining that. It didn’t take long for the whole top to fall away.

Her naked breasts were damp with sweat, her nipples somewhat swollen. He ignored them and brought his finger to her pants, performing a similar magic to remove them in less than a minute. He took a step back, observing her dressed only in plain cotton panties. It looked as if he was fighting a smile. She tried not to blush and failed. Why hadn’t she dressed up for him? She had the clothes, had been provided with the types of outfits that were supposed to entice him. Black leather, lace garters and more. Much more. It wasn’t that she didn’t like them, but she would have felt like a spy wearing them, like a fraud. So she’d come in the most Kyriana-like clothes she had.

He walked behind her, hooked a finger in the waistband and snapped the elastic against her skin. It didn’t hurt, but it startled her. She hung her head as she tried to fight off the shame and misery working their way through her.

“Just checking to see if your name was embroidered in the back.” His teasing words were spoken against her neck. She choked on her laugh as his lips moved down her neck to the top of her spine, where he bit, hard.

Today’s the day! I’m so excited (can you tell? lol). I loved writing this book. It came to me and wouldn’t let go, which was exactly what I needed at the time. I’d been working on Keeping Claire but had trouble with the direction I wanted to go in. Or rather, Claire wanted to go in. I stopped and started and restarted just short of a million times. Also, I was driving myself crazy with trying to do things the way I thought they should be done. Not that anyone was telling me that, just that I was trying to be more organized and do everything the smart way. I finally told myself to shut it, but it took a while for me to listen. See, Mom, I don’t listen to myself any better than I listen to you! Actually, at this age, I probably listen better to you than to myself.

Wait, what was I talking about? Oh, yeah, poor Claire. Anyway, I got the idea for a woman who sneaks into a Dom’s room, wearing her pajamas. Don’t ask me why, this is how my brain works. I had to figure out why. Turns out, she had a pretty good reason. So Kyriana came into being, but she needed just the right guy. Luckily for me, er, I mean her, Connul is the kind of Dom who knows exactly how to take care of a woman, and once she becomes his woman, stand back!

The book is set in a world exactly like ours, except that magic exists. Mages are not terribly common, but neither are they a secret. Like anyone else, they come in all shapes and sizes, and fill the spectrum between good and evil. I tried to come up with some names that would show the slight otherness of the world, without being too wacky. Kyriana’s name actually came from a character in my very brief college foray into roll-playing games. I think the original Kyr was an elf, but this one is just a human caught up in a situation that she has no weapons to fight against. Until she finds Connul. Connul’s brother Dain, and sister Sasha, make an appearance, and I might as well tell you now that I liked them a lot so I wouldn’t be too surprised if they start clamoring for their own stories soon. We’ll see how that goes!

So, I’m going to shut up now, and go buy a copy of Bound by Sunlight, because I’m just dorky enough to do that. I can’t help myself, I’ve loved buying books at Ellora’s Cave for a long time now, and this one has my name on the cover! That just never gets old. 😀

Don’t forget that I’m giving away a copy at both Christine D’Abo’s blog and The Blackraven’s Erotic Cafe!

So close! Bound by Sunlight will be out tomorrow, and I’m so excited to share it with you. But more on that tomorrow. Today, I have a contest link. Fellow Ellora’s Cave author Christine D’Abo is celebrating her tenth EC release on May 21st, by inviting 10 EC authors (+1 to grow on! ) to share their stories and give away lots of prizes, on her blog. She was kind enough to put me down for tomorrow, so I’ll be giving away a copy of Bound by Sunlight on release day. Be sure to check that out tomorrow, but don’t forget to head over today, and the next ten days for lots more great stories and prizes.

Here’s the schedule:

May 11 – Jennifer Leeland

May 12 – KB Alan

May 13 – Amy Ruttan

May 14 – Aileen Fish

May 15 – JK Coi

May 16 – Rhian Cahill

May 17 – Emma Petersen

May 18 – Nina Pierce

May 19 – Lissa Matthews

May 20 – Tory Richards

May 21 – Christine d’Abo

Good luck!

UPDATED: The Blackraven’s Erotic Cafe has an interview with me up, and they’ll be giving away a copy of Bound by Sunlight.

I think this is the first time I got my cover before my blurb 😛
What do y’all think? I like it!

I’m very excited to announce that Bound by Sunlight has been accepted by Ellora’s Cave! It’s a BDSM paranormal. I’ve mentioned it a couple of times on the blog, and am thrilled it’s going to be published. This is the story that got me back to writing when I’d gotten a bit stuck in the head. Er, you know what I mean. I wasn’t even sure I’d ever send it out to anyone, I just wanted to get back to writing and get these characters down on paper. I really fell in love with the characters and their story, and was so happy with how it turned out. Of course, that didn’t make me less nervous about submitting it, but there ya go.

It’s set in a world that is basically the same as ours, except there are mages – those born with the natural ability to work magic. The hero, Connul, is a mage, but also a BDSM Master. An expert at wielding a whip, a paddle, or his bare hand. Whatever it takes to send his partner into ecstasy, which is how he draws in power. And conveniently (lol) is just what the heroine, Kyriana needs. She’s trying to get away from her boss, an evil mage who’s set his attentions on Connul, and has put a spell on her. She needs Connul to help her break the spell, and the fact that it’s best done while naked is just a bonus. 😀

I’ll get a real blurb written one of these days and put it up. Also, I’m going to post something from BbS for Excerpt Monday next week.

It’s been a while, so it feels extra great to be able to say that I’ve hit the end on a story, Bound by Sunlight. Of course, really that’s just the first draft, so now I have to go do some revising, find someone to critique it and is willing to tell me if I’m off my rocker or if this story is workable, revise it again, then submit. I’m going to give it two weeks to percolate before I go back to do the first round of revisions.

In the meantime, I’ve returned to a piece I’ve been working on for a while, Keeping Claire. I started and restarted this thing four or five times. At one point, when I wasn’t sure quite what I wanted to do with it, I started Bound by Sunlight. Then I went back and forth on both of them for a while before BbS took over. Now I’m excited to get back to Claire and Ryan, and though they keep throwing me curve balls, I’m pretty sure I know what’s going to happen to them. Poor Ryan’s just bungled big time, and I’m looking forward to how he’s going to get back on Claire’s good side. She’s had a tough life and her patience is pretty thin, so he’s going to have to work his butt off. I can’t wait. 😛

Once a month, a bunch of authors get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You don’t have to be published to participate–just a writer with an excerpt you’d like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site! or click on the banner above.

This is an excerpt from my latest release, Alpha Turned. You can see the books page on my site here, or at the publisher’s site. I hope you enjoy!

“Larry?” he answered, instead of saying hello.

She laughed. “Caller ID?”

“Yes. I’ve been afraid to be more than one ring away from this damn cell phone all day. I was worried about you. I know it’s difficult, having to deal with the separation anxiety while trying to come to terms with all of this. I wish I could make it better for you.” He sounded genuinely distressed and Hillary relaxed, knowing that she could love this man despite the fact that he was a werewolf, despite the fact that he was a strong, controlling Alpha. In this case, the wolf’s nature would aid her because he would find it very difficult to do anything but help and support her any way that she needed him. And she would do the same for him.

She didn’t try to explain her thinking to him, merely said, “I want to see you. I need to see you, but…I don’t think I’m ready for the whole pack, especially while I’m feeling so…torn. Like a part of me is missing and only you can put me all back together again.”

His strangled moan was muffled. “Baby, I’ll come to you, that’s not a problem, but I need you to be real clear on what you want from me when you see me, so that I don’t screw this up. Do you want me to bring Aaron and Tracy so you can ask us more questions? Get to know us better?”

“Hell no!” she blurted. “I can’t wait any longer, Zach, I need you. I’ll meet you back by that restaurant. There was a little B&B there, right? It’s off-season, so they should have a room for the weekend, right? Will you stay with me?”

The breathing on the other end of the line was harsh. “Honey, I think, it might be better not to be surrounded by humans. My cousin, Peter, has a cabin about fifteen miles east of there. It’s not super fancy or anything, but it’s fairly isolated. Because, Hillary, I just don’t think I’m going to be able to stay very quiet when I’m with you, at least not the first dozen times or so.”

Hillary’s breathing had sped up at the torment in Zach’s voice. She managed a whisper. “Okay, email me the directions. I’m going to pack. I’ll leave in an hour.” She hung up the phone before he could say anything else and went to shower.

Less than two hours later, Hillary pulled up to the cabin. The directions had been very specific, and she recognized the SUV in front of it. The door opened as she parked, and Zachary stood there waiting.

He seemed very tense as Hillary approached. She knew that he was being cautious, not wanting to make assumptions, not wanting to rush her. She walked up to him and kept going until she was fully against him, her face going naturally to the curve of his neck, his cock pressing gently into her stomach. She wrapped her hands around him and held on tight. His hands tried to pull her even closer, one arm around her shoulders, one settling possessively in the small of her back.

She took a deep breath, determined to be as honest with him as he had been with her. “Zach, I want this so badly, but I don’t know…I’m guess I’m afraid I’ll freeze up or hurt you…”

He squeezed her tight before moving one hand up to cradle her cheek. “Honey, the worst that could happen is that I have to run out and jump in the cold spring. Not a big deal. I’m not going to lie and say I’m not dying for you, but I’m already a hundred times better than I was an hour ago. As long as we’re together, and as long as we talk to each other, we’ll be fine, I swear.” His fingers sifted through her hair and he pulled her head back gently so that he could kiss her.

Hillary sank into the kiss, pushing away any thoughts, letting the incredible feelings be everything. His lips were soft against hers, teasing her with their fullness. She waited for him to give her his tongue, but he played with her, using only his lips and the occasional nip. Finally she remembered that she was an alpha bitch, she didn’t have to wait for him. She thrust her tongue into his mouth and was immediately rewarded by his groan of pleasure, by the tightening of his fingers in her hair and the grinding of his cock into her stomach. She smiled, interrupting the rhythm he had taken up, then pulled back.

His eyes were glassy and she knew a moment of deep satisfaction that this was her man, that she could do this to him just by being herself. She promised herself in that moment to try as hard as she could to remember who she was and what she had to offer, rather than remembering the victim she had been so long ago.

“Zach,” she said, as he continued to stare at her unblinkingly.

“Huh?” he asked, reaching his hand out to brush her lower lip with his thumb.

She darted her tongue out to lick her lips and taste his thumb, then stepped back. He jerked forward, nearly grabbing her before he caught himself.

“What’s wrong? Where are you going?” His eyes were a little bit wild now, no longer glassy.

She smiled gently at him, her breathing still coming hard and fast from just one kiss.

“I thought I would get my bag and that you might let me in,” she said, picking the bag up from the porch where she’d dropped it while they spoke.

He blinked then grimaced. “I’m sorry, baby, let me take that.” He took the bag and ushered her into the cabin.

“Links to other Excerpt Monday writers
Note: I have not personally screened these excerpts. Please heed the ratings and be aware that the links may contain material that is not typical of my site.

An interesting thing has happened with the release of Alpha Turned, something that didn’t happen with Perfect Formation. Readers have written to me asking if I will be writing more books in this world. Even more, they’ve actually been asking me to do so. How cool is that? Of course, I realize that Perfect Formation didn’t really have a lot of secondary characters, and no world building, so it’s not like I’m unhappy nobody responded that way to it, I’m just fascinated that people liked this world enough to ask for more. Also, it’s not like I hadn’t thought about it – of course I did. I didn’t specifically set anything up, except for the introduction of Alexis. I definitely wanted to write her story, but not for a while. She has some growing up to do. And I had a sneaking suspicion that the unnamed teacher who gets shot might want to have his say.

I have a few other stories I’m working on, so I decided to wait and see who spoke up the loudest and demanded the most attention (I’m talking about in my head here, not the readers, just to be clear, lol). I wasn’t surprised when I got some tentative pulls from the teacher. What did surprise me was the lady who said, ok, he’s good, but he’s mine. Myra, the National Alpha. For some reason, she completely blindsided me. I love it when that happens. I’m still working on my other pieces, but I’ve started daydreaming about Myra and…hmm, it’s probably time to name the poor guy. Adam? That might be right. So far he’s mostly a lovely vision (it’s not my fault he happens to be naked in this very important scene!!), but I think I like Adam.

For now, I will jot down some notes and let my daydreams work things out a bit, while I play with my Fae (different story/world). This part of it is all normal for me (no laughing), it’s pretty much how all of my stories started. But the fact that readers asked is fantastically encouraging. So, thank you!

It’s release day! Again! Somehow it feels really different than when Perfect Formation was released, and yet just as exciting and amazing. I mean, my book is being released! I don’t think that’s ever (knock on wood) going to get old.

Alpha Turned is actually the first book that I wrote. I was about two-thirds of the way through it when I started Perfect Formation, which ended up getting published first. And the two books could hardly be more different. Alpha Turned is a paranormal featuring werewolves, while Perfect Formation was a contemporary threesome that included a fair amount of kink (yummy Caleb knows his way around a pair of cuffs, I’m just sayin’). Zach is a hot alpha werewolf but I’m afraid it would never occur to him to tie Hillary up, and I’m pretty sure she would cut off something vital if he tried. I’ll be really interested to hear how readers who loved (They sent me the emails, I’m not making this stuff up!) Perfect Formation respond to Alpha Turned. I’m guessing they’ll love Zach as much as I do – he’s a hottie who will do anything to make his woman happy, even if it means standing back and letting her do her thing. And Hillary really is ready to do her thing. It’s been four years since she was turned into a werewolf in a violent attack that left her wondering if turning furry would make her as evil as the crazies who attacked her. She’s been concentrating on making a life for herself and *gasp* making friends, but when a werewolf comes into her town she knows its time to deal with this aspect of herself that she’s pretty much been ignoring. Luckily that leads her to Zach and I’m sure you can guess that all sorts of yummy things ensue. Poor Zach has to fight his instincts which are screaming at him to take Hillary as his mate. But helping her to become comfortable with who and what she is takes a much higher priority. No, really, it does. Luckily the instincts are just as strong in Hillary and she let’s Zach’s calm strength lead her to a better understanding of her new life. Plus, there’s all sorts of yumminess – did I mention that?

For those readers who just aren’t into paranormal, I promise (you know, in case you were desperate to know) I’m working on a contemporary. Of course, I’ve also got a bit of Fae going on. And then, in a remarkably stupid move, I said to myself one night, “Well, at least I don’t do Sci-Fi”. All you writers out there are sure to understand that the Sci-Fi plot bunny was kind enough to make a visit the very next week. So far I’ve managed to hold the mangy thing at bay, but we’ll see. I like to think of it as offering a little something for everyone, as opposed to being mildly schizophrenic. You can decide for yourself and feel free to let me know what you think. 😀

I hope you all enjoy Hillary and Zach as much as you enjoyed Taryn, Caleb and Richard. And if you haven’t read Perfect Formation, but want a little spicy contemporary for your weekend read, it’s gotten some pretty good reviews 🙂

So, as you may have noticed, I have a new book coming out. (Just give me a second here to SQUEEEE. Ok, better now.) I got the release date for Alpha Turned, made the book page, and had to include an excerpt. Well, I suppose I don’t have to include one, but I believe very strongly that every book should have an excerpt on the authors website. Which should be easy, right? Well, no.

For some reason, I have a really hard time picking them out. I keep wanting to explain what the reader should already know, if they had started at page one. I cut and paste one section, then delete and try another. Seriously, it’s like a sickness. Of course, when I read other people’s excerpts, I completely understand that it’s just a taste and that I don’t need to understand everything that’s happened. But I have a hard time letting go, I think.

For Perfect Formation I just used the excerpt my fabulous editor picked out. Actually, she made a couple of suggestions and I just agreed with one of them. It was my first release and I had no idea what I was doing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s the same scene the publisher used on their website, and as a reader I like to have a couple of different ones to read. So I was determined to use a different choice on my site this time. I finally decided that since the one the publisher is using is in the heroine’s point of view, I would give my man Zach his chance, here. Maybe next time I’ll give out advanced copies with the expectation that the readers pick out a scene they think should be the excerpt? *Sigh* I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be the easy part. 😛