The Naughty List came out over two years ago.
Two years!
I know, how crazy is that? Honestly, it breaks my brain a little bit to think about it, in fact I triple-checked to make sure that I was right.
Wow.
Anyway, ’tis the season so over the next few days I’m going to share some excerpts from the stories in The Naughty List with you. I hope you enjoy them 🙂
Christmassy
Alexa Piper
When taotien Valerion and witchling Cora get together sparks fly—their relationship is sexy and antagonistic in just the right proportions. But on the way to visit Cora’s family for Christmas they encounter a supernatural predator that will not only test their individual powers and abilities, but also their connection to one another.
Excerpt:
As the car door fell shut behind her, Valerian said, “Krampusses. They always stuff themselves, have no appreciation for savoring a meal.”
“So find him,” Cora said. “You and that amazingly supernatural sense of smell.”
Valerian chuckled. “Would love to. But on the eve before Christmas, a krampus is the strongest thing roaming the wild. On that one night of the year, even I can only find one if it wants to be found. You gotta put a tracing spell on the cheating fiancé, sweet Cora.”
“Huh.” Cora had only learned that she was a witch—or witchling as Valerian kept calling her—a few months ago. Recognizing and using the magic was still strange, otherworldly. It was a lot like reaching orgasm for the first time and realizing that you’d been a virgin before, except magic did not have the same quality of soar and release, it was just power, tasteless power. Or so it felt to Cora.
Can’t do much about it now, she thought, and reached for the power. It was like orienting her mind in empty space, focusing, and there the magic was. As she touched it, words came to her lips without her conscious mind knowing what it was she said. Suddenly, the winter landscape shifted color. It was normal one second, tinted red and orange the next. She heard her own voice, building to a chant. Slowly, like focusing a microscope, the color condensed and a poppy-colored trail painted itself against the snow, white once more.
“That way,” Cora said, and sprinted after the trail without turning around to see if Valerian was following after her. She just assumed he was.
~*~
Valerian stared at the empty air Cora had left behind when she had vanished. “Fuck,” he said. His fists closed around nothing and his eyes shone cold as the jeweled stars. “You gotta be fucking kidding me.”
Alexa Piper writes paranormal romance. She likes what she is doing and hopes that you enjoy reading about her characters as much as she enjoys writing about them.
