Vicki Stiefel
Excerpt
Women are declining on Eleutia; they make up but 20% of all Eleutian births. Soon, the people of Eleutia will die out.
****
“Bartholomew!” Gato said, racing down the hall. The big cat appeared, and the puma bounded beside him as he ran. “Elise and Jaron are having their child.”
He prayed to The Fates, to Father Sky and Mother Terra. Give us a girl child.
When they arrived at the couple’s Clan home, he flew through the door. “Well?”
Elise’s father shook his head. “Soon.”
The mother-to-be, Elise, looked well, her color good, her naked body glowing with health. She would do fine.
Let it be a girl child, he prayed again. “Has your water broken?”
“Yes.” Elise hissed on a contraction.
Gato stepped forward and threaded his fingers through Elise’s. She smiled up at him when another contraction hit.
“Breathe deep,” Makena said to Elise. “That’s it.”
As Alpha, he poured calm and purpose into her, while the healer wove his hands in the spell to dampen pain.
“We are eager to see our newest Clan member,” he said to Elise.
She snorted, grasping her belly with her free hand. “Not as eager as I, Alpha.”
His laugh boomed, and the others grinned as well, except for Jaron, who gnawed his lip, eyes a hawk’s on his mate.
He, Elise, and Makena walked and walked until Elise froze. “It’s time.”
Jaron sat on the birthing chair, arms held wide, and Elise took her seat in front of him.
Gato moved beside her, holding one hand, Makena on the other side doing the same, while the healer stood at her head, his hands working their Small Magics, and the doctor did what doctors do to help bring CatHome’s newest citizen into the light.
But the Small Magics could never contain all the pain, and after long, long moments of pushing and pausing, Elise screamed.
With a final push, the child crowned, then poured from her body into the doctor’s waiting hands.
“Is it a girl?” Elise said.
“A beautiful cub for the Clan to love and adore,” Gato said, though his heart ached. “A handsome boy, Elise.”
A bit of air went out of the room. All CatHome had hoped. There were so few female births. Too few.
Changed
Vicki Stiefel
(The Made Ones Saga, #2)
Publication date: August 13th 2020
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance
What if you could be young again? Would it be a dream come true or truly a nightmare?
That’s the startling reality retired circus trapeze artist Breena Balážová awakens to on the world of Eleutia in her own re-engineered younger body. For a woman whose death on Earth was inches away, it seems like a second chance at life. But in this parallel world, where horses fly and animals and humans are symbionts, Bree is intended as breeding stock to balance the plummeting female birthrate.
As she searches for her missing sisters, who were pulled to Eleutia with her, Bree also must survive assassination attempts, the growing threat of war, and her unexpected attraction to the arrogant animal Clan Alpha, Gato, a man with terrible burdens and secrets.
The animal Clans join forces to combat a dark conspiracy that will shake the foundations of their world, even as Bree’s search for her sisters grows more desperate and dangerous.
If Bree has any hope of finding her sisters and fulfilling her own destiny, she and Gato must carry out a perilous deception, their success or failure deciding not only their own fate, but that of all Eleutia.
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Author Bio:
Vicki’s fantasy romantic suspense series, The Afterworld Chronicles, launched with Chest of Bone, followed by Chest of Stone and Chest of Time. She is currently pounding the keys on her series’ fourth novel, Chest of Fire, and the first in a new series, The Made Ones Sags: Altered.
Her mystery/thrillers include Body Parts, The Dead Stone, The Bone Man, and The Grief Shop, a Daphne du Maurier prize winner. All feature homicide counselor Tally Whyte. All are available as ebooks.
She co-wrote (with Lisa Souza) and photographed the 10 Secrets of the LaidBack Knitters. With her late husband, William G. Tapply, she ran The Writers Studio workshops in creative fiction.
Vicki taught fiction writing and modern media writing at Clark University.
She loves both a well-crafted sentence and unlocking the doors of a student’s imagination.
She grew up in professional theater and planned to become an actress, with a bent for song and dance. She didn’t. Instead, she’s been a professional photographer, a high-school teacher, a hamburger slinger, a scuba-shop manager, and an editor.
She’s Blake’s and Ben’s mom, her favorite role of all.
Her passions include scuba diving and fly fishing and knitting; photography and movies; vinho verde and bourbon (not together!); Maine lobster and chocolate (also not together!); and musical comedy scores, which she sing in the shower, unfortunately not an Equity venue; and a fascination with people in all walks of life.
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