Author T.A. Moore visits today on the Dead Man Stalking (Blood and Bone #1) blog tour! Learn more about the latest from the author, read her prequel short story and enter in the $10 Dreamspinner Press credit giveaway!
Title: Dead Man Stalking
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release: 10 September
Cover Artist: Kanaxa
Amazon - http://amzn.to/2ZkYwmw
Dreamspinner Link: http://bit.ly/2ZceYua
Agent Luke Bennett proved that humans could rise just as high in the ranks as their vampire colleagues—until a kidnapper held him captive for a year and turned him without his consent.
Now he’s Took: a reluctant monster afraid to bite anyone, broke, and about to be discharged from his elite BITERs unit.
When an old colleague suggests he consult on a BITERs case, Took has little to lose. The case is open and shut… but nothing is ever that easy. As he digs deeper, he discovers a lot more than one cold case is at stake, and if he wants to solve this one, he’ll need the help of the BITERs team. Even if that brings his old commander, Madoc, back into his life.
Tour:
First of all, thank you so much for having me! I’m thrilled to be here with my new urban fantasy Dead Man Stalking. This is the first book in the Blood and Bone series and I am thrilled to put it out there into the world. I was meant to be writing an entirely different book, but then Took and Madoc took up residence in my head and I had to give in and let them have their say.
I had a blast creating this world and these characters, and I hope you enjoy them too. I’ve included a chapter of a prequel short story that you can follow through the blog tour.
Chapter Three
Luke splashed water over his face and rubbed cold, wet hands around the back of his neck. There was hot and then there was South Carolina hot. He’d gotten used to California’s dry heat, that parched the moisture out of your mouth, not the oppressive sticky warmth that soaked his clothes with sweat the minute he put them on.
Six months.
He should be used to it by now.
Water dripped down Luke’s face and into the sink. He looked up at his reflection and dragged his hand down his face. Short, gilt stubble prickled against his fingers.
At this point, he thought sourly, he should probably be used to a lot of things. He’d known when he accepted the promotion to the BITERs that he’d be the only human in the teams. It just hadn’t occurred to him how odd it would be to work with monsters to catch monsters.
Lie to the rest of the world, his Dad’s old advice popped into his head, but don’t lie to yourself. That’s what will get you killed.
Bennet exhaled and glared at his reflection. If there was one thing you should take his Dad’s advice on, it was survival and lies. They were his wheelhouse.
Fine. It hadn’t occurred to him that only part of his discomfort with working with monsters would be the monster part. That he could just ignore. No one said you had to like your colleagues, just work with them. It was the tug of unexpected--unwanted--lust he felt around SES Madoc that left him wrong-footed.
It was the last thing he’d expected. He knew what they were, under the Anakim and the nice clothes and the close-lipped smiles. They were fangs and blood, dead babies handed over by blood-drunk mothers, and hunger. Luke had made the reputation thatgot him this job off the back of monsters who’d left towns in mourning, so how the hell could he want to fuck one?
But he did.
The admission didn’t make him feel any better. Luke gave his reflection an exasperated look and headed back into the bedroom. A fresh shirt and tie lay on the bed, crisp, starched and ready to be sweated limp. Luke picked it up and shrugged it on. Before he could button it there was a sharp double rap on the door.
Housekeeping his clean towels. Finally. Luke raked his wet hair back from his face, wet curls behind his ears, and padded over to answer the door. He pulled the door open mid-knock, except instead of the housekeeper with fresh laundry it was Madoc with cups of coffee in his hands.
There was a pause as Madoc raised a dark brow and glanced down to take in the width of Luke’s half-bared chest. He proffered the coffee in his right hand.
“I always forget how much Californians like their sunshine,” he said. “Do people even sunbathe this side of the country?”
“Some do,” Luke said as he took the cup. It was hot enough to scorch his fingers through the cardboard. His tan didn’t really take a lot of upkeep, a few hours a month in the surf to top it up to golden. “It’s not really a group activity. Something come up? I thought we were going to meet at the police station?”
Madoc took a drink of coffee. He didn’t spit it out, so Luke was reassured that his wasn’t the adulterated cup.
“We were.” Madoc checked his wrist for the time. “We will, in half an hour. But you don’t house a dog and bark yourself.”
Luke narrowed his eyes and sipped his coffee. It was excellent. Of course. He doubted that Madoc would have truck with anything less than that unless it was to make a point. “Flattering.”
“This is your chance, Agent Bennett,” Madoc said. “Convince me.”
There was an edge of challenge to his voice that didn’t feel completely professional. Luke took another drink of coffee, his mouth dry, and stepped back. He waved his hand at the room--bed, office chair, and luggage--in unspoken invitation.
Vampires seduced.
Luke didn’t bother to edit the word in his head. The bluntness of it helped. It gave him distance.
It was what they did, with blood and beauty that made people open the door and bare their necks. Madoc might dress it up behind a better mask than the glutted-like-ticks rogues that Luke tracked to trap houses and lairs, but it was the same lure. He was meant to notice it, but he didn’t have to bite.
Maybe admitting the hint of lust he had for his boss had been a good idea after all.
Madoc looked amused at Luke’s omission to offer official permission to entry. He didn’t need it to step inside, despite the old pre-Drakul myths, a threshold was just lintels and courtesy. An invitation did mean something though. An invitation gave Anakim...influence...over what resided in the four walls. A spiritual keyhole to slip through at night.
Opinions varied on whether that worked with mid-price hotel rooms. Luke didn’t care to risk it. They were here for a few days, at least, and if he had any nightly emissions he’d rather blame his subconscious than have to worry about visitations.
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Tomorrow’s installment on Joyfully Jay! All the blog tour posts will also be linked here: http://tamoorewrites.com/deadmanstalking/
Author Bio:
TA Moore -
TA Moore is a Northern Irish writer of romantic suspense, urban fantasy, and contemporary romance novels. A childhood in a rural, seaside town fostered in her a suspicious nature, a love of mystery, and a streak of black humour a mile wide. As her grandmother always said, ‘she’d laugh at a bad thing that one’, mind you, that was the pot calling the kettle black. TA Moore studied History, Irish mythology, English at University, mostly because she has always loved a good story. She has worked as a journalist, a finance manager, and in the arts sectors before she finally gave in to a lifelong desire to write.
Coffee, Doc Marten boots, and good friends are the essential things in life. Spiders, mayo, and heels are to be avoided.
Website: www.tamoorewrites.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TAMoorewrites/
Twitter: @tamoorewrites
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