Lena Austin

Cover Art by Celia Kyle

Hey!! The cover was nominated by Love Romances Cafe for best cover art! Hooray for Celia! I’ll just bask in the reflected glow for a few minutes…

http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/coming-soon/coming-soon/blood-and-magic/prod_224.html

Blurb:

Tanne is a proud, handsome unicorn stallion, a great mage and healer to all who live in Unicorn Valley. He’s one of the original denizens and feels honor bound to protect and follow its laws. As a youth, he took a chance to save a Vampire mother and daughter sharing his blood and magic. As a result, that baby girl is now a sorceress of unknown power. Tanne must train her before she loses control of her abilities and destroys the entire valley.

Kella was raised to worship the unicorns as gods. She never understood the lust other vampire women showed for the stallions until she met Tanne. She is a temple apprentice, already a healer and herbalist. But her people make her an outcast because of her strange birth. Despite this, her spirit is open and curious about all the wonders of their world. Tanne finds this charming. They both feel passion but fight its pull on them. As they begin the roles of teacher and student, they also learn that their passion is grounded in love and woven into the magic of the valley itself.

Excerpt:

Kella awoke all at once in total darkness. Tanne lay beside her, sleeping peacefully. She could feel the beginnings of the bloodlust urges. Because of them, Tanne looked less like a lover and more like a tasty snack outlined in a red haze. She inhaled deeply the scent of warm-blooded prey and fought the need with the will he had trained into her.

She swallowed hard, and eased her way out of bed, careful not to disturb Tanne. No matter that he knew what vampire bloodlust looked like, he did not need to see it in her. He was sensitive enough to magic that she dared not teleport so near, so she tiptoed carefully out the door.

Transforming to bat, she flew out into the night, where dawn’s rosy glow barely showed. There would be little competition at this hour, and it was not long before she found a small herd of deer, sleeping peacefully. As a bat, she didn’t need much to satisfy her urges, and it was easy to get a meal without disturbing her victim. A tiny flow of mage energy healed the small wound, even as she flew off, replete.

Now, I may indulge in a bath. She shifted to human, and sneaked into the bathing chamber. The effort taken to scrub three days of grime off was well worth the pink skin. Her scalp itched and her hair felt greasy, so that got the same rough treatment.

She was debating whether to be lazy and soak, or go fix a hearty and more conventional meal when Tanne popped into the tub, causing a huge splash. Her sponge went flying, to impact the wall with a wet plop.

Her small shriek of “Tanne!” only amused him and he grabbed for her.

She eluded his grasp with a wicked grin. “Do you want something, handsome?”

“Indeed I do, my fire-haired heroine. Before, if I know you, you take yourself off to the vampires to see if your friends are settled.”

Kella giggled and sidestepped another grab. She climbed out of the tub, wet hair dripping and wearing only a smile of pure devilment. “Really, now? Is that so? Well, then, you must catch me!”

She took off running, knowing her pale buttocks flashing beneath streaming hair would act as an enticement. A splash and the sound of pounding feet let her know he was after her, and the game begun.

Giggling wasted breath, but she couldn’t help herself as she darted out the cavern entrance and sprinted down the path to the meadow. The point was to be caught, eventually, but make him earn the right to cover her. If she truly wanted escape, she might shift form, but she didn’t want that at all. No, indeed.

He tackled her just as they reached the edge of the meadow, and fell together into the grasses and plants that lined the edge.

Tanne’s laughter rang out over the meadow startling birds into flight. “Why did you think you could outrun a unicorn?”

Kella bared fangs in a mock snarl while pretending to fight. “I didn’t! But you had to earn your rights, or I might be considered wanton!”

Tanne captured her wrists with one hand, and then caressed her naked body from neck to knees, and made her tremble with lust. “You’re not?”

“Well, only with you.” She gasped as Tanne’s hand tenderly cupped the curls below. “Oh, please don’t stop!”

He bent down, pinning her to the ground with his own nude body. “I don’t intend to.”

She felt the hardness of his cock pressing into her thigh and relished it. The prickling of the grasses beneath her only increased her awareness of all sensations. “Who wouldn’t want to be made love to in a sweet-smelling meadow?”

His blue eyes widened. “Made love to? Oh, no, Kella. You demanded a chase and capture. It logically follows that this means you also, in the manner of predators, must be conquered.” His silvery eyebrows twitched once. “I think a stallion can handle that easily enough.” He twitched his fingers, still lodged in her curls, and made her gasp.

“Oh!” was all she got out before her mouth was captured with the same strength as her body.

The tingle of magic lashed out, pinning her wrists to the ground, above her head. Kella realized he’d never shown her how to break a magical bond, but wriggled for forms’ sake until he released her mouth to nibble on her earlobe. “That’s cheating. I don’t know how to free myself.” Even to her own ears, her protest was weak and breathless.

Tanne laughed like a rascal. “That’s the idea, my beautiful captive. I’ll leave your legs free, for my own pleasure, at least for now.”

He slid down her body, leaving a hot, wet trail with his tongue until he nibbled at her neck where the big vein resided. It nearly drove her mad, knowing he could, if he chose, make needle teeth like her own and bite. The slight sucking on her neck was enough to make her wet and ready for anything he might do.

http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/coming-soon/coming-soon/blood-and-magic/prod_224.html

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