Friday, December 7, 2007

Silver Werewolves Book 2: The Silver Crown

By Mathilde Madden

I know, I know, book one has only just come out in the US and already the UK is getting the sequel. But don't worry - no spoilers if you haven't read book one yet, just a hot little snippet and the chance to win your own copies of both Book One: The Silver Collar and Book Two: The Silver Crown.

(By the way, although book 2 would make sense on its own, the books are best read in order.)

So I won't say too much, just that this is the heroine of all three books, Iris, out doing her job, with her ex-husband and fellow werewolf hunter Blake.

Blake flicked his mic back up. He turned his body a couple of degrees and lined himself up square on with Iris. He smiled. One of his nasty ones. 'Right then.'

Iris stared at him. She felt suddenly very, very alone in a dark park with a predatorily scary man. She shook herself – again. Not a scary man. Just Blake. Blake. Ex-husband, Beast loving, werewolf hunter Blake. 'Right then, what?' she said, horrified when her voice came out as a crackling whisper.

'No more bloody messing around. I'm going to fuck you now, Iris.'

The corners of Iris's mouth twitched into a smile. She almost laughed. 'What?'

'You heard me.'

'What? Blake. Don't. Stop it. We need to go back and help Pepper. She's got two lycs down there not to mention Pure – whatever he is.'

Blake cocked his head. His movements had suddenly gone all sinuous and seductive. Prowly. 'All tranqued, baby,' he purred. 'Pepper can handle it.' He took a couple of steps towards Iris.

'Blake? What about the other one?'

'We can’t track it without a sighting. We need to wait for Pepper to get back to us.' Blake was too close now. He reached out and touched Iris's hair, brushing a few stray strands out of her eyes and then reaching around and pulling out the band that held her pony tail, letting his fingertips tickle the back of her neck. It was a familiar gesture. One he used to do all the time. It was his pre-sex thing. When they were dating and when they were married, he would do this at home, in the office, he did it once at Iris's cousin's wedding. His thin dry fingertips had the perfect texture for this move. They played – just for a spare moment – around the very start of her spine. That achingly vulnerable spot where her brain slunk into her body.

His voice was silk, smoke. 'Come on, Iris. You always did used to like it out of doors. Out of breath. Out of…, of control. You want to fight me a bit first? Wrestle? See who gets to be on top. I know you usually can best me, but I really want to win tonight and sometimes that can give me enough edge. Want to try me. I really want to win, Iris. Flip you over. Fuck you like an animal. I wonder why I should be thinking that way.'

Iris was shaking her head. Slowly, her disbelief winning out over her growing, conflicted arousal. 'Blake…? Have you gone nuts? What on earth makes you think I'm going to have sex with you? I'm with Alfie. You know that. In fact, I know that you know that because you have been acting practically psychotic about it a lot of the time.' But Iris hadn't moved away from Blake and his hands were on her shoulders.

Blake moved his right hand and played with the collar of Iris's shirt. 'Yeah? Does he know that? You know you can’t trust a lyc, Iris. He'll always betray you. They might look human, but they're not. They'll always put their own kind first. You saw that in the basement.'

Iris took a single step back. Away from Blake. Shaking her head. He watched her, almost as if he was just curious about what she might do. Like everything she did faintly amused him.

She moved fast. She kicked Blake hard in the shin and turned to run. She started pounding away across the playground and across the park. But Blake already wasn't far behind her, shouting something about her wanting to play games.

Iris tried to sprint, but she was exhausted from pursuing the lyc. Her muscles were screaming too soon and she felt Blake almost at her shoulder. She swerved as she anticipated his tackle, but missed her footing in the pitted ground, going down hard on the grass.

Blake had her. He had dived half on top of her and he hauled himself up her body, rolling her onto her back. He had her arms pinned under his knees as he straddled her and he got his face very close in hers. He took hold of her chin, running the pad of his thumb across her lips. She jerked her head away. 'Blake. Get off me.'

'No.' Blake ducked his head, stuck out his tongue and licked her top lip.

'God, Blake.' Iris was panting now and it wasn't from the run.

Blake stared at her for a moment. He was breathing just as hard as she was. He narrowed his eyes as if he was trying to work something out. Then he said, 'I know you know that I'm not a good man, Iris. But even I – your special nightmare - am not going any further with this game until you give me permission.'

'What?'

'Well, I don't want to get done for sexual harassment now, do I, Iris? Look, I'm going to give you a chance now. One chance. If you want to walk away, right now, I'll let you.'

Underneath him Iris almost spat. 'You'll let me!'

'Yeah. I'll be kind and let you get away.'

'You let me get away! I don’t need you to… Fuck you, Blake.' Iris almost spat it.

'I'm not the one about to get fucked. I'm going to fuck you. Just like you want me to. I'll even carry on playing the bad man for you, if you like, so you can tell yourself it was all my fault. You can fight me as hard as you want. You can hurt me – kick me in the balls, I know that's your favourite move – I don't care. Fight me. But I'll win, Iris. Because I want you more than you want me to stop. I know you, Iris. I know what you need.'

'Blake, have you lost your mind?'


So if you want to win copies of the first book and the newly released The Silver Crown just drop me a comment and growl if you love werewolves (or, actually werewolf hunters since there weren't any werewolves in that scene)

Mat Madden x

21 comments:

Olivia Knight said...

where her brain slunk into her body - mmm, what a phrase, and what a word "slunk" is. No doubt it'll slink into my writing some time today. Even without the lycs present, the excerpt makes me want to run with the wolves, though not in the dewy-eyed-feminist blood-moon-goddess-worship sense of Women Who Run With the Wolves. I feel rather bad, as I've only recently slashed a pack of wolves to pieces (vicariously, my characters' sword-work is better than mine) and am about to put some more to the blade today. But they're nasty, hungry, wild wolves, not werewolves.

I love the Red Riding Hood pictures, especially the one with her outlined over the wolf.

Anonymous said...

Is it wrong of me to say I like that phrase too - 'cause I do.

Iris wears dark red army fatigues. All the werewolf hunters who work for the institute do - wolves are colour blind. It's just my little conceit but I like it. Iris is Red Riding Hood. Alfie is the big bad wolf.

I guess Blake thinks he's the woodsman.

Megan Kerr said...

Woodsman - phner phner, phner phner. Geddit? Geddit? Woodsman.

Oh. Sorry.

Right, I'll get another cup of coffee, then.

Jo said...

I LOVED the Silver Collar, I wasn't expecting such a romance. Even the the really dirty bits were filled with sweetness. I'd love to see the film...

Anonymous said...

Thanks Jo. The Silver Collar is very romance-y. The most 'romance' style book I've done.

The others are pretty similar in style too. Hope you like them as much!

Stacy S said...

It sounds great! I'm growling here.

Anonymous said...

GGGRRRRRRROOOOWWWLLLLLLLLL!!
I would love to win this, I have an obsession with werewolves.

Madeline Moore said...

So far, Mat, so good. So very good.

Kristina Lloyd said...

I love Blake. He's such a clever bastard. And fiercely sexy.

tetewa said...

Growling for werewolves!

CrystalGB said...

Sounds like an awesome book. Growl. :)

t'Sade said...

"Growl."

Actually, I love werewolves. Might explain my I do werewolf erotica too, but that tibbit looks absolutely lovely.

Deanna said...

Lovely excerpt - sounds fascinating.

Unknown said...

ooh, will she won't she?
I can't wait to find out...
oh I'll have to-the book isn't out here yet, right?
sigh

Anne Tourney said...

His voice was silk, smoke. 'Come on, Iris. You always did used to like it out of doors.

Me too! Sigh. Why couldn't my ex be more like Blake? Why couldn't my ex be Blake?

I love the lupine sexuality, the humor, and the tenderness in this scene. And the illustrations are exquisite. Thank you for this erotic cold-weather treat!

Anne Tourney said...

p.s. And I agree with jothemama about wanting to see the film--between the visual imagery and the dialogue, I think you'd have a hit on your hands (paws?).

Angell said...

Grrrrrrrowl and rawr. WOW - gotta agree with Olivia. Slunk into her body....sounds slithery, and seductive.

Great scene - I know I've imagined that type of play several times - just never had a willing enough partner.

Vincent Copsey said...

I wish I could like Blake, but I don't. I'd much rather read about Leon and his unrequited love for ... well, you know who. You wrote it.

Ally said...

Grrrrrrrr...
I never once before considered I might like these types of erotic romance, werewolves and vampires never appealed to me until I began reading all these amazing excerpts. I look forward to diving into them one of these day. I was terribly disapointed the other day when I went to the book store and found none of the Lustbite Ladies on the shelf other than the ones I have already enjoyed. I made a mad dash to a used book store instead and was happy to find one of Portias "The Devil Inside".

Alison said...

Wow, what a great excerpt, it left me begging for more, literally!! Must get that book and find out what happen's. Like someone else said, never been into the werewolf thing, but may have to reconsider that after reading this.

Anonymous said...

The excerpt has definitely caught my interst. Grrrrowl!