Publication date:Â October 5th 2015
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal Romance
A sexy thriller about the animal in all of us.
Aidan uses his superpower to stabilize minds at the Hollyreed Specialist Hospital. Ulani uses hers to chase rats on rooftops. Until sheâs caught and deposited in Aidanâs care.
At the hospital, Aidan finds Ulaniâs room emptyâsave for a cat, whose fur retracts in favor of silky skin and a vamp-gorgeous femme fatale.
Aidanâs obsession with Ulani growsâ
While patients at the hospital go missing.
CAT LOVEâExcerpt I:
As we press down into the bowels of old Hollyreed Mental Hospital, Iâm glad I brought flashlights. Like a good Boy Scout, I even brought my Swiss army knife, which boasts the customary array of miniature tools.
Iâm not going to lie. The basement is eerie. Itâs my version of Hell, the old-fashioned way, dank with humidity, scurrying animalsârats, Iâm sureâand at one point I could have sworn I heard rattling chains. I chuckle, even as the hairs stand on end at the back of my neck.
âHa. Youâre so scared,â Ulani says, amusement the only feeling emitting from her. The beams of our flashlights illuminate the way up iron-cast stairs that make me think of boats. As I walk into a piece of cobweb, I let out a small, horrified grunt, confirming Ulaniâs statement. Awesome.
Seconds later, a rodent darts in front of me, and I suck in a girly breath. âNot everyoneâs used to chasing critters,â I say, causing her to giggle.
I fumble with the door handle at the top. Itâs not giving.
âHere,â Ulani whispers low, maybe in order to not disturb the rats. Higher up on the door, thereâs a bolt I donât see until she slides it openâwithout even targeting it with her flashlight.
âYou see in the dark?â I feel less and less super around this girl.
She shrugs. âWell, yeahâitâs not that dark.â
âRight, because itâs just pitch-black. Iâd say your visionâs another gift from your cat family.â She nuh-huhs, and I donât insist.
For the next fifteen minutes we walk in silence. Thankfully, they spent a lot of money on this hospital back in the day, which means the wide stairways are still sturdy, and the floors donât give under our feet. I suspect a grand portion of the building is pure cement.
The whole place is silent. So silent thereâs no creaking of old wood or rustling from tattered curtains in the windows.
âWow, this is amazing,â Ulani says, awed.
âI know. Canât believe I havenât checked it out before. It is creepy here though, so I understand if youâd rather go back home.â
Ulaniâs big on shrugging tonight and does it again while we take the stairs up to the third floor. âNah. Maybe Iâll find a sweet little room to set up camp in if you become too much to handle.â
âMe hard to handle? Thatâs what I call projecting. And whatâs wrong with your own apartment if you wanted to leave mine behind?â I add, sounding like weâre actually discussing her moving out. Which sheâll do over my dead body unless she learns how to control her inner cat.
âMeh, this place is cool. And youâre full of it,â she quips. âI speak on behalf of all women when I tell you that men are sexy but super-obnoxious. You included.â
CAT LOVEâExcerpt 2
Weâre in a bit of a conundrum with Ulaniâs erratic changes between cat and woman, but I still have to bite down on my lip to stifle the urge to chuckle.
âUlani, listen to me. You delayed the change for fifteen minutes in there. Have you ever done that before?â
âNo, but still.â
âBe patient. Youâll master it.â
âBut Iâve meditated for a freaking month straight. If it worked that well for you, why isnât it kicking in for me? And you were just a little kid tooâit should be even easier for me.â
Ah, sheâs sad. Frustrated. She turns her head to the side from her facedown position on the bed. Warm, wet cheeks and shiny, messy hair; her pull is even stronger now that she isnât even trying. Sheâs so lovely.
I stare at her lips and lower my voice when I explain, âI think people are different. What works fast for one person might take longer for someone else. Who knows; me being a kid when I learned how to control my power might have made it more intuitive.â
Her breathing slows. Focusing on me, her gaze drifts over my face. Gleaming with freshly shed tears, the disappointment still lingers in her eyes, but they hold something else too.
If I followed my instincts, Iâd ignite my feelers to read her. I wonât though. I need to see her like this. Just observe how she reacts to me.
Her shoulders. They curve above the sheets, ivory white and as beautiful asâall of her. I realize she never dressed after changing back from Mina. She just went to bed.
âDo you want your clothes?â I whisper.
She blinks slowly, eclipsing then displaying emerald green. Her mouth is so red. Tasty, I know.
âNoâŚâ She doesnât invite me with words, but her lips part, showing me.
I sit down on the bed next to her. Cup her face and stroke her cheeks with my thumbs before I trail down to the start of her neck.
âYou are such a handful.â
Originally from Norway, I moved to the United States twelve years ago. I hold a Masterâs degree in languages and taught Spanish at college level before settling in at the Savannah College of Art and Design as an adviser.
I write New Adult fiction, sometimes with a paranormal twistâlike in âShattering Halos,â published by The Wild Rose Press in February 24th 2014 and in âStargazer,â released November 2014. The first book Iâve self-published was the New Adult Contemporary novel âPandora Wild Child,â which made me a proud indie author in October 28th 2014.
I specialize in impulsive heroines, bad-boys, and good-boys running amok. Then, thereâs the intense love, physical and emotional attraction beyond reasonâsensory overload for the reader as well as for the characters. Like in real life, I hope youâre unable to predict what comes next in my stories.
Yes, so I write what I love to read, and depending on the reader, youâll find my books to be a fast-paced emotional rollercoasterâor disturbing because the struggles of love arenât your thing. Hereâs to hoping you have the same reading vice as me!
Website :Â http://www.sunnivadee.com/
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