One important tidbit I would like readers to walk away with after reading Dangerously Mine is that there will be other stories to this particular series. When I had the original concept for Dangerously Mine I knew, even before typing a single word, that there would be many sequels to this story. In Dangerously Mine, readers are introduced to the beginning of the end of life as we know it on Earth. We learn how and who invades Earth and we experience one woman’s plight to find her way after a traumatic life-altering event.
In the follow-up (no name as of yet), which is completed, we follow another human’s plight. Kane Epps finds himself as a space pirate after escaping servitude. Eva and Taio make a cameo in this story. You’ll have to wait to find out how and why though (no spoiler alerts here).
Currently, I’m working simultaneously on three more follow-ups to Dangerously Mine. I don’t know why I started them all at the same time, but so far it seems to be working. In the follow-ups, we’ll follow Jess and JB, both characters from the second book and Allysan, Eva’s best friend that we meet in Dangerously Mine.
I hope to have all of the follow-ups completed and out by the end of 2013. I don’t know what 2014 has planned for my characters but I know something big and wonderful!
Blurb:
After aliens invade and conquer Earth, Eva is transported to a distant slave trading planet. Escape and freedom are her only priority, but none of her martial arts training prepared her for what she faces. She finds herself enslaved to the warrior King Taio. Eva’s drawn to this sexy alien male who ignites her heart and body.
Taio is disgusted with the idea of owning a slave—until now. From the moment he sees her, he knows Eva is his for the taking. Torn between lust and duty, Taio knows nothing will stop him from protecting his little warrior.
Excerpt:
The awful stench coming from her was embarrassing. Eva Smith sniffed under her arms.
Yep, I can raise the dead.
The jeans she had on were faded and torn. She had on a t-shirt with a picture of the cartoon characters Orangey and Purple, taken from a scene of one of their Internet webisodes. Even that was no more than tattered rags now. She could only imagine the cartoon characters saying about her stench, “Gurrl, you stink!”
The whole reason she volunteered for night watch, again, was to get a break from the stench. The smell from fifteen people who hadn’t had a bath in a week was nauseating to say the least.
Eva crouched on a tree branch twenty feet above the forest floor. Years as a martial artist gave her the strength and agility to scale the tree with ease. But now, after hours in the same position, her muscles ached. With one arm hugging the tree for stability, she used the other to punch on the cramp that had formed in her thigh.
She scanned the horizon of clustered trees, looking for camp. Although she couldn’t see them, she knew they were there, hiding beneath the canopied covering of the lush trees. Her constant companion, Allysan, sat in the tree opposite of hers. Ally didn’t dare come closer and even joked that their combined stench would melt the forest surrounding them. Her legs hung underneath her as she hummed Sun and Moon by Duk Duk Goose, her favorite Afro-Punk band from New York. The song was appropriate. Because of the enormous spacecraft in the sky, she had not seen either in a while.
Although this wasn’t Ally’s night to keep watch, she was here to kill the boredom. Eva didn’t mind. She welcomed the company of her new friend, especially tonight. The forest seemed weird. Strange. She couldn’t put her finger on it.
Her senses had been on high alert ever since the aliens came. Her neighbors had been delusional about their arrival. But Eva knew better. While they were busy making “Welcome to Earth” signs, she’d cowered in her barricaded apartment.
Why had they come to Earth? She didn’t have a clue, but she had seen enough sci-fi movies to know this would end badly. These extra-terrestrials didn’t want to “phone home”.
They arrived in shiny metallic spacecrafts that sat low in the sky in every major city around the world. As big as small cities, their crafts blocked the sun, forcing residents to live in perpetual darkness.
In less than a week, they’d leveled countries, toppled governments, disrupted communication and swatted the world’s most powerful super-nations’ military forces down as though they were nothing but pesky flies. All hell broke loose.
Eva had been right, hostile aliens had invaded Earth. Humans weren’t prepared for the fight and were losing the battle. Unfortunately, “I told you so” didn’t seem appropriate.
That had all happened about three months ago. Or had it been two? No matter, she thought, shaking her head. The small pocket-sized calendar had been lost a long time ago. There was something about running from aliens that made a person decide fast what items were important. The calendar, along with her comb, toothbrush and soap, was long gone.
It was easy enough to pull her jet-black hair back into a bun and scrub her teeth with leaves, but there wasn’t an alternative for soap. Yuck. Despite soaking in the stream two miles north of camp just yesterday, Eva still felt the fine film of dirt covering her olive-toned skin.
Besides Ally’s soft humming, the night was quiet, no signs of nightlife, no owls hooting, no raccoons scavenging, not even a bat in the sky.
That was her first clue that things were about to turn ugly.
“Something’s off.” Eva scanned the dark horizon. She, along with the others with her, had fled the cities after the initial attack. No one knew why the aliens invaded Earth. Some speculated they were here to enslave humans—or eat them. At this point, it didn’t matter.
Survival was the key.
Ally straightened her back and focused her gaze on the skies. “Yeah, I feel it too.”
“Go check on everyone. I don’t like this feeling.” Eva felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
Ally nodded once, scaled down the tree and ran. Eva watched as Ally bounded through the underbrush until her back disappeared in the darkness. Only then did Eva look back to the blackened sky. Something was definitely up.
A familiar low hum filled the still night. Craft.
Far on the horizon, a small, metallic craft shot through the sky.
“Shit.” She climbed down a few branches.
Too slow.
She scurried faster. Five feet from the ground, she jumped. As her feet hit the dirt and grass, she took off running through the trees to camp, ducking under the low-hanging branches.
As she ran, she could hear her heavy breathing, dried leaves and sticks crunching under her fast-paced feet and the increasingly louder hum of a craft whizzing through the air. It was gaining on her.
“They’re coming! They’re coming! Take cover!” she yelled. Eva prayed her voice would carry over the loud roar of the craft that now followed close behind.
At the whistle of the craft cutting through the wind above her head, she dove into a thicket of high weeds. She buried her face in the dirt and covered her head and ears with her hands. The noise moved past her.
Too close.
Her heart slammed in her chest as she jumped up and sprinted to camp. She couldn’t leave them. If the craft was taking them, she had to try to help anyone she could.
Whiz, boom! The ground shook underneath her feet. Whiz, boom! She skidded to a halt. Dirt and grass flew at her, erupting from the ground.
Whiz, boom! She shielded her face with her hands. The dirt and rocks pelted her, piercing her skin.
Bombs.
The impact deafened her ears. Her hands left her eyes and covered her ringing ears. She watched the confusion unfolding in front of her. Blood, skin and body parts were scattered everywhere. Eva looked in horror as most of those who had, in those short months, become dear friends hung dead from tree limbs. A panicked frenzy consumed the bloody and confused survivors.
Hands grabbed her arms tightly, biting into her flesh, shaking her. Her eyes moved to Ally. Tears ran down her cheeks as her mouth moved. What is she saying? Eva struggled to understand her.
A bright glow of orange light flickered in the corner of her eye. Her head turned in slow motion toward it.
Her eyes finally focused. Fire.
That was enough to snap her out of her stunned daze. “Stick together!” Eva screamed. Panic engulfed those around her. Just as the skittish prey that they were, they spoke all at once, darting in different directions.
“That way!” Eva pointed to the small area free of the rapidly encroaching flames. “Come on!”
Eva made a break for the trees before flames blocked their way. No time to waste. If they stayed where they were, they would surely burn to death. Or worse, get captured. She ran through the small opening with Ally on her heels. She hoped everyone else either heard her command or saw the direction they were heading.
Whiz, boom! Ten feet in front of them, the ground shook. Chunks of dirt flew skyward. Shit! Eva made a hard left. They needed to avoid the flames quickly overtaking the trees and underbrush.
Whiz, boom! Her ears popped, debris pelting her right cheek. Straight, she needed to keep straight. The sounds of her heavy breathing did nothing to block out the screams. Don’t turn around. Lead them to safety!
Her wild eyes spotting the opening in a clearing in front of her, she skidded and took a hard left. Avoid the clearing. They wouldn’t stand a chance out in the open.
Whiz, boom! Shit. The ground in front of her erupted in a hail of dirt, rocks and grass. The impact knocked her to her back. Without thinking, she scrambled to her feet and ran straight into the clearing.
Damn.
The larger craft sat fifty feet in front of them, metallic and shiny with the square door open and a ramp extending from it to the ground. Immediately, she turned around to go back.
“Turn around! Not this way, turn around!” Everyone behind her trampled into the clearing as she tried to push back the way she had come.
No one heeded her warning. “This is all wrong, we need to get out of here,” she repeated frantically.
They had been herded.
A monstrous alien with green, scaly skin appeared, towering over her. His yellow eyes with reptilian slits rested on the panicked crowd. He opened his mouth, revealing two-inch long, razor-sharp teeth, dripping saliva.
“We are the Loconuist.”
“No!”
Enjoy! Griffin
Author Bio:
A.M. Griffin is a wife who rarely cooks, mother of three, dog owner (and sometimes dog owned), a daughter, sister, aunt and friend. She’s a hard worker whose two favorite outlets are reading and writing. She enjoys reading everything from mystery novels to historical romances and of course fantasy romance. She is a believer in the unbelievable, open to all possibilities from mermaids in our oceans and seas, angels in the skies and intelligent life forms in distant galaxies.
Now available from Ellora’s Cave – http://www.jasminejade.com/p-10561-dangerously-mine.aspx
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Bio:
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