Snippet Sunday - Take the Reins - Hogtied and Carried

Welcome to the Snippet Sunday on the Weird, the Wild, and the Wicked. Thank you so much for visiting. If you choose to comment today, I really appreciate it. The snippets are from my upcoming release, Take the Reins, a fantasy adventure with romantic elements. This story is connected to my SEALs romantic suspense and will be out December 10, 2014. You can read last week's snippet HERE.

In this snippet, Bethany is dealing with an overbearing centaur who's pretty sure she's mythical. Bethany agrees. She has no idea where she is, but she gets up close and personal with a Greek myth, whether she likes it or not.

“You will come with me or you will be hogtied and carried.”

“Not today.” She reached out and twisted one of his nipples like she’d done to her older brother as kids.

He yelped and released her. Bethany scrambled out of reach and bolted for the trees. She’d never outrun him, but she bet dollars to doughnuts they couldn’t climb. Yay for being related to apes! She dodged the bigger bodies, and shot for the nearest Maple looking trunk. Leaping for the lowest branch, she prayed her grip would hold and no one caught her ankles.

Shouts and hoof beats clattered after her as her hands hit the wood and she dragged herself up into the leafy canopy. She’d hit the second set of branches when an angry squeal made her turn and her gaze fixed on the wicked barb of a notched arrow.

“You will get down now."

"No." Bethany shook her head.

"You will come down or I will shoot you down. Any questions?”

Bethany swallowed bile. “Not at the moment, no.”

Bethany's no fool. She knows about compound bows. ;) There are several great authors on the Weekend Writer Warriors list and in the Snippet Sunday Facebook group. A few of my favorites are Charley Descoteaux, SJ Maylee, Gem Sivad, Goran Zidar, Veronica Scott, and Sarah Wesson.

Here's the blurb to Take the Reins, available everywhere December 10, 2014:

Social change is normal for a senator’s daughter, but affecting gender politics in centaurs wasn’t on Bethany’s agenda.

All Bethany Stanton needed was time away to think. She never imagined a walk with her horse might lead her so far from home. When she steps through a rift between worlds at an old archaeological site, she realizes she has bigger problems than marriage to the man of her nightmares. Like a herd of centaurs with distressing views on gender equality and “mythical” humans.

As part of the Supernatural Anomalies Investigative Field Unit, Major Stephen “Mack” McMacken has seen and done more weird stuff than written in a science fiction novel. When called in to track down a U.S. Senator’s missing daughter, Mack figures it’s more a case of runaway rich girl than supernatural mystery. Until his team finds the portal and he’s nearly torched by a dying phoenix.

In a world ruled by mythical beasts, Mack and Bethany find themselves on trial for endangering the centaur village. With the only escape route they know gone, working together to establish their innocence might prove easier than avoiding seductive Sirens and ravenous native beasts.

And then there’s the not-so-simple matter of finding a way back home…

Thanks for stopping by and happy reading. :)