Mid Week Tease - A Centaur's Solstice Wish - Stranger in a Familiar Land

Welcome to the Weird, the Wild, & the Wicked for a new year, literally, of Mid Week Tease hosted by Sandra Bunino.

Authors: this is a great opportunity to spotlight a few lines or even a paragraph or two from a new release or backlisted title. Readers: you get to sample some delicious snippets! We’ll do our best to tease, titillate and tantalize you into the weekend.

Today I'm offering snippets from my upcoming release A Centaur's Solstice Wish, a sweet M/M fantasy romance, and Book 2 in the Rifts series. The book will be out on Jan. 26, 2015! Sedgewick is in the infirmary on Christmas Eve and Bethany, from Take the Reins, is singing.

Sedgewick rolled to his hooves and rearranged the sling holding his left arm. The shoulder still ached like he'd been stabbed, but at least standing up and walking no longer hurt. He stretched gingerly, extending each hind leg then each foreleg before walking into the community hall. Mare Bethany McMacken, the Master Healer of the Cedarfell herd moved from window to window, stringing garlands of pine boughs. She tied them to each post with red ribbons, singing more about snow and holidays.

Sedgewick stopped and watched her progress, his heart swelling with both joy and sorrow at her singing. She'd found her mate, her love, and her calling despite the disadvantage of being human. Until she'd come through the rift in the dryad lands, he'd never seen a human and always thought them fictional creatures. But she'd not only proved real, she managed to become one of their best healers and a valued member of the herd in spite of her strangeness.

He envied her. I'm still strange even though I'm a centaur.

He wanted to find his mate, his love, and his purpose, but he couldn't seem to make anything work. He made a lousy warrior, had very little skill at weapon maintenance, and the one person he loved appeared well beyond his reach. So far out he may as well be in a different world. But therein lay the problem. While he hadn't made any overtures toward anyone, he'd never found any mares who caught his eye. A mare would be far easier.

He leaned against the windowsill with his good arm and stared out at the wintery night and the softly falling snow. The other members of the original cohort were out there on patrol, shivering their tails off. He liked mares, thought of them as good friends and members of the community, but none of them had ever made him burn with need.

Not like Ronin.

Corporal Ronin Creekjumper with his dark skin, fierce blue eyes, and his dark auburn hair worn long in a thick braid down his back. Sedgewick shivered. The man epitomized beauty with broad shoulders framing a heavily-muscled hairy chest and belly. Sedgewick had often fantasized about Ronin while bathing or tending his herb garden, often getting lost in the daydream to the detriment of his time management. He'd tried to emulate the corporal with his easy strength and agility, but he possessed no soldiering skills, hence why he'd dislocated his shoulder when stringing a bow.

Thanks for stopping by and happy reading. If you want to read more from other authors, click the link and enjoy...
My list got screwed up to so to find the other blogs today, stop by Sandra Bunino's blog for the full list.