Owning Oliver!

Oliver is on its way to being uploaded on sites (hopefully up by tomorrow). While you’re waiting here is a sneak peak for you.

Currently available at Smashwords

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BLURB:

Tim has been left for dead, but fate sent him back. While searching for his brother he stumbles across his soul mates and discovers both love and a new place to call home. He might not choose to be a fighter but he’ll do anything to keep his mates safe.

Aslic is a daywalker. Too independent to work under Alesandro, he accepts a contract with the vampire leader to oversee vampire properties and negotiate contracts. After spotting Oliver in Anthony’s company he decides to focus on the gorgeous wizard. However, when Tim claims Oliver as his own, Aslic decides to keep them both.

Oliver is an assassin brought in to kill Anthony but refuses to when he determines Anthony isn’t a threat to wizard kind. Unfortunately his boss has a different idea and when Oliver refuses to play their games he finds himself on the wrong side of a contract.

EXCERPT

Ice and fire filled him, pouring into him like a strange layered cocktail in which each section created a different color and experience, none of them good. Silver Moon struggled to wade through the fog of pain, trying to remember what had dragged him under in the first place. Nothing made sense as he fought against the murkiness of his thoughts. A spike in his memory forced his awareness back.

Danger.

Mate.

Anthony.

Wait. Anthony. His mate. He had to be strong for Anthony. Memories flitted at the edge of his awareness, butterflies of cognizance he could almost see and capture. He jerked as jolts of pain zapped him with the frequency of an electric current. Images of Hera standing over him flashed into his head, as prior events played through his mind like a movie.

Since choosing Anthony as his mate, life hadn’t been boring. He could use a little more monotony. He longed for a day when the morning traffic, or ordering enough booze to stock the bar after a full moon, were his biggest problems.

When Hera told him to accept some of Anthony’s power for his mate’s sake, he had anticipated enduring a rush of energy, maybe some bits of pain. Foolish idiot. Even after dealing with Zeus, he hadn’t expected Hera’s deception. He gritted his teeth against the agony crawling through his veins, a molten lava of energy burning him from inside out. In his head he chanted Anthony’s name, trying to remember why he must endure. His mate. His purpose. His life. For Anthony he would survive. Years of struggle building his pack and then holding onto his alpha status had forged his solid will. He didn’t become the leader of a wolf pack by picking daisies and weaving flower crowns. He wouldn’t cave now no matter the cost to sanity or health. If he failed, stronger gods could kill Anthony with ease. He couldn’t allow that to happen.

He clenched his jaws against the building scream, grinding his molars. A visit to the dentist would be required if he survived. He curled his fingers, trying to prevent grabbing onto something and causing damage. Claws pushed through his human fingertips, stabbing into his palms and sending rivulets of blood trickling to the floor. Silver arched his back, releasing the scream as agony spiked down his spine, slicing into each vertebra. The urge to transform and run away snapped at him with hungry wolf teeth, but he couldn’t abandon his mate, his love, and his life. Tears filled his eyes before trickling away.

“Shh, I’ve got you,” Anthony’s soothing voice reached through the thorny ropes of magic slicing at his essence.

“A-Anthony.” He almost didn’t recognize the rough grinding sound as his own voice. He clung to a sandy rock of sanity among an ocean of pain. Silver had to grab onto thoughts of his mate if he wished to survive. He forced his eyes open to catch sight of his mate, his reason for living.

“You’ll be fine, my love. You’re doing great,” Anthony whispered in his ear. Soft lips brushed across his cheek as Anthony slid down beside him. “We’ll get through this together.”

Together. There lay their true power. With his mate at his side, they could overcome anything. Already they had survived mutants, crazy scientists, and evil fae kings. A mere godhead couldn’t destroy them.

From the stress on Anthony’s face, that bitch Hera hadn’t given Silver all of his mate’s pain. She’d only doubled the agony. How much power would this give Anthony? Would his beautiful soon-to-be-god have more magic than he could physically handle? If it were the last thing he did, Silver would make sure Hera paid for torturing them. Zeus would never hurt his favorite descendent, not like this. He might not trust the king of the gods, but he never questioned Zeus’ affection for Anthony.

To prevent Anthony from becoming a half-ass godling, Silver had to accept as much power as possible. If Silver died from magic overload, would Anthony survive? He had blocked his bond with the pack to stop them from interfering with the transformation. The pack would come running if they sensed their alpha’s pain. He had to be strong enough for all of them. That was his job as alpha.

“Open the connection!” Anthony’s voice spoke in his head.

“Why?” After spending the last few hours actively stopping his pack from any kind of discomfort, what reason would he have to release it now?

“If you spread the pain through the pack, it will hurt less. We can’t get through this alone. It will drive us insane.”

That Anthony was telepathically speaking instead of saying the words out loud told Silver his mate’s energy was waning.

Silver’s protective nature didn’t allow him to purposely hurt those weaker than him, but he didn’t know how much more of this he could handle. If only he could pass out until it was all over.

“We need them,” Anthony persisted.

No alpha should have to choose between his mate’s health and his pack. Silver hesitated. Another wave of prickly stabbing pain swept through him. Hera hadn’t said how long this would last and Silver was reaching the last of his energy reserves. His death would hurt the pack more than sharing the surges of energy among all the shifters. Would the other mates be affected?

“How much longer?” He couldn’t force more than a few words through their mental link. The effort took more focus than his scrambled senses could achieve. Tremors spread through his body, and his teeth began to chatter as shock set in.

“I don’t know.” He could almost taste the despair in Anthony’s thoughts. For once there would be no miracle rescue from their situation. They were in this alone unless Silver called on his people. Until that moment Silver had held out hope that Zeus would magically arrive in time to ease Anthony into his next level of power.

“We can make it.” He tried to infuse confidence in his buffering of Anthony’s mood, but he could barely keep their connection and willingly accept the pain. He hoped there wouldn’t be long-term ramifications. Their bond would be damaged if he began to attach negative emotions to mind-linking with his mate.

“We need help,” Anthony insisted.

Silver no longer had the energy to deny the truth, but he tried to put up some resistance. “I can’t.”

He pushed his sense of pack loyalty and protector instincts to Anthony to get him to agree. Foolishly he thought he’d succeeded until Anthony’s next words filtered into his increasingly fuzzy thoughts.

“If you don’t, we’ll die or go insane.”

Anthony’s sorrow washed through him. He couldn’t pry his eyelids open to see if his mate was crying or not. He didn’t have the energy. Anthony cared for the pack, but he loved Silver more. If there were any way to spare Silver from this ordeal, Anthony would become an ordinary human. Not a single part of Silver doubted that. However they were in a war between gods and mutants, and Silver knew better than to give up any advantage. He hadn’t been a pack leader this long without learning strategy.

“As you wish, my love,” Silver capitulated.

Careful of overwhelming his pack, he opened his link to them in slow, careful increments. “We need help. Please share your strength.”

The instant connection crackling between him and his pack sent a welcoming jolt of support that shored up Silver’s flagging strength. In his head he saw the bonds between each member as glowing white strings holding each shifter to the pack through the call of his alpha powers and his connection with Anthony. Magic whispered between them, solidifying the links and thrumming with power. Unlike the aching intensity of the godhead magic, pack bonds were of nature and solidified by the world around them. The bond shimmered and stretched but not a single connection wavered.

“Please lend us your strength,” Silver whispered into his packmates’ minds, unwilling to pressure them into unwelcome agony but desperately needing them. Every single member responded back, not a single one tried to resist his call as they pulled at the edges of the pain ratcheting through his body. As if sensing Silver’s capacity had grown, more magic poured from Anthony to Silver to the Moon Pack in an unending stream of pulsing power. The pain dissipated to a dull throbbing level as the power to form a god spread across dozens of pack members. Each shifter took on some of their alpha’s burden as part of the pack price. As they took some more energy fed into the link.

A groan escaped Silver’s lips before darkness swallowed him whole.