One of my favorite authors is here today. Welcome Joyee Flynn. She's always at the top of my "to buy" list, so I was excited to get my hands on a sneak peek of her upcoming release - Elan. Yes, I'm going to share, but first I'm putting Joyee on the hot seat. Oh, and there's a giveaway, so don't forget to leave a comment with your email for a chance to win an ebook copy of Elan.
You're such a prolific writer. Where do you get your ideas?
My nightmares. Seriously. Dreams too, but normally nightmares. Every series I have started off as some variation of a nightmare I have. Sure, I built books off previous books, but when I go to bed thinking about what I’ve written most times my mind fills in some blanks so that’s dreams then.
Do you have a day job as well?
Oh god no! I can’t even imagine doing half of what I do with a day job. I’d shoot myself or just cry constantly in the corner from being pulled in even more directions. Plus I hated the day jobs I had. My worst day as an author is still better than my best day in the corporate America jobs I’ve had.
I'm a total pantser, myself. Do you work with an outline, or just write?
Both. I don’t do formal outlines because anything formal annoys me but there’s always a plan. I like my plans. I’m allowed to veer from the plan. There’s also the film option. When it’s a really important or intricate scene I run it through in my head several dozen times until I see it like a movie so I know the dialogue and what everyone’s doing and where they are… Or if I just can’t get to my computer. Like driving back from house hunting in Omaha. I ran through about five different scenes over twenty times each among other things in the nine hour drive so when I was able to write next I knew what to do.
Will you have a new book coming out soon?
I always have a new books coming out soon. There’s not always a lot to love about me, but I’m reliable in my work at least and don’t have much of a life! And apparently I’m not running out of ideas anytime soon. Since I’ve started and found my footing I’ve been averaging three books a month and that was almost three years ago. Well, I was published three years ago, but I figure give or take a few months to get up to speed of that pace.
Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans?
Thank you for understanding and supporting that I always try to do my best by the integrity of the story. I won’t ever give the easy answer or the in way of doing things and I damn well won’t ever sell out and just give some cookie cutter crap that insults everyone’s intelligence by not making them read between the lines and I truly believe my fans appreciate that. I ADORED my fans when others tore me apart over Romance Omega Style that it was complicated and kind of hard to follow. That was the whole point! Love is complicated. It’s not easy and it’s never a straight line from beginning to end. You have to work to get the answers and the happy ending. The confusion was intentional, not a mistake or oversight. And my fans loved that I did something different like having over a dozen perspectives in a book and nine foursomes be the central focus of one book with a twist at the end as my way of showing how something as simple as Valentine’s Day doesn’t go as planned… And that’s okay because it’s just a day. Love is more than a date on a calendar. So thank you for paying attention and taking the time to read between the lines, taking this journey with me and all my characters and worlds. Normal is boring and I promise to never give you that… Ever.
Elan by Joyee Flynn
Blurb:
When the beauty Elan wants leaps into his arms, declaring they’re mates, he’s ready to thank fate and claim his gift… But nothing’s ever that easy, and soon Elan is ready for a well-deserved break down.
Kermy’s struck by how sexy, powerful, and wonderful his very old mate is. If he was anywhere in Elan’s league that would be great. A virgin who can’t seem to get out of the tailspin meeting his mate and issues popping up everywhere threw him into, he’s scared his mate will never love him.
If that wasn’t enough, Elan meets their mate Talcott… And almost kills him, which isn’t something one normally forgives. Then again, with the curse Talcott was born with he’s used to people’s volatile reactions to what he can do.
But when Talcott’s gift warns the fae of disaster, will that bring the three together as they try to change what is in the cards, or will it divide them permanently?
Chapter 1
Elan
“What is the meaning of this?” Caven bellowed. “We’ve not shown you any aggression.”
“This has nothing to do with that, Alpha,” Kinkade assured him. “You should be happy. You just got yourself a Beta. I’m mating into your coven.” I barely heard him though, focused on the breathtaking creature standing next to another large wolf. Part of me felt horrible that I was so attracted to the small wolf. Here I came with my lover and from the moment we walked through the portal I only had eyes for the beauty in front of me.
Then again, Kinkade was obviously mated to Clove so I shouldn’t worry too much about him.
“So am I!” gasped the ethereal man.
Please mean me. He moved faster than my eyes could follow and I felt weight crash into me. When I realized it was him, I wrapped my arms around him and thanked the gods. He sank his teeth into my neck and my knees gave out. His sweet whimpers and growls filled my ears as my cock exploded in my pants. He drank down my blood as I rode the pleasure and then licked the bite when I was done.
But the orgasm I had wasn’t enough.
“You are mine then?” I asked as I rolled us over, needing to hear the words.
“And you are mine,” he whispered as he kissed my neck.
“Good.” I mashed my mouth to his as I palmed his firm little ass, grinding our bodies together. His hands shook on my arms where he was holding on tightly and he made the sexiest whimpers, opening his mouth slightly. That was all I needed. I thrust my tongue into his mouth, as I wanted to do with my cock into his tight body. The wolf went wild under me.
If he was this responsive just from making out I couldn’t wait to see every reaction and response of passion during all the other activities I wanted to share with him.
I withdrew off his lips as I moved my hand to his groin. “Come for your mate,” I demanded as I stared into his bright green eyes that sparkled up at me. They went wide and he gasped as he
arched his back, biting his lip until drops of blood formed as I felt his pants get wet from his release. “Perfect. Ride it, my mate. Take the pleasure I offer you always.”
“So good,” he whimpered. I already knew I’d be addicted to that sound when it came from my sweet little mate. When he was spent he sank into the grass, gasping for air and looking sated. “It seems I needed that.”
“I’m not nearly done with you yet,” I warned him.
The little imp stared up at me, eyes shining, and tilted his head. “I would certainly hope not. What would my mate like of me?”
“To know your name for one,” I answered, swallowing back my other answers. They weren’t exactly the most polite or respectable things to say to my mate upon our meeting.
“Kermy Wolfram,” he said shyly. “Sorry. I should have said that before biting you. I’ve never just jumped someone like that. I swear I haven’t. I’ve never even had sex.” His eyes went wide at the admission and his cheeks flamed so fast I was surprised he didn’t pass out from the blood rush. He went to move away and I got a flash in his head that a strong, virile man like me wouldn’t want a virgin loser.
“That’s so sexy,” I purred as I held him tighter. “I am Elan, Kermy. I will be a good mate to you but I must warn you that I am incredibly possessive and jealous. While I have been with others, which we can discuss later, the fact that my mate has not thrills me like you cannot believe.”
“Really? Or are you just saying that to make me feel better?” I saw the apprehension in his eyes.
I gave him a feral smile before leaning down to press my lips to his ear as I ran my hand down his thigh and lifted his hips up to mine. “If it were in the olden days when I was born, I would slaughter a thousand goats to thank the gods for the gift they have given me by you being my mate. I am that pleased. I believe I know why they let me live so long before finding my first mate.”
“You get two as fae, right?” I nodded and I could tell that might be an issue from the look in his eyes, but that could wait until later. One thing at a time. “What’s your theory?”
“So I could learn everything there is to the art of pleasing a man and making love thus when I met you I would be able to teach it all to you.” Kermy shivered as he got rock hard. I ground my hips against his as I licked the shell of his ear. “What would you like to try first, my darling mate? Are you more submissive? I like to be the boss.”
“Yes, boss me around,” he gasped.
“Get off my little brother!” someone bellowed.
“Uh-oh,” Kermy giggled. “You’re in trouble now.”
“No one can touch me,” I grumbled, not knowing what he was talking about and certainly not worried.
“What?” Clove gasped. That caused me to pause. What was he worried about? “Your brother is mating my lover?” I glanced over to him and saw his wide eyes staring at me as the man with him watched me with hate. Oh boy.
“You’re involved with Elan?” Virgil asked with big eyes and then whistled. “Wow. Good thing we brought you with to meet the wolves.”
“Hey, they just closed the deal,” Caven snickered. “I’m thinking fruit basket with an arrangement of sex toys for the happily mated couples. Well, Elan gets another one of course.”
“So do I,” Clove admitted.
“What?” several people exclaimed as I did. He’d never told me that.
“Vampires only get one mate,” Kinkade growled as he cornered Clove against a tree. I was up with Kermy wrapped around me in a flash. No one would hurt Clove.
“My brother has a big growl but he won’t hurt your friend,” Kermy whispered as he shook in my arms. “I promise.”
I glanced down at him and nodded. “Okay. I’ll give him a little room but if he touches Clove in anger, your brother or not, I will break him.”
“You love him. You’re not just his lover.” Kermy pushed to get out of my arms, his heartache apparent in his tone.
“Yes, but not in the way you’re thinking,” I assured him, missing the conversation the others were having. “Please, Kermy. If I was in love with him I would never have touched you as I did. I wouldn’t have betrayed him like that even for my mate. I care for him and he’s important to me but you now have my heart. I swear it to you.”
Kermy stopped struggling and searched my eyes before sighing sadly. “I’m not going to walk away from my mate so I guess time will only tell.”
“I will prove it to you,” I assured him. I gave him a quick kiss and moved him into my arms as I batted my eyelashes at him, dipping him slightly so he smiled at my gallant treatment of him. It was a start.
“Alpha, I speak for my brother and I when I say we accept though I cannot speak for the others. Can we gather our things later?” Kinkade said, drawing my focus back on him.
“Whatever makes the brother of my mate happy.” I was trying to bridge peace with the wolf who had had objections to me being with his brother. “I am the one who opened the portal. I will gladly bring you back whenever you like.” I approached them slowly, ignoring the dual growls as I reached out and cupped Clove’s cheek. “Clove, my dear, I will treasure our time together always. You have become so important to me and not in only the ways of the bedroom, though I will think fondly on those times as well.”
“Me too,” he whispered, blinking rapidly as if fighting tears. “We don’t have to stop being friends, right? You get me, Elan. I don’t want to lose that. It’s been so long since I’ve had a person I felt I could be myself with always.”
“No, we won’t stop being friends. We’re each a mate of brothers,” I chuckled, brushing his cheek. “And you will always have a special place in my heart as the friend who led me to my mate, helped me reconnect with my brother, and eased me into life on your world again. Almost five thousand years I’ve lived and it seemed I just needed to find the friend named Clove to lead me to my most precious of gifts.” I dropped my hand and glanced down at my mate to see how Kermy was handling all I’d shared.
“I’m Kermy,” my mate said cautiously as he extended his hand to Clove. I caught a flash in his mind that he couldn’t make me happy. If I was into men like Clove, Kermy thought he’d never be able to satisfy me. Fuck! I’d have to make sure my mate understood that he was actually more my type. “I’m cool with you guys being friends as long as it’s not naked friends and you don’t hug or really hang around the full moon. We get way too possessive then and it might go bad.”
“I understand. Thanks, Kermy.” Clove shook his hand, giving him a smile.
“If you guys are coming, we’re with you. We’re not breaking up the band,” one of the other French wolves joked.
“We’re going to have a band in the pack? That’s awesome!” Caven exclaimed excitedly. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. That kid just cracked me up.
“They weren’t being literal, my love,” Gabriel mumbled, trying to let his mate down easily.
“Oh, well, we should still look into that. It would make the parties way more wicked if we had our own wolf band.” He shrugged and glanced at me. “I’m hungry again. Portal home? You’ll bring them all back later to get their stuff? I’ll find them housing. I’m sure Ayden and Darcy have rooms if they want to stay with the majority of the pack or they can buy one of the development houses or Elena offered them a few of the suites for the ones I pick as Betas so they’re close.”
Kermy raised an eyebrow at me from my arms and I gave him a wink. It hit me then that the original plan was fine when these were just allies but this was my mate now. I wanted him to have everything. “Let’s at least get them enough belongings for tonight,” I hedged as I glanced at Kermy. “Or I guess we could come back first thing in the morning?”
“The Queen does have some things she would like us to pick up from this area if you don’t mind the company,” Mareo offered, glancing at Foma and Virgil. I immediately nodded. My brother was trying and I wanted to reconnect with him as much as I wanted the man in my arms. Kermy smiled at me as he glanced between Mareo and I, obviously knowing something was going on there.
“Kermy, you’ll take care of our things?” Kinkade asked, but it was more like an order. I flinched at that. I wasn’t a fan of someone else, family or not, bossing my mate around. “I want to get started right away with Alpha Caven, Milos, and Bladon.”
Kermy nodded and this time it was his turn to give me a look that clearly said we’d talk about it when we were alone. Fine. I could hold my tongue until then.
“Why the four of us?” Caven asked.
“The three of us will be your Betas, enforcers, and security, anything else you require you’d have to ask the others.” Caven went to open his mouth and Kinkade chuckled. “We’ll test for it, I know. I’m just saying, it would be us, so let’s get the formalities out of the way before the full moon is upon us in a week and we are all distracted.”
Caven studied Kinkade for a moment and then smiled. “I like you already. And I feel better about this now that you’re mating into the family.” Everyone chuckled and I rolled my eyes as I
opened a portal. I wasn’t sure I was going to be such a fan of Kinkade’s. It wasn’t jealousy that he was mating Clove. Not by any means.
It was concern. So far I hadn’t seen anything that made me feel as if my friend was getting a good deal here and I didn’t like the way he treated his brother either.
“Normally you’d feel some pressure and disorientation when you go through a portal but my magic will protect you from that,” I assured Kermy when he looked at the light nervously. I stepped through the portal instead of saying anything about his brother or the situation of his mating Clove, focusing on my mate.
“Wow,” Kermy gasped as he glanced around at the Mariuses’ kitchen. “That was crazy.”
“Welcome to being mated to a powerful fae warrior,” I chuckled, kissing the tip of his nose. I waited for everyone else to come through. I’d come with Clove in his car, but he would be busy now and as soon as I closed this portal I could just open another one to Bas’s house.
“Tyler was looking for you,” Elena told Clove and I cursed under my breath, getting a strange look from Kermy. “He says it’s ready. There’s some gifts and the fridge has been stocked for you.” Then she looked between Clove and I and the men we were with. “So you two aren’t together anymore and found your mates?”
“You knew we were together?” I asked, my eyes going wide. And here I thought we’d been doing such a good job of being discreet. If she knew then the Queen definitely knew. Oh well. I wasn’t embarrassed that I had been seeing Clove anyway.
“Since before Christmas,” she snickered. “I’m a woman and a mother. Nothing gets by me. Congratulations on meeting your mates.”
“Thank you, Councilwoman.” Clove was practically bouncing. “It’s really all done? Can I go now?” I set Kermy on his feet, noticing the hesitant look he gave me as he practically plastered himself to my side. I was okay with the closeness. Actually, I found I quite liked it.
As they spoke, I closed the portal, cursing to myself that I had been so wrapped up in my own drama I’d forgotten something so important to someone I cared about. It wasn’t like it was small, seeing my brother for the first time in centuries, but Clove’s house had been his dream… And I didn’t even remember or have a damn gift for him.
“Before you run off,” Elena said to me quietly when I was done. I glanced at her and saw there was another issue with Clove and Kinkade. Seriously? That man was starting to chap my ass. “Be patient with him. The man found his mate already with another man who’s bigger, stronger, and more powerful than him.”
“Fine,” I ground out, staring daggers at the back of Kinkade’s head. “But he doesn’t get much, Councilwoman. Clove doesn’t deserve—” And then I snapped my mouth shut when they started passionately making out, a broad smile growing. “Now that he deserves.”
“I agree,” she chuckled. “Back to business. I know you just met your mate and there are things you’d like to do.” She cleared her throat as she blushed, realizing how that sounded. “But there’s a meeting in several hours that we’d like to crash. We received word of a private meeting that Councilman Dubois called at five in the morning before his flight or something. It worries us
to have something at such an odd hour. The Queen wants to go and finally meet him, read his mind.”
“And she won’t ask for backup of course,” I growled, shaking my head. “This cannot go on, Elena. She’s destroying her mating and she will break soon and then we will have no leader or structure. She does everything and one person cannot do it all alone. She won’t listen to me.”
“I agree but I didn’t know others have tried to reason with her about this,” Elena said gently as she patted my arm. “When we get back and things settle down from your mating, we will sit down and talk. If we have to sit on her to make her listen, we will. Now that she’s got more allies and sees other people in charge having help, I think she’s more open to the idea. Hell, she has friends now she confides in. I know she wants help and doesn’t want to ruin her mating.”
I studied her a moment, seeing nothing but a deep desire to do the right thing.
“However you feel is best to handle this I will agree to. My way hasn’t been working and I think it has affronted her and she takes it as criticism. I mean nothing of the sort. I simply wish to help her with her load. There is no reason she should have to handle everything alone. I want her happy, Elena. She deserves it after all she’s suffered. I can do so much that could help if she would just let me. But with strong magic comes consequences and she won’t let anyone else bear the—”
“Bear the what?” she muttered under her breath after I shut my mouth so fast I bit my tongue.
“She doesn’t remember that I know the price she pays for the magic she uses,” I sighed, wiping my hands over my face. “She forgot I was there when she confided in someone. Or maybe she blocked out even telling them as if it was a slip she didn’t mean to make. Who knows but she simply doesn’t discuss it. I knew she had something before that though because I pay a different price when I use powerful magic as well. It’s complicated and not my secret to share.”
She looked me up and down a moment before nodding. “I will ask her specifically what the cost is to her for all that she gives and not let up until she tells me. But then I will be back to ask you the same, Elan. If your Queen can trust me with this knowledge, so can you. Keeping it a secret hasn’t worked out well for her and you should learn from that.”
I bristled at her chastising tone. And did something I very, very rarely did… Lost my cool.
“But keeping it a secret has kept her alive, kid,” I growled. “This isn’t who she has a crush on or something trivial. It’s our power, greatest asset, and a weakness. You don’t exactly go blabbing it about. I would tell my mates and that would be all, but no, I wouldn’t even ever tell you. I would have told my Queen but I think we can both agree that she has enough on her plate and doesn’t exactly need more to deal with.
“So don’t lecture me about things you know nothing about. You use your gifts and you get tired, drink some blood, and rest up. It does not work like that for us after we get to a certain age and can do things your kind can only dream of. I understand why my Queen keeps things secret from others. Especially people she’s known for only a year or so. But I have loyally served her for a very long time. She should be able to freely let some of us in.”
“Elan, watch your tone with my mother,” Victor warned me as he appeared out of nowhere.
“Did you just call me kid?” Elena asked, biting her lip to keep from laughing, eyes sparkling with mirth. I decided to go with her reaction and ignore her overprotective son as I wrapped my arm around my mate.
“You are a kid to me,” I snickered with a shrug.
“Elan, my eldest is almost nine hundred years old and I was a few centuries old when I had him,” she teased. I couldn’t help it. I threw back my head and let out a bark of laughter, holding my sides it was so big. “Why is that so funny?”
“Elan’s got you way beat, Elena,” Mareo chuckled.
“Big time,” I chortled, wiping my eyes. “I’m going to be five thousand soon. I’ve served the Queen since I was eighteen and not been able to get her to let me help her with all my powers and years knowing her, being at her side, and having served her mate. Now you see why I snapped at you and called you a kid.”
“Wow. You look good for a really old fart,” she teased and then frowned. “And I understand your point. I hate to say this and make you feel bad but she has confided in me already though, so I think we have a shot. Maybe she just needed another woman in a position of power that was an ally to let in?”
I smiled at her, understanding she was trying to spare my feelings. “I’m too old and have seen too much to worry about petty things like getting credit or who the winner is, Elena. All I want is the outcome of my Queen’s happiness and for her to enjoy life. If she opened up to you, kid or not, then I am thrilled and will do whatever is needed to help.”
“I can’t believe you keep calling my mother and think of her as a kid,” Victor grumbled and walked away shaking his head. I simply shrugged.
“That must make me a sperm,” Kermy mumbled and tried to pull away. Shit. I got a flash in his head that there was a whole other list of reasons that I wouldn’t want him now.
“Let me know when you need me for the meeting and what the plan is,” I told Elena, giving her a knowing look.
“I’ll text you the details,” she agreed. I quickly opened a portal to my room and snagged my mate around the waist.
“No, but I’d like to see and taste lots and lots of your sperm for the rest of our days,” I muttered in his ear before stepping into the light. He gasped as we entered my rooms before I closed the portal again and tossed him on the bed. “Now, are you hungry or thirsty before I ravage you, or would you like to get right down to being naked?”
You know you gotta have a copy. Leave a comment with your email for a chance to win Elan.
Also Available at Bookstrand: http://www.bookstrand.com/joyee-Flynn
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