Justice And Her League
The Demigods Trilogy Book 1
by TJ Bell
Genre: RH Why Choose Paranormal Romance
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Justice and Her League
Demigods Trilogy book 1
Excerpt – 643 words
“What the fuck happened?” the blond one, Malcolm, roared when he stuck his head into the office and noticed Rafael or Rafe-for-short laid out on the floor.
The hulking—and okay, seriously hot—black guy shadowed the doorway next, then he pushed Malcolm out of the way so he could slip inside the room and drop to his knees next to Rafe’s body.
“Did you do this to him?” Malcolm demanded while Ajax pressed two fingers to Rafe’s neck and then prodded his head, causing the guy to let out a pained-sounding groan.
“Of course not,” I said, full of all sorts of indignation. I’d told Rafe I worked alone, and he’d insisted on following me anyway. He made the choice; how were the consequences of that decision my fault?
When Rafe rolled over onto his back, I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding, and then I glanced around the office. The only people in here were myself and these three guys to whom I was insanely sexually attracted, which made no sense. I mean, I’d been attracted to guys plenty in my life, and I’d acted on probably 75 percent of those scenarios.
But it never happened in the middle of a job, and never with such intensity—or with three guys at once.
If they asked me to pick which one I wanted most, I’d be unable to give an answer.
It was seriously fucked up. Clearly, I needed to get laid, but more than that, I needed to know where the hell Ignacio went.
“Don’t even tell me he got away,” I snapped at Malcolm.
“Okay, I won’t tell you.”
“Could you be any more cliché?”
He shrugged. “Clichés are funny.”
Flinging my hands in the air, I twirled around toward the door. “I gotta go. I need to track him down and—”
“Do not let her leave,” Rafe practically growled at Malcolm, who had edged his way onto the threshold.
I narrowed my eyes. Malcolm crossed his arms.
“Don’t make me hurt you,” I warned.
“Go ahead and try.” He grinned. “I promise to enjoy every moment.”
For fuck’s sake, was that a growl that just escaped through my clenched teeth?
Ajax had pulled Rafe to his feet. “First,” Rafe said, his gaze on me, “we help these women get back to their lives. Or, if that’s not what they want, we help them start new ones.”
“What do you mean, first?” I demanded, even though I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.
“Before we track down the guy in charge of this operation.”
Oh, I don’t think so. “That could take weeks! And also—”
“More like months,” Malcolm said.
I bared my teeth at him. He winked back. I shifted my focus to Rafe, who was obviously the leader of this little group of sexy guys.
“Look, I told you, I work alone. And while I’m glad those women are now free, my objective is to kill Ignacio. I don’t want anything to do with helping them get on with their lives.”
“That’s not how it works,” Ajax said. Pretty sure it was the first time he’d spoken directly to me since he tried to strangle me earlier. No, wait. He’d asked me to clarify when I said Ignacio was mine, like he was jealous or some shit. What the hell did he have to be jealous over?
I crossed my arms under my breasts, and ignored the way his gaze dropped before lifting to my eyes again. I forced myself to ignore the way my lady bits were doing a happy dance over the idea that he liked my breasts. Was there a heterosexual man alive who didn’t like boobs? So why was my traitorous body so pleased that this particular guy found mine attractive?
“Listen, big
guy—”
Justice Loses Her League
The Demigods Trilogy Book 2
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Justice Loses Her League
Demigods Trilogy book 2
Excerpt – 530 words
“Would you like some water?” Rafe asked.
Without waiting for an answer, he strode across the room to a small shelf, lifted a pitcher, and poured clear liquid into a glass before returning and offering it to me.
His longish dark hair was mussed, his perpetual stubble thicker and scruffier than normal. There were new lines around his eyes that hadn’t been there before the attack. Before I’d been shot.
He was still dressed in the T-shirt and cargo pants he’d been wearing when it happened. I had no idea whether that had occurred hours or days ago. Considering how healed I was, I assumed it had been days, at least. I tended to heal faster than your average human, but a gunshot wound was a pretty severe injury.
I accepted Rafe’s peace offering and took a grateful drink. My side twinged only a little when I lifted my arm. Another day and I’d probably feel it only if I tried to do sit-ups or pull-ups, neither of which were on my to-do list.
At the moment, there was only one thing on that list.
“So now that they’re gone…” I started, watching him.
He dropped wearily onto the side of the bed and rested his elbows on his thighs. “I did what I did to save your life.”
“I get that, and I appreciate it, obviously. But I still don’t understand why this was your first choice.” I waved at the white on white-on-white room. “I never even knew this place existed, and you went straight to ‘take Justice to the land of the gods.’”
“You knew it existed. You knew your father lived here.”
“Sure, but I didn’t know where here was. I still don’t. Are we even on Earth?”
“It’s hard to explain. Basically, we are in a different realm. Like a parallel universal, I guess. You can only get back and forth between the two realms through a portal, and only someone who possesses magic can summon one.”
“Okay, I can accept that.” I didn’t recall getting here, as I’d been unconscious, but that was good to know so I knew how to get home. Or at least the process required.
“But?”
“Why did you involve my father? You know how I feel about him.”
Rafe shook his head. “I didn’t involve him, not intentionally. I only meant to get you here because I knew a god, a full god, could save you. I didn’t think it through beyond that. When we stepped through the portal, your father was waiting. I don’t know how or why. He was just there.”
That was something I’d file away to ask my father about later. Although I was in no hurry to see him again, I had no doubt I would get so lucky. “Now, explain why he is so intent on us not formally mating.”
Rafe’s entire body went rock hard, and not in the I’m-about-to-feel-real-good way.
“So clearly you know something I don’t. And I’m betting Malcolm and Ajax don’t either,” I said.
Rafe turned, pulling his leg up onto the bed so that he faced me. “I don’t suppose you’d take ‘it’s complicated’ as an answer?”
In League With Justice
The Demigods Trilogy Book 3
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What do you do to unwind and relax?
Unwinding and relaxing are my favorite pastimes! Well, besides writing, although that is actually relaxing to me, so... Well, unless I’m writing a big, dramatic scene or the black moment, or sometimes the sex scenes. True confession: sometimes when I write myself into a sex scene, I don’t want to stop the momentum of the story, because I’ve been working on this book for hours and I’ve added so many words, and we’re building to some sort of crescendo, and yes, this is exactly where the sex scene belongs (because of course the heroine and hero have finally admitted their affection for one another), but those scenes are hard to write sometimes (pun intended, heh heh heh), and if I’m not in the mood (more puniness), the words just aren’t going to flow. And if the words stop flowing, I lose all the momentum I’ve had building over the last few hours.
So sometimes I skip them. Yep. This is a true confessions blog, is it not?
What’s really funny about that decision is, I do it a lot. What makes me say that? Because nearly every time I think I’ve finished the first draft of a book, and I’m so excited, and I can’t wait to go back and polish it up, and I’m reading and reading and I’m so proud of these words I’ve managed to form into a wonderful story… and then I stumble upon a bit of highlighted text that says, “INSERT SEX SCENE.”
Those are definitely not relaxing moments. Which brings me back to the point of this conversation, and how much I enjoy relaxing and unwinding, and what does that look like, anyway?
Well, if there’s water around, that’s my happy place. A lake, a river, a stream, a creek; yes, even the ocean… I’m a big fan of the calming effects of sitting by or floating in or just being around water. Regardless of what I’m doing while I’m there. I’ve been known to park a camp chair in the shallows of the lake near my house and write away on whatever latest manuscript I’m working on. Now that is most definitely my truly happy place.
Gardening also helps me to relax and unwind. I don’t grow many vegetables, just a “salsa garden” as I like to call it—tomatoes and a variety of peppers, mostly—but I do have several flower beds that I’m constantly tending and tweaking and sometimes even expanding. The bulbs are the first indicators of spring after the long, long—did I mention long?—winter; their vivid colors brighten my outlook every single year. And all spring, summer, and fall, I love watching as the different flowers grow and bloom and fade into the next.
I’d be a terrible author if I didn’t mention reading as a form of relaxation. Especially on yucky weather days. There is nothing quite so relaxing as curling up in comfy clothes, with a fuzzy blanket and a large glass of wine, and diving into my next favorite book. I’d say I do all right at that whole rest and relaxation thing, huh?
TJ Bell is the naughtier alter-ego of romance author Tami Lund (although you should totally read Tami Lund’s book too, because they are really, really good). She writes paranormal, all the time. Her heroines are tough, even if they are broken, and her heroes tend to have a heart of gold under all that alpha. Hell, sometimes they aren’t even alpha at all; after all, who doesn’t love a solid beta hero?
When she isn’t writing snarky, steamy books, TJ Bell likes to take long walks on the beach with a tall glass of wine… oh wait, wrong bio. But still true.
TJ Bell lives in the (sometimes) beautiful state of Michigan, USA, where the weather is glorious approximately 30% of the time, with her even-more-snarky husband, snarky-in-training (and progressing impressively) teenage daughter, and her dog, Kaya, who wants to know if it’s dinnertime yet.
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Thank you for sharing your guest post, bio and books' details, The Demigods Trilogy sounds like an exciting read and I am looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really good set! Fantastic cover!
ReplyDeleteThank you (on behalf of my pen name, TJ Bell)!
DeleteI enjoyed reading the guest post and I enjoyed the excerpts, The Demigod's Trilogy is definitely a trilogy that I want to read!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing it with me and have a fabulous week!
Thanks, on behalf of my pen name, TJ Bell, for sharing our latest releases! I hope your readers enjoy that little insight into my writing process, lololol!
ReplyDelete