Ravenswood Publishing Presents:
Time Shifters
Author Myra Nour
Cover Artist Fiona Jayde
Book Tour
BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Briana
has heard his voice for years in dreams. Calling to her. She hears that same
voice from the handsome stranger she meets on vacation, captivating and so
familiar. When he unexpectedly transforms into a werewolf, Briana flees in
horror.
She knows him … he is the wolfman who haunts her nightmares. More than
anything else, it is her lustful response to the beast that terrifies her.
When Raynor finally meets his mate, he is confused by
her reaction and even more so by her response when he shifts. She doesn’t
recognize him. In an attempt to escape, Briana jumps through the time portal of
his people, landing her in Medieval England. Raynor must rescue her, which
requires bonding with Briana as her mate.
But first he must teach Briana that
she is a shifter, then convince her not to be repelled by her other self, an
ancient, powerful shifter. A snakewoman.
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EXCERPT:
She
should have turned and bolted before the fog cleared, or at least after she got
a good look at the transformed Raynor. But she couldn’t move an inch. He was
magnificent, as physically attractive in his own way as his human counterpart.
Thick black hair covered his massive body. He was a beautiful male animal, in
the truest sense.
Briana’s
wandering eyes went there, to his male organ, which she’d avoided visual
contact with earlier. While she stared, it rose slowly, pushing aside the hair
hiding its large size. Her breath came in short pants and she swiped at her
mouth. She was shocked when she glanced down at her hand. Spittle shone on the
back of it. She was drooling!
She
stumbled back a step. “What’s happening to me?” she shouted, strangely unafraid
of the beast facing her.
A
thick, guttural, barely human voice came from the wolfman. “You are my mate.
Come to me.” It waved a furry hand at her.
Briana
didn’t know if she was dreaming or going insane, but the fact that she did want
to step into his embrace and wrap her legs around his hairy body shocked her to
the core. This attraction terrified her, unlike his physical appearance, which
she should have been frightened of, but wasn’t. Real or not, she couldn’t deal
with this horror in any form.
Finally,
Briana broke from her paralysis. Running swiftly past the beast, she entered
another tunnel that shot into the dark. Unknown territory. She didn’t know why
she hadn’t run back the way she’d come in, but something pulled at her to
continue in this new direction.
She
ran for a full minute or so before she heard his voice calling to her. It
sounded fully human; he must have metamorphosed back into the handsome Raynor.
Putting
an extra spurt of energy into her run, Briana almost stumbled when she
screeched to a halt upon entering another rocky room. This one was large, but
strangely, several large comfortable-looking couches lined one wall, and three
heavily upholstered throne-like chairs faced the couches.
Turning,
she quickly surveyed the room, surprised to see an arched opening, its
foot-wide facing carved with strange etchings. The elegant markings looked like
writing. What lay beyond the arch was just as surprising. The sight of trees
and low-growing bushes met her eyes. For a second, she was completely
disoriented, then realized this must be some type of interior garden. Maybe,
there’d be a place she could hide from the man/beast. His voice echoed; he
seemed but mere feet away. Without hesitation Briana ran into the courtyard.
*
* * *
“Briana.”
He called her name over and over, to no avail. Raynor stepped into each of the
tunnels which connected to the room. Her scent was in none of them. Lifting his
head higher, he followed the scent of faint perfume to the edge of the portal.
He
stared into a scene of ancient times. Heavy, jungle growth overran the area he
could survey, and a six-foot-tall dinosaur ran by on strong, swift back legs.
“No,” he whispered aloud. “You cannot have gone there.” She would not survive
in such a world, alone and unaware of her powers.
Turning
quickly, he headed for the central passage, going through its tortuous path in
record time.
The
large inner sanctum was pleasant; its many pieces of heavily padded couches and
chairs, plus several lush carpets underfoot, made it a welcome abode.
And
a comfortable dwelling for the elders, who guarded the cave and the time
portal.
“You
are distressed, my son. Did your mate not come?” Bhaskar, the eldest and wisest
of the three shapeshifters, spoke. His tall, slender form was swathed in a
guardians’ ceremonial robe; his flowing white hair stark against the black
material.
“Yes,
but she ran into the portal.”
“What?”
Chao asked with alarm, his heavy Mediterranean accent evident even in that one
spoken word.
“Explain,”
Gorna, the female elder encouraged kindly.
Raynor
paced, his agitation too forceful to contain at a standstill. “She acted
peculiar when she arrived. In fact,” he eyed each in turn, “she acted like she
didn’t know what she was…nor did she have any idea who I was.”
“This
is very unusual.”
“Stranger
still,” he looked Bhaskar in the eye. “She freaked out when I changed.”
“Freaked
out?” Gorna turned to Bhaskar, her waist-length ice-blue locks fanning out
around her as she moved.
“Was
terrified,” he answered. Turning to Raynor, he said, “Gorna doesn’t get out
much. I’m afraid the language of younger people confuses her.”
Raynor
bowed to Gorna. “I apologize.”
“Father,”
he addressed Bhaskar with the fullest, most respectful title, one reserved for
the wisest of elders. “Do you know why my mate would be so terrified of seeing
my werewolf form?” He paused for a heartbeat. “I suspected she might have
bumped her head, but I’m not sure.”
“We
must read her scent,” Chao stated, getting up swiftly for one so old; the
others followed just as spryly.
It
didn’t take long for them to gather in front of the portal, but it took much
longer for the elders to sniff the air repeatedly and whisper in argumentative
tones.
“We
smell no injury, my son.”
Raynor
stared with surprise at the leader. “Then what is wrong with her?”
“We
sense an uninitiated.” Bhaskar paused, confusion in his red-brown eyes. “Also,
she was never imprinted on us.”
“What?”
He stumbled over his words. “How can that be, Father?” He knew as well as the
elders, shapeshifters came into their first shifting around the time of
puberty. And imprinting—all shifters were brought to the elders for this
ceremony within two years after their birth.
“Remember
your first shifting, Raynor? It is not only a natural part of our being, the
young must be guided by an experienced shifter.”
“What
are you saying?”
The
three glanced at each other, then back to him. “Many years ago, there was a
young couple who left their clan…they’ve never been heard from since. The
elders’ council picked up their essence through the years, but we’ve not sensed
them in fifteen years.”
“I
did not know this was possible.”
“Oh,
very possible.” Gorna chuckled. “But very unwise. To be alone without support
of the clan members amongst so many humans…”
She
did not need to finish her sentence. All shapeshifter children were brought up
to believe in the unity of the clan. It was central to their survival.
“How—why
would they do this?” he asked. Why would any shapeshifters leave their clan and
endanger themselves or any children to the humans?
Bhaskar
shrugged. “Who knows for sure? Perhaps they were rebels.”
“Or
maybe they didn’t wish to be shifters,” Raynor stated. He was horrified at such
a thought. His parents had been enthusiastic teachers of their ways; it was
hard to imagine shifters who did not wish to share their rich heritage with
their children.
“Where
did you hear this?” The leader’s expression was concern exemplified.
“Rumors
have a way of making the rounds.” He shook his head. “All this time, Fathers, I
thought it simply another myth about our people.” His voice was hesitant when
he asked, “You think she is the daughter of this couple?” If this were true,
how sad for poor Briana. To never have known the love and caring of the clan,
the history of the Reeshon, and to never experience the thrill of shifting—it
was unfair that she had missed all these wondrous practices and knowledge.
“Yes,”
Bhaskar nodded. “The entrance to the cave would not have opened, as well you
know, if she were not a shifter. She would not even have seen it.”
“Then
how?” Raynor was truly puzzled over his mate, a shifter who was not truly a
shifter, not yet at least.
Gorna
picked up the thread of the conversation, “Her parents either died before
teaching her to shift, or they chose not to teach her.” Her sharp blue eyes
became slightly sad. “Certainly, her parents never brought her for the
imprinting.”
He
looked perturbed. “What would this do to her—failing to shift and denying her
nature?”
Bhaskar’s
face was solemn. “She would be a restless spirit, never feeling as if she truly
belonged anywhere. She would find no human male to her liking for long. And she
would hear her mate’s call as only a distant song, not a deep yearning she
could not resist.”
Raynor
nodded in instant understanding. He’d often wondered over the past few years
why it had taken so long for his mate to respond. When he’d discerned her
presence nearby at last, he’d come to the Cave of Immortality to await her
arrival.
“I
must go after her.”
Copyright
© Myra Nour
AUTHOR BIO:
Myra Nour grew up reading s/f, fantasy, and romance, so
she was really thrilled when these elements were combined in Futuristic
Romances. She enjoys writing within all these elements, whether the hero is a
handsome man from another planet, or a tiny fairy from another dimension.
Myra’s background is in counseling, and she likes using her knowledge to create
believable characters. She also enjoys lively dialogue and, of course, using
her imagination to create other worlds with lots of action/adventure, as well
as romance. She uses her handsome husband as inspiration for her heroes - he is
a body builder, a soldier, and has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
For the past 5 years she was owner and CEO of BTS Book Reviews.
Retired in Jan 2016 she is enjoying her return to writing. Myra has always
loved reading Horror and is expanding her writing in that direction, currently
working on a zombie novel.
Links to reach Myra Nour:
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