Snippet from 'Destinations', Avaleigh's Boys / Legacy  

Unedited, subject to change, copyrighted to Sandra R Neeley, 2023

 

~Havoc stood in the hall bathroom, balancing on the edge of the tub to be able to see out of the small rectangular window above the shower. They were all out there; every aunt, uncle, cousin, friend and family member except for him. He felt bad about Analise being upset, and he knew he should have handled things differently, but they weren’t mated yet! Everybody else got to have a little fun, why couldn’t he?

Deep inside his psyche, his Wolf smirked at him and turned away in disgust.

Havoc huffed out sigh. Even his own Wolf didn’t understand. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about Analise. He did. He loved her. But he wanted to go out and do things, and experience things, and Analise didn’t.

His gaze focused on her as she chatted with family and friends. “I miss you, though,” he said quietly to himself. Smiling as he watched her laugh at something someone said.

Analise turned to smile at Brandt, who sat far too close to her.

“She’s your first cousin, asshole. You shouldn’t be that fucking close to her,” Havoc grouched to himself.

Then, as he watched, Brandt got up and made Analise a plate, taking it back to her.

“You have no right to feed her,” Havoc growled as Analise thanked him. Brandt went back to make another plate, then brought it to his mother, then made his own. “Look at me, I’m Mr. Perfect. I take care of everybody before myself,” Havoc mimicked in a high-pitched voice.

Then as Havoc watched resentfully, Brandt held out a sausage for Analise to share with him. And she took a bite, closing her eyes in appreciation, then leaned forward taking another bite.

Havoc snapped.

He slammed his way out of the bathroom, out of the house, and stomped over to everyone sitting around enjoying each other’s company and food. “Get away from her!” he demanded angrily, glaring at Brandt as he came to a stop just behind those with their backs to him.

Brandt’s smile slowly faded, only a trace remaining. “Excuse me?” he asked.

“You’re her fucking first cousin, Brandt. Go find somebody else to hit on,” Havoc demanded.

“Hey!” Kaid said, preparing to tear Havoc a new ass.

"The hell you think you're talking to?" Maverik shouted.

But Brandt stopped them both, lifting a hand to let them know he had this. “No, it’s all good,” Brandt said, handing his plate to Analise with one hand as he patiently wiped his mouth with his paper towel. He took a couple steps toward Havoc, who was standing just on the other side of the circle of people. “What’s your problem, Havoc? Nobody’s doing a thing wrong out here. Just having a barbecue like we’ve done all our lives.”

“No, you’re not! You’re all up on Analise like you think you got a shot,” Havoc sneered.

“Like you so eloquently pointed out. She’s my first cousin. That thought never entered my mind. She’s like a sister to me. And she’s hurting. And like Emmalyn, or Hellen, or Angelle or Tessa, or even Raeann — if someone has hurt them, I’m going to shelter them. I’m going to make sure they know they’re not alone. That they don’t have to worry about having to face the person that hurt them without me at their side. Even if the person that hurt them is like family. If you can’t handle that, maybe you should work on your own issues instead of blaming everybody else when your own actions turn to shit around you.”

“Fuck you! Nobody believes that crap but you!”

“Okay, let’s go inside and see what kind of ice cream Aunt Avaleigh has,” Avaleigh said, steering Angelle toward home behind where she sat, while reaching out her hand to Tessa, and looking pointedly at Jobie and Jenn.

“Yes! Let’s,” Maggie agreed, ushering her kids to follow Avaleigh and Tessa into Avaleigh’s house which was only about ten feet away.

“Roan?” Avaleigh called.

“I’m good,” Roan said, watching everything that was unfolding with a sharp eye that missed nothing at all.

Barron got up and stood just behind and beside Brandt. Emmalyn did the same.

“Christian was here, he’d stand beside us, too,” Barron said. “What you did is wrong, Havoc. Not the doing of it, but the way you went about it.”

Havoc glared at Barron, then turned his anger to Brandt again. “You think you’re so damn perfect. Who died and made you God?” he demanded.

“This has gotten so far out of hand,” Analise said, putting their plates on the ground as she stood. “Just leave him alone.”

“You know what, Analise? What it is, is disrespectful — to you. I understand that you don’t want to make things more difficult for him, but when is he going at accept responsibility for his actions?” Brandt demanded. He focused on Havoc again. “You don’t get to shit on the people who care about you most and then blame everybody else because you’re not the golden child anymore. You can’t charm your way out of this one, Havoc. Nobody’s going to laugh as you make them forget the pain you’ve caused. You deserve every fucking thing you’re going to get!”

“You have no right to talk to me like that!”

“Oh, but you have a right to talk to me like that? Why is that? You are the cause of this shit! What the hell were you thinking? She’s your fucking mate, Havoc. Your mate! You've made that perfectly clear since you were both tiny goddamn children. And what do you do? You get a little bit older, figure out girls like Analise don’t put out. They don’t need the approval or the attention it gets them. So you gravitate toward the ones that do. And you don’t even have the grace to make an effort to hide it! You flaunt it to your friends where Analise can’t help but see it, like she’s a fucking dumb ass and won’t notice. Like she won’t hear the rest of the fucking school talking about her every time she walks down the hallway, or into a class room or a bathroom, because her boyfriend, her best fucking lifelong friend who is her boyfriend, is fucking anything else that stands still long enough for him to stick his dick in! How the fuck you think that makes her feel? She’s not only betrayed, she’d embarrassed, humiliated while your preferred fuck buddies harass her non-stop! And you’re the fucking one that caused it! You damn right I rally around her. We all do! That's what the fuck a clan does when one of their own is hurting. They shore them up, they soothe their hurts, and help them heal. They create a wall between that person and whatever is hurting them. We’d do it for you, if you were hurting! But this time, you are the hurt, Havoc. You don’t like the way it feels, stop fucking hurting her!”

“I’m not trying to hurt her!”

“Then stop!” Brandt shouted.

“I deserve to be here, too! This is my family, too!" Havoc yelled, pointing at the ground he stood on.

“It is, you’re right. And like I said, if you were hurting, we’d protect you the same way. We’re not trying to drive you out. We’re just hoping you pull your head out of your ass. At the very least, let her go she can stop fucking being your target.”

“She’s my best friend. How the hell do I let her go? Why do I even have to consider that? Why can’t we just be who we are and still be friends and still care about each other?” Havoc demanded.

“Oh, my God,” Brandt said, realizing that Havoc was so far in denial he seriously didn’t grasp the situation he’d created.

“I’ve never hurt her on purpose! I’ve never been mean to her. Never! She’s my mate! My best friend!” he shouted, slapping his own chest. “You think I’m not tied up inside over this?”

Brandt shook his head as tried to find a way to make Havoc understand. “She doesn’t want us to do or say anything to upset you. She understands that you’re seventeen and just trying to figure things out. ‘Just trying to do what a seventeen year old guy does’, is what she said. Can you believe that? She’s the one whose soul is screaming, and she’s the one trying to make things easier on you.”

Analise was standing beside her chair, her head down as she focused on the grass beneath her feet, unable to stop the silent tears that fell freely.

“Havoc, listen to me. Try to understand. She feels every damn thing you do. Hears every damn thought you have when you’re too relaxed or drunk or remember to block them. She’s knows what you’re doing, when you’re doing it.”

Havoc’s eyes widened and he rushed out a pained breath.

“Yeah. You get it now? And even if she didn’t feel what you were doing and thinking, you’ve made no secret of it around school, and neither have your whores. Everybody that knows you, knows what you’re doing when Analise isn’t there. And they taunt her every damn day.

She wants to be free. Only you have a hold on her that is unbelievable. So I’m asking for her. I’m asking you to let her go. Give her the chance to walk away.”

Havoc took a step closer to Brandt, his hands clenched at his sides.

“You can’t have it both ways, Havoc. Make a choice,” Brandt said.

Hellen went to stand behind Brandt, and beside Barron. “Just give her the chance to heal, Havoc. What you’re doing might or might not be wrong, but it’s not fair to keep her holding on. You know you need to let her go,” Hellen said, shrugging one shoulder. “Just leave her alone.”

Twelve year old Roan got up slowly and walked over to stand beside Brandt. He looked at Havoc as Havoc looked at them all incredulously. “I look up to you. You're my big brother," he said as he looked at Havoc sadly. "I always thought you were nicer than this.”

Havoc’s eyes were hard, but a little mistier than they were normally as he watched everyone that mattered to him stand together against him. “I’m not trying to hurt her,” he rasped out. “’Lise, I love you. I’d never try to hurt you on purpose. I’d kill somebody if they hurt you!”

Analise raised her head and he saw the tears that stained her face as they still tracked down her cheeks. “I need you to let me go. I need you to forget about me and let me live my life. You’ve already started living yours. It’s not fair to keep running to me when you're home, and pretending I'm not alive when you're not. I deserve the the same opportunity to live my life,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Havoc stood there, horrified to find out that Analise had been witness to all he’d done when he thought he’d been successful sneaking away, leaving her to study or sleep. He glanced away at nothing as he composed himself, then met her eyes again. “I love you.”

“I know,” she answered.

Havoc’s lip trembled just a little before he bit into the inside of it, refusing to show that he was that near to crying himself. He shook his head. “Fine. If that’s what you want, I’ll leave you alone. And I promise,” he growled the word promise, “nobody will say a damn word to you about anything at all. No one will give you a hard time at school or anywhere else about anything anymore.”

Analise nodded her head a single time.

He looked at his cousins, his family, standing united before him before he glanced quickly at the adults standing around in different levels of preparing to step in. His uncles, his aunts, his mother and father… all of them looked at him with varying degrees of pity, and anger. “I’m sorry,” he said, then spun on his heel and strode quickly away.

Bam pulled Analise into his arms and rocked her back and forth as he shushed her and murmured to her that it would be okay, letting his healer Bear do what it did best and soothe her.

The sound of Havoc’s bike cranking carried to them, and Maverik started in that direction. He glanced back at Valerie, who waved him on. “Go, we’ll be fine,” she said.

Maverik ran to their carport in time to see Havoc throw his helmet as far as he could. “Boy, you need that helmet.”

Havoc shook his head, not bothering to even meet Maverik’s gaze. “What have I done?”

“I’d say you’ve screwed things up almost as bad as I did. That’s what a teenage boy does,” Maverik said.

“You hurt the person you love most when you were a teenager?” Havoc asked.

Maverik huffed a laugh. “No, I was damn adult. Almost lost your mother because I was an adult and couldn’t fucking get it right. At least you can still claim teenage stupidity.”

Havoc’s bike rumbled, tinting the silence between them. Finally, Havoc gunned the engine. “I gotta get out of here for a while.”

“What do you know? So do I,” Maverik said.

Havoc backed his bike out of its spot beside Maverik's and tore out of there as Maverik cranked his own bike and followed him.

Havoc didn’t even look toward his family and friends as he drove past as quickly as he safely could.

Neither did Maverik as he followed his son, just as angry at him as he was concerned. He wanted to beat his ass for the way he’d treated Analise. But first he had to help him through this and make sure he knew that he was still loved, and that nothing would ever change that.~

 

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Snippet from Sheltered by the Orc, Monster Brides

Unedited, subject to change, copyrighted to Sandra R Neeley 2023

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~“Wait! Where are you going? What about my stuff?!” she asked in English as she followed along behind the blacksmith.

He grumbled but didn’t look back at her.

Almost jogging to keep up with him, Madelyn reached out and touched his shoulder.

He spun to face her, rushing out a bunch of words that didn’t make much sense to her.

“I don’t know what you’re saying,” she said, lifting her shoulders in a slight shrug and shaking her head.

He continued speaking quickly, so she raised her hands to signal for him to stop. “Please talk slower,” she said in Gaelic.

He watched her, his face clearly showing just how unimpressed he was to have her as his female.

“Speak slowly,” she said again, with exaggerated slowness.

“I do not want you,” he said, as slowly as he could.

“I do not want you either,” she said.

He grabbed her hand and started back toward the building they’d just left.

“No!” she exclaimed, pulling her hand free.

Ozaq stopped to look at her. “Choose again,” he said.

“No! I don’t want anyone. I want to go home.”

His bushy brows came down over his eyes as he considered her words.

“I want to go home. I don’t want you. I don’t want any man.”

He watched her, then turned to look back at the building they'd just left, before focusing on her again. “I am not man. I am Orc.”

Her eyes widened and she looked at him with surprise. “Orc? That’s what you are? Orc?” she asked. “It can’t be,” she mumbled to herself in English as she turned away from him, walking along, shaking her head as she spoke. “I mean, we found mentions of Orcs, but only as mythological creatures. Never as a real people! She stopped walking and turned to look at Ozaq who’d been following along behind her, listening to the sound of her words, but not knowing a single thing she was saying. “Are you sure you’re Orcs?” she asked in English.

He raised his brows and gestured to her mouth. “What are your words?” he asked in his native form of Gaelic.

Slowing her thoughts, she said in Gaelic, “That proves it. This is a dream. Orcs aren’t real. They’re legend.”

Ozaq shook his head and patted his chest, seemingly offended. “I am real.”

Angry male voices and the sounds of flesh hitting flesh came from the building they’d just left. Ozaq looked back toward the sounds as several of the males who’d vied for her attentions spilled out of it in what could only be described as a brawl. He growled — growled! — then grabbed her hand and started walking quickly away.

“Where are we going?” she asked in Gaelic.

“Away from the greathouse,” he answered without looking back at her.

“But I want to go home. How can I get home?” she asked, trying to slow down as he pulled her behind him.

“Where is home?” he asked.

She looked around at the stone and timber structures they’d passed, all of them with thatched rooves. She took a good look at him, and thought of those who were still beating each other outside what he’d called the greathouse. This was nowhere near home. “It's definitely not here.”

Ozaq shook his head. “You are a strange female.”

“I don’t want to be here,” she said, her voice leaning toward a whine.

“Do not whimper at me! You should not have chosen me. I made it clear I did not want you!”

“I didn’t want you! I just wanted them less!” she exclaimed, throwing an hand out in the direction of the ruckus still taking place. “And I’m not whimpering! I just want to go home. And if it’s such a hardship to accept me, why did you do it?”

“I had no choice,” he shouted, his tusks protruding even more as he lifted his lip in irritation at her.

“Why not?!” she dared to ask.

“A female chooses you, you are mated. You chose me! I am mated. I do not want to be mated to you! I do not need a simpering human to protect!”

“I don’t want to be mated to you either!”

“Then why choose me?!” he demanded.

She looked back in the direction they’d come. “Who would you have chosen?”

He followed her gaze and knew that while she did have the ability to choose whomever she wanted, she had no choice but to take a mate. And without knowing their clan, she’d have no idea who she’d be getting. He also understood that if she didn’t choose, their clan leader would make that choice for her. She’d taken the least dangerous option. She’d chosen him because he was the only male not clambering for her attention. He reached for her hand again. “Come, female. I will shelter you until I can get you home.”~

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Snippet from Roar 2

Unedited, subject to change, copyrighted to Sandra R Neeley 2023

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Thought I'd share a quick little bit of something I wrote yesterday. It made me chuckle when I reread it this morning.

It's from Roar 2. Copyrighted to me, subject to change. Unedited.

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I still don't know whose book this is, I'm just writing. We'll see who claims it. But this is cute - if you know who Three is.

 

~About a week later Jack stood in mid-morning sun beaming down on his backyard. Which was an understatement. The backyard alone was almost a full acre framed with different kinds of trees and shrubbery to provide privacy. In the backyard were multiple shade trees, several of which were centuries old. Several picnic tables and benches were scattered about. It was obviously a gathering place for adults, but nothing about it screamed 'kids are welcome'.

“Any ideas?” Three asked.

“Some,” Jack said. “Mainly, I just want it to be welcoming. Feel safe.”

“Okay. Twelve foot security fences, razor wire on top. Put some outdoor furniture in the middle with a couple of cushions and a swing set or two,” Three said, as he stood looking around with his hands on his hips, nodding confidently.

Jack turned to look at him with a doubtful expression. “How is razor wire and a twelve-foot high security fence welcoming and safe?”

“Ain’t nobody getting through it without some effort. Anybody inside it would have time to get to the house if they needed to.”

“It screams danger. Or prisoner. How the hell is that welcoming to a kid?” Jack pressed.

“Swing set in the middle of it. Didn’t you hear me say swing set?” Three asked.

“You are some kind of messed up,” Jack said, shaking his head as he walked away.~

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