Title: Spell of the Werewolf
Author: J.R. Loveless
Cover by TL Bland
Release Date: May 29, 2020
Word Count: 34k+
Genre: Paranormal, Romance, Enemies to Lovers
Keywords: werewolves, unexpected attraction, enemies
to lovers, hybrid werewolf, human, immortality, cursed, sword fights, hunters,
monsters, creatures, horror
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Blurb:
Two centuries ago, Justin was turned against his will
into a werewolf - a mindless, angry beast three nights a month. Ever since, he
has done everything he can to atone for the blood on his hands, even going so
far as to hunt his own kind. The burden of carrying on is heavy and
unforgiving, and he’s reached the point of not caring if he lives or dies.
Vincent is a hybrid, half-werewolf and half-human,
spending his days, and nights, hunting werewolves. Vincent may be half-monster,
but he lives and breathes by his human half. Hunting werewolves and taking down
as many of the creatures as possible is all he can see.
A chance meeting changes everything. A deal struck
between them, a threat to humanity, and their mutual attraction combined brings
them together in an explosive way. Vincent has found the one who can break down
the walls around his heart – will he now be able to carry through on his
promise to end Justin’s torment, or will Justin live to see another moonrise?
Excerpt:
The crunching of bones breaking and
mending echoed off the cement walls and metal cage surrounding him, while his
gasps of pain mingled with the excruciating change until Justin lay there a
panting, trembling mess. He curled into a fetal position, staring at the bars
and wondering how much longer he could continue to live through the unbearable
transformation. Every full moon he became a monster with no thought of anything
except feasting on flesh, human or otherwise. He’d lock himself in a steel cage
lined with silver in the basement of whatever house they were renting to stop
himself from hurting anyone on the three nights he couldn’t control himself.
“You’re back to normal, I see.” A low
voice came through the darkness.
Justin closed his eyes against the
brightness of the light flicked on and Kara, his best friend and caretaker,
stepped toward the cage with keys in hand. She unlocked the door, then the
chains, and helped him to his feet. After handing him his clothing, she went
back upstairs without another word. Kara was the only person in his life who
knew about the beast inside of him. She’d been a loyal friend and his only
family for the last ten years. But before her, he’d spent almost two hundred
years on his own, merely surviving.
Despite his outward appearance of an
eighteen-year-old young man, he’d actually lived for two hundred and eighteen
years. He stood at an even six foot with a wiry, lean build, which never
changed no matter what he ate or how much he exercised. Black hair, as dark as
a moonless night, just brushed his shoulders when he didn’t keep it tied back.
Most humans found it hard to stare into his eerily light blue eyes. Maybe
because they could sense the evil lurking beneath the surface, or perhaps they
could see the creature pacing inside him, waiting for the nights it could be
free.
In the time since his life changed
forever, he’d seen many wonderful and horrible things: the invention of trains,
cars, and airplanes, wars, slavery, death, and blood. The only cure he knew of
to end his torment was either death or to kill the one who’d bitten him. His
desperate search led him here, to Japan, where he spent every waking hour not
working trying to find word of the bastard’s whereabouts.
Justin made his way upstairs to the
kitchen and found Kara cooking breakfast on the old stove in the house they’d
rented. He watched her as she moved about the tiny kitchen. Petite at
five-foot-two, she had beautiful auburn hair that hung down her back to her
hourglass waist. She kept it in a ponytail most of the time. Bright green eyes
complimented the light dusting of freckles across her nose. He cared for her a
great deal, even loved her in his own way, but he knew it wasn’t the kind of
love she wanted from him.
Thirty-five now, she’d found him ten years
ago lying in the bushes in her backyard the morning after a full moon. He’d had
large wounds all over his body from a fight he’d been in with another werewolf
in the area. She’d tended his injuries and taken care of him until he’d
regained consciousness. When he’d awakened, she’d demanded the story from him;
she said it was either that or she’d call the police. So he’d told her
everything, his past and the monster hiding beneath his flesh. They’d been
together ever since, moving from place to place in search of the one who could
break his curse. They both worked odd jobs during the day to support them as they
moved from city to city and country to country. It’d been her idea to build the
cage lined with silver and secure it to the ground wherever they were.
Setting a plate on the table for him and
another for herself, she slid into one of the chairs. “You were overly anxious
last night. More so than usual.”
Justin looked at her and then away. He
picked up his fork but didn’t begin eating immediately. “I don’t remember
anything, you know that, Kara. Maybe there’s another werewolf close by.”
There were many malevolent creatures in
the world that humans remained unaware of, or they chose to ignore the obvious
signs, writing off anything unexplained as animal attacks. Mostly, his kind
stayed away from one another unless they felt threatened. “Tonight’s the last full
moon, for this month at least. I don’t know how much longer I can take this,
Kara. I want it to be over.”
Kara studied him for a long moment before
replying, “We’ll find him, Justin. You just need to have patience.”
“How much more patience can I have, Kara?”
Justin snapped. “It’s been two hundred years. Another hundred and I’ll go
insane!”
She looked at him sadly but didn’t say
anything. They sat in silence for the remainder of breakfast. Justin barely
touched the scrambled eggs, attempting a bite or two to appease Kara, but he
couldn’t stomach the idea of eating. He knew she meant well, and she couldn’t
really understand why he wanted to die, but her words only served to reinforce
why he couldn’t continue to live like this.
After breakfast, Kara washed the dishes
and then grabbed her purse. “I’m on my way to work. I’ll be back before the sun
sets to lock you in.”
He watched her leave, staying at the table
even after she’d gone. The night he’d been bitten played in his head like a
mini movie, almost as if it were someone else’s reality. It was 1802, and he’d
been out drinking at a local tavern, celebrating the birth of his best friend’s
baby. When the owner finally kicked them out at two in the morning, he started
toward home, weaving along the street in his drunkenness. Most people were
tucked in their beds asleep. No noises could be heard other than the odd stray
cat in the alley garbage bins or the lone bark of a dog in the far off
distance. A loud crashing sound echoed off the cobblestones and in between
buildings just before a large heavy weight slammed into him. He flew through
the air, landing with a thud on the unforgiving street.
He realized a huge animal, something akin
to a wild dog, lay on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Before he could
react, the animal sank his teeth into his shoulder. Justin remembered screaming
in pain as blood poured from the torn flesh. He heard a gunshot as someone came
running down the street, yelling to scare off the dog. The animal let go and
ran off, leaving him lying in a pool of his own blood.
The man who’d saved him had taken Justin
to his home and rung the doctor. The doctor stitched him up and bandaged his
wound. Justin returned to his own home the next day and went about his normal
life. The wound healed in a miraculously short amount of time, and he’d begun
to notice strange things happening to his body in the following weeks. He found
himself abnormally attracted to the scent of blood, and he could smell things
from several hundred feet away. His eye sight and hearing grew sharper, and his
strength increased three fold.
The first full moon came a little over
three weeks after he’d been bitten. He was out chopping firewood for his
parents when it started. He thanked God every day since then that he hadn’t
been home when it happened. He remembered dropping to his knees as a sudden
pain gripped his entire body. His screams of anguish filled the forest behind
his home; the snapping of his bones breaking was the only thing louder than his
cries. Hair sprouted along his hands and arms; his jaw elongated into a snout.
He could still feel the terror he’d felt during his first change. He lost
consciousness afterward or so he’d thought. He figured out the next morning
that when he became the monster inside, he lost all control of his awareness
and the beast took over.
The only thing he remembered was waking up
covered in blood the next morning. He’d vomited at the grisly sight beside him.
A mutilated body of a man lay near him. He couldn’t even identify the face of
the man, to know who he’d been, because his face had been torn to shreds and
then gnawed on by some great animal. He’d gone to the nearby river to wash the
blood away the best he could and made his way slowly toward home, where he’d
snuck into his room to pack some of his things. He left a note for his parents
telling them he was sorry, but he could no longer stay with them. They weren’t
safe with him. He’d saddled his horse and left for good.
He’d been running ever since. The only
person he’d gotten close to in the last two hundred years was Kara. Even after
ten years he still feared for her safety, but she never let him take off alone
no matter how many times he tried.
Bio:
J.R. Loveless began her adventure in writing romance
at the young age of twelve. Her foray into creating her own worlds and telling
her characters’ life stories was triggered by her own love of reading. She
currently resides in South Florida with her dog and two cats, volunteers for an
animal rescue in her spare time, and works as a manager for a financial lending
institute. Someday she hopes to begin writing as a full-time career and
bringing more of her ideas to life.
Her journey into gay romance began in 2005 when she
began posting her original fiction on a forum for feedback and readers’
pleasure. In 2010, a good friend urged her to submit to a publishing company,
and the day she received the acceptance and contract was the best day of her
life. Since then, she has been noted to be one of the most purchased audio
books after Fifty Shades of Grey on Audiobook.com, received best gay romantic
fiction for Touch Me Gently in the 2011 TLA Gaybies, and even received an award
for Chasing Seth in 2012.
J.R. adores her fans and loves hearing from
them.
