For this edition of Teasery Tuesday, here is another excerpt from Twisted Beauty, the working title for my upcoming release, that takes place in a dystopian future in the badlands of South Dakota–an Ojibway man against a Lakota man. If you want to read the first excerpt, go here.
His community or enemy. He can’t have both.
Deep in the badlands, long after the fall of modern civilization, Hunter patrols the area as the war chief for his Lakota community. His latest mission is to hunt down a marauder who robbed his neighbors of their precious goods. He’ll act as this man’s judge, jury, and executioner.
Having lost everything at his former Ojibway encampment, Chassis is far from home. He wanders the badlands, a grim reaper bringing death to those with what he needs to survive. But there is one man courageous enough to challenge him.
When the duo faces off, neither expects the sizzling chemistry to erupt between them, nor for their duel to touch what both have denied themselves. Now they must choose to either remain together and sacrifice their beliefs, or go their separate ways, losing what they’ve spent their lives searching for—love.
Genre(s): Dystopian M/M Romance, First Nations Romance, Native American Romance
Heat Rating: Level 4
Publication Date: Coming Soon.
Publisher: eXtasy Books
The marauder walked between Hunter and Mechanix. The palms of his hands were planted on the top of his head.
For the briefest second, Hunter glanced over his shoulder, but the rabbit was no longer following, probably unable to keep up. No, that thing couldn’t be a pet. It was dinner. Killers like the marauder didn’t possess a conscience and were incapable of caring for anything.
“The first thing I’m gonna do is get under the hood of his Mach 1.” Mechanix snickered.
“Easy,” Hunter warned. Anything and anybody could be out here this late at night. And that was a big reason why they never left Voodoo Canyon after the sun had gone down. Too many vermin prowled the highways, ready to kill someone over a pair of boots.
The temperature had dropped like a boulder falling off a cliff, and the breaths leaving his nostrils and mouth formed puffy white clouds. The marauder’s heavy intake and outtake for air was also breaking the deathly silence of the night. They were on a steep slope, navigating around rocks and soft sand to reach the top.
“Almost there, Hunter.” Mechanix shook back his hair he’d left unbound. “Man, this is too much for me.” He chuckled. “I’m a driver, not a walker. But I guess there’s a first time for anything, right?”
“Enough,” Hunter murmured. The marauder didn’t have to know their names, or that this was the first time Mechanix had ever had to abandon their car to track down an opponent. But the stiffening of the marauder’s shoulders indicated he’d caught Mechanix’ slip.
Hunter moved in close. The marauder was taking in too much, gauging everything in the vicinity. He was up to something. “If I don’t see those hands, this gun goes off.”
“They are where they are,” the marauder said through huffs of breath as they continued to climb.
Hunter swallowed. They were almost at the top. Now they’d have to wonder what waited for them up there. This was a bad situation they were in. Their chief was probably having a shit fit, wondering what had happened to them. He’d have a lot of explaining to do once they reached Voodoo Canyon.
Maggie Blackbird 