Hot Summer Nights With Shifter Lovers

By: Kali Willows

Finally, the summer warmth has arrived, after a blistering, cold winter and an all too short spring. Being a Canadian gal, I’m well conditioned to the icy nights of teeth chattering and trembling under a blanket from frost bite. I’ve taken solace in snuggling under blankets by the fire and writing my smouldering dragon shifters with a nice hot cup of tea in hand. Truth be told, fall is my absolute favorite season of the year. The coolness, sweater weather, along with the autumn colors and harvest flavored goodies that come from it all.

With the sweltering nights this week, I started to wonder about personal preferences for shifter romances. My dragon lovers (and a smoking hot gargoyle) have been my last four steamy romances I’ve taken my blanket worthy nights to write. Most recently, I’ve finished a sweet angel story of redemption, with not too much brimstone and fire. Now, I’m working on an intense sci-fi, but the lingering desire for another shifter romance still saturates my soul.

I started to wonder, if I were to take on a fictional lover to feed my yearning, what type would it be tonight? In the cooler weather, it’s a no brainer. Dragons and gargoyles really melt my butter. Werewolves, oh super yum and snugly. But in the heated nights, the sultry air and the humidity that encases my flesh, would I really want to be picking werewolf fur off my sticky skin? Or would the fiery romance of my dragons overcook my need for a good pounce?

From the different sub genres of shifter romances that I’ve written, I did a mental survey. Every shifter has their positive attributes, along with some not so appealing ones. Tonight, on this sticky, hot, humid, icky night, I think I would call upon an old friend named Desmond Jacobs. After all, this un-dead hero carries a relatively low body temperature. Snuggling would not create undo heat exhaustion…Am I wrong? Sure, his sexy sweet smile gets my blood pumping, and my cardio would go through the roof with his animalistic sex-capades, but that would definitely fit the bill for tonight’s needs. A little bite here and there, well...I would be willing to….never mind, I digress.

The point of this ramble is my curiosity to what other people’s shifter preferences would be, when it comes to weather? Some like it hot; like Vannah and Cameron in Savannah Georgia, in the hot tub after ghost hunting in the cemetery. Some prefer exotic locations like my dragons in Taiwan in a cave with cascading waterfall eating chocolate and strawberries. Some like it dirty and sticky like Declan and Laura in the mud bath or on top of an active volcano. Some like it underwater, like Desmond and Ambrosia in the underwater domed hotel in Maine. Some prefer to get cooled off first in a fierce thunder and lightening storm, only to take shelter in an abandoned castle with a picnic full of surprises, like Tawny and Wyatt. My friend Vannah even enjoyed a brief encounter with a ghostly apparition in a mausoleum-just think, all the tantalizing with no physical contact in the sweltering night air!

Tonight, I plan to snuggle up with Desmond, my oh so cool, but charming immortal.

Terminal Lust

Blurb:

Given a death sentence by her doctor, Ambrosia Thatcher is a woman with little time and a single wish; to experience passion once more. Seeking answers to her unbearable paralysis at three thirty three, every single morning, the enlightenment she is offered from the ramblings of a crazy old gypsy holds no solace. The services of 1Night Stand is the only prescription to cure her longing for passion, but will she survive long enough to see it through?

Desmond Jacobs is an immortal haunted by a woman he cannot find. The prospect of eternal seclusion without her has no appeal, so he has a plan. With the aid of his creator, he will to go to sleep, and never wake up again. Despite his determination, he agrees to one last request from his friend; seek the services of 1NS to find another. Which will overpower him first; his hunger for sexual healing or his thirst for blood?

Excerpt:

About fifty feet back through the crowded midway, her legs grew weak and tired and she had to slow down or collapse. Fighting to catch her breath, she stumbled a little, lost her balance, and bumped into the back of a stranger with a clumsy thud.

“I beg your pardon, I didn’t mean to….” She stopped. The tall man turned, his black T-shirt outlining a toned chest and muscular arms. Her lungs tightened as she struggled for oxygen—and fought her unexpected reaction.

“Are you all right?” His deep velvet voice shrouded her just before her knees gave out. Strong hands gripped her arms, easing her onto a bench at the side of the fairway.

“Thank you. I’m so embarrassed.” Tears blurred her vision. Blinking them away, she found a striking man with shoulder-length, ebony hair, kneeling before her. He watched her with dark, smoldering eyes.

“I shouldn’t have been in the way; I didn’t realize there was a relay race going on tonight.” His luscious lips curled back into a charming grin.

“My legs—just got away from me, I guess.” Ambrosia ran her hands down her numb thighs, trying to force feeling back into them. The noise and clatter faded and she felt enveloped in a cloak of peace.

“You’re very pale; should I get some help?” His eyes scanned her. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine, thank you.” Self-conscious, she shifted her tank top into place and smoothed back her thinning hair.

“Are you sure?” He cupped icy fingers under her chin.

“Yes, thank you. Now that you mention it, you’re a little pale yourself.” Her teeth began to chatter.

“Well, you just about swept me off my feet.” He grinned, evoking the flutter of manic butterflies in her stomach. The man oozed charisma. 

                                          

So tell me, what would your shifter preference be on a hot summer’s eve and why?

Sky is the limit, werewolf/lycan, vampire, dragon, gargoyle, chimera, sorcerer, selkie, angel, demon, werecat, siren, mermaid/merman, a ghost…or any shifter you can think of that I haven’t mentioned yet.

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Happy Reading,

Kali Willows

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