A Hero's True Form -Snippet Sunday

It's Snippet Sunday, a Weekend Writing Warriors'  blog hop!

I had a lot of writing stuff going on this week, including more headway on Book 5 of my Sons of Herne series, Magic of Midsummer. (Synopsis below.)  Last time, Devinmar, shape-shifting god of Litha, was in dolphin form and trying to rescue a woman who had fallen off a boat. We ended with:

 His teeth and jaw ached from dragging her to the surface, but he hurried on, intent on saving her.

Let's pick up from there...

Waves soon pointed the way to land, and he gripped the female’s clothing in his teeth until the first of the breakers pushed their bodies toward shore. He didn’t let go until sand scratched his underside, and he closed his eyes, released her to the momentary trust of the tide, and concentrated on the change. He became the seal first, the form his mother’s kind assumed close to the shore, as it was a creature adapted to both sea and land. His body became buoyant as shiny, gray skin shifted to brown fur, fins to large flippers, and his snout shortened and sprouted whiskers.

The female washed up beside him, so fragile and helpless that it sent pangs of frustration through him. The sudden cessation of movement, the loss of the ocean’s constant lull, jarred him as though he’d been yanked from a dream back to reality.

He focused on his true self next, the man whose form he normally only took once a year, a human figure born under the sea, but with arms and legs and long, jet black hair. His seal skin split with a pop along his back, which was not a painful experience, but rather, a freeing one. He was released from the marine creature, climbing out of the skin he must keep near him in order to return to the sea.

He tossed the skin higher up the beach, away from the waves that might try to reclaim it, then dragged the bound woman along after it.

What do you think?  

About Magic of Midsummer

Hallie wakes up on a beach to find she has been rescued from near-drowning by the most exotically gorgeous--and breathtakingly naked--man she has ever seen. Believing that Devinmar is exceptional is no stretch at all, but falling for his stories about selkie legends and pagan gods is something else. Even if he is who he claims, what he wants from her is even more shocking. Should she give into the temptation of a one-night frolic with a sea god, whose long hair, exquisite beauty, and intense stare beckons her touch? 

Yes. She should.

Devinmar will go to the darkest depths of the sea to gather the powers needed for his Litha ritual, all the while anticipating a night of wild passion with the woman who has stirred him like no other. When he arrives for their rendezvous to discover she has been taken, getting her back could mean missing the deadline for the sabbat--and giving up the energies needed to recharge his power. Still, Devinmar will do what he must to make Hallie safe again--even though he knows that once their midsummer night is spent, he must leave her behind and return to the sea.

About The Sons of Herne:

The god Herne has appointed eight of his most virile, headstrong sons as keepers of the pagan holidays. To honor their sabbat, each must join with a mortal female in a ritual to maintain the balance between worlds.

It is the year of The Thousand Seasons, and the Fates have secretly conspired to mark the end of an era by granting the gods one thing they lack--a true union of male and female that will last beyond the passion of a sabbat joining.

Herne’s sons will wrestle with the conflict between sacred duty and their own yearnings, a struggle will not only challenge their beliefs, but may threaten the success of rituals that must be observed lest the mortal and immortal worlds collide in chaos.

Read Book 1 of the series, Season of Light, for only 99 cents--and follow the link inside to get Book 2 free!
Buy on Amazon

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Weekend Writing Warriors!

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I'm J. Rose Allister, wife, working mom, and the author of over twenty-five books. Somewhere in between one and the next, I love hanging out here on my blog and over on Twitter. Give me a comment or follow-I love chatting with people!