From One Moment to the Next (Moments of the Adept Universe 0.4)

Excerpt. From One Moment to the Next is the third Kandy prequel story available in Moments of the Adept Universe 1, including an illustration by Memo that captures the (bleached-blond) werewolf in a moment of surprise.

Click here for the full reading order of the Adept Universe, including a downloadable PDF.

From One Moment to the Next

Moments of the Adept Universe 0.4

(Aka Kandy 0.75)

May 2011.

An apartment in Malibu.

I let myself into the swanky apartment. It was unlocked, but I knew I was in the right place because I could smell Desmond and Hudson all around the exterior door, even despite the salty, warm breeze coming off the ocean. Plus the address matched the scrawled note I’d found taped to the inside of my apartment door that morning. Other than that address, though, the only other info I’d gathered was the meeting time and the smell of Desmond on the paper.

But I knew why the soon-to-be alpha wanted to see me. The coming request had been building since I’d joined Desmond’s cousin’s pack three years ago.

And I would say yes.

Just not to the second question that Desmond also planned to ask.

I tugged the door shut behind me, toeing off my sneakers. Padding barefoot across the cool marble-tiled floors, I easily followed the scent of the two men I was apparently meeting. Clandestinely.

Shades of white-on-white ran throughout the apartment. Though perhaps it was pedestrian of me to call it something as simple as an apartment. A condo? A townhouse? An upscale townhouse, situated on the corner of a whitewashed complex perched over a sandy beach at the edge of the sea in sunny California.

I missed the snow.

I shoved that idiotic thought away, scanning the ridiculously luxurious living room as it spread out before me. I had shucked off the chains that came with that snow years ago. I wasn’t going back.

An open kitchen, looking as though it had never been used, sat to my far left. Even the abstract paintings on the walls were monotone and completely impersonal. Though knowing that Desmond’s family was as ridiculously wealthy as my own, I didn’t doubt that any one of those paintings could have covered my rent for over a year.

But I had left that money, that unwanted inheritance, behind with the snow. Along with the heartache.

I wouldn’t have been surprised to find that I was leaving dirty footprints behind me, grubby, unruly wolf that I was. I huffed, pleased with that image of myself. As always.

A breeze carrying the scent of two powerful and slightly sweaty males drew me toward the patio. Crashing surf rolled steadily in across the sandy beach just beyond. I was pleased that I’d decided to wear a bikini, just throwing on a rather revealing, bright-green cover-up for the drive to the coast. Even though that green actually contrasted terribly with my currently overly bleached hair.

On the patio, his golden-brown hair a little longer than usual, Desmond leaned back against the glassed railing. He was dressed in washed-out jeans and a light-blue T-shirt that was rapidly failing to contain biceps the thickness of my thighs. His feet were also bare. His casually crossed arms only emphasized the should-be-impossible breadth of his shoulders. He pinned his golden-brown gaze on me and offered me a lazy but toothy grin.

Hudson stepped up to the right, following Desmond’s gaze and hitting me with a megawatt smile.

My heart pinged painfully, as it often did when I laid eyes on the dark-haired werewolf. Though his lean form was taller and broader through the shoulders than Justin had been when he died, Hudson reminded me of …

Well, everything I had tried to leave behind. Unsuccessfully. When it came to the emotions attached to that past, at least.

I bared my teeth at both of them. “This isn’t a threesome, is it? Because it sure isn’t balanced in my favor.”

– Excerpt From One Moment to the Next (Moments of the Adept Universe 0.4)

New to the Adept Universe? The first book is Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic (Dowser 1). Or click here for the main READING ORDER.

Need to get caught up? Or want to reread in order? Click here for the FULL READING ORDER OF THE ADEPT UNIVERSE.

Moments of the Adept Universe: Audrey 0.5

Anchored in the Moment (Moments of the Adept Unvierse 0.7) aka Audrey 0.5 – First draft. Done. 🙂

Set after Dowser 1, and featuring Desmond, this ‘moment’ turned into a fun and sexy short. I was just going to share it on my blog, but I might also put out a random newsletter next week. [subscribe or check your subscription here] October is usually my fav month – Thanksgiving, my birthday, harvest, and halloween – but things are really rough around here right now – we think we’re losing Leo all of a sudden, because he won’t eat – and I needed something short and sweet to focus on. A distraction that would also help me feel productive.

Snippet below:

“You have a position open, in your pack,” I said without further preamble.

“The beta position is Kandy’s,” Desmond said, pointedly looking out the side window. It was a beautiful day, sunny but not hot. “It has always been Kandy’s.”

“Yet Kandy is in Vancouver.”

He glanced at me then, narrowing his eyes. “Fulfilling a temporary need.”

I eyed him for a moment, trying to figure out how much Desmond Llewelyn liked to be pushed. “She won’t take it,” I said evenly. “Just like she’ll let her inheritance rot, just like she won’t step up and take the Assembly seat.”

“Those are her choices.” Desmond frowned — I was getting to him, finally.

“Exactly. And you have a hole in your pack. An imbalance.”

He half grimaced, half snarled. “And you will be alpha when your father steps aside.”

“He’ll never step aside. He’ll wait for someone to take the pack from the Rothchilds. And you know —” I laughed bitterly. “You know, he hopes that’s going to be Kandy. A Tate.”

Desmond looked at me then. Really looked.

Finally.

I’d thought about how to approach the cat, already knowing that seducing him wouldn’t get me what I wanted. Though many alphas preferred to fill the position of beta with a lover or a family member. I had no doubt that the sex would be vigorous and as rough as I wanted it to be, but Desmond would never fuck his beta.

“He’s broken,” I whispered, though my voice was still harsh, hard-edged. “Justin’s death broke him. Like it broke Kandy. And me.”

“Kandy isn’t broken,” Desmond snarled, automatically defending his wolf. Like a true alpha.

I smirked. “I’m not saying that she isn’t strong. Fierce. And loyal. But she’s not your beta. She’s not the beta you need.”

“It’s not a post for a princess,” he snapped, shards of green magic flickering in his eyes.

“Test me,” I purred. “I can take anything you throw at me.”

He shook his head. “The answer is no.”

– Anchored in the Moment. First draft.

Sometimes writing looks like …

… digging through every mention of the Llewellyn family in my master Adept Universe bible, then every mention of uncles and cousins in a specific book – this time it was I See You (Oracle 2). All to roughly sketch out a family tree in order to verify that the current (previously unnamed) alpha of the California pack (aka Beau’s uncle) is actually Desmond’s second cousin.

Then correcting Gabby’s short. As well the short I’m currently writing.

Hastily scribbled Llewellyn family tree. Incomplete.

That second cousin thing always screws with me. Of course, the fact that Robert is Ada’s older brother apparently never occurred to me. Which would have made for far, far less work. Sigh.

😂

So yeah – spoiler alert – that means Kandy’s third Moments of the Adept Universe short is dropping in my newsletter on the last Thursday of August. And it may contain a character you’ve all been ~~begging to see again~~ ~~aching for~~ missing.

Ahem … possibly two. Not including Kandy herself.