Knight by Addison Carmichael Book Tour and Giveaway :)
Knight
Sons
of the Alpha Book 1
by
Addison Carmichael
Genre:
Paranormal Romance
Alexia
Raine has a major problem.
She’s
being stalked by very dangerous men for some unknown reason, but one
that will turn her entire world on its axis.
Just
when he’s closing in on a vicious werewolf hunter that is
kidnapping, torturing and killing their people, he’s pulled from
the case by his High Alpha, Rob Bryant, to locate and return the
daughter of their most valuable and gifted shifter. If he doesn’t,
their entire Wolf Pack in the Pacific Northwest might collapse and
lose all hard-won territory, shifting the balance of powers and
throwing the entire were-kind species into a world war.
Problem
one—Alexia Raine never knew her real father.
Problem
two—She doesn’t even know that shifters or were-kind exist.
Problem
three—Their rival Pack wants her and will stop at nothing to
acquire her for several unspeakable reasons.
Problem
four—She’s the most aggravating, infuriating, intoxicating
woman he’s had the displeasure to rescue. And he may very well be
falling in love with her.
Problem
five—A wolf always finds and protects his mate.
Alexia Raine stood frozen from
fear or shock or disbelief, unable to move or scream as she stared
down at the bloody heap that was her fellow surgical intern and
boyfriend. For all of her training, she couldn’t even reach down
to feel for a pulse. She only gaped at his eyes staring back—fixed,
dilated, glassy. Dead eyes. Like him. “Out of my way, kid.” The disturbance jolted her out of
that horrific memory and back to the present. She might’ve even
thanked the obnoxious Cretan cutting in front of her in the Starbucks
line for it, except the bulky, smelly man nudged in front of a
teenager as well. “Hey, you can’t cut in line!”
the boy protested. “I was here just a minute ago.” It was the end of a grueling week
medical assisting for her uncle who had a general practice in the
outskirts of San Diego. She was just grabbing a vanilla latte before
heading to her apartment a few blocks away. Now she wished she
hadn’t even stopped at the coffeehouse. “No, you weren’t,” the kid. “I was, and now I’m back.
Get over it.” Alexia might’ve let it pass
like everyone else in line. Until the boy nudged his way ahead of
the man who then physically shoved him aside. “Hey, jerk face, leave the kid
alone and go to the end of the line,” she yelled at him. The man snarled back at her.
“Shut up and mind your own business, girl.” Her eyebrows shot up. “Look,
Bad Grandpa, if you don’t step back, I’ll give you a shove in the
right direction myself.” “Just keep your godda—Arrh!” His arms shot out as steaming
coffee splashed down his polo shirt as a four-pack of Grande drips
was dumped onto him.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” the
lady who lost her load raced out, frantically dabbing his shirt with
a bundle of napkins. “Really, I don’t know—!” “Just get off me!” he shot
back, pushing her away. Alexia should have felt bad for
him, but the guy really deserved it. The look on his face was
priceless too, making her snicker. He splashed her with a rough
shake of his arms. “What, you think this is funny, bitch?” One of her worst traits—she
didn’t take insults well. And no one called her the B-word who
didn’t want to pick his dentures out of the glass entrance door. Fury prickled her eyes and ears
as heat flooded her face and radiated all the way through her veins
and down to her fists now clenched at her sides.
“Have a nice fall on your way
out,” she stated hard and deadly through gritted teeth.
Instantly the old man was
airborne. There was a thud and airy “oof”
as he landed flat on his back in a puddle of coffee. Two seconds
later he was yelling bloody-murder. The baristas went into action,
two picking up phones as the others circled around the counter. He
thrashed about in his liquid mess like an overturned turtle while
threatening legal action as a few do-gooders tried to help. Panicking, Alexia shoved through
the crowd as fast as she could, then locked herself in the restroom.
Within seconds she vomited everything but her socks, the dry heaves
leaving her flushed and sweaty. Slightly better, she splashed icy
water on her face, rinsed the sour bile from her mouth, then breathed
deeply several times as she gripped the edge of the porcelain sink. “Just a coincidence, Alexia.
Not your fault,” she whispered. Not that it alleviated her guilt
any. Not that she had even touched the guy. So, of course, it
wasn’t her fault. Of course not. Just because she wanted to
humiliate the old man for being such an obnoxious, entitled jerk and
hot coffee happened to dump all over him at that very moment, it
didn’t mean anything.
And okay, she also wished that he
would fall on his butt after that nasty crack, and he did, hard, it
didn’t mean…He probably just slipped on the wet floor. Just a
coincidence, that’s all. Unfortunately, Alexia Raine
didn’t believe in coincidences. And this hadn’t been the first
time. She squeezed her eyes shut for a
long moment, then reopened them to look up at her reflection in the
dim mirror, gasping at the swirling kaleidoscope of color in her
irises—blue, green, gray, lavender, pink. She blinked hard and
pinched her eyes until the weird prickly sensation calmed down. When
she checked them again, they were light gray as normal. Okay, what the Sam frigging
Hill was that? An optical illusion maybe?
Probably. Of course. Brought on by stress mixed with
bad fluorescent lighting and the dark walls all Starbucks stores
insist on painting themselves to appear trendy. Alexia leaned closer to the
mirror for a better look when spotting another dark, silvery streak
of hair, this one framing her right cheek. Added to all the recent
others, it looked like she had highlighted her shoulder length blond
hair. The first one appeared six months
ago, but the others started a few weeks back after her twenty-fifth
birthday. Too minor an issue to ask her uncle about. Too weird to
completely ignore though. Her fingers touched the antique
silver rose locket hanging on a thin tarnished chain around her neck,
a family heirloom given by her mother on her eighteenth birthday. “Always wear it against your
heart,” Rebecca Raine told her when she opened the gift box. “Use
it as a talisman, your protection from the blues.” Her mom was always saying
sentimental, Hallmark channel type of things like that. The locket
was so old the two halves were fused together and wouldn’t even
open. Still, it was kind of pretty, and it did give her a sense of
security. She usually wore it underneath her clothing hidden from
view, her secret armor against the monsters of this world. Alexia stayed in the restroom a
few more minutes until she heard the paramedics rush into the
building. When she walked out and saw the man sitting upright on the
ground, she almost felt bad for him. Until he angrily batted at the
female paramedic, demanding only to be aided by her male partner. Misogynistic old coot. Hope he
broke his ass-bone. The earlier crowd had thinned out
now, the only reason Alexia considered still buying a latte before
heading home. That’s when she spotted them—two very large, rough
looking men, one redhead and the other with curly brown hair and a
thick moustache. They were hovering at the furthest end of the store
near the pickup counter. She wouldn’t have cared much,
but they were way out of place in their black leather jackets, black
shirts, black jeans and biker boots. All they needed were the dark
sunglasses to be classic Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminators. Sunny
San Diego natives wore light, loose clothing, even in mid-April. Not
that there weren’t tourists who soon reversed their error after
sweating their family jewels off. Somehow, though, they didn’t
seem to be the typical Southern California visitors on a fun family
vacay. The two men continued to scan the
crowd, their duplicate expressions serious, robotic. It was the
redhead who froze when locking eyes with Alexia’s, and her stomach
did an anxious backflip. He elbowed his partner, jutting his chin in
her direction, and the other guy narrowed his dark eyes when honing
in on her. Just my imagination,
Alexia told herself. She looked over her shoulder,
expecting to see someone waving them over to confirm her paranoia,
but no one was there. She turned back to them. Both now had their
bodies shifted away while carrying on a conversation. Okay, fine. Maybe she had just
imagined things. Wouldn’t have been the first time. Her need for a latte vanished
now. All she wanted then was to be home in her apartment a few long
blocks away. Quickly Alexia pushed out the
front entrance, venturing a last look behind her shoulder. The two
men didn’t move from their spot, both still talking, and she
exhaled heavily, everything within her relaxing. Good. She had enough drama for
one night. Quickly she headed down the
twilight darkened street lined with various interconnected shops and
cafés. Sometimes she walked to work as a way to force a little
exercise on herself. Now she wished she had taken her car this
morning, just wanting to be home. Behind a locked and bolted door.
With a chair jammed against the knob. She was only a few hundred yards
away from the Starbucks when Alexia ventured a quick look behind.
Her stomach dropped when both men exited and turned in her direction. Swallowing hard, she faced
forward again, picking up her pace. Okay, no big deal. This wasn’t
some cheesy action flick. They had every right to leave the building
like everyone else. Even walk in the same direction. There were
several pedestrians between them in any case, so no worries. Still, her fingers lightly felt
for the cellphone in her blue scrub shirt pocket, ready to call her
Uncle Paul who was still at the office. She could casually
double-time it back to the Starbucks and have him pick her up … No. No, she really didn’t want
to pull him away from the mound of paperwork he was rifling through
before she left. Plus, Aunt Carla would be majorly
miffed at him for coming home even later than normal if he was forced
to make a pitstop by her place. Alexia knew she was already a prime
source of contention in their stormy marriage—his kid brother’s
flaky kid he bailed out of jail and hired a lawyer for six months
ago. Things were better now that
Alexia had moved from their place into her own apartment, but not by
much. So she refused to inconvenience her uncle and possibly ignite
another marital battle just to soothe her ridiculous imaginings. Poor, sweet Uncle Paul. Alexia
tried convincing him that he wasn’t responsible for her after her
parents’ fatal car accident two years ago, but he took up the
paternal mantle anyhow. Which is why after being forced to leave the
intern program because of that horrific incident at the hospital, he
took her in and offered her a medical assistant position that bored
her to tears. Still, she didn’t look a gift job in the paycheck. Alexia ventured another glance
back. Drat, those men were still behind
her. Not far, in fact. Fewer pedestrians between them now as well.
Beauty
and Her Beast
Prequel
to Sons of the Alpha – Knight
A
tale as old as time--with a
Paranormal twist!
Rebecca
Hartford hates Valentine's Day. That is, until the mysterious,
attractive Erik Leonid bursts into the café where she sits eating
alone that afternoon. Then her entire world, and all of her
preconceptions, turns upside-down and will never be the same.
That means learning to love someone from the inside-out regardless of
her fears and those seeking to harm them both for their forbidden
relationship.
She
only hopes it will be enough.
Addison Carmichael has been a storyteller since she was a young girl. Even then every tale she imagined had a romantic element that grabbed front and center. She is absolutely in love with love—giving it, receiving it, then sending it back out into the world. She believes there is something miraculous and supernatural about true love in every form, and incorporates this magical element into all of her stories.
Besides
reading and writing (blissful addictions), Addison loves the
mountains and ocean, and enjoys hiking, camping, horseback riding and
star gazing. She also bakes, knits and sews, which she never has
enough time for. She attempted mastering several musical
instruments, singing, painting, photography, dancing and archery, but
always returned to writing and storytelling as the “one true love”
of her life.
Addison
was born and raised in Southern California and has lived and traveled
all over the west coast (and the world), now living
happily-ever-after with her family in the Pacific Northwest in
Snohomish, Washington.
Where were you
born/grew up at?
I was born and grew up in Los Angeles,
California, then moved to Orange County, California. Then I lived in
various places and states all over the west, finally landing in
western Washington State where my husband Michael is originally from.
I love it here, so this is it for me.
Who are your
favorite book heroes?
Male: Aslan, Peeta Malark, Gale
Hawthorne, Mr. Darcy, Edward Cullen, Aragorn, Frodo Baggins
Female: Anne Shirley, Elizabeth
Bennett, Lucy Pevansie, Catniss Everdeen
What do you do
to unwind and relax?
Reading, writing, or watching a movie
with a great story are my everyday mental diffusing tools. When time
and opportunity allows, I love listening to music while sipping sweet
tea or raspberry lemonade from a frosted Ball jar while rocking in a
porch swing on a warm afternoon. Or walking along an ocean beach at
sunset with the waves crashing over my bare feet and the gulls crying
overhead. Or hiking in the woods and breathing in the scent of pine
and wood smoke that I swear smell just like barbequed steaks.
Describe
yourself in 5 words or less!
Dreamer, Introspective, Adventurer,
Lover, Storyteller
When did you
first consider yourself a writer?
Although I consider myself a
storyteller first and began creating stories with all of my stuffed
animals in the backyard as a little girl (with character backstories
and plot lines!), I first started actually writing them down in high
school—secretly, of course. I continued to write as a way to
escape the pressures of school, career, and being a working wife and
mother. It was my husband who actually pushed me to pursue my
passion and submit my work to publishers. Within three years I had
published 13 short stories to different national magazines, then
started expanding my stories into novel length.
Do you have a
favorite movie?
I’m a major movie addict, so it’s
really hard to pinpoint just one, so I’ll list just a few different
favs:
The Terminator, Chronicles of Narnia,
Pride & Prejudice (with Keira Knightly), Star Wars, Lord of
Rings, Tombstone, Pirates of the Caribbean, Titanic, Dances with
Wolves, Ever After, While You Were Sleeping, Charlie Brown’s
Christmas, Wizard of Oz, Shrek, Die Hard, ET, Gone With the Wind
What kind of
research do you do before you begin writing a book?
Most times I already have a great idea
of the where, what, & whom details of the story before I write
it. There have been times I’ve actually traveled to a specific
location I’m not familiar with, but want very much to use. I was a
frequent library haunter, until the internet revolution where I could
do detailed research while sipping cocoa in my p.j.s. Still have my
library card though.
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