Lisa Renee Jones | The Legend Begins… Michael

Thanks for having me today!

I had the first opportunity to see Michael in the shelves at Barnes and Noble this weekend so that was pretty darn exciting.  It feels that Michael has been a long time coming. I first started envisioning the story during a time when I use to travel to Vegas several times a year. I started out in denial that I would EVER gamble, and so I explored the city. Of course, I later developed a real love for roulette, but thankfully not until the city caught fire in my blood. Once I found the roulette table, I was hooked, but even that fun game couldn’t overshadow the excitement and energy of Vegas. The series has lots of that Vegas energy I so adore, and I hope readers will enjoy experiencing it through my characters.

Aside from the Vegas flavor, the Zodius series is about a group of Special Forces soldiers that were told they were receiving immunizations and instead received injections of experimental alien DNA. These soldiers become immune to all human illness, but they also develop very special skills — super speed, super strength, and they can travel with the wind. Some even develop unique skills that they alone possess. Collectively, these soldiers become the GTECHs, a new race, divide by good and evil. Those who want to rule the world and those who want to protect.

Book one is THE LEGEND OF MICHAEL

Michael is broken into two part parts.

Part one is an extended prologue meant to set up the entire series. You see the hero and heroine start to date and begin to fall in love but something big happens … Part One ends with a bang when it does.

Part two begins two years later. Michael has had some transformations I won’t give away, but they have made him believe he is evil. In his mind, he is no good for the heroine, and he never – ever – will be. But she’s in danger, and no matter how much she hates him, or how much he believes he deserves her feelings towards him, he won’t allow her to be hurt. It’s a rocky road to happiness, with tons of danger and heartache along the way.

This is a short excerpt from the first meeting of the hero and heroine after that two years, when the heroine – Cassandra – believes Michael has deceived her, and in fact, never cared for her at all. She believes he used her. However, they share a physical bond much like mating that she can’t make go away anymore than she can what she feels for Michael, no matter how much she wishes she could.

EXCERPT

Cassandra yanked open the door and stepped onto the patio, the hot night suffocating her with eerie stillness. Her nerve endings prickled, bristled, screamed with awareness an instant before the wind gently lifted, blowing wisps of her long blonde hair worn straight and to her shoulders, around her face.

A musical sound shimmered in the air, drawing her attention to a wind chime hanging at the edge of a walkway. Michael wanted her to follow that path. And much to Cassandra’s dismay, Michael’s way of using the wind to communicate warmed her limbs, wickedly declaring she still wanted him. And that uncontrollable want, which bordered on need, delivered a dose of the fear she’d thought she’d left behind. In fact, it downright terrified her. But she was out here now, and she was quite certain that he wasn’t going away until she went to him.

Shaking inside, Cassandra inhaled another breath and started forward, following the lighted walkway that twisted and curved and ended at a dimly lit gazebo. In the same instant she stepped inside the structure, he emerged from the shadows, potently male, a presence that expanded, consumed her, downright stole her breath. A presence more powerful than she even remembered. The scent of him—male, musky, uniquely Michael—flared in her nostrils and rippled a path along her nerve endings.

His long, black hair touched broad shoulders and framed that powerful square jaw she’d touched and kissed so often. He towered over her, reminding her of a sleek, muscled panther, hungry and ready to feast. On her. And Lord help her, as she stared into those intelligent, unnaturally black eyes that seemed to see straight to her soul, a part of her that she had no control over wanted him to.

“You look more beautiful than ever, Cassandra.”

His voice swept along her nerve endings with a velvety smooth slide, licking at her limbs with fire. She hugged herself against the sudden heaviness in her breasts, the ache of her nipples—against the wanton reaction that had to be about the mark on her neck. This man had tried to kill her father. He was trying to destroy humanity. He was the enemy, and she was here for answers. And for anything they could use to defeat Zodius.

She drew her spine stiff. “Why are you here, Michael?”

“You’re in danger,” he said softly.

“If I’m in danger, it’s from you,” she bit out through her teeth.

“And yet here you stand,” he pointed out, challenge etching his chiseled features.

“To protect everyone else in that building,” she quickly countered.

He arched a disbelieving brow. “So you bravely put yourself in harm’s way.” One corner of his far-too-inviting mouth lifted. “Or maybe you simply remember I’m the kind of ‘dangerous’ you enjoy.”

It was a familiar sensual taunt he’d used in the past, and unbidden, the words drew an image of Michael’s hard body pressed tightly against hers, of his hand sliding up her dress. Cassandra squeezed her eyes shut and silently cursed. Her lashes lifted, and she cast him an accusing glare. How powerful had Michael become? Could he place such a thought in her mind?

He laughed and held up his hands. “Don’t look at me like that, Cassandra. Whatever thoughts that wickedly lovely mind of yours conjured up were all your own. And don’t tell me they weren’t wicked. We both know you have a way with creative imagery.” His hands slowly lowered, those sensual lips lifting at the corners ever-so-slightly. “I do believe I’d like to hear what you were thinking now.”

“Oh, they were wicked thoughts all right,” she said. “And they were, indeed, full of creative imagery. I’ve had two years to contemplate all kinds of interesting ways to kill a GTECH as powerful as you.”

“And I’ve had two years to dream of touching you again.”

THE LEGEND OF MICHAEL BY LISA RENEE JONES – IN STORES MAY 2011

He’s a Lethal Weapon…

One of an army of human soldiers injected with alien DNA, Michael is a legend within this new race, split between good and evil. Untamable, he has walked on the dark side and returned to the light. Feared and misunderstood, he leaves everything behind, including the one woman destined to be his mate.

He is her Enemy… And her Destiny…

Cassandra holds the key to Michael’s power, and his pain. With loyalties divided and against insurmountable odds, Cassandra’s heart propels her to Michael’s side—but can her love do anything but destroy him…

No ordinary woman can control a creature such as Michael, and only one thing is clear—the world will never be the same…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Award winning author Lisa Renee Jones has published more than fifteen novels in several different languages, spanning multiple genres of romance: contemporary, romantic suspense, dark paranormal and erotic fiction. Her awards include first place in the Romantic Times Aspiring Writers Contest. She currently lives in Colorado Springs, CO, where she is working on her next Zodius novel, The Renegade Conquest (working title), to be released in November 2011. For more information, please visit www.lisareneejones.com/ and www.sourcebookscasablanca.com.

We have two copies of LEGEND OF MICHAEL to give away. Just comment to enter. Michael is a super alpha hero but beta heroes can be just as perfect. What do you think makes a perfect hero?

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