Success! I finished!

I just finished my short for the Amira Press spring anthology. Right now it's entitled Midnight Shift. I have to go through and edit it, but not yet. I have some other things to work on. Below is a little synopsis and an unedited excerpt. This work will come out some time this spring with three other authors: Dahlia Rose, Dorian Wallace and Regina Paul. The name of the anthology is called Mating Season, and in keeping with that theme, I decided to center my story around one shape-shifter's mating season and issues he has at that time.

Midnight Shift by Brenda Steele

Lori lives in an alternate world of shifters and humans. No one knows when either began, they just know that humans far outnumber the wild and borderline uncivilized shifters. Right now, there is unrest in society. A law has been passed that says shifters must register and wear an identifying necklace or bracelet for tracking purposes.

One night when Lori's at her deadend job, which she doesn't really need because she lives on an inheritance from her mother, she meets Chase, a shifter who is about to go into his mating season. Chase can shape shift into a tiger, similar to the Bengal tiger. Unfortunately, for Chase, during this time, his shifting ability gets out of whack, and all he can think about is sex. He must find a lover soon or lose it.

Then Chase meets Lori, and her scent draws him as if she is his mate, but he doesn't want a mate. He only wants a lover until the spring season is past. And he certainly would never choose a human! Still, what the body craves . . .


Unedited Excerpt

Lori painted on the final layer of her volcano red polish to her toes while clutching the phone between her ear and her shoulder. She rested a heel on the stool she sat on and blew gently.

“Lori, are you doing your toes again?” her friend, Cammie, shouted into the phone. “Damn, you do them every freakin’ day of the week.”

“Don’t exaggerate, Cam. I do not.” Lori had to laugh. “Okay, three or four times tops, but that’s it. You know I can’t stand chipped polish, and one was smudged a little. I had no choice.”

“It’s a fetish is what is it,” Cammie told her. “Admit it. You’re into feet. I don’t see you doing your fingernails like that.”

Lori glanced at her fingers with little interest. “I don’t use color on them.”

A bell dinged at the other end of the building. She glanced up, but knew she wouldn’t be able to see through the bookstore where she worked, over to the connecting easy mart. At three in the morning, some idiot was shopping. Noting the time had reminded her that it was late, and her body should be in bed. But she had taken this part-time job. She was in it for the long haul.

“I better go, Cam. Someone came in the easy mart. It’s likely they won’t find anything edible over there, and they’ll come over this side to browse.” She yawned. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Try to get some sleep for a change.”

Her friend blew out a noisy breath. “I doubt it, but I’ll lay here as usual. Talk to you tomorrow. Night.”

Lori hung up the phone just as the customer moved to the doorway separating the easy mart from the bookstore. Despite herself, she gasped. Of course she had expected it to be one of the shifters. Besides, who else was stupid enough to be up at this time of night browsing through Mr. Tenchow’s food items. All of it was unappetizing if you asked her.

But this man, or rather shape-shifter was striking. She hadn’t seen him before. He was tall and thickly built, solid muscle if she were to guess. He had long sandy brown hair that hung heavy on his shoulders and honey-colored eyes that made her heart kick up a notch or two. His jeans hung just right on narrow hips, and his shirt was unbuttoned at the throat to show the slightest peek at a chest a woman could lose her sanity lying on.

However, despite the male perfection, what put Lori’s back up was the fact that this was no human and that he was proud to show it. Most of the shape-shifters stayed in humanlike form when among humans. This man’s short furry ears twitched amid his hair on the top of his head, and the claws on his hands and feet were extended past his finger tips.

He frowned when he spotted Lori, disapproval clear even in the stiff way he walked when he crossed the space between them. “It’s that unsanitary?”

Could her back get up any higher? “Excuse me?”

He nodded toward her foot, still tucked on the edge of her stool. “This is a grocery store.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t get carried away. Tenchow’s Easy Mart is no grocery store. There’s nothing fresh in there. Besides, the mart is on that side. This is the bookstore, and I put my shoes on should I have to cross to that side, which is rare.”

He grunted.

“And you’re one to talk. You’re barefooted.”

He glanced toward the bookstore entrance. “I did not see ‘no shoes, no service’ sign.”

Lori dropped her foot, stood and recapped her polish. “Well this isn’t my store, is it? I’m not Tenchow. Now, what can I do for you?”

Instead of speaking, he let his gaze pass down over her body, taking in her slender figure from head to toe. He was tall enough that he could surely see her newly polished toes over the counter. Lori fidgeted when his gaze rose again. She hated that she was wondering what he thought of her, if he found her attractive.

Her body wasn’t much to speak of. She had been a little on the thin side all her life, made worse by the fact that she was just under six feet—not a positive when she had stretched high above all the boys while coming up in school. At least she had a decent breast size, a C cup, and she had a little bit of an ass.

She slapped her hands on her hips and dropped her weight to one leg. “Are you finished? I could turn around if you like?”

“Human.” He said it with distaste in his mouth.

“Shifter,” she countered. “One with no respect for others.”

A sandy brow rose, but he said nothing. From the look of him, he was the kind of shifter that believed he was superior to humans and hated having any dealings with them.

A tinkling laugh came from behind him, and a small woman—one of the most beautiful Lori had ever seen—stepped out from behind the arrogant man. She hooked an arm through his and pursed her lips. “Don’t mind Chase. He’s all grumpy because his mating season is coming soon. Right about the time of the spring equinox.”

Chase growled low in his throat. “Do not tell my business, Nichelle.”

Nichelle laughed and stuck out her tongue at him. She was too adorable. Lori wished they would leave now. The woman was obviously his mate seeing she was practically glued to his arm. But what the hell did Lori care? She’d never looked twice at a shifter male.

“It’s a little late for mating season for you, isn’t it? Shouldn’t it be coming to a close?”

The honey eyes narrowed. She’d apparently offended him again.

“You are thinking of the Bengal tiger. I do not follow that animal’s patterns.”

As if he wasn’t an animal. She shrugged. “Sorry. So . . . you wanted?”

“I was looking for something to read.” He unhooked himself from Nichelle with difficulty. Lori bit down on the inside of her mouth to keep from laughing. He was either too stiff to show affection in public or Nichelle was not his lover. Lori told herself she didn’t care one way or another.

She slipped her feet into her flip flops and moved around the counter. “Okay, well this is Tenchow’s mind you, so we don’t have a lot, but there are some funny comics over on that last row if you’re interested.” She glanced back at Gloomy. He didn’t respond. “Okay, well, here are the books on politics.”

“Anything new?”

“Nope.” She moved on. “Here are some romances.”

She stopped moving and speaking. He was right up on her, that low rumble in his throat sending shivers over her body. Beside her, he rested a hand on the shelf, and the heat of his breath warmed her neck. “Your scent,” he whispered.

Mating season. Damn. She should have realized. The man was hornier than usual right now, and she had assumed it would not be directed her way since she wasn’t his kind. He had a beautiful woman with him after all. She had to be a shifter as well, because humans and shifters did not fraternize.

“Um. You might like the books in this aisle.” She searched for anything that might break him out of the lust that had seemed to take control of him. Looking back over her shoulder and tilting her chin upward, she realized he was taller than she had first thought. He was a good six or seven inches taller than she, and he was so near with his head tilted downward, their lips were too close to each other.

Lori grabbed a book, any book, and shoved it into his chest. That was a mistake. The barrier of hardened muscle made her feel like sagging into that chest and offering her lips to him. This was ridiculous. She did not under any circumstances date shifters. No human did, and she was not the type to be the first.

Still, the eyes locked her in place, not allowing her to escape. Is this what the Bengal tigers did to their prey? No, he said he was not like a regular tiger, but the stripes on his cheeks looked like them, and the fur on his cat’s ears atop his head. The eyes. Somebody save me.

Nichelle yanked on his arm. “Get a grip on yourself, Chase. Let’s go. You don’t want a human.”

The spell was broken. Lori breathed a sigh of relief. She hurried back around the counter. “So will that be it?” She hoped the tremor in her voice was all in her imagination. The disapproval on Nichelle’s face said otherwise.

The two were squared away quickly, and the next time Lori looked at the clock, it was time to pack up and leave for the night. Her shift ended at four a.m. when the two shops closed. Mr. Tenchow might desire to cater to the nocturnal shifters in the community, but there were few repeat customers. Whatever. If her boss wanted to toss away his money on this enterprise, so be it.

At four on the dot, Lori had locked up and was strolling the few blocks to her house in the quiet dimly lit streets of the city she had lived in all her life.