The inspiration for the
Setting of Ashwood Falls:
The Smokey Mountains
A couple of years ago my husband and I took a vacation to
Cherokee, North Carolina. We drove through the Smokey Mountains every day we
were there. I loved it! We went in mid-October and it was beautiful with all
the changing leaves and the cool air. I didn’t want to come back. LOL
I love the mountains anyway and hope to be able to move there
someday. So when I started to plot Ashwood Falls, I knew the setting had to be
in the Smokey Mountains and the surrounding areas. It seems to be the perfect
place for them. The forest, the caves, the mountain tops, and the rivers and
streams. They are shifters and it’s only natural for them to live in nature.
Ashwood Falls is a pure fictional town/shifter community set high
in the Smokey Mountains, hidden from humans and warded from outsiders. There
are two Packs (wolves and leopards) that live there together after their
individual dens were destroyed by the evil Onyx Pack and their mutants.
Divided Loyalties, Ashwood Falls, #4
By Lia Davis
Blurb:
Trained to hunt rogues and protect the human race from the threat
of shifters, Christa Baker is beginning to rethink her career choice.
Especially when her niece and nephew—who she’s raised on her own—end up in the
crossfire. Now she’s looking for a way out and disappear off Shield’s radar for
good. She never thought her out would be a gorgeous wolf who kidnaps her after
raiding Shield HQ.
Hayden Raines has always followed the rules. As the Ashwood Fall
wolf Marshal, he has to set the example for those working under him. When he
sets his sights on the beautiful human hunter things go downhill, fast. Fate
has a funny way of turning things inside out—because the woman he kidnaps, the
enemy he might need to protect his family from, just happens to be his mate.
Warning: Contains one woman on a path she’s not ready for, a
man who thought things would be different, and a heated exchange that turns out
to be the best thing ever.
Ashwood Falls reading order:
Divided Loyalties by Lia Davis – Excerpt Nine
Hayden walked his mother out to
her car. She’d been silent since he returned to the house with Christa. That
wasn’t good. His mother had no problem speaking her mind, but something had her
holding her tongue.
Luna faced him when they reached
the car. “I hope you know what you’re doing. I can’t allow her entry to the den
just yet.”
“I know. I wouldn’t ask it of
you. Mate or not, Christa’s loyalties could still be with Shield. Or should I
say Vance.” He ground his molars together at the thought of the rogue running a
human rebel group.
“What if she doesn’t believe you
and decides to go back to Shield?”
“I’ll have to make sure she sees
the truth and that doesn’t happen.”
She smiled wickedly and tugged
him down so she could place a kiss on his cheek. “Be sure you do, dear.”
He opened the door for her, and
once she settled in the driver’s seat, he shut the door and stepped back. Christa would see the truth. She’d said she was looking for an out. Still, he
couldn’t help, but sense that she was hiding something.
He was going to find out what.
Determined, he turned to go back
to the house. When he stepped inside, he saw Christa huddled in front of the
fireplace. He grabbed one of the blankets his mom had brought, along with an
apple from the box of food and walked over to Christa. He wrapped the blanket
around her and sat down so his shoulder touched hers.
“Thanks,” she muttered, but
didn’t look at him.
He handed her the apple. “You’re
not a prisoner.”
“Then let me go.”
“I can’t do that.”
She snorted. “That makes fucking
sense.”
Hayden felt his lips twitch. The
female had spirit, that was for sure. He was going to enjoy playing with her.
“Have you heard the stories on why Ashwood and MoonRiver merged together as one
pack?”
She took a bite out of the apple
and chewed before speaking. “I’ve heard several rumors. It depends on the
source…” She drifted off as if realizing something.
Hayden remained quiet and let her
stew over whatever conclusion swirled around inside her head. Finally, she said
softly, “Shield isn’t like it used to be. We were established to protect humans
from the rogues. We never went out of our way to attack dens without solid
proof.”
He fisted his hand in his lap to
keep from touching her any more than he was already. He heard the slight
disappointment in her tone, but it was masked by anger. It was as if she’d lost
faith in their cause. “Is that why you want out?”
She shrugged and continued to
stare into the fire. “I’m thirty-nine and not getting any younger. The new
commander of Shield changed everything. He had the Memphis unit ready to go
into Ashwood in a full-on attack.”
Hayden tensed at her admission.
It sounded too close to the vision his mother had. If what Christa said was
true, then Vance may already have a backup plan in place. He’d be sure to tell
Blaine and his mother to look into other rebel groups. Maybe Blaine’s
mother-in-law’s mate, Damian Archer, had information to share. The puma did
work for one of the shifter rebel groups and had contacts all over the U.S.
Damian and Sarah had moved to Ashwood Falls a few weeks ago after Sarah was
targeted by his right hand.
Of course Christa would have
information on the human groups as well, but he’d have to gain her trust first
before she’d work with him.
“My father went rogue.” It was
the only admission he could think of that would catch her attention.
She peered over at him and
frowned. “Did you kill him?”
About the Author:
Lia Davis is a mother to two young adults and two very
special kitties, a wife to her soul mate, a paranormal romance author, and
co-owner to Fated Desires Publishing, LLC. She and her family live in Northeast
Florida battling hurricanes and very humid summers. But it’s her home and she
loves it!
An accounting major, Lia has always been a dreamer with a
very activity imagination. The wheels in her head never stop. She ventured into
the world of writing and publishing in 2008 and loves it more than she imagined.
Writing is stress reliever that allows her to go off in her corner of the house
and enter into another world that she created, leaving real life where it
belongs.
Her favorite things are spending time with family,
traveling, reading, writing, chocolate, coffee, nature and hanging out with her
kitties.
GIVEAWAY!
Lia is hosting a
tour-wide giveaway of a $50 gift card to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, OR All
Romance eBooks (Winner’s choice), an eBook from her back list (Divided
Loyalties not included), and a swage pack. Just leave a comment and follow the
Rafflecopter instructions below to enter.
The giveaway is open
to international readers.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Bryce is a mother, a writer, and a wife who loves to escape to the world she built in the Ashland Pack. She burst onto the publishing scene with a hit in The Trinity. I'm always writing and talking to people who have the same tastes as I do.
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