Bayou Book Junkie: Cover Reveal ~ Henri’s Little One by A.C. Katt ~ (Excerpt, Trailer + Giveaway)

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Cover Reveal ~ Henri’s Little One by A.C. Katt ~ (Excerpt, Trailer + Giveaway)

Alpha Henri Giraud has finally found his Mate; but Vitas Kosloff comes with a host of problems not the least of which he carries a great gift and the Russian First, Fydor Chernof, claims Vitas is his.

Title: Henri’s Little One

Author: A.C. Katt

Series: Werewolves of Manhattan Book 8

Genre: M/M Contemporary/Paranormal (shifter)

Publisher: MLR Press

Release Date: March 17, 2017

Cover Art by Lex Valentine

💕 Presenting

Cover Art by Lex Valentine

Book Trailer

Blurb/Synopsis:

After much hardship, Vitas Kosloff finds his Mate, Henri Giraud, Director of Security for the North American Council and Garou Industries. Vitas, held captive by Fydor Chernof, the Russian First, who claims Vitas belongs to him, escapes Chernof’s torture with the aid of Chernof’s two Betas, Anatoly and Maxim.

Vitas is a full loup garou omega who carries a huge mating gift, he can tell the truth from lies and dream the future. Because of this Chernof will stop at nothing to re-capture him, even after Henri mates and marries Vitas. With the aid of the other Mates, the North American Council and Frank Ferone, the son of Dante Ferone, the head of the Italian Mafia in New York, Vitas and Henri attempt to outwit Chernof and take care of the Russian problem for good.

Excerpt

Moscow Pack Lands

Third Week in June

Vitas lay shivering, naked, on the damp earth of the old mushroom cellar amidst the smell of shit, fertilizer, and fungi. He had a rumbling cough, and his chest felt heavy and congested. The drug they administered to the little Omega to prevent the change was potent. They had descended upon him again yesterday, the man with the injection and three Enforcers. He tried to fight them, but he was broken and weary. The Enforcers tied him down to a chair and injected the drug into his thigh. They took away the chair leaving him back in the mushrooms and dust.

At first, he didn’t know what the injection did. He only knew that he had no energy after they administered it to him. Then one evening, Anatoly, one of Chernof’s Betas left the door open a crack. Vitas knew if he shifted he may be able to slip out of his bonds and escape through the door. He tried to make the change. No matter how many attempts he made, he couldn’t shift. Sometime after that, he developed a cold, and he realized what the drug did; it rendered him almost human.

Vitas sighed. If he were a true human, he would be dead by now, and his suffering would end. Wolves never got sick, but his immune system was severely compromised by the shot they had been forcing on him for three months. Now, he alternated between fever and chills. He thought he had pneumonia, but he still wouldn’t yield to Alpha Chernof’s demands. Vitas refused to confirm to the Russian loup garou packs that the First, Alpha Fydor Leonovich Chernof, was his Mate.

Four years ago, Chernof and his Enforcers came to his parents’ small Moscow apartment. It was there the Russian First first told Vitas he was his fated Mate. Vitas knew he lied. “Alpha, I feel no attraction to you, I don’t see the beginnings of a tether. You’re not my Mate. There is some kind of misunderstanding.”

Vitas’ father, Evegny, stepped between the Alpha and his son. “Alpha, be reasonable. He is not meant for you. Whatever his gift, as his Alpha, you may order him to use it, but you are not his Mate.”

Chernof backed off. “I’ll be back, and he better be ready to come with me. I have business to attend to first.”

They continued to live a small life in their dingy, little Moscow apartment until the next week when the home pack found that the government had imprisoned their Alpha, Alpha Davidoff.

For the four years, Alpha Davidoff was imprisoned, and after he emigrated, Chernof left them alone. Vitas drew closer to his twenty-fifth birthday with the Second no longer available to protect his family.

The Kosloff family thought that Chernof had forgotten about them and made plans to leave Russia. Then they saw Alpha Chernof and his men watching Vitas come home from the grocery. They realized that he had spied on them for years. Evegny told Vitas that now they knew they had no recourse. They needed to leave, immediately. Their time had run out. His family packed their meager belongings; Vitas’ in a small satchel. He, his father, and mother fled into the night. They made it as far as St. Petersburg before Chernof’s Enforcers arrived to take them off the train.

The entire family was thrown into a car, bound, gagged, and dragged back to Moscow with Chernof’s men using papers acquired from the government ordering their detention in Russia. Brought before the First at his dacha just outside of Moscow, Evegny protested and asked, as was his right, for the Alpha to convene the full council.

“You fool. I control the council, and now I control your boy. Don’t say another word. The Enforcers laid their hands-on Vitas and Vitas fought like a man possessed. He could hear his father tell him to keep struggling, that his Mate would come. Vitas fought like a mad man, but in the end, they prevailed. But to assuage his pride, he felt good that he had done some damage to Chernof’s Enforcers despite being small, even for an Omega.

“Vitas, come quietly, or there will be consequences.” Chernof hissed.

He looked over to his father for guidance. Evegny shook his head no. Vitas took a deep breath and stayed strong. He kept up the struggle despite his injuries.

The Enforcers finally overcame the little Omega. He gazed at his father who seeing Vitas’ injuries attempted to intervene.

“He doesn’t receive his gift until he turns twenty-five. How do you intend to keep his docile for that long?” Vitas’ father shouted. His mother stood tears running down her face.

“Do as your father commands, my son. You must protect your gift so you can give it to your Mate.”

Vitas watched his father lie to the Alpha. “His blessing is small as insignificant as he is, of no real use. Why take him for a such a paltry gift?”

Chernof slapped first his mother, then his father’s face while the Enforcers held them down, leaving his red, hand print visible on their cheeks.”

“His gift is immense or else you would not have tried to run. I want it, and no one will get in my way.” Chernof stood and shouted a command to his Enforcers. “Hold them.” The first ripped out his parents’ throats and had his Enforcers sever their heads Their blood, spattered Vitas. Vitas fell to the dirt in grief. Chernof’s men took Vitas underground.

He found his new home to be the mushroom cellar, where he spent the entire spring shivering naked in the cold and damp. Things were so bad that he didn’t even have a bucket for his own excrement. They unleashed him once a day, and he was permitted, like a cat, to go in the corner and cover it with dust.

He lifted his head. Vitas heard footsteps. The Betas came to beat him daily so he would change his mind and accept Chernof. He brought himself back to the present day; quickly putting his memories back in the box in his mind where they would be locked against Chernof’s Alpha link. But the link only gave the Alpha impressions unless the loup garou permitted the intrusion. Vitas would give the Alpha nothing. His thoughts were his and his alone. He guarded them against the Alpha when he attempted to use the link. The Alpha stood in the doorway impatiently waiting for Maxim, one of his Betas, to bring him paper booties so he wouldn’t ruin his boots with shit and fertilizer.

The little Omega had lost track of time during his imprisonment but knew he approached his birthday. He could feel the quickening of his gift and the siren song of his Mate. Vitas despaired. Helpless to do anything about his current situation, he could only wait. If his Mate didn’t come, he had a plan, desperate though it was, it was still viable.