Hello and welcome to another round of Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where writers from a wide variety of genres share from their work in excerpts of  ten sentences or less. It’s a great way to sample some new fiction!

I’m back to sharing from Prowl, Book 1 in my soon-to-be-released cozy gay romance mystery series, Jacqui the Cat. Oh, yeah, I forgot a subgenre–Shifter. Jacqui is a fashion designer who also happens to be a cat sometimes. He’s got a crush on his hunky new neighbor, Wyatt the deputy sheriff. They haven’t actually met yet (not while Jacqui was in human form, anyway). Hopefully their first meeting will go better than their man-cat encounter and no blood will be spilled.

***

Jacqui rose before daybreak. His routine was to run eight miles every morning, out around the airport and back. While he could never match the speed and strength of his cat self, he tried hard to coax his human body to keep up.

He ran. He did yoga. He lifted weights. As a result, he looked damn good in his stretchy Lycra running pants and zip-up jacket, even if he did say so himself.

He pushed hard up his hill for a final burn. He usually ran all the way to his front door, but today he felt the need to slow, and then walk ever slower, past the condos across the street. The lights were on in Wyatt’s apartment.

***

Human Jacqui knows he shouldn’t spy on Wyatt, but sometimes his inner cat is just too pushy.

***

Jacqui the Cat Mysteries, the cozy gay shifter romance mystery series the world has  been waiting for~

Jacqui Corleone is a fashion designer, a yoga-instructor and a concerned citizen who selflessly helps the police solve crimes. Oh, and he occasionally turns into a small wild cat. Probably due to a wizard’s curse or an evil government plot to create super warriors.

Or, he’s a cat cursed to turn into a human and only the bite of a sexy alpha lion will allow him to remain in his superior form of Cat.

Jacqui does not have a split personality, but sometimes his cat personality can get rather loud.

Loud? You’re loud.

Jacqui Corleone is a cat shifter who doesn’t know why or how he turns into a cat. He lives a solitary life in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. He’s not afraid of intimacy (yes, he is) but sensibly refrains from potentially awkward entanglements. Unfortunately, the sexy new deputy sheriff just moved in across the street and Jacqui’s vow not to get mixed up with island dudes is sorely challenged.

When the mysterious disappearance of three blue pots draws Jacqui to investigate, he’s drawn ever deeper into danger–and into the muscular but not too bulgy or veiny arms of deputy Wyatt West (you wish).

Join Jacqui (and Cat) in this new exciting and sexy gay shifter romance mystery series from bestselling author (she wishes) Alexis Duran. Coming soon! **UPDATE** Coming in May! So close. So very close.