Welcome to another round of Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where writers from a wide range of genres share from their work in excerpts of ten sentences or less.  I’ve been sharing from my upcoming gay shifter/romance/mystery Prowl, Book 1 in the Jacqui the Cat mysteries series. I have a release date! May 29 the first three books in the series will be available, in conjunction with the full moon. Because cat shifter magic.

In this scene, Jacqui is returning from his early morning run and strolling past his neighbor’s backyard. The neighbor is Wyatt, who Jacqui may have a teensy little crush on.  In earlier snippets, which you can check out by clicking the Jacqui the Cat link under Obsessions, Jacqui in his cat form had an unfortunate encounter with Wyatt. He’s hoping things go better when they meet human-to-human.

***

Jacqui put his fingers to his neck and looked at his watch, which he didn’t actually wear. He only pretended to take his pulse because he didn’t really care. He was in tip-top shape and breathed easily, even after the climb.

Ever slower, practically stopping, his gaze drifted from his watch-less wrist to Wyatt’s gate, which stood open.

If he was Cat, he could peek in. As Jacqui, that would be creepy. He forced himself to stare at his imaginary watch again.

He regretted their unfortunate first meeting. Bloodshed should not have been involved.

We should bring him a dead bird as an apology slash welcome to the neighborhood offering.

***

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 May 29. So close. So very close.