Hello and welcome to 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.

I’m a little grumpy today. I’ve hit yet another roadblock on the way to publishing Wild.  My copyeditor had the audacity to get terribly ill right before beginning the final edit. The nerve! But it’s okay. She’s okay. I’m okay. Life and Fiction goes on.

So here we are back with Jacqui in his cat form, prowling the neighbor in search of a new cat who’s had the audacity to invade Cat’s territory. But this new cat might be more than your average puddy tat.

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Most domestic cats avoided him like he was a Rottweiler with rabies. One look at the larger, wild hybrid beauty that was Cat and—whoosh—a flash of tail over the nearest fence and so long kitty. Which was too bad. Jacqui liked cats and wouldn’t mind if one or two wanted to live with him, but it wasn’t meant to be. He was a loner. In both shapes.

At the next corner, he turned right and headed up the street that ran between his place and Wyatt’s, to see what the new cat was up to.

He found it easily, because it stood in the middle of the road staring, oddly enough, at Jacqui’s second floor apartment. It was a black and white tuxedo cat—black and gray really—mangy with matted hair and one chewed-up ear. A stray.

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Wild: Jacqui the Cat Mysteries #4 coming soon! Blurb-in-progress-

Jacqui Corleone has finally met his fated mate (Newsflash: it’s Wyatt), but unlike a romance novel, reality has other plans. The dog men are back, and along with their slobber and bad manners they bring a new level of danger to Jacqui’s life, and to Wyatt’s.  Jacqui meets other cat shifters for the first time and is tantalized by a glimpse into their strange new world.  Only cats aren’t much nicer than dogs, and soon Jacqui must choose if he’s going to run again, or stand and fight against an enemy more powerful than he ever imagined. And that’s saying a lot.

Hello and Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where writers from a wide variety of genres share from their work in ten sentences or less.

To those of you in the US, Happy Independence Day! To those not in the US, Happy Weekend! Hope it’s not too hot or noisy or, you know, end-of-the-world-ish wherever you are.

I’m continuing to share from my upcoming release, Wild, Jacqui the Cat Mysteries #4.  The process drags on, but I am oh-so-close, and will soon be sharing the awesome cover with you.  For now, we join Jacqui as he does his thing, which is turning into a cat.

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Jacqui took a deep breath and let it out to a count of ten heart beats, centering himself in his body. He didn’t have time or room for his normal meditative, yoga shifting ritual, so he simply shook out his arms and commanded his muscles to relax. Relax and let go.

Let go of his shape, his humanity, his over-sized brain full of man concerns and man anxieties. Let Cat take over. Shrink, compact, go wild.

He and Cat were more than ready. With a dizzying shimmer he shed unnecessary bulk and height. For one heart-stopping moment he had no shape and then, as if he’d flung himself off a cliff, he plummeted. His perception altered, colors faded but details sharpened, and everything grew in size around him.

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Wild: Jacqui the Cat Mysteries #4 coming soon! Blurb-in-progress-

Jacqui Corleone has finally met his fated mate (Newsflash: it’s Wyatt), but unlike a romance novel, reality has other plans. The dog men are back, and along with their slobber and bad manners they bring a new level of danger to Jacqui’s life, and to Wyatt’s.  Jacqui meets other cat shifters for the first time and is tantalized by a glimpse into their strange new world.  Only cats aren’t much nicer than dogs, and soon Jacqui must choose if he’s going to run again, or stand and fight against an enemy more powerful than he ever imagined. And that’s saying a lot.