Excerpt #1
Piper dropped to her knees beside the vent and listened to the sound of claws on metal. A soft thump came from the other side of the wall.

She looked up. She was sitting right outside Ash’s room. The dragonet had run straight to Daddy.

Unmoving, Piper contemplated the door. Ash was somewhere behind it. Was he asleep? What were the chances she could sneak in and retrieve the ring box without him noticing?

She considered it for half a second. Yeah, zero.

Before she could come up with a better plan, the door popped open. Framed in the threshold, Ash looked toward the sitting room. Then he glanced down, saw her sitting at his feet, and blinked.

Piper shot up, struggling to keep her gaze on his face. He wore a loose, sleeveless shirt that clung to the planes of his chest and left the sweep of heavy muscles on his arms bare, his fair skin flawlessly smooth in the shadows. The only other thing he wore was black cotton pants.

With a soft chirp, the dragonet hopped off the doorframe and landed on his shoulder, its golden eyes trained on Piper.

“What are you doing?” Ash asked, breaking the oh-so-awkward silence.

Piper shivered as his deep tones slid through her. How did his voice do that? Fear tickled her stomach, reminding her that she’d never been alone with him before.

Drawing herself up, she looked him square in the eye. “Your dragonet snuck into my room and stole something from me.”

His eyes held hers, and his gray irises dimmed to the color of storm clouds. Piper was abruptly aware of how dangerously close she was standing, barely a foot of space between their bodies. She was also aware of how much taller he was, the top of her head barely reaching his chin, and how his biceps were double the circumference of her arms.

The air felt hot and electric, the hallway darker than it’d been a moment before, and adrenaline flooded her bloodstream.

She was an idiot. Such an idiot.

Excerpt #2
Roaring, the minotaur rampaged straight toward the prefects. Rifles fired, and Piper pressed into the floor, arms clamped over her ears.

The nonstop gunfire petered out, and the screaming started. Another roar from the minotaur, and more rifle shots.

Piper pushed up on her elbows and peeked over her shoulder. The minotaur was smashing prefects around like ceramic dinnerware, but with so many of them—and a lot of bullets in the daemon—it wouldn’t last much longer.

She hopped to her feet, head swiveling one direction, then the other. Go in the waiting room or get past the prefects to escape?

A boom of exploding magic erupted from within the waiting room. Chunks of obliterated metal chairs hurtled into the wall.

The hallway and the prefects it was.

She turned back—and found two prefects bearing down on her. They’d swung their rifles over their shoulders, clearly intending to take her alive while their comrades finished off the minotaur. Piper didn’t move as they reached her. The nearer one tried to grab her wrist.

Piper’s fist snapped out, hitting him in the diaphragm.

As he doubled over, she spun, foot flying, and slammed her boot into the thigh of the second guy. He stumbled, then lunged for her. She dodged him, caught his arm, and twisted it. With a yelp, he went down, yielding to the pressure before his limb dislocated. She stomped on his belly. He rolled sideways, spewing his supper.

The other guy was moving again, his face tight with anger. She dropped low and swung out a leg, sweeping his feet out from under him. A third prefect rushed in on her left. She rolled onto her back and slammed a double-footed kick right into his groin. His face went bloodless, and he sank to his knees.

Piper flipped off the floor and onto her feet in a single movement, just in time to meet prefect number one again as he let a punch fly at her face.

She stepped inside his swing and ducked to shove her forearm into his hip. She grabbed his ankle with her other hand and shoved the two-hundred-pound man off his feet. Amazing what a little leverage in the right spot could do.

Dancing away, she looked past her downed opponents—and froze.

“Steady,” a prefect called.

The minotaur lay unmoving in a puddle of blood. The rest of the prefects had formed up again, and every gun was pointed at her.

“Hit one more of my men and we’ll open fire,” the man at the back called. “Lie on the floor with your hands on the back of your head. Now!”

Piper hesitated. Getting a hundred holes blown into her would end any escape attempt, but if she obeyed, they’d take her prisoner.

The air rippled. Electricity filled the atmosphere, crackling like lightning about to strike. She could suddenly sense someone directly behind her, their breath stirring the fine hairs that had escaped from her ponytail.

“Go ahead and shoot—if you all want to die.”

The voice was deep and resonant, shivering through her skin and sliding across her bones like black silk. It sounded familiar but undeniably alien.

Every gun was now aimed at a point just over Piper’s right shoulder. Terror tightened the prefects’ faces, their complexions bleached of color and their hands shaking on their rifles.

Fear bordering on panic built in Piper’s gut. “Ash?”

He shifted closer, so close she could feel his heat.

“Do you have what we need?” he breathed.

“Yes,” she replied.

He huffed, sounding almost normal for a second. Then he slid an arm around her waist, the movement oddly careful, as though he were afraid of accidentally crushing her.

“Don’t move!” the prefect leader yelled shakily. “Not even daemons are bulletproof!”

“Are you sure about that?” Ash asked as he extended one hand in front of Piper.

She stared at his hand, too shocked to react. His outspread fingers were black with a dull gleam like leather, the tips smoothly transitioning into pointed claws. Large black scales covered the back of his hand and ran up the top of his arm like plates of armor. The scales gave way to skin, leaving the underside of his arm disconcertingly normal. Somehow, that was even freakier.

Book tagline:

A gritty urban fantasy universe with explosive magic, epic battles, and forbidden slow-burn romance.

Comparable titles:

• The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare
• The Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo
• Angelfall by Susan Ee
• Legend by Marie Lu

Pull quotes:

1. “Ash has been driven to unbearable extremes,” the daemon said softly, not with judgement but with compassion. “He will either break, or he will betray you. One or the other is inevitable.”
2. She knew perfectly well that some daemons could never be trusted. But remembering the way Ash had carefully wrapped his arm around her, she couldn’t help a tiny part of her that had felt safe and protected in his hold, even while fear had been coursing through her.
3. “I enjoy being bored.”
   She stared. “Are you serious?”
   “If I’m bored, then no one is trying to kill me.”
   She gave him a dubious look. “How often are you bored?”
   He arched an eyebrow, but there was no amusement on his face. “Almost never.”
4. Drawing herself up, she looked him square in the eye. “Your dragonet snuck into my room and stole something from me.”
   His eyes held hers, and his gray irises dimmed to the color of storm clouds. Piper was abruptly aware of how dangerously close she was standing, barely a foot of space between their bodies. She was also aware of how much taller he was, the top of her head barely reaching his chin, and how his biceps were double the circumference of her arms.
   The air felt hot and electric, the hallway darker than it’d been a moment before, and adrenaline flooded her bloodstream.
   She was an idiot. Such an idiot.

• • Trigger Warnings: 
    • None.
  • Please note the heat level in your book:
    • No Romance

• Romance but No Sex

• • • Fade to Black
    • Single On Page Sex Scene and Tame Descriptions
    • Multiple On Page Sex Scenes & Tame Descriptions
    • On-Page Sex with Explicit Descriptions (We are currently not accepting books with this heat level)
  • Please note the language content in your book:
    • 1: No Language Content (No swear words)

• 2: Mild Content (A few swear words)

• • 3: Moderate Content (A lot of swear words)
  • 4: High Content (Lots of language, one F-word)
  • 5: Extreme Content (Lots of language, multiple F-words)
• Please describe the level/type of violence in your book, if any.
  • Moderate violence
• Please list your social media links, Facebook reader group link (if you have one) and newsletter link below so our hosts can follow you!
  • Newsletter: https://www.annettemarie.ca/signup
  • FB reader group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/annettemarie 
  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annettemarie.author/ 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@annettemarieauthor

About the Kickstarter campaign

Celebrate the 10th anniversary of Annette Marie’s gritty epic urban fantasy universe, Steel & Stone, with luxurious collector’s editions. The first of two campaigns, this one will feature the Spell Weaver trilogy and the first book in the Steel & Stone series, Chase the Dark.

The Steel & Stone universe encompasses the Spell Weaver Trilogy (three books) and the Steel & Stone Series (five books). These 10th anniversary special editions include:

• The first book in the Steel & Stone series: Chase the Dark including all-new scenes and POVs
• All three Spell Weaver titles: The Night Realm, The Shadow Weave, The Blood Curse
• Iridescent foil stamping on faux-leather hardcovers
• Four different double-sided and embossed dust jackets
• New interior design
• Hand-signed by Annette
• Colored & textured endpapers
• Sprayed/printed edges
• Unique metal bookmark, stickers, and more! (More via stretch goals)