Please help me welcome Terry Spear to my blog today. Remember to leave a comment and answer Terry’s question for an entry into the prize drawing.

Are You Ready for the Hobgoblins? By Terry Spear

What if your best friend says she wants you to come over and have fun at her special Halloween party, costumes not necessary? But she’s always been a stickler for them. “If you’re going to party, do it right!” So it’s got you thinking, what’s she up to this time?
You’re ultra-curious and you’ve been asking her all month long—what’s so special about this party? Who’s going to be there? You’re thinking old boyfriends, and she’s got some idea she wants you to get back together with one of them. You really haven’t a clue. You don’t want to go unprepared.
Ever have a fear of the unknown? Sure, fear of the known can be pretty hard to overcome, too. But let your imagination run wild when you haven’t any idea what’s going to happen, and it can be seriously unfun.

Of course you could chicken out. But you never chicken out and you’re not about to start now.

So feeling a little strange not to be wearing a costume, you arrive in jeans and a T-shirt featuring an old-time looking jack-o-lantern. You had to wear something! And you feel you’ve entered the Twilight Zone as soon as you walk in the door.

Everyone turns to look at you, men and women dressed in jeans and cotton shirts, no sign of anything Halloween like, but it’s a veritable jungle in here. Jungle drums and the sounds of the rainforest are playing overhead.

The heater is on full blast. Humidifiers are pouring out wet air. Real plants fill the whole place, every table space, every wall drips with vines, a soft mist is sprayed through the air, making your hair drip and your mouth gape.

“Can she climb a tree?” a man asked, clutching a drink in his hand.

“Does she like to swim?” Another raked her with his golden gaze.

“Does she purr?” a woman asked, purring the words.

“Does she like to bite?” The first man set his empty glass down among a hodgepodge of greenery and took a step toward her.

Vampires, you’re thinking. Although you can’t imagine how your friend got mixed up with those.

Then a sleek golden cat wearing black ringed rosettes moves into view, a jaguar with green eyes studying you, her mouth opening to show a lot of very sharp wicked teeth. It can’t be her. Your best friend.

You have to get out of here, now! Why didn’t she tell you?

Why didn’t you tell her?

Before anyone moves any closer, you lift your chin and howl.

Hisses fill the air as if the room is full of vampires or riled up snakes or…jaguar shifters.

You back up toward the door and escape. You hear the howls in the distance, but you don’t want your new wolf pack mates to fight these cats.
You give one last longing look at your friend standing in the doorway of her house, looking confused. And you wished you’d turned her first.

Then you’re off, racing toward your pack.

Maybe, next year you’ll play it safe and just wear a costume.

What do you think? Ready to play with the big boys with teeth?

Thanks so much, Cynthia, for having me here today, and one lucky person that answers my question will have a chance to win a copy of SAVAGE HUNGER.US/Canada Addresses Only.

About the Author
USA Today bestselling and an award-winning author of urban fantasy and medieval romantic suspense, Terry Spear also writes true stories for adult and young adult audiences. She’s a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves and has an MBA from Monmouth University. She also creates award-winning teddy bears, Wilde & Woolly Bears, that are personalized that have found homes all over the world. When she’s not writing or making bears, she’s teaching online writing courses or gardening. Her family has roots in the Highlands of Scotland where her love of all things Scottish came into being. Originally from California, she’s lived in eight states and now resides in the heart of Texas. She is the author of the Heart of the Wolf series and the Heart of the Jaguar series, plus numerous other paranormal romance and historical romance novels. For more information, please visit www.terryspear.com, or follow her on Twitter, @TerrySpear. She is also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/terry.spear .
http://terry-spear.blogspot.com/ (blog)

http://www.amazon.com/Savage-Hunger-ebook/dp/B008BWABXU/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1345942102&sr=1-2&keywords=savage+hunger

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-savage-hunger-terry-spear/1108936806?ean=9781402266928

Excerpt from SAVAGE HUNGER by Terry Spear:

His senses on high alert, sniffing the air and listening for any movement, Connor walked with Kat onto the screened porch. He had a bad feeling about the men looking for Kat and didn’t like where this seemed to be headed.

Then to his astonishment, Maya roared. What the hell? She was supposed to be watching from the lookout post with the rifle aimed and ready.
He knew her unexpected behavior meant that the men they had heard talking in the jungle were dangerous. Maya must have overheard more of their conversation and changed tactics.

“Kat, can you shift?” he asked quietly.

She would be safer as a jaguar, he thought. She could climb high into a tree and stay hidden in the canopy while he and Maya took care of the men.
She shook her head, her expression schooled.

“Stay here then.”

“I can shoot. You know I was in the Army. I had rifle and handgun training. I even qualified as a sharpshooter. I can shoot.”

He knew she must be able to, though he had not seen her actually kill anyone.

“I don’t want them to know where you are or even be able to get close to you.” His heart was pounding furiously, and he realized he didn’t want her anywhere near the men. He could see losing her in a shower of bullets. Yes, he and his sister healed more quickly than humans and could survive injuries a human might not be able to. Although if they bled out too fast, their healing genetics wouldn’t have time to take care of the wounds. But what if that part of the genetic change hadn’t taken effect for Kat? What if she wasn’t exactly like them?

“I can’t shift,” she said, her voice urgent, hushed.

He wasn’t sure if she meant she truly couldn’t or she wouldn’t, although he suspected she didn’t have the ability to shift at will like he and his sister could. Hopefully, with time, she would.

“Come on.” He took her to a vine-covered tree trunk that looked as though it was part of the vegetation, a naturally occurring fallen trunk high up in the canopy that butted up against their primitively made lookout post.

It was a heavily concealed spot high in the trees that easily hid the viewer from sight, perfect for observing unwelcome visitors while staying camouflaged from view. He stood with her there now, not wanting to leave her but having no other choice. He didn’t want her to see what he might have to do to the men, and he had to hurry and join Maya before she got herself into a dangerous bind.

He would judge the men while listening to their conversation and learning what they had in mind. If they turned out to be a danger to Kat or his sister or himself, he would take care of them.

Maya was already stalking the men, listening and waiting for him to join her. That’s what her roaring was all about. He hoped she wouldn’t act until he was there to watch her back.

“Maya’s out there,” he warned Kat, as if getting permission from her to take his leave.

Kat looked determined to see this through and scooped up the rifle lying where Maya had left it on the wooden floor of the small lookout platform. Maya’s clothes were sitting in a pile in one corner where she had shifted.

“Go,” Kat urgently whispered. “I’ll be all right. I’ve done this before. Protect Maya.”

Her raw concern for Maya touched him. If he’d had any doubts before about Kat’s loyalty to him and Maya, he now knew Kat was truly one of them. Part of their little jaguar-shifter team.

He cupped her face quickly, kissed her, and hugged her, wanting to hold her forever and protect her from the evils of the world. Beyond a doubt, he knew she would be his. He might have a time convincing her they were meant to be together, but he would do whatever it took.

Then he released her. He was out of his clothes in no time, feeling Kat’s eyes on him the whole time, and then he shifted into his jaguar coat. After giving her one last lingering look, feeling torn by needing to keep both Maya and his sister safe and not being able to be in two places at once, he leapt onto the tree branch above Kat. She gazed up at him and gave him a slight nod, telling him she would be okay.

No matter how much he wanted to believe it would be so, he had his doubts. Anything could go wrong in the rain forest. All he had to do was think back to that day a year ago when Kat had nearly died.

He leapt to another branch and then another, the adrenaline speeding through his blood, propelling him to seek out Maya and the men, and determine what they intended to do next.

He didn’t want to kill them if he didn’t have to. But if he needed to kill to save Maya or Kat’s life, or even his own, he would have no qualms about doing it.