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Swelter
by
K.C. Stewart
K.C. Stewart
International Bestselling Author
Charley had escaped Silas’s sad excuse for a prison cell with no more than a broken nail. She knew that she was going to be in some deep shit with her employer for not only disappearing for a few days but also for not killing Silas as promised. There was something infuriating and sexy about the man that made it hard for her not to go rubbing her sass in his face. With his sardonic smile and chiseled cheek bones, Silas was quickly becoming her hardest job yet.
Silas found the little red head’s antics cute. Someone wanted him dead, but that was nothing new. The dragon was one of the most hated of his kind. He couldn’t help it everyone else was too scared to take what they really wanted, no matter the consequences. So they had hired the half-breed to send him to an early grave, but something was getting in the way of her pulling the trigger. Silas knew he pissed her off just as much as he heated her up. Next time he got her alone, he was going to investigate both.
Charley wanted this job to be over. The target was a smug, arrogant dragon with a great butt. Silas had leverage over the red-headed halfling who was trying to kill him. He’d give her what she wanted but only after he had her for a night, or three.
Silas found the little red head’s antics cute. Someone wanted him dead, but that was nothing new. The dragon was one of the most hated of his kind. He couldn’t help it everyone else was too scared to take what they really wanted, no matter the consequences. So they had hired the half-breed to send him to an early grave, but something was getting in the way of her pulling the trigger. Silas knew he pissed her off just as much as he heated her up. Next time he got her alone, he was going to investigate both.
Charley wanted this job to be over. The target was a smug, arrogant dragon with a great butt. Silas had leverage over the red-headed halfling who was trying to kill him. He’d give her what she wanted but only after he had her for a night, or three.
“Where have you
been?” the man barked at her. “Is it done?”
She had two
answers for him. “Fuck no and none of your business.”
“I’m paying you
for a job, when you disappear after part of it was to be completed, it becomes
my business. I thought I hired the best?”
After she failed
to kill the sister of her target because the target found her beforehand and
then proceeded to take her captive for the night, Charley didn’t feel that her
embarrassment was any of his business. Although, she made up for it in the end
with her disappearing act. She hoped Silas like the note she left him.
With her bag
packed, Charley zipped it closed and moved to the next. The fact that Silas
knew where she lived and how to get into her apartment wasn’t an issue before
but she pissed him off and proved him wrong. The man would be sending out his
guys to bring her back. Luckily, she had a few holes in the city and was
packing up the essentials to move.
“Calm your face,
it will be done.” Her employer this time around was a whiny hardass. He checked
in a few times a day and nagged her relentlessly. She typically didn’t get
involved with the whys of the situation just the who’s and how’s. As in, who
did they want dead and how did they want it done. But sometimes, and right now
was a perfect example, she really wished she could kill the people who hired
her instead of the targets, the world would have one less asshole. But then she
wouldn’t get paid and Charley really liked to get paid. Although in this case,
the money was not nearly as tempting as putting a hole in Mr. Copenhagen’s
chest. Silas held a card in his hand that intrigued her, and he knew it too.
“Get it done
within the week and I’ll double what I’m paying you.”
Well now…
“You’d pay me four
million dollars to kill the leader of the green sept of dragons.”
“Only if you do it
by Saturday night.”
Oh man, this was
what she lived for.
Charley was born
half angel, half bastard. She had no idea what her other half was since her
bitch of a mother left her when she was five. Foster homes made up the next
thirteen years of her life until she was eighteen and could walk away from the
life her mother had condemned her to. Hunting and killing things had started
off as self-preservation in a hard world full of creatures that hated her because
she wasn’t one of their perfect races. Being a Halfling made her a target,
being a good shot got the bullseye off her back and onto the head of someone
else. Turns out that just because people hate you for what you had no choice
in, didn’t mean they wouldn’t pay you to kill someone they hated more. She had
a pretty good life for herself. Then that fucking green dragon had to come
knocking.
Charley had been
thrilled to find that someone hated that cock sucker as much as she did. The
man broke into her home after having virtually nothing on her, she knew, she
kept track of those things. He just broke in to see who she was. This led her
to believe he was either stupid and stumbled into the wrong apartment--which
considering he is known as one of the most ruthless men in his species, she
didn’t think stupid was a very good description--or he must have known her from
somewhere else. Charley doubted he was trying to hire her. He had his own men
for that shit. That meant he had to know her sperm donor.
She had made
assumptions over her father throughout the years. Who he was. What he was. She
never got a definite answer. Silas’s presence in her apartment pushed her
towards her father being a dragon.
Her assumptions
were confirmed just last night. Silas knew her father. He flashed her his hand
and it was tempting, so damn tempting.
But then again, so
was money.
“Deal. He’ll be
dead by Saturday.”
*******
“You’ve been
distracted all night,” Hailey whispered too him. He blinked away the glaze in
his eyes and focused back on her. They were the only ones dancing under the
millions of tiny twinkling lights of the small dance floor. Then again
considering she was one of three women here the options were limited. His
sister made a beautiful bride, even more so when she smiled like she was. Her
surprise mating to Dacea had gone as planned and Silas had to admit, he was
happy for it. He had grown tired of their back and forth love battles and
arguments. Had they not done this today, he would have kidnapped them both and
officiated them himself while they were bound and gagged.
“I’m distracted by
your beauty.”
She snorted. “Nice
try. What’s on your mind?”
Little red headed
escape artists. “Work.”
“Then why are you
smiling?”
Silas narrowed his
eyes. Cocky little thing today, wasn’t she? He spun her out and pulled her back
with a giggle on her lips. “Maybe I’m smiling because you are so happy, it
makes me happy.”
“I don’t think
that’s a lie but it sure ain’t the whole truth.”
“Hailey,” he said
in warning. “I do not wish to discuss it.”
“It’s my wedding
and I’ll grill you if I want to. Now talk.” She stepped on his foot but he kept
them moving. Traditional dances were not something she was familiar with and
mixed with her lack of coordination on a good day, his toes would be bruised
that evening. Still, he spun them around so effortlessly that no one would be
the wiser of her coordination issues unless they were watching for her
grimaces.
“A prisoner
escaped from the cells last night.”
Surprised she
said, “I thought that was impossible. Well, beyond my heroic excape.”
“So did I.” It
bothered him all day. He had spent his time before the mating locked in the
room trying to see a way out from her perspective. He found none. His men were
doing the same now but during his last check in, they hadn’t found any way out
either.
“Who was it?”
“No one
important,” he said dismissively.
Hailey wasn’t
buying it. “Try again.”
But Charlotte
wasn’t important, she merely over took his mind at all hours of the day and
consumed his thoughts so thoroughly that he could get nothing done.
“A woman who you
do not need to hear any more about.”
“Is this that
woman Dak mentioned? Started with a C or something.”
He’d need to thank
Dacea with his fist later on for telling Hailey about Charlotte. “Yes,” he said
stiffly.
“No frowning at
the bride.”
Silas exhaled
trying to find patience. “Hailey-“
“Geez, fine. I’ll
stop.”
“Thank you.” The
song ended and wasn’t that just perfect timing. Silas stepped back and with a
bow he excused himself. He heard her mutter “coward” at his back but didn’t
step up to the challenge. She’d get her answers, eventually. First he wanted
his own answers.
Charlotte missed
her original target. That was going to eat at her if it wasn’t already. She was
a perfectionist and from the look she had when he told her of the miss, he knew
that had been a first. She’d come after him hard now, wanting to finish the job
and move on. Most in his situation would hide away and increase their security.
Silas planned on doing the opposite. She wanted to kill him for profit. So he
would put himself out there for her to try. He’d show himself so she would have
to show herself.
There were a few
functions he was invited too that would do for this plan. Normally he would
send a check in lieu of attending, which most preferred since he didn’t “play
well with others,” as Hailey put it. He would enjoy seeing the faces of
everyone when he did show up, especially those at his table.
The poor souls
won’t know what hit them.
Hiya! I am all kinds of excited for this set and can’t
wait to get this interview going. *rubs hands together* So bring on the
questions. Easy ones, hard ones, whatever you want to know I’d be happy to
share.
How long have you been a writer and how did you come to
writing?
Well, it’s been long enough that I had to pull up my KDP
dashboard to see when my first book was published. March 2014 I published my
first book. Last month I published my eleventh.
I got into writing when a friend of mine started to write
fanfiction/role playing. That was *counts fingers* seven years ago. The friend
didn’t stick but the writing did. I left the fanfiction behind and began
writing flash fiction and short stories.
How did you come up with this storyline?
Well this is the standalone spinoff story of the villain turned
semi-good guy from my Hailey Holloway Series. Silas needed his own HEA but he
couldn’t have just anyone. She had to be tough as shit with a don’t give a fuck
attitude. Charley was actually one of my characters I wrote as back in my early
days. I adapted a lot of her flash fiction stories to work for Swelter.
What do you do when you don’t write? Like in “Real Life”
My “day
job” is a photographer at a portrait studio. I went to school for photography
and although I like it, I don’t love it. Photography is a great hobby, it’s
just hard to make money in it when you don’t eat, sleep, breathe it. So a few
years ago I decided that it was time for a change. I began taking classes
online for Library Science. I am about a year away from getting my bachelors
and plan to continue on to get my masters and be a bona fide librarian. Right
around the time I started school, I was publishing my first book. I had a lot
of big changes all at once, which was good. It pushed me out of my comfort zone
and into the world I live in now.
I live with
my boyfriend, two german shepherds and cats in a house we bought last year.
He’s a police officer and works strange hours but that gives me time to do
homework and write. We have been together for 5 years and I am impatiently
waiting for the day he proposes. (I can say this because I know he won’t read
be reading this interview.)
What are the best and the worst aspects of writing?
Best would definitely be the satisfaction of the final product.
Those emails from readers telling you how much they enjoyed your book. As for
the worst, I’d have to say the ever changing publishing world. Once I get the
hang of something it changes. It’s a never ending cycle.
What inspires you to write?
What doesn’t?
Inspiration hits at all times and from the most random of things. I once wrote
an entire detailed outline in 10 minutes between appointments at work for a
novel that had nothing to do with anything I was currently working on. My
previous appointment had said something that just clicked with me. I still have
the scribbly pages with margin notes and arrows galore waiting for the day I
put it into action.
How did you conduct your research for **Swelter**?
As a
librarian-in-training, I scoff at the thought of research. Getting lost in the
rabbit hole of databases and Boolean phrases is just another Thursday night to
me. I tend to research as I write. I’ll stop mid-sentence and run off to search
a particular tree native to the area for an hour before coming back and
finishing off the line.
What type
of author would you categorize yourself as, a plotter (one who plots the story
from beginning to end), or a pantser (one who lets the story take shape without
meticulous planning)?
Oh, I’m a
plotter all the way. I tried pantsing it for my first book and I hit so many
road blocks it was frustrating. I work best by outlining my book, usually in
one sitting and scribbled on the back of whatever paper I can find at the most
inconvenient time and place because that’s how my mind rolls. I then type it up
so it’s legible and tend to add a lot to it then. My outlines are pretty
detailed but yet leave a lot of room to play. They also have a lot of dialog in
them. Usually, I’m also in the middle of writing something else and probably
have three or four other books already outlined waiting to be typed up or
written.
Are reader reviews important to you? Why?
Yes and no. I love to hear what they have to say but I
learned fast in my first year of being published to keep a thick skin and take
reviews with a grain of salt. Not everyone is going to like your plot or
writing style but those who do are loyal and wonderful and make it all worth
it.
Tell us about your other books?
My other series is a wolf shifter romance. It’s about a pack
of wolves trying to fight for their secrecy. There are a group of their kind
called Canidae who think the wolf should rule more than the human and want to
stop hiding from the world. The first book, Too Far gone, introduces the pack
but follows the enforcer who had gone feral after a tragic accident. He is
found by a woman who was new to town and kind of adopts this wolf who liked to
hang around. In a twist of fate, she is attacked by one of these Canidae wolves
and extreme measures are taken to save her life. Each story in the series has a
HEA and no cliffhangers. (I HATE cliffhangers.)
I also write under the name Charlotte Casey with
contemporary romance. Just released my first rockstar romance book, Chance
(Rusted and Reckless).
If you could share one thing about yourself that you would
like readers to know what would it be?
Uh, I don’t know. I
think I shared a few things above that are good to know about me. I guess I’ll
add that I am a nerd and love to talk to other nerds. In fact, I am Head Nerd
of my group of friends and even have a Nerd Card, which I carry with me in my
wallet.
Well, I have homework to get to. It was
nice chatting with you! I am thrilled to be part of the Prowlers and Growlers
set and can’t wait to read all the stories.
K.C. Stewart is the self published author of the Hailey Holloway series and most recently, the Adirondack Pack series. All her life she had fantasized and day-dreamed on a regular basis but it wasn’t until she began writing short stories that she made those fantasies a reality. She has graduated to novels but still dabbles in the occasional flash fiction and short story. Because of her love for reading and the written word, K.C. is currently continuing her education at Clarion University for Library Science. When she isn’t taking photographs, studying or writing, she is supporting a very real gummy bear habit. Currently, she lives with her boyfriend, german shepherds and cats in central Pennsylvania.
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