Binding Ties
by Shannon K. Butcher

They are the Sentinels. Three races descended from ancient guardians of mankind, each possessing unique abilities in their battle to protect humanity against their eternal foes: the Synestryn. Now a warrior must protect his onetime enemy—without succumbing to his darkest desires.

Lyka Phelan is a Slayer, sent to live among her enemy to guarantee lasting peace with the Theronai. Yet she has a secret—and it could make her a slave to their power. But when a pack of Synestryn destroys her home and captures her packmates, Lyka realizes her freedom is a small price to pay for the safety of her people. So she strikes a bargain with the leader of the Theronai—one that reveals her true identity and binds her to him forever.

Joseph thought he knew better than to tangle with the beautiful, hot-blooded Lyka. One misstep could send their races straight back to war. But now he has no choice other than to help her. Forced to protect her with his life, Joseph finds himself increasingly drawn to Lyka. As they risk everything in their fight against the demons, he realizes he must convince her to surrender to him completely—otherwise she will never truly be his.

Shannon K. Butcher's Bio

A lot of authors knew they wanted to write books from the time they were little. Their heads were full of fanciful stories that they yearned to commit to paper with a passion that only grew as they did. They spent hours reading fiction, voraciously absorbing every kind of story they could get their hands on.

I’m not one of them.

When I was little, I wanted to be a daddy. When I learned the anatomical improbability of that happening, I decided instead to become what my dad was: an Industrial Engineer. So that’s what I did. I never once changed majors or veered from my path. After I graduated, I went to work for a big telecom company earning a steady paycheck while my husband pursued his dream to become a published author.

For those of you who might not know, my husband is Jim Butcher, fantasy and sci-fi author extraordinaire. I learned to write in an effort to help him improve his own work and as soon as I discovered that writing was more a learned skill than a natural talent I knew I had to give it a try. I couldn’t resist the challenge of taking the pieces of a story apart and putting them back together again. It’s the kind of puzzle that made me want to be an engineer to begin with—to learn how things work and why. I thought I’d write the same kind of thing Jim did, but then I picked up my first romance in 1998 and was hooked. Somehow, stories about how two people come to love each other made everything else seem shallow in comparison. Maybe it was just my hormones talking, but whatever it was, it was loud, so I listened and I started writing romances. I wrote great heaping piles of suckfulness—like most new writers—but eventually my work sucked less and hopefully that trend will continue as I learn more. Heaven knows I have a great teacher. Thanks, Jim.

A family of geeks to the core, we live in Independence, Missouri with our teenage son and a dog who is only one four-foot stick away from being a dust mop.