Sunday Smooch

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!


Today we have a smooch from Moon Thrall by Mel Teshco, but first...

the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is -- Erin K!


Congratulations, Erin K! Can you please contact Natalie Anderson at

natalie (at) natalie-anderson (dot) com

and she'll send you a copy of Rebel With A Cause.

And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Ellora's Cave e-book Moon Thrall by Mel Teshco...


Elyse Wellston escapes from her brutal, violent ex-fiancé to a remote cabin in Australia. Fearing for her life, it makes no sense for her to react the way she does on meeting the enigmatic Dane Maddox.

Only when she discovers he is a werewolf and she is his weren—his mate and a werewolf herself—does she begin to understand the hot, sexual yearning within. No longer does she need to act out a desire she doesn’t feel, Dane is everything she wants.

But will her ex end her happiness, her sexual fulfillment, almost before it begins?


Dane lay watching her with drowsy contemplation. “Hi, sleepy head,” he murmured.

“Hi,” she managed, suddenly shy.

He cupped a hand behind her head and tugged her in close for a kiss. “Thank you.” At her obviously bemused look, he added, “For trusting me.”

“You’re welcome.” She snuggled further into his arms, content to stay put. At least for now. “I only wish I could stay like this forever,” she conceded.

He stroked her head. “And why can’t you?”

She twisted in his embrace and looked into his face, feeling all too serious. “That little secret I said I had—”

“Ah.” His jaw hardened fractionally. “Go on.”

“—it was my fiancée. Was. He’s my ex-fiancée now.” She lifted a hand, letting it drop back to her side as she added, “Only, try telling him that. He’s...he’s a very possessive man.”

Dane’s face remained impassive. He reached for her hand, interlacing her fingers with his and examining her bare ring finger.

“I left my engagement ring behind on my pillow.” She chewed her lower lip. “It belongs in my past, not my future.”

The ring had represented a future bound by sacred vows to love, cherish and uphold. Everything her relationship with Caleb wasn’t. The only vow she felt certain Caleb would have kept was the death do us part.

Looking back, it was so hard to believe that Caleb had been such a rock for her after the death of her parents in a car accident. She’d just turned twenty, and though on the outside she’d put on a brave face, inside her world had spun off its axis.

She’d been an only child, with no one to share her grief. Add the mountain of debt that had been left behind, and she’d been only too grateful to allow Caleb—a man her parents had known for years, but seemed somehow to disapprove of—to take the reins. Trouble was, he’d never handed those reins back to her.

It hadn’t taken her long to see his true colors, hadn’t taken long to understand why her parents had felt

such mistrust toward him. She’d lived in terror of him, too scared to leave him, too scared not to. But after the first time he’d hit her, she’d known there was no future with him, known she’d never marry him.

More than once her refusal to wed had sent Caleb right over the edge.

Dane drifted his thumb over her bare finger, “You had no choice but to leave,” he murmured. “You were compelled to find me.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” she said softly.

“You don’t have to understand.” He turned to her fully, pressing soft kisses onto her brow, the tip of her nose, before finally claiming her mouth until she all but melted into his heat. He drew back to add huskily, “Just follow your instincts, trust in them.”

He moved his body full-length over hers, his weight centered on his forearms and his outspread hands either side of her head. “Now shut up and kiss me,” he said huskily.

She smiled as intoxicated delight sizzled through her womb and spread outwards, her mouth capturing the soft heat of his lips this time until she became lost in everything but the moment.


Moon Thrall will be released in North America on March 2nd. To be in the draw to win a copy, answer the following question! (Please note, Moon Thrall is an e-book.)

What is your favourite movie or book where the heroine is escaping an abusive relationship, and into the arms of the loving hero?


Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced -- and a smooch from The Sentinel Mage by Emily Gee will be posted!