Once Upon a Pet Show (A Redpoint One Romance) (31 page)

The two daubpups chattered and yelped. A bot
whistled. A smile appeared on Damien's face. "Right. We both know
who are the real bosses around here."

And time he knew who the other boss was.
Before he could say anything else, Vallory reached up and pulled
his head down to her lips. The kiss deepened in the way she'd
always wanted, had always craved. All his emotion poured into it.
She met it with her own, not backing down for a moment.

The man she thought she had no interest in.
"Not her type." Hah, how she'd been proven wrong on that
one.

The one who didn't back down from her temper.
Who her daubpups loved, and who wanted her and them in his life. On
a station that had nearly killed her, but at the same time had
welcomed her with the little bots that looked to it.

Oh yes, she'd found home, in a way and a place
she would have never thought to look for it.

The kiss broke off, and expression of
confusion and irk on Damien's face.

"What is it?" Vallory asked
quickly.

Damien demanding, "Is something climbing up my
leg?"

The End

ABOUT THE
AUTHOR

J.A. Marlow writes across many
genres, including science fiction, young adult, romance, and
others. A private pilot with several years of flying experience in
Alaska, J.A. Marlow enjoys adding to stories a touch of the mystery
and exotic nature of the land sometimes called “the last frontier.”
Popular series include "The String Weavers," "Salmon Run," and
"Redpoint One."

Publisher Homepage:
http://starcatcherpub.com

Author Homepage:
JAMarlow.com

Author Newsletter:
JAMarlow.com/newsletter-signup/

Twitter ID:
jamarlow_sf

Email:
[email protected]

Other Titles From J.A.
Marlow

The String Weavers
(The String Weavers - Book 1):
Disappearing food. Music no one else hears. An alien dropped
off by a giant flaming bird... Abducted from Earth, Kelsey Hale
finds herself in the middle of a deadly conflict among alien worlds
and parallel universes. She must not only survive, but also rescue
her father from a dangerous group of unknown intent. In the process
discovering a family secret that will change her life
forever.

Children of Jad Omnibus
:
It started an ordinary day and
ended in a discovery that shook the planet of Jad. Through the
threat of possible war, pirates, Chion Warriors, treasure hunters
and more, Elvy Akuma and her friends Tiver and Pelik band together
to protect themselves, the heritage of Jad, and peace itself. This
Omnibus collects together: Glint of a Suncatcher, Glint of a Ring,
Glint of an Artifact, Glint of a Tower

Into the Forest Shadows
:
Grandmother's house. A red cape. A
planet-wide conspiracy. An invitation to visit Grandmother's house
among the renowned giant trees of the planet gives Kate a welcome
respite from her overbearing Uncle Travis. After Grandma goes
missing, she joins forces with a local Gatherer boy to confront a
deadly threat to the human colonists, forest inhabitants, and even
the moving trees themselves. Before the conspiracy kills them all.
A Science Fiction novel retelling of the fairy tale "Little Red
Riding Hood."

SAMPLE -
NIGHT OF THE AURORA (SALMON RUN - BOOK 1)

A new life in Alaska, a massive
aurora, and a hidden spaceship under the ice and snow…

For Hawk and Zach Callahan, getting
to the small town of Salmon Run presents the first challenge. They
think they have it made when they board the unique train that will
take them through a dark roadless wilderness to their new home. The
same night a massive Aurora Borealis strands them in the middle of
nowhere.

An Aurora also affecting an alien
spaceship hidden beneath the ice and snow...

Welcome to Salmon Run,
Alaska!
A place of wild animals, wild
lands, and wild inhabitants...oh, and native legends come alive and
an interplanetary alien conflict at their backdoor.

Available now!

***

"I get to drive the Zombie!" Sasha
whooped, jumping in the air. She vaulted onto a snow
machine.

Grandpa Neeley took a
long-suffering deep breath while Zach looked at the big snow
machine in question. Sasha thought she could drive it? The size of
it dwarfed her.

"Fine. Sasha, you can take Zach.
And drive carefully with him. This is his first time." Grandpa
Neeley said.

"Do we need to bring any of our
things?" His father asked, standing uncertainly next to the smaller
snow machine he would be riding.

"The train shouldn't be too much
behind you. Big auroras usually don't last long," McRoyal said,
clapping him on the back. "Look at it as a way to see the
landscape."

"Come on, Zach. We don't want them
to leave us behind." Sasha twisted a key and with a yank of a cord
the big engine came to life.

Seeing his father get on the other
snow machine, Zach took the helmet Sasha handed to him and worked
to slip it on over his hat and hood.

"There is break water further down
the stream. We're taking the longer route near the plateau," the
driver of his father's snow machine shouted at Sasha.

"Got it!" Sasha shouted
back.

"Is it safe to go off the regular
paths?" Zach asked as he adjusted the helmet.

"Regular paths? Are you serious?"
Sasha laughed. "Wide-open wilderness, the Little People are
hibernating so they can't cause mischief, an aurora to light our
way? Get on and enjoy the ride."

"Hold on tight, Zach," his father
shouted over the sounds of the engines.

Zach waved at him as he climbed up
behind Sasha. "What sort of things do you watch for while driving a
snow machine?"

"Snow covered logs, breaks in a
river, stream or lake, hidden drops." She gunned the engine, "And
crazy drivers!"

Zach grabbed the handles at the
back of the seat as the machine surged forward.

Zach held on for dear life,
planting his feet firmly on the sideboards railing running along
each edge of the snow machine to keep his balance. The snow machine
turned off the small knoll the train tracks sat on top of. When
they hit the pristine snow at the base he received a cloud full of
the stuff in the face.

He quickly lowered the visor of the
helmet. The engine of the snow machine filled his ears as Sasha
seemed determined to outrace the other drivers to town.

But as they reached the pack she
slowed down. After a few minutes he decided that she'd been having
a bit of fun at his expense.

She wasn't a crazy driver. She kept
pace with the other snow machines in the little pack, following
their tracks unless it proved too rough, and then she would veer
off slightly to make her own path through the soft snow. His father
turned slightly to look back at them before facing forward with a
stiff back. Compared to the relaxed postures of the other snow
machiners, Zach was sure he and his father stuck out like sore
thumbs.

The snow machine bobbed up and down
with the bumps and depressions of the landscape. After a few
anxious moments, and vision of himself flying through the air when
Sasha hit one of the bumps, he relaxed his death grip on the
handles just below him on the side of the seat.

He pulled the helmet down a little
bit, annoyed it kept slipping backwards. If he was going to be
doing this a lot he needed to see about getting a helmet that fit
him properly.

Sasha slowed down to follow the
others as they wove in and out of a stand of trees. She reached
back to push at him, shouting, "Lean with me, not
against."

Zach tried, but it didn't feel
natural. It would take so little for them to tip over. He liked it
a lot better when they came up over a hill and broke out into a big
flat area with only scattered clumps of trees. The snow machines
opened up, taking off across it at full speed.

Okay, he liked the speed. Nothing
to run into, nothing to worry about. Just pure speed. Maybe he
could get McRoyal to bring him out to someplace like this to teach
him how to drive a snow machine himself.

Feeling the first bits of cold
seeping through his snow pants, he thanked his father for not
listening to him about the money. He would have been frozen in his
hiking boots, jeans, and denim coat. Perhaps literally.

The aurora flared above them,
making the white of the snow around them reflect back brilliant red
and green. Zach had to squint against the sudden brightness. Next
chance he got, he was going to look up the aurora studies in
Fairbanks that Sasha mentioned. Maybe they had a long-distance
college course he could take.

Suddenly, through the snow pants
and parka he felt a flush of warm air. The visor of his helmet
fogged up, only allowing the glow of the aurora through, but not
allowing him to see any shapes around him. He heard the engine of
the snow machine slow down.

Where did the warmth come from? He
hadn't seen anything in the large clearing to indicate a home or
cabin of any kind.

The seat beneath him dropped out
from under him, along with the rest of the snow machine. Along with
it, even warmer air enveloped him as he fell in a kaleidoscope of
lights and darks and colored lights.

***

"Night of the Aurora (Salmon Run -
Book 1)" is available at online retailers everywhere.

STAR CATCHER
PUBLISHING

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Ebook ISBN:
978-1-937042-44-8

Published exclusively by: Star
Catcher Publishing

Copyright 2014
J.A.
Marlow.
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Reserved.

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This is a work of fiction. The
characters, events, and locations portrayed in this book are
fictitious. Any similarity or resemblance to actual events, locales
or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and not
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All rights to the characters in
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To the author's knowledge no
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writing or making of this book.