Welcome
to Kotoyeesinay, WY: Tourist Trap and Magical Sanctuary
By Carol Van Natta
Tourist traps are
probably as old as leisure time. “Hey, Actoris. Which of the seven wonders do you want to see next? The hanging
gardens of Babylon or the Colossus of Rhodes?” I imagine vendors at the edge of
the town offering tourists cheap pottery decorated with pyramid and sphinx
illustrations.
My Ice Age Shifters
paranormal romance series features a tourist trap: Kotoyeesinay*, Wyoming. The
town’s claim to fame is a fantasy theme. Think Roswell, New Mexico, but with
fairies, elves, and other mythical creatures, plus a plethora of psychics.
Of course, it wouldn’t
be a paranormal romance if that were all there is to it. And there isn’t.
Kotoyeesinay is actually a magical sanctuary town.
The town’s outward
appearance hides the fact that creatures of myth, legend, and nightmare all
live in harmony. Most are hiding from the world at large, where the biggest
secret in the magical world is its existence. A few need sanctuary from their
own family or tribe.
Streets names include
Glade, Wizard, Fang, and Dragontail. Businesses in town include Low Country
Fairies Cleaning, Fairy Diner, Fairy Frocks, and I Knew You Were Coming
Prognostication Services.
Key scenes in Shift of
Destiny (Ice Age Shifters Book 2) take place in Tinsel’s Bed and Breakfast,
a miniature castle of a house, and Turn of the Cards, a store for magical items
(which they don’t sell to the tourists) and Tarot cards (which they do). Heart
of a Dire Wolf (Ice Age Shifters Book 3) mentions Read ‘Em and Weep
Oracles, who keep a magical eye on the children on their “Little Terror”
watchlist.
Kotoyeesinay plays a
pivotal role in Shifter Mate Magic (Ice Age Shifters Book 1). Jackie,
the human heroine, is on the run from a corrupt shifter clan that wants to use
her as a broodmare. Trevor, an Ice Age shifter who shares his soul with a
prehistoric bear, runs into her at a truckstop. He rescues her twice, but with
enemies on their tails, their only hope is to ask the Kotoyeesinay council for
sanctuary. That is, if they can find it in time.
Here’s a brief excerpt,
in which Trevor’s aunt Straya calls him with a warning and advice:
- - - - - - -
“Auris came pounding on
my door, wailing about signs and portents. I thought she’d been sampling the
fairy moondew again, but she’s sober as a judge.” No one knew what Auris was running from, and she was more than a
bit of a drama queen, but his aunt didn’t discriminate against the lost and unwanted
who found their way into her woods.
“What did she say?” asked Trevor.
“That you and your mate
need to find sanctuary before the full moon, or your blood will paint the
canyons. What’s this about a mate, and why do I have to hear it from Auris?” To his aunt, the news about a mate would be much more important
than the threat on his life.
He suppressed a
frustrated noise. “It’s complicated.” He told her about the disastrous
first meeting with Jackie and what little he knew.
“You always did pick the
hardest path up the mountain.” Trevor rolled his eyes.
He preferred peace and quiet, but the fates seemed to have other plans for him.
“Best you get yourself and your woman to Kotoyeesinay as soon as you can. Ask
for sanctuary the moment you cross the glade’s border. The elves will hear
you.”
- - - - - - -
* It’s a mangled Native
American place name, but it’s easier than it looks. The accent is on the third
syllable: Koto-yee-si-nay.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Shifter Mate Magic
Ice Age Shifters
Book One
Carol Van Natta
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Chavanch Press
Date of Publication: May 2018
ISBN: 978-1946165077
ASIN: B07C7NHNGD
Number of pages: 130
Word Count: 38,000
Cover Artist: Amanda Kelsey
Tagline: Pregnant and running for her life, a woman must trust a sexy bear shifter to get them both to a magical sanctuary town.
Book Description:
A lonely bear shifter meets his mate. She’s running for her life and doesn’t have time for romance.
Pregnant Jackie Breton just escaped from a corrupt feline pack intent on selling her half-shifter baby to the highest bidder. She’s smart, independent, and has a desperate plan to keep her baby safe: Get away from the pride as fast and far as possible.
Trevor Hammond, prehistoric bear shifter, has been rejected by everyone in his life for… being born, basically. Well, except for the beloved aunt who raised him. He’s built a career as an independent trucker, but life would be much better with someone he can hold in his arms and claim as his own.
When Jackie meets Trevor at a truck stop, his bear demands he help her. His aunt even calls with a dire warning: Get Jackie to the magical sanctuary town in Wyoming before she’s killed.
Jackie thinks he’s sexy as hell, but too good to be true. She doesn’t trust shifters. With the feline pride hot on her trail, however, Trevor and the quirky town of Kotoyeesinay might be her only chance for survival. Even Trevor’s indomitable bear may be no match for the dangerous enemy seeking retribution.
Discover the secret world of magic and true mates in Shifter Mate Magic, the first book in USA TODAY bestselling author Carol Van Natta's fun, action-filled, steamy-hot Ice Age Shifters® series.
Get eBook One
FREE at
Entire Series on Amazon
Shifter Mate Magic (Ice
Age Shifters #1)
Lonely bear shifter
Trevor meets his mate. Jackie is running for her life and doesn’t have time for
romance. Can she trust the sexy bear shifter to get them both to a magical
sanctuary town in time?
Shift of Destiny (Ice
Age Shifters #2)
Moira doesn’t believe in
magic, despite being chased by a crazy billionaire for her supposed “gifts.”
Chance, prehistoric lion shifter, believes in Moira, his true mate. He’s determined
to protect her and help her find the magic in her blood. But even a top
predator can’t guess the lengths to which a desperate billionaire will go to
get what he wants.
Heart of a Dire Wolf
(Ice Age Shifters #3)
Skyla, dire wolf
shifter, and Nic, sexy tiger shifter, recognize their true mate in each other.
Problem is, they’re prisoners of an underground auction. To stay together, they
must escape captivity, avoid ruthless hunters, and solve the mystery of a
hidden sanctuary town before greedy wizards take everything—including them.
Dire Wolf Wanted (Ice
Age Shifters #4)
The magical world stands
on the brink of war, unless two extraordinary shifters can bridge the gulf
between them. Dire wolf shifter Rayne Chekal works to take down an illegal
auction house that trafficks in shifters. Arvik Inuktan, secret mythic shifter,
infiltrated the auction staff with the same mission. The attraction is
instant... and impossible. War is coming. When Rayne and Arvik meet on the
battlefield, can they overcome their differences and work together to stop the
evil, or will this war engulf the magical world?
Excerpt
Southern Wyoming
~ Summer 1993
Jackie nodded
and walked quickly, following the arrows. Luckily, she didn’t have to wait in
line or share the facilities. After the blessed relief of peeing, she used soap
and water from the sink to make herself look as presentable as possible under
the circumstances. Her light brown skin already made her stand out, because the
farther north she’d traveled, the fewer people she’d seen who looked like her.
She threw the soiled paper towels in the trash and eyed herself critically in
the mirror. At least now she didn’t look like a dangerous fugitive who’d
escaped a violent pack of leopard shifters who wanted her back alive or dead.
Despite the warmth of the restroom, she shivered.
“Get back to the
plan, Jackie,” she told her mirrored self. She couldn’t afford to fall apart,
or everything she was afraid of would come to pass. She bent over to drink
straight from the sink’s faucet, then wiped the water off her face. She
re-centered her her backpack and went out into the convenience store.
The smells of
warm bread and sizzling hamburgers drew her like a lodestone toward the
restaurant section, but she couldn’t afford to waste the time or the money. She
sternly made herself march into the back aisle and open the refrigerator door
for the lunch meats and cheeses.
She got a whiff
of a tantalizing scent as she pulled her selections off the hooks. Not food,
but something intensely interesting. Her sense of hearing and smell had
magnified with each passing week of her pregnancy. She wished she knew if that
was typical for a human woman carrying a shifter’s child but she had no one to
ask. Certainly not the lying son-of-a-bitch leopard who’d gotten her pregnant,
despite her precautions. She hoped he was roasting in hell, but he probably
wasn’t. Justice for the privileged rich, regardless of skin color or species,
had a whole different set of rules.
She let go of
the refrigerator door and turned toward the scent, only to run headlong into a
man who’d just turned down the aisle.
“Sorry,” she
said, even as he said the same word. She regained control of her suddenly
clumsy feet. She got the impression of chiseled cheekbones and a square jaw before
she dropped her gaze out of habit, one learned from living with volatile
shifters. His scent hit her like a freight train a moment later, all woodsy and
leathery and mouth-wateringly male.
No one, not even
the father of her baby, back when she’d thought she was in love with him and he
with her, had ever smelled that good. She took a step back, because if she
hadn’t, she’d have been tempted to stick her face in the vee of his
short-sleeved T-shirt and lick.
“My fault,” he
said. “Are you…” He trailed off and audibly swallowed.
She made the
mistake of looking up at him and confirmed that he was the sexiest man she’d
ever seen, even counting the handsome actors she’d thrilled over as a teenager.
His brown skin and features spoke of an ethnic heritage something like hers,
and his warm, coppery-brown eyes threatened to drown her on the spot. His wide
shoulders and arms looked strong enough to protect her from anything. The few
tight coils of hair on his muscled chest mirrored the close-cropped hair on his
head. His low-slung jeans and boots completed the mesmerizing package.
She swallowed
and took another step back, away from temptation. “I’m fine.”
Except she
wasn’t. She wanted to set fire to all her plans in favor of getting to know the
man standing in front of her. For his part, he looked stunned.
She shook
herself. Not, not, not happening. She was a pregnant fugitive with enough
secrets to write her own soap opera, and an implacable enemy on her tail. A
human, no matter how tall, broad-shouldered, and sexy, was no match for a
criminal cat-shifter pride with claws and teeth, and vengeance on their minds.
She clutched her
meat and cheese packages to her chest and turned away, even though her now
throbbing body and aching breasts begged her to get closer. She’d learned to
ride out the hormonal roller coaster of being pregnant, so she could damn well
ride this out, too.
About the Author:
Carol Van Natta is a USA TODAY bestselling and award-winning science fiction and fantasy author. Series include the Central Galactic Concordance space opera series that starts with Overload Flux and Minder Rising, and the Ice Age Shifters paranormal romance series that starts with Shifter Mate Magic and Shift of Destiny. She shares her Fort Collins, CO home with a resident mad scientist and just the right number of mad cats.
Chat with her on Facebook at https://facebook.com/CarolVanNattaAuthor, or visit her on the web at http://author.carolvannatta.com. Be the first to find out about new releases by signing up for her newsletter at http://bit.ly/CVN-news.
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