Kia Ora...

Spring is here... though in all honesty we haven't really had a winter in New Zealand this year for which my power bill is grateful as I ended up only running my heater for two months instead of closer to five... yep, it's been warm.

I'd like to say that writing a newsletter serial is comparable to when I was writing fanfiction, except its not. It might have been if I'd managed to keep several chapters ahead, but even then when I was writing fanfiction I'd end up writing three drafts before editing it. I don't even write that many drafts for the WIPs I intend to publish. There is a similarity though, in that once a chapter is released into the world (or at least our small portion of it) there isn't anything that can be changed (well not until I go over it again before publishing it)... like a character's name being spelt wrong... umm whoops, sorry Yomu, I mean Tomu.

Updates

• Tailored Hearts (House of Bolton 1): I'm writing the closing chapters for this book in a new series...and a new pen name. It's an MF story with a bisexual male character... the whole series will involve pairings from across the spectrum. The story is set in Melbourne, Australia and revolves around a fashion house (House of Bolton) that has been set up by the local mafia as a means to launder money...and so much more.
• Deception (Nagoya Crimes 1): Has taken a backseat while I finish off Tailored Hearts, but I will be getting back into it soon. It's currently sitting at 20k and will be an MMF Yakuza romance involving two detectives and a yakuza boss. It will be a slow burn romance set over three books.
• Next story to be written... it will either be A Knight Forged (The Moutrams 4) or Stitched Together (House of Bolton 2)

Don't forget the fastest way to keep updated with writing is to come hangout in my readers group: Greenwood's Groupies

Rebellion - A Qing Dynasty Romance

To celebrate Rebellion getting a new cover it is currently on sale for 99c!

Blurb

1899, political tensions are rising with the emergence of the Boxer Movement in Northern China, straining ties between the Chinese Imperial Government and the Eight Nations with stakes in the country. As a Captain in the Royal Marines, Alfred Cartwright is deployed to Shanghai, where he discovers more than he'd dared to dream of – Love. Not even the struggles with language or the fear of reprisals if their relationship is found out, can stop Alfred from falling for the Chinese man he encounters. But as the anti-foreigner sentiment of the Boxer Movement grows in strength, their relationship will be put to the test.

Where do Alfred's loyalties lie? With the man he loves or his country, as they stand opposite each other on a battlefield neither can escape.

Grab it Here

Caught

Chapter Seventeen

Takeshi watched Yoshitake leave the room struggling to find anything in the man’s demeanour that pointed to his having had anything to do with the explosion that rocked the club while Takeshi had been there. He saw no signs that Yoshitake was disappointed that he’d lived, or not received a near fatal wound, but then Takeshi had already decided that his death wasn’t the motive behind the attacks. Yoshitake’s anger at the injuries he bore appeared genuine too. He’d been certain his churlish attitude would have elicited a punishment from Yoshitake, and yet the moment the man had clapped eyes on the bruises littering his skin, the anger swirling in his eyes had faded away.

He groaned, rubbed at the bridge of his nose, and winced as the even that small movement tugged at the bruises decorating his rib cage. They hurt even worse when he reached for the blankets Yoshitake had torn off him, and if it weren’t for the fact, he was cold Takeshi might not have bothered.

And none of this made sense. He was still certain that Yoshitake was behind everything and yet everything that pointed toward it could be explained away.

Yoshitake knew where Takeshi was at all times, planned his movements and who he spoke to….

But then so did half the Shirokawa-gumi men immediately surrounding Takeshi.

Yoshitake’s emotions were genuine—he cared for Takeshi beyond the responsibilities of a bodyguard and had done so since before Takeshi had left for Tokyo—and so was his desire to protect him…

Emotions were easy to fake. Maybe Yoshitake got off on the fact he was leading Takeshi around by the cock…enjoyed the power that came with manipulating a much younger man.

There was nothing for Yoshitake to gain by killing him, Takeshi was the heir to the organisation… no, technically he was already the head of the Shirokawa-gumi Takeshi only needed to solidify his position.

Yoshitake had everything to gain… and Takeshi didn’t need to be dead for Yoshitake to take control of the organisation, he only needed to ensure that Takeshi relied heavily on him for advice…for everything.

And then there was the suggestion that Yoshitake was the one responsible for his father’s death…

Takeshi inhaled sharply and released a shuddering sigh. For all that he didn’t want to believe it, Takeshi knew Komoda’s words hadn’t been delivered flippantly. They weren’t the words of a man annoyed that someone with a far lower rank in the organisation than him had the ear of the new boss. No, Komoda’s words had been uttered hesitantly, cautiously, and with a confident belief in them being true. He’d stated facts, pieces of information about the moments before Takeshi’s father had died that he’d not known, and that Yoshitake had not told him. He wanted to quiz Komoda further on what he knew except that was no longer an option, the explosion that Takeshi had barely escaped had taken the lives of the two senior members of the Shirokawa-gumi—men whose loyalty had lain unwaveringly with Takeshi’s father.

The bullets that had been fired into the club, skimming across the heads of all those present… they’d been meant for Takeshi. Designed to scare him into taking a particular action, yet he wasn’t sure what that was supposes to be or for what end his attackers wanted him to do it.

The explosions… they were meant for Komoda and Hongu. Deliberately set in order to create chaos and kill them, removing the threat they posed due to the information the men had stored in their heads. An explosion that was designed to draw attention toward the Araki-gumi, to make others within the Shirokawa-gumi whose loyalty was still uncertain to fall into line as they sought to take out a common enemy. The explosive devices placed in the building were never supposed to be triggered while Takeshi was present, and yet they had….

And if that had gone against Yoshitake’s plans it would explain why he’d been so angry, so terrified to arrive at the club and find Takeshi seriously injured or worse… dead.

But there were still questions about tonight, about the night his father died that needed to be answered. Because why would Yoshitake kill Takeshi’s father?

*

Yoshitake barked out an order to the nervous looking Shirokawa-gumi member hovering around the doorway of the kitchen to cook up some rice and tamagoyaki for the boss. He didn’t wait for an acknowledgement as he continued through the kitchen and pushed through the door leading out into the private courtyard. High walls surrounded it on either side, topped with spikes that served a purpose beyond their decorative look and with no other entrance into it, Yoshitake knew he was safe to talk here without fearing the wrong person overhearing or stumbling upon his conversation.

Striding across to the wooden bench seat that stretched in front of the built-up herb garden and gave him a clear view of the kitchen door, he sat down and pulled out his phone. Anger surged through him again as images of the bruises and grazes Takeshi now wore flickered through his mind. His jaw clenched and the cellphone protested the tight grasp of his fingers as the images his mind conjured up drifted into ones that could have happened. Takeshi’s body lying on the floor of the club, pinned beneath the wooden beams that had collapsed with the explosion bringing the floors above it crashing into the ground floor… his lover’s skin scorched, blackened by the flames that had swept their way through the crowded venue… death slow and painful while Yoshitake was too late, too helpless to prevent it.

He scrubbed at his face and leaned forward head bowed over his legs. Death, namely Takeshi’s wasn’t something Yoshitake desired and yet it was a possibility that he couldn’t ignore. This game he played was dangerous, a delicate balancing act to ensure when this game ended, Yoshitake was the winner and yet one wrong step and the outcome he wanted could be stolen from him.

Yoshitake refused to lose. He would have control of the Shirokawa-gumi… and it wouldn’t take losing Takeshi to achieve it.

“You fucked up today, Tomu,” he said infusing every ounce of anger surging through him into his voice despite it being barely above a whisper. “Tell me why I shouldn’t be letting a certain Triad organisation know where you’re hiding… I’m sure they’d be very appreciative of the information.”

“You wouldn’t fucking dare,” Tomu hissed. “You helped out with that heist… not sure they’d be that appreciative if they learnt that fact.”

His gaze narrowed, flicking between the door into the kitchen and the pavers at his feet. While it was true, he’d provided Tomu with some assistance, it was limited to transporting the goods once stolen from beneath the Yamashita Organisation and the Xuechan Triad’s noses while also offering his friend protection from the assassin the triad had sent after him. But the actual theft had been Tomu’s doing, and if the Xuechan’s attention shifted toward him, Yoshitake wouldn’t hesitate to hand his friend over. Hand him over before that if Tomu and his men proved to a threat to Takeshi’s life.

“My help was negligible at best… could easily claim that I provided transport for goods without being aware of where they came from.”

“This is the Xuechan, Yoshi… do you honestly think they’d believe such or claim or even fucking care?”

“Well, then…stop endangering Takeshi’s life and then neither of us will need to find out,” he snapped out.

He could hear it, Tomu’s sharp inhale of breath that always came right before he started an argument. Yoshitake wasn’t in the mood for arguments. Didn’t want to hear his friend’s excuses as to why the explosives had gone off while Takeshi had been in the club. It’d be far easier to point the finger of blame at the Araki-gumi if only Hongu and Komoda had been in the club when they’d gone off. Both men outspoken opponents of the Araki-gumi continuing to hold onto areas of Osaka and in the days before the death of Takeshi’s father they’d repeatedly pushed for the Shirokawa-gumi to take the areas back. But Takeshi’s presence put laid to that plan or at least made it less believable.

“It was you who forgot they were there… the explosives were set to go off tonight… so why you’d send your fuck toy there tonight is none of my business,” Tomu snarled. “For all I know, you’d tired of the bastard and wanted him out of the way. Permanently.”

“If I wanted him dead, Tomu. I’d have done it myself!” Yoshitake hissed, his voice carrying louder, further than he’d planned.

“Not if I don’t kill you first.”

Yoshitake ended the call and lifted his gaze from the ground to where the sharp-edged voice had come from. He rose from his seat, pocketed his phone, and strode across the courtyard toward Takeshi, the man staring at him the coldness that threatened to derail his plans.

“Kill me?” he snorted. “You could never do it.”

“Then you’d better make sure not to give me a reason to prove you wrong,” Takeshi threatened. “Because you’re fucking me won’t save your life if I find proof that it was you who killed my father, Take.”

_______________________________________________

The Moutrams

Born of the Knight

Knighted Heart

A Knight for Two