Shadow
of the Coalition
The
Two Towers Series
Book
Two
Jamie
A. Waters
Genre:
Paranormal Romance /
Science
Fiction Romance /
Dystopian
Romance
Publisher:
MuseItUp Publishing
Date
of Publication: June 28, 2016
ISBN:
978-1-77127-810-2
ASIN:
B01FNEPYXU
Number
of pages: 417
Word
Count: 107,000
Cover
Artist: SuzieDesigns
Book
Description:
The
award-winning novel, The Two Towers, continues in Book 2…
What’s
stronger? Free will or fate?
It's
been a month since Kayla, a headstrong ruin rat, and Carl, an OmniLab
trader, returned to the surface. After she helped to restore control
of the towers to those who would look after the best interests of the
people, she'd found herself irrevocably bonded to Alec, the new
co-leader of the High Council.
Although
her heart belongs to Carl, she finds it difficult to resist the
strange bond between her and Alec. Caught between learning how to
handle her new emerging abilities, mysterious earthquakes, and a
strange group seemingly intent on targeting OmniLab, Kayla and Carl
are once again swept up in events that threaten to change the entire
future of the towers.
Excerpt:
Kayla
got down on hands and knees to crawl between the floor and a
collapsed ancient wall in Sector 12. It would be a tight fit, but
she’d navigated worse in the past. Taking a deep breath, she sucked
in her stomach and squeezed through the narrow space.
Getting
up, she brushed the dirt off her visor and shone the flashlight
around what appeared to have once been a common room. Living room,
she remembered. Although, there definitely wasn’t anything living
in the room now. A thick shroud of dust and debris coated the
surfaces within the room. The remnants of an old fireplace stood in
the corner and pieces of broken furniture were scattered on the
floor.
Closing
her eyes, a deep breath helped to focus her thoughts. Using what she
now knew as energy threads, she opened up her senses to explore the
hidden world around. The darkness fell away, embracing the energy
swirling in the ruins. The energy had the flavor of an almost living
thing, inviting her to tap into it. She shivered as it poured in and
her blood hummed with the rush of power. Her fingers unfurled as the
energy became an almost tangible thing.
She
basked in the warmth and excitement of the intoxicating power. As the
energy flowing through her increased, it was a little easier to
ignore the sense of wrongness and longing she suspected was from
being separated from Alec.
It
had only been six weeks since she left OmniLab towers. After she
helped to restore control of the towers to those who would look after
the best interests of the residents, she'd found herself irrevocably
bonded to Alec, the new co-leader of the High Council. Even though he
was enigmatic and alluring, the shared energy bond scared her more
than she wanted to admit. He was likeable enough, but it was an
OmniLab trader named Carl who had truly touched her heart.
Her
face warmed at the thought of Carl. Even though they'd known each
other for almost a year, it wasn't until she recently joined his camp
that she began to see him in a new light. The man had a quick mind
and was incredibly devious, two traits she greatly admired.
Living
as a ruin rat on the surface was a constant challenge. Survival was
sometimes dependent upon outsmarting the OmniLab traders and their
crews. Kayla enjoyed the challenges Carl provided, pitting her will
against his. He seemed to understand her better than anyone else had
in a long time. Of course, it didn't hurt that he was sexy as hell
too.
With
a sigh, she pushed away the errant thoughts and focused back on the
dilapidated room. The energy continued to flow around her, and she
focused on channeling it until the mental image of the room began to
shift and transform. The dingy walls became brightly painted surfaces
covered with family photographs. A child played on the floor while
her parents sat on the couch and watched an antique vidviewer on the
wall.
She
opened her eyes and stared at the verisimilitude of the ruined room.
A wave of vertigo swept over her as the mental image overlapped with
reality. Shaking her head, she pushed aside the image but the memory
of the past refused to leave completely.
An
old photograph caught her attention and she crossed the room toward
the cockeyed frame. The glass was cracked and the picture faded, but
she gasped at the sight of the image. The family looked exactly like
the one she'd imagined. The energy flow spiked, and she swallowed
nervously trying to regain control.
Veridian’s
voice interrupted over her headset. "Kayla? You okay? Your
vitals just spiked."
"Uh,
yeah. Sorry about that," she said in a rush, not wanting to
alarm her scavenging partner on the surface. He'd been monitoring her
progress for the past hour. "I just found an old photograph and
it surprised me. That’s all."
Okay,
Kayla, keep it together. You know this energy shit is freaky and you
haven’t figured exactly how it works yet. Just relax.
A
slight vibration under her feet caused her to freeze. The floor felt
secure, but vibrations didn’t usually happen without reason. More
curious than alarmed, she bent down and pressed her gloved hand
against the ground. The vibration grew stronger.
"Kayla,
get out of there now!" Veridian’s voice shouted over the
headset. "We’ve got seismic activity on the monitors."
The
walls began shaking violently. A rumbling noise grew in intensity.
Dust and debris fell around her. She crouched low against the wall,
powerless to do anything else. The picture frame on the wall crashed
to the floor. There was a loud cracking noise and she threw her arms
up over her head as part of the ceiling collapsed.
About
the Author:
Jamie
A. Waters is an award-winning, science-fiction and paranormal romance
writer. Her first novel, The Two Towers, was a winner of the Readers'
Favorite Award in Science-Fiction Romance and the CIPA EVVY Award in
Science-Fiction. The highly anticipated second book in the series,
Shadow of the Coalition, is scheduled to be released Summer 2016 by
MuseItUp Publishing.
Jamie
currently resides in North Carolina with her teenage son and two
neurotic dogs who enjoy stealing socks. When she's not pursuing her
passion of writing, she's usually trying to learn new and interesting
random things (like how to pick locks or use the self-cleaning
feature of the oven without setting off the fire alarm). In her
downtime, she enjoys reading on her Kindle, playing computer games,
painting, or acting as a referee between the dragons and fairies
currently at war inside her closet.
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