Time flies. Here we are at the final Monday in February already. That weekend just flew by. Lucky for us, there's a knock at the virtual door and Kira Shayde is here to answer our three fave questions.
SC: Tell me a little
bit about your main character of this book.
KS: There are three novellas in the Primal Shifters Box Set,
and each novella features a different main couple, so I will limit my response
to the first novella, Bane of Her Desire. Although a first-caste daughter of
Parliament, lion shifter Holly Ainran is a strong and independent woman, keen
on eliminating the caste hierarchy in lion society and the lion-hyena conflict.
Bane Ojore, shunned by Parliament for his rare fur color, is a hard and distant
commander of a paramilitary force that he formed after losing his family and
village to a hyena attack. While searching for her AWOL brother, Holly
confronts the commander, yet Bane is convinced her brother is the traitor
selling weapons to the enemy hyenas. These two definitely knock heads.
SC: Do you believe in
the paranormal and if so, do you have an experience you can share?
KS: We can’t rely on
what we can see or hear as evidence (or conversely, lack of evidence) of
paranormal activity, because human visual and auditory ranges are actually
quite limited. But unfortunately, no legitimate scientific experiments have
proven the existence of ghosts or psychic abilities. Yeah, bums me out too.
SC: We'll have to
agree to disagree on that one. What titles are you working on now that you can
tell us about?
KS: I’m debating
working on a fourth novella in the Primal Shifters series. There’s a secondary
character from book three who needs his happily ever after. He’s a clan hyena
who lives in the chairman’s palace. She’s a rogue hyena fighting to eliminate
the clans. I love the opposites attract trope in romance. As for projects I’m
currently working on, I have a Young Adult fantasy book (under my other pen
name), which I hope to have finished and edited this year. I also have a
non-romance Sci-fi on my to-do list. I’ve written an outline and the first
three chapters and I’m really looking forward to getting back to it.
SC: Thanks for stopping by. Let's take a look at your novel
now.
Primal Shifters Box Set
Kira Shayde
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Kira Shayde
Date of Publication: February 25, 2019
ISBN: 9780999018378
ISBN: 9780999018354
Number of pages: 315
Word Count: 105,500
Cover Artist: Kira Shayde
Book Description:
Three novella-length romances in one overarching story. Equal parts romance, urban fantasy, and social/political commentary.
Available in erotic version and tame version. Tame version has no graphic sex scenes.
Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/AVY3EcPi6zM
BANE OF HER DESIRE
When Holly Ainran’s brother goes AWOL from an elite military force in Tanzania, she confronts Commander Bane Ojore, a rare melanistic lion shifter. Sparks ignite, but Holly finds a challenge in taming this brooding, hostile beast. Bane does not expect the daughter of a high-ranking parliamentary executive to be a smart, code-breaking expert adamant about abolishing the lion caste hierarchy and ending the lion-hyena conflict. Nor does he expect such a stunning lioness to fall for him. But Bane’s job is to find the traitors supplying weapons to the hyenas, and all signs point to Holly’s brother. Holly won’t give up on her brother though…or Bane. As their passion escalates, so do the risks, the danger, and ultimately, their love.
DESIRES AT WAR
Months as a POW leaves lion shifter Fix Ainran struggling to recover, but he can’t get the curvaceous Caryn Plumar out of his mind. Yet the beautiful daughter of the hyena chairman only torments the disabled former soldier with heated trysts before pulling away. No matter how much she desires Fix’s touch, Caryn’s obligations involve more than fighting for an independent hyena state in a land ruled by lions and fraught with war. She must sacrifice any chance of happiness and freedom by marrying within the clan to ensure her safety. Unable to stay apart, Fix and Caryn defy societal rules and risk their lives as they battle enemies, search for the truth about his captivity...and fall in love.
COOL BLUE DESIRE
When Alina Van der Stel agrees to spring an imprisoned lion shifter in southern Africa and hand him over to the rebels in return for information about her birth parents, she doesn’t expect the man to capture her mind as much as he does her body. Falsely accused of conspiracy, Kipper Lumbwi has no intention of allowing the icy blonde to sell him to the very traitors who landed him a stint in prison. Yet her ethereal blue eyes reflect years of sadness as a snow leopard trapped in a land of lions, and he understands her need to find her true kin. Except she’s not the only one targeting him. With a bounty-hunting hyena and the Defence Force in pursuit, Kipper and Alina agree to an alliance…one that leads to her finally experiencing the joys of desire. Can their passion earn them the trust they’ll need to survive?
Erotic Version
Non-Erotic Version
Excerpt:
According to legend, the gods warned humankind that if they insisted on behaving like animals, they would become animals, permanently. The humans didn’t listen, and their fate was sealed. But the gods weren’t done with their machinations. While the humans became prey, the animal predators became humans. Shape-shifting humans.
The African lion, the pinnacle of hunters in the wild, replaced man as overlord in the Serengeti and quickly implemented a system to ensure their supremacy in the new world. The disparaged spotted hyena, often the more tenacious and successful predator on the savannas, was the lion’s natural enemy. Becoming human didn’t change that. It only made it worse.
Chapter One: Bane of Her Desire
Holly Ainran opened the box her father had received from the Alpha Elites paramilitary base. She tossed her brother’s faded fatigues and worn military boots aside and sifted through the contents of his safe-deposit box—some banking papers, a data chip, and a pocket watch from their great-grandfather.
She sat back on her heels. If only there were something among Fix’s personal effects to give her a clue as to why he had dropped off the face of the earth. Was he having an affair with a married woman? Involved in some shady drug deal?
Months ago, he’d been reported AWOL, yet he hadn’t reached out to her. It ticked her off. Maybe she was no more than his kid sister, but she’d thought they were close. At least they had been before he joined the Elites. Another possibility flitted through her mind, and she shoved it away angrily. His body hadn’t been found, and she just knew he was alive. Felt it somehow. Whatever it took, she’d find him.
She popped her brother’s data chip into her laptop and scrolled through the directories. Nothing more incriminating than saved game scores, innocuous e-mails to his on-again, off-again girlfriend, and pictures of his Alpha Elite buddies relaxing by their campsite. She was about to remove the chip when she spied a seemingly gibberish file name and smiled. Gotcha.
Holly double-clicked the file and received a system error. Encrypted. Damn. Now she was definitely intrigued. What was Fix hiding? She ran through various computer algorithms and within minutes bypassed his encryption. But it wasn’t a text file as she’d expected.
A video appeared on her screen, and she recognized the Alpha Elite base. Out of camera range, a man spoke, his deep voice imposing, almost threatening. A tremor coursed through her. The man strode into view, the camera focusing on his face, and her breath caught in her throat. His amber skin glowed, and his black eyes were like bullets beneath a strong brow ridge. A dark shadow of stubble colored his square jaw.
Her gaze riveted to his mouth. Holly no longer listened to his words, imagining only for a moment how it would feel to have those commanding lips pressed against her skin. The muscles in his jaw flexed, and the low timbre of his voice vibrated through her veins. This man was evocative, combustive…primal.
Uneasiness crept over her, and she pushed the wayward thoughts aside. There was a coldness to his face, a tightness around his eyes. This was a man who didn’t reveal secrets, who wouldn’t share himself. A man who clearly reveled in danger and control. This had to be the elusive Bane Ojore, leader of the Alpha Elites paramilitary force.
He shifted to lion form, and Holly gasped. She stared at the video, mesmerized by the sight of an almost unheard-of melanistic lion, his fur as black as a thundercloud, his mane the color of charcoal and fuller than any other she’d seen. When he let out a ferocious roar, she shuddered. But from fear…or something else?
About the Author
As a paranormal romance author, Kira Shayde writes about animal magnetism and intrigue, where the heroes bring the heat and the heroines save the day. She explores somewhat atypical pairings and settings and can’t help adding a twinge of societal awareness to her works, but the focus is always on the developing romance, passion, and happy endings. While some of her books are erotic romances, you won’t find any hard-core BDSM. Kira prefers the hero and heroine to share the power and share the love. On a personal level, Kira is devoted to animal and ecological conservation, loves devil’s food cake, and sings when no one is around.
