Happy Hump Day! Today’s Mid Week Tease is a rather tense scene from my current WIP Breaker Zone, where Nick and Aidan get interrupted in flagrante delicto by a dangerous intruder. Or is he?

Enjoy, and make sure to hit the list after the teaser to see other great Mid Week Teases!

With his life in ruins thanks to a psychotic ex, Dr. Nick Gardiner winds up at Olympic Cove looking for sanctuary (and free beer) with his friend Ian. The last thing he expects to find is Ian living with two redheaded sea lords and learning how to be a storm god. Adding to the confusion is a wounded merman named Aidan who washes up in the cove, requiring Nick’s professional help. Nick soon learns that the handsome mer and his partner Liam have their own plans for the ER doctor — to claim him as their agapetos, their destined mate, and fulfill his need to submit.

A chance encounter at a local junk shop reveals that Nick has his own role to play in Ian’s battle against the insane Nereid Thetis. Under the reluctant mentorship of Chiron, Nick must master the use of the Rod of Asclepius if he wants to rescue his mates from a ghastly fate and help Ian save the planet.

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“You dared to touch my chuisle?” the other merman shouted, rage throbbing in his voice. “I’ll kill you!”

Panicking, Nick scuttled along the wall, crabbing backwards the adjoining bathroom. He could hear Aidan shouting something at the intruder.

“Aidan, run!” he yelled. Rolling onto his hands and knees, he lurched to his feet and stumbled into the hallway, heading for the kitchen and the knives there.

He never made it. A huge hand grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, abruptly changing momentum and throwing him onto the living room floor. Grunting in pain from the impact, he flipped over and backed into the corner of the couch.

The tall man strode after him, spear poised to strike. “You bastard,” he said, lips peeled back from a brutal snarl. “You filthy, disgusting—“

A blue glow exploded in the room, dazzling both of them. Nick shut his abruptly stinging eyes against the light, only to hear Bythos shout, “Stop!”

There was a dull thud that he could feel through the floor. “How dare you threaten our guest, mer!” Ian’s boyfriend bellowed, infuriated.

Nick forced himself to crack one eyelid, then eased open the other eye. The intruder had dropped to his knees like a puppet with cut strings, spear thrown to the floor. In front of him stood Bythos and Aphros, surrounded by a sparkling nimbus of sea blue light. The redheads were dressed in simple tunics and hefting ornate silver tridents, and both of them were glaring at the intruder.

The man — mer — bowed his head. “Lord Bythos,” he said raggedly, his voice full of fear, “I beg your forgiveness. But he was molesting my mate—”

“No, he wasn’t!”

Aidan was panting and clinging to the corner of the hallway, staring frantically at all of them. “Dammit, Liam, I told you to stop!”

Liam? The giant was Liam, Aidan’s friend and Elder-in-training? Nick started to say something, and could only choke as his throat flared in sudden agony.

“Nick!” Aphros crossed to him and knelt down, one strong hand clasping his shoulder. “Are you all right?”

All that came out was a froggy croak. Between the tall mer’s hand on his throat and the scream for Aidan to run, he suspected he’d sprained his vocal cords. Gingerly, he shook his head and gestured towards his larynx.

A second nimbus of light appeared, golden this time, and Ian stepped out of it, holding a dark trident. His eyes went comically wide when he saw the scene in the living room. “What the hell is going on?” he demanded.

Nick stared at the man he’d eaten with, gotten drunk with, sat with during Diana’s wake. Then at the trident in Ian’s hand.

That was enough for one night. Very gently, he fell over.

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