Happy Hump Day! Now that Two to Tango has finally been submitted, I’ve gone back to work on Book Two in the Olympic Cove series, Breaker Zone. Here’s the opening scene of the book.

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

When Dr. Nick Gardiner goes on the run from a psychotic ex and ends up at Olympic Cove, the last thing he expects to find is his friend Ian living with two redheaded demigods 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. As it turns out, the handsome mer and his partner Liam have other 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 the 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.

###

Ian West, God of Storms, stared at the cloudless blue sky over the cove. He hefted his trident, sighting up the shaft as he aimed the dark grey tines upwards, and concentrated.

Nothing happened. He concentrated some more.

Still nothing.

There was a small sigh behind him. “I believe the human phrase is, put your back into it.”

Ian gritted his teeth. “I’m trying,” he said. “It’s not working.”

Another sigh. “Three days ago you were able to defuse a hurricane with no focusing agent or any sort of training. And now you expect me to believe you can’t condense a single small cloud on a bright day?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I expect you to believe.” He jammed the butt of the trident into the sand, turning to glare at Poseidon, God of the Seas. “I don’t know how I defused the hurricane, all right? You want to know how I did it, go ask Gaia.”

“I don’t have to,” Poseidon said calmly. “She already told me. She may have helped you with defeating Thetis, but she said you dismantled the hurricane all by yourself.”

“Then it was instinctive.”

One auburn eyebrow raised at that. “Instinctive? For a former human to control the weather? Another human phrase just came to mind — ‘Pull the other one, it has got bells on.’”

Ian swallowed a few choice curse words. Telling his new father-in-law to go fuck himself wasn’t the most intelligent move in the world, no matter how satisfying it would be. “I know you don’t believe me, but it was instinct,” he said. “I knew how hurricanes worked, knew I had to shut it down, and just did what felt right. I don’t know how else to describe it.” He pointed his free hand at the turquoise cove. “This is something completely different.”

The other god studied him, then finally shrugged. “Perhaps we’re approaching this from the wrong angle. Whereas it would simply be an effort of will for me, it seems to be more of an intellectual process for you, most likely due to your common origins.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“It’s the truth,” Poseidon said, unperturbed. “So. How would a cloud naturally form over water?”

Still annoyed, Ian thought about the meteorological processes he’d researched for his eco-thriller Greenstrike. “Sunlight warms the water and causes it to evaporate, and that creates a layer of warm, moist air,” he said. “Since heat rises, this gets boosted up into the atmosphere. When the layer reaches a certain point, it starts to cool, and some of the water vapor molecules starts clumping together. Get enough of them condensing, and you get a cloud.”

“Simplistic but accurate enough for our purposes,” Poseidon said. “And of course when large amounts of water vapor condenses, you get rain or snow. And if that warm air mass meets a cooler, drier mass, it can precipitate water vapor condensation over a large area, causing widespread cloud formation that, under the right circumstances, can become a storm.”

“Thank you, Bill Nye.”

Poseidon frowned. “Who?”

“Never mind. So what am I trying to do?”

The sea god gave him a long-suffering look. “Focus on the surface of the water. Gather the vapor, forcing it to coalesce as it rises into the air.”

Grimly, Ian turned back to the water. He pointed the titanium trident at the space directly over the waves and narrowed his concentration. One of the more useful things about his new godsight was the ability to zoom in and out on objects. Within moments, he found himself watching shimmering spheres of water vapor separating from the tops of the waves, dancing up into the sky.

Reaching out with the new powers granted to him by the earth goddess Gaia, he tried to gather the vapor droplets together as they drifted upwards. It was somewhat like herding fireflies, but after awhile he managed to shove enough of them together to form a wisp of cloud over the cove. Pulling back his concentration, he discovered he was breathless and dripping with sweat. “Shit. Is it always going to be that hard?”

“No. You’ll get better with practice.” Poseidon’s eyes narrowed as he studied the small drift of water vapor. “Not bad, not bad at all. Now dissolve it.”

“What? Why?”

“You can’t randomly create weather and then just leave it to its own devices. That’s how natural disasters get started.”

Ian wanted to throw the damn trident into the ocean and head back to the cottage for shower. “I’ve made bigger steam clouds than that cooking spaghetti,” he said, waving at the wisp. “What the hell is that going to do?”

“At the moment, nothing,” Poseidon said. “But it could drift further inland, gathering water vapor and increasing in size as it goes. It’s a warm, sunny day — plenty of moisture in the air for it to feed on. Next thing you know, it’s grown into a cloud bank, sucking in more water and expanding even more as it drifts over the land.”

He cupped a hand, bringing it to the one holding his golden trident. “And then it meets a cooler, drier mass of air, and tries to rise to get over it. But when it reaches its expansion point it starts to cool and its load of water vapor condenses, turning into rain. The masses of air also create charged ions, so now you have a thunderstorm. The storm moves even further inland, meeting yet another mass of cooler air.

Both hands now drew parallel circles in the air. “The masses churn, violently shearing over each other. A rotating vortex of air is created this way, and one end slowly falls to earth. When it reaches the ground, it begins to suck up dirt and debris, turning the vortex dark and visible. The new tornado proceeds to rip apart trees, throwing cars around like toys, erasing homes from their foundations. It kills people and animals, demolishes property, and leaves a raw scar of destruction in its wake. All because you couldn’t be bothered to stop it when it was just a small cloud.”

Ian flinched in horror. “Jesus. Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“I wish I was.” Poseidon leaned on his trident, giving him a grave look. “I’m not teaching you how to control the weather for the fun of it. I’m here because the weather is one of the most important planetary control systems Gaia has, and since you now have control over it you must be taught what you can and cannot do. For all their size, weather patterns are actually quite fragile, and can be changed in monumental ways by relatively small things. I suspect you’ve heard the phrase ‘the butterfly effect?’”

“Yes.”

“Well, it’s quite apt. A small waft of vapor here can spawn into a killer tornado a hundred miles away. Which is why I’m now asking you to dissolve that cloud. Please.”

Dry-mouthed, Ian nodded and lifted his trident again, concentrating on driving the vapor particles apart. Slowly, the cloud melted away, leaving nothing but clear air. “Okay?”

“Perfect.” Poseidon eyed him. “Well, I think that’s enough for today. You need a shower, and I’m in the mood for lunch.”

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