I had one of those scary pet owner moments lately.  The Demon Lord of Kitty Badness had hurled himself out of my second floor window and gone on the lam, no doubt in search of fresh opportunities to indulge his dark side.  I found him some time later cowering under the lilies and meowing sotto voce, his nose twice its normal size and his forehead looking like he’d lost an argument with an egg slicer. Rather than finding the dark side, I think it found him. Fortunately, I was there to save the day, and he was back to his naughty self in a couple of days.

It’s a perfect example of why we need to keep an eye on our loved ones—pet or person—especially when they can’t speak up for themselves. As caretakers, we’re responsible to keeping them safe from the hazards that exist in even the most ordinary places.

So, what happens if you’re a vampire slayer in a world filled with monsters, and you’re looking after a young child? This is the position of my heroine, Ashe Carver, in UNCHAINED. She’s trying to give up the slayer biz and provide a safe environment for her ten-year-old daughter, but her work keeps following her home in a bad way.

Not too many paranormal romance or urban fantasy books feature parents as their protagonists, and I think one of the reasons is because of the constant vigilance required when you have a child. It’s hard to save the world and bake cupcakes at the same time, and this is exactly Ashe’s problem. Yet it’s also her greatest motivator—she’ll stop at nothing when her family’s at stake, pun fully intended.

And if her plate isn’t full enough, there’s Captain Reynard, the smokingly gorgeous, immortal hero who strides into her life and asks for help. If he can’t find the thief who’s stolen his soul, he only has weeks to live.  As tough as she is, Ashe has a soft spot for people in trouble. Of course she squeezes Reynard into her overloaded schedule; the man is just too handsome to die. If heroes are measured by the number of people who rely on them, mothers definitely rule the top one hundred. I remember mine keeping the family going in the face of some pretty overwhelming odds. Did your mother, sister, aunt or grandmother do something that made her a heroine in your eyes?

One commenter will win a copy of UNCHAINED.
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Just because she’s officially retired from the monster-hunting biz, that doesn’t mean Ashe won’t help those with monster problems ... check out her do-it-yourself monster removal advice.

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