Welcome BJ McCall!

The holidays are a special time of year when friends and families come together. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy, safe and warm holiday. Make memories and hold those you love close.

Merry Christmas to all,

BJ

Holiday Moon by B.J. McCall

Operation Holiday Moon sends Sgt. Sezri Adar and her werewolf team into deep into enemy territory. Wounded, Sezri orders her wolves to leave her behind. On her own, she must avoid capture and make it to the secondary pickup point.

Being the only human on the team has presented special challenges for Major Calix Klatt, especially when his second-in-command is the sexiest female he’s ever encountered. She’s brave and beautiful, but a relationship with Sezri would destroy any cred he’s built with the werewolves.

While Sezri is MIA it’s Calix’s duty is to wait out the holiday and hopes she survives. But the heart doesn’t always listen to the head and putting his career on the line is the least of his fears.

When these two come together the rules of engagement no longer apply.

Holiday Moon Excerpt

“Questions?” Sgt. Sezri Adar asked, concluding the final briefing for operation Holiday Moon. She eyeballed each of the seven highly trained male werewolves of Unit Four of the Paranormal Special Operations Group. Five would accompany her on the mission and the other two would serve as pilot and co-pilot of the chopper. Unit Four had successfully completed more than a dozen missions and had earned the nickname the Moon Soldiers. No one spoke.

She turned toward the only human on the team and the unit leader, Captain Calix Klatt. “Anything you’d like to add, Sir?”

“I think you’ve got it covered.” Although they planned every detail of every mission together, Klatt rarely spoke during briefings.

Satisfied, Sezri punched a key on her laptop, closing the satellite generated topographical map visible on the wall screen. She’d memorized every detail. If anything went wrong, it was her responsibility to get her team to safety. “We’re a go at sixteen hundred.”

Metal folding chairs scraped the scarred floor as her team stood and began to file out of the briefing room. The facilities on the foreign base had seen better days. The housing was rundown, but the plumbing worked and the satellite phone and computer connections were operable. Operation Holiday Moon was a black op and only a handful of people in the central command center, CenCom, knew what was about to go down.

A recent addition to the team, a werewolf with a family, groused about having to work on a holiday. A veteran of the team responded, “They’ll never expect us to light them up on Christmas Eve.”

Sezri agreed. Although difficult on the married members of the team, Captain Klatt had chosen the perfect time to execute the mission.

She turned to Klatt who had waited until the team left the room before rising from his chair. He was tall, a few inches over six feet and as physically fit as the other team members.

He moved closer, his gaze lingering on her face. These wordless pauses were becoming a habit, as if an unseen energy buzzed between them. The room shrank, the air heated and no one existed except the two of them. It was times like this when Sezri was aware of the breath of his shoulders, the rugged handsomeness of his face, the blueness of his eyes and the scent of his pheromones.

Her nose twitched. Her sensual senses instantly on alert, her heart rate leaped. Did Klatt have any idea of the sex attractant he was producing?

“Will CenCom call it off?” she asked, focusing on the mission instead of the way Klatt’s short black hair gleamed like a raven’s wing. Her team was ready, but often central command issued a stand down minutes before a mission, especially those being carried out in political hot zones.

“The op has top priority.”

She closed her laptop and began to gather her belongings. Her laser pointer slipped from her fingers.

Klatt caught it. Their fingers brushed as he handed it to her, his touch sending a frisson of heat through her blood.

“Be careful, Sezri.”

Her breath caught as he turned and walked away. He always called her Adar or addressed her by her rank.

“Sir, is there something you know that I don’t?”

He paused at the door and looked at her. “What I know, you know. When that weapons factory lights up I want you in the chopper, not on the ground.”

He’s worried about me.

“That’s the plan, Sir.”

His gaze swept over her, the heat in them a quick flash. “If things go south, get out of there.”

Then he was gone.

Sezri wanted to go after him, but what would she say. Do you feel it, too? If she became involved with Klatt, every werewolf on the team would howl in protest. They were already ticked off that CenCom had ruled that a human must command every team. A few hellhounds went haywire on one mission and every paranormal unit had been reorganized to prevent another transgression. Klatt was an excellent leader, a decorated soldier, but he wasn’t gifted with any paranormal power other than the ability to make her lycan blood sizzle.

Damn. She didn’t need the complication.

Today, BJ is offering another of her Christmas stories - Sugarplums: Canine Christmas to one lucky reader who answers the question: Should Sezri go after Klatt? Or who comments on her post in some other way. The contest will be open all day until midnight, and the winner will be announced tomorrow on this thread.