WIP Wednesday, Bryn Donovan's blog

Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another WIP Wednesday! On the first Wednesday of every month, I share a segment of something I’m working on, and invite you to do the same.

This is one of my favorite things, and I always look forward to it. I love seeing what people are writing!

Like every month, let me stress that this is a critique-free zone! We’re usually posting work that’s not ready for critique yet, and besides, I want this to be a safe space for people who are shy about putting their work out there. However, a kind word is always welcome.

I’m sharing a short segment from The Equinox Stone, the sequel to my book The Phoenix Codex, which is coming out this fall.

Tristan, a warrior, has just gotten his memories back with the help of Val, an empath he’s been friends with for most of his life. While he had amnesia, he fell hard for her, and now he’s very confused.

 

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The tide had risen around them where they knelt on the sand, sloshing up to his waist. He scrambled to his feet and helped her do the same, and then wrapped his arms around her, overwhelmed with gratitude and concern. “Oh my God. Are you all right?”

Against his chest, she nodded. “Tired.”

“I know everything. I remember everything.” His voice caught, the emotion taking him off guard. “You’re all wet,” he said to her, suddenly realizing it. “I’m sorry. I can’t thank you… I’m babbling.”

“It was so much at once.” She pulled away from him. “Dr. Holst said it would take days, even weeks, for the drug to kick in. He’s going to be shocked.”

“I don’t think it was just the injection.”

“What else could it be?” she asked.

“Smells.” The moonlight was bright enough that he could see her frown. “I almost remembered something, before, from the smell of your hair. You’d just washed it.”

“The shampoo and conditioner here,” Val said. “It’s the same kind they’ve always had at Anantara. But it’s probably been years since you smelled it.”

“It was that, and the smell of the ocean. And the sound of the waves, and the way the moon was over the dock… we used to walk this way, when we were kids.”

“Several triggers at once. It makes sense.” She shook her head. “I thought you’d never get yourself back. I shouldn’t have given up hope.” Gratitude filled her voice.

He was the grateful one. “It was you. You gave me back to myself.” He moved closer to kiss her and then stopped himself, confusion taking hold of his mind. It seemed like both the natural and the wrong thing to do.

She took his hand. “We should walk back.”

He’d been with Val. The one who’d been like a little sister, the one he’d sometimes treated like a pest, although he would’ve defended her with his life… And he’d been intimate with her.

This was wrong, so wrong. He fought the urge to pull his hand away from hers. They walked in silence, the only sounds the slapping of the waves and the barely audible crunch of their feet in the sand.

It wasn’t as though he didn’t like her, of course. He’d loved her for years… but not in that way.

Well. Now and then, when he’d been alone, he’d thought of her like that, in the most secret and illogical part of his brain. But it had never even crossed his mind when he was actually around her. They were old friends, practically family. That was just how it was.

Or how he’d thought it was. The revelation that for a long time, Val had seen him in a romantic way—a sexual way—stunned him.

His mind flickered back to the way she’d welcomed his touch and trembled beneath it. Her exquisite sensitivity had entranced him.

No. The idea of them being a couple made no sense whatsoever. Tristan didn’t date people seriously. He had fun, and he tried to make sure the other person had fun, too. Val was kind and gentle, terribly vulnerable… and terribly powerful. It would take a wise man to give her everything she needed.

Very simply, he wasn’t good enough for her.

 

WIP Wednesday #best new paranormal romance series 2017 #Bryn Donovan

 

Post a little of what you’re working on below in the comments section! If you’ve been wanting to do it, but you’ve been too nervous, now is as good a time as any. And whether you feel like sharing or not, thank you so much for stopping by. I hope August is a great writing month for you!

 

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