At the Beach with the Beckett Brothers & Dana Marie Bell

Dana Marie BellAs one of the #CMCon16 featured bloggers, I get to have a little fun with a few of the fabulous authors who will be hitting the beach for Coastal Magic 2016 by showcasing their many stories. Last year I interviewed four of the the CMC15 authors, but this year I’m changing it up. I came up with this really fun idea to have the authors introduce us to their worlds by sending their characters to the beach.

Quite a few of the authors took me up on it and today Dana Marie Bell is taking us to the beach with the Beckett Brothers, from her Heart’s Desire series – Shadow of the Wolf, Hecate’s Own, The Wizard King, and the newly released Warlock Unbound.
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A Day At the Beach

DMBell-HD04.Warlock UnboundDaniel Beckett smiled as his mate dipped her toes in the water and squealed. “Cold?”

“Oh my God.” Kerry glared at him. “Why did we decide to go to the frickin’ beach in February?”

He shrugged. “Because you wanted to?”

She hugged her sweater more tightly around her. “At least we’re in Florida and not in the Hamptons, like Gareth wanted.” She shivered.

“Hey, I wanted to light fires and roast marshmallows,” Gareth protested. As the eldest, he usually got his way, but the women had ganged up on him and insisted on going to Florida for their vacation. “You wanted to go swimming, remember?”

Genevieve, Gareth’s petite blond mate and the queen consort of all wizard-kind, snorted. “Swimming. In February. Who does that?”

“The hotel said it had a heated pool,” Kerry mumbled. “And don’t give me that look. You all brought swimsuits, didn’t you?”

Zach, the youngest, was walking hand in hand with his mate, Johra. He was the youngest, and also the only Beckett to be born a witch. “I think this is nice. It’s chilly, but not too cold. We can get primo seafood here, and the sunrises are awesome.”

“It’s been in the mid-sixties all week,” Chris added. He, too, was hand-in-hand with his mate, Lana. The two were the first to be mated, and were still lovey-dovey with each other. “Much better than New York.”

“Even better, none of your furry asses have shredded the sheets yet,” Lana added.

Daniel laughed. “Not yet, anyway.” He winked at Kerry, who blushed furiously. “Not for lack of trying either.”

It was nice to laugh about being the only magical family that was also werewolves. They’d been thought a myth once upon a time, but thanks to a curse and some serious magical hoo-doo, their ancestors had come to an accord with the beasts that lived inside the Beckett males. Now the wolves followed the first-born son’s line, which meant that Gareth would be the one to pop out little fuzzy babies. Or Gen would. He shuddered at the image of Gareth giving birth.

Talk about awkward. Now he needed some brain bleach to get that image out of his head. Thinking of his naked brother squatting and shouting for morphine really wasn’t something he wanted stuck in his head for life.

“Do I want to know, or should I let this one go?” Kerry was staring up at him and walking backwards, her lips slowly curling up in a smile.

“Oh, please. Let this one go.” He shook his head, hoping the image would just fall out of one of his ears. “Trust me on this.”

She laughed. “Now I really want to know.”

“Nope. Not gonna tell you.” He spun around and began walking backwards with her. “Chris?”

“Hmm?” Chris was keeping most of his attention on Lana, who was about six months pregnant. They’d had to get her doctor’s permission to fly to Florida, but she’d sailed through all her tests so far. From what Daniel could tell, each of them had put a protection spell on the little tyke. He was probably better protected than the freaking President.

“You guys finally decided to move?” Gareth had been trying to keep the family together, and it looked like he’d succeeded. If Chris and Lana joined them, they’d be the last of the family to make the move. Even Zach now kept a suite of rooms at the hotel that housed the wizard king and his family. He and Johra travelled back and forth between New York and Cleveland (where the witch court was based) so often they’d earned enough frequent flyer miles to qualify for a trip to Antarctica. Round trip.

“Yeah. Our work is mostly online anyway, so Dad’s going to continue to run Black Wolf Graphics, and I’ll continue as lead designer.” Chris smiled shyly. “Besides, Lana’s mother will be taking over the Evans clan, so it will be a while before we have to move back to Philadelphia, if ever.”

“Excellent.” Daniel was glad all of his brothers would be nearby.

“And I want all of baby Padma’s uncles and aunts around while she grows up.” Zach was grinning at his mate, who’d carefully bent over to pick up a sea shell.

“It’s a girl?” Kerry was grinning from ear to ear, practically bouncing in place.

“We found out just before we came out here.” Zach was actually blushing. “I’m going to have a little girl.”

“Congrats, bro!” Daniel hugged Zach hard.

“I wonder if she’ll glow?” Gareth stared at Jo’s belly.

“I wonder if she’ll do terrible, horrible things to your incense burner,” Chris laughed evilly.

“That was an accident!” Zach threw his hands up in the air. “The talcum powder wasn’t supposed to do that.”

“It was creepy as hell.” Chris shuddered.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Zach muttered.

“It had a mouth.” Gareth gagged.

“I think it called me Mommy,” Chris added, sounding horrified.

Daniel was laughing. “It took three days for the spell to subside.”

“Then I had to clean the gunk out that was left behind.” Chris poked Zach in the shoulder. “Asshole.”

“Butt munch.” Zach poked Chris back.

“Boys,” Gareth warned.

Daniel still hadn’t figured out how his oldest brother had managed to pick up their mother’s warning tone so perfectly, but it stopped the potential fight between Chris and Zach in an instant. “It’s going to be so much fun living together.” He cackled evilly. “I can’t wait to see how this turns out.”

“I think I ate sand.” Kerry was spitting something out, looking disgusted.

“My feet hurt.” Johra waddled over to Zach and leaned against him. “Time to go back?”

“Time to go back.” Zach put his arm around his mate. “How do you feel about fish for lunch?”

“Not pizza?” Gen, quiet as usual, was smiling as she walked hand in hand with her mate.

Lana raised her hand. “I could go for a meatball sub.”

“There’s that place over by the Starbucks,” Kerry added.

“Trust Kerry to know where the closest Starbucks is,” Gareth laughed.

“We didn’t even build a sand castle,” Daniel pouted.

“Tomorrow, big guy.” Kerry rubbed her hands together. “I hear a mocha latte frap calling my name.”

And whatever his mate wanted, she got. “Meatball sub and highly caloric caffeine it is.”

“I hope they sell fish sandwiches,” Zach sighed.

“Which one of you is pregnant again? I thought Jo was supposed to have the cravings.” Chris ducked as Zach swung at him.

“Asshole.”

“Butt munch.”

Family. You had to love them. Because the alternative was a long stint in jail with a butt-buddy named Big Joe.
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Meet Dana Marie Bell!

Dana Marie Bell wrote her first short story when she was thirteen years old. She’s now a USA Today best-selling author with Samhain Publishing and Carina Press.

Dana lives with her soul-mate and husband Dusty, their two maniacal children, two evil. ice-cream stealing cats and two dogs who don’t understand the meaning of “personal space”. She’s been heard to describe herself as “vertically challenged” and “a lapsed brunette.” Dana also suffers from ankylosing spondylitis (a progressive inflammatory arthritis of the spine) as well as fibromyalgia, and can be seen walking with a cane or tooling around in her mobility scooter. Her condition was the inspiration for Belle’s hip injury in Steel Beauty.

DMBell-HS01.Bear NecessitiesContact Info: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | GoodReads | Amazon | Pinterest | Tumblr | Newsletter

Want to purchase Dana Marie’s novels?
Heart’s Desire

  1. Shadow of the Wolf
  2. Hecate’s Own
  3. The Wizard King
  4. Warlock Unbound

The Wallflower (Halle Pumas #1)
Bear Necessities (Halle Shifters #1)
Dare to Believe (Gray Court #1)
Very Much Alive (True Destiny #1)
Poconos Pack
Blood of the Maple (Maggie’s Grove #1)
The Nephilim

CMC16

Don’t miss your chance to meet over 50 fabulous urban fantasy, paranormal, and romance authors at Coastal Magic next February! This super casual book-lover weekend happens on Daytona Beach, and gives everyone the chance to hang out with fellow readers and amazing storytellers.

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About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.