I’ll admit, I like my shifters alpha. Dark, a little
dominating, protective of their mates, defenders of their clans….
And if he shifts to a black panther? Sign me up!
Enter Jace Jones.
When I started Saving Jace (#4, Fada Shapeshifters), I’d already written four novels in the Fada Shapeshifter Series—a prequel and three books set in the Rock Run Clan. But those books featured water shapeshifters like dolphins and sharks.
So Jace was my first big cat. From the start, he was a
green-eyed black panther. One of the first things I discovered was that black
panthers are a color variant of any Panthera species. In Asia and Africa, black panthers are
leopards, and in the Americas, they’re jaguars.
 |
| Jace Jones, my black panther shifter |
Since my books are set mainly in North America, I made Jace a jaguar. Here’s Evie's first sight of him as his cat in Saving Jace.
A little background: Earlier in the evening, Evie Morningstar
and her teenage brother found Jace (in his human form) bleeding out from a fae assassin's attack. They carried him inside and cleaned up his wound. Ill and feverish, he passed out on their couch.
Evie
jerked awake to see Jace thrashing about on the couch.
She
fumbled for the switch on the lamp next to the chair. It came on and he hissed,
an angry cat-sound.
She
narrowed her eyes against the light, trying to see him. “Jace? You all right?”
He
ignored her to chug water from the pitcher on the table and then fumbled with
the zipper of his pants.
She
rose to her feet. “Jace? What are you doing?”
His
gaze swung to her and she took a step back. His eyes were that strange bright
green again. His growl raised fine hairs all over her body.
“Okay.”
She raised a palm. “Take it easy.”
He
snarled and dragged off the pants. Bright bits of color danced over his
skin—and then a huge black panther was crouched on her couch.
The jaguar is the largest cat found in the Americas, with black jaguars making about 6 percent of the total. These badass, elusive cats live in the densest part
of jungles and forests where there is the least sunlight.
So
of course, the next time Evie sees Jace he’s in the shadows—and very much in protective
alpha mode, because he’s afraid that in saving him, she’s brought trouble on
herself.
Someone was watching her.
Evie gripped her keys and glanced around.
Across the alley, a pair of luminous green eyes stared at her
unblinkingly from the shadows.
Her heart kicked into a gallop. “Jace? Is that you?”
Please let it be him.
He stepped forward. She blew out a breath. It was Jace.
He crossed the alley in a few long, loose strides. An
atavistic tremor went down her spine. This was the real Jace—and he was nothing
like the injured, feverish victim of last week.
No, this man was dark. Powerful. Raw-boned.
A panther in a T-shirt and jeans.
She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, because damn
it, she’d saved the man’s life. She refused to let him spook her.
He stopped a few feet away. “Hello, Evie.”
He was bigger than she remembered, but then, last week he’d
been hunched over nursing his injuries. Now she realized he was a good half
foot taller than her with the lean, hard build of a soldier. Another shiver
went down her spine—but this one had nothing to do with fear.
I have to say, writing a black panther
shifter was so much fun, and I loved the chemistry between Jace and Evie! I was
thrilled when Saving Jace was chosen as Best Shifter Novel of 2018 in
the Paranormal Romance Guild’s Reviewer’s Choice Awards. The book also received a silver medal in the RONE Awards.
 |
| Saving Jace (#4, Fada Shapeshifters) |
Get Saving Jace for free right
now on Amazon, iBooks, Kobo and Barnes & Noble. All books in the Fada Shapeshifter Series are standalone with a happily-ever-after for the main characters, although the people, clans, and stories are interrelated.
Hugs
and enjoy the read!
—Rebecca
About the Author
Rebecca Rivard is a USA
Today bestselling author of paranormal romance. Her Fada Shapeshifter
Series featuring shifters and fae has received numerous awards, including Best
Shifter Series of 2018 (Paranormal Romance Guild’s Reviewer's Choice Awards). She
also writes steamy vampire romances in Michelle Fox’s Blood Courtesans Series.
For more information or to
sign up for Rebecca's newsletter, go to: https://rebeccarivard.com/