I'm Back, Baby!!

Haha! So those of you who are new to the whole Mireille Chester experience are looking at this very naked blog and thinking, back? Was she ever here? Well, as a matter of fact, I was. Not here, specifically, but believe it or not, I used to run a fairly successful blog. Unfortunately, due to the stalkerish tendencies of a crazy person, I felt I needed to become someone else.  Well, months later, I've come to realize that I miss being myself, I miss all the people I'd come to know, and that as my other self, I get writer's block from hell.  Don't ask why, I don't know.
Those of you who know me are going, "She's doing a giveaway!!"
Yep.
I am.
And what better way to kick off my return to myself than to giveaway a signed set of series that started it all, The Chosen One Trilogy.

Read the excerpt from Crossover, the first book of the three, then go enter the giveaway! It's international, of course!


“This can’t be real,” I whispered.
“I’m so sorry.”  His voice was quiet.  He held my face gently in his hands.  “Are you ok?”
I gazed into his eyes and nodded weakly.  We stayed like that for a minute, looking at each other.  He looked away first and turned his focus to Dodge.
“Do you think?” he asked.
I jumped.  “I didn’t say anything.”
He looked back down at me and was quiet for a moment.  “Alright.  Let’s go.”
“What?  Where?” I started to panic.  Coming here had definitely been a bad idea.
“I’ll explain on the way.”  He took my hand and started leading me to Dodge.
“Wait!  I...I have to get home.  My mom and dad will think something happened to me!”
I looked at my watch and then my phone.  Ten o’clock.  AM.  “What’s going on!”  I pulled my hand free of his and stopped walking.
He kept walking towards Dodge.  “She doesn’t want to go.  I can’t make her.”  He stuffed my sweater back into my saddlebags and saddled him for me.  He went back to the blanket and rolled it up before tying it where it belonged.  His eyes widened and he looked at Dodge.  “Yes, those are my orders.”
The surprised look turned into a glare.  “No.  I can’t.”
There was a pause.  “I don’t know why.”  He shrugged.
I noticed that his shoulder was bleeding.  “You should put some pressure on your shoulder,” I mumbled.
Jasper turned to look at me then back down at his shoulder.  “I’m fine.”  He looked back towards Dodge and nodded.  “Why don’t you get on Dodge and I’ll take you back to the main trail.”  His voice saddened.
“But... I... You...”  The confusion hit me like a ton of bricks.  I sat on the ground and closed my eyes. “Wake up,” I whispered to myself.  “Wake up, wake up.”
I heard him sit in front of me.  “What part of this seems like a dream?” he asked softly and took my hands in his.
“All of it.”
He moved both of my hands to one of his and used the other one to brush some stray hairs back behind my ear.
I slowly opened my eyes.
“Ask away,” he said, keeping his eyes locked on mine.  He frowned. “Wait.”  He turned to Dodge.  “No.  She needs to know.  She’s about to have a meltdown.”
I started to object to that comment and stopped.  He was right.  I was having a meltdown. Here I was, imagining that this most beautiful man was sitting across from me, arguing with my horse about my sanity.  I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry, so I did both.  It came out as a snort.
Jasper seemed about to say something so I held up a finger to stop him.  I started with the obvious.
“Am I awake?”
He smiled. “Yes.”
“Is my watch broken?”
“No.  Things from there don’t work here.”
“Where is here?”
“Quelondain.”
I paused and took a deep breath.  “Did you turn into a tiger?”
“Yes.”
I looked into his eyes, trying to find any indication that he was lying, joking.  “How?”
“I am one of the Namael.  We are able to change our shape.”
“You can turn into anything?”  This was ridiculous.
He shook his head.  “No.  I turn into a tiger.  That’s it.”
“You talk to Dodge.”
“And he talks to me.  I can hear his thoughts.  But I can’t do that with all animals.”
“What is he thinking now?”
“He is not pleased.  It is not my place to explain things to you.  My job is to find you and get you to Queen Melana.”
“How does he know all of this?”
“He is one of your guardians.  He is from here.”
“Does he change into a human?”
Jasper laughed.  “No.  He is just a horse.”
Dodge stomped his foot.  Jasper laughed even harder and looked at him.  “Oh, don’t be so sensitive!  I didn’t mean it like that.”  He turned back to me.  “Anything else?”
I looked into his eyes for a moment, my train of thought starting to slip away.
Dodge and Jasper’s heads snapped up to look at the other side of the clearing.
“A pack!”  Jasper growled.  In a flash he was on his feet.  He picked me up and threw me into the saddle.  “Go!” he yelled at Dodge.  “I’ll meet you in the blue woods!”
Dodge spun and galloped off past the waterfall and deeper into the forest.
I couldn’t think.  Only years of riding was keeping me in the saddle.  I held the reins but didn’t used them.  Dodge seemed to know where he was going.
Behind us, I heard a deep growl and some excited barks.
Dodge ran for all he was worth and soon the sounds of the fight faded away.
I let Dodge have his head and he continued at a speed I had never thought possible of him.
After a while he slowed to an easy lope but kept heading deeper into the woods.   We made it up a hill and I caught my breath at the sight.

a Rafflecopter giveaway