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We know how it is. You spend your money and your time on a new series because you love the cover, or the reviews are awesome, or whatever but it’s just not for you. It happens. No single book is going to appeal to every reader. We get it. Which is one reason we’ve made the first book in Wendy Sparrow’s Servants of Fate series, Stealing Time<\/em>, totally free. It’s our way of introducing you to the world, the characters and Wendy’s writing style without requiring you to spend a single dime. We can’t do anything about that time investment thing though… if only we knew a son of Father Time \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n Here’s an idea, read the first chapter below. That will give you an idea as to whether this book is a good fit for you even before you spend the time to download it.<\/p>\n Enjoy!<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.19.5″ src=”http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Stealing-Time.png” align=”center” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.5″]<\/p>\n Wendy Sparrow<\/p>\n CHAPTER ONE<\/p>\n Hannah Lyons was living a charmed life\u2014she\u2019d escaped death thirty-seven times in the last three hundred and fifty-seven days. But Time was about to catch up to her\u2014Time or, in German, Zeit, was nearly upon her\u2026 and about to give Hannah back her scarf which she\u2019d dropped nearly as many times as he\u2019d saved her life.<\/p>\n Zeit snapped his fingers as he approached the sweet brunette stumbling through the snow. All around him, shoppers froze, and the air went still. Snow hung in place like a fog. Hannah shouldn\u2019t be out on the streets on the day before Christmas. It was too busy. Too crowded. Hell, it was too easy\u2014she made it easier to kill her than to keep her alive on days like this.<\/p>\n He could feel the pull of the Fates as they attempted, once again, to steal her from him. His beautiful conundrum was standing too close to the curb again and about to hit a patch of ice. In another fifteen seconds of mortal\u2019s time, she\u2019d have slipped on the ice, as that woman carrying the terrier brushed by, knocking Hannah out in front of the snow plow.<\/p>\n Messy.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re getting gruesome,\u201d Zeit called to the Fates.<\/p>\n He stopped in front of the pink-cheeked mortal.<\/p>\n \u201cThirty-eight times now, Hannah.\u201d Thirty-eight times he\u2019d stopped the clock for her.<\/p>\n Snow clung to her eyelashes, and her red lips were parted, probably in shock that she\u2019d, once again, dropped her favorite scarf. Her hand was poised at her neck, feeling for the crimson scarf he held in his hand.<\/p>\n She was relatively short with probably average features. He\u2019d never really tried to tell mortals apart until he\u2019d met Hannah. Chances were, few of the people she saw today would think she was anything out of the ordinary. She was ordinary and then she also wasn\u2019t. Not to him. To him, she was as different and as delicate as a snowflake and just as beautiful. It was irritating as hell.<\/p>\n He unwound the scarf from his fist as he shook his head. \u201cYou\u2019re going to catch your death.\u201d Zeit draped the scarf around her neck. She liked it wrapped once and then one end tossed over her back and the other end over the same shoulder in front. \u201cAlthough possibly not if I get to you first.\u201d<\/p>\n He lifted her up by grabbing her waist\u2014which put her mouth in close proximity to his\u2014something he could ignore, if he concentrated. Her soft, shoulder-length hair brushed his lips, and he blew it out of the way as he carried her farther away from the curb and the lady with the yappy dog. He\u2019d moved her quite a lot this last year, sometimes for great distances. She was seeing a mortal doctor about that\u2014if only she knew that was the least of her worries. She\u2019d gone to see Hoover Dam and nearly caused a bloodbath.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got a week,\u201d he told her, setting her down on her feet like a giant posed doll. She could be a doll\u2014with her cheeks rosy like this, and her eyes glassy from the bite of the cold air.<\/p>\n One more week should be long enough to get her out of his system, and that was what he was going to do. No more slipping into the shadows of her life. He\u2019d see what made her so singular and beautiful\u2014reason out why she\u2019d captivated him, and then on New Year\u2019s Eve, at midnight, he\u2019d steal the rest of her hours as he\u2019d been assigned to do almost a year ago.<\/p>\n He brushed a finger along her cheek, even as he felt the push of hours. They shoved at his back like a strong gust of wind. Time wanted to march on. But he was master here. For now. Though that might end if he didn\u2019t kill Hannah this time. The year end\u2019s sacrifice demanded a lifetime and, last year, fortune had favored him with that heart attack a few feet from his Hannah as she\u2019d been counting down the minutes at the ski lodge.<\/p>\n The Fates had not been amused by the substitution. Snippy old bats.<\/p>\n He traced her jaw. She did look like a doll. Even those puffy red lips of hers belonged on a porcelain figurine. His gaze shifted from mortal to mortal around her. There had to be someone else more interesting and less\u2026 marked for death. But no. Just Hannah. The others slipped from his thoughts as he looked away\u2014their features indistinct memories of noses, eyes, lips and so on, whereas he could spot Hannah a mile away from behind.<\/p>\n Admittedly, she did look good from behind.<\/p>\n Zeit stared for one last mortal minute into those dark brown eyes of hers. This was insane. He was insane.<\/p>\n And yet\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cStay out of trouble, Hannah.\u201d He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear\u2014he liked her ears. Every day, there was more and more about her he liked. It was a shame. A damn shame.<\/p>\n In a general sense, time was not on her side but today, Time definitely was, in fact he wanted to be wrapped all around her. But, in eight days, he\u2019d kill her at midnight and the Fates would let another year go by without damning everyone\u2019s luck.<\/p>\n He stepped back from her and, after one last shake of his head, walked away and snapped his fingers again.<\/p>\n It was impossible not to glance back over his shoulder\u2014she had that much of a hold on him.<\/p>\n Her gaze met his. She narrowed her eyes.<\/p>\n Zeit stared back. He was memorable and they\u2019d bumped into each other one too many times for her to believe it to be a coincidence. Nodding, he winked at her before turning and going on his way, leaving a very irate Hannah swearing as she wrestled with why she was hopping from location to location.<\/p>\n It couldn\u2019t be helped, not if he was going to keep her alive long enough to steal her life.<\/p>\n ~*~<\/p>\n \u201cJeanie, you think I\u2019m crazy, don\u2019t you?\u201d Honestly, if she didn\u2019t, she might be the only one.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, there was this guy\u2014wait, a hot guy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does that matter?\u201d Seriously, the whole thing was freaky. Hannah stabbed her straw into her vanilla shake. Why on earth had she gotten a milkshake when it was a million below zero outside?<\/p>\n \u201cIt matters.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, he was hot. He had this carnally intense thing going for him, and he looked like you\u2019d expect him to fight vampires. He was dressed in a black trench coat over all black clothes. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Really tall. A scary sort of hot.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI like that sort of hot. Did he have stakes for killing vampires?\u201d<\/p>\n Hannah stopped jabbing her milkshake to give her friend a flat glare of death.<\/p>\n \u201cOkay, fine\u2026 joking. But he was staring at you when you found yourself in a different spot?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe wasn\u2019t there a second before, and I wasn\u2019t there. I was near the curb, and there was this woman carrying a tiny dog, coming straight at me. And then I was next to the window with my scarf back around my neck and him there. He winked at me before walking off. And that\u2019s not the first time he\u2019s been around lately with my\u2026 episodes.\u201d Outside of the doctors, Jeanie was the only one who knew about how bad this was getting.<\/p>\n Jeanie sipped the steaming hot chocolate she\u2019d bought. Hot chocolate was so much smarter. Plus, it was the day before Christmas and so the last day she was allowed to have candy cane hot chocolate. What had she been thinking? Ugh. Her life was a series of bad choices lately.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, at least he returned your scarf,\u201d Jeanie said finally.<\/p>\n Hannah groaned and dropped her head onto the wrought iron table in the mall food court. The food court d\u00e9cor was meant to convince them they were outside, somewhere tropical, not in Idaho in December. Lush greenery hung all around, spruced up with an occasional red ribbon or white twinkling lights. Too-small caf\u00e9 tables were wedged tightly together so all of Boise could be in the mall today doing last minute shopping or supporting their best friends who were doing last minute shopping.<\/p>\n A toddler wearing a plush velvet dress screamed her way by them, carried by a mother who looked on the verge of running as if the child was a live grenade. The little girl screeched at the mall stand-in Santa like he was Satan.<\/p>\n People around shifted and looked away.<\/p>\n Even Jeanie said, \u201cTough break, kid. At least you got a candy cane.\u201d<\/p>\n Not Hannah. Hannah sighed\u2026 pathetically. Her heart twinged a bit to go with it. Kids. Families. Jeanie, her last remaining unmarried friend, was getting married on Valentine\u2019s Day. \u201cSometimes I feel like time is getting away from me. Like the clock is ticking too fast.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeanie reached out and ruffled Hannah\u2019s hair. \u201cUh oh. I just got vanilla shake in your hair or hair in your shake, depending on how you want to look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n Hannah groaned again as Jeanie wiped the milkshake off the tips of her hair with a napkin. This was par for her life. A few days ago, her heel had broken off, and she\u2019d nearly catapulted down an open manhole, but then she\u2019d come to her senses on the other side of the manhole with her heel in her hand\u2014and she\u2019d seen a black trench coat walking away. \u201cI swear this is not my year. First these weird absence seizures and then\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what they\u2019ve decided?\u201d her friend interrupted. \u201cThe doctors decided they\u2019re seizures?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I think everyone is on the fence as to whether it\u2019s something medical like that\u2026 or I\u2019m genuinely off my rocker. They said it\u2019s rare to have an onset of seizures in adulthood and that walking really far is unlikely, but I\u2019ll have more testing after the holidays are over. Another EEG. Another MRI. Something is making me forget bits of time, but everything keeps coming back clean. I\u2019ve never been so irritated to have medical science proving I\u2019m fine. The neurologist brought up absence seizures and to watch for a consistent trigger. Though, sometimes these have been so bizarre it\u2019s hard to believe there\u2019s anything consistent. That time when we went to visit Hoover Dam was freaking odd. Even you have to admit that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I\u2019m not really sure why or how or what happened there. I went to the bathroom\u2014and I wasn\u2019t in there that long, but fifteen minutes later, you\u2019re calling me from a couple miles away like you\u2019d hitched a ride the second I\u2019d gone inside. Will seizures make you do crazy things like that? Maybe you\u2019re insane, and there\u2019s also something else wrong with you.\u201d<\/p>\n Well that made her feel better. Being both crazy and having a medical condition would fit the pattern of her life this year. She wanted to bang her head against the table, but she settled for closing her eyes and pretending it was after Christmas.<\/p>\n Christmas was a heinous time of year. It was a time for families.<\/p>\n \u201cI have no idea what caused that. I nearly checked myself into a psych ward after that. I\u2019m never going back to Hoover Dam.\u201d Hannah cleared her throat as she lifted her head, opening her eyes. \u201cActually, seizures are the least scary things they mentioned. They brought up a few really freaky things, but they want a family history.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeanie winced as she reached across and smoothed Hannah\u2019s hair down. \u201cI didn\u2019t get all the shake out. Did you tell them good luck with that?\u201d<\/p>\n Hannah bit her lip. \u201cI don\u2019t know. If this doesn\u2019t stop, and all the new tests show up clean too, I might hunt down my mom. She was in a commune in New Mexico, last time I knew, trying to find herself. If she can\u2019t even find herself, I don\u2019t know how she\u2019d track down the guy she slept with when she was stoned more two dozen years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n It was aggravating\u2014she might have a father out there who would have liked being a father if he\u2019d known a random hook-up had created her.<\/p>\n Hannah stabbed her straw into her shake some more. It wasn\u2019t nearly as appetizing now that her hair had been in it. \u201cAnd my grandparents disowned her so she won\u2019t talk about them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t imagine not being smothered by a monstrous-sized family. My mom insisted I go to some second cousin\u2019s baby shower last week\u2014and I\u2019m not entirely sure I am related to that person. Mom might\u2019ve just wanted me to start thinking about having kids, and she found a random person to reinforce it.\u201d Jeanie shuddered. \u201cI\u2019m soooo not ready to have kids. What are you doing for Christmas?\u201d<\/p>\n Hannah wrinkled up her nose. Even the word annoyed her. \u201cI\u2019m doing the same thing as last year\u2026 though, really, my trouble all started when that guy dropped dead beside me at midnight on New Year\u2019s Eve.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re going back to that same lodge? Why? You don\u2019t even ski.\u201d<\/p>\n Hannah shrugged. It was hard to put into words, but the place was like being in a family, without having to participate and with none of the drama.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe your mysterious vampire hunter will follow you up there, and you can give him a place to hammer his\u2026 wait, never mind, there are kids around. Pretend I didn\u2019t say that.\u201d They both glanced around at the people who were practically sitting on their laps\u2014it was so crowded.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s weird that I keep seeing him. He\u2019s not there before I lose time and then he is\u2026 and he\u2019s always walking away. The doctors mentioned that some people get like auras or something. Maybe he\u2019s my brain\u2019s gift to make up for dropping the ball.\u201d Here you go, Hannah, have this hot stud of a hallucination.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if you\u2019re crazy, maybe he\u2019s the sexy version of the white rabbit,\u201d Jeanie said, getting up. \u201cNext time, you can say, \u2018Hey, baby, why don\u2019t you show me your Wonderland?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n All around them, conversation stopped, and several parents looked appalled. Hannah cheeks heated-up\u2014the first time they\u2019d been warm all day.<\/p>\n \u201cMerry Christmas!\u201d Jeanie said with a grin. Then, she turned back to Hannah. \u201cOne more store and then I\u2019m off to drag Ken to my parents\u2019 house, and you\u2019re off to play ski bunny with a black jackrabbit.\u201d<\/p>\n Or just sit in front of a warm fire and read a book until January 1st\u2026 when the world went back to normal…<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.5″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Stealing Time Cover 200 x 300″ saved_tabs=”all” src=”http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/StealingTimeCover-200×300.jpg” alt=”Stealing Time” title_text=”Stealing Time by Wendy Sparrow” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”http:\/\/www.penandkinkpub.com\/home\/books\/servants-of-fate\/stealing-time\/” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”center” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_module=”3606″ animation_style=”none” animation_duration=”1000ms” animation_intensity_slide=”50%” show_bottom_space=”on” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.5″]<\/p>\n Kobo<\/a><\/p>\nStealing Time<\/h2>\n
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