Title: Locke & Co.
Author: E.J. Tett
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 07/08/2025
Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex
Pairing: Female/Female
Length: 78500
Genre: Paranormal, Lit/genre, paranormal, urban fantasy, lesbian, immortal, tree spirit, leprechaun, werewolf, angel, incubus, addiction, magic user
Add to Goodreads
Description
Immortal Allery Locke has been tasked with finding the key that opens doors to other dimensions. Find it and hand it over to the wardens for destruction. There’s only one problem—the key is a woman. Whenever the key—Deni—opens a door, it allows monsters, demons, and all manner of unsavoury supernaturals to cross over and wreak havoc. Allery must keep Deni from falling into the wrong hands, because if rogue wardens get hold of her, it will cause an interdimensional war. Can Allery make the impossible decision? Kill her lover, or risk the end of the world.Excerpt
Locke & Co.
E.J. Tett © 2025
All Rights Reserved
There is no jolt. Or shock. Or sudden, great intake of breath. Your eyes don’t snap open. This is no rebirth. It’s like waking up but not remembering the moment you were no longer asleep. You will hurt, depending on how you went, and you will scar, but you will live again. And that’s all that matters.
The whistle woke Allery from death, but it was the feeling of being smothered that made her heart hammer. She couldn’t move—the new-shower-curtain smell of the body bag seemed like the only thing between her and six foot of earth pressing down around her. No, it wouldn’t be six foot; they must’ve almost dug her out for her to have heard their signal. God, they couldn’t get to her quick enough.
Don’t panic. Don’t panic.
The material moved against her mouth when she breathed, so she clamped her lips together and exhaled hard through her nose instead. She didn’t dare open her eyes. She reminded herself she wouldn’t be trapped underground for eternity. They were coming. There was nothing for her to panic about.
She swallowed, grimacing at the dryness of her throat. Hanging was not a pleasant way to go but it had been a necessity. The prison guards had told her the only way she’d leave would be in a body bag and she’d smiled.
She longed to be able to bend her knees and lift her arms above her head but if she moved even an inch the earth moved with her, filling the wiggle room.
It wasn’t quite silent underground; if she strained her ears, she could hear a faint scratching of metal against rocks and a thumping of soil.
They were digging her up. They’d know not to keep jabbing into the ground like that, wouldn’t they? She didn’t know how much having a spade in the guts would hurt and she didn’t like to hazard a guess. The noises grew louder, and she could hear voices above.
“…hurry up!” Esme, impatient as usual.
“Well, if you put your back into it…” She couldn’t work out if that was Driscoll or Nick. Driscoll, probably. Nick would be on lookout, listening to the trees, checking for the guards.
The pressure eased on her chest as the soil lifted and she thrashed about to free herself. She opened her eyes though she could see nothing.
“Got her.” Esme’s voice again. “Quick, help her.”
Somebody unzipped the body bag and she got herself out of it as fast as she could. Esme grabbed her arms and pulled her out of the grave. The early evening gloom welcomed her back to the land of the living, and she quickly relaxed—the adrenaline dropping away left her shivering and aware of the fact she needed a wee.
She stood on the ground beside the open grave and brushed dirt from her grey prison uniform. Esme leaned on her shovel, a big grin on her pretty face. Driscoll thrust out his hand.
“Good to have you back, Al,” he said.
“I’m glad to be out of that place,” she replied, taking his hand.
“Did you get the information?”
She smiled. “Of course.” Driscoll didn’t ask for it. It wasn’t safe for anyone else to know; the wardens were also looking for the key, and if she had managed to find out about it, they would, too. Eventually.
The forest was full of unmarked graves; rectangles of fresh dirt nearby the only clues that anybody had been buried there at all. Who cared about a bunch of dead criminals? Allery frowned but Driscoll shoved his spade into the pile of earth and began filling the hole she’d climbed out of, stirring her into action. She took the shovel from Esme and helped him.
“Least they didn’t cut you open to find out how you died,” Driscoll commented.
Allery could still feel the rope burn around her neck. She smiled a little but didn’t reply. After they’d patted the ground flat, she hefted the spade over her shoulder, aware they might have to bolt at any moment.
“So, are we going after it now?” Esme asked.
Allery arched her back and stretched her neck, making the bones click. “I’ve just come back to life after spending far too long locked up,” she said. “It can wait one more day.”
“I’m sure it can,” Driscoll agreed, scratching his moustache with a chewed fingernail. “For now, how about we head home and have a little celebratory drink. The sooner we’re away from here, the better. Nick! Get your arse over here.”
It was always hard to pull Nick away from the trees once he was connected. He stood, palms to the trunk of a sycamore, his forehead pressed lightly against the bark, and Esme went to him, placed a hand on his shoulder, and put her lips to his ear. Allery dropped her gaze with a smile, imagining exactly what Esme would’ve said to get his attention.
“Jealous?” Driscoll teased, giving her a nudge with his elbow.
“Let’s go and get that drink,” she replied, hooking her arm through his. “And get the hell away from this place.” She took one last look at the grey walls of the prison peeking through the trees before turning away.
Purchase
NineStar Press | Books2Read
Meet the Author
E.J. Tett has been writing stories since primary school, some of which still survive in notebooks in her dad’s attic, and wanted to be an author as soon as she realised it was a possible career choice and “pony” and “ninja” weren’t viable options.
Her first short story, Club Freak, about an anonymous woman’s determination to find her husband’s killer, was published by Park Publications’ Debut magazine in May 2009. Since then, she has gone on to write many short stories and poems for various small presses and has achieved an honourable mention in the 2011 Writers of the Future competition. In 2014, writing as Emma Jane, she signed her first publishing contracts for not one, but two novels: Otherworld, formerly published by Torquere Press, and Shuttered, by Dreamspinner Press. She also has two novels published by NineStar Press, one a space opera and the other a contemporary romance. Learn more on her Website.
Giveaway
One lucky winner will receive a $50.00 NineStar Press Gift Code!
No comments:
Post a Comment