Heroes & Villains

One thing I've always loved was when a villain was redeemed. I'm not talking about a guy that just made some bad choices then decided that he'd done wrong. I'm talking real villains. Characters that do things so evil you think there's no redemption for them - only death.

It just so happened that I encountered such a character while writing my Druid's Glen series. The villain was supposed to die. I had it all planned out. However, as I was writing what I thought was the last book in the series, I discovered that this villain, this guy that was so evil he needed to die was going to live.

I wasn't sure how his story would go or even if he truly had a story. Until I started writing it. Its one of my favorite books and Lugus is truly a character that will live with me forever.

Here is a blurb for Highland Fires

A haunted man...

Once a powerful Fae and heir to the throne of the Fae, Lugus has been given a second chance by his brother the Fae king. No longer immortal, Lugas makes his home off the coast of Scotland as he struggles to cope with his foul deeds and memories of a love that was never his.


A hunted woman...

Ahryn has been bound to the realm of Earth by an ancient Celtic slave bracelet that prevents her from using any of her Fae magic. As her hope dwindles, she spots Lugus and knows he is her last chance. Though she knows he was banished from the realm of the Fae and stripped of his immortality, she trusts him with her life...and her heart.

Keep reading for a short excerpt from the upcoming book...



Lugus stood atop the small cliff on his isle and watched the sun crest the horizon, its bright orange glow streaking across the gray sky. It was a daily ritual, one he had done from the moment his mortality had begun.

In the nearly five years since he did the unthinkable and nearly destroyed Earth and the Realm of the Fae, he had pushed his past life and the horrors he committed from his mind.

But there was one thing he couldn’t push away.

The memory of Moira.

A Druid priestess who had powers granted to her by the Fae, a woman so incredibly beautiful that Lugus would have done anything to claim her as his own. Despite his great love for her, he was not her mate. Even when he discovered this, he refused to give her up. It wasn’t until she sacrificed herself for her mate that Lugus saw what true love was.

That was the day his new life, a life of mortality, had begun.

He inhaled the sea air deeply and stretched his arms over his head before he turned and faced the village across the sea. His ventures to the small village were as rare as he could make them.

Somehow the people there knew he wasn’t a mere mortal, that he used to be something more. The ones that did speak to him weren’t what he would call friendly, but they were civil. He had learned who those people were and made sure to only trade with them.

His gaze moved to his small boat that sat waiting for him. He blew out a reluctant breath and started down the slope. The sooner he left, the sooner he could return to his haven, the only place he felt he could be himself.

Lugus chuckled to himself as he climbed in the boat and set the oars to rowing. If only the people that used to fear him could see him now. He once held the power of two realms in his hands, a power so great that he could have ruled all the realms. Yet now he was hesitant to face a small village of people and their whispers and glances behind his back.

Sweat beaded his brow and rolled between his shoulders when he finally reached the shore. For long moments he stared at his small island, his home and refuge. Some nagging feeling told him to return immediately and not venture into the village, that if he walked onto the Scottish shore his life would be forever changed.

As a Fae he would have known immediately what the threat to him was, but as a mortal he was still learning to discern the strange, and sometimes unwanted, intuitions that assaulted him. He debated with himself for several heartbeats, but the hunger in his belly ruled the day.

His hands immediately went to the sword at his back and the dagger at his waist. Just knowing he was prepared helped him face whatever lay ahead. He flexed his hands before he jumped from his boat to pull it onto shore and tie it off. Regardless of what his senses told him, he had to get more supplies. Eating wasn’t an option.

He kept his eyes forward as he walked to the village. A group of children stopped their play and whispered among themselves as he passed. Lugus should have been immune to his treatment but each time it occurred, it hurt worse than the last. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed the people that gave him a wide berth, and others that would stare after him as if he was some monster.

And he was, in more ways than they realized.

He reached the millers and went inside to purchase more yeast and what few herbs he wasn’t able to grow in his small garden. Learning to cook had been something he had enjoyed and he found he had a knack for it.

After he paid for his purchases, he tucked the package under his arm and headed for his next stop. Jonathon Frasier’s cottage. Jonathon was one person that actually treated Lugus like a man.

He had come upon Jonathon during a particularly vengeful storm that had tossed many boats onto shore. Jonathon had been desperately trying to tie up his small skiff as he pregnant wife and small son looked on.

Lugus lent a hand and they got the skiff tied. Since that time, Jonathon had gone out of his way to befriend Lugus. Now, Jonathon, an expert hunter, supplied Lugus with leather. Lugus then turned them into scabbards for the swords and daggers Lugus crafted.

“Morn’, Lugus,” Jonathon called as he walked from his cottage on the outskirts of the small village. “I wasn’t expecting you so soon.”

Lugus shrugged. “I’ve had an order placed for a sword and thought I would get to work on the scabbard while I finish a few smaller pieces.”

Jonathon smiled as his gaze moved to the scabbard on Lugus’ hip. “’Tis no wonder word has spread far and wide of your craftsmanship. I’ve never seen anything of the like before.”

Of their own accord, Lugus’ eyes looked at the intricately designed scabbard. The many hours it took to do the scroll work on the leather was relaxing in the same way working the metal for the swords was exhilarating.

“I do what I must to earn a living.”

Jonathon nodded his head. “I ken. Come,” he said and motioned toward the back of the house. “I think I might have something for you.”

It was just an hour later that Lugus had paid Jonathon and chosen the strips of leather. They would work perfectly, and he was anxious to return to his island and begin designing the scroll and knot work that would be tooled onto it.

He had to stop himself from running to his boat. The time he spent away from his island was like a noose around his neck. He never felt safe unless he was on his isle.

With gentle hands, he placed the leather and other supplies in the boat, untied it and pushed it into the water. He jumped in and took the oars in his hands and immediately began rowing toward his island.

The sensation began instantly.

He was being watched. But by who?