From Trajectories, coming 3/2012 from Turquoise Morning Press. Note: This excerpt is not the final edited copy and may vary slightly from the published version
A cold drop landed on Kit’s cheek, then another. Rain. Glancing up, she could see through the gaps in the early May canopy. The innocent little cloud that had skated across the sun earlier had morphed into a monster. Gray and angry, it covered everywhere she could see. Maddie growled again and Kit checked the dog. Normally Maddie would be all over something dead—nosing it, rolling in it—but the ghost of whatever made that print held her interest more than a good roll in the blood-stained leaves.
Kit moved toward the dog. Drips came faster now, and it was definitely darker. Outside the trees, it must be raining hard.
“Come on, you big bad thing.” She leaned over Maddie and rubbed her ears gently. “You scared it off alright. Let’s get on home.”
She knelt next to the dog, clucking and cooing. A twig snapped behind her, sharp against the hiss of rain off the new leaves.
Kit moved fast but Maddie moved faster. The retriever bolted into the dark shadows containing the carcass. Kit spun that direction too, heart pounding.
Don’t turn your back on it, her mind warned. Maddie wasn’t enough to hold off whatever had sliced up that deer in there.
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Tess Grant 
Ohhhh, getting intense!! (I plan to donate 2 copies each to the Hudsonville city and Georgetown Township libraries, so you can take that to the bank!!)
Thanks! I’ll be excited to come down and see it on the shelf!
Oh, I can’t wait to find out what/who it was that snapped the twig! Great descriptions, Tess.
Yikes, what’s in the woods?
Intense! What’s behind her though? I wonder, will she make it out okay? Great excerpt!
I’ve always loved the name Kit! (Perhaps that was my name in another lifetime?) Kit’s intensity in this situation makes me feel like I am right there with her. Yikes!
Tension packed sample. like the others I want to know who, or what, snapped that twig.
This book is fabulous, guys. I can’t wait for it to be released.
Okay, I’m hooked big time.
I’m not sure what happened to my comment. 😦
This is a great excerpt. Exciting. I want to know what sliced up that animal.