Bengalo Moon: Jook and Gypsies Vol. 2

Bloodline Gypsy: Jook and Gypsies Vol. 1 Rocking five-­star ratings on Amazon and Barnes and Noble!!! *****Paranormal Romance Guild - 5-­star review and nominated for the 2014 Readers' Choice Award. *****Mysterious. Fascinating. Infiltrating... I want more, much more!!!! Lesli E. Houston - Amazon Review *****This is nothing like anything I have experienced! Prepare for an original genre... Barnes & Noble review *****Great book, thrilling and sexy! WHEN IS THE NEXT ONE COMING OUT?!?!? Melissa - Amazon review *****I read voraciously and Shirley's book is the most exciting book I have read in quite some time. Bob Fuller - Amazon review ****This is a good solid horror story; spooky atmospheric and at times brutally graphic. Tskoyal - GoodReads review Bengalo Moon: Jook and Gypsies Vol. 2 Finally a sequel that delivers! Belinda Rainwater - Literary agent and literary awards judge Venture into the darkness beyond the campfires in this 21st century saga where medieval folklore becomes terrifying reality... Susannah Henika, an American-­born poshrat (half-­blood gypsy), is the descendant of the ancient strain of magic that forged werewolves into the world. Unknown to the teenager, two species of werewolves have evolved from the curse her distant ancestor Bisnik Zygan cast into the world. The Ruv Bengalo (devilish wolf) and the Jook are mortal enemies. Both species are born with an innate ability to track the Zygan lineage. The Jook must mate with the bloodline of their origin to preserve their species and humanity from the murderous Ruv Bengalo, who destroy Zygan progeny with the intent to drive the Jook into extinction. The Jook attempt to whisk Susannah to safety as she is discovered by the Ruv Bengalo... In the vast, open lands of the United States the devilish wolves have been organizing an army, and our company escaping with their lives has become a perilous challenge...

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Bengalo MoonJook and Gypsies Vol. 2By Shirley A. Martin, Peter SchweitzerAuthorHouseCopyright © 2015 Shirley A. MartinAll rights reserved.ISBN: 978-1-5049-2456-6CHAPTER 1Kelsey's DreamAt fourteen, Kelsey Zimmerman is almost five-nine; she is rail-thin, her muscle development not quite able to keep up with her bone growth. She is fair-skinned with a splattering of freckles, and her hair is wavy and of a mousy brown persuasion. She is still sweet-faced and has not yet outgrown her childlike demeanor – a little behind most adolescents her age in maturing in some ways. She is not a particularly pretty girl; she has a saving grace – huge, grey eyes that mirror clear water perfectly on a cloudy day.She has little interest in boys and is still years away from outgrowing her obsessive passion for horses. She lives in Iowa in a farmhouse that was once a working farm. Like so many homesteads in the region, the farm had belonged to her grandparents. Her father, her aunt, and two uncles started selling off sections of the farm when Kelsey was three years old. There were now only ten acres left. Her father is an excavator and their yard was the home for skeletal remains of John Deere tractors, water trucks, backhoes and graders, as well as current working models. Her mother works as a dental assistant to one of the region's longtime dentists, Doctor Kline.Times are tough, but it is all Kelsey has ever known and rarely do her parents' worries trickle into her consciousness. Their house is unremarkable, but clean and comfy; the pantry is well stocked. Her mother takes her clothes shopping once a year, right before school starts. The family takes a modest road trip every November at Thanksgiving, usually to visit relatives, and which involves spending at least one night sleeping in a hotel. The young teen finds this particularly sophisticated.But, what really matters to Kelsey is that they can still afford the horse in the barn, and she is due to foal any day.The horse Kelsey had since childhood was a small gelding that she got for her fifth birthday; he was twelve when they got him and at twenty-two he coliced. All efforts were made to save him. The blood test came back hopeful, but his pain levels were uncontrollable. After twenty-four hours of effort, the vet said he couldn't be saved without colic surgery; and he didn't recommend surgery for a horse his age and with his vitals. The surgery would cost a minimum of $3500. Kelsey's mother, Stephanie (Stevie), after spending the night in the truck parked out in front of the vet's office, took Kelsey out to breakfast a little before the sun rose the second morning. It was in a little roadside diner that she began to prepare her thirteen-year-old daughter for the worst-case scenario. Two and a half hours later, after the vet re-examined the little Morgan cross gelding, their fears were realized and he was euthanized.Kelsey took it harder than either one of her parents had imagined. She missed three consecutive days of school. Never leaving her room except to use the bathroom, she stayed in bed and sobbed until she fell into exhausted unconsciousness every night.It was a slow recovery.Earlier that spring, Kelsey's mother had bred her Quarter Horse mare to a Thoroughbred stallion that belonged to a friend of Kelsey's father. It had been a spontaneous decision; the breeding had been offered as a tradeoff for some work John Zimmerman had done for the owner of the stud horse.At first, after bringing the mare home from being serviced by the stallion, Stevie questioned her impulsive action. They couldn't afford another horse or the possible vet bills that might follow the arrival of a new foal. However, after Toby coliced and had to be put down, she began to think of it as a blessing. When Ginger was starting to show and Stevie was sure the breeding had taken, she told her daughter the foal was to be hers.It made all of the difference in the world. Kelsey hadn't even visited the barn in the four months following Toby's death.She looked at her mother with big, grey eyes."Are you sure she's pregnant?" she asked."Yes," her mother answered confidently. "She has been showing signs all along, but last Friday I felt the foal kick, and she is starting to bag up.""Really?" she asked. After thinking about it for a few seconds, she added, "I thought you and dad were talking about selling the foal.""Well, that was before we lost Toby and we thought we couldn't afford another horse."Kelsey sat quietly, fiddling with her pencil. She had been sitting at the kitchen table doing homework."You felt the baby kick?"It was the first spark of interest Stevie had seen in her teenage daughter in months and she ran with it."Yes, you know this is going to be a pretty nice foal. Both parents are really well bred, and Appendix Quarter Horses can do just about anything. You might even get that jumper that you have always wanted."Her daughter stared at her thoughtfully. Kelsey was extremely self-conscious about her height, and had started expressing that she was uncomfortable riding Toby because she felt like she looked too big for him, and that she wanted a taller horse. Maybe even a Thoroughbred or a Warmblood. She had been expressing an interest in learning how to ride English, especially show jumping."Ginger is 15'1 and the sire is 16'2. I think there is a good chance that the foal will be pretty tall," Stevie enticed.Kelsey's head turned to look out the window through the branches of an oak tree; she could see the white rail fence that separated the yard from the corral and the north entrance to their four-stall barn. "Can we go out and look at her?""Of course. Come on, you can finish your homework when we get back."Her daughter was still a little standoffish.Stevie paid it no mind as the fourteen-year-old stood outside of the barn stall, looking in. Stevie saw the way Kelsey's eyes kept drifting to Toby's old stall. Stevie grabbed the mare by the halter, and ran expert hands over her sides. "Look how big she is getting," she demanded her daughter's attention.Kelsey watched her."And look at her bag, see how swollen it is?""When is the baby due?" Kelsey asked her mother, slipping through the sliding door and squinting up under the horse's belly."Sometime toward the end of March."Stevie watched as Kelsey's hand slid over Ginger's side. Her daughter laid her palm flat and waited for something to happen."This is where I felt the foal kick the other day." Stevie moved Kelsey's hand to a spot below the mare's flank. They waited. When they did not feel any movement, Kelsey didn't seem too discouraged."Do I get to name it?" she asked."Of course you can name it, it's your horse isn't it? Just as long as you name it something cool," Stevie smiled. "A horse of this caliber needs a really good name."Kelsey grinned at her mother.From that day on, Kelsey spent several hours every day in the barn. She brought books home from the school library about horse breeding and foaling out a mare. She did research on the internet and watched videos of horses in labor. Only once did Kelsey allow herself to wonder what would happen if something went wrong. She flung the thought out of her mind, and refused to consider it again.Everything would be fine.Her mother was hoping for a palomino filly, like Ginger. But Kelsey wouldn't mind if the foal were black, or almost black like the sire. Although, she also wanted a filly because she didn't want to go through the emotional disturbance of having it gelded, or endure the complaints from her father about horse-related expenses and vet bills. What she dreams about in the new arrival is that it is tall and fast, and athletic like its father. She started saving all of her allowance money to buy English riding gear and can't wait until her mother takes her shopping for breeches and English riding boots. She imagines herself in rust-colored breeches, lace-up field boots, and a black jacket, walking next to a dark, classy looking horse. She imagined braiding her hair with a black ribbon and braiding the horse's tail to match.Along with books on breeding and foaling, Kelsey devoured books on dressage, hunting and eventing, and is researching surrounding areas to find the closest place where she can possibly take lessons. Her mother told her once the foal was weaned, she could start taking lessons on Ginger and then she will know how to train the baby when it was time to start riding it.Kelsey's best friend is a petite blond named Abby. Abby has long, straight hair and a curvy body that has already started attracting male attention in school. Of the two, Abby is the more confident and a little more in with the popular set; but she shares Kelsey's equine passion. Sometimes Abby hangs out with other girls, girls that have no interest in horses at all. It's fun to be accepted, but they demand a maturity that Abby isn't quite ready for yet. Once she even smoked pot with some boys behind their church while waiting for a charter bus to arrive and take them into the city for a baseball game. It was exciting; but when she spends the night at Kelsey's, she can fall right back into doing all of the things she loved doing when she was ten.They've had several disappointments already, waiting for Ginger to go into labor. Kind of like the watched pot never boils sort of thing. Every weekend the girls spend the night in the barn, watching the uncomfortable horse shift back and forth on swollen hind legs. They caught their breath every time she laid down, but so far, just false alarms. They worry she will have the foal on a school night when Abby is not allowed to spend the night, or during the day when they are both in school and they will miss the whole thing.If sheer will could make that horse go into labor, Abby is sure tonight will be the night. Once again, they are bunked down in the straw with their sleeping bags and flashlights. This morning looked hopeful when they put the mare out in the round pen, because they noticed her bag was heavier than it had been so far, and it had been a full week since her belly had taken a different shape. Kelsey's mother said it was the foal changing position and moving into the birth canal.But before dark when they brought the mare back into the barn, her bag had gone down again. The girls were momentarily discouraged and went in to eat dinner.It was 7:30p.m. when they went back out to the barn to check on the horse again. Shining a flashlight up under the mare's belly, they noticed that her bag was huge and wax had formed on one of her nipples."Well, that's hopeful," Stevie stated. "She's waxing up, but don't get too excited," she warned. "They can go a couple of days once they wax up before they actually go into labor."She knocked the bead of wax off, so they could see how long it would take for it to reform. The girls, a little higher in spirits than they were before dinner, followed Kelsey's mom back into the house to help with cleanup and brush their teeth before returning to the stable.Exactly one hour later, Stevie, with both of the girls carrying all of their overnight gear, trekked back out to the barn. More wax had formed, and this time it was on both nipples. Kelsey's mother was a little more encouraging, and Kelsey and Abby desperately hoped this would be the night. Stevie set them up to watch the mare with a cell phone so they could call the house and report Ginger's progress.The horse was mostly eating, but as the two girls sat against the back wall talking, she left her food and did a quiet lap around the stall. She stood for a few seconds in the corner with her rump to them and then walked back over and started eating again."I'm not sure that's a good sign," Abby whispered. "My mom says most mares go off their feed before they go into labor."Kelsey shrugged, still trying to maintain hope. A storm was coming in on Monday, and both of them would be back in school. With the changes that they were seeing tonight, she didn't think the horse would hold off until the following weekend. It had to be tonight if they were both going to see it being born. Well, it was still early and she was aware that a lot of horses held off labor until the middle of the night or early in the morning right before dawn. They had time.Abby liked to prattle when she was bored. Kelsey listened, but her senses were more on the sounds and smells in the barn. The center-aisle light was on, so the stall was dimly illuminated. In the last three weeks, she had stared at that horse so much she was sure she had begun to see things. It was as if she was in tune with every move the palomino made. She had spent hours in the last month and a half just brushing the horse, and sitting in the stall with her hand on the mare's belly so that she could feel the foal kick.Abby was talking about a boy that Kelsey secretly liked. He was way out of her league and hung out with some of Abby's other friends. Kelsey had never mentioned a word to Abby about how she felt, as Abby was bold with boys and even if sworn to secrecy would probably march right up and tell him that Kelsey liked him. Besides, it was more fun having a secret crush on him when she was around him, or when like now, Abby started talking about him — for a little while, Abby had her full attention.Ginger left her hay trough and walked back over to the corner again, standing with her hips cocked and her head over the rails. She stood for a few minutes and then went back to her hay. Kelsey looked at Abby, her clear eyes shining in the faded light. "How long has it been since we checked her bag?""I don't know, about half an hour I think," Abby whispered back."Should we check it now?""No, I don't think so; let's wait a while.""Okay." Kelsey leaned back against the wood slats."So what name did you pick for a colt again?" she asked in the darkness beside Kelsey."Allegiance," Kelsey stated."Oh that's right, that sounds more like a Frisian's name than a Quarter Horse's though, don't you think?""But the foal's sire is a Thoroughbred and they have weird names," Kelsey defended. She watched the mare make another lap around the stall, stop and stand in the same place for a few seconds, and then go back to her hay."Well, I hope it's a filly anyway and we can call her `Sadie the Sexy Lady'," Abby said. They both giggled. It was a name that Stevie had suggested one night when they were sitting around after dinner, and Stevie had had a few glasses of wine."Let's check her now," Kelsey said. They crawled out of their sleeping bags and shone the flashlight up under the horse's belly. Half-inch candles of wax hung from each teat."Oh my god they are a lot bigger, I'm calling mom." Kelsey hit the recent call button and thumbed Mom. The horse moved away from them, and went back to stand in the corner."Mom, she has a lot more wax, we just checked it," Kelsey whispered into her phone. She swiveled her head to study the mare and then returned to the phone. "Mostly just eating and walking around."Abby put her head as close to the phone as possible so she could hear Stevie's reply; finally after all of the waiting, something was happening."Okay, well that sounds hopeful," Stevie said, "keep watching her and I will come out in a little bit and take a look. Call me right away if she lies down though.""Okay mom, we will," Kelsey whispered excitedly."I think tonight could be the night," she said to Abby as soon as she slipped the cell back into her front pocket. "Did you notice how big and tight her bag is too? That's another good sign."Abby wrinkled up her nose watching Ginger go back to her food. "I still think it might be a while, since all she's thinking about is hay.""That's okay; it's only 8:45p.m.," Kelsey said, determined to stay hopeful.They crawled back over to their encampment."Did you bring those chips?" Abby asked."Yeah," Kelsey fished a bag of jalapeno cheddar Cheetos from her backpack. The mare's shadow fell across their faces as once again she walked over to the corner of the stall. Kelsey froze, holding the chips in midair for Abby to take."She's having contractions," she stated. Abby followed her gaze to Ginger, who was standing with her butt to them, as she had been all night, and then she walked back to her feed bin. This time she grabbed only a mouthful of hay and continued in a loop back to the corner. (Continues...)Excerpted from Bengalo Moon by Shirley A. Martin, Peter Schweitzer. Copyright © 2015 Shirley A. Martin. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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