Yes, I totally suck, and never posted when Sugar Rush officially came out on the 28th. I have excuses (school, family, writing, illness, um, tumblr, new anime season…Warcraft….gah, I’m a horrible person…), BUT I’m going to hand-wavy things and wow and amaze you with new artwork! Here we are, another main character from Sugar Rush: Ren Crestlin. He is a “hybrid” with both human and wolf DNA. It took me quite a while to get a face and hair and body I was satisfied with, but here we are!

And, for your reading pleasure (hopefully), an excerpt!

Sugar Rush

“What do you want?” I demanded with way more chutzpah than I felt.

“Like I said, pull around the corner. We got business to take care of.”

“You’re damn right we do. You owe me for a new stunner and that cookie,” I grumbled, though my hands shook as I crept around the corner under his watchful gaze. The hovercart barely fit between the dirty brick walls of the alley. A dumpster blocked any through traffic.

“I thought we were friends, Sweets. We always been able to play nice together. I got a soft spot for anyone from Wayward House, so I took it easy on ya. Didn’t leave a scratch on your pretty white hide. So maybe it’s my fault that you thought you could cheat me. But I ain’t making the same mistake twice.”

“You wanted the official Sugar Rush recipes, and I gave them to you. Something I could be fired and arrested for, I might add.”

“Yeah, but here’s the kicker. They ain’t the right ones. So I asked around, got my hands on some Sugar Rush from outside of Grimmtown. And whaddya know, that Sugar Rush shit wasn’t right either. And that got me thinkin’. What if our dear Sweets, for whatever crazy reason, changed those recipes when he baked up the Sugar Rush goods for Grimmtown?”

I laughed nervously. “That would be highly illegal.”

Ren shoved me into the display cases, bringing his face alarmingly close. “It’s dangerous to lie to me, Sweets. It makes me question our friendship.”

My eyes fixed on his teeth… teeth that were rumored to have ripped out the throats of many a fool who messed with the Wolves. I jerked my gaze away. I needed to stay focused if I was going to get out of this, and he was close enough now for my last-ditch secret weapon.

If hybrids like Ren had anything resembling a weakness, it was their noses. Their sense of smell was extremely sensitive and heavily influenced their actions. They weren’t slaves to it, but with some effort they could be redirected. I just had to give off the right scent. Fortunately, ball-shriveling terror wasn’t enough to kill my appreciation for a fine piece of man-meat.

“Oh, we’re definitely still friends,” I said. “Maybe I didn’t give you the right recipes after all. I guess I just liked the idea of you pushing me around a little. My pretty white hide could use a little scratching.”

He took half a step back in surprise. I looked him over, taking in dirty jeans tight enough to show off the curve of his powerful thighs, narrow shoulders and well-muscled arms covered in battle scars, pointed ears full of metal studs and a long face that managed to be both human and something other. I thought about running my hands through his mass of gray and black hair, biting the pulse of his neck, nibbling at his thin lips, sliding my tongue ever so gently across those pointed teeth…