Why I love evolving relationships
By Morgan Brice
I understand the fun of having two strangers meet and fall in love. There’s definitely a rush of good brain chemicals that goes with getting two characters together for their happy ending. I love reading those stories, and it’s fun to write them.
But ‘what happens next’? I always found myself wondering that when I put down a book. Do they stay together? Do they really get their happily ever after? What kind of bumps and obstacles do they have to overcome?
As someone who’s been married for a long time, I also know that while falling in love is exciting, the real challenge happens afterwards. As a kid I loved the old TV shows Hart to Hart and McMillan and Wife that featured crime-solving detective married couples. And unlike those old episodic shows, I wanted to see the characters get a chance to grow and change, see them work through disagreements and misunderstandings and fall more and more in love.
Signs and Wonders is the seventh book in my Witchbane series. They meet when Seth saves Evan from being killed, diving out a window together and roaring into the night on Seth’s motorcycle. It gets even more dangerous after that, as they go on the road together to hunt down the dark coven that killed Seth’s brother.
Seth has had to learn the hard way about everything supernatural—magic, creatures, curses and spells. Evan doesn’t believe in anything ‘woo-woo’—until he’s nearly killed by dark magic and realizes that Seth was telling the truth. Over the course of the books, they learn how to fight as a team, go deeper into all things supernatural, and deal with getting to know each other better while traveling around in an RV. It’s quite a challenge! But that’s what I love about having a series with characters in an ongoing, evolving romantic relationship—we get to see them grow as people and learn about themselves and their partner.
I’m a huge fan of the TV show Supernatural, and one of the things the fandom loves about the series is that over the course of fifteen years we got to see the two main characters grow so much and saw their relationship as brothers deepen and evolve. I try to bring some of that vibe to my characters, because even when two people have been together for a long time, there’s always something new to discover!
Book Title: Signs and Wonders: A Supernatural MM Romance Adventure
Author: Morgan Brice
Publisher: Darkwind Press
Cover Artist: Lou Harper
Release Date: November 15, 2023
Genres: Paranormal MM romance, romantic suspense
Tropes: Hurt/comfort, getting comfortable with commitment
Themes: Learning to trust, evolving established relationship
Heat Rating: 4 flames
Length: 57 000 words/ 211 pages
It is part of a series (Witchbane, book 7) but can be read as a standalone. It does not end on a cliffhanger.
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Can Seth and Evan save the warlock’s next target, bring down his crime syndicate, and live to tell the tale?
Blurb
When a coven of dark warlocks killed Seth Tanner’s brother, Seth became a man driven by vengeance, sworn to stop the cycle of ritual killings, willing to die for the cause. He never expected to fall head over heels in love with the witches’ next intended victim. Evan Malone didn’t believe the supernatural was real until Seth swept in with his magic and motorcycle to save him from being the next sacrifice.
Now they’ve gone on the road together, hunting the rest of the coven while they figure out how to keep the white-hot, once-in-a-lifetime bond between them. Days are filled tracking their paranormal quarry, honing their monster hunting skills, and gaining control of the small magics that have made a life-or-death difference. Nights are spent together, entangled in adrenaline-fueled passion, learning how to make this love last forever despite the odds. Seth fears that if they don’t eliminate the rest of the coven, they’ll be on the run forever, and more people will die. Evan is afraid that Seth’s obsession with revenge means they might not survive to get a happily ever after.
Seth and Evan head to West Virginia to confront one of the dark warlocks, a master con man running a cybercrime empire. Can Seth and Evan save the warlock’s next target, bring down his crime syndicate, and live to tell the tale?
Signs and Wonders is a thrill-packed supernatural thrill ride with plenty of paranormal suspense, hurt/comfort, hot nights, found family, deadly magic, immortal witches, determined hunters, haunted places, creepy ghosts, impressive explosions, spooky chills, and sexy thrills, and features an evolving, established romantic relationship with all the feels.
“Did you find anything about the disappearances? The warlock isn’t the only reason people go missing,” Evan said, and Seth could see how proud he was of his smart little brother. He felt a pang of loss for what Jesse could have become and figured that the grief would never go away.
“The NQRZ has been there for a while—since 1958—and they picked the location because that area is fairly remote,” Parker said. “Not very populated and off the beaten track. I’ve been looking into the missing person reports going back as far as I can for the general area, especially the small towns nearby.”
Parker seemed to relish sharing his findings. “Every year several people go missing and are never accounted for. They might not all be due to Swain, but you said he can draw power from blood magic in between his main sacrifices, so I think it’s possible he’s responsible for some of them. And a few have indirect ties to his retreat—people who left the program and later vanished, or who had other connections to his business. Nothing the police ever bothered with, as far as I can tell.”
“Good work,” Evan said. “Anything else?”
“I’m not sure,” Parker said. “I found a link between Swain’s charity and some fundraising groups that have gotten in trouble for dicey dealings.”
“What kind of trouble?” Seth asked.
“Improper paperwork, tax issues, not following the rules,” Parker replied. “I just found that piece, so I’m still looking into it, but it made me wonder if he had a hand in the other groups instead of just being associated.”
“Be careful,” Evan cautioned, and Seth knew his partner was walking the line between appreciating Parker’s contributions and protecting his little brother from a very real threat. “Don’t do anything that would attract attention to yourself.”
“I won’t.” Parker sounded patiently put-upon. “I promise.”
“Keep us posted. We’ll be in Pittsburgh for a little bit before we head for West Virginia.”
“Got it. I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve got something to report.” Parker paused. “You two watch your backs, okay? Don’t get hurt.”
Seth shifted his weight to ease the ache in his shoulders. Evan moved to take pressure off his bruised hip. “We will,” Evan promised. “Talk to you soon.”
The call ended. Seth and Evan exchanged a look.
“Thoughts?” Evan asked.
“He’s good,” Seth said. “Let’s hope that he knows enough to fly under the radar. But if his hunches pay off, some of our friends might be able to dig into other sources to find even more information. Swain and the warlocks have had a century to learn how to cover their tracks. There’s a reason no one’s untangled this whole mess before now.”
Seth and Evan had been searching archives for photos of Fletcher Swain under his various aliases without much luck. The best image was from 1900, the year Swain gained immortality.
Morgan Brice is the romance pen name of bestselling author Gail Z. Martin. Morgan writes urban fantasy MM paranormal romance, with plenty of action, adventure and supernatural thrills to go with the happily ever after. Gail writes epic and urban fantasy, with less romance, more explosions.
All of the modern-day Morgan Brice and Gail Z. Martin series crossover, so characters from one series appear in cameos and on page in important secondary roles in books from other series. Each book can be read as a standalone, but the more you read the more the expanded universe of friendships and connections becomes clear.
Morgan and Gail believe that paranormal elements make any story even better, and her worlds are full of ghosts, psychics, shifters, creatures, vampires, monster hunters, and magic.
She’s also a huge fan of the TV show Supernatural. (Chibi art by Kamidiox)
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