NBTM + #Giveaway: Claimed by the Cyborg by Cara Bristol @CaraBristol @GoddessFish

Claimed by the Cyborg

by Cara Bristol

GENRE:   Science Fiction Romance

BLURB:

March Fellows assumed he had all the time in the galaxy to pursue a relationship with Jules, an alien exchange student from Xenia, until she vanished without a trace. After years of searching, he finds his lost love on the eve of her arranged marriage.

The daughter of the Xenian emperor, Julietta never meant to fall in love with a Terran man while visiting Earth. Leaving to fulfill her responsibilities on her home planet opened up a hole in her heart that could never be filled. When March, now a cyborg, unexpectedly shows up just before she is to be bonded, she struggles to find the courage to turn him away a second time and follow through with her duty.

Before she can act, the lovers are thrust into a political conspiracy that threatens the Xenian empire and their lives.

Claimed by the Cyborg is a standalone read in the Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance series.

Excerpt:

 “If Naimo should…pass, what will happen?”

“The seer will choose another mate for me.”

“You will go through with it?”

“I will be required to.” The idea sickened her, but responsibility only could be delayed; it could not be shirked. Each postponement shortened the time available to produce an heir. She and Naimo or his replacement would have to couple often to ensure she got pregnant by the deadline.

 “I hope for your sake he recovers, and you live a long and happy life together. I apologize for interrupting your solitude.”

She would never see him again. Her heart seized, but she didn’t dare watch him go. Julietta gripped the pillar of the tacani for support. Tears trickled down her cheeks.

For a big man, he moved quietly, his footfalls making the merest pitter patter on the floor. In seconds the door would open and—

She whirled around.

March stood in front of her, his face stony, his blue eyes lit with an emotion she couldn’t read.

He grabbed her and yanked her against his chest. Her feet left the floor. One strong hand slid under her hair to grip her nape and tilt her head. His mouth slammed down on hers, would have forced her lips to part, but she was already opening for his kiss, drowning in it. Waves after wave of need swamped her body, eradicating all thought and will, except for the need to get closer, to meld into one body so no space, no cultural divide, no duty could separate them.

His tongue lashed hers, but she accepted his anger as penance, craved more, incited more as she lashed back. Teeth gnashed, deliberate and accidental, drawing blood that mixed with the decadent taste of him. Her head swirled, and she grabbed at his shoulders for support. Taut muscle, as hard as rock, offered no give, like his kiss. He didn’t coax, he took, anger and pain evident in the crush of his mouth, the steel grip of his hands.

Scalding tears of love and despair poured from her eyes and into their mouths.

When he dropped her on her feet and thrust her away, it was like tumbling into the abyss again, like returning to Xenia all those years ago.

He wiped his lips as if to erase her touch. “Have a good life, Jules.” He left and never looked back.

Interview with USA Today Bestselling Author Cara Bristol

What inspired you to write Claimed by the Cyborg?

I got the idea for Claimed by Cyborg when I wrote another Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance, Married to the Cyborg (a free book readers get when they subscribe to my newsletter). The initial story idea grew out of idle chit-chat between two characters. Married to the Cyborg heroine (Penelope) attends a gala where she meets the Xenian emperor’s daughter (Julietta). I’m a total pantser. I make stuff up as I write. The two women started talking, and Julietta told Penelope that she was planning her wedding ceremony, but that she hadn’t met her mate yet, and didn’t get to meet him until the day of the ceremony. Say, what???  How can she marry a man she hasn’t met? I realized there was a story there.

Can you tell us a little bit about the next book(s) in the Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance series or what you have planned for the future?

The next Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance will probably be Carter Aymes’s story. So far, there are five books in the series: Stranded with the Cyborg, Mated with the Cyborg, Captured by the Cyborg, Trapped with the Cyborg, and Claimed by the Cyborg, plus the freebie, Married to the Cyborg. Each book is a standalone read. I do plan on writing at least one more Cy-Ops story. Carter Aymes, the Cyber Operations director has appeared in every book as a minor or secondary character. He’s been waiting patiently for his own book. The man is lonely; he needs a woman. Lol. Also, there’s an arch villain in the series who needs to be vanquished! Besides Cy-Ops, I’m writing a standalone, single title alien “mail order” bride romance, and I have plans for a new sci-fi romance series.

Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Claimed by the Cyborg?

Marchand “March” Fellows is a cyborg who works for a spacecraft manufacturing company. He first met Jules when she was an “alien exchange student” at the Terran Technical Institute, and he was a teaching assistant. They became lovers, but then she vanished in the middle of the night. He searched for her for years, but never knew what had happened to her. He was critically injured in a terrorist attack and was transformed into a cyborg. Jules, aka Julietta, had duties on her home planet that she couldn’t avoid. She was desperately in love with March, but believed they had no future together. She left to fulfill her duty, which included going forth with an arranged bonding to a man she’d never met.

You know I think we all have a favorite author. Who is your favorite author and why?

I have so many favorite authors, and many of them are my friends. It’s impossible to name just one, but I’ll list a few in the sci-fi romance genre: Cynthia Sax, Eve Langlais, Lisa Medley, Veronica Scott, Jessica Subject, Ed Hoorneart, Anna Zaires. I apologize to my many other favorite authors whose names escape me at the moment!

If you could time-travel would you travel to the future or the past? Where would you like to go and why would you like to visit this particular time period?

I would go into the future about a hundred years. When I compare where we were technologically in 1917 to where we are now, it’s just astounding. Our lives have changed so much in just twenty years. I cannot imagine what the world will be like in another 100 years, and I would like to see it.

Do you have any little fuzzy friends? Like a dog or a cat? Or any pets?

I do. I have a cat, who sits on her scratch post next to my desk and supervises my work.

Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit with us today.

Thank you so much for having me!

AUTHOR BIO:

USA Today bestselling author Cara Bristol has been the no. 1 best seller in science fiction romance, bdsm erotica, and holiday fiction on Amazon. She’s the author of two science fiction romance series featuring tough alpha heroes: the Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance cyborg series and the Breeder science fiction romance series, which emphasize character-driven stories written with a touch of humor and sizzling chemistry between the hero and heroine. Cara lives in Missouri with her own alpha hero, her husband.

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Giveaway:

$20 Amazon or B/N GC

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