Scene from: BEOWULF, A Breed Apart #3
Scenario: Timbrel and Candyman are at the A Breed Apart ranch (I believe) in the training yard.
Reason it got cut: I believe this brief section got cut because I went a different route with the story at that point and it put Tim and Candyman on the same page too quickly.
“Yeah, tell that to my irregular heart rate.”
“Here.” She reached toward him. “Give me your hand.”
Tony stilled. Gauged her. The dog. “Will I get it back?”
With a glare, she snatched his hand. “Chicken.” She planted the ball in his palm, but held his wrist. “Do not throw it too far.”
Tony laughed. “Baby, how do you read my mind so well?”
“Just remember,” she said and quirked her eyebrow at him, “he responds to my commands. I can still give him that piece of you.”
“Noted,” he said with a laugh, then flung the ball against the rec center.
Beo shot after it. Returned, squeaking the ball between his way-too-big teeth. He seemed to consider Tony, gave a snort, then dropped to the ground and went to squeaking as he held it between his paws.
“So, why were you asking about my deployments?”
Scene from: WOLFSBANE, Discarded Heroes #3
Scenario: This is part of the subplot. Matt Rubart is conducting a secret interview.
Reason it got cut: I needed more immediacy for the reader regarding the story with Mrs. Mercado. So, I cut this (and several other short scenes like it) and pushed the entire thing to the States.
Heat seized his good mood as Matt kicked shut the thin door. Down the hall, shouts carried through the paper-like walls. Emptying his pockets, he yawned. When he drew his phone and almost grinned. The guards had allowed him to keep his phone, but not the cheap digital voice recorder he had brought along. He accessed the internal voice recorder and played back the secretly recorded interview with Corazine. Not even Joe knew. Pleased, he set the phone on the bed.
He shrugged out of his uniform shirt and tossed it on the bed. Pinching the t-shirt collar, he bounced it in and out, fanning himself as he moved to the rickety rattan chair. Hours of going in circle, begging the woman to talk openly, yielded nothing but exhaustion and frustration. For everyone. The guards, the woman, him, and Joe. Well, maybe not Joe so much. He almost seemed to thrive on the woman’s reluctance.
Which was the reason Matt wouldn’t call the general. . .yet. He’d have to eventually. Lambert required updates. Nothing regular that could be tracked. But enough to let him know that Matt was still working—and alive.
Slumped, Matt pulled out his secure sat phone and entered the number. He’d debated for the last hour about making this call, but he needed a certain expertise.
“Is this the phone call where you apologize for standing me up?”
At the stern but playful feminine voice, Matt sat up, his heart thumping. He’d forgotten. Completely forgotten about their date. But wait. . .that wasn’t till Saturday. Scrambling for his watch, he also scrambled for something that would get him out of this. He glanced at his watch, his mind jogging between US time and Filipino time. Either way, he was dead meat. Whether the date was today or tomorrow, he would miss it.
“Do you trust me?”
“I wouldn’t have gone out with an old man like you if I didn’t.”
Matt grinned. Their eight year difference had bothered him from the start. Friends had called him a cradle-robber, but her maturity and—well, he wasn’t blind—good looks lured him away from his own objections. “Where you work, didn’t you say there was a Filipino woman?”
“Maria, yeah.”
“Right.” He lunged out of the chair and grabbed his laptop. “I’m going to send you an audio file. Would you ask her to listen to it and translate it for me?”
“So, you are going to stand me up.”
He stilled, the laptop half out of the case. “I. . .” He had nothing smart that would save him this time. “Yeah. I am.”
“If you were here, I’d deck you.”
The chuckle seeped out before he could stop it.
“Send it.”
“Powering up now.” The blue glow of the screen strained his eyes as it sprang to life. “I promise I will make this up to you when I get back.”
“So you’re not in town.”
Wow, stupid, just give her the GPS coordinates too. “Yeah. Working a case.”
“Philippines.”
Matt cringed, knowing his too-smart-for-her-own-good girlfriend was connecting dots that could put him in a lot of trouble and danger. “Remember when I asked if you trusted me?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“This is where that trust comes in.”
“How?”
“Because I’m going to ask you not to ask me that question.”
“That’s not fair.”
“I know. Just. . .trust me, Willow.”
“I think I know what’s going on, so for that reason, you have clemency, Hot Shot. But if I find out you’re replacing me—”
“Not a chance.” Relief rushed through him. “Now, give me a second to send this.” Matt accessed the file from his phone and sent it to her. “Okay, you should—”
A soft rap at the door spun him around. The light from the hall spilled through the inch-high draft space. Shadows danced.
“Matt?”
“Yeah, I need to go. I’ll call back.”