Hi everyone! I’m Crissy Smith!
I am super excited to be here today! I would like to talk to you about my latest release Designated Alpha and how I switched the gender roles by having a strong Alpha female. Yes, you read that right”¦ our heroine is the Alpha and she’s the one in charge.
When I first got involved with Totally Bound’s imprint What’s her Secret? I knew that I wanted my female to be one saving people and the one in charge. Oh, she still has her insecurities and her story starts with a mistake she made that changed the rest of her life but that’s all part of being human. She made the decision to have a one night stand for the first time in her life. She was lonely, sad, and just needed the touch of someone for a short time. That choice was one that she can never take back. She has to live with what happened that night because she went home with a stranger. There are really just two options, give in and let the misery surround her or live her life the best way she can. What would you do?
Piper decides to fight. She fought and killed the evil monster who turned her into what she is now. She’s searched for a place she could be safe””and she finally found a home and life with Jace, so she chose to stay. Her past has made her the person she is today. That sounds like a strong woman to me! She might not always have the answers but the urge to protect those around her is strong. As a woman reading this book, I think you will be able to relate very well to her. If you take out the fact that she was turned into a werewolf, she could be any one of us.
What good story would be complete without a cast of hot, sexy, and fun guys around our heroine? Piper has her hands full with the men in this book. First 
there is her lover, Jace. The ex special force’s solider that pushes her to accept her differences and supports her in every obstacle she comes up against. Then we have Mitch, the best friend of Jace, and the second person that Piper’s ever revealed her true shifter nature to. Mitch is a sexy, tattooed solider who loves to cook and can’t keep himself out of trouble. Next, we have the heart of the group””Bobby, he is lost and alone but the one thing that he and Piper share could be the start of something wonderful. Bobby is the character who pushes Piper’s Alpha urges to the surface. He needs her protection and she intends to give him it. Lastly, we have our bad guy, Vince wants the power that Piper has and he doesn’t care who he has to hurt to get it.
This book takes action to a whole new level! By the time we think we have it all figured out a curve ball is thrown and more lives change. In the end, Piper is faced with making a decision that will affect how she and Jace live as a couple. She can accept the gift of her own pack and finally become complete or give into her fear and run again.
If this sounds like your type of tea””or coffee for us addicts””I hope you’ll give Designated Alpha a try! Check out the excerpt below and I hope you enjoy!
Crissy Smith
What’s her Secret Excerpt:
The scent of salt water hung heavy in the air as the full moon lightened the dark crashing waves. Piper Maxwell stepped from the dense woods surrounding the area and onto the cool sand of the beach. Her paws made deep impressions as she climbed down the small sandbank.
Her heart pumped a frantic tempo while her body trembled in anticipation. She’d spent a couple of hours playing alone and letting her wolf enjoy freedom. Now she would hunt down a completely different kind of prey from the rabbit she’d chased only an hour before.
Though his time she had no intention of hunting the prey for dinner.
She caught a faint trace on the light breeze of someone close and lifted her head. She breathed deeply, her nose twitching, trying to determine the direction of the smell.
There, to the right.
Piper leaped down the rest of the incline and silently stalked toward her reward.
Even in her shifted form she kept her human intelligence. However, the more time she spent in her other form, the more she could feel the wolf’s instincts strengthen. She didn’t know whether it was normal for her to feel her wolf getting stronger. There was no one that she could ask the hundreds of questions she had.
The only connection she had with another shifter was the man who had turned her into what she was. After running for years, six months ago Joe had found her, and she’d had to kill him to protect herself and Jace.
If she hadn’t ended Joe, he would have killed her, Jace and anyone else who had gotten in his way. Still, although she knew she’d done the right thing, she had bad nights when she remembered her teeth sinking into Joe’s flesh. Sometimes the nightmares were so realistic that she almost believed he was haunting her.
She stumbled over a broken log and that jolt brought her attention back to the present. She wouldn’t let the memory of Joe ruin her night. She refused to go back and relive it again. While the human part of her was still mortified about what she’d done, the wolf was proud. Piper had protected her mate.
Satisfaction that she could””and did””defend her lover, had her wolf side gloating inside.
Piper pushed away the feeling by mentally blocking the thought. It had taken a lot of time for her to realize that she was able to do that.
To get control of herself once again, Piper shook her body and raced down to the shore. Her wolf enjoyed the exercise and she could use it to tire her animal out.
She knew she was going in the right direction by small catches of a familiar scent. Several yards down from where she’d started she slowed, darting a look around.
Panting, she stopped and listened.
She had no idea what her face would have looked like right then but she was smiling. The aroma of her quarry was close and she could even pick up the faint crackle from a fire.
She followed the trail up the beach farther back away from the water. The sand beneath her paws was soft and helped her move in silence. She was coming up from the south, down-wind, knowing the element of surprise was on her side. He had his back to her as he crouched over the fire poking at it with a stick.
Piper hunkered down and waited.
There was no chance that she would ever hurt this man. Jace Anderson was her mate. The word floated around in her mind and it was her wolf side that liked that word.
As a human she loved Jace as her partner. As a wolf she ached to claim him, for everyone else in the world to know that he belonged to her.
For several months she’d struggled to keep the animal instinct from doing just that. To claim Jace, she would have to bite him, and that scared her. She had no idea what consequences would come from her sinking her teeth into his flesh.
She would not let Jace be changed the way she’d been.
He straightened and tossed the stick in his hand away. Piper admired his strong, broad back. She loved to run her hands and tongue over his bulging muscles. Squirming, she bit down on her tongue to hold in the sound of her need that wanted to escape.
Piper was impatient for the man to turn toward her so that she could see his face. Considering her options, she came up with an idea. She thumped her tail against the log to her side in three quick beats before she froze again.
He turned, his gaze roaming around the fallen logs and darkness. She didn’t have long before he would spot her. The muscles in her legs bunched as she prepared herself. Just as he rotated to face her fully, she pounced.
In a well-practiced move, she leaped at his chest, knocking him back. His arms closed around her as the fell to the ground. She let out a rumble as he buried his hands in her fur and held her tight. She loomed over him, running her long, rough tongue over his cheek.
“Okay,” he said with a laugh and pushed her head to the side. “You got me.”
Pleased, she climbed off him so he could sit up. Settling next to him, she rested her chin on his leg.
“How was your run, baby?”
Jace liked to talk to her, even if she couldn’t respond back. She pawed his hand, wanting to feel it back on her.
“All right, I get it,” he said petting her side again.
Piper wiggled around until she was comfortably laid out listening to Jace’s voice.
About Crissy Smith:
Crissy Smith lives in Texas with her husband, daughter, and three Labrador retrievers. The three dogs love to curl up under her computer desk and nap while she writes. It doesn’t leave a lot of room for her but what’s a woman to do?
When not writing or reading, she enjoys hunting, camping and shooting. But she has a girly side too and is addicted to pedicures and coffee.
She has been writing since she was a teenager and still loves everything to do with the paranormal. Her stories and characters all have a place in her heart. She loves the alpha male, the dominant werewolf, or the Master vampire which find their way in most of her books.
Learn more about the characters she has created at her website where they have their very own page. It will be updated from time to time to let you know what’s going on with them. Also you can find out who will be in the next book.
Crissy Smith
Paranormal Romance on the ‘WILD’ side…
Author of the Were Chronicles
Leave a Comment