The Art of Safkhet Presents – Ashley Nemer
UNDER THE MOONLIGHT: A MERMAID’S TALE $2.99 Ebook
Release October 20, 2014
BLURB
Zara’s fate had been decided thousands of years before her birth. She is now fighting against time and family to reclaim the decisions that will ultimately shape her destiny.
Sentenced to live an existence in the Underworld, mated to a man she despises, Zara must find a way to overcome the Gods and their curses, with love as her only guide.
Can James, a handsome and rugged sailor, help Zara break the bonds of magical spells or will she end up mated to Xander, the Son of Satan?
Take a dive Under the Moonlight to see where love can take you.
Amazon: www.amazon.com/Under-Moonlight-Mermaids-Ashley-Nemer-ebook/dp/B00O0CMVNS/
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/under-the-moonlight-ashley-nemer/1120422706
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/under-the-moonlight/id924264518
Author Bio
Ashley, also known as Niki Becker, is married and lives in Houston with her husband Tony. They have two dogs, Toto and Doogie. They have been together for over 10 years and he brings her more joy than she could ever imagine as a child. She loves to read and has been hooked on the romance & mystery genres ever since her lifelong best friend gave her “Ashes to Ashes’ by Tami Hoag to read when they were younger.
Ashley finds her strength through her family, especially her parents. They always support her in life; they push her to strive for greatness. There once was a motto that Ashley heard in her youth through her Taekwondo life ‘Reach for the Stars’ and that is what Ashley has always done. It was through her upbringing that the values Ashley has and displays come from. With her parents always cheering her on in life she was able to grow up having faith in herself and her ability to conquer the world.
Ashley enjoys writing many different genre’s of fiction. Her areas range from science fiction/ paranormal, mystery, romance, poetry and erotica (using pen name Niki Becker.)
Author Links
http://www.facebook.com/ashleynemerauthor
http://www.facebook.com/ashers83 (Add Friend)
http://ashleynemer.blogspot.com
https://twitter.com/ashleynemer
www.amazon.com/author/ashleynemer
www.amazon.com/author/nikibecker
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2897381-ashley-nemer
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/22194803-niki-becker
Ashley’s published works under
Ashley Nemer & Niki Becker
Novels
Maverick Touch: The Cat by Ashley Nemer March 25th, 2013
Maverick Touch: The Highway by Ashley Nemer March 24th, 2014
Blood Purple by Ashley Nemer September 24th, 2012
Blood Yellow by Ashley Nemer July 3rd, 2013
Blood Green by Ashley Nemer April 23rd, 2014
Blood White by Ashley Nemer June 29th, 2014
Special Assignment by Niki Becker December 17th, 2013
Novellas
Under The Moonlight by Ashley Nemer October 20th, 2014
Short Stories
Bud’s Christmas Wish by Ashley Nemer November 17th, 2012
Bud’s Christmas Miracle by Ashley Nemer November 24th, 2013
The Café (Temptation Tuesday) by Niki Becker May 7th, 2013
Fantasy Cruise (Temptation Tuesday) by Niki Becker July 2nd, 2013
The Backyard (Temptation Tuesday) by Niki Becker August 6th, 2013
Sekhmet’s Revenge Volume One through Four by Ashley Nemer & Stacy A. Moran September 28, 2013
Soul Mates by Ashley Nemer and L.S. Broomfield October 2nd, 2013 (Through Secret Cravings Publishing)
EXCERPT
UNDER THE MOONLIGHT PART OF CHAPTER ONE
She cut through the waters and made her way towards the marina where most of the human men gathered at the end of the day to trade their goods with one another. Her father had shown her this area when she was still a little mermaiden. He didn’t want her to accidently get caught in the fishing nets, nor did he want her to be sold for money. Zara had spent several long nights watching the men conduct their business. She believed she had it down. The fish and other sea animals were weighed for what they were worth. Others brought clothing into the marina and left with fish. She assumed that the cloth material had some intrinsic value that was equivalent to that of sea creatures. One day she would need to understand all of this, but today wasn’t that day.
There was an empty rock that she saw out of the corner of her eye. It’s calling my name, she thought. She swam over to it and hopped up on top of the hot surface. She rarely took the human form that they were all capable of making, mostly because she didn’t see the point in being able to walk on land for only two hours at a time. What could she get done in such a short amount of time? That was what she always asked herself when she felt the magic of the hot sun and her body start to mix. She didn’t think she would accomplish anything really today while she was in human form, but that man was drawing her to him.
Her tail started to move up and down on the rock, the air drying the salt water off the scaled surface of her skin. Because she did not choose to transform often, she had to concentrate on turning her tail into legs. She closed her eyes and visualized her toes, the toes she hadn’t seen in over a year. The pink coloring on the nail beds automatically appeared in her mind’s eye. She felt the scales start to disappear, and when she looked down, her creamy white legs began to expose themselves. Her skin naturally felt good against the rock’s surface. Everything felt different as a human, almost like she was experiencing two separate planets, except it was simply two different aspects of one life.
Once her body was completely human, she used her powers of illusion to cover her body in a light, yellow silk dress. With her hands firmly planted on the rock, she brought her feet underneath her and slowly stood up. She waited a moment or two before she caught her center of gravity and then started to move over the rock and onto the pier. Zara walked down the pier and then around the grassy road until she was face to face with all of the fishermen.
The aroma of dead fish smelled different out of the sea. Underwater, the dead fish she encountered didn’t really smell and started to decay rather quickly, at least in the parts of the undersea world that she lived in. On the surface, the putrid smell permeated the air all around her. She didn’t know how she would get it out of her hair or her nostrils.
Zara walked up and down the aisles, looking at the different products. She had no products to exchange for money, and she didn’t know what exactly she would do with it if she had any, but she felt slightly out of place not carrying money or supplies for purchase. The men all turned their heads and looked in her direction as she walked past them. They weren’t like the seamen down below the surface. These men called out compliments, whistled, and even slapped at her ass as she passed by while calling out strange phrases at her. Zara knew her face had to have a puzzled look on it. Men just didn’t behave like this where she was from.
“Show the lady some respect, Brad!” she heard a familiar voice call out.
Her head spun around, and a smile broke out on her face. She felt her stomach start to tingle with the so called butterflies her siblings had spoken about before but she had never experienced. It was him, James, the man, the reason she’d come.
“They didn’t hurt you, ma’am, did they?”
His voice was deep and clear, everything she had always pictured a man’s would be when she’d imagined pursuing relationships. She was already lost in him as he looked back at her with crystal blue eyes.
“Ma’am, are you okay?”
He’s talking to me! Say something, stupid! Zara knew she had to look ridiculous standing there with a gaping mouth wide open, but she didn’t know what else to do except to nod her head up and down and hope that meant the same thing up on the surface as it did down underwater.
“Uh, yes, I think so,” she managed to say.
“Okay, good, because these two fish-for-brains men know that they should respect the women that come around here.” He pointed back at the man he’d called Brad and the talk skinny man standing next to him.
“To be fair, I have never been here before, so I didn’t know how they should have been acting.” She thought to herself that it was okay to say that. She wasn’t lying, technically. She had actually never set foot on this ground while in human form before, and her mermaid side limited where she was able to travel outside of the ocean.
“Can I help get you to where you are going since you haven’t been here before?” he said with a smile on his face and a light tone in his voice.
“I think I’ve found where I need to be.” Zara beamed at him. She reached out her hand, like she had seen other humans do before, and said, “My name is Zara.”
