It's time to vote on the vellum overlay artwork for Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night! Which scene with Bowen and Mariketa do you want to bring to life?

Our artist, @skaiwitch, has provided a loose sketch for each of the three scene options. This is a glimpse behind-the-scenes into how the art comes together. The earliest sketches can be a little hard to envision what the final will look like, so as an example of other art we've made with skaiwitch, here's how the first sketch looked along with the finished product! This example art is not from this book!

He was so frustrating! Cute. Sweet. Goddamn lovable. He could have any woman who didn’t have a fear of heights. But he was worried about being too boring for her? 

God, she needed boring. If boring meant stable and loving and caring. If it meant taking care of those you loved. Then, yeah, the dude was boring. 

The kind of “boring” she’d always wanted in her life. From the moment Charlie had been conceived, everything about her life was a surprise. Even her. Never had anyone been with her just because they wanted to be. Things had worked out, even when she’d been dumped on some unsuspecting person’s doorstep—like her grandfather—but it would have been great to know she’d always been wanted. Always been needed. And not just because she could kill twenty people in a room without working up a sweat.

And to her shock . . . she’d finally found that. In a bear who was a triplet. 

Could she stay around forever? She still didn’t know. But while she was here . . .

Charlie moved in and kissed Berg. Without warning. Just grabbed him and kissed him. Because she wanted to and she knew he wouldn’t mind. 

And, boy, did he not mind.

His big arms wrapped around her and lifted her up so that she could wrap her legs around his waist and dig her fingers into his hair. That great, thick sexy bear hair. 

“Come home with me,” he whispered when he pulled away. 

The party was still going on and her sisters couldn’t be more secure. So she kissed him again and that seemed to be the only answer he needed.

Berg wanted to get her upstairs but he only got her as far as the wall beside the stairs. That’s where he pinned her, still kissing her, but now with his hands moving all over her.

She pulled his T-shirt off, forcing him to stop long enough so she could get it over his head. Charlie tossed it aside and then removed her own, her bra quickly following.

Then she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and he knew she’d wanted to feel him skin to skin. Her hands moved over his shoulders, down his arms, back up to his shoulders again.

She dragged her short nails against the tight muscles in his neck. 

Berg growled, unable to help himself, praying she didn’t get scared off. Then again, this was the woman who’d told Sissy Mae Smith, “I don’t know you.” The entire party had been talking about it . . . the bears laughing. Mostly because the She-wolf had been so insulted.

But that was not a woman who was going to be frightened off by some growling. Or a little snarling. Or fangs brushing against her shoulder. 

He was right, too. It didn’t scare her off. It turned her on. 

Scene 3: Making out on the couch!

She continued to kiss him, his body rigid beneath her. 

Maybe he’d suggested getting some sleep because once he was alone with her, he wasn’t really interested. Didn’t really want to be bothered with a crazy female and her even crazier sisters and the psychotic family they belonged to despite the fact the family wanted nothing to do with Charlie and her siblings. 

What sane male wanted to be part of all that?

Realizing she’d made a mistake, Charlie started to pull away, but he must have felt it. Must have felt her retreat because his big hands suddenly framed her face and he kissed her back. Hard and wonderfully overwhelming. 

His tongue slid into her mouth, tangled with hers, while he pulled her onto his lap. 

All sleepiness and doubt wiped from her mind, Charlie could only think about getting Berg Dunn’s clothes off. She went for his T-shirt first, gripping the fabric with her hands and lifting, revealing abs and a chest that Charlie had assumed she’d only find in comic book hero movies. 

Berg pulled back and lifted his arms so she could remove his shirt, then quickly returned, kissing her again, like he was trying to crawl inside her. Become one with her.