Shepherd’s Watch (Onyx Tactical #1) was my debut into romantic suspense. While I didn’t strictly follow the alternating POV structure common to the genre, I’m really happy with how the rhythm of the story landed. For Book 2, Boomer’s Burn, I plan to lean closer to that classic format, trading chapters between the hero and heroine to ramp up the tension.

While I learn this genre, I do plan on writing all the books in the series:

• (Done) Book 1: Shepherd’s Watch (Jack & Amy)
  • Trope: The Protector & The Witness.
• Book 2: Boomer’s Burn (Brody & Piper)
  • Trope: Grumpy Protector & Sunshine Reporter.
• Book 3: Shade’s Bluff (Jason’s Story)
  • Trope: The Con Artist & The Rival (or The Fed).
• Book 4: Rey’s Mark (Rey’s Story)
  • Trope: The Bodyguard & The Mercenary (or The Thief).
• Book 5: Hex’s Wire (Milo’s Story)
  • Trope: The Billionaire Tech Genius & The Rival Hacker.

~ Connie

On Feb. 15th, the first seven eBook prequel short stories will be free to download from Amazon.

Also, the picture for this post is the Onyx Tactical series image. It includes team members. From left to right: Brody (Boomer) is the big guy and demolitions expert. Jason (Shade), the infiltrator. Jack (Shepherd) is the leader and front and center. The woman next to Jack is a different heroine for each book. Then comes Milo (Hex), the tech genius. Last but not least is Rey, the field operative.

The Villain is the 7th prequel short story in the Onyx Tactical Files.

Right now, I’m heavy into editing the romantic suspense novel, Shepherd’s Watch. Editing is not my favorite part of writing; I like the creation part the best. I should be done in a little over a week, then I’ll upload it to Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited so that it’s ready to go live Feb. 24th.

Here’s a bit about The Villain:

I used Amazon’s audiobook virtual voice for this short story. I’d love to use a ‘human’ narrator, but humans are expensive. Amazon’s virtual voice is free. Anyway, this is the first time I used it. I had to correct some mispronunciations, but it went rather smoothly and sounds okay. It took me awhile, and this was just a short story with 23 pages.

The lowest I was able to price it was $3.99—the ebook is only $0.99, but it is in Audible. I’m not sure yet if I can assign free days to it, but if I can, I will.

I made the poster using OpenArt. It took a lot of tries to get the uniform correct but I think I got it close enough—with the help of my son 😀 The flag and patches were the sticking points.

~ Connie

I plan on doing 12 of these prequel short stories; this is the 6th. I’ve finished the novel, Shepherd’s Watch, and am working through the edits.

Here’s a bit about The Training:

Before they were heroes, they were a disaster.

Six months before Jack Wolfe met Dr. Amy Hendren, he had a different problem: keeping his team from killing each other out of boredom.

Trapped in their freezing Detroit headquarters during a brutal winter, the operatives of Onyx Tactical are going stir-crazy. To keep them sharp, Jack orchestrates a “simple” hostage rescue drill in the kill house. The objective? Rescue “Steve,” a 180-pound sandbag dummy. The obstacles? A lethal obstacle course designed by their resident tech genius, Milo.

But when Milo upgrades the training drones with aggressive AI and a few nasty surprises, a standard drill devolves into chaos involving glitter bombs, tactical groin strikes, and an argument over deep-dish pizza.

“The Training” is a humorous, action-packed short story that showcases the bond, the banter, and the brotherhood of the Onyx Tactical team.

Note: This is a standalone short story prequel to the romantic suspense novel Shepherd’s Watch.

I finished the fifth prequel short story in the Onyx Tactical Files series. Here’s a bit about it:

She followed the rules. They signed her death warrant.

Reyna Cruz doesn’t just watch the crowd; she reads the silence. As a Diplomatic Security Service agent, her survival depends on noticing the things everyone else misses.

On a rainy morning in London, Reyna spots a glint in a window that shouldn’t be there. When she calls it in, Command orders her to stand down.

She has two choices: Follow orders and let a Senator die, or break protocol and become a rogue element.

Reyna chooses the target.

Now, she is “The Asset”—a liability marked for liquidation by her own government. Hunted through the streets of London with no backup and no exit strategy, Reyna has to rely on the only skill that matters: the ability to disappear.

But she isn’t the only predator in the city. A mercenary named Jack Wolfe is watching. He’s looking for a ghost, and he has an offer that will change her life:

Die as an agent, or live as a shadow.

The Asset is a high-octane prequel short story set in the world of the Onyx Tactical series. It tells the origin story of Rey, the team’s most elusive operator.

~ Connie

This short story shows the moment the trap was set for Shepherd and his team, in this prequel to Shepherd’s Watch.

Trust is the deadliest weapon of all.

Five years before the events of Shepherd’s Watch, Jack “Shepherd” Wolfe wasn’t a ghost living in the shadows. He was a Captain with a vision: to get his team of broken operators out of the line of fire and into a life of peace.

In a high-end bar in Berlin, Jack meets with Nyx, his handler, his mentor, and his closest friend. Nyx offers him the “Blind Prophet” operation—a final, off-the-books mission in Syria with a payout large enough to buy their freedom.

Jack sees a retirement plan. Nyx sees a loose end.

In this chilling prequel short story, witness the conversation that sealed the fate of the Onyx team. See the mask Nyx wore before the betrayal, and the blind loyalty that almost cost Jack everything.

The mission was a lie. The narrative was a trap. And the fall was just beginning.

This is a prequel short story in the Onyx Tactical series.

The Hack is the third prequel short story to my upcoming romantic suspense novel, Shepherd’s Watch.

Here’s a bit about it:

---

Zeroes and ones never bleed. People do.

Milo “Hex” Monroe hates the analog world. It’s messy, cold, and unpredictable. He prefers the clean logic of code, where every problem has a solution and every error can be deleted.

When a black-ops contract sends him deep into a repurposed Cold War bunker in Kyiv, the mission is simple: scrub a server before a Russian syndicate seizes it. It’s a digital extraction, the kind of job Milo was built for.

But in the frozen dark, Milo finds a ghost in the machine—a desperate letter from a father to his daughter, hidden among the criminal data. For the first time, the code isn’t just data; it’s a life.

With enemy sweepers breaching the perimeter, Milo makes a split-second decision to save the file. But mercy leaves a digital fingerprint, and the error he’s made threatens to expose the entire Onyx team.

Now, with a gun to his head and the connection fading, Milo must face the hardest calculation of his life: does he save the innocent, or does he purge the human element to survive?

“The Hack” is a tense, claustrophobic prequel short story in the Onyx Tactical series, exploring the origins of the team’s genius tech specialist.

~ Connie

Here’s the second prequel short story, ‘The Ghost’, to my upcoming novel, ‘Shepherd’s Watch.’

A tuxedo, a lie, and a lethal game of chance.

Two years before the events of Shepherd’s Watch, Jason “Shade” Adler is on a solo mission in Prague. His target is a digital ledger held by a ruthless Russian arms dealer. His cover is a dissolute British playboy with money to burn.

The plan is simple: infiltrate the gala, charm the room, and make the swap.

But plans crumble when Jason locks eyes with the target’s bodyguard—a woman who recognizes him from a con he pulled years ago. Trapped in a room of enemies, Jason must improvise a deception so intimate and convincing that it risks blurring the line between the spy and the man.

~ Connie

The Sniper is a short story prequel to the novel, Shepherd’s Watch. I plan to write one every week—we’ll see how it goes. Here’s a bit about it:

“Brody “Boomer” McCoy loves loud.

He loves the thrum of a grenade launcher, the roar of a breaching charge, and the chaotic symphony of a firefight. Loud means you’re the biggest thing in the room. Loud means you’re alive.

But in a dusty alley on the Syrian border, silence is the only thing keeping him breathing.

Pinned down by the “Ghost”—a legendary insurgent sniper—Brody and his team are trapped in a fishbowl with no cover and a terrified civilian in the crosshairs. With air support grounded and the sniper hiding in a protected school, Brody’s usual tactic of “overwhelming firepower” isn’t an option.

To get his team out, the demolition expert has to put down the grenade launcher and rely on the one weapon he rarely uses: physics.

“The Sniper” is a high-octane prequel short story in the Onyx Tactical series. It features the team’s beloved explosives expert, Brody McCoy, in a race against time, gravity, and a 7.62mm round.”

~ Connie