Felicity Heaton's Blog, page 21

September 13, 2014

Snippet Saturday – Hunger (Vampires Realm Romance Series Book 8) – Excerpt

Snippet Saturday is brought to you today by my paranormal romance book Hunger, which is book 8 in my popular Vampires Realm romance series. Read on for this Saturday’s

A bolt of awareness shot down Eve’s spine and she stiffened. Oneiric tensed too and lifted his head. Crimson fire flickered around the edges of his dark irises.

“We have company.” The note of warning in his deep voice said it wasn’t her escort.

Eve grabbed the two large hunting knives on the round black table close to her and reached out with her senses, scouring the area around the club. People were coming. Close to a dozen of them.

Vampires.

The double doors of the main entrance burst open, the heavy steel panels crashing into the walls on either side, allowing a rush of cold damp air to bring tangled unfamiliar scents to her. Behind her, another bang sounded as the back door of the club shot open. Male voices poured into the darkness.

Four ahead of her and seven behind.

She took a deep breath to steady herself and flexed her fingers around the grips of the short blades to stop them from trembling. It wasn’t fear making her hands shake. It was hunger. It gnawed at her insides and clouded her mind, dampening her senses and stealing her strength. She almost started to wish she had taken the animal blood Oneiric had offered her on waking tonight, but she had been so angry about being shipped off to Oslo that she had refused.

“I will handle the back,” Oneiric said and then he was gone and she was alone in the dimly lit room, only a dozen tables and chairs between her and the four advancing men.

Eve cursed her weakness and shifted her booted feet, adopting a stance that was second nature to her, preparing for the fight ahead.

The vampires emerged from the darkness, golden eyes flickering with hunger as they landed on her and lingered.

Weaklings.

The same breed of bastard that had killed her.

A growl curled up her throat and she launched herself forwards, leaped up onto a table and pushed off from the top. She clutched both blades and brought them down as she descended, aiming straight for the man leading the charge. He reacted in an instant, strafing to his left, avoiding her attack. Eve landed in a crouch and immediately twisted towards him, lashing out with the knife in her right hand as she hurled the one in her left at the next man. That one embedded itself deep in his shoulder before he could evade it and he hissed in agony.

She shot to her feet and slashed across the first man’s biceps, cutting deep enough to feel her blade scrape bone, and ducked as he swung at her with his claws, growling low in his throat. Eve kicked forwards, rolled and came up behind the vampire with her other blade embedded in his shoulder. He snarled as he pulled the knife free of his flesh.

She didn’t give him a chance to use her own weapon against her. She swept her hand out, catching him across his throat with her knife, and he howled in pain and dropped the weapon in favour of slapping his hand over the wound on his neck and staunching the river of blood flowing down it.

Eve exhaled hard and blocked the wild swing another of the men threw at her. The first male’s fist slammed into her back at the same time and propelled her forwards, into another of her attackers. He grabbed her by the arm she held the blade in and hurled her into the black bar. Her head connected hard with the brass rail around the edge of the curved bar and pain ricocheted through her skull.

One of the men chuckled as she tried to get her bearings and fought to stop her head from spinning. Her senses reached out to monitor the men and her head cleared. She took her time pretending to gather herself and pinpointed each of her opponents. The one she had cut across the neck was still down, muttering black things to himself, detailing all the ways she was going to pay.

Nothing he came up with was any worse than what she had already endured at the hands of vampires.

The other three men were waiting. How very chivalrous. She pushed against the bar and grimaced as her head ached, the deep throbbing pain the result of more than her collision. Her hunger was growing, roused by the heavy scent of blood in the air. It pressed her to feed, every dark instinct she possessed demanding she take blood from the men behind her.

Eve shook her head and struggled against that dark desire.

She turned to face the three men waiting for her. The dark-haired one who had made her intimately acquainted with the bar stooped and picked up her knife. She palmed the one she held and calculated her chances of survival.

Slim at best.

With her head pounding and dampening her senses, hunger riding her mercilessly and weakening her, she wasn’t up for a fight against one strong vampire, let alone three. If the fourth chose to join the fight, she was definitely dead.

Again.

Eve inched to her right, towards the open space where she had been speaking with Oneiric before the intrusion. The sounds of his fight carried through the darkness and her dull senses said that he had already dealt with three of his foes. She had yet to dispatch one.

It marked the vast difference between them. They were of the same pure bloodline and she should be strong enough to fight these weaklings, but she wasn’t. She was weaker than these men before her, and it was her own fault. She could have easily dispatched them if she had been feeding. If she had been strong.

Her stomach turned at the thought of taking human blood and she kept edging away from the men, buying herself space and time. A fourth vampire disappeared from her senses. Oneiric was down to three. If she could keep her four occupied while not giving them a chance to kill her, Oneiric could make it back to her. She hated having to rely on him to fight her battles, and knew he would use it to illustrate his point about her need to feed, but she had no choice. She couldn’t die here. She wasn’t ready to go to Hell yet.

The three vampires tracked her and the fourth stumbled to his feet. He pulled his hand away from the deep slash across his throat. It had stopped bleeding.

Eve turned with them, her back to the dance floor now.

She readied her knife and called on her senses, allowing them to stretch out and encompass the men. Silver lines shimmered over their bodies, forming ghost versions of each of them. Those ghosts moved, her senses predicting the paths they would take, giving her a shot at taking at least one of them down. Three of them had multiple paths, a blur of motion that made it dangerous to act on.

The path of the fourth, the one with the neck wound, was as clear as night and he was about to make a grave mistake.

He disappeared from behind the other three vampires, a shadow of movement through the tables. Eve waited for the critical moment and then thrust her right hand in a sharp diagonal arc at her side, burying her knife to the hilt under his chin. He gagged and cold wet gushed over her hand and trailed down her arm.

Eve pulled the blade free and swept it across his throat, throwing all of her strength into the blow. The knife cut deep, severing his spine, and he dropped hard.

The remaining three weakling vampires snarled and launched themselves as one at her. Eve did her best to block each blow they threw, her forearms taking the brunt of their wrath, and tried to get some attacks of her own in. They were relentless, driving her backwards, crowding her and making it impossible for her to escape.

She bit her tongue to silence her cries as claws cut and fists slammed, each blow weakening her a little more.

She couldn’t die yet. She needed peace. She needed to make the bastard pay.

It couldn’t end here. Now.

A cry escaped her as sharp talons sliced through her right biceps and she dropped her only weapon.

A deep male voice rolled over her like a storm, his foreign tongue dark and sinister.

The three vampires crowding her eased back and turned as one to face the newcomer. Eve withdrew, clutching her arm. Blood spilled from between her fingers and the ever-present hunger grew worse, bringing out her fangs as it demanded she taste the sweet, coppery liquid.

A fifth male melted out of the shadows at the entrance of the club, a six-foot-five wall of lethal muscle and deadly grace, his face obscured by the hood of his oversized black sweatshirt. Calm laced with malice rolled off him and she felt his gaze flicker to her.

A hot shiver went through her in response to the intense feeling, the incredible awareness that shot an arrow straight through her heart and made the rest of the room fall away in an instant, drawing every shred of her focus to him.

He calmly set his black duffle down on the bar and strode forwards with purpose, his black army boots loud on the wooden floor. She felt his eyes leave her. The room crashed back into existence and air rushed into her lungs again.

The low lights flickered over the lower half of his face, giving tantalising glimpses of firm, sensual lips and a defined jaw. The corner of those lips quirked, a split-second shift that she would have missed had she not been staring so intently at them.

Panic began as a low thrumming in her belly, a turbulent swirling that made her take another step back for each one he advanced, placing more distance between them. The malice and darkness he emanated grew stronger and her instincts warned her away, screamed that she stood no chance against this newcomer.

He was stronger than the other four combined.

Stronger than Oneiric.

Her panic exploded into outright fear as the man reached behind his back, whipped out a black pistol and fired off a round, nailing the vampire she had tagged as the leader between his eyes. His head snapped backwards, blood spraying from the gaping wound in the back of his skull, and he fell into a table, crushing it under him.

The other two rushed the man.

They didn’t stand a chance.

He took the first out with lethal efficiency, kicking him hard in the balls and then catching him with a diagonal uppercut as he doubled over, snapping his neck.

Eve stood frozen to the spot, unsure what to make of the deadly new combatant, and unsure whether he was friend or foe.

She hoped to God he wasn’t foe.

She wasn’t even sure he was a vampire. Her scrambled senses said that he was but he didn’t fight like any vampire she had ever met. None of them had used guns for a start, and none of them fought dirty as this man did.

The remaining male bravely faced off against him, brandishing both of her fallen knives.

It didn’t help him.

The huge male cupped his hands and stepped forwards, nothing more than a blur as he closed the distance between him and the remaining vampire. He slapped his hands over the vampire’s ears, the crack as they connected startling her into moving, placing even more distance between them. The vampire unleashed an agonised snarl and thrust with one of the blades. The man sidestepped, caught his arm and twisted it hard, bringing his other hand down in a devastating blow that shattered the bone.

The vampire’s agonised snarl became a scream.

The man calmly grabbed him by his throat, pressed his free hand against his face, and shoved forwards, snapping his head backwards and breaking his neck.

Eve took another step backwards, towards the door to the back rooms. Maybe she should have made a break for the exit while the man had been occupied with neatly defeating three vampires in under three minutes.

He advanced on her, the sense of malice coming from him not abating. If anything, it was getting stronger.

Did you enjoy today’s snippet?

Hunger

Felicity Heaton

Betrayed by one of her own and turned into a vampire, hunter Eve is consumed by her hunger for vengeance and has spent five years surviving hell, driven to take the life of the man she once loved. But just as she is about to close in on the hunter-turned-vampire, an event is set in motion that threatens to see him slip beyond her grasp forever—the leader of her bloodline has sent an escort to bring her to the family’s mansion. To a nest of the very creatures she once hunted and loathes.

A vampire assassin hardened by centuries of service, Tor is a man of discipline and loyalty, never straying from his mission or the rules set out for him, and has purged all his weaknesses, including his emotions.

But the moment he meets the broken, fiery female he is to escort to Oslo, something dangerous awakens in him, something possessive and powerful, and when he is pulled into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the man who betrayed her, Tor discovers he will do anything to protect the woman slowly claiming his heart and give her the vengeance she desires—even break all the rules.

Can Eve embrace her new vampire nature in order to have her revenge and find a reason to live again in Tor? Can Tor and Eve stop the man who betrayed her and the deaths of thousands of innocents? Or will he succeed in creating a new army of hybrid vampires who will rise up against the purebloods?

NOTE: This book can be read out of order with the rest of the series and acts as a standalone vampire romance novel

Available in e-book from:

Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Germany | Amazon Kindle Canada | Amazon Kindle Australia

Apple iBookstore US | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand

Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | All Romance eBooks | Google Play

Available in paperback from:

Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes and Noble | Amazon.ca

You can get your hands on the first book in this series, PROPHECY: CHILD OF LIGHT, for FREE right now on selected Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Nook and Apple iBooks Stores. Find out more at my Paranormal Romance Ebook Offers page.

If you haven’t had a chance to read any of the books in the Vampires Realm romance series yet, they’re all available at major ebook retailers and some are available in paperback, and you can find the links and samples of the books at my website:

View more on Felicity Heaton's website »

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Published on September 13, 2014 04:17

September 10, 2014

WIP Wednesday – Hunted by a Jaguar & Craved by an Alpha (Eternal Mates Paranormal Romance Series Books 4 & 5) and more!

I’m fighting to bring WIP Wednesdays back when I’m actively working on a book… but normally I’m so engrossed in writing that I kinda forget to make a WIP Wednesday post, and then I’ve finished the book in first draft!

If you follow me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/felicityheaton then you know what I’m up to, but if you haven’t followed me yet, here’s an update. If you are a follower, then you’ll know most of this, but you’ll get that tasty sneak preview snippet I made you vote for!

Right now, I’ve just completed the first drafts of the next two books in my Eternal Mates romance series. Hunted by a Jaguar is Kyter and Iolanthe’s story, and that’s the next book in the series. You remember Kyter? He’s that sexy jaguar shifter who runs Underworld, the nightclub in Kissed by a Dark Prince. The bonus is, you’ll be seeing Bleu in action again in his book since they’re kinda buddies now. Bachelors have to stick together.

The other book I’ve just finished in first draft is Craved by an Alpha. No, it’s not about werewolves. It’s about a delicious snow leopard shifter. You’ll get to meet Cavanaugh briefly in Kyter’s book as these two big kitties work together at the nightclub. Cavanaugh’s heroine is Eloise. Craved by an Alpha is a novella, and it’s around half the length of the novels in the series.

Now that I’m done with writing these two, I’ve set them aside to rest while I plan the next book in the Eternal Mates series, Bitten by a Hellcat, which is another novella.

Yes, I’m having a run on this series, and absolutely loving it!

The plan as it stands is that I will release the next four books in the Eternal Mates romance series close together, only a few weeks between each release. The current release plan for the books is for them to go in this order:

Jan 10th – Hunted by a Jaguar

Jan 31st – Craved by an Alpha

Feb 21st – Bitten by a Hellcat

Mar 14th – Taken by a Dragon

There’s a chance I could release them about a month earlier for each release… would you like that?

Once I’ve written Bitten by a Hellcat, I’m planning and writing Taken by a Dragon, which is novel length and it’s Anais the hunter and her story. Remember her? She got snatched by a pesky dragon in Claimed by a Demon King. Well, that dragon is Loke and he might have Anais holed up in his cave somewhere in the dragon realm in Hell and a certain sassy huntress turned demon queen might be on a warpath to get her fellow huntress back. I think Loke needs to watch his back…

I know what you’re thinking… that’s a lot of books! Don’t worry though. I’m not using up all my release spots for 2015 in one fell swoop.

I’m also planning to write and release in 2015:

A Vampire Erotic Theatre series novella

A Her Angel series novella

Guardians of Hades books 1-3

And maybe a Vampires Realm novella if I really work some magic!

Now, how about a sneak preview snippet from Hunted by a Jaguar? I asked my Facebook followers what they wanted and they chose this book…

A little backstory… this is close to the start of the book, and Kyter’s first face-to-face meeting with his heroine, Iolanthe. Kyter is being a naughty kitty by trying to make his unflappable heroine blush and trying to win her over as they’re both after the same object…

Kyter took a step back, stooped and unzipped the main compartment of his backpack. He took out his canteen and rose to his feet. The female eyed him, her blade still held at the ready. At least she hadn’t attacked when he had feigned dropping his guard.

He unscrewed the cap on his canteen and then put it back on as an idea came to him.

He set the canteen down on his backpack. Stood and stared across the narrow strip of ground to the female, making sure he had the whole of her attention. When he had assured himself that she was still staring at him, he grabbed the hem of his black t-shirt and pulled it up.

Her eyes shot wide.

“Wh-what do you think you are doing?” She edged back a step and her blade dropped a few inches before it came back up.

He smirked and pulled the top off over his head, taking his time about it and giving her a nice, leisurely look at his stomach and chest. He dropped the black tee on his pack and she stared at him. No blush. No problem. He could get one out of her.

He swiped the canteen from beneath his tee, unscrewed the cap and raised it above his head. He tipped half of the contents over his sandy hair. Water ran down his face and throat and over his chest.

She stammered. “What… I… what?”

Kyter shot her his best smile as he scrubbed his hand over his hair, tousling the wet strands and squeezing more water from it. It ran in rivulets down his face and his body.

A blush scalded her cheeks.

Bingo.

“I’m hot,” he murmured and rubbed the water into his chest. “And a little dusty. I’m remedying that.”

Because he hated being dirty.

But he could be dirty for her.

She blinked and her mouth flapped but no words came out. Her gaze betrayed her and fell to his chest as he swept his hand across it. The heat on her cheeks flared hotter. She turned her back on him.

“Put some clothes on.”

He smirked. “I have clothes on. I’m damned if I’m going to boil to death for you. Prude. You don’t like what you see, get out of my territory.”

She turned on him, her green eyes flashing fire.

“I am not a prude… and this is not your territory.” Her left eyebrow slowly rose and she murmured, “Territory. You have said that twice now.”

And he wouldn’t say it again, because he preferred it when people couldn’t tell what he was. His mixed genes normally masked his jaguar scent, making it impossible to detect his species to all but the most experienced fae and demons. At her age, she had probably met several jaguars, and he was surprised she hadn’t figured him out yet.

He still didn’t have a damn clue what she was.

She lowered the blade to her side and smiled at him, fluttering her eyelashes. Trying to play at his game? She was an awful actress. Too forced. Even the stupidest of males would have seen through her attempt to charm him.

She was going to be a tricky customer though. She wanted the artefact. He could see it in her eyes. He had animal magnetism to his advantage, and a better ability at acting, but something about her had him hungry for a taste of her, and he wasn’t sure it was purely her beauty or her gracefulness. If she took the stick out of her ass and really turned on the charm, he didn’t think he would be able to resist the fierce desire she stirred in him with only a look. Just thinking about it had him aching for her, growing hard in his combats.

He cursed himself for being too damn easy and turned away from her to look at the fresco and give himself a moment to get his body back under control. He had to keep building on the foundations he had laid. He couldn’t give her a chance to pull herself back together. The quickest way to get in her good graces and get information out of her would be pretending to fall for her charms, giving her the impression she was in control of the situation, and then turning the tables on her.

The trouble was, he probably wouldn’t be pretending to fall for her poor attempts at seduction and he would probably forget all about the turning tables part.

He felt her gaze roaming his back, intent and focused. The scars on it burned.

Kyter whirled to face her, a growl rumbling through his chest, and she dropped her eyes to her boots.

“You not left yet?” he snapped and she straightened, pinning him with a glare.

“You have to leave.”

He shook his head and took a swig from his canteen. “Nope. I like it here.”

She pointed her blade at him again. “I have a weapon, you do not.”

Kyter slowly smiled. “Oh, I have a weapon. It’s around this big.”

He spaced his hands around ten inches apart.

She blushed beautifully again. “You disgust me.”

“I was talking about a knife. I don’t know what you thought I was talking about… oh… man… you have a dirty mind.” He smirked as she huffed and turned away from him. Giving him her back? She either felt confident she could defend herself if he attacked, or she was beginning to feel he wasn’t a threat to her and was starting to trust him. “Name’s Kyter.”

“I have no interest in your name.” She swung her blade up onto her shoulder again and looked over it at him. “I shall call you Disgusting Pig.”

Kyter shrugged, luring her eyes back down to his body. “I’m not a pig.”

Her gaze jumped back up to his face and narrowed. “What are you?”

He shot her another smile. “I told you. I’m Kyter.”

Her huff filled the quiet room. “I should have named you Irritating.”

She looked as if she was considering leaving. Oddly, he didn’t want that to happen. He was enjoying playing with her. She had the most alluring little crinkle between her brows when he was frustrating her and he liked the way her eyes flashed green fire flecked with gold.

“Irritating is my middle name.” Kyter held his free hand out to her. “Most people call me Kyter.”

She slowly turned back to face him, looked at his hand, but didn’t take it. “Iolanthe.”

He bet a thousand men had told her what a pretty name she had. It suited her beauty. He was damned if he was going to be number one thousand and one though.

“So, Io.” He flinched when she shot down that attempt at friendliness with an icy glare and tried again. “Lanthe?”

She scowled. “Do not shorten my name without permission.”

Tough customer. He cleared his throat. If they were back at his bar, he would have offered her a drink to break the ice between them and get her to lower her guard. He cast a glance around the empty room, thinking about the arid ruins beyond it and the fact she wasn’t likely to want to leave this place to find a joint where they could share a drink. He didn’t want to leave either. He would have to do this the hard way.

Kyter offered her his canteen.

She raised an eyebrow at it. “What do you expect me to do with that?”

The unsteady edge to her eyes and her heartbeat said that she thought he meant her to toss water over herself in some sort of private wet t-shirt competition for his eyes only. While he wouldn’t say no to seeing her wet all over, it hadn’t been his intention and it was probably a little too soon for trying anything so risqué.

What do you think?

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Published on September 10, 2014 09:42

September 9, 2014

Teaseday – Tempted by a Rogue Prince (Eternal Mates Paranormal Romance Series Book 3) – Excerpt

Today’s tease comes from the book Tempted by a Rogue Prince, which is the third book in my popular Eternal Mates romance series. Read on for this Tuesday’s tease…

Rosalind sat in the corner of her cell, staring blankly at the wall opposite her, her focus turned away from herself and her surroundings. She had fixed it on the man when the guards had dragged her back to her cell and dumped her into it, leaving her to curl up on the cold stone floor and fight the pain pulling her to pieces. Threatening to shatter her completely.

The moment she had thought about him, some of that pain had faded. He kept it at bay together with her fear. She didn’t know how, or what power he had that allowed him to do such a thing, and she didn’t care. All she cared about was shutting out the pain while she healed and the memories of the whip. She flinched away from thoughts of it and focused on the man again.

He was handsome, despite his gaunt appearance. His tall body was too lean, as if ravaged by hunger, leaving his bones on display beneath his dirty skin, but there was strength there still, a hint that he would outshine the incubus if he fed and put on muscle and fat again.

But he also held darkness within him that outshone the darkness in any male she had met before him, even the cruel demon king of this realm. He was violent and dangerous. A wild beast in the form of a man.

And the whole cellblock had heard it during her punishment.

The thunderous bellows of rage that had echoed around the dungeon as the guards had cut her back to ribbons with the whip had been his. He had gone into some sort of rage. Because of her?

Her last moments with him offered her little in the way of understanding him. He had snarled ‘witch’ at her as if it were a curse word, and the vilest one available to him.

She hadn’t liked how he had looked at her either, cold and detached, yet calculating, as if he had been plotting terrible, painful things for her. Things far worse than the guards had done. There had been a wildness in his steel-blue eyes, a dark malevolence that promised pain and suffering. But all the while his expression had remained calm, placid, and unreadable. Only his eyes and his aura had given away his dark intentions. The steady current of danger he constantly radiated had reached startling heights and her magic had wanted to rise to protect her.

She had wanted to run from him and never look back.

But when the guards had come to take her, he had been a different man. He had turned all of that violence and darkness on the demons instead, and had looked at her with eyes that left her feeling he had wanted to protect her.

Mother earth, the whole affair confused the hell out of her, but she did feel certain of one thing.

He despised witches.

Rosalind hugged her knees to her chest and winced. One of the demons had busted a few ribs. Bastard. She felt them and wished she could heal them, but the demon king had made sure that she couldn’t use her power on herself. She had discovered that after her first beating. If she tried to use it on herself, she only experienced agony, fire that burned her bones to ashes and left her even weaker than before.

He had also put a stop to her rather poor attempt at escaping. She had been healing one of his warriors in the infirmary when she had accidently lost her connection to the spell, leaving the demon in crippling pain. She had then touched every demon she could before they realised what was happening, unleashing a healing spell into each of them and then severing her link with it. It had been working, demons dropping like flies around her, and then she had discovered a massive flaw in her brilliant plan.

She had turned to escape through the arched doorway and found herself facing a dark witch.

The witch had gone to town on her, battering her with spells that she had no way of countering or protecting against. Before Rosalind had lost consciousness, the blonde witch had loomed over her and told her it was payback for her sisters.

Rosalind had slipped into nightmarish replays of killing the witches on the side of the Fifth King, seeing their deaths over and over again in gory detail.

She shuddered and weakly rubbed her arms, her manacles clanking with each sweep of her hands.

If the black-haired man despised witches, he wasn’t going to be very happy when he discovered the Fifth King had a whole harem of them living in the castle above.

Rosalind crawled to the bars of her cell with effort, each shuffling inch forwards causing agony to ripple through her. She collapsed into the right corner and leaned her head against the cold bars, breathing hard as she stared left along the corridor towards the man’s cell.

Her head swam, pain and hunger combining to turn it light and spin her thoughts together into a blur. She tried to focus on the man again, letting everything else drop away.

Why did he despise her kind so much?

Heavy footsteps sounded along the corridor at her back, coming from the direction of the dungeon’s torture chamber.

The thick leather boots stopped outside her cell and she managed to tip her head back and look up the towering height of their owner. The dark-haired demon stared down at her, his emerald eyes devoid of feeling, filled with cold indifference.

“Your healing is needed,” he said in a gruff, deep voice, and opened her cell door.

Who needed to be healed? One of the demons? She was too afraid to mention to this man that she was too weak from her punishment to be of use to him. She doubted she could muster the power to heal anyone right now.

The demon grabbed her roughly by her arm and hauled her onto her feet. He dragged her from her cell and along the dank corridor, moving too swiftly for her legs to keep up. She gave up trying to walk and let him pull her along, her bare toes bouncing off the gaps between the stone flags and her body hanging limp from his strong hand.

Only one guard. If she could channel her healing power into him, she could take him down. She might be able to escape. She almost laughed at that, the flicker of hope in her heart quickly dying. She couldn’t walk, let alone run. She was never escaping this hell.

She wasn’t powerful enough without her magic. These demons were one hundred times stronger than she was on the best of days. In a physical fight against one, she would last less than a second.

How strong would the man be when he healed?

He should be better by now. She had flooded him with all the healing spells she could manage, and the highest level ones available to her. It struck her that they were heading in the direction of his cell. She could sneak a glance at him on her way past to the infirmary at the end of the corridor.

Rosalind stared ahead, her eyes fixed on his cell to her right as they approached it.

The demon stopped outside it and her eyes widened in horror.

What had happened to him?

The man’s injuries were worse than ever, and his wrists bore a new set of cuffs, heavier ones that had been bolted to the end of the stone slab where he lay. They had shackled his ankles too.

And was one of the steel bars of the cell bent?

Her demon escort opened the door to the man’s cell and shoved her inside. Rosalind looked around it, unable to believe her eyes. There were deep bloodstained grooves in the stone walls beside the bars. Her eyes darted to his fingers. His nails were gone, broken off, leaving scabbed tips behind.

He had attacked the walls of his cell when they had taken her and during her punishment. Why?

A soft noise reached her ears and she stared down at him. Not unconscious as she had thought. He muttered things in an unknown tongue.

“You will stay until the moonrise. The king wants him lucid for questioning. Do not fail this time.” The guard slammed the cell door and stalked away.

The moon in this realm was the weird light that emanated from the portal the elves used to bring sunshine into their kingdom. When that light shone in the seven demon realms, it meant it was daylight there, but the demons in this realm thought of it as the moon. It meant night to them.

She had most of the day to heal him.

Rosalind ran an assessing gaze over him. His injuries were extensive, and all self-inflicted, but she didn’t think they were the reason he was in this strange state of limbo between unconsciousness and consciousness. It wasn’t a physical problem. It was a mental one.

He writhed on the slab, his muttering growing darker, vicious sounding snarls that barely resembled words. What language did he speak? It wasn’t the fae tongue.

She ventured a step closer to him and he lost his restlessness, growing very still. Could he sense her?

Was he lying in wait to attack her when she came close enough?

She kept some distance between them as she rounded the slab, her gaze fixed on him the whole time, monitoring him for a sign he might attack her. He began writhing again, fitful jerking movements that rattled the chains that held him pinned to the slab with his arms above his head, stretched out like a piece of meat on a butcher’s block.

Bastard demons.

The male snarled low in his throat, as if he knew her thoughts and seconded them. He looked so savage coated in dried blood and dirt, and felt more dangerous than ever. She flicked a glance at the bent steel bar and the grooves in the solid stone. More dangerous than she had thought possible.

Rosalind kneeled beside him on the stone flags.

He snarled again, his eyes rolling back in his head as he sniffed, inhaling deeply. He rocked his hips and her cheeks heated. He was growing hard in his wrecked black trousers. She averted her eyes, pretending she hadn’t noticed, and diligently kept her eyes away from that area of his anatomy, not wanting to ponder why he had reacted in such a way to her scent.

She reached out to touch his bloodstained hands. He growled and grew more restless, twisting on the stone slab and pulling at his restraints.

“Shh,” she whispered, unsure whether he could hear her and whether speaking to him was wise when he was in this condition.

Would her presence and the sound of her voice make him better, or worse?

He hated witches. He had looked at her with murder in his eyes.

She couldn’t leave him though or let him continue to suffer, and it wasn’t because she was a captive in this cell with him or the orders the demon had given her. The sight of him suffering, lost in whatever strange place had hold of him, caused an ache in her chest that compelled her to help him.

“I won’t hurt you. I swear it.” She reached out to touch his hands and he hissed at her, flashing fangs. She barely dodged his attack, falling backwards as he launched his head forwards, his teeth clacking as they struck each other and not her flesh.

He grew wild, bucking off the slab and yanking on the manacles that bound his wrists. She wanted to reach for him but instinct held her back, warned her to let him wear himself out. He had tried to bite her. Mother earth. She covered her mouth with her hand and stared at him, her heart developing a new ache. What dark power gripped him that he would attack her when she was only trying to help him?

He began to settle again, his movements becoming less frantic, weaker as his strength faded.

“I will not hurt you. I know you can hear me. I am only going to heal you.” Rosalind moved back to her knees beside him and swallowed hard.

He slumped onto the bench, the tangled threads of his black hair sticking to the sweat on his brow.

He looked fragile, but she wasn’t going to let that deceive her. This man was deranged.

What sort of male could have not only moved with her healing spell ricocheting through his body and all the injuries that had remained, but managed to find the strength to bend thick steel bars and rake deep grooves into solid stone with only his nails?

Not a sane one.

Many of the dungeon’s residents had been here long enough to have gone mad and were normally noisy at night, but last night they had been silent while this man had raged.

They had feared he would escape. The guards had feared too, exchanging meaningful glances as they punished her.

She had feared too.

This male had come here insane.

Did you enjoy today’s tease?

Tempted by a Rogue Prince

Felicity Heaton

An elf prince on the verge of losing himself to the darkness, Vail is maddened by the forty-two centuries he was under the control of a witch and forced to war with his brother. Now, he roams Hell seeking an escape from his terrible past and the heads of all who bear magic. When demons of the Fifth Realm capture him, he sees a chance to end his existence, but when he wakes in a cell to a beautiful female, he finds not death but his only shot at salvation—his true fated mate.

Captured by the enemy of the Third Realm when the war ended, Rosalind has spent months in the cells of the Fifth Realm with her magic bound, forced to heal the new king’s demon warriors, and haunted by the lives she has taken. When she’s brought to heal an unconscious man, she discovers her only hope of escape has come in the form of her worst nightmare and the first part of a prediction that might spell her doom—a devastatingly handsome and dangerous dark elf prince.

Unwilling to fall under the control of anyone ever again, Vail must escape before the Fifth King can use him as a pawn in a deadly game of revenge, but he cannot leave without Rosalind, the woman who looks at him with dark desire in her stunning eyes and awakens a fierce hunger in his heart. A witch who drives him mad with need even as the darkness within whispers she will enslave him too.

Can Rosalind escape her fate as they embark on a journey fraught with danger and resist the temptation of her rogue elf prince? And can Vail overcome the memories that madden him in order to seize his chance for salvation and the heart of his fated female forever?

Available in e-book from:

Amazon Kindle Stores:

USA/International | UK | Germany | Canada | Australia

Apple iBookstores:

US | UK | Australia | Canada | New Zealand

Other Retailers:

Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | All Romance eBooks | Google Play

Available in paperback from:

Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

If you haven’t had a chance to read any of the books in the Eternal Mates romance series yet, they’re all available at major ebook retailers and in paperback, and you can find the links and samples of the books at my website:

Kissed by a Dark Prince (Eternal Mates Romance Series #1)

Claimed by a Demon King (Eternal Mates Romance Series #2)

Tempted by a Rogue Prince (Eternal Mates Romance Series #3)

View more on Felicity Heaton's website »

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Published on September 09, 2014 04:10

September 7, 2014

Manday Hotties – Gorgeous Hero-worthy Guys

Good Monday Morning! It’s time for the Manday Hotties Hop! I have some yummy new mancandy pictures for you… check out these hotties… Every one of these guys could be one of my paranormal romance heroes…

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Which shot is your favourite? I’m drawn to #2… but maybe because he reminds me of Vail. #3 makes me think of Ares in my upcoming Guardians of Hades series.

Visit the other blogs in the hop:

View more on Felicity Heaton's website »

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Published on September 07, 2014 20:59

September 6, 2014

Snippet Saturday – Claimed by a Demon King (Eternal Mates Paranormal Romance Series Book 2) – Excerpt

Snippet Saturday is brought to you today by Claimed by a Demon King, which is the second book in my popular Eternal Mates romance series. Read on for this Saturday’s snippet…

Thorne knocked back the rest of his drink and crushed the mug in his fist. Shards of clay bit into his hand and scattered on the flagstones at his feet.

He hated being on the defensive.

He wanted to be the stronger male, the stronger kingdom, and the Fifth King was driving him towards failure, battering his pride along the way.

He opened his hand and stared at the splinters of mug embedded into his palm, feeling the vampire’s gaze on it. Crimson pooled in the creases of his hand. It was foolish to allow himself to bleed around so many vampires. Especially around Lord Van der Garde.

The vampire was afflicted with bloodlust.

Thorne raised his gaze to the male. Hungry scarlet eyes locked on Thorne’s palm, their narrowed elliptical pupils speaking of Lord Van der Garde’s dark desires. He wanted the blood.

Thorne signalled one of the servants he knew carried blood on his tray of drinks. The male hurried over and hovered near the vampire, looking as on edge as Thorne felt. Lord Van der Garde’s gaze remained rooted on Thorne’s hand, transfixed, as if he had cast a spell upon him, and then the vampire blinked, shot his left hand out and snatched a cup of blood, lifted it to his lips and drank the contents in one go.

“Never bleed around me unless you are meaning to offer up your jugular to my fangs,” the vampire growled, slammed the mug down on the tray, causing the others to spill, and stalked off.

Thorne plucked the shards from his hand and dropped them onto the tray, and then nodded to the servant. The male moved away, leaving him alone by his throne. He licked the blood from his palm. This was never going to work. He was fooling himself if he thought this army he had assembled could work together and save his kingdom.

He growled.

This never would have happened in his father’s time. His father had been strong and powerful, and had reigned in an era of peace because of that strength. His might had driven all other demons from his realm and kept the borderlands safe. None had dared rise up against him. All had respected him.

Thorne wanted to be like his father, a good king for his people, and he was failing. More now than ever, he feared he would lose to the Fifth King and condemn his people to a brutal end.

This war was life or death to him, but he didn’t care about his own life. He cared only about his people. He couldn’t fail them.

He couldn’t let those who viewed him as a youngling unworthy of his kingdom be proven right.

He had fought them for twenty-seven centuries and he would not give up now.

He would become the stronger male and protect his kingdom.

It was the reason he had gone to the mortal realm to seek the advice of the magic bearer, Rosalind. He had asked to see his future and had instead seen Prince Loren’s, and a chance to gain a powerful ally. With the elves pledged to bring one thousand men to his realm, he had found hope again.

He had convinced the werewolves to assist him by sending two hundred men and had sought the aid of the Preux Chevaliers. They had pledged to send their First Legion, the finest in their corps. Over one hundred strong vampire males in total.

He had gathered every demon of fighting age in his kingdom and posted half of them at the border villages to protect them, and had sent his best commanders to train them. The other half had come to the castle.

He had amassed an army, a force strong enough to drive the demons of the Fifth Realm back for good. When they next attacked, he would be ready for them and he would seek out the Fifth King and claim his head and his heart as his prize.

He would end the threat to his kingdom by ending the Fifth King.

His sensitive hearing picked up some curses off to his left, at the far end of the room near the doors that led to the mortal and elf quarters. His pulse doubled as his gaze scanned the gathered humans and then settled as he realised that Sable was not among them.

The mortal hunters broadcasted fear.

Archangel had sent only fifty but it had given him something more valuable than their strength.

They had brought him Sable.

Just thinking about her lifted some of the weight from his shoulders, relaxing him yet at the same time increasing his tension. It wasn’t only nerves about seeing her again. It was nerves about having her here as part of his army.

She was a warrior though, and as strange as that was to him, he had to respect it. He had witnessed how she reacted when coddled by a male during a fight and knew not to belittle her abilities as a hunter. Loren had often spoken of her during their meetings, slipping information to him, telling him of the powerful creatures that she had fought and defeated in the mortal world. She was a capable and skilled hunter, and a determined female, and he admired her for it.

He moved towards the gathered men and women, desiring to calm them and make them feel they were safe among so many species they probably viewed as enemies.

Sable would be here soon to take command of them. She would be pleased if she found him conversing with her people, putting their minds at ease.

The females among the group wore the same battle clothing they had been earlier.

Would Sable be dressed in such a manner or would she have a garment more suited to her rank and the occasion?

He tried to picture her in a dress of mortal fashion, one he had seen on females at social gatherings in the human world. The image that popped into his head was one of her in her black leather trousers, knee-high boots and tight little top that emphasised her breasts. He groaned and rubbed his mouth, fighting for control over his body as he recalled his dreams of her, lifelike visions of stripping her slowly before he claimed her as his forever.

A scuffle broke out behind him, pulling his attention away from thoughts of Sable and from her band of mortals.

He turned to see the source of the commotion. A few werewolves and vampires were engaged in a fistfight. Kincaid and Lord Van der Garde were already among them, both males looking as if they wanted to throw punches rather than stop their men from doing so. He took a step towards them, intending to intervene, and then stopped himself. It was better he allowed their commanders to deal with it so he didn’t appear to be interfering in their business.

A ripple of heat travelled through his muscles, sending a shiver of awareness through him.

Sable.

He was turning before he knew it, his gaze seeking her, drawn to his little female.

When it found her, his blood chilled and then burned for a different reason.

She was beautiful, resplendent with her long black hair twirled and clasped at the back of her head and her lips rosy, but she did not wear a dress of mortal fashion.

The long flowing blue garment reached her ankles, the sheer layers parting as she walked, revealing glimpses of bare thigh through the gauzy material that made him want to growl at every male in the room who dared to look upon his female. In contrast to the loose skirt, the top was tight, the blue bands of material held in place by elaborate arcs and swirls of brushed silver metal that acted as a corset over them.

An elven dress.

The wretched elf male beside her raked an appreciative glance over her body, blatant hunger in his purple eyes.

Thorne’s lips peeled back off his fangs and his horns curled in front of his ears.

He stormed through the crowd, shoving demon, elf, vampire and werewolf out of his path, picking up speed as he neared her and the male. Sable’s golden eyes met his, a smile rising onto her lips. It faded when he growled low in his throat. She tensed, her eyes going wide, and backed off a step. He pushed the last obstacle aside and seized Bleu by his throat, barely registering Sable’s gasp, and kicked forwards, using all of his speed to slam the male against the stone wall behind her.

Did you enjoy today’s snippet?

Claimed by a Demon King

Felicity Heaton

The moment the demon King Thorne of the Third Realm set eyes on the mortal huntress Sable, he knew she was his fated one. The fiery, dangerous female awakened hungers he had never experienced before, a dark craving and passion that has consumed him in their time apart. As the lunar cycle wanes, she enters his world again and nothing will stand in the way of him claiming his forever with her—not the relentless assault from the Fifth Realm or the dark elf male determined to seduce her out of his grasp.

Intent on achieving the coveted position of commander at Archangel, Sable leads her small team into the dark underworld and the Third Realm, to a war where her allies are the very creatures she normally hunts—vampires, werewolves, and demons. Her eagerness to lead the deadly mission has everything to do with winning her promotion, and nothing to do with the kingdom’s brash, lethally seductive demon king—a king who stirred fierce desire and wildfire heat in her with just a look and an innocent touch when they first met, and has been in her wicked dreams ever since.

As the gathering storm between rivals unleashes irresistible passion that flares white-hot and the heat of the battle brings life-shattering realisations, can Sable place her duty before her heart? Or will she surrender to her deepest desires and be claimed by a demon king?

Available in e-book from:

Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Germany | Amazon Kindle Canada | Amazon Kindle Australia

Apple iBookstore US | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand

Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks | Google Play

Available in paperback from:

Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes and Noble | Amazon.ca

Kissed by a Dark Prince (Eternal Mates Romance Series #1)

Claimed by a Demon King (Eternal Mates Romance Series #2)

Tempted by a Rogue Prince (Eternal Mates Romance Series #3)

View more on Felicity Heaton's website »

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Published on September 06, 2014 04:57

September 2, 2014

Teaseday – Kissed by a Dark Prince (Eternal Mates Paranormal Romance Series Book 1) – Excerpt

Today’s tease comes from the paranormal romance book Kissed by a Dark Prince, which is the first book in my popular Eternal Mates romance series. Read on for this Tuesday’s tease…

Olivia folded her arms across her chest. “Your enemy could have killed you rather than dump you at my door. I still don’t get why you haven’t just killed him before. You’ve been at war for four thousand years. There must have been opportunities.”

“I almost succeeded once.” He began pacing again, long strides eating up the stone floor with ease. The man couldn’t keep still whenever he felt agitated and watching him pace only served to agitate her. It showed off his body in far too good a light and gave her a terrible excuse to stare. “I came close to killing Vail’s ki’ara… it would have given me a chance to capture him.”

Olivia didn’t miss that he had said capture him. Not kill him. Now she knew why they had been fighting for so long. The prince couldn’t bring himself to kill this psychopath. Why not?

“What’s a ki’ara?” She figured it was safer than probing about his reasons for not killing his enemy.

He glanced across at her. “It is our term for our fated female… our eternal mate. You are my ki’ara. The dark witch named Kordula is Vail’s ki’ara.”

So his enemy was another elf, and he had a fated female too, and the prince had tried to kill her.

“Do you get like a harem of them… or is it a one-time deal?” She hoped he didn’t say that each elf only got one ki’ara, but the solemn edge to his purple eyes warned that he was going to shatter that hope the moment he spoke.

“We have one fated female.” He looked away from her again, his head lowered now, his focus on his knee-high black boots.

Whatever this ki’ara thing was, she had the impression that elves placed a lot of value on it and it wasn’t something they gave up lightly. She couldn’t imagine having just one shot at true love. The prince was five thousand years old and now he had found his ki’ara, in her, and he didn’t need to say it aloud for her to know that he was thinking about giving her up. He didn’t act or look like a man who was happy to have found his soul mate and was going to fight to keep her.

“What happened with Vail and his ki’ara?” Olivia said and he stopped pacing, his gaze on the floor and his eyes widening.

He frowned and spat out what she could imagine was a vile curse.

“I am a fool. I have been looking at this all wrong.” He threw his head back and growled, his fangs sharp and ears pointed again. “Vail will seek you out and torture you to drive me to the brink. He is seeking revenge and desires me to suffer as he had. He will use you to hurt me.”

Olivia’s blood chilled to sub-zero temperatures and she stared at him, struggling to get past the part about this madman torturing her.

She managed to reach the end of what he said and realised that what he had told her earlier hadn’t been something romantic or noble at all. He had meant it literally. If someone hurt her, then he would feel it. He would share her pain.

Olivia couldn’t comprehend that. It was too much. She couldn’t breathe as the weight of it pressed down on her and the thought of being tortured closed her throat. Her head spun, the room viciously turning with it.

“Calm yourself!” he bellowed, a dark commanding snarl.

No. She was damned well going to have herself a major panic attack and he could damned well deal with it. She was sure that a panicking woman wasn’t on his list of things he enjoyed dealing with, but he had just announced that someone was out to torture her and considering this man had beaten the crap out of the prince, she felt her demise at his hands was somewhat inevitable.

“Female,” the prince gritted out and Olivia tried to focus on him.

He wobbled into focus and she frowned when she saw he was clutching his chest and was paler than ever, on the verge of collapse too.

Oh my God. He didn’t only share her pain.

His knees gave out, sending him crashing to the floor, and he whipped out a vicious curse in English this time, his handsome face contorting, revealing how much he despised what was happening to him. Olivia rushed to him and crouched before him. He inhaled hard, his shoulders heaving with each breath, struggling for air just as she had been a moment ago. She laid her hand on his shoulder. He was shaking like a leaf.

Olivia ran her hand along his jaw and lifted his chin, and studied his eyes. She tilted his head towards the light and away, monitoring the responsiveness of his pupils.

“What’s wrong?” She checked his pulse, pressing her fingers against his neck. It was fast, far quicker than it had been when she’d had him hooked up to the machines in the lab.

She dropped her hand away.

It matched hers.

“Not used to the pace,” he ground out. He was talking about his heartbeat. Her heartbeat. She swallowed, stunned by the reality before her.

The bond between them was so deep that it affected him physically. It linked them right down to their hearts.

Incredible.

He sat back in front of her and drew in slow breaths and her eyes widened when her pulse began to slow. He was the one making it happen.

Olivia tried to help him, seeking calm amongst the raging storm of her feelings, but it was hard. She was in a strange environment, felt threatened and overwhelmed, and someone was out to torture her. Just thinking about that had her pulse picking up again.

“Calm yourself.” He was back to commanding her again.

“I’m trying… it’s… I can’t… it’s too much.” Olivia’s panic spiked, her hand shaking against his face.

He looked deep into her eyes and then she was in his arms, held close to him, and they were kneeling together on the floor.

Familiar scents swirled around her and she instantly felt more relaxed. “What did you do?”

He drew back from her and she found that he had taken her home and they were kneeling in the middle of her small living room on the cream carpet, between the beige sofa and the TV.

The prince brushed cool fingers across her brow. “You feel better now.”

She nodded, her heart levelling out again, the soft feel of the carpet beneath her knees and the familiar surroundings making her feel comforted and safe.

He sighed.

“I cannot remain here… and that means you cannot either… but I will not rush you,” he said in a low voice, one laced with a solemn note.

She appreciated that because she could see how difficult this was for him. He was a man used to issuing orders and having someone instantly obey. He was a man unused to having a weakness and she knew that was what she was. She didn’t want this bond between them either. She wanted it undone or broken or just gone somehow. She didn’t care how.

“Is there a way to undo it?” she whispered, afraid to hope that there was.

“It is possible it may fade if we do not complete it. I will have my men look into it and we will know soon enough if it is possible to break the bond. If it is possible, you will be free to go.”

She didn’t like the sound of that. “And if it isn’t?”

“If it is not possible, then my only choice will be to complete the bond. Completing the bond will restore my strength, because it will make you immortal, stronger.” He held her gaze, unflinching as she glared at him, thinking about giving him another piece of her mind. “You must understand… I must defeat my enemy and to do that, I need to regain my strength, whether that is through breaking or completing our bond.”

In other words, she wasn’t getting a choice. He was just going to make that decision for her.

Did you enjoy today’s tease?

Kissed by a Dark Prince

Felicity Heaton

Olivia thinks it’s her lucky night when a dangerously handsome unconscious fae ends up on her inspection table. He’s her chance to redeem herself with her employer, the demon-hunting organisation, Archangel. But when the tall, dark and deadly immortal warrior awakes, she gets much more than she bargained for…

Attacked by his enemy in the elf kingdom, the last thing Prince Loren expects when he comes around is a beautiful angel watching over him and medical technology of the mortal realm. Hazy from his injuries, all he can focus on is the pulse ticking in her throat and the sweet allure of her blood.

One single bite reveals she is his eternal mate, triggering a bond between them that will leave him weakened until it is completed… or broken, and pulling Olivia into the crossfire of his ancient feud.

To protect his people and his mate from the machinations of a madman, Loren must risk everything by working with Olivia at Archangel to find a way to break the bond blossoming between them.

But will Loren be strong enough to place duty before desire and give up the one thing he has waited millennia for and craves above all others—his eternal mate? And will Olivia be able to resist the incredible heat that burns between them and the temptation of her dark prince’s kiss?

Available in e-book from:

Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Germany | Amazon Kindle Canada | Amazon Kindle Australia

Apple iBookstore US | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand

Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks | Google Play

Available in paperback from:

Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes and Noble | Amazon.ca

Kissed by a Dark Prince (Eternal Mates Romance Series #1)

Claimed by a Demon King (Eternal Mates Romance Series #2)

Tempted by a Rogue Prince (Eternal Mates Romance Series #3)

View more on Felicity Heaton's website »

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Published on September 02, 2014 04:44

August 31, 2014

Manday Hotties – Hot New Mancandy

Good Monday Morning! It’s time for the Manday Hotties Hop! I have some yummy new mancandy pictures for you… check out these hotties…

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Which shot is your favourite? I’m going to go with #1… love those pecs!

Visit the other blogs in the hop:

View more on Felicity Heaton's website »

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Published on August 31, 2014 20:59

August 30, 2014

Snippet Saturday – Tempted by a Rogue Prince (Eternal Mates Paranormal Romance Series Book 3) – Excerpt

Snippet Saturday is brought to you today by Tempted by a Rogue Prince, which is the third book in my popular Eternal Mates romance series. Read on for this Saturday’s snippet…

Pain. It tore at him. Shredded his flesh. Smashed his bones. Devoured his soul. Blood. He needed it. Ached for it. Hungered. Darkness. It consumed him.

A floral scent swept around him, invading his senses, driving back the darkness and the agony. Nature. He was somewhere green and verdant, beautiful and soothing. He could see it in his buzzing mind, and could see it for himself if he could just get his eyes open.

He yearned to run his fingers through the tall meadow grass. He longed to lift the wild blooms to his nose and inhale their delicate fragrance. He needed to lay beneath the mighty oak and let the dappled sunlight play across his tired body as the melody of the branches swaying filled his mind. He wanted to breathe deep of it all and let it fill his soul with light.

Vail forced his eyes open, filled with a hunger to see the nature that brought with it such a sweet, enticing scent.

Black stone greeted his eyes. The rank odour of mould overshadowed the soft floral fragrance.

A dream?

Had he been dreaming of nature, a fantasy so real that it had crossed over into reality? He couldn’t recall the last time he had dreamed. Nightmares were his constant companion. Never dreams.

But there was no nature in his dark damp cell. No sunshine. No flowers. No meadow grass.

No beauty.

“You’re awake.” The voice was female, edged with a quaver that spoke of fear, and a sense of familiarity.

He shifted his eyes down to her. Beauty and nature stood over him and he saw blue skies in her eyes and sunshine in the spun gold of her hair. A faint scent of wild roses clung to her. He didn’t remember her, or did he? It was hazy. Her face seemed familiar.

“Remain still,” she said and he complied only because he wasn’t sure he could move, not even to snap her neck or tear her throat out with his fangs.

Why would he do such a thing to the delicate little wild rose?

She trembled, her shoulders shaking so violently that her matted fair hair tumbled off them and down her front.

He wanted to reach out and sweep that hair back into place.

Vail became aware of the cold heaviness of manacles around his wrists.

Hazy things started coming back to him, slowly gaining focus in his weary mind. The demons had done this to him. He was sure of that. He recalled the fight and wanting death, and waking to this female. He recalled her saying he was bound.

They had him chained and had a female in his cell.

She was a trap.

Crushing weight pressed down on his chest and his throat clogged. They had sent her in to hurt him.

To abuse him.

He snarled and fought his bonds, desperately trying to break the chain between them. He was stronger now, although he didn’t know why. Power flowed through him, strength he hadn’t felt in as long as he could remember. He used all of it on the restraints, bowing off the cold stone slab as he fought them.

“Please keep still.” She reached out to touch him.

To lay her hands on his flesh.

Vail bared his fangs at her and rolled off the slab, hitting the floor hard enough to knock the air from his lungs. He kicked off, scrambling as he attempted to rise to his feet and placing as much distance between them as he could manage.

“Keep away,” he said in English, using her tongue.

She shot to her feet and he growled at her, flashing his fangs in warning again.

“I cannot,” she barked and took a step towards him. “If I don’t heal you, they’ll punish me!”

Fear shone in her blue eyes. Eyes that implored him to believe her as she took another hesitant step towards him. Her arms shifted, coming forwards, and metal rattled. His gaze dropped to her wrists and he blinked.

She wore the same heavy cuffs as he, and had worn them for some time judging by her scarred wrists. A foreign sensation bolted through him on seeing the pale streaks of silver and red on her delicate skin. A need that he didn’t understand.

He felt compelled to take her hand in his and smooth his fingers over the scars, as if that action could erase the ugly marks of her captivity and restore her flawless skin.

He had no such power, not over flesh and bone. Not anymore. He had forsaken it long ago when he had severed his connection to his people and his powers had withered over the endless centuries since then.

And he had no reason to desire to use it on this female.

“Please?” she whispered and he lifted his gaze back to meet hers. “I have to heal you.”

A healer.

What species was she? Many could heal and many of those appeared human.

Including witches.

He growled at her, unable to stop himself, a reaction to that word that would stay with him until death finally embraced him. She didn’t flinch away. She bravely stood her ground this time, although her heart missed several beats and he sensed the fear she held buried deep within her.

Not only fear of him. She feared the demons too. And something else.

Something unknown to him, but something he needed to understand. He wasn’t sure why. It ran deep in his blood, a compulsion he couldn’t comprehend and that made no sense to him. It tied him in knots, twisting his insides, making him feel useless and weak.

Cursed female.

He narrowed his gaze on her, studying her delicate features and the way she held herself, drinking in everything about her, searching for a clue as to the reason for his strange reactions to her. Perhaps they had drugged him. It was all a ploy to weaken him and lure him into her trap. They wanted to watch her bring him to his knees. They would laugh as he suffered at her hands.

They were attempting to play on his compassion, but that had been their mistake.

He had no compassion left.

It had been wrung out of him thousands of years ago.

“Please?” she said again and gestured to the slab. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just have to heal you.”

He didn’t want to lay on it and allow her to touch him. He didn’t want her hands on him. Caressing. Fondling. Groping. He snarled and flashed his fangs again, and she shrank back, a little gasp escaping her.

“I would do as she asks, Mate. She isn’t going to hurt you, but if she doesn’t do as ordered, the demons will hurt her.” The deep male voice was little more than a snarl and Vail cast a glance off to his left.

A male with long dark hair streaked with gold occupied the cell opposite his, casually leaning against the thick deep grey stone wall. Green eyes locked with Vail’s, holding him fast. Fae markings tracked up the male’s arms, flushed with blood red and ash black, a sign of aggression. He was handsome too, despite the thick dark beard. He folded his arms across his muscular bare chest, the twin cuffs he wore clanking and filling the heavy silence, but they had no chain between them.

If this male spoke the truth, then she did too, and the guards would punish her for her failure. Vail pressed his hands against the sides of his head, dug his fingers through his blue-black hair and clawed his scalp, raking his nails over it. Gods, he missed his claws. He missed his armour. He needed it back. It was the only thing that could ground him.

The male pushed away from the wall and moved to the bars. He wrapped his hands around them and his gaze slid to the female. Lingering. Possessing.

Vail bared his fangs and hissed at him, barely maintaining the human appearance of his eyes and ears. He had to hold on to his veil. He couldn’t let these people know what he was. Who he was.

The man shrugged and kept staring at the female. “I warned you, Little Girl. You play with vipers and you’ll get bitten.”

Did you enjoy today’s snippet?

Available in e-book from:

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Other Retailers:

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Available in paperback from:

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Kissed by a Dark Prince (Eternal Mates Romance Series #1)

Claimed by a Demon King (Eternal Mates Romance Series #2)

Tempted by a Rogue Prince (Eternal Mates Romance Series #3)

View more on Felicity Heaton's website »

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Published on August 30, 2014 03:58

August 26, 2014

Teaseday – Unleash (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 6) – Excerpt

Today’s tease comes from the paranormal romance book Unleash, which is the sixth book in my popular Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series. Read on for this Tuesday’s tease…

A blistering wave of fire burned up his blood, setting every molecule in his body aflame, and he rolled his eyes open and arched off the bed, his mouth opening in a silent scream. Couldn’t roar. If he did, Antoine would come. Antoine would see the angel. Antoine would harm her.

Snow growled low in his throat at that thought.

He would kill any who touched her.

His claws extended at the same time as his fangs, and the apartment brightened as his eyes changed, burning red around his cat-like pupils.

Snow fought harder than ever to break the restraints, driven by a mindless need to free himself so he could protect the female and by a dark hunger to drain her dry at the same time.

She rushed forwards as the collar sliced into his throat, spilling a thick stream of his blood down his neck.

“You must calm yourself,” she whispered softly, those words laced with emotions that were beyond his grasp as the bloodlust seized hold of him again and her proximity drove him mad with a need to taste her. “You are hurting yourself.”

The note in her melodic voice told him more than she was willing to say. She couldn’t bear the sight of him hurting himself. The scent of blood filled his room and, even though it was his own tainted life force, it sent him back over the edge.

“I am unsure how to help you.” She hovered close to him and he managed to get his eyes to focus on her for a brief second, long enough to see the frustration that darkened her innocent features.

Snow growled, rolled his eyes back and snarled as he pulled harder on the chains. The steel bedposts creaked under the pressure. Agony shredded his insides, liquefying his bones and stealing his strength away, leaving him helpless. He still fought like a wild thing, ferocious and vicious as he battled his restraints, hungry to escape and taste the female.

“So much pain and suffering,” she whispered and he cursed at her again, telling her in the old language to leave him alone, hoping she would listen this time.

The need for blood became too much and he sank his fangs into his own lower lip and sucked furiously on it, ravenous and unable to stop himself.

The angel left his side and he couldn’t track her. The bloodlust dulled his senses. He opened his eyes again and followed her as she paced around the room, studying her every move.

If she came close enough, he would bite her. He sucked harder on his own foul blood, imagining it was the sweet nectar that flowed in her veins. He ached for her blood even as he ached to leave her unspoiled.

She searched his room, her air desperate, small hands clenching and unclenching in front of her stomach. “You must have some blood here somewhere. Where do you keep it?”

Snow released his lip and wheezed, “No use… like ashes… empty of life.”

She gave him another pitying look and then her dark eyebrows rose high on her forehead, something dawning in her incredible eyes, and she approached him.

She stood beside his bed with a calm and decided expression on her face and held her arm out to him.

Snow stared at her in shock and then turned his face away. “Do not touch me… I will taint you. You are pure… I am not.”

She huffed. “I am not as pure as you believe.”

She leaned over him and brought her wrist right up to his lips.

Snow swallowed hard and his gaze slid to the soft flesh on the underside of her forearm. He told himself to resist even as another part of him demanded he take what she offered so freely. No. It wouldn’t help him. It wouldn’t free him of his bloodlust. It would only make it worse. He had to abstain from blood until he was weak and then begin again with smaller quantities.

He had to drink.

He couldn’t deny that dark urge.

Snow struck hard, burying his fangs deep into her soft body. She cried out and slapped her free hand over her mouth to stifle the rest of it, the sound distant to his ears as her blood rushed into him.

It was warm and tasted incredible, like nothing he had ever taken before, sweet and bitter at the same time, imbued with power that shot through his system like a drug, giving him what should be an illegal high.

He drank greedily, powerless to stop himself from taking all that he could, desperate for more of her. His cock hardened painfully, his body coming alive with sensation that left him dizzy and hazy, lost on a warm sea of bliss.

“Enough!” She tore her arm away from him and stumbled backwards. She blindly grabbed the metal post at the foot of his bed for support and slid down it to land on the floor with a harsh thud.

Snow opened his eyes, craned his neck as much as he could and stared down at her, shocked by what she had done and how she had tasted. Tears streaked her cheeks and there were red marks on them where she had pressed her fingers into them when covering her mouth to stop herself from crying out in pain. She held her wrist to her chest, clutching it tightly, her knuckles blazing white. Blood already spotted her pristine pale dress, marring the pure fabric.

He had hurt her.

He cursed himself this time, guilt riding him hard and chasing him down from his high. He had tainted her and harmed her. He had made her cry with his vicious attack on her and his greed.

He should have eased his fangs in gently and sipped from her with the reverence she deserved. He should have made it pleasurable for her.

“Do you often starve yourself to the point of insanity?” She snapped the words at him like a whip, her innocence evaporating as she scowled, her eyes dark with the pain and fury she emanated.

Snow was quiet for a few long seconds, unsure what to say in response to that or how to make things better. Would she accept an apology? He had told her not to offer her wrist. She had seen him at his worst. She should have known he would hurt her.

“I had blood a short while ago,” he confessed, “but it tastes like death to me these days. But you… you taste like life. How?”

He hadn’t missed the little fact that drinking her blood had driven him right through the other side of his bloodlust and into the clear too. The way he felt right now, he knew he wouldn’t suffer another attack for at least a day, if not more. He had never felt this normal, not since before his bloodlust had first emerged.

“Do you suffer like this every night?” Her expression softened to reveal the innocence that he was coming to like about her. Her wide luminous eyes still sparkled with the tears that were drying on her pale cheeks, but they no longer held anger and darkness. They were soft and bright, inquisitive again. He nodded. Her fine black eyebrows puckered into a small frown. “There is no cure?”

“Only death.” Something he had long desired but had always been denied.

She swallowed and closed her eyes, her frown hardening. She released her wrist and pressed her bloodied hand to her head, smudging red across it.

“You are unwell?” he said, his guilt returning with a vengeance.

“I feel dizzy… and a little weak.” Her eyes opened and fixed on him, the brightness in them gone.

Snow frowned. How much had he taken from her? She was slender and delicate. He had drunk greedily. He had taken too much. If she had been a normal weak human, he probably would have killed her. The black wings curling around her shoulders were a constant reminder that she was anything but weak. An angel.

And she had given him blood.

That couldn’t be a good thing for her to have done.

“Come to me. Let me seal the wound.” He jerked his chin, trying to coax her into doing as he asked.

She grasped the bedpost and slowly pulled herself up off the floor, and then stumbled forwards and collapsed onto the mattress beside him, her breathing rapid and shallow. She shook as she bravely offered her right wrist to him.

Snow gently licked it, cleaning away the blood. His tongue on her flesh felt so good and he liked the way she stared at him, watching him intently.

Her skin was hot, her taste delectable.

He ached to feel her body against his, soft against hard, warm against cool. He hadn’t touched a female in centuries, hadn’t wanted to either, but he longed to lay his hands on her and learn her curves, her fragrance, and her sweetest spots.

It was wrong of him to desire her, an angel, one pure and untainted while he was wretched, but she brought out the devil in him. She made him want to taint her and ruin her.

Possess her.

He shifted his focus back to her wrist, taking care to ensure that the bleeding had stopped before he leaned his head back on the black pillows.

His gentleness seemed to please her and she offered him a small smile as she drew her arm back to her.

“I had feared you would begin drinking again,” she whispered and ran her thumb over the marks on her wrist, her gaze on them now. “They tell our kind that vampires are foul.”

Her gaze flickered over his face to settle on his hair and she reached out and lifted one of the long strands, drawing it out of his eyes.

“Snow,” she murmured and his vivid scarlet eyes shifted to meet hers and narrowed. “Your hair is like snow. It is pure and beautiful.”

Snow turned his face away. “You of all people should know how impure I am.”

She sighed and even that sounded melodic and soothing to him. Her hand left his hair and she shifted on the bed. When he realised what she intended, he snapped his head around to face her, catching her reaching for the cuff that secured his right wrist.

“Don’t!” he barked and she ignored him.

“You are safe now, satisfied. You will not hurt me.” She sounded so positive that he almost smiled and couldn’t resist pointing out something that would contradict her belief and most likely have her blushing again.

“I am not so sure,” he said and she paused to look at him. “My bloodlust is under control, but you are still not safe from me. I am not sure you ever will be.”

She looked confused at first and then her cheeks darkened to the deepest shade of red so far and her eyes widened, and he knew she had understood him and was now aware of the danger she was in. His bloodlust was sated, but he still felt an undeniable and consuming lust for her.

Snow smiled at the way her eyes edged downwards, towards his hips, as though she was unaware of what she was doing before it was too late and her gaze settled on his groin. Her cheeks darkened another shade. She swallowed and her heart fluttered wildly. Why?

Were her thoughts running along the same line as his were? He wanted to feel her hands on his flesh, touching and stroking him, pleasuring him and bringing him to climax. Did she desire the feel of his hands on her, using his strength and dominating her as they made love?

Did you enjoy today’s tease?

Unleash

Felicity Heaton

A powerful vampire lost deep in his bloodlust, Snow is a savage animal, mindless with rage and a thirst for violence, and trapped with no hope of awakening from an endless nightmare… until a song draws him up from the abyss, restoring his sanity but leaving him haunted by the sweet feminine scent of lilies and snow, and fragmented familiar lyrics.

When the mysterious and beautiful songstress reappears in Snow’s room at Vampirerotique, she awakens a fierce protective streak and stirs dark desires that drive him to claim her as his female, even when he knows his touch will destroy her innocence.

A single forbidden taste is all it takes to unleash emotions in Aurora that she shouldn’t possess, tearing her between duty and desire, and luring her into surrendering to her wildfire passion and embracing hungers that burn so hotly they threaten to consume them both.

One act of kindness can lead to one thousand acts of sin though, each a black mark against the bearer’s soul and another grain of sand that slips through an hourglass. The clock is ticking and time is almost up. Can beauty save the beast?

Available in e-book from:

Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Germany | Amazon Kindle Canada | Amazon Kindle Australia

Apple iBookstore US | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand

Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks | Google Play

Available in paperback from:

Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes and Noble | Amazon.ca

You can get your hands on the first book in this series, COVET, for FREE right now on selected Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Nook and Apple iBooks Stores. Find out more at my Paranormal Romance Ebook Offers page.

If you haven’t had a chance to read any of the books in the Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series yet, they’re all available at major ebook retailers and in paperback, and you can find the links and samples of the books at my website:

Covet (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #1)

Crave (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #2)

Seduce (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #3)

Enslave (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #4)

Bewitch (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #5)

Unleash (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #6)

View more on Felicity Heaton's website »

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Published on August 26, 2014 04:58

August 24, 2014

Manday Hotties – Winter Versus Summer Mancandy

Good Monday Morning! It’s time for the Manday Hotties Hop! I have some yummy new mancandy pictures for you… check out these hotties… getting in the mood for summer now…

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