Felicity Heaton's Blog, page 49
August 1, 2013
Author Spotlight – Alexandra Marell – Contemporary and Historical Romance Books
I’m sharing the books of one of my fellow Indie Romance Books authors today.
Here’s a little more about contemporary and historical romance author Alexandra Marell…
About Alexandra Marell
I live within sight of the Lancashire moors with my family, cats and vast collection of musical instruments. Saturday nights are likely to find me in some spooky mansion or castle indulging in my hobby as a paranormal investigator. I’ve worked as a teacher and a publisher and now I write full time and especially love to write romance that’s tightly focused on the main characters and their emotional journey.
I also write adult rated romance as C.A. Nicks/Candy Nicks.
Connect with Alexandra
Website: http://www.candynicks.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorCandyNicks.AlexandraMarell
Twitter: https://twitter.com/candynalexm
Alexandra Marell’s Romance Books
The Cursed Princess
Alexandra Marell
Dario Denaro hasn’t come to the Island of Sorellina to fall in love again – he’s here to oversee the renovation of Villa Cristina, the most exclusive of the Denaro residences. And Elena Marcante, who’s on the island to visit her ailing grandmother, certainly doesn’t expect to run into the man who left her twenty years ago without a word of goodbye. But Cristina the cat has other ideas. Once the most noble Princess Cristina Denaro, she was cursed by her jealous lover, Bernardo Marcante, to live as a humble cat until a Denaro and a Marcante declare undying love. But after five hundred years and with the family feud still running deep, Cristina is desperate, while Bernardo’s spirit lurks in the ruins of the old temple wracked with remorse for what he did to her.
Dario and Elena are no longer a pair of love-struck teens, but will they remember that magical summer they spent together? With hope of ever breaking the curse fading and with a few family secrets revealed along the way, Cristina is determined the medieval cathedral bells will finally ring out for the union of a Denaro and a Marcante.
Available in e-book from:
Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Canada
Apple iBookstore USA | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore New Zealand
In The Dark With You
Alexandra Marell
Nineteen year old Alicia Stanton dreams of a handsome and rich man to marry and when the enigmatic reverend Crosby asks for her hand, she thinks all her wishes have come true. But then disaster strikes and she needs a place to hide and fast.
Because of an affliction, twenty one year old Damien Lucius has spent all of his life behind the walls of the spooky old Lucius mansion on the cliff, which has slowly become his prison. Villagers say vampires live there and he’s only too happy to encourage the tales, if it keeps them away. With the years of loneliness and despair taking their toll, he’s ready to end it all, but Fate it seems has a job for Damien. A night of rare rebellion, and his first time out of the mansion, finds him and his cousin Alex on the moonlit cliff road where they encounter a terrified young woman in need of refuge.
In the Dark With You is a long, character-based novel of 163,000 words about two young people growing up, making their own destiny and finding love in the unlikeliest of places. But love is only the beginning. All too soon they must each ask themselves what they’re prepared to sacrifice for the people they love.
Available in e-book from:
Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Canada
Apple iBookstore USA | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore New Zealand
The Heart Wants
Alexandra Marell
**Both stories come with a tissue and weepie warning**
Every Christmas Eve, the ghost of Catarina Bellamonte takes human form and waits for her lover to return. But after sixty-two long years, she fears she may never again see the young German soldier she fell in love with during World War Two.
Philipp Munch makes a nostalgic visit to the old Italian villa and remembers Catarina, the woman he loved and lost so many years ago. As he enters the house his only thought is to say a proper goodbye and lay the ghosts of the past to rest. But it’s Christmas Eve, and magic is in the air…
Bonus story included in this file
Waiting For Eternity
July 1940. The Battle of Britain is heating up and emotions are running high at Langdon Royal Air Force base, especially for the fighter pilots in the front line and the nurses who care for them.
Then, in 2003 Jen Saunders makes a last visit to the World War Two airfield that saw so much drama, so long ago and reawakens ghosts of the past.
Available in e-book from:
Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Canada
Apple iBookstore USA | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore New Zealand
Setting Him Free
Alexandra Marell
As Quality Control Manager for Exotic Resorts Inc., Danielle Radley’s life is one long round of sun, sea and sand. Unfortunately, it also involves airplanes – and Danielle hates flying with a passion. Flying home from a tropical resort, she finds herself sitting across the aisle from an enigmatic man handcuffed to the seat. A man who fascinates her more than he should.
Taylor Bradford is a broken man. Tired of running, he just wants it over. That is until he catches Danielle’s eye on the plane. A moment of instant connection awakens feelings he thought long dead. When the plane gets into difficulty and starts going down into the tropical rainforest below, he reaches for her hand…
Available in e-book from:
Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Canada
Apple iBookstore USA | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore New Zealand
Something Worth Fighting For
Alexandra Marell
When an innocent man is released from prison he needs to rebuild his life. For Daniel Denham, that’s easier said than done. Until he meets artist Callie Lester in her house by the sea.
Callie Lester is horrified when her mother, who was Daniel’s lawyer, announces she’s invited him to stay. He’s recently been released from prison for a crime he didn’t commit and is looking for work. Callie needs a website to advertise her growing business as a portrait artist and Daniel had a promising career before he was falsely accused. But he’s a man with problems. Does she really want him around when things are so good? The moment Daniel walks into the house by the sea he knows it’s a place where he can begin to get his life back together. A place where he can heal. But things are never that simple. Rumours to some people are truth and facing the outside world and all its judgements is the hardest thing of all. Daniel comes out of prison a changed man, unsure of who he is and haunted by the things he had to do to survive. But as he and Callie grow closer, Daniel is surprised to discover he’s not the only one with ghosts from the past that need laying to rest…
Available in e-book from:
Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Canada
Apple iBookstore USA | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore New Zealand
July 29, 2013
Teaseday – Excerpt from Her Demonic Angel (Her Angel Romance Series Book 5) – Plus FREE ebook!
Today’s tease comes from the book Her Demonic Angel, which is the fifth book in my popular Her Angel romance series. It’s a slightly longer one again this week and I hope you’ll enjoy it! Read on for this Tuesday’s tease…
Veiron stopped and looked down at Erin’s feet and her bare legs. She was shivering again and it wasn’t out of fear this time. The night was cold against his chest and back too. Sharing body heat sounded like a reasonable way of keeping warm.
“Come on,” he said and crouched with his back to her.
Erin climbed up onto him, her soft body pressing into his back and her thighs against his hips. Devil, she did feel good right there, snuggled close to him. She settled her arms on his shoulders as he straightened, his hands under her thighs, supporting her.
Veiron blew out his breath at the feel of her fingers sweeping across his shoulders and then down them. They paused and he kept walking, concentrating on the action to purge his desire to absorb the warmth and softness of her caress. If he didn’t focus, his wings were likely to erupt from his back and knock her flying.
Not the way he wanted her to see them for the first time.
Her fingers drifted over his biceps and then followed the sweeping curves of his tattoos to his back. She held onto him with her left hand and traced the tattoo on his right shoulder blade with her other one.
“They’re very beautiful,” she whispered, voice soft but not from her concentrating on his tattoos and being absorbed in following the design with her fingers.
There was desire in that voice, hunger in her tone that made him wonder if she was thinking about running something other than her fingers over his back.
Just the thought of her sweeping her tongue over his tattoos had him hardening painfully in his tight black jeans.
“Thank you,” he uttered, distracted by his thoughts and how good she felt against him.
He fought the urge to turn down the next dark alley, drag her around to his front, pin her to the wall and scratch the itch he had for her.
If he could just scratch that itch, that dark hunger to know her taste and her body, he was sure that he could get her out of his mind and get it back on his real mission.
Wasn’t going to happen.
Veiron plodded on, hands burning where they touched her bare legs so close to her bottom, mind racing as she continued to swirl her fingers around every curl and along every spike of his tattooed right shoulder.
A shiver raced across his back and it had nothing to do with Erin’s touch this time.
“Hold on,” he said.
Time to run again.
He pounded the pavement with Erin clutching his shoulders, her rapid pulse thumping in his mind, whispering her fear to him.
“How many?” He felt her twist, knew she was looking back.
“Just three.”
He liked the way she said that. Just three. Like three Hell’s angels were nothing for them. They could handle such a paltry number.
He could, but with Erin around, he would be distracted, concerned that she might end up dragged into the fight somehow and injured.
“Veiron… they’re flying.”
That was just cheating.
Two could play at that game.
Veiron stopped, pulled Erin around so she was against his front, and started running again.
His wings burst from his back, he ran up the back of a parked car, boots denting the trunk and roof, and launched himself into the air.
Erin gasped.
Cold night air swept through his crimson feathers as he beat his wings, carrying them higher into the alley.
“You have wings. How do you have wings? You said you didn’t have wings!”
“No, you thought I didn’t have wings.” Veiron flapped them harder. Stay red. Please stay red. When his mood was degenerating as rapidly into anger and violence as it was now, it was normally impossible to keep the feathers on his wings. “This really isn’t the time for this argument.”
Erin mercifully remained quiet.
Veiron’s red gaze darted around, searching for the right direction. If he could get Erin to Taylor’s, he might be able to set her down and tell her to ring the bell and ask Wingless for help while he drew the Hell’s angels away.
He spotted the small square near Taylor and Wingless’s home and shot towards it. The enemy were gaining on him.
“How close?” he said over the noise of the wind.
Erin shivered against him, her body freezing under his hands. “Too close. They’re practically on us.”
“Fuck.” Veiron dived, heading back to street level, and beat his wings, desperate to put some distance between them and their pursuers. Erin tensed in his arms and buried her face against his throat. He levelled off but didn’t slow down. “Listen. I’m going to put you down and draw them away.”
“No.” She threw her arms around his neck and locked her legs around his hips. “No. I don’t want you to ditch me.”
“Stubborn,” he growled and tried to prise her off him but she did the most marvellous impression of a limpet he had ever seen. He couldn’t shift her without using more of his strength and he wouldn’t risk hurting her by doing so. “Fine. Change of plans. I’ll set us both down. You hide behind one of the parked cars on the street and I’ll fight the bad guys.”
“Liar.” She snarled the word at him. “You’re going to ditch me.”
He was. He didn’t have time to argue about it either.
Veiron hit the ground running, furled his crimson wings against his back, and peeled her off him. She tried to hold on but relented when she looked over his shoulder. They were closer now. He could feel them.
Her feet hit the pavement next to a parked black four-wheel-drive vehicle. It was tall enough to conceal her while he fought their three enemies. Erin reached over behind her with both hands and tried to pull the sword out of the scabbard.
“What are you doing?” he said and she grunted, her face screwing up in frustration. She managed to get the sword up several inches but then a flaw in her plan showed itself. Her arms weren’t long enough to draw the sword.
“You need this so you can fight.”
Veiron smiled, drew the sword for her, and handed it to her. She frowned at it and then up into his eyes.
“A mortal sword will be of no use to me in this fight… and I have already revealed myself to them. I might as well use a weapon I favour.” He held his right hand out beside him and a black staff materialised in his hand.
Red patterns decorated the short black rod and red curved blades appeared at each end. The staff itself was only the length of his forearm as it was now, the blades equally as long, but he could increase the length of the rod if he needed more room in the fight.
“Stay here.” Veiron touched her dirty cheek. She didn’t look at him. She was staring at his hand and the spear he grasped as though he had just performed the most amazing magic trick.
Hey presto.
She should see some of the other things he could do.
Veiron beat his wings and flew over the square.
The Hell’s angels appeared and split up as soon as they spotted him, one diving off to his left, the second to his right, and the third heading straight for him.
All three of them were in their true form, making them larger than he was, huge black-skinned beasts with dragon-like wings. The yellow streetlamps reflected off their obsidian armour, draining the colour from the scarlet edging on their breastplates, greaves and the vambraces that protected their forearms.
He wished he could call his own armour but Erin was watching him from the shadow of the Range Rover and if she saw his armour, she would realise that he was like these creatures.
Veiron held the short staff of his double-ended spear in both hands and slashed at the first demonic angel as he lunged at Veiron with his black sword. Veiron knocked the blade aside and snarled as he sliced across the angel’s thick black arm. The angel roared at him and attacked again, quicker this time, and Veiron struggled to counter each strike that drove him backwards through the air. His senses blared a second before a blade cut down his back, narrowly missing his wings.
He cried out and Erin shouted his name.
Foolish woman.
One of the angels turned her way and zipped towards her.
Like hell Veiron was letting him near her.
Did you enjoy today’s tease?
Caris Roane is also posting a Teaseday snippet, so be sure to check out her blog and read it!
Her Demonic Angel
Felicity Heaton
A demonic angel with a heart of ice, Veiron walks a dark path with vengeance on his mind. Nothing will sway him from his mission to destroy his master… until he risks his life to enter Hell once more to save a mortal female. The fiery beauty makes him burn with hungers he must battle and needs he cannot deny, tempting him to surrender body and soul to her.
Erin is convinced her refusal to do the Devil’s bidding will see her die in a terrifying realm straight out of her nightmares. The last thing she expects is the lethally sensual warrior who breaks into her cell and awakens the darkest desires of her heart and a fierce longing to know the heat of his caress.
Pulled into an incredible world where war is set to ignite and darkness is on the rise, Erin races with Veiron to escape the Devil’s legions in a journey fraught with danger and filled with passion that flares white-hot.
When Erin is faced with a life-shattering realisation and an extraordinary destiny, will their love give them the strength to battle both Heaven and Hell or will they be parted forever?
Available in e-book from:
Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Germany | Amazon Kindle France | Amazon Kindle Canada
Apple iBookstore US | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand
Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Sony Reader Store | Smashwords
Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
You can get your hands on the first book in this series, HER DARK ANGEL, for FREE right now on selected Amazon Kindle, Kobo 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 Her Angel 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:
Her Dark Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #1)
Her Fallen Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #2)
Her Warrior Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #3)
Her Guardian Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #4)
Her Demonic Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #5)
July 28, 2013
Manday Hotties – Sexy New Mancandy Pictures to Cure Your Monday Blues
Good Monday Morning! It’s almost August and I have some fab new hunks for you to devour, savour or save for licking at your leisure. It’s time for the Manday Hotties Hop!
Which shot is your favourite? I’m torn again but #1 has yummy thighs.
Visit the other blogs in the hop:
July 27, 2013
Sensual Sunday – Hot Snippet from In Heat, a black panther shapeshifter romance novel
Sensual Sunday is brought to you today by In Heat, which is the first book in my popular In Heat romance series. Sensual Sunday’s always feature a hot excerpt from one of my paranormal romance books. Read on for this Sunday’s sensual snippet…
Erik leaned back in his chair, fascinated with the woman across the table from him. She was writing furiously, scribbling down note after note of what was being discussed. He wondered if she could feel him watching her in the same way that he could sense when she was looking at him.
He gave Ms. Townsend half of his attention, answering her questions about the contract as much as he could and keeping his girl writing so he could observe her. There was a pause in discussion as the man who had introduced himself as Simon stood, offering to order coffee or tea. He declined both and asked for some water, his eyes still fixed on Kim. He didn’t like the easy manner she’d had with Simon when he’d gone out onto the balcony. There was something wrong about him. Whatever Kim thought their relationship was, Simon clearly thought it could be different.
A glass of water appeared in front of him and he licked his lips as he looked at its crystal depths that promised cool relief. The heat wasn’t abating and the air in the room was so hot now it was stifling. He’d taken his jacket off and loosened his tie, but it hadn’t helped. The hair at the nape of his neck was damp with sweat.
Simon placed a glass down in front of Kim and Erik’s attention was with her again. She pressed her bare wrist against the condensation on the ice cold glass. Her tongue swept across her lower lip, wetting it, and her eyes closed briefly. He could almost feel her relief as the coldness of the glass lowered her temperature. It only made him hotter.
His eyes followed her every move as she took hold of the glass and brought it to her lips. He watched the movement of her throat as she drank, her eyes closed in pleasure, and then stared at her mouth when she lowered the glass and licked her lips again, capturing every drop of moisture on them.
He grabbed his glass and downed it in one go, trying to cool himself down but failing dismally.
Putting his glass down, he continued his observance of Kim.
She thoughtfully bit the end of her pen, her fine brows knitting as she scrunched up her nose and stared at the piece of paper.
There was no doubt it was her.
The attraction he felt, the way she reacted to him, and the shape of her. Even the smell. It was her. He’d been dreaming about her for so long now, desperate for her touch and dying to know who she was.
And now he’d found her.
She was younger than he’d expected and seemed a little wary of him. It wasn’t at all like he’d been told it would be. She was supposed to know. But then, he was supposed to know her face in the visions too, but she’d always remained a mystery until today.
Was something wrong?
It worried him that she wasn’t reacting as he’d been told she would. She recognised him, of that he was sure. Her manner towards him and how open she was around him told him that.
Wasn’t she attracted to him? Didn’t she feel the connection?
He was burning for her, hungry and desperate for her touch, unable to tear his eyes away from her for more than a second. He wanted to see if she felt the way that she did in his dreams, if she tasted and smelt as sweet as she did in them. He was anxious to see if she’d react to him the way she did there.
He wanted to know she wanted him.
He growled quietly; a call only she would hear.
She gasped and raised her head, her pupils dilating as she stared across the table at him.
He could hear her heart racing, feel her blood thundering through his own veins as it sung to him. He vividly remembered the slide of her legs against his, the way her fingernails dug into his arms as she writhed against him. He remembered the smell of their bodies, their sweat, as they moved against each other. He could still feel the electric sweep of her fingers over his bare flesh, teasing him into a hardness so painful he’d felt he would explode if she only breathed on his length. He held her gaze as he thought about her; the rough glide of her tongue over his neck; the whispered words in his ears; the way her fingers always buried themselves in his hair, holding his mouth against her body. She blinked at him. He sniffed, inhaling deeply as he continued to hold her gaze, not letting her go. He could smell her. She wanted him. She wanted him as badly as he wanted her.
It was destiny.
Twenty-seven years of dreaming of her, of searching for her, and now he’d finally found her.
Long hot nights spent tantalisingly close to her in his visions. Countless hours of touching and torturing her body as she explored his own. It had all been worth it because now he’d found her.
She swallowed hard.
He smiled.
He’d found her, now he just had to show her how good they could be together.
From where he was sitting, she looked as though she was going to take a lot of convincing.
But he could do it.
He’d make her realise that the dreams they’d shared were just the beginning.
The best was yet to come.
Did you enjoy today’s hot little snippet?
Caris Roane is also posting a Sensual Sunday snippet from one of her paranormal romance books, so be sure to check out her blog and read it!
In Heat
Felicity Heaton
A heat wave isn’t the only thing making London too hot for lawyer Kim. She’s been spending each night with a man who sets her body and heart on fire. The problem? He’s a man that always sprouts black fur and purrs, and he’s only a dream. Walking into work on the hottest day of the year, the last thing she expects is to meet Erik, a man who sends her temperature soaring and who resembles her dream guy exactly.
A black panther shape-shifter, Erik Blackwell has been searching for his mate for twenty-seven years. The visions they share each night are getting hotter but finding her is proving impossible as he’s never seen her face. That is, until it turns out she’s working as his lawyer on his contract negotiations with his brother, Alistair.
Kim can’t deny her attraction to Erik. The heat she feels with him is intense and it’s only a matter of time before they surrender to their carnal desires.
When Kim discovers Erik’s secret, will she turn her back on him, or will she complete the mating and become like him so they can be together forever?
Available in e-book from:
Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Germany | Amazon Kindle France | Amazon Kindle Canada
Apple iBookstore USA | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand
Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Sony Reader Store | Smashwords
If you haven’t had a chance to read any of the books in the In Heat romance series yet, they’re all available at major ebook retailers, and you can find the links and samples of the books at my website:
In Heat (In Heat Romance Series #1)
In Heat: Mating Call (In Heat Romance Series #2)
July 26, 2013
Snippet Saturday – Author’s Choice – Excerpt from Hunter’s Moon (Vampires Realm Romance Series Book 9)
It’s time for Snippet Saturday! Each week has a theme or is author’s choice. This week the theme is author’s choice.
This week’s snippet comes from Hunter’s Moon, which is the ninth book in the Vampires Realm romance series, and is a vampire / werewolf romance. It’s a bit of a long one today as I just couldn’t decide on one part of the opening chapter… so I thought I would post it all!
Crisp air rushed through Nicolae’s black fur in a constant stream, shifting with him as he wove through the dark forest, keeping pace with the bulk of the local timber wolf pack. The group ahead of him, led by the grey alpha, snarled and played, riding up on each other’s shoulders as they ran. Nicolae bounded after them, his paws pounding the uneven ground and his footing sure. He ducked under a low branch and then leapt over a fallen tree, landing softly in the fresh leaf litter on the other side. Mountains stretched into the distance before him through the woods, their craggy peaks highlighted by glowing white snow. The fat moon flickered between the bare branches above him and called to his blood.
Nicolae obeyed.
He raced with the pack down the slope towards the hidden glade in the forest. Leafless trees gave way to tall pines that towered above him, blocking the light, and his eyes adjusted, the dark world around him sharpening and his senses following suit. Cool fingers of wind caressed his ears as he headed in amongst the pack and joined in their play, enjoying the clear wintry air and the bright night with them. Several younger wolves in the pack snarled and nudged him, and he playfully responded, gently shouldering them as they ran and fighting for dominance. He let them win even though they were far smaller than he was.
Nicolae wasn’t interested in gaining rank within the pack. He was here to enjoy the moment and the company. Running with the timber wolves under a full moon excited him, took him away from the complications of the human world and set him free. There was nothing in the world as exhilarating as surrendering to his true nature.
Animal sounds filled his ears, undetectable to the humans who lived in the rugged mountainous region of Canada. The deer down in the valley ahead were moving, heading for a safe place to spend the night. He could picture them now as they waited nervously in the shadows of the trees around the glade, alert and aware of the wolves that ran in the dark forest. They would move and make it out onto the narrow strip of grazing land between the banks of woods at the valley bottom before the wolves reached them.
Tomorrow, there would be reports of a wolf attack on the deer, and how the Casey’s horses had panicked, and Nicolae would have to pretend that it startled him to hear such a thing.
That he hadn’t participated in the hunt and the kill of deer.
That he wasn’t a wolf.
A burst of wings broke the silence, owls fluttering from their roosts and heading high into the sky. Hungry wolf eyes instantly tracked them for a heartbeat of time and then the pack moved on, their focus returning to playing and hunting the deer. The day birds settled down in their nests, safe from predators for another night, unbothered by the wolves running below.
The pack began to streak ahead and Nicolae returned his attention to them. His blood rushed and his heart thundered. He felt wild. Alive. The leaders were dark blurs in the distance, almost blending in with the night, silent predators built for this terrain. Younger wolves jostled for position nearer to him. He raced to catch up, the cold air burning in his lungs and a sense of freedom flowing through him.
A howl cut the night and the wolves shifted as one, turning right towards the mountain, away from the glade and the grazing land beyond. Something had caught their attention. The howl came again and Nicolae listened this time, deciphering it. Wolf-speak was old and varied from pack to pack, but he had studied this one closely, and long enough that they had accepted his presence on the mountain. They no longer feared him. It had taken him a century of working with each generation, but he had gained their trust and their friendship, and had learned how to communicate with them.
He pounded up to the peak of a bare hillock, threw his head back, and howled at the moon through the barren trees.
The answering call told him why the wolves were now running with intent.
There were men on the mountain.
Men who didn’t belong there.
Nicolae ran down the other side of the hillock and rejoined the wolves, running close to them now, amongst the pack. The sense of calm and playfulness disappeared. The wolves were hunting, a sliver of fear flowing through the entire pack, alertness that called to his instincts. He focused on the woods ahead, mapping them and monitoring for a sign of the men. It was unusual for hunters to come onto the mountains at night, especially when winter’s grip was closing on the area.
A distant noise snapped the group to attention. The alpha snarled. Nicolae stretched his superior senses farther ahead of them. They whispered of danger. He sniffed and caught the scent of men on the wind. No one that he recognised. The grey alpha snarled again, this time in Nicolae’s direction. Nicolae answered with a growl. There was no reason to fear the humans.
He would protect them if it came to a fight.
He doubted that it would. Humans rarely hurt the wolves and never bothered him. They were probably looking for deer. He glanced at the moon. It was late to be hunting, and not just in the year. The sun had set hours ago and midnight was approaching. What prey were they after? The bears were already heading into hibernation, and deer didn’t come this far up the mountain in winter. The only animals up here were small game and the timber wolves.
A trickle of fear slithered down his spine. His hackles rose in response.
Were they after the wolves?
Nicolae snarled, sending a message to the pack.
They turned and moved in a silent dark stream down into the valley, away from the hunters. Nicolae lumbered onwards alone, towards the hunters he could sense in the distance. It was rocky ground where they were and the sparse trees would offer him little cover, but it was a risk he had to take. If the hunters saw him, he would head back down towards the valley, where the forest was thicker. He had to make sure that these men weren’t a threat. He needed to protect the wolves.
Nicolae slowed to a trot as he reached the stony ground and lowered himself until his softer stomach fur brushed the leaf litter and rocks. He crawled forwards, moving as quietly as possible, stalking the hunters. They stood in a clearing, the moon highlighting them with threads of silver. Nicolae stopped behind the broad trunk of the nearest tree, as close as he could get without them noticing him.
Their murmured conversation masked the sound of his soft huffs. His heart thumped against his ribs.
Four men. Dark haired. They were difficult to make out even in the moonlight. He could tell they were tall, and that the two who had their backs to him were broad built, possibly even bigger than he was in human form. Their black fatigues caused them to blend into each other and the woods beyond, and he couldn’t make out any of their faces or the builds of the other two men.
“I’m telling you she’s gone down towards that valley,” one of the men whispered, his accent local sounding enough. He was Canadian at least. Nicolae couldn’t see him clearly from his position behind the tree and bushes, but he couldn’t risk moving.
“Did you see how she moved? I’ve never seen something move that fast. Is that normal?” This voice had a tremor in it that spoke of inexperience and fear.
What were they hunting? Referring to animals as female was nothing new to him but it didn’t sound as though they were hunting bear or deer. Were his suspicions correct and they were after the wolves?
Nicolae looked down towards the valley. The local timber wolf pack were all there and most of them had been with him all night. The distant howl that had alerted them to the presence of the hunters had been a scout. It hadn’t given word of an altercation with the men. If there had been one, the wolf would have reported it to the pack.
He glanced the other way, towards the peak of the plateau and his cabin. Beyond it was the settlement. Were they hunting his sort of wolf? Impossible. No one in these parts knew of the werewolves. They lived quietly amongst the humans, blending in and keeping to themselves. None more so than him. He didn’t belong to that pack. He didn’t belong to anyone.
He cast his gaze over each hunter in turn, scrutinising them with his senses and putting their scents to memory. What were they doing on the mountain? One of the men looked in the direction of the valley and Nicolae stilled. They weren’t dark haired. They were all wearing black woollen hats, and the one he could see had night-vision goggles on.
Nicolae shuffled back a step and hunkered down when the man turned towards him. Even the bushes around the trees had lost their foliage this far up the mountain. If he moved so much as a millimetre, the man would spot him through the infrared goggles. His heartbeat doubled and it felt impossible to keep still. He wasn’t sure what sort of weaponry they had, but with the goggles, the men already had the advantage. They would be able to see him at a distance. There would be no quick escape into the darkness. Anticipation sent adrenaline to his muscles and they coiled in readiness. The wolf pack howled in the distance. The man turned away. Nicolae dared to peek through the twigs of the bushes at the men.
The one who had looked towards him was facing the others again, his hand hovering on the hilt of a vicious-looking hunting knife that hung from his utility belt. Nicolae glanced at the man next to him. A similar knife hung from his belt. Were they armed only with knives? He tried to see their hands but most of the men had them in front of them, or the bodies of the others hid them. They started talking again, calm and unfazed by the surrounding darkness and distant wolf howls.
Something about them didn’t feel right. Their poise, their calmness, set them apart from the casual hunters that often came to the area, and gave him the impression that they were experienced in night manoeuvres and possibly trained in combat. In fact, he would hazard a guess that either they were in the military or they used to be. The only one who didn’t feel like a threat was the one who was afraid. His heart pounded faster than the other three men’s did, pushing at Nicolae’s desire to attack. He clawed for control, his focus turning inward for a moment as he struggled against his animal instincts.
“I say we go down.” The one in the middle of the group this time. His agreement with the first voice caused a murmur to run through them. The three men who had spoken turned towards the fourth, tallest, man.
The man stepped forwards, into the clearing, and Nicolae got a good look at him. The cold calculating edge to his expression warned Nicolae that this man was more than a hunter of animals. He had seen such faces before, in his past, on merciless killers that were acquainted with death and cruelty, and revelled in it.
Nicolae slunk further into the shadows, battling dark splintered memories that branded his mind with horrific images of violence and bloodshed, and seared his body with fierce pain. Each scar on his skin turned to flame beneath his black fur and he fought the urge to snarl. It had been so long since he had relived the nightmare of his past that he had forgotten how to deal with the pain. It threatened to cripple him, to force him from his animal state and expose him to the hunters. He battled the memories, using every ounce of his strength and willpower to remain hidden and as a wolf, but his control began to slip.
Screams taunted him, pleas for mercy and desperate cries for protection. His muscles bunched tight, bordering on cramping, and his heart wrenched in his chest as he relived everything in such vivid detail that it felt as though he had been transported back to that time, to the hellhole in which they had tortured him and his blood kin. Images of them swam in his mind, shifting in and out of focus, bloodied and beaten, eyes full of despair that turned to hope as they fell on him. He felt himself reaching out to them even though he couldn’t move, trying to grasp the fragile visions as frantic need to comfort them flooded him. They slipped through his fingers, faces turning hollow and emaciated as they screamed, clutching themselves. His limbs shook, weak down to his bones, and he tried to shun the images, not wanting to witness their deaths again.
Not wanting to relive the horror of his failings.
He ground his teeth, biting down hard until his sharp canines cut into his gums and the taste of blood flooded his mouth. The metallic scent brought darker memories with it. They crowded his mind, driving him to the edge of despair, and threatening to break his hold on his wolf form. He couldn’t lose it here. The hunters would see him. They would kill him before he had a chance to fully transform and escape into the woods. He would expose everyone to danger. He fought to remain focused, clamping his jaw and sucking in deep gulps of night air through his nose. The crisp edge to the air and the scent of the woods grounded him enough that he could shift his focus to the present and his surroundings, pushing away the terrifying memories.
“We go down,” the hunter said at last, snapping Nicolae back to them and giving him a point of focus to hold on to, helping him clear his mind.
He breathed hard, gradually bringing himself back under control. The smell of the night soothed him and his pulse began to level again, his blood no longer blazing in his veins.
Nicolae looked up at the moon through the trees, needing to see it and see that he was free. His past laid thousands of miles away and a hundred years ago. Out here in the wild, he was free of the world that had once enslaved him. He was free of the vampires.
Two of the men moved past the one who Nicolae had decided was their leader. They brought their night-vision goggles down over their eyes and shouldered weapons that caused Nicolae to hesitate. The fourth man moved and did a sweep of the area.
Nicolae stared at the crossbow and the shiny tip of the dart aimed straight at him, his breathing faltering at the sight of it. The man moved on, scanning behind the group, and then followed them down into the woods.
Bows?
When was the last time he had seen a hunter use a bow? He couldn’t recall one in recent years. Everyone used high-powered rifles with accurate sights now. Even he did.
The timber wolves howled in the valley.
Nicolae tried to make out what they were saying but it was difficult with the men distracting him. He crawled through the undergrowth, tracking them from a distance. Whenever one of the men turned his way, sweeping the area with their crossbow, he flattened himself against the ground and waited. Their progress through the forest was slow but they were heading towards the wolves. If they came too close to the pack, he would break cover and head down to warn them.
The hunters maintained their silence as they wove through the woods, giving Nicolae difficulty. It was hard to move without making a sound when the leaf litter was so deep and crisp. He placed each paw carefully, moving with stealth and keeping far enough away that they wouldn’t hear him.
“I still say that she went up,” one of the men whispered after they had been walking for over twenty minutes and Nicolae caught sight of the leader through the dense tree trunks.
The man held his hand up in a fist and the group halted. Nicolae stopped too, one paw in the air. It trembled with the exertion of holding it there. He gradually lowered it to the ground, holding his breath as he did so, and then exhaled when none of the hunters looked his way. The leader turned towards the man who had spoken and something silent passed between them.
Nicolae knew a threat when he felt it. It seemed the man who had spoken did too because he bent his head and remained silent as the group continued down towards the glade. Nicolae reached out with his senses, searching for both the wolf pack and the prey of the hunters. Could it be a bear?
They had talked about her being quick. Bears were fast when they had to be. He’d been on the receiving end of a few charges in his lifetime. They weren’t as fast as wolves though.
He sensed the timber wolf pack on the grazing land far below. The alpha howled and Nicolae paid him no heed, only using the sound to confirm their position on his senses was correct. He couldn’t feel any other animals besides a few birds and small creatures. The high-tech crossbows these men were packing said that they weren’t after prey smaller than a wolf, not unless they enjoyed a challenge. Even then, they would probably go after big game. Hunting large animals with only a bow would be more exciting and dangerous. A challenge most hunters would relish. Which brought him back around to bears.
The men stopped a few hundred metres up the mountain from the glade. Their leader raised his goggles, looked towards the rugged horizon, and then turned towards the other three.
“She might have gone to ground.” It was the one who had almost seen him. The leader looked thoughtful, his face shadowed and difficult to make out.
Two of the men he hadn’t got a good look at earlier were in broken moonlight now, their night-vision goggles pushed up on their foreheads. They were young, one of them around his late twenties and the other into his thirties. Nicolae suspected it had been the youngest man who had sounded scared. The other one had a hard set to his jaw and coldness in his eyes. The sort of look a man got after seeing a lot of death.
Nicolae had that look sometimes.
“I shot her.” There was certainty in the man’s gravelly voice. None of the others looked as though they were about to doubt him.
Nicolae sniffed, trying to catch a scent on the chill air. If they had shot whatever animal they were after, then it would be bleeding. He would be able to track it.
“The poison will take care of her in that case.”
Nicolae froze. Poison? He looked at the bolts loaded in the crossbows. Just what was it they had shot and now wanted to find? Hunters didn’t normally poison their prey.
Not unless their prey was strong enough to survive arrows and bullets and come after them. He shook that thought away. There was no reason for him to get jittery. In the century he had lived in the area, not once had anyone attacked the werewolves.
“I don’t want to risk it. I want to find her.” The leader this time.
The alpha wolf howled again and Nicolae listened.
Blood.
They were hunting something.
Nicolae tensed, torn between breaking cover and heading down to see what the wolves had smelt, and remaining to listen to the men and ensure they left the mountain.
He raised his nose to the breeze and sniffed. He could smell it now, sharp and coppery, coming up from the valley.
A bolt zipped past him, thudding into a tree barely inches from his nose. Nicolae ran, keeping his rear down and weaving through the narrow gaps between the trees to cover himself. Another bolt narrowly missed him.
“Don’t waste ammo unless you’re sure it’s what we’re here after,” the leader said.
Nicolae pounded through the forest, away from the men and down towards the valley. He picked up the scent of blood and followed the trail. It grew stronger, fresh and sharp in the clear air, cutting through it. He sniffed the ground at intervals, trying to see if the animal had bled onto it so he could investigate the scent and determine what sort of creature it was.
The pine trees grew dense around him as he neared the glade. Their scent obscured the subtler one of the blood, making it impossible for him to tell what it belonged to. It didn’t smell animal.
It wasn’t werewolf.
He rounded a tree and spotted something in the clearing ahead.
Human.
The timber wolves broke out of the woods on the other side to Nicolae, heading for the body. His heart slammed against his ribs and he crashed through the undergrowth and out into the glade. He dashed across the open ground, passing the body, and leapt into the group, snarling and snapping at them, driving them back. His teeth clashed with those of the more persistent wolves but he was careful not to draw blood. His attack wasn’t about hurting them. It was purely to force them to leave the human alone. It was to protect them. If they ate the body, the locals would hunt them down and slaughter them all. He couldn’t allow that to happen.
The alpha growled.
The rest of the pack cowered, lowering their rears and bowing their heads. Some of the younger ones at the back whimpered and whined.
The grey alpha came forward, smaller than Nicolae but bigger than the other wolves, and stared at him.
Nicolae breathed hard and held the alpha’s yellow gaze.
The pack was hungry. With winter setting in, it was important that they fed well, but he couldn’t allow them to harm this human. The alpha didn’t move. Nicolae could understand his need to protect his pack and provide for them.
He huffed, turning the air misty for a second with his warm breath, and then came to a decision. He looked deep into the alpha’s eyes, communicating with him alone. He would hunt and leave them a deer at his cabin in exchange for the human. Was that acceptable?
The alpha wolf stared at him a moment longer and then turned and trotted silently into the forest. The pack followed.
Nicolae huffed again.
He would do as he had promised and give them a deer as soon as he could go out and hunt. During harsher winters, he often provided for them. Wolves were a proud race, just like their werewolf brethren, but this pack no longer took offence at his offerings.
Nicolae knew the pain of not being able to provide for the pack, of failing in his duty to protect them, and because of those experiences he knew that he had asked a lot of the alpha tonight. He was grateful the wolf had chosen to accept the deer and, to show it, he would find the largest one he could.
He turned and sniffed his way back to the human. She lay on the leaf litter, motionless and pale. Covered in blood. It had a strange smell. Some part of it was human but the scent was different, familiar. Was it the poison that made it smell so wrong?
The woman’s eyes were closed, her fair hair spread across the ground in a golden wave. Moonlight shone down into the glade, the bare branches of the trees splitting it into bright shafts that bathed her. He sniffed again and listened. No heartbeat but he couldn’t be sure. Twin darts punctured her black fatigues, one in the left of her chest, up from her heart, and the second in the right side of her stomach. Could she have survived that?
He caught the scent of the hunters on the darts.
Why had they killed her?
She was dressed like them.
Nicolae listened again for a pulse. None came.
There were some things that he couldn’t do as a wolf. He shuffled back a few paces to give himself more room and then focused. His bones popped and body twisted, the black fur on it slowly disappearing as he transformed back into his normal form. He grimaced and growled quietly, containing his pain for fear of alerting the hunters to his presence. He wasn’t sure if they had gone and he wasn’t sure if the woman was dead. He couldn’t let either of them know what he was. His ribs stretched and his limbs cracked back into human forms still covered in patches of fur. It swept backwards, towards his shoulders, revealing deformed fingers that pushed out into normal shapes. His muzzle compressed, his teeth receding, and he moved onto his hind legs, standing with a wobble. Pain ripped down his spine with the final shift of his bones beneath his now human skin, and he bit back his desire to throw his head back and scream out his agony.
Nicolae clenched his fists and breathed deep, waiting with closed eyes for the pain to pass and his heartbeat to level again.
Centuries of life as a werewolf and whenever he spent too long in his animal form, he still felt the pain as he had during the first change.
The moment it subsided, he crouched beside the woman, naked and unashamed. He touched her throat. She was cold and he couldn’t feel a pulse. Dead.
He ran his hand over his messy dark hair and frowned, thinking over what he should do.
His gaze assessed the two darts. Blood saturated the black material around them. He touched it, brought his fingers to his nose, and sniffed. He could smell the poison. Strong. Why had the hunters killed her? If he had found her before coming across the hunters, he would have said they had belonged to the same party. Only this woman wasn’t armed.
Nicolae looked around the clearing for a weapon.
When he looked back at the woman, she was staring at him with dark eyes.
Her left fist flew towards him.
Nicolae rolled backwards into a crouch, barely avoiding the punch. She lunged, trying to grab him, gasping and wheezing. Blood pumped from around the arrow in her abdomen. The dart must have punctured her lung.
His gaze met hers again and he froze. The words of warning to keep still fled his lips.
Fiery orange eyes pinned him with the deadliest of stares.
Nocens.
She bore her fangs and Nicolae backed away, his eyes still locked with hers, panic sending an icy wave through his blood.
What was a vampire of the Nocens bloodline doing in Canada?
She snarled and then slumped backwards, hitting the dirt hard. Nicolae didn’t move. He couldn’t tell if she was dead or not but he wasn’t about to risk his neck by checking her. His gaze darted between the arrows. There was a lot of blood on her, and around the glade. The arrows were poisoned. He dragged in a shaky breath.
The scent of her blood hit him and, now that he knew why he recognised it, he couldn’t bear the smell.
Nicolae shook his head at the first assault of memories, desperate to keep them at bay. He wasn’t there now. He was free. He had paid for it in blood and death, but he was free. The images came, relentless, horrifying visions of violence and pain, punishment in dark barred corridors, screams that echoed through the entire compound. He fell forwards, breathing hard, clawing the dirt into his fists and holding on. Cries. Blood. The sting of the whip against his back. He arched forwards and growled, his teeth elongating. The laughter of his cruel masters. His neck burned, aching under the pressing weight of an iron collar. The humiliation of his brethren.
Blood ran in a fetid river before his eyes, trickling over damp dark stones and along the gutter in front of the cells, mixing with faeces and urine. Shackles clanked in the dim light. Bars rattled under the duress of a fruitless attack by a prisoner.
He wasn’t there.
Nicolae yelled his rage at the starlit sky. It burst from him, desperate and feral in its sound, and echoed around the distant mountains. A disconsolate howl from the valley answered him. The alpha. The sound of it and the message it contained soothed him and granted him relief. He shut the pain down, clearing his mind of the past and focusing on the present, but there was no comfort in it now.
His gaze snapped to the vampire.
He pushed himself back onto his feet and stood over her, staring with hatred burning in his gut. The hunters were still searching for her, and it wouldn’t be long before they reached where he was. They would finish her off. If she managed to survive both the hunters and the poison until daybreak, then nature would take care of her. The sky was clear. When the sun rose, it would spill into the glade. She wouldn’t be strong enough to escape it. Her kind deserved to feel pain.
He would never involve himself with vampires.
He strode away from her.
No matter how beautiful they were.
That thought arrested his steps. He frowned over his shoulder at her. The cold air curled around him, chilling and stiffening his bare body. He stared at the vampire and then at the horizon through the trees, and realised with self-loathing that he wasn’t strong enough to do it. As much as he despised her kind, he wasn’t a monster like them. She wasn’t the same bloodline as the ones who had enslaved him. She had done nothing to deserve his bitterness. If he left her, it would plague him and he would regret it. If he needed a reason to help her, he would do it for the sake of information about the hunters. They had to be the reason that she was so far from home.
Nicolae went back to her. She looked small and fragile as she lay on the dirt. Her appearance belied her true nature but it couldn’t fool his senses. When she had come around, he had felt her strength. Was she strong enough to fight the poison? He placed his palm against her forehead. She wasn’t burning up yet. If the poison was the type most vampire hunters used, then there was still time to help her.
Part of him said to leave her. Her kind had given him nothing but pain. She should feel it in return.
He couldn’t bring himself to do such a thing. Watching a dying vampire succumb to the sun and poison would be a petty form of vengeance. His heart had let go of his desire for revenge almost fifty years ago now, cleansed by his quiet life in the wilderness. Only the nightmarish memories kept it alive in him.
Nicolae sighed and picked her up, shifting her into his arms and cradling her against his bare chest in a way that didn’t disturb the bolts. If she woke again, he would drop her in a flash and distance himself. He doubted that she would though. She had probably used the last of her strength fighting him.
Was he really going to do this? If he brought her into his home, if he helped her heal, then he would be helping the enemy.
In times of war, it was acceptable to help the enemy of your enemy. The hunters had tried to kill her. They were a threat to everything he had built here, and everyone that he knew.
He had to help her.
Even when he knew it would place him in danger.
The hunters were after her.
They would be after him too now.
Did you enjoy the snippet?
More about the book:
Hunter’s Moon
F E Heaton
The horror of the night he failed to save his werewolf pack from the cruelty of their vampire masters has haunted Nicolae for one hundred years, driving him deep into the Canadian wilderness in search of peace. That peace is threatened when unfamiliar hunters and the scent of blood lead him to a beautiful woman and a hard decision—face his past and help her or risk losing everyone he cares about again.
Bearing a heart filled with grief and with vengeance on her mind, Tatyana is intent on killing the hunters she’s tracking and returning to her vampire bloodline, but her plan didn’t include being shot with poisoned arrows or rescued by a glowering alpha werewolf who stirs forbidden hunger in her.
When the hunters make their move, will Nicolae be able to stop them before it’s too late? Will he be able to overcome the darkness in his heart and embrace his desire for a vampire? And can Tatyana face her fears and risk her life for the sake of forbidden love?
Available in e-book from:
Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Germany | Amazon Kindle France | Amazon Kindle Canada
Apple iBookstore USA | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand
Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Sony Reader Store | Smashwords
Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes and Noble
Don’t forget to visit the other authors who are participating to read their snippets…
Lauren Dane
Shelli Stevens
Leah Braemel
Jody Wallace
Caris Roane
Eliza Gayle
Lissa Matthews
Mandy M. Roth
McKenna Jeffries
Shiloh Walker
Taige Crenshaw
Delilah Devlin
HelenKay Dimon
TJ Michaels
Myla Jackson
Felicity Heaton
Mari Carr
July 24, 2013
WIP Wednesday – Her Wicked Angel Release Date and Eternal Mates Book One
I need to play catch up in this week’s post as I have been a bad author and haven’t been keeping you up to date on my latest works in progress.
I have now completed the first edit of Eternal Mates Book One and it’s currently resting, awaiting a final polish and proofread.I really do think you will love this new series and I’m excited to see your reaction, and to venture further into this series. Every time I finish working on this first book, I want to immediately begin working on the second one. I have to take that as a good sign. I have so many fantastic heroes and heroines for you to meet, and of course some old faces too in future books as we’ll be returning to Vampirerotique at some point in this series.
This is a series of novels, so there will be a bigger gap between releases than I had with the Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series that is set in the same world, but it does mean you’re getting a bigger fix each time.
With the edit on Eternal Mates Book One completed, I have moved on to editing the next Her Angel romance series book, HER WICKED ANGEL.
This is a longer book, so it’s going to take me a couple of weeks to work my way through editing, even with my schedule being cleared of a lot of admin and marketing work. I’ve had some amazing beta readers working on this book with me, and the two who have finished the book have both come back making very positive noises, even going as far as saying it’s the best one in the series so far. That has definitely made me more relaxed about this book and is helping me work through the edits with a bounce in my step.
I began editing Her Wicked Angel on Sunday and I’ve completed the first 63 pages out of around 300 in total. I have a few areas in the book that need more attention and that will slow me down, but I never rush through an edit. It’s a very important time in the life of a book and I like to give it my full attention, taking my time about it.
Now, the bit you’ve probably been waiting for (if you’re not subscribed to my newsletter – as I announced this in July’s issue)…
The official release date for HER WICKED ANGEL is September 21st.
Not long now, really. It’s already almost August.
To tide you over, how about a snippet of the book?
Liora paid for her purchases and made her way back to the alley. Asmodeus was sitting on the step of one of the buildings lining the narrow street, his wings carefully placed so the longest black feathers curled around his ankles. He looked pale, his skin almost milk-white against his wild black hair and thick dark lashes. He lifted his head and gazed at her as she hobbled towards him, his golden eyes warming and then burning like fire as they took her in. Heat chased in the wake of his eyes, setting her body aflame and stirring a different sort of hunger.
She wanted to drop her things beside him, settle herself astride his lithe muscular thighs, and run her fingers through his hair, raking the satiny black strands back from his sculpted face. She would force him to tip it back and look up at her, and the action would cause his lips to part. She would swoop on them then, feeling their firmness beneath hers, waiting for him to hit that point where he found the courage to take the lead and showed her a hint of the passion he held locked beneath his incredible exterior.
His gaze dropped to the bag she carried, reminding her that he had to eat before she could do anything with him or he was liable to pass out. She sat on the step below him, took the white box of pastries out of the carrier bag and carefully untied the ribbon. She pushed the lid up to reveal the neat rows of sweet treats and her mouth watered.
Asmodeus stared.
“What are those?” He looked curious. That was good. Maybe he would eat some for her.
“Pastries.” She plucked a strawberry mille-feuille out of the box and offered it to him.
He took it from her and peered at it, turning it this way and that and getting cream and icing all over his hand.
“It’s my favourite.” She picked up the other one she had bought and bit into it. The layers of fine crisp puff pastry, custard-cream and strawberries were delicious and she moaned and took another bite, unable to resist the tempting allure of the sweet heavenly confection.
When she risked a glance at Asmodeus, his pastry was gone and he was licking his fingers. She moaned for a different reason, her head filling with thoughts about what he could do with that tongue and some cream, and he looked at her.
There was a spot of cream at the left corner of his mouth and she couldn’t resist. She reached up, swiped it off and sucked her finger clean. His gaze darkened and zeroed in on her lips. Her heart fluttered in response, shivery heat washing through her and making her want to keep sucking her finger and giving him wicked ideas.
Food first. Fun later.
What do you think?
July 22, 2013
Teaseday – Excerpt from Her Dark Angel (Her Angel Romance Series Book 1) – Plus FREE ebook!
Today’s tease comes from the book Her Dark Angel, which is the first book in my popular Her Angel romance series. Read on for this Tuesday’s tease…
Serenity opened the bedroom door a crack and peered through. The lights in the living room were off but the moon had moved around, shining through the windows to her right beyond the television. She slowly swept her eyes over to Apollyon.
They widened when she saw that his wings were gone. She opened the door, convinced that she was dreaming it, and took a good look at him.
They were gone. He hadn’t tucked them away. They just weren’t there.
He lay on the couch, his head at the end nearest the door to the kitchen, and his feet dangling over the end beside the windows. She stifled her giggle at the sight of him sprawled out so uncomfortably. He was far too tall for her small couch. She probably should have given him the bed and slept on the couch herself.
Serenity snuck into the room, tiptoeing and grimacing with each step in case it made a noise. She wanted to look at him for a while and she didn’t want to wake him. If he thought her black dress had been provocative, she could well imagine what he’d think of the small dark red slip she was wearing.
She stopped a few feet from him, on the other side of the coffee table. He was beautiful bathed in moonlight and looked so normal without his wings. She could easily fool herself into thinking he was mortal just like her.
He was sleeping soundly, his bare chest rising and falling steadily. Her mouth turned dry when she slowly looked him over. He was naked. Clearly, he wasn’t used to sharing with female company. The red blanket rode low, barely covering his hips, and in danger of falling off completely. Her eyes wandered over him to her heart’s content. He had one arm tucked behind his head and the other rested on his hip, drawing her gaze back there. It traced the curve of his muscles and then the dark line of hair that led her eyes downwards.
Looking at him now, it was hard to believe that he was a real angel. Yet she was a witch. Her mother had always taught her to believe in everything, because you never knew what might just turn out to be real. She had always believed in angels but had never thought she would end up with one sleeping naked on her couch.
It just seemed so incredible to look at him and know that he had lived for eternity already.
He was immortal.
A very handsome immortal.
His face was a mask of peace and his dark hair was falling out of his ponytail and spread over his forearm where it disappeared under his head. Were all angels as beautiful as him?
He stirred and she ran back into her bedroom and dived under the covers, hiding there and pretending to be asleep. Her heart thundered, blood rushing through her head, and she listened hard for a sign that she had woken him.
For a moment, Serenity was convinced that she hadn’t disturbed him, and then she had the strangest feeling of being watched.
The light burst on.
Serenity shot up in bed, clutching the dark pink covers to her chest, and her eyes flew wide.
She covered them, her cheeks blazing over what she had just seen. “Cover yourself!”
Prickly heat chased over her skin at the flash of him stood naked in her doorway.
“You seemed rather interested in seeing it a moment ago.” There was a hint of amusement in his voice.
Her whole body burned with her blush. “I am not… was not.”
“You can come out now,” he said and she peeked through her fingers to make sure he wasn’t tricking her.
It was cruel of him to stand before her like that when she wanted him. He had said that other angels had mortal women, but she still couldn’t get past the fact that he was an angel and what she had been brought up to believe. Angels didn’t do that sort of thing. They were good. They were saints.
Apollyon was bad. Apollyon was built for sin.
Did you enjoy today’s tease?
Caris Roane is also posting a Teaseday snippet, so be sure to check out her blog and read it!
Her Dark Angel
Felicity Heaton
An angel trapped in Hell for centuries, Apollyon is tired of guarding the Devil. He longs to break free and feel the wind in his feathers, but he cannot leave the endless darkness without permission from above. When he senses someone calling him, he seizes his chance for freedom, but soon discovers the call came from a beautiful woman he has watched over from Hell, a woman who casts a spell on him and awakens the darkest desires of his heart.
Serenity is shocked when a wickedly sensual black-winged angel shows up in her city of Paris claiming that she called him when she was only casting a simple vengeance spell. He’s no other than the angel of death! When the lethally handsome warrior offers to obey her and give her revenge, Serenity can’t resist the temptation, but can she resist the forbidden hungers the dark angel stirs in her?
Intense and passionate, Her Dark Angel is a tale of desire and deepest forbidden love guaranteed to set your heart racing.
ALL OF THE STORIES IN THE HER ANGEL SERIES STAND ALONE, JOINED BY CHARACTER AND WORLD ONLY, AND DO NOT NEED TO BE READ IN ORDER.
Available in e-book from:
Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Germany | Amazon Kindle France | Amazon Kindle Canada
Apple iBookstore USA | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand
Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Sony Reader Store | Smashwords
Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes and Noble
You can get your hands on this ebook for FREE right now on selected Amazon Kindle, Kobo 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 Her Angel 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:
Her Dark Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #1)
Her Fallen Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #2)
Her Warrior Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #3)
Her Guardian Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #4)
Her Demonic Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #5)
July 21, 2013
Manday Hotties – Three New Mancandy Treats for Monday Morning Blues
Good Monday Morning! Three hot new treats for you to kick off the week with. It’s time for the Manday Hotties Hop!
Which shot is your favourite? I’m liking the white shirt / blue jeans look of #1
Visit the other blogs in the hop:
July 20, 2013
Sensual Sunday – Hot Snippet from Blood and Snow, a vampire romance novel
Sensual Sunday is brought to you today by Blood and Snow, which is a stand alone vampire romance novel crammed with action, passion and emotion. Sensual Sunday’s always feature a hot excerpt from one of my paranormal romance books. Read on for this Sunday’s sensual snippet… it’s a long one today. I hope you enjoy it!
Moving over to Scarlet, Corazon got down on his knees and carefully removed her hand from her stomach. There was blood coating her palm and he could smell it was hers. He would never forget that sweet enticing scent. He resisted the temptation to lick his lips and frowned instead as he parted the cut in her top to reveal the wound. It wasn’t deep, but it was long and bleeding enough to worry him.
She sucked in a sharp pained breath when he ran his fingers lightly along both sides of the cut.
His hand drifted to her shoulder and he motioned for her to turn and lean forwards so he could get a better look at the wound there.
Corazon removed her cape, careful not to hurt her, and placed it close to the fire so it would dry out. The snow had soaked into her clothes and they were freezing to the touch. He wondered just what she would do if he ordered her out of them. He didn’t think that she would obey that one, not even if he threatened to discharge her if she didn’t do it.
His frown grew heavy when he saw the wound on her back. It was over her right shoulder blade and needed attending to the same as her stomach. She couldn’t seal it herself, so he would have to do it for her.
He didn’t have a problem with that.
He only had a problem with whether he would manage to keep control and restrain himself.
“These need to be sealed,” he said and her eyes darted away from his to fix on a spot on the floor.
He could see how awkward those five words and the prospect of him touching her had made her. Didn’t she want him to touch her? He had sensed the pleasure she’d felt when he’d bitten her wrist. She had to want this too.
“Come,” Corazon said and offered his hand.
Amazingly, she slipped hers into it and stood with his help. He kept hold of her hand, feeling it shaking in his. Was she simply cold, or was she shaking because of him?
And if it was because of him, was it from fear or excitement?
He hadn’t missed the fear in her eyes when they had been in the forest. It twisted in his gut like a knife, writhing there like a deadly viper that whispered words to his heart that he couldn’t ignore. They pained him, hurt him more than she could ever fathom, and he had to do all in his power to reassure her and show her that he would never hurt her—not ever, not even when he lost control.
If healing her wounds and sharing a moment more intimate than any they’d had so far would help her see that, then he was willing to let go and ignore his better judgement.
“Corporal Scarlet?” he said in a hushed voice.
Scarlet looked at him with a different kind of fear in her eyes and he realised something. She was more innocent than she appeared. The pressure the knowledge of her lack of experience with men put on him was tremendous but it released the base urge he had always had with her—he wanted to protect her.
He held back, not letting himself hold her as he wanted to, or speak soft words of tender reassurance.
He would be gentle so her first touch from a man wasn’t an experience to ruin all future ones, but he couldn’t break his restraint and allow himself to be intimate with her in the way she might want. His place in her life was as her superior, no matter how much his heart cried out to be her lover.
Taking hold of her hands, he thought about bringing them up and placing them on her top to encourage her to undress but instead dropped them again. He raised his own hands as she stood mute before him, her own dangling limp at her sides as she stared at him.
He slowly unbuttoned her black tunic and opened it with caution. His stomach flipped and his chest burned with fierce passion when he saw the curve of her breasts. She wasn’t wearing a shirt. He glanced at her to see she had her eyes closed now. Her breath trembled and quickened.
Swallowing hard, he reined in his feelings of desire, and focused on his task. She was a soldier. He was her captain. It was his duty to ensure that she healed and survived to fight another day. That was what this was. That was all this could be.
He removed his cape and felt it. It was dry. He placed it around her shoulders and brought her hands up to it. She held it as he opened her top but he noticed that she made no effort to cover her breasts at first. He ached at the sight of them and fought to contain the stirring in his trousers. They were beautiful soft mounds, perfectly pale and round. Her nipples were dusky and taut, standing out like small pebbles. He glanced at her face to see she still had her eyes closed and then licked his lips. He would die to feel the satiny skin of her breasts beneath his fingers.
Snapping himself out of it, he lowered her top down her arms and cursed the fact he had to lean towards her to remove it. He stared at her breasts, his own breath coming quicker now as he struggled to tear his eyes away from them and maintain control.
He turned away and put her jacket with her cape, hoping it would be drier by the time he had finished healing her. The thought of her sitting with him half naked was too much to bear and he knew that he would lose the fight against his feelings if it happened. He had to get her back into as much of her clothing as he could, for the sake of his sanity.
Turning back to her, he saw that she had made a little effort to cover herself now. He wondered why she had waited so long. Had she wanted him to see? He burned at the idea of that and the visions it inspired in his head—images of touching her, tasting her, and showing her how gentle he could be for only her.
He clenched his fists and went back to her. She looked up at him through her eyelashes, a glance that hit him hard in the chest and made him ache. There was such innocence in her look, but such blatant want and seduction too.
Pulling the cape across her breasts, he shut them away. He would never be able to focus if he allowed her to stand there with the delicious curve of her bosoms showing.
“This may hurt,” he said and she nodded, drawing in a sharp breath as he kneeled before her.
He stared at her stomach, studying the flat plane of it and the hollow of her navel. She would be wondering what he was waiting for. Focusing on the wound that dashed across her abdomen, he leaned towards her and slid into his vampire guise.
She gasped at the first touch of his tongue against her flesh and desire shot straight to his groin. It overruled his sense, shutting it away and claiming a victory over him as it began to control his actions. He closed his eyes and breathed her in as he ran his tongue along the length of the wound. He kept his hands locked at his sides, not willing to surrender completely to his desire to caress her, hold her. This was enough. It didn’t have to go any further.
He lapped at the wound, the sweet taste of her bringing back how good it had felt to bite her. His teeth itched with the idea of doing it again, of standing right now and biting her neck and taking her for his own. He frowned and clenched his jaw, stopping healing her. It would be a foolish move to bite her. It would confirm his feelings for her and show them to her, and it would turn her against him. She would never forgive him if he took advantage of her. She had always looked to him for guidance and he had always set the example. He couldn’t fail her now.
Opening his eyes, he looked at the subtle curves of her body as his tongue caressed her with soft gentle sweeps. She tensed beneath him, causing more blood to spill, and he cleaned it away, swallowing it down and savouring it. The fire crackled and snapped, filling the silence as clearly as her staccato breathing had been. He loved the sound of it, the reaction she had to him. He grazed her with his lips as he licked, almost a kiss but not close enough that she would realise what he was doing.
He was almost thankful that she had been hurt.
To have her like this, trembling because of his touch, aroused and hungry for him, was something out of his fantasies.
Realising that she would grow suspicious if he continued much longer, he stopped and immediately stood.
He was doubly thankful that his tunic was long enough to cover his crotch. The aching erection pressing hard against his trousers would be more of a giveaway of his feelings than anything else he might have done.
“Turn,” he said, not trusting himself to move without making a fool of himself.
Scarlet did and he stepped up behind her. He ghosted his hands down her arms, swallowed the dry lump in his throat, and stared at the back of her neck. His teeth itched again, begged him to sink them into her flesh and drink his fill of her nectar.
Raising his hands, he was stunned to see that they were shaking. It grounded him when he saw that she was trembling too. He couldn’t bring himself to take advantage of her. She would never be his if he did that.
He swept her long black hair from her neck and placed it over her other shoulder. Taking hold of the cape wrapped around her, he lowered it. She let it slip down her arm and he could see the curve of her breast again as the material barely clung to it.
She had to know what she was doing, what a temptation she was right now.
Corazon pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled slowly to claw back a little control. When he felt more stable, he lowered his mouth to her back and licked the wound there. It tasted stale. He frowned and closed his lips around the cut. She made a strangled squeaking noise when he sucked on it, drawing fresh blood to the surface. The strangled squeak became a moan that sent liquid fire into his veins.
He sucked again, wanting to hear that heavenly sound fall from her lips once more.
She moaned and leaned into him a little, enough to jolt him to his senses.
He licked the wound, not allowing himself any more freedom with her, and made sure that he was finished quickly. When he was done, he pulled the cape up and covered her again.
“There. All done,” he said to break the silence.
Scarlet turned slowly to face him, her pupils wide and eyes dark. She was aroused. He could smell it on her, could sense it as it spoke to him, enticing him. He went to move away, but she placed her hand against his chest, freezing him to the spot.
She didn’t utter a word. She simply held his gaze, trapping him in her eyes, as she undid his top. His breathing quickened as she opened it, revealing his chest, and her eyes raked appreciatively over his body. He tried to move again, but she grabbed the two sides of his top and held him fast.
He breathed deep, dragging air into his lungs as he waged an internal war over her actions. A part of him said to stop her. The greater part said to surrender. He would never win this fight, not if she did what he thought she was going to.
She pulled his top back to reveal the bloodstained wound on his shoulder.
Her eyes closed.
Her lips lowered.
Her hair tickled his chest like ribbons of silk.
Her breath trembled against his flesh.
His teeth sunk into his lip.
She traced her tongue over the wound in mesmerising patterns that held him with their spell. He couldn’t move, not even to hold her mouth against him. He could only stand and surrender as his heart rejoiced over this small victory.
Her fingers slid into his top, holding his sides, and he looked down when he felt them against him. The cape began to slip. He caught it and placed it back around her shoulders, burning at the thought of her bare breasts touching his chest but not willing to allow it to happen. It would be one push too far and he would never be able to resist her.
His jaw tensed and he frowned when she licked the wound with tiny flicks of her tongue. He focused on that spot of his body, intent on memorising exactly how it felt to have her this close and feel her touching him.
He steeled himself when her left hand cleared his top away and held his upper arm. She was still trembling. Or was that him?
How did she do this to him, bring him to his knees so easily, with barely more than a look and a touch?
Did you enjoy today’s hot little snippet?
Caris Roane is also posting a Sensual Sunday snippet from one of her paranormal romance books, so be sure to check out her blog and read it!
Blood and Snow
Felicity Heaton
A lance corporal in her territory’s vampire army, Scarlet is no stranger to the violence and bloodshed of war, but in the midst of it, she discovers something that makes it all worthwhile–love.
Her kind are at war with the humans, a long running feud that has claimed countless lives, and Scarlet is all too aware that vampires are no longer guaranteed a long life after they’re turned. Time seems to be of the essence, but she can’t bring herself to admit her feelings to the man who had claimed them so wholly–her captain, Corazon.
Corazon has lived through two centuries of war. Tired, disenchanted, and with only his sense of duty to sustain him, he is garnering a reputation for having a heart of ice. But there is one woman at his garrison that can melt the frost within him–Scarlet. Torn between duty as her commanding officer, and his growing love for her, he fights his own personal battle while all around him fight the war.
When things take a turn for the worse, can their love for each other sustain them, and can they find a way to end the war and live in peace together at last?
Available in e-book from:
Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Germany | Amazon Kindle France | Amazon Kindle Canada
Apple iBookstore US | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand
Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Sony Reader Store | Smashwords
Snippet Saturday – Boys of Summer – Excerpt from Her Demonic Angel (Her Angel Romance Series Book 5)
It’s time for Snippet Saturday! Each week has a theme or is author’s choice. This week the theme is Boys of Summer!
Today’s snippet comes from the book Her Demonic Angel, which is the fifth book in my popular Her Angel romance series
Erin walked the shore hand in hand with Veiron. She had wanted to go straight back to their villa and make love with him but he had insisted that they walked a while, and while she had been annoyed at first, she was glad that he had suggested it. It was strangely peaceful on the empty beach under the moonlight, Veiron’s fingers locked tightly with hers, his large hand engulfing her smaller one and keeping the chill off her skin. Palms fringed the sweeping shore and the warm water washed over her feet, the sound of the shallow waves steadily puncturing the near silence. The noise of people at the complex was nothing but a distant hum this far along the beach. The only competition the waves had was the occasional party at one of the villas and they had left the last of them behind a few metres back.
A breeze blew in off the ocean, carrying the scent of saltwater, and Erin shivered.
Veiron stopped, untangled their hands, and wrapped his strong arm around her, pulling her against his bare chest. Erin snuggled into him and looked up, meeting his gaze. His eyes were black in the moonlight but not dark. They were warm and soft, full of feelings that she felt mirrored in her own heart.
She lifted her hand and cupped his cheek, sweeping her thumb over his lower lip. She wanted to tell him again to be careful when he went to Hell but couldn’t find her voice, didn’t want to spoil this moment between them. It wouldn’t be their last. Nothing would happen to Veiron. Marcus would go with him and together they would be safe.
Erin kissed him instead, tiptoeing and gently capturing his lips. She kept it light, bare brushes of her lips against his, her emotions running wild with her. Veiron surprised her by doing the same, sweeping his mouth over hers and holding her close to him, his hands gentle against her back.
He drew away, breathing hard as though he had run for miles rather than stood still on a beach and kissed her. She was breathless too, alive with emotion and warmth, with all of her feelings for Veiron.
“I keep thinking about something,” he said and he sounded so serious that she pulled further away so she could see his face. He smiled wickedly. “Hot tub.”
Erin laughed. “It’s like you read my mind.”
His smile became a grin and he slipped his hand into hers, entwining their fingers, and started back along the shore with her. She walked beside him, letting the waves lap at her feet. Obviously she wasn’t walking quickly enough for Veiron’s liking because suddenly the world spun before her eyes and she was staring at his backside.
“Hey.” Erin punched his bottom and sighed to herself. So firm. The man had buns of steel.
“You’re slowing me down again,” he said with a smile in his voice.
His backside shifted as he strode purposefully along the beach with her slung over his shoulder and the cute dents either side of his spine on his lower back called to her. Erin hooked her hand into his belt, pushed herself up to relieve the pressure on her organs and fingered one of the dips with her free hand. Veiron practically purred.
The world whirled past her again and she was in his arms, cradled close to his chest.
“Damn, woman, you drive me crazy,” he growled and then kissed her, hard and rough, so passionate that her knees would have buckled had she been standing.
Erin wound her arms around his neck and returned the kiss, trying to make him growl again. He kept striding onwards and she had to wonder how he knew where he was going. Some sort of supernatural awareness of his surroundings?
He cursed under his breath and she looked down to see he was knee-deep in the sea. Maybe not. Erin giggled. Veiron growled. Not the sort of one she had wanted to hear. This one was born of frustration rather than desire.
“I said you drive me crazy, that includes scrambling my senses until I can’t think straight around you… fuck, I need you, Erin… tell me you’re mine. Tell me you’re only mine and I’m the only one you want in all the three realms.” The look he gave her was pure animal hunger and Erin melted, her blood heating to a thousand degrees, burning for him. “Tell me and I will swear to you that I am yours, now and forever.”
Did you enjoy the snippet?
More about the book:
Her Demonic Angel
Felicity Heaton
A demonic angel with a heart of ice, Veiron walks a dark path with vengeance on his mind. Nothing will sway him from his mission to destroy his master… until he risks his life to enter Hell once more to save a mortal female. The fiery beauty makes him burn with hungers he must battle and needs he cannot deny, tempting him to surrender body and soul to her.
Erin is convinced her refusal to do the Devil’s bidding will see her die in a terrifying realm straight out of her nightmares. The last thing she expects is the lethally sensual warrior who breaks into her cell and awakens the darkest desires of her heart and a fierce longing to know the heat of his caress.
Pulled into an incredible world where war is set to ignite and darkness is on the rise, Erin races with Veiron to escape the Devil’s legions in a journey fraught with danger and filled with passion that flares white-hot.
When Erin is faced with a life-shattering realisation and an extraordinary destiny, will their love give them the strength to battle both Heaven and Hell or will they be parted forever?
Available in e-book from:
Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Germany | Amazon Kindle France | Amazon Kindle Canada
Apple iBookstore US | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand
Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Sony Reader Store | Smashwords
Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
You can get your hands on the first book in this series, HER DARK ANGEL, for FREE right now on selected Amazon Kindle, Kobo 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 Her Angel 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:
Her Dark Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #1)
Her Fallen Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #2)
Her Warrior Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #3)
Her Guardian Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #4)
Her Demonic Angel (Her Angel Romance Series #5)
Don’t forget to visit the other authors who are participating to read their snippets…
Lauren Dane
Shelli Stevens
Leah Braemel
Jody Wallace
Caris Roane
Eliza Gayle
Lissa Matthews
Mandy M. Roth
McKenna Jeffries
Shiloh Walker
Taige Crenshaw
Delilah Devlin
HelenKay Dimon
TJ Michaels
Myla Jackson
Felicity Heaton
