Karpov Kinrade's Blog, page 8

A FORBIDDEN Playlist (and a giveaway!)

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We’re closing out Forbidden February with a week-long lovefest for the trilogy as a whole, and what better way to start the week than with music and song? That’s right–we’ve got your Forbidden Playlist right here!

Do you have any favorites in this list? Did you discover any new artists or tunes?

Oh, and don’t forget to enter the Forbidden Trilogy giveaway at the bottom of the post!

For Forbidden Mind

Beach Boys – Surfin USA

Butterfly Boucher - I Found Out

Natalie Merchant – My Skin

Linkin Park – Numb

Muse – Undisclosed Desires

Muse – Resistance

Lonestar – Amazed

Butterfly Boucher – To Feel Love

Nickelback – Far Away

For Forbidden Fire

Candlebox – Youth in Revolt

Kevin Martin & The Hiwatts – Enemy

Fun – We Are Young

Linkin Park – Burn It Down

Adele – Set Fire to the Rain

Linkin Park – Waiting for the End

Muse – Uprising

Linkin Park – Shadow of The Day

Rufus Wainwright – Hallelujah

For Forbidden Life

Clint Mansell – Requiem For A Dream Lux Aeterna FULL ORCHESTRA

Evanescence – My Immortal

Bruno Mars – It Will Rain

Evanescence – Lithium

Giovana – Another Love Like His

The Wanted – Gold Forever

Muse – Starlight

Lonestar – Amazed

Linkin Park – Somewhere I Belong

Linkin Park – What I’ve Done

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – Your Guardian Angel

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

Reading Minds in Dating: Forbidden Trilogy Edition (and a giveaway!)

Everyone wishes they could read their lover’s mind…but, as The Forbidden Trilogy‘s Sam and Drake will tell you, having para-powers and being in a relationship isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

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Sam Says

Reading minds isn’t as glamorous as you might imagine. First, everyone’s pretty much freaked out around you. No one wants to make eye contact, because they subconsciously think they can avoid detection that way. (It doesn’t work, by the way.) And everyone has thoughts that they would never want anyone else to know about.

Even you.

Think about it. How many times have you judged someone harshly, or thought something naughty or totally inappropriate or had a random urge to smack someone (or worse)? Most of us never act on these thoughts. In fact, 90% of them flitter through our consciousness so fast, we aren’t even fully aware of them.

But I am.

I hear those things you don’t even like to acknowledge in yourself. They dance around in my head like a song on repeat. I can’t ever rid myself of your darkest perversions. Is it any wonder Luke and Lucy are my only friends and I’ve never had a boyfriend?

Until Drake.

He’s unlike any other guy I’ve ever known, and not just because he has inhuman physical strength and can control people with his mind, every guy I grew up with at Rent-A-Kid had some para-power. No, it’s who he is on the inside.

He’s fearless and accepts me 100% for who I am. He isn’t scared of my powers and he doesn’t try to hide who he is from me. He let me in to his most intimate secrets and laid himself bare for me to judge.

It’s hard, though. I have mixed feelings about the whole mind control thing. Our roles are reversed, you see. While he accepts me, I find myself scared of his power. But I’m working on it. Together, we face some big challenges.

The place I’ve considered home my whole life may not be what it appears. They’re up to something evil, and only with Drake by my side will I survive.

His strength gives me strength, and I love that about him.

We are so connected, even though we’ve never met in person. I know that sounds crazy, but you’ve got to understand, we’re in each other’s minds all the time! We probably knew each other better in the first week than you will ever know your lover. You don’t know what your partner is thinking, not really.

But I do. I know Drake from the inside out, and it’s because of that total transparency and connection that I know I can trust him.

I don’t always like reading minds, and it’s made my life lonely for a long time. But with Drake, this ability has freed us from the fear and worry that other couples must feel. With him, everything makes sense. Everything fits. He fills something inside of me that I didn’t even know was empty.

Now if we can only figure out what’s going on so we can get out of this alive, we might have a shot at happily ever after.

Wish us luck.

Drake Says

You don’t expect anything good to come out of being kidnapped, especially on the day I was set to win a major surfing contest. Dude, it seriously sucks!

How they got the jump on me, I’ll never know. It’s kind of embarrassing. I can control minds and kick ass, so how’d this happen?

Well, all I can say is I’m glad it happened. I know, that’s crazy, right? But I’d never have met Sam if some blockheads hadn’t wiped me out on Venice Beach that day. Also, we kind of need each other to get out of this seriously F’d up situation, so…

Maybe fate?

But there’s more. She’s special, different. The last girl I hooked up with, let’s just say she was more of a one nighter that got out of hand. Sam’s a girl I could see spending every night with, forever. No, more than that. Sam’s the girl I can’t imagine my life without.

I can’t even tell you how painful it is to be stripped of my powers and held captive, knowing some of the things they’re doing to Sam. You don’t even want to know what I’m doing to do to those bastards when I get my strength back. If you’ve got a weak stomach, you might want to turn your head.

I’d kill for her and I’d die for her. But most of all, I’d live for her.

I know she’s not thrilled with the mind control thing, but I also know that when she looked into my soul, when I opened up my mind to her and gave her access to every memory, every pain, every misdeed and violent act–she embraced it all without flinching.

I’ll never find another girl like her. She’s stronger than she thinks, and she’s kind and good all the way through. She cares about others and feels things deeply. She cries at sad movies and makes me feel things I’ve never felt before.

I love her, and I never thought I’d ever love or feel loved again. I mean, my best friend Brad, you know, cares and stuff. He’s a dude though. And Father Patrick, he’s like a dad to me. But it’s not the same.

With Sam, life has a whole new meaning. With her I know I can do anything, be anything.

So I have to find a way to get us out of this. I will not let them hurt her, and there will be hell to pay when this is over.

Get Forbidden Mind on Amazon or B&N Nook!
Get Forbidden Fire on Amazon or B&N Nook!
Get Forbidden Life on Amazon or B&N Nook!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

Everyone lives a Forbidden Life [EXCERPT]

With all the Call Me Cat awesomeness going on, it would be easy to forget that this is week three of FORBIDDEN FEBRUARY! Alas, we have not forgotten, and to get you back in the Forbidden swing of things, we’re whetting your appetite with an excerpt from this week’s featured book–the last in the trilogy, Forbidden Life!
Enjoy!

——

[image error]From Forbidden Life: Mr. Steele

It all came down to him.

When his son had died he knew he’d have to finish the plan alone. But then his son, the Seeker, had been weak, unable to go the distance.

Mr. Steele could—and would.

He looked down at the body lying on the bed. They were all just bodies to be used and tested. They meant nothing except for what they could give him. This body had been badly damaged, but there was one who could fix it.

He motioned to the guards standing by the door of the hospital room. “Send her in.”

A petite ten-year-old with long auburn hair glared at him with fire in her green eyes, and stroked the snow white cat in her arms.

The room crowded around him with so many people, but he ignored the sensation. Soon enough he’d be alone in his cavernous rooms, after he handled this.

He pointed a long finger at the cat. “What is that thing doing here?”

The guard on the right stepped forward. “She wouldn’t leave it. Said she couldn’t heal without it. You told us not to hurt her, so it seemed the easiest way to get her here.”

“And the mother?”

“Dead.”

The scowl on the girl’s face collapsed into tears.

Mr. Steele knew what grief looked like on others, and found the expressions to be clichéd and useless. He prided himself on his control, and counted his blessings that he didn’t have to suffer in the sludge of human emotional excrement.

Before Mr. Steele could order the cat’s execution—both to rid himself of the nuisance, and to punish the girl for her display of tears—the body on the bed convulsed. A fly buzzed around its head, as if waiting for a decomposing treat.

He gestured with impatience. “Never mind about the damn cat. Girl, use your para-powers to fix this.” He spat the last word out as a curse.

When the girl didn’t move, the guard shoved her forward. She dropped her cat, which landed on all fours, the demon that it was, and hissed at him.

He kicked at the cat, but it avoided his black boot and scurried under the bed.

The girl trembled and looked even smaller without the white fluffy buffer. “I… I can’t. I’m not strong enough.”

Mr. Steele kept his voice calm and even when he responded. Anger was just another emotion, after all. “You haven’t even tried. I think you’re much stronger than you give yourself credit for. Besides, if you don’t, I’ll rip your kitty apart with my nails and eat its heart while you watch. Then, I’ll do the same to you.”

An idle threat, as he cared nothing for the heart. No, what he wanted—what he needed—existed solely in the brain. That’s where the real treasure awaited him—the real power.

***

Cerebrospinal fluid: the key to all his research. Located in the subarachnoid space and the ventricular system around and inside the brain and spinal cord, this fluid contained something very special in those with active and dormant para-powers—the blueprint for specific powers and the code to activate them.

With the right cocktail of drugs, he could forcibly activate dormant powers in a subject.

And with the right procedure, he could syphon that fluid from a paranormal and use it to enhance another person’s para-power.

He almost had it, but he needed to do a few more experiments before he became his own patient, and the most powerful paranormal to ever live.

The girl who stood before him would make an excellent test subject, but he needed her to do this first.

Snot and tears leaked down her puffy red face.

Disgusting.

Another convulsion from the body.

“Do it. Now.”

The girl nodded and sobbed again, but did as she was told.

Like this excerpt? Get Forbidden Life on Amazon or B&N Nook!

Enter the Forbidden Life feature week giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

Call Me Cat: Excerpt and Reveal of new Romance/Mystery series with giveaway!

We have launched a new book baby! Call Me Cat is book 1 in a new romance/mystery trilogy that we are super excited about! And even more exciting, the last two books will be out next month, so you won’t have to wait long at all to find out what happens next. (Which is good, since these are NOT stand alone books, and this is a cliffhanger ending!)

Keep reading to learn about the book and read chapter 1. We’d love for you to buy the book, but you know what we’d love even more in the next week or two? REVIEWS! You see, we want to get Call Me Cat up on some pretty big ad sites when the sequels launch, and for that we need a SHIT-TON of reviews. (That’s a real amount, by the way.) So, we’re doing something we’ve never done before. We’re offering ANYONE who wants to read and review this book a free copy, for a VERY limited time! All you have to do is hop over to our KK Minion Army, join, and scroll to the top of the posts. The pinned post holds the key to your literary dreams: a coupon code to get Call Me Cat free. If you’re not on Facebook and still want to review, email us and we’ll make it happen. Books@KarpovKinrade.com

Now, to the good stuff. About Call Me Cat

[image error]“Make me forget about everything except you.” 

Catelyn Travis is a good girl who gets good grades in law school, doesn’t date and never gets into trouble.

But when a run of bad luck threatens to destroy everything she’s worked for, she’s forced to become Cat, phone sex goddess who fulfills the fantasies of her clients night after night.

When she meets Ashton Davenport the Third, bad boy biker billionaire, she knows to stay away. But when he calls her alter ego, Cat, she has no choice but to fall for the sexy stranger.

Now her life is spiraling out of control as she struggles to keep her two identities separate, but there’s one person who knows her secret.

And he’ll stop at nothing to destroy her, just like he destroyed her parents.

Threatened at every turn, her life crumbling around her, Catelyn must decide who she can trust, because the wrong choice could end her life.

Contains mature content.

Get it on AMAZON, B&N or SMASHWORDS. (Coming soon to Kobo & iBooks)
Chapter One
One is Such a Lonely Number

 

THIS IS WHY I don’t date.

It had been awhile since my last attempt at dating, and while not all were complete disasters, many were. I was a magnet for a certain kind of man. The kind that mothers warned their daughters about.

This guy was no exception.

He stared at me with wide brown eyes, waiting for something. I didn’t know what to say, didn’t know why I agreed to visit his dorm room before we went out to coffee. He sounded so reasonable on the phone. “You swing by and we head out. I just getting out of class so I need to change.”

I found his Italian accent charming, and my best friend had assured me he was ‘hot.’ She’d set us up on a blind date, this guy from her bio-chem class, and I’d stupidly agreed because Bridgette knew me well enough to gauge my taste in men after four years of undergrad, right?

Apparently not.

He stood with his legs crossed, rainbow stripes running up his socks, one pulled all the way up his calf, the other squashed to his shoe. He wore crumpled shorts, which weren’t weird by themselves, but the entire outfit made me think of Urkel from that old sitcom Family Matters, down to the suspenders. Who wears suspenders anymore?

I cleared my throat. “May I use your restroom before we go?”

He nodded and pointed to the tiny bathroom attached to his messy dorm room. I let myself in and locked the door behind me, then checked the mirror. I so seldom wore make up that I’d rubbed at it without realizing, making my brown eyes raccoon-like. A quick fix and another swipe of red lipstick, and I was set.

Adjusting my ponytail, catching a few dark strands of hair that got loose, I glanced at the toilet, where an empty condom floated in the water like an abandoned boat lost at sea.

I snapped a picture with my cell phone and texted Brig. THIS is who you set me up with. Thanks so much.

My phone beeped a moment later. WTF? Is that from the two of you?

Um, no! Gross. I just got here. He must have had company before me.

LOL. I’ll call you and bail you out. I’m SO sorry. He seemed nice in class. And the hair.

My fingers flew over the keypad. I’ll give you that one, he does have gorgeous hair.

He was still standing in the same place when I returned, his clothes still misaligned. “Shall we go with coffee now?”

I faked a smile and walked toward the door. “Sure.”

As he locked up, he watched me again with this expectant expression. “You not say anything?”

“About what?”

He glanced at his socks. “About these. I test you, see if you notice, but you not say anything.”

My phone rang and I answered. “Yes?”

Brig whispered like we were spies in a covert operation about to go wrong. “Meet me at the diner, and I’ll buy you lunch. It’s the least I can do after setting you up.”

“Oh my God, are you okay?” I feigned concern. “Yes, of course, I’ll be there right away.”

Brig chuckled. “Oh you’re good. If your career in law doesn’t work out, you could always try theater.”

I hung up and faced my failed date. “I’m so sorry, but I have to go.”

He frowned. “Everything okay?”

“An emergency. You understand? But thank you all the same. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

He hollered after me as I scurried down the hall. “I call you later.”

“Um, sure.” I made a note to block his number as I headed to the diner Brig and I ate at for the last five years. Burger Oil’s food lacked quality and taste, but the prices were cheap, and cheap was perfect for college.

Cool, crisp air cleared my senses as I made the long walk from Italian dude’s dorms.

When I arrived Brig pointed at her non-existent watch dramatically, her long blond hair hovering around her head like a halo above her pale face and ice blue eyes. “Did you crawl here?” She looked outside and back at me. “You walked? Is the Bruiser in the shop again?”

“It would be, if I could afford to take it to the shop.” The Bruiser was the nickname we coined for my piece of shit Camaro the night it died and forced us to walk to a party in high heels. Our feet were bruised from the walking and thus the name.

“You should have called. I could have picked you up.”

I shrugged. “I needed the walk.”

“Can’t you get more student loans to help?”

She’d already ordered me a cup of coffee. I added sugar and creamer and sipped. “I’m maxed out as it is.”

“What are you going to do?”

Before I could answer the waitress rescued me by asking for our order. Once she left I changed the subject. “No more dates. I’m so done with men. Besides, I’ve got a huge paper due before winter break, and I won’t get done if I don’t get started on my research.”

Brig rolled her eyes. “You’ll do fine. Your biggest concern is whether you’ll get an A+ or an A++. It’s in your blood. Are you still using your mom’s book as the spring board for your paper?”

“Yes. Her research into sociopaths and psychopaths intrigues me, and I think there’s more to uncover in relation to prosecuting them in court. But I have a long ways to go before I’m ready to formulate my own opinions on the subject.”

Our meals came, and we both dug in, not talking until we finished and sipped another cup of coffee.

“I feel like I never see you anymore,” Brig said, pouting her lips like a model.

“I know. You should have come to law school with me.”

“Right,” she laughed, “because the world needs more lawyers and fewer doctors.” She tapped her fingernails on the table. “You could always move in with me. You hate your roommate, I hate mine. It’s a perfect scenario.”

“Except for the fact that my shitty apartment is half the rent of living on campus, and I’m pretty sure your parents don’t want you slumming with me.”

“Money is such a bore. We need to find a way to make you rich.” She said this with the air of someone who’s never had to worry about money, but I didn’t resent her. She tried to understand, and she’d been a good friend, my best and only friend, really. It wasn’t her fault her parents were richer than God and mine were gone.

“Thanks for the lunch,” I said, “but I’ve got to get going. This paper isn’t going to write itself.”

Brig paid the check, and we walked out together. “Let me at least drive you home.”

“Thanks, but I have to pick up some financial aid paperwork for next semester before I head back. Want to come over this weekend and do a study date? Evil Roommate will be gone, or so she says.”

Brig smiled, her cheeks dimpling when she did. “Sure. I’ll bring dinner.”

“Sounds good, see you then.”

I walked away, sad that I couldn’t spend more time with her. I missed our undergrad days when we shared a dorm and had time for fun. Law school put new meaning to the “All work, no play” idiom.

Mrs. Hensel sat at her desk when I arrived just before closing. “Ah, Catelyn, there you are. I have your paperwork.”

She handed me the stack, and I skimmed through it, frowning as I mentally crunched the numbers. “My financial aid went down?”

Mrs. Hensel furrowed her brow. “I’m afraid so. Not just for you, dear, but for everyone. Budget cuts.”

“But, tuition has gone up.” My palms started to sweat as I considered what this meant.

“At least you have a few months to work and save. Is there anyone you can call to help?”

About to cry, I shook my head and ducked out, cursing mascara and tears. I couldn’t make enough in the next few months to cover the difference. I’d spent the start of fall semester living on so much nutritionally void Ramen Noodles, it was a wonder I didn’t have scurvy. If I had to budget anymore, I’d be living on water and air.

Running through the courtyard, trying to calm my brain enough to figure out a plan, I crashed into someone, and we both dropped everything. When I looked up, it was into the eyes of the sexiest man I’d ever met. He seemed a bit older than me, maybe in his late twenties or early thirties, but had the air of someone who didn’t take responsibility too seriously. He wore jeans that hung on his hips just right and a black leather jacket that gave him a bad boy vibe. He scooped up a motorcycle helmet and brushed off the dust.

I sucked in my breath and reached for my books. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t watching.”

“It’s my fault.” His voice was hot and cold and sent a shiver through me. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

“No, I’m fine.”

He picked up the last of the paperwork, and we both stood. His eyes, dark and penetrating, seemed to peer right into me. His black hair flopped over his forehead in that casual “just out of bed” way that men worked hard at achieving but so rarely did. Certainly not like him.

Our fingers brushed against each other when he passed the papers back. His hands were tanned, with long fingers both strong and gentle.

He gazed at my books and smiled. “Law school?”

“Yes. Guess it’s pretty obvious. Do you go to school here?”

“My parents wish I did, but no. I’m just meeting my brother.”

My stomach dropped as I realized I’d likely never run into him again. “Well, I don’t want to keep you. Thanks for the help.”

He paused, as if wanting to say something, but turned to leave.

I spun away, still trying to catch my breath as I pretended to examine the ads on the student bulletin board.

One ad caught my eye, and I pulled it off and read. Do you have a nice voice? Want to double or triple your income and work from home? Call us and leave a message. If we like what we hear, we’ll call you back.

If I could double or triple my income, I could actually survive the rest of the year. I dialed the number to the telemarketing job and left a message in my most professional voice and hung up, heart racing.

With a renewed hope for the future, and not a small amount of daydreaming about Mr. Mystery Man, I headed home, completely forgetting for the first time in years what day it was.

It wasn’t until I checked the mail that I remembered.

With trembling hands I opened the card, always on the same embossed cream stationary. Always typed in Helvetica twelve-point font. Always postmarked from a different city in the country.

And always with the same message. Another year and still alone. One is such a lonely number.

I dropped the card and stood there shaking, trying to breathe. I called Brig but got her voicemail. “He found me again. The man who killed my parents. He found me.”

Get it on AMAZON, B&N or SMASHWORDS. (Coming soon to Kobo & iBooks)

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

Call Me Cat: Excerpt and Reveal of new Romance/Mystery series!

We have launched a new book baby! Call Me Cat is book 1 in a new romance/mystery trilogy that we are super excited about! And even more exciting, the last two books will be out next month, so you won’t have to wait long at all to find out what happens next. (Which is good, since these are NOT stand alone books, and this is a cliffhanger ending!)

Keep reading to learn about the book and read chapter 1. We’d love for you to buy the book, but you know what we’d love even more in the next week or two? REVIEWS! You see, we want to get Call Me Cat up on some pretty big ad sites when the sequels launch, and for that we need a SHIT-TON of reviews. (That’s a real amount, by the way.) So, we’re doing something we’ve never done before. We’re offering ANYONE who wants to read and review this book a free copy, for a VERY limited time! All you have to do is hop over to our KK Minion Army, join, and scroll to the top of the posts. The pinned post holds the key to your literary dreams: a coupon code to get Call Me Cat free. If you’re not on Facebook and still want to review, email us and we’ll make it happen. Books@KarpovKinrade.com

Now, to the good stuff. About Call Me Cat

[image error]“Make me forget about everything except you.” 

Catelyn Travis is a good girl who gets good grades in law school, doesn’t date and never gets into trouble.

But when a run of bad luck threatens to destroy everything she’s worked for, she’s forced to become Cat, phone sex goddess who fulfills the fantasies of her clients night after night.

When she meets Ashton Davenport the Third, bad boy biker billionaire, she knows to stay away. But when he calls her alter ego, Cat, she has no choice but to fall for the sexy stranger.

Now her life is spiraling out of control as she struggles to keep her two identities separate, but there’s one person who knows her secret.

And he’ll stop at nothing to destroy her, just like he destroyed her parents.

Threatened at every turn, her life crumbling around her, Catelyn must decide who she can trust, because the wrong choice could end her life.

Contains mature content.

Get it on AMAZON, B&N or SMASHWORDS. (Coming soon to Kobo & iBooks)
Chapter One
One is Such a Lonely Number

 

THIS IS WHY I don’t date.

It had been awhile since my last attempt at dating, and while not all were complete disasters, many were. I was a magnet for a certain kind of man. The kind that mothers warned their daughters about.

This guy was no exception.

He stared at me with wide brown eyes, waiting for something. I didn’t know what to say, didn’t know why I agreed to visit his dorm room before we went out to coffee. He sounded so reasonable on the phone. “You swing by and we head out. I just getting out of class so I need to change.”

I found his Italian accent charming, and my best friend had assured me he was ‘hot.’ She’d set us up on a blind date, this guy from her bio-chem class, and I’d stupidly agreed because Bridgette knew me well enough to gauge my taste in men after four years of undergrad, right?

Apparently not.

He stood with his legs crossed, rainbow stripes running up his socks, one pulled all the way up his calf, the other squashed to his shoe. He wore crumpled shorts, which weren’t weird by themselves, but the entire outfit made me think of Urkel from that old sitcom Family Matters, down to the suspenders. Who wears suspenders anymore?

I cleared my throat. “May I use your restroom before we go?”

He nodded and pointed to the tiny bathroom attached to his messy dorm room. I let myself in and locked the door behind me, then checked the mirror. I so seldom wore make up that I’d rubbed at it without realizing, making my brown eyes raccoon-like. A quick fix and another swipe of red lipstick, and I was set.

Adjusting my ponytail, catching a few dark strands of hair that got loose, I glanced at the toilet, where an empty condom floated in the water like an abandoned boat lost at sea.

I snapped a picture with my cell phone and texted Brig. THIS is who you set me up with. Thanks so much.

My phone beeped a moment later. WTF? Is that from the two of you?

Um, no! Gross. I just got here. He must have had company before me.

LOL. I’ll call you and bail you out. I’m SO sorry. He seemed nice in class. And the hair.

My fingers flew over the keypad. I’ll give you that one, he does have gorgeous hair.

He was still standing in the same place when I returned, his clothes still misaligned. “Shall we go with coffee now?”

I faked a smile and walked toward the door. “Sure.”

As he locked up, he watched me again with this expectant expression. “You not say anything?”

“About what?”

He glanced at his socks. “About these. I test you, see if you notice, but you not say anything.”

My phone rang and I answered. “Yes?”

Brig whispered like we were spies in a covert operation about to go wrong. “Meet me at the diner, and I’ll buy you lunch. It’s the least I can do after setting you up.”

“Oh my God, are you okay?” I feigned concern. “Yes, of course, I’ll be there right away.”

Brig chuckled. “Oh you’re good. If your career in law doesn’t work out, you could always try theater.”

I hung up and faced my failed date. “I’m so sorry, but I have to go.”

He frowned. “Everything okay?”

“An emergency. You understand? But thank you all the same. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

He hollered after me as I scurried down the hall. “I call you later.”

“Um, sure.” I made a note to block his number as I headed to the diner Brig and I ate at for the last five years. Burger Oil’s food lacked quality and taste, but the prices were cheap, and cheap was perfect for college.

Cool, crisp air cleared my senses as I made the long walk from Italian dude’s dorms.

When I arrived Brig pointed at her non-existent watch dramatically, her long blond hair hovering around her head like a halo above her pale face and ice blue eyes. “Did you crawl here?” She looked outside and back at me. “You walked? Is the Bruiser in the shop again?”

“It would be, if I could afford to take it to the shop.” The Bruiser was the nickname we coined for my piece of shit Camaro the night it died and forced us to walk to a party in high heels. Our feet were bruised from the walking and thus the name.

“You should have called. I could have picked you up.”

I shrugged. “I needed the walk.”

“Can’t you get more student loans to help?”

She’d already ordered me a cup of coffee. I added sugar and creamer and sipped. “I’m maxed out as it is.”

“What are you going to do?”

Before I could answer the waitress rescued me by asking for our order. Once she left I changed the subject. “No more dates. I’m so done with men. Besides, I’ve got a huge paper due before winter break, and I won’t get done if I don’t get started on my research.”

Brig rolled her eyes. “You’ll do fine. Your biggest concern is whether you’ll get an A+ or an A++. It’s in your blood. Are you still using your mom’s book as the spring board for your paper?”

“Yes. Her research into sociopaths and psychopaths intrigues me, and I think there’s more to uncover in relation to prosecuting them in court. But I have a long ways to go before I’m ready to formulate my own opinions on the subject.”

Our meals came, and we both dug in, not talking until we finished and sipped another cup of coffee.

“I feel like I never see you anymore,” Brig said, pouting her lips like a model.

“I know. You should have come to law school with me.”

“Right,” she laughed, “because the world needs more lawyers and fewer doctors.” She tapped her fingernails on the table. “You could always move in with me. You hate your roommate, I hate mine. It’s a perfect scenario.”

“Except for the fact that my shitty apartment is half the rent of living on campus, and I’m pretty sure your parents don’t want you slumming with me.”

“Money is such a bore. We need to find a way to make you rich.” She said this with the air of someone who’s never had to worry about money, but I didn’t resent her. She tried to understand, and she’d been a good friend, my best and only friend, really. It wasn’t her fault her parents were richer than God and mine were gone.

“Thanks for the lunch,” I said, “but I’ve got to get going. This paper isn’t going to write itself.”

Brig paid the check, and we walked out together. “Let me at least drive you home.”

“Thanks, but I have to pick up some financial aid paperwork for next semester before I head back. Want to come over this weekend and do a study date? Evil Roommate will be gone, or so she says.”

Brig smiled, her cheeks dimpling when she did. “Sure. I’ll bring dinner.”

“Sounds good, see you then.”

I walked away, sad that I couldn’t spend more time with her. I missed our undergrad days when we shared a dorm and had time for fun. Law school put new meaning to the “All work, no play” idiom.

Mrs. Hensel sat at her desk when I arrived just before closing. “Ah, Catelyn, there you are. I have your paperwork.”

She handed me the stack, and I skimmed through it, frowning as I mentally crunched the numbers. “My financial aid went down?”

Mrs. Hensel furrowed her brow. “I’m afraid so. Not just for you, dear, but for everyone. Budget cuts.”

“But, tuition has gone up.” My palms started to sweat as I considered what this meant.

“At least you have a few months to work and save. Is there anyone you can call to help?”

About to cry, I shook my head and ducked out, cursing mascara and tears. I couldn’t make enough in the next few months to cover the difference. I’d spent the start of fall semester living on so much nutritionally void Ramen Noodles, it was a wonder I didn’t have scurvy. If I had to budget anymore, I’d be living on water and air.

Running through the courtyard, trying to calm my brain enough to figure out a plan, I crashed into someone, and we both dropped everything. When I looked up, it was into the eyes of the sexiest man I’d ever met. He seemed a bit older than me, maybe in his late twenties or early thirties, but had the air of someone who didn’t take responsibility too seriously. He wore jeans that hung on his hips just right and a black leather jacket that gave him a bad boy vibe. He scooped up a motorcycle helmet and brushed off the dust.

I sucked in my breath and reached for my books. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t watching.”

“It’s my fault.” His voice was hot and cold and sent a shiver through me. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

“No, I’m fine.”

He picked up the last of the paperwork, and we both stood. His eyes, dark and penetrating, seemed to peer right into me. His black hair flopped over his forehead in that casual “just out of bed” way that men worked hard at achieving but so rarely did. Certainly not like him.

Our fingers brushed against each other when he passed the papers back. His hands were tanned, with long fingers both strong and gentle.

He gazed at my books and smiled. “Law school?”

“Yes. Guess it’s pretty obvious. Do you go to school here?”

“My parents wish I did, but no. I’m just meeting my brother.”

My stomach dropped as I realized I’d likely never run into him again. “Well, I don’t want to keep you. Thanks for the help.”

He paused, as if wanting to say something, but turned to leave.

I spun away, still trying to catch my breath as I pretended to examine the ads on the student bulletin board.

One ad caught my eye, and I pulled it off and read. Do you have a nice voice? Want to double or triple your income and work from home? Call us and leave a message. If we like what we hear, we’ll call you back.

If I could double or triple my income, I could actually survive the rest of the year. I dialed the number to the telemarketing job and left a message in my most professional voice and hung up, heart racing.

With a renewed hope for the future, and not a small amount of daydreaming about Mr. Mystery Man, I headed home, completely forgetting for the first time in years what day it was.

It wasn’t until I checked the mail that I remembered.

With trembling hands I opened the card, always on the same embossed cream stationary. Always typed in Helvetica twelve-point font. Always postmarked from a different city in the country.

And always with the same message. Another year and still alone. One is such a lonely number.

I dropped the card and stood there shaking, trying to breathe. I called Brig but got her voicemail. “He found me again. The man who killed my parents. He found me.”

Get it on AMAZON, B&N or SMASHWORDS. (Coming soon to Kobo & iBooks)

 

We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

The WeeKKend Recap!

Another week has come and gone. And what a week it was! Let’s go over all the awesomeness the past week contained (and a few things that it didn’t) in today’s WeeKKend Recap!

The Forbidden Trilogy Welcome Home Party is in full swing!

We are getting all the publishing rights (both print and ebook) for our award-winning Forbidden trilogy back from the previous publisher, and are republishing them under our own imprint, Daring Books–AND we’re having a BIG welcome home party for the series!

So far, we’ve had Forbidden Mind awesomeness, and Forbidden Fire awesomeoness. Forbidden Life is up next all next week, and then we’ll close everything out with a big week-long Trilogy love fest! Check out what’s coming up right here.

Make sure you’re a fan of our Facebook page and are a part of the KK Minion Army to be a part of the fun and get the inside scoop!

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Call Me Cat drops tomorrow!

The first book in the Saving Cat trilogy comes out on Monday, February 17, with the other two books in the series coming HOT on its heels (pun totally intended). Are you ready? Are you set? Meet Cat!

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To most people who know her, Catelyn Travis is a good girl who gets good grades in law school, doesn’t date and never gets into trouble. 

To her clients, she’s Cat, phone sex goddess who makes their dreams come true.

And to Asher Davenport, she’s the woman he’s spent his entire adult life looking for. 

Only Cat doesn’t want to be found, and she certainly doesn’t want to meet the sexy billionaire who burns up her phone for more than just sultry words. 

But when he makes her an offer she can’t refuse, she crosses a line she can’t forgive.

Make sure you’re a fan of our Facebook page and are a part of the KK Minion Army to know when exactly the book becomes available–AND to be a part of fun release-day festivities, giveaways, and perks!

Get 25% off our short story subscription service!

[image error]During the month of February, get 25% off Gathering of Tales! 

A Gathering of Tales is an annual membership where you, dear reader, get short stories emailed to you, as well as access to a super secret password protected page that archives all the short stories you’ve received.

These short stories are written by award-winning, bestselling authors Kimberly Kinrade and/or Dmytry Karpov, a husband/wife writing team with over 13 books to their name collectively, and counting.

For one flat rate, you not only get 4 short stories immediately, but also a free copy of Kimberly Kinrade’s heartbreaking collection, Bits of You & Pieces of Me.

The stories will be anywhere from 500 to 5,000 words, but will mostly fall in the mid-range. You will get first access to these stories, before they are published anywhere else. They will be in a variety of genres, including romance, fantasy, feel good/heartwarming, mystery/thriller and horror.

Read stories from your favorite genres, written by us!

Sign up right here: http://www.gatheringoftales.com/

Get paid to write fan fiction!

Are you a writer who loves the worlds we’ve created? Do you have a story to tell about the Forbidden kids or in the steamy world of Seduced? Would you like to write something in Paris with When the Heart Falls, or tell new tales in any of the future books and worlds we create?

We welcome fan fiction of all kinds, and we’ve created a Facebook group where you can share your fan fiction with other fans and get feedback and insight. What’s more, we will be checking in on that group from time to time, and if we come across a story that moves us, we might just contact you about giving you rights to publish it for money!

Learn more right here.

Read two stories, choose your fave, win $5!

Throughout the month of February, we’re posting some of our Gathering of Tales stories here, to whet your appetite and give you a taste of what you’ll find when you subscribe. And we’re also doing a giveaway! Go on over and read this week’s stories, comment with your favorite and you’ll be automatically entered for our weekly $5 Amazon GC giveaway! Go on over, read, and vote! 

Be our Fan of the Week!

Congratulations to Amy Johnson and Cindyk Carmean Lorusso, this week’s Fans of the Week!

We’re saying thanks to our fans! With giftcards and eternal fame! Wanna get in on the action and potentially win a $5 Amazon giftcard? All you gotta do is participate and be a fan on our Facebook fan page. Comment on, like, and share ANY of the posts on the page–every comment, like, and share will automatically enter you to win a $5 Amazon giftcard and be our Fan of the Week. It’s our way of saying THANKS for being AWESOME! We announce a new Fan of the Week every Sunday evening.

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Come on and join the fun!

Phew, what a week! Here’s to another awesome week coming up–make it a great one!
We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

Writing interesting antagonists + Forbidden Fire giveaway

[image error]Welcome to Forbidden February! We got the rights back to The Forbidden Trilogy and we are partying all month long with giveaways and behind the scenes looks at the writing of this series. This week we’re all about Forbidden Fire, and today, we’re talking about what made Forbidden Fire so fun to write. So read on, and don’t forget to enter our giveaway at the end!

During the writing of Forbidden Fire (book 2 in The Forbidden Trilogy), I pushed myself to create more complex villains than existed in Forbidden Mind. In Forbidden Mind, you hate the guy who is ruining Sam’s life and hurting so many others. In Forbidden Fire, things aren’t so black and white.

One of my favorite characters in the whole series is The Seeker, the primary villain in Forbidden Fire. I love him because as I grew to know and understand why he is the way he is, I felt compassion for him and his struggle. He’s not inherently evil. He’s misunderstood, and he makes many bad choices, but underneath all that, there is a man who is struggling to find himself in a confusing world. A man who is trying to please a father who is never really pleased by anyone but himself.

And his relationship to Sam is intriguing to me. It’s hard to write about him, and them, without spoiling too much of the book, and I want you to read and discover all the twists this book has to offer on your own, but The Seeker is really worth getting to know.

What’s interesting to me is I didn’t have any chapters from his point of view. You only ever see him through the eyes of Sam, Lucy and Mr. Black, our other villain. But still, I feel that by the end, you know The Seeker deeply. At least I did.

Mr. Black also has motivations that, when understood, gives him a softer edge. I don’t think you’ll ever come to love him—I certainly never did, but perhaps you’ll come to empathize with why he does what he does.

This is the first book where I tackled writing from the antagonist’s point of view and it really helped me to flesh them out in ways I hadn’t in Forbidden Mind. By giving them their own voices, and their own stories to tell, I made them real. And once someone is real, they are impossible to discard as entirely evil. There are shades of grey in everyone, and good within the bad, if you know their story.

In Forbidden Fire, you learn their stories, you see their struggles, and you see the price they pay for their choices. In this way, Forbidden Fire does something special, I think.

And it was The Seeker’s storyline that touched my heart the most in this series. He’s stayed with me the longest, and I’ve often thought of going back and writing the story that led him to where he is and who he is when Forbidden Fire begins.

Someday I might just do that. He has more to say, I think. More to teach, and more to learn.

Favorite Seeker quotes:
I loved someone once, deeply. She too wanted a normal life in the world. There are groups whose sole purpose is to destroy us. They killed her, but only after torturing and raping her. People are afraid of us. They use our services, yes, but deep down they loathe us for our power. They will never allow us to be their equals, ever. If we hide in the shadows like nightmares, it is only until we can claim our rightful place in the world.
I blocked you so that you would listen to me as a human being. I wanted you to look into my eyes as we talked, and assess at a basic human level if you could trust me. We are still people, you and I, and we deserve the courtesy of simple human interactions. You can feel what is right and wrong without your powers. We tend to rely too much on our extraordinary gifts, and not enough on our most remarkably ordinary talents.

Get Forbidden Fire on Amazon or B&N Nook!

Do you enjoy reading books with complicated ‘bad guys’? Who are some of your favorite antagonists in literature?
Enter the Forbidden Fire feature week giveaway!

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We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Want more from Karpov Kinrade? Check out our Amazon page here. New to our work? Get Seduced by Innocence FREE everywhere ebooks are sold, and find out why the Seduced Saga is a bestselling fan favorite!

Diamonds & Dragons: Win an Amazon GC!

[image error]To celebrate Forbidden February, we are doing so many giveaways it’s crazy! We’ve also discounted our short story subscription, A Gathering of Tales, by 25%! With this membership, you get exclusive access to our short stories delivered straight to your email. Membership starts at less than a buck a month, with first look at our work, exclusive giveaways and more. Throughout the month, we’ll be posting some of those stories here, to whet your appetite and give you a taste of what you’ll find. We’re also doing a giveaway. Comment below with your favorite story and you’ll be automatically entered for our weekly $5 Amazon GC giveaway! 

We often do prompts to get the creative juices flowing, and it’s fun to see how different (or similar) our stories end up being. We want to see if YOU can tell which of us wrote which story. So, after picking your favorite, try to guess who wrote what. Dmytry or Kimberly?

Last week we gave you Mirrors & Monsters. And the random winner of a $5 Amazon GC for that week is: Nicole Richardson! Please email us at Books@KarpovKinrade.com and we’ll send you your gift card.

Now, are you all dying to know which one of us wrote which story? Kimberly wrote story A and Dmytry wrote story B!

Story A won last week. Which story will you pick this week?  

Let the games begin! (And don’t forget to share with your friends and sign up, if you haven’t yet!)

This week’s prompt is Diamonds & Dragons! Enjoy!

Diamonds & Dragons: Story A

[image error]Jared delved deeper into the cave. Sharp black stones encircled him and his friends, the air thick this deep below. He had joined the expedition months ago, hoping to make enough gold to buy Rosy a proper wedding ring. Working at the mill had paid less than coppers, and besides, Jared was meant for greater things than being a miller boy. Jared was meant for a big house and servants and farms of his own. He’d even build his own mill from the gold he made today, and he’d make sure to pay his workers proper wages.

If he made it back alive.

“Not much further,” said Dame, the leader of their party. Dame didn’t look much like a dame. He had a square jaw, big shoulders, the kind you have to be born with, the kind no matter of work can make. The only dame like thing about him, Jared supposed, was his jewelry. Long golden necklaces swung from his neck, and earrings the size of stones hung past his chin. All that gold had convinced Jared that Dame had been no trickster in the first place. “Look at the riches I have wrought,” Dame had said over three months ago, the whole town gathered around him in daylight. “Follow me, and I will take you to the cave of jewels and diamonds, the cave of riches and wonders.”

“If you know the way,” Jared had asked, “what do you need us for?”

“If I spent my whole life hauling diamonds from the Silver Cave, I’d die with but a fraction of the wealth that lies there.” The Dame smiled. “I’d die bloody rich. Do you want to die rich?”

The town cheered, and the expedition was formed.

Jared wiped sweat from his brow, the heat crushing his ribs. He’d rest if he could, but he couldn’t appear weak. Jared Barlow was no weak miller boy. “Where are these diamonds you spoke of?”

“Just ahead,” said Dame softly.

Jared tasted dirt on his tongue, and sweat, and the dry air. He spit it out. “I see nothing but stone and dust and—” He stepped on a sharp pebble and yelped, grabbing his foot. “We’ve walked for miles down this accursed cave. If I don’t see a diamond the size of your silly earrings, I’ll tear them from your head.”

“We’re here,” said the Dame as he turned a corner.

Jared followed and hit a wall of diamond.

They’d reached a dead end, a mirror of precious stone that rose high above them. Jared swung the pickaxe off his back and slammed it into the jewels. “Take what you can carry, boys” he said to the other men from his village, and they bit into the stone as well. Jared broke a chunk of diamond free, a chunk the size of a baby, and he cradled it in his arms, licking his lips over and over. He no longer tasted dirt or sweat or dry air, but the sweet taste of wealth and riches.

He shoved the giant diamond in his pack and swung at the wall again with is pickaxe.

And the whole wall shook.

And it roared.

“By all that is true,” cursed Jared, stumbling away from the wall, “what is this?”

Dame ignored him, turning to the wall of light and stone, and falling to one knee. “My lord Maphilon,” he said. “I have brought you an offering of flesh and bone. Take my gift my lord, and grant me once again your favor.”

The wall grumbled and moved. It turned and drew back, revealing scales of diamond, skin of blue. Claws dug into the earth, shaking it. Nostrils flared in to the air, heating it. The dragon drew back its long neck and smiled.

The last thoughts Jared had were of Rosy, her kiss upon his cheek, and the ring he would have bought her.

Once Maphilon finished his meal, and the expedition was no more, he returned to his slumber. “You did well,” he told Dame as he became a stone of diamond once more, and Dame began to glow, blue running through his veins.

Wings sprouted from his back, and his eyes glowed silver. He’d been granted the power of dragons once again. Now he would feast on the dread of man.

A year from now, he would return to the village. “They all live like kings now,” he’d tell the people regarding the expedition. “Follow me, and I will make you kings as well. Don’t you want to die rich?”

 

Diamonds & Dragons: Story B

 

[image error]Waves of heat rippled over the desert like living things, caressing the brown sand in a honey glow. We’d been hiking for so many hours my feet were blistered as much as my sunburned face.

She turned to me, smiling. “It’s not too long now. I can feel it.”

“Cara, you said that four hours ago. What exactly is your definition of ‘not too long’? Because I fear we might have different ideas of what that actually means.” I tried to keep my words playful, but I could tell by her expression that some whine had slipped in. Nothing is less sexy than a man who whines, she’d told me time and again.

She wiggled her heart shaped bottom, wrapped tight in khaki shorts so short I could slip a finger into her if she’d let me. But that wasn’t happening until we were married, and we couldn’t get married until we were engaged, and we couldn’t get engaged until I had the perfect ring made, and I couldn’t have the perfect ring made until we found the perfect diamond.

And so we were on a hunt for the perfect diamond.

In the middle of the Mexican desert.

“I have never heard of diamond mines out here. I’m starting to doubt your source.”

She flicked a red curl from her neck and tied it back into her bun. “My source is never wrong. Trust me.”

I resisted the urge to lick the trickle of sweat tracing a line down her collarbone. “I trust you. I’m just less trusting of the shady Johnny Depp wannabe who sold you a treasure map that allegedly leads to ‘the most beautiful fire diamond the world has ever seen.’” It said so right there on the map, so of course it must be true.

Her green eyes slanted in frustration and she cocked her hip. “Do you want to go back? Because we can go back right now. But I’m not getting married without this diamond.” She shrugged and waited. “It’s up to you. How important am I to you?”

God, if she wasn’t every single fucking thing I’d ever wanted in a woman, I’d have walked away right then. But she was the one. The perfect one that I had to spend my life with. I would suffocate without her. So I took a step forward. “Lead the way. Let’s find this lost treasure.”

She squealed and hugged me, her large breasts pressing against my chest as my arms wrapped around her slim waist and rested at the curve of her ass.

With a naughty gleam in her eye, she stepped back and lifted her tank top off to reveal two rose colored nipples, hard enough to cut glass. I stared in disbelief as my cock pushed against my jeans. “I thought this wasn’t allowed until, you know, man and wife stuff.”

She took my hand and placed it on her breast. “You deserve a little reward for putting up with this insanity. I love you, Kyle. I hope you know that.”

My thumb rubbed against her nipple as she slipped her hand down my pants and stroked my cock. “You like that? Yeah?”

I nodded.

“It’s going to be a thousand times better than that when this is done. I promise.”

She pulled her hand out, pulled down her tank top and walked away, leaving me, well, high and dry, as they say.

I groaned in frustration and followed her mile upon mile, the heat eating away at me while she seemed to stay fresh as a rose, until at last she stopped and dropped her backpack. “This is it.”

This? All I saw was the entrance to a cave that was blocked off by signs warning in multiple languages not to enter. Danger! Danger!

So of course, that’s where she headed, climbing over the gate and disregarding all the warnings.

“Um, honey, I think we’re not supposed to go down there.” I read one of the signs. “It says here the temperatures in this cave are so high people die. You can’t survive down there.”

She reached for my sweaty hand, hers cool to the touch. “Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”

Compelled by the insanity of love, or lust, or some other primal urge, I followed her into the bowels of hell.

For awhile, I just felt like I was going to pass out from the heat. Nothing major, just some difficultly breathing as we went deeper.

Then it felt as if my internal organs were melting. Still, a lot of those I could probably live without.

Then it felt like I was in the Raider’s of the Lost Arc where their faces melt off. That was me.

I fell to my knees, sweat pouring off of me. “I can’t, Cara. I can’t.”

She handed me her canteen, and I drank deeply, the water in hers somehow ice cold. I poured some over my head and nearly died from the pleasure of it.

“It’s just in this room. The Cave of Swords, they call it.”

She turned left and all at once prisms of crystals jutted from the walls and ceiling and floor until it became hard to walk. The light from her flashlight bounced through the crystals, casting rainbows everywhere. She spun around in the center of the cavern. “Can’t you feel it? It’s here. Right here!”

She closed her eyes and chanted something in a strange language, but the heat was suffocating me and I couldn’t listen or bring myself to care what she was doing. I sank to the ground, sipping at the cold water until the cavern lit up with red light like fire as smoke swirled around her.

My eyes stung from it, tears falling as I struggled to see what was happening. When the smoke cleared, she stood there holding a diamond that danced with fire. It was the size of a Robin’s egg and I had no idea how she intended to wear it on her finger, but I was just glad we’d found it and could go home.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I marveled that the map had been correct. We’d found buried treasure like fucking pirates.

She sauntered over to me, her hips moving in that way that made me crazy. I blinked away the sweat and tears and when I opened my eyes again she stood there naked.

Beautiful, perfect, every curve and begging to be touched. She straddled me, unzipping my jeans and pulling out my already hard cock.

“We marry now,” she said, an urgency in her eyes I’d never seen.

“Now? How? We don’t have a minister or a license.” It was a weak protest because honestly, she was naked and I was hard and whatever it took to get my cock in her, I’d do at this point. Even a fake wedding in the pits of hell.

“We marry with blood and sweat and tears. We marry with the Bones of Dragons as witness.” She took the fire diamond and sliced into her hand, then into mine.

“Ouch, fuck. What are you doing?”

“Binding us. Blood for blood.” She pushed our hands together like we were eight-year-old girls becoming blood sisters or some shit.

But then she sat on my cock and all my misgivings disappeared. She rode me hard and fast, her tits falling into my mouth as I sucked, squeezed and thrust myself into her as deeply as I could.

When I came, I screamed in primal ecstasy, confident that no one had ever experienced that level of pleasure before.

And as she lay in my arms, I realized I was no longer hot. My skin was as cool as hers and I could breathe normally again.

She raised herself on her elbow, twirling a strand of my dark hair in her hand. “I really did love you, you know. It had to be real for this to work. I’m sorry.”

A tear slid down her face as she stood, holding the diamond in her hand. She chanted again in that same language, then smashed the diamond into my skull.

Where once there was pleasure, now only pain lived. I screamed again, this time in agony as she continued to bash my brains in all the while chanting in her made up language of freakiness.

My eyes closed, bathed in blood, and then I stood behind her, no longer in pain, no longer feeling anything. I looked around and saw my dead body laying before her. She sobbed over me, her hands covered in bits of skull and flesh and brain. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. But it had to be.”

With the fire diamond covered in blood, she raised it over her head. “I have given you what you need to be reborn. Come to me, Oh Great One. Be reborn into this world, Oh Mighty One and let us bring the mortals to their knees once more.”

Red lights swirled and the diamond burst into flames, but Cara didn’t seem to mind. She stared up at it, watching it burn until it exploded, pushing out the ceiling of the cave, creating a crater to the surface of the earth again.

But something blocked the sun and light. Something bigger than cave, bigger than the hole left from the explosion.

A voice boomed out from above, as deep as an earthquake and mighty as thunder. “You have done well, Daughter of Dragons. I have returned.”

It breathed fire into the space, consuming us both, and when all had burned away, including my body we stood before a dragon with scales that glittered in the sun like fire diamonds.

The dragon looked at me and Cara turned, her eyes widened in surprise. “You have given much to aid in my birth, and for that you shall be rewarded. I cannot bring you back to the mortal world, but I can make you into something new. I can make you into something greater.

It was then that I realized I didn’t feel like myself. That I didn’t have hands or a face or legs. When I looked down at myself, I realized what I had become.

A dragon.

~THE END~

We hope you enjoyed these two short stories. Now it’s time to pick your favorite (and why!) and see if you guess which one of us wrote them! (Dmytry Karpov or Kimberly Kinrade) Leave a comment below with your vote and be automatically entered into our Amazon GC giveaway!

Don’t forget to share with your friends, and if you haven’t yet, sign up for A Gathering of Tales to get short stories delivered straight to your inbox,

You can sign up on the website, or right here.

A Gathering of Tales Annual Membership




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Cuddle up to a Forbidden Fire [EXCERPT]

[image error]From Forbidden Fire: Lucy 

Mr. Black threw Lucy against the white brick wall in an interrogation room. Before she could clear her ears of the buzzing, his fist crashed into her cheek and sent an explosion of pain through her head.

She raised her leg to kick him, but fell back, too dizzy and disoriented to stay on her feet.

He yelled, but it took a moment for Lucy to make sense of the words. “You little piece of shit. You put this whole operation at risk by disobeying orders!”

Another fist. A kick. Every part of her body swelled under the torment.

“You also put my job at risk, and that is not tolerable. They have let you little shits run around doing what you want for too long. Well, not under my watch.”

Blood filled her mouth. Tears streaked her face. Her lungs expanded and collapsed only with an effort that took all her strength.

There had to be a way to fight him.

She willed him to lie, to get on his walkie-talkie and say he needed backup. Anything to distract him.

Nothing happened.

Just more punches, more slaps, more kicks.

She fell to the floor.

She pushed again.

Mr. Black didn’t stop.

She tried to sit up, but couldn’t. She wrapped her arms around her head and let him beat her.

“Get up. Get up and fight me, you bitch.”

He kicked her ribs, and sharp bites of pain spread through her. She screamed out, but still couldn’t move.

She spat on his shoe—the only way she could fight back. “Kill me if you think that’ll make you a real man.” She coughed. So hard to get air. “Such a hero, beating up kids. Your family must be proud.”

He leaned over and spat in her face. Rather than enrage him further, her taunts seemed to calm him.

“I’m not going to kill you, bitch. It wouldn’t make a difference. You’re not going to be here long anyways.”

He smiled like the oily bastard he was, and left Lucy lying on the ground, broken and bloody.

No one helped her. No one cared.

Time held no meaning. She slipped in and out of consciousness. Darkness had fallen by the time she finally managed to stand and walk—Mr. Black had taken her to the interrogation room early in the day.

Lucy wished real life came with a soundtrack as she stumbled to her dorm. For this scene, she would’ve played something by Clint Mansell, one of his beautiful instrumental compositions suited a miserable walk home.

Imaginary music filled the air around her. She tried to hum with it, but couldn’t spare the extra breath.

She entered her suite and collapsed onto the couch.

*   *   *

“Luce? Lucy? Oh my God, what happened to you? Who did this?”

Luke stood over her, but he was blurry. No, wait, her eyes didn’t work. Why wouldn’t they open all the way?

“Lucy, don’t move. You’re hurt, bad. Just… stay still. I’m going to get the nurse.”

Darkness came again. Fists—so many fists—slamming into me again and again. Her dream cry turned real when hands pressed into her bruises, jolting her awake.

A calm voice soothed her. “Shh. It’s okay. I’m giving you something to help. It’s experimental, but it should have you right as rain in no time.”

Images flickered in and out of her mind until cohesive thought returned to her. When she opened her eyes again, and fully, she saw Luke asleep on the floor next to the couch.

“Luke, wake up.”

He sat up and hugged her as he might hug a butterfly. “You look a lot better. That drug could make them a fortune in the professional boxing circuit.”

Lucy laughed, and it didn’t hurt as much as she had expected. Like being kicked in the ribs rather than stabbed with a knife—now that’s improvement!

Luke brushed a stray hair out of her eyes. “Who did this to you?”

“Mr. Black. It was payback for botching the operation.”

Luke balled his fists and hopped up. “I’m going to kill him, right now. I’m going to smash his face in until it isn’t a face anymore.”

“Bro, believe me, no one wants to bash his skull in more than me, but we can’t. It’d be a suicide mission, and then we’d lose all chance of helping our friends.” She reached for his hand and pulled him to sit next to her. “It’s time for another meeting. Do you think you can do that shield thing again? You know, the way you blocked the bullets with your new power? Because I have an idea.”

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Paranormal Profile: Sam (TOP SECRET!)

[image error]Real Name

Sam (no last name)

Aliases

Sam Smith

Height

5’6″

Weight

120

Eyes

blue

Hair

brown

Age

18

Threat Level

Least Concern

Para-Level (1-10)

7 - A strong, powerful para-power with influence over others. (Ex. Mind reading, memory shaping)

Classified: Forbidden Mind:

8 - A very strong, very powerful para-power or ability. (Ex. Mind control.)

Para-power(s)

Mind reading, mind control

Occupation

Rent-A-Kid spy/artist

Place of Birth

test-tube experiment manufactured in Rent-A-Kid lab

Relationship Status

Married to Drake Davis

Known Relatives

The Seeker, Mr. Steele

Group Affiliations

Rent-A-Kid

Base of Operation

Hawaii/Washington

History

Reads minds. Was raised in a secret schools for paranormals and rented out as a spy. Artist of note.

First Appearance: Forbidden Mind (Forbidden Trilogy, #1)

Resources on this paranormal: Learn more about Sam and the Rent-A-Kid organization with Forbidden Mind, Forbidden Fire and Forbidden Life, by Agent Karpov Kinrade, Christmas Lites II

OTHER RESEARCH AND FILES:
From Sam:

This is what my official profile at IPI (International Paranormal Investigations at http://IPIAcademy.com) says. Like that’s all that matters about me, how powerful I am, what’s my threat level, what can I do.

This is all that mattered to Rent-A-Kid too, though I didn’t know it at the time. They used me as a spy, rich people spying on other rich people so they could all get richer. Whatever. You want to know the real me? Look at my best friends, Luke and Lucy. Look at my art work. Talk to my boyfriend. They can tell you the important stuff.

Like, I love art more than anything. I love painting and drawing and going to museums. I’m a total geek about it and could spend days and days in a studio or museum just absorbing colors and shapes and images. My favorite movie is X-Men, for obvious reasons. (Come on, you know it’s funny!) I totally hate palm trees. Seriously, they’re the ugliest trees in the world and I don’t know why people like them.

I’m sometimes shy and often end up on the wrong side of a bully’s attention—mostly Mary, she’s such a witch. (Not a real witch, just, you know, witch with a ‘b’.) I’m working on standing up for myself more though.

I’m really loyal to the people I love and would do anything for them, and I can’t wait to go to Sarah Lawrence and study art.

So this is just a little about me, but you’ll never really know me if you don’t spend some time with me.

And sadly, you’ll never know me as well as I will know you. I can read minds after all, and I know what you’re thinking right now!

~Sam

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