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BOOK BLITZ – Bewitched by a Vampire (Eternal Mates #21) by Felicity Heaton
Bewitched by a Vampire
(Eternal Mates, #21)
Felicity Heaton
Publication date: June 14th 2022
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
An important undercover mission for her coven could get Lilian killed. Targeting one powerful vampire is dangerous enough, but when she’s left with his lethally seductive brother, Night, the stakes have never felt higher.
Night Van der Garde is in no mood to visit his uptight eldest brother, so when he finds Bastian flying out of his mansion door, the evening is looking up… until Bastian orders him to spend the week looking after a human—a bewitching female who rouses a fierce hunger that has him treading the fine line between duty and desire.
When a new threat to his bloodline emerges and secrets about Lilian are revealed, will Night choose to follow his heart or listen to the ghosts of his dark past?
EXCERPT:
Lilian smiled victoriously, anger flowing from her in palpable waves that rocked him as much as her words had, but there was hurt and fear laced within it.
“You didn’t know your brother was into taking humans against their will?” she barked and he held his tongue, not wanting to damn his brother, even when the proof of Bastian’s crime was right before him. She shook her head, causing the glossy dark waves of her hair to brush across the shoulders of her plain black dress. “I can see it, Night. You didn’t know. If you had—”
“It’s none of my business,” he growled and turned to leave.
Her hand on his arm stopped him.
Despite the sleeve of his jacket and his shirt that separated them, his skin burned where she held him, the thrill of her touch ripping at his fragile control and flooding him with a need to turn and gather her into his arms.
His bloodlust rose, pushing to the fore as his focus narrowed to the point where she gripped him, to how close she was behind him. He dragged down a sharp breath, catching her scent. A torment. His face twisted as he screwed his eyes shut, trying to shut out the urges running rampant through him, denying the one that pushed to the front, shoving all the others aside.
It wouldn’t be wrong of him to kiss her.
Bastian didn’t have any claim on her. She didn’t want to belong to his brother. Would she want to belong to him?
Not in the way Bastian had wanted to claim her, but in another way.
He swallowed hard and fought back against his feelings, refusing to let them control him. It was lust. That was all. Lilian was beautiful and spirited, and he wanted to break her and claim her as his prize. It was just another hunt.
So why did it feel as if his entire life hinged on the next few seconds?
BLP REVIEW – Tracy
One of the things I loved about Bewitched by a Vampire was that we were back a bit in the Eternal Mates series timeline and found out more about one of our past favourites family!! BbaV is set around the same time as Haunted by the King of Death, Grave van Der Gardes’s book.
It was so hard not to like Lilian, even though she’s got so so many secrets, she’s at Night’s brothers home under false pretences and she’s hiding what she is!!!
Through the story I felt so much for her as we discover the duplicity behind her ‘mission’ and the depth of deceit she’s unaware of!!
Night, well, he came in as arrogant as any vampire can be…. and had an issue being left babysitting Lilian on his brother Bastian’s behalf. We discover that a lot of his attitude came from his reaction to her and her ‘relationship’ to his brother.
The gods, my heart was aching for Night as the story progressed… let’s face it, he had secrets of his own but they were eclipsed by everything he discovered about Lilian and the events that then unfolded.
I LOVED that we ran into some of my favourites from other books in the EM world and from another series from Felicity. 😉
Night & Lilian had so many things to overcome to ever have a chance together. There were unknown foes but some unexpected allies and this added to the suspense in the story. BbaV was action packed, full of twists and turns, heartache, feels (I went through a hellish amount of emotions reading) and scorching heat between our MCs.
This may be Book 21 in the series but Ms Heaton never lowers the bar. The books are always exciting and engaging. I’m looking forward to much, much more in the Eternal Mates world!!!
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Author Bio:
I’m a NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY and International Best-Selling Author writing passionate paranormal romance books and series for adults.
I love to create detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! All of them alpha as you would expect in paranormal romance, and every book with a guaranteed HAPPILY FOREVER AFTER!
Sign up to my newsletter for exclusive sneak previews, freebies, special offers and more! (copy / paste link into your browser):
Fans of paranormal romance books by authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter, Larissa Ione, Kresley Cole and Christine Feehan will love my books too.
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COVER REVEAL – Bewitched by a Vampire (Eternal Mates #21) by Felicity Heaton
Bewitched by a Vampire
Eternal Mates, #21
Felicity Heaton
Publication date: June 14th 2022
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
An important undercover mission for her coven could get Lilian killed. Targeting one powerful vampire is dangerous enough, but when she’s left with his lethally seductive brother, Night, the stakes have never felt higher.
Night Van der Garde is in no mood to visit his uptight eldest brother, so when he finds Bastian flying out of his mansion door, the evening is looking up… until Bastian orders him to spend the week looking after a human—a bewitching female who rouses a fierce hunger that has him treading the fine line between duty and desire.
When a new threat to his bloodline emerges and secrets about Lilian are revealed, will Night choose to follow his heart or listen to the ghosts of his dark past?
Author Bio:
I’m a NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY and International Best-Selling Author writing passionate paranormal romance books and series for adults.
I love to create detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! All of them alpha as you would expect in paranormal romance, and every book with a guaranteed HAPPILY FOREVER AFTER!
Sign up to my newsletter for exclusive sneak previews, freebies, special offers and more! (copy / paste link into your browser):
Fans of paranormal romance books by authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter, Larissa Ione, Kresley Cole and Christine Feehan will love my books too.
Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Youtube / TikTok / Bookbub
Hosted by:
Share this:
BOOK TOUR & GIVEAWAY – Craved by a Wolf (Fated Mates #20) by Felicity Heaton
New York Times best-selling paranormal romance author Felicity Heaton is here today for the book tour of her new paranormal romance release, Craved by a Wolf, the latest release in her popular Eternal Mates world.
There are now twenty books in this series, but don’t worry, you can dive right on in with Craved by a Wolf, or start at the very beginning with Kissed by a Dark Prince, which is 99c at all retailers right now. Binge-read to your heart’s content!
If you love big worlds packed with detail and every paranormal species imaginable, together with hot alpha heroes and strong heroines bringing them to their knees, then this series is definitely for you. Plus, each book has a happily forever after and there are no cliff-hangers, because there’s nothing worse than a cliff-hanger!
Craved by a Wolf (Eternal Mates Paranormal Romance Series Book 20)
Felicity Heaton
Hella is one witch who is done with relationships. Having rid herself of a clingy nymph, she’s determined to stay single and savour everything her fae town in Geneva has to offer – with no strings attached. The trouble is, it turns out breaking up with a king isn’t as easy as she’d thought. Her ex just sent a legion to kidnap her and take her to the faerie realm of Lucia.
And he wants to make her his queen.
Grant MacKinnon is one wolf shifter who prefers a quiet life. His home in a glen in Scotland, his small wolf pack, and fine whisky is all he needs. The trouble is, a witch in the fae town in Fort William just cursed him to die if he doesn’t find his fated mate and bring her to her. Now he craves a female he’s never met, one he was convinced didn’t exist, and he refuses to believe she’s really his one true mate… until he sets eyes on the beautiful blue-haired lass.
And his wolf instincts howl that she was made for him.
And when he realises she’s in danger and another male wants her as his queen, MacKinnon will stop at nothing to protect her and claim her as his mate.
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Enter the grand tour-wide giveaway to win one of five signed paperbacks and swag packs at the Inflamed by an Incubus book page. This giveaway is international and open to everyone, and ends at midnight on May 2nd.
Enter now: https://www.felicityheaton.com/craved-by-a-wolf-shifter-romance-novel.php
MacKinnon twitched and whipped towards the lake to his left as the air there shifted, suddenly growing cooler. His claws punched long from his fingertips, ready in a heartbeat, and didn’t retract even when he saw the towering jet of water that rose high into the air and thundered down into the lake around one hundred feet out. A fountain. It resembled the one in the nearby mortal town of Geneva.
In fact, the whole fae town resembled Geneva, as if someone had copied it building for building. Although, this immortal town was much smaller than the one topside. It was just as bright and elegant though, with warm sunshine that beat down on the pale sandstone pavement and reflected off the balconied buildings to his right.
Several of them were hotels, and he had been tempted to call into one and secure himself a place to stay, but when he had approached the doorman, the male had looked aghast and Kin had caught his reflection in the revolving door.
Since then, he had been keeping his head down, deeply aware of the way many of the townsfolk paused to stare. He had never felt so conspicuous. He glared at a trio of black-haired females who stood by the shore, their violet eyes and pointed ears betraying their breed as much as their antiquated corseted dresses did. They all stared at him and only one of them looked curious. The other two looked disgusted.
Sure, he was a big male, and he probably had a face like a smacked arse right now because his mood was still deep in a ditch and showed no sign of improving thanks to the attention he was attracting, and his throat looked like someone had used it as a punchbag, but there was really no reason for all the finely dressed males and females to gawp at him.
He levelled a black look at the trio of elves, causing them to turn away.
He heaved a sigh as he looked ahead of him and saw only more nobles, coming and going along the promenade as if it was the fashionable thing to do. The gods only knew it probably was in a town like this one. It reeked of wealth.
Kin denied the urge to keep his head down as he walked, tipped his damned chin up and shoulders back instead, because he wasn’t going to be intimidated or cowed by these noble folk.
His gaze narrowed on a group of pointy eared males ahead of him, ones who wore green leather trousers and white shirts beneath a matching jerkin. Gold glittered around their wrists and adorned their ears, and their finely boned features settled into scowls as they caught sight of him. Kin scowled right back at them, barely leashing the urge that surged through him and had his claws itching to rip into their flesh, to wipe the haughty smirks off their fae faces.
Nymphs.
He growled through his clenched teeth, battling memories that bubbled to the surface. A darkened room. Candles bursting to life. Fae nobles forming a ring around him, seated on opulent gold and velvet chairs as servants scraped and bowed to them.
The crack of a whip.
Pain echoed down his spine, a ghost of his past that continued to taunt him whenever he let the memories come, whenever he wasn’t strong enough to deny them and they slipped free of the box he had locked them away in. It would be days before he had fully rid himself of them, freeing himself of their torment.
The sensible side of him said to move on, to ignore the nymphs because they couldn’t provide him with the information he needed and, therefore, they didn’t matter. The side of him that had been born in that dark part of his past, that refused to be tamed, rose to crush it and he pivoted towards the blond males, unable to stop himself. His claws lengthened further and his fangs bit into his gums as he strode towards them, rapidly crossing the span of flagstones that separated them. His breathing quickened, deepened, sending vital oxygen to his blood as he geared up for a fight.
One of the nymphs noticed him approaching and tapped another on the arm, and before Kin could kick off and grab at least one of them, the whole group had disappeared. Kin stopped where they had been and glared at the rippling blue water of the lake, breathing hard and struggling to rein in his anger and the urge to lash out at everyone who moved behind him. He fixed his focus on the water, staring beyond the surface to pick out the flora and fauna that called the lake home. He tracked a school of small fish, bewitched by how their silver sides made them flash whenever they changed direction and how they moved as one, in perfect symphony.
The scent of herbs and metal filled his nostrils.
MacKinnon turned and looked over his shoulder, seeking the source of it. He pivoted when he spotted two witches strolling along the street. They paused in front of the window of one of the stores.
He crossed the broad stretch of pavement to them, not failing to notice how their slight shoulders tensed beneath their plain black dresses as he closed in. He glanced at his reflection in the window they faced, locking gazes with the one on the left, and swallowed to wet his throat as he ran his hand over his wild dark hair.
“Excuse me, lasses, I was wondering if you could tell me where I could find a witch named Hella.” He made a point of stopping a good six feet from them, attempting to show them that he wasn’t a threat with his body language as well as his gentle tone of voice.
They turned to face him as one, ran an assessing gaze down him and then spoke to him.
In German.
Their tone wasn’t even close to gentle.
It was abrasive, with a dismissive note.
Before he could try again, they hurried away from him.
Kin growled at his reflection in the clothing store’s window, baring his fangs, because he must have asked at least two dozen witches about Hella now and none of them would tell him. He doubted they didn’t know her. There was always a glimmer in their eyes, a spark that betrayed them and said they knew exactly where to find the female he was seeking.
They just didn’t want to tell him.
He took in his appearance. Taller than most witches by a good foot and a half. Probably three times their slender weight in muscle. Scruff on his face. Unkempt hair that looked exactly how it should given how many times he had clawed, raked and shoved his fingers through it in frustration over the last few hours.
Eyes that were currently more gold than grey because his wolf side was at the fore, his temper way beyond his control.
And a pretty black and purple bruise across his throat.
He could hardly blame the witches for not wanting to tell him where to find one of their own.
Kin huffed. Maybe if he schooled his features a little and tried to appear more approachable and less homicidal then they would speak with him.
He doubted it.
Witches were quite protective of their own, but it was worth a shot.
He tried out a few faces, attempting to appear charming as he smiled at his reflection, and probably looking like he was losing his mind. A shiver skated down his spine and his wolf instincts growled at him that someone was watching him. He shifted his gaze to the left, catching the reflection of the three females who lingered a few feet behind him. Pretty wee lasses. All of them wore provocative leather corsets and mini-skirts in glaring colours, designed to draw the attention of males to them.
Succubi.
They sidled over to him and he turned to face them, flashing them all a warm smile that had their eyes brightening. Maybe he could get information on Hella from someone other than a witch. Witches did business with other immortals after all. Chances were high that several people in this town would have gone to Hella for a potion or spell.
The tallest of the succubi, a delicate pink-haired beauty who stood a good foot shorter than him despite her stiletto boots, offered a smile in return and stepped ahead of her sisters. She paused only inches from him and stroked a small hand down his chest as she faux-purred at him.
“You look like you need to let loose,” she murmured, her voice like honey, sweet and tempting him to dip his head and have a taste of what she was offering.
He kept his spine straight and resisted her allure, letting her feather her fingers over his chest to the open vee of his dark grey Henley. She teased the strip of flesh there, her glittering blue eyes growing hooded.
“Been a while since we had one as strong as you in this town. Visiting someone?” She grazed her fingers across the dip between his pectorals.
The shorter of the other two came up beside him and stroked her hand down his forearm and pushed the long sleeve of his top up to reveal skin.
She leaned in and licked it, and groaned. “He tastes like sunshine.”
“No tasting,” the third one barked and pulled her off him, shoving her aside. She grinned wickedly. “At least not unless I can get a lick of this pop too.”
“Lasses, there’s plenty o’ me to go around.” Kin held his hands up and smiled.
The three succubi sank into each other on a sigh.
“Did you hear that voice?” Pink-hair said with a dreamy smile at her sisters.
The shorter, brunette female swayed towards her. “Did I? When was the last time we had a Scot?”
“Makes me ache just hearing it. Do you think he knows how to put it to good use? I could probably feed off him just talking to me!” The older of the three, a pretty button-nosed blonde, edged her hand towards him.
Kin grinned down at them, aware they were saying whatever it took to lure him under their spell and make him part with his coin, but enjoying it nonetheless. “I’m here on business, but perhaps I could be enticed to take a small break from my hunt; if you would be so inclined to help me.”
“Be so inclined?” Pink-hair swayed towards him now, hunger lighting her eyes. “Darling, I’ll do whatever you want if it will get you into my bed for the night.”
“Our bed,” Brunette snapped.
“Yes, our bed.” Blonde licked her lips.
All three of them sidled closer, crowding him as they gazed adoringly at him, as if he had just fallen out of Heaven or a dream. Their scents swirled around him, fogging his head a little, and he focused his mind, on his guard against them because he had no intention of parting with his coin or indulging these succubi in any way.
Mostly because he would probably end up parting with his life.
As strong as he was, he wasn’t sure he could handle three succubi feeding on him.
He drew down a breath as he tried to decide how to ask them about Hella and the fog in his head grew thicker as an intoxicating scent filled his lungs.
Like a blend of fresh rain on heather moorland faintly spiced with cinnamon.
Kin breathed deeper, unable to get enough of the scent, and his muscles clamped down on his bones as his blood heated. His wolf side lunged to the fore and his fangs lengthened, his claws emerging as hunger rolled through him, fiercer than he had ever felt it before.
It was a trick.
A power the succubi were wielding to pull him under their spell and into their bed.
Only when he bent his head to sniff their necks and scent them, it wasn’t any of them who smelled so enticing.
He groaned as his cock stiffened in response to the scent as it grew stronger and seemed to invade every cell in his body and hijack it. His head clouded more rapidly, thoughts blurring and fading to the background as instinct stole control. He desperately scanned the crowd on the promenade, seeking the source of the scent.
And froze when his gaze landed on a stunning, blue-haired lass with emerald eyes.
A chill skated down his spine and his shaft went hard as stone.
It was her.
She was the source of the scent.
She was his fated one.
He felt it in his bones. His soul. This female had been made for him, was meant for only him, and she would be his. He shoved the succubi aside, unaware of them now, the world narrowing down to the beautiful lass fate had created for him.
Hella.
MacKinnon drifted towards her, powerless to resist her pull. The need to be close to her was strong and she hadn’t even noticed him yet. How desperate would he be to be near to her, pressed against her and holding her in his arms when she did see him? The urge to gather her to him was already overwhelming, his awareness of the world coming back as instinct growled that his female was parading down a busy street in a black dress that highlighted her figure.
Drawing the eyes of other males.
She stiffened, her body locking up tight.
Was she aware of him?
He tracked the path of her gaze as she tossed a look over her shoulder.
To a group of bare-chested nymphs.
Her panic hit him like a shockwave, rocking him back on his heels, and he growled and kicked off as the dozen blond males made their move, launching towards her. He wasn’t sure what his female had done to deserve the wrath of a witch or a pack of nymphs, and he didn’t care. Every fibre of his being howled at him to protect her and he would do just that. He charted an intercept course, shoving men and women aside, not caring where they landed as he locked his gaze on the two nymphs leading the charge.
He sensed the female move.
Felt her fear.
Instinct demanded he go to her, had him twisting on his heel and barrelling into two shifter males. The black-haired men went down hard and he leaped over them, ignoring their yells, his gaze wild as he sought the witch.
A larger nymph had her in his clutches and was holding her tightly despite her attempts to break free.
Kin snarled and gnashed his fangs when her fear cranked up a notch and he spotted the reason why.
The bastard had cuffed her.
The bright silver band of metal around her delicate wrist glinted in the sunlight as she desperately struggled.
Kin grabbed a female and pushed her out of his way, into a group of males, his heart hammering as the other nymphs reached Hella.
Her green eyes shone with terror as she looked up at the male who held her, one who towered as tall as Kin and probably weighed as much in muscle. Not that it was going to stop Kin from tearing the male a new one and teaching him the error of his ways.
No one touched his fated female.
Kin cocked his fist as he lunged towards the bastard, aiming at the back of his head, determined to knock his teeth out from behind.
He threw the punch as soon as he was close enough.
And hit nothing but air as the fiend teleported.
Taking his wee witch with him.
Rage burned up Kin’s blood and he couldn’t hold back the feral howl that rolled up his throat, tossed his head back and let loose, pouring all his fury into it as his spine bowed forwards, his claws like talons as he dragged his hands down to his sides and every muscle in his body tensed.
Black fur swept over his skin and he itched all over, his bones aching as anger had him close to shifting, the need to track his female bringing his wolf to the fore. He managed to find the strength to deny it and clung to his mortal form as he twisted towards the succubi who had been flirting with him.
They were huddled together in front of the shop still, a sea of fallen men and women between him and them, all of which looked ready to tear him a new one as he stalked through them, heading for the succubi.
“Where do the nymphs live?” he snarled as soon as he was close enough to his prey, and when none of them answered him quickly enough, he shot his hand out and gripped the throat of the pink-haired one. He dragged her against him and flashed his fangs in her face. “Tell me where the nymphs live in this town.”
Her eyes widened and she shook her head, her hands coming up to grip his arm as she choked.
“Not here.” The brunette pressed her hands against his chest, trying to push him away. “They don’t live here.”
“Lies,” he spat, because he had seen other nymphs during his search for Hella. They had to have a building or two here in the town somewhere, a place they called home. He snarled, unable to hold it back as he thought of his female at their mercy.
Nymphs were sexual predators, using their beauty and charms to seduce unwitting females. He had seen the breed at work with his own eyes, had watched them pull even unwilling women under their spell, convincing them to surrender to them.
The blonde sank her little claws into his hand, drawing blood and earning herself a glare. “They bore the royal seal. Hella will be in Lucia by now. Let her go!“
Hella.
The confirmation that the ethereal blue-haired female had been the one he had come to find shook him, had his grip on the succubus relaxing against his will as he struggled to keep his mind on the hunt and off how beautiful Hella was.
Was she really his mate?
He shook that thought away with a growl, unwilling to trust his instincts. The feeling she stirred in him was a fabrication, a lie meant to make him do as the witch wanted and a method of punishing Hella for whatever sin she had committed against the one who had cursed him.
He would be a fool to allow himself to believe Hella was his fated one.
Yet he couldn’t stem the need to find her and save her from the nymphs.
Kin shoved the pink-haired female at her companion. “Lucia? Where is that? Somewhere in Switzerland?“
Pink-hair laughed and he had half a mind to grab her and choke her again for mocking his ignorance. She rubbed her throat. “Lucia isn’t a town. It’s not even a country.”
He flexed his fingers, tired of dancing around the answer, because he needed to be moving. He needed to find the nymphs who had taken Hella from him and take her back.
She noticed his subtle threat and blurted, “It’s the faery realm.”
“Fuck,” MacKinnon bit out.
First another country. Now another realm. Add the fact that his wolf instincts had recognised Hella as his fated one and it was all becoming too much. He missed the uncomplicated nature of his home in the Highlands already, ached to return to the clan and rest atop his favourite spot, taking in the rolling moorland that embraced the munros and waiting for the gloaming, when a sense of magic and wonder filled the air.
His mother had held him on her lap many times as a pup to tell him the gloaming was when the faeries came out… in that brief moment between day and night.
Between light and darkness.
Now he was expected to go to a place of faeries and he was unsure what to expect when he got there. There were other stories about fae-kind. Darker stories. The ancient books in his possession, passed to him by his mother, were filled with tales of the seelie and unseelie, and their eternal war.
The thought of stepping into their realm had him hesitating, lingering in the mortal one, where he was safe.
But the vision of his female being held against her will, shackled and stripped of power, and the lingering scent of her that swirled around him had him gearing up for a battle.
He couldn’t bear the thought of her in danger, so he would place himself in the path of it by pursuing her into another world.
Kin flexed his fingers into fists.
He’d had to fight for everything he had ever wanted.
It looked as if this time would be no different.
If it was war the nymphs wanted, it was war he would give them.
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Book 1: Kissed by a Dark Prince (99c right now!)
Book 2: Claimed by a Demon King
Book 3: Tempted by a Rogue Prince
Book 4: Hunted by a Jaguar
Book 5: Craved by an Alpha
Book 6: Bitten by a Hellcat
Book 7: Taken by a Dragon
Book 8: Marked by an Assassin
Book 9: Possessed by a Dark Warrior
Book 10: Awakened by a Demoness
Book 11: Haunted by the King of Death
Book 12: Turned by a Tiger
Book 13: Tamed by a Tiger
Book 14: Treasured by a Tiger
Book 15: Unchained by a Forbidden Love
Book 16: Avenged by an Angel
Book 17: Seduced by a Demon King
Book 18: Scorched by Darkness
Book 19: Inflamed by an Incubus
Book 20: Craved by a Wolf
Book 21: Bewitched by a Vampire (Coming 14th June 2022)
I FLOVE a story involving a shifter and when it’s a centuries old wolf shifter, with a growly Scottish accent, I’m all in!!
I’ve been intrigued by Hella since we met her in Fenix’s book…. That we knew she was in some sort of trouble, as well as dealing with a big wolfy shifter who she didn’t really know what to do with had me looking forward to her story. I really liked that she was feisty, clever, cheeky, determined but helluva stubborn – that she had gotten herself into some kind of tight spot made me wonder just which one of those traits was the cause.
When we first encounter Grant MacKinnon he too has found himself in a bit of a tight spot…. An unknown witch has crushed his ego in front of an audience in the fae town he was visiting, but to boot, she’s just cursed him to die, oh yeah, she also informed him he has a fated mate who he has to find. Thus starts a journey and adventure that Kin never imagined himself on.
This pair were perfect together if only Hella could for once trust a guy to like her for herself and if Kin could stop putting his foot in his mouth..
I loved that Kin’s accent was more pronounced depending on circumstances and events…. Personally when I’m tired, annoyed or a tad tipsy, my Glaswegian accent is most definitely more noticeable….
It was fun seeing the scenes that were previously in Inflamed by an Incubus but from Hella’s/MacKinnon’s POV.
Craved by a Wolf was actioned packed, had suspense, humour and tons of heat.
I’ve said it before but it’s worth repeating…. Regardless of how many books into the Eternal Mates story arc we get, Felicity has the ability to keep things interesting engaging and fresh, as well as piquing our excitement for the next book and fated couple in the series.
I cannot wait for Night and Lilian’s book ~ Bewitched by a Vampire!!
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you’re a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.
If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling London Vampires series. Seven sexy and sinful Greek god brothers can be your new addiction in the Guardians of Hades series. Or how about four hot alpha shifter brothers in her Cougar Creek Mates series? Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the Eternal Mates series.
If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:
WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | YOUTUBE | INSTAGRAM
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COVER REVEAL – Craved by a Wolf (Eternal Mates #20) by Felicity Heaton
New York Times best-selling paranormal romance author Felicity Heaton is set to release book 20 in her epic Eternal Mates series on April 19th, and today we’re getting the first look at the cover of Craved by a Wolf.
Delve back into this compulsive and addictive paranormal romance series and be ready for your passions to be ignited by Scottish alpha wolf shifter MacKinnon as he battles a curse and an army of nymphs to claim his wild, wee witch fated mate, Hella.
Plus, you can get book one, Kissed by a Dark Prince, for 99c right now at your favourite retailers!
Check out the cover and discover more about the book, including where you can pre-order Craved by a Wolf.
Craved by a Wolf
Felicity Heaton
Hella is one witch who is done with relationships. Having rid herself of a clingy nymph, she’s determined to stay single and savour everything her fae town in Geneva has to offer—with no strings attached. The trouble is, it turns out breaking up with a king isn’t as easy as she’d thought. Her ex just sent a legion to kidnap her and take her to the faerie realm of Lucia.
And he wants to make her his queen.
Grant MacKinnon is one wolf shifter who prefers a quiet life. His home in a glen in Scotland, his small wolf pack, and fine whisky is all he needs. The trouble is, a witch in the fae town in Fort William just cursed him to die if he doesn’t find his fated mate and bring her to her. Now he craves a female he’s never met, one he was convinced didn’t exist, and he refuses to believe she’s really his one true mate… until he sets eyes on the beautiful blue-haired lass.
And his wolf instincts howl that she was made for him.
And when he realises she’s in danger and another male wants her as his queen, MacKinnon will stop at nothing to protect her and claim her as his mate.
Due for release on 19th April 2022
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com.au
Apple Books USA | Apple Books UK | Apple Books Canada | Apple Books Australia | Apple Books NZ
Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Google Play
Book 1: Kissed by a Dark Prince (99c right now!)
Book 2: Claimed by a Demon King
Book 3: Tempted by a Rogue Prince
Book 4: Hunted by a Jaguar
Book 5: Craved by an Alpha
Book 6: Bitten by a Hellcat
Book 7: Taken by a Dragon
Book 8: Marked by an Assassin
Book 9: Possessed by a Dark Warrior
Book 10: Awakened by a Demoness
Book 11: Haunted by the King of Death
Book 12: Turned by a Tiger
Book 13: Tamed by a Tiger
Book 14: Treasured by a Tiger
Book 15: Unchained by a Forbidden Love
Book 16: Avenged by an Angel
Book 17: Seduced by a Demon King
Book 18: Scorched by Darkness
Book 19: Inflamed by an Incubus
Book 20: Craved by a Wolf (Coming 19th April 2022)
Book 21: Bewitched by a Vampire (Coming 14th June 2022)
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! All of them alpha as you would expect in paranormal romance, and every book with a guaranteed HAPPILY FOREVER AFTER!
If you’re a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter, Larissa Ione, Kresley Cole, Donna Grant and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.
If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling London Vampires series. Seven sexy and sinful Greek god brothers can be your new addiction in the Guardians of Hades series. Or how about four hot alpha shifter brothers in her Cougar Creek Mates series? Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the Eternal Mates series.
If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:
WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS | INSTAGRAM
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BOOK TOUR & GIVEAWAY – Inflamed by an Incubus (Eternal Mates #19) by Felicity Heaton
New York Times best-selling paranormal romance author Felicity Heaton is here today for the book tour of her new paranormal romance release, Inflamed by an Incubus, the latest release in her popular Eternal Mates world.
There are now nineteen books in this series, but don’t worry, you can dive right on in with Inflamed by an Incubus, or start at the very beginning with Kissed by a Dark Prince, which is FREE at all retailers right now. Binge-read to your heart’s content!
If you love big worlds packed with detail and every paranormal species imaginable, together with hot alpha heroes and strong heroines bringing them to their knees, then this series is definitely for you. Plus, each book has a happily forever after and there are no cliff-hangers, because there’s nothing worse than a cliff-hanger!
Inflamed by an Incubus (Eternal Mates Paranormal Romance Series Book 19)
Felicity Heaton
Fated to be together. Cursed to be apart.
Condemned by a blood mage as an act of revenge, Fenix will do anything to shatter the eternal cycle of losing his beautiful phoenix shifter mate whenever she falls for him again. As he hunts for a way to break the curse, he battles the fierce compulsion to find her latest incarnation, but a moment of weakness brings him to the last place she lived—and what he finds there changes everything.
When a wickedly handsome incubus attacks her partner, Evelyn does what any Archangel hunter would—she takes him down and takes him in. But there’s something about the alluring fae, something that teases at her lost memories, and the powerful pull she feels towards him has her falling dangerously under his spell and brings her to a life-shattering realisation.
Swept up in a tempest of danger and with a dark threat on the rise, can Fenix find the one who cursed them before fate steals his mate from him this time? Or will the soul-searing passion that blazes between them burn everything to ashes again to restart the cycle?
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com.au
Apple Books USA | Apple Books UK | Apple Books Canada | Apple Books Australia | Apple Books NZ
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Enter the grand tour-wide giveaway to win one of five signed paperbacks and swag packs at the Inflamed by an Incubus book page. This giveaway is international and open to everyone, and ends at midnight on February 28th.
Enter now: https://www.felicityheaton.com/inflamed-by-an-incubus-paranormal-romance-novel.php
Aderyn grunted as she hauled Fenix into a deep, dank area that came and went, flowing in and out of focus as he struggled to remain awake. Her fear seeped into him through their bond, a tangible thing that drove him to reassure her, to steal that emotion away by somehow healing the gaping hole in his side that was leaking blood.
Probably leaving a trail of it for someone to follow.
His beautiful mate adjusted her grip on his shoulders, fisting the black leather jerkin he wore, her claws piercing the material. “Stay with me, Fenix.”
She sounded desperate, her usually light voice strained with fatigue and fear, and he reached for the connection that linked them, needing to soothe her.
“That trick is not going to work this time.” She huffed and grunted as she dragged him into a large cavern and paused to look around. He stared up at her and wanted to curse when she kept wavering in and out of focus, a blur of spun gold and violet one moment and clear the next. She glanced down at him, worry in her pale eyes that almost matched the colour of her hair as it swayed away from her purple leather corset. “This will do.”
She eased him down onto his back and he grimaced as his side blazed. He needed to get a look at the wound because it felt as if someone had punched a hole clean through him. The surrounding area felt cold, the chilly air in the cavern sucking the heat from the blood that continued to pump from him. He was losing too much.
Aderyn eased to her knees beside him and looked him over, the worry in her golden eyes growing as her fine eyebrows furrowed. Those eyes darted to meet his. “We need to help this close.”
Fenix swallowed hard and shook his head, because if she did what he thought she was going to do, then he would pass out and he needed to remain awake. He needed to be here for her, in case the mage came after them again.
“Should not… have… killed her.” Every word was a struggle as he pushed them from his lips and he hated the way her expression shifted, her emotions changing with it.
He didn’t want to hurt her, but it had been a mistake to kill the wife of the mage, a female Aderyn had befriended and believed able to help her find a way to reopen the gateway between this world and the one of her phoenix kin—a portal that had been sealed shut for centuries. He could understand the betrayal had wounded her and part of him couldn’t blame her for how she had reacted. He had felt how crushed she had been when they had discovered the female had wanted to lure Aderyn into a trap, gifting her husband with the power contained in Aderyn’s phoenix blood.
But killing her hadn’t been the answer.
The mage had come after them because of what Aderyn had done.
Fenix gazed up at her, seeing how much she still hurt because of the betrayal, that pain hidden beneath the worry she felt for him. He cursed the mage’s wife, the less reasonable part of him—the part ruled by his instincts as her fated mate—wishing he had been the one to make her pay for how she had treated Aderyn.
His kind, beautiful Aderyn.
If his female had one flaw, it was that she always saw the good in people and never the bad.
He supposed his flaw was that he too often saw the bad in people and not the good.
The corners of his lips twitched at that.
Fate truly had made them for each other.
Aderyn leaned over him and claimed his lips, tearing a low groan from him as hunger surged and he felt her strength pouring into him. He greedily devoured what she offered to him, savouring her kiss as he fed upon it, part of him trying to hold back his own needs so he didn’t hurt her while the rest of him craved more, demanded he take everything from her. She tasted of heat and spice, a hint of smoke and love. He wanted her to break this kiss while at the same time he never wanted it to end.
A warm haze rolled through him, fogging his mind as his incubus nature rose to the fore and attempted to steal control. He relished the feel of her lips upon his and how strong she was—strong enough to withstand him even when he was starved, maddened by a need to feed. A weaker female would have been killed by him in the throes of his hunger, when he was mindless and vicious in his pursuit of the pleasure that would feed him. Not his Aderyn.
His mate had brought him back from the brink more than once, feeding him well enough to leave him sated for weeks, surrendering herself to him and giving him more than sustenance. She gave him pleasure too. Something he had never truly felt with anyone other than her.
She drew back and feathered her fingers down his cheek, concern shimmering in her eyes as they shone with flecks of amber fire and her brow furrowed. He mourned the loss of the feel of her touch as she sat back and glanced down at his side, her expression growing sombre.
“I am sorry.” She gave him that look, the one that said this was killing her but she was going to do it anyway, was going to go against his wishes and deal with the wound. “I cannot let you bleed out.”
Was it that bad?
He moaned and grimaced, his lips pulling taut as he tried to sit up and get a look at the wound the mage had dealt him when he had struck him with a glowing orb of blue magic that had poured lightning through Fenix’s veins. Pain blazed through him, stole his breath and ripped an agonised bellow from him that echoed around the cavern as he sank back against the damp stone ground. He struggled for air, his heart labouring as he fought to remain conscious.
Aderyn pressed her right hand to his shoulder and leaned over him, and he had the feeling she was doing it to keep him in place. She smiled softly.
“Look at me, Fenix.”
He shifted his gaze to lock with hers, cursed her in his mind when he saw the apology in her pale golden eyes and knew in his heart it wasn’t only because she was about to hurt him.
“Do not,” he croaked, desperation flooding him, making him restless as a need to stop her from doing something so reckless and dangerous seized him.
Her smile wobbled.
Heat blazed across his side, the firelight chasing over the sculpted planes of her face as she gazed down at him, as tears lined her eyelashes.
Fenix tipped his head back and screamed as the scent of burning flesh reached his nostrils, choking him. Every inch of him was on fire, on the verge of turning to ashes.
Darkness rolled up on him and he fought it, desperately clung to consciousness, aware that if he passed out then no one would be here to stop Aderyn from doing something foolish.
But he wasn’t strong enough to hold back the rising inky tide and it swallowed him.
The sound of water dripping in the distance roused him from the dark embrace of sleep.
Fenix groaned as awareness slowly returned, his senses gradually coming back online. His side throbbed at the same tempo as his heartbeat and he swallowed thickly, his mouth as dry as ash.
“Aderyn?” he husked, willing her to respond as the haze of pain and sleep cleared from his mind and he remembered what had happened.
Only the plip-plip-plip of water answered him.
He gritted his teeth and rolled to his right, away from his injured side, and opened his eyes. Everything was blurred. He rubbed at his eyes, clearing the salty grit from them, and tried again. A cave greeted him. Dark. Damp.
Empty, save for him.
“Aderyn?” He tried again, louder this time, hoping she was somewhere nearby and would hear him.
Only he couldn’t sense her.
His connection to her was weak, like a fragile strand of spider silk that could snap with the gentlest of touches.
Fenix got onto his knees, grimacing as small chips of basalt bit into them through his black leathers and jabbed his palms. He scanned the cavern again, aching to see Aderyn, to know that she was safe and hadn’t done something reckless.
Even when he knew in his heart that she had.
She had gone after the mage, still believed he knew the way to open the gateway, that he was the key to succeeding where she had failed so many times before.
He needed to get to her.
He needed to stop her before it was too late.
He pressed his hand to his left side, the hole in his black jerkin so large that he could fit his entire hand in it. The skin beneath his palm was puckered and sore, tender to the touch, but it was healed.
She had saved him.
Now he would save her.
His beautiful mate was headstrong and obsessed, driven by her desire to reunite with her people, and while he couldn’t understand that, he could understand the need that blazed within him—a desire to reunite with her.
He pushed onto his feet, collapsed back to his knees as his legs gave out, and then tried again, refusing to give up. He was healed and that meant he was moving, going after his female. There was no way in this world or the mortal one that he was going to let her face the mage alone.
Drystan would kill her.
Or worse.
He would use her as a source of power, slowly destroying her by stealing her blood to fuel his magic and his immortality.
Fenix couldn’t let that happen.
He made it onto his feet and turned slowly, not trusting his legs. His senses reached out around him but he still felt nothing—no trace of Aderyn—so he focused on himself instead, summoning his strength.
And teleported.
His knees buckled as his boots hit the uneven black ground and his head spun as he tried to look around him, the strange dead garden of the obsidian stone house wobbling in and out of focus.
A scream blasted through the air.
His heart squeezed.
“Aderyn.”
His head whipped to his left, towards the small two-storey house and he teleported inside, stumbled and slammed into a wall. The scent of sulphur and smoke hit him, laced with the tinny smell of magic, and he pushed off, staggering along a wide hallway towards his mate. He could feel her there, ahead of him somewhere. He clenched his jaw as his head turned again, gripped his side and pushed onwards, refusing to let the weakness invading him stop him from reaching her.
His mate needed him.
Another scream cut him to his soul.
“Aderyn!” he bellowed and teleported again, grimaced as he landed on his hands and knees this time and his vision tunnelled.
He was pushing his luck.
He sucked down a breath.
Froze as the scent of blood hit him.
“Aderyn,” he whispered and lifted his head, wanted to roar in fury as he spotted her.
The white-haired mage held her by her throat, colourful glyphs swirling around his hand and her head as she struggled against him, her legs flailing a few feet off the ground. Her boots caught the flowing hem of the black robes the mage wore, each frantic kick knocking the material away from his leathers.
Panic seized Fenix’s lungs as he sensed her weakening. His gaze darted over her and stopped when he found the cut on her neck.
Crimson dripped from it, but rather than flowing down her chest to seep into her violet leather corset, those droplets rose into the air, slowly lifting upwards until they reached a point just above her head, where they gathered into a rippling sphere.
“Let her go.” Fenix pushed onto his feet and grimaced as his right leg gave out and he staggered sideways. He grunted as he hit a heavy wooden bench table and sagged against it. His side blazed as the mage turned cold red eyes on him.
Malice filled them, fury so dark and deep that Fenix swore he could feel the male’s rage.
Drystan slid Aderyn a look.
She screamed, throwing her head back as her body contorted, as another cut appeared on her chest and began to spill more crimson.
“No.” Fenix lunged for her, desperate now. “Let her go. She—”
“She killed my wife,” Drystan snarled, his face blackening as he angled it towards Fenix again. “And now she wishes to kill me.”
Fenix shook his head. “She only wants to open the gateway.”
The mage spat, “Lies. She wants me dead. All her kind do. I lived a peaceful life. I had all I needed… meant to live with my mortal wife for the rest of our days and then pass on as she did.”
His face twisted in vicious lines as he cast a black look at Aderyn where she struggled in his grip, her movements weaker now.
“And she took that life from me.”
Fenix gritted his teeth, anger surging through him too now. “Your wife was luring her into a trap. She meant to gift you with Aderyn’s blood to make you live longer!”
“I will not hear your lies. My sweet Cyra wanted to do no such thing. She was happy as we were.”
Fenix didn’t think she had been. Drystan’s sweet Cyra had spoken of immortality, had seemed desperate and wild when Aderyn had realised what she had intended to do to her and had turned on her.
“Cyra wanted her blood. She wanted to be immortal and she thought you could make it happen.” Fenix growled those words, feeling as desperate and wild as Cyra had been as he looked at Aderyn and saw her fading. She was losing too much blood. If the mage stole much more of it, she wouldn’t be able to resurrect. “Let her go.”
Drystan opened his hand and dropped her.
She hit the ground hard, slumped onto her side and didn’t move. Fenix hurried to her, his heart lodged in his throat as his senses locked onto her. She had to be all right. He couldn’t live without her. Didn’t want to.
He sank to his knees beside her and pulled her onto her back, so she was resting with her head on his thighs. “Wake up, Aderyn.”
The mage stared down at them and Fenix struggled to keep his focus on her as her eyelids fluttered. Her pale golden eyes opened, a glassy quality to them that he didn’t like as she struggled to lift them to meet his. He stroked her cheek, wishing he could give her strength as she could give it to him. If he could, he would drain himself to the brink of death to save her from it.
His eyes misted as he gazed down at her, as he fought to believe that she would make it through this death and that the mage hadn’t taken too much precious blood from her. Her power was in that blood and if the mage had stolen too much of it and she died—
“She will die,” Drystan said. “There is no way of stopping that now.”
“Shut up.” Fenix kept his focus on his mate. “Come on now, sweetheart. Do not do this to me.”
Her eyes slipped shut and his chest constricted.
But then they fluttered open again.
“I loved as deeply as you do, and that love was ripped from me.” The mage came to loom over him and Fenix looked up at him, that tight feeling growing in his chest again as he saw the darkness in the male’s red eyes.
The need for revenge.
Fenix shook his head, silently imploring the male to leave her alone, to leave them both alone.
“I will ensure she does not come after you again. Please. Let her live.” Fenix’s brow furrowed as he gathered Aderyn closer and crossed his arms over her chest in a protective gesture that he knew was futile. If the mage wanted to get to her, he would. Fenix wasn’t strong enough to stop him.
“Oh, she will live. As will you.” The white-haired male raised his hand and closed his eyes, muttered words in a foreign tongue that had the hairs on Fenix’s nape rising and charged the air around him.
Tiny sparks of electricity skittered over his arms and he shook his head as Aderyn moaned and tried to curl up into a ball.
The mage crouched and reached for her.
Fenix batted his hand away and glared at him.
Locked up tight as the male’s crimson eyes collided with his.
Fenix unleashed a frustrated snarl when he tried to move and found he couldn’t. Damn this mage. He tried to yell at the male, to make him leave her alone, but his mouth wouldn’t cooperate.
All he could do was watch as the mage pressed his palm to her chest and continued to mutter something over and over again.
The mage’s red gaze lifted to meet his.
Blazed like fire as the static charge in the air grew stronger.
Aderyn disappeared.
The mage rose to stand before Fenix, his gaze never straying from him, burning like an inferno but as cold as ice.
“I condemn you both. Her to die and forget you if she ever recalls her love for you. You to forever chase her ghost, desperate to make her love you again.”
Drystan turned his back on him and strode away. He disappeared before he reached the door of the room, but his words lingered in the icy air.
“Enjoy your eternity.”
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com.au
Apple Books USA | Apple Books UK | Apple Books Canada | Apple Books Australia | Apple Books NZ
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Skulduggery, deceit, loss, passion and a whole host of familiar characters prepared to fight the good fight set the tone for the latest instalment in the Eternal Mates series.
No matter how far into the series we go, or how many new faces we meet, this story arc from Ms Felicity is always attention grabbing, heart stopping and action packed and never ever dull.
Evelyn and Fenix were awesome. I loved his devotion and determination, even when the mate draw was messing with his head and heart. The reason behind his name…. The gods, that was just the best… What he was willing to go through to save his mate and have her remember him was nigh on an endless list.
Evelyn, poor thing, no wonder she didn’t know which way was up and who she could trust….. especially when at points it seemed like she doubted herself …..but finally some truths came out, even if they weren’t pretty, and she began to believe the things she was being told, even though at times they had seemed fantastical.
I do love a FH battle, there’s just something about the unpredictability of the opponents our good guys face that makes me root for them all the harder.
Bloody Archangel, these people are getting worse and I’m sensing things are gonna get a lot darker before the evil within that organization is eradicated by our favourite paranormals!!!!!!!
I have to admit to being intrigued by Rane and the witch he’s enraged…. Got my fingers crossed we’re gonna get their story at some point in the future.
Inflamed by an Incubus is another fantastic read in this great paranormal series and I cannot wait for what’s coming next!!!!
Book 1: Kissed by a Dark Prince (FREE right now!)
Book 2: Claimed by a Demon King
Book 3: Tempted by a Rogue Prince
Book 4: Hunted by a Jaguar
Book 5: Craved by an Alpha
Book 6: Bitten by a Hellcat
Book 7: Taken by a Dragon
Book 8: Marked by an Assassin
Book 9: Possessed by a Dark Warrior
Book 10: Awakened by a Demoness
Book 11: Haunted by the King of Death
Book 12: Turned by a Tiger
Book 13: Tamed by a Tiger
Book 14: Treasured by a Tiger
Book 15: Unchained by a Forbidden Love
Book 16: Avenged by an Angel
Book 17: Seduced by a Demon King
Book 18: Scorched by Darkness
Book 19: Inflamed by an Incubus
Book 20: Craved by a Wolf (Coming 19th April 2022)
Book 21: Bewitched by a Vampire (Coming 14th June 2022)
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you’re a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.
If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling London Vampires series. Seven sexy and sinful Greek god brothers can be your new addiction in the Guardians of Hades series. Or how about four hot alpha shifter brothers in her Cougar Creek Mates series? Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the Eternal Mates series.
If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:
WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | YOUTUBE | INSTAGRAM
Share this:
COVER REVEAL – Inflamed by an Incubus (Eternal Mates #19) by Felicity Heaton
New York Times best-selling paranormal romance author Felicity Heaton is set to release book 19 in her epic Eternal Mates series on February 15th, and today we’re getting the first look at the cover of Inflamed by an Incubus.
Delve back into this compulsive and addictive paranormal romance series and be ready for your passions to be ignited by incubus Fenix as he fights a powerful curse to claim his forever after with his bonded fated mate, phoenix shifter Evelyn.
Plus, you can get book one, Kissed by a Dark Prince, for FREE right now at your favourite retailers!
Check out the cover and discover more about the book, including where you can pre-order Inflamed by an Incubus.
Inflamed by an Incubus (Eternal Mates Paranormal Romance Series Book 19)
Felicity Heaton
Fated to be together. Cursed to be apart.
Condemned by a blood mage as an act of revenge, Fenix will do anything to shatter the eternal cycle of losing his beautiful phoenix shifter mate whenever she falls for him again. As he hunts for a way to break the curse, he battles the fierce compulsion to find her latest incarnation, but a moment of weakness brings him to the last place she lived—and what he finds there changes everything.
When a wickedly handsome incubus attacks her partner, Evelyn does what any Archangel hunter would—she takes him down and takes him in. But there’s something about the alluring fae, something that teases at her lost memories, and the powerful pull she feels towards him has her falling dangerously under his spell and brings her to a life-shattering realisation.
Swept up in a tempest of danger and with a dark threat on the rise, can Fenix find the one who cursed them before fate steals his mate from him this time? Or will the soul-searing passion that blazes between them burn everything to ashes again to restart the cycle?
Due for release on 15th February 2022
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca | Amazon.com.au
Apple Books USA | Apple Books UK | Apple Books Canada | Apple Books Australia | Apple Books NZ
Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Google Play
Book 1: Kissed by a Dark Prince (FREE right now!)
Book 2: Claimed by a Demon King
Book 3: Tempted by a Rogue Prince
Book 4: Hunted by a Jaguar
Book 5: Craved by an Alpha
Book 6: Bitten by a Hellcat
Book 7: Taken by a Dragon
Book 8: Marked by an Assassin
Book 9: Possessed by a Dark Warrior
Book 10: Awakened by a Demoness
Book 11: Haunted by the King of Death
Book 12: Turned by a Tiger
Book 13: Tamed by a Tiger
Book 14: Treasured by a Tiger
Book 15: Unchained by a Forbidden Love
Book 16: Avenged by an Angel
Book 17: Seduced by a Demon King
Book 18: Scorched by Darkness
Book 19: Inflamed by an Incubus
Book 20: Craved by a Wolf (Coming 19th April 2022)
Book 21: Bewitched by a Vampire (Coming 14th June 2022)
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! All of them alpha as you would expect in paranormal romance, and every book with a guaranteed HAPPILY FOREVER AFTER!
If you’re a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter, Larissa Ione, Kresley Cole, Donna Grant and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.
If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling London Vampires series. Seven sexy and sinful Greek god brothers can be your new addiction in the Guardians of Hades series. Or how about four hot alpha shifter brothers in her Cougar Creek Mates series? Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the Eternal Mates series.
If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:
WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS | INSTAGRAM
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BOOK TOUR – Stolen by her Bear (Black Ridge Bears #1) by Felicity Heaton
New York Times best-selling paranormal romance author Felicity Heaton is here today for the book tour for Stolen by her Bear, the first book in her brand new bear shifter romance series, Black Ridge Bears! The Black Ridge Bears series is all about the growly neighbours of the shifters in the Cougar Creek Mates series and is part of the Eternal Mates world. You can find out more about the world at http://www.felicityheaton.com/
If you love sizzling shifter romances featuring hot alpha heroes and strong heroines bringing them to their knees then this series is definitely for you. Plus, each book has a happily forever after and there are no cliff-hangers, because there’s nothing worse than a cliff-hanger!
Stolen by her Bear (Black Ridge Bears Series Book 1)
by Felicity Heaton
Saint is a bear shifter on the war path. He just wants to sleep the winter away, but his rowdy neighbours in the remote Rocky Mountains valley have other plans. When the cougar shifter brothers refuse to keep the noise down, he reacts on instinct, kidnapping a beautiful female who smells like sweet berries and tempts him like no other – a female who happens to be mated to one of the brothers.
Holly’s first taste of freedom isn’t going as planned. Escaping her family to join in the winter wedding celebrations at Cougar Creek with her friend Ember sounded fantastic, until a grouchy bear shifter grabs her – a gorgeous male who rouses instincts in her that are startling and powerful, igniting a fierce need to growl and stake a claim on him. A gorgeous bear who might be her fated mate.
Can Holly resist the hungers Saint awakens in her? And when Saint realises his mistake about her identity, can he convince the stunning Holly to give him a second chance?
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Saint turned his frown on the snow that reached almost as high as the deck, had to be at least three feet deep where it had accumulated against the underside of his raised cabin. His gaze tracked across the undulating snow that stretched between him and the thick forest of lodgepole pines and spruces.
This was going to be one shitty walk.
Putting it off wasn’t going to make it any nicer though, or make his mood any better.
He wasn’t the only grouchy bear on the property either. He glanced to his right at Knox and Lowe, could see by their faces they were as pissed as he was by the disturbance. Having the three of them tired and grumpy would only make all of them worse in the long run, would bring out the bear in them and cause them to bicker and fight, destroying the peace they normally enjoyed. So as much as he despised the thought of dropping down into three feet of snow, he was going to have to do it.
Gods, he was glad Rune and Maverick had gone to Vancouver for winter as they always did, the two of them travelling to a bolthole they shared there. Neither of them was the sort of bear to sleep the months away, preferred to be awake through winter, but like him, they didn’t like snow. Saint had once made the mistake of convincing them to stay at Black Ridge for winter, had denied the urge to sleep so he could stay awake with them.
It hadn’t gone well.
They had made it to December before Rune and Maverick had gotten into a brawl so bad he had feared they would kill each other, and then all three of them had holed up in their individual cabins until the snowmelt. It had been the longest damned winter of Saint’s life. He hadn’t been able to sleep, had stayed awake to make sure Rune and Maverick made it to spring.
He scrubbed a hand over his beard, hoping like hell things didn’t end up that bad this time. If they couldn’t get back to sleep, ended up having to stay awake, then he wasn’t sure he would be able to keep his cool and smooth the edge of his own mood to maintain order within their makeshift pride.
As it was, he was itching for a fight.
If Knox or Lowe tried to start anything, just looked at him the wrong way, he was liable to blow his top.
Knox kicked the snow off his deck, grumbling, “I’m tempted to go deal with whoever is making all that noise.”
“Rein it in, or I’ll be tempted to deal with you,” Lowe muttered as he finished pushing the last of the snow off his own deck, piling it up around the thick wooden pylons that raised the cabin off the ground.
It wasn’t like the usually laid-back Lowe to be grumpy. Normally, the ash-blond bear took things as they came, rolling with whatever life threw at him without worrying too much. Saint blamed Knox’s mood. It was his brother’s agitation that had Lowe on edge too.
Lowe always got like this whenever Knox was fired up, felt a need to weigh in and have his twin’s back.
“I’ll go see what the deal is.” Saint turned away from them and murmured under his breath, “Just got to get through this crap first.”
He huffed and took the first step down from his deck, forced himself to keep going when the next one was hidden by snow. His pride needed him to do something, and he would do it. He would make the cougars shut up so he and his kin could get back to sleep, and when he woke, all the snow would be gone.
He held on to that fantasy, filling his mind with images of green grass and warm sunshine as he trudged down the steps. It shattered as he fumbled for the final step and slipped, had to grab the railing behind him and brace himself to avoid falling on his backside.
Saint growled as he pushed away from the steps and waded through the deep snow, heading for the forest that would lead him to Cougar Creek. He glared at the field of white as it sparkled, the weak sunlight reflecting off it enough to almost blind him. As it was, it made his eyes water again, and that moisture felt as if it was turning to ice in his eyes.
There was nothing magical about winter.
He huffed and snarled as he pushed forwards, ploughing a path through the snow. At least he wouldn’t get as cold and damp on the way back, after he was done murdering whoever had woken him and his kin.
If he somehow managed to rein in the urge to spill blood, maybe the fresh air and struggling through the snow would tire him out enough that he could sleep when he got back to his cabin.
He finally reached the dense forest, where most of the snow clung to the branches of the pines and firs, keeping the amount on the ground down to less than a foot. He picked his way through the fresh snow, careful not to snag his boot on a root or rock because falling flat on his face in the snow would probably be the match that lit the fuse of his temper.
Saint breathed a little easier as he reached an animal track, a path through the forest that had been kept clear of snow by the constant back and forth of the local ungulates. His muscles began to relax, the tension that had stiffened them during the walk through the icy snow fading as he picked up pace.
When he neared the invisible boundary between Cougar Creek and Black Ridge, he slowed and fell silent, his breathing levelling out as he moved with stealth into the trees, veering off the track. His ears twitched as he listened, the only sound that of distant birdsong and animals moving through the trees. No laughter. No voices.
His breath fogged in the air as he slipped from tree to tree, peering ahead of him through the trunks and low branches and the scrub, seeking a sign of life as he drew closer to Cougar Creek. His palms began to sweat as his heart drummed a faster, harder rhythm against his ribs, as he honed his senses and searched for danger, in case it was hunters who had come to the cougar territory and they were the ones laughing.
Overjoyed by capturing or killing a shifter.
He spat on the ground, cursing the hunters. They had taken too many from his kin.
Had taken too much from him.
He had barely matured, had only just passed a century old when the mortal hunter organisation Archangel had executed a raid on a nearby underground fae town. His parents had been there, had tried to escape and hadn’t made it out alive.
Last year, a helicopter had circled over Black Ridge, heading back to Cougar Creek, and Saint had heard the distant gunfire. Part of him had wanted to go and check it out, to see if Rath needed help.
The rest, the alpha in him, had made him stay at Black Ridge in case there were more hunters in the forests and his pride needed him.
He tipped his head up and dragged in a slow, deep breath as he pushed those memories aside, focusing on the present in case it was hunters. He couldn’t let himself get swept up in the past, had to stay alert and aware of his surroundings and any danger that might be lying in wait for him.
Saint scented the air, trying to catch something that would tell him what to expect ahead of him.
He froze, locked up tight as he caught a scent, as warmth spread through him in response, roused a hunger in him that was powerful and commanding.
He dragged in another breath, aching for another delectable hit of that scent. And it was delectable, like sweet berries, and utterly feminine.
Which was enough to set him on edge.
Females didn’t stay at Cougar Creek in winter.
Saint veered off course again, unable to stop himself from tracking the scent through the forest, curiosity gripping him and filling him with a need to find the owner of it. His mouth watered, the hunger clenching his gut growing fiercer as the scent grew stronger. Ahead of him, the bushes and trees gave way to man-made clearings, openings in the forest where small cabins had been constructed.
He huffed.
Cougar Creek.
He stealthily inspected the two cabins he could see, keeping his distance from them. Snow had fallen through the canopy of the forest and was thick on their roofs, and it was pristine on the decks, untouched. No one was staying in them.
Saint banked left, heading down towards the river, to a cabin he knew was there. The raised L-shaped wooden lodge sat at the head of a fifty-foot clearing in the forest, one that stretched down to the creek.
He remained in the shadows of the trees as he moved towards that river, giving the place a wide berth. He eyed the deck and the steps and the ground just beyond them. Someone had cleared the snow away. The place belonged to one of the three brothers of Rath, the alpha of the pride, and it was usually empty over winter.
Looked as if the male was staying this time.
Was he responsible for the ruckus that had woken Saint and his kin?
He sharpened his instincts again and frowned as he sensed more than just Rath and one brother at the Creek. He pinpointed at least five other people, most of them close to the main clearing. One of them was bound to be the female Rath had mated with last year, one Saint had seen for himself a few times.
He thought her name was Ivy, was sure he had heard the alpha cougar call her that a few times when she had been photographing bears near the river. The female was human, and not the only one at the Creek either.
The bastard Storm had a human female of his own. Saint had caught her in the woods last year when she had been running from the male and had scared her witless. He regretted what had happened now, but he had been in a foul mood, his bear at the fore. Their run-in had happened only a week after the Archangel helicopter had come and the need to protect his kin had been strong, fierce enough that he had viewed her as a threat.
Saint had figured Gabi for a huntress, still thought she was a member of Archangel and one day Storm was going to wake up to find a blade in his heart.
He backtracked up to the two empty cabins and headed past them into another area of dense scrub that provided cover as he moved towards the heart of Cougar Creek.
His ears twitched.
Voices.
He eased lower and peered through the bushes and trees towards the clearing. Stilled as he spotted two males and a female in an area that had been cleared of snow near the top of the long sloping strip of green that formed the centre of the cougar’s territory. The felines had been busy. It looked as if they had cleared snow in a patch roughly sixty feet in all directions from the front of Rath’s cabin. That cabin sat nestled among the pines and spruces, its back to the forest that covered the base of the mountain, facing the clearing and the creek at the bottom of it.
What were they up to?
Rath straightened and planted the tip of his snow shovel against the ground, leaned on the handle of it as he pushed his thick black hat up and wiped his brow. He pulled his dark green scarf down and undid the top fastening of his black winter jacket.
“We taking a break now?” the male with him growled, a hint of warmth and teasing in his tone as he set down his own shovel and tugged at the blue scarf wrapped around his throat. Like Rath, he wore a black protective coat and matching hat, and irritatingly kept his back to Saint so he couldn’t make out which brother he was. “Only been at it an hour. Still a lot more snow to clear.”
Rath huffed and scrubbed a hand down his face, over a thick dark beard. “Remind me again why we’re doing this.”
The big male chuckled, the warmth in his voice lingering. “Love, apparently. Not sure why I got pulled into shovelling duties though. Storm should be here, clearing the way for this ceremony. Where is he anyway?”
This time, Rath was the one who chuckled, his grey eyes brightening with it. “Where do you think?”
The male shook his head. “I have half a mind to go bang down his door, but I don’t want to get an eyeful. Flint could at least have offered to help, but he’s about as useful as Storm.”
Flint and Storm weren’t present then, which meant the big male with Rath was Cobalt. Cobalt was a mad bastard. Saint had never seen a cougar fight like he did, as if he had nothing left to live for.
Rath and Cobalt were as big as each other, packed with muscle and good fighters, but if it came to a one-on-one fight, Saint could take them. Provided they didn’t resort to low blows like their brother Flint.
He shuddered at the memory, his balls aching. It had taken him weeks to heal them after the male had run his claws over them during a brawl. He still hadn’t forgiven the cougar, wanted a piece of him, and Storm, for the scars they had given him. A low growl curled up his throat, his blood running hot despite the cold, and he wanted to unleash it but bit it back instead. As much as he wanted a fight, he wanted to sleep more.
Besides, he couldn’t let his foul mood get him into a brawl right now when his body was still recovering from a month-long sleep. He would probably lose and that would only make his mood worse.
Saint drew down a steadying breath and stilled as the delicious scent of berries hit him again. It was weaker now, but still warmed him, roused a hunger to hunt the owner of that scent and see her for himself.
The door of the cabin behind Rath opened and a female came out, wrapped so heavily in winter clothing that he couldn’t make out much of her face between her colourful striped scarf and woollen hat, or her figure through the thick cream coat and brown ski pants.
He knew her scent though.
Ivy.
In fact, he knew most of the scents of the females belonging to the brothers. He had put Gabi’s scent to memory when he had captured her, and he had done the same with Yasmin’s when Flint had come to Black Ridge looking for a fight in order to impress her.
Maybe he had imagined the sweet scent in the woods.
Berries were his vice after all.
He loved them and found them impossible to resist.
“Come warm up for a few minutes.” She looked at her mate and then at Cobalt.
Both males nodded and let their shovels fall into the thin layer of snow, and Rath waited for Cobalt to reach him before they both started towards the cabin.
“Does Ember want to drop in for a warming drink too?” Ivy said with a look at Cobalt.
Ember. Saint wasn’t familiar with that female.
“She went for a walk.” Cobalt tugged his black hat off, revealing mussed blond hair. “But she’ll be back in time for the practice run.”
Rath glanced at his brother. “Did your certificate come through?”
“Yup. I’m officially ordained.” Cobalt flashed a grin at him and chuckled. “That’s not something I ever thought I would be. Not many cougars out there needing this sort of thing.”
Saint watched them go inside, debated going to the cabin and speaking to Rath, but fatigue was rolling up on him, his eyelids feeling heavy again as the fresh air lost its effect on him and his bear instincts growled at him to go back to sleep. He knew what the noise was now. It wasn’t humans or danger, just a bunch of irritating cougars celebrating something. That should be enough to calm the instinct to protect himself and his pride, and allow all of them to get back to sleep.
He rose to his feet and turned away from the cabin, picked his way to the animal track and followed it back towards the Ridge. Maybe he would fix himself some food before he hit the sack again, something to take the edge off his hunger and tide him over while he slept. He was clearly hungry.
Because he was fantasising about sweet juicy summer berries again.
Could smell them stronger now.
He frowned and slowed his pace, lifted his head and drew down a breath. The scent was stronger. His mouth watered, heat suffusing him, and he pivoted on his heel, was tracking the smell of berries before he realised what he was doing.
Saint dropped to his haunches when he spotted a lone figure ahead of him, near the frozen river.
A female.
He dragged down a breath, every inch of him locking up tight as he caught her scent.
Sweet berries and a hint of vanilla.
He scented something else on her too. She was cougar. Was she Ember? Did she belong to Cobalt?
Saint told himself to go, but found himself easing lower instead to observe her. Silent. A predator.
She tilted her head up as she turned, raised her gloved hand to cover her eyes as she peered at the canopy. Birds sang there but he paid them no heed, was too arrested by the sight of her.
Raven hair spilled from beneath her dark purple woollen hat, cascading over a form-fitting weatherproof coat in the same colour, and grey eyes with a strong hint of emerald sparkled as rosy lips curled into the semblance of a smile.
His heart started at a hard pace, drumming against his ribs as his blood heated.
She was beautiful.
A need to stand and go to her pounded inside him and he struggled to deny it, to remain where he was and merely observe her, studying everything about her. Like the fact she had to stand at least a foot shorter than his six-seven, and looked as if she weighed nothing more than a feather. There was a delicate sense of beauty about her, with her porcelain skin and the hint of pink on her cheeks, and he lost himself in watching her, the world around him fading away.
Until there was only her.
Her slender shoulders suddenly stiffened, her smile disappearing as she tensed and went still.
She had sensed him.
Saint lingered, wondering what she would do. Run away or stay?
Seconds seemed to stretch into an eternity as he waited, as her grey-green eyes slowly took in the forest.
Strange disappointment flooded him when she suddenly turned on her heel and walked in the direction of Cougar Creek, her pace brisk, boots chewing up the frozen ground beneath the pines.
Saint stared after her.
Driven to follow.
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Book 1: Stolen by her Bear
Book 2: Rescued by her Bear – Pre-order Now
Book 3: Saved by her Bear – Pre-order Now
Book 4: Unleashed by her Bear – Pre-order Now
Book 5: Awakened by her Bear – Pre-order Now
BLP REVIEW – Tracy
One of my favourite things about the first book in a new series by Ms Heaton is the world-building.
Getting to know the characters, the setting, a bit of their history (which will without doubt be developed further with each book in the series)
Stolen by her Bear was a great introduction to the bear shifters of Black Ridge, with the added interest of crossover threads from the Cougar Creek Mates and Eternal Mates books, another two read worthy series from Felicity.
We had met Saint previously in the Cougar Creek series but the impression we have of him from there to what and who he really is was quite different.
Though still not acceptable, the reasoning behind his earlier behaviour was understandable once you got a glimpse of his past.
Holly was a new character who is a cougar and friend of Ember (who we met in Craved by her Cougar).
I liked Holly, she was feisty, a lot different from the other cougars and doesn’t feel quite right in her own skin…. Until she meets Saint.
Starting with a case of mistaken identity and a kidnapping, through realising they are fated mates to issues that could keep them apart, Stolen by her Bear was a great read and I’m looking forward to book two in the series – we were briefly introduced to the heroine of Lowe’s book toward the end of SbhB.
A definite recommended read, especially for fans of shifter/PNR stories.
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you’re a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.
If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling London Vampires series. Seven sexy and sinful Greek god brothers can be your new addiction in the Guardians of Hades series. Or how about four hot alpha shifter brothers in her Cougar Creek Mates series? Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the Eternal Mates series.
If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:
WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | YOUTUBE | INSTAGRAM
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BOOK TOUR – Thanatos (Guardians of Hades #8) by Felicity Heaton
New York Times best-selling paranormal romance author Felicity Heaton is here today for the book tour of her new paranormal romance release, Thanatos, the latest release in her popular Guardians of Hades Series.
This is book 8 in this series, but don’t worry, you can dive right on in with Thanatos, or start at the very beginning with Ares, which is FREE at all retailers right now. Binge-read to your heart’s content!
If you love passionate paranormal romance featuring hot alpha heroes and strong heroines bringing them to their knees, new twists on old myths, and lush, detailed words, then this series is definitely for you. Plus, each book has a happily forever after and there are no cliff-hangers, because there’s nothing worse than a cliff-hanger!
Thanatos (Guardians of Hades Series Book 8)
by Felicity Heaton
Thanatos, god of death, has a mission: scour the unknown realms of the Underworld and retrieve the only daughter of his god-king, Hades. Murdered six centuries ago and her soul captured before it could pass on, she now falls under Thanatos’s domain. Armed with only a description of the location of her prison seen in a vision by her oldest brother, Thanatos has spent four years hunting for her, determined to complete his task and save her.
But when he locates Calindria, she’s not the delicate little girl he remembers; she’s a fierce, bewitching and beautiful warrioress who stirs unwanted feelings in his black heart and she’s on a mission of her own.
Calindria, daughter of Hades, has a mission: escape her prison, hunt down the ones who murdered her twin brother, and then make her family pay for abandoning her. But the Fates have other plans, placing a distractingly gorgeous god of death in her path; a warrior who is determined to convince her that what she believed is the truth is in fact a lie.
In a realm that turns memories against them and where anything can be an illusion, can Calindria and Thanatos learn to trust each other enough to work together to escape the hellish domain, or will the darkest moments of their past prove too powerful to overcome?
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Enter the grand tour-wide giveaway to win a signed paperback of your choice from my backlist of available titles plus awesome book swag!
This giveaway is international and open to everyone, and ends at midnight on June 27th.
Enter now: https://kingsumo.com/g/vvgksb/thanatos-book-tour-grand-giveaway
Thanatos ducked beneath a dip in the roof of the tunnel, bracing his hand against the onyx rock as he worked his way downwards, watching his footing. He grimaced, lips pulling taut as the tops of his black wings knocked against the rough ceiling and caught on the protrusion of rock. He ducked lower, almost on his backside, and hunched forwards, easing his wings past the obstruction.
Maybe continuing along this path had been a mistake.
He probably should have turned back the moment the tunnel had started to narrow, picking another route to explore and chart in his mind.
Behind him, something chittered, as if mocking him.
He huffed and gripped the wall, fingers tight in the holds he found as he carefully navigated the steep slope. He hoped to the gods it opened out again soon and didn’t get any narrower. Fitting his seven-foot-two frame into small spaces was difficult enough at the best of times, but this was beginning to move past difficult into impossible territory.
A little like his mission.
Four years of searching and he had nothing to show for it, and his god-king, Hades, was growing impatient. Thanatos had charted realm after realm at the very edges of the Underworld, places beyond the sight of his god-king, seeking the one where Hades’s only daughter was being held.
With only a description of what Hades’s oldest son had seen in the memories of another to go on.
Thanatos raked his free hand through his damp onyx hair and exhaled hard.
He was beginning to doubt those memories, but every meeting he had with Hades and his sons had him coming away with a renewed sense of determination to complete the mission Hades had entrusted him with and find Calindria.
It wasn’t only the thought of pleasing his god-king that had him scouring uncharted lands day after day without a break though, refusing to admit defeat.
It was the toll he could see those days were taking on his god-queen, Persephone. Now that they knew Calindria’s soul had form, the gentle goddess needed her daughter back, a child she had mourned for almost six centuries.
A girl who had been ruthlessly murdered in front of her twin, Calistos.
His king and queen had believed her soul lost forever when it hadn’t passed through the veil to reach Hades for judgement. Now, they had entrusted him with her rescue, and he would do all in his power to bring her back to them.
Because she fell under his domain.
As god of death, it was his duty to reap the souls of the dying when their allotted time in this world ended, only he had never been summoned to separate Calindria’s soul from her body, as he should have been, and her soul had never passed on to Hades. Thanatos pondered that, for what he was sure was the millionth time, as the path levelled out and the tunnel thankfully widened. If she was dead, lingering in the place between worlds where he ruled, he should be able to feel her as he could others who moved through the veil.
Only he couldn’t.
He had tried. He had tried so many times and in all the ways he could think of to get a fix on her location, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t feel her.
The tunnel opened out into a cavern with a jagged ceiling only thirty feet above him that dipped lower in places, great pillars of rock joining it to the uneven ground. He kept a wary eye on the shadows as things moved in them, chittering to each other, wanting to avoid another encounter with some of the local wildlife. The largest bats in the mortal world had nothing on the leather-winged black beasts that called the stretches of tunnels and the caverns home. These fell creatures resembled gargoyles the mortals had once adorned their buildings with, with snub upturned noses and pointed ears, and claws as long as their fangs, and a dragon-like tail.
The first time Thanatos had encountered them, he had accidentally disturbed a large nest of them, and they had descended on him as one, ripping at his feathers and clawing his bare arms and chest. They had forced him to retreat and return to his castle to heal.
Something he had to do on foot or wing since there was a strange power over this wild land, one that stopped him from teleporting.
That power had strengthened his feeling that he was on the right track at last. It blanketed the entire realm, hindering him by not only stopping him from teleporting in and out but by dampening his senses too. He could feel things if he focused, but it was as if there was some kind of interference.
It made him feel that Calindria was here and the reason he couldn’t feel her was because of that interference. This realm shielded her somehow, making it impossible for him to sense her.
A power that didn’t seem natural to him.
Someone had taken great pains to ensure no one found Calindria. The one who had taken her or one among the enemy he had fought alongside the sons of Hades four years ago? That enemy had contained not only those of the daemon breeds, but demigods, gods and goddesses too.
A rebellion Hades’s sons had crushed, restoring peace in the Underworld.
Thanatos meandered around sharp spikes of black rock that jutted from the floor, his gaze scanning the route ahead of him, looking for an exit. Water dripped somewhere, the sound echoing around the cavern, punctuating his thoughts. Whoever had killed Calindria and had taken her soul had hidden it well, the method they had used to conceal it carrying on after their death.
If they were dead.
When Thanatos had raised that thought with Hades, his god-king had grown dark and had immediately left the palace, teleporting to Tartarus where he was holding Eris, Thanatos’s younger sister.
And the ringleader of the enemy that had risen up against Hades and attempted to bring about not only his downfall but that of the Underworld and mortal realm too.
Disgust rolled through Thanatos, as strongly as it had the night he had realised she had turned against their god-king, together with another two of his sisters and his youngest brother. His mother, Nyx, was still furious about what had happened, wanted blood and regularly visited Eris in Tartarus to sneer at her and threaten her.
So far, neither Nyx nor Hades had managed to convince Eris to tell them something other than the same denial she spewed whenever they tortured her. She just kept swearing she knew nothing about Calindria and what had happened to her.
Thanatos wasn’t buying it.
He spied three exits in total and picked the largest of the tunnels, the one set into the cragged wall of the cavern dangerously close to a pool of water. He lowered his hand to the hilt of his sword where it hung from his waist, attached to his thick leather trousers, and warily stalked towards the tunnel, keeping an eye on the water.
Wishing he had worn more of his obsidian armour than just the heavy vambraces that protected his forearms.
He had forgone the armour that he normally wore on his lower half. The thick plates offered protection but slowed him down and made it more difficult to move through the narrow tunnels or clamber into holes. He had decided to leave them in his castle for this trip when he had discovered the warren of tunnels in the heart of this vast mountain range were narrower than those in the last set of peaks that rose high into the smoky air of this realm.
Something moved in the water and his fingers tensed around the grip of his sword, ready to draw and swing it in the space of a heartbeat if necessary. Great serpents lived in the pools in many of the caverns, waiting for a creature to approach and drink the life-giving water. One had nearly taken his head off. Since then, he had avoided all the pools.
Thanatos eased around this one, facing it at all times, and was quick to duck into the tunnel. It was narrower than it had looked from a distance, but still large enough to accommodate him and his wings. He shook them out and furled them again, tried to ignore the itch to stretch them and fly. The next time he found a cavern that was large enough, and was lacking occupants, he would do a few laps around it to stretch his wings.
Ahead of him, in the gloom, creatures skittered and scurried away from him. He eased his head left and lowered his wings, edging around a dip in the ceiling. He was beginning to miss the world outside this mountain, even though it was as grim out there as it was in here. Perhaps more so.
The valleys of these mountains were great black lands, some riddled with crevasses cut by waterfalls that thundered into them, and others filled with dead-looking trees, and then there was his personal favourite.
A valley that had been infested with spires of jagged black rock with holes in it. The things that lived within the three-, four-, even five-hundred-foot-tall towers had not liked him being in their territory. Like the gargoyles, they had chased him from the valley, the veins of crimson that formed patterns on their black carapaces glowing like lava as they had scuttled after him on four bony legs, snapping at him with their pincers.
Thanatos was beginning to get the impression everything in this realm hated him.
Perhaps if he didn’t find Calindria, he would kill everything in it. Eradicate all life to make it easier for Hades’s legions to tame these wild lands steeped in ancient powers and bring them under his god-king’s control. He drifted in that pleasing imagery for a while, mentally getting revenge on the foul creatures who had tried to maim and murder him on far too many occasions.
Thanatos stilled as awareness rolled down his spine, making his wings quiver. Something was watching him. He’d had the same feeling several times now during his travels and was beginning to get the impression that someone and not something was following him.
The Messenger.
Thanatos had encountered the black-haired male in another realm, one close to this one, and had thought Hades had sent his servant to relay something to him. Only he had startled the male when he had questioned him, asking what he was doing in an uninhabited realm if he wasn’t there to deliver a message from Hades.
The Messenger’s mismatched eyes – one green and one blue – had widened and then narrowed, had shone with fire when he had delivered a message of his own.
He didn’t serve Hades.
When Thanatos had brought up the male in his report to Hades, two of his god-king’s sons, Marek and Esher, had exchanged a look. Hades had noticed it and demanded answers.
Apparently, they believed they had met the same Messenger in the mortal realm.
There, the male had told them he was looking for Calindria.
“If I cross paths with him again, perhaps I will ask him to assist me” Thanatos grumbled as he eased around another jagged spike of rock that blocked his path. “He can run the tunnels like the hound he is.”
Thanatos had never liked Messengers. The clones were creepy with the way they would silently appear close to him, and they had no boundaries, were always teleporting into his castle without invitation, bypassing all his wards. Hades had given them too many powers when he had created them.
Something which had proven dangerous during the rebellion, when several Messengers had sided with the enemy and revealed something that had unsettled even Hades.
Some of them had developed the ability to feel emotion.
Thanatos had witnessed it for himself in the Messenger he had encountered, the one who was looking for Calindria. The male hid it well, but Thanatos had seen the glimmer of emotions in his eyes when he had questioned him, had noticed it in the slight twist of his lips or twitch of his eyebrows.
Hadn’t been able to miss it when the male had snarled at him that he didn’t serve Hades.
Hades was going to have to deal with his creations. Servants with emotions and so much power were dangerous. At the very least, his god-king needed to cull those who exhibited feelings and ensure future Messengers were subjected to stringent tests and given less power.
Perhaps his god-king could fashion them to be more like Thanatos’s servants; loyal, emotionless, powerless. His staff existed to serve him and carried out their duties without question.
Ahead of him, the tunnel opened up again, rapidly doubling in width. He straightened and pressed his hand into his back, arched it and sighed as something popped. He drew down a deep breath and frowned as he swore he caught the scent of a fire. Not the wretched, almost sulphuric smell of the volcanoes that dotted this realm, but the smell of wood burning.
He quickened his pace, his hand falling to his sword again, his black eyebrows pinching together as he strode into the gloom. It grew brighter as he neared the end of the tunnel and his step faltered.
He recognised this place.
His eyes darted around, taking in the stalactite laden ceiling of the enormous cavern, and his steps slowed further as he approached the edge of the broad ledge that jutted out high above the ground on one side of it.
Thanatos drew to a halt near the edge of it, staring at the rusty oval cages suspended from the jagged cavern roof by thick chains.
This was it.
This was what Keras had seen.
His heart beat harder at the thought he was close now, would be able to fulfil his mission for his god-king and would be well rewarded for it.
Thanatos spread his black feathered wings and kicked off, sweeping down into the cavern. He circled the huge dome-shaped space, weaving around spires of rock. His eyes narrowed on each cage he passed. Some were empty. Others contained remains.
None held Calindria.
Or did they?
He hovered before one cage that contained bones and held his hand out, drew down a deep breath and closed his eyes. Images flickered before him, revealing a female but this one a brunette. Not the one he was looking for.
Calindria had golden hair and blue eyes, had been a bright and bubbly little thing when he had last seen her, hanging on the tails of Calistos. She had always hidden behind her twin or her father whenever Thanatos had visited, shyly peeking out at him, ducking back into cover whenever he had looked her way.
He flew to another cage and repeated the process, hoping the rotting corpse wasn’t her. It wasn’t.
Thanatos looked around the cavern, unable to imagine the delicate female in this place, unable to believe she had somehow survived being held here as her brother had said she had. Unsettled by how Keras swore she had felt pain when someone had attacked her with a spear.
Something about that felt wrong.
The dead felt no pain.
Thanatos checked the remaining cages, and even the bones that littered the floor, but none of them were the bright-eyed daughter of Hades. He landed and furled his wings against his bare back, strode towards the scent of wood fire and investigated the camp. It was well lived in, with ancient animal bones piled in one corner together with old blankets and discarded rotting bedding. Around the fire, the bedding was fresh and almost new.
He found evidence of two or possibly three people. Guards for those in the cages? Their tormenters?
Thanatos walked around the wall of rock that shielded the guards’ quarters from the cages and frowned up at them. Where had the guards gone? The fire was still going, but he sensed no life here.
His gaze fell and he frowned as it landed on a cage on its side. He canted his head as he strode to it, as he stooped and touched a dark patch on the ground. Damp. Someone had been in this cage recently.
He stood swiftly. Had it been Calindria? Perhaps they had moved her. He did another sweep of the cavern, searching for more clues, and backtracked when his gaze caught on something. Frowned. He kicked off, beating his wings, swiftly crossing the span of gritty dirt.
Thanatos landed soundlessly, his frown deepening as the turbulence caused by his wings destroyed what he had come to look at before he could investigate it. The two bodies crumbled to ash, swirled and scattered on the breeze. Whoever they had been, they had both been large males. He eyed the spear that lay on the ground near one of them. Guards.
He crouched and held his hand over the ashes, but saw nothing.
Strange.
He looked back at the cage that rested on its side and then at the black ashes again. Had someone killed the guards and made off with Calindria? If they had, they couldn’t have gotten far.
Thanatos spread his wings and beat them, did a lap of the cavern and found only three exits. He checked the opening of each of them, using his senses to see if anyone had entered them recently. The realm dulled them too much for him to make anything out.
He huffed and looked at the ground, a thousand thoughts crowding his mind as he tried to figure out what to do. Which tunnel to pick?
Thanatos tilted his head to one side, his eyes narrowing on the ground as he spotted something. He walked to it, eased into a crouch and ghosted his fingers over the scuff mark in the dirt, looked around and stilled. Further inside the tunnel was another, only this one had a distinct shape.
A footprint.
It was small, dainty.
Bare.
Feminine.
And the only ones he could see. No one had made off with Calindria, if she had been the one in the cage. She had made off with herself. Had something killed the guards when they had been doing something with her, allowing her to escape?
He rose to his feet and strode into the tunnel, moving as quickly as he could, his senses reaching out around him as he desperately sought a sign of life; a sign this was the right way.
The tunnel opened out again ahead of him and his heart drummed harder against his ribs as he spotted more footprints. This had to be the right way. He drew down a deep breath to focus his senses, honing them in the hope he would be able to sense the owner of those footprints.
Froze as he realised he wasn’t alone.
A female dressed in very little stood in the middle of the cavern with her side to him, gulping water from a dark pouch.
She froze too, her dirty shoulders locking up tightly, her fingers clutching the waterskin. She lowered it from her lips and turned slightly, her matted, filthy blonde hair that reached the small of her back swaying as she came to face him.
As her wide, luminous blue eyes landed on him.
“Calindria” he breathed, sure it was her, only she was not a little girl as some foolish part of him had expected.
She pressed the pouch to the swell of her chest and stared at him like a prey animal facing a predator, her eyes taking on a wild and almost feral edge.
Thanatos slowly lifted his hands, hoping to calm her.
She broke into a dead run.
After reading the brothers books I thought nothing more could surprise me with this series, then I got caught up with Thanatos and Calindria.
We’ve been expecting throughout the series that finally the brothers and their allies would find a soul – Calindria has been lost for centuries, we’ve all thought her dead and from her families viewpoint they just wanted her to be at rest…. Just like us readers, I’m sure they weren’t expecting what Thanatos found!
Thanatos has been searching for Hades’s only daughters soul for four years, never giving up as he’s serving his god-king and as the god of death, this is kinda in his wheelhouse…. What he wasn’t expecting was the mission to take so long, be so difficult or what he found when he eventually reached his target!!
I loved Calindria…. Yeah, she had a lot of issues and a whole luggage store of resentment and seething retribution she wanted to dole out – understandable when you’ve spent hundreds of years believing things a certain way… but seeing her re-evaluate her thoughts, start to trust Thanatos, as well as her own heart, and start to become whole again made for good reading.
Thanatos… as the god of death we’d think him strong enough to combat anything and to be afraid of pretty much nothing but finding out he had demons of his own and what they were made sense of how he lived and viewed his own life!
One of my favourite things about this instalment of the series is that our MCs spend most of the journey alone, getting to know each other, building trust, understanding and some sort of relationship. I do enjoy when we encounter other favourites characters from previous reads but there’s just something I truly love about getting to know our leads without outside interference or influences….
As ever we had suspense, action, mystery and a whole lot of heat… this series is a favourite of mine and I’m looking forward to Hades’ story!!!
A solid 5 stars.
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Book 1: Ares
Book 2: Valen
Book 3: Esher
Book 4: Marek
Book 5: Calistos
Book 6: Daimon
Book 7: Keras
Book 8: Thanatos
Book 9: Hades – Coming Soon
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you’re a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.
If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling London Vampires series. Seven sexy and sinful Greek god brothers can be your new addiction in the Guardians of Hades series. Or how about four hot alpha shifter brothers in her Cougar Creek Mates series? Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the Eternal Mates series.
If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:
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BOOK TOUR & GIVEAWAY – Scorched by Darkness (Eternal Mates #18) by Felicity Heaton
New York Times best-selling paranormal romance author Felicity Heaton is here today for the book tour of her new paranormal romance release, Scorched by Darkness, the latest release in her popular Eternal Mates world.
There are now eighteen books in this series, but don’t worry, you can dive right on in with Scorched by Darkness, or start at the very beginning with Kissed by a Dark Prince, which is FREE at all retailers right now. Binge-read to your heart’s content!
If you love big worlds packed with detail and every paranormal species imaginable, together with hot alpha heroes and strong heroines bringing them to their knees, then this series is definitely for you. Plus, each book has a happily forever after and there are no cliff-hangers, because there’s nothing worse than a cliff-hanger!
Scorched by Darkness (Eternal Mates Paranormal Romance Series Book 18)
by Felicity Heaton
Even for one of the top assassins in Hell like him, Hartt’s latest contract would have been difficult enough, but there’s a complication—a beautiful, flame-haired, and dangerously tempting complication. Not only is the bewitching female a distraction he doesn’t need—she’s the competition.
Mackenzie’s life hasn’t been easy. Held captive by blood mages who murdered her family, forced to spend every day guarding her secret, and now she lands the biggest contract ever—one that would set her assassin’s guild up as one of the best in Hell—and it turns out her client hasn’t only hired her. He’s hired the top guild in Hell too. Worse, the male she’s up against is wickedly alluring, a dark elf warrior who sets her blood on fire, and the heat that sparks between them is in danger of burning her resolve to take him down to ashes.
It’s a race against time and each other to fulfil the contract by taking out one of the most dangerous men in Hell, a vampire with a name befitting of his bloody history, but who will be the one to claim victory—one of them or the King of Death?
Find out in Scorched by Darkness, an enemies-to-lovers fated mates paranormal romance that will set your heart on fire!
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Enter the grand tour-wide giveaway to win one of a $75, $50 or $25 Amazon Gift Card at the Scorched by Darkness book page. This giveaway is international and open to everyone, and ends at midnight on May 2nd. Enter now: http://www.felicityheaton.com/scorched-by-darkness-paranormal-romance-novel.php
Fuming wasn’t a strong enough word for how Mackenzie was feeling. Furious? Filled with rage? Liable to detonate at a moment’s notice? That one seemed to convey the fire that burned up her blood and ignited something dangerous inside her as she searched for the male she had spotted.
That fire only blazed hotter as she finally located him on a rooftop overlooking the square, felt his gaze light on her as a shiver that cascaded over her entire body.
And then he was gone.
She clenched her jaw and cursed him as he sprinted across the rooftops, leaping alleys with ease.
Closing in on her mark.
Another bloody assassin!
Worse, he was an elf.
That could only mean one thing—her client had some explaining to do.
She was sure he was the reason the most renowned assassin’s guild in Hell just tossed their hat into the ring and was following her mark.
Mackenzie was swift to move, slipped through the crowd and worked her way back to the raised walkway where she had been when she had first spotted the other assassin. Where the sight of him had completely arrested her, bewitching her as if he was a mage rather than an elf. Her blood chilled at that word. Mage. She shook it off, together with the unsettling effect the elf had on her, and bit out another ripe curse as she checked his position.
The black-haired bastard was above the target now, looming at the edge of the roof, peering down at them and looking for all the world as if he was contemplating leaping on them.
Maybe he was.
Damn him. He was forcing her hand. She hadn’t come here to take down her mark, wasn’t appropriately armed for a kill.
She had come here to follow up a lead, part of her not expecting the vampire to be here tonight. Her plan had been to study him if he was and see what she could learn about him, to gather intelligence she could use to form a plan of attack. She regretted not bringing her arsenal with her now, but she hadn’t known she would have competition.
She was going to have to improvise.
Another, fouler, curse rolled off her tongue as five demons formed a blockade ahead of her. She sprinted right at them, unwilling to let them slow her down, fear a potent motivator as her gaze flicked to the elf again and then to her target as the idiot stopped right below him.
She nimbly leaped, slapped her left hand down on the shoulder of one of the big males and ran up the wall behind him. The demongrunted as she shoved off, growled as he twisted towards her, and she landed and ducked beneath the meaty fist he swung at her.
“Sorry!” she hollered over her shoulder without slowing.
She checked the elf again. Still there. What was he waiting for?
Her focus darted back to the mark.
He wasn’t alone.
The dark-haired male turned towards his companion—a stunningly beautiful woman with long white hair and curves to die for wrapped in cerulean leather.
A phantom made flesh.
The intel Jasynder had gathered for her was right then. The vampire was mated to a phantom. She could understand why the elf was hesitating now. Getting on the wrong side of a phantom was a sure-fire way of getting your soul devoured. It only took one kiss and the elf would be toast. Of course, the terrifying woman could kill Mackenzie just as easily with the same tactic, but phantoms were all female and preferred to turn males into ghosts to either use for procreation or to kill by draining their life essence.
Chances were high that if she and the elf both attacked at the same time, the phantom would target him, leaving Mackenzie open to take down the mark.
Which was going to be easier said than done. This vampire had a bloody reputation, led the fiercest legion of the Preux Chevaliers—an organisation of vampire mercenaries in Hell. Taking him down was going to be hard, and it was going to require some finesse if she didn’t want to die in the process, or before she could deal a fatal blow on him, but it would be worth it.
This contract was a huge deal for her guild.
Judging by the sour look on the elf’s face as he glared down at the couple and then at Mackenzie, it was a big deal for him too.
She glanced back at the mark.
“Shit!” she muttered as she saw they were gone.
She halted at the edge of the raised stone walkway and scanned the crowd with her senses, but there were too many people packed into the square. She couldn’t pick out vampire or phantom among the blur of scents and powers.
Mackenzie huffed and strode down the alley ahead of her, one that ran between the building where the elf still stood and the first building on the side of the square to her right. She exited it on a broader cobbled street and checked in both directions, and then did a quick lap of the demon district.
The thoroughfare was just as busy as the square, filled with demons grouped together in front of the one and two–storey grey stone buildings. Hordes of them had gathered around the tavern to the north of the district, a pale cream stone affair that was a contrast to all the dark grey. It was more elegant too, resembling something from the Victorian era.
“Hey,” she breathed as a big demon noticed her and his dusky horns curled a little, beginning to resemble those of a ram, and his crimson eyes brightened. She skimmed her hands down her burgundy corset to her hips, making sure she had the whole of his attention, and canted her head as she sidled up to him. “Don’t suppose you’ve seen a vampire and a phantom coming this way?”
He shook his head, and then growled and bared fangs when two other demons looked at her. She pegged one as from the Fifth Realm, and one as from the Second. Demons didn’t exactly like to share, but she needed information, and if a fight broke out, she would make a sharp exit.
“How about you, big guy?” She ran an assessing gaze over the demon from the Second Realm, taking a moment to appreciate allthat muscle jammed into only a pair of tight black leathers, and how his black horns grew as he gave her a leisurely once-over in return. “You seen a vampire and a phantom?”
“Maybe,” he grunted and continued in stilted English, revealing he didn’t get out of Hell much, “What… information… worth?”
“More than you can afford, gorgeous.” She offered a sultry smile because that was all he was getting from her.
He hadn’t seen anything. None of them had. She debated questioning the others and then decided against it. She wasn’t going to find her mark again tonight. By now, he was either holed up in the vampire district to the north of the enormous cavern, or he had used one of the portal pathways and gone back to his stronghold in Hell.
Damn it.
She ogled the demon one last time, shutting out a stray thought that left her reeling—she liked her men a little leaner and a lot meaner.
The elf popped into her head.
She was about to banish him, but paused and frowned as she shrugged. Her mark was gone, but she could still come away from tonight with some valuable intel if she tailed the assassin. It might go some way towards making her feel better.
Mackenzie returned to the square and looked up to her right, at the rooftop. He was gone. She muttered another curse, one that felt like the millionth she had unleashed since noticing the elf.
That sizzle-spark rolled along her spine again and she jerked her head down.
Her gaze collided with pure amethyst across a sea of people, violet that held her fast as a thousand tingles tripped through her.
The elf frowned at her, his sensual lips turning downwards as a disapproving look settled on his handsome face. The black slashes of his eyebrows met hard and he pivoted, breaking the spell he had placed her under. She shook off the lingering effect and glared at his back as he eased through the crowd, heading towards the clock tower at the other end of the square.
Mackenzie gave him a few seconds to build a lead and then followed, keeping her senses trained on him so he couldn’t escape her.
Which of the elves was he? There was only one guild in Hell that employed his kind, and when she had been researching assassin organisations with the intent of forming one of her own, before she had joined a guild instead, two names had come up.
Fuery and Hartt.
Rumour didn’t need to paint an interesting picture of them. Fact had already done it. The two elves were practically famous and as far as she could tell, one was as bad as the other.
As dangerous and deadly as her mark.
Their mark.
Her client had obviously hired him too and she couldn’t really blame him for putting the contract out for tender at several guilds. Not when there was a ridiculously high chance the vampire would kill whoever was sent to take him down.
The elf hit the broad street that cut through the witches’ district. She locked up tight when he suddenly stopped and began to turn his head. She ducked behind a group of shifters, sure he was looking for her. Her heart shot into her throat and pounded there, adrenaline a sweet kick in her veins as she edged forwards and risked peering around the female shifter who was looking down at her as if she were insane.
He was gone. Damn him.
Mackenzie stood and tiptoed, peered over the heads of the crowd and tried to find him. The tightness in her chest evaporated as she spotted him heading along the side of the square and she hurried to catch up with him as he ducked into an alley.
Following an elf with a reputation as dark as the one attributed to the two assassins in his guild into an alley was probably suicide. That thought flickered through her mind, but she paid it no heed. She mounted the steps up onto the stone walkway and pressed her back to the building beside the alley.
Being prepared was worth the risk. She had never seen an assassin from his guild in the flesh, and she wanted to know what she was up against because she doubted her client was going to change his mind about having more than one assassin guild on this job for him.
The elf was her competition, and he was going down.
She needed to be the one to take out the mark. Claiming a trophy of this magnitude would establish her guild as one of the most prestigious in Hell. It would finally get her small band of assassins recognised and would lead to getting bigger and better contracts.
Her guild needed this.
Ever since she had taken over leadership of it a few decades ago, they had struggled to keep their heads above water, let alone establish themselves in the fiercely competitive world of contract killing. It was a miracle this client had approached them and offered this opportunity, and she wouldn’t mess up this chance they had been given.
She had to secure the kill for her guild.
She leaned left and peered into the alley, glared at the elf’s back as he strolled away from her.
Plus, she had a score to settle.
She had lost track of the number of clients who had dumped her guild halfway through a contract because an opening had come up at the one he worked for. Her scowl deepened, mostly because those electric shivers were back as she studied him, sending heat rolling through her.
Damn him.
But there was something arresting about him.
The fluid way he moved, a startling combination of grace and raw sexuality that shouldn’t be possible considering he wore a drab black knee-length tunic over his tight trousers, was drawing more than just her gaze to him. Every female in the alley looked him over after he had passed them and some had the courage to eye him up as he approached.
One even offered herself up to him.
He politely turned her down with a smile and a wave of his hand.
The subtle shift of his body caused the fine material of the tunic to pull taut over his biceps and across his broad shoulders, revealing toned muscles. Apparently, elves had incredible armour that was imbued with magic or something. The black scales resided in twin bracelets and could cover their owner in a handful of seconds if they issued a mental command. Those scales could transform into talons too, and only metal of the same type could cut through it.
She had never seen it in the flesh, but heat sizzled through her as she pictured what he would look like in only skin-tight black armour that revealed everything.
And she meant everything.
Several of the accounts she had read about elf armour, and some of the ones she had been told by women who had witnessed it, had been very clear about that. Every muscle on their body showed, and not just that, but you could tell the size of the package on offer too.
That sizzle became a spark that ignited her blood, had her thoughts going hazy for a moment before she snapped herself back to the world and shut it down.
She blamed the elf for her out-of-control libido and imagination, put it down to his good looks and incredible physique, and the fact it had been far too long since she had taken the time to scratch her itches.
She wouldn’t let herself get distracted by him.
It would be a death sentence.
He was the enemy and he had clocked her in the square, knew they were after the same mark. He was probably aware of her right now and was leading her to her doom. Well, it would be his doom that awaited him at the end of this dance.
Mackenzie tailed him, studying everything he did, learning all she could about him, right down to which foot he favoured as he pivoted and turned down another alley. The more she knew about him, the more likely it was she would survive a fight against him.
And they would come to blows.
She felt that in her gut.
She peeked into the alley. He was still a good fifty feet ahead of her. She slipped into the narrower space, hating the way the two dark stone buildings seemed to close in on her to steal all the light. The strange burn he had ignited in her blood turned to ice and she breathed through it as her chest constricted. She was fine. She focused on the electric lamp mounted on the wall at the end of the alley, using the soft light it emitted to banish the darkness.
The memories.
As the momentary panic passed and her senses came back online, she swore under her breath.
The elf was gone.
“Damn it, Mackenzie,” she muttered and frowned as she hurried forwards. “Losing track of your targets now?”
It wasn’t like her. She prided herself on her skills, on her dedication to her work and how professional she was compared with a lot of other assassins. She had never lost track of a mark and now she had done it twice in one night.
She slowed her pace, catching herself. Rushing headlong after the elf was a foolish move. Whether the male was Hartt or Fuery, he was a merciless killer. Darkness made flesh.
And sharp as a blade too.
The tales of them were legendary. More than one account glorified how quickly they could think on their feet and how intelligent they were. She supposed skills like that came with the territory when you were thousands of years old.
She took a moment to breathe, to focus her mind again. She was quick and clever too.
He wasn’t going to get the jump on her.
She brought her guard up again as she slipped a dagger free of the sheathe at her waist and stretched her senses around her as she exited the alley onto the main street that cut through the heart of the demon district. She palmed the grip of the blade, her pulse picking up as she scoured the area.
Nothing.
Had he teleported back to Hell?
She squeaked as a hand suddenly appeared around her throat and hauled her back against a rock-hard body, and shivered as his deep baritone teased her ear.
“Looking for me?”
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Book 1: Kissed by a Dark Prince (FREE AT SELECTED RETAILERS!)
Book 2: Claimed by a Demon King
Book 3: Tempted by a Rogue Prince
Book 4: Hunted by a Jaguar
Book 5: Craved by an Alpha
Book 6: Bitten by a Hellcat
Book 7: Taken by a Dragon
Book 8: Marked by an Assassin
Book 9: Possessed by a Dark Warrior
Book 10: Awakened by a Demoness
Book 11: Haunted by the King of Death
Book 12: Turned by a Tiger
Book 13: Tamed by a Tiger
Book 14: Treasured by a Tiger
Book 15: Unchained by a Forbidden Love
Book 16: Avenged by an Angel
Book 17: Seduced by a Demon King
Book 18: Scorched by Darkness
Well, it seems that regardless of how far into a series Ms Heaton lures us she’s still fully capable of catching us unawares and giving us an excellent read – not that that was ever in question!!!
I’ve been looking forward to Hartt’s book for a bit now, though if I’m gonna be honest I’ve not always been his biggest fan…. his actions in Hunted by a Jaguar and reactions to Iolanthe and her mate bugged me and, tbh, his line of thought where this particular lady elf strayed in the first part of Scorched had me wanting to smack him a tad still….. but, as ever, Felicity gave us an engaging and heart hurting story of the dark assassin’s history and I fell arse over teakettle for him after a while..
Mackenzie’s guild is still pretty unknown and she needs to fulfil the latest contact they’ve just picked up to get their name out there…. but going up against one of the best hitmen in the business, she’s gonna have to use everything in her arsenal (pun intended) to win this prize and achieve her goal.
I adored her gutsiness and balls to the wall attitude. That facing off against someone of Hartt’s calibre brought out the best in her and had her determined to prove her worth – while hiding who she really was – made for interesting reading. She’s as competitive as Hartt, if not more so, and that made their interactions spark all the brighter.
Her partner in crime, Syn, was a really intriguing character and I’m pretty sure we saw a future pairing in the making while reading. Time will tell….. 😉
With some big twists and turns and a couple of unexpected WTH moments Scorched by Darkness continued the outstanding rollercoaster of a ride that is the Eternal Mates series and I cannot wait for more from one of my favourite paranormal romance authors.
We caught up with some favourites from earlier in the series and I have to admit, I’d forgotten just how much I floved Rosalind; she is still unapologetically irreverent at times but her attitudes injects humour when things seem bleak and I do so enjoy that about her character!!
Grab yourself a copy of this fabulous, recommended story and settle in for a kickass read.
** note to self….. remember a box of tissues when reading a FH book in future!!!
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you’re a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.
If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling London Vampires series. Seven sexy and sinful Greek god brothers can be your new addiction in the Guardians of Hades series. Or how about four hot alpha shifter brothers in her Cougar Creek Mates series? Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the Eternal Mates series.
If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:
WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS | INSTAGRAM
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BOOK TOUR & GIVEAWAY – Calistos (Guardians of Hades #5) by Felicity Heaton
New York Times best-selling paranormal romance author Felicity Heaton is here today for the book tour of her new paranormal romance release, CALISTOS, the latest novel in her epic Guardians of Hades series.
If you love dark, alpha Greek gods and strong heroines who bring them to their knees, together with epic action, sizzling passion and high stakes drama, then this series is definitely for you. Plus, each book has a happily forever after and there are no cliff-hangers, because there’s nothing worse than a cliff-hanger!
Calistos (Guardians of Hades Paranormal Romance Series Book 5)
by Felicity Heaton
Prince of the Underworld and Lord of Air, Calistos was banished from his home by his father, Hades, two centuries ago and given a new duty and purpose; to keep our world and his from colliding in a calamity foreseen by the Moirai. Together with his six brothers, he fights to defend the gates to the Underworld from daemons bent on breaching them and gaining entrance to that forbidden land, striving to protect his home from their dark influence.
Tormented by the death of his twin sister, Calistos wants nothing more than to find a way to save her soul, but the pain of continuing without her, the constant feeling that he got her killed, is slowly pulling him down into the darkness and he knows it’s only a matter of time before he succumbs to the call of the abyss.
Until a battle sets him on a collision course with a kind-hearted and beautiful mortal, one who rouses softer emotions he had sworn he would never risk feeling again, threatening to peel away his mask of playfulness and shatter the barriers around his heart.
Marinda is a woman on a mission; to become a great cellist and repay her father for his faith in her. But her regimented and studious life is thrown into chaos when a handsome man is carted into the ER where she works and takes her hostage, pulling her into a dark and dangerous world; one where she discovers there’s more to her than meets the eye and her entire life has been a lie.
When the enemy makes a play for Marinda and the gates, will Calistos find the strength to let someone into his heart again and look to the future, or will the pain of his past lead him to unleash hell on this world?
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Enter the grand tour-wide giveaway to win one of a $75, $50 or $25 Amazon Gift Card at the Calistos book page.
This giveaway is international and open to everyone, and ends at midnight on August 16th.
Enter now:
http://www.felicityheaton.com/guardians-of-hades-calistos-paranormal-romance-book.php
“Clear the way!”
Marinda plastered her back against the cream wall of the busy hospital corridor as two paramedics rushed towards her, pushing a gurney. From the opposite direction, a doctor hurried to them, meeting them just before her.
“What do we have?” The woman looked the patient over and Marinda didn’t miss the flicker of horror in her dark eyes.
Marinda could understand her shock. The unconscious man on the gurney was covered in a black oily substance, had blood pooling beneath him on the pale sheets and staining his long blond hair, and had multiple lacerations across his bare chest.
Together with a bone sticking out of his left arm.
“Adult male. Early thirties. Someone found him on the Pont Sant-Michel. Unconscious.” The male paramedic glanced at the doctor before he went back to attending to the man. “He hasn’t regained consciousness.”
Coupled with the grave look he exchanged with the doctor and the other paramedic, Marinda knew what that meant.
He was bound for the morgue.
They rushed past her and her gaze tracked them, focused on him. How had he even managed to survive such extensive injuries? She had seen people in better conditions lose their lives, and didn’t hold out much hope for him. She hated nights like this, when she saw such horrible things, when she felt hopeless despite how badly she wanted to be able to help these people.
She drifted back along the corridor in the direction she had come, not noticing any of the people or the things happening around her as her feet carried her towards the ER.
Towards the man.
Was it morbid curiosity or something else that had this need awakening inside her? A desire to remain at his side. To watch over him.
She paused at the door of the room they had moved him into and watched as nurses joined the paramedics and another doctor, this one a man, rushed into the room from the doors to the theatre. She only caught snippets of their conversation as she stared at the blond man, her eyes transfixed on his face.
“We have any hope here?” a man muttered. One of the nurses.
“Just get him hooked up,” a woman hissed back at him as she worked to clear some of the black from the patient’s chest. “What is this stuff? Motor oil?”
“It stinks, whatever it is.” Another man moved around the blond on the gurney, blocking Marinda’s view for a moment, and she inched another step closer, compelled to remain within sight of the man.
“Vitals coming in now.” The first male nurse shifted to his right. “What the hell?”
Marinda glanced at the machine as he punched the buttons.
“That can’t be right.” He looked at his colleagues.
Marinda agreed with him. She had worked as a receptionist long enough to know what normal vitals looked like, and this man’s were as normal as they got. The machine had to be wrong. There was no way a man in his condition could have stable, near-perfect blood pressure. He hardly had any blood left in him judging by the crimson now dripping from the gurney to splatter on the tiled floor.
Weird.
She inched another step closer, bordering on entering the room now as that compulsion grew stronger. Her gaze dropped to his face again, and a feeling struck her.
He felt like home.
The strangeness of that thought had her frowning at him. She wasn’t normally one for such fanciful thoughts, and definitely not about men. Did she know him? It was possible he had lived in the small town where she had grown up, where she had spent her entire life before she had moved away to study at the Conservatoire de Paris.
The entire room erupted into pandemonium, shattering her thoughts and hurling her back into the world.
The blond jacked up off the gurney, growled like an animal as people rushed to restrain him, and she gasped as he kicked one of them. His heavy black boots caught one of the men in the chest and sent him flying across the room.
“Get him under control!” The doctor who had been the first to attend to him barrelled across the room with two large male nurses.
The woman seized the man’s legs, a vain attempt to contain him as he bucked and thrashed. The two nurses grabbed his shoulders and tried to pin him, and the second doctor joined the first, helping her keep the man’s legs under control.
The male paramedic fumbled with some straps, almost had them around the man’s legs when someone injected the blond with something.
His already strange vitals shot off the charts and he exploded from the bed, sending everyone staggering backwards, slamming into machinery and the walls. Marinda gasped and eased back a step as the man swung violently in all directions, the needle dangling from his arm swaying as he twisted and turned, taking in his surroundings.
His vivid blue eyes were wild, so bright they entranced her and she froze in the face of him.
He looked savage as he towered in the centre of the room, his bare chest heaving, the air around him swirling in a way that tousled the dirty strands of his long golden hair.
Like a man out of one of the fairy tales her father had told her as a child, not one made of flesh and blood.
Three of the male nurses attempted to capture him. He shoved the first to reach him, planting a hand against his chest, and the man flew across the room to hit the wall near the doors to the operating theatre. The other two didn’t fare any better. He knocked one out with barely a tap on the head, and swept his broken left arm out to catch the second one across his chest, sending him crashing into the machines.
He moved a step backwards, a tear in his black combat trousers opening to reveal a deep laceration that cut into his thigh muscle. He growled and flashed his teeth as he knocked against a trolley of equipment and turned on it, raising his right hand at the same time. The trolley flipped, scattering the contents across the tiles, and careened into the wall, embedding itself in the pale cream plaster.
No man had that kind of strength.
Was he on drugs? It seemed like a very real possibility as she stared at him, at the wounds that littered him and how crazed he was. He had clearly faced off against the wrong people and had lost.
He shifted his right foot forwards, dragging it through the blood, and then his left, slowly moving towards her.
The sensor leads attached to his body pulled taut and he snarled something in a language she didn’t know.
Everyone in the room suddenly dropped to their knees and clutched their ears.
Thunder pealed outside and the ground shook, threatening to send her to her knees too.
He tore the leads from his chest, leaving circular red marks where they had been, and ripped the needle from his arm. Blood tracked down it, dark against his dirty oil-slicked skin.
Marinda swallowed hard as he lifted his head and their gazes collided.
His eyes were even brighter now, as stormy as the lightning that ravaged the sky and shook the ground with another ear-splitting bang.
They softened as he gazed at her, as he slowly lifted his right arm and stretched a hand out towards her. He pushed his right foot forwards again, his knee buckled and he collapsed, catching his broken arm on the end of the gurney. A pain-filled bellow ripped from his lips and he spoke again, muttered things in that strange language that had the nurses and doctors curling over, holding themselves and crying out in pain too.
The man braced his right hand against the floor, his jaw tensed and he tried to push himself up. He sagged, breathing hard, and instinct had her moving towards him even as the sensible part of her screamed at her to run away. This man was dangerous. She could only watch herself as she closed the gap between them, as she crouched and laid a hand on his shoulder.
He was burning up.
He needed help.
Her help.
“Step away from him.” A flinty, hard male voice came from behind her and she glanced over her shoulder at the owner of it. A police officer. Two of them occupied the doorway, both of them looking at the man as he struggled to push himself up off the tiles. Someone must have raised the alarm. The man drew a gun and aimed it at the blond. “Stay down.”
The world whirled around her and she froze as she found herself facing the two police officers. The man behind her palmed something in his right hand and she tried to see it out of the corner of her eye. Her pulse spiked, fear flooding her veins for the first time as she made out what it was.
A scalpel.
He banded his left arm around her and her spine met his front as he brought the makeshift blade up to her throat. Instinct said to break free. This time, Marinda ignored it. She glanced at the carnage he had wrought, at the nurses who were slowly recovering now he had stopped speaking, several of whom were bleeding badly. She didn’t want to end up like them, and she had the feeling she would if she fought him.
He loosed another inhuman snarl and edged her forwards. He was heavy against her as he held her to him, his weight pressing down on her back, forcing her to support him. She struggled to move towards the door, her legs like jelly beneath her as she eyed the police officers, praying they would get out of his way. Fear crushed her lungs. She felt sure she wouldn’t survive the fight that would break out if they didn’t move.
As she neared them, she threw them both a pleading look. It hit its mark with the younger of the two officers and he moved back a step. The second joined him, easing backwards as the man moved her forwards, using her as a shield.
His grip on her tightened as they hit the corridor, the strength of it surprising her. With the amount of blood he had lost, and was continuing to lose, he should have been weakening, not growing stronger, but she swore he was doing just that. His steps grew surer too, the weight of him against her back lessening with each minute that trickled past as he slowly eased her backwards, keeping her facing the police officers.
He was surprisingly gentle with her as he guided her towards the exit and then out into the cool autumnal night air. He lowered the scalpel from her throat and turned her to face him, a flare of regret in his eyes as they dropped to the point where he had held the blade close to her vein. When his eyes lifted to hers again, she expected him to ask her where her car was.
Instead, he spoke in that unusual language of his and thunder rumbled overhead.
“I don’t understand,” she said in French, unsure he would know what she was saying.
When he clutched her shoulders through her white shirt and shook her, frustration crossing his features, she decided to try English instead.
“I don’t understand. What language is that anyway? Russian? Greek?” It was nothing she had ever encountered on her limited travels. It sounded similar to what her friend Cassandra spoke, although it might have something to do with how frustrated he sounded. Cass rarely spoke Russian outside of the times she was angry about something.
He snarled something else and blue light sparked across her vision, almost blinding her. She dropped her gaze to his right arm and the blue glow emanating from the tattoo of script that ran along the inside of his forearm. Maybe she had fallen asleep during her break and was dreaming all of this, because none of it seemed real.
That feeling compounded when he grabbed her and the light engulfed them.
She shrieked as she tried to break free of him, fighting his hold, and stumbled backwards as he released her. She hit the tarmac.
Or at least she should have hit tarmac.
She looked down at the smooth black ground beneath her that resembled tiles.
And then up at the man as he staggered away from her, muttering things under his breath, heading for an enormous four-poster bed draped with sky-blue linen. He collapsed onto it and rolled onto his back, breathing hard.
Marinda breathed hard with him, the pace of them quickening as she took in her new surroundings, unable to believe her eyes. The pitch-dark walls of the huge room seemed to close in on her as she struggled for air.
She shrieked again when a boom came from behind her and swiftly twisted onto her knees to face that direction.
A beautiful woman with scarlet hair that looked like blood against her pale skin and the delicate layers of her black dress drew to a sudden halt in the doorway, her emerald eyes falling to land on Marinda.
They darted to the man.
Marinda had the ridiculous urge to deny that she had been doing anything to him, that she hadn’t been with him in any fashion – not to harm him or seek pleasure with him.
“What have you done?” the woman whispered, her voice like a summer breeze as she swept towards Marinda.
Marinda lined the words up on her tongue, ready to deny that she had done anything, but then the woman glided straight past her, heading for the man, and she had the feeling the redhead had been speaking to him.
“Oh, you will be in trouble now,” the woman murmured as she gazed down at him, her green eyes overflowing with worry. “But it seems you were already in trouble.”
Marinda tensed when the woman looked back at her.
“What happened to him?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. He was brought into the ER, found unconscious at the Pont Sant-Michel.”
A crinkle formed between the woman’s fine eyebrows. “ER?”
“Emergency room… at the hospital.” She tried to keep her focus on the woman, but her eyes strayed to the man as he laboured for breath, unconscious again. “I work there.”
She lifted the lanyard draped around her neck, pulling it away from her white shirt to show the woman her pass.
The woman shook her head and looked the man over again. When her gaze reached his left arm, she frowned, stooped and gently lifted it. She placed her delicate hand over the bone, closed her eyes and pressed down.
The man roared and bucked up. He violently struggled, wrestling against the woman’s hold, and Marinda waited for him to send the woman flying. Only he didn’t. She weathered his frantic thrashing, kept hold of his arm and remained perfectly still, as if he wasn’t jolting around like a wild animal.
This time, when his lips parted, Marinda understood him.
“Hurts. Fucking hurts,” he snarled and sagged against the blue bedclothes, his fight leaving him again.
“I know.” The woman stroked her hand over his arm and Marinda’s eyes widened.
The bone was no longer poking out of his skin, and the cut left behind wasn’t even bleeding.
She had to be dreaming.
Or having a nightmare.
“He’s badly hurt. He needs medical attention.” Marinda tried to push onto her feet but her legs refused to bear her weight and she crashed back onto her knees.
“You are a doctor? A nurse? A practitioner of medicine?” The woman turned hopeful green eyes on her.
They were about to be filled with disappointment instead.
“I’m a cellist.” She braced her hands against her bare knees beyond the hem of her grey pencil skirt and drew down a slow breath to steady her heart. Panicking wasn’t going to get her anywhere. If she wasn’t dreaming, then she had been magically whisked to another place and was at the mercy of her hosts.
“A cellist?” The woman frowned.
“I play the cello.” She didn’t mean for it to come out apologetic, but it did. Of all the people to grab, he had unfortunately grabbed the one person in the room who was of little use to him. “I just work at the hospital to help pay for my education. I man the reception desk in the ER.”
The scarlet-haired beauty sighed. “You do not know anything about doctoring?”
She started to shake her head and then shrugged. “I did basic training a couple of years ago. Just things like recovery position, bandaging, treating minor wounds.”
“So you can help him.”
This time she did shake her head. “No. Those are not minor wounds. He’s bleeding badly, has broken bones, and -“
“Much of it is not his blood,” the woman said in a deadpan voice that had Marinda lapsing into stunned silence.
If it wasn’t his blood, whose blood was it?
The woman stared deep into her eyes. “I am asking you to help me to help my son.”
Her son? Marinda looked at him where he rested on the bed, finally calm again. He didn’t look a day older than this woman.
“He will heal faster if we both aid him.” The woman gently brushed tangled strands of his dirty hair from his forehead and a sigh slipped from his lips, a contented sound that was so at odds with his terrible condition.
He had to be in a lot of pain. So much that she couldn’t see how he could find a simple touch comforting. Perhaps he was delusional. She had seen patients in so much pain that they had been out of their minds.
“He needs treatment. Surgery. He needs doctors at the very least. Painkillers.” Marinda looked at him, taking stock of the numerous wounds covering his arms and chest, and the gashes in his combats that revealed more cuts.
Strangely, all of the wounds looked shallower now.
As if they were healing rapidly.
“No human medicine.” The woman’s voice gained a hard, cold edge that didn’t suit her.
Those three words ricocheted around Marinda’s head, stirring more questions. No human medicine?
The floor trembled beneath her and she leaned forwards and pressed her palms against it, waiting for the ominous peal of thunder that would follow it just as it had when they had been in the hospital.
It remained eerily quiet.
“He should not have brought you here.” The woman turned away from Marinda and gazed down at the man on the bed. “He will be in trouble with Hades when he comes around. Reckless child.”
Marinda’s eyes widened. “Hades. Like…. Clash of the Titans?”
Now she knew she was dreaming.
The woman scowled at her. “Now is not the time for ridiculous questions. My husband is not a Titan, nor is he an Olympian.”
This woman had to be insane. She was talking about being married to the god of the Underworld as if it was perfectly normal and utterly sane.
She touched the man’s right arm and the writing tattooed on it glowed blue. A sigh slipped from her rosy lips.
“Hades will not be pleased,” she whispered, as gentle as the first kiss of morning light, and lifted her hand and stroked his cheek in a way only a mother could. Her touch was light, spoke of love that Marinda could feel across the expanse of air between them; a touch meant to take away all the pain and make everything better.
A touch Marinda had never known.
Disquiet stirred inside her as she watched the interaction, longing to know what that touch felt like mingling with jealousy that this man knew it, that the woman standing over him clearly loved him with all of her heart.
Her thoughts slipped to her father, and an ache bloomed inside her, a need that grew rapidly to fill her. She missed him. She should have stayed with him until the last day of summer break as she normally did, soaking up every moment with him. If she had, she wouldn’t have been in this mess.
Presuming it wasn’t all in her head.
She pinched herself, but didn’t wake.
In fact, it only seemed to make things worse. The woman waved her hand over the bloodstained blue sheets near the man’s legs. Bandages, sutures and other things she couldn’t make out from this distance appeared there. Magic. Marinda pinched herself again.
“Come, child.” The woman held her hand out to Marinda as she glided towards her, her bare feet silent on the cold black stone floor. In her wake, flowers bloomed, entwined with twisted brambles.
Marinda went to pinch herself a third time but the woman took hold of her hand and the warmth of her touch sank straight into Marinda’s bones, reached right down into her soul to soothe some of the fear from it.
“Together we can do this.” She raised her hand and Marinda marvelled as strength flowed through her limbs, as her legs grew steady enough for her to stand.
There was magic in this woman’s touch.
Magic and an endless well of love.
She guided Marinda to the man, and released her to place two rolls of bandages into her hands. “Tend to his wounds while I mend his arm. Do not be afraid of him. He will not hurt you.”
Marinda knew that. She didn’t know how she knew it, but she did. He had been gentle with her in the hospital, had regretted what he had done afterwards, and the weird tongue he had spoken hadn’t pained her as it had everyone else.
She moved to the foot of the bed, crawled onto it and up to his other side, opposite his mother. A bowl of water appeared on the bed beside her, together with a stack of dark towels, and she looked at the woman.
“Help me save my son.”
Marinda nodded, because maybe if she helped him, she could go home and this crazy dream would end.
She soaked a cloth, squeezed it out and went to wipe some of the blood and grime from the man.
Home.
She paused and looked at him, that feeling stirring inside her again, and as ridiculous as it seemed, she found it impossible to deny.
He felt like home.
She looked around at the room as that pull towards him filled her again, drawing her closer to him, deeply aware that the woman hadn’t lied and she was in a hellish realm of dark gods and the dead.
And the craziest thought yet pinged into her mind.
It felt like home.
And she didn’t want to leave.
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Book 1: Ares
Book 2: Valen
Book 3: Esher
Book 4: Marek
Book 5: Calistos
Book 6: Daimon – Coming Fall 2020
Book 7: Keras – Coming Fall 2020
I’m absolutely loving this series!!!
I have to admit, Calistos surprised me quite a bit… until now it appeared that he was the laid back, fun loving playboy of the brothers but in his book we discover quite a different side to him and it made me like him more!! We knew he was there when his twin died, what we didn’t know was what happened in the aftermath and the full extent that experience has had on him over the centuries!!! For me, Cal without doubt grew up in this 5th book in the Guardians of Hades series!!
Marinda, poor girl, had her world turned upside down and so many secrets were revealed in such a short time that her head must have been about to explode most of the time!!
She discovers she’s more than she thought, but for a bit, we’re not sure exactly what that is…. her abilities and power were quite the surprise!!
I thought she was perfect for Calistos. She calmed and centred him and gave him focus at those times were he could have jumped too quickly and welcomed the darkness inside him. He in return was so patient, understanding and protective of Mari, even when she herself didn’t know what to do or think of all the events surrounding her. Her brought her some semblance of safety and grounded her when things were becoming too much.
I’m loving that the brothers are being further strengthened by the presence of their significant others and by the ladies own unique qualities! They’re gonna need every bit of power, wisdom and bravery that these woman bring to the group as we head into the final battles to save the gates and the fates of the two Worlds!!
The story arc continues at a pace, more is revealed about the other side who are hell bent (quite literally!!) on merging the two worlds and running amok in the hellish new reality it would bring.
There was action and battles aplenty – as we would expect when it comes to Felicity Heaton’s books – and we were introduced to a new character (who is gonna cause Daimon a whole world of hassle I’m sure!!)
I’m itching for Keras’s book as there’s now been so many little teasers about him and his lost love… but gods, I’m excited to see how Daimon is gonna fare with his own lady love…… there’s gonna be fun times ahead!!!!
A definite 5* read.
** If you haven’t started this series already, grab book one and dive head first into this thrilling world from Ms Heaton!!!
~ Tracy
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you’re a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.
If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling London Vampires series. Seven sexy and sinful Greek god brothers can be your new addiction in the Guardians of Hades series. Or how about four hot alpha shifter brothers in her Cougar Creek Mates series? Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the Eternal Mates series.
If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:
WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS | INSTAGRAM
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