by Caris Roane
When he drew back, her lips were swollen, her wildflower scent was wreaking havoc in his brain, and her hands were stroking his arms like she couldn’t get enough. “There’s so much I want to say to you. You mean everything to me, Emily. You always have. I wasn’t free to love you before, but now I can.”
“And we have Kyle to thank for that.”
“We do.” His heart swelled and his lips curved. “I know you wanted to rearrange these bookshelves, but I have a better idea.”
She hugged him. “What’s that?”
“I’m thinking I should take you to bed right now, maybe keep you there for a year. How does that sound?”
She chuckled softly. “Not long enough at all. But it’ll be a good start.”
Devyn carried her to her bedroom and took his time as he made love to her. She would be his to cherish throughout the years to come. She was now and forever his bonded blood rose.
The End
A Note from Caris
I hope you enjoyed reading A VAMPIRE’S SOFT EMBRACE! And remember, you can claim an ebook and enter my latest giveaways right now by signing up for my mailing list on my home page: http://www.carisroane.com/
If you enjoyed A VAMPIRE’S SOFT EMBRACE, I’d love it if you took a minute to leave a short review – two or three sentences only -- at your favorite online retailer. And you don’t have to be a blogger to do this, just a reader who loves books!
Do you like reading excerpts? Keep scrolling to read the first three chapters of BLOOD FLAME, Book #1 of the Flame Series!
Coming Up Next
EMERALD FLAME: The next story set in the world of Five Bridges will be the fifth book of the Flame Series and features Alpha Wolf Warren. Read more about the Flame Series: http://www.carisroane.com/flame-series/
About the Author
Caris Roane is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-seven paranormal romance books. Writing as Valerie King, she has published fifty novels and novellas in Regency Romance. Caris lives in Phoenix, Arizona, loves gardening, enjoys the birds and lizards in her yard, but really doesn’t like scorpions! Her motto: Live the Fang!!!
Find out more about Caris on her website!
Have You Read These Books by Caris Roane
The Flame Series…
BLOOD FLAME – Book #1
AMETHYST FLAME – Book #2
DARK FLAME – Book #3
AMBER FLAME – Book #4
CHRISTMAS FLAME, A Holiday Novella
The Blood Rose Series…
BLOOD ROSE SERIES BOX SET, 1-2-3
EMBRACE THE DARK – Book #1
EMBRACE THE MAGIC – Book #2
EMBRACE THE MYSTERY – Book #3
EMBRACE THE PASSION – Book #4
EMBRACE THE NIGHT – Book #5
EMBRACE THE WILD – Book #6
EMBRACE THE WIND – Book #7
EMBRACE THE HUNT – Book #8
EMBRACE THE POWER – Book #9
~ ~ ~
The Blood Rose Tales…
BLOOD ROSE TALES BOX SET
To Peruse the Blood Rose Tales Separately…
TRAPPED – Tale #1
HUNGER – Tale #2
SEDUCED – Tale #3
Guardians of Ascension…
The Original Six Books Published by St. Martin’s Press
ASCENSION – Book #1
BURNING SKIES – Book #2
WINGS OF FIRE – Book #3
BORN OF ASHES – Book #4
OBSIDIAN FLAME – Book #5
GATES OF RAPTURE- Book #6
The Dawn of Ascension Novels, Self-Published by Caris Roane, as part of Guardians of Ascension
BRINK OF ETERNITY as part of VAMPIRE COLLECTION
THE DARKENING
The Rapture’s Edge Series as part of Guardians of Ascension
AWAKENING – Book #1 of Rapture’s Edge
VEILED – Book #2 of Rapture’s Edge
REVEALED – Book #3 of Rapture’s Edge
The Amulet Series…
WICKED NIGHT/DARK NIGHT (Boxed Set)
The Men in Chains Series, Published by St. Martin’s Press
BORN IN CHAINS – Book #1
CHAINS OF DARKNESS – Book #2
UNCHAINED – Book #3
SAVAGE CHAINS – A Separate Novel in the Same World
Find Caris at…
Her Website
Her Blog
Her Facebook Author Page
Her Twitter Page
For giveaways, freebies, updates on the latest books, and lots of photos, be sure to sign up today for Caris’s mailing list: Caris’s Newsletter
Author of…
Guardians of Ascension Series – Warriors of the Blood crave the breh-hedden
Dawn of Ascension Series – Militia Warriors battle to save Second Earth
Rapture’s Edge Series – Militia Warriors battle to save Third Earth
Blood Rose Series – Only a blood rose can fulfill a mastyr vampire’s deepest needs
Blood Rose Tales – Short tales of mastyr vampires who hunger to be satisfied
Men in Chains Series – Vampires struggle to get free of their chains and save the world
The Flame Series – Hunky ‘Alter’ warriors battle for control of their world
The Amulet Series – Master vampires use special amulets to care for their tribes
BLOOD FLAME – Excerpt
A Paranormal Romance
The Flame Series: Book 1
Chapters One, Two and Three
By Caris Roane
Connor, a powerful vampire serving as a Border Patrol Officer for his corrupt world, falls for a gifted witch who has the ability to kill him with a single touch…
In this book, vampire Officer Connor of the Crescent Border Patrol tries to suppress his desire for the powerful witch, Iris Meldeere. Because the woman possesses the ability to kill him with the tips of her fingers, how can he possibly fall in love with her? When a double homicide throws them together, he soon finds his deepest fantasies fulfilled as Iris succumbs to his seductions. But as they battle together to stay alive, and love begins to consume them both, will the witch be able to forgive the dark secrets of his past …
Chapter One - BLOOD FLAME
Connor held a spotting scope pressed to his eye. His adrenaline flowed as he levitated high in the air. He was forty feet above the witch, his heart pounding in his chest. He’d tried about a dozen times to leave, but couldn’t since his craving for the Tribunal Public Safety officer had finally tipped the needle into the red zone. He wanted her bad.
As a Border Patrol officer for Crescent Territory, he often spent time surveilling suspects. The problem was Iris Meldeere hadn’t broken the law. She wasn’t part of a Five Bridges drug cartel, she didn’t traffic innocent humans into their sick world, and she definitely kept her hands off the lucrative business of running flame drugs.
For a witch, she was a model citizen.
It was after midnight, but he was still in the middle of his shift. And he had no damn reason to be at Iris’s house, except he couldn’t help himself. Not that he had plans for the future since he could never actually be with the woman. As a witch, and a powerful one at that, she had the power to kill him with a touch of her fingers.
She moved around her overgrown garden, her voice reaching his ears almost incessantly. At first, he thought she was talking to someone on her Bluetooth because both hands were constantly busy, pruning, digging, cutting, planting. He’d rolled his eyes when he realized she was communicating with her plants. Very witch or very Iris, maybe both.
Apart from his bizarre need to spy on the woman, he hated witches with a passion.
A witch had started this whole shitfest with a brew pot. Result? Seventy thousand humans, in Phoenix alone, lived in a pit of hell, having gone through the alter and become something not human anymore. At least the original witch had changed as well. Witches were now one of the five alter species living in Five Bridges. Being an alter witch o
r a vampire wasn’t a choice; it was a genetic mutation.
His own story wasn’t unusual. Devastated by his wife’s death, he’d stupidly tried to numb-out with a hit of blood flame. But it had been laced with the alter serum that created a set of fangs and an annoying craving for blood. The flame drugs by themselves weren’t the culprit, only when enhanced with an alter serum.
He’d gained physical strength and long-life. Beyond that, he was living a nightmare, one that had started thirty years ago, not long after the flame drug craze had hit the human population.
Now he was here, watching a witch who had gotten hit with an alter serum herself ten years ago. Only her flame drug had carried the witch serum. He knew this because he’d Googled her. A lot.
She wore a purple smock over her jeans and a pair of flats that looked like ballet shoes, typical brew-faring clothes for one of her kind.
And he liked her in jeans. She wore them snug and that was part of the problem. He’d seen her dozens of times at the Tribunal building in her casual investigative uniform of short-sleeved t-shirt, also worn tight, along with the form-fitting jeans. He’d mentally stripped her clothes off about a thousand times. He swore he knew what she looked like naked.
Yeah. Obsessed.
And guilty as hell. His kind didn’t go with her kind.
His kind killed witches, wizards and anything else that dared to smash up herbs and throw them in a cauldron, or cast spells, or worse, kill with the tips of their fingers. Witches, like Iris, were a danger to vampires and shifters. She should be offed, like all her murdering, enthralling kind.
Yet, here he was, floating above her garden, so quiet he’d never be heard not even by another vampire. He’d gotten good at stalking the woman.
~ ~ ~
Iris had that feeling again across the top of her shoulders that a vampire was watching her. She had excellent instincts, but every time she either hunted through her garden or checked the night sky, nothing.
She also had an instinct about who the vampire was. James Connor, also known as Officer Connor, of the Crescent Territory Border Patrol.
Yep, Connor was here again, which caused her heart to beat hard in her chest. Vampires killed witches as often as they could, but in this case an attack wasn’t what she feared.
No, the dull thuds of her pulse meant something far worse. Against all reason, small tendrils of pure desire moved over her breasts, down the insides of her thighs and curled around her sex.
A year ago, she’d seen Connor at a crime scene, one that involved a couple of human children. Until that moment, she would never have believed a vampire capable of any kind of compassion. She honestly thought that the alter had removed all tender emotions from those humans who had become vampire.
That night, she’d been called to the same scene to make a full report on behalf of the Five Bridges Tribunal, the central governing organization for which she worked. She served as a Tribunal Public Safety officer and as such could move freely among all five territories without too much fear of getting assassinated in the process. Murder among the five alter species was rampant.
At the crime scene, with so many vampires present, she’d remained in the shadows, content to merely observe and gather data.
Because of the bloodsuckers, her own killing instinct had risen to the surface, vibrating like a motorcycle engine on overdrive. Her fingers had ached to touch some pressure-points that night and rid her world of a few sets of fangs.
She hated this aspect of being a witch, the driving need to strike another species down. But every one of her kind, once having gone through the alter, felt an intense pressure to self-protect. She’d come to accept that what she experienced was a basic survival mechanism. Vampires and shifters killed witches, her kind returned the favor, though for her she’d only done so when attacked. However, that didn’t change how much she detested her new nature.
The crime scene that night had torn her own heart into a thousand pieces. Two children were found at the Phoenix entrance to Sentinel Bridge, a boy and a girl, about nine or ten. They’d accidentally gotten hold of one of the flame drugs that carried the alter serum, and had begun the process of change. But children couldn’t handle the sudden physical trauma involved. Death always followed.
They’d held hands as they’d died, facing each other. It had broken Iris’s heart, seeing their twisted bodies, fingers entwined. She’d wept quietly, and that’s when Connor had arrived.
She’d seen him many times at various crime scenes, but never like this. He’d taken one look at the pair then dropped to his knees, covered his chest with both arms and rocked. She’d had no idea what had gone through his head at that moment, but she’d felt his compassion in waves hitting her over and over, wrecking her heart and somehow causing her to become fixated on a damn vampire.
As much as she’d come to loathe his kind, she’d ended up craving him with a terrible need.
She was tired of thinking about him almost constantly, though. More often than not, her thoughts turned into elaborate fantasies that usually involved his fangs buried in her neck and his cock plunging in and out of her sex. Sick as hell.
Tonight, she was determined to change all that.
With a fresh lime in her hands, she moved into her workroom between the house and her garden. She set about creating a spell that she should have used about eleven months and four weeks ago. She had no doubt, once completed, the formula would end her obsession.
She fired up her cast iron pot-belly stove, using elder wood. Once blazing, she placed the blade portion of her hatchet on top. She needed the metal hot enough to slice instantly through a thick wax candle.
On her worktable, she cut the lime in half, then squeezed the juice onto a purified elder wood tray. She rolled a thick black candle in the juice and invoked Connor’s name several times until she felt the spell move into place. At the same time, she made use of one of her most powerful incantations. She then picked up the heated hatchet and held it aloft ready to slam the blade through the thick wax and break Connor’s hold on her.
She felt her witch power racing through her veins, giving her a heady buzz. The swirl of electrified energy let her know how potent the spell was. She had no doubt it would work.
With her arm poised and ready to strike, a soft longing ran through her of things hidden behind the veil of death. Her sister came to mind and she felt, as she often did, a trail of loving fingers down both cheeks.
She closed her eyes, her throat tight. “Violet. Are you here?”
A wind from the garden whipped through the room, smelling of thyme, the herb of love she always associated with her sister. Tears tracked down her cheeks.
Violet was long dead, killed in a vampire massacre nine years ago. Yet, in this moment her sister’s spirit was here, in Iris’s workroom.
“Violet,” she whispered again.
Once more, the wind blew in a strong gust and the scent of thyme thickened in the air. “Don’t you want me to end this obsession?”
This time, the fingers once more touched her cheeks while the wind blew. No-o-o-o, came softly into her mind.
Iris talked with Violet a lot, but her sister had never communicated with words before, not once in all these years. Yet, she had now.
“Violet?” She looked around, wondering if the ghost would show herself.
But nothing happened, no fingers on her face, no words in her mind, nothing.
She lowered the hatchet and returned it to a slab of cast iron on the long butcher block counter near the sink. It would need time and a safe place to cool.
She felt frightened suddenly. Something was coming and Violet was part of it, as was Connor. She walked back out to her garden to try to calm down, but again she sensed Connor was near, watching her.
But why? She knew the reasons she’d fallen into an obsession with him, but why did he so often hover above her house?
~ ~ ~
Connor’s com vibrated against his shoulder. For the moment, he ig
nored it because Iris had finally returned to the garden. His whole vampire being was focused on her. He wanted her sex and he wanted her blood. And in a strange way, he longed to talk with her.
He stared down at her as she lifted her gaze once more in his direction, hunting through the night sky. But he knew she wouldn’t be able to see him. All vampires had the means to remain partially cloaked from witches, one of the few defenses they had against Iris’s kind. The distance completed his invisibility.
Using his scope, he centered it on her face once more. Damn, she was beautiful and that was part of the problem. He’d always preferred dark-haired women and her large, brown eyes had a soulful expression he knew reflected her nature, despite that she was a witch.
He knew a lot about her because he’d hunted her down on the Internet and made an illegal search of her home computer. He knew which websites she visited, that she followed a blog called, ‘Witches and Self-Awareness’, and her Tumblr page had lots of pictures of animals, the forest, and travel photos of Europe.