Shadowlands Sector, Three
Page 23
That is, if I survive the evil I’m sworn to kill... and the ones I’ve let into my heart.
Night Kissed is the first book in the Chosen Vampire Slayer series.
This is your kind of book if you love kick-ass heroines with sass to match, scorching hot monsters who take what they want, and is perfect for devourers of enemies to lovers books. Expect steam, action, and a supernatural world filled with vampires, demons, shifters, angels... and unhinged alphas who will do anything to protect their woman. Lovers of Anita Blake, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and True Blood, this is your next addiction.
START READING NIGHT KISSED TODAY
NIGHT KISSED
PROLOGUE
Veronica
I realized he was staring at me. The boy with turquoise eyes, who sat two seats from me in our seventh-grade math class, who never noticed me. Why would James pay attention to a nobody in a school with two girls in beauty pageants?
But when I glanced across the snowy street in the middle of Anchorage while shopping with my parents of all people, I met his gaze. I wanted to die of humiliation that he saw me with my parents, and I quickly looked down at the old, fraying brown coat I wore.
I took in as much air as possible into my lungs, then I held it for a few seconds to slow down my racing pulse. Maybe he hadn't seen me.
I glanced up as I tripped over my own feet. Lurching forward, I felt like the biggest idiot in the world, and my cheeks flushed brutally.
“Veronica, watch where you're going,” Mom reprimanded me, her voice sharp.
My father didn't say a word, but I felt his heavy stare on my back.
I flung my gaze back across the street to him. The most beautiful boy I'd ever laid eyes on was walking away, head low, no longer seeing me. My stomach knotted.
“Did you hear your mother?” Dad asked.
I nodded, but struggled to concentrate on what he said next when I kept thinking about James and if he saw me or just stared right through me.
Our car lay another few blocks away and we'd long ago left the crowds behind, when a chill swept around me. The main parking area at the shops was still closed after a man had been found butchered there over the weekend. And being close to Christmas, everyone was out shopping. Which was why we parked a million miles away. The murder got me thinking about the sheer number of killed people in our town, more than the police could explain. For the past few years, Alaska had become the state with the highest murder rate per capita as a result.
I tugged down my hat over my ears, and we moved with haste as I scanned the sidewalk behind us in case anyone followed. Mom placed her arm around me, and we hurried past closed office buildings in this area. The hairs on the back of my neck raised.
A shiver ran down my spine. It was freezing.
Finally, spotting our sedan a block away parked on the curb, we rushed forward. I wanted to get out of here and just hide in my room.
Movement from an alley we passed caught my attention.
A blur that came so suddenly, so unexpected out of the darkness that I flinched around, startled.
Three deathly pale men charged out of the alley and snatched us right off the sidewalk.
Fear iced my veins and I swallowed the terror like barbed wire.
Mom screamed; Dad twisted to punch the man. I thrashed wildly, fingers digging into another's face, crying out, "Get off me!"
A hand slapped over my mouth, shutting me up. His strength was unimaginable, the touch cold as marble.
In a blink, we were deep in the alley where the inky darkness concealed us from anyone passing along the sidewalk.
My gaze swung left and right to see where my parents were, my body shaking under the arm of my attacker. Suddenly, the man squeezed me against him, his face inches from my neck. My feet tangled, and I lost my balance as I drove my fists into his chest.
I couldn't breathe or think straight. We were trapped, stolen, and all I could remember were the news reports about the dead man in the parking area. His throat ripped out. I shook frantically, fighting the monster who watched me like a predator did prey. Dark eyes with bushy eyebrows, pale skin, a short flat nose.
An ear-piercing shriek sliced through the darkness, and I knew it was my mom. A terrifying coldness wrapped around me, numbness crawling through my limbs. I twisted my head to find her slumped on the ground, a man's mouth attached to her neck. Father lay near her, another monster on his neck, slurping, drinking his blood. Tears blurred my eyes.
Mom's eyes, wide and glassy stared at me, and tears spilled down my cheeks, knowing her life had slipped away.
I screamed against the hand on my mouth. Rage and heartache twisted around me, shredding me to pieces.
I loathed these monsters… loathed this town… loathed myself that I couldn’t save my parents.
The bastard yanked my head aside. I shoved my hands at his face, and fought with everything I had, kicking and punching, going ballistic.
The fiend grunted like an animal as he gripped one of my arms and twisted it behind my back.
Adrenaline pushed and pushed me. I felt nothing but the desperation to escape, to help my parents. My body shuddered.
With my scream, the monster bit into my neck. Sharp fangs dug into my neck, teeth sinking into me.
It hurt so badly, I cried, pummeling my fists against him, but he was a mountain. Breathing grew harder, but I still never stopped fighting.
A strange lethargy flared over me, flooding me with an unbearable exhaustion. My knees buckled out from under me instantly, but the monster held me pressed against him, slurping and licking my blood. He drew me deeper into the dark mass feathering the edges of my vision.
Crackling electricity flared down my arms, a snap of power I didn’t understand. It came faster and hard, the hairs on my nape standing upright.
The vampire shoved me away so violently, I flew backward and slammed into a trash can. I collapsed on the ground, struggling to move from exhaustion.
The fiend’s mouth gaped open, blood dripping out as he unleashed a horrendous screech of what sounded like pain.
I trembled, my vision fading faster and faster. The alleyway tilted around me and suddenly, my world blackened.
START READING NIGHT KISSED TODAY
Shadowlands
Shadowlands Sector, One
Shadowlands Sector, Two
Shadowlands Sector, Three
Chosen Vampire Slayer
Night Kissed
Moon Kissed
Blood Kissed
Winter’s Thorn
To Seduce A Fae
To Tame A Fae
To Claim A Fae
Shadow Hunters Series
Boxed Set 1
Wicked Heat Series
Wicked Heat #1
Wicked Heat #2
Wicked Heat #3
Elemental Series
Taking Breath #1
Taking Breath #2
Gods and Monsters
Apollo Is Mine
Poseidon Is Mine
Ares Is Mine
Hades Is Mine
Haven Realm Series
Hunted (Little Red Riding Hood Retelling)
Cursed (Beauty and the Beast Retelling)
Entangled (Rapunzel Retelling)
Princess of Frost (Snow Queen)
Kingdom of Wolves Co-write with C.R. Jane
Wild Moon
Playing with Hellfire Co-write with Harper A. Brooks
Playing with Hellfire
Hell in a Handbasket
Thief of Hearts Series Co-write with C.R. Jane
Siren Condemned
Siren Sacrificed
Siren Awakened
Broken Souls Series Co-write with C.R. Jane
School of Broken Souls
School of Broken Hearts
School of Broken Dreams
School of Broken Wings
Fallen World Series Co-write with C.R. Jane
Bound
Broken
Betray
ed
Belong
Beautiful Beasts Academy Co-write with Kim Faulks
Manicures and Mayhem
Diamonds and Demons
Hexes and Hounds
Secrets and Shadows
Passions and Protectors
Ancients and Anarchy
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About Mila Young
Best-selling author, Mila Young tackles everything with the zeal and bravado of the fairytale heroes she grew up reading about. She slays monsters, real and imaginary, like there's no tomorrow. By day she rocks a keyboard as a marketing extraordinaire. At night she battles with her mighty pen-sword, creating fairytale retellings, and sexy ever after tales. In her spare time, she loves pretending she's a mighty warrior, walks on the beach with her dogs, cuddling up with her cats, and devouring every fantasy tale she can get her pinkies on.
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