by Cassi Carver
It was half-disgusting, half-enthralling, watching him tear off thick hunks of flesh, devouring the slab of steak with his sharp fangs fully extended. While he finished the second one, Kara drained the macaroni. She didn’t have any milk left, so she just poured the noodles back in the pot and added the butter and cheese powder.
“You still want to try this?” She pointed to the stove. Her knees felt weak and even she could smell the bitter tang of fear oozing out in her sweat, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of showing anything in her expression but contempt.
He strode forward, grasped the handles of the pot and tipped the metal to his mouth. When the scorching surface hit his lips, he howled and chucked the pot against the far wall, cracking the drywall and splattering cheesy elbows from the entryway to the dishwasher. “How do you eat that?” he asked, surprised—and maybe a little impressed.
Kara would have snickered if the whole damn thing hadn’t been so bizarre. “I put it in a bowl and wait for it to cool down.”
“Ah.” He rubbed a fist over his distended stomach. “I’ve had enough.”
She wet a dishtowel and wrung out the water, then tossed it to him. “Here. For the…” She made a face and gestured to his sticky chest and bloody arms.
He frowned, seeming to ponder the merit of the towel, then he wiped it over his skin and threw it down. “I will rest now. Come.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the master bedroom. From the other side of the room, he lifted his hand and the balcony doors slammed shut. She felt the ward springing back to life, first the blue flame, then a stronger surge of energy wafted up from the floor, covering the blue light in smoky, undulating shadows.
When he pulled her down on the bare mattress beside him, her heart thrashed against her ribs. “I’ll just grab you a pillow and blanket,” she said, quickly scooting off the bed and darting around the other side. She picked up the pillow he’d discarded and some blankets and shoved them at his head. “Here you go. I nap on the floor. That’s where I sleep best. It has to do with my bad back. You know…firm surface and all.”
He reached the foot of the bed and grabbed the folded pillowcase he’d claimed as his own, then he caught Kara’s hand again in a tight grip and yanked her down beside him.
Just stay calm, she told herself. Don’t let him see you’re scared, and for heaven’s sake, try not to inhale his scent.
He spooned into her from behind, draped the limp pillowcase over his shoulder and rested his chin on the top of her head. “Stay here. I’ll deal with you when I wake.”
His grip on her was unyielding. She didn’t have an inch to wiggle away. “Sure thing.”
His breath stirred her hair. “You smell right.”
“So you said.” She felt his large shaft nudging the cleft of her ass, and she started to sweat. This time she was sure it was from pure panic. If he forced himself on her, what could she do? Go for his eyes? Scald him with more macaroni?
“I need to sleep,” he said, his voice already sounding groggy.
She lay stretched out beside him, her body as rigid and fragile as an ice sculpture. “Feel free. Don’t let me keep you up.” Shit. She cringed at the double meaning he might find in those words.
“I haven’t slept, but I’m tired.” And for a frighteningly powerful being, he sounded tired.
“You haven’t slept since when?”
“Since time began.”
She knew he was referring to when he rose from the earth. “Are you saying you haven’t slept in days?”
“Weeks.”
She might have felt worse for him if not for his thick cock pressing into her towel and his exotic scent causing sweat to trickle down her cleavage. “Is that normal?”
“I’m not sure.”
She wanted to pull her hair out in frustration. What the hell was going on? “You don’t know your name, where you came from or why you look like the man I loved. They tell me it’s not possible, but you’re either him or one sick bastard.”
“I know my name.” Dragging his chin from the top of her head to her temple, he flicked out his tongue and caught the drop of moisture beading on her skin. “Tonight, it’s Julian.”
“And what happens tomorrow, Julian? What are you going to do with me?”
She felt the low rumble of his chest vibrating in her back. “No more questions. Sleep now.” He shifted, wrapping his huge hands around her waist as he inched lower.
“Ah!” She felt the sting as he bit the curve between her shoulder and her neck. But when he latched on, her body ignited like dry tinder. She was ashamed at the involuntary response, but as he suckled the wound, her pussy grew slick and her clit engorged. Even knowing he might kill her tomorrow, she wasn’t sure she could deny him tonight.
Thick-skinned vampire assassin meets smart-mouthed druid archer. Run, Cupid, run.
A Low Down Dirty Shane
© 2012 Sierra Dean
Shane Hewitt has been many things—failed husband, supernatural punching bag, and now a bitch to the vampire council of New York City. He thought killing rogue vampires was the hardest thing he’d ever do. Until a hot redhead smashes into him, shouts orders and announces she’s saving his life.
The sole female warrior in a family of druids, Siobhan O’Malley knows how to take care of herself and protect the big city from beasties who breach gateways from the fae realm. The last thing she needs is a misguided, leather-clad hottie’s help to get the job done.
Except maybe he’s exactly what she needs. Siobhan is expected to be a willing, virginal sacrifice on her twenty-fifth birthday. Sex with Shane to stay alive? If he can pull his foot out of his mouth long enough and stop driving her crazy, no problem.
Now if only the bad guys would leave them alone long enough to get the deed done.
Warning: Contains a wee red-headed archer with deadly aim; a leather-jacket-wearing vampire hunter with a habit for saying all the wrong things; and a life-saving ritual that will leave them both panting.
Enjoy the following excerpt for A Low Down Dirty Shane:
The next thing Shane knew he was throwing up on the sidewalk.
“Idiot,” Siobhan said, but she was laughing as she said it. “You’re lucky we didn’t end up trading tongues in the transport.”
“Hurrruffff,” Shane replied, seeing his SpaghettiOs dinner for the second time that night.
She gave him a gentle kick in the ribs. As gentle as a kick in the ribs could be, anyway.
“Get up, you great big pussy.”
Shane clambered to his feet, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and leveling her a hard glare. “A warning would have been nice.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. You were too busy sexually assaulting me for me to get around to an in-flight safety demonstration.”
“I’m starting to think your family had the right idea wanting to sacrifice you.”
They stared at each other. She broke first, showing a half smile in spite of her best efforts to remain stony. “Yeah, well. You fucked that up. In a manner of speaking.”
Shane snorted. “Where have you taken us, you crazy woman?” He tried for nasty, but his tone made it sound endearing. He was failing on every level, and this chick was turning him into a big old softhearted mess. This was terrible.
“We’re near the gateway. It’s over there.” She pointed.
To a Bath & Body Works.
“Are you shitting me?” He stared at her, doubting her sanity. Certainly she was playing a trick on him. Some sort of druid hazing ritual. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”
“Sir, I shit you not.”
“I think I hate you.”
Siobhan smirked. “It’s not actually the store. The store is just an entry point.” She took his hand and dragged him towards the building.
“Am I going to throw up again?”
“Probably not.”
“You don’t sound too sure.”
“I’m not.”
“That’s comforting,” Shane sai
d with a groan.
“Hey, if you want comfort, get a Snuggie. Sweetheart.” She opened the door, and before he could protest she yanked him through.
Instead of being bombarded with the smell of fruit-scented candles and hand sanitizers, Shane walked headlong into a peach-colored fog. His hand tightened on Siobhan’s reflexively, and she squeezed back, passing assurances without words.
The air was warm and glittery, the sparkly haze made him uneasy, but the heat comforted him and cast a drowsy spell over his senses, subduing the edge of worry. The atmosphere itself was lulling him into a false sense of security.
Shane blinked a few times, trying to get his bearings, but as soon as he thought he understood the weird pastel environment, it had vanished. What was on the other side wasn’t soothing at all and gave him no illusions of comfort and safety.
They were on the edge of a circle of elder trees, standing between two of the big trunks and looking into a clearing in the middle where a large stone slab was mounted on two smaller slabs. A group of men in thick black cloaks was struggling with a slender, tall blonde who could have been a Sears catalog model if not for her librarian-style glasses. What was with all the hot virgins? If all the so-called pure girls looked like this virgin sacrifice and Siobhan, Shane would have to reconsider his stance on deflowering them. For the sake of humanity, of course.
“Let me go, you freaks.” She wrested one hand free and landed a punch squarely inside the hood of the man nearest her. For such a skinny thing, she had a lot of fight in her.
Shane was guessing girls in New York were a lot tougher now than they’d been the last time these guys had tried to sacrifice one. Unfortunately for this spitfire she was outnumbered, and their surprise at her fervor was short-lived. It didn’t matter how tough you were, getting coldcocked over the back of the head with a stone knife hilt was going to knock you out. The girl went limp and was positioned on the large gray slab.
The men set about ripping her clothes off, tossing her jeans and sweater to the ground. Shane couldn’t watch anymore.
“Hey, Red. Got any bright ideas here? Otherwise I’m just going to start shooting them all.”
“You can’t.” Siobhan shook her head, but her gaze was focused raptly on the scene before them.
“I have two guns here saying I can.”
“No, you don’t get it.” She directed his attention to a white ring around the ceremony site. “They’ve already sealed themselves in.” To prove her point she threw a twig at the clearing. The branch bounced off an invisible barrier and came flying back towards them while a wave of energy shimmered in the wake of the assault. “Now imagine what would happen with a bullet.”
Shane whistled.
“So what’s our plan of action here?”
Siobhan looked at him and bit her lower lip. “How much blood are you willing to let me have?”
As far as weird requests went, Siobhan knew this would probably stand out as a memorable one for Shane.
“My…blood?” he asked, his voice quavering. “What are you going to do with my blood?”
“They’re inside an unbreakable circle,” she said.
“And?”
“That circle is directly on top of the gate.”
He looked like he was itching to reach for a weapon. “And?” Clearly he was still stuck on the whole give me your blood thing.
“If nothing can get in, nothing can get out. Not until the ritual is complete or the circle is broken.”
Shane didn’t bother saying and this time.
Siobhan sighed. “They are standing on top of a gateway to a dimension full of monsters. And they. Can’t. Get. Out.”
His eyes widened as he caught up to her thought train. “You’re going to open the gate.”
“Yes.”
“What about the girl?”
Siobhan looked at her replacement who was passed out cold and stripped bare on the altar. “The high council are cowards at the core. They’ll open the circle to save themselves, and if we do this right, we’ll be able to get in and grab her before whatever comes out has a chance to get her first. It’s the only way we’re getting over that line.”
Shane whistled again, a low, impressed sound. “You’ve got bigger balls than I do.”
Pulling her knife out, she tried to lighten the mood. “I think we both know that’s not true.” She held out her empty hand, and he gave her his arm with only the slightest hesitation.
“Try not to kill me,” he warned.
“Try not to die,” she countered before she slit open his arm.
The Silverwing’s Sorceress
Cassi Carver
His wings were made to protect her…but her heart is a no-fly zone.
The Shadow Slayers, Book 2.5
Abbey Sellers has to get out of town for a few days while trouble at home sorts itself out. A getaway to her family’s mountain retreat with her friend, Jaxon, is exactly what she needs to relax and forget the wound etched into her stomach. Except since the scorching kiss they shared, spending time with Jaxon isn’t as relaxing as it used to be.
Grounded warriors, secret tunnels, and an ancient Book of Death are only part of the problem. How does any woman with a pulse stay “just friends” with a man who spent a hundred years honing his lovemaking skills in a harem? Besides, he’s immortal, and she has a shelf life. Jaxon, though, isn’t listening—or taking no for an answer.
Jaxon Hex finally knows what he wants, and he won’t let anything stop him from making Abbey his. Not even the devastating secret he’s been hiding from her. With the coven out to assassinate the woman he loves, and Abbey dabbling in death magic that could get her killed, his own blood could be the one thing that heals her—or separates them for all eternity.
Warning: This book contains a warrior with needs, a woman with willpower issues and a cabin that’s not what it seems. Watch out for no-holds-barred sex and a love that can move mountains…literally.
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B
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The Silverwing’s Sorceress
Copyright © 2012 by Cassi Carver
ISBN: 978-1-61921-185-8
Edited by Jennifer Miller
Cover by Angela Waters
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: December 2012
www.samhainpublishing.com