Yew Queen Trilogy

by Eve A Hunt

  Lucus looked gorgeous, of course. He wore his own fae clothing—a shirt that looked like it was made from lilies, a vest of acorn tops and oak leaves, Renaissance-style leafed trousers, and tall boots made of magicked, pliant pine bark. His wings shuffled when he saw me, his horns catching the light, and then he smiled. Our fated mate bond surged powerfully inside me, drawing me closer to him, my bare feet cool on the damp cobblestones.

  At the bower, Lucus took my crown and set it on my loose and slightly tangled hair.

  The world changed.

  Every leaf in the bower showed a thousand shades of green, hues I’d never seen, colors I couldn’t begin to understand. The flowers were limned in an amethyst that resembled the color of mage magic. Lucus practically glowed. His skin was luminescent, and the emerald strands of his hair stood out, bright and stunning.

  Lucus took my hands in his. “This is how I see. This is a fae’s view of the world. When you so choose, you will have my sight, my power, my protection.” He turned to Kaippa, who gave Hekla a wink, then handed a ring to each of us.

  I placed one golden band on Lucus’s finger, not worrying about certain vows and just following my heart. “When you so choose, you will have my magic, my body, and my pumpkin muffins.”

  He grinned at our joined hands.

  “I am yours,” I added.

  “And I am yours.” He slid the other ring on my finger, his gaze going liquid with desire.

  With the breeze stirring the train of my fae dress, a crown on my head, and magic singing in my ears, I kissed my fae lord and made him mine forever.

  If you’d like to get updates on the next series in the Yew Queen world (it will feature vampire rulers who have business with Kaippa and Hekla), sign up for my newsletter at https://www.alishaklapheke.com/eve-a-hunt.

  You’ll also receive a character interview with Lucus, a scene from his point of view, updates on releases, and free books written under my other name. Though I send newsletters twice a month now, I will most likely take a break from emailing beginning the summer of 2020 and pick back up with you once I have more Yew Queen books ready at the start of 2021. Sound like a plan?

  I hope you enjoyed the Yew Queen trilogy, my lovely readers!

  Love,

  Eve

  P.S. Please consider leaving a review for the Yew Queen Trilogy. Reviews help me out big time by telling Amazon to keep showing new readers my books.

  Here is a link to make it super easy.

  About the Author

  Eve A. Hunt is the pen name for USA Today bestselling author Alisha Klapheke. When she isn’t crafting new stories for you, she can be found perusing museums around the world or teaching MMA at her family’s gym. She lives on four acres with her two insanely creative kids, her cats, and her ninja husband in Franklin, Tennessee—the town featured in this series.

  Also by Eve A. Hunt/Alisha Klapheke

  Dragons Rising Series

  Fate of Dragons

  Band of Breakers

  Queen of Seas

  Sword of Oak

  The Edinburgh Seer Trilogy

  The Edinburgh Seer

  The Edinburgh Heir

  The Edinburgh Fate

  The Uncommon World Series

  Waters of Salt and Sin

  Fever

  Plains of Sand and Steel

  Forest of Silver and Secrets

  Rune Kingdom (standalone in the same world)

  Kaippa Receives a Letter…

  Coffee was growing on me, as Hekla would say. I watched the love of my cursed life walk through the door of Sweet Touch, the bakery Hekla and her friend Coren ran. Hekla blew her thick fringe of black hair from her blue-shadowed eyes and studied a letter.

  “Kaippa, I think this is for you?” Her adorable nose wrinkled as she held the letter out to me.

  I wanted to grab her by the hair—gently mind you—and get her up against a wall, but sure, I could control myself for a potentially important—

  Frowning, I set my cup on the counter near the cashier who was snapping her gum as usual. “Who would know where I am? Everyone I know is dead.”

  Hekla winced, eyeing the customers who had frozen in the process of nibbling scones and sipping cappuccinos.

  The humans knew vampires like me existed, knew Hekla was a fox shifter, and knew about the fae that Coren preferred, but sometimes the details still floored them. I liked that term. Floored. Another bit Hekla had taught me.

  Handing me the letter, she wrapped one arm around me, just under my invisible wings. “Who’s it from?”

  Blood-red wax sealed the back, the uneven closure showing a sphinx. A distant memory tickled my head, but wouldn’t come forward. I cracked the seal and pulled out a heavy sheet of parchment. Only one line had been written in the center of the page.

  Rome. Immediately. Or she will die.

  “What in hells?” I turned it over, but there was nothing. Not a signature, a detail. Nothing. The thing didn’t even have a real scent to it.

  I realized Hekla’s arm had slid away and she was chewing her cuticles as Coren warned me she would when worried.

  “What does that mean?” Hekla frowned around her flayed fingernails. “Who is she?”

  Wincing, I shoved a scone her way. “I think they mean you, foxy. Because if this letter is for me, you’re the only she I would care about.”

  Her eyes widened. “Fuck.”

  “Yes. I’m tempted to ignore this, but it has the air of someone who doesn’t explain him or herself before ripping my beloved’s head from her body. So what do you think? Shall we flit off to Rome for adventure?”

  Hekla’s lips pursed and she stared at me flatly. “Adventure that may or may not end in my death.”

  “Or mine? It definitely could end in mine.”

  “Peachy.” She took a massive bite of the baked treat.

  I elbowed her. “Ah, come on. I’m bored. Let’s go wrestle with some trouble.” I joked, but the letter had my hackles up. Hekla’s friend Coren had broken a curse that led to humans discovering all about us supernaturals. That kind of magic would have extensive effects on standing spells and organizations.

  As for who sent the letter, well, only one of my enemies lived and he was the most deadly vampire that had ever, or would ever, live.

  Akhenaten, High King of the Old Blood.

  Perhaps all of our shenanigans had ruffled his feathers. I didn’t think for one second that the scary as hell former pharaoh wouldn’t want my testicles on a stick.

  A shudder rattled my bones.

  This was going to get very interesting.

  Vampire Unbound

  ~A raw, unedited sneak peek of a new book in the Yew Queen World~

  Chapter One

  Jess

  A rush of tingling magic ruined my fabulous nap.

  I opened my eyes to complete darkness. Hmm. Odd. A sweat broke across my back which was pressed against a hard surface. I tried to move my arms, but a barrier held me… Beside me, above…

  I was trapped in a box.

  A coffin.

  Screams tore from my throat and I pushed at the lid, only managing to let in lines of dim light along the seams of the coffin or whatever this thing was. Muscles stiff, I shoved harder, sweat rolling down my face and plastering my hair against my skull. Finally, there was a crack, a give, and I was launching the lid to the floor of what looked like the ruins of a cathedral. Lightning crackled and rain flitted through the partially destroyed roof. I peered down past my checkered Vans.

  I stood on a wall of stacked coffins.

  Swallowing bile, I turned to see three other makeshift walls of coffins. Each of the strange, dark orange body containers—ugh, gross—showed a label.

  Mabel. Jon. Don Giovanni. Saoirse. Helga D. Rafael. Ekon.

  Names. A shudder gripped my bones.

  “Jess.” A tall, broad-shouldered man with light brown skin, black hair, and eyes that looked like they were lined in black makeup gazed at me from the floor. He
stood beside a red-haired woman in jeans. “Please come here,” he said as he calmly removed his suit jacket and set it on a carved, wooden chair that looked like a throne.

  My brain fizzed like a dropped Coke can. I blinked. His name almost came to me, but then it fled as my stomach growled. I patted my painfully empty belly. My Lollapalooza shirt was destroyed. Green shit grew along the short, white hem and the Sonic Youth band logo was peeling off. Hell, my shorts were crumbling under my fingers. What in the world was going on?

  “Jess,” the man said again, his voice somewhere between a general’s command and a kitten’s purr.

  I couldn’t help but look down obediently, which pissed me off. “What? I can’t remember who you are.”

  “Akhenaten, Jess. I’m your maker. Now, I know you’re confused and uncomfortable. If you’ll just come to me…” He waved a hand and the urge to leap down to him nearly overwhelmed me.

  My mind cleared. Akhnaten. Yes! I remembered him. Wait.

  I’d completely forgotten I was a damn vampire.

  But I didn’t have time to deal the sudden onslaught of memories like meeting Akh and his friends at a bar in downtown Knoxville after a UT game, how I’d stupidly had far too many beers and ended up following his friend to his Porsche where he’d…

  The coffins under mine began to shake. Shouts and grunts grew louder than the storm. All the vampires were waking up. Not good.

  A scent grabbed my nose and my mouth watered, my stomach roaring. It was coming from the red-head. I swallowed as all sounds went quiet except for her breathing, her heart beating.

  “Jess. No.” Akh turned to whisper to the woman. She ran toward the door, bright hair flying.

  Stomach insistent, demanding, I leapt from one wall of coffins to the next, the jump exhilarating, cooling my sweating body and making me feel so alive. Running down the closed coffins, dodging the an open and its inhabitant’s grasping, skeletal fingers, I tried to remember how I’d ended up here.

  But the memories weren’t there. One day I’d been jumping off cliffs at Loudon Lake, ignoring Akh’s instructions to lay low, and the next, I’d been waking up here in this insane place.

  The human’s scent pulled me from the second set of stacked coffins to the floor where I landed right in front of her. She cowered in the corner, fingers covering her face.

  “Hey.” I held out my hands. “I’m not going to kill you. I’m not a murderer like some of them. I am really good at feeding, then letting you go.”

  She yelped and I heard Akh murmur something behind me. He was coming and I had to hurry. He wouldn’t let me release her. He had always killed the ones I fed on even though he kept his own collection of willing humans. It was unfair and I was tired as shit of his arrogant games.

  Mouth watering like crazy, I stepped forward and ran a shaking hand over the woman’s soft cheek. I really had no choice. I had to eat. Now. “Relax. It’ll be okay.”

  And then my mouth was on her neck and her warm, wonderful blood was on my lips.

  Magic and life tingled through me, filling me with energy and strength.

  I licked the bite wound so it would heal closed, then I moved back. “See?” I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Gods, I felt amazing. “You’re fine. You can go.” I leaned forward and she jumped. “Run now. Because this guy back here is a real nasty one. He won’t be cool with it.”

  Her eyes darted like a bird’s, then she took off through the doorway like she had wings.

  I spun to face Akh. “She’s fast for a human. Please don’t kill her.”

  Akh looked down on me and raised one jet eyebrow as he rolled his sleeves to his elbows. His tie was tucked into his shirt between the buttons and his slacks were pressed into submission. Power emanated from him like he was plugged in to the very heart of the universe. He’d been close to a bunch of super-powered mages back in the old Egyptian days when he’d ruled as pharaoh so it never surprised me. What did surprise me was how my body flooded with heat when he was nearby. You’d think I’d know better after the two weeks I’d spent dealing with his lording over me, before I had been shoved into a coffin. Regardless of the fact that he was most likely the reason I’d been put to sleep, I longed to rip his fancy clothing right off and feel the curves and planes of his broad chest, what I was sure was a muscled stomach, and those freaking sexy as hell man hips that framed his slim waist. I licked blood from my bottom lip, then bit it like a lovesick loser.

  But damn. Anyone would be feeling the same in my place.

  “Jess.” Akh’s eyes glittered and I was reminded of a cobra. “You know you can’t just let them go like that. They’ll tell the world.”

  “I won’t let you kill her.” I crossed my arms and stood in the doorway, knowing this was stupid. I couldn’t outmuscle or outrun him. But maybe just standing up to his arrogant ass would do something for the woman.

  “Lucky for her, I have more pressing issues at hand.”

  Akh whirled and threw a hammer fist at another vampire, a man with a scraggly blond beard. The vampire growled as he fell. He’d be up again soon though. When a vampire went wild, there was no room for mercy. They had to be staked and staked good.

  And right now, Akh and I were facing a room full of wild vampires. Almost all of the coffins were tumbling to the ground to open wide or were already releasing their angry occupants.

  Akh handed me the broken arm of the wooden chair I’d noticed earlier. The other chair arm was gripped in his white-knuckled hand. A bead of sweat ran down his handsome temple. Shit. I had never seen Akh scared.

  “Remember your training. If you aim for the heart,” he said, “we might be done by sunrise.”

  I raised the stake and went to my bloody work.

  ~Vampire Unbound will release in 2021. Sign up for my newsletter to receive updates.~

  https://www.alishaklapheke.com/eve-a-hunt