Excerpt from BLOOD BONDS:
Ascher and Shauna sat facing one another, hands clasped, their gazes locked and searching for the undying devotion and love in each other’s eyes. He leaned into her, drawing her into his embrace, inhaling the sweetness of her hair—one of his favorite past times. The new information had to be disconcerting for her. His life had been one prediction after another.
He spent much of his existence minding the covenants and adhering to a prophecy that turned out to be false. Quickening was the only proof he needed to affirm his decision. Anything else was an afterthought and he’d treat it as such. He pulled her closer to gauge her pulse and breathing. “You’re quiet. Are you okay? Do you need someone to check you out?”
Shauna sighed heavily, snuggling closer to him. “Can Zion be trusted? Klaus professed a false prophecy. Who says this isn’t one, as well?”
He knew she was overwhelmed by everything—the prophecy, the sealing, their wedding. “Imagine how I feel. This is the second time someone has placed a sealing prophecy on my shoulders. I don’t know if it’s true and I don’t care, because no one can dictate to me what’s in my heart.”
“Which is?”
“That you’re the perfect one for me always, until the end of eternity and I don’t need some ancient prediction to tell me that.”
Their intense glances met and he saw the uncertainty burning back at him from her eyes.
“Something else is wrong. What is it, Shauna?”
She stared down, twisting her fingers together in her lap.
Placing a comforting hand against her face, he lifted her chin up to meet his gaze. “Eyes up,” he whispered. “What is it, really?”
“I had a bad dream last night,” Shauna managed to squeak out.
“About?”
“The baby.”
Ascher knew she still dreamed of the baby that would never be. He often thought of him, too, wondering what Shauna would look like swollen with pregnancy, or what the child would have been like. Once or twice, he’d even dreamed of a precious little angel with jet-black hair, a flushed, tanned complexion and the most beautiful dark eyes. He’d hold on to that image until he held a baby in his arms to complete it.
“If I had not miscarried, I’d be showing by now.” She trailed her hand across her flat stomach as the tears spilled over in her eyes.
Ascher grabbed her, holding her to him as the grief vibrated throughout her body. “It’s okay,” he whispered in her ear. “It’s okay to be sad, love.”
She nudged her face into his gray sweater. “Sometimes I feel so empty and it hurts me so much, Ash. I think about the baby every day, wondering if I could have done anything different. I had to save my sister; I couldn’t let Ursula kill her.”
He set her away from him, shaking his head with disapproval and placing a silencing finger to her lips. “Shhh...Sweetheart. What happened was not your fault. We’ve been over this before.” He stroked her cheek with his thumbs to wipe the tears from her weary face.
Ascher gazed into her sorrowful eyes and saw the raw emotion reflecting from them. He imagined that if he were able to cry he’d have cried a river over their loss. Sometimes, he wished he could cry to release some of the rage that he held pinned inside of him. Losing that baby cut him deep, like a knife slicing his heart into millions of pieces. He didn’t know anything could ever wound him so much, and yet the only thing that could hurt him more would be the loss of Shauna.
Ursula had it coming for her part in their misery. That bitch was on borrowed time and the payback hourglass was almost empty. He shoved down the growl begging to surface from his depths, until it rumbled and burned hot in his belly. Ascher embraced Shauna again, strumming his fingers through her hair and thinking about his revenge. The telltale pulsing deep inside him finally made it to his eyes, tinting the lush green landscape blood red with his ire. He would get satisfaction for the shedding of Rousseau blood.
A wave of sadness crested within him and replaced the anger, sweeping through him like an emotional tidal wave. He held her tighter to comfort her and to hide the rage burning in his eyes, as his right hand joined hers to caress her vacant stomach. They sat seeking the comfort of one another’s embrace, the only sounds their breathing and Shauna’s muffled cries against his chest as the warm wind rustled in the trees surrounding them.
When the crimson left his sight, he brought his hand under her chin lifting her face to meet his heavyhearted gaze. Placing his hand over her stomach again, he whispered, “We will make another life, Shauna, when you’re ready.”
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SURVIVAL GAMES by J.E. Taylor
Until he snatches sexy stock jock Jessica Connor, Ty Aris happily followed his stepbrother’s orders, producing some of the most coveted black market porn and snuff films on the street. But the day he grabs her in the parking lot, his life becomes a living nightmare.
Jessica foils his plans, fires his passion, and frustrates the hell out of him. She never gives in to his demands, his pleas or his desires, and yet a psychic bond claims his soul and melts the iron walls around his heart. His obsession sparks a fierce rift when Frank wants to start filming. Ty stalls with any and every excuse in the book, fueling Frank’s fury, but he knows it’s only a matter of time before he loses this game.
With the clock ticking, he scrambles for escape options.
Options that won’t land him in jail...or worse...a captive in Frank’s sadistic prison.
“From the beginning, the book was captivating, the characters well described and the unrolling of the story; without flaw. Reading this book felt like I was in a whirl wind of emotions; hate, love, sadness, pain (actual physical pain in my chest) horror and arousal (the tender but rare parts in the book). I strongly suggest that you read this book, it WILL change your mentality about the fine line that separates love and hate and the extremities and sacrifices one will take for someone they love... I give this book 5 starts for forever leaving a mark on me.” Amazon Review by Aidee Mims
“I rarely write a review, but this one kept me up nights. Nightmarishly delicious without a hint of shying away from the seductively scrumptious flavor from one page to the next. Horror, torture, hate, fear and sensuality. This story has a little bit of everything in it with the grim intensity of eliciting these emotions in the reader.” Amazon 5 Star Review by Anna
“Horrible, kind, cruel, sick, beautiful, hideous, and so much more. Totally NOT a book for "NORMAL" readers. It covers nearly all the seven deadly sins and then some. Humanity is so ugly and complicated. This book covered a lot of the human element, its graphic truth and ugly allure.” Amazon 5 Star Review by C. Salgado
“I was a little hesitant getting this trilogy. I read all the time - Grisham, Koontz, Clancey and many more authors. After reading the reviews, I decided I would give the books a try, partly because of the price for all three books. I was blown away! You definitely have to keep an open mind but loving and hating the villain is something that is impossible for an author to do. You want them caught, prosecuted - no matter what catch them - but the author made me hate him, love him, cry for him even laugh out loud. I couldn't put it down until I was finished with all three. If you don't read these books it's a loss - very much a page turner.” Amazon 5 Star Review by Hard To Please for the Games Trilogy (Survival Games, Mind Games and End Game).
This book is for sale to Adult Audiences Only. It contains substantial sexually explicit scenes, graphic language and violence that may be considered offensive by some readers.
MIND GAMES by J.E. Taylor
Chris Ryan doesn’t understand why he’s alive. By all accounts, he should have died in the prison he and his stepbrother created. Dying screams and the ring of gunshots still haunt his dreams and to make matters worse, five years hasn’t erased his passion for Jessica Connor.
She left him bleeding on the cold concrete floor, escaping the prison that held her for close
to a year. Semi-conscious and close to death, his gaze fell on an apparition of her son and white light filled his skin, healing his wounds and giving him a second chance...and to this day that power still rages within him.
Haunting visions of her daughter’s death drive him out of hiding and he shows up at her doorstep with the intent of giving her the power he safeguarded all these years. But his good intentions fall short when they realize he led the vengeful spirit of his stepbrother straight to her.
Cancer is no longer their biggest worry, now Chris and Jessica must battle a ghost hell bent on destroying all of them.
This book is for sale to Adult Audiences Only. It contains substantial sexually explicit scenes, graphic language and violence that may be considered offensive by some readers.
END GAME by J.E. Taylor
Chris Ryan has everything he's ever dreamed of: the love of a beautiful woman, two amazing children, an obscene amount of money and mystical powers beyond his wildest dreams.
His perfectly planned Valentine’s Day proposal hits a speed bump when Jessica receives a call from her ex-husband and agrees to attend the premier of his movie in New York City. A movie Chris isn’t so sure he wants to see, especially on the same night as his wedding.
Sharing the spotlight with her ex becomes the least of his concerns when three thousand miles away on the sunny coast of California, a scorned woman activates a contract on Jessica.
He lands in the cross hairs between an endless trail of assassins and his wife, fending them off and vowing revenge on the crazy bitch that set them loose. But his valiant efforts crumble in a near fatal hit leaving him on the brink.
In the dark plane between life and death, Chris is given a choice: Save his family or save his soul.
This book is for sale to Adult Audiences Only. It contains substantial sexually explicit scenes, graphic language and violence that may be considered offensive by some readers.
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The Progeny (The Progeny Series) Page 31