Steal the Sun

by Lexi Blake

  Daniel stood up. He was slightly breathless. “Is that what I think it is?”

  Everyone stared as Nim pulled a magnificent sword from its sheath. The sword caught every eye in the room. It was polished and gleamed brightly in the midday light.

  “Excalibur.” Nim turned the weapon, offering the hilt to Daniel. “I think it’s yours for now, Daniel. Wield it well and always point it justly.”

  Daniel took the sword from Nim’s small hands. He tested the weight and after a moment bowed to her. “I’m honored you believe me worthy of this sword. I promise I’ll use it wisely.”

  I looked at Nim. “So this old boyfriend of yours?” I knew the stories.

  She grimaced. “Yeah, Merlin. We might have trouble with him but he can fix Daniel’s problem.”

  Dev sighed. “So we’re going to journey to unleash the wizard Merlin from his prison with the Lady of the Lake and Daniel gets to play around with Excalibur. The first person to call me Lancelot gets beaten soundly.”

  “I hadn’t even thought it,” I lied with a bright smile.

  “I had,” Daniel admitted.

  “He was a good boy. He just fell for a girl. It had nothing whatsoever to do with his odd upbringing.” Nim shrugged. “I taught him to be a free spirit.”

  I recalled that Vivienne had adopted the mighty knight. It was hard to think of Nim as a mother.

  “Well, now that everyone is happy, I would like a word with my sister-in-law,” Declan announced.

  “Not a chance.” It was the first time since the battle that Dev had spoken directly to his brother.

  “You are leaving tomorrow,” Declan argued. “You will not speak to me so I am forced to speak to her.”

  I stood up. “It’s fine,” I said to Dev. I was interested to see what he wanted. He had been watching me for days with contemplative eyes. “I won’t be more than a minute.”

  I followed Declan out to the front of the temple, thinking about the fact that we had Excalibur. How could we use it to take out Marini, beyond the obvious fact that he would look good skewered on it?

  The breeze was warm and made me wonder how much time had passed on the Earth plane. What season would it be when we got home?

  “I know your vampire is planning a war, Zoey,” Declan said abruptly.

  “It’s none of your business.” I had zero intentions of allowing him to piss me off.

  Declan looked out over the courtyard, but the set of his jaw was angry. “I will make this succinct. I know my brother and I are estranged, but he is still my brother. I expect you and Daniel to keep him safe. If he is killed, I shall hold you responsible and we shall have a problem.”

  With that said, Declan turned and walked away, having nothing further to say to me.

  * * * *

  I sighed as I took in the door that would land us back in Texas. It had already been an exhausting journey. We had to travel from the Unseelie sithein through the Seelie sithein. The only bright spot had been seeing Miria and Bibi one last time. Miria had put on a brave face and tried to pretend nothing was wrong. Dev had managed a strained good-bye kiss for his mother.

  “Tell me there’s a limo waiting on the other side of that door,” Neil begged.

  Dev laughed. “We’re in the middle of nowhere, Neil. A limo would have trouble with the terrain. I have a couple of jeeps coming for us. I promise, though, once we get to Austin, it will be nothing but first class all the way.”

  The door to the sithein shimmered and suddenly I could see rolling hills and cactus plants. Lee practically ran through the door and Zack was right behind him. Daniel looked so happy to be going home. Dev did, too, but I knew the trip had not gone as he’d hoped. I looked back and saw Felix helping his wife up. I thought about the secret she had told me last night, the one she had shared only with Felix and Neil.

  Sarah was pregnant.

  She’d cried and hoped it didn’t upset me. I assured her it didn’t, but I lied. It didn’t hurt me because I was jealous. It hurt because I would miss her. I’d talked to Felix and he agreed with me that it would be best for them to distance themselves for a while. I didn’t want anything to happen to Sarah or her baby and I couldn’t promise she would be safe as long as she was close to me. Louis Marini had already proven he would use anyone I cared about as a pawn in our game.

  Dev stood at the door. I hesitated for a moment. We had stopped a war on this plane, but I was walking through the door to home with the full intention of starting one this time.

  Daniel took my left hand and I gave Dev my right, and as we walked through together, I had but one thought.

  I prayed this was a war we could win.

  Zoey, Daniel, and Dev will return in June 2014 with Steal the Night.

  Author’s Note

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  Steal the Night

  Thieves, Book 5

  By Lexi Blake

  Coming June 3, 2014!

  Click here to purchase.

  She was born to be a thief. To save the world, she will have to become a queen…

  Zoey Donovan-Quinn is growing restless. After months of searching, her crew hasn’t been able to locate the resting place of the one man who could save Daniel. While they frantically continue their quest, Zoey is still struggling to recover from the devastating losses she suffered in Faery. In the midst of her grief and worry, Louis Marini appears and demands the Blood Stone he forced Zoey to steal. Zoey has no other choice than to hand it over.

  When the giant ruby’s true nature is revealed, Zoey discovers she has given their greatest enemy a weapon of unimaginable power. Equipped with the Blood Stone, Marini intends to dominate the supernatural world and, on a more personal note, claim Zoey as his companion.

  Desperate and on the run, Zoey, Dev, and Daniel forge an unlikely alliance with an old adversary who claims he can lead them to the wizard who can free Daniel from Marini’s clutches and help him claim his throne. As they race to solve a thousand-year-old mystery and gather their forces for the ultimate battle, Zoey prepares to do what she does best.

  If Daniel and Dev are to have any hope of victory, she will have to do the unthinkable... surrender to Louis Marini and steal back the Blood Stone.

  * * * *

  After a long while, he went still and turned to us and a slow, satisfied smile crossed his face. “It’s here, Your Highness.”

  Nimue went to stand next to the demon and gestured for Daniel to stand beside her. “We need the sword now.” She took it in her hand and frowned, looking the slightest bit nervous. “Now we find out if I did my job properly.”

  “What do you mean?” Danny asked.

  She tugged at her bottom lip with her teeth. “Well, there’s always a test with things like this.”

  “Like the sword in the stone?” I remembered my Arthurian lore, or at least the Disney movie.

  Nim nodded. “Yes, that was the test for the boy. I set up the test for this king a very long time ago. I didn’t know exactly why I chose this method because at the time it seemed odd, but something told me this was the proper challenge.”

  “Why a test?” Neil asked. “You’re the Lady of the Lake. Don’t you just know who to give the sword to?”

  “Think of it as a fail-safe,” the nymph replied. “If I’m incorrect, Excalibur in the hands of the wrong person could prove very bad for us all.”

  “But Daniel already has the sword,” Dev pointed out.

  Stewart chirped up to answer that question. “Oh, he won’t for long if he doesn’t pass this test. If he fails, we all die. Well, all of you die. I just go back to the Hell plane and resume my former l
ife. But I would mourn you all terribly.”

  “What’s the test, Nim?” Daniel asked.

  Nim smiled a secret little smile. “It’s simple, Daniel. I thought at the time it was too simple, but now it’s very fitting. I’m sure it will all work out. The world needed Arthur’s strength so his test was one that proved it. The world needs something different from you.”

  Daniel sighed. It always came back to that. “Where am I supposed to bleed this time?”

  “Take the sword, please,” Nim instructed. “Give it to me and stand right here where the veil is the thinnest and the door can open.”

  Daniel did as instructed and the minute he was in place, Nim’s hand came back and she sent Excalibur straight into Daniel’s gut with a horrible twist.

  All hell broke loose. Zack leapt forward, his semi pointed straight at the nymph’s head. Lee pulled me back even as I tried to run toward Daniel. Dev made it to our vampire first. Daniel had fallen to his knees, his blood spilling all over the green grass, but before Dev could reach down to haul him up, he put an arm out to stop him.

  “I’m fine,” I heard Daniel growl, clutching his middle.

  “She gutted you,” Dev yelled as he turned his face accusingly to Nim. His gun was on full display. “Give me one good reason I don’t put a bullet in your skull, Nimue or Vivienne or whatever the hell your name is.”

  “If you’re going to shoot me, you should step back to do it, Devinshea,” Nim announced even as I felt a wave of energy flicker across my skin. Lee cursed softly and I knew he felt it, too.

  “The veil is opening,” Stewart said. “Someone should get the king back unless he wants to be ripped in two.”

  Dev put his arm under Daniel’s shoulder on one side and Zack took the other. They started to hurry him away from the site.

  “Didn’t I just get ripped in two? Sure as hell felt like it,” Daniel muttered as they made their way to me.

  Lee let me go and I went down on my knees even as Daniel hit the ground.

  I knelt beside him feeling for the already healing wound. I expected it to be deep and still bleeding, but it was already closing. In moments there wouldn’t even be a scar. “Do you need blood?”

  He nodded. “Not you, baby. I already took my share from you.”

  Dev didn’t hesitate. His sleeve was already rolled up, as though he anticipated the need, and he came in behind Daniel, offering his wrist. He didn’t hiss at the pain. There was only a slight tightening around his eyes to show he felt anything at all as Daniel began to draw from him. I didn’t even yell at Danny for not pulling Dev in. That was a private thing and they wouldn’t do it in front of anyone but me.

  “We have to hurry.” Nim used her sweater to wipe the blood from the sword. She tossed it away when she was done and held Excalibur out for Daniel to retrieve. “The test has been passed. The king’s blood has opened the veil and Merlin waits. I’m sorry for the violent nature of the test, Daniel, but it was necessary. There’s no question now. You are the King of the Sword. Are you ready to meet your mentor?”

  Daniel released Dev’s wrist, licking the wound clean, and it quickly closed. He was on his feet and he helped Dev to his. Daniel looked down at his ruined T-shirt and sighed. He zipped up his leather jacket, covering the blood. Daniel looked down at me. He nodded to Dev and they each took an arm to escort me. It was how we had entered all state functions when we were in Faery. Daniel was signaling he wanted to continue the practice on this plane. “We are ready.”

  The demon held out his hand to stop us. “Please allow me to educate you in this. Your Highness, you should go first,” Stewart explained. “It’s tradition. This is a very important moment. It will be commented on and talked about. We must get it just right. The king enters, and then the queen, and then the rest of your retinue. You are at the center of this kingdom and we follow you.”

  Daniel actually threw back his head and laughed. “Stewart, you know nothing of my kingdom if you think I’m the center. I haven’t been the center of my world for at least twenty years and I don’t ever intend to be. As for tradition, well, it’s time I made my own.”

  In between the two men I loved more than anything in the world, I made my way into the prison of Myrddin Emrys.

  For more information or to purchase, click here.

  Dungeon Games: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella

  Masters and Mercenaries, Book 6.5

  By Lexi Blake

  Coming May 13, 2014

  Click here to purchase.

  Obsessed

  Derek Brighton has become one of Dallas’s finest detectives through a combination of discipline and obsession. Once he has a target in his sights, nothing can stop him. When he isn’t solving homicides, he applies the same intensity to his playtime at Sanctum, a secretive BDSM club. Unfortunately, no amount of beautiful submissives can fill the hole that one woman left in his heart.

  Unhinged

  Karina Mills has a reputation for being reckless, and her clients appreciate her results. As a private investigator, she pursues her cases with nothing holding her back. In her personal life, Karina yearns for something different. Playing at Sanctum has been a safe way to find peace, but the one Dom who could truly master her heart is out of reach.

  Enflamed

  On the hunt for a killer, Derek enters a shadowy underworld only to find the woman he aches for is working the same case. Karina is searching for a missing girl and won’t stop until she finds her. To get close to their prime suspect, they need to pose as a couple. But as their operation goes under the covers, unlikely partners become passionate lovers while the killer prepares to strike.

  * * * *

  “If it helps, I think you’re beautiful, Karina.”

  Kindness. It was the one thing that almost always disarmed her. She hadn’t had a whole lot of kindness from Derek Brighton, but then she hadn’t given him much of a chance. From the moment she’d laid eyes on him and felt that white-hot attraction she’d never felt before, she’d put up a wall between them.

  “I thought I wasn’t your type.” She’d hated hearing those words and yet she fully understood that they weren’t compatible.

  His mouth turned down showing lines she hadn’t noticed before. Worry lines. She wanted to smooth them away. “I can still appreciate how beautiful you are. You know what I want out of a relationship, right?”

  She’d certainly heard the rumors. “You want a twenty-four seven relationship.”

  “I do. I want a submissive who trusts me enough to take care of her. I want to be responsible for her. I want to take care of her financially, physically, and emotionally.”

  She couldn’t do that. She knew deep down she wouldn’t be happy in that kind of a relationship. She enjoyed D/s, craved it, but she couldn’t give him what he needed. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to. She’d had the love of her life. A person only got one of those. He’d died five years before and she’d been alone ever since, likely would remain alone for all but small patches of time. She wouldn’t marry again, but did that mean she couldn’t ever have the comfort of another body against hers? The D/s scenes she performed with her friends didn’t ease the ache of loneliness inside her.

  Was it really so wrong to take Derek up on his offer? Had she planned to spend the rest of her life without ever taking another lover?

  “Just for the case.” She heard herself saying the words and her heart fluttered.

  “Just for the case,” Derek agreed and patted his lap. “Trust me enough to take care of you as a Dom and as your partner.”

  She was either in or out. It was so obvious. If she walked out the door, they might be able to work together, but she would never know why he made her heart pound in her chest when he walked in a room. Why did it have to be this one man? Why couldn’t it have been her husband who had earned her love?

  Karina’s hands were shaking as she pushed the jeans over her hips and exposed her backside. Crisp chilly air hit her skin, but she still felt hot, like h
er skin was too tight and she couldn’t make it stretch.

  She pushed the jeans and underwear down and turned with as much grace as she could muster. She’d been in the lifestyle for a very long time so she could handle turning with her legs bound. She managed to place herself over his lap and stared down at the floor.

  Time seemed to stop. She stared at the clear plastic that protected the floor where Derek’s chair sat. This was where he sat every day and now he would have the memory of her laid out over his thighs. And she would have the memory of the way his cock pressed against her belly. He was so hard. Was that for her?

  His hand covered her cheek, a soft touch as though he was the one hesitating now.

  “Like I said, I think you’re quite beautiful, Karina. I’ve watched you for a very long time. How long have you been in Dallas?”

  His fingertips were skimming her ass, drawing out the anticipation of what would happen. She wanted to squirm, to make him move faster. She kind of thought he wouldn’t take that well. She settled for honesty. He had questions? She would give him answers. “Almost four years, Sir.”

  She’d stayed in their Brooklyn apartment until she couldn’t handle the memories a second longer. She’d come to Dallas because she’d worked a job or two for Big Tag and she didn’t have anywhere else to go. The heat of Texas hadn’t burned away her memories, but she’d been able to find her balance.

  “You lived in New York?”

  How little did he know about her? She figured after she’d called IA on his ass a year ago that he would do a search on her. “Yes. I was born in Queens, moved to Brooklyn. I decided I needed a change and Big Tag offered me a job.”

  She didn’t mention Tommy. Somehow the thought of even saying her husband’s name seemed wrong here. This was between her and Derek.

  His hands stopped their soft progress and he cupped her suddenly. “You’re not to make a sound unless it’s to tell me to stop. Do you understand?”

  Oh, fuck. He was going to do it. He was going to lay that big, callused hand on her backside and light her up. Her whole body went on alert, waiting for that second that he touched her again, for the little uptake of air that would be followed by the sound of his hand cracking on her ass and the flare of pain that signaled that she could rest.