The story had gone on, but much of the details varied as my mother had given me visions of the man I would choose. This fairy tale was my future, her past, the past of every generation before us. But now? Now it is real. I rise from my bed knowing this is the last time I’ll see these chambers. My place is no longer here. In a matter of hours, I’ll be shipped off, unable to return until I have my future husband by my side. Once we return, I’ll live in a different part of the manor, share a bed with the man I’ve taken, and leave my life as princess for one as queen. I am not ready for any of this, no matter how many times my mother has told me to expect it. I know she went through the same thing when she was my age, but she’s a formidable woman, a force to be reckoned with.
A soft knock on my door has me whirling around, blond hair flying in my face.
My mother’s disapproving gaze travels over my form. “Felicity! You’re not even dressed. We have to leave.”
My heart leaps. I’m not ready.
She shakes her head and pulls a gown from my wardrobe. Giving it a stern look, she frowns and tosses the gauzy fabric on my bed. “This won’t do. Where is the gown I had made for you?”
“I’m sure it’s there somewhere. The maid might have laid it out somewhere special to keep it safe.”
“You need to be in the royal blue silk. It’s the perfect color for your hair and skin tone.”
I roll my eyes. “Why does it matter? These men have no choice in this. The one I choose will come with me to gain protection for his village for his lifetime. Isn’t that how the story goes?” The disdain in my voice is hard to disguise. I have no desire to marry a man who doesn’t want me.
“And he’ll be lucky to be yours.”
Will he? His sacrifice, his willingness to become my consort will only stem from the desire to save his home, not out of love or loyalty to me.
“Here it is!” my mother exclaims from the depths of the ornate piece of furniture that houses my clothing. She produces the gorgeous silk gown and offers a brilliant smile. “Stunning. You’re going to be stunning. As it should be.”
Crossing the room, I take the offered dress and let the soft, cool material brush along my skin. It matches my eyes. I’m sure she had the silk dyed this way on purpose. My mother doesn’t believe in coincidences.
“Get dressed and be downstairs in ten minutes, Felicity. We have to leave within the hour. Your suitors will be delivered shortly.”
There’s that familiar clenching in my gut again. “But…I need more time. Can’t we postpone?”
“Child, what are you talking about? The ceremony starts at the hour of your birth. You have one hour until the rest of your life begins.”
She runs a hand over my long hair and a wistful look crosses her face before she turns and practically glides out of the room, leaving me alone once more.
In less than twenty minutes, I’m dressed and ready to go. I’ve had my bag packed for the last three days in anticipation of this trip. Two weeks away, maybe longer if need be, but I can’t help but harbor an ember of excitement at the change I’m about to experience. I’ve never been away from this estate, from my household filled with servants and advisors, and my mother the queen. Soon I will be on my own with only my potential consorts as company. My every move won’t be watched and judged, but more importantly, I won’t be treated like a child any longer.
As I descend the wide staircase, I realize my mother was right. The rest of my life is about to begin.
Their Vampire Princess (The Complete Series)
Sneak Peek
Their Siren (Daughters of Olympus Book 1) by Charlie Hart & Anastasia James
Their Siren
Chapter One
Harlow
I can’t stop staring at it. The fact I have it at all is kind of insane considering my aversion to needles. My mom will flip out, but then her face will break into a big grin once she realizes what kind of tattoo I chose.
A seal surrounded by blue crashing waves.
It is pretty much perfection.
And covers most of my right thigh. It’s a big tattoo for my first one, but I didn’t want to half-ass it. Mostly because my resolution for my twenty-first birthday is to stop being scared and to start going all in. With my life, with relationships, with my job. I’ve been living in shallow water and I’m tired of it.
I want to dive. Deep.
I look up at the white moon, full and swollen and casting a glow over the dark ocean. My feet sink into the sand at the shoreline, and I know being here, at this moment, is no coincidence. The smell of the saltwater feels like home.
My mom always told stories about how I was born from the sea... literally. No one knew who my biological parents were; they found me on the beach--this very beach--and her stories eased the worry in my heart of not belonging. My mom always whispered You belong to the ocean, but you’re growing up on dry land.
As a child, it comforted me... but now I’m all grown up and I just wonder, where do I come from?
It’s that pit in my belly that’s always empty. That hollow in my heart that never seems to fill.
My phone buzzes in the back pocket of my cut-offs. Pulling it out, I see that it’s Chloe.
Smiling, I answer the call. “Should I come? Are you all checked in?” I ask.
“No,” she groans. “It was false labor. I’m on my way home now. Sorry, I ruined your birthday.”
“Oh, shut up,” I tease my best friend. Never in a million years would I expect her to apologize. “That’s ridiculous.”
“You were supposed to have my moral support tonight. Did you cry the whole time?”
I hear Enzo in the background asking me to send them a photo, and the other guys are shouting as well, asking to see. Chloe has four men who she’s in a committed relationship with, and she’s pretty much my hero when it comes to following her heart and not giving a damn what the rest of the world might think.
“No,” I tell her. “I was badass.”
She snorts. “I’m not saying I don’t believe your badassery, but Harlow--,”
I cut her off. “I was. I’m turning a new leaf, Chloe. This new me is totally hardcore.”
“Send me a photo. We’re dying to see.”
I put her on speakerphone and try to get a good photo of my thigh.
“Are you sad that you aren’t in labor?” I ask as I snap a few pictures.
“I think the guys are more disappointed than I am. Once Pearl is born everything will change, you know?”
“I know, sweetie,” I say. “But you are going to be an amazing mom.” Chloe has voiced her nerves a lot recently, and even though she has a rock-solid support system, change is hard. I can’t even imagine being a mother. “Okay, I sent one. Did you get it?”
“Uh, just a sec. Oh, Harlow!” she screeches. “It’s amazing. The waves look so perfect. And the seal’s eyes are seriously haunting. Your artist did amazing work.”
“I know. It’s better than I expected.”
“Now I guess you have to be badass this year with your little spirit animal always with you.”
“Exactly.”
“Hey,” she says, her voice full of irritation. “Where are you, Harlow?”
“Just headed home.”
“Liar. I see the sand in this photo. Are you okay?”
“It’s just the beach.”
“Not just any beach. Harlow, it’s the beach.”
I sigh, my heart constricting. Chloe is the first friend I’ve ever been so vulnerable with; so honest. Everyone else thinks I’m just the outgoing, fun one. Truth is, overcompensating for what I’m not is my greatest accomplishment.
Not exactly something to brag about.
Someone left me here, not knowing who would find me.
I swallow, not wanting to cry. But the truth of my beginning always makes my eyes well up with salty tears. It makes my belly ache and reminds me how empty I feel inside.
My parents may have found me... but that means someone else l
eft me first.
“You sure you’re okay? I can come right now.”
“I’m fine,” I say, wiping my eyes. “You just left the freaking hospital. Go home and rest. I’m leaving now too. I just needed to see it, you know?”
“I know.”
Desperate to change the subject, I say, “Hey, let’s do dinner tomorrow night, okay? You will die when you see the ring my mom gave me for my birthday. It’s beautiful.” I look at the ring on my finger. It’s a gold band and looks antique. It fits on my middle finger perfectly. My mom said she’d been saving it for me since the day she found me.
To say it’s an emotional birthday gift is an understatement. I’ve had it a handful of hours, yet it’s already my most prized possession. It was with me, in the basket, when I was found.
“Can’t wait,” she says. “And you know what, Harlow, you’re beautiful too. Inside and out. From my experience, it doesn’t matter where you came from, it just matters where you go.”
Her words are perfect, and I want to hold onto them, tightly. But it’s hard to stop believing the story we always tell ourselves. That I’m not enough.
If I was... why would my birth parents have let me go?
“Thanks,” I say, knowing I’m getting emotional and not in a place to get that up close and personal over the phone. I don’t know why her words reach so deep inside me, but they do. It’s funny how some people can know you your entire life, but not really know you at all, and then other people fall into your lap and see you exactly as you are.
Or even, as you could be.
“You’re a good friend,” I tell her. “And you’ll be an even better mother.”
“Love you, birthday girl,” she says, and we hang up.
I consider getting back in my car, but then I look toward the water.
It calls to me.
It always has.
The sky is filled with a trillion stars, the moon heavy overhead and the crash of the waves matching the ebb and flow of my emotions today.
I look out, and my breath catches.
A seal bobs his head, swimming so close that I worry about it. But the seal’s eyes meet mine... and I’m not being dramatic when I say this: they pierce my heart. They are big, brown, and soulful.
I spent my life wondering where I came from and with one look, the seal seems to answer all my questions.
I belong out there.
With him.
It scares me, the way the animal makes me feel. Seen in a way I don’t understand. I swallow, stepping back, not even realizing I’ve walked into the water, up to my knees; so lost in a trance, so utterly mesmerized. But it is hard to move, it’s like the sand is tar and I’m caught in the pit.
I stumble to my knees, my feet seemingly locked into place. But I know that going into the ocean, alone at night, is nothing but idiotic.
I need to get away from the water.
But the seal doesn’t leave. It barks, and as crazy as it sounds, I swear he says to come closer.
Even though I keep trying to move my feet backward, away from the water that seems to have tethered my ankles into place, I can’t.
I try to turn my back on the sea, but it’s relentless. The tide rolls in at a pace I’ve never witnessed, and my thigh burns as the saltwater stings my skin. The fresh tattoo is going to be ruined, and I press my palms into the sand trying to push myself away from the sea. But I can’t move. I’m stuck... and worse, my feet are being pulled further into the ocean.
“Help,” I scream. “Help!” I blink back tears. Now is not the time nor the place to have a meltdown. I grit my teeth, determined to get out of this shoreline gravitational pull I’m somehow caught in.
The seal barks louder, and though I try to ignore him, my heart seems to ache, as if begging to swim with the wild animal. I may have called him my spirit animal, but that was a ridiculous idea, inspired by a social media site where hipster girls get cute-ass tattoos. There isn’t any real connection between the seal and me and I don’t need to meet it anytime soon.
What I need is to get away from here.
Except I can’t.
It doesn’t matter how hard I resist, the pull is just too great.
“Someone! Anyone!” My voice is clear, but the bark of the seal is so intense it overwhelms my own cry.
My legs are pushed out from under me, and I sink my elbows down into the sea, barreling down to steady myself, my tattooed thigh burning, my body fighting to stay put but the shifting sand overtakes me.
Even if I don’t know where I belong, I do know that when the sea calls, you have no choice but to answer.
Their Siren
Also by Harlow Thomas
Their Vampire Princess
Chosen: Their Vampire Princess (Book 1)
Crowned: Their Vampire Princess (Book 2)
Turned: Their Vampire Princess (Book 3)
Mated: Their Vampire Princess (Book 4)
Their Vampire Princess (The Complete Series)
The Shadow Court
Shadow Queen (The Shadow Court Book 1)
Dark Ember (The Shadow Court Book 2)
Also by Anastasia James
With Charlie Hart
The Daughters of Olympus
Their Siren
With Harlow Thomas
Their Vampire Princess
Chosen: Their Vampire Princess Book 1
Crowned: Their Vampire Princess Book 2
Turned: Their Vampire Princess Book 3
Mated: Their Vampire Princess Book 4
With Sher Dillard
The Dragons of Perrault Series
Dragon Fire
Dragon Heat
Dragon Blaze
With Alexis Adaire
My Minotaur (coming soon)
More sexy paranormal romance by Harlow Thomas
Writing as Kim Loraine
Waking the Watcher (The Fallen Angel Trilogy #1)
Praised by #1 NYT Bestselling Author, Rachel Van Dyken as, "Spellbinding and addicting!" Kim Loraine brings a new, fresh spin on the classic vampire-meets-human tale. The first in the erotic paranormal Fallen Angel trilogy, Waking the Watcher is a story of lust, love, Heaven and Hell, and everything in between.
Galen
Lust. My ultimate downfall, and demise.
I'm shackled to a life I can't escape.
A life I never asked for.
Now, I'm trapped--soulless,
Burdened by a Watcher lurking within.
He wants out, he wants her.
But I can't let that happen,
Won't let that happen.
She's mine.
Denying the Watcher (The Fallen Angel Trilogy #2)
Praised by NYT Bestselling Author, AL Jackson as “Intense, dark, and so SEXY, exactly what I've come to expect from Kim Loraine's special brand of vampires! This is a must read for adult paranormal romance lovers!" Denying the Watcher continues the tale of fallen angel, Sariel and the growing battle between Heaven and Hell.
Five years...that’s all I have left,
then the Watcher will take control.
But not before I use him to get what I want.
It seemed like a good plan at the time,
until I found her. She's meant for me.
Now I can't leave her. I won't go.
Sariel demands I hold up my end of our deal,
Fight the Fallen.
Win the war between Heaven and Hell.
But she's the one I never thought I’d find,
I can’t let Sariel take me from her.
I need to make a choice--her or my soul?
Releasing the Watcher (The Fallen Angel Trilogy #3)
The epic conclusion to the erotic paranormal Fallen Angel Trilogy. Fallen angel, Sariel finally finds the woman who caused his fall from grace. But can he stop the war between Heaven and Hell and still have her?
Sariel
She was forbidden, and I gave everything to be with her.
My grace. My wings. My pla
ce in Heaven.
But still, she was taken from me.
Now, thousands of years later, I’ve found her in another life, but she doesn’t know me and her heart belongs to another.
The other Watchers are getting bolder. Soon war will be here. With every fight, I grow closer to Heaven but farther from my Selah.
I can’t lose her again, not when she’s finally within my grasp.
I’ll make her see, help her remember us. She is mine.
I won’t let her go. I can’t.
Sneak Peek
Waking the Watcher (The Fallen Angel Trilogy #1) by Kim Loraine
Waking the Watcher
Chapter One
Galen
The darkness covers me like a cloak, keeping me out of sight and hidden from view. I need to hunt, need to feed, the urge so strong, my fangs descend before I’ve even zeroed in on my prey. In the almost one hundred years of my existence as a vampire, I’ve never been this filled with hunger. I watch the crowded dance floor as bodies writhe and sway. Sweaty skin, flushed cheeks, all ripe for the picking. Try as I might, I can’t find the one I need tonight. It’s never easy, choosing the girl I’m going to kill, but I always find her.
Tonight the club is filled with the same women I always see. Desperate for love, attention, and validation that they’re not too old to be there. Usually this means plenty of easy targets. I could have any of them up against the wall, my teeth in their necks. I like to pretend there’s more coming. Make them think I’m going to fuck them before I feed. I suppose I do, sort of. I send them off into oblivion in a rush of pleasure more powerful than any orgasm they’ve ever experienced. I just can’t do it with my cock.
Shadow Queen Page 6