by Amity Cross
X threw the screwdriver into the boot of the car, where a choice selection from his closet of horrors was stashed. A pile of weapons including that fancy sniper rifle I’d wondered about. Maybe he’d teach me how to use it after all.
Staring at the car, I bit my lip. It really was a nice piece of machinery. It was this black, vintage muscle car, sexy as all hell and it suited him down to the ground. X had a flair about him that was so anti-biker gang it made me wonder who he was before.
“Are you ready?” X asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
I nodded and opened the passenger side door. There was nothing to look back on, nothing but forward from here on out.
I slid into the car as X climbed into the driver’s seat and gunned the engine. He backed out of the space, shifted the stick into first and we shot out onto the road and into the early morning light. The sky was starting to lighten, a smudge of orange dusting the handful of clouds that hung amongst the stars. It was going to be a perfect day. Sunny, warm and heavy with the promise of something new.
The car weaved through the centuries old buildings as we crossed the city, flashing past monuments and museums, crossing the river and heading out of the smog and into the countryside. I watched the sunrise with a new sense of hope, a new purpose and a new mission. The sky was flaming orange and red and to my heart, it felt like an omen for what was to come.
Rivers of blood.
I glanced over at X, trying to read his expression in the dawn light, wondering what he was thinking. Wondering if he had the same hope, or if he was just thinking of something that was on a stiff, regimental list of things that he had to do. Maybe, but most of all...I wondered if his heart was still open.
“Can I ask you something?” I asked after a while.
His gaze met mine briefly, before turning back to watch the road. “Yes.”
“That sniper rifle… Will you teach me how to use it?”
His jaw stiffened, but he nodded. “I’ll teach you.”
“Okay.”
He glanced at me again, his eyes flashing with something I couldn’t quite catch. “I’ll teach you whatever you want.”
Whatever I want. The thought sent a shiver through my entire body.
It felt like an age since that first night at The Gambler’s Inn when he’d walked in and called me a bitch. Now, I was a different person again. And before that, the night I stood in Sykes’ house, gun in hand…and even before that when I stood in my family home staring down at the bodies of my parents and brother… Mercy Reid had evolved so much in such a short amount of time. Who would she be tomorrow? Master assassin?
Maybe.
But maybe it would be as simple as being happy. Happy with X. That was a future to look forward to, but first there were some scores to settle.
“Where are we going?” I asked, eager to get the groundwork of our master plan into place.
X glanced at me, before fixing his gaze on the road ahead. “Someplace where they won't find us.”
“Then what?”
His fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “We figure this thing out.”
I reached over and slid a hand across his thigh, his warmth soothing my cool skin. “And we figure out what they did to you.”
He let his hand drop to cover mine, the small gesture making my entire body shiver. He was already learning and my heart swelled with pride.
“Then,” he said, lacing his fingers through mine, “we come back and kill them all.”
Thank you for reading Royal Blood.
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Royal Blood is the first full-length novel in the Royal Blood series by Amity Cross. Book two, Bad Blood, is on its way in 2015.
xo
Amity Cross
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Pulse (#2 The Beat and The Pulse)
Erotic Romance
18+ due to mature sexual content
Release: TBA
Ren Miller never dreamed her life would turn out quite like this.
On the cusp of qualifying for the brand new woman's UFC league, she's finally found the thing that makes her tick. She finally has a whole new life before her, but it’s one that doesn't include Ash Fuller.
No one has seen or heard from Beat's Golden Boy in six months, not even Ren. He's disappeared off the face of the earth and he's just another person who's ended up abandoning her when she needed him the most. He broke her heart, but he took the one thing that was hers. Her spirit.
When someone unexpected turns up at Beat with an ultimatum, Ren must make a decision. Go after Ash and her own heart or make her Dad's dream of winning a Championship come true.
Will Ren choose to fight?
Or sacrifice everything to save the man she loves?
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About the Author
Amity Cross isn't her real name. That's no secret.
She is the author of wicked stories about rock stars looking for redemption, gritty romances featuring MMA fighters and dark tales of forbidden romance. She loves to write about screwed up relationships and kick ass female leads that don't take s**t lying down.
Amity lives in a leafy country town in southern Australia and can be found chained to her desk, held at ransom by her characters.
Don't send help. She likes it.
Follow Amity:
AmityCrossWrites.com
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