Primal Temptation

by Sydney Somers

Not the best time to be noticing that, perhaps.

  She watched him warily as he shifted under her, settled her close, then stretched their cuffed wrists away from their sides. She put her free hand on his shoulder and pushed herself up a little. “What are you doing?”

  “Getting you tired.” His other hand slid up her spine to the nape of her neck, where his fingers started massaging the tight muscles.

  “Stop it.” She shifted her head to one side, then the other, but his strong fingers continued exactly what they’d been doing. She frowned down at him.

  He smiled innocently.

  “That doesn’t work for me.” It did feel good, though. Not that she’d tell him.

  Kallan’s bright gaze slid down from her eyes to her mouth, almost like an actual touch on her lips.

  She swallowed. “Don’t even think about it.”

  “Too late,” he murmured, using his grip at her nape to bring her closer.

  Andi sucked in a startled breath when he brushed his mouth along hers. “You’re sick.”

  It was his turn to blink. “What?”

  “You’re here to kill me, right?”

  His brows dipped into a frown.

  “You’re not supposed to be…screwing me too.” She blushed.

  His frown disappeared. “I’m not trying to screw you. Just kiss you, Andrea.”

  Her mouth dropped open in shock.

  “Well, that makes it much easier,” he said softly, lifting his head to catch her lips.

  His kiss wasn’t what she’d expected. Not that she’d been imagining it. Not really. His lips were warm and soft on hers, not demanding or ruthless—although she was certain he possessed both qualities, and probably far worse, knowing his gene pool. His kiss was more an exploration. A gentle caress.

  And for a moment, she decided, she could enjoy it. It had been a very long time since a man had kissed her.

  The demons that haunt you don’t have to be your own.

  Vengeance

  © 2013 Denise Tompkins

  The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 3

  Maddy Niteclif’s world has changed so radically she’s no longer sure she recognizes the face staring back at her in the mirror. Pale skin, wide eyes, new scars, and even newer wounds. They’ll heal. It’s the invisible wounds—the ones that disfigure the soul—that pose the most danger.

  Hell’s higher thinkers have organized. They’re seeping into the paranormal world, bypassing easy targets as they run larger prey to ground. Maddy is caught in a mad scramble to identify the next target before the demons find the individual. But when the demons’ mark is someone from under her roof, she finds just how far she’ll go to protect those who belong to her.

  Maddy is about to learn the most difficult lesson yet: loving someone, seeing his scars ripped open and watching as he’s driven to his knees…it hurts. To save his life means she’ll have to sacrifice the only other man she’s ever loved. There’s only one guaranteed way to ensure both men survive, but it will require the ultimate sacrifice.

  Warning: Author shall be held blameless for the following: advanced education in creative cursing, carnal desire for characters who may—or may not—be real, the breaking of one or both eyebrows upon reading explicit m/f sex scenes, and the straining of abdominal muscles from laughing, gasping, and/or holding of breath.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Vengeance:

  I awoke again sometime near noon if I judged by the light alone. I was still cocooned in Hellion’s embrace though the man himself was wide-awake. Stock reports were flashing across the TV at the foot of the bed, the volume so low I didn’t know how he could hear anything until I realized he had an earpiece in that allowed him to listen without disturbing me. I had just glanced up at him when something caused him to stiffen, his eyes widening and his breath seeming to hang up in his throat.

  I turned slowly toward the screen, but what I saw made no sense. Rocks were strewn everywhere and the ground was torn up as if something violent had occurred. The sound of the reporter’s voice filled the room as Hellion disengaged his earpiece.

  “…initially believed it was force of nature, now experts are relatively certain the stones were leveled by something. There are marks, Sylvia, indicating the stones were physically pushed over. As implausible as it would seem, experts are confident it was no natural occurrence that destroyed this stone circle.” My stomach crashed. “Experts will agree that there seem to be two stones in particular that suffered the most damage: the altar stone was split in half, and the primary stone is in several pieces scattered all over the area.”

  I didn’t hear what else the reporter said because a low buzzing filled my ears. I recognized the stone circle. It was mine.

  Scenes of incomprehensible destruction flashed across the screen as I watched with growing horror. Gouged rocks were scattered around the field, some torn up from the ground and others pushed over; the alter stone was split and lay in two unequal halves on the ruined ground. But most shocking was the demolition of the point stone, or the stone that indicated true north. It was in pieces, broken as if it had been no more than a piece of chalk. A sickening sense of dread built as I watched the cameraman pan the area where the stone circle once stood. With the point stone gone and a couple others cracked, it appeared the most I could hope for was a reconstruction that included four stones. The circle had to have five in order to function as a place of protection and power. Without that fifth stone, the henge became just another ruin.

  I turned to Hellion and found his face as pale as my own. “What does this mean for me?”

  He shook his head slowly and turned the volume down. I watched as he programmed the digital recorder so we’d have the luxury to watch this later and consider the news reports and mundane speculations.

  Reaching out, I grasped Hellion’s hand and we clung to each other, though I didn’t completely understand his reaction. It felt like I should, though, so I didn’t ask again for fear of appearing foolish and, well, just out of fear.

  Hellion peeled my fingers off his and reached over to grab the empty water glass he’d fetched me earlier. He walked into the bathroom and emerged a brief moment later, the glass refreshed. Hands that could heal, love and destroy trembled violently.

  I hated conversations that started with such bad news that I needed to either compose myself or throw up. The whites of my eyes must have shown clearly as he sat on the edge of the bed, set the water on the nightstand, and took my hands in his. There was something strange, suspiciously familiar to sympathy, in his eyes.

  Sighing, Hellion said, “Mo chroí, I’m not exactly sure how to break this to you.”

  “Probably best just to get it over with,” I croaked, my voice still a little raspy. The way his hands shook made me more nervous than his silence. “Yeah, get it over with.”

  Nodding, he started to explain, and with every word out of his mouth, a horrid realization settled over me. “The stone henge where your Evolution triggered was called Pickledean, Maddy. When your Evolution occurred, you were bonded to that henge as the Niteclif, and it became an entry and exit point for you.” He took a deep, shaky breath as if fortifying himself to go on. “The best the Council could tell, we knew you’d enter through a stone circle in Wiltshire around Midsummer’s Eve and you’d serve your ten years… Oh, Maddy.” His voice broke and he buried his face in his hands. “I’ll kill him for this.”

  He shot off the bed, startling me, and began to pace the perimeter of the room. He finally came to a halt at the end of the bed. Staring at me, he crawled up the mattress and gathered me in his arms again. “Maddy, just as you needed that circle to enter your Evolution, you needed it to get out of the evolutionary cycle and trigger the end of your service.” He waited.

  …to get out of the evolutionary cycle… Understanding was gradual, like the rise of the moon from the dark horizon.

  “No,” I whispered, shaking my head slowly. “No, Hellion. I won’t survive this, not indefinitely.”


  “You will,” he growled. “By the gods, Maddy, you will survive this.”

  I sat in his arms, numb. Bahlin had delivered his vengeance against me in the most effective manner possible. Now there would be no getting out of this cycle, there would be no end for me other than death because… Oh hell. “Hellion?”

  “Say what you want done, Maddy, and I’ll see it carried out even if it means raining hell down on him myself.”

  “No, no. It’s not that. It’s just, if I don’t age while I’m the Niteclif, and now I can’t get out of being the Niteclif, am I immortal?” The man beside me grew so still I wondered if he’d willed himself away. “Hellion?”

  Moving in exaggerated slow motion, Hellion took my hand up and kissed my knuckles before setting the hand down and laying his cheek on my hair.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.” I was strangely calm about this. “If I’m immortal, the only way for me to get out of the Niteclif role is to truly die, right?”

  “Don’t speak that way, mo duine dorcha. We’ll find a way out—”

  “No, we won’t.” Without understanding the calm conviction I felt, I knew with absolute certainty that there would be no working around my family history. My opportunity for any type of graceful, self-powered exodus was terminated, and I was faced with living this life of violence forever or finding an out through death. Closing my eyes, I shook my head. Bahlin had secured the last word.

  Squeezing me tightly, Hellion asked, “Are you all right, Maddy? Please, say something.”

  “I’m surprisingly okay. In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t as disorienting as half the shit that’s happened to me so far.” What I didn’t add was that it was irrelevant whether I was immortal or not since I had never believed I’d live to see the end of my term of service as the Niteclif. It had meant little to me until recently.

  “I’ll see you avenged,” Hellion whispered into my hair, his hot breath sending shivers down my still bare spine.

  “Avenged for what? Having my life extended indefinitely? Having the amount of time I can potentially spend with you lengthened ten-fold? Or would it be for—”

  “Fine. Jest if you will, but this isn’t done between him and me, Madeleine. This isn’t nearly done.”

  Hellion trembled with rage and began to move away when I whipped a hand out and grabbed his forearm. “Uh-uh. You’re not walking away from this. You promised to cut that crap out, remember? And it is done, Hellion.” I yanked on him until he spun to face me. “I lost Bahlin once when I only thought he was dead, and I survived it. I don’t think I’d survive your death, imagined or real. And if you two ever truly go up against each other, one of you will die. I’m not so naïve as to misunderstand that. So this ends, here and now.”

  “I’ll tell you now that I don’t take to having what I will or won’t do spelled out for me as if I was daft, Madeleine,” he ground out between clenched teeth and a ticking jaw.

  “Minutes ago you were begging me to tell you what I wanted and you’d do it. This is what I want.”

  Lips thinned to a vicious slash across his face and black irises swallowed the whites all over again, a faint wind blew his hair about his head and shoulders, but I didn’t falter. He could be as scary as he wanted to be. I’d stick to this like gum to hot pavement. He could try to peel me off, and I’d even go so far as to wish him luck with it.

  “Bloody hell, woman, why don’t I get you the emasculating sheers? Then you can just take care of it all in one fell swoop?” he bitched.

  I bit my lower lip in an effort to hide the smile that threatened to break free.

  He sighed and slid down to curl up next to me, laying his head in my lap.

  My hand automatically went to his hair and I began running my fingers through the burnished gold. “Fine. Go get them.”

  He sighed. “Figure of speech, love. Keep those things away from me.” And whether a conscious thought or subconscious reaction, he casually dropped a hand across his groin. This time there was no hiding my smile or the laughter that followed.

  Primal Temptation

  Sydney Somers

  Condemned to darkness…tempted by passion.

  Pendragon Gargoyles, Book 4

  Enslaved by a vengeful goddess, forced to live on blood, Lucan can barely remember life as a knight of the Round Table. Yet when one woman’s touch awakens millennium-old feelings that tame the savage darkness within him, he has no choice but to deny their all-consuming passion—for her own protection.

  Cat shifter Briana Callaghan has watched all three of her brothers find their mates, but love isn’t in her future. Especially when her mate turns out to be a lethal mercenary…and the only man ever to break her heart.

  When she’s chosen to compete in the Gauntlet, an immortal death match, Briana realizes the prize—the sword Excalibur—is her only hope of severing the fierce bond that has the power to destroy her.

  Stunned to find themselves pitted against each other, Briana and Lucan quickly find that the only thing they’re fighting harder than their enemies is their sizzling, heartbreaking chemistry. But even if they survive the Gauntlet, claiming the woman he loves will be as impossible as letting her go.

  Warning: Contains adult language, skin-tingling sexual tension over a thousand years in the making, and a brutal warrior unable to resist the only woman to appeal to both the man and the monster within.

  eBooks are not transferable.

  They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

  11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B

  Cincinnati OH 45249

  Primal Temptation

  Copyright © 2013 by Sydney Somers

  ISBN: 978-1-61922-006-5

  Edited by Lindsey Faber

  Cover by Kanaxa

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: November 2013

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  About the Author

  Look for these titles by Sydney Somers

  Also Available from Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

  Back Cover Copy

  Copyright Page