A Pirate's Agony (Legends of the Soaring Phoenix Book 3)

by M. L. Guida

She lowered her gaze and froze.

  He reached out and lifted her chin. “I will not hurt you, little flower.” He crossed his heart. “I promise.”

  Trusting him, she stepped closer. He lifted her into his arms and kissed her possessively as he lowered himself onto the blanket. He laid her onto the blanket and covered her with his body, shielding her from any cold. But cold was the last thing she felt. Towering heat rushed over her, and Amadi ignited the flames as his hands explored her body, discovering every sensitive spot, stroking the fire of passion burning inside her.

  “Spread your legs,” he said.

  Too caught up in feelings of countless sensations, Violet nodded.

  Amadi kissed her neck and slowly moved down her sweltering body, his braids brushing over her hot skin. Between his lips and his hands exploring her body, rushes of pleasure swept over her.

  He moved his hand down her stomach to her feminine curls where he inserted a finger, exploring her soft insides. She panted harder and harder. Amadi took one nipple into his hot mouth and gently laved her, but then his velvety lips suckled her harder and harder, sending lightning streaks of pleasure shooting through her body and throbbing between her legs.

  Violet ran her fingers through his thick braids, arching her back so he could take more of her flesh in between his luscious lips. He left her greedy breast, and she moaned in disappointment. He licked and kissed down her quivering body until he came to her belly button, where he swirled his tongue, sending her off the edge into a whirlwind of bliss.

  He knelt and ran his calloused hands down her quaking thighs then put them each astride his shoulders.

  “My lord,” she whimpered. “What are you doing?”

  “You’ll see.” He blew air onto her curls.

  She trembled, but when he kissed her soft mound, she cried out. He thrust his tongue into her feminine folds and licked and sucked her, sending blood thumping through her faster and faster until she straightened her legs, shuddered, and nearly wept with joy. “Amadi, please.”

  “Such a temptress. But you’re not ready yet.”

  Violet groaned in frustration.

  Amadi slowly lowered her and stretched out on top of her, his flesh pushing against her thigh. “You’re tense.” He entered a finger and plunged it in and out, creating more intense sensations running through her. Another finger, and then another, stroking and stretching her slowly.

  She couldn’t take it anymore and ran her fingers over his flesh, wanting to feel his length. He was huge, and a gnawing fear grew inside her heart. She knew the first time for any woman was painful, but she doubted all men were as big as Amadi. ’Twas not going to be pleasurable.

  He sucked in his breath. “Violet.”

  “Let’s do this.”

  “You’re tensin’.” He pressed his thumb against her womanhood, stroking her.

  “I can’t help it. You’re so big.” Fear crept into her voice.

  “I’ll not hurt you. I promise.”

  Truth echoed in his words, but she couldn’t shake the apprehension glued to her bones.

  He widened her thighs then rested his hips against hers. The tip of his flesh pressed against her folds. The sensation of stretching and pain gripped her.

  She couldn’t breathe, but then waves of pleasure poured through her. She gripped his shoulders, digging her nails into his muscles, needing to feel his strength.

  Slowly, he edged into her core until her muscles accommodated him. When she tensed, he’d stop. He kissed her, and he used his thumb to rub her nipple. More pleasure seared through her.

  Not able to shift or inhale, she stiffened. She could feel his powerful muscle inside her, constricting, and lengthening.

  But Amadi pressed his thumb harder, and with the friction of flesh moving against flesh, the pain lessened, and another wave of sensations embraced her. She arched her hips and matched his rhythm. The more their hips thrust; a whirlwind of absolute ecstasy gripped her. “Harder!”

  He didn’t answer, but instead of a steady rhythm, he slammed into her. The mixture of pain and pleasure sent every impulse inside her alive.

  “Aye, aye!” She cried out and arched her back, pressing her breasts against his massive chest. A torrid climax surged through her. Nothing prepared her for this. Thousands of sensations scorching pleasure seized her and she screamed.

  Amadi followed, his body thrust down, rigid and shaking, as he expelled his seed into her womb. He collapsed on top of her and laid his head in the crock of her neck. He panted hard, his heart beating as fast as hers.

  “Are you among the living?”

  “Barely.” He lifted his head. “I’ve never felt so much feeling. But then I’ve never made love to the woman who holds my heart.”

  She taped her finger on his mouth. “Do you always talk like this?”

  He sucked it. More pleasure pulsed through her still quivering body.

  “No,” he said. “Only you bring out what’s buried inside me.”

  His soft voice swelled the emotions inside her. She locked her legs around his still thrusting hips. “Never leave me.”

  “Stayin’ with me won’t be easy.”

  “Because you’re a vampire?”

  “And an ex-slave.”

  She frowned at the bitterness echoing in his voice. She clasped her hands on his cheeks. “You’re a free man, a man I want to stay with for the rest of my life.”

  “The capt’n says the freed captives need a leader.” Wariness flickered in his eyes.

  She cupped his cheeks. “You. He wants you to stay with them.”

  He lowered and turned his head as if he were afraid to answer. “Only until they’re well enough to manage on their own. Some of them are too weak to build anythin’. They also need to be taught how to defend themselves. I’ll understand if you don’t want to stay with me.”

  She ran her hands down his back. “Where would I go? You’re my life. Where you go, I’ll follow. Even if the slaves hate me.”

  “You’re my woman. They’ll come to understand you and know what you did to help them gain their freedom. No one will hurt you. Not with me around.”

  “My fierce, protective, vampire pirate.”

  His face softened, and he kissed the tip of her nose. “Let me pleasure you one more time.”

  “Only one more, sir?” She smiled wickedly and rubbed her foot along his leg.

  “Aw, my demandin’ little woman. You’ll pay for this.”

  “I can hardly wait.”

  With that, he kissed her again, and together they erased each other’s pain and created tantalizing memories to wipe out the agony of the Sorcière De Mer.

  Dear Reader

  I’m delighted you decided to read A Pirate’s Agony. This is the third book in the Legends of the Soaring Phoenix. I’ve always loved the tale of the White Witch of Rose Hall. Johnny Cash even wrote a song called “The Ballad of Annie Palmer.” The White Witch is actually a fictionalized story written by Herbert G. de Lisser, and I’ve loosely based Amadi's story on it.

  According to legend, Annie Palmer haunts Rose Hall which is a plantation in Montego Bay. Annie killed all her husbands then tortured her slaves. Annie liked to choose a male slave to be a lover, but she tired easily. The man would die a horrible death. Annie was rumored to practice voo-doo and witchcraft. Her slaves eventually revolted and murdered her. My villainess, Celeste D’Aubigne is based on Annie Palmer, and like Annie, she likes to torture her male slaves.

  I know I took liberties in writing this story. The term vampire wasn’t used until a much later date, but I’ve always wanted to write about pirates, especially vampire pirates.

  I love to hear from readers. I am on all the social media sites, (Facebook, twitter@m_mlguida and Good Reads). I respond to emails, Facebook posts and tweets, so don't hesitate to contact me. If you’d like to contact me, you can reach me on my website http://www.mlguida.com/contact/ or you can follow me my blog http://www.mlguida.com/blog/

  Book loanin
g and reviews are ways that readers can help authors get the word out about books they love, so don’t hesitate to spread the word about A Pirate’s Agony. I appreciate all reviews, whether positive or negative.

  I have an excerpt of A Pirate’s Curse, the first book in the Legends of the Soaring Phoenix if you've have not read the first book.

  In the next couple of months, I’ll be releasing another Legends of the Soaring Phoenix, but this one will be a full length novel—A Pirate’s Obsession. The will be Ronan’s story, and you'll find out more about an undine.

  If you’d like to receive a new email release, please sign up at http://www.mlguida.com/

  Sincerely,

  M.L. Guida

  Other Books by M.L. Guida

  If you’ve enjoyed A Pirate’s Agony, the first book of the series is A Pirate's Curse. Like a dark angel, Captain Kane O'Brien rescues Hannah Knight and her father from drowning after vampire pirates murder their crew and sink their ship. Struggling to control and hide her telekinetic powers, Hannah discovers the honorable and bold captain possesses his own secrets.

  Every full moon, Kane turns into a vampire. Finding out Hannah not to be the cabin boy she resembles, but a beautiful, luscious woman, tempts all his appetites. Desperate to be free of his curse, Kane considers handing Hannah over to a demon. But after Hannah uses her power to save his ship from his immortal enemy, Kane can no longer deny his attraction and vows to protect Hannah with his life.

  To find true love, they must combine their powers to defeat evil vampires, thwart Hannah's misogynist fiancé and escape a crafty demon.

  The second book of the series is A Pirate’s Revenge. Cursed by a demon, William O’Brien changes into a dragon with mystical powers he can’t control. In dragon form he becomes a ravenous beast with the power to destroy the crew of the Soaring Phoenix. He’s forced to make a decision: leave the ship or face killing the crew.

  But before he can go, he discovers a new menace hunts him. The God of the Underworld has released a female demon, more deadly and evil than before, with orders to capture William and combine his powers with a male witch in order to destroy the crew of the Soaring Phoenix.

  Mariah Fey, a talented witch, wants only to save her brother from the bowels of the evil pirate ship, the Fiery Damsel. If William will trust her, she can teach him how to harvest his gifts, control his abilities and together their true love can defeat their enemies.

  I have a new series with Kensington/Lyrical called the Underworld. The first book is Dark Promise. Love can unlock the secret to saving two worlds.

  As the Golden Aspen Tree withers, darkness consumes the Dragon Demons of the Underworld, turning them feral. Prince Eric Wyvern must keep his darkness at bay and woo the silver-haired human tainted with angel blood whose touch is prophesied to save the Golden Tree and restore light to the Underworld.

  Cassandra Wright, a gifted psychic, has dreamed of Eric her whole life. When her dream lover joins her on a ski vacation, he plunges her into a nightmare. Imprisoned in a dying world filled with abuse and torture, she must become the Demon Prince’s mate or remain trapped forever. If she fails to fulfill the prophecy, the darkness will spread to her world. But how can she give herself to this dark and frightening version of the man of her dreams?

  Eric will give Cassandra the world, if only he can make her see past the darkness to the man he really is, and help him save it first.

  I also have a paranormal Christmas series called Vampires on Holiday. The first book is A Vampire’s Christmas Wish. Master vampire, Janus Morano, has searched for centuries to find his lost soul mate. When he finally discovers his true love on Christmas Eve in Hawaii, she doesn't know him, doesn't remember her previous life, and doesn’t want him. Janus must get her to remember him and their love, but nothing comes easy with Deirdre Hahn.

  Deirdre is drawn to the mysterious dark stranger, but she came to Hawaii with Brandon Delaney, to heal their broken relationship. Brandon has promised to never beat her again, bending over backwards to be Prince Charming. But the promise is broken.

  Deirdre escapes Brandon’s clutches and her only hope is the mysterious dark stranger. Janus vows to help her but soon she discovers his dark secret. He's a vampire...a vampire searching for her.

  Now Deirdre is caught between two desperate men. Not sure who to trust. In order to save her future she must accept her past and when her Hawaiian vacation falls apart and she’s kidnapped, she must learn to trust Janus or die on Christmas.

  The second book is, A Vampire’s Fallen Christmas Star. It’s the week before Christmas but the last thing Jayden Kye wants to do is celebrate. He blames himself for his twin's brother's death. He hikes up to Rainbow Lake to make peace with him, but Jayden slips down a snowy embankment and impales himself on a tree. He is dying.

  Eleanor Baines has been a vampire for over a hundred years but she’s never been tempted to turn a human before. Now, facing the sexy rock star, she has a choice, let him die or let him live.

  Now, she finds herself with a head-strong rock singer who breaks all the rules.

  Jayden discovers everything he thought he knew is wrong. His best friend and lead guitarist are legendary vampire killers bent on killing him and Eleanor. He must learn to trust Eleanor, a total stranger, to survive. When his manager kidnaps Jayden’s mother and threatens to kill her, Jayden is forced to kill his best friend, or hand over the woman he loves.

  I have another series called Angels of Death with Passion in Print.

  Betrayal, Angels of Death is the first book in the series. Scythe tracks his demon brother to Serenity House, a drug and alcohol treatment center. His brother wants to destroy the director, Heather Bowen, but Scythe is shocked to discover she is his angel-mate and now, he must not only save his brother's soul, but stop him from killing the woman he loves.

  The second in the series is a novella, Sinful Delight. Poison has two hours to fulfill orders received from the Archangel Michael: Locate and retrieve the dark Evil Board and capture the woman has been using it to grant wishes. She is determined to succeed. Ringmaster is on a search of his own. He is pleasantly surprised to discover not only the Spell Board he has been tasked to find, but also the fledgling Angel of Death he has yearned to sample. When he learns Poison wants the same woman and board, the persuasive demon makes her a tempting offer – sleep with him and have both.

  The third book in the series is Punishment, Angels of Death. A demon's revenge comes at a terrible cost to the woman he loves.

  Blade Angel, a fallen demon, must repent or be human forever. He defies an archangel and ends up in the hospital badly burned where he meets a gifted healer, Abigail Malcolm. She heals his hands, and soon discovers she is his angel-mate. But he has a dark secret.

  Abigail wants to save her drug addicted brother, but the powers of hell want his soul. And the only way she can save him is to trust the demon responsible for her sister's death. He claims she is his true love.

  To defeat evil, they must learn to trust and forgive each other.

  Excerpt from A Pirate’s Curse

  Chapter One

  The ragtag sailing ship sped toward them in a thirty knot tailwind, the black flag flapping from the main mast. Pirates! Twenty-year-old Hannah’s stomach tightened as the rogue ship chased them.

  “Miss,” Sally whispered. Hannah’s maid, and constant companion, bit her lip and stared, her eyes wide at the pursuing frigate. “What if they overtake us?”

  “We haven’t lost yet, Sally.”

  Hannah prayed they would be mistaken for cabin boys. She prayed the bindings restraining their breasts and their drooping breeches that hid their curves were convincing. She prayed they would escape her father’s warning of the rape and torture of female captives.

  A cannonball sailed through the air and smashed into the Dolphin’s second mast, splintering wood. Sally clutched Hannah’s arm, digging her fingers into her flesh, and screaming.

  Large holes shattered and ripped the topsails of the Du
tch flute ship. Fragments of wood crashed into the black sea, splashing water onto the portside. The smell of burning wood ignited a stream of heat down Hannah’s spine. She coughed and her eyes burned.

  The pirate ship’s long gun fired. Canister shot flew through the air. A sailor shrieked. His face blackened and bloody, he twirled around on the deck and fell over the side into the dark ocean.

  The frigate pursued the slower Dolphin through the black smoke. The flute sailed at twenty knots, her top speed, but the frigate skipped across the moonlight water, closing the gap fast. Cannons fired. Bar shot flew through the air, knocking three men into the water.

  Screams of pain, cracks of guns, splitting of wood, filled Hannah’s ears.

  “Hannah,” her father yelled. “Get below deck. Now.”

  Ignoring her father’s order, she gripped the railing and waited, praying they could out maneuver the pirates.

  “Make ready the guns,” the Dolphin’s boatswain, John Vane ordered. His brown hair had fallen loose from his queue and spilled over his broad shoulders. At over six feet tall John never had to repeat an order.

  He unsheathed his cutlass, his hazel eyes trained upon the enemy.

  Dolphin’s gunners were surprisingly synchronized. Men rammed cartridges down the cannon, packing the charge tight into the chamber. Other crewmen rolled the cannonball down the muzzle. Hemp rope was stuffed in to keep the cannonball from rolling out. After priming the cannons, the men waited for a rolling wave and John's order.

  “Fire,” he commanded.

  The cannons roared, jolting the ship. Cannonballs hit the vast frigate’s haul, but she failed to veer away. Sweat pouring down his temples, her father, Captain Justin Knight, peered through his spyglass. “Damn! It didn’t even slow her down.”

  Her father never swore. Biting her lip, Hannah gripped the railing, her arms shaking.

  The crew held swords and pistols at the ready as the frigate grew closer. Hannah wished her father hadn’t forbidden her a weapon. She desperately desired the security of her own cutlass or sword or pike, even if she had no idea how to use one.