Oh God, she was going under. They were using some kind of hypnotic
hallucinogenic incense to drug her.
She’d heard of this technique before. It was how the flesh traders were able
to bind their victims and get them to ports all over the planet without the person even realizing they’d been abducted.
She raised her hand to her communicator, only to have it smacked away.
“Do not even pretend to call anyone.”
Hands moved over her ear, snatching the jewelry from the mooring. She let
out a yelp of pain when he tore the junction from her implant. It was like trying to rip her eardrum out by way of her frontal sinuses. The artificial equilibrium
provided by the implant failed. Instant and debilitating nausea doubled her over
onto the floor.
This was no time to be incapacitated.
She fought down the dry heaves. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead and
back. Her shirt stuck to her skin. She thought she moaned.
A fierce Alterrian curse shot out like a cannon blast. Lights came on, sending
Wynn into another spiral of agony. Why didn’t he just fucking kill her and put
her out of her misery?
Someone bent down beside her. She dared not open her eyes to look.
Warm, calloused hands cradled her head. “Wynn? Wynn?”
She tried to open her eyes, but when she did the vertigo hadn’t receded. Who
would know her name here?
“Please, wake.”
“I am awake.” Speaking caused the dry heaves to return. Her captor turned her over before the first wave of retching began.
He started to lift her.
“No! Don’t move me.”
He placed her back on the ground. A strong hand gripped her shoulder.
“What is wrong?” The words were spoken in soft Alterrian Standard.
Did she recognize that voice?
Oh God, it couldn’t be.
When hell reigns on earth, love is a luxury they can’t afford.
Hammer Down
© 2012 Moira Rogers
Children of the Undying, Book 2
While the tattered remains of humanity huddle underground, hiding in their
virtual world, Devi prefers living topside, making dangerous hauls through the
demon-infested wasteland earth has become. The wealth that comes from
smuggling supplies to those shunned as summoner-born or demon-touched
doesn’t hurt, either.
The man she meets to arrange one of those under-the-table hauls is
complicated…and handsome as hell. Literally. A glimpse of the predator beneath
his silver gaze and she’s tempted to break her cardinal rule: never mix business
with pleasure.
Zel’s first look at the wild-haired hauler threatens to distract him from his
mission—and reminds him just how long it’s been since he got laid. As the leader
of an outcast settlement, he can’t afford to trust too easily. Devi’s got a reputation for running a tight, disciplined crew, but her very willingness to deal with him
means she has something to hide.
Not to mention a hot, tempting package like her could be the cleverest trap
his enemies have ever set.
Warning: Contains demon bars, virtual (and literal) fights to the death, forbidden love, renegade AIs, a badass truck-driving heroine who will do anything to protect her crew and the half-demon warrior who will move heaven and hell to make her his.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Hammer Down:
“It shouldn’t matter.” His voice grated, suddenly angry. “God damn it, it
shouldn’t fucking matter. You shouldn’t matter.”
It hurt, even though she understood the sentiment perfectly. “Thanks.”
He snarled again and covered the space between them in two long strides,
crowding her against the wall. His hands slapped the wall on either side of her
head, but he didn’t touch her. “Liar. Or are you going to tell me you want me to matter?”
She opened her mouth to give him a kind lie, to tell him he didn’t matter in
the least, not to her. “No. I wish I didn’t give a damn about you.”
“You don’t. You don’t know me.” He pressed closer, nothing but hard
muscle and heat stretched out against her. “We both got it bad, sweetheart. If
you want to take me for a ride and get it out of your system, I’m game.”
“I bet you are.” He’d obviously given the matter some thought, which was
more than she was capable of at the moment. Her body had gone into sensory
overdrive, cataloguing every bit of tactile information it could gather about him.
And it wasn’t enough. She wanted to know what he tasted like, mouth and
skin. Whether she could find softness anywhere on his body, or if he was all
hard. There was only one way to find those answers, so she lifted her hands to
his shoulders and pushed, testing his strength.
He didn’t budge. His lips curved into that wicked smile she’d first seen at the
Pit Stop, and his hands skated down to grasp her hips. One quick jerk lifted her
off the ground, onto his solid, muscular thigh, and he crushed his mouth to hers.
Heat blazed through Devi. Nothing, not even the way she’d spent the last
few days craving him, had prepared her for the way she reacted to what should
have been a simple kiss. His tongue touched hers and her knees went weak,
leaving her grinding down on his leg. He knew how to take a woman’s mouth
with single-minded determination, waging all-out war on her defenses. His thigh
began to move against her, and he matched the thrusts of his tongue to that slow, deadly rock.
Devi jerked her mouth from his with a gasp. “Harder.”
“Bossy.” He bit her lower lip, and his chuckle rolled over her. “You want
something, you take it.” He fit his mouth to hers again as his rough fingers
curled around the back of her neck.
He liked being in control, but so did she. When she rocked against him this
time, she dropped her hand and caressed the hard ridge of his cock in time with
her body’s movements.
She swallowed his hissing moan, and a heartbeat later he snatched up her
wrist and pinned it against the wall. “If that’s how you want to play…” He
moved his other hand from her hip to her ass, dragging her into his next
grinding thrust.
A little creative wiggling put her legs on either side of his, and she arched off the wall. She wanted to play, so badly that once wouldn’t be enough. She’d fuck
him fast, round off the sharp edge of hunger twisting her belly. Then she could
take her time, learn all those things she couldn’t leave without knowing.
He groaned, a rumbling noise that was half pleasure, half something darker,
but he let her wiggle as he lowered his lips to her ear. “Impatient, aren’t you? Do you usually fuck men who roll onto their backs for you?”
“Sometimes.” She moved her hips once more, and a bolt of pleasure
shuddered through her. Anticipation prickled over her skin and tightened her
nipples.
“Lazy bastards. Not that I wouldn’t let you ride me, sweetheart.” He
squeezed her ass. “But not until I’d had my fingers between your thighs. I bet
you bite when you come.”
The mental picture his words painted was intoxicating. “And you like the
thought of my teeth on your skin.”
“Depends on where you sink ’em.” He worked a hand between their bodies,
his knuckles skimming the e
dge of her pants. “Where would you let me sink
mine?”
“I’m not nearly so picky.” Flip, easy words, handy for hiding how deeply his
touch shook her. “Bite me wherever you want.”
“That’d be just about everywhere.” His fingertips were hot as they grazed
her bare skin. Rough breaths fell against her cheek, almost panting, proof that he wasn’t nearly as unaffected as his cocky, casual tone implied. “Fuck, I wanted to do you slow, but I’m losing my damn mind. Can’t think about anything but being inside you.” He traced his tongue around the shell of her ear and proved the
words with a low groan.
The wet trace of his tongue made her hands clench in his shirt, and the fabric
ripped a little. “Shit, sorry. Take it off.”
A rough denial as his fingers jerked at her pants. “If you weren’t wearing
these, I’d be fucking you already.”
Devi bit his jaw. “You’d be fucking me already if you didn’t talk so much.”
“And I’m talking—” He froze, his hand halfway into her pants, and cursed
as his gaze jerked to the door.
She heard it a second later, pounding footsteps coming down the hallway.
Zel backed away and eased her to the floor. She wanted to withdraw, smooth her
hair and take a moment to compose herself, but there could be trouble. If there
was, it was likely to affect her crew.
So she jerked open the door as Cache skidded to a stop outside of it. “What
happened?”
Cache couldn’t hear her words, but she apparently had no trouble
interpreting her meaning. Her fingers flew, three quick gestures in a row. Tanner.
Guard. Fight.
“Fuck.” Devi grabbed her vest and shrugged into it with a quick glance at
Zel. “Tanner’s found trouble. A fight with a guard.”
He swore and jerked his shirt back into place, seemingly oblivious to Cache’s
too-curious appraisal. Devi turned back and signed to Cache. Where?
Cache pointed behind her, toward the hallway that led to the main common
area and the tunnel to the rest of the compound.
Zel appeared at Devi’s shoulder. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. Somewhere in the compound…” She scrubbed her hands
over her face. The last thing they could afford after Cache’s potential snooping
was violence. “We have to stop it. Come on.”
She didn’t wait for him to follow, too preoccupied by the knowledge that
they were heading into a fight that likely involved more than one halfblood. The
same demon heritage that made them such fierce warriors also gave them
enhanced senses.
She had Zel’s scent all over her, and vice versa. Which meant that, in very
short order, the complications Zel had wanted to avoid would come crashing
down around them.
Document Outline
Degrees of Wrong
Anna Scarlett
Dedication
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
Chapter Sixteen
About the Author
When life is a struggle, love is the ultimate luxury.
Reawakening Eden
© 2011 Vivi Andrews
Two hearts, many worlds, one mission.
Water Mark
© 2011 Kathleen Scott
When hell reigns on earth, love is a luxury they can’t afford.
Hammer Down
© 2012 Moira Rogers
Table of Contents
Degrees of Wrong
Dedication
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
Chapter Sixteen
About the Author
When life is a struggle, love is the ultimate luxury.
Two hearts, many worlds, one mission.
When hell reigns on earth, love is a luxury they can’t afford.
Degrees of Wrong Page 35