Primal Temptation

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 chroi, 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