Sharon Stevenson's Blog - Posts Tagged "urban-fantasy"
The long wait is finally over
Well, it’s been a whole year but the second short novel in my After Death series is finally out! You can pick it up on Amazon for $0.99/£0.77. Part one is permanently free on Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble and iTunes; you can check out the ‘Books' page on my website for links: www.sharonstevensonauthor.com/books
I’ll be releasing the next two parts of this planned six-part series next year so the good news is that the wait won’t be quite so long for the next book! If you’re an urban fantasy fan who enjoys light entertainment with a dark sense of humour then you might want to give it a whirl.
Warning: These books contain profanity and sexual references. If you’re easily offended by that sort of thing you should probably leave now…
RAISED: PART TWO
After being killed by a one night stand and raised for the purpose of being recruited into the King’s Royal Guard, Pete went on the run.
His escape didn’t go as planned.
One dead User later…
Raised: Part Two
AN EXCERPT FROM RAISED: PART TWO:
There’s only so much one dead guy can take. I learned that pretty fast when Nick put a horrendous puppet-spell on me and made me go all clunky B-movie zombie on a bunch of hot chicks in the club. The screaming was bad enough, but one of them had taken her shoe off and punctured a hole in my arm. She’d had to be dragged away kicking and cursing. I flipped her the bird when Nick let me have control of my own body back. I doubt she even saw it by then. Glowering at my new User was fast becoming my new favourite past-time, not that he even noticed. He was too busy enjoying the attention he was getting from women who used to ignore him. Power; it drives chicks wild. Who’d have known?
The club was awash with flashing lights, scantily-clothed women and big, buff, irritable-looking men. Practically everyone was wearing leather. It was either a biker joint or a fetish club. I was leaning towards biker bar going by the number of times Nick had used me to fend off attacks from scary-looking dudes in Motorhead t-shirts. I was getting pretty sick of being used like a human Rottweiler by the time Nick was actually on stage and otherwise distracted.
I sank into the shadows at the side of the stage and tried not to think about how much this would suck if this were my life… Oh wait I have no life; I was revoked entitlement to a life when a crazy bitch decided to go slash-happy on me and paint my kitchen a vibrant shade of O-negative. My snort of laughter drew the drummer’s wary glance. He shook his head at me and kept right on banging away like a possessed monkey.
I should probably explain; Nick’s band is a mix of speed metal and rap metal with a heavy coating of grunge rock. This made for a head-ache forming combo. I doubted they were getting paid for the noise they were making.
It was too warm. The lights burning onto the stage and the equipment beside me were making the room uncomfortably hot. I folded my arms and snarled at a tattooed-girl with pink hair who was peering nosily over at me. She raised a pierced eyebrow and looked away slowly. Bitch.
I had no idea how long Nick spent writhing around on the beer-stained stage, singing mostly out of tune, but I took an interest when he decided to levitate three foot above the stage and perform a guitar solo that the rest of the band clearly hadn’t seen coming. They all stopped playing once he got five minutes into his over-blown, self-indulgent performance. He had women pushing against the stage to get close to him. He was glowing like Britt used to, overflowing with magic he just had to use. I rolled my eyes. It hadn’t been a short night so far and it didn’t look like it was going to wind down anytime soon either.
I wanted to get home already. The day had been long enough. The thought of sleep made me smile, even if it wasn’t something I strictly needed to do anymore. It was just one of those things that made me feel more human, more like the old me. I needed to feel human, particularly after the way Nick had just had me acting. They were actually afraid of me. Most of them, anyway. The disinterested few had the right idea but the majority actually seemed to think they would turn into an Animate if I bit them. Idiots. Why the hell would I want to bite them? They probably thought I was after their brains too. I snorted.
Nick came back to earth and was instantly mauled by his new-found groupies. His t-shirt was quickly ripped from him. He grinned at their lack of restraint. The tint of red on their wandering hands was more than just over-flow. He was be-spelling them. I frowned at him. The blonde girl pushing the others out the way grabbed Nick by the neck and pulled him into an open mouthed kiss. Her eyes flashed red before they closed.
What the fuck?
The band rightfully got aggravated and abandoned their instruments to go the bar. Three minutes later they were drinking, raising my jealousy. Not being able to eat or drink anymore bit the big one. I’d taken to chewing food for the taste and spitting it out again, but it just isn’t the same. Swallowing is highly underrated.
I watched Nick take turns with a couple of the more ravenous groupies. Their heated kisses dropped away quickly, replaced by hair-pulling and face-scratching when they started to actually bitch-fight each other. This wasn’t funny anymore. Nick was too busy to even notice the havoc he was creating; he was staring at the chest of the blonde who’d managed the climb on to the stage and had ripped her t-shirt off to keep his attention. The flimsy bra she was wearing was completely see-through under the spot-lights.
“You’ve got to be taking the piss,” I cursed, picking up one of the drum sticks the possessed monkey had left on the stage next to his kit. This wasn’t happening. I was not about to stand around and witness a live sex show. Even if the girl hadn’t been out of her head on Nick’s magic it wasn’t something I’d want to see. I chucked one of the sticks at him, hard. It hit him in the back and made him turn. The girl’s arms closed around his skinny chest from behind. The nipple ring and belly-button piercings she started toying with made me cringe, but no more so than seeing the chain that disappeared from Nick’s belly piercing into his jeans. Yuck. I so did not need to know what that was attached to. “That’s enough,” I warned.
Nick frowned at me, smiling when the girl licked his neck. “What? This is one of your only obligations, Pete. So…”
“I never agreed to stand around and watch you cast lust spells,” I argued, folding my arms.
Nick’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not doing anything wrong here.” He pushed the girl back. “So don’t get all preachy with me.”
“They don’t want you. You’re just forcing them to like you. It’s disgusting.”
“What the fuck would you know?” He stared at me. “You don’t have the first clue about what women really want.”
The girl behind him was glowing almost painfully now. He was pushing too much magic into her. She was going to crash. Her hands wandered as her eyes rolled up in her head. She moaned loudly, fingers following the chain hanging from Nick’s piercing.
“Oh, aye? Well, whatever it is, it’s not in your pants.”
The girl passed out, tumbling backwards and moaning lightly as she hit the floor. Nick turned and gazed down at her, no expression on his face. He knelt and touched her, and the glow of his magic coursed back towards him. He didn’t look at me again until the magic was safely contained within his own body. “It was just a bit of fun. If you’re going to keep over-reacting I’ll need to re-think your contract.”
I didn’t say anything. The thinly veiled threat wasn’t worth reacting to. Nick had gotten out of control but he’d stopped when he’d seen the harm he was doing. He just didn’t like being told what to do.
I folded my arms. “What time is this place open ‘til?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Nick said, turning and soaking up the drizzle of magic he’d poured over the crowd. They were suddenly a whole hell of a lot less rowdy. The bitch-fights near the stage stopped dead. Girls who’d been tearing each other’s hair out seconds before started crying and hugging and throwing out absolutes; let’s never fight again, don’t ever let me drink vodka again, you’ll always be my best friend no matter what. It was kind of nice and reassuring after the slip I’d just witnessed from Nick.
“We can go,” Nick said, putting his guitar in its case and picking up his leather jacket.
“What about…”
“The guys will tidy up. Or is asking others to pack shit up against your moral code as well?”
“I was only asking.”
“Well next time don’t bother,” he informed me, “unless you want to become a cleaning zombie.”
I knew when to keep my mouth shut; I’d seen the state of his flat. Nick hauled his jacket on and passed me his guitar case. I took it without complaint.
“So, do I get tomorrow off?” I was probably chancing my luck.
Nick frowned at me. “What the hell do you need a day off for?”
“I kind of still have to pay rent, unless you’re going to pay me to be a cleaning zombie?”
“Oh, right. That’s a bit balls.”
“You’ll need to sign my ‘back to work’ form.” Then I’d need to find an actual paying job at a place that recruited Animates. I got the feeling that was going to be quite a bit harder than it sounded. I couldn’t remember seeing Animates working anywhere out in the big wide world, besides the castle. I got the shivers just thinking about it.
“Well, you’re lucky I don’t have any gigs this weekend. You’ll need to find a job where there’s no weekend shifts,” he said, “and you’ll have to let me see the work contract before you sign it.”
Crap. I had to get pre-approval now too. This was going to just suck big hairy donkey balls.
LINKS:
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MP310C2
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MP310C2
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...
I’ll be releasing the next two parts of this planned six-part series next year so the good news is that the wait won’t be quite so long for the next book! If you’re an urban fantasy fan who enjoys light entertainment with a dark sense of humour then you might want to give it a whirl.
Warning: These books contain profanity and sexual references. If you’re easily offended by that sort of thing you should probably leave now…
RAISED: PART TWO
After being killed by a one night stand and raised for the purpose of being recruited into the King’s Royal Guard, Pete went on the run.
His escape didn’t go as planned.
One dead User later…
Raised: Part Two
AN EXCERPT FROM RAISED: PART TWO:
There’s only so much one dead guy can take. I learned that pretty fast when Nick put a horrendous puppet-spell on me and made me go all clunky B-movie zombie on a bunch of hot chicks in the club. The screaming was bad enough, but one of them had taken her shoe off and punctured a hole in my arm. She’d had to be dragged away kicking and cursing. I flipped her the bird when Nick let me have control of my own body back. I doubt she even saw it by then. Glowering at my new User was fast becoming my new favourite past-time, not that he even noticed. He was too busy enjoying the attention he was getting from women who used to ignore him. Power; it drives chicks wild. Who’d have known?
The club was awash with flashing lights, scantily-clothed women and big, buff, irritable-looking men. Practically everyone was wearing leather. It was either a biker joint or a fetish club. I was leaning towards biker bar going by the number of times Nick had used me to fend off attacks from scary-looking dudes in Motorhead t-shirts. I was getting pretty sick of being used like a human Rottweiler by the time Nick was actually on stage and otherwise distracted.
I sank into the shadows at the side of the stage and tried not to think about how much this would suck if this were my life… Oh wait I have no life; I was revoked entitlement to a life when a crazy bitch decided to go slash-happy on me and paint my kitchen a vibrant shade of O-negative. My snort of laughter drew the drummer’s wary glance. He shook his head at me and kept right on banging away like a possessed monkey.
I should probably explain; Nick’s band is a mix of speed metal and rap metal with a heavy coating of grunge rock. This made for a head-ache forming combo. I doubted they were getting paid for the noise they were making.
It was too warm. The lights burning onto the stage and the equipment beside me were making the room uncomfortably hot. I folded my arms and snarled at a tattooed-girl with pink hair who was peering nosily over at me. She raised a pierced eyebrow and looked away slowly. Bitch.
I had no idea how long Nick spent writhing around on the beer-stained stage, singing mostly out of tune, but I took an interest when he decided to levitate three foot above the stage and perform a guitar solo that the rest of the band clearly hadn’t seen coming. They all stopped playing once he got five minutes into his over-blown, self-indulgent performance. He had women pushing against the stage to get close to him. He was glowing like Britt used to, overflowing with magic he just had to use. I rolled my eyes. It hadn’t been a short night so far and it didn’t look like it was going to wind down anytime soon either.
I wanted to get home already. The day had been long enough. The thought of sleep made me smile, even if it wasn’t something I strictly needed to do anymore. It was just one of those things that made me feel more human, more like the old me. I needed to feel human, particularly after the way Nick had just had me acting. They were actually afraid of me. Most of them, anyway. The disinterested few had the right idea but the majority actually seemed to think they would turn into an Animate if I bit them. Idiots. Why the hell would I want to bite them? They probably thought I was after their brains too. I snorted.
Nick came back to earth and was instantly mauled by his new-found groupies. His t-shirt was quickly ripped from him. He grinned at their lack of restraint. The tint of red on their wandering hands was more than just over-flow. He was be-spelling them. I frowned at him. The blonde girl pushing the others out the way grabbed Nick by the neck and pulled him into an open mouthed kiss. Her eyes flashed red before they closed.
What the fuck?
The band rightfully got aggravated and abandoned their instruments to go the bar. Three minutes later they were drinking, raising my jealousy. Not being able to eat or drink anymore bit the big one. I’d taken to chewing food for the taste and spitting it out again, but it just isn’t the same. Swallowing is highly underrated.
I watched Nick take turns with a couple of the more ravenous groupies. Their heated kisses dropped away quickly, replaced by hair-pulling and face-scratching when they started to actually bitch-fight each other. This wasn’t funny anymore. Nick was too busy to even notice the havoc he was creating; he was staring at the chest of the blonde who’d managed the climb on to the stage and had ripped her t-shirt off to keep his attention. The flimsy bra she was wearing was completely see-through under the spot-lights.
“You’ve got to be taking the piss,” I cursed, picking up one of the drum sticks the possessed monkey had left on the stage next to his kit. This wasn’t happening. I was not about to stand around and witness a live sex show. Even if the girl hadn’t been out of her head on Nick’s magic it wasn’t something I’d want to see. I chucked one of the sticks at him, hard. It hit him in the back and made him turn. The girl’s arms closed around his skinny chest from behind. The nipple ring and belly-button piercings she started toying with made me cringe, but no more so than seeing the chain that disappeared from Nick’s belly piercing into his jeans. Yuck. I so did not need to know what that was attached to. “That’s enough,” I warned.
Nick frowned at me, smiling when the girl licked his neck. “What? This is one of your only obligations, Pete. So…”
“I never agreed to stand around and watch you cast lust spells,” I argued, folding my arms.
Nick’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not doing anything wrong here.” He pushed the girl back. “So don’t get all preachy with me.”
“They don’t want you. You’re just forcing them to like you. It’s disgusting.”
“What the fuck would you know?” He stared at me. “You don’t have the first clue about what women really want.”
The girl behind him was glowing almost painfully now. He was pushing too much magic into her. She was going to crash. Her hands wandered as her eyes rolled up in her head. She moaned loudly, fingers following the chain hanging from Nick’s piercing.
“Oh, aye? Well, whatever it is, it’s not in your pants.”
The girl passed out, tumbling backwards and moaning lightly as she hit the floor. Nick turned and gazed down at her, no expression on his face. He knelt and touched her, and the glow of his magic coursed back towards him. He didn’t look at me again until the magic was safely contained within his own body. “It was just a bit of fun. If you’re going to keep over-reacting I’ll need to re-think your contract.”
I didn’t say anything. The thinly veiled threat wasn’t worth reacting to. Nick had gotten out of control but he’d stopped when he’d seen the harm he was doing. He just didn’t like being told what to do.
I folded my arms. “What time is this place open ‘til?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Nick said, turning and soaking up the drizzle of magic he’d poured over the crowd. They were suddenly a whole hell of a lot less rowdy. The bitch-fights near the stage stopped dead. Girls who’d been tearing each other’s hair out seconds before started crying and hugging and throwing out absolutes; let’s never fight again, don’t ever let me drink vodka again, you’ll always be my best friend no matter what. It was kind of nice and reassuring after the slip I’d just witnessed from Nick.
“We can go,” Nick said, putting his guitar in its case and picking up his leather jacket.
“What about…”
“The guys will tidy up. Or is asking others to pack shit up against your moral code as well?”
“I was only asking.”
“Well next time don’t bother,” he informed me, “unless you want to become a cleaning zombie.”
I knew when to keep my mouth shut; I’d seen the state of his flat. Nick hauled his jacket on and passed me his guitar case. I took it without complaint.
“So, do I get tomorrow off?” I was probably chancing my luck.
Nick frowned at me. “What the hell do you need a day off for?”
“I kind of still have to pay rent, unless you’re going to pay me to be a cleaning zombie?”
“Oh, right. That’s a bit balls.”
“You’ll need to sign my ‘back to work’ form.” Then I’d need to find an actual paying job at a place that recruited Animates. I got the feeling that was going to be quite a bit harder than it sounded. I couldn’t remember seeing Animates working anywhere out in the big wide world, besides the castle. I got the shivers just thinking about it.
“Well, you’re lucky I don’t have any gigs this weekend. You’ll need to find a job where there’s no weekend shifts,” he said, “and you’ll have to let me see the work contract before you sign it.”
Crap. I had to get pre-approval now too. This was going to just suck big hairy donkey balls.
LINKS:
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MP310C2
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MP310C2
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...
Raised: Part Two is #free on #Kindle from 16th-20th February!
If you’re looking for something new to download onto your Kindle this week and you love to read entertaining urban fantasy, you should head on over to Amazon and grab both parts of Raised for free! The first part is permanently free, but part two will be free from 16th-20th February only, so now’s the time to grab part two! Oh and if you feel mildly guilty about getting something for nothing you can always leave a short review, as they are always very much appreciated :)
After being killed by a one night stand and raised for the purpose of being recruited into the King’s Royal Guard, Pete went on the run.
His escape didn’t go as planned.
One dead User later…
Excerpt:
There’s only so much one dead guy can take. I learned that pretty fast when Nick put a horrendous puppet-spell on me and made me go all clunky B-movie zombie on a bunch of hot chicks in the club. The screaming was bad enough, but one of them had taken her shoe off and punctured a hole in my arm. She’d had to be dragged away kicking and cursing. I flipped her the bird when Nick let me have control of my own body back. I doubt she even saw it by then. Glowering at my new User was fast becoming my new favourite past-time, not that he even noticed. He was too busy enjoying the attention he was getting from women who used to ignore him. Power; it drives chicks wild. Who’d have known?
The club was awash with flashing lights, scantily-clothed women and big, buff, irritable-looking men. Practically everyone was wearing leather. It was either a biker joint or a fetish club. I was leaning towards biker bar going by the number of times Nick had used me to fend off attacks from scary-looking dudes in Motorhead t-shirts. I was getting pretty sick of being used like a human Rottweiler by the time Nick was actually on stage and otherwise distracted.
I sank into the shadows at the side of the stage and tried not to think about how much this would suck if this were my life… Oh wait I have no life; I was revoked entitlement to a life when a crazy bitch decided to go slash-happy on me and paint my kitchen a vibrant shade of O-negative. My snort of laughter drew the drummer’s wary glance. He shook his head at me and kept right on banging away like a possessed monkey.
Links:
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MP310C2
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MP310C2
Amazon CA: http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00MP310C2
After being killed by a one night stand and raised for the purpose of being recruited into the King’s Royal Guard, Pete went on the run.
His escape didn’t go as planned.
One dead User later…
Excerpt:
There’s only so much one dead guy can take. I learned that pretty fast when Nick put a horrendous puppet-spell on me and made me go all clunky B-movie zombie on a bunch of hot chicks in the club. The screaming was bad enough, but one of them had taken her shoe off and punctured a hole in my arm. She’d had to be dragged away kicking and cursing. I flipped her the bird when Nick let me have control of my own body back. I doubt she even saw it by then. Glowering at my new User was fast becoming my new favourite past-time, not that he even noticed. He was too busy enjoying the attention he was getting from women who used to ignore him. Power; it drives chicks wild. Who’d have known?
The club was awash with flashing lights, scantily-clothed women and big, buff, irritable-looking men. Practically everyone was wearing leather. It was either a biker joint or a fetish club. I was leaning towards biker bar going by the number of times Nick had used me to fend off attacks from scary-looking dudes in Motorhead t-shirts. I was getting pretty sick of being used like a human Rottweiler by the time Nick was actually on stage and otherwise distracted.
I sank into the shadows at the side of the stage and tried not to think about how much this would suck if this were my life… Oh wait I have no life; I was revoked entitlement to a life when a crazy bitch decided to go slash-happy on me and paint my kitchen a vibrant shade of O-negative. My snort of laughter drew the drummer’s wary glance. He shook his head at me and kept right on banging away like a possessed monkey.
Links:
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MP310C2
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MP310C2
Amazon CA: http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00MP310C2
Cover Reveal & Excerpt: Raised: Part Three
Fans of the Raised series will be happy to know that book three won't be too much longer! The book comes out on the 20th April and will be on free offer for 5 days 20th-24th April.
PS: If you read book two you might notice that the title isn't what I'd originally planned, but I decided to keep all parts under one title - Raised - basically just to make the series easier to identify.
For now here's a glimpse at the cover and the first chapter...
Excerpt:
One – Nine/Britt
The way he stared at me should have been unnerving. His kiss had left my lips warm and tingling. He’d moved back quickly, leaving me to catch my breath. Those dark blue eyes were so intense. It was as if they were daring me to show him everything I had. He’d want whatever I decided to give him, he was waiting for me. I felt my shoulders shake as a shiver passed over my naked body. The water wasn’t warm anymore, but I couldn’t seem to care. I didn’t want to move. Not as long as he was staring at me like that.
Eight’s usual warnings flashed through my head. You don’t know what he wants, Nine. Be careful.
She was wrong. I did know what he wanted. He wanted into my thoughts. He wanted to dig around inside my head. There was something I knew that he wanted to know.
I bit at my lip. He already knew I wasn’t Britt. What harm could it really do to let him see everything? I mean, I was used to letting Britt check my thoughts, and it wasn’t like that had ever bothered me. It’s not like it ever hurt.
But she had been my master. She was allowed to take whatever she wanted from me and I’d never stopped to question that. Why would I? I only existed because she had made me.
Things were different now. Timmy had shown me that.
“What is it that you want?” I asked because I had every right to know.
He smiled. It was a sexy kind of smile, sly and slow in blossoming. “I’m interested in spending time with you. You don’t display typical behaviour for a clone.”
I felt my face flush. Again, Eight’s voice invaded my thoughts. That wasn’t a compliment. He thinks he has you figured out. You’re not that easy, Nine. Don’t let him mess with you.
It was a sterner talking to that I was used to from the girl I hadn’t even known was a friend until it was too late. And oh yeah, I knew it wasn’t really her. Duh. It was like my conscience, or something. I hadn’t known I had one of those, was all. I realised he was still watching me, waiting to see what effect his answer had on me.
“Liar,” I told him, sipping at my champagne and putting the empty glass down on the side of the bath tub. “Tell me the truth, and maybe you’ll get somewhere.”
“Fine. I’m attracted to you,” he said, sliding forward again and sloshing water over the side of the tub.
It still felt like a lie, but I silenced Eight’s voice before she could tell me to be careful again. I’d been with enough men to know what desire looked like. I could hear it in his voice, husky and warm. I felt it between my legs when he pressed up against me. It was in his eyes, making them seem darker as he gazed into mine. “Britt was a bitch,” he said, breathing quickly as his gaze fell to my chest. “I never once thought of her like this.”
I believed him. It’s why I kissed him back when his lips pressed against mine. It didn’t take long to let my guard down. He moaned as he moved against me. His slow, teasing movements were a distraction. I felt him inside my head suddenly, a foreign presence whispering through my thoughts. I pushed him away when I realised what we were doing.
Confusion clouded the desire in his eyes. “I thought you wanted this.”
“You were inside my head again.” I tried to sound pissed, like Britt would have done, but I didn’t have it in me. I wanted him too much. I couldn’t deny it.
He blew out a breath. “You don’t understand.”
“This just isn’t going to work,” I said it quickly, before I could have time to regret the decision. I stood up and climbed out of the bath, steadying my feet with magic when I slipped on the wet floor. I cursed under my breath. Stumbling around naked in front of a handsome King was so embarrassing. This would have never happened to Britt.
His hand landed on my shoulder as I reached for a towel. I fought the urge to shudder. Something brushed against my neck; his hair, it had fallen forward as he kissed his way down my spine. “Holy Hell,” I whispered.
“Tell me to leave and I’ll go,” he told me, his hard body pressing against mine from behind. His arms closed around me as his lips brushed against my throat. “You’ve never been with another User before, have you?”
I shook my head slowly, not wanting to move. If this was how he could make me feel before we even did anything, I didn’t want him to ever leave.
“When we lose control, it’s not just physical. I can’t stop the magic from opening you up to me. If you were feeling what I am the same would be happening to you. You’d be inside my head as much as I was in yours. I’m fighting it right now, but it’s taking everything I have.” He sighed deeply.
I closed my eyes. This was so messed up. I couldn’t do this. Could I? The heat of his body so close to mine was totally clouding my judgement. “Can’t we do this without magic?”
“We could,” he said. “But I want all of you. The magic is a part of you. It’s a part of me. It binds us together in deeper ways. We’re not like other humans. We’re more than that.”
I opened my eyes and he moved away. “Don’t leave,” I said, biting down on my lip as I realized how desperate I sounded. I wanted him and now he knew it.
“Relax,” he told me, picking up my champagne glass and handing me it. “I’m willing to wait. You want to make sure you understand. I want you to know what you’re getting into.”
I drained my glass. Eight would tell me he was smooth-talking me to get what he wanted. I looked at him as I put the glass down. I realised I didn’t care if he was only telling me what I wanted to hear. I was entitled to some fun. I smiled. “I know exactly what I’m getting in to.”
Well I hope that tides you over until the 20th! I will post the links on this blog when the book is released. FYI It's going to be exclusive to Amazon, just like the second part.
PS: If you read book two you might notice that the title isn't what I'd originally planned, but I decided to keep all parts under one title - Raised - basically just to make the series easier to identify.
For now here's a glimpse at the cover and the first chapter...
Excerpt:
One – Nine/Britt
The way he stared at me should have been unnerving. His kiss had left my lips warm and tingling. He’d moved back quickly, leaving me to catch my breath. Those dark blue eyes were so intense. It was as if they were daring me to show him everything I had. He’d want whatever I decided to give him, he was waiting for me. I felt my shoulders shake as a shiver passed over my naked body. The water wasn’t warm anymore, but I couldn’t seem to care. I didn’t want to move. Not as long as he was staring at me like that.
Eight’s usual warnings flashed through my head. You don’t know what he wants, Nine. Be careful.
She was wrong. I did know what he wanted. He wanted into my thoughts. He wanted to dig around inside my head. There was something I knew that he wanted to know.
I bit at my lip. He already knew I wasn’t Britt. What harm could it really do to let him see everything? I mean, I was used to letting Britt check my thoughts, and it wasn’t like that had ever bothered me. It’s not like it ever hurt.
But she had been my master. She was allowed to take whatever she wanted from me and I’d never stopped to question that. Why would I? I only existed because she had made me.
Things were different now. Timmy had shown me that.
“What is it that you want?” I asked because I had every right to know.
He smiled. It was a sexy kind of smile, sly and slow in blossoming. “I’m interested in spending time with you. You don’t display typical behaviour for a clone.”
I felt my face flush. Again, Eight’s voice invaded my thoughts. That wasn’t a compliment. He thinks he has you figured out. You’re not that easy, Nine. Don’t let him mess with you.
It was a sterner talking to that I was used to from the girl I hadn’t even known was a friend until it was too late. And oh yeah, I knew it wasn’t really her. Duh. It was like my conscience, or something. I hadn’t known I had one of those, was all. I realised he was still watching me, waiting to see what effect his answer had on me.
“Liar,” I told him, sipping at my champagne and putting the empty glass down on the side of the bath tub. “Tell me the truth, and maybe you’ll get somewhere.”
“Fine. I’m attracted to you,” he said, sliding forward again and sloshing water over the side of the tub.
It still felt like a lie, but I silenced Eight’s voice before she could tell me to be careful again. I’d been with enough men to know what desire looked like. I could hear it in his voice, husky and warm. I felt it between my legs when he pressed up against me. It was in his eyes, making them seem darker as he gazed into mine. “Britt was a bitch,” he said, breathing quickly as his gaze fell to my chest. “I never once thought of her like this.”
I believed him. It’s why I kissed him back when his lips pressed against mine. It didn’t take long to let my guard down. He moaned as he moved against me. His slow, teasing movements were a distraction. I felt him inside my head suddenly, a foreign presence whispering through my thoughts. I pushed him away when I realised what we were doing.
Confusion clouded the desire in his eyes. “I thought you wanted this.”
“You were inside my head again.” I tried to sound pissed, like Britt would have done, but I didn’t have it in me. I wanted him too much. I couldn’t deny it.
He blew out a breath. “You don’t understand.”
“This just isn’t going to work,” I said it quickly, before I could have time to regret the decision. I stood up and climbed out of the bath, steadying my feet with magic when I slipped on the wet floor. I cursed under my breath. Stumbling around naked in front of a handsome King was so embarrassing. This would have never happened to Britt.
His hand landed on my shoulder as I reached for a towel. I fought the urge to shudder. Something brushed against my neck; his hair, it had fallen forward as he kissed his way down my spine. “Holy Hell,” I whispered.
“Tell me to leave and I’ll go,” he told me, his hard body pressing against mine from behind. His arms closed around me as his lips brushed against my throat. “You’ve never been with another User before, have you?”
I shook my head slowly, not wanting to move. If this was how he could make me feel before we even did anything, I didn’t want him to ever leave.
“When we lose control, it’s not just physical. I can’t stop the magic from opening you up to me. If you were feeling what I am the same would be happening to you. You’d be inside my head as much as I was in yours. I’m fighting it right now, but it’s taking everything I have.” He sighed deeply.
I closed my eyes. This was so messed up. I couldn’t do this. Could I? The heat of his body so close to mine was totally clouding my judgement. “Can’t we do this without magic?”
“We could,” he said. “But I want all of you. The magic is a part of you. It’s a part of me. It binds us together in deeper ways. We’re not like other humans. We’re more than that.”
I opened my eyes and he moved away. “Don’t leave,” I said, biting down on my lip as I realized how desperate I sounded. I wanted him and now he knew it.
“Relax,” he told me, picking up my champagne glass and handing me it. “I’m willing to wait. You want to make sure you understand. I want you to know what you’re getting into.”
I drained my glass. Eight would tell me he was smooth-talking me to get what he wanted. I looked at him as I put the glass down. I realised I didn’t care if he was only telling me what I wanted to hear. I was entitled to some fun. I smiled. “I know exactly what I’m getting in to.”
Well I hope that tides you over until the 20th! I will post the links on this blog when the book is released. FYI It's going to be exclusive to Amazon, just like the second part.
Sinners Never Sleep Pre-order Special Offer!
The first book in my new urban fantasy series, Sinners Never Sleep, releases 10th April 2018, and is only 99 cents during pre-order.
Sinners Never Sleep
I have a pre-order special offer going on where you can claim a free eBook when you order Sinners Never Sleep on Amazon before the end of the day on the 9th April 2018.
Get the full details here: www.totallyaddictedtobooks.com/sinners-never-sleep-pre-order-special-offer
Sinners Never Sleep
I have a pre-order special offer going on where you can claim a free eBook when you order Sinners Never Sleep on Amazon before the end of the day on the 9th April 2018.
Get the full details here: www.totallyaddictedtobooks.com/sinners-never-sleep-pre-order-special-offer
