Short Story Excerpt, part #6/Giveaway–Hunt the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #11) by Alexandra Ivy

                                                          Expected publication: May 27th 2014 by Zebra

The vampire, Roke, is raw, sensual, always in control. Yet somehow he's allowed the unthinkable to happen: a nymph-like witch named Sally has used her magic to trick Roke into mating with her. The pair will remain bound for eternity unless Sally breaks the spell. The trouble is, she has no idea how. . .

Mating with Roke was an accident; at least that's what Sally keeps telling herself. She's on the hunt for her demon father, whose identity holds the key to releasing the spell. The search won't be easy with Roke shadowing Sally's every move. As they mate with a ferocity that leaves them both aching for more, Sally isn't sure if her world is more dangerous without Roke—or with him. . .

Roke took a cautious step forward. She was twitchy enough to bolt if he wasn’t careful.

“What are you afraid of, Sally?”

She scowled at the soft question. “I’m not afraid of anything.”

He shook his head, his fingers lifting to press against the pulse thundering at the base of her throat. “You know better than to try and lie to a vampire. Even if I wasn’t bonded to you I could detect the increased beat of your heart and catch the scent of adrenalin.” His fingers lightly traced the faint shadow of her jugular vein, his fangs aching for a taste. “Of course, I could be mistaken.”

“You mistaken?” she tried to mock. “Shocking.”

He cupped the side of her face, the satin heat of her skin against his palm a sensation he could easily become addicted to.

“It could be lust,” he murmured, his gaze lowering to the sensual curve of her lips. “And I know the perfect remedy.”

“Fine.” She pulled away from his touch, but not before Roke caught the intoxicating scent of her arousal. “Vampires hate witches.”

With an effort, Roke allowed her to retreat. It was so very tempting to haul her into his arms and seduce her into soft, melting compliance.

It might even work for a few hours.

But he wasn’t so vain as to think that getting her into bed would earn her trust.

Hell, she’d probably use it as another reason to push him away.

“How many times do I have to promise I will do whatever necessary to keep you safe?” he instead asked, holding her wary gaze.

“From your own clan?”

“So long as you’re under my protection they wouldn’t dare hurt you.”

“Even if they believe I have you trapped in a spell? Come on, Roke.” She shuddered, as if imagining the horror of being ravaged by crazed vampires. “They would kill me in a heartbeat if they thought it was for your own good.”

His lips parted only to snap shut.

Shit.

She had a point.

His clan had spent far too long beneath the rule of a chief who’d been more concerned with pleasing his demanding mate than caring for his people. For over a century they’d floundered, so weakened that they’d nearly lost everything before Roke had traveled to the battles of Durotriges to earn the right to become a chief.

That’s why he’d been so infuriated by the magical bonding. He’d already made the decision that his mate would be a rational, loyal female who would dedicate herself to the good of his people.

And why his clan was unreasonably over-protective of him.

They were going to be on the warpath when they discovered he’d been bound by a witch.
“I’ll speak with them,” he promised.

“And tell them what?” she rasped, her hands clenched. “A nasty witch who used to work for the Dark Lord forced a mating on their beloved clan chief. Yeah, that should go over well. They’ll be standing in line for the pleasure of killing me.”

His growl rumbled through the room. “So what do you suggest? That we aimlessly run around the world in the hope that we stumble across your father?”

“You can take the box back to Nevada and I can stay here and question the locals.” She shrugged. “Someone must have known my mother.”

“No.”

She blinked, meeting his ruthless silver gaze with an audible huff of annoyance.
“That’s it? Just, no?”

“We stay together.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s killing you to be apart from me.”

The stark words hung in the air for a long, tension-fraught moment, then Sally was instinctively shaking her head in denial.

“Oh my god,” she jeered. “Could your ego get any more bloated?”

“It’s not my ego, Sally.” He moved to touch the shadows beneath her beautiful eyes. “You’re fading away.”

She rigidly held her ground. “It’s just stress.”

“And if it’s not?”

“What are you trying to imply?”

                         PART 6 - Extra Guardian of Eternity

He snatched the amulet an inch before it connected with his nose, his brows snapping together as he opened his hand and studied the small charm that rested in his palm.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

He slowly lifted his head, his eyes dark with an emotion that was impossible to decipher. “Why try to sneak in the most heavily guarded lair in the world?” he at last demanded. “Why not just knock on the front door?”

She shrugged. “I was going to leave this in your private rooms and disappear before you knew I was here.”

Not surprisingly he instantly knew she was lying. Magnus hadn’t been chosen as a Raven by Styx because he was stupid.

“Bullshit,” he growled.

Her chin tilted another inch higher. “Excuse me?”

His icy power wrapped around her, the dark gaze studying her pale face. She clenched her teeth. Once he’d looked at her with a blatant male fascination that made her heart pound and her knees weak. The kind of look a male gave a female when he’d decided that she was the answer to all his prayers.

Now...not so much.

“If you just wanted to return my amulet then you could have sent it to me,” he pointed out in a cold voice of reason. “Or left it outside the gates with a note.”

Both reasonable choices. She wished now that she’d chosen one of them.

Ridiculously she’d thought she could actually make him listen to her. As if the past century could be erased and he would ignore the fact that she’d simply disappeared after he’d asked her to be his mate.





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Alexandra Ivy is the New York Times bestselling author of the Guardians of Eternity series, the Immortal Rogues
series and the Sentinels.

Alexandra graduated from Truman University with a degree in theatre before deciding she preferred to bring her characters to life on paper rather than stage. She currently lives in Missouri with her extraordinarily patient
husband and teenage sons.





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