Embrace the Power: A Paranormal Romance (The Blood Rose Series Book 9) (52 page)

The tree felt like life to him, as though everything good and powerful in the universe had gathered in one place and showered a life-force down on them both.

A breeze blew through the garden, rustling the leaves of the sissoo, and making a shushing sound.

His throat grew tight and he had the strangest feeling as though for a brief moment he’d returned to the human world restored. He rubbed his gums, checking for the lumps that would release his fangs, but they were still there. The sensation, as transient as it would no doubt prove, made him long for things he’d pushed to the deepest parts of his mind.

He’d been twenty-eight when he’d taken the blood flame drug, laced as it was with the vampire
alter
serum. But in this moment, with Iris in his arms, he could recall the vision he’d had for his life. He would become an engineer and build entire cities. He would find the right woman to be by his side, they would marry and have four or five kids.

He’d found the right woman, but after a year of marriage she’d died unexpectedly of a brain aneurism. His grief had been profound and had led him to take blood flame, which in turn had brought him here, to this exact spot, beneath a life-giving tree and holding a beautiful, strong, resourceful witch in his arms.

When Iris began drawing deep breaths, he felt her strength returning. With skin like cream, her brows in fine arches, and her lips full, she looked like a model.

Without thinking, he stroked her face, pushing a few loose strands away from her ear.

She drew another stream of air into her lungs, then rolled her head back to look up at him. Her gaze skated past him as she looked in the direction of the sky. She smiled. “I’m so glad to be home and you’re right, my spell holds. We’ll be safe here. I knew you were worried about that.”

Her cat jumped up on Iris’s stomach. “Hello, Pips.”

Iris shifted just enough to pet her cat.

Connor’s throat now ached like he had a noose around his neck. For a moment, he didn’t know why until he realized he’d felt this way once before, during his way-too-brief marriage.

The night had already been strange with the runner and her fake jacket, the explosion on the bridge, and now Big Nuts turning him over to a madman for cash.

But maybe the most bizarre part was realizing he was falling in love with Iris Meldeere, a woman who by nature of her
alter
species was his enemy.

How the hell had this happened?

End Excerpt from BLOOD FLAME

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