Heart of the Serpent: Hades' Carnival, Book 5 (9 page)

Once upon a time, a writer woke up in the middle of her own book…

Pride of the Lion

© 2013 N.J. Walters

Hades’ Carnival, Book 3

Araminta Davenport has arrived. After giving up her librarian job to be a full-time writer, all those lonely nights alone with her cat and her keyboard have paid off. She’s been invited to participate in one of the biggest reader appreciation weekends—as a professional author.

She can’t imagine her life getting any more exciting than that…until she accidentally releases a sexy, shapeshifting, immortal warrior from a five-thousand-year-old curse.

Finally free of his carousel prison, lion shifter Leander is determined not to let Hades lure him to the dark side in a quest for world domination. Nor will he give the delectable Araminta up to the clutches of the dark one. If they can survive twenty-four hours—and somehow resist losing themselves completely in the sexual haze threatening to swallow them up—the curse will be permanently broken.

But the clock is ticking, the heat is rising…and only the ultimate sacrifice will save them both.

Warning
: This book contains one shy writer who is learning how to cut loose, and a warrior who’s been cut loose and he’s ready to roar. Stir in enough hot sex to make Hell itself seem like the Arctic, and you have a recipe for one wild ride.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Pride of the Lion:

“This isn’t real.” Araminta sat back on the bed with a heavy thump, her hands twisted in the sheet covering her. She was losing her mind. There was no other logical explanation for what was happening. The lion was massive, much larger than a normal one. He looked as though he could eat her with one gulp.

He prowled toward her and she held out her shaking hand. “Nice kitty.” She should call hotel security. But what would she say? I have a lion in my room. They’d send for the men in white coats. She tried to swallow around the lump in her throat but couldn’t. The lion stopped in front of her, his face level with hers.

She could hear his heavy breathing, feel the warm puff against her skin. His teeth appeared even sharper this close up. His long golden tail with a black tuft on the end swished lazily behind him.

“I must be going crazy.” The words came out in a breathy rush, and she sucked in a lungful of air. Her heart raced and her stomach was in knots.

There was no other explanation for having a sexy stranger in her bed, one who could shift into a lion. “I’ve been doing too much research and writing. Maybe I’ve had a mental breakdown.” The words tripped out, one after another. She always talked to herself when she was nervous, and the fact she was on the verge of being eaten by a large lion was no reason to stop. In a weird way, it calmed and grounded her.

The lion grumbled and caught the edge of her sheet between its teeth. She clung to the thin fabric, refusing to let her only covering go. “Hey, let go. That’s mine.” And why was she arguing with a full-grown male lion? She’d truly lost her mind.

Leander growled again, but this time he sounded as though he meant business. The fabric ripped and she released it, afraid he might decide to chomp on her next if she didn’t. She pushed herself back onto the bed, but he caught her forearm in his powerful jaws. He didn’t hurt her, his teeth touching her skin but not digging in. She froze, afraid to do anything that might upset him further.

Oh God, what was she going to do? Nothing in her past had prepared her for such an event. She wasn’t an adrenaline junkie, a thrill-seeker. She was a homebody, living a staid, quiet life.

When she stopped trying to escape him, he released her and dragged his tongue over her arm as if in silent apology.

“This is unbelievable.”

He growled and shook his head as if to refute her words.

She licked her dry lips and tried to think logically. He hadn’t eaten her, hadn’t even done anything to harm her. That probably meant he wasn’t going to. Or at least that’s what she hoped it meant.

Tentatively, she reached out and touched his head. He gave a low purr of encouragement and she carefully scratched behind one of his ears. His fur was short and bristly and felt a lot like Percy’s.

“Okay, what if I agree that you are a shapeshifter and an ancient immortal warrior?” He gave a rumble of approval and she kept going. “What does that mean? And why am I suddenly living my book?” That was the weirdest thing of all. If he was real, did the people from the two books she’d already written exist? It was all very confusing. Could a dream be this real? She didn’t think so.

He suddenly pulled away from her and began to change again, this time going from animal to man. Skin replaced fur and hands and feet appeared, but the heavy muscle remained constant. The fur around his face receded until only his incredible hair hung to his shoulders. The tail seemed to be absorbed by his body.

She grabbed for the slightly tattered sheet, but he yanked it out of her grasp. Leander leaned over her, his knees on the floor in front of her, his hands pressed against the mattress on either side of her hips, effectively caging her in. He was so tall he was looking in her eyes even though he was kneeling on the floor and she was seated on the bed.

“You are the special woman who has broken my curse. Five of my brethren have been freed already. Mordecai, the serpent, joined Hades without a fight after slaying the woman who freed him. Phoenix and Stavros, the jaguar, disappeared with their women, never to be heard from again.” He paused and she felt his pain like it was a living, breathing entity. “Roric and Marko, the tiger and the bear, have found their freedom, and now it is my turn to do the same.”

Araminta wanted to touch him but was half-afraid to now that she knew he was more than a dream. “I don’t understand. Why did I dream about them? Why am I writing books about them?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe it is a gift from the Lady. Maybe it is part of Hades’ plan.”

The mere thought that Hades might have been in her dreams gave Araminta the heebie-jeebies, and a shiver raced down her spine. If she believed that Leander was the real deal, Hades was also real.

“Please tell me you drugged me.” She was on the verge of hysterical laughter. This couldn’t be happening to her. She was a former librarian turned writer, for heaven’s sake. Not some sexy female adventurer from some movie or video game.

She reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “Tell me you drugged me. Tell me none of this is real.”

He shook his head and sadness filled his gaze. “I cannot.”

He offered no more than that, didn’t try to convince her it was real. That’s when she knew he was telling the truth.

“Oh, crap.” She tried to calm her galloping heart and her chaotic thoughts. She knew what the heroines in her books had gone through. She also knew that some of the earlier women, ones she hadn’t written about, hadn’t made it. This was truly a life-or-death situation.

“What do we do? I have to go home. Mary Jo said someone had broken into my house. Percy is okay, but I don’t know what might be missing.” Her mind clicked into gear. “Oh my God, do you think the break-in might have something to do with this?” She motioned to him and back to herself. “You know, the whole thing with Hades?”

Leander growled and leaned in until their noses were touching. “Who is Percy?”

“What? What does that matter?”

He growled again.

“He’s my cat.” The look on Leander’s face made her laugh. Her nerves were strung so tight, once she started laughing, she couldn’t stop. “You’re not my first cat,” she blurted out before going off into peals of laughter again. She really had to stop. The situation wasn’t the least bit funny.

Leander sat back on his heels with a slight frown on his face. He pounced faster than she could see, grabbed her legs and lifted them, causing her to fall back onto the bed. He parted her legs, shoved them over his shoulders and leaned inward. His massive shoulders pushed her thighs farther apart, opening her for him to see.

“What are you doing?” She swatted at his shoulders, but he wouldn’t be deterred. “Stop that.” She tried to close her legs, but it was impossible with his shoulders blocking her. Was it possible to die of embarrassment? Unfortunately, she didn’t think so.

“What am I doing?” he repeated. “I’m claiming what’s mine.”

She’s run right in to the arms of the big bad wolf.

Wolf on the Run

© 2014 N.J. Walters

Salvation Pack, Book 3

Considered an abomination for her inability to shift, Cherise Michaels has been on the run from her pack since she was a teenager. After her mother is murdered by her former packmates, Cherise is alone, grieving and out of options. Until a dream puts her on course toward her last hope—Salvation, North Carolina.

She makes it to Salvation only to be cornered by her pursuers and then rescued by the biggest, baddest werewolf she’s ever seen.

Cole Blanchard has no trouble dispatching the intruders trespassing on pack land. Convincing their skittish quarry she’s safe is another story. Cole senses she is his mate and he’ll protect her to his last breath, even it means risking everything to face her former pack.

In Cole’s arms, Cherise learns there’s something in this world more powerful than fear—desire and love. She knows loving her is a death sentence for Cole, so she plans to store up a lifetime of memories before she lets him go…

Warning:
This pulse-pounding, heart-thumping story may cause shortness of breath. You are not having a heart attack. You are falling in love with a hot werewolf who will do whatever it takes to keep his chosen mate safe.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Wolf on the Run:

“Well then.” Cherise sidled a little farther to the left. “I’ll just be going.”

Cole sighed. She was going to be trouble. “I can’t allow that.”

He could smell the surge of her fear and it burnt the inside of his nostrils with its stench. He hated it. But it quickly changed, becoming spicier in tone. Anger. Anger he could handle.

“You can’t keep me here.”

He cocked his head to one side, not saying anything at all. He’d just killed three male werewolves. If he wanted to keep a female werewolf who couldn’t even shift from leaving it really wouldn’t be much of a problem.

But he didn’t want her to fight him.

He tried a different tactic. “You’re exhausted. Come back to the house with me, have something to eat and reevaluate the situation.”

She glanced down his body and quickly pulled her gaze back to his face. As a werewolf, she’d be used to seeing naked bodies whenever they shifted. As a woman facing a male she didn’t know, it was no wonder she was cautious.

“I’m Cole Blanchard,” he offered, hoping giving her his name might help put her more at ease. “And you’re on Salvation Pack land.”

“Cherise Michaels.”

He waited, but she added nothing else. “Why here, Cherise?” That had been bothering him. “Of all the places in the country you could have run to, why North Carolina, and why here?”

Was this a trick? Was she a spy sent by Pierre LaForge?

As soon as he thought it, he dismissed it. Those wolves had been hunting her. No doubt about it. And there was no faking her obvious exhaustion and fear.

She licked her lips and Cole swore under his breath. He was filled with a sudden urge to lick her lips for her. He let his claws extend, digging them into the flesh of his palms, using the pain to distract him. Definitely not an appropriate reaction in this situation. She already feared him.

“I—” She paused and tried again. “I don’t know. Bad luck. Good luck. Instinct. I really don’t know.”

Cole knew Jacque would want to question her. “They’ll have breakfast on by now. Why don’t you come back with me and have something to eat. We can talk out your situation. Maybe we can help.”

She looked at him as though he had ten heads, as though he was some strange creature she’d never seen the like of before. It was more than a bit disconcerting.

He kept his distance when what he really wanted to do was scoop her into his arms and carry her back to his home. That gave him pause, but only for a moment. He’d do the same for any woman in her position. Okay, maybe he wouldn’t want to carry her off in his arms, maybe he wouldn’t be fighting a hard-on while he talked with her—and at his age that was embarrassing as hell—but he’d certainly help her.

“What do you say, Cherise?”

What did she say
? Wasn’t that the one-million dollar question? Cherise’s head was spinning, both figuratively and literally. She couldn’t quite come to grips with the fact that this male wolf standing in front of her had killed her stalkers as easily as she’d swat a fly. She was free, at least until they sent someone else after her. Her stomach was empty and her head ached. She’d been running for a week now with her trackers hot on her heels.

She hadn’t realized they’d seen her get onto the bus in St. Louis and had followed her across the country, waiting for her to leave the relative safety of the crowds and the bus stations. They’d been right behind her when she’d left the last bus and hitched a ride with a trucker to the small town of Salvation. It hadn’t taken them long to come after her the minute she was on her own.

Why had she run here?

That was a question she’d been asking herself too. What could she tell him? She’d dreamed it. Had a vision. He’d never believe her even though it was the unvarnished truth.

Cherise swallowed and tried not to look too closely at the intimidating male standing in front of her. She’d grown up around big, powerful men—male werewolves were much stronger than human males—but she’d never seen one quite as large or impressive as Cole Blanchard.

If there was one word to describe him it was massive. His shoulders were impossibly wide, his biceps huge. His abs were totally ripped and his legs were as sturdy as tree trunks.

And if his body wasn’t intimidating enough, there was his face. Shaggy dark-blond hair framed ruggedly handsome features. He had a high forehead, prominent cheekbones and a stubborn jaw. But it was his eyes that dominated his face. Green as grass, they were intelligent and perceptive.

Strength and smarts. A deadly combination.

“Cherise?”

The way he said her name sent a shiver running down her spine, and it wasn’t all due to fear. His low voice stroked over her skin like a physical caress. She had no idea what was wrong with her. She’d never had this kind of reaction to a male—wolf or human—before in her life. She wasn’t sure she liked it.

Cole made her feel off-balance and uncertain. Not good things when she was running for her life.

“Come home with me,” he coaxed her as though she was a wild creature that needed to be tamed.

And maybe she was. She’d been on the run since before her sixteenth birthday, just over twelve years. With her daddy dead, there’d been no one to trust but her mama, and now she was gone. They’d lived in isolation by necessity even as they’d been surrounded by people in almost every major city in the country. They’d survived by living among humans, never able to trust any of them with their secret.

She was wavering. What would it be like to spend a few hours with others like her? No, not like her. They could shift at will while she wasn’t much different from a human. But they were her kind, her people.

And Cole already knew she couldn’t shift, and he’d protected her instead of trying to kill her. That had to mean they were a more progressive pack. At least she hoped so.

“What will your alpha say?” She didn’t want to get Cole into trouble. An alpha’s word was law, and if he didn’t like the fact Cole brought her to their home, Cole might find himself being disciplined or worse, exiled.

There was nothing worse for a wolf than to have no pack. She should know. She’d spent all her adult life and part of her childhood without one.

One corner of Cole’s mouth tipped upward. It wasn’t quite a smile, but it was close enough to have her core temperature shooting up. The man was lethally handsome in a quiet way. How would her body react if he actually smiled?

“My alpha would have my head if I didn’t invite you back. Not to mention what his mate would do to me.”

Cherise bit her bottom lip while she considered her options. She was really tired and hungry and this seemed like a friendly pack. Maybe she was making a big mistake, but she trusted Cole. The man had saved her life. Killed three werewolves to protect her. She didn’t think he’d done that just so his own pack could kill her.

She was going on instinct. Taking a huge risk.

“Okay.” She gripped the strap on her backpack, knowing there was no going back. It was only a simple invitation to breakfast, but it felt like so much more. Cherise knew if she took one step toward Cole her life would change forever.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward.