NOT DEAD YET: A Lucy Hart, DEATHDEALER Novel (Book Two)

BOOK: NOT DEAD YET: A Lucy Hart, DEATHDEALER Novel (Book Two)
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New Adult Paranormal Romance

 

Someone is trying to kill Lucy Hart: assassins of every ilk and species have converged on Southern California, all trying one after the other—sometimes together—to snuff her out. 

 

All of this is happening as Lucy tries to plan her impending nuptials and choose what sorority to rush in the fall. 

 

On top of that there’s the gorgeous vampire, Vin—who now has a special blood bond with Lucy—who is trying to steal her away from her werewolf love, Gabriel.

 

In the end Lucy has to choose who she loves most, and save her own life—once again.

Not Dead Yet

 

~*~

Alice Bello

Writing as

Eva Sloan

 

Copyright 2012, 2013

Previously published as Blood Rites

Kindle Edition

Cover Image, 123RF.com

Edited by Stephanie T. Lott (aka
Bibliophile
)

 

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

 

 

Her eyes opened to nothing but blue.  For maybe the hundredth time that day Lucy Hart dangled, held suspended in midair—
upside down
—straining ineffectually against her future brother-in-law’s monstrous grip.  His hulking arms had hers pinned at her sides, her legs flopping uselessly over his shoulder, and her face hovering about a foot over the bright blue grappling mat.

She was damn sick of ending up in this position.

Micah wasn’t so tired of it.  If anything he was trying to throw her into that position faster and faster with every resulting practice match.

“Whose idea... ” she gasped, “was it again... that I needed... combat training?”  Her ears popped as she grunted out the words.

Micah barked out a laugh.  “That would be you.”

Oh, yeah
.  “But why are
you
training me?”

Micah flopped her down on her back on the thick blue mat, simultaneously letting her finally take in a deep breath just to get it knocked out of her again.  Micah stood over her, an infuriating grin on his Viking handsome face, his fists on his hips as he smirked down at her.

“That,
again
, would be you.”

After about a minute of breathlessness she huffed, “What?”

He shook his head.  “You told Gabriel you wanted to be trained by the best.”

She cringed.  Lucy had just assumed Gabriel would’ve gotten the hint that she wanted him to train her.  At least then she’d get to see him, maybe even get to do some non-pain-inducing rolling around with him on the big blue mat. But because of the daily training with
Mr. Pain
, and meetings with her mother and her future mother-in-law to plan the pending nuptials, she hadn’t had any private time with her fiancé.  And with all the tossing and turning she’d been doing at night, and the naughty dreams she’d been having about Gabriel, Lucy really wanted to have that private time with him.  

She peered up at Micah again.  He wasn’t even breathing hard, and hadn’t a drop of sweat on him!  Where Lucy was soaked in sweat, breathing like she’d run a marathon, and had bruises blooming over every square inch of her body.

Lucy held her hand out to Micah so he could hoist her to her feet.  “So you’re really the best?”

The look on his face changed.  He looked down right insulted. 

“Jeez... ” Lucy said, “I didn’t mean to hurt your
little girl
feelings.  Just help me up.”  She shook her hand at him, knowing that she’d put the “little girl” thing in there just to piss him off.  He deserved it.  He enjoyed throwing her around way too much.

“Why do we fall down?” he said in a terrible English accent.

“Don’t do
Batman
today.  I banned that three days ago.” 

He smiled devilishly.  “But it’s relevant and classic.”

“But you abused it on Monday.  So shut up,
Alfred
, and help me up!”

Micah shook his head, and Lucy rolled her eyes at him.  He leaned over and grabbed her hand, pulling her up off the mat with his inhuman strength—yet stopping about halfway.  She looked up and found him staring at the other side of the immense Enoch Industries gymnasium.  She let her head fall back and peered back to see what had suddenly stolen away Micah’s attention.  All Lucy saw was a young, well-muscled man with short spiky black hair and very, very tan skin.  Too tan to be a tan.  Probably his skin color had more to do with his genes than sun bathing.

Lucy looked back up into Micah’s face and saw hunger...  and need.

“Oh!”  Lucy lost her grip on Micah’s hand and fell back onto the mat with a thud... and a long suffering groan.

Micah looked down; a surprised and embarrassed look on his face.  He swooped down and scooped her up off the mat, pulling her to her feet like she weighed less than nothing, setting her gently on her feet again.  “Sorry about that.  I kind of spaced out there.”

Lucy tried to say something, yet all she managed was another guttural groan.  She ached everywhere, and now her backside really hurt too.  After another grunt, and a breathy moan, Lucy pulled herself to standing almost straight again.  She hadn’t noticed she was bent over while she whined and groaned.

“No problem.”  She grimaced.  “It was my fault.  I was just surprised when I caught you...  well... ”

Micah tilted his head and furrowed his brows, staring into her eyes.

Lucy leaned in and whispered to him so the apple of his eye couldn’t hear what she was about to say.  That was one thing she really hated.  Werewolves had wicked good hearing.  “I saw you checking out tall, dark, and handsome over there.”

Micah gave her a long, piteous look, as if he thought she was mentally challenged.  Then he shrugged.  “So?  I’ve been trying to get Paul in the sack ever since your engagement party.”

“Oh!” 
There I go again

Remove foot from mouth and try not to look too idiotic.

Micah laughed, a low, rich laugh that made you feel like laughing too.  “I get it,” he said.  “My brother didn’t tell you I’m gay.”

“Well... ”

He laughed again, “And here I thought he had his sense of humor surgically removed.  Good for him!”

“So you’re not mad?”

“Relieved, more like it.  But I’m still going to want some vengeance.  So after training let’s go up to his office.  There’s a photograph I wanna show you.”

It was Lucy’s turn to smile.  “I’ve already seen and heard the story of the tattoo.”

Micah’s jaw dropped open and he shook his head.  “No shit.  Mr. Anal Retentive told you about that?”

“Yep, sorry.  But kudos for getting him drunk and inked in the same night.”  She looked down at the blue mat, feeling a growl shudder through her mind.  “I can’t even get him alone.”

Micah sighed, throwing his meaty arm over Lucy’s shoulder, eliciting another painful moan out of her.  He pulled his arm away.  “Sorry, Luce.  Maybe we should just quit for today.”

“No.”  Lucy shook her weary head.  “I need to learn...  but...  why can’t you just show me how to use a weapon—a sword, or a crossbow—something I can stab and chop with.  That would protect me better than learning how to fall on my ass.”

Micah shook his head slowly, his eyes saying,
Not a chance
.  “No weapons until you learn the basics.”

Lucy felt heat flush up from her stomach, up her spine, and through her head.  He was pissing her off.  “So the basics are you mauling me and dropping me on the ground over and over again?  Are you sure you’re the best?”

Micah’s eyes flicked over to Mr. Hot-stuff, and then he winked at her.  “I’ll ignore that last part.  I’ve got an idea.  Hey Paul!”  He turned and raised his arm, waving hot stuff Paul over to them. 

Paul had been lying on the mat doing some super fast crunches, yet instantly flipped up from the ground and onto his feet again.  Before Lucy could say a word he was standing next to them, looking happy and excited.  But Lucy wasn’t so enthused.  She had no desire to let someone else throw her around too. 

“Would you help me demonstrate a couple of moves for Lucy here?”  He wriggled his eyebrows and his smile turned lewd. 

Lucy closed her eyes and shook her head. 
Get a room...

“Always up for some sparring,” Paul said. 

Lucy looked up and saw that Paul’s smile was nearly rivaling the ick-factor of Micah’s.  “What do you have in mind?”

Okay, that was a loaded question, yet to their credit neither did little more than smile and make eye contact—deep, penetrating eye contact. 

“I want you to grab me around the arms from the back.  I want to show Lucy here how to get out of that kind of hold.”

“Sure thing.”  Paul moved slowly, carefully around Micah, as if he expected Micah to turn and pounce on him any second.  Which, truthfully, Lucy expected Micah to do too.  He moved in and wrapped his tanned, well-muscled arms around Micah, just barely being able to reach all the way around to complete the hold.

“So Paul’s got a really good hold on me.  And let’s say that I had the proportional strength of, let’s say, you.”

Lucy sneered at him, the annoyed heat from her head radiating deliciously through her body.  That heat had a way of making the pain and uncertainty melt away.

“So I’m going to bump back with my hips,”—he pushed his backside back into Paul, which neither of them seemed to mind—“that will throw off his balance, then I’m gonna snap my head back, that will hurt and disorient him... and if I break his nose there’ll be fluids and airway constriction to help me with my escape.”  He pushed his head back slowly, barely making contact with Paul’s pretty face.

“Then I’ll push out with my arms, which should break his hold.”  And so he pulled his arms free of Paul’s hold.  “See?”

Lucy shook her head.  She saw.  They
really
needed to get a room.

Micah looked back at Paul, wanton smile still in place.  “So let’s show her a little faster, and I’ll throw in a back spin kick at the end.”

Lucy watched them set up again—glad that it was Paul getting all the punishment this time, though she was sure from the happy, puppy-dog look in his eyes, that he was enjoying the hell out of being up-close and personal with Micah.

“One...  two...  three... ” Micah pushed back his hips, snapped his head, and then pulled free of Paul’s embrace.  He took a split second to wink at Lucy again, and then spun around on one foot and kicked Paul in the chest, just hard enough to knock him back a couple of feet, but not knock him to the ground.

The two just grinned as Paul rubbed his chest where Micah had kicked him.  “Nice kick,” Paul said breathily.

“Nice chest,” Micah said, and then sighed.

Lucy walked up between the two, giving Paul a polite smile, then giving Micah a scathing glance.  “Okay, back to training me.”

But the two didn’t even look at her.  They just kept that deep, penetrating gaze going.  “Sure thing, Luce.  Thanks Paul.”

“Yeah, Paul.  Thanks.”

“Anytime,” Paul said as he turned and jogged off to the free weights.

Micah’s breath came in a hiss as he watched Paul glide effortlessly across the gymnasium.  Lucy had to admit, the boy had some nice muscle development, and best of all, he bounced and jiggled in all the right places.

Lucy let her head drop as she shook her head.  Then she elbowed Micah in the ribs.  “So are you going to let me try that last, or are you going to just watch Mr. Hot-stuff jiggle?”

“Can’t I do both?”

“Not so far,” she said, her voice turning wry with irritation.

“Okay, okay, back to training the former cheerleader on how to beat up the football team instead of—”

Lucy whipped her head around and shot him straight through with the coldest of stares.  “You
don’t
want to finish that sentence.”

Micah put up his hands in mock surrender.  “Okay, okay...  no disparaging cheerleader jokes.  Just you
trying
to hurt me.  You ready for that?”

Lucy felt an unpleasant smile slide across her lips.  Hurting him sounded good. 

Micah frowned and stepped back a couple paces.  “Jeez Luce, you’re starting to get a scary look in those pretty eyes of yours.”

She shrugged.  “Scared?”

Micah chuckled.  “You can’t even push me back an inch.  I think
you
scaring
me
is a long way off.”

BOOK: NOT DEAD YET: A Lucy Hart, DEATHDEALER Novel (Book Two)
12.68Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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