Title: A Scarlet Fury
Author: Bridgette Blackburn
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Hosted by: Lady Amber's Tours
It has
been almost a year since mankind became aware of the world in shadows. It's
been an adjustment, but life goes on and most have learned to adapt. There are
some on both side that are not ready to let go of their plans. Madalaina
Bonvillian believed nothing could harm her; she's the daughter of the former
alpha and the sister of the current alpha, who would dare? After surviving a
brutal attack, Madalaina must try to move forward, but where do you go when you
feel like you've lost yourself? Cleary Neil has kept his feeling for Madalaina
to himself. He's been her friend, and now that's what she needs more than
anything. The only problem is he can't shut off the part of himself that wants
to protect his mate from the pain and confusion he sees in her. Together they
will go on an emotional journey to find out if love can heal all wounds. Time
is of the essence, because enemies are gathering.
I sat on the screened in back porch, and
watched the wind send ripples across the lake. It was after midnight. The
only light shining in the darkness was from the moon. A loon serenaded me from
the water and occasionally I’d hear wolves calling to each other. All in all,
it was peaceful. The trees around the back of Athan’s cabin were thicker,
growing closer together. I smelled the fresh pine scent more out here than I
did when I was out in the front yard.
The weather was turning cold. Soon it would be
sweater weather. I’d have to go into town to buy one or remain inside. I wasn’t
ready to deal with crowds or people yet.
Staying inside won’t be too terrible. Sure, keep tellin’ yourself that.
The door to the house opened and Athan padded
over silently on bare feet to take a seat in the chair across the patio table
from me.
“What’s up, M? Why aren’t you in bed asleep?”
he asked.
I drew my knees up to my chest and wrapped my
arms around my legs. “Nightmares. I don’t sleep much anymore.”
“Want to talk about it?”
Raising one eyebrow, I asked him dryly, “You
wanna talk about why you never sleep either?”
Athan looked down at his feet and glared.
Yeah, I didn’t think so.
We had been quiet for several minutes before
Athan broke the silence, “Tell me about Livia.”
One side of my mouth tipped up into a
half-smile. “Livia is the most awesome kid I’ve ever met. I hated to learn at
her age but she wants to know everything about everything. She shares Dad’s a
voracious appetite for books. The two of them can sit in his library and read
for hours. She’s really close to Mom which was surprising since Mom hasn’t been
fond of people in a long time. Mom knows all Livia’s secrets and is her number
one confidant. Remember Mom’s rose garden?”
He asked dryly, “The one none of us were allowed
to step foot in?”
I laughed, remembering all the times we tried
to sneak in and she caught us.
“Yep. Mom lets everyone sit in the rose garden
now and enjoy the flowers. She’s teaching Livia how to care for them and it
appears the kid inherited Mom’s green thumb.”
Athan grunted his response. I wondered if I
was making him regret his decision to leave his daughter behind.
“We celebrated her 8th birthday
on August 17th, two weeks before…before Rachel and me….” My heart
was shuddering.
Athan cut through my near flashback. “Hey!
Focus, M. We’re talking about Livia, remember? Let the other stuff go. It can’t
touch you here.”
I wish that were true.
“You said Livia just turned eight. How’s that
possible? She was five when I left a year ago.”
“Well, if you’d stuck around you’d know we
learned Royal Reds tinkered with their mojo a long time ago to accelerate their
children’s development. Seems kids are an inconvenience to them, but heirs are
necessary. Things were a little wonky at first because Livia is part Lycan and
that slowed it down somehow. But after she’d turned six, it shot into high
gear. Livia ages an entire year every ninety days. Rachel’s determined she
won’t be cheated out of childhood so on the seventeenth of February, May,
August, and November there’s a birthday dinner. At first it was a bigger thing,
but people got tired of coming every three months to celebrate the same kid’s
birthday.” I shrugged.
Athan was bent at the waist, forearms resting
on his knees. He stared at the floor with a troubled brow. “How does Livia
handle the aging? Is it hard for her?”
I sighed deeply. “A little. Her body matures
fast, sometimes she has pain but Dr. Keller treats her.”
“A Vampire?” Athan spat.
“Yes, a vampire.” I held up my hands like
claws and hissed to show him my imaginary fangs. “Would you rather she be in
pain?”
“No,” he said contritely. “But did you have to
call a vampire?”
“Yes. Get over it.” I shot back. “Livia’s
manifested some Fae abilities, mostly over fire. Right now they’re minor but I
expect they’ll grow stronger as she does. It’s frightening for her, I’m sure. I
wish Winter were still alive to help her, to answer her questions about being
Fae.”
Talking about Winter brought back the ache of
her loss.
“I have a deck of cards in the house, want to
play?”
I saw a glimpse of the old Athan in his eyes,
the one I knew when I was a kid. We played cards until the sun came up. In the
daytime, dreams don’t seem as frightening. If I woke up and the sun was shining
I remembered I was safe, no longer being raped and beaten. In the dark, the
demons that haunted my sleep seemed more powerful.
Excerpt
from book #2
The gym looked dingy to the untrained eye with
its unpainted concrete walls and floors. Very little decoration adorned the
building and the dominant color was grey. The equipment was where the money had
been spent. The boxing ring was brand new, top of the line weight sets lined
one side of the gym, and all the machines were cutting edge.
Nikolai was beating the life out of a punching
bag when I found him. He wore a black tank top and black army type pants tucked
into black boots. A sheen of perspiration glowed on his dark complexion. He’d
tied a black bandana over his skull cropped hair to keep the sweat out of his
eyes.
Does he own any color other than black?
He wasn’t winded at all by the vigorous
activity. Without stopping his exercise, Nikolai said, “Tsura tells me you want
to learn how to fight as a Wraith.”
“I can’t shift. The drugs that prevented me
from doing it are gone, but my wolf is repressed or something.” I hated
admitting it to him, but I was defenseless without the ability to change.
Nikolai stopped the swinging bag and nodded at
me, “I appreciate your honesty. I can do more to prepare you if you’re honest.
Let’s move to the mats and begin.”
Fluttering butterflies in my stomach had me on
edge. Nikolai was confident in his ability to disarm and disable attackers. I
was confident in my ability to get my ass kicked. We spent an hour of him
showing me moves and me executing them all wrong. I was frustrating him and
felt like a failure.
“Enough, Madalaina!” He shouted. “I will not
allow you to quit. Find your center and calm yourself. No one can protect
themselves wound tight like a coil. Remember two things, you will defeat your
adversary or you will die after leaving him with a lasting injury to remember
you forever. Both are victories. There is no defeat for you.”
Wow, he could make a killing as a motivational
speaker.
We started anew. I couldn’t call my wolf to
the surface, but I could connect with her. She provided me the Zen Nikolai
wanted me to adopt, reminded me I was stronger and faster than the average
person without needing to be in my Lycan form. I wasn’t alone in the fight. We
were a team, she and I. My newfound confidence saw me picking up the moves
Nikolai showed me with ease.
“Very good, Madalaina. You’re a fast learner
once you get over the roadblocks in your mind,” he playfully tapped my
forehead.
I wiped fly away hairs from my face, “I
appreciate your help. It means a lot, you teaching me.”
I embarrassed him. He blushed and cleared his
throat. “Yes, well, we have a ways to go before I feel good about you running
loose on the streets. We should meet four times a week, does that work with
your schedule?”
“I’ll make it work,” I said.
Nikolai put his hands on his hips and rolled
his neck. I’d gotten him trapped in a pretty gnarly headlock right at the end
of training. “Good. Much easier than Tsura. She waits and calls me at the last
minute for our training sessions. If she weren't such a worthy opponent, I’d
hand her off to someone else.”
My eyes bugged out in disbelief, “Tsura’s a
worthy opponent? My Tsura?”
Nikolai scoffed, “You’re Tsura is
a pampered princess. My Tsura, the one I see in here, she’s
fierce and can take a seasoned warrior to the mat.” Pride shone in his eyes.
“That’s amazing.” Puzzled, I furrowed my brow,
“I never knew that about her. I wonder what else I don’t know.”
Grimly Nikolai patted my shoulder. “Let her
have her secrets. She’s allowed so few.”
I'm a hopeless romantic and a sucker for love stories with a happy
ending. I grew up in East Texas where I married my high school sweetheart.
We've called Southern Illinois home for over a decade now.
The characters in my head are loud and bossy. I began writing down their stories in self-defense. A social butterfly by nature, I love to talk. When I'm not writing, I enjoys video games, not cooking, and laughing as much as possible. I'm a horror movie junkie, makeup addict, like crazy hair colors, tattoos, and glitter. At home, I'm a wife and mother of three children. I'm claimed by a pug, a boxer, and four cats bent on world domination.
The characters in my head are loud and bossy. I began writing down their stories in self-defense. A social butterfly by nature, I love to talk. When I'm not writing, I enjoys video games, not cooking, and laughing as much as possible. I'm a horror movie junkie, makeup addict, like crazy hair colors, tattoos, and glitter. At home, I'm a wife and mother of three children. I'm claimed by a pug, a boxer, and four cats bent on world domination.
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