Excerpt

Blades Desire: Adoring Kelly

“I should walk away from you right now.”

“Please, no!” Kelly struggled to remain still when she wanted to jump up from her position bent over the table and run to him, throw herself in his arms and beg forgiveness.

When Blade moved into her peripheral vision and stroked a hand slowly, deliberately from her buttocks and up her spine, tears of relief filled her eyes. She needed this, needed the connection. He seemed to know it and she drew a shuddering breath, grateful that once again, he gave her what she needed.

“Why should I waste my time trying to train such an undisciplined submissive?” he asked her coolly. “Only a few minutes ago, you assured me that you can take whatever I dish out and almost immediately have the audacity to bring yourself to orgasm, deliberately disobeying me, in my presence and in the room that more than anywhere else, I demand total obedience and submission from you.”

“I’m really sorry. It won’t happen again.”

She shrugged her shoulders helplessly. “All of this is still new to me The ice in his voice froze her. When he lifted her trembling form off the table to stand in front of him, she looked up to see the same cold look in his eyes.

She wiped at the tear trickling down her face and stared up at him blinking furiously. “I’m so sorry. I just couldn’t stand it anymore.”

It seemed impossible, but his eyes became even colder.

“Now, you’re going to tell me how much you can take? I decide what you can and cannot take. Not you. Remember?”

Reaching out, Kelly gripped his arms. “Please give me another chance.. I’m trying, Blade. Honest. Please don’t give up on me. Give me another chance.”

When Blade looked down pointedly at where her hands gripped his arms and raised a brow, Kelly immediately dropped her hands to her sides.

Damn, she’d messed up again.

Blade stared at her intently for what seemed like hours, stretching her nerves to the breaking point. Just when she thought she couldn’t stand another second, he spoke, his words both thrilling and terrifying.

“You do know that what you did demands disciplinary action, don’t you?”

Dark Desire: Earning Hope’s Submission

Hope stiffened and pushed away from him, getting up from his lap and putting several feet of distance between them. “You’re rich, Ace. You own Tyler Oil with your brothers. You could work with them.”

Raising a brow at the whine in her tone, he rose and started out of the room. “If I had to work there, I’d go out of my mind.”

Following him down the hall to the kitchen, she tugged at his forearm. “Then don’t work at all! You don’t need to.”

Keeping a tight rein on his temper, he shrugged her off and reached into the refrigerator for the pitcher of sweet tea. “Not working at all would make me even crazier.”

“I can’t stand it anymore, Ace! I want you to quit.”

After filling her glass and his, he set the pitcher on the table and slowly turned to her, raising a brow. “Excuse me? Quit what, exactly?”

Hope swallowed heavily and set the plate of fried chicken on the table, taking a deep breath before lifting her chin. “I want you to quit your job as sheriff.”

“No.” He went to the refrigerator, retrieved the coleslaw, and took it to the table before looking at her again.

Hope spun, slamming the bowl of mashed potatoes on the table. “No? Just like that?”

Ace inclined his head, keeping his tone calm and controlled. “No. Just like that.”

“You won’t even discuss it?”

“We just did. You knew what I did when you married me, Hope.”

“You never got shot at before!”

He waited until she dropped into her seat before lowering himself to his. “You’re so naïve, baby. Of course I’ve been shot at before. I’ve even been shot before. It’s part of the job.”

Hope’s eyes went wide. “Well, I never knew about it, and I’m not naïve. I thought the most dangerous thing you ever did was breaking up bar fights. You handle the Dominants from the club, give out tickets, and help round up horses that have escaped.”

After setting a piece of chicken on her plate, he set one on his. “Did you ever ask about my job?”

Lowering her gaze, she shifted restless in her seat, her face flushing. “Well, no.”

“Of course not. You were more interested in making sure that I accepted you as a submissive than learning more about me. I knew you were too young, but your innocence intrigued me, and I found you too irresistible.”

Raising a brow when she gasped, he let his gaze linger on her flushed cheeks before continuing. “You were raised by a mother and three very overprotective fathers who tried to shield you and your sister from the ugly side of life.”

“Like you do?”

Ace shrugged. “It’s only natural for a man to try to protect his woman, but I’ve never lied to you. I knew who you were when I married you. I knew that you were exactly what I wanted. I love you, but I won’t quit my job, not even for you.”

Jumping to her feet, Hope stamped her foot. “Damn it, Ace!”

Ace had had enough. Pausing in the process of scooping mashed potatoes onto his plate, he clenched his jaw. “Stamp your foot at me again, and I’ll put you across my knee.”

Her eyes flared with desire, the passions inside her too strong to contain. “That’s your answer? Sex?”

Confident in his ability to handle his wife’s passions—including her temper—Ace raised a brow. “Who said anything about sex? You’re acting like a brat and obviously need to be spanked.”

Hope gasped, her eyes going wide. “A brat?”

Ace reached for the coleslaw. “A brat. You’re demanding that I quit a job I’ve had most of my adult life—a job that I love. A job that I had when you married me.”

Hope sighed. “I worry.”

Ace inclined his head. “I know that, and I do everything I can to make things easier for you.”

“Sometimes it’s not enough.”

Knowing this was an issue that couldn’t be resolved, Ace dug into his dinner. “People die in car accidents every day. Do you want me to stop driving, too? You drive like a maniac just to get my attention—an unnecessary danger that scares me but that you do on a whim.”

Hope’s face flushed again. “I won’t do it again.”

Ace nodded once, pleased that he’d made his point. “Good.”

She dropped into her seat again with a sigh. “I don’t know if I can live this way anymore.”

Fear turned his stomach to ice, and setting his silverware aside, he kept his tone low and cold. “Is that an ultimatum?”

Losing her wasn’t an option, but he couldn’t allow his wife to deliver ultimatums and expect to get away with it.

Lifting her chin, she met his gaze squarely, her bottom lip trembling. “What if it is?”

“You know that I don’t respond well to ultimatums.”

With her chin still lifted, Hope wrapped her arms around herself, the combination of defiance and defensiveness a testament to the contrary woman herself. “What if I said that I would leave you if you don’t quit?”

Sitting back, he smiled coldly. “Then I would give you the spanking you so richly deserve and tell you that you’re not going anywhere. Are you sure this is the tack you wanna take?”

Excerpt

Warlock Impact.

Alexandria Breyson had experienced it several times in her life but never with the intensity that she did now.

The large number of people gathered at the gravesite faded into the fog surrounding her, leaving only the three powerful warlocks standing across from her.

The minister spoke, but the words disappeared in the mist.

The homicide detective with sharp eyes and dozens of questions faded into the background.

The horror and pain that had surrounded her the last three days had been pushed behind the wall of ice she’d carefully erected between her and the rest of the world.

Looking down at the graves of her mother, father and younger sister, she knew she had to keep the wall in place, especially around the three warlocks who headed the Council.

The Commissioners.

They were powerful and ruthless and, if they knew the truth about her, would take away her powers.

She was alone now, and she needed her powers to get revenge against the outlaw warlock who’d killed her family.

She kept her head down, purposely focusing her attention on the large arrangement of pink roses she’d ordered for her younger sister’s grave.

Anna had loved pink roses.

She’d loved everything pink.

Alexandria lifted her gaze and drew a deep breath and did what she’d been avoiding.

She looked at the three coffins containing her mother, her father, and her baby sister.

Her entire family.

Her throat clogged with tears, the agony of knowing she would never see them again nearly ripping her apart.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, struggling to push all emotion except fury aside.

She could handle the fury.

She reveled in it.

She could mourn their deaths later.

Right now, she could only focus on one thing.

Making their killer pay.

If she thought about anything else, she’d go mad.

Once she felt back in control, she opened her eyes, taking another deep breath, something compelling her to lift her head, and without meaning to, she looked across her family’s grave to the warlocks staring at her, their position ensuring that she would see them each time she looked up.

Her breath caught at the power emanating from them, an intense power that those with power understood and those without could only feel.

Those without power would see them only as compelling and intimidating, men other men eyed with caution and women eyed with interest.

She’d never met them before, but her father had shown her their pictures.

The Commissioners.

Maximillian, Drake, and Armand Blackstone.

Before her stood the most powerful of all warlocks.

Their power was legendary and the reason they headed the Council.

The Council, the governing body for those with power, also ran the Enforcement Agency, an agency of men and women with power who fought to maintain law and order.

She had to avoid the Council and the Enforcement Agency at all costs.

She snuck another glance at them, but their images had already become imprinted on her mind.

They were more handsome in person and bigger than she’d expected, tall and powerfully built, but it was the power glittering in their light brown eyes that made it difficult to breathe.

She knew them to be distant cousins, having inherited their powers from the same ancestor.

Each stood well over six feet tall and had wide shoulders and ink-black hair, Maximillian Blackstone’s thick hair shorter than the others, as if a civilized haircut could disguise the primitive power emanating from him.

Dressed all in black, he wore a structured raincoat against the drizzle, another attempt to appear businesslike and perhaps to blend in with the crowd.

Alexandria couldn’t help but wonder how many of those without power noticed that his hair remained dry.

Armand wore his hair the longest, past his shoulders, and even with the black suit he wore, he wore a billowy coat that came just past his knees and moved in the slight wind, giving him the appearance of a gunslinger right out of the Old West.

She glanced at Drake, who stood on the other side of Maximillian, his layered hair just barely brushing his shoulders.

His sleek leather coat gave him a dangerous look, his steady stare unnerving her.

Alarmed at what they might see, she hurriedly lowered her gaze again, hoping that once they paid their respects, they would leave and she’d never see or hear from them again.

She couldn’t let them interfere with her plans.

Furtively glancing to the left, and then to the right, she located the detectives who’d asked her dozens of questions during the past week.

Watching them move in the background, she saw that they took notes, a photographer snapping pictures in the background.

They’d become frustrated at their lack of leads, but they were way out of their league.

They’d never find her family’s killer.

Even if they found him, they’d never be able to capture him.

Only someone with a great deal of power could.

She’d briefly considered going to the Commissioners for help, but she knew that they wouldn’t allow her to take part in finding him.

Worse, they would make it impossible for her to get the revenge she desperately needed.

The possibility that they would try to stop her by taking her power strengthened her resolve.

Her father had been very explicit about avoiding them, and now alone, she found herself even more determined to honor her father’s wishes.

She needed to stay hidden in order to do what she had to do.

She would find the warlock who’d killed her family, and when she did, she would make him pay—with his life.