It’s FINALLY here!!! POSSESS ME AT MIDNIGHT should be available everywhere in both print and eBook format. I’m putting up one of my favorite excerpts below…along with prizes.
Doomsday Brethren Series, Book 3 — Ice’s story
Publisher: Pocket Books
ISBN-10: 1416578463
ISBN-13: 9781416578468
Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Romance
Release Date: October 27, 2009
Scroll down to read the first chapter!
Order: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Borders
Books-A-Million | Simon & Schuster | Indie Bound
Overstock | Target
Download eBook: Kindle | Barnes & Noble
Fictionwise | Sony |Simon & Schuster
An apocalypse approaches in the new novel from bestselling author Shayla Black’s electrifying Doomsday Brethren series, as a magical warrior and a spirited witch ignite a smoldering passion that could destroy them both.
As a mysterious dark cloud drains the life of her beloved brother, Doomsday Brethren leader Bram, Sabelle Rion can think of little else. Still, every time she meets Ice Rykard’s intense green gaze, her body aches with need for the sexy warrior. Their attraction is explosive, incredible—and forbidden. As dangerous as he is unpredictable, Ice is her brother’s sworn enemy. But as Bram weakens, a more sinister force is gaining power. Evil Mathias and his ruthless Anarki army are on a bloodthirsty hunt for the Doomsday Diary. Sabelle must guard the potent book with her life—and Ice vows to protect the beautiful witch with his. Duty demands that Sabelle deny her lover’s fiery call of possession and mate with a man who can sway the magical Council against the impending rebellion. With the fate of magickind hanging in the balance, will she forsake the burning desires she can’t ignore or turn her back on her people for the courageous man she can’t resist?
Reviews
Rated HOT! “The volatile emotions in this tale are truly combustible!” ~ RT Bookclub
“Captivating… POSSESS ME AT MIDNIGHT [is] a book you won’t want to miss.” ~ Romance Reviews Today
Recommended Read! “Page-turning magical suspense… Wring[s] emotion from every pore… leaves readers clamoring for more.” ~ Fallen Angels Reviews
“I could not stop reading. POSSESS ME AT MIDNIGHT is absolutely perfect.” ParaNormal Romance Reviews
“I love the angst and passion between Sabelle and Ice; it’s tangible and often breathtaking. Possess Me At Midnight is another exciting chapter in the Doomsday Brethren’s fight…” Joyfully Reviewed
“Totally rewarding and particularly satisfying.” Single Titles
“Better?” she asked.
Gingerly, he nodded. He looked white and exhausted and utterly depleted.
“Internal damage?”
“Healing.” He squeezed her hand. “I stopped the burn in time.”
A whole sentence. And now, he was breathing easier. His injuries were healing. “You’re certain?”
Again, he nodded. More a jerk of his stubbled chin than anything, but enough. “The damage stopped when you dragged me from the cellar. If you hadn’t come for me—”
“Of course I would.” Did he just assume she would leave him there to die?
“You could have run straight into danger, Sabelle.” He swallowed and fought for a breath, squeezed her hand again. “When I’m well, I’m putting you over my knee for that.”
Despite the gravity of the situation, her face flamed. “You’ll do no such thing.”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t take away all my fun.”
A joke? He’d nearly died ten minutes ago, and now he was telling a joke. He didn’t wish her to know the extent of his injuries, clearly.
“Amusing, indeed.”
“Infuriating,” he corrected. “No more chances with your safety. On this point, Bram and I agree. You’re into magickind’s troubles too deeply.”
“I’ll tell you what I told Bram: I won’t sit about like some helpless princess while the rest of magickind fights. It’s my cause too.”
“Your funeral as well, if you’re not careful.”
“It could be anyone’s,” she argued. “Everyone’s. That’s Mathias’s doing. Not mine. Now, stop arguing and tell me how you feel. The internal damage has stopped?”
“Yes. I fought it off in the cellar, then you took me away. Between distance and your touch, I’ve improved.”
“Anything else?”
He hesitated. “My head. When the mine hit me, the force of it thrust me back. My head hit the wall. I heard a loud thump.”
Judiciously avoiding looking at the lower half of his very naked body, she gripped his large calloused hand in hers. Closing her eyes, she gathered up her power and summoned the siren in her. To Ice, she sent waves of healing, peace, sleep.
He growled. Suddenly, a wall shot up between them, blocking her well-meaning sentiments. Sabelle gasped. Where had that come from? Ice? Did he have the energy for that? Or was the mine still working its dark magic?
Then the barricade crumbled, and she felt Ice again. But this time, he sent her a blast of something else—desire that was thick, hot, screaming with lust and sex and need.
With a gasp, she pulled back.
A tired smile creased his face, and despite his exhaustion, his arrogance shone through. “Felt that, did you? I told you, I’ve no need for your happy sunshine and rainbows.”
“I sent you peaceful healing,” she argued. “You do need it.”
“Rubbish. I let you feel what I truly need.”
That overwhelming battering ram of desires and yearning? She placed a hand to her chest and forced herself to breathe evenly. Knowing he wanted her that badly staggered her. She blinked, looked at Ice, focusing on those green eyes of his that glowed with unquestionable want. Exhaustion still etched his face, and she knew that sending her any emotion had cost precious energy he didn’t have. Why bother?
“No one has ever bombarded me with their emotions like that.”
“You tell others what to feel and they abide?”
She frowned. “I try to be helpful and soothe the troubles or worries others have. I’m hardly forcing unwanted feelings upon them.”
“I didn’t want to sleep, princess.”
Sabelle felt her face flush again. “So I gathered.”
“Glad we’re clear.”
“Ice, you hardly have the energy to be wasting on such things. My touch has given you some, I suppose. But the sleep was to help you. I meant no insult. You must concede, your energy is dangerously low. Your magical signature is nearly transparent.”
He pressed his lips together and said nothing.
“Is—is that why you sent me the sexual vibrations?” She bit her lip and felt her cheeks flame up again. What was it about Ice that made her feel so feminine? “You need…energy?”
He stared, heavy, glowing, jaw clenched. “Sabelle…”
“You do.” She swallowed, studying his increasingly sheer magical signature. Normally a bold green laced with a fiery red. Black rimmed it, and she’d always worried that was a commentary on his sanity or his soul. But now, she could see straight through it all. And that frightened her. Without recharging, he would be unable to run, flee, help her evade Mathias. Yes, her touch, because he had Called to her, provided a bit of energy. But without a full dose of power, eventually he would die.
She eased off the bed and rose to her feet. With trembling hands, she pulled off her shirt. Instantly, she felt his gaze on the slopes of her shoulder, the curve of her neck, the lacy cups of her bra. His icy-hot eyes made her shiver. She locked stares with him, unable to look away.
Sabelle reached for the button of her jeans. Instead, he reached up and clamped his hands around her wrists. “Don’t.”
“But you need energy.”
“Yes, but—”
“You Called to me, so you can touch no other. And…I have no anger in me now to try to boost you that way. You want me and—”
“You know it. But I will be damned if I’ll let you make me into your next Lucan: a patient, a duty, a burden. What passes between us will never be an act you endure merely to heal me.” He squeezed on her wrists. “I would rather die.”
“Your pride is misplaced. My opinion is neither here nor there. Your life—”
“Will mean little if I have to swallow the bitter pill of being nothing to you. I hardly expect you to Bind to me, but I won’t have your pity.”
His passionate speech had used up more energy he could ill afford. The stubborn man! Frustration built inside her, a crescendo that trumpeted into fury. Ice could die, and he wanted to debate the meaning of an act intended to save his life? He sought to force her admission that she trembled for his touch before he allowed her into his bed. The energy exchange would be clean, simple, if he would merely accept her help. Did he not understand that crowding it with words and confessions would only make matters more difficult?
She tore her wrists from his grip, stepped away, and stripped off her pants and knickers. Her bra quickly followed. Ice’s eyes clamped onto her. His nostrils flared. His entire body tensed, and though she swore she would not look down, her gaze drifted across the harsh rise and fall of his chest, the undulation of his abdomen…and fixed on the hard stalk of his cock rising between his well-muscled thighs. A sudden gush of dampness slicked her intimately, where she now ached. She swallowed against the riot of sensations, a need unlike anything she’d ever felt.
If she admitted that to Ice, he would use this desire against her mercilessly.
Sabelle wanted to believe, more than anything, that Ice was motivated strictly by his desire to possess the witch he perceived as his mate. But niggling doubt made her wonder if revenge fueled him more.
“You have my help.” Her voice trembled as she sat on the edge of the bed next to him. “You need no more than that.”
Ice raised a dark brow. “You have no idea what I need.”
Before she could argue, he grabbed her around the waist and threw her under him, until her back hugged the sheets steeped in his warmth and earthy scent. He loomed over her, his shoulders blocking out most of the room’s light. She felt surrounded, enveloped. Overwhelmed.
“Did you come for him?”
His big, hot hands gripped her hips, and slid up her torso until his palms cradled her breasts. And his touch burned her. She bit her lip to hold in a gasp, but the aftershocks of their contact reverberated, crashing wave after wave of desire through her body. She softened. Her nipples peaked. She grew wetter.
He stopped. Sniffed. Smiled. “You want me.”
“My body is ready.” She dared not admit more.
His smile slipped, and he grunted. “Bloody answer me.”
Damn it all, she’d forgotten the question. “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Lucan,” he growled. “Did you want him? Did he give you pleasure? Bring you to peak?”
Very direct questions. That shouldn’t surprise her. But she couldn’t answer him. No answer would satisfy him. In either event, he’d turn this into some sort of chest-beating competition. And the truth would only cause…issues.
“It’s hardly relevant. You need me, and I am offering. Nothing more or less.”
He flicked his thumbs across her nipples. Slowly. Back and forth. Until she gasped.
“I plan to make certain it is much, much more.”
To celebrate this release, I’m giving away a signed copy of TEMPT ME WITH DARKNESS and SEDUCE ME IN SHADOW, plus free reads from some favorite authors including Maya Banks, Gena Showalter, Sabrina Jeffries and others. 10 books in all! To register to win, SPREAD the word about POSSESS ME AT MIDNIGHT. Mention the book, series and release day (blurb appreciated but optional) on your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, blog, message/bulletin boards, etc OR review the book on an online bookstore or personal blog. Comment on my blog with the link and you’re registered to win. The winner will be drawn on 11/3.
Hope everyone enjoys the release!