Friday, October 13, 2017

A Taste of Magic

Dear Reader -- I'm delighted to share a sneak-peak at my newest Mageverse novel, Master of Magic, coming Oct. 17, 2017
Return to New York Times bestselling author Angela Knight’s Mageverse in this never-before-published novella about a man with mysterious abilities and a hidden past—and the woman who must help him decipher his secrets.

Olivia Flynn finds herself on the brink of death, unable to call upon her Sidhe magic, when a handsome stranger rescues her. But this male is no ordinary human, and Olivia wants nothing to do with him. The foreign magic boiling around him is far beyond the power of even the Sidhe.    
Rhys Kincade has never been able to explain his magical abilities. Olivia is the first person he’s encountered who shares his gifts. But before he can ask her about them, they find themselves under attack by a pack of werewolf assassins. An even deadlier threat follows, and the pair is forced to rely on each other as they fight unknown enemies—and an ever-growing attraction between them.

You can pre-order the e-book for $2.99 here:
Amazon         Barnes and Noble     Kobo




Olivia found herself longing to feel the slide and roll of the tendons, the warmth of the skin. Were his palms callused? How would it feel if he touched her?
The craving to touch him, to explore all that powerful muscle made her heart beat faster. She’d spent too many years as a Sidhe alone among humans, pretending to be something  wasn’t. Unable to reveal who and what she really was.
I don’t have to hide with him. He’s in the same boat I am.
But this isn’t the time. I’m being targeted, maybe by Gorin, maybe by somebody else. Either way, I can’t afford to get distracted. She dragged her eyes away from that big, tempting body. Fought to control her need.
“If our bad guy intended to use you as bait,” Rhys said slowly, “why give you your power back? They could’ve kept you paralyzed while those guys killed us both.” He made an impatient noise. “But like you said, it doesn’t make any sense that you’d be working with them, especially given that you killed that wolf to save me.” His amber eyes focused on her, intent and cool. “I need to know if I’m right to trust you.”
Olivia opened her mouth to speak, but he leaned forward and caught her jaw in one big hand. She froze as the sensation of warm, rough skin made her arousal surge yet again.
Then his magic hit in a tingling rush. With a gasp of alarm, she tried to shield, but his power blew right through her hasty barriers as if they were tissue paper.
They were nose to nose. Close enough to kiss.
His amber eyes changed color in a flash, the irises going a bright, piercing gold as the pupils shrank to pinpricks. It wasn’t a human gaze at all. He spoke, his voice resonant and deep. “Are you working with them?”
“No.” He’s put me under a geas! Betrayed anger made her grit her teeth. And she’d just been thinking how much she wanted him! Idiot!
“Do you know who did this? Do you know who’s trying to kill me?”
In her anger, she fought not to answer. The answers poured from her lips anyway. “I have no idea what’s happening or why. I don’t know who cast the geas on me, and I don’t know why anyone would do it to me or why anyone would want you dead.”
“Why are you cooperating with me?”
“Gorin killed my husband and son for King Ansgar. I’ve dreamed of killing him for centuries. You have the power to help me avenge them.”
His hand dropped away from her face, and the compulsion broke.
Olivia jumped off the couch and backed across the room until her shoulders hit the fireplace mantle. “Don’t you ever do that to me again!”
Seeing something glowing in her peripheral vision, she realized a fireball floated over her right hand. She banished it, knowing bitterly she didn’t have a prayer against Rhys in afight.
But instead of attacking her, Rhys sank back into the couch, his hands falling loose in his lap. He looked shamed, almost defeated. “I’m sorry,” he said in a low voice. “I had to know if you were telling me the truth.”
“You could’ve trusted me—the way I’m going to have to trust you, because I can’t put you under a geas.” Her voice sounded more than a little bitter. “I don’t have the power.”

Saturday, October 07, 2017

An excerpt of a love scene from Master of Magic, coming in October, 2017

Dear Reader -- I'm delighted to share a sneak-peak at my newest Mageverse novel, Master of Magic, coming in October, 2017 from Berkley Sensation.
Return to New York Times bestselling author Angela Knight’s Mageverse in this never-before-published novella about a man with mysterious abilities and a hidden past—and the woman who must help him decipher his secrets.

Olivia Flynn finds herself on the brink of death, unable to call upon her Sidhe magic, when a handsome stranger rescues her. But this male is no ordinary human, and Olivia wants nothing to do with him. The foreign magic boiling around him is far beyond the power of even the Sidhe.    
Rhys Kincade has never been able to explain his magical abilities. Olivia is the first person he’s encountered who shares his gifts. But before he can ask her about them, they find themselves under attack by a pack of werewolf assassins. An even deadlier threat follows, and the pair is forced to rely on each other as they fight unknown enemies—and an ever-growing attraction between them.

You can pre-order the e-book for $2.99 here:
Amazon         Barnes and Noble     Kobo

****


Rhys leaned forward and spread his fingers on the wall, his eyes drifting closed. His full lips tightened, making her imagine what he would taste like.
Power shot from his fingers, tracing the length of the wall, spreading outward and upward and down into the earth. Olivia felt the spell shoot around the house, much more powerful than her own ward. “That’s a little too strong. It would wake you up every time a leaf blew against it.”
“Ah. Okay, let me try that again.” He drew the magic back out of the ward, then spun it out again. The air filled with the smell of ozone and something that reminded her of sandalwood on a cool night wind. The muscles of his angular face tightened in concentration as his eyes narrowed.
Again, she saw that flash of gold across his irises, a marked contrast to his normal amber.
When he dropped his hand and turned to her, a pleased boy’s smile spread over his mouth. “How about that?”
Goddess, he looked so tall and broad and powerful. So profoundly male. Arousal surged through her in a ravenous wave, more intense than anything she’d ever felt before.
This isn’t right, an uneasy mental voice whispered. She never went up in flames this fast. And certainly not to a man who’d just invaded her mind with a spell.
He went very still then, as if something in her eyes had given her away. His pupils flared gold and his carnal lips parted . . .
Before Olivia even knew what she was doing, she’d plastered herself full-length against him. He stiffened in astonishment, might even have pulled away . . . Except she covered his mouth with hers, kissed him with heat and greed, enjoying the blend of spices and ozone . . .
And felt something darker, something wilder she didn’t recognize at all.
Something she craved. Forgetfulness. A moment’s peace and pleasure. An escape from the guilt and loneliness . . . With a moan of delight, she opened even wider.

Rhys tensed, shock rolling through him. What the hell was she doing?
A moment later, he didn’t care. His consciousness was full of Olivia, the soft weight and pressure of her breasts against his chest, her cool hands cupping his face as her mouth moved urgently over his. Her taste filled his senses with a delicious little crackle and tingle flavored with Riesling and the fresh, sharp taste of ozone.
Rhys loved women. There were times when the only distraction he could find from the pressure to succeed was in the body of women. He was nobody’s idea of inexperienced.
And yet no one’s mouth had ever tasted like Olivia’s. As if she fit him somehow, matched him perfectly on some level. Even physically; he had to stoop to kiss most women in an uncomfortable contortion of his far taller body. Yet Olivia could reach his mouth in flats.
And he could reach hers.
His hands came up, closing around her shoulders, pulling her tight, the better to feel the firm, lithe strength of her body. It seemed the only soft parts of her were those tempting breasts.
He didn’t feel he had to hold back with her, didn’t have to worry that with his greater strength he’d hurt her. He remembered the way she’d leaped and spun with that sword in her hand.
Olivia wouldn’t break.
That had been his fear with every woman he’d dated since he was seventeen. He’d never injured anyone badly, but he’d inflicted bruises more than once before learning the art of sensual delicacy.
Olivia was no stranger to that particular art, either. Her long fingers traced the contours of his jaw, the tendons working along the line of his throat. Then they slid down to explore his chest, the width of his shoulders, the thick contours of muscle and bone.
She rolled her hips against him, her belly pressing deliciously against his erection. Rhys found the curve of her ass, cupped her hips, caressed and stroked. She drew back from his mouth, just far enough to gasp. “I need you.”
The only response he could manage was a groan.
**** 
I'd also like to announce I’ll be the keynote speaker at the 2018 BDSM Writer’s Conference in New York Aug. 16-19. This conference will include demonstrations about writing for the dominance and submission markets, as well as demos of techniques used by real-life Dominants and submissives. The conference is also accepting workshop proposals. I’m going to be teaching a seminar on writing an erotic romance from brainstorming to revision. I hope you’ll check it out! 

Best,
Angela Knight