Dear reader:
I spent this summer working on the 4th book in the Arcane Talents series. It’s a direct spin off from Arcane Island, involving Raven Garland, Dave’s rock star teammate on the reality show.
I love that character, and I wanted to give her a happy ever after, so I decided to tell the story of that attack and her romance with the bodyguard who saved her.
Raven is a rock star with a voice that is literally magical. She’s also got a serious problem: she’s being stalked by her ex. Ewan Bradley’s magical abilities and powerful father make him a deadly threat, forcing her to hire a seductive bodyguard with powers of his own. Nate Carter can use his Primo magic to increase his physical strength to superhuman levels -- and he needs every bit of that power to keep Raven alive. Besides her nasty ex, there’s the lethal costar with anger issues and a mystical link to a bulletproof tiger.
To make matters worse, Nate is slowly falling in love with his client. The passion seems mutual, but Raven’s love affairs have a notoriously short shelf life. For all his strength, Nate doesn’t think he can take becoming her latest fling. Raven wants her handsome bodyguard as far more than a temporary lover, but how can she convince him to trust her when he knows her magical voice can make him believe whatever she wants? Nate knows in real life, the good guy doesn’t always get the girl.
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Here’s an excerpt.
Nathan Carter watched the woman he loved kiss another man.
Raven Garland lay sprawled among sheets of crimson silk, eyes closed, full lips parted on a gasp as the muscular blond braced above her. Her lover pressed biting kisses to the angle of her delicate jaw, and she gripped his bare shoulders, scarlet nails digging into his skin. Her sweat-sheened body seemed to glow in the light from dozens of candles that surrounded the brass bed, clustered on the floor, or arranged on the nightstand among drifts of white rose petals.
All the while, her voice -- that amazing three-octave, Grammy-winning voice -- poured from hidden speakers in a sensual purr. “Deep in my Feral heart, where all my passions start, I feel your magic’s call…”
Nate could certainly feel her magic call as he stood in the shadows of the huge room. A call he desperately wanted to answer, even as his common sense told him to stay away.
Unfortunately, his instincts also told him her lover was going to be a problem. A big, powerfully muscled man, Gary Handle was the kind of guy women like Raven would be drawn to.
He wore his dishwater blond hair cropped in a military brush cut that accentuated his square jaw and hawkish nose. He had the gold irises that marked him as a Feral, though his eyes were a bit too small to balance that wide mouth. Good-looking enough, but there was something about Gary that made Nate’s combat-honed instincts howl.
Raven didn’t seem to sense the danger as she stared up at him, entranced, her lush body relaxed and yearning in his arms.
Nate wanted to touch her like that. Wanted to feel the weight of those full breasts, her long, dancer’s legs gripping his hips. Just like that.
He also wanted to haul Gary off her and drive his fist into the bastard’s nose. The crunch of cartilage would be intensely satisfying.
Breathing in hard, Nate fought the absurd jealousy. She’s a client. What kind of idiot bodyguard gets jealous of a client? She doesn’t see me as anything but hired muscle. And she’s right.
His inner Neanderthal didn’t give a damn. Nate closed his eyes, trying to control the waves of irrational emotion…
And stiffened. In the darkness behind his closed eyelids, Raven glowed like a torch, the aura of her Bard magic bright to Nate’s Talent senses.
But above her, where Gary Handle should be, a glowing tiger crouched, ears laid back, tail lashing as it stared down at her with vicious intensity.
The spirit of Gary’s dead cat wanted to take a bite out of Raven.
“Cut!” Roger Timmons called from his place beside the studio camera, his voice taut with frustration. Around him, the rest of the video crew -- the two camera operators, the sound engineer, the lighting crew -- even the hair and makeup girl -- looked just as impatient.
“Gary, you flashed her suit top again. We’re trying to create the illusion Raven’s naked, and we can’t do that if fabric shows.” He glowered, eyes narrowing as he bit off every word. “Keep one hand over the top, dammit.”
Handle gave Raven a glittering glare in the blazing lights of the soundstage. “Why don’t you just take it off? Then we wouldn’t have to worry about showing it.”
“No, just my breasts,” Raven said, irritation edging her tone. Even so, her voice sounded rich and seductive, silken as the sheets. And she wasn’t even drawing on the Bard magic that had made her one of the hottest rock stars of the decade.
Gary opened his mouth on a snarl that sounded as if he were on the edge of manifesting his tiger. “You…”
Nate tensed, his bodyguard instincts howling. Too far away. I’m too damn far away if he goes for her…
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THE DARK SIDE
I’ve also got a story in a new anthology called The Dark Side, though my story, “The Dark One,” has appeared before.
Buy it Today
Changeling
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Welcome to The Dark Side, where the line between love and lust blurs with dangerous passions.
The Dark One by Angela Knight
Matia of Ruza is one of the legendary Battlemaids -- a woman warrior who has taken an oath of celibacy in service of the Maid of Light. Kaska intends to make Matia the centerpiece in a sizzling erotic ritual in honor of his god.
One reviewer said, "Angela Knight writes an erotic story between two great warriors where one of them must loose. The Dark One is extremely erotic, and a fantastic story.”
Chain of Thorns by Will Okati
Riven finds himself trapped and enslaved by a powerfully seductive alien. Where is the line between fantasy and reality -- slavery and love?
BloodWolf by Sierra Dafoe
Centuries
ago an ancient evil turned Baudouin Delacor into a beast for which there had
never before been a name -- the BloodWolf. Delacor has only one hope left: that
by destroying the succubus, he can free himself of its curse.
I hope you enjoy them!
Angela Knight
