An Excerpt from Infernal Desire

 I've got a fun new book out, completely separate from the Mageverse series I think you'll enjoy. In this one, a half-demon succubus falls for a half-angel demon hunter. She's a normal girl, really, if you ignore the murderous demon father, the horns, the imp best friend...and, oh yeah, the evil tail...

 

 

For the past five years, Zana Alasdair has been obsessed with Rafe Cazadero. Which is an issue, to say the least, because Rafe is a half-angel demon hunter, and Zana is…Well, a demon. Sort of. Anyway, she's a succubus -- a half-human demon who draws magic from the erotic energy she collects making love to mortals. Which means Rafe would probably kill her if he caught her hanging around.

Which is why Pointy doesn't approve of her little crush on the hunter. Pointy is her evil tail, which has a mind of its own, and it's thoroughly convinced Rafe is Bad News.

And Pointy does have a…Well, point. Except if Rafe's not careful, he's going to get himself killed, and that would be a damn shame. Especially since one of those most interested in killing Rafe is Zana's psycho father, Jargoth, a Lord of Hell, who'd also like to kill Zana.

And Zana's been thinking.

Wouldn't it be great if she could talk Rafe and his magic sword into an alliance? She can be pretty persuasive…

Assuming she can persuade her evil tail to be a little less evil…  

 In this scene, Rafe has been bitten by one of Jargoth's demons while trying to save some mortal girls. Zana scoops up his holy sword, using an armored glove, and uses it to slay the demon, then transports him to a protective circle where she can try to treat the demon's poisonous bite. Rafe isn't pleased at being kidnapped. 

Order from:

Amazon   Apple Books  Barnes and Noble  Kobo Changeling Press

Zana

I teleported us to my bubble, a pocket of time and space protected from demons, Hell lords, angels and other undesirables. Rafe materialized spread-eagle in the healing pentagram. He took one look around, realized he was in the center of a working, and tried to leap to his feet. Thanks to the spell, his body refused to obey. Assuming it could, as badly as he was hurt. He swore at me in a torrent of gutter Spanish that made my brows climb.

I eyed him. “Does the Lord know you use language like that?”

He shut up just long enough to give me a vicious glare, panting in pain. I didn’t like his color at all. He was beginning to look distinctly green, and the ragged red wound had darkened to a bruised purple.

I extended a hand to one side and concentrated on what I wanted. The workshop promptly sent a spell book smacking into my palm.

“What in Lucifer’s sweet Hell?” Bazgaz plopped down on my shoulder like a thirty-pound bag of cement. I grunted, staggered, and just managed not to fall on my ass. The imp wasn’t that big, but he was solid -- about two feet tall, with an outsized head, two short horns, enormous red eyes and long, fuzzy ears that made him look like an azure Yoda. A dark blue mohawk jutted between them, running to the base of his skull. His skin was a pale blue that darkened to deep cobalt along his arms and legs. His hands and feet were equipped with retractable claws. Like most Diabol, including me, he had a long, whippy prehensile tail. He also wore a short loin cloth, mostly because I refused to look at his tiny junk.

Baz stared down at Rafe in absolute horror. “That’s a Hunter, Zana! Have you lost your mind? He’s gonna kill us all!” Then he blinked, taking a closer look. “Oh. He’s dying. That’s all right, then. But what are you doing with him?”

“He’s not dying,” I growled, flipping pages.

The imp studied the wound, sniffing the air. “Nope, definitely dying. Smells like Hell drake. Nasty bite. Your boyfriend’s about to be an all-you-can-eat buffet for flies.”

“Damn… you,” Rafe muttered, still struggling to move despite the pentagram’s immobilizing spell.

Bazgaz glanced over his shoulder, where I could feel my tail sketching shapes in the air. I didn’t look around, but I figured Pointy was bitching. Again.

“She is a succubus,” Baz told it. “They take these weird fits about men… Well, yeah, she should have better sense than to chase an angel…”

“Not… not an angel… Neph… Nephilim…” Rafe gasped. Which, I knew, meant he’d had a human mother. Like me. Sort of. “Couldn’t hold me if… if I was angel.”

Pointy jerked around a bit more, but I was frantically reading the index.

There! A treatment for a Hell drake bite. I flipped to the right page and scanned the spell.

Bazgaz leaned down from my shoulder, reading too. My tail curled around to the side, tip pointed at the page as if it, too, were reading. Which, since it didn’t have eyes, was impossible. Probably. Maybe. I think.

“Well, that’s not gonna work.” Baz looked around at Rafe. “Like I said, you’ll be a maggot Burger King in about twenty minutes. No way she can work this spell without ending up char-broiled.” The imp smirked, and Pointy made a gesture that looked downright obscene.

“I didn’t ask for… her… help!” Rafe gasped.

I ignored them, though my stomach sank. Baz had a point. I didn’t even have the materials I’d need. Unless…

I hurried over to Rafe, who glared up at me with his lips curled off his teeth, rage blazing in those stunning gold eyes. I sank to one knee beside the pentagram, pulled my glove off, and extended my palm over his body. His belt smoked at the proximity of my half-demon flesh.

“Yes!” I hissed. Thank Gaia, goddess of Earth, he had what I needed!

I gestured and his armor vanished, leaving him naked -- though for once I was way too preoccupied to notice the view. His utility belt reappeared in my hand.

“Hell… Hellspawn… what are you…”

Ignoring him, I looked down at his chest and swore Baz’s favorite string of filth. Rafe flinched at the demonic curses, but I didn’t much care. The bite looked even worse without armor in the way. Right over his heart gaped the radiating spoke pattern where the drake’s teeth had sunk into flesh. The bite was now black where the teeth had scored, red and gory around the edges. Dark, venomous streaks radiated from it as the poison spread.

If I was going to save him, I had to do it now. There wasn’t time to look for a spell that would be less risky. Hopefully, his Lord wanted him saved. After all, God had kept the Neph alive this long against incredible odds. In fact, He had even allowed my presence. He must have known about me. So this would work. Probably. It had to.

Order from:

Amazon   Apple Books  Barnes and Noble  Kobo Changeling Press

 

An Excerpt from my new Box Set, Unmasked

 

Changeling Press has collected a box set of my sexy superhero stories. Several of these have been out of print for years now with other publishers, and one of them was never published at all, so we've collected them all and released them in this nifty box set. Here's an excerpt from the first of them, "Hero Sandwich." 

Hero Sandwich: When Meg Jennings finds herself at the mercy of a pair of kinky heroes, she discovers keeping a wicked secret can be good, dirty fun.

Voodoo: Voodoo is tired of waiting for Lynx. Time to show him everything she can do with her psychic superpowers.

Taming Jack: Lark Anderson is determined to save Deputy Jack Ramsey -- even if it means accepting an inhuman invader.

Natasha and the Android: When Natasha is kidnapped by an android supervillain who wants to find out why humans are so obsessed with sex, she realizes the dark side has a lot more going for it than she thought.

Masks & Mistletoe: From rescuing a ten-year-old from an evil Santa to celebrating a BDSM Christmas, superheroes Lock and Ultra explore discipline, dominance and the kinky way…

Warning: Includes forced seduction and adult kink themes that some readers may find objectionable.

Publisher’s Note: Unmasked (Box Set) contains the previously published novellas Hero Sandwich, Voodoo, Taming Jack, Natasha and the Android, and Masks & Mistletoe.

Buy Links:

Changeling Press       Amazon    Apple Books    Barnes and Noble    Kobo

Cougar had chosen his vantage point carefully, right on the edge of the rooftop. He figured he’d be silhouetted against the streetlights below.

Easy for anybody flying overhead to spot.

“Think she’ll show?” Lynx asked. The communications unit in Cougar’s mask was so good, it sounded as if his brother was whispering right in his ear.

“Tonight?” Cougar shrugged. “Who knows? Eventually? Yeah, eventually.”

Lynx grunted. “Hope she doesn’t take too long. We’ve got more important things to do.”

“Patience, Grasshopper. She’s had this coming for a while. And I mean to make sure she gets it.”

There was no sound for a moment except the roar of traffic from below. A jet screamed by overhead. Finally, Lynx asked, “Isn’t that a little extreme? I mean, it’s not like she’s Nightwolf. She’s just a photographer.”

“What, you enjoy being a joke on Leno?” The photo in the New York Daily Journal had been taken immediately after last night’s brawl with Battle Ax. Unfortunately, the brotherly arm

Cougar had thrown around Lynx’s shoulders had looked like something entirely different to people who’d been speculating about their sexual preferences for years. Everybody from Jon Stewart to Conan O’Brien had riffed on it.

In the shadows of the building’s rooftop elevator, Lynx shifted his weight, boots scraping on the cement roof. Cougar’s animal-acute hearing picked up the sound clearly. “People have been making those jokes since we started out. Like you always say, that’s what happens when you run around in leather. Paparazzi was only doing her job.”

“That’s not what you said when Jay said we make a cute couple.”

“I was ticked. Look, Cougar, pissing us off isn’t against the law, so we can’t take her to jail. What the hell are we going to do with her once we do catch her?”

Cougar smiled slowly. “I’ll think of something.”

* * *

Years of experience had taught Meg the perfect flying height if she wanted to spot supers in action. Even so, sometimes she circled the city for hours without seeing anything worth shooting.

 

It was the luck of the…

What was that?

She braked into a hover, attention caught by a human shape standing on a rooftop, silhouetted against the lights. The guy was so broad-shouldered he just had to be super-powered. Meg shot down for an invisible fly-by.

He stood with one leg bent, bracing a boot against the low rooftop wall. Soft brown leather armor emphasized his narrow waist and the contrasting width of powerful shoulders. A leather helmet in the shape of a cat’s head covered his face. The cat’s roaring jaws framed his lower face and the grim line of his mouth. She’d always found that mouth perversely sexy.

Cougar.

Meg’s heart began to pound as her instinct to run like hell battled her need for a closer look. New York’s premier hero had fascinated her since she was a scared fifteen-year-old watching him

battle her father. Every time Gerald had reeled under one of those powerful punches, guilt, terror, and hope had warred in her soul. Secretly, she’d dreamed Cougar would rescue her.

And in the end, he’d done just that.

Meg was twenty-three now, and Cougar still starred in her fantasies, though her dreams had taken a distinctly adult turn these days. He was just so… male, so dominant, so hard-edged and grimly handsome. You just knew he’d be the type to go for handcuffs and kinky sex.

She’d even told Richard about those fantasies one night after three glasses of really good champagne. Richard being Richard, he’d offered to rent a costume, but she hadn’t been quite that drunk.

Now there he stood in the flesh. Cougar. All by himself. Not fighting anybody. She could actually get close and just look at him, instead of snapping a shot and fleeing for her life.

Meg drifted down to hover ten feet away. Taking her time, she floated closer, slow enough to avoid creating a rush of air that would betray her to Cougar’s hyper-human senses. He didn’t seem aware of her presence. He just stared down at the street below as though watching something, still as a hunting cat.

Damn, he was big. Had to be six-four at least. Meg was willing to bet his armor wasn’t padded, either. It exposed his arms from shoulders down to the beginning of his clawed gauntlets, and those biceps were mouth-watering. Eyeing the elegant curve of hard, tanned skin, Meg imagined what he’d look like naked, all that glorious brawn on display. His body must be as delicious as Richard’s.

Except Cougar was a good guy. She wasn’t so sure about Richard.

* * *

She was right in front of him. He could smell her. The hint of jasmine in her floral shampoo blended with the rich, complex scent of woman.

Aroused woman.

But good as his feline senses were, Cougar couldn’t see her. She was completely invisible.

Wait for it, he told himself. Let her get closer. He had only one shot at this. If he blew it, she’d make damn sure he never got close again. And he wanted to get very, very close. It was a good thing he wore armor over his groin, or she’d have seen his hungry erection.

Cougar spared a thought for Lynx, ready to pounce from the shadows. They hadn’t dreamed she’d be brazen enough to approach him head-on. He doubted his brother was even aware she was here. The serum they’d taken as teenagers had given Lynx speed and agility instead of acute senses and super-strength.

Cougar breathed in slowly. The light breeze brought more of that wonderful female scent, as though she was coming closer, flying right up to the edge of the roof he stood on.

Wait for it.

* * *

Meg wondered what color his eyes were behind his mask’s opaque eye slits. The only thing she could really see of him was the lower half of his face.

She’d always thought Cougar had a grim, hard mouth, but now she realized his upper lip had a deliciously sensual curve, while the lower pouted ever so slightly. God, she wanted to kiss him.

Why not?

Why not just zip in, steal a kiss, and zoom off before he could grab her? He’d never know who it was. Hell, he might not even be sure what happened.

Her heart thudded an eager adrenalin beat. It was so risky. If he got those big hands on her…

She’d love it.

No, Meg, you would not, she told herself sternly. You’d go to jail.

Well, probably not. It wasn’t against the law to steal a kiss, and he didn’t know she’d been Sneak Thief. Where was the harm? Besides, Cougar might be big and strong, but speed was Lynx’s talent. She was pretty sure she could fly off before he could catch her.

Meg floated closer. One inch. Two. Sloooowly. Holding her breath. She could smell him now, leather and man. His armor was exquisitely made in contrasting shades of warm brown, trimmed in metallic gold. It looked faintly Roman and extremely butch, unlike the spandex many heroes wore. She’d seen it stop bullets, so it had to be made of something more than just leather.

Her gaze focused on his seductive mouth. She licked her lips. Her heartbeat thundered. She was close enough now to reach out and kiss him. Tensing, ready to fly, Meg leaned forward the few inches she’d need to make contact with those velvet lips…

Powerful arms snapped around her like the jaws of a trap springing shut. She slammed against Cougar’s chest so hard the breath left her in a stunned whoof.

As Meg gasped, a white grin spread across the mouth she’d wanted so badly to taste. “You’ve been a bad, bad girl, Paparazzi.”

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you'll check it out!

Buy Links:

Changeling Press       Amazon    Apple Books    Barnes and Noble    Kobo