Snippet Saturday – Claimed by a Demon King (Eternal Mates Paranormal Romance Series Book 2) – Excerpt

Snippet Saturday is brought to you today by Claimed by a Demon King, which is the second book in my popular Eternal Mates romance series. Read on for this Saturday’s snippet…

“I’ll need my blades and bolts back now,” Sable muttered, not quite with the world or aware of what she was saying.

Thorne nodded. “Of course.”

He signalled his men and Sable realised just what she had asked, and felt dismal as the men immediately tore the barbed darts and throwing knives from their flesh without giving a single grunt or revealing a flicker of the pain they must have experienced.

They came forwards and placed the weapons into Thorne’s outstretched hand. He wiped the blood off them on his leather trousers and then held them out to her.

Sable swallowed her guilt and took them from him. She slipped the blades away beneath her arms and put the darts back in her quiver. The silence in the courtyard thickened again. She wasn’t sure what to do. She had made one hell of a first impression—on her team, on the elves, on the demons.

On Thorne.

She wanted to groan and bury her head in her heads.

She needed a do-over on everything after she had appeared in the Third Realm. It really hadn’t gone as planned.

Sable tossed Olivia a look and her friend wiped the smile off her face and nudged Loren. The tall, slender elf prince looked down at his mate, his black eyebrows pinned high on his forehead. Olivia gave a subtle jerk of her chin towards Sable. Loren looked her way and understanding dawned in his purple eyes.

“King Thorne.” Loren broke away from his legion and Olivia, and crossed the short distance to the demon male.

Thorne’s gaze finally left Sable. “Prince Loren.”

Sable seized her chance to slink back unnoticed to her team. Some of them gave her funny looks. She ignored them and Bleu’s inquisitive stare and checked her team over, making sure they had all arrived safely.

Thorne’s focus landed back on her. She could feel it whenever it happened. A shockwave of heat rippled through her, awareness so intense that she could almost pinpoint how far he was from her and could visualise the way he was looking at her. Whenever he looked away, returning his attention to Loren, cold stole through her, fierce and frigid.

She rubbed her wrist, her actions mimicking the light stroke of Thorne’s thumb over her tattoo. It ached and burned. Had she hurt it in training? Or was it a response to the way Thorne had caressed that patch of skin?

She gathered herself, squared her shoulders, turned on the spot and calmly strode back to Thorne and Loren.

The two tall men looked at her. Their height and fangs were the only things they had in common. Loren was unnaturally beautiful, lithe and held an air of darkness around him that stemmed from more than just his black hair and obsidian armour. Thorne was rugged, immense and had an aura of danger surrounding him that warned even her away.

His gaze held darkness as he finished discussing the war with Loren.

She had the answer to one of her questions at least. Thorne was troubled. The war was taking its toll on him, pushing him to his limit, wearing him down.

“King Thorne,” she said without a trace of tremble in her voice and bowed her head. “I would like to introduce my team.”

He ran an assessing gaze over them and then returned his attention to her. “Little Female. It is kind of Archangel to send a small contingent of your forces to assist in my demonomachy.”

Sable bit her tongue, stopping herself from pointing out that she had a name and that this was a large contingent of their forces and all they could spare. She supposed that in comparison to the thousand immortal warriors that Loren had brought with him, her fifty mortal hunters did look rather pathetic.

“Sable,” Loren started and frowned when Thorne bared his fangs on a growl. Thorne cast his gaze down at his boots and clenched his fists. Loren arched an eyebrow at him, sighed, and continued, “Your hunters must desire to settle themselves in their quarters.”

Thorne growled again and this time Sable had the impression it was because Loren was suggesting things that he should have thought of and suggested first.

“That would be good.” Sable kept her focus on Thorne, pretending he had suggested it, hoping to calm him.

“You men,” Thorne barked and a group of demons near the large arched doorway of the impressive dark grey fortress saluted, pressing their hands to their bare chests. “Show the mortals and elves to their quarters.”

He signalled another set of males and gestured to the elves standing guard next to the black crates and bags.

“Take their belongings and follow their instruction to ensure they all end up with their owners.” Thorne glanced at her. “Come.”

He turned away and walked with Loren towards the arched doorway of the large three-storey stone building that formed a wide corner in the curved courtyard. Arched windows lined the first and second floors, smaller in the longest side of the building to her right but larger and more decorative in the main part ahead of her. A balcony extended to the left of the first upper floor, giving the building a staggered appearance.

Demons patrolled the battlements at the top of the building and the walls that connected to it.

It wasn’t a castle as Loren had, with towers and conical roofs, and a verdant courtyard filled with trees, grass and flowering shrubs. It was squat and heavily fortified, and bore the scars of war in many places, the stones cracked or long grooves cut into them. It had been built with defence in mind and reminded her of many of the castles in England or Wales. There was even a well in the courtyard. This place was a military stronghold.

The demons Thorne had ordered to take her team to their quarters reached her hunters and led them away, speaking in broken English to them. Loren had warned her that only the high-ranking demons could speak her language, and that many of the warriors only understood the demon tongue or could only speak a small amount of English.

The elves split into groups, some going with the mortals, some following Loren towards the doors, led by Bleu, and others going with Evan to deal with the crates.

Olivia came over and linked arms with her. “Well, that went well.”

Sable scowled at her friend. “Don’t start. I really hope I don’t make a fool of myself any more today.”

“You weren’t to know he was training,” Olivia whispered as they followed Thorne and Loren towards the main building of the large fortress.

The wall surrounding the courtyard was so high she couldn’t see anything but a strange dark orange sky. Was it day now, or night in this realm? Whenever she left Archangel to come to the elf realm, she ended up at the opposite time of day. She had left in the morning, so this was the evening?

The elves brought light into their realm via portals. Loren had explained the demon realms had a sort of day and night because the light of the elf kingdom reached far into many of their realms. The sheer number of torches and fires blazing around the courtyard illuminated it as if it was day.

She guessed there was no shortage of fire in Hell.

She glanced back at Evan to check on him. He was already glaring at the demons. He looked her way and pointed to a square three-storey building that intersected the wall behind her, opposite the main building. An armoury? There were several buildings like it along the curving wall. Huge demon males prowled the top of the wall between each building, or loitered near their entrances, talking and laughing. Laughing. It was a little weird seeing a demon laugh. She had imagined them all to be as serious as Thorne.

But even Thorne had smile-lines bracketing his mouth and at the corners of his eyes.

“Earth… I mean, Hell to Sable?” Olivia nudged her.

Sable shook herself back to her friend. “It’s a lot to take in.”

She nodded to Evan and he turned back to the demons and elves assisting him. Many of the demons stared at Evan’s tablet as if it were magical, their deep red eyes wide and expressions locked in lines of fascination.

A few males looked her way as they entered the main building. They grinned and bent their heads together. Whispering about her no doubt. The silly little mortal throwing herself into a battle between two dozen demons to protect their immortal king.

She groaned.

Olivia shifted her arm, wrapping it around Sable’s shoulders. “It’s really not that bad.”

But it was. She wanted to make Bleu take her back to Archangel and find a way to undo the past hour so she could do it all over again.

“If I look like I’m about to make another tit of myself, do feel free to hit me over the head with something blunt and heavy before it happens.” Sable leaned her head on Olivia’s shoulder and then straightened when Thorne spoke to Loren.

“I apologise for not being ready for you.” He rubbed a dark cloth over his torso, wiping the blood away. “I thought I had more time.”

“No need to apologise,” Loren said. “It was our fault. Archangel were eager to send their team in on the mission.”

Thorne glanced over his right shoulder at Sable, his eyebrows rising. She looked away, locking her gaze on Olivia and Bleu. When had he fallen into step with them?

She couldn’t look at Thorne. If she did, he was bound to see straight through her and see that she was the reason they were early. Bleu talked to Olivia about Loren and Sable drifted along beside her, not taking in the impressive carved columns that supported the vaulted ceiling in the wide hallway. She was too busy doing her best to ignore Thorne. She could block him out, keeping her eyes off him, but she couldn’t ignore how she felt whenever his gaze landed on her.

Hot all over. Flushed from the intense feel of his eyes on her.

Bleu moved around Olivia and her, ending up walking beside her. “You fought well.”

She shrugged off the compliment, uncomfortable with his praise, and thought of something to say to keep him around. His presence lessened the fierce reaction she had to Thorne’s eyes on her and she needed that right now.

She had to find her balance again before she did something crazy.

Like kissing a demon king.

Did you enjoy today’s snippet?

Claimed by a Demon King
Felicity Heaton
The moment the demon King Thorne of the Third Realm set eyes on the mortal huntress Sable, he knew she was his fated one. The fiery, dangerous female awakened hungers he had never experienced before, a dark craving and passion that has consumed him in their time apart. As the lunar cycle wanes, she enters his world again and nothing will stand in the way of him claiming his forever with her—not the relentless assault from the Fifth Realm or the dark elf male determined to seduce her out of his grasp.

Intent on achieving the coveted position of commander at Archangel, Sable leads her small team into the dark underworld and the Third Realm, to a war where her allies are the very creatures she normally hunts—vampires, werewolves, and demons. Her eagerness to lead the deadly mission has everything to do with winning her promotion, and nothing to do with the kingdom’s brash, lethally seductive demon king—a king who stirred fierce desire and wildfire heat in her with just a look and an innocent touch when they first met, and has been in her wicked dreams ever since.

As the gathering storm between rivals unleashes irresistible passion that flares white-hot and the heat of the battle brings life-shattering realisations, can Sable place her duty before her heart? Or will she surrender to her deepest desires and be claimed by a demon king?

Available in e-book from:
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Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes and Noble | Amazon.ca

If you haven’t had a chance to read any of the books in the Eternal Mates romance series yet, they’re all available at major ebook retailers and in paperback, and you can find the links and samples of the books at my website:

Kissed by a Dark Prince (Eternal Mates Romance Series #1)
Claimed by a Demon King (Eternal Mates Romance Series #2)