It’s time for Snippet Saturday! Each week has a theme or is author’s choice. This week the theme is It Ain’t Over ‘Til it’s Over – Refusing to give up.
This week my snippet comes from Unleash (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #6). It’s a bit of a long one. It was hard to find a good spot to stop.
The light began to fade, the clouds darkening, and the scent of rain drifted on the breeze. The weather was about to turn abysmal.
He hadn’t missed that.
“Aurora,†he started and then wasn’t sure what to say. He had to do something to make her stay. The thought of her leaving hurt him, making his chest ache, and he would rather lay his heart on the line than let her go without a fight. “Do not leave me… I know I do not deserve you… and you probably think me a wretched monster that deserves only death.â€
She tensed at that, her shoulders going rigid, but said nothing.
“Please, Aurora.†When was the last time he had pleaded with a woman? Probably around the time he had decided to give up desiring females too. Aurora had changed all that.
He thought of her constantly, never able to get her out of his head, even in sleep. His dreams always went back to the night she had saved him, and then forwards to her arrival at Vampirerotique. He couldn’t think straight around her and couldn’t picture his life without her in it now.
His hands shook so he curled them into fists, clenching them. He had never felt weak and vulnerable like this, uncertain, not in all his centuries of life, not even when faced with his bloodlust or chained to his bed.
“Do not leave, Aurora. Come back to my room… stay with me… and I will find a way to show you that I am… I do not know what I am… but I know I don’t want you to leave.â€
“I am in trouble with my master again,†she whispered in a low voice laced with hurt and a touch of fear.“Because of me?†His shoulders sagged and his hands fell open, his hope draining away.
She nodded and her eyes filled with sorrow. “Because of you.â€
He knew what she wouldn’t say. Her master, the man who had broken almost every bone in his body the night he had first met Aurora, despised him and thought him unworthy of her.
Snow looked at her, forcing himself to recognise that she was an angel, and he was a devil.
Her whole life had been ruined because she had chosen to save him.
“You should have let me die,†he muttered and wished she would leave now. He wanted this over with already. She was going to leave him in the end, driven away by the darkness within him, and he would taint her if he touched her. It was pointless.
Aurora’s eyes blazed. “You were an innocent! You didn’t deserve to die like that.â€
She still believed that?
Snow heaved a sigh. “If I had died, my parents would be alive… Antoine wouldn’t bear physical and emotional scars that haunt him, and countless other souls would not have suffered at my hands or my fangs.â€
She moved a step closer, her anger washing over him, far more intense than he had anticipated. Her beautiful eyes were dark with it, her lips compressing into a mulish line. She squared her shoulders and narrowed her gaze.
“And what of you?†she snapped. “Have you not suffered because of my actions? I saved you that night and set in motion a series of terrible events. I condemned you to a life of pain and misery… you have suffered endless agony because of me. By your reasoning, I should die for the things I have done.â€
Snow stepped back, unable to stop himself as the force of her words struck him like physical blows.
“You never deserved to suffer because you took pity on a child.†He kept his voice soft, hoping to calm her. “It was an angelic thing to do.â€
She glared at him. “Even if my master had wanted me to watch you die that night?â€
He had? Snow didn’t like that. The bastard had tried to make her watch a little boy die. Why?
Before he could say anything, she continued. “He desired to test me. I failed. I couldn’t stand by and watch as an innocent boy, a child like me, drowned in an icy lake. I saw only a child without a blemish on his soul.â€
“You couldn’t have known what you would unleash on the world,†Snow countered, wanting to alleviate the guilt he could feel in her. He drew in another deep breath to steady himself and the scent of rain grew stronger. In the distance, thunder growled through the clouds.
“No. I didn’t. I saved you and then you asked me to stay with you, and I foolishly wanted that so much because I knew my master would punish me for what I had done… and this time it would be more severe than any I had endured before.†Tears lined her eyes and she dashed them away, her actions speaking of irritation that he sensed in her. She hated revealing any sign of weakness to him. She wanted him to see her as strong.
It was there in the upward tilt of her chin and her battle to hide her emotions. All he could see was a woman who was breaking inside, the weight of all his sins crushing her soul to ashes.
A female torn between duty and desire.
“I accepted my punishment… and I dared to hope you would remember what had happened and what my master had said… and you would remember me.â€
“I am sorry, Aurora.†Snow stepped towards her and the first drops of rain fell, dark spots on the black tar roof. Aurora stared at him, fighting to hold back her tears, and he ached to comfort her.
She wrapped her arms around herself and turned her face away from him.
“I should not have forgotten you…†He curled his fingers into fists to stop himself from reaching out, smoothing his palm across her cheek, and lifting her head so she was looking at him again. She would bolt if he touched her. Tainted her. “I had truly wanted you to live with me too, away from the mean angels who had upset you. You are here now. You do not have to leave. You could stay with me.â€
He didn’t dare hope that she would.
God knew he deserved to have her throw everything in his face, his feelings included, and leave him forever.
She shook her head.
His heart broke. He actually felt the snap and the rip.
“I cannot.†She lowered her head further, causing her long black hair to cover her face.
“Why not?†Snow couldn’t hold the growl of frustration and hurt from his voice when his feelings were colliding within him, despair battling hope, cowardice fighting courage.
He frowned and ground his molars, unsure what to do. His head said to give up and let her go. His heart said to reach out and grab hold of her, and never let her leave him. She couldn’t leave him. They were meant for each other. He was sure of it.
“We do not belong together,†she whispered and he shut out the words of the song she had sung to him, the tale of two who didn’t belong together, two he was coming to see as he and Aurora, even when he wanted to go against the odds and win her heart forever. “My master is right.â€
Something in Snow snapped on hearing those words leave her lips. “Screw your master and what he thinks is right. What do you think is right? What feels right to you?â€
Aurora glanced at him. “I do not know.â€
Snow pieced his shattered heart back together, mentally picked himself up off the deck, and took another step towards her, determined not to back down until she had given in to him.
“I know that you fear what is happening between us, Aurora… the Devil knows I do too… and that it is all new to you and may feel wrong, but if you would only give me a chance… I can show you how right we are for each other and that your passion is something to embrace, not deny.†He halted in front of her, his entire body shaking and his knees weak, and stared down into her beautiful eyes, catching the spark of warmth that now lit them. A spark that ignited hope within his aching heart.
Snow breathed hard, struggling with himself and the words, trying to get them all to come out right in spite of his nerves. He longed to touch her but he couldn’t. He feared he would taint her. God, he wanted to taint her. He had never wanted anything so fiercely.
She looked as though she was going to say something stupid about her master.
Snow’s hands trembled, nerves threatening to get the better of him. He wouldn’t let her leave him. He lifted his hand, gently slid it along the length of her jaw, and raised her face to his. His gaze fell to her lips.
He pressed his thumb to her jaw, captured her nape with his fingers, and tilted her head, slanting his at the same time.
“I will ruin you.â€
He leaned in and placed his mouth on hers, cutting off her protest with a kiss. The heat and taste of her struck him hard, and the softness of her lips against his rocked him to his soul.
Snow closed his eyes and gathered her against him with his free arm. The feel of her supple body pressing into his sent him out of his head and it was hard to keep the kiss chaste, giving her time to adjust to it.
His whole body cried out to take things further and kiss her deeper, sliding his tongue between the seam of her lips, ruining her completely.
He gently swept his lips across hers, the feel of her shaking in his arms keeping him grounded, awing him as she mimicked his actions, her soft mouth working against his. Her breath stuttered, moist and sweet on his face, and her palms settled on his bare chest. His heart beat hard against it, hurting his ribs as it attempted to break free of the cage of his body and get to her.
It belonged to her now, no matter what happened between them. In return, he wanted her to belong to him. It was only fair.
Did you enjoy the snippet?
More about the book:
Unleash
Felicity Heaton
A powerful vampire lost deep in his bloodlust, Snow is a savage animal, mindless with rage and a thirst for violence, and trapped with no hope of awakening from an endless nightmare… until a song draws him up from the abyss, restoring his sanity but leaving him haunted by the sweet feminine scent of lilies and snow, and fragmented familiar lyrics.
When the mysterious and beautiful songstress reappears in Snow’s room at Vampirerotique, she awakens a fierce protective streak and stirs dark desires that drive him to claim her as his female, even when he knows his touch will destroy her innocence.
A single forbidden taste is all it takes to unleash emotions in Aurora that she shouldn’t possess, tearing her between duty and desire, and luring her into surrendering to her wildfire passion and embracing hungers that burn so hotly they threaten to consume them both.
One act of kindness can lead to one thousand acts of sin though, each a black mark against the bearer’s soul and another grain of sand that slips through an hourglass. The clock is ticking and time is almost up. Can beauty save the beast?
Available in e-book from:
Amazon Kindle | Amazon Kindle UK | Amazon Kindle Germany | Amazon Kindle France | Amazon Kindle Canada
Apple iBookstore US | Apple iBookstore UK | Apple iBookstore Australia | Apple iBookstore Canada | Apple iBookstore New Zealand
Barnes and Noble | Kobo Books | Sony Reader Store
Available in paperback from:
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes and Noble
If you haven’t had a chance to read any of the books in the Vampire Erotic Theatre 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:
Covet (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #1)
Crave (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #2)
Seduce (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #3)
Enslave (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #4)
Bewitch (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #5)
Unleash (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #6)
Don’t forget to visit the other authors who are participating to read their snippets…
Lauren Dane
Caris Roane
Eliza Gayle
Lissa Matthews
McKenna Jeffries
Shiloh Walker
Taige Crenshaw
Delilah Devlin
HelenKay Dimon
TJ Michaels
Myla Jackson
Felicity Heaton
