Kindle Edition
Amazon
Category:
Fantasy
The second book in the urban fantasy series Blood Destiny.
After escaping the occasionally appealing, but also most definitely dangerous, claws of Corrigan, the Lord Alpha of the Brethren, Mack is trying to lead a quiet lonely life in Inverness in rural Scotland, away from anyone who might happen to be a shapeshifter. However, when she lands a job at an old bookstore owned by a mysterious elderly woman who not only has a familiar passion for herbal lore but also seems to know more than she should, Mack ends up caught in a maelstrom between the Ministry of Mages, the Fae and the Brethren.
Now she has to decide between staying hidden and facing the music, as well as confronting her real feelings for the green eyed power of Corrigan himself.
Excerpt
The vampire, who’d looked quite pretty from a distance, was terrifying up close. Although I’d certainly heard plenty about vamps from some of the more well travelled pack members in Cornwall, I’d never had the opportunity to meet one myself. I wanted to ask her how she was going to leave the restaurant when it was daylight outside but figured that might be a bit rude. Her skin was not white, exactly, more a sort of ashen grey colour. The whites of her eyes were more yellow than white and there was the faintest whiff of rotting meat that she’d barely disguised with some sickly sweet perfume. I struggled not to recoil away.
Solus inclined his head. “Good day,” he intoned.
She ignored him and fixed her gaze onto me. For my part I remained seated and just looked back at her.
“Is there a problem, little human?” Her voice was icy and filled with the suggestion of threat.
“I don’t believe so,” I replied as pleasantly as possible, although I could feel my bloodfire awakening in the pit of my belly.
“Then why were you staring at me so rudely?”
I opened my mouth to speak but Solus interrupted. “My dear, my partner is but a novice to this side of the world. You will forgive her rude naivety.”
His voice had deepened but I shot daggers at him with my eyes for his words and was about to speak back at him about my so-called ‘rude naivety’ when I noticed the gold flecks of light dancing across his eyes. I flicked a glance at the vamp and realised that she was staring at him, lips slightly parted.
“Of course,” she said in an abruptly breathy voice. “She is forgiven.” She widened her eyes ever so slightly and leaned in towards Solus. “If there is anything I can do to help you both, explaining any nuances of our behavior or showing you around town, then please do let me help you.”
I noticed that she didn’t once look in my direction. The wait staff, who had suddenly been poised for any potential action, had relaxed back into their serving jobs and begun to go back to pretending to ignore us. For my part, I was fascinated by the look of concentration on Solus’ face and the puppy dog look on the vamp’s.
He took her hands and murmured, “You should rejoin your partner, he looks lonely.”
“Yes, I shall.” She held onto his hands for a moment longer than was necessary, and then departed back to her table.
I stared at Solus. “Well I guess these aren’t the droids we’re looking for.”
The pop culture reference went right over his head. “What?”
“You glamoured her. You got her to say and do and act exactly the way you wanted her to.” I thought for a moment. “And you tried to do that to me too! When you came into the bookshop that first time.” My eyes narrowed at him in disgust. “You wanker!”
The heat that had been slowly building with the vamp was quickly exploding into life. Solus held up his hands. “Okay, okay, Mack. Yes, I tried to glamour you. Is it really so bad?”
“It’s brainwashing! I can’t believe you would take advantage of me that way. I cannot believe that you think that would be acceptable!” My voice was rising but I didn’t care.
Solus tried to calm me down, which just annoyed me even more. “It didn’t work though did it? You resisted the glamour so you proved that you’re mentally strong. It was a pretty large clue, dragonlette, that you were definitely more than you appeared to be.”
“But you tried to do it in the first place, Solus.” I stood up, flinging my napkin to the floor. I was aware that I was making a scene but I didn’t really care. How dare he do that to me? “Do you know what? I don’t actually think I need your help after all. How do I know the glamour didn’t work? How do I know that you’re not glamouring me right now?”
Solus’ face suddenly looked alarmed. “Mack, sit down.”
“I will not sit down. I’m leaving and you can sit here alone in your posh restaurant eating your posh food whilst I go kick some ass. And if I see you again, Solus, I swear to God I will…”
“Mackenzie! Sit the fuck down!”
“No! You’re not the boss of me!”
“If you don’t sit down, Mackenzie Smith, then we are both screwed because between transporting you here and doing that glamour to stop that vampire from snacking on you between courses, I don’t have enough energy left to mask your scent.”
“Why the fuck would you need to mask my scent? The only time you need to do that is when…” my voice trailed off. Oh. I looked over at the group of people just entering the restaurant and sat down very quickly.
Corrigan had what appeared to be a huge entourage. I counted at least eight different heads and, despite the lurching sensation of fear induced nausea that was flooding my system, wondered if it helped him to feel important to surround himself with many different shifters. Recognising his de facto chief of staff, Staines, I sank further down in my seat and suddenly became re-fascinated by the window.
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