Wheee, next Monday is the release of
DANGEROUS ANGEL, the final book in The Earth Angels miniseries! *happy dance* I
have a week-long blog tour/giveaway planned, including a $25 Amazon GC, a $10
Amazon GC and a complete ebook set of The Earth Angels, so keep an eye out for
wherever I’m stopping. The more you enter, the greater chance you’ll have of winning. :)
For now, though, let’s focus on a quick
flashback to WOUNDED ANGEL, the 3rd book in The Earth Angels series.
The scene I’m highlighting today is the first time the demonic villain comes
out in the open to confront a member of the Nephilim, a descendant of an angel of vengeance, Nate da Luca…
Richard took a step forward, like
a magnet drawn to steel. “Gabriella Littlefield? Is that you?”
“You’re either deaf or learning
impaired.” Nate was reduced to growling. He was so uncomfortable with having a
Rainier that close to Ella he couldn’t seem to get his jaw unclenched. “I’ve
already told you I haven’t yet found Gabriella Littlefield. Now get your
pampered little ass back in your car and get out of here before I decide you’re
a threat to my continuing investigation.”
“No need to be so rude, Nate.” Ella’s
smile made a razor seem dull by comparison. Just when he was on the verge of
throttling her for stumbling out into the open where anything could happen, he
saw in the heart of her smile she thought she knew what she was doing. “This
man seems to be confusing me with someone else. Why don’t we invite him and his
companion inside for coffee? I’m sure we can clear this up.”
Coffee? Dear God, was
she frigging crazy? “I don’t know if
you want to let this guy get too close. For some reason people have a tendency
to drop dead around the Rainier family.”
He was almost positive Richard
shot him a scathing glance behind his sunglasses before he peeled them off to
look closely at Ella. “Are you wearing contacts? Colored contacts?”
Ella blinked her baby browns. “Are
you usually this forward with complete strangers?”
“The thing is, my dear,” Richard
said with the élan of countless generations of moneyed Rainiers behind him, “I
don’t believe you and I are what you’d call complete
strangers.”
“Like I said, I think you’re
confused. I’ve never seen you before in my life, pal.”
“Yet you don’t seem to be too curious
as to whom I might be, or why I’m here.”
Ella’s hesitation lasted less
than a heartbeat, but Nate wanted to wince at the painfully obvious misstep. “Nate
seems to know you, so that’s good enough for me. Why don’t you bring your
friend out and we can all go inside and talk, instead of having my neighbors
hear every single word we say?”
“There really isn’t much more to
say.” Richard reared back as if the mere thought of entering a lavender house
was simply beyond him. “I was so hoping I could steal an opportunity to extend
my deepest regrets to Ms. Littlefield in person, but apparently you’re not her.
And that being the case, I suppose it’s time for me to get out of your way.” Smooth
as ever, he offered his hand to Nate. “Hope I didn’t intrude precipitously on
your investigation, Mr. da Luca. It really was quite an education meeting you.”
“Yeah, I’m—” Whatever Nate had
been about to say dissolved the moment he made straight-on eye contact with
Richard.
Red.
Just a flash. Barely there, way
down deep. But definitely red.
Shit.
The hand clasping Rainier’s
tightened convulsively, making the other man’s eyes widen. That action showed
off the flash of red all the more. It was something he’d never seen before, like
camera-flash red-eye without the camera. Ella hadn’t reacted to any strangeness
in Richard’s eyes when he’d looked at her, so it wasn’t something she could
see. But even more than that, it was the sensation of piercing pain behind his
eyes that made him realize, at long last, what the hell he was dealing with.
At some crooked point along the
way, Richard Rainier had done the unimaginable and sold his soul.
Richard began to claw at Nate’s
hand. “Mr. da Luca…let go!”
Ella stepped forward. “Nate…”
Nate barely heard them. Instinct shoved
higher reasoning aside like the weak nancy it was and took control. In one move
he spun the other man around and sprawled him on top of the hood of the Caddy.
He then cranked the other man’s arm so far behind his back, Richard’s hand
could have easily made nice with his shoulder blade. A high-pitched, almost
girlish yelp escaped Richard before Nate shoved the side of his face onto the
hood of the car with a resounding bang. If he wanted to see a demon, he’d be
more than happy to show him one up close and personal.
“Nate!” Someone was pulling on
his arm. A voice reached him through the raging need to avenge two innocent
women who should still be alive—a sweetly compelling voice that now sounded
almost terrified. The searing heat that thundered through his muscles eased to
a sullen simmer, but oh, he wanted to obliterate the useless idiot in the worst
way. “Nate, for God’s sake, stop!”
“I know what you’ve done, Rainier.”
It would have been so easy, so ridiculously easy to keep twisting the arm until
that satisfying pop signaled its dislocation from the rest of the body. The raw
power sang in him, a siren’s lure to smash everything tainted by unspeakable evil,
and only through sheer force of will was he able to hold it back. “I know
you’ve made some kind of sick deal with a devil you don’t even know in order to
get to me. I should probably care about that, but I don’t. You know why?”
The other man made a tortured
mewling sound. “I’ll… I’ll call the police! You’ll pay for t-touching me, you thug.”
“I don’t care about the deal
you’ve made, because I’m so happy you’ve damned your eternal ass. And the
cherry on top of that happiness sundae is this—it’s not going to make one
fucking bit of difference. Whatever you’ve traded your soul for isn’t going to
happen. I’m going to make sure I stand in your way no matter what it costs. Now,
you make sure you say hello to your piece of shit brother when you see him in
hell, you hear? I’ll do my level best to send you there just as soon as I can.”
A car door slammed and the pain
in Nate’s head nearly blinded him. He looked through a wince to see a lovely
blonde woman come to a stop. She was startling in her perfection—her long blond
hair a pale cascade down her back, her golden skin warm and sun-kissed, her
little Kewpie doll mouth an innocent pink and wreathed with a smile that didn’t
match the occasion. And her eyes…
The screaming neon red of pure
demon.
***
Blurb
for WOUNDED ANGEL:
Book three in The Earth Angels
A descendant of the Angel of Vengeance, Nate da Luca was gifted with an uncanny ability to find things. It made his job as a detective a breeze—until he learned the hard way that some things should remain hidden. After that, his powers vanished, along with his belief in himself. Which is going to make tracking down Gabriella Littlefield for his latest client a challenge.
Personal trainer Ella Little paid a hefty price for her life—now all she wants is to live it in peace. Then a sexy hulk of a man turns up in her gym, reigniting desires she thought she'd left behind along with her real name and hair color.
Desires she can't deny even after she discovers Nate's no stranger to her dark past.
Before he can convince her the attraction is mutual, Nate's going to have to earn Ella's trust. But a demon is playing for keeps in the world of humans, using Ella as bait, and the last thing they have is time…
Go back to the beginning with Nobody's Angel, available now!
63,000 words
Book 1: Nobody's Angel (novella)
Book 2: Savage Angel
Book 3: Wounded Angel
Book 4: Dangerous Angel
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