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Well, I haven’t participated in a while so I’m excited to spend some time blog hopping and reading all about lost lovers. I’m going to share an excerpt from my current WIP, His Darkest Salvation, the third book in my upcoming Jaguar Warrior series…..I hope you enjoy! And remember the links are at the bottom for all the other authors participating today!!!!! This excerpt is kinda long, but I didn’t want to cut anything!
Jaden DaCosta knew she was in trouble about ten seconds before the door opened.
It was in the air she dragged deep into her lungs and the electricity that ran along with it, pulsing, burning, as it slid down.
She whipped her head around, eyes scanning with quick, cool precision and dove behind the sofa just as a click echoed into the darkened penthouse.
Her heart slowed automatically and she relaxed her limbs, calling the shadows to her as she slid forward on her belly. Fingers felt along her waist to cradle the edge of the charmed dagger that was there, and her senses sharpened as the animal inside awakened.
The door swung open slowly, sweeping across cool tiles and allowing a thin beam of light to fall into the dim interior. She could see a shadow reflected along the floor as long moments passed. It was impressive and she gritted her teeth in anticipation.
And then he was there, striding into the room as if he owned the place.
Jaden gripped the dagger tightly. She inhaled the stench of otherworld, yet it was somehow different, already fading fast.
The intruder paused, his tall frame humming with an energy that while dark, was unlike any she’d ever come across. There was a familiarity to it and it tugged at something deep inside of her.
She watched in silence as he kicked the door shut, winced at the harsh echo of it as it slammed back against the frame.
The man held still for a few moments and then his head swivelled around slowly. He scented the air and her breath caught at the back of her throat. Would he be able to smell through the charm that coated her body and masked her scent?
Who the hell was he? What the hell was he?
The stranger seemed to relax a bit and he rotated his neck, running his hands through the thick hair that hung in waves to his neck. Power clung to him, gripping his tall form hungrily, electrifying the air.
But it was tinged with a darkness that was hard to read.
He headed toward the kitchen area and the fridge door swung open at his command. Jaden could have saved him the bother. She’d already checked it out and no one had been inside the penthouse since Julian Castille had pulled a Copperfield and disappeared into thin air. All of the food was either mouldy, dated or dried up.
The shrill echo of a cell phone pierced the silence and she bit her tongue as her body jerked. The coppery taste of blood flooded her mouth and her eyes narrowed as the stranger answered its call.
“Yeah.” His voice was low, husky, with a rasp that sounded rough. He straightened and ran a hand along the back of his neck as he rolled his shoulders and listened. Jaden strained to hear, but even with her enhanced senses she couldn’t pick up anything.
“I just got in.” He sounded weary and she inched forward slowly trying to get a better look but paused as he turned once more and headed toward her, stopping a few feet away.
There was something about the man that called to her and Jaden was finding it harder to remain calm, undetected.
She could just make out his profile and her eyes ran over the aristocratic nose, high cheekbones and a mouth that even from this angle was to die for.
Inside the cat erupted and she broke out in a sweat as her skin began to burn and itch. The tattoos along the side of her neck became inflamed, the nerves pinched and sensitive.
Son of a bitch! It couldn’t be….
“It’s bearable.” He said and she watched as he ran his hand over his chest. He nodded his head in answer to whatever was being said on the other end before whispering harshly. “Don’t worry, I’m ready. Tomorrow we hunt.”
He threw the cell phone onto the sofa where it landed with a thud not more than two inches from her head. Jaden’s heart took off like a rocket and was pounding so hard it was a miracle he couldn’t hear it.
Julian Castille back from the twilight zone? Was it possible? Had the bastard managed to survive wherever the hell he’d been sent six months ago?
Her body tightened at the rush of emotion that ran over her and Jaden had to use ever single bit of power she possessed to keep it together. The man who’d haunted her dreams for years, three to be exact, stood not more than a few feet away, very much alive.
As much as Jaden loathed him, deep inside her soul the jaguar was singing, wanting nothing more than to mate. To claim once more the man who’d awakened her spirit and bonded with her jaguar. The man who’d given her one amazing night of pleasure and then had rejected her.
How pathetic.
Jaden felt her cheeks sting with the heat of humiliation as she recalled the look of disgust that had crossed his face when he’d realized what she was.
No one had ever made her feel like that before. Like dirt. Like less than dirt.
So many questions crowded her head but she pushed them away so she could concentrate. Something was off. This wasn’t the Julian Castille she remembered. Nope. Back in the day he’d been total GQ, hot for sure, but polished and boardroom ready. This man? He was edgy, dark, and the word sinister came to mind.
She watched as he crossed to his bedroom and paused in the entrance, his head cocked to the side for a moment. He then padded over to the large bed just beyond and stripped the shirt from his body before slipping the jeans from his hips.
Jaden’s mouth went dry. She couldn’t take her eyes from him as he stood there, tall, fierce, buck naked with nothing but moonbeams from the window caressing his taught, powerful frame. The dude had packed on some serious muscle since she last saw him.
She bit her lips once more to stifle the groan that now sat inside her mouth. Her jaguar was chomping at the bit, wanting out and a wave of dizziness rippled along her skull.
Heat erupted between her legs, which only infuriated her more. How the hell could he do that to her? After all this time?
She closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than for him to disappear.
“If you want I can bend over and give you a real treat.”
The words slid out into the space between them and Jaden’s eyes flew open, her hand going for the knife as adrenaline pushed through her veins.
But it was too late. A flash of white teeth and a shimmering blur of air rushed at her. Jaden barely had time to roll to the side and she jackknifed her body, landing in a crouch with the dagger held in front of her.
Only to feel the heat of him at her back.
Fuck!
She reacted instinctively and swung her hips to the side, hiking her right leg out, intending to drop him hard. But it was she that went flying as large hands gripped her shoulders and spun her around like a top until she ended up on her back splayed out like a total loser.
The knife clattered across the tiles and Jaden clenched her teeth and fought the urge to curse a torrent of foulness. She’d just pulled a total newbie boner and had no one but herself to blame.
Slowly her eyes moved up his long frame, skipping over the impressive display of manhood, up his taut belly, rock hard abs until she saw a sight that was sobering to say the least.
Jaden swallowed heavily and couldn’t rip her eyes away from the macabre display of scars that crisscrossed in perfect precision, just under his left pectoral, above his heart. It looked both raw and painful.
“Didn’t anyone teach you it’s impolite to stare?”
Jaden’s eyes jerked up to rest upon a face that was every bit as devastating as she remembered, if not more so.
Even in the dim light she could see the flair that lit up his golden eyes, eerily so, yet the smile that fell over his mouth didn’t reach them. A shiver ran over her body.
Julian Castille was not the person she remembered. At all.
Copyright@JulianaStone2010
Emma Petersen
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