“Hey, handsome.”
“Hey.”
“Whatcha doing?”
He took a deep, satisfied breath. “I’m putting you under my aegis.”
“What does that mean?” She frowned. “You’re kinda weird.”
“You have no idea.” He leaned closer and heard her sigh when his lips brushed against her pulse. Was he doing this for her? Or for himself? Baojia found that he didn’t really care.
“What are you doing?” she asked again.
“I’m going to bite your neck and drink some of your blood,” he murmured. “You won’t see the bites, but others will. And it will offer you a measure of protection.”
“I didn’t hear that right.” She blinked rapidly. “You’re going to… what?”
He didn’t wait any longer. His amnis fluttered over her skin and he felt the damp coastal air draw closer as his energy wrapped around her. Baojia closed his eyes and slid his fangs into her neck, trying not to groan. The rich taste flooded his mouth, and he felt Natalie arch her back.
“Ohhhh, that feels really good. Holy… Wh—what are you doing to me?”
He grunted and forced his head back, licking the bit of blood from his mouth before he pierced his tongue and licked at the delicate wounds in her neck. He closed his eyes, trying to will away the natural reaction of his flesh to hers.
“Natalie—”
Suddenly, he was cut off when she kissed him. She grabbed his face with both hands and threw herself into it, moaning into his mouth as he gently pushed her away.
“Natalie, you’re under my influence. It’s—” He cleared his throat. “This is not appropriate.”
She was dazed, staring at him in confusion, hands still on his cheeks. “Why not?”
He sighed. “Trust me. I have a feeling if you ever remembered this, you’d be more than a little pissed off.”
She did the adorable wrinkling thing with her nose again. He tried not to smile. “I’m not going to remember this?”
“No.” He gently pushed her back and buckled her into her seatbelt. “But I believe I will. For quite some time.”
~Acknowledgements~
Many thanks to all the usual suspects.
Thanks to my amazing pre-readers, Kristine M. Todd, Nichole Chase, Sarah, Kelli, and Gen. The sheer volume of the neuroses you handle gracefully when I’m writing and editing is a wonder to behold.
Thanks to my editing team, Amy and Cassie at The Eyes for Editing, who clean up my prose, slap me over the head with proper punctuation, and send my books out into the world looking pretty.
And many thanks to my cover artist, Gene Mollica, who really captured my vision for the character and the book with his artwork. Beautifully done!
Thanks to all those who are so supportive and helpful in my career. Particularly my agent, Jane Dystel, and the whole team at Dystel and Goderich Literary Management. My writing friends (you know who you are), and most of all, my family.
~About the Author~
Elizabeth Hunter is a contemporary fantasy, paranormal romance, and contemporary romance author. She is a graduate of the University of Houston Honors College and a former English teacher. She once substitute taught a kindergarten class, but decided that middle school was far less frightening. Thankfully, people now pay her to write stories and eighth-graders everywhere rejoice.
She currently lives in Central California with a seven (almost eight!) -year-old ninja who claims to be her child. She enjoys music, writing, travel, and bowling (despite the fact that she’s not very good at it.) Someday, she plans to learn how to scuba dive. And maybe hang glide... but that looks like a lot of running.
She is the author of the Elemental Mysteries and Elemental World series, the Cambio Springs series, and other works of fiction.
Website: ElizabethHunterWrites.com
Elemental Mysteries fan site: ElementalMysteries.com.
E-mail: [email protected].
Twitter: @E__Hunter
Find me on Facebook!
~Other books by Elizabeth Hunter~
The Elemental Mysteries Series
A Hidden Fire
This Same Earth
The Force of Wind
A Fall of Water
The Elemental World Series
Building From Ashes
Waterlocked (novella)
Blood and Sand (Summer 2013)
The Cambio Springs Series
Long Ride Home (short story)
Shifting Dreams
Contemporary Romance
The Genius and the Muse
The Elemental Mysteries
~~~
Get the best-selling series that readers, writers, and reviewers have raved about.
~~~
“Elemental Mysteries turned into one of the best paranormal series I’ve read this year. It’s sharp, elegant, clever, evenly paced without dragging its feet, and at the same time emotionally intense.” —Nocturnal Book Reviews
Welcome to the Elemental Mysteries, where history and the paranormal collide, and where no secret stays hidden forever. Join five hundred year old rare book dealer, Giovanni Vecchio, and librarian, Beatrice De Novo, as they travel the world in search of the mystery that brought them together, the same mystery that could tear everything they love apart.
Praise for the first book, A Hidden Fire, semifinalist in the Kindle Book Reviews Best Books of 2012:
“A tantalyzing paranormal romance, full of mystery and intrigue. One of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Sign me up for book 2!” —Nichole Chase, best-selling author of Mortal Obligation, Book One of The Dark Betrayal Trilogy
“Lush with detail and sweeping in scope, the emotional depth that you get is almost unheard of in recent years.” —Stephany Simmons, author of Voodoo Dues
“A Hidden Fire is saturated with mystery, intrigue, and romance…this book will make my paranormal romance top ten list of 2011.”
—Better Read Than Dead Book Reviews
Get the complete series in e-book or paperback at all major online retailers.
ElementalMysteries.com
Shifting Dreams
Copyright © 2013
by Elizabeth Hunter
ISBN: 978-0-9885205-7-8
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover Design: Gene Mollica
Edited by: Amy Eye
Formatted by: Amy Eye
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Shifting Dreams Page 31
