by Bianca D'Arc
Julian didn’t have words to respond, but he found himself drawn into a hug. Julian wasn’t normally much of a hugger, but Theos’s arms reminded him of his father, in some odd way. Theos was family, after all. He was Julian’s uncle.
And then it hit him…
It was good to have family again—even if they were aliens who had been trying to take over human space off and on for as long as Julian could remember.
“Father Theos…” Julian cleared his throat as they drew apart. “Uncle…” he corrected himself, watching the smile grow on Theos’s face. “I will probably always think of myself as human, but I want you to know, I’m glad to have learned the truth. From this day forth, I will always think of you as family, and count myself blessed to do so.”
Theos clapped Julian on the shoulders, smiling broadly. “I could not have said it better myself, my boy. In you, I see your mother, and a man I can respect and be proud to call nephew.”
They hugged again—a brief, back pounding, emotional embrace. Then Theos left with Terva, pausing only briefly to say goodbye to Star. When the door closed behind them, Julian was still keyed up. Star must have sensed his emotional state because she came over and wordlessly walked into his arms, hugging him tight, offering silent support while he dealt with the storm of feeling that Theos’s words had brought.
A short while later, they opened a channel to the Matilda, and the spirit of the real Matilda appeared via hologram. Star nearly burst into tears when Julian’s mother welcomed her to the family. For all her talents, Star had not foreseen most of what had happened. She had seen the paths of best outcome only in the vaguest terms and hadn’t known what all of this would mean to her personally.
Again, it seemed the seer had been unable to see much about her own future. But that was okay with Star. Especially when everything had turned out so amazingly well.
She sat talking with mother and son a while, but then excused herself so the two could have more time to talk alone. Julian needed time to speak of intensely personal things with his mom, and Star felt the itchiness in her mind that often meant she needed a little meditation time. She’d had far too little time to herself these past few days.
Star went into the other room and did a few stretching exercises before sitting down to a meditative pose. What came next was a maelstrom of images in her mind that felt like the universe itself was rejoicing.
When Julian found her hours later, she was just coming out of one of the most incredible vision sessions of her lifetime. She felt the broad smile stretching her mouth and the energy of a joyful future running through her body. Julian helped her up from the floor and into his arms.
“Have you been vision questing all this time?” he asked, smiling back at her. She could tell he was more relaxed. Whatever he had talked with his mother about had set him more at ease.
“Not questing. Finding. Oh, Julian, you won’t believe some of the stuff that we’re on the path to now.”
“Us? I’m not sure I like the sound of any more adventures right now,” he teased.
“Not just you and me. The whole galaxy. This one. Ours. The universe as a whole. Things have changed in a big way for our little corner of it, and as a result, great things will happen.” She knew she was nearly babbling, but an incredibly hopeful spirit was riding her after such an amazing series of visions.
Julian tucked her close to his heart, his arms bringing warmth and comfort to her spinning thoughts. She didn’t think she’d been this happy in a very long time.
“So what did you see?” he asked quietly.
“Our wedding ceremony here in the temple. It’s a little turning point for our family, but it could have good repercussions in the empire as well. Your cousin Tren will be the next emperor and his wife will be human. I saw her this time.”
“This time?” Julian asked.
“Don’t you remember? I saw her mother once before,” Star admitted. “This time I saw the daughter. The first human empress…and most definitely, not the last.”
###
Thank you for reading King of Stars. If you enjoyed the story, please consider leaving a review. If this is your first foray into the Jit’Suku Chronicles, you may want to check out some of the other books in the series:
King of Swords, Arcana Book 1
King of Cups, Arcana Book 2
King of Clubs, Arcana Book 3
End of the Line, an Arcana short story
A list of all of Bianca’s books in series order, follows the brief section of covers and blurbs of her most recent releases below. Or you could check out her website – WWW.BIANCADARC.COM. Or you can sign up for Bianca’s Newsletter to be alerted when new books are released.
Dragon Knights ~ Book 1
Maiden Flight
2014 RT Book Reviews Award Nominee
War is coming for the dragon knights…but love may find them first.
A chance meeting with a young male dragon seals the fate of one adventurous female poacher. The dragon’s partner, a ruggedly handsome knight named Gareth, takes one look at the shapely woman and decides to do a little poaching of his own.
Sir Gareth both seduces and falls deeply in love with the girl who is not only unafraid of dragons but also possesses a rare gift—she can hear the beasts’ silent speech. He wants her for his mate, but mating with a knight is no simple thing. To accept a knight, a woman must also accept the dragon, the dragon’s mate…and her knight, Lars, too.
She is at first shocked, then intrigued by the lusty life in the Lair. But war is in the making and only the knights and dragons have a chance at ending it before it destroys their land and their lives.
Warning: Contains dragons, their sexy knights and a damsel who is not quite in distress. Sizzling hot m/f/m scenes may leave you breathing fire.
Tales of the Were: The Others
Rocky & Slade
Rocky
On the run from her husband’s killers, there is only one man who can help her now… her Rock.
Maggie is on the run from those who killed her husband nine months ago. She knows the only one who can help her is Rocco, a grizzly shifter she knew in her youth. She arrives on his doorstep in labor with twins. Magical, shapeshifting, bear cub twins destined to lead the next generation of werecreatures in North America.
Rocky is devastated by the news of his Clan brother’s death, but he cannot deny the attraction that has never waned for the small human woman who stole his heart a long time ago. Rocky absented himself from her life when she chose to marry his childhood friend, but the years haven’t changed the way he feels for her.
And now there are two young lives to protect. Rocky will do everything in his power to end the threat to the small family and claim them for himself. He knows he is the perfect Alpha to teach the cubs as they grow into their power… if their mother will let him love her as he has always longed to do.
Slade
The fate of all shifters rests on his broad shoulders, but all he can think of is her.
Slade is a mystery. A warrior and spy who serves two masters—those in the human world and the Lords of the Were. They’ve sent him to Nevada to track a brutal murderer before the existence of all shifters is revealed to a world not ready to know.
Kate is a priestess serving the Goddess and the large community of shifters that have gathered around the Redstone cougars. When their matriarch is murdered and the scene polluted by dark magics, she knows she must help the enigmatic man sent to track the killer.
Together, Slade and Kate find not one but two evil mages that they alone can neutralize. It’s a tricky situation because Slade finds it hard to keep his hands off his sexy new partner, the cougars are out for blood, and the killers have an even more sinister plan in mind.
Can Kate somehow keep her hands to herself when the most attractive man she’s ever met makes her want to throw caution to the wind? And can Slade do his job and save the situation when he’s finally found a woman who can make him purr?
&nb
sp; Warning: Big cats like to play and there’s a little bit of three-way play in the story that some readers might want to know about beforehand. You have been warned!
Each story is available as a separate ebook, or together, in this exclusive anthology.
Tales of the Were ~ Redstone Clan 1-3
Grif, Red & Magnus
Grif
Griffon Redstone is the eldest of five brothers and the leader of one of the most influential shifter Clans in North America. He seeks solace in the mountains, away from the horrific events of the past months, for both himself and his young sister. The deaths of their older sister and mother have hit them both very hard.
Lindsey Tate is human, but very aware of the werewolf Pack that lives near her grandfather's old cabin. She's come to right a wrong her grandfather committed against the Pack and salvage what's left of her family's honor - if the wolves will let her. Mostly, they seem intent on running her out of town on a rail.
But the golden haired stranger, Grif, comes to her rescue more than once. He stands up for her against the wolf Pack and then helps her fix the old generator at the cabin, making it habitable for her while she completes her task. He's friendly and all too attractive, but she has a job to do, regardless of the cost to herself or her budding relationship with the local handyman.
When she performs the ceremony she expects will end in her death, the shifter deity has other ideas and turns the tables on them all. Grif's dual nature is revealed and Lindsey learns there is much more going on than she thought.
Thrown together by fate, neither of them can deny the deep and true attraction between them. They come together, but in the end will an old enemy rip them apart?
Warning: Cats are frisky and they get up to all sorts of naughtiness, including a frenzy-induced multi-partner situation that might be a little intense for some readers. You have been warned.
Red
A water nymph and a werecougar meet in a bar fight… No joke.
Steve Redstone agrees to keep an eye on his friend's little sister while she's partying in Las Vegas. He's happy to do the favor for an old Army buddy. What he doesn't expect is the wild woman who heats his blood and attracts too much attention from Others in the area.
Steve ends up defending her honor, breaking his cover and seducing the woman all within hours of meeting her, but he's helpless to resist her. She is his mate and that startling fact is going to open up a whole can of worms with her, her brother and the rest of the Redstone Clan.
Trisha’s had to hide her special abilities most of her life, but with her brother’s Army buddy – the guy they call Red – she’s finally free to be herself. He calls to her in a way she’s never experienced before and while bad guys keep trying to abduct her, he’s her safe port in the storm. But can such dangerous beginnings lead to a life-long love?
Magnus
A tortured vampire, a lonely shifter, and a deadly power struggle of supernatural proportions. Can their forbidden love prevail?
Magnus Redstone is the middle of the five Redstone brothers. He’s the quiet one. The one who keeps to himself more than the others. But he has good reason for his loner status. Two years ago, he met a woman. Not just any woman. This woman made his inner cougar stand up and roar. Even in human form, he purred when she stroked him. She was his mate. And that meant something very serious among shifters. Too bad the lady had fangs...
Following a lead about a very bad man, Mag discovers Miranda being held captive by an evil mage in a cage of silver that burns her. She’s been tortured and bled repeatedly as the monster sought to steal her power for his own. Mag frees her and takes her to his home, nursing her back to health and defying all convention to keep her with him. He doesn’t ever want to let her go again, but he knows the deck is stacked against them.
When a vampire uprising threatens the stability of the Las Vegas scene, Mag and Miranda are right in the middle of it, fighting against evil. More than just their necks are on the line when a group of vampires seek to kill them and overthrow the current Master vampire of the area. But they have powerful allies, and their renewed relationship has made both of them stronger than either would ever be alone. Will they prevail against all odds, and can they stay together forever? Or will the daylight - and their two very different worlds - tear them apart again?
String of Fate
Her Warriors
Love triangles are always more interesting when they come equipped with claws…and flippers?
Beau has anger issues, but not when he’s around Jacki. The fierce tiger shifter has been following her around like a puppy, but she hasn’t taken notice of him…until now.
No matter how long Geir has lived in the States, he’s still the odd man out. A tiger shifter native of Iceland, he is a Master of his craft, training other warriors the skills he has perfected. When he sees Jacki for the first time, he knows she is the one for him.
Jacki is the privileged daughter of a prominent shifter Clan. Most of her relatives are lion shifters, so she knows how to handle cats on the prowl, but she is a much rarer selkie—a seal shifter—imbued with magic and surrounded by mystery. When an opportunity arises to step into a key role in shifter society, she is uncertain, but willing to try. And when she’s told she doesn’t have to choose between the two tigers, but rather, can have them both, she is more than intrigued. But someone is stalking their path and they must work together to nullify the danger, all while trying to figure out a complicated relationship that has all three of them questioning fate.
Warning: This story contains graphic language and menage a trois between two tiger shifters and one very special selkie woman. Rawr.
Resonance Mates ~ Book 1
Hara’s Legacy
2008 EPPIE Award Winner for Best Erotic Sci Fi Futuristic Romance
It’s a serious game of cowboys and aliens when three psychically gifted brothers try to protect the one fragile, empathic woman who holds all their hearts against a menacing alien threat.
Montana rancher Caleb O’Hara’s precognitive abilities saved his family from an alien attack that annihilated almost everyone on Earth. Now the aliens have come to study the remnants of humanity. Caleb knows the only way to ensure the safety of his young wife, Janie, and his beloved brothers, Justin and Mick, is to keep the family together on their isolated ranch.
All three O’Hara brothers love Jane. They grew up next door to the young, empathic beauty and she stole all their hearts at one time or another, though she married Caleb. Caleb foresees the shocking truth of what they have to do in order to survive, and Caleb’s visions never lie.
They’ll have to come to terms with a new world, and an evolving relationship, all while finding a way to protect two newborn babies who are innocent pawns in the aliens’ deadly game. Somehow, this one talented family holds the key for humanity’s survival on this new, conquered world called Earth.
Warning: This book is not for the faint of heart. It is a menage love story with graphic, frequent sex scenes involving multiple, committed partners in a love relationship.
The Resonance Mates series is complete. The other four books are available in both ebook and print.
About the Author
Bianca D’Arc has run a laboratory, climbed the corporate ladder in the shark-infested streets of lower Manhattan, studied and taught martial arts, and earned the right to put a whole bunch of letters after her name, but she’s always enjoyed writing more than any of her other pursuits. She grew up and still lives on Long Island, where she keeps busy with an extensive garden, several aquariums full of very demanding fish, and writing her favorite genres of paranormal, fantasy and sci-fi romance.
Bianca loves to hear from readers and can be reached through Twitter (@BiancaDArc), Facebook (BiancaDArcAuthor) or through the various links on her website.
Welcome to The D’Arc Side…
WWW.BIANCADARC.COM
Other Titles by Bianca D’Arc
Paranormal Romance
Brotherh
ood of Blood
One & Only
Rare Vintage
Phantom Desires
Sweeter Than Wine
Forever Valentine
Wolf Hills*
Wolf Quest
Tales of the Were
Lords of the Were
Inferno
Tales of the Were ~ The Others
Rocky
Slade
Tales of the Were ~ Redstone Clan
Grif
Red
Magnus
Bobcat
Matt
String of Fate
Cat’s Cradle
