by Hotter Edge
A painful whoosh came from my lungs. My vision rocked—brain swished inside my skull.
“You bit me.” He sounded shocked.
My head hurt so bad I had to blink hard to keep my eyes in their sockets. “You licked me,” I shouted back.
He assessed me, aqua blue eyes hooded with thick, long eyelashes, for what seemed like an eternity. “I will ask you one more time. Who are you?”
“I’ve told you everything.” My voice sounded desperate, tired, even to me. “I went running and fell into the dark … I’m a doctor at a hospital. If you don’t believe me, just call them. I’ve worked there for years.”
He stood still, his body hard against mine, creating an insurmountable barrier. His face so close I could see his pupils enlarge, almost hiding the hard blue of his irises. The rage in him lived and breathed. One hand ran along my scalp in a mock caress, grabbed hold of my hair and pulled.
“Liar,” his voice barely a whisper, the knife was back … shaking at my very exposed, very vulnerable artery. “There hasn’t been a hospital anywhere on Earth since the year 2075.” And in one efficient movement, he drew the knife across my throat.
Read all of DARK FUTURE now. Order from any of the retailers on the next page!
"Dark, gritty, and utterly entrancing, this book absolutely blew my socks off." – Jess "The Romanceaholic"
"…I didn't want to put it down. It had me on the edge of my seat and never shied away from the really hard stuff." – Jen "Red Hot Books"
"[DARK FUTURE] knocked my socks off! Do yourself a huge favor and GET THIS BOOK!! You won't be sorry you did." – Kissablysweetone
Want to read more? Buy Dark Future at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Future-ebook/dp/B005JSMM8Q).
About KC Klein
KC Klein has lived most of her life with her head in the clouds and her nose buried in a book. She did stop reading long enough to make a home with a real life hero, her husband, for over seventeen years. A mother of two children, she spends her time slaying dragons, saving princesses, and championing the belief in the happily-ever-after. Her debut novel, Dark Future, was a 2010 Prism finalist and has been honored with a reviewer’s choice award. She’s the author of the sexy cowboy Texas Fever series, which starts off with, Texas Wide Open, available now, and Hustlin’ Texas, due out early 2014. KC loves to hear from readers and can be found desperately pounding away on her laptop in yoga pants and leopard slippers or more conveniently at www.KCKleinBooks.com.
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Read more from Jessa Slade
DARK HUNTER’S TOUCH
Book 1 of the Steel Born
Yearning to be free, Imogene has fled the idleness and cruelty of the phae court to hide in the sunlit realm of humans. When the Dark Hunters find her—and they will—she will face the Queen's wrath. But she is tired of running, and after a chance encounter with a seductively handsome stranger named Vaile, Imogene embraces the earthly passions within her, if only for one night. But has she fallen for a man—or an illusion?
Chapter 1
She wanted to feel it all. Her body burned. Sweat slicked down her skin, a sensuous tickle, and her chest heaved with each pounding stroke. When she gasped, the taste of salt prickled on her tongue.
Imogene needed her sunlit runs. With her body, mind, and senses so immersed in the moment, she might camouflage her presence from the Wild Hunt. The inexorable path of the sun, immune to any magics, helped keep her on her path, pretending to be a true inhabitant of this earthly realm—but for how long?
She wanted to run forever. That’s how long the Queen’s phaedrealii Hunters would search for her: forever. Creatures who stood with only one foot in the world’s time had that advantage. Though the phae could be blithe and capricious, once Hunters were loosed upon the object of their hunger, they would never falter. The black dogs and their dark masters were so dangerous that the Queen herself chained them when they prowled her inner court.
The sun fell into the streaked clouds over the Pacific Ocean like a fading ember. Its glow burned a red hole through the veil of the blue-gray sky, and the reflection in the water rippled with secrets. A chilly breeze breathed out from the pine forest rising from the rocky headlands beyond the dunes. Imogene slowed to a jog and flapped her oversized T-shirt to let the breeze tickle her belly.
A creep of awareness between her shoulder blades made her glance back.
Down the beach, a dark silhouette closed the distance, tall and menacing. Her heartbeat ramped up again and all her muscles tensed. For a confused moment, a swirl like black wings spread above the figure, and even the ceaseless churn of the ocean seemed to hush.
Then the sun flared out behind the clouds one last time, and Imogene recognized him: just a fellow jogger she had passed many times over the month since she had moved to the Oregon coast. He waved at her again—not wings, just a regular old human arm—and she chided herself for seeing monsters in every shadow.
Still wary, she let him catch up. All the other times, they had waved but never spoken.
“Hey, I think you dropped this.” Still a dozen strides away, he tossed something toward her.
Reflexively, she caught the chain that spiraled through the air. The metal tingled in her hand: steel. From a bezel at the bottom dangled an odd, blue stone, partly clouded but transparent in places with occlusions that caught and scattered the low slanting light. The pendant gleamed like a sky changing from the clear blue of day to the darker blue of evening, a sight she had longed for when she’d been trapped in the halls of the phaedrealii.
With regret, she shook her head. “Beautiful, but it’s not mine.” She held the necklace out to him, looking up.
And her breath, which she had finally caught, escaped her again.
They had always passed each other at a distance—part of her promise to herself to stay far away from humans on this trip through the sunlit realm. She had noticed only that he was dark haired; had a smooth, gliding stride that ate up the beach miles; and didn’t usually bother with shirts despite the chill.
Shirts were overrated anyway—especially if they committed the crime of covering such a perfectly sculpted chest. The hard planes of his pectorals blurred beneath just enough dark curls to declare the undeniable presence of testosterone, and the narrowing arrow of hair over his abdomen commanded her attention down toward testosterone central.
She jerked her gaze up before she could wonder if the ripstop nylon fly of his shorts was rippling from the breeze…or from something else.
Judging by the sly smile playing around his lips, she knew he hadn’t missed her once-over, but the confident tilt of his head said he thought he could take it. No doubt he got plenty of once-overs, not to mention twice- and third-overs. Even the haughty courtiers of the phaedrealii who objected most vociferously to the idea that there might be any shared blood between humans and phae would be willing to claim this one as kissing cousin.
The wicked edge of male beauty had carved jaw and cheekbones in bold relief from his deep-set dark eyes. Salt spray and sweat had frozen his dark hair in untamed tousles. Only the fullness of his lower lip seemed out of place, as if some all-powerful fairy godmother had decided this chiseled work of unassailable masculinity needed a touch of bruised tenderness and had taken a soft bite of his mouth before breathing him into life.
Imogene caressed the smooth, blue stone, still holding his body heat from his pocket, and imagined running her finger over that lip. Desire pooled low in her belly, warm and glowing as the stone. She curled her hand into a fist
and crimped the chain in her grip. The slide of metal links through her fingers, each coiling into the next, echoed through her body. Her skin tingled again, not from the touch of steel, but as she pictured his big hands on her.
His jet eyes glittered. “Are you sure it isn’t yours? You seem like you want it.”
She wanted something anyway.
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Praise for the novels of the Marked Souls:
“Slade’s plot packs plenty of action…in a group of forceful personalities.”
– Publishers Weekly
“[A] fish-out-of-water story that keeps a rapid pace, delivering a strong plot, enjoyable characters and a stunning world.”
–RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars
About Jessa Slade
Jessa Slade writes science fiction romance to make up for the fact that, despite repeated promises from 1950s atomic fiction, we still aren’t zooming around via personal jet packs. With her unwavering belief in the power of happily-ever-afters, she will get suckered into seeing the next Star Wars movie, no matter what. You can often find her goofing off online.
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Marked Souls Series
Steel Born Series
Read the first chapters of all the Marked Souls and Steel Born novels at JessaSlade.com
Jessa Slade’s books are available at:
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Acknowledgements
From Erin:
Any of the famous space captains will tell you that when blasting off on a new adventure, it’s the greathearted crew that determines success. Thanks to my husband Matt, man-of-all-work and occasional red-shirted fall-guy (staying up brutally late going over my stuff). And to my co-captains Jessa Slade (Mal) and KC Klein (Kirk), and genius beta engineers, banging away at the engines, Laurie London and Sharon Stogner. Their help allows me to sit back and drink a cup of tea. Earl Grey, hot.
From KC:
This project was very dear to my heart. I knew exactly how I wanted to continue Lake and Hudson’s story, and I knew I wanted to explore the blurry line between love and hate all long-time married couples relate to at one time or another. Being married for over seventeen years, I’m talking from experience. (I love you, honey.) I so desperately need to thank my co-authors in crime, Jessa Slade and Erin Kellison. I started Hotter on the Edge 2 with all the time in the world and ended it way past deadline. I dropped the ball on so many occasions, there’s no doubt there’d be no Hotter 2 if it wasn’t for both Erin and Jessa’s tireless commitment to this project. Lastly, I want to thank my dear readers. Your support and enthusiasm for my stories makes all those long nights and weekends payoff. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!
From Jessa:
Releasing a new book into the wild is always nervewracking, so it’s fantastic to have adventuring partners like Erin Kellison and KC Klein. Thanks, hot ladies, for heading once more into the darkness. My thanks also to my vicious critique partner Delilah Marvelle, who doesn’t let me get away with anything, and to my beta readers, Valerie and Blaine, who will read pretty much anything. I appreciate you all more than I can write, and I can write a lot. Extra special thanks with kisses to Rainstick Cowbell for the music (download the free Hotter 2 theme song here), dinners, and endless support. Love you. And to my readers: My stories are messages sent out in bottles. Thank you for finding them and reading them.
