by Marie Harte
Thank You
Thank you for reading about the Talsons! Romy more than deserved his happily ever after with Tara. Finally, all those hunky Talsons are paired up.
If you haven’t read the other Talsons, go back and start with Roarke’s story in Talson’s Wait. And if you’re in the mood for more scifi romance, take a peek at my Creations series. An excerpt for The Perfect Creation follows.
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Also by Marie
Circe’s Recruits
Roane
Zack & Ace
Derrick
Hale
Creations
The Perfect Creation
Creation’s Control
Creating Chemistry
Caging the Beast
The Instinct
A Civilized Mating
A Barbarian Bonding
A Warrior’s Claiming
Ethereal Foes
Dragons’ Demon: A Dragon’s Dream
Duncan’s Descent: A Demon’s Desire
Havoc & Hell: A Dragon’s Prize
Dragon King: Not So Ordinary
Wicked Warrens
Enjoying the Show
Closing the Deal
Raising the Bar
Making the Grade
Bending the Rules
And more!
The Perfect Creation Excerpt
Creations #1
“There you are. I’ve been waiting.” The man who stood from behind an oversized, ornate desk was nothing like what she’d been expecting. Yes, he had measuring, unforgiving eyes and a full-lipped smirk. He wore danger like a second skin, the menace inherent in his character there to see. Yet the sheer beauty in this Mardu male took her by surprise.
Cheltam had shoulder-length dark-brown hair pulled back in a neat tail. His face was narrow, masculine planes and lines that hinted at a rough life. His nose was strong, his chin square and hinting at stubbornness. The stark cheekbones and exotically slanted eyes made her think of a jungle cat’s—golden and mesmerizing if one stared too long
“Cheltam.” She waited, wanting to hear him acknowledge his name.
“In the flesh.” His gaze wandered over her. “All covered up I see. Smart.” He nodded. “You’re worth a pretty bek to the folks at Blue Rim. Not sure if it’s really because you’re stirring up trouble with science or not. Obviously interference in the scientific process is a criminal offense. But you must have seriously interfered with something big to be worth a hundred grand.” He gave her a less than flattering onceover.
“Wheller had said you were a man who could help.” She wanted to smack the arrogance off his handsome face. Instead she trembled and shrunk smaller. “Why won’t you help me?” Calling on the helplessness she’d felt all too often during her short life, she willed tears to her eyes. By the blessed suns, she managed to squeeze one over her left lid.
Dreyk homed in on the tear trailing down her cheek and frowned in what looked like concern. Cheltam, however, didn’t budge.
“Nice try, but—”
Dreyk coughed at the same moment and offered her a cloth to wipe her eyes. Cheltam, damn it, was too far away to take down with Dreyk. But she feared if she waited much longer, they’d bring in reinforcements. When Dreyk shoved the cloth at her again, she slowly reached out a hand.
In seconds, she’d taken the cloth, and Dreyk, to his knees. A wrist lock kept him down while she pinched the nerves on his neck, at a spot at the base of his skull, to knock him out. As he tumbled to the floor, she crouched before shooting into the air, meeting the blow Cheltam aimed her way. She saw his eyes widen as his fist met her open hand.
Good, she’d surprised him. But that wasn’t all she meant to do. Whipping her glasses off, she shocked him anew with her eyes and used that short moment of inattention to cuff his chin. The blow knocked him back enough that she could use what she knew of the Mardu to her advantage. Clamping one hand on his wrist and another to his thigh, she tugged on the inner bands of his feralis nerves and took him to blessed unconsciousness.
The damage she’d done to both men would keep them out of it for at least half an hour if not more, enough time for her to scout the place, find some restraints, and then convince Cheltam that he’d be helping her.
One way or the other.
The Perfect Creation
A Civilized Mating Excerpt
The Instinct #1
Talzec growled, his gaze still on Skye. “Why are there two offworlders in my camp right now?”
Lisa stepped back behind Maht.
Xav moved to position himself firmly between Skye and Talzec, which had Talzec looking even grimmer.
Suddenly, Skye’s sense of self-preservation vanished as anger at the unfairness and weirdness of the situation took hold. She darted around Xav before he could stop her and walked right up to Talzec, stopping only a foot away.
Jesus, she could feel that intense heat bleeding from his body into hers as his energy sought her secrets. She tried to hold him out while looking for cracks in his psychic shield. She needed to know how he’d react to danger if she had any chance of surviving.
She poked him in the belly and felt absolutely no give in his muscle. Suppressing a totally inappropriate shiver of need, she stood firm. “Look, buddy. It’s been a shitty week, and you’re not helping.” She ignored the gasps of those around her and continued. “Your barbarian stole my friend, sexed her up, impregnated her, and now claims her as his mate. You can’t just steal people. She’s an offworlder. She has rights.”
Talzec didn’t blink as he watched her, and those fascinating golden orbs of his kept flashing to blue and back again. Darts of red swirled, then vanished, while his tattoos moved faster. Totally not human, Skye. Remember that.
“And what of you, little human?” he asked in a beastly growl.
“I’m here to help her. She’s my best friend.” She put her hands on her hips, trying to look bigger and failing miserably under his larger-than-life presence.
“She defeated two Nasuhl warriors. And Maht,” Xav said, startling her to hear him so close behind her. She hadn’t felt him at all, so focused on Talzec.
Talzec frowned, which made him look even sexier—meaner. “An offworld female defeated a Vyctore warrior?” He scoffed, his disdain evident.
She saw red. Without thinking, she tapped into his energy and forced him to step closer with a telekinetic tug. Then she hooked a foot around his ankle and yanked.
A normal man would have fallen on his ass. Talzec stumbled and immediately caught his balance.
“I told you,” Xav said and laughed at the giant tower of rage now looming over her.
Talzec leaned down and opened his mouth to say something. Then he sniffed and froze. His head whipped to Xav, who nodded. Straightening to his full height, he ordered Xav to take her to his quarters.
“To my hut?” Xav sounded surprised. “Not the guest quarters?”
“Do what I told you to.” The quiet threat in Talzec’s tone said more than a shout could have.
Whispers around them turned into loud discussions of shock and awe that an offworlder had dared confront their leader. “Maht, you and Lisa come with me.” He turned on his heel and walked away.
Xav hustled her with him, so that she almost had to run to keep up. They entered a hut on the far side of encampment, right next to a larger structure that held a banner over it signifying the leader’s home. That much she knew from her studies of the barbarians.
Great. She’d now be sequestered right next to a giant with a chip on his shoulder about offworlders.
Inside the hut, she saw open windows facing the forest. A large pallet on the ground made up of furs and skins took up most of the room,
with a wooden cabinet to one side and a table and chairs on the other. Large by her standards, but small when occupied by a barbarian. The place was simple but clean, and it smelled sweet, probably from the yellow blossoms dangling on the vines right outside the windows.
She’d barely stepped inside when Xav grabbed her and dragged her down under him on the pallet, which was surprisingly comfortable.
“Hey, stop.” She tried to slap at his hands, but the man moved faster than she could follow. She had a hard time mimicking his movements because there was little pattern to them. This, at least for him, seemed new.
To her shock, he’d bared her breasts. Now naked from the waist up, she couldn’t think about much more than keeping the rest of her clothes on. “Xaveht!”
He shifted off her, and she was naked.
“Wh-what are you doing?” ended in a high-pitched squeak when he removed his loincloth and boots to reveal perfection.
“I cannot wait, tonan. I need you now.”
He covered her in seconds and nudged her thighs wider.
Thought left her as emotion took over. The sensation of oneness with him filled her from head to toe. Xaveht and she belonged together. And another waited in the background, a hovering energy that pressed at her to accept everything and submit.
All-consuming need struck her mute, until she looked deeply into Xaveht’s blazing eyes.
“Yes,” she hissed, feeling him to her bones. She needed more, though, and Xav, bless him, didn’t disappoint.
A Civilized Mating
About the Author
Caffeine addict, boy referee, and romance aficionado, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Marie Harte has over 100 books published with more constantly on the way. She’s a confessed bibliophile and devotee of action movies. Whether hiking in Central Oregon, biking around town, or hanging at the local tea shop, she’s constantly plotting to give everyone a happily ever after. Visit http://marieharte.com
