Friday, March 20, 2015

Promo & Giveaway: Taken by a Dragon by Felicity Heaton

Taken by a Dragon Blog Barrage - Felicity Heaton
Taken by a Dragon, the seventh book in New York Times best-seller Felicity Heaton’s hot paranormal romance series, Eternal Mates, is now available in ebook and paperback. To celebrate the release, she’s holding a FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY at her website and sharing sneak peeks of the book. 

Find out how to enter the Taken by a Dragon international giveaway (ends March 22nd) and be in with a shot of winning a $75, $50 or $25 gift certificate at her website, where you can also download a 5 chapter sample of the novel: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/taken-by-a-dragon-paranormal-romance-novel.php

Here’s more about Taken by a Dragon, including an excerpt from this paranormal romance novel.
Taken by a Dragon by Felicity Heaton
Possessed by a need to save a beautiful Amazon warrior from the vision he witnessed, Loke snatched her from the midst of the battle between the Third and Fifth realm of the demons, and carried her to his home deep in the black mountains of Hell to protect her. But as the fierce little female awakens, he finds she’s anything but grateful, and his dragon instincts roar to life to warn she might be more to him than an enemy—she might be his fated female.
Anais remembers meeting a handsome warrior in the heat of battle, a man who was her enemy but who looked at her with eyes that held dark heat and wicked promises. When she wakes to find that same dragon shifter has taken her captive, desire is the last thing on her mind, but escaping him to return to Archangel, the hunter organisation she works for, sounds less than appealing when he reveals the reason he took her—to stop her from dying.
Can Loke protect Anais from the dangers of his realm and how far will he go to save her from the future he keeps witnessing? Can Anais resist the fierce attraction that burns between them as hot as fire and stay true to Archangel or will her heart be taken by the dragon?

Taken by a Dragon is available from Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBooks stores and other retailers. Also available in paperback. Find the links to your preferred retailer at: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/taken-by-a-dragon-paranormal-romance-novel.php

Excerpt

“Eww, what is that. Tell me you don’t eat that.”
He turned to find Anais pointing at a lump of white fat he had carved off an old Hell beast, one of the kind with horns and talons. It had been a difficult battle. He could have easily won if he had resorted to using his dragon form, but his kind preferred to hunt in their mortal appearance. They relished the challenge and the chance to test their skills against a larger foe.
Loke shook his head. “I do not eat that. I use it for fuel.”
“For the fire?” She looked back towards the exit. “And the torches I guess?”
He nodded this time. “It helps. I eat this.”
He picked up a skinned side of Hell beast, around a quarter of the original carcass, with the front left limb and ribs intact, and she looked as if she might vomit.
She swiftly covered her mouth and turned away from him.
Would he ever understand her?
She claimed to be strong, but when faced with a butchered creature, she paled and looked ready to flee. He was beginning to wonder whether she had ever taken a life during her battles. Surely a female who couldn’t look at a piece of meat was incapable of taking a life?
“I think I might be vegetarian,” she muttered into her palm.
Loke wasn’t sure what that meant but he didn’t like the sound of it. “I will make a stew from the leg.”
“What does it taste like?” She peeked over her shoulder at it. “Does it taste like beef or maybe lamb? I’m not big on lamb.”
Beef. Lamb. He presumed these were creatures of the mortal world.
He shrugged. “I am afraid I cannot compare it with something from your realm as I have never been there.”
She frowned and shifted to face him, her fear of the carcass evidently forgotten. “You haven’t left Hell?”
He shook his head. “No dragons leave Hell… so you see I cannot offer you a comparison to ease your mind… but it tastes good.”
“I think I’ll have to be the judge of that. If it does, I’ll tell the world… there’s a bachelor in Hell who can cook.” She paused and ran another glance over him, rekindling the fire in his veins. “You are a bachelor? I figured you were since this cave doesn’t look like the sort of place where a lady dragon would live. It lacks a female’s touch.”
Loke bit back a groan.
His cave wasn’t the only thing that lacked a female’s touch. He had been lacking that for a long time.
His gaze fell to her hands and he was wondering what her touch would feel like before he could stop himself. He tried to shake away the image of her running her palms over his bare chest, making him burn with a soft caress, but it was impossible. He had invited the images into his mind, had opened himself to them, and they flooded him, refusing to go away.
He was vaguely aware that he was standing in the larder, staring at her like a complete dolt and asking for another kick to the groin.
Anais snapped her fingers in front of his face and he jerked backwards, blinking at her.
“I don’t want to know what you were thinking, but your eyes were being weird.” She shuffled away from him, to such a distance that it was clear she had lied and knew what he had been thinking about and knew the reason his eyes had brightened, verging on glowing.
He was hungry, but not for food.
He wanted a taste of something far more dangerous and alluring.
The fascinating little Amazon diligently keeping her eyes off him.
As if that would stop him from desiring her.
Perhaps that desire was part of the reason he had taken her from the battlefield. He had been drawn to her then, powerless to resist her beauty as she had stood over him. She had enslaved him with nothing more than a look into his eyes, a moment where something had passed between them. A silent understanding.
A mutual attraction.
“I am a bachelor,” he said, his voice low at first but gaining strength as he locked his gaze on her and allowed it to drift down her back, taking in her curves and how her black top and trousers hugged them. “I have no female… and it has been that way for a very long time.”
She whirled to face him, a touch of rose on her cheeks. Her mouth flapped but no words came out. When he risked a step towards her, she bolted, slipping past him and rushing down the corridor. She grunted and he switched his senses to her, concerned that she had hurt herself by running into the darkness.
She had stopped a short distance into the tunnel.
He sighed when her voice rang along it.
“Bloody buggery son of a bitch.” Those words held venom that had disappeared when she next spoke, her voice far softer and weaker. “It’s a bit dark. Are you coming?”
Loke smiled and finished gathering what he needed for their meal.
He hacked the leg off the carcass with his knife and set it into the pot, and wiped the blood off the blade with a cloth that he tossed into the pot too. He grabbed the torch from the wall and strolled along the corridor, making Anais wait. The firelight danced ahead of him, reaching her first, slowly running up her legs to her torso and then illuminating her face.
She stared at her knees and muttered to herself as she dusted them down.
“Are you hurt?” He looked at her knees and then her hands, not seeing any scratches or smelling any blood on her.
She shook her head. “For the record, I’ve decided to add another rule. You have to swear not to look at me like that again.”
“Like what?” He stepped closer to her, staring down into her eyes, holding her gaze and challenging her to look away.
She truly was beautiful. The Amazons would have been proud to have her as one of their race.
“Like that.” She managed to hold his gaze but he could see she was teetering on the brink of losing her nerve and looking away.
“Like what?” he husked again, inching closer to her. “Tell me how I look at you.”
She did look away now. “Like you’re a beast and I’m your damned prey… like a barbarian who took someone captive and thinks they can do whatever they please with them.”
He dropped the pot and had her wrist in his hand before she could run away from him. She fought him as he pulled her around to face him, and he held the torch higher, afraid of hurting her with the fire. He released her wrist and had his arm around her waist a split-second later, pinning her against his front. She rained blows down on his bare chest and he let her vent her frustration, because he had more important matters to focus on than mere physical pain.
“Look at me, Little Amazon.” He waited for her to do as he had asked and when she didn’t, he dropped the torch behind him and captured her cheek. She instantly stilled and he cursed when she began to tremble, her fear an acrid note in her soft scent. He slowly skimmed his fingers down to her jaw and tilted her head up. She closed her eyes and he huffed. “Look at me, Anais.”
Using her name seemed to be the key to making her listen because she opened her eyes. Their rich sapphire depths drew him in, leaving him aware of only her.
“I am no beast or barbarian,” he murmured and wished she could believe him. “I have no intention of using you in that manner. I have sworn not to hurt you… have I not?”
She nodded.
“Then why persist with this nonsense?”
She tried to look away but he held her firm. “Because… just because. I don’t have to give you a reason.”
Because she feared the reason she had to give.
She didn’t want to voice it and tell him that he wasn’t the only one who felt desire, who was drawn to her and powerless against the ferocity of his need of such a delicate little female. She wanted him too, and for her it was infinitely more difficult to comprehend and cope with. She viewed herself as a captive and he her abductor. That alone was reason enough for her to fight her feelings.
But she had other reasons too, just as he did.
A mortal was no match for an immortal.
He brushed his fingers across her soft cheek and reluctantly released her, stepping back to give her room to gather herself. He picked up the torch and grabbed the handle of the cauldron.
“Come. I need water.” He waited for her to finish smoothing her clothes before moving.
She followed him, a silent shadow in the low light.
He searched for something to say to dispel the tension between them but nothing came to him. It had been a long time since he’d had female company, had desired one as he desired her, and he wasn’t sure how to go about things. He didn’t know how to charm females of her world, and wasn’t sure he should be charming her at all. He was trying to keep his distance, but the moment he let his guard down, he found himself close to her, seeking a way of touching her or winning a smile from her.
He banked left when they reached the end of the tunnel and led her along another one. The path sloped downwards and the air grew moist as he approached the area deep in the heart of the mountain where he had created a bathing pool and one for his store of water.
Anais busied herself with touring the large cave, her fingers drifting over the stalagmites that rose from the ground, forming jagged black spikes.
“Why live in the front of the cave when you have all these rooms?” She glanced across at him.
He dipped the small wooden pail he had made into the well near the entrance and pulled it out, setting it down on the rocky side. “The fire.”
She frowned. “What about it?”
He lifted the torch and wafted it around, making it smoke. That smoke rose up to the top of the cavern and stayed there.
Her eyes lit up with understanding. “I get it. Smoke accumulates back here.”
“It is safer at the mouth of the cave too. I can sense intruders and it is a bigger space. I can shift if I need to.” He held the pail out to her and she crossed the room to him and took it.
Perhaps she was finally settling in and becoming more comfortable with him. He wasn’t going to hold his breath though. Whenever he thought she was becoming accustomed to being around him, she revolted and turned on him again.
“What’s it like to shift?” she said to the pail.
Loke shrugged. “It is difficult to explain. It does not hurt, and it is over so quickly for me that I barely notice it. It is as natural to me as breathing or walking.”
She frowned at the water, her nose wrinkling with it. “I’ve met wolf and cat shifters. It always looks like it hurts when they shift.”
“I suspect that is because you are hunting those creatures.” He looked across at her and tried to imagine her fighting people from those species. Perhaps she was strong enough to battle cats and wolves, maybe even vampires with the right weaponry, but she was too weak to fight dragons or bears, and he definitely couldn’t imagine her surviving a fight against an elf or a demon. “They are forced to shift quickly. I have heard that it causes them great pain… but then I suppose the death you wish to deal will hurt them worse… giving them to others to butcher in the name of science.”
She raised her eyes to his, narrowing them at the same time. He had offended her again, but this time he didn’t care. Fighting with honour in a battle was one thing. Both parties knew what to expect—death if they failed. Hunting prey for handing them over to others to study was another. The losing side was expecting death, not an agonising torture at the hands of scientists.
He curled his lip again.
She huffed. “I don’t do that… so get it out of your damned head. Archangel doesn’t slice and dice. It studies, but using modern technology. Scans… machines… bloodwork. That sort of thing.”
It didn’t make him change his opinion of this Archangel she was always quick to defend.
“You do not deny that you hand over some of your prey to them though.” He began walking again, heading back towards the fire.
She didn’t respond.
He wasn’t surprised.
She worked for people who made a business of hunting and studying creatures, and he suspected that what she had been told about those studies differed greatly from what really happened.
He led her back to the cave mouth and she placed the pail on the ground near the fire and sat on the furs without him asking her to make herself comfortable.
Loke wasn’t going to read into that either.
He kneeled on the black ground by the fire in the middle of the cave and focused on making their meal. She was silent the whole time, studying him. He stopped several times, on the verge of asking her what she was thinking, before continuing with his work.
She spoke once, during her meal when she mentioned that the meat tasted like beef. He still wasn’t sure what kind of animal beef was. He had taken the empty bowl from her and served himself some stew, and by the time he had gathered the courage to ask and risk her mocking him, she had fallen asleep.
Loke set the bowl down, rose to his feet and crossed the short stretch of ground between them. He kneeled beside her and canted his head as he studied her. She lay on her left side, her back to the wall of the cave, the firelight playing over her soft features and making her fair hair shimmer like gold.
What was it about this little female that drew him to her? She had spoken about strength of heart to him, her belief shining in her words for him to hear. Was emotional strength really a match for physical strength? Did it really make a mortal capable of mating with a strong immortal?
He didn’t believe that.
He brushed a rogue strand of golden hair from her face and settled the tips of his middle and index fingers against her temple. His eyes slipped shut and he breathed deeply and evenly as he focused on her.
Dragons had limited magic born of their connection to the earth and nature. Every generation born in Hell had weaker powers than the last. He was born of the generation before the final one to bear magic.
His magic was weak and he could only use it sparingly. It would drain him and leave him vulnerable for the next few hours, but he had no choice. He couldn’t risk her waking and attempting to escape.
He funnelled a little magic into her, enough to bind her sleep to his.
If she woke, he would too.
When he woke, she would.
It was safer this way.
He hadn’t lied to her. Beyond the cave were other dragons, ones who would live up to her fears.
Barbarians.
They wouldn’t treat her with respect as he did. They wouldn’t seek to take care of her. They wouldn’t want to protect her for no other reason than her safety meant something to them. They would only protect her because she would be theirs and dragons defended what they owned.
She would be nothing but a possession to them.
Loke stroked his fingers down her cheek.
What was she to him?
He wasn’t sure, but the longer he was around her, the more he was coming to fear he knew the reason why the thought of a prince of elves and a demon king finding their mate in a mortal female concerned him.
He had a feeling that their meeting on the battlefield had been more than chance.
It had been fate.

Find all the links, a fantastic 6 chapter downloadable sample of the book, and also how to enter the giveaway and be in with a shot of winning a $75, $50 or $25 gift certificate at her website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/taken-by-a-dragon-paranormal-romance-novel.php

Books in the Eternal Mates paranormal romance series:

Author Bio

Felicity Heaton
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you're a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.

If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling Vampire Erotic Theatre series. Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the new Eternal Mates series.

If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Tsu | Pinterest | GoodReads | Amazon

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2 comments:

  1. congrats to Felicity on her series! Thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Series gets more and more interesting

    ReplyDelete

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