Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
The VBC team has been known to devour Elisabeth Naughton’s Eternal Guardians books. They’re super steamy and bring that alpha warrior goodness we love in our paranormal romance. Her latest in the series is Hunted (get it at Amazon), a novella as part of the 1,001 Dark Nights series, and it released last week. So if you like ’em short and steamy, this one’s for you.
Today we have an exclusive excerpt from Hunted to whet your appetite.
“I want to know where you’re taking me,” she said as he pulled her around switchbacks in the tunnel, her breath heavy at his side, her skin so hot against his he was starting to sweat.
He didn’t owe her an explanation. She was lucky he hadn’t decided to kill her after the way she’d lashed out. Or taken her to Zeus already. The second he’d recognized her he’d decided not to do either, though. Not because she didn’t deserve one or both but because he had his own plans for her. Plans that didn’t include the King of the fucking Gods, at least not yet.
Eventually he knew Zeus would want her back for punishment, which could include anything from having her reassigned as a servant or handmaiden or even a sex slave. And though Erebus wasn’t wild about any of those options—especially the last, unless she was his sex slave—he knew he had time. Time to have his own fun before his life-long obligations to Olympus drew him back.
Hell, he deserved some fun after the years he’d spent in servitude, didn’t he? As far as he was concerned, he deserved more than a little fun simply because he had to deal with Zeus’s incompetent Siren trainees on a daily f*cking basis.
“I’m taking you to the half-breed ruins,” he said, tugging her around another corner in the dark, deciding he didn’t want her completely defiant. Oh, he enjoyed an adrenaline-amping fight now and then, but it was so much more enjoyable when he could coax a female’s reluctance into cries of sensual pleasure. With Sera’s nymphomaniac tendencies, he knew it wouldn’t take much persuading.
“No one’s there,” she argued. “The half-breed ruins have been empty for twenty-some years.”
Exactly. No one was there. No one could hear her screams from inside its walls. No one would even know a minor god had gone off the grid there with a cheeky little nymph who made him so hard he hurt.
She tugged against this grip. “Erebus, please. This is a bad id—”
It was the please that brought him around. Or maybe it was the way she said his name. He wasn’t sure which, but something in her voice made him whip back and push her up against the cold rock wall.
ABOUT HUNTED:
Erebus – Dark in every sense of the word, a skilled and lethal warrior, and sinfully sexy by design.
Since the dawn of modern man, Erebus was Hades’ secret weapon in the war between the immortal realms. Until Hades lost the minor god in a bet to his older brother Zeus. For the last hundred years, Erebus has trained Zeus’s Siren warriors in warfare and the sexual arts. But he’s never stopped longing for freedom. For a life filled with choice. And lately, he also longs for one Siren who entranced him during their steamy seduction sessions. A nymph he quickly became obsessed with and who was ripped from his grasp when her seduction training was complete. One he’s just learned Zeus has marked for death because she failed the last Siren test.
Before Erebus can intercede on the nymph’s behalf, she escapes Olympus and flees into the human realm. In a fit of rage, Zeus commands Erebus to hunt her down and kill her. Erebus sees his opportunity to finally go after what he wants, but he’s torn. Freedom means nothing if the Siren at the center of his fantasies doesn’t truly crave him back. Because defying the gods will unleash the fury of Olympus, and if he chooses her over his duty, whether she joins him in exile or not, the hunter will become the hunted.
Elisabeth Naughton’s HUNTED – Review & Excerpt Tour Schedule:
June 28th
I Smell Sheep – Review & Excerpt
My Nook, Books & More – Excerpt
Only One More Page – Review & Excerpt
June 29th
Oh My Growing TBR – Review & Excerpt
Read-Love-Blog – Excerpt
Reads All the Books – Review & Excerpt
June 30th
Fictional Rendezvous Book Blog – Excerpt
Rainy Thursdays – Review & Excerpt
Reads & Reviews – Review
Vagabonda Reads – Review & Excerpt
July 1st
A Fortress of Books – Review & Excerpt
Susan’s Books I Like – Excerpt
The Romance Reviews – Review
July 2nd
A Naughty Girl’s Novel World – Review & Excerpt
Nerdy Dirty & Flirty – Excerpt
The Reading Cafe – Review & Excerpt
July 3rd
Brittany’s Book Blog – Excerpt
Celtic Dragon Book Reviews – Review & Excerpt
Obsessive Reading Disorder – Excerpt
July 4th
Ruby’s Books – Review & Excerpt
Shannonbookishlife – Excerpt
Sofia Loves Books – Review & Excerpt
July 5th
Books Need TLC – Review & Excerpt
Evermore Books – Review & Excerpt
Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents – Excerpt
Ramblings From This Chick – Excerpt
July 6th
A small girl, her man and her books – Review & Excerpt
Jax’s Book Magic – Excerpt
Reading Between the Wines Book Club – Excerpt
July 7th
Angels With Attitude Book Reviews – Review
G & T’s Indie Café – Excerpt
Vampire Book Club – Excerpt
WTF Are You Reading! – Review & Excerpt
ABOUT ELISABETH NAUGHTON:
Elisabeth Naughton is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. From Elisabeth: “I was never one of those people who knew they wanted to be an author at the age of six. I didn’t have imaginary friends. I didn’t write stories in my journal or entertain my relatives by firelight after Thanksgiving dinner. For the most part, I was just a normal, everyday kid. I liked to read, but I wasn’t exceptional at it. And when my teachers complimented me on my writing abilities, I brushed them off. I did, however, always have a penchant for the unique and absurd. And as my mother told me all throughout my childhood, I should have been an actress—I was a drama queen before my time.
“Years ago, my husband bought me Scarlett: The Sequel to Gone With The Wind. If you ever saw the book, you know it’s a long one. I sat and read that thing from cover to cover, and dreamed of one day being a writer. But I didn’t actually try my hand at writing until years later when I quit my teaching job to stay home with my kids. And my husband? After that week of reading where I neglected him and everything else until I finished Scarlett, he vowed never to buy me another book again. Little did he know I’d one day end up sitting at a keyboard all day drafting my own stories.
“My writing journey has not been easy. I didn’t just sit down one day, decide I was going to write a book and voila! sell my very first attempt. As most authors will probably agree, the path to publication is filled with hours of work, pulling all-nighters I thought I’d given up in college, sacrifices, rejections, but a love I discovered along the way I just can’t live without. Instead of a big, thick book to read by lamplight (I do read much smaller ones when I get the chance), I’ve traded in my reading obsession for a laptop. And I’ve never been happier.
“I’m one of the lucky ones. I have a wonderful family and fabulous husband who put up with my writing—and obsessive personality—even when life is chaotic. More than once my kids have been late to swimming or baseball because I needed just five more minutes to finish a scene. Their support and encouragement mean the world to me. I also have amazing friends and a support network I couldn’t survive without. So to all of you out there who have encouraged me along the way, sent me emails and fan letters, phone calls and congratulations, I just want to say, thank you. You make this whole writing gig that much more enjoyable. I truly wouldn’t be here without you.”
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Author Goodreads | Novella Goodreads
Thank you so much! ~Jessica, InkSlinger PR