DAMNED AND DEFIANT, Ellora's Cave, Released Date: 8/15/12
Erotic Paranormal Romance
This story has an Urban Fantasy/SciFi feel and has some mild BDSM elements.
Yes, authors do lust over their covers. A cover is the face to their baby that they've worked so hard on. And now it's real because all those words and pages now have a visual image.
Dante is the hunky bod on this cover. The woman? Hmmm. Could it be Haley, the mortal woman who is Dante's forbidden love interest? Or the evil demoness Gwyllain, the ruler of the alternative universe? She has plans for Dante. There is a third possibilty, another demon who has her eye on him. So many women are drawn to Dante for good and very bad intentions. Can he resist their temptations and chose the right one? The background/setting is Sedona, AZ. The story also takes place on Anartia, an alternative world caught between dimensions.
Blurb:
Mortal
women surrender to Dante’s seductions. He is a Drone, an immortal who feeds off
their lifeforce energy—the chi that keeps his kind alive. When his dimension is
on the edge of destruction, Dante must seek the help of one special woman.
Haley
Moore is a Sha Warrior—a mortal with excess lifeforce energy. She has always
had a strong attraction to Dante and when they meet again he thinks luck is on
his side because his quota of chi energy would be obtained after one scorching
scene with this mortal. But the problem is that he is overwhelmingly attracted
to her and once with this woman won’t be enough.
Haley
tries to draw out the man buried deep within the demon. Their fierce,
undeniable passion unravels his plans and threatens her life. Can Dante bear to
abandon her when he leaves Earth forever? Dante will have to choose whether to
return to his world or to give up his immortality and share his future with
Haley.
The bad guys(women) are fun to write. Here's an excerpt with Gwyllain:
Gwyllain
stood by her large glass wall, staring out onto her private garden. She looked
almost human until she turned and Dante noticed the yellow light glowing in her
eyes—all demon. Still, she was beautiful. The light shining in through the
window made her garnet gown transparent. Every outline of her breasts and hips
showed beneath the thin fabric. Long, black hair skimmed over her shoulders and
down the middle of her back. “As much as I want to see this prison world
destroyed, I am the ruler. And as ruler, I decide when Anartia will be
destroyed not some Drone.” She clutched at her gown and ripped it off her body,
tearing fabric.
She
dropped the ruined garment on the floor, and looked at him with a pained
expression, not lustful or seductive as he would expect when she stood before
him naked. His groin tightened and it wasn’t in anticipation of giving his
offering. Had she gone mad too, like the Drone?
“Demoness,
how may I serve you?” Please let this be over soon.
“Walk
with me.” She sounded manic as she touched the glass, and the panel slid open.
Still naked, she stepped into her lush garden. The scent of sea and heather
blew across her flower garden, tossing her long hair wildly. A variety of
flowers bloomed everywhere. Some were from her planet Prygos and others had
been transplanted from Earth. As she walked, she swept a hand over potted
plants placed on tables or pedestals. They crashed to the ground, destroying
the plants. Dante didn’t protest. The demoness was crazed, or angry about
something, even more so than normal. Was she still angry about the Drone who’d
try to kill her?
“Would
you like me to have one of the slaves pick you a bouquet? Or perhaps, drop rose
petals in a warm bath?” Anything to calm her down.
“I
can’t do it myself.” Her voice was tight. As she passed her rose bushes, she
plucked the blossoms off one by one and threw them onto the ground, then
crushed them with her bare feet.
“Can’t
do what, Mistress?” He’d never seen her like this. These earth flowers were her
prize.
“In
two weeks all this will be gone. I can only save some, but not all of it.”
“Why?
You’re garden looks healthy.” Dante was confused.
“Our
return to Prygos will be difficult and dangerous,” Gwyllain replied, walking
past her crushed roses.
“I
didn’t expect the journey to be easy.” Dante tried not to sound alarmed.
“Tarik’s last attempt nearly destroyed us.” Dante might get punished for that remark
but he was speaking the truth.
“That’s
exactly what Tarik plans to do.”
Dante
gave her a questioning look.
“These
will be the ones.” She knelt down in front of three perfect rose bushes. “Tarik
says I can only bring a few of my roses back with me. These are my most
beautiful roses. I’ll have my slaves dig them up.” She leaned in and smelled
the blooms.
“What’s
going to happen to the garden?”
She
pouted. “It’ll be destroyed when Anartia is destroyed.”
Dante
swallowed. What did he miss?
“Tarik
can’t gather enough energy at one time to propel all of Anartia back to Prygos.
The last experiment shifted us into a lower dimension. We’re susceptible to the
moon’s gravity now. If we don’t leave in two weeks, Anartia will be thrust into
the Earth’s dimension and we’ll be destroyed. Tarik is going to use that
energy, and amplify it with sources collected from Earth, to propel the temple
alone to Prygos. Our world will be destroyed, not the temple or those inside.”
Dante
hesitated to ask the next question. “Will there be enough room for everyone?”
She
didn’t answer right away. “Selecting the roses is an easy task, but I have no
desire to choose my Drones. I do have a few favorites.” She gently stroked his
cheek and slid her hand down his body until she grasped his cock, fondling him
then released him. “I have no time to select the dozen Drones who will return
to Prygos. Valdon, as my senior Drone, has this duty. The rest will be
reassimilated. We’ll need their chi.”
“Valdon?”
Dante considered the consequences of giving that task to a power-hungry Drone.
“Are the other Drones aware Valdon is making this life-or-death decision?”
“Of
course not! There would be pandemonium on Anartia.”
Dante
groaned. “I can see pandemonium either way.”
“Don’t
worry. You and Valdon will return with me. The rest is up to him.” She smiled.
“You deserved a reward for your bravery.”
***
http://www.jasminejade.com/p-10267-damned-and-defiant.aspx
Like the new cover??
