Sweet Cover Lust

 

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.”



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http://www.jasminejade.com/p-10267-damned-and-defiant.aspx

Like the new cover??