I’m Felicity Heaton and I’m here today as part of my year-long Paranormal Pandemonium 2011 Blog Tour. Steph kindly invited me to come and share an excerpt of Hunter’s Moon, a werewolf/vampire romance novel in my Vampires Realm series with you all. Thanks for having me here today and if any readers have any comments or questions, please feel free to voice them and I’ll answer them as soon as possible.
Hunter’s Moon
F E Heaton
The horror of the night he failed to save his werewolf pack from the cruelty of their vampire masters has haunted Nicolae for one hundred years, driving him deep into the Canadian wilderness in search of peace. That peace is threatened when unfamiliar hunters and the scent of blood lead him to a beautiful woman and a hard decision—face his past and help her or risk losing everyone he cares about again.
Bearing a heart filled with grief and with vengeance on her mind, Tatyana is intent on killing the hunters she’s tracking and returning to her vampire bloodline, but her plan didn’t include being shot with poisoned arrows or rescued by a glowering alpha werewolf who stirs forbidden hunger in her.
When the hunters make their move, will Nicolae be able to stop them before it’s too late? Will he be able to overcome the darkness in his heart and embrace his desire for a vampire? And can Tatyana face her fears and risk her life for the sake of forbidden love?
Read the official excerpt or find out where to buy: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/
EXCERPT
Tatyana winced as she attempted to sit up on the bed in the corner of the cramped room. Her stomach ached and growled at the enticing scent of blood. She tried to move towards the smell but pain burned in waves radiating from her side, stealing what little strength she had, and she collapsed back onto the bed. Her insides twisted with hunger, mouth watering at the thought of feeding, and her fangs itched to descend. She could taste it on her tongue.
The man stared at her. Werewolf. She had bitten him. Her memories were hazy, but she couldn’t forget the way he tasted. Her gaze flickered to the right side of his chest. She had scratched him too.
The scent of fresh blood lingered on him.
Not his blood. Nothing as strong as that. It was a strange smell—subtle and buttery.
“Animal blood, I’m afraid.” He held his left hand up and she went to look at it but her gaze caught on the rifle over his right shoulder. She hadn’t noticed it before. The black strap melted into his thick shirt. His fingers grasped it tightly. Her gaze shifted to his face.
Black messy strands of hair caressed his forehead, brushing his jetty eyebrows and making him look like some sort of wild animal when combined with his bright honey brown eyes. There was hunger in them that she had seen before in the eyes of the werewolves at her bloodline’s mansion. It was as though he was looking at her with his wolf eyes, not his human ones. A predator.
That made her the prey.
She didn’t like that one bit.
There was an unmistakable Eastern European note to his accent. Not a local werewolf. Where had he come from? Was she in danger with him?
What had made her wonder such a thing?
The thought had bubbled up from nowhere, driven by instinct and the way her senses reacted to him, speaking of him as a threat. She tried to convince herself that it was only her injuries and current vulnerable state that was making her feel he was a danger to her but it plagued her, telling her to protect herself before it was too late. The man before her was strong, vicious by nature, and could easily overpower her. She had witnessed the savage brutality a male werewolf was capable of and she didn’t want to be on the receiving end of an attack by him.
Tatyana berated herself for thinking in such a backward way, presuming he would hurt her just because he was a werewolf. She knew better than to label him as a killer, one only interested in eradicating her kind. She knew werewolves. They were as violent as her kind, but they didn’t kill without cause and he had no reason to hurt her. Besides, he had given her a valid reason to trust him.
He had saved her and had bound her wounds.
Although, she had bitten him. Was that reason enough? Was that why he was looking at her with hard eyes and his lips compressed into a thin line? The dark feelings between vampires and werewolves were mutual. The two species had never been close, often warring with each other in a fight for dominance that had ended with the enslavement of hundreds of his kind by hers. But he had saved her. And as payment for his kindness, she had bitten and clawed him. If she told him that she hadn’t been in control of herself, that the need for blood and to survive had been so strong that it had forced her to react in order to save herself, would it soften the anger in his eyes?
The muscles in his jaw tensed.
“I made a deal with the timber wolf pack. A deer in exchange for you.” A flicker of disgust crossed his face and his tone hardened, any trace of warmth gone from it. “I thought you were human. I made a mistake. I think they got the better deal.”
That cut her, but she refused to let it show. He wasn’t like the werewolves at her bloodline’s home after all. They had been civil to her, and she had even built a tentative friendship with the ones she had known for most of her life. Or as close to a friendship as the law allowed.
Tatyana looked away when he placed the rifle down on the couch and toed his heavy boots off, leaving them on the rug. He crouched in front of the fire and her gaze crept back to him against her will. It was difficult to see him when she was lying down. She tried to move and pain blazed up her right side. She drew in a sharp wheezing breath and closed her eyes.
“I would keep still, if I were you,” he said, voice dead and cold. “I’m surprised you’re already awake.”
Why, because of the wounds and the poison? Tatyana looked down at the bandages wrapped tightly around her waist and left shoulder. As he stoked the fire, the room brightened and she realised that the dark marks on the white material weren’t blood. They were black.
She knew only one liquid that colour.
He had drugged her.
She sat up sharply, hissed as pain tore through her, and clutched her side. Panic pushed her on. She had to get away. He was going to kill her. He had come with a rifle and hadn’t expected her to be awake. He had intended to shoot her while she had been unconscious.
The werewolf sighed and came over to her. Tatyana stared up the full height of him as he towered over her, broad and imposing, his face half in shadow.
She growled and her fangs sharpened, her claws extending. Her senses locked on him. He was stronger than she was but she wasn’t going to give up easily. Deep aching waves of pain pulsed along her bones and nerves, stripping away the strength that had flooded her at the thought of being under threat, and she struggled to retain her true form. They were overwhelming, crushing what little energy she had and dulling her senses. Her vision wavered and fangs receded, and she barely clung to consciousness. Her eyes met his and she silently accepted her defeat. She wasn’t strong enough to fight him.
His light brown irises turned golden in the firelight. Had she been mistaken earlier and this was his wolf side showing through? His eyes were beautiful but they looked like death to her. She glanced at his neck where she had bitten him and her eyes widened when she saw the faint lines of scarring around his throat.
A compound werewolf?
Out here?
A thousand tiny needles pricked down her spine.
He really was going to kill her.
Tatyana tried to back away, grimacing as every part of her burned, but there was no escape. He grabbed her ankle, yanked it so she landed flat on her back on the bed and pressed his bloodstained left hand down on her shoulder, pinning her to the mattress. The force of it kept her still but only because she could sense how strong he was now that he was touching her skin on skin. She was no match for him. She wouldn’t be even at full strength. He could butcher her if he wanted to.
She closed her eyes, not wanting to see her end when it came.
Read the official excerpt or find out where to buy: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/
Biography:
Felicity Heaton is a romance author writing as both Felicity Heaton and F E Heaton. She is passionate about penning paranormal tales full of vampires, witches, werewolves, angels and shape-shifters, and has been interested in all things preternatural and fantastical since she was just a child. Her other passion is science-fiction and she likes nothing more than to immerse herself in a whole new universe and the amazing species therein. She used to while away days at school and college dreaming of vampires, werewolves and witches, or being lost in space, and used to while away evenings watching movies about them or reading gothic horror stories, science-fiction and romances.
Having tried her hand at various romance genres, it was only natural for her to turn her focus back to the paranormal, fantasy and science-fiction worlds she enjoys so much. She loves to write seductive, sexy and strong vampires, werewolves, witches, angels and alien species. The worlds she often dreams up for them are vicious, dark and dangerous, reflecting aspects of the heroines and heroes, but her characters also love deeply, laugh, cry and feel every emotion as keenly as anyone does. She makes no excuses for the darkness surrounding them, especially the paranormal creatures, and says that this is their world. She’s just honoured to write down their adventures.
If you want to know more about me, or want to get in touch, you can find me at the following places:
My website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk
Vampires Realm series website: http://www.vampiresrealm.com
My blog: http://www.indieparanormalromancebooks.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/feheaton
Twitter: http://twitter.com/felicityheaton
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/felicityheaton
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