F E Heaton
The tales of the mansion near Nika's remote Russian village say that its lord drinks blood to live and that the guards are dead men walking, but that doesn't stop Nika from falling for one of them—a man who seemingly hasn't changed in twenty years, a man she wishes would be hers. One snowy spring night, her world and his collide when she is attacked by wolves and he rides in on a black horse to rescue her. But her knight in shining armour is far from saintly. He is a vampire, and she is becoming a werewolf, and love between such species is forbidden—the penalty death.
Winter is a commander of the Validus, the most powerful vampire bloodline in Europe. Faithful to his family and his lord since his turning one thousand years ago, he follows the law to the letter and places duty above all else, but his resolve is about to be tested in the most painful way and his world shaken beyond salvation. The girl he watched grow into a woman, a woman who has stolen his heart, is now a werewolf and his dream of making her his has been shattered. Only vengeance can be his now or the Law Keepers will hunt him down and kill both him and Nika.
But Winter's plan to take Nika home to her family fails and his heart demands that he protects her, both from the werewolf who bit her and from himself. She tempts him more than he can bear and it isn't long before he finds himself treading the knife's edge between upholding the law and succumbing to desire.
Nika does everything in her power to convince Winter to stay with her, to go against the laws and risk death, but in the end will she have done enough? Will the nights they spend together change his heart and his mind, or will she spend eternity dreaming of Winter's kiss?
ebook price: $3.99
paperback price: $7.99
genre: paranormal werewolf romance
length: 78000 words
rating: sultry
released: June 2009
Book 8 in the Vampires Realm series
Available in e-book from:
My Website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/ebooks.php?title=Winter's%20Kiss
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Available in paperback from:
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Click here to download an extended excerpt
Excerpt
Nika tried to breathe slowly but found it impossible now. If she didn’t breathe quickly, she was sure she would pass out. She clung to consciousness but slumped back onto the bed, no longer strong enough to hold herself in a sitting position. The pain reached her neck and crept upwards to her head, making her skin flushed and hot.
“Gone?” she whispered, in too much pain to ask the whole question.
The man turned and nodded.
“For now at least,” he said in perfect Russian, his voice still muffled by the mask across the lower half of his face.
She knew it was him. When he had saved her, she had seen his eyes.
He moved across the room to her, sliding the sword back into its sheath. She idly watched him, too weak to do anything else. It was a fight just to stay awake. He removed his facemask and helmet and placed them on the end of the bed. She wished it were lighter in the room so she could see his face. She had always wondered what he looked like, had painted a picture of him in her imagination from his eyes alone. She wanted to see him before she died.
Drawing his long cloak back over his shoulders, he looked around the room. She looked too, dazed. What was he searching for? Was he worried the wolves would come back? They had eaten now. Surely, they would leave them alone. Her leg ached when she tried to move and a new wave of nausea passed over her. She closed her eyes to fight it and when she opened them again, the man held a small glass lamp. He dug his hand into his pocket and then a tiny flicker of gold punctured the darkness. The lamp blazed into life when he lit the wick and then closed the glass door. He walked to the head of the bed. She stared up at him while he placed the lamp down.
He was far younger than she had expected, but just as handsome. His dark gaze roamed over her, a concerned frown marrying his black eyebrows. Tied at the nape of his neck, his long fine black hair caressed his broad black-clad shoulders. As he bent over, threads of his hair slipped down and grazed his throat. The warm light from the lamp made a scar on his neck stand out and she found herself staring.
“I need to take a look at you,” he said and, before even waiting for her to agree, began opening her long black coat. He peeled the two parts aside and helped her sit so he could remove it. The room was freezing without the warmth of her coat and she shivered. The man’s fingers moved carefully over her arms, his gaze intent on their work. He frowned harder whenever he found a cut and inspected it closely before moving on to the next. Her eyes widened when he shifted his attention to her legs and pulled the skirt of her dress up. She wanted to protest but didn’t have the energy to spare.
Collapsing back into the bed, Nika closed her eyes against the pain when he touched her leg and she sucked in a sharp breath.
“What is your name?” he said, voice low and deep, caressing her ears in a way that made her want to relax and fall asleep.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him. He stood over her, face half in shadow. The side that she could see made her breathless. The soft lamplight highlighted the subtle line of his cheekbones and the defined curve of his jaw. It played on the tempting fullness of his lips and danced in his eyes.
Something in those eyes made his tone feel cold and distant. His gaze flickered to her legs. She knew it was bad, could feel the wounds on them through the numbing heat of pain. His black gloves shone with her blood. She was losing too much to remain conscious for long. It was only a matter of time now before she passed out. Would he stay with her? Would she wake up if she embraced the darkness?
“Am I going to die?” she whispered, slow and between breaths.
He frowned at her. “No.”
He sounded so sure that she almost believed him.
She wanted to thank him but couldn’t find her voice as a new wave of pain rolled through her. If he hadn’t shown up, the wolves would have killed her and eaten her, as they had eaten his horse. How was she supposed to pay him back for that? She would never be able to afford such a fine animal. She laughed internally at herself for thinking about such ridiculous things while she balanced on the knife’s edge between life and death. Soon, it wouldn’t matter that she couldn’t afford to buy him a new horse. Soon, she would be dead and his loss would have been in vain.
“Your name?” he said, more demanding this time.
“Nika,” she pushed out the word.
“Nika, my name is Winter,” he said and she looked up at him, struggling to focus on his face so she could remember it and his name. It was an unusual name. What kind of person was called Winter? “I need you to listen to me. This will hurt, but we must set your leg.”
She swallowed. More pain? Couldn’t he just let her die? She was on the brink of passing out as it was and then she would be in blissful dark silence for the rest of eternity. No, he had said that she wouldn’t die and it had sounded like a promise. If he believed that she would live, there was a chance that she would. If she survived, she didn’t want her leg to be set wrong. The doctors would want to break it again to reset it.
Nika nodded.
He removed his thick cloak and placed it at the foot of the bed. Beneath it was the chest armour she had caught glimpses of a few times. Black and shaped like muscles, it made him appear strangely naked. He tugged two black leather straps free of his cloak and handed one to her. She stared blankly at it.
“Bite down on it.” There was incredible command behind those words. He placed it into her mouth when she didn’t move and she pushed it with her tongue until it was comfortable against her teeth.
Closing her eyes so she couldn’t see the pain coming, Nika bit down hard on the leather strap.
* * * *
Winter waited a moment, studying her. She was in phenomenal pain but it would ease once he had braced her leg. He held her lower leg on either side of the break and listened to her heartbeat. The moment it became steady, he snapped the bone of her left leg carefully into position. She whimpered and then fell silent.
He grabbed the other strap and tore a section off the skirt of her dress. Looking around, he tried to find a suitable splint. He spotted the pieces of wood that had fallen away when the wolves had broken the windows. Adding two of them to his group of makeshift medical supplies, he frowned down at her leg. He needed to clean it. The skin was broken in several places but he couldn’t tell whether they were teeth or claw marks.
Glancing at Nika, Winter realised that she had passed out. He blinked slowly. The sweet fragrance of her blood made it hard to concentrate. It called to him, stirring a deep desire to taste her and take her, to make her his. He closed his eyes, lowered his head while turning it a fraction away from her, and exhaled. He didn’t need to breathe and she was unconscious so there was no need to keep up the pretence. If he didn’t breathe, he might just be able to fix her wounds without surrendering to his hunger.
He removed his gloves and laid them down on top of his cloak. A distant howl reminded him that they weren’t alone. He frowned when he thought about Midnight. He’d had to make a choice. It had been Midnight’s life or theirs. He wouldn’t have been able to outride the wolves in the thick forest.
They were no ordinary wolves.
He was fortunate that the moon was strong tonight, strong enough to sway the wolves and control them to a degree. If it had been a normal moon, they might have changed on him and he would have had to fight them. Winter closed his eyes, listening to the call of the night and the moon. Tonight she spoke words of hunger and violence, beckoned him to surrender to his true nature just as the wolves had surrendered to theirs. He denied her request and brought his focus back to Nika. She needed him. He had to do all he could to save her. She deserved that from him at least.
Nika moaned, mumbling something unintelligible that he ignored. Looking out of the window, Winter checked the clearing outside. His senses had placed the wolves at a distance of at least a mile. He would have time. He unblocked the door, retrieved his helmet, and then walked out into the small open area in front of the wooden shack. The snow had fallen thickly here where the trees were sparse. Using his helmet as a bowl, he scooped up some of the fresh undisturbed snow off to the side of the shack and then walked back inside.
With the door barricaded again, he set about cleaning Nika’s wounds. He tore another piece of her skirt and placed it on the bed beside her. The bitter cold meant the snow in his helmet showed no sign of melting. He held it over the oil lamp, feeling the rising heat against his hand. Frowning, he checked Nika by touching her cheek with the back of his hand. She was freezing. He hadn’t even thought about how easily the chilly night air would drain the heat from her skin. It had been centuries since he’d had to care for humans or had anything to do with them.
Placing his helmet carefully at the end of the bed, he ensured that it wouldn’t tip over and spill the cool water it now held. Satisfied that it was secure, he picked up Nika’s thick winter coat and placed it over the top half of her body. He pulled the skirt of her dress down over her unbroken leg. Her feet were still exposed. He removed his gloves from their position on top of his cloak and unfolded the heavy material, laying it over her. The cloak swamped her small frame. His gaze fell to the gold cross that dangled around her neck. She had always worn it since she had been a small girl and he had always wished to ask her about it, about whether she believed in the god it represented or whether she just liked the look of it. Many women these days did. A cross was no longer a holy relic. He didn’t mind that. If there was no faith behind it, it wouldn’t hurt him. His eyes slid across to her neck and then he dragged his gaze away. Now wasn’t the time to be contemplating her blood.
Winter pulled the cloak up close around her face, covering her neck and trying to keep as much of her warm as possible.
When he touched her cheek this time, he felt a little more warmth.
Taking his makeshift bowl of water and the thin strip of skirt that he had torn from her dress, he bathed her leg. The thick tights she wore hindered his progress and he again had to stop. He removed her boots and then her tights, fighting an urge to look at her underwear while he was down there. When her legs were clear, he covered her again and continued with his work. He cleaned her leg, careful not to disturb the bone, and then used the other section of skirt as a bandage. When he had half wrapped her leg, he placed the two pieces of wood down either side of her calf and then continued to bandage it. He tied the bandage off and then took up the leather straps he had removed from his cloak and fastened them around her leg as tightly as possible. It would have to do for now. His medical experience was limited. If he broke a bone, he normally snapped it back into place and it would heal quickly, causing him little pain.
Winter covered her leg and carefully worked his way around her body, cleaning each wound he found and taking in the mess the wolves had made of her. If he had arrived any later, he might have lost her. He stared at her legs. He still might lose her. If they were bite marks and he hadn’t cleaned out all of the saliva, she would become like her attackers. The thought of that turned his stomach. Black anger darkened his heart.
A birdsong drifted in through the broken windows, heralding the coming dawn. The melody didn’t soothe him in the slightest. He stared at Nika’s leg with vengeance in mind. The wolves would pay either way. They would pay for killing Midnight. They would pay for hurting Nika.
They would pay for taking what was his.
The sunrise drove the call of the night from his mind and lured him to sleep. He checked Nika over one last time, battling his need to rest, and then went to the darkest corner he could find. Winter removed his sword, leaned against the wall, and used his senses to pinpoint the sunrise. Assured that the corner would be safe from the sun, he settled down. He tried to stay awake and alert, in case the wolves came back, but it was impossible. Taking hold of his sword, he held it close to his chest in both hands, telling himself that if the wolves came, he would sense them and wake. He leaned back into the corner of the walls behind him, his head resting against them, and looked at Nika.
His eyelids dropped and then opened again, dropped and opened.
Each time they did, he looked at Nika, checking her.
Sleep finally claimed him.
He had done all he could for her.
Now it was a matter of waiting.
Click here to download an extended excerpt
2 comments:
I love this damn book, could repeat the whole thing word for word. Plus... I LOVE WINTER!!!!!
telll me the ending
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