Title: The Beautiful Ashes
Author: Jeaniene Frost
Release Date: August 26th, 2014
In a world of shadows, anything is possible. Except escaping your fate. Ever since she was a child, Ivy has been gripped by visions of strange realms just beyond her own. But when her sister goes missing, Ivy discovers the truth is far worse—her hallucinations are real, and her sister is trapped in a parallel realm. And the one person who believes her is the dangerously attractive guy who's bound by an ancient legacy to betray her. Adrian might have turned his back on those who raised him, but that doesn't mean he can change his fate…no matter how strong a pull he feels toward Ivy. Together they search for the powerful relic that can save her sister, but Adrian knows what Ivy doesn't: that every step brings Ivy closer to the truth about her own destiny, and a war that could doom the world. Sooner or later, it will be Ivy on one side and Adrian on the other. And nothing but ashes in between…
Jeaniene Frost is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the Night Huntress series, the Night Prince series, and the upcoming Broken Destiny series. To date, foreign rights for her novels have sold to twenty different countries. Jeaniene lives in North Carolina with her husband Matthew, who long ago accepted that she rarely cooks and always sleeps in on the weekends. Aside from writing, Jeaniene enjoys reading, poetry, watching movies with her husband, exploring old cemeteries, spelunking and traveling – by car. Airplanes, children, and cook books frighten her.
For information on Jeaniene's books, reading the first 20% of each book free, book trailers, deleted scenes, creature mythology, and more, please visit: www.jeanienefrost.com
Even on a good day, I hated when guys were cryptic. Those of the
Testosterone Persuasion already came with a mountain of senseless
tendencies—did they really think they needed to add purposefully vague
statements on top of that?
The fact that Adrian refused to elaborate on his enigmatic
warning while I was tied up in his backseatmade it unbearable. As
the time ticked on, I consoled myself by imagining hitting him in the head with
something heavy. Or leaning over the seat and choking him with the band of duct
tape around my wrists. If the back of this vehicle had had a cigarette lighter,
I might’ve gotten creative with fantasies about that, too.
Guess being kidnapped turned me into a violent person.
“Are you a sex slaver?” I asked abruptly.
“Someone’s watched Taken too many times,”
Adrian said, and the amusement in his tone grated on my last nerve.
“Why wouldn’t I think that?” I shot back. “You saved my life,
but you’re taking me somewhere against my will, and you refuse to untie me.”
“You picked truth, remember?” was his infuriating response.
I swear, the first heavy object I got a hold of…! “You didn’t give me that, either.”
“Yes, I did.” He said it with a heavy-lidded, backward glance
that would’ve made me straighten up and smile if he’d done it while we were
sitting at a bar. “Just not all of it, but don’t worry. We’re here.”
With that statement, Adrian turned down a long road that led to
a set of soaring, elaborately carved gates.
“Wait a sec while I open the gates,” he said, turning the car
off and taking the keys with him.
I waited…until he was far enough away for me to make my move.
Then I leaped over the seats. When I yanked on the driver’s side door, however,
a large hand on the window prevented it from opening.
“Why am I not surprised?” Adrian said with irony dripping from
his tone
I stared at his hand, as if that could explain how the rest of
him was attached to it. A second ago, he’d been in front of those barbarically
ornate gates, doing something that caused them to swing open with a mechanical
moan.
No one could move that fast. Or, more accurately, no one should be
able to move that fast.
“What are you?” I breathed.
His teeth flashed in a smile that was predatory and sexy at the
same time.
“A couple hours ago, I wondered the same thing about you.”
Me? Before I could ask what he meant, he opened the door and
let me out. Ice raced through my veins when I saw the knife in his other hand.
That was also the moment when I noticed the sign on the gates: Green-Wood
Cemetery.
“Don’t,” I gasped.
He raised a brow, cutting through the duct tape around my
wrists. “You’re the one who wanted to be untied.”
My arms fell to my sides while relief roared over me, replacing
the surge of fear-fueled adrenaline. Just as quickly, something snapped inside
me. All the grief, anger, fear and frustration of the past ten days hurtled
through my defenses, turning me into someone I didn’t recognize.
A rage monster.
My hand cracked across Adrian’s face with enough force to make
it tingle and burn, and still, it wasn’t enough. I began beating on his chest,
part of me horrified by my actions, but the rest urging me to hit him harder.
“What is the matter with you?” I yelled. “You pull out a knife
with no explanation? I thought you were going to kill me!”
Adrian grabbed my hands. Any sane person would have recognized
how overmatched I was and calmed the hell down, but I was way past sanity. With
my hands out of commission, I kicked his shin hard enough to send pain shooting
up my leg. He grunted, backing me up until I was pressed against the car hood.
Now I had a wall of steel behind me and a wall of muscled flesh on top of me.
“Stop it,” Adrian ordered, his strange accent thicker with his
vehemence. “I promise, I’m not going to hurt you!”
My breath came in pants. Adrian countered my attempt to drop
down and wiggle free by pressing his thigh between my legs. I stopped that course
of action at once, which was the same as admitting defeat. I couldn’t use my
arms to push him away. He felt more solid and heavy than a stone gargoyle.
“Get off me,” I said between ragged breaths.
“Not until you calm down,” he replied sternly. Then the barest
grin tugged at his mouth. “Feel free to take your time.”
I glanced down, only now registering that my breasts were
pressed against his chest just as tightly as his thigh was wedged between my
legs. Any movement on my part caused an embarrassingly personal friction, as if
inhaling each other’s breaths while we panted wasn’t intimate enough.
I tried to slow my breathing, not to mention my galloping
heartbeat. If not for his grin, I wouldn’t have known he thought anything of
the compromising position he had me in.
If nothing else, he didn’t seem angry that I’d slapped, kicked
and pummeled him. Now that my reckless rage had passed, I realized how stupid
I’d been. One punch from his massive fist would’ve meant lights out, but he
hadn’t hit back. Instead, he’d promised that he wouldn’t hurt me. Despite his
kidnapping me and his refusal to give me answers about what was going on, I
decided to believe him.
“Sorry I attacked you,” I said, my voice no longer shrill.
He shrugged like he was used to it. “Don’t worry. You were
overdue for a breakdown, anyway.”
Just how many people have you kidnapped? I almost asked. Since I didn’t really
want to know, all I said was, “Can you get off me? You’re heavy.”
He slowly uncurled his body from mine, but that silvery blue
gaze stayed glued to me. I shivered, suddenly aware of how cold it was, now
that I wasn’t covered by over two hundred pounds of warm-blooded male.
Adrian shrugged out of his coat, revealing a crew-neck black
shirt that hugged his physique like it was paying homage. Of course he’d
noticed the shiver. I wondered if anything escaped those piercing eyes.
I put it on. The hem had been mid-calf on him; it pooled on the
ground with me. I’d never felt dainty around a guy before. I was comfortable at
a size eight because I didn’t have to starve to maintain it, and my five-six
height meant I could usually wear heels without being taller than my dates.
Next to Adrian, however, I seemed to drop twenty pounds while also shrinking a
few inches. Of course, his bulk was all muscle. Feeling him on top of me had
made that clear….
I nixed that line of thought before it led to other, more
dangerous musings, and tightened his coat around me.
“If we’re not here so you can kill me and bury my body in an
empty plot, what else is there to do at a cemetery?” I asked with admirable
calm.
He laughed, the deep, masculine rumble teasing something inside
me that was too stupid to realize kidnappers were off-limits. That’s why I
refused to notice the chin dimple it revealed, or how his lower lip was fuller
than the top one.
“Lots of things, but we’ll get to that later.”
“Sure there’s going to be a later?” I challenged him.
“Of course.” Another tantalizing smile. “Since you and I are
from the same line, you’ll be seeing a lot more of me.”
Line? “You think we’re related?”
His gaze brushed me like a physical caress. “Not like that,
thankfully. That would make our first date awkward.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “You’re hitting on
me?” I finally managed. “Do you have any idea how twisted that is?”
He shrugged. “I don’t do subtle, it wastes time. Besides—” the
silvery part of his eyes gleamed like liquid moonlight “—if you say you don’t
find me attractive, I’ll know you’re lying.”
Under other circumstances, I might have blushed at being busted
ogling someone I’d just met, but my kidnapper was hitting on me! Should that
make me more afraid, or less? He’d already saved my life once and had had
plenty of chances to harm me since, yet he hadn’t.
Plus, I wouldn’t be much fun as a date if I was dead.
“How about we hold the date talk until you give me the answers
you promised?” I said, part of me wondering if tonight could get any stranger.
The other part felt happy for the first time in over a week. Stupid ovaries. Down,
girls, down!
Adrian’s expression turned serious. “I’m taking you to the
person who can give you those answers.”
“Zach?” I asked, remembering Adrian mentioning the name.
“That’s him. This cemetery is almost five hundred acres, so if
you don’t want to spend hours walking around in the cold—” he went over to the
passenger side of the vintage-looking muscle car and opened the door “—get in.”
He was giving me a choice. Or at least, the illusion of one. If
I ran, we both knew he could catch me.
The car’s interior light showed a hint of stubble trying to
break through the smooth skin along his jaw, shadowing it in a way that was far
too attractive. His exotic accent wasn’t helping, either. If I was ever
kidnapped again, it had better be by an old, ugly guy. That would be less
confusing to my emotions.
And less embarrassing. What idiot got caught lusting over her
kidnapper? No wonder he’d asked me out. He must have thought I gave “easy” a
whole new definition.
I walked over, thinking that even if I could run away from him,
I wouldn’t. My sister was trapped in a place that shouldn’t be real, yet
somehow was, and Adrian was my only ally because he could see the same crazy
things that I did. More importantly, Adrian had proven that he was able to kill
those things.
If he was able to help me save my sister, I’d not only take him
up on his date offer. I’d pay for everything and seriously consider putting
out.
I got in the passenger side, hearing the door lock as soon as he
shut it. I tried to open it. Nothing. My sense of unease returned. What kind of
person saved people just to kidnap them, and had a vehicle you could only exit
from the driver’s side?
Then again, as Adrian slid into the seat next to me with an
almost spooky fluidity, I realized what kind of person he was might be less
important than what he was.
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