Friday, 15 April 2016

Friday Frights ~ PNR Review ~ Blog Tour, Excerpt, Review & Giveaway ~ Possessed by a Dark Warrior (Eternal Mates #9) by Felicity Heaton


Book Description:

A powerful warrior and commander of the dark elf legions, Bleu is a loyal and devoted male, and one who has never failed in anything—except one thing. Love. When an elusive female dragon shifter surfaces in Hell again, giving him a mission to hurl himself into, he gladly returns to his hunt for her and the deadly blade she stole from his prince seven centuries ago, but as he closes in on his prey, fate reveals she is far more than his enemy.

Having escaped from the black market arena and her life as a slave, Taryn sets her sights back on the task she began seven hundred years ago when her brother stole a precious sword, but in the three centuries she’s been a captive, everything has changed. Corrupted by a craving for power, her brother has become dangerously obsessed with finding the blade and using it to claim the ultimate treasure—the position of King of Hell.

Faced with having to end her beloved twin brother to stop him from bringing all of Hell to its knees before him, will Taryn be strong enough to use the very blade he seeks against him? And when Bleu finally catches his elusive prey, will he listen to his head as it demands he complete his mission or his heart as it demands he claim his eternal mate?

Buy Links:



Possessed by a Dark Warrior, the ninth book in New York Times best-seller Felicity Heaton’s hot paranormal romance series, Eternal Mates, is now available in ebook and paperback. To celebrate the release of Bleu and Taryn’s long romance novel, she’s holding a FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY and sharing sneak peeks of the book. 

Enter the Possessed by a Dark Warrior international giveaway (ends April 24th) and be in with a shot of winning a $75, $50 or $25 gift certificate by using the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post or at her website, where you can also download a 4 chapter sample of the novel: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/possessed-by-a-dark-warrior-paranormal-romance-novel.php

Here’s more about Possessed by a Dark Warrior, including an excerpt from this paranormal romance novel.

Excerpt:

Loren’s hand clapped down on Bleu’s shoulder, jerking him away from thoughts of the dragon and what might lie ahead.

“Hunt the dragon. Eliminate her. Retrieve that sword for me, Bleu.”

Bleu had the feeling his prince was more aware of his innermost feelings, the ones he had tried to bury deep and ignore, than he would like and was giving him a mission to focus on in order to take his mind off things.

To give him a purpose again.

“The dragon we met in the mortal realm, Loke, had no information for me when I spoke with him.” Loren’s expression turned troubled again and he worried his lip with his thumb, the black slashes of his eyebrows drawing down.

Bleu suspected the dragon knew more than he had admitted to Loren. He wanted to speak with the one called Loke, but Loren had agreed to leave him alone if he gave them whatever information he had. That only deepened Bleu’s suspicion of him. If the male knew nothing, why had he pressed Loren to promise to never approach him again?

Loren sighed, and Bleu caught the wary edge to his eyes as they slid his way, sensed the tension in him increase before he opened his mouth to speak.

“It might be best we speak with Vail,” his prince said and Bleu could see why his mood had shifted. Loren wanted to be the one to go, but he couldn’t, so he was going to dump the task on Bleu’s shoulders, even though he knew how little Bleu liked his brother.

He was entrusting him with the task though and Bleu wouldn’t fail him. No matter how little he liked his new mission, he would carry it out to the best of his abilities for his prince. He could set aside his personal feelings about Vail for long enough to speak with him about the sword. If Loren was right, and Vail had a stronger connection to it, the elf male might be able to help him locate it, cutting down the amount of time it would take him to find it.

Loren tilted his head back, another sigh escaping him as he stared up at the sky.

Bleu could sense his desire to leave the elf kingdom and speak with his brother, but it would be a dangerous move. Loren had clashed with the council too many times since they had discovered Vail had been placed under a spell, controlled by a witch and forced to do her bidding. He couldn’t push them right now.

It was bad enough that he had obviously ditched a meeting with them to speak with Bleu the second he had returned to the castle.

It didn’t exactly make him feel great either. His gut squirmed, churning from the thought that he had worried his prince enough that he had risked angering the council in order to see him. Loren needed to restore some of the peace between him and the council, not upset them further. He needed to remain at the castle with them, attending to his business as the ruler of the kingdom, placating the council.

If it would help Loren achieve that peace with the council, Bleu would stomach visiting Vail in his stead.

“I will go,” Bleu said, a bitter taste coating his tongue as he thought about seeing Vail again. Not only Vail. Rosalind would be there too.

Happily mated.

He shoved those two words away, ignoring them and the sting they caused behind his breast, and focused on Loren.

His prince still looked troubled, his crystal violet eyes locked with his and flooded with concern.

He squeezed Bleu’s shoulder and the corners of his lips tilted in a half smile. “Be gentle with Vail.”

Bleu huffed, his mood souring again. He was perfectly capable of playing nice with Vail long enough to get whatever information the mad bastard could give to him.

Loren’s smile grew. “I know that look, Bleu. Give me your word.”

It was degrading to have to do it, but he had long ago decided he would do anything for Loren. Even talk with Vail.

“I swear I will be nice to him.” Bleu shrugged free of Loren’s grip, his mood darkening further as he spotted a slender brunette female hurrying towards them from the castle, her pale blue skirts drawn up and away from her feet. Fantastic. It was time he left. He bowed his head to Loren. “I will report what I discover.”

Before he could turn away, Olivia reached Loren. Her arm immediately looped around his right one and Loren looked down at her. Her smile for her mate was dazzling, near blinding, and Bleu looked away as she tried to turn that happiness in his direction.

“I’m so glad you’re back. Loren was worried sick.” Olivia’s words struck hard, each one driving a spike deeper into his heart.

He didn’t need her adding to the guilt he already felt and he certainly didn’t have time to stand around and watch as Loren gazed at her, an altogether too soft look on his face, as if his mate was a damned angel descended from Heaven straight into Hell.

But he couldn’t pull himself away or stop himself from looking at them as they smiled at each other, sickeningly in love.

He couldn’t stop himself from thinking about the others. Iolanthe had Kyter. Sable had chosen Thorne. Someone had even been insane enough to fall in love with Vail.

He growled under his breath before he could think the next thought, the one he could feel coming.

One he didn’t want to acknowledge.

He didn’t need a mate.

He didn’t need anyone.

He just needed to keep hunting the dragon.

He stiffly bowed his head, turned on his heel and stalked away from them, his focus locking onto his mission once more. He ignored the words of hurt Olivia spoke to Loren and just kept walking, heading towards the grand archway in the wall, his pace gaining speed.

The garrison came into view as he passed under the archway, an imposing pale three storey square building off to his right. Horses whinnied in the stable as they were groomed, tended to by the youngest soldiers. He bowed his head to the ranking officers that he passed, exchanging silent greetings with them. As commander of the legion directly under Loren’s control, he held a rank above all of the males present, but he had never elevated himself to such a position. He didn’t demand respect from his subordinates, or treat them as inferior as some of the commanders of the other legions did. He preferred to work alongside his men, as an equal.

Bleu halted and backtracked as one of the males he had come to see walked out of the stable block, dusting down his black trousers, the wood-and-leather soles of his boots a steady click on the cobbles.

Leif.

The bastard looked more like Loren every day. Sometimes, Bleu swore he emulated their prince. Other times, he decided it was just genetics. Leif was born of noble blood, had an irritating regal bearing and aloof tone of voice bred into him.

Leif’s step slowed and his purple eyes drifted towards Bleu, his fine black eyebrows dipping as his lips compressed.

Leif was rarely pleased to see him too.

He blamed Bleu for losing the female dragon three centuries ago, believed Bleu should have been less concerned with bleeding to death from the brutal claw marks she had placed on his throat and more concerned about grabbing hold of her before she could run.

Bleu couldn’t hold it against him. He would have felt the same had Leif been the one in his shoes, placing his life above the mission. They shared a compulsion to complete missions, and he was banking on that drive still being there, making Leif want to take up the hunt for the dragon again.

“There is only one possible reason you have shown your face now and if it has anything to do with the rumours going around the garrison about a shady black market arena and our dearest commander being launched across it by a female dragon, then you can count me in,” Leif snarled each word as he stalked towards Bleu, darkness rolling off him, hunger to continue their mission. “You took your damned time returning though. Dacian has been putting poor foolish soldiers into sickbay for the past three lunar cycles.”

That was a nice way of saying that Dacian was taking out his frustration and impatience on the soldiers he was meant to be training in the ring. Bleu sighed. The big elf warrior had never learned to express his emotions in other ways, always preferring to unleash them in the ring in the form of fighting.

“I suppose he is there now?” Bleu was already heading in the direction of the open stretch of sand behind the stables before Leif could answer.

The male fell into step with him, and Bleu almost felt as if it was Loren there. Same six-five height and slender build, same neatly clipped blue-black hair and ridiculously noble profile. Leif lacked something though.

A sense of humour.

Even Loren had one of those.

But where Leif lacked it, the fourth member of their troupe had it in spades.

Fynn’s raucous laughter reached Bleu’s ears long before he had finished traversing the narrow cobbled alley between the stable block and garrison. He rounded the corner and found the young elf male sitting on top of the low dark stone wall that enclosed the training area, rocking back on it but somehow maintaining his balance as he laughed his backside off at something. His long ponytail swayed with his movements, brushing across his bare back, reaching the small of it.

Bleu peered into the sand-filled ring and grimaced.

Dacian lay on his back, sand pushed up around his bare broad shoulders, his naked feet resting in a groove in the amber dirt. Bleu followed that track to the one who had laid one of their biggest, most brutal, warriors out cold.

No wonder Fynn had been laughing.

The young female elf breathed hard, one hand still tucked defensively against her chest and the other still outstretched, her palm facing Dacian.

Bleu clapped slowly.

Fynn stopped laughing and snapped his head towards Bleu. The female blushed a deep shade of red. She was pretty. As vicious as Bleu remembered too.

He bet that the sparring match had been Fynn’s idea. Dacian hadn’t been there the time Fynn’s sister had come to visit, so he hadn’t witnessed that she had some of the strongest telekinesis Bleu had ever seen, her gift a natural one from the gods. She had begged Bleu and Leif to train her, but females weren’t allowed in the ranks, a tradition still firmly in place today.

Bleu had trained his own sister in secret, passing on everything he had learned so she could fight and defend herself. That knowledge had probably saved her life countless times.

By the looks of things, Fynn had done the same with his sister.

If Bleu had his way, the council would listen to him and allow females to enlist. Elf females were only marginally weaker than elf males. There was no reason for them not to have a place in the army if they desired it.

The young female elf brushed her jaw-length black hair from her face, blew a rogue strand upwards, and bowed.

Fynn grinned. “She’s a cocky little runt, don’t you think?”

His sister glared at him, but held her tongue. Bleu could see she wanted to retaliate, but his presence was silencing her.

“No more cocky than her brother,” Bleu said and sighed again as he looked from Fynn to Dacian. “Although, I would prefer you didn’t damage my men when I need them.”

The female bowed her head again and Bleu smiled inwardly at the same time as Fynn’s grin widened. It was cruel to tease her, but amusing too. It reminded him of when Iolanthe had been younger, and life had been easier.

Dacian groaned, his face contorted, and he rolled onto his side. He slowly pushed himself up and shook his head, dislodging the sand that clung to his shorn hair and revealing the long scar that cut diagonally across his scalp. It had been a close call the day he had received it. An axe in the back of the head was the sort of injury most elves didn’t walk away from, but Dacian had incredible senses and had felt the blade before it had reached him, swiftly calling his helmet to shield his head.

The big elf huffed and pushed up onto his knees, sat back on his heels and dusted himself off.

When he swung his icy violet gaze towards the female, she squeaked and curled up, squeezing her hands together in front of her chest. Dacian lumbered onto his feet and heaved another sigh, shifting his thickly-muscled shoulders with it and causing his honed chest and stomach to tense. He had at least two hundred pounds on the poor female and she wisely backed towards her brother when Dacian advanced on her.

“Weapons, you said. A fight with weapons,” Dacian growled through bloodstained fangs and pinned his violet gaze on the female first and then Fynn.

Fynn tensed, his smile fleeing his face. He shrugged, but it came off stiff. “Telekinesis could be considered a weapon.”

Not by a warrior like Dacian. The psychic powers available to elves were only used in defence by those of the warrior class, viewed as a last resort when traditional weapons, and even claws and fangs, failed and they were close to losing their lives.

Dacian snarled, flashing his fangs.

The little elf female teleported, reappearing behind her brother, using him as a shield. Not the wisest move. Dacian wasn’t the sort of male who cared if he had to go through a friend to get to a foe.

His steady hard gaze shifted back to her and then he did something that left Bleu wondering what the hell had happened to change the male.

Dacian backed down, huffing as he strode away from her and her brother, muttering things beneath his breath.

Bleu eyed him. Maybe he hadn’t changed. Maybe Dacian had always been lenient on females.

He looked back at the female in question.

Or maybe Dacian had a reason to be lenient on this one.

She whispered something to Fynn, who nodded, and then she teleported. Dacian looked back in Fynn’s direction, a brief glance before he swiped a grey cloth from the wall near Bleu and rubbed himself down with it.

“I take it from your appearance that we have a mission again?” Fynn dropped to his feet from the wall and strode across the sand, all humour gone from his face.

Bleu nodded. “The rumours running around the garrison are true. I encountered the female dragon again, and Prince Loren has ordered us to complete our mission.”

All three males nodded in unison, and Bleu nodded too, a sense that their mission was finally coming to a close running through him, a familiar feeling that was comforting and made him feel at home.

Loren had given him a purpose, and he was going to fulfil it.

“We will not fail this time.”

Our Review:

Reviewed by Shirley ~ 5 stars
***ARC received for an honest review***


This is a beautiful sensual book about Commander Bleu. His life and disastrous love life that has made him the elf warrior he is today. Bleu has been present in all the previous Eternal Mates books but this one is dedicated to him, this very complex character. A book that has been waiting to be written and I for one am so glad that it has, as he is one of my favourite characters of all time.

Commander Bleu is an elf who has been a friend, aide and is the commander of all the elf armies to Prince Loren but he has found that since his Prince has found his mate he has not been needed so much which also has happened with his sister Iolanthe. He had always been the protective brother to her but since she had also found her mate Bleu has found himself on the side lines again which is making him more withdrawn than ever.

After a momentous and brutal day in his youth when Bleu's faith had been shattered by a man he had always looked up to, it was this day that had been the start that had shaped the closed off withdrawn male of today who rarely smiled and always seemed to choose the wrong woman for his affections. Bleu had given up the thought of ever finding his fated mate.

The story tells you about how Bleu has been commissioned by his Prince to find a sword of great power that had been stolen by a female dragon which had a distinctive and unusual colouring of violet and cream, in doing so she had left thousands of elves dead and destruction all around so it was imperative that she and the sword was found.

This has been going on for seven centuries. The dragon had been elusive. Bleu had encountered her early on after the theft which during the fight had left him with scars on his neck which he still had to this day and the dragon had got away. But today he had been given a tip that she had surfaced again so the hunt was back on.

The female dragon in question is called Taryn. The centuries had not been kind to her, she had been caught and enslaved for three centuries until she had finally escaped and this had left her with horrendous memories which still affected her today and now she had found out that while she had been gone away her twin brother Tenak had changed drastically into a vicious despot. Claiming and ruling a valley close to the Demon Realms and he was killing and torturing anyone who ventured into it. Taryn knew that she had to be the one to bring him down using the sword that had been stolen all those centuries ago and in doing so knowing it would bring herself back into a certain elf's life who had been hunting her down and whom she had been dreaming about for so long.


“Sinful. Wicked. Beautiful. The Elf.”


Over the centuries she had dreamt of him, her fated mate. The more she dreamt the more erotic they became.


“His hand brushed her inner thigh and then the blunt head of his length nudged against her slick channel and she moaned, unable to contain the sound as pleasure rippled through her, hunger so fierce it was hard to keep still as he slowly pressed forwards, on the verge of filling her at last. His fangs flashed between his lips as he growled down at her.
"Mine now."”


Fate was cruel because he was to be her hunter and executioner.

Bleu was not unaffected either by the female dragon that he had sought. Whenever jealously of others was rampant in him thinking of the dragon he was immediately calmed. She was his constant, his anchor. Even Bleu had had dreams of her and his most recent one had been his most erotic yet.


“His cock stirred, hungry for more of the beautiful female who reacted so sweetly to him, passionate and ardent, fierce and possessive. A little bit wicked. His perfect match.”


The story continues showing you how even when the odds are stacked against them is it the end or is it so much more. The backdrop of these two fated people is filled with intrigue and war thus keeping you turning the pages to see how this amazing story develops with previous characters popping up making this a blinder of a read.

I thought this book brilliant Ms Heaton and loved reading every page written about Bleu's story.

Other Books in Series:

Possessed by a Dark Warrior is available from Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBooks stores and other retailers. Also available in paperback.

Find all the links, a fantastic 4 chapter downloadable sample of the book, and also enter the giveaway and be in with a shot of winning a $75, $50 or $25 gift certificate at her website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/possessed-by-a-dark-warrior-paranormal-romance-novel.php  


Books in the Eternal Mates paranormal romance series:
Book 10: Awakened by a Demoness – Coming Spring 2016
Book 11: Haunted by the King of Death – Coming Summer 2016

About Felicity Heaton:


Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you're a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.

If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling Vampire Erotic Theatre series. Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the new Eternal Mates series.

If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:



Giveaway:

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