Ares, book 1 in New York Times best-seller Felicity
Heaton’s hot new paranormal romance series, Guardians of Hades, is now
available in ebook and paperback. To celebrate the release of Ares and Megan’s
romance, she’s holding a FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY and sharing sneak peeks of the
book.
Enter the ARES international giveaway (ends December
11th) and be in with a shot of winning a $75, $50 or $25 gift certificate by
using the Rafflecopter form at her website, where you can also download a 4
chapter sample of the novel: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/guardians-of-hades-ares-paranormal-romance-book.php
Here’s more
about the book and the sexy Greek god hero and his heroine…
Ares (Guardians of Hades Series Book 1)
Felicity Heaton
Felicity Heaton
Prince of the Underworld and Lord of Fire, Ares was banished from his home by his father, Hades, two centuries ago and given a new duty and purpose—to keep our world and his from colliding in a calamity foreseen by the Moirai.
Together with his six brothers, he fights
to defend the gates to the Underworld from daemons bent on breaching them and
gaining entrance to that forbidden land, striving to protect his home from
their dark influence. Caged by the manifestation of his power, held apart from
those he loves by his own fire and starved of physical contact, Ares lives a
cold existence driven by duty and the desire to return to his world.
Until his world collides with a daemon who
steals his power and a mortal female who shatters the ice around his heart and
awakens the true fire within him—a soul-stirring passion both dangerous and
seductive.
Megan has wandered far from her home,
driven from everyone she loves by the devastating realisation that she is
different to them all. Unsure who to trust in the world, she keeps to herself,
until a fateful stormy night brings a temptingly handsome warrior crashing into
her life and into her heart—a warrior who seems to hold powers more frightening
and marvellous than her own.
When the New York gate comes under threat,
and Ares is put to the test, will he choose his duty and regain the power he
needs in order to save his world or will he choose the desires of his heart and
sacrifice his fire so he can be with the woman becoming his whole world?
ARES is
available from Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBooks
stores and other retailers. Also available in paperback. Find the links to your
preferred retailer at: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk/guardians-of-hades-ares-paranormal-romance-book.php
Add the book to your Goodreads shelf at: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20940858-ares
Books in the Guardians of Hades paranormal romance series:
Book 2: Valen – Coming in 2017
Excerpt
What in the gods’ names was that smell and
where was it coming from?
His body tensed, every inch of him going
rigid in response to the delicate scent of evening sunshine and night flowering
jasmine.
Every inch.
His eyelids slipped to half-mast and he
drew in another slow breath of it, holding it in his lungs and savouring it. He
had never smelled anything so sweet and tempting.
He had never smelled anything so feminine.
His dark gaze scoured his apartment. There
was a faint sense of familiarity about the scent. It conjured an image in his
mind of a beautiful brunette, her shoulder-length hair hanging in delicate wet
ribbons that framed her face, a stark contrast against her clear pale skin.
Luminous brown eyes had looked at him with heat and stirred a feeling he hadn’t
experienced in a long time.
He had felt protective of her.
He frowned, his dark eyebrows pinching
together. He had protected her. The
daemon had unleashed his power on her and Ares had grabbed the slender woman
and pulled her into his arms, holding her nestled close to his chest. She had
been so small and slight in his embrace, curled against him, her heat making
his heart thunder.
It thundered now.
Was it just the lingering scent of her on
his clothes that he could smell?
He couldn’t remember the last time he had
noticed the scent of a woman. Had he blocked out their tempting smell,
rendering himself immune to their presence so he didn’t suffer as much? The
past two centuries had been difficult, especially when some of his brothers had
been with women. Seeing them happy and sated when he couldn’t have a woman of
his own because the manifestation of his power meant that he would hurt them
had killed him.
Ares looked down at his hands.
He didn’t have his power now.
The cold returned, fiercer than before,
engulfing him and stealing away all the warmth he had felt on catching the
lingering scent of the beautiful woman. He had always hated how his power had
become a physical part of him when they had reached the mortal world. Only
Daimon could understand how he felt and he shared his longing to be like their
other brothers and have a power they could control, one that didn’t constantly
flow only millimetres from their skin.
A feeling worse than cold swept through him
as he contemplated his power was no longer a problem. It no longer flowed over
his skin. No longer answered his call. It was gone. He was empty. No longer
himself.
He inhaled with the intention of sighing
and stopped when he caught a stronger lungful of evening sunshine and sweet
jasmine.
His couch creaked.
Ares swallowed hard to wet his dry throat
and edged forwards, the smaller towel clutched in both hands in front of his
stomach. His heart beat hard against his chest, pounding out a rhythm that
matched his fast breathing. He peered over the back of his red couch.
There was a woman on it.
The woman.
His eyebrows rose and his fingers shook. He
stared at her, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. Why was she in his
apartment? He thought back to seeing Daimon and Esher in the alley. They must
have brought the woman with them.
Ares moved closer, until his thighs hit the
back of the couch and he couldn’t get any nearer to her, and cocked his head to
one side as he stared down at her. She was beautiful even in sleep, her face
soft and hair wavy as it spread across the red cushion. He drew in a deep
breath and closed his eyes. The scent of her caused a hard ache to start up in
the centre of his chest, behind his breastbone, and he trembled. Nothing in
this world or the Underworld, or even Mount Olympus, smelled as sweet and
divine as this woman. She was everything feminine and sensual. His lips
twitched into a smile and he drew in another breath of her, until she was all
that he knew.
He opened his eyes and looked down at her,
studying her as she slept, shaking right down to his bones with the undeniable
need to gaze upon her.
To touch her.
Could he touch her?
The thought that he might be able to pushed
at his restraint, forcing away his fears and doubts. He breathed hard, chest
heaving, struggling with his raging desire as it slipped beyond his control. He
needed to touch her, not just because his power was gone and he might be able
to.
It was more than that.
He recalled everything about her from last
night, from the moment he had first set eyes on her to the rage that had rushed
through him when Daimon had tried to touch her. He growled low in his throat, a
possessive snarl that shocked him. He had wanted her then, before losing his
power, and he only wanted her more now. She was beautiful, brave. She had
protected him even though she was weaker than the daemon. She had put herself
in danger without pause or hesitation.
He had to have her.
She had to be his.
Heat suffused every inch of him as his gaze
lingered on her, devouring her beauty. If he still had his power, right now, he
would be in danger of setting fire to his belongings for the millionth time.
He had never burned so hot before, hungered
so deeply.
Ares swallowed again, skin prickling and
heart pounding. Would he hurt her if he touched her? He managed to prise the
fingers of his right hand open and lowered it towards her. His breathing
accelerated, racing faster than his heart, and he tried to steady himself. His
gaze zeroed in on her bare arm. It looked soft and satiny. Tempting.
Inviting.
Would it feel as smooth beneath his
fingers? He inched his hand towards her, his arm shaking. What if he hurt her?
His shoulders and chest heaved with his
laboured breathing as he fought to bring it under his control. He ghosted his
hand along her arm, holding it bare millimetres away from her. He ached to
touch her but his courage failed him. He couldn’t risk hurting her. In the
alley, he had felt a deep need to protect her. It gripped him again now,
stronger than before.
He ran his gaze over her and it settled on
her hands. Small, delicate, as beautiful as the rest of her. He frowned and
caught a flash of them on his chest. He pressed his other hand to it, reliving
how she had touched him and how good it had felt to have her palm against his
flesh. She had touched him. He trembled with the need to touch her too. He
hadn’t hurt her last night. He wouldn’t hurt her now.
It dawned on him that there was a beautiful
woman in his apartment and if he touched her, she would wake.
Cold trickled down his spine and his eyes
shot to his bedroom and then around his living room and the open kitchen. It
was a complete mess. He couldn’t risk waking her by touching her and letting
her see this. Gods. For the first time in his life, Ares wished he had listened
to Keras about something. He should have hired a maid service.
He strode into his bedroom and kicked all
the clothes on his floor into a pile. He bundled them up into his arms and then
stopped, unsure what to do with them. He stared at the oak door to his closet
and teleported there, shoved the sliding door open and tossed his clothes
inside. He slid the door closed and teleported into the living room, glad that
he still had this ability. He and his brothers called it stepping. One thought
and one step, and they could move from this side of the world to the other.
He quickly stacked all the pizza cartons
and takeout boxes and stepped to the kitchen. He didn’t have anywhere to put
them and settled for neatly arranging them on the black granite breakfast bar.
It was the best he could do without leaving the apartment.
He didn’t want to leave the apartment.
He glanced at the couch and the woman
sleeping there. The skimpy dark rose top she wore drew his attention to her
breasts and sent his blood pumping. He stepped again, appearing behind the
couch this time, and looked down at her.
Now he would touch her.
He stared down at her, instantly entranced
again. Would she feel soft? Warm? Cool? He wanted to know.
He drew in a fortifying breath and leaned
over her, determined to touch her this time. He had to know how she felt and
needed to see if he could touch her without harming her. He lowered his right
hand towards her arm again and then moved course, heading towards her face, his
need to touch her cheek too strong to deny.
She stirred before he could muster the
courage to touch her, rolling onto her back and sighing. Her warm breath puffed
against his hand and he had to grab the couch to steady himself. Even that
small contact between them was too much for him. Her eyes fluttered and he
snatched his hand back.
She was still a moment and then her eyes
slowly opened and she frowned at her surroundings, and then looked up at him
with soulful brown eyes.
“What are you doing in my apartment?” he
whispered, shocked by how breathless he sounded.
Her lips parted, soft and full, alluring.
How long had it been since he had kissed a
woman?
More than three centuries.
She looked dangerous as she lay on his
couch, her warm eyes soft with sleep and hair mussed and crying out for him to
tangle his fingers in it and pull her up to him for a long hard kiss.
She blinked slowly, long black lashes
shuttering her beautiful eyes, and then smiled.
His heart thumped.
His breathing stuttered.
He had never felt so weak and defenceless.
He had never wanted anything as much as he
wanted her.
And he would have her.
She would be his.
What in the gods’ names was that smell and
where was it coming from?
His body tensed, every inch of him going
rigid in response to the delicate scent of evening sunshine and night flowering
jasmine.
Every inch.
His eyelids slipped to half-mast and he
drew in another slow breath of it, holding it in his lungs and savouring it. He
had never smelled anything so sweet and tempting.
He had never smelled anything so feminine.
His dark gaze scoured his apartment. There
was a faint sense of familiarity about the scent. It conjured an image in his
mind of a beautiful brunette, her shoulder-length hair hanging in delicate wet
ribbons that framed her face, a stark contrast against her clear pale skin.
Luminous brown eyes had looked at him with heat and stirred a feeling he hadn’t
experienced in a long time.
He had felt protective of her.
He frowned, his dark eyebrows pinching
together. He had protected her. The
daemon had unleashed his power on her and Ares had grabbed the slender woman
and pulled her into his arms, holding her nestled close to his chest. She had
been so small and slight in his embrace, curled against him, her heat making
his heart thunder.
It thundered now.
Was it just the lingering scent of her on
his clothes that he could smell?
He couldn’t remember the last time he had
noticed the scent of a woman. Had he blocked out their tempting smell,
rendering himself immune to their presence so he didn’t suffer as much? The
past two centuries had been difficult, especially when some of his brothers had
been with women. Seeing them happy and sated when he couldn’t have a woman of
his own because the manifestation of his power meant that he would hurt them
had killed him.
Ares looked down at his hands.
He didn’t have his power now.
The cold returned, fiercer than before,
engulfing him and stealing away all the warmth he had felt on catching the
lingering scent of the beautiful woman. He had always hated how his power had
become a physical part of him when they had reached the mortal world. Only
Daimon could understand how he felt and he shared his longing to be like their
other brothers and have a power they could control, one that didn’t constantly
flow only millimetres from their skin.
A feeling worse than cold swept through him
as he contemplated his power was no longer a problem. It no longer flowed over
his skin. No longer answered his call. It was gone. He was empty. No longer
himself.
He inhaled with the intention of sighing
and stopped when he caught a stronger lungful of evening sunshine and sweet
jasmine.
His couch creaked.
Ares swallowed hard to wet his dry throat
and edged forwards, the smaller towel clutched in both hands in front of his
stomach. His heart beat hard against his chest, pounding out a rhythm that
matched his fast breathing. He peered over the back of his red couch.
There was a woman on it.
The woman.
His eyebrows rose and his fingers shook. He
stared at her, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. Why was she in his
apartment? He thought back to seeing Daimon and Esher in the alley. They must
have brought the woman with them.
Ares moved closer, until his thighs hit the
back of the couch and he couldn’t get any nearer to her, and cocked his head to
one side as he stared down at her. She was beautiful even in sleep, her face
soft and hair wavy as it spread across the red cushion. He drew in a deep
breath and closed his eyes. The scent of her caused a hard ache to start up in
the centre of his chest, behind his breastbone, and he trembled. Nothing in
this world or the Underworld, or even Mount Olympus, smelled as sweet and
divine as this woman. She was everything feminine and sensual. His lips
twitched into a smile and he drew in another breath of her, until she was all
that he knew.
He opened his eyes and looked down at her,
studying her as she slept, shaking right down to his bones with the undeniable
need to gaze upon her.
To touch her.
Could he touch her?
The thought that he might be able to pushed
at his restraint, forcing away his fears and doubts. He breathed hard, chest
heaving, struggling with his raging desire as it slipped beyond his control. He
needed to touch her, not just because his power was gone and he might be able
to.
It was more than that.
He recalled everything about her from last
night, from the moment he had first set eyes on her to the rage that had rushed
through him when Daimon had tried to touch her. He growled low in his throat, a
possessive snarl that shocked him. He had wanted her then, before losing his
power, and he only wanted her more now. She was beautiful, brave. She had
protected him even though she was weaker than the daemon. She had put herself
in danger without pause or hesitation.
He had to have her.
She had to be his.
Heat suffused every inch of him as his gaze
lingered on her, devouring her beauty. If he still had his power, right now, he
would be in danger of setting fire to his belongings for the millionth time.
He had never burned so hot before, hungered
so deeply.
Ares swallowed again, skin prickling and
heart pounding. Would he hurt her if he touched her? He managed to prise the
fingers of his right hand open and lowered it towards her. His breathing
accelerated, racing faster than his heart, and he tried to steady himself. His
gaze zeroed in on her bare arm. It looked soft and satiny. Tempting.
Inviting.
Would it feel as smooth beneath his
fingers? He inched his hand towards her, his arm shaking. What if he hurt her?
His shoulders and chest heaved with his
laboured breathing as he fought to bring it under his control. He ghosted his
hand along her arm, holding it bare millimetres away from her. He ached to
touch her but his courage failed him. He couldn’t risk hurting her. In the
alley, he had felt a deep need to protect her. It gripped him again now,
stronger than before.
He ran his gaze over her and it settled on
her hands. Small, delicate, as beautiful as the rest of her. He frowned and
caught a flash of them on his chest. He pressed his other hand to it, reliving
how she had touched him and how good it had felt to have her palm against his
flesh. She had touched him. He trembled with the need to touch her too. He
hadn’t hurt her last night. He wouldn’t hurt her now.
It dawned on him that there was a beautiful
woman in his apartment and if he touched her, she would wake.
Cold trickled down his spine and his eyes
shot to his bedroom and then around his living room and the open kitchen. It
was a complete mess. He couldn’t risk waking her by touching her and letting
her see this. Gods. For the first time in his life, Ares wished he had listened
to Keras about something. He should have hired a maid service.
He strode into his bedroom and kicked all
the clothes on his floor into a pile. He bundled them up into his arms and then
stopped, unsure what to do with them. He stared at the oak door to his closet
and teleported there, shoved the sliding door open and tossed his clothes
inside. He slid the door closed and teleported into the living room, glad that
he still had this ability. He and his brothers called it stepping. One thought
and one step, and they could move from this side of the world to the other.
He quickly stacked all the pizza cartons
and takeout boxes and stepped to the kitchen. He didn’t have anywhere to put
them and settled for neatly arranging them on the black granite breakfast bar.
It was the best he could do without leaving the apartment.
He didn’t want to leave the apartment.
He glanced at the couch and the woman
sleeping there. The skimpy dark rose top she wore drew his attention to her
breasts and sent his blood pumping. He stepped again, appearing behind the
couch this time, and looked down at her.
Now he would touch her.
He stared down at her, instantly entranced
again. Would she feel soft? Warm? Cool? He wanted to know.
He drew in a fortifying breath and leaned
over her, determined to touch her this time. He had to know how she felt and
needed to see if he could touch her without harming her. He lowered his right
hand towards her arm again and then moved course, heading towards her face, his
need to touch her cheek too strong to deny.
She stirred before he could muster the
courage to touch her, rolling onto her back and sighing. Her warm breath puffed
against his hand and he had to grab the couch to steady himself. Even that
small contact between them was too much for him. Her eyes fluttered and he
snatched his hand back.
She was still a moment and then her eyes
slowly opened and she frowned at her surroundings, and then looked up at him
with soulful brown eyes.
“What are you doing in my apartment?” he
whispered, shocked by how breathless he sounded.
Her lips parted, soft and full, alluring.
How long had it been since he had kissed a
woman?
More than three centuries.
She looked dangerous as she lay on his
couch, her warm eyes soft with sleep and hair mussed and crying out for him to
tangle his fingers in it and pull her up to him for a long hard kiss.
She blinked slowly, long black lashes
shuttering her beautiful eyes, and then smiled.
His heart thumped.
His breathing stuttered.
He had never felt so weak and defenceless.
He had never wanted anything as much as he
wanted her.
And he would have her.
She would be his.
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, her best-selling Her Angel romance series is for you. If you like
strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm romance 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 her Vampire Erotic
Theatre romance series. Or if you like hot-blooded alpha heroes who will let
nothing stand in the way of them claiming their destined woman then try her
Eternal Mates series. It’s packed with sexy heroes in a world populated by
elves, vampires, fae, demons, shifters, and more. If sexy Greek gods with
incredible powers battling to save our world and their home in the Underworld
are more your thing, then be sure to step into the world of Guardians of Hades.
If you want to know more about Felicity,
or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:
