Felicity's PNR books and me have a constant war, so to speak. Some of them really amazed me and became my favorites, some of them just didn't do it for Me. I always bitching about the lack of action, even though I know it's PNR not an UF (can't help it, sorry!!) and I kind of just jumped into the middle of this new series, not knowing exactly what to expect this time. I WAS IMMEDIATELY SUCKED IN! Truth to be told, It still has more lovemaking than fighting, but I really enjoyed it.
I don't know what I loved most: the characters/their relationships or the world building. Granted, I rolled my eyes at the heroine, Sable sometimes (she was a bit whiny), but she was okay most of the time. In fight? She is Badass!
Besides these three, we have a quite powerful line of side characters. Readers can meet Loren, Olivia and Vail again. An entire werewolf pack, and a vampire clan with a jackass, but fun leader, some human warriors, witches - good and evil -, even dragon shifters. Plus we meet some of the VET crew (Snow <3). I loved how all these different creatures got together to stop the big bad wolf -err Demon King. I loved their interactions, even their fights. We lose some of them along the way, and it hurts! So there is love, hate, friendship, alliance, betrayal, mystery and death. The world building is absolutely phenomenal!! The different realms, different races with their own unique features and abilities and hierarchy. Again I was mind-blown by Felicity's ability to describe so vividly and powerfully everything. Of course my favorite parts were the two fight scenes (including the childish fights between Thorne and Bleu :)), but I instantly felt the chemistry between the characters, so the romance was great, too.
“Is there a dress code for tonight?” Sable looked at the beautiful gown and then Loren’s fine clothing resting over the chair.
She hadn’t brought anything for this sort of situation and she doubted her team had either. All of her clothes were fit for battle and nothing else. Even if she had known in advance about the feast, it wouldn’t have helped. She didn’t own anything as fine as the dress Loren held. She didn’t own a dress period.
“I really don’t want to offend Thorne,” she ignored the teasing look Olivia slid her way, “but I know all of my team brought only battle clothes with them.”
“That will not be a problem.” Loren laid the dress down on top of his clothing and turned to her. “You represent your team so only you will be seated at the main table with the other commanding officers. Thorne will not mind if your subordinates are dressed plainly.”
In other words, he would mind if she was.
Sable refused to panic about this. “Maybe there’s a demon female I can borrow a dress from.”
“That won’t be possible,” Olivia said, snatching her focus. “There are no demon females.”
She gasped. “Who were those women then?”
“Witches… a vampire or two. I believe there was even a shifter amongst them,” Loren replied and Sable’s gaze darted back to him.
“Demons don’t have females?” How had she not known that?
“No,” Olivia said for him and why hadn’t her friend told her about this? “The Devil put some sort of curse on seven demon species when they seized these lands to make their own realms… I guess he was pissed because he wiped out all the women and made it so the men would have to seek out their fated one. Now, demons can only mate with their fated females. The kicker is that most of them are mortal… and demons stick out like sore thumbs in our world.”
Mortal.
Sable’s pulse kicked up a notch. “How do they know their female?”
“They dream of her after meeting her.” Loren’s smile turned wicked and she didn’t like the glint in his eyes.
Cold slithered through her even as her cheeks began to heat.
“You’re talking… naughty… dreams.” Could she sound any more innocent and nervous?
He nodded. “Very, very naughty.”
“Loren,” Olivia chided and crossed the room to him. Sable thanked her for backing her up until her friend turned to her, forming an allied front with Loren, her smile just as wicked as his was. “You’re not having naughty dreams of Thorne are you, Sable?”
“No.” Lie. A whopper of one. The dreams she’d had of him had been x-rated and hotter than all of her real-life encounters rolled into one. “Besides, I’m not a demon male. Why would I dream of him?”
Loren preened his jacket and casually said, “Because their female dreams of them too, and they both experience the same dream if they’re sleeping at the same time.”
Holy hell in a hand-basket. His triumphant smile said he had noticed the blush that had risen onto her cheeks before she had gotten the better of herself.
“Screw both of you. Stop messing with me.”
“In all seriousness, demons are aggressive and it often takes their female to tame them and teach them civility, so try to avoid the unmated ones.” Olivia touched Sable’s arm.
She nodded, even though she didn’t think they were particularly aggressive. Thorne seemed quite calm to her most of the time, and the demons she had encountered so far were not as she had pictured or how Olivia said they were.
Olivia squeezed her arm. “Why did you hurl yourself into that fight?”
Sable glared at her. Could she not have five minutes without Olivia or Loren insinuating that she fancied Thorne?
She sighed. “I honestly thought they were attacking him. What else was I to think? We were called here to help in a war and we appear in the middle of a huge fight!”
Loren smiled and she wanted to slug him. “Your clue was that the other demons in the area were merely watching events unfold and not stepping in to protect their king.”
Sable loosed a ripe curse in his direction and then added, “Shut up.”
“It’s just like you to see a fight and want in on it,” Olivia said and she was about to nod in agreement until her friend ruined it by tacking on, “Of course, if it hadn’t been Thorne in the middle of that battle—”
“You can shut up too.” Sable took her arm away from Olivia and scowled at both of them.
“Come, come. I believe we have teased her enough. She will use one of those crossbow bolts on us if we do not stop.” Loren held his hand out to Olivia and she slipped hers into it and went to him. He pulled his mate flush against him and smiled down into her eyes before turning his gaze back on Sable. “Do not worry about the feast. Bleu will have left a dress for you in your room.”
There was a knock at the door. Sable opened it and stared as a huge blond demon rolled a large wooden tub into the room and set it down by the fire. Others entered behind him, carrying pitchers of steaming water.
A bath.
Sable wanted one of those too. She needed to relax before she could even think about showing her face at the feast. She wanted to scrub away her shame and embarrassment, and unwind.
She leaned out into the hall and looked along it towards her room.
A big dark-haired male stood there with another tub and an impatient look on his rugged face.
“Got to dash.” She looked over her shoulder to Loren and Olivia, at the tub and then back at them. “Try to keep the volume turned down when you’re scrubbing her back, Big Guy.”
Loren blushed and he blushed hard.
Sable tossed him a victorious grin and shot from the room. The demon waiting with the tub scowled at her and then something flickered in his dark red eyes and he straightened and bowed his head. She grimaced when she recognised him as one of the demons from the courtyard. Just great. She got to have her tub delivered by someone who had witnessed the whole debacle with his king.
“Roll it in, Big Guy.” She pushed her door open and waved him on. He grunted something under his breath and heaved the tub forwards, picked it up with one hand on the rim, walked to the fireplace off to her left and set it down. She hadn’t meant to challenge his strength but he had clearly taken her pet term and words as just that. Maybe he wasn’t good with English.
He flicked her another glance, raking his gaze over her from head to toe this time, curled his lip and stalked off.
Not stalked. Limped.
Great. Not just a witness but one of the ones she had shot.
“Sorry,” she called after him but he didn’t stop.
He disappeared around the corner and the other demons filed in, depositing the hot water into the tub.
Water in Hell. Back at Archangel, she had wondered if they would have such things in this part of Hell. Loren’s kingdom had water but then they had portals that channelled a river through their lands. Where did this kingdom get its water?
Probably through portals. Demons could teleport too.
Sable closed the door after the last demon had left and turned to the bed.
A beautiful sky-blue dress lay on top of the furs. She crossed the room to it and gazed down at the gauzy layers of fabric and the elegant silver metalwork of the corset beside it. It took her breath away. She had never worn anything so beautiful or so feminine.
A vision of her walking into the great hall and Thorne going wild for her the moment he set eyes on her rose into her mind.
She shut it out. She couldn’t let things go that way. She was here on an important mission, one that would decide the fate of Thorne’s kingdom. She couldn’t let her desire get the better of her. She couldn’t become a distraction for Thorne.
She couldn’t give him the impression that she wanted him, even when she burned for him.
This is what I truly am. . . .
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