Journey
Man
Knights
of Black Swan
Book
Nine
Victoria
Danann
Genre:
paranormal romance
Publisher:
7th House, Imprint of Andromeda LLC
Date
of Publication: 04/07/16
ISBN:
978-1-933320-57-1
ASIN:
B01CWHK0K8
Number
of pages: 310
Word
Count: 75k
Cover
Artist: Victoria Danann
Book
Description:
For
five years, Glendennon Catch had knocked around the globe as a
floater, filling in wherever a team of vampire hunters was down a
member. He’d buried six good knights and watched the life take its
toll on countless others. He’d drunk his share of whiskey and
bedded so many women he would hate to hear the count, but he’d
never gotten over his first love. And, if he had a chance for a
do-over, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have chosen Rosie Storm over
The Order.
Elora
Rose Storm had spent five years nursing a heavy heart, while on a
cross-dimensional mission to make the world a better place,
especially wherever she found human/animal hybrids being mistreated.
She’d seen horrors, righted wrongs where she could, and matured
into a powerful witch/demon with altruistic leanings.
After
all that time, unbeknownst to each other, both were headed home. To
Jefferson Unit
Excerpt:
There
was a soft knock on the open door.
Glen
turned to see Rosie standing there, looking unbelievably beautiful
and uncertain. He pinned Monq with a look that should have caused him
to explode into millions of tiny bits. “You. Did. Not,” he said
slowly and distinctly, each word dripping with outrage.
“I
did,” Monq said casually as he rose from his chair. Looking at
Rosie, he said, “Come in, my dear. We’re having sea bass with
pasta primavera and Alfredo sauce.”
He
gestured toward the table, but Rosie didn’t move. She looked at
Glen and said, “I saw you a few nights ago. In the Hub. You walked
right by, but I guess you didn’t see me.”
Glen’s
dark eyes flashed as he sneered. “I saw you.”
“Oh,”
she said in a quiet voice. She searched his face and couldn’t find
anything of the boy who had loved her. In addition to the physical
changes, he had a hard edge that broadcasted bitterness.
Monq
decided he’d better establish himself as an arbiter or things were
going to deteriorate quickly. “I understand you two used to know
each other.”
Glen
smirked and looked away, shaking his head. “No. Not really. I
thought I knew her. Turned out not.”
Rosie
was beginning to understand the depth of the hurt she’d delivered
to her first love. She’d been too selfish, too immature, and too
shortsighted to grasp the consequences of her rash behavior. Now that
she’d come face to face with the results, it looked like it was far
too late to do anything about it. The damage wasn’t just done. It
had clearly reinfected itself again and again and festered past the
point of repair.
She
stood there staring at Glen, wondering if an apology would help or
make things worse. Looking at the way he was clenching his jaw, she
decided things couldn’t get any worse.
“I’m
sorry,” she said.
Glen’s
gaze jerked up to her eyes. He could see she was sincere and, if
anything, it made him hate her more. At least it made him angrier.
“Oh,
good. Dinner is here,” Monq exclaimed cheerfully.
All
the while dinner was being set out Glen and Rosie continued to look
at each other, but nothing changed. He was resolute in his rage. She
was genuine in her contrition.
When
the waiter was gone, Monq persuaded them to sit down at the table set
for three.
“I
don’t know how you see this playing out, old man.” said Glen to
Monq.
“There’s
no reason to be disrespectful to Mr. Monq,” Rosie chastised.
“Dr.
Monq.” Monq corrected.
Clearly
Glen didn’t like being chastised about manners, especially by
Rosie. “I don’t know how you see this playing out, Dr. Monq, but
no good can come from it.”
By
that time Rosie was beginning to feel a little less sorry. “Oh? And
why is that?” she asked.
“Because,
wunderkind, you can’t change the past with a couple of words like
‘sorry’.”
“I
know that, Glen. But apologizing is a start.”
“Really?”
He bit out the word. “A start toward what?”
“It’s
a start toward forgiveness and maybe, eventually, being friends
again.”
He
startled both Monq and Rosie by laughing out loud. “FRIENDS!?!
Friends don’t give each other ultimatums and then disppear. FOR
YEARS!”
Rosie
sighed. “You’re right. That was dumb. And thoughtless. And if I
could take it back…”
“Well,
you can’t.” Glen fumed as he shoved a huge forkful of pasta into
his mouth.
“Rosie,
why don’t you tell us what you’ve been doing since you last saw
Glen.”
“I’m
not particularly interested in what she’s been doing,” Glen said,
looking anywhere but at Rosie.
“Well,”
she said to Monq, “I can tell you what he’s been doing. He’s
been mastering the art of being an ass. You’ve changed, Glen.”
“I…”
Monq started.
Glen
cut him off. “You know what your problem is, Elora Rose? You
haven’t changed. You’re still the same self-involved brat who
thinks all she needs to do is prance back in here… Oh, look at me,
I’m practically royalty. Black Swan’s precious little princess is
sorry she made a mess.”
“You’re
making this harder than it needs to be.”
“Yeah?
And who gets to decide that? You? You get to decide everything, don’t
you?”
“I
made a mistake, Glen. A big one. But what you’ve made is a gigantic
fucking mess of yourself.”
“You
don’t know anything about me, little girl.”
Rosie
stood up and threw her napkin down. “I know you’re the one
releasing the hogs of war.”
Glen
sat back and crossed his arms then gave her a smile that broke her
and tugged at her heart strings at the same time. “That’s dogs of
war,” he said with a smugness that made her want to smush his
smarmy face.
“Forget
what I said about being sorry. All I really want from you is to stay
away from me.” As punctuation, on the way out of the room, she
grabbed a pillow from Monq’s settee and threw it at Glen, who
simply caught it and laughed.
“Fine
by me.”
“Loser.
Do you even have any friends?” She said it as a parting shot, but
decided to add one last thing on her way out the door. “AND I DON’T
PRANCE!”
That
last question about having friends had hit a nerve with Glen. His
taunting laughter melted into a seething anger that had him breathing
hard.
“B****,”
he fired back, but she was gone.
Monq
said, “Well, that went better than I expected.”
Glen
stood, glowering at Monq, then raised his dinner plate to shoulder
height.
Monq
managed to say, “Please! Not the fireplace again!”
Glen
huffed. “How’s this?” He raised one bent leg and broke the
plate over his own thigh.
As
he stormed out of the room Monq said, “Dinner at seven tomorrow
night. Don’t be late.”
Glen
gave him the finger without turning around.
Monq
sighed and looked at the broken plate and ruined food on the new
carpet. He was thinking he was glad he’d opted for Alfredo sauce
instead of marinara.
About
the Author:
New
York Times and USA Today bestselling author of eleven romances.
Victoria's Knights of Black Swan series won BEST PARANORMAL ROMANCE
SERIES TWO YEARS IN A ROW. Reviewers Choice Awards, The Paranormal
Romance Guild.
Her
paranormal romances come with uniquely fresh perspectives on
"imaginary" creatures, characters, and themes. She adds a
dash of scifi, a flourish of fantasy, enough humor to make you laugh
out loud, and enough steam to make you squirm in your chair. Her
heroines are independent femmes with flaws and minds of their own
whether they are aliens, witches, demonologists, psychics, past life
therapists. Her heroes are hot and hunky, but they also have brains,
character, and good manners. **Usually.
Victoria
lives in The Woodlands, Texas with her husband and a very smart,
mostly black German Shepherd dog.
TWITTER:
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