Show Us Your Best Excerpt: Paranormal Romance Blog Hop

If you love PNR, this is your chance to check out a ton of great excerpts.

Welcome to my stop at the Give Us Your Best Excerpt! Paranormal Romance Blog Hop!

Giveaway: Leave a comment at the bottom of this post about either the excerpt or the cover, and you’ll be entered to win the box set (ebook) from this series. It contains books 1, 2, 3, and 3.5. 

My excerpt is from Ascension, which is part of my Transformed series. (The first book is free! Either grab it from your favorite ebook store or join my newsletter and snag two more of my books, too.)

Excerpt

Ziamara opened her eyes slowly, looked at her grandma, blinked a few times and then closed her eyes again. My heart ached. She was nearly gone.

I gave Heidi a small smile. “She’ll be fine, but I should get started.”

Heidi nodded, tears filling her eyes, and she left the room, closing the door behind her. I pulled a chair next to the bed and sat, watching the teen. Each breath she took was labored.

“Ziamara,” I whispered.

She cracked her eyes open.

“Did your grandma explain to you what I can do to help you?” I asked.

Ziamara nodded slightly, but didn’t say anything.

“Are you able to drink on your own?”

She gave another weak nod. “I’ve been at the hospital taking all kinds of stuff.” Her voice was dry and cracking.

“Why don’t you close your eyes, and I’ll let you know when I’m ready?” I asked.

She closed her eyes, and for a moment, I was afraid it was too late. But she finally breathed, and I heard her heartbeat again. It sounded as though it was about to give out any moment.

I brought my wrist to my mouth and bit into my flesh, not allowing my fangs to extend. If they did, I would run the risk of getting venom on my wound. Since I was going to change her with my blood, I couldn’t allow any of my venom near her. That was part of what made a blood transformation so difficult.

I cringed because the wound hurt without the venom, which held pain-reducing properties.

Placing my other hand over her eyes, I whispered, “I need you to drink this. Can you do that?”

Ziamara mumbled an almost-inaudible yes. I pressed my bloody wrist to her mouth and she began to drink. It was so slow that at first, I wasn’t sure she was even getting any blood. I expected her to gag, but she didn’t. I noticed her mouth moving, and I could feel a little bit of a pull as she drank a tiny amount.

“Keep it up,” I urged.

As she continued, the pull grew stronger, bit by bit. I could even feel a little bit of my power draining from me. After only a couple of minutes, I could see the yellow begin to dissipate from her skin. My blood would make her stronger and heal her wounds, but unfortunately, my blood wasn’t a cure for any diseases.

Finally, Ziamara stopped. “Is that enough?” She sounded stronger than she had only minutes before. I still had my hand over her eyes, and she didn’t fight it.

“Yes. You had plenty,” I said. I removed my hand from her eyes, which she kept closed. “We’ll let it cycle through your system for a few minutes, so just relax.”

“Okay,” she whispered, her eyes still closed.

I licked my wrist, watching the wound heal instantaneously from my saliva. I turned back to Ziamara, watching as her skin turned to a natural tone.

Conversation sounded downstairs. Heidi was worried, and thought I was taking too long. Cliff reassured her that I was taking my time to make sure that it was done right.

Glancing back to Ziamara, I noticed she was squirming a little.

“What you drank is helping your body to heal from some of the effects of the disease, it—”

“You mean the blood that I drank,” she said, still keeping her eyes closed.

I smiled. “Yes, my blood. This next part might hurt a little. I’ll need you to be as still as you can.”

Ziamara opened her eyes. “I’ve been pumped with painkillers. I can barely feel a thing. It’ll be hours before all that’s gone from my system.”

“By then, you won’t need it,” I assured her. “But I’ll be as gentle as possible, just please remember to remain still. It will only take a minute.”

“Trust me,” she said with a weak laugh. “It won’t be a problem.”

I held her hand and brought it to my face. I sighed, bracing myself for what I was about to do. Again, I was going to have to bite down without letting my fangs extend. I was going to have to drink her blood without allowing even a drop of my venom to escape.

It was an excruciatingly difficult and painful process. I should know—I had spent years perfecting the art.

I bit into her wrist, fighting my fangs.

Ziamara jumped, but her eyelids didn’t even flutter. Tears sprang to my own eyes as I fought my natural instincts. I wanted to scream out in pain, but I knew the importance of what I was doing. I drank, despite the searing pain not only in my mouth, but coursing its way through every inch of me.

Would this ever get any easier?

Once I’d had enough, I stopped and leaned back into the chair, recovering as the pain ever so slowly released its grip from my body. As her blood, untainted by my venom, ran through me, I let myself relax. My fangs stopped trying to force their way out.

After a few minutes, I sat back up. I then remembered that I needed to seal her wound. I’d been hurting so badly I’d completely forgotten about that. I held her wrist again and licked the wound, watching it heal.

I exhaled, appreciating every tiny bit of relief as it came. If Ziamara hadn’t been Natalie’s relative, I would have certainly turned her with my venom. Using venom was not only easy, but it didn’t even hurt.

“I’m going to need you to drink again,” I said once I felt relief enough to speak.

“If it has this much healing power, I’ll drink as much as you want me to,” Ziamara said.

My eyes lit up at how much more energetic she sounded. My blood was already beginning to heal. I hadn’t thought that would happen until she became a vampire. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

Bringing my wrist back to my mouth, I bit again. Keeping my fangs retracted wasn’t so difficult when biting into myself. It took effort, but it didn’t hurt since I didn’t crave my own blood.

“Are you ready?” I asked, looking at my fresh wound. I could smell her blood mixed with mine, which made my mouth water. My fangs began to extend. I didn’t wait for her to answer. I put my wound to her mouth before my fangs could force their way out. That kind of pain was nearly unbearable.

As Ziamara drank, the aroma of her blood left the air and my fangs stopped fighting me. I was able to relax again as she filled herself on my blood mixed with hers. I pulled my wrist away after a couple of minutes, and licked the wound. My mouth watered again at the scent of her blood.

She opened her eyes. “I feel amazing. I mean, not like if I wasn’t sick. But, seriously, I haven’t felt this good in so long.”

“I’m glad to hear that. It means everything is working. We’ll give it a few more minutes before we move to the next phase.”

“What’s the next phase?” she asked, her eyes wide.

I paused to consider my wording. “It’s the part to incite the transformation. You’ll rest for a while and then wake up with more energy and strength than you ever dreamed of.”

The corners of her mouth twitched. “I can’t wait.”

I nodded, not daring to tell her that the next phase was where I had to kill her. Her death would trigger her transformation, and about six hours later, she would wake up as the newest royal vampire—craving human blood.

We sat in silence for about fifteen minutes, waiting for the blood to make its way through her. Finally, I asked, “Are you ready?”

“Let’s do it.” She clutched her bed covers, her mouth forming a grin.

I rose. “Can you sit up on your own?”

“Let’s find out,” Ziamara said. She struggled, but was able to sit. “I can’t remember the last time I did that!”

I smiled at her. “Just wait until you see what you can do in a few hours.”

Her eyes widened.

Stepping closer to the bed, I said, “This might… pinch… a little.”

“No problem.”

I wrapped my arms around her. I took a deep breath, and then with one quick motion, I snapped her neck.

If you enjoyed this excerpt, you will probably love the Transformed series. Remember, Deception (#1) is FREE! 

Giveaway

Leave a comment below about the excerpt or cover for your chance to win the box set from this series (ebook copy of books 1, 2, 3, and 3.5) The winners will be chosen at random, using random.org.

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