My friend Kris Cook has a release today, a new offshoot of his Eternally Three series. It is another fantastic addition to this series and if you have not read any of the books, you can read this one and not be lost. It will also give you an idea of what the world is like.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks Melissa for letting me share my new release, LILLIAN’S ROGUES with you and your readers. I’m thrilled to have another installment in my Eternally Three series. This is a connected novella and can be read without reading the longer installments of the series, PERFECTION and CAPTIVATION. In the series, immortals require to sexually connect to humans in what is called a tripling which is similar to the laws of electricity that needs positive, negative and conduit.
In LILLIAN’S ROGUES we learn a bit more about the unique humans called bloodliners. We also learn about the neutral immortals (phantoms and shades).
In this excerpt, Lillian has come to spring the two immortals from their imprisonment but the tables are turned on her.
EXCERPT:
Lillian softly said, “I know you’re awake, Titus. Don’t try to grab me, please. Hear me out.”
He didn’t move. She can’t know.
“But I do. Reno’s awake, too.”
Titus opened his eyes. She can read my mind. Unbelievable.
The shade responded, “Yes, I am. Lillian, what are you doing here?”
“I’m springing you. And yes, I can hear your thoughts, Titus. Can’t you hear mine?”
“Sometimes,” he lied. He’d never known any mortal, bloodliner or not, with such power. He’d always believed that to be only an immortal skill. Strange. Now he knew better. With more power, he would’ve guarded his mind from her and any other Conclave eavesdroppers. But he didn’t have more power, thanks to Lillian and her bloodliner friends.
Reno frowned. “Titus, you never told me that you could hear Lillian’s thoughts.”
Fool! “Didn’t think you needed to know.”
“He’s no fool, Titus. And I’m sorry about what we’ve done to you—what I’ve done to you.”
“Don’t waste your words on me.” He sent her a look that he hoped she would understand. Forgiveness would never come from him. “You are the only real fool here, young high priestess.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll hand it to you. It took a lot of guts and skill to get past the guards and into this cell without every warning bell in creation going off. Quite impressive.”
“Thank you.” Her lips curled up into a beautiful grin. “The guards are under a sleep charm I learned. I dismantled the spells to this place. It wasn’t hard.”
God, she was like no woman Titus, as a captive or as a free immortal, had ever known.
“You believe you can get us out of here?” Reno asked.
She whispered, “Yes. I do.”
“He may be a sucker, but I’m not.” Titus shook his head. “Even if I believed you, which I don’t, there’s more to the spells holding us than you know. You will be killed the minute we step out of this cell. We will suffer incredible pain at Feandan’s hand and you will be executed.” I refuse to be the cause of her death.
Her sudden frantic glances told volumes. She wasn’t lying. That floored him.
“Lil, don’t let Titus the Terrible bring you down. What’s your plan?”
“I read about a portal spell in the Book of Timu. I haven’t been able to perform it, but it says most immortals can create them easily.”
“Sorry, sweetheart. I’m new to my immortal life. I don’t know much magic at all, and my buddy here hasn’t been really instructive since we became roommates.”
Lillian turned from Reno to him. “Please, Titus. It’s your only hope. You know how to create one, don’t you?”
Could she really mean to try this insanity? Why?
“Call it a crisis of faith. I do this because neither of you deserve such treatment. No one does. I know now that the teachings of The Conclave are untrue.”
What’s her angle?
“No angle, Titus. I promise.”
Anger welled up inside him. “Get out of my head.”
She stepped back from the bars, trembling. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know how I’m doing it. Believe me, if I did I would’ve stopped it a long time ago.”
Titus realized she must’ve been reading his mind and the cowboy’s since the first day. How? He’d suspected for some time that she was more than she appeared. Now he knew it. Worse, she must’ve listened to his insatiable ramblings for her—how much he wanted her under him begging for the orgasms he would withhold from her. He hated his disadvantage. That would be corrected should they beat the odds and succeed in escaping.
“Quiet your mind,” he ordered. “Think about some time or place that you enjoy. Don’t let your thoughts wander.”
“Is it something like meditation?” She closed her eyes.
“Yes. Control your thoughts.” Easy to ask of someone so young, but hard to expect. It’d taken him a century or more to learn how to do just that. But in the past couple of months, just being near her had undone much of that work.
“It’s working. I can’t hear either of your thoughts.” She opened her eyes. “Thank you.”
“You’re wasting time, which I doubt we have much of.”
Reno smiled. “We? You’re in. Good. Time to saddle up and get the hell out of here.”
“The high priestess is right. Creating a portal is a simple spell, but I don’t have enough power to open one large enough for a mosquito to pass through.”
Lillian stepped into the cell. Another step and he could grab her.
“And?” Reno asked.
“We have to complete a tripling,” Titus answered. In a flash, he grabbed Lillian’s arm and pulled her into him, covering her mouth with his hand. “Got you.”
“What the fuck, Titus?" Reno's tone held a dangerous warning. “Let her go, right now.”
“She’s not our friend, Reno. Lillian, I can snap your neck in a flash. You understand that?”
She nodded.
God, he loved holding her immobile next to him. Her scent filled his nostrils, notes of honeysuckle and raindrops.
“I’m going to move my hand from your mouth. If you scream, you’re dead.”
He could never kill her, even if everything logical inside told him he should. Something about her made him her hostage, not the other way around. He knew it, but she would never know. Advantage—mine.
