When Willa’s love is transformed into a vampire, and she is forced to do unspeakable evil, she vows to make the king that ruined her life pay.
Silence kept her alive.
Magic will set her free.
Willa Avery created the serum that changed the world as humans, witches, and vampires knew it. Sun Serum 99, the cure for a vampire’s death by sunlight. Many tried to create it, but it took the magic and science of a Grand Elite Caster to perfect it. Despite the fame and recognition that came with this new discovery, the fact remains: Willa was forced by the vampire king of the West to create the one thing she could have used to kill him.
After hiding from the king and his spies for years, she's tired of living in the shadows. She vows to end his reign of terror and return to the man she was stolen from a century ago.
With her two best friends—witches of high rank by her side, and the love of a vampire seeking his own freedom, can Willa destroy the king that ruined her life?
Exclusive Excerpt:
“I HATE YOU,” Katya shouted from the loft at the top of the stairs. "How could you do this to me?"
Nude, with long blonde hair cascading over her shoulders, she was stunning when angry. Her pert nose reddened as her eyes narrowed at Kristoff Dargaard. For two years, he'd thought her Russian accent was charming. Now he wished she would shut up.
Folding his arms across his bare chest, he gazed at her, indifferent. Yawning, he decided it was best not to ignore the young woman that knew most of the passwords to his accounts.
That’s what I get for sleeping with my assistant.
"Listen to me, Katya. I know what you did. I don’t take kindly to spies."
She threw a bottle of wine at him. “I told you I wasn’t a spy!”
Kristoff sighed, watching the bottle come straight toward his head. As if in slow motion, the bottle soared across the room to him. He sidestepped it.
Effortlessly.
He cringed at the sound of the bottle crashing onto the floor, splashing his bare feet with the red liquid.
When she went to break his cell phone with all of the proof of her treachery, he darted up the stairs at lightning speed. Kristoff snatched his phone from her hand and grabbed Katya by her hair. Within seconds he tossed her over the rail.
Her scream was so loud that he almost let her fall. She grabbed his hands with both of her own. She gripped him tightly, afraid to fall twenty feet to the marble floor of his Charleston manor.
The five-foot-eight woman was at least one-hundred and thirty pounds, but he held her mid-air as if she weighed nothing more than a rag doll.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Stop! You're hurting me!" She grabbed his hand while he held her in the air by a fistful of blonde hair. “I’m sorry!”
"Are you done?"
Lips trembling, she looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. She nodded.
"Y-y-yes."
"Good," he said, lifting her back over the polished brass railing.
When he set Katya back on her feet, she ran to gather her clothes. Leaning against the rail, he watched her stuff her black heels in her bag and slip on tight jeans and a purple sweater, and ballet flats. She kept glancing at him as if to make sure he wasn't coming after her.
Kristoff contemplated walking over there, taking her by her waist and making love to her once more on his down-filled white blanket.
He'd miss Katya's sweet mouth and even sweeter blood.
The puncture marks from his fangs were stark against her white skin. He'd need to take care of the marks and her memory before she left.
When she was done packing and dressing she stood there, silently, waiting for permission to leave. Tears streamed down her face.
Kristoff strode over to her and collected her in his arms. “I know it wasn’t your fault.”
“He made me do it,” Katya wailed. She sobbed into his chest, clinging to him like a child being taken from her parents.
She loved him.
Too bad he didn't love her back. His heart belonged to another.
"Will you forgive me?" Her tear-filled bright blue eyes stared up at him.
Kristoff smoothed her hair. She didn’t even know how serious the situation was. He wondered how many of Lukas’ agents watched him at all times, waiting for him to slip up and reveal the truth.
Being the head of PR for an entire race could be challenging at times, but Kristoff was seemingly made for it. He was the face of the Vampire Nation. With ivory skin, sandy brown hair, and ethereal green eyes, the majority of the human population saw his beauty and accepted him.
"I forgive you," Kristoff said. He took her face into his hands and gazed into her eyes. The ethereal green and hazel of his eyes flickered into a deep red as he worked his glamour on her. “Now, you’ll forget everything involving me and my estate. You’ll forget what you saw in my office yesterday, won’t you?"
Katya nodded, wiping her tears as she slung her bag over her shoulder and left his room in a stupor that would last for a few hours. When she came to, she'd remember nothing of the two years she'd been Kristoff's assistant and lover.
He stood at his floor-to-ceiling window and watched for her to leave in her red convertible. When she sped away, Kristoff flopped onto his bed. He picked up his phone and deleted the email he’d received, the one that would have sent Lukas flying down to Charleston within hours of hearing of it.
A new email from Josef caught Kristoff’s attention.
There was an attachment.
He hoped it was good news. Kristoff needed something to lure him out of his foul mood.
His eyes widened as he stared at the picture on the screen.
Big blue eyes under dark lashes looked back at him. A bright smile almost warmed the coldness of his heart. Jet black hair framed the face of the goddess he gawked at. Pale skin sprinkled with delicate freckles and full lips the color of carnations stirred something in his belly, a feeling he hadn't experienced in a long time.
Willa Avery.
Kristoff swallowed, renewed feelings resurfacing as he gazed at her beauty. His hopes were confirmed. The email was real. Willa Avery had returned from wherever it was that she had run off to.
The one woman he had loved.
The woman he had lost.
Author Bio
K.N. Lee is an award-winning author who resides in Charlotte, North Carolina. When she is not writing twisted tales, fantasy novels, and dark poetry, she does a great deal of traveling and promotes other authors. Wannabe rock-star, foreign language enthusiast, and anime geek, K.N. Lee also enjoys helping others reach their writing and publishing goals. She is a winner of the Elevate Lifestyle Top 30 Under 30 "Future Leaders of Charlotte" award for her success as a writer, business owner, and for community service.
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