Dark Surrender is Rachel Van Dyken's highly anticipated paranormal release. This addition to The Dark One's Sexy Vampire Series.... We love this series and are pleased to offer you a sneak peek. Pre-order your copy before it drops on December 12th!
Never met a male siren before?
You're about to.... I grew up as a prince... And lead the life of a King. There isn't anyone or anything that doesn't want me, that isn't attracted to me. They can't help it. And I sure as hell don't want them to. I live for their lust, I crave touch like an addiction, I make them beg on their knees for one, simple, caress. As a male siren it's my job to feed off emotion. And I was happy to do it. I am happy to do it. What I'm not happy about? Being told I have to mate with some withering human and stay loyal to that one person for the next few centuries. There's a war coming and being the idiot I am--I offered to take one for the team in order to help a friend. Now my sexual appetite is taking a freaking kick in the nuts. And I'm left wondering if it's worth it. If she's worth it, with messy hair and dirty human hands. But I have a world to save. A job to do. Now, if only, she would just let me do it rather than fighting me at every turn. I've lived lifetimes as the most irresistible being on the planet. Only to meet my match. With one. Measly. Human. They say hells hot. They're wrong. Because Hope, my little human, is way hotter. And before this is over--she may just singe me alive. |
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EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT
**can be read as a standalone**
I wiped the sweat from my body with the cool sheet and stood as the moon shone into the room, casting a silver glow across the white sheets.
She belonged next to me.
But every time I closed my eyes, I saw her blood on my hands.
I would be her death.
With a curse, I stomped over to the window and pushed it open, taking a much needed deep breath.
My car was still gone.
I glanced at my nightstand and let out an irritated sigh. It was late at night — too late for her to be by herself. Who the hell took a job watering plants anyway? Especially a defenseless human?
Elf.
Of course.
It made sense that she would be drawn to life — because a small part of her was always consciously aware that her one and only job was to produce life — and then die.
What a miserable existence.
A weak existence.
I had at least another ten hours before I needed her again.
Wanting her? That was an entirely different story. My body shook with want like I was a drug addict, my mind told me that one taste was all I needed and the burn would stop. But I knew the truth.
The burning hadn’t stopped since I’d turned fifteen.
The burning would not stop.
Until my death.
A loud knock on my door jarred my thoughts.
The door opened.
Of course it did because privacy wasn’t exactly something that was freely given at Ethan’s. But I was too much of a menace to society to live out on my own. Cassius had created a nice little protective barrier around my room making it so that the trees didn’t try to uproot themselves in an effort to fly through my window and fall prey to my seduction. In all my years living it had only happened once, and it was awkward as hell getting pinned to my own bed by a freaking branch.
“What?” I barked.
“You’re a giant asshole.” Mason seethed and then shook his head like he was trying to clear his thoughts. “Damn it, turn it off!”
“Like I can!” I yelled back at him. “You think I want you to—” I made a face. “Mason, that’s a physical impossibility and you know it.”
“OUT OF MY HEAD!”
“You need to get laid.” I smirked. “If I wasn’t mated I would do you a solid and—”
“Finish that sentence and I’m killing you. To hell with what Cassius says.” Mason growled. “I’m perfectly fine, you’ve just been… running too hot lately.”
“You’re telling me,” I whispered under my breath as a flicker of power burned beneath my skin. I thought I could hide it. But in the last few hours it had gotten worse, the need, the want, the desire to explode everything around me into tiny little fragments for my own pleasure. “Now what’s this asshole business about?”
“She fell down the stairs.” Mason lifted his chin in defiance and then smiled wickedly. “But don’t worry, Siren, I licked her wounds.”
Color exploded in my line of vision. “I’m sorry, you did what?” I rasped.
“Licked.” He took a step toward me and crossed his arms. “She tastes good, no?”
“Son of a bitch!” I charged at him slamming his body against the nearest wall as cement crumbled to the floor. “You touched mine?”
“And…” Mason wasn’t deterred. If anything, he looked downright cheerful. “I liked it.”
My fist came down on his face so hard that blood spewed from my knuckles and caked his cheek.
“That tickled.” Mason laughed through a mouthful of silver blood.
I was pulled away from him by both Ethan and Cassius.
Genesis and Stephanie came running into the room just in time to see the show.
“He licked her!” I accused.
“So?” Genesis shrugged. “Ethan bit her.”
“HE WHAT?” I roared as the room shook beneath my feet.
“If he turns into a rainbow you owe me ten dollars.” Stephanie elbowed Genesis, who nodded her head in agreement.
I couldn’t control the colors.
Pinks. Reds. Blues. Purples. They all flashed as a buzzing built in my body, my blood roared to life.
“He looks like a unicorn.” Genesis said in awe.
“Quick, a saddle!” Mason snapped his fingers at Cassius.
Vision blurring, I fell to my knees, in a desperate attempt to control my emotions. I didn’t want to kill my friends.
But it felt like a good idea.
It felt necessary.
Yes. Necessary.
Reach your full potential! A voice screamed in my head.
End them all! Just as I taught you! The pain only goes away when you lose control, Alex.
“No.” Cassius pulled the word into existence and then placed a hand on my head. “Alex you must learn to control yourself.”
“Don’t. Want. To.” I snarled. “Let me kill them!”
“They healed her when you did not.” Cassius leaned down to my eye level; his irises were a bright white. “Is that not friendship?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Bullshit,” came Mason’s reply.
“Downstairs,” Cassius whispered. “All of you.”
For once, nobody argued.
And I was left alone with the stupid angel.
The last person I wanted to be left with. Cassius saw too much. Because he saw everything, and thanks to his good ol’ angelic dad — the blood that ran through his veins was so pure it was a miracle he was able to even exist on the human plane without destroying everything in his path.
“You withhold yourself from her.” Cassius tilted his head. “Why?”
“Elf,” I managed to get out. “She is an elf.”
Cassius was quiet and then stood. “I see.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I do.” His tone was damned irritating, so calm, so rational. All of the things I wasn’t and would never be.
“I am her death.”
“No.” Cassius shuddered as he lifted his eyes heavenward, an icy mist began to fall from the ceiling. “I cannot see the future, you know this, only possibilities.”
“Mine is death.”
“You’re wrong.” Cassius’s eyes flashed white before the mist fell to the ground coating my room like an ice skating rink. “I see… Hope.”
She belonged next to me.
But every time I closed my eyes, I saw her blood on my hands.
I would be her death.
With a curse, I stomped over to the window and pushed it open, taking a much needed deep breath.
My car was still gone.
I glanced at my nightstand and let out an irritated sigh. It was late at night — too late for her to be by herself. Who the hell took a job watering plants anyway? Especially a defenseless human?
Elf.
Of course.
It made sense that she would be drawn to life — because a small part of her was always consciously aware that her one and only job was to produce life — and then die.
What a miserable existence.
A weak existence.
I had at least another ten hours before I needed her again.
Wanting her? That was an entirely different story. My body shook with want like I was a drug addict, my mind told me that one taste was all I needed and the burn would stop. But I knew the truth.
The burning hadn’t stopped since I’d turned fifteen.
The burning would not stop.
Until my death.
A loud knock on my door jarred my thoughts.
The door opened.
Of course it did because privacy wasn’t exactly something that was freely given at Ethan’s. But I was too much of a menace to society to live out on my own. Cassius had created a nice little protective barrier around my room making it so that the trees didn’t try to uproot themselves in an effort to fly through my window and fall prey to my seduction. In all my years living it had only happened once, and it was awkward as hell getting pinned to my own bed by a freaking branch.
“What?” I barked.
“You’re a giant asshole.” Mason seethed and then shook his head like he was trying to clear his thoughts. “Damn it, turn it off!”
“Like I can!” I yelled back at him. “You think I want you to—” I made a face. “Mason, that’s a physical impossibility and you know it.”
“OUT OF MY HEAD!”
“You need to get laid.” I smirked. “If I wasn’t mated I would do you a solid and—”
“Finish that sentence and I’m killing you. To hell with what Cassius says.” Mason growled. “I’m perfectly fine, you’ve just been… running too hot lately.”
“You’re telling me,” I whispered under my breath as a flicker of power burned beneath my skin. I thought I could hide it. But in the last few hours it had gotten worse, the need, the want, the desire to explode everything around me into tiny little fragments for my own pleasure. “Now what’s this asshole business about?”
“She fell down the stairs.” Mason lifted his chin in defiance and then smiled wickedly. “But don’t worry, Siren, I licked her wounds.”
Color exploded in my line of vision. “I’m sorry, you did what?” I rasped.
“Licked.” He took a step toward me and crossed his arms. “She tastes good, no?”
“Son of a bitch!” I charged at him slamming his body against the nearest wall as cement crumbled to the floor. “You touched mine?”
“And…” Mason wasn’t deterred. If anything, he looked downright cheerful. “I liked it.”
My fist came down on his face so hard that blood spewed from my knuckles and caked his cheek.
“That tickled.” Mason laughed through a mouthful of silver blood.
I was pulled away from him by both Ethan and Cassius.
Genesis and Stephanie came running into the room just in time to see the show.
“He licked her!” I accused.
“So?” Genesis shrugged. “Ethan bit her.”
“HE WHAT?” I roared as the room shook beneath my feet.
“If he turns into a rainbow you owe me ten dollars.” Stephanie elbowed Genesis, who nodded her head in agreement.
I couldn’t control the colors.
Pinks. Reds. Blues. Purples. They all flashed as a buzzing built in my body, my blood roared to life.
“He looks like a unicorn.” Genesis said in awe.
“Quick, a saddle!” Mason snapped his fingers at Cassius.
Vision blurring, I fell to my knees, in a desperate attempt to control my emotions. I didn’t want to kill my friends.
But it felt like a good idea.
It felt necessary.
Yes. Necessary.
Reach your full potential! A voice screamed in my head.
End them all! Just as I taught you! The pain only goes away when you lose control, Alex.
“No.” Cassius pulled the word into existence and then placed a hand on my head. “Alex you must learn to control yourself.”
“Don’t. Want. To.” I snarled. “Let me kill them!”
“They healed her when you did not.” Cassius leaned down to my eye level; his irises were a bright white. “Is that not friendship?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Bullshit,” came Mason’s reply.
“Downstairs,” Cassius whispered. “All of you.”
For once, nobody argued.
And I was left alone with the stupid angel.
The last person I wanted to be left with. Cassius saw too much. Because he saw everything, and thanks to his good ol’ angelic dad — the blood that ran through his veins was so pure it was a miracle he was able to even exist on the human plane without destroying everything in his path.
“You withhold yourself from her.” Cassius tilted his head. “Why?”
“Elf,” I managed to get out. “She is an elf.”
Cassius was quiet and then stood. “I see.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I do.” His tone was damned irritating, so calm, so rational. All of the things I wasn’t and would never be.
“I am her death.”
“No.” Cassius shuddered as he lifted his eyes heavenward, an icy mist began to fall from the ceiling. “I cannot see the future, you know this, only possibilities.”
“Mine is death.”
“You’re wrong.” Cassius’s eyes flashed white before the mist fell to the ground coating my room like an ice skating rink. “I see… Hope.”
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Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of regency and contemporary romances. When she's not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting her next book while watching The Bachelor.
She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband, adorable son, and two snoring boxers! She loves to hear from readers!
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband, adorable son, and two snoring boxers! She loves to hear from readers!
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
