Deep in Crimson
Return to Sanctuary
Return to Sanctuary
Book Two
Sarah Gilman
Genre: Adult paranormal
romance
Publisher: Entangled
Publishing
Date of Publication:
September 24, 2013
ISBN: 978-1622668960
ASIN: B00BMKFR0A
Word Count: 64,000
Cover Artist: Libby Murphy
Book Description:
Kidnapped by humans and
raised in a research facility, Jett was taught to believe his own race of
demons insidious and violent. But a friendship with the archangel Raphael
shatters Jett’s reality. Caught between two worlds, his first months of freedom
find him lingering on the fringes of his home colony, Sanctuary.
When the human who stole
Jett captures another demon youth from Sanctuary, Jett learns of the real
plan—to steal Raphael’s archangel grandchildren. Jett wants to bring his captor
to justice, but he must overcome the lies from his past and join forces with the
demon Guardians, and the demon child’s older sister, Lexine.
Irresistible attraction
grows between Jett and Lexine, but Lexine’s prophetic dreams of being mated to
a poacher make her wary. And if Jett goes through the all-consuming process of
becoming a Guardian, he may forfeit any chance they have of being together.
Excerpt:
“What are you doing?”
At the raw shock in his voice,
she paused, the cooling cloth pressed against the wound. “Has no one taken care
of you before?”
He pulled away, but she gripped
his arm.
“Hold still.”
“It’ll heal soon,” he said, his
tone full of typical macho dismissal. “You don’t need to—”
“I want to. It’ll leave less of a
scar this way.” She rinsed the cloth. So many scars covered him already, his
back marred from what had to have been whippings. Many whippings. One more tiny
mark would make no difference, but maybe a little tenderness would.
She applied cream and an adhesive
bandage to the cut, then began to unravel the strips of cotton from his
shoulder.
“Lexine—”
“Jett.” Leaving no room for
argument in her tone, she held his gaze in the mirror.
He shook his head, but she
ignored him and kept going, cleaning and medicating the gash across the front
of his shoulder. She applied a real bandage. Instead of setting the tense male
free, she soaked the washcloth again.
She pressed the cloth between his
shoulders. He shuddered. Tending to the older wounds, she treated them with
gentle care, as if the whip had sliced his skin only yesterday. His hands
trembled a second before he curled his fingers around the edge of the sink.
Biting her lower lip, she moved
to his sides and stomach, where the marks were thinner and strategically
located. Surgical scars. An inner fire filled her. She would have ripped out
Lawrence’s throat herself had the miserable excuse for a man been in the room.
Clusters of faint scars marked
the back of his hand and inside of his wrists. She ran a fingertip over them.
“What caused this?”
He answered in an even,
controlled tone. “Needles and IVs.”
She swallowed against a rush of
nausea.
Pulling his hand away, he sighed.
He lifted his fingers to his face. She noticed for the first time a line of
tiny needle scars on his cheeks, right over the venom glands. A whimper escaped
her lips—heavens, considering the nerves associated with the venom system,
needles must have caused him so much pain, comparable even to the whippings.
His eyes widened and he dropped
his hand, as if just realizing he was touching his face. He cleared his throat
and spoke, his voice thick and haunted. “There was a lab assistant who tried to
be more humane about it, once. Against Lawrence’s instructions, she tried to
take venom directly from my fangs, using a film-covered cup, like they do with
snakes. But, I bit her. I was young and I didn’t understand it would kill her.”
Lexine ignited flames and pressed
herself against his chest. “Biting when threatened is instinctive.
The reaction
is especially strong in children. Even in the best of circumstances, humans
should never handle demon young.”
He tensed under her hold and took
a step back, but she tightened her arms. She refused to let him distance
himself, not at this moment. Perhaps no one had held him since his kidnapping,
but he was so close to letting his guard down, she could sense it—she felt it
in the slight tremor of his arms. If she let him run now, would they ever get
to this place again, or would he build his walls even stronger and higher?
He sighed.
He wrapped his arms round her.
About the Author:
Sarah Gilman writes wicked
paranormal romance and fantasy in the Green Mountains of Vermont, where she was
born and raised.
Twitter: @Gilman_Sarah
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing the great excerpt and the giveaway. Sounds like a great book and I am looking forward to reading it. evamillien at gmail dot com
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