Ares, book 1 in New York Times best-seller Felicity
Heaton’s hot new paranormal romance series, Guardians of Hades, is now
available in ebook and paperback. To celebrate the release of Ares and Megan’s
romance, she’s holding a FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY and sharing sneak peeks of the
book.
Here’s more
about the book and the sexy Greek god hero and his heroine…
Ares (Guardians of Hades Series Book 1)
Felicity Heaton
Prince of the Underworld and Lord of Fire, Ares was banished from his home by
his father, Hades, two centuries ago and given a new duty and purpose—to keep
our world and his from colliding in a calamity foreseen by the Moirai.
Together with his six brothers, he fights
to defend the gates to the Underworld from daemons bent on breaching them and
gaining entrance to that forbidden land, striving to protect his home from
their dark influence. Caged by the manifestation of his power, held apart from
those he loves by his own fire and starved of physical contact, Ares lives a
cold existence driven by duty and the desire to return to his world.
Until his world collides with a daemon who
steals his power and a mortal female who shatters the ice around his heart and
awakens the true fire within him—a soul-stirring passion both dangerous and
seductive.
Megan has wandered far from her home,
driven from everyone she loves by the devastating realisation that she is
different to them all. Unsure who to trust in the world, she keeps to herself,
until a fateful stormy night brings a temptingly handsome warrior crashing into
her life and into her heart—a warrior who seems to hold powers more frightening
and marvellous than her own.
When the New York gate comes under threat,
and Ares is put to the test, will he choose his duty and regain the power he
needs in order to save his world or will he choose the desires of his heart and
sacrifice his fire so he can be with the woman becoming his whole world?
ARES – Excerpt
Megan kept her head down, using the hood of
her coat to keep the rain off her face. She wasn’t sure why she bothered. The
storm had already soaked her to the bone. Maybe she did it because the streets
in her neighbourhood were pitch-black due to the power outage and she had
already passed several unsavoury characters on her route from the bus stop to
her apartment. The only light came from passing cars and the lightning forking
across the heavy clouds.
She had never seen such a violent storm
before and it unsettled her, bringing thoughts of Armageddon and the end of the
world. A man passed her on the opposite side of the street, running hard
through the heavy rain. He crossed the road further up, moving to her side.
She wrapped her arms around herself as he
paused on the pavement and looked in her direction. When her manager had told
her she could knock off early from her nightshift at the packing warehouse
because of the power problems, she had thought it would be a good thing. Now
she wasn’t so sure. She hadn’t considered how dangerous it might be to cross
several blocks of New York in total darkness.
The man hadn’t moved.
She turned left down the next street.
It was a shortcut she often used on her way
home. Normally, she only did it during the day when there were plenty of people
around. It cut several minutes off her journey but it was also an alley. She
quickened her pace until she was verging on jogging.
A creeping sense that someone was watching
her washed over her and she glanced back into the darkness behind her.
Lightning split the sky and illuminated the
main street.
Her heart jumped into her throat as shadows
danced around. No sign of the man. She was just being paranoid again. He had
probably stopped to figure out where he was going. It was easy to become
disorientated in the darkness.
Her footsteps echoed along the alley, loud
despite the thunder rolling overhead and the sound of rain battering the
tarmac.
She turned to face forwards again.
Lightning flashed.
Her heart leaped into her throat.
An immense figure strolled towards her from
the other end of the alley, long coat flaring out from his waist in the wind
that gusted from behind her, pushing her towards him. His hand reached down to
his side, she caught a flash of metal in the next lightning strike, and then he
was running at her.
Chills erupted down her spine and over her
arms.
“Move.” The word was a dark growl and her
heart stopped dead.
Before she could convince her feet to do as
he had ordered, he reached her. A bright burst of light illuminated his face,
revealing chiselled features set into a black scowl and eyes that burned her
with their intensity as they briefly locked with hers, and then he was running
up the wall beside her and flipping over her head like some damned action hero.
He landed hard behind her and her heart
exploded into action.
Megan whirled on the spot and brought her
hands up in front of her, expecting him to attack her. Her dark eyes widened.
The man from the street was there at the other end of the alley.
The larger man ran at him and she caught
flickers of both men in the lightning strikes and another flash of metal. The
slimmer male had a gun too. Her breath hitched and she tried to run but found
that she couldn’t. Her legs refused to respond, no matter how desperately she
tried to get them to work. The one who had spoken to her reached the smaller
man and they both moved incredibly quickly, beyond humanly possible.
Was it the lightning causing them to look
as though they were moving faster than her eyes could track?
It had to be.
They clashed and before either of them
could fire their gun, they had both knocked the other one’s away. The big man
drew two large blades from inside his long black coat, his broad back to her,
and clashed again with the slimmer man. She only caught snippets of their fight
as the storm raged above them.
Was it a gang fight, or perhaps a mugging?
Megan wasn’t sure what was happening but
she knew what she should be doing. She had to run, or maybe call the police.
She pulled her bag towards her and fumbled with it. She couldn’t see a damn
thing in the darkness. Where was her phone?
Lightning flashed again and the slimmer man
was only a few feet from her, his wet blond hair plastered to his forehead and
dark gaze locked on her. The large man tackled him from behind and they rolled
past her as she shrieked and leaped away from them, hitting the wall of the
alley. Her legs trembled and her bag fell from her shoulder.
“It will take more than steel to win this
fight,” the blond man snarled and she frowned at his accent. French?
A bright flash exploded overhead, the
thunder rolling in time with it, and she flattened against the wall. Both men
had found their feet and were fighting close to her, heading back towards the
end of the alley in a flurry of kicks and punches.
She caught brief flickers of the blond
man’s thin face as he fought the bigger brunet. Rain rolled down his cheeks and
dripped from his small goatee. He didn’t look scared as he fought a man twice
his size.
That man circled with him, his expression a
picture of darkness and intent. Strands of his overlong dark hair had fallen
down and were stuck to his sculpted cheeks. Not a trace of fear lined his
features either.
If anything, both of them looked angry.
The Frenchman attacked with a burst of
punches, landing a few despite how quickly the other man moved to evade them
and then he was on the defensive as the big man swiped with his twin knives. He
grunted as one of the blades sliced across his arm and the sickening tinny
scent of blood instantly joined the smell of earth and ozone in the air.
He flipped backwards towards the mouth of
the alley and came to a halt. He straightened, facing the larger man, and
squared his shoulders. The lights in the alley blinked back into life and Megan
looked at the street beyond him. They were back on there too. The dim alley
lights shone down on the two men as they faced each other, both casual despite
the fact they were in the middle of a fight, as if this was an everyday
occurrence for them.
The Frenchman tipped his chin up and his
eyes narrowed. “I have been waiting for this moment for a very long time.”
“Your death?” the larger man growled, his
voice deep and edged with darkness. “You should have dropped in earlier. I’m
always happy to send scum like you into the afterlife.”
The Frenchman’s thin lips twisted in a
cruel smile. “It is you who will die here tonight.”
“We’ll see.” The larger man launched
himself forwards, boots pounding the tarmac.
The blond man raised his hand and suddenly
the big one was flying through the air towards her.
She dived out of his path and hit the wet
ground hard. Pain blazed through her right shoulder and she curled up on her
side, covering her head with her arms. The brunet hit the wall and shards of
brick rained down on her. When everything went quiet, she gathered the courage
to crack her eyes open.
The large man lay face down on the ground
near her. Above him, there was a huge dent in the brick wall of the building.
What the heck had just happened? Was he dead? Her hands shook with the thought
of witnessing a murder. It wasn’t possible that a man could survive something
like that, at least not without broken bones and a severe concussion, but then
everything that had happened in the last few seconds seemed impossible.
Her gaze darted between him and the blond
man. She had faced some dire odds in her life and survived, but something told
her that she wasn’t going to survive this. She should have run when she’d had
the chance. She didn’t want to die here tonight.
The large man snarled something dark and
her eyes widened as he moved. His hands shifted closer to his elbows and he
pushed himself up onto his knees. He shook his head, causing the long strands
of his wet hair to caress his face, and then got to his feet.
How the heck could he move after that?
He shouldn’t even be conscious.
His dark eyes shifted to her and she swore
red embers lit their penetrating depths. He stared at her for a few seconds, as
though they were the only two in the world and there wasn’t another man in the
street with them.
A man who wanted to kill him.
“You okay?” he husked and she swallowed and
nodded. He nodded too and then did something that surprised her. He smiled, his sensual mouth curving into
it and setting her heart racing. How the heck could he smile when he had just
been tossed into a wall with such force he shouldn’t be standing right now and
was bleeding? “Stay down. I won’t let him near you. It’ll be over soon and
you’ll be safe. Understand?”
He growled like a feral beast before she
could respond and launched his right hand forwards, as though throwing
something at the other man. A bright fierce orb of fire burst from his hand and
shot down the alley, blinding in the darkness. He turned and chased it. It
exploded against a wall and another flash of fire followed it.
Megan couldn’t believe her eyes.
The large man dodged and air whooshed past
her, ruffling her wet shoulder-length hair. Trashcans further along the alley
exploded as though something had struck them. Was that what had hit the large
man and thrown him into the wall?
She crept to that brick wall and crouched
there, keeping as small as possible. Her heart pounded and eyes darted, trying
to take in the fight as fear turned to fascination.
The brunet unleashed another swirling orb
of fire from his palms and the Frenchman evaded it, rolling forwards in the
alley. The man levelled another fiery blast at him, catching him this time and
sending him spinning through the air. He landed hard on the tarmac and rolled.
Awestruck didn’t cover how she felt as she
watched them now. Both of them had powers. It was incredible.
The big man pounded towards the other one
and he disappeared, reappearing right in front of him. They clashed again and
the sound of material tearing cut through the thunder rumbling across the city.
The brunet leaped backwards, towards her, distancing himself.
“You’ll pay for that,” he growled and she
looked at the Frenchman. He stood in the middle of the alley, black cloth
dangling from one of his hands. Had he torn the man’s clothes?
The slim blond smiled, tossed the piece of
material aside and crooked a finger. “Come and make me.”
The brunet charged and they clashed again,
each throwing punches. Megan flinched with every heavy blow and vicious kick,
fear slowly trickling back in to wash away her fascination. She had seen some
brawls in her time, but nothing like this.
This wasn’t a brawl.
It was a battle.
The lights on the walls flickered, flashes
of lightning causing them to stutter. She couldn’t tell who was winning. She
hoped it was the brunet because she had the impression that he wasn’t out to
hurt her. Not like the other man. There had been moments when he had looked her
way, and each time there had been a look on his face that said she was next.
The Frenchman ducked to evade a punch and
threw his palm at the larger man. Was he trying to push him over? Megan
couldn’t see why he would want to do that and it was the only explanation she
could find for him pressing his palm against the man’s chest.
The immense brunet flung his head back and
threw his arms out at his sides as he roared in agony at the storm. The lights
on the wall of the alley died as his garbled scream filled the night, battling
the growling thunder. He fell to his knees and arched backwards, the
Frenchman’s hand still pressed against his chest. Orange light shone from the
point where they connected, illuminating the blond man’s face as he grinned.
“It was too easy.” He drew his hand back
and stared at his fingers.
Something glowed in the centre of his palm,
strange light illuminating threads that ran around the back of his hand. He
turned his cruel gaze on the large man.
The man collapsed forwards, palms pressing
into the wet ground, and the lights on the wall blinked back into life again.
His big body heaved as he breathed hard and she frowned as she realised
something.
He was shaking.
Flames flickered over the Frenchman’s hand
and a fireball grew from the centre of his palm. He aimed it down at the other
man.
In an instant, Megan knew what he was going
to do and she couldn’t allow it to happen. She couldn’t let this man kill the
brunet. She wouldn’t stand for it. Her gaze quickly scanned the dimly lit street
and darted back again. One of their guns lay on the wet tarmac only a few feet
from her. She reacted on instinct, pushing off the ground and running for it.
She scooped it up.
Raised it.
Fired.
A loud crack like thunder split the silence
and she jerked back from the force of the recoil.
The bullet nailed the Frenchman in his
right shoulder, knocking him backwards, away from the other man.
An unholy shriek pierced her ears, more
like the sound a bird of prey would make rather than a man, and the Frenchman
turned his gaze on her. Megan hesitated, fear washing through her stronger than
ever and her heart smashing like a jackhammer against her ribs. Eyes that
glowed ethereally locked on to her.
What was he?
He raised his hand, the light from the
fireball casting dark shadows across his face. She didn’t hesitate. She lifted
the heavy silver gun and took aim again.
The fireball exploded from his palm.
ARES is
available from Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iBooks
stores and other retailers. Also available in paperback.
Books
in the Guardians of Hades paranormal romance series:
Book 2: Valen – Coming in 2017
About Felicity Heaton:
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today
international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books.
In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action,
intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from
dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful
angels and hot demons! If you're a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara
Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then
you will enjoy her books too.
If you love your angels a little dark and
wicked, her best-selling Her Angel romance series is for you. If you like
strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm romance series
or any of her stand alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire
romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try her Vampire Erotic
Theatre romance series. Or if you like hot-blooded alpha heroes who will let
nothing stand in the way of them claiming their destined woman then try her
Eternal Mates series. It’s packed with sexy heroes in a world populated by
elves, vampires, fae, demons, shifters, and more. If sexy Greek gods with
incredible powers battling to save our world and their home in the Underworld
are more your thing, then be sure to step into the world of Guardians of Hades.
If you want to know more about Felicity,
or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:
Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy in exchange for a review.
Why this book?: It caught my eye at the library while browsing the newly purchased titles. 
Holy cow! This is one of those books that amazes you.. how so much could happen in so few pages.