Thursday, April 9, 2015

SPOTLIGHT -- Katherine Rhodes' "Half-Soul"




***Blurb***

Hell called to his soul, but his soul resisted.

Or that’s what Asher Terhune believed.

Born from the demonic seduction of his human mother, his birth destroyed her marriage. They were left with only a Guardian and Watcher to protect them from his demon heritage. Born with a half-soul, Asher quickly learned to use the Seven Deadly Sins to fill the hole inside himself.

His favorite sin was Lust.

Women had no chance of a second night with Asher, once he was done with them. And he had no intention of changing his ways. Until the sweet, calm, caring Sarah Illfrig rocked his world, and refused his bed.

Asher found her refusal unacceptable and took on the challenge of seducing her. Sarah pushed him away even as the desire she felt for him was pulling her in.
But Sarah harbored her own secrets, and when the Guardian and the Watcher found out, it became imperative to keep Sarah and Asher apart.



***Excerpt***


Toria thought she’d lost him. When she left the week before and he wouldn’t give her an answer, she really thought that Gad was gone. She spent the week trying to imagine her life without him. Toria hadn’t wanted to fall in love with him, but he was charming and disarming. He was handsome and gentlemanly. And really incredible in bed.

Once she discovered just how good he was, she lost all interest in all the other guys out there. Even though they were supposed to be just friends with benefits, the benefits outweighed most everything else. She’d tried seeing other guys, but they were all about the end, and Gad had always been about the climb.

Beyond that, he was intelligent and kind to everyone.

A shrewd business man, a cunning entrepreneur, but greatly generous. He was just the whole deal and it was amazing that he enjoyed her company.

Walking out had been the hardest thing she had done in a long time. She thought forcing the issue would make him realize what she wanted. He didn’t take a side and she left with the worst words ever, “I’ll think about it.”

The week had been too long. Toria had spent too many hours crying. She didn’t want to let him go. She’d taken her pride in hand and texted him. She didn’t know what his response was going to be, but she needed to hear a yes or no. Her heart had soared when he’d told her yes, and floated a while when she imagined him grunting after the ’tie me up’ comment.

But when she pulled that door open and Asher pulled her into the melee going on inside—completely unheard and unnoticed from the outside—her whole mind froze. Asher held a flaming sword and Gad had been wielding a bright white blade that destroyed the dark demons that surrounded them, and were swarming into the room from a crack.

She didn’t know what to think about the black shield Asher had thrust her behind, she didn’t know what to think about the noise, or the wings that Gad had sprouted. When they hurt him, Toria had to do something—it was Gad, he would do the same for her.
She didn’t know she wasn’t supposed to touch his sword.

It had been as light as a feather in her hand. It sang in her mind and told her what to do. 

She listened. And the demons fled just moments after she cut down three of them. The huge horse-creature had gone with them. The sword praised Toria in stunning dulcet tones in her mind, oddlywelcoming her to the Realm, and offering a blessing.

All of it made more sense now, even though her mind was a bit incredulous that it was really happening.

She was descended from angels.

She was in love with an angel.

Her fingers traveled through the very tips of the feathers on his enormous wings. Were they enormous? She didn’t really know. They did make her feel small standing against him and looking up at them. The wounds were gone, and she had never felt anything as gorgeously soft and delicate as these feathers.

“They really don’t frighten you?” Gad’s breath hitched as she brushed over them again.

“No.” Toria wanted to just spend the night with those feathers beneath her hands.

“Do I frighten you?” His voice was small, tiny. He was scared. Her angel was scared.

Toria turned, placing her hands on his chest. “I would have left before Asher even pulled me in here if you scared me, Gad. I came back because I’m in love with you and that means all of you. The wings are part of it. A gorgeous, beautiful part of it.”
“I didn’t want to stay away from you, Toria,” he said.

“My heart is tired.”

“Then let it rest with me.”

She brushed her hand over the feathers she could reach over his shoulder. Gad let out a long, low breath. Toria got it—the feathers didn’t just feel good to her, her soft touch felt good to him. Taking a guess, she stepped in close to him.

Gad.

“I didn’t just come over to help you battle demons, “I know,” he answered, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. “But I am glad you were up for the battle.”

Toria brushed the feathers again. “Is it okay that I want you to take me to bed and leave the wings out? Or is that verboten?”

Gad looked genuinely surprised. “Well, most everything I’ve done for the past ten millennia has been verboten, but I’ve...I’ve never not put them away.”

Toria had a flash of him standing over her, naked and winged, and felt a warm rush through her, turning her liquid. “Shit, Gad. Am I going to Hell for fantasizing about you?”

“No, never,” he said. “Oh, please, please, don’t tell me that my holy immortality is going to make you hesitate.” Toria shook her head. “It’s not a sin. You are not an immoral woman. 

Do not ever think that sex is wrong or sinful. That’s Victorian thinking and it’s wrong.”

“Good,” Toria said, wrapping her hand around the nape of his neck. “Because I’ve got some pretty filthy ideas of what I want to do with you.”

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*****Bio*****

Author of erotica, light BDSM erotica and paranormal erotica. Expert in the profundities of bad movies and awful literature. Armed with her Bachelors of English, Literature she has set her mind to writing 
erotic romances which are kinky, dirty, and fun. A lackadaisical laundry goddess, Katherine resides in Philadelphia with her husband, three cats and a betta named Fishtian Grey.