Guarding Bloodlines The Princeton Allegiant Series, Book Two
paranormal romance
Soul Mate Publishing
09/27/2019
New Release Giveaway!
Guarding Bloodlines by Deborah Garland
The Princeton Allegiant Series, Book 2
Winner 1: Signed Paperback Copy of both Drawing Bloodlines and Guarding Bloodlines (US ONLY)
Winner 2: E-Books of both Drawing Bloodlines, Book 1 and Guarding Bloodlines, Book 2
Winner 3: E-book of Guarding Bloodlines, Book 2
**Giveaway Eligible in US Only**
Dec 1 to Dec 7, 2019
Dec 8 to Dec 14, 2019 – Extended!
Book blurb:
Never steal a vampire’s mate.
What’s the world’s most dangerous vampire to do when the only woman he’s ever loved is about to be abducted? He strikes a devil’s bargain, but Loren Tagaris is done playing nice.
Loren’s gifts for destruction have made him the most feared vampire on the planet. To bargain for his progeny’s freedom, he’s forced to bend the knee to the precious New York Vampire Lords and find their missing commander in thirty days. Or hand Julianna, who’s part witch, over forever.
Julianna’s powers are more dangerous than Loren ever imaged. When their hunt for the missing commander unearths a buried secret that terrifies even Loren, all bets are off, and it’s every vampire for himself. Suddenly the Lords abducting Julianna is the least of their problems.
Will Loren give up his own freedom once and for all to protect the allegiant world even if it means losing Julianna forever?
Excerpt:
Loren was welcomed into the lobby of the rundown building on Amsterdam Avenue by the pounding footsteps of an army thundering from the stairwell. Within seconds, he was surrounded by at least two dozen guards.
As they escorted him down several levels to stand before the four Lords who made up the New York Vampire Command, the guards’ minds were shattered with fear. Their faces were blank and their shoulders squared.
If they coordinated themselves properly, they would have a chance at surviving if Loren attacked them. They were vampires, able to burst into a gasping level of speed with the strength to crush concrete to a fine dusty powder. The high-powered rifles tight in their shaky grasps could pummel enough bullets into his brain and kill him instantly. The show of force was meant solely to remind him he wasn’t completely invincible. Just mostly.
Loren hadn’t asked for the deadly powers he’d been given by his maker, a mysterious vampire who appeared and disappeared just as quickly. He had not heard from Noah in nine hundred years. The three hundred years since he’d found Julianna about to be roasted and on the brink of death seemed like a blink of an eye, in comparison.
The slow march continued even though Loren could disappear from view and reappear behind one of the Lords with a knife to the throat. However, he knew it was unwise to remind New York of his gifts when he was about to get on his knees and beg for Julianna’s life. He wondered if it was a moot point. She’d vanished again.
His attempts to speak to Cecilia again had also been thwarted and he was prepared to take finding Aiden into his own hands. Except he didn’t want to do it alone. If he included Julianna in the hunt and they were successful, New York might change their view of her. Let her join an allegiant so she could be part of the vampire world.
That was the goal. The terms of his loyalty truce with New York was a basic agreement not to kill any of them in exchange for his freedom. He was prepared to renegotiate for Julianna.
The official New York Vampire Command center located in Downtown Manhattan was a palace. The pageantry and glitz akin to a Hollywood Oscar ceremony were meant to intrigue clueless humans who thought the Lords were just a bunch of sexy European investors, with their expensive suits and model-like glamour.
There was no red carpet or gold anything in the dank hallways leading to the Lords’ secret chamber. Someone had carefully chosen that location. Clever, Loren admitted bitterly to himself.
New York knew what he was capable of. The nineteenth-century concrete and steel beams would challenge his abilities to escape if the meeting went terribly wrong.
The musty smell and dampness would choke a human. He’d grown accustomed to the finer things over the centuries. He shook his head, aggravated at the rude hospitality. How dare they force him to meet in such a clammy, foul-smelling sewer.
If any vampire deserved to be treated like a king, it was Loren.
At the door, the guards separated and made a path. Their beady eyes stayed on him as he passed each one. Loren catalogued their faces into his superior vampire brain. Even behind their iron masks, their features registered. He released the faint message that would pass through their minds like a hot breeze, I see you. I can find you.
Loren had an incredible arsenal of mental talents. He’d have located the abandoned underground cellar with tunnels that led to primitive confinement cells even if he hadn’t been given the location.
Now that he knew where the Lords held their trials and executions, Loren had the advantage if he needed to strike against them.
Was it coming to that reality? The Lords didn’t get where they were by being stupid or naive. So, how could they not see what was coming?
As a sign of respect, he strolled into the chamber slowly, guardedly, eyeing each Lords’ sinewy face.
They sat high upon a dais in exaggerated Queen Anne chairs that resembled thrones. The long steel table bolted to the floor separated him from men he’d been forced to respect. There wasn’t any other furniture in the room and Loren wondered if that had been on purpose given his ability to make shit fly with the flick of his wrist.
“Ah, Loren,” the voice he recognized to be Hamish greeted him first.
“Yes, my Lord,” he answered and bowed his head slightly. “Thank you for allowing me this opportunity.” New York didn’t grant just any vampire permission to address them.
Loren wasn’t just any vampire.
“Where is she?” the sharp voice of Samson cried.
Sniveling coward.
“Silence!” Hamish roared at his fellow Lord.
They were smart to be frightened of her. Julianna was an unsworn soul with the power to destroy them.
“I can see we’re going to get right to it. It doesn’t matter where Julianna is at the moment.” Saying her name stabbed at him. “I should have addressed you about her decades ago.”
She’d done such a good job at being a ghost. The Lords would have thought Loren was insane, arguing to them, putting his precious freedom at risk for someone who didn’t even trust him. Despite her running off three months ago, he’d seen something in her eyes. Like him, she too was tired of being alone.
“I made her. She’s my responsibility.” And he needed to guard her.
“Made nothing. She’s not vampire.” Giordan studiously pointed out.
The Lords simply did not recognize Julianna as his progeny.
“I hear she’s a witch!” Samson crowed.
Ugh, that again? “How many three-hundred-year-old witches have you met?” he snapped.
The mystery of why she never fully turned had eaten at Loren for centuries. His powerful bloodline gave Julianna immortality but perhaps there had been magic buried deep within her.
Whatever the reason, his venom hadn’t done its job. A vicious death, followed by a glorious resurrection as vampire—cold, hard, bloodthirsty. Beautiful predators, and when aroused, ravenous lovers.
“Julianna is as close to being one of us, as any non-human can be,” he argued.
“You mean, one of you.” Samson snarled at him.
“Yes, and let me remind you, she’s part of my bloodline, Noah’s bloodline.” Loren took several steps forward ignoring the Lords’ gasps. “She can do nearly all that I can do.”
It was a calculated risk to emphasize how deadly she was but meant to enforce that only a progeny from his bloodline could have those abilities.
About Deborah Garland
That’s hard, there’s a lot of good vampires but it’d have to be either Lestat or Denver Sinclair.