ASHES REBORN by Keri Arthur (exclusive excerpt)
- ASHES REBORN
ASHES REBORN by Keri Arthur - Souls of Fire #4
- Keri Arthur
- On Sale: September 5, 2017
- ISBN: 9780451477910 | Berkley Mass Market | $7.99
The next blazing-hot installment of the Souls of Fire series from the New York Times bestselling author of Flameout
The clock is ticking as Emberly—a phoenix capable of taking human form—races to take revenge against the sadistic and mysterious Rinaldo. The elusive rebel leader threatens to keep killing until he is given all of the research about a plague like virus derived from vampire blood.
Forced to reach out to the Paranormal Investigations Team for help, Emberly and her partner, Jackson, must decide who to trust as they follow the trail of dead bodies. When classified information is leaked and their safe house is ambushed, Emberly’s suspicions are confirmed—someone at PIT has betrayed them.
A final battle looms and Emberly will need to command all her powers—or watch the world turn to ash….
**Trigger Warning: Rape Scene***
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Keri Arthur, New York Times bestselling author of the Souls of Fire, Outcast, Dark Angels, and Riley Jenson Guardian series, has written more than thirty-five books. She’s been nominated in the Best Contemporary Paranormal category of the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards and has won a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for urban fantasy.
[spacer color=”264C84″ icon=”Select a Icon” style=”1″] [toggles title=”Exclusive EXCERPT”]“You thought right.” He looked around. “Where are we?”
“Trawool. Or just outside of it, anyway.”
He blinked. “Where the fuck is that?”
I smiled and held out my hands. “It’s about fourteen kilometers out of Seymour and just over an hour from Melbourne. Ready?”
His fingers gripped mine and, after a deep breath, he nodded. I hauled him upright; ash flew around the two of us, catching in my throat and making me cough. He hissed, and his fingers tightened briefly on mine as he gathered his balance.
“It never gets any easier,” he muttered.
“No.”
I held on to him and waited. After several more minutes, he nodded. I released one hand but shifted the other to his elbow. Just because he thought he was stable didn’t mean he actually was.
“I wasn’t able to drive the car into the clearing-there’re too many trees,” I said. “But it’s parked as close as I could get.”
“I’ll make it.” He took a determined step forward, paused unsteadily for a moment, and then took another. He very much resembled a toddler taking his first steps, and, in many ways, it was an apt image. The two of us might have spent more years alive than either of us cared to remember, but each rebirth came with the cost of major muscle groups remembering how to function again. Sometimes it was almost instant-as had happened this time when it came to speech and arm movement-and other times it could take days. Hell, the last time I’d been reborn, it had taken close to two weeks for full function to return to my legs.
When we finally reached the edge of the small clearing, I quickly redressed, then picked up the soft tunic, shaking the dirt and leaves from it before helping him into it. Right now, his skin was so new that it was also ultrasensitive. Anything too tight or scratchy would rub him raw.
It was only half a dozen steps from there to the rental car, but by the time he’d climbed into the back of the station wagon, he was shaking and bathed in sweat.
Once he’d made himself comfortable on the thin mattress, I slammed the back door closed, then climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car up. “There’re protein bars and a couple of energy drinks in the backpack.”
He dragged the pack closer and opened it up. “Whatever did we do before modern food manufacturing?”
“Snacked on beef jerky and drank unrefined cows’ milk boosted with raw eggs.”
“Which is probably the reason I hate both with a passion today.” He tore open the protein bar and began munching on it. “Except, of course, when said milk is combined with either brandy or rum in the form of eggnog. How many days have I missed?”
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THE SERIES
