Dante Eternal's Virtual Bookshelf: Dark Devotion by: Lauren Dawes

Title: Dark Devotion

Author: Lauren Dawes

Series: Dark Series #3

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Momentum (Pan Macmillan)

Release Date: Feb 25 2016

Edition/Formats: eBook

Blurb/Synopsis:

The time of Odin is over. The Aesir gods now live among the humans in their bustling modern cities. Their brutal dominion over the other gods and their eradication of the entire dark elf race may have ended, but their actions have not been forgotten.

Beneath Rhys's skin lies a legendary and feared beast. Rhys is tormented by his daily struggle to contain the ruthless, cold-blooded creature sharing his body. But when his best friend Galen disappears, Rhys's careful restraint and self-control are finally broken. Fueled with a desire to find Galen, Rhys strikes an unlikely alliance with the only god who knows the truth about his dark past.

Taer has found her revenge, yet she's still not happy. There's something missing from her life, but still she fights what her heart is telling her. It's only when the incredibly infuriating and dangerously sexy Aubrey goes missing that she can admit her true feelings for him. Taer's racing against time to rescue Aubrey, but when will she finally allow him into her heart?

Featuring myth's original antagonist, Loki, Dark Devotion is perfect for fans of Gina Showalter and Patricia Briggs.

Aubrey’s eyes cut to the side. The smell of metal and triumph permeated through his car, but he could claim neither. It belonged to the guy on the other side of the gun that was currently pressed to Aubrey’s temple. Remaining calm, he rifled through his memory banks, trying to remember if he’d pissed off anyone in particular recently, and whether or not waiting in a car armed with a gun was their style.

“Put both of your hands on the steering wheel.” Aubrey didn’t move.

“Don’t even think about being a hero. Do it.” To drive his point home, the guy pushed the gun in tighter.

Being a good hostage, Aubrey put his hands in position, and was on the verge of fading away when a metal bracelet was snapped onto one of his wrists. Squinting at it closely, he studied the runes inscribed in the steel.

It was an incantation to prevent fading. Whoever this guy was, Aubrey now knew he was a god.

Hating the feel of the cold metal against his wrist, he said, “I don’t believe we’ve met.” The gun was pressed harder into his temple and Aubrey ground his teeth. “That’s going to leave a mark.”

“Be thankful that’s all it’s going to leave . . . for now.”

“Look, as much as I’d like to sit here with you in my garage all night and chat like girls, I do actually have somewhere to be.”

There was a small growl of – irritation? Even Aubrey knew it wasn’t a good idea to piss off the god holding a gun to his skull.

“You aren’t going anywhere right now.”

“All right. Can we at least get out of my car? I’d hate to get blood all over the upholstery if I can avoid it.”

“You talk a lot,” the god said, easing off Aubrey’s temple just a little. The movement caused blood to rush to the point of pressure, making his head throb in time with his galloping pulse. “That might serve you well . . . but then again . . .” He ground the metal back into Aubrey’s skull. “Maybe it’ll just make me kill you a whole lot quicker once your usefulness has worn out.”

So that was the plan? “Who do you work for?”

“Myself.”

“And who are you?” Aubrey tried again to get a name.

The god laughed. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

“Loki.”

He was right; Aubrey didn’t believe him. “Loki is chained to a boulder far beneath the earth, being driven mad by the poison of a snake.”

“I told you wouldn’t believe me.”

“That’s because it’s impossible,” Aubrey replied. This god – whoever he was – was just delusional. “So, Loki, tell me what’s going to happen here.”

“You’re going to get out of the car and enter your home where you will be imprisoned and used as a bargaining chip.”

Aubrey smirked. “By you, I take it.”

The god cocked his head to one side. It was a very avian action. “You find that amusing. Why?”

Aubrey turned his head to look at the guy. “Because you aren’t Loki.”

The other man shrugged. “Believe me, or not. The outcome will not change.”

“All right,” he conceded. “You’re going to imprison me, then what? Why are you doing all this? What do you hope to achieve? I’m at the top of the food chain. There’s no one out there who is going to bail me out, so this whole exercise is pointless.”

That statement made the god frown. “I don’t understand that phrase – being at top of the food chain – but you are wrong. There is someone who will do everything in her power to bail you out, as you put it.”

Born in South Africa and raised in Sydney, Lauren Dawes is an urban fantasy/paranormal romance writer and the author of the Dark Series.

In 2009, she quit her full-time job teaching English as a Second Language to finally begin writing "that book", letting her over-active imagination pour out onto the digital pages, much to everyone's horror. The catch phrase "I didn't know you had such a dark imagination" only fueled her to write more, where her love for Norse mythology and gods finally got the spotlight.

She currently lives with her husband and daughter in whatever city they happen to be posted to, and her cat, Oscar, who has inspired more than one character quirk or scene in her books.

To find out more, visit www.authorlaurendawes.com