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All good worlds must come to an end.
The apocalypse is here, but Conquest hasn’t won yet. It’s up to Layla, her guys and the friends they’ve made along the wall to stop him…but what hope do they have to pull it off?
After so much loss, Layla’s buckling from exhaustion, grief and a secret that threatens to tear her to pieces. Cal’s been running from his past his whole life. The end of the world forces him into the role he’s terrified to take. Will he break or become that which he most fears?
Garavel’s forced to face what he did to save the woman he loves. His betrayal could be for nothing if he cannot stop the witch hunters in time. Tricky Raul thought he was outsmarting his old boss, but for all his skills, he can’t outrun the agency forever. Daniel might have his body back, but his fear of death grows deeper with each day. The apocalypse shows no mercy, even to those he cares for more than himself. He’ll risk everything, even her love, to keep Layla safe.
This began a year ago when a mysterious incubus appeared in Layla’s living room. She never anticipated this world of magic, monsters, fear, death and love. Through it all, that demon of lust has remained by her side. She’s never once questioned his faith or loyalty. But Layla will learn that there’s no line a demon bound heart and soul to a woman won’t cross.
Conquest has the armies, the weapons, the magic and time. All they have is a strange spell that comes with a consequence only Layla can pay. Will she find the strength to cast it, and will her men love her enough to let her do it?
Only magic can save them now.
Reader advisory: This book contains scenes of violence, character death, and mourning.
General Release Date: 10th September 2024
What I wouldn’t give for a helicopter.
“Excuse me? Hello! Will you—?” My voice barely made it past my lips. Rain splattered against my face like shot from a gun. Despite me going ninety in the car I’d borrowed, the damn winged creature managed to speed past, his dark body rocketing down the road. For a brief second, the headlights lit up his wings until they glowed brighter than the sun. With a single downbeat, he banked into an open field.
“Fuck!” I slammed on the brakes, the air stinging with burned rubber. Saying a prayer to the Madonna, I cranked the wheel left and drove off the steady pavement into recently harvested fields. The tires sank into the soggy ground. Corn stalks slammed into the grill.
“This is foolish!” I shouted, hoping the idiot ahead of me could hear. It was debatable if he’d understand. I’d been chasing him nearly nonstop for the past day that had become night. I had a vague notion that we’d crossed state lines at some point, but beyond that I didn’t have a clue. Figuring out how to return could be handled after I stopped him from getting himself killed.
The demi-angel was a constant white and black streak across the sky, never drawing close enough for me to net him. Not that I had access to one.
“Three teams, one plotting his course, two on the ground, one in the sky. Set up a perimeter of invisible nets to tangle him. We could all be home in time for breakfast.” The agency could have dealt with him in under two hours. But I wasn’t with the agency anymore. I wasn’t a witch hunter.
I didn’t know what I was anymore.
“Damn it!” The car pitched into a hole, slamming my forehead into the steering wheel. Stars burst in my eyes, but along with them came the familial lines of the Wayfarers…my kidnappers, my torturers, my family. It was complicated. The lines warped, creating the order for me to return home and rebuild.
I focused past them, shaking my head and ignoring the hot wet drip sliding down the side of my head. The angel was slowing. He went from being a small dot in the sky to a line. I eased up on the gas. If he’d reached what he was searching for, my life was in mortal danger. The last thing I wanted to do was run in there blind, as I’d told him.
Apparently, an inability to listen was a hallmark of everyone in this jodida relationship.
Once out of the field, I hit a maintenance road. Chunks of gravel and mud splattered against the car as I swerved to get the wheels under me. Huge ruts ran right down the center of the road. What the hell did they bring down this thing?
At the end, construction lights pierced through the raining darkness. That was where he hovered. Hopefully, those centuries of battle tactics had kicked in. I reached for the glove compartment, fishing for the gun I’d stored there.
What do I do if that idiot gets himself killed? There were good odds they’d blame me for it. The demon would probably skewer me on the spot. “Garavel!” I shouted one last time to the solitary creature hovering above the compound.
There wasn’t a lot to the compound, but they’d taken the time to throw up barbed wire and a gate. Beside it stood two guards in Kevlar with rifles strung off their backs. I tipped my sunglasses, changing the mode to pick up on EMF. Signatures pulsed from probable turrets hidden behind the cargo containers on either side. The Horseman did not come to play.
Switching to infrared, I counted the people standing watch. They were all on alert, hands on weapons, staring everywhere but…
“Fuck!” A white light like staring directly into the sun burned across my vision. I closed my eyes and switched the glasses back to normal mode. What the hell is that? It sat dead center in their little compound and scorched with more magic than I’d ever…
Oh. It’s here.
They’ve found it.
Fuck.
A hand banged against my window. “Sir?” a man asked. His fellow guard sidled closer, hand on his gun. “This is private property. You need to leave.”
I waved my empty palm up to him, then rolled the window halfway down. “Sorry, sorry.” I picked up my phone and held it out. “This stupid GPS has got me all turned around. Do you think you could help me out?”
The guards both glared at each other. The second one quietly whispered into his mike, “A lost moron.” But he didn’t take his eyes off of me.
I kept scrolling through my phone, doing my best to fail to open any map app. Meanwhile, I kept staring up at the angel. He was floating, his wings seemingly at a standstill. What the hell is he doing?
“Sir, you need to turn this car around. Now. I will not say it again.”
“Right, right. Of course. I get it. You have no idea where you are either.” I laughed into his grim face. “Look, I just need directions. Is that too much to ask?”
“Put the car in reverse.”
Lights darkened past the gate and a vehicle started. They were planning on leaving with the body. Fuck. Slipping on my idiot smile, I leaned halfway out of the window. “Come on. I’m just asking for a little information.”
The second guard raised his AR-15 at me. He didn’t even have to be a slightly good shot to rip me to meat. “Hands up,” he ordered and I did as told.
With me out of the way, the first guard reached in for the gear shift. He leaned so far that nearly all of his arm was through the window. I eyed up the guard, then him, before my attention turned to the demi-angel floating above.
Garavel tucked his wings in and dove.
I clamped onto the guard’s wrist then his upper arm. “What the…?” he shouted at my touch. With my elbow, I rammed the window back up, pinning him in place.
A massive boom burst from behind the gate. A wave of dirt and mud flew outward, striking the other guard in the knees. He turned to figure out what that was when a huge beam of light blew from dead center.
The distraction was all I needed. The guard I held fought, slamming his gun against the car. He couldn’t escape my hold. My fingers dug into his clothing, then his flesh like barbed thorns. I locked in my grip, then cracked.
“Fuck!” he screamed as his elbow bent the wrong way. His broken arm flopped to my lap. The shriek of pain caught the other guard’s attention. He turned, forgetting the vengeful creature of stone ripping through his people to focus on me. His gun spun back around. I wasn’t certain if even my elven hide could survive that many bullets at once.
Staring into his eyes, I squeezed the trigger twice. The sound deafened the patter of rain. All I heard was my heartbeat throbbing as the man without a back of a skull struck the ground. The first guard was fighting against the window to get his hand back. I helped him out by unrolling it.
Then I lifted the latch and kicked the door open. He flew across the car’s hood, his face turning white as a sheet. I aimed the gun. With the windshield already compromised, I wouldn’t need more than one bullet. A whimper caught in his throat. Tears mixed with the tumbling rain and I stayed my hand.
He was helpless. There was no point in killing him now.
Aside from possible reinforcements, relaying information to the enemy and any number of ways to shoot or stab me in the back. In spite of all of my training, I couldn’t end his life.
Instead, I slammed the car into reverse. His body rolled off the hood until he landed in the mud next to the dead guard. In the eerie glow of the headlamps, his skin turned the color of tea-stained linen. I revved the engine, warning him.
It was all I could manage as I put the car into gear and rocketed forward. He rolled at the last second, just missing my tires. The car’s grill slammed into the gate, denting it forward. I had to back up and go at it one more time before the chain popped.
As I rolled into the site of the massacre, I cursed my soft heart. This was all the damn witch’s doing.
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