There is a secret link hidden in the excerpt that will take you to another extra special excerpt coming April 16th.
3...
2...
1........
TASTE
(isn't it just gorgeous)
At Barinkoff Academy, there's only one rule: no students on campus after curfew. Phoenix McKay soon finds out why when she is left behind at sunset. A group calling themselves night students threaten to taste her flesh until she is saved by a mysterious, alluring boy. With his pale skin, dark eyes, and mesmerizing voice, Demitri is both irresistible and impenetrable. He warns her to stay away from his dangerous world of flesh eaters. Unfortunately, the gorgeous and playful Luka has other plans.
When Phoenix is caught between her physical and her emotional attraction, she becomes the keeper of a deadly secret that will rock the foundations of an ancient civilization living beneath Barinkoff Academy. Phoenix doesn’t realize until it is too late that the closer she gets to both Demitri and Luka the more she is plunging them all into a centuries old feud.
When Phoenix is caught between her physical and her emotional attraction, she becomes the keeper of a deadly secret that will rock the foundations of an ancient civilization living beneath Barinkoff Academy. Phoenix doesn’t realize until it is too late that the closer she gets to both Demitri and Luka the more she is plunging them all into a centuries old feud.
Author Website: www.kateevangelista.com
Twitter: @KateEvangelista
& now... THE EXCERPT!
I sat up and followed Calixta’s gaze
upward. I rubbed my eyes. I didn’t know what I was seeing at first.
A statue? My brain refused to snap together coherent thoughts.
I didn’t realize I’d fallen so close to one of the garden benches
until I stared up at the boy that sat on one. He was strikingly
beautiful. His tumble of blonde hair curled just above his sculpted
cheekbones. He wore a silk shirt and a loosened cravat, like he’d
become bored while dressing and decided to leave himself in disarray.
His ivory skin and frozen position was what had me mistaking him for
something carved from marble by Michelangelo. Then he sighed—a
lonely, breathy proof of life. If I had to imagine what Lucifer
looked like before he fell from heaven, the boy on the bench would
certainly fulfill that image. My brain told me I had to look away,
but I couldn’t.
“Luka,” Calixta said again, her voice
unsure, almost nervous. It no longer contained the steel and bite she
had threatened me with, which made me wonder who the boy was.
He leaned on his hands and crossed his
legs, all the while keeping his eyes fixed on the night sky. His
movements spoke of elegance and control. I’d encountered many
people with breeding before, but his took on the air of arrogance and
self-assuredness of someone used to getting what he wanted when he
wanted it.
I only realized I’d been holding my
breath when my lungs protested. I exhaled. My heart sputtered and
restarted with a vengeance. Luka tore his gaze away from the stars
and settled it on me. I’d expected pitch-black irises, like the
other Night Students, but blue ice stared back at me.
“Human,” he whispered. Special Hidden Excerpt
He reached out, and with a finger,
followed an invisible trail down my cheek. I stiffened. His touch,
cooler than Demitri’s, caused warm sparks to blossom on my face. He
lifted his finger to his lips and licked its tip. He might as well
have licked me
from the way my body shivered.
Luka’s curious gaze held mine. “Leave
us,” he said, but not to me.
“But—” Calixta protested like a
spoiled child.
He spoke in a language I hadn’t heard
before, remaining calm yet firm. The words had a rolling cadence I
couldn’t quite follow, like rumbling thunder in the distance. They
contained a harsh sensuality. The consonants were hard and the vowels
were long and lilting.
Footsteps retreated behind me.
Luka reached out again.
It took me a minute to realize he wanted
to help me up. I hesitated. He smiled. I smiled back timidly and took
his hand, completely dazzled. Even with my uniform soaked from melted
snow, I didn’t feel cold—all my attention was on him and the way
his callused hand felt on mine. Without moving much from his seated
position, he helped me stand.
“What’s your name?” he asked. He
had a voice like a familiar lullaby. It filled my heart to the brim
with comfort.
I swallowed and tried to stop gawking.
“Phoenix.”
“The bird that rose from the ashes.”
Luka bent his head and kissed the back of my hand. “It’s a
pleasure meeting you.”
My cheeks warmed. My head reeled, not
knowing what to think. I couldn’t understand why I felt drawn to
him. And the strange connection frightened me.
From behind, someone gripped my arms and
yanked me away before I could sort out the feelings Luka inspired in
me. I found myself behind a towering figure yet again. Recognizing
the blue-black silk for hair tied at the nape, relief washed over me.
Calixta hadn’t come back to finish me off.
Demitri’s large hand wrapped around my
wrist. Unlike the night before, no calm existed in his demeanor. He
trembled like a junky in need of a fix. The coiled power in his tense
muscles vibrated into me.
“What are you doing here?” Demitri
asked.
I didn’t know he’d spoken to me until
I saw his expressionless profile. I sighed.
“Phoenix.”
I flinched. The ruthless way he said my
name punched all the air out of me. “You owe me answers,” I said
with as much bravado as I could muster.
“I owe you nothing.”
He glared. “In fact, you owe
me your life.”
“I don’t think so.”
Ignoring my indignation, he faced Luka,
who’d remained seated on the bench during my exchange with Demitri.
“Why is she with you, Luka?”
“I wasn’t going to taste her, if
that’s what you’re implying,” Luka said. “Although, she is
simply delicious. I wouldn’t mind if you left us alone.”
There it was again. Taste. The word that
kept coming up between these Night Students and I was connected to it
in an increasingly uncomfortable way. To taste meant to sample, but
what? My flesh? They had to be joking because the alternative wasn’t
funny.
“The sins of the father …” Demitri
left his sentence unfinished.
Luka’s smile shifted into a snarl.
“Obey my command.” His chin lifted. “Kneel.”
Demitri’s stance went rigid. His grip
tightened around my wrist.
Okay, weird just got weirder. Why would
Luka want Demitri to kneel before him? I thought back to Eli and the
others bowing to Demitri when he questioned them, but they didn’t
kneel. Seriously? Were they all living on a different planet or
something?
“Kneel.”
Luka’s detestable smirk made his features sinister rather than
angelic. The real Lucifer: a fallen angel.
Without letting go of my wrist, Demitri
knelt down on one knee and bowed his head, his free hand flat at the
center of his chest. “Your command has been obeyed,” he said
formally.
Luka nodded once.
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