Monarch by Belle Whittington: #PlayList #Excerpt #Giveaway @authorofcicada @MyFamHrtBookRvw

Cover Artist: L.B. Whittington

Monarch

(Cicada Trilogy, Book 3)

by Belle Whittington

Genres: Sci-Fi, Paranormal, Romance, Action/Adventure

Blair Reynolds was born to rule. Worlds, that is. Destined to reign over an ancient intergalactic race, it may seem her fate is written in the stars. But she’s willing to risk it all for another chance to spend forever with her true love – even if it means traveling through time and space to the other side of the universe.

As far as Ash is concerned, Blair's happily-ever-after involves him, not the mere mortal with whom she seems so infatuated. She was bequeathed to him by her father, and Ash will go to any lengths to keep Blair and her true love apart.

And Ash isn’t the only one.

Deep in the jungles of Brazil, where tribal drums call to Blair and her true love, other forces carry out dangerous secret plans.

However, Blair has secrets of her own … secrets so lethal she dares not even remember them.

Secrets so painful they could ruin everything.

Because some secrets kill.

Official Monarch Theme Song:

When the World Stops Spinning by Kyler England

Finally, the waitress brought my coffee. It was much better than I’d imagined it would be. She smiled at me and placed a pastry coated with colored sugar on the table next to my coffee.

I smiled and held the wad of money out to her, unsure of how to make change with it. But she refused to take it. She was giving me an offering. I smiled and nodded to her, and she returned to waiting on the other tables.

The sugar coating on the pastry crunched against my teeth and filled my mouth with its sweetness. My mind suddenly rushed back to when I’d first tasted sugar in my former alien life. Ash had introduced me to it. He’d been scouting with some of his soldiers and came back with some from the sugar cane fields.

It was long before Nyx and Orion were born, and during a time when I’d grown complacent and thought I could grow to love Ash. He’d dipped his finger into the burlap sack of sugar and placed it on my tongue. Then he’d kissed me deeply and ardently as if he’d missed me while he was away. And perhaps he had. He’d picked me up and carried me to our chambers in the Queen’s City far beneath the jungles.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts just as the door swung open. As if on their own, both my barriers raised themselves and locked into place. He swaggered in, completely comfortable in his own skin.

Ash. The alien warrior god. I hadn’t seen him since he’d placed the armband on me and held me, engulfed in flames, as I fought to keep from burning alive. 

He looked good.

He dropped a coin in the jukebox and pressed a button. Immediately Lana Del Rey began singing Blue Jeans as he casually walked over to sit on a barstool with his back against the bar. Dayum. No matter what he did, he looked like sex on a stick. 

Ash leaned back, resting his elbows on the bar and his knees spread wide. Everything about him spoke domination. His white t-shirt was purposely ripped so that the tattoos across his chest showed. The silver chain and vial still hung from his neck – a sign of marriage on our home world.

His jeans fit oh-so-nice, and his boots were loosely-laced. His hair had grown quickly as mine had. It flowed down over his shoulders and framed his gorgeous face perfectly. Seriously, he could make a million as a male model. But he wasn’t interested in such insignificant things.

I bit into the pastry once more and looked him over head-to-toe. I knew him better than anyone on this planet. He could be kind and protective, and he could be the god of destruction.

I’d never feared him, because my alien powers as a daughter of the royal house had always been more potent than his. Besides, he was never a threat to me. He was loyal to my father and intended on following through on the promise he’d made of protecting me. But others feared him with good reason. 

He regarded the group of men at the table with an air of indifference, but I knew he was watching and listening. If he was doing reconnaissance, which I was sure he was, he’d have all the information he needed in the blink of an eye. The men had a map out now and were speaking in whispers. I couldn’t hear them over the jukebox. Ash could, though. 

The waitress approached him, and I was surprised that he could speak her language. He looked her over as if she was what he was there for. She leaned in to take his order, holding a menu close enough that she could rest her elbow on his shoulder while they discussed what he wanted.

I knew what he wanted though. An ancient flame lit inside of me. Was it jealousy after all these centuries? Or was it a certain sense of betrayal? I couldn’t pinpoint it. And why did it even matter anymore? I sipped my coffee and reminded myself that I’d managed to win my freedom and revive Ky.

Charm rolled off him. He’d completely ensnared his prey. It was always too easy for him to get whatever girl he’d wanted … all except for me. He could never quite have me, because my heart and soul had always belonged to another – my chosen Other. And that made him even more determined to own me. He wasn’t thinking about me tonight, though.

He whispered something into the girl’s ear, and she giggled and nodded. 

“You’ll do,” he spoke in our alien language. She didn’t understand, but she didn’t seem to care. He tossed her over his shoulder and carried her out into the rain, her giggling all the while, and the bartender shouting behind them.

I looked down to see that I’d crushed the pastry in my fist, and it was smoking. I quickly patted out the embers and stuffed the mound of crumbs into my coffee cup.

Belle was raised in deep East Texas. She now resides somewhere north of Houston, Texas in a small inconsequential town with the smallest, most inconsequential name. There, in the shady reaches of the pines, elms, and oaks, she daydreams adventures and secrets she weaves throughout her stories. She’s the author of CICADA, FIREFLY, and MONARCH, a Young Adult/New Adult cross-over trilogy with excellent reviews. She studied literature and history at University of Houston where Beowulf, Shakespeare’s works, and the history of the Vikings were her favorite topics. Belle is positive her readers and fans are the best in the universe.

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