Read the final book in the romantic, fast-paced adventure series Between Heaven and Hell
Jayla’s hands dripped with blood, and her heart was shredded. The only road to redemption was the one she didn’t want to take.
Asa was surrounded by a wall that kept the family he loved distant. To get close, he’d have to face the thought that he may let them down.
When the female on a suicidal mission meets the hell beast unable to love, time stood still. Before it would resume, their destiny would try to pull them apart.
Could you love someone so much that you were willing to die for them? They were about to be tested. If they passed, then the real tests would begin.
Sometimes the fate of the world rested on the least likely heroic shoulders.
For readers 18 and older
Excerpt:
Moving faster than she had in years, she put her
clothes up and took a shower. Asa was waiting for her, and she wanted to see
him while she still felt like she could fly.
“That smells good. Not like breakfast.”
“It’s lunch, but if you want breakfast.”
“No, I didn’t realize how much time had passed.”
She pulled out her phone and realized it was past noon. “Sorry, it took me so
long.” Who knew that having a ‘come to Jesus moment’ sometimes took hours?
“I was happy to wait.”
Wait… what? He was happy to wait. She searched his
gaze but couldn’t find any signs of a lie. He had been okay with giving her
time to fight her demons.
“Who are you?”
“Asa, don’t you remember?” The frown on his face
made her want to smile.
“That’s not what I meant. I know your name, but
who are you. Why are you okay with waiting for me?”
He gestured for her to sit then he served her
before sitting. “I’ve waited for centuries for you. I didn’t know I was
waiting. How could I know that my inability to breathe was because you weren’t
in the room? My soul cried out, and all that answered was the empty hollowness
of space and time, and then you took your first breath. Still, how was I to
know that the slight easing of the pressure in my chest was because you had
been born? Then you came here, and the little bit of the soul I retained fought
with my brain over who you were. When you left, I could have died, but I had to
believe if my soul were correct, you’d be back. After our talk, I knew there
was still a chance that you would leave.
“So, I waited. Not because I wanted you to leave.
I care too much already, to make you do something you didn’t want, even if it
will make my life easier. You can’t know this because humans don’t realize the
other half of their souls quickly, but I know who you are to me. What I don’t
know is if we have tomorrow. That’s why I’m taking a chance and telling you how
I feel.”
She dropped her gaze to her plate and started
eating. She didn’t want to shut him out, but that was a lot for a woman who thought
she was an island just hours ago.
“No one ever cared about me. I don’t have any
parents. I’m sure I do, but I never met them.” She said around bites of spaghetti.
“I was raised in a house with other girls. There were foster parents. I never
wondered why I wasn’t adopted because none of the other girls were adopted.
When I was old enough that being eighteen after graduating high school, I
thought I might go to college. It didn’t work that way. The day after
graduation, I was collected and moved to a new house where I would spend the
rest of my life on my back, allowing every man or woman who wanted me to fuck
me or worse. That was my life. I have a Ph.D. in sex, but I know nothing about
love or want. You know the rest of my story.”
“I’m a hell beast. I remember blood and screams.”
“Is that all?”
He hesitated before going on. “We have an older
brother. I can still remember how he protected us, taught us to be males of
honor. That didn’t mean there wasn’t blood and screams, but they had a meaning,
a reason. When he was taken from us, killed, there wasn’t a reason to hold onto
the decency he taught us. Those years haunt me; even with all I did, there was
a line I wouldn’t… couldn’t cross. The lessons of my upbringing were hard-earned,
but I wouldn’t let them go. It would have shamed his memory. I wouldn’t allow
my brothers to cross that line either. Of the three of us, I was the one that
came the closest to the line. In turn, for the hell I glimpsed on the other
side; I saved their souls. That’s how we ended up here. We would not do what we
were being driven to do. Our punishment was to be confined in the Mist. The Mist
is a place designed to slowly drive you insane. Every day I wake, I expect our
reprieve to be over and to be back there. I have nothing worthwhile to offer
you, while everything money can buy.”
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