Title Luscious Bite, An Enchanted Mates Romance
Author Sara Ohlin
Genre Paranormal Romance/Contemporary Paranormal Romance
Book Blurb
Dr. Nikolav Sarkozy has had centuries to perfect his arrogance, but his cold vampire soul is no match for the beautifully joyful ER doctor, Francesca Banetti.
Cursed never to drink blood or enjoy pleasure from a human again until he finds his mate, Niko has lived an extremely lonely vampire life. When he walks into Mercy General Hospital and meets Francesca, his penance crashes down around him.
Francesca is a healer, but with her haunted past, she keeps her witch status hidden. While she excels at saving lives, she flourishes when infusing her magic into food, doting on her niece and nephew, and teasing Niko, of course.
Niko is everything bleak and miserable. Francesca is laughter, light, and love. He craves her but denies the ancient instinct whispering she belongs to him. But when a sinister demon threatens her and her family, he steps up and vows to protect them. He had no idea she would tear down the chains around his soul.
Seven hundred years is an awfully long time to be alone. Perhaps the time has come to find his enchanted mate.
CW: Talk of death and killing. Past death of parents and grief. Death of patients in hospital. Demon targeting women. Talk of gruesome attacks by demon.
Excerpt
Slowly images and memories pieced together so she could make out most of the puzzle in her mind, even if every second wasn’t clear. Murky fog, pouring rain, gaps where the road rose up to meet her, and headlights assaulting from behind. Close, too close. Danny standing by her side and yelling, his words muffled by her tired brain. The smell of broken things and wet trees shaking off their auras around her, blood and…and…so much evil. Then nothing. She was dry now, all the rain and blood washed away while she’d slept.
Not sleeping, unconscious. Dry soap and plastic came to her then, the strongest scents she could make out. The soap she knew in an instant from scrubbing her hands a million times a day. She was in the hospital, but not for work, and her eyes were sealed shut with exhaustion. You’re safe. I’ve got you. Steady words in a voice she loved came back to her. Fractured images. Niko’s face above her, telling her what was wrong in that infuriatingly dictatorial voice of his.
It hurt to breathe. At least you’re breathing. Good point. Am I though? Why is it so weird and painful? It took a thousand pounds of effort, but she peeled her eyes open. It was too bright at first and it stung her eyes, but something urged her to keep trying. It was the most taxing thing she’d done in a long time. Blinking, heavy eyelids, weight pushing down on her. She pushed back, through the fatigue, through the pain.
What’s wrong with my face? Francesca lifted her right arm and fingered a plastic tube. Her heart started to kick against her chest, the pain came roaring back, and with it the accident. The crashing sound, Danny…Ava!
“I’m here.” A gentle hand against her cheek. Francesca took one exhausted blink and brought Dr. Sarkozy’s face into focus. Dark eyes, lines on his forehead, fierce energy banked in the set of his brow, in his sharp jawline. But warmth from his touch soothed her broken body. “Can you hear me?”
Francesca blinked and tried to nod. She fumbled to put her hand on his, holding his steady warmth to her cheek. It did more to ease her pain and worry than any medicine dripping into her veins.
“You’re in the hospital. You had surgery to set your broken left arm and repair a small tear in your left lung. We fixed it. You’re going to heal nicely. You have two broken ribs, a head wound, and a concussion.” His fingers brushed gently across her forehead. “We’re going to take the tube out now, okay?”
She gave his hand a light squeeze. Two nurses were there, moving around, speaking quietly. She didn’t know when they’d arrived…couldn’t remember. She concentrated on the cadence of Niko’s deep steady voice as it issued quiet orders. His hand rested on her shoulder, and he kept Francesca’s gaze. He peeled the tape away. “I need you to take a deep breath. Ready?”
Holding onto his strength as her own, Francesca drew air in and began to count the seconds.
“Good, now exhale, cough it out for me, love.”
Bitter slicing burning sensations laced her throat as she coughed and breathed on her own. That hurt. Niko studied her, which might have been unnerving if she hadn’t just been run over by a truck, literally. But with all her defenses down, it calmed her, centered her. It reached inside and grabbed ahold of something precious. Thoughts swished in and out of her head, one big blurry watercolor mess on paper, bashed around by the trauma. Oh God. “Kids…” The word was a thrashing of sharp pain against her throat. She squeezed Niko’s hand harder.
“They’re here.” He nodded toward the corner and Francesca saw two sleeping bodies on the loveseats, bundled up under blankets. “They were unharmed except for a few cuts and scratches.”
When she blinked this time, warm tears fell, blurring the room. “Niko…” How could she ever express the kind of gratitude it would take for watching over Danny and Ava? If anything happened to them, she’d…she’d…
“I’ve got you.” His voice was harsh, commanding. “All three of you. You’re safe now.”
Francesca was confused, but she clung to his words, and his hand wrapped around hers and she believed him. It was the only thing keeping her from shattering into a million pieces. Studying his face, that hollow, empty feeling she’d always tucked deep inside herself seemed to fill up with…wonder.
“Can you hear my thoughts?”
His voice was clear, a beautiful cadence to the current mess in her mind. Wonder blossomed into color and she nodded. “Yes.”
“Do you remember what happened?” Gentle but firm, he asked her.
“Someone hit us…followed us, something evil, Niko.”
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Luscious Bite: An Enchanted Mates Romance - Kindle edition by Ohlin, Sara. Paranormal Romance Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
Author Biography
Puget Sound-based writer, Sara Ohlin has over twenty years of creative non-fiction, memoir, and fiction writing experience. Her essays can be found at, Panorama, Anderbo.com, Feminine Collective, The Manifest Station, and in anthologies such as Are We Feeling Better Yet? Women Speak about Healthcare in America, Take Care: Tales, Tips, & Love from Women Caregivers, and Chicken Soup for the Soul. She is also the author of ten romance novels with Totally Bound Publishing. She writes steamy romance to feed the soul. You can learn more on her website https://saraohlin.com.
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