Blade

  Blade

  A Bayou Heat Novella

  By Alexandra Ivy & Laura Wright

  1001 Dark Nights

  Blade

  A Bayou Heat Novella

  By Alexandra Ivy & Laura Wright

  1001 Dark Nights

  Copyright 2017 Debbie Raleigh & Laura Wright

  ISBN: 978-1-945920-30-1

  Foreword: Copyright 2014 M. J. Rose

  Published by Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.

  Book Description

  Blade

  A Bayou Heat Novella

  By Alexandra Ivy & Laura Wright

  Sexy Suit, Blade was held captive and abused for decades. Benson Enterprises was desperate to use his superior blood to create super soldiers. But when he’s finally rescued, he can’t return to the Wildlands with the other prisoners. Not without the female he was forced to watch being impregnated. The female who has gone missing.

  Beautiful and broken, Valli just wants to run away and never look back. But with the shocking news of her pregnancy fresh in her mind, she wonders if that’s even possible. Told by her captors that one of the caged animals assaulted her, she knows she must do everything in her power to keep her unborn child safe. But when a glorious male tracks her down and claims her and her baby as his own, will she have the strength to walk away?

  About Alexandra Ivy and Laura Wright

  Alexandra Ivy is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Guardians of Eternity, as well as the Sentinels, Dragons of Eternity and ARES series. After majoring in theatre she decided she prefers to bring her characters to life on paper rather than stage. She lives in Missouri with her family. Visit her website at alexandraivy.com.

  New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Laura Wright is passionate about romantic fiction. Though she has spent most of her life immersed in acting, singing and competitive ballroom dancing, when she found the world of writing and books and endless cups of coffee she knew she was home. Laura is the author of the bestselling Mark of the Vampire series and the USA Today bestselling series, Bayou Heat, which she co-authors with Alexandra Ivy.

  Laura lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two young children and three loveable dogs.

  Also From Alexandra Ivy

  Click to purchase

  GUARDIANS OF ETERNITY

  When Darkness Ends

  Darkness Eternal

  Hunt the Darkness

  Embrace the Darkness

  When Darkness Comes

  MASTERS OF SEDUCTION

  Volume One

  Masters Of Seduction Two

  Reckless: House Of Furia

  ARES SERIES

  Kill Without Mercy

  BAYOU HEAT SERIES

  Bayou Heat Collection One

  Bayou Heat Collection Two

  Angel/Hiss

  Michel/Striker

  Ice & Reaux

  BRANDED PACK

  Stolen and Forgiven

  Abandoned and Unseen

  DRAGONS OF ETERNITY

  Burned by Darkness

  SENTINELS

  On The Hunt

  Also From Laura Wright

  Click to purchase

  MARK OF THE VAMPIRE

  Eternal Hunger

  Eternal Kiss

  Eternal Blood (Especial)

  Eternal Captive

  Eternal Beast

  Eternal Beauty (Especial)

  Eternal Demon

  Eternal Sin

  BAYOU HEAT SERIES

  Raphael & Parish

  Bayon & Jean-Baptiste

  Talon & Xavier

  Sebastian & Aristide

  Lian & Roch

  Hakan & Severin

  Angel & Hiss

  Michel & Striker

  Rage & Killian

  Ice & Reaux

  WICKED INK CHRONICLES (New Adult Series- 17+)

  First Ink

  Shattered Ink

  Rebel Ink

  CAVANAUGH BROTHERS

  Branded

  Broken

  Brash

  Bonded

  MASTERS OF SEDUCTION

  Volume One

  Masters Of Seduction Two

  INCUBUS TALES

  SPURS, STRIPES and SNOW Series

  Sinful in Spurs

  Acknowledgments from the Authors

  We would like to thank, from the bottom of our hearts, the two fearless leaders of 1001 Dark Nights, Liz Berry and MJ Rose. They welcomed us into their family, and we have come to adore the whole tribe. Thank you so much to our editors, cover artists, PR wonders and formatters! You are angels from heaven!

  And of course, as always, we would be nothing without our readers. You make us excited to get to the laptop each day. May you love the Pantera forever. Just as we do.

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection One

  Click here to explore

  FOREVER WICKED by Shayla Black

  CRIMSON TWILIGHT by Heather Graham

  CAPTURED IN SURRENDER by Liliana Hart

  SILENT BITE: A SCANGUARDS WEDDING by Tina Folsom

  DUNGEON GAMES by Lexi Blake

  AZAGOTH by Larissa Ione

  NEED YOU NOW by Lisa Renee Jones

  SHOW ME, BABY by Cherise Sinclair

  ROPED IN by Lorelei James

  TEMPTED BY MIDNIGHT by Lara Adrian

  THE FLAME by Christopher Rice

  CARESS OF DARKNESS by Julie Kenner

  Also from 1001 Dark Nights

  TAME ME by J. Kenner

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Two

  Click here to explore

  WICKED WOLF by Carrie Ann Ryan

  WHEN IRISH EYES ARE HAUNTING by Heather Graham

  EASY WITH YOU by Kristen Proby

  MASTER OF FREEDOM by Cherise Sinclair

  CARESS OF PLEASURE by Julie Kenner

  ADORED by Lexi Blake

  HADES by Larissa Ione

  RAVAGED by Elisabeth Naughton

  DREAM OF YOU by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  STRIPPED DOWN by Lorelei James

  RAGE/KILLIAN by Alexandra Ivy/Laura Wright

  DRAGON KING by Donna Grant

  PURE WICKED by Shayla Black

  HARD AS STEEL by Laura Kaye

  STROKE OF MIDNIGHT by Lara Adrian

  ALL HALLOWS EVE by Heather Graham

  KISS THE FLAME by Christopher Rice

  DARING HER LOVE by Melissa Foster

  TEASED by Rebecca Zanetti

  THE PROMISE OF SURRENDER by Liliana Hart

  Also from 1001 Dark Nights

  THE SURRENDER GATE By Christopher Rice

  SERVICING THE TARGET By Cherise Sinclair

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Three

  Click here to explore

  HIDDEN INK by Carrie Ann Ryan

  BLOOD ON THE BAYOU by Heather Graham

  SEARCHING FOR MINE by Jennifer Probst

  DANCE OF DESIRE by Christopher Rice

  ROUGH RHYTHM by Tessa Bailey

  DEVOTED by Lexi Blake

  Z by Larissa Ione

  FALLING UNDER YOU by Laurelin Paige

  EASY FOR KEEPS by Kristen Proby

  UNCHAINED by Elisabeth Naughton

  HARD TO SERVE by Laura Kaye

  DRAGON FEVER by Donna Grant

  KAYDEN/SIMON by Alexandra Ivy/Laura Wri
ght

  STRUNG UP by Lorelei James

  MIDNIGHT UNTAMED by Lara Adrian

  TRICKED by Rebecca Zanetti

  DIRTY WICKED by Shayla Black

  THE ONLY ONE by Lauren Blakely

  SWEET SURRENDER by Liliana Hart

  Sign up for the 1001 Dark Nights Newsletter

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  Click here to subscribe.

  As a bonus, all subscribers will receive a free

  1001 Dark Nights story

  The First Night

  by Lexi Blake & M.J. Rose

  Table of Contents

  Book Description

  About Alexandra Ivy and Laura Wright

  Also From Alexandra Ivy

  Also From Laura Wright

  Acknowledgments from the Authors

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection One

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Two

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Three

  Foreword

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Four

  Discover the World of 1001 Dark Nights

  Discover More Alexandra Ivy and Laura Wright

  An excerpt from Pretend You’re Safe by Alexandra Ivy

  Special Thanks

  One Thousand and One Dark Nights

  Once upon a time, in the future…

  I was a student fascinated with stories and learning.

  I studied philosophy, poetry, history, the occult, and

  the art and science of love and magic. I had a vast

  library at my father’s home and collected thousands

  of volumes of fantastic tales.

  I learned all about ancient races and bygone

  times. About myths and legends and dreams of all

  people through the millennium. And the more I read

  the stronger my imagination grew until I discovered

  that I was able to travel into the stories... to actually

  become part of them.

  I wish I could say that I listened to my teacher

  and respected my gift, as I ought to have. If I had, I

  would not be telling you this tale now.

  But I was foolhardy and confused, showing off

  with bravery.

  One afternoon, curious about the myth of the

  Arabian Nights, I traveled back to ancient Persia to

  see for myself if it was true that every day Shahryar

  (Persian: شهريار, “king”) married a new virgin, and then

  sent yesterday's wife to be beheaded. It was written

  and I had read, that by the time he met Scheherazade,

  the vizier's daughter, he’d killed one thousand

  women.

  Something went wrong with my efforts. I arrived

  in the midst of the story and somehow exchanged

  places with Scheherazade – a phenomena that had

  never occurred before and that still to this day, I

  cannot explain.

  Now I am trapped in that ancient past. I have

  taken on Scheherazade’s life and the only way I can

  protect myself and stay alive is to do what she did to

  protect herself and stay alive.

  Every night the King calls for me and listens as I spin tales.

  And when the evening ends and dawn breaks, I stop at a

  point that leaves him breathless and yearning for more.

  And so the King spares my life for one more day, so that

  he might hear the rest of my dark tale.

  As soon as I finish a story... I begin a new

  one... like the one that you, dear reader, have before

  you now.

  Chapter 1

  It was the prickle on the back of his neck that warned Blade he was being followed.

  Slowing his steps, he forced himself into a casual stroll as he checked out the streets of Bonne, Louisiana. He feigned interest in several glass storefronts that lined the town square, nodding toward the occasional pedestrian who studied him with blatant curiosity—and if he wasn’t mistaken—which he rarely was—a thread of fear.

  Clearly, the small town thirty miles south of Baton Rouge didn’t get many visitors.

  Of course, it was possible that the men stared because he was six foot four with the hard muscles of a trained athlete that flexed and rippled beneath his faded jeans and ivory thermal shirt. And the women...well, their gazes were clearly trained on his short gold hair, midnight eyes, finely chiseled features, and those wide lips that normally smiled with a charming ease, but were now pressed together with grim determination.

  Turning onto a side street, he thankfully found it all but deserted. The town had obviously never been a bustling metropolis, but over the years it’d faded to a sleepy village. Which meant he could deal with his stalker without unwanted attention.

  Maintaining his leisurely saunter, he passed by an abandoned gas station that was next to an empty lot. The breeze tugged at his short hair, chilling his skin.

  Louisiana had two seasons. Hot and humid. Or cool and humid.

  Today it was the latter.

  Come on, my friend, he mused to the male who was tailing him. Just another couple of blocks and we can...chat.

  At the edge of town, it didn’t slowly ease from commercial to residential to suburbs like most places. It just ended. As if the thick woods ahead of him refused to give way to progress.

  Turning, his back to the stand of trees now, he folded his arms over his chest and studied the seemingly empty street.

  “Show yourself, Hiss,” he commanded in a low voice.

  The male emerged from the side of a small church with peeling paint and a steeple that tilted at a precarious angle.

  He was easily as big as Blade, with black hair that had grown long and shaggy over the past two months. His eyes were dark gray, but as the late afternoon sunlight splashed over them, there was a glimmer of amber deep in their depths. An indication that Hiss’s puma had enjoyed the hunt.

  Both men were Pantera, a mystical race of puma shifters who lived in the depths of the Louisiana swamps, in a once-hidden community called the Wildlands. Created by twin Goddesses, they were creatures who were neither human or animal, but a mixture of the two. Faster and stronger than normal humans, their senses were hyper-acute. And when surrounded by the magic of their homelands they were capable of shifting into pumas.

  Over the past year they’d battled the dying magic of the Wildlands, exposure of their kind, and a group of humans, led by Christopher Benson, who were determined to use the Pantera’s magical blood for their own profit.

  No longer were they safely hidden behind their magic. Everything and everyone was suspect—the lives of their kind always hanging in the balance.

  “Hello, Blade.”

  “Sloppy,” Blade drawled at the Suit. “I picked up your scent as soon as you entered town.”

  Hiss shrugged. “I started following you over an hour ago.”

  “An hour?” Blade’s brows snapped together. “Seriously?” That meant Hiss had been behind him since he’d left New Orleans and jogged his way north.

  He could have driven to Bonne, but he was searching for a particular scent. He hadn’t wanted to risk missing it.

  “Not so sloppy, eh?” Hiss demanded, his lips curving into a smirk.

  Blade felt a jolt of anger. Not at Hiss, but at himself. What the hell was his problem? How could he have been so careless? He better than anyone understood the necessity
of being constantly on guard. Fuck. Hadn’t he already paid a high enough price for his stupid, arrogant assumptions that he was invincible?

  “No, it’s creepy,” he snapped. Later, he would beat himself up for letting Hiss make a fool of him. Right now he just wanted to know why the male had tracked him from New Orleans. “Don’t you have a new mate to stalk?”

  Blade had been in one of the basement cells of Benson’s lab with Hiss when the older male had found the female destined to be his mate.

  Hiss’s expression softened. “I do, and I’m pissed as hell that I’m not currently making her purr with pleasure.”

  “Not as pissed as I am that you’ve been following me,” Blade countered. “What do you want?”

  “A chat.”

  Blade sneered. He’d been off the radar for weeks, which meant that Hiss had devoted a lot of time and effort to finding him.

  No one did that just for a chat.

  Hell, they were Pantera males. Chatting was bullshit.

  “I don’t have time for this,” he said.

  “You can talk to me or you can talk to Raphael.” Hiss shrugged. “Your choice.”

  Blade grimaced. Raphael was the head of the Suits, which was the diplomatic faction of the Pantera. Since Blade was also a Suit, that meant Raphael was his leader. And among the Pantera, “leader” wasn’t an empty title. It meant that Raphael gave orders, and then kicked ass when they weren’t obeyed.

  “That’s a threat, not a choice,” Blade growled.

  Hiss smiled, nodding his head toward the nearby woods. “Let’s take a walk.”

  Blade clenched his fists. He didn’t want to be distracted from his goal.