Series: Hades Abyss MC
Publication date: December 11th, 2020
Published by: Changeling Press
Synopsis:
MaryAnne -- I was sixteen when I learned a hard lesson. No, it wasn't a lesson. It was worse. Kidnapped, tortured, abused in the worst of ways... I'd thought my life was over. Until the day my knight in shining armor came to save me. Patriot. Despite how scary he looks, he has to be the kindest man I've ever met. He not only rescues damsels in distress, but animals too. Under that hard exterior is a heart of gold. It doesn't matter that he's older than me. The more I get to know him, the harder I start to fall. But why would a man like him ever want someone like me? I'm dirty. Damaged. Broken beyond repair. Or am I? After all, Christmas is a time for miracles.
Patriot -- From the moment I saw her, she's had me wrapped around her finger. I've done my best to chase the fear and shadows from her eyes, show her she's safe. I've taken out nearly every man who ever hurt her, even if she doesn't know it. And the two who are still standing won't be for long. I want to see her smile. Make her laugh. What better time than Christmas to prove to her life is worth living? I'll make it the best she's ever had!
But there's only one thing I want under the tree this year... MaryAnne. She deserves better. I'm no angel. I've killed. Lied. Stolen. And worse. I tell myself repeatedly to keep my distance... until I can't. One taste and I know I'll never walk away. MaryAnne is mine! And if she won't listen to me, then maybe my whacky parrot can convince her. If there's one thing the African Grey excels at, it's talking when he shouldn't.
WARNING: Patriot contains scenes of graphic violence and sexual content, bad language, and abuse. But it also has a happily-ever-after, a tiny feline terror, the most patient dog on the planet, and a bird who always has to have the last word.
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Excerpt
I shifted from foot to foot as I stared at the clubhouse. Even though I was eighteen now, I knew I wasn't permitted inside. More for my safety than anything else. Well, that and I wasn't sure I wanted to see the club whores hanging on Patriot. I'd come to think of him as mine, and I hated the thought of him being with those women. He'd never given me even a hint that he might think of me as something other than a kid sister or pesky houseguest, but in my dreams, he belonged to me and I belonged to him.
I exhaled, my breath fogging the air. December in the south wasn't exactly freezing most of the time, but a cold snap had come through and it was now a chilly forty degrees outside. For a place that stayed over one hundred degrees in the summer, it might as well have been ten below zero. I clutched my leather jacket tighter and stomped my booted feet to warm up a little.
Music blasted from the building and I could hear the crowd inside. Not only was there a line of bikes across the front, but quite a few cars were parked in the lot too. I'd wanted to go to the clubhouse several times since Patriot had brought me here, to see what it looked like on a typical night, but I always chickened out. I knew they didn't want me inside, and Patriot would likely blow a gasket when he found out what I was about to do. This was the closest I'd come to actually going inside when a party was in full swing. I approached the building and put my hand to the door.
Come on, MaryAnne. Stop being a chicken.
I pushed my way inside and fought back a cough as I sucked in a lungful of smoke. I waved my hand in front of my face and surveyed the room. No one had noticed me yet. It wasn't like I was wearing a disguise. I went up to the bar and smiled at Riley. His eyebrows rose and he scanned the room before focusing on me again.
"Patriot know you're here?" he asked.
I sank my teeth into my bottom lip and shook my head. Was he going to make me leave? He looked around again, his muscles tensing. Riley took a step back and pulled a clear soda from one of the mini fridges, poured it into a glass, added grenadine and mixed it before he topped it with two cherries. He handed me the glass and I eyed it a moment.
"I'm not giving you alcohol," he said. "Why the hell did you come here tonight?"
I didn't know how to answer his question so I took a swallow of my drink and pretended I hadn't heard him. I felt heat along my back and a citrus scent filled my nose. I used the mirror behind the bar to see who it was and tried not to grimace when I saw Smoke practically on top of me. He braced an arm on the bar beside me and leaned in closer.
"Are you trying to piss off Patriot? Stop flirting with Riley and take your ass home."
My back straightened and I slowly turned my head to look at him. "I'm not here to flirt with Riley, or anyone else."
"Look around you, MaryAnne. What the fuck do you think women come here to do? Because it's not sit at the fucking bar drinking whatever the hell Riley gave you."
"It's a Shirley Temple," I said. At least, I thought that's what he'd made. I'd never looked up how you actually made one, but I'd read a book where the heroine only drank Shirley Temples.
"Girl, unless you want to be bent over a table and fucked, you need to leave."
I felt the blood drain from my face. A buzzing sound filled my ears and my hand shook, causing my drink to slosh all over the bar top. Riley cursed and leapt over it, heading into the crowd as darkness crept along the edges of my vision. I couldn't breathe. Everything started spinning, and I felt myself sway on the stool. It could have been seconds or minutes that passed. Time had no meaning.
I heard a door slam into the wall and everything around me went silent.
"What the fuck did you do?" Patriot roared.
I felt strong arms close around me and I cried out, tensing and clawing at whoever had grabbed me. Lips pressed close to my ear and the scent of leather and motor oil filled my nose, calming me a little.
"Easy, Little Bit. I've got you," Patriot said, his voice soft and low. "No one's going to hurt you."
Harley Wylde is the International Bestselling Author of the Dixie Reapers MC, Devil's Boneyard MC, and Hades Abyss MC series.
When Harley's writing, her motto is the hotter the better -- off the charts sex, commanding men, and the women who can't deny them. If you want men who talk dirty, are sexy as hell, and take what they want, then you've come to the right place. She doesn't shy away from the dangers and nastiness in the world, bringing those realities to the pages of her books, but always gives her characters a happily-ever-after and makes sure the bad guys get what they deserve.
