CONCEPTION (The Others) - Softcover

McCarty, Sarah

3.69

435 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1973432447 ISBN 13: 9781973432449

Publisher: Independently published, 2012

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Conception Book 1 in The Others series by Sarah McCarty. An unwilling victim of an experiment gone wrong, mother to a child who shouldn’t exist, Eden Lavery knows only one person strong enough to stand between the Coalition’s fanatical quest for immortality and their threat to her daughter—Dusan Knight. Six foot three of solid muscle, Deuce wears his power with the easy confidence that comes from six centuries of commanding the Chosen, the inspiration for vampire lore. But Deuce isn’t just the source of legend, he’s the man she loves. The man she’ll ultimately betrayed. From the moment Eden reenters his life, holding the miracle of a Chosen child in her arms, Deuce burns with the need to complete their joining. Everything about Eden, from her sassy sense of humor to her delectably stacked body is made for him. But some things are easier decided than done. Amidst a race for survival, against an enemy that cannot be destroyed for fear of extinction, Deuce must fight for the future of his people and to convince Eden the passion between them is more than illusion. She is his Chosen mate, and nothing, not her fears, the Coalition, nor death itself will take her away from him.

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About the Author:

Sarah has traveled extensively throughout her life, living in other cultures, sometimes in areas where electricity was a concept awaiting fruition and a book was an extreme luxury. While she could easily adjust to the lack of electricity, living without the comfort of a good book was intolerable. To fill the void, she bought pencil and paper and sketched out her own story. In the process, Sarah discovered the joy of writing.

Sarah writes what she loves to read; fast paced stories with vivid dialogue, intense emotion and well developed characters. Her attention to detail in her stories has earned her multiple awards and a reserved spot on Keeper shelves everywhere.

Sarah writes for Ellora's Cave, Harlequin HQN and Harlequin Spice

Excerpt from THE OTHERS: CONCEPTION
COPYRIGHT � SARAH MCCARTY, 2005
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, ELLORA'S CAVE, INC.

He comes.

The whisper drifted through her weary mind in that female voice she neither trusted nor understood. A warning or an alert? Not that it mattered. She'd been following that voice's instructions since she'd hauled herself off the operating table five minutes after they'd finished the C-section. It had gotten her this far. She just needed it to guide her a little longer. Deuce was coming.

She glanced up. In front of her was row after row of tall pines rising starkly from the smooth white blanket of fresh snow. The trunks blended with the shadows of the approaching night, standing as dark sentries to the fathomless corridors burrowing between. Eden dragged her foot out of the snow and moved it forward, heading toward the one set just off of center

She didn't even know if she was going in the right direction anymore. She just kept her head down, slogging forward, believing somehow, some way, this harebrained plan of hers was going to work for the simple reason that it had to work. She wouldn't let those monsters have this baby. Hers or not, Deuce's or not, she wasn't going to let it be part of the Coalition's hellish pursuit of immortality. Her foot snagged on something, and she went to her knees again.

"You are exhausting yourself."

The simple statement resonated deep in her being. Beneath her exhaustion, beneath her fear, a tiny flutter of excitement pulsed to life.

"Deuce." It was more of an exhalation than a word. Still, she shouldn't have been surprised he heard. His hearing was extraordinary.

"Yes."

"You're alive."

"I believe that should be my line." Nothing in his voice let on how he felt about her, about the past, and what he had to believe she'd done.

She looked up. He stood twenty feet away, separate from the gloom, yet somehow part of it--lean hands on his hips, his long black hair blowing about his shoulders, his shirt pressing against his torso outlining muscle cuts a bodybuilder would love. He looked as wild and untamed as the wilderness around him. She blinked. She'd forgotten how big he was. "I'm sorry."

With a short incline of his head, he acknowledged her apology. He started toward her. She took a breath and held it. Dusan didn't look happy. The flat evening light played across his high cheekbones, shadowing the slant to his black eyes, accentuating the thrust of his square chin, lending a hard edge to a face already devastatingly masculine. She took a breath as he got closer, dropping her eyes, staying where she was, ignoring the instinct to run. The only thing running would accomplish would be to release against her all that seething energy shimmering around him. And she so wasn't going there.

His boots came into view. Black like his shirt and pants, they were strangely bereft of the snow accumulating on everything else. The breath she'd been holding rushed from her lungs. Her pulse pounded in her veins. One heartbeat, two, three. He didn't move and didn't speak. Just stood there. She clenched her hand into a fist, forced a ragged breath into lungs too tense to accept it, and made herself meet his eyes. If he wanted revenge, he was going to have to look her in the face while getting it.

It was a long way up and when her gaze got to his face, his expression didn't give her any clue as to what he thought. His eyes, however, said everything. They glittered with red flashes of emotion, belying his calm. In their depths, where she'd expected to see anger and hatred, she saw...reproach?

"Why did you not contact me?"

She almost collapsed into the snow with relief. At least he was going to give her a chance to explain. She tugged at her foot. Instead of freeing herself, she wedged it deeper. Damn! Her day only needed this. "Things were complicated."

"How complicated?"

"Very."

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