Linda Thomas-Sundstrom - Angel Unleashed

A fine line between vengeance and desire...

As an immortal Blood Knight, Rhys de Troyes is familiar with quests. It’s obvious that the ethereal beauty who just arrived in London is on one of her own. But Avery Arcadia Quinn seems intent on keeping her secrets, even as Rhys strips away all her defenses.

A grounded angel, Avery seeks to recover the wings stolen from her centuries ago when the Knights were created from her suffering and pain. She swore vengeance, but her burning connection with Rhys threatens to consume her anger, her mission...and even her vow to destroy him.

“Now what? You’ll disappear again?” Rhys asked.

“Disappearing is what I do best,” Avery said.

“I won’t let this go, you know,” he warned. “You’re far too intriguing.”

“You’ll have to,” she said. “I’m already gone.”

“And if I were to ask you to stay?”

As fun as this was, it was now clear to Rhys that this immortal wasn’t going to volunteer any real information about herself. He was going to have to get those details some other way.

Smile widening, he said, “I do love a challenge.”

Rhys took a firm hold on her shoulders and pulled her closer, so that she had to look up to see his face. She did not try to escape from what she had to know would come next.

All that fire...

All that heat...

He was so damn hungry for those things.

LINDA THOMAS-SUNDSTROMwrites contemporary and paranormal romance novels for Harlequin. A teacher by day and a writer by night, Linda lives in the West, juggling teaching, writing, family and caring for a big stretch of land. She swears she has a resident muse who sings so loudly, she often wears earplugs in order to get anything else done. But she has big plans to eventually get to all those ideas. Visit Linda at lindathomas-sundstrom.comor on Facebook.

Angel Unleashed

Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dear Reader,

Welcome to another story in my lineup of immortals. This one is a twist on those guys.

Made immortal in the time of the Round Table, seven knights became known as the Blood Knight Brotherhood, or the Seven. My contemporary Blood Knights are the knights of old, much updated.

You might already have met some of these sexy immortals in and around my Vampire Moons series. In Golden Vampire, we met Lancelot, going by the name of Lance Van Baaren. In Guardian of the Night and Immortal Obsession we met two more dark, sexy Blood Knights. And in Immortal Redeemed we met a gloriously hunky, leather-clad Galahad, now calling himself Kellan and riding a Harley instead of a steed.

Now in Angel Unleashed, we find Rhys de Troyes, another Blood Knight, in London. This time another immortal with a quest of her own attracts his attention. What could bring an angel to London, and why is she hiding from the Blood Knights?

So if, like me, you adore magical words like danger, sexy and forever...this book is dedicated to you.

Oh, and by request, Weres always make guest appearances in my immortal books. So if you also love men with claws, dig in!

Cheers for now, and happy reading!

Linda

lindathomas-sundstrom.com

To my family, those here and those gone,

who always believed I had a story to tell.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Dear Reader

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Extract

Copyright

Chapter 1

The night went wild and never looked back.

An explosion of color lit the dark. Brilliant flashes of blue, orange, green were there and gone in an instant. Bright enough to cause retinal damage, the light show left a lingering imprint in the darkness, much like the aftermath of a fireworks display.

From the rooftop above the alley, Rhys straightened from a crouched position, concerned about this strange phenomenon. Equally intriguing to him was the small, shadowy figure moving through the atmospheric residue.

To most eyes turned in that direction, the figure would have been indistinguishable from the surrounding darkness. Luckily, a Blood Knight’s vision was exceptional, and Rhys had a special gift for hunting anomalies like this one. It was his job, his gig. He was good at it. Better than good. He was lethal. A monster’s worst nightmare.

Problem was...the figure down in that alley wasn’t one of London’s usual monsters.

Although it was time for the city’s abominations to crawl out of their hidey-holes, the creature with the strange light display wasn’t a vampire or a werewolf. The scent accompanying the apparition didn’t ring in as blood or damp fur, but something altogether different.

Chances were slim that he had missed a species or two in his centuries of keeping watch on the ever-growing lists of them. However, it now seemed to Rhys as if there could have been a gap in his education.

He supposed mortal Londoners might have chalked up those brief seconds of flashy lights to having had one too many drams at the local pub after work. He knew better. If something new had touched down here tonight, he wanted to know what that creature was up to.

I wonder what you are...

Zeroing in on the alley, Rhys detected another surprise. An odor of power trailed in this stranger’s wake. Old power, with a scent reminiscent of an ancient library full of leather-bound books. With the unique fragrance came an atmospheric vibration similar to the hum of lightning striking the earth nearby.

Rhys looked up. No storm clouds.

The sigils covering his neck and shoulder blades rippled in reaction to the stranger’s otherworldly vibration. The inky symbols carved into his skin were issuing a warning he couldn’t ignore.

Was the newcomer dangerous?

Concern growing, Rhys refocused with another silent question.

Who are you?

He ticked off the rarer end of the species spectrum one by one. Shades and half-casts could be ruled out. A few ancient vampires could manipulate the atmosphere on occasion, but that wasn’t the case here.

What else, then? Demon? Some brand-new hybrid concoction designed to confuse the rules and subvert the senses?

Maybe not completely, though, because the vibes this creature gave off were familiar to him on an almost subliminal level, and they kicked his heart rate up a notch or two.

His nagging conscience provided reasonable assurances about having experienced similar physical responses a few times before this, in different time frames and in several places around the globe. Brief blips on his internal radar that came to nothing in the end. Now, though, wasn’t the time for pondering the parameters of déjà vu.

One thing was for sure. Tonight had just gotten a hell of a lot more interesting.

Enlisting the full resources of his extensive mental databanks, Rhys searched deeply for images to pinpoint this newcomer. Concentration brought him success. Beneath the noticeable wisp of old power lay another scent that was as different from the grimy London street odors as possible. Perfume, indicative of golden things. Sunrays on the clear water of a fountain. Morning dew on green grass. Fields of flowers.