Lifeblood
River Starr
(Wife of the Demon Kings, #1)
Publication date: June 29rd 2023
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance

I WAS CHOSEN AS THEIR WIFE. BUT I DIDN’T CHOOSE THEM.

The Demon Courts reign in darkness over half the world, threatening our very existence. We in the Humanlands send them wives via lottery once a year to appease them, women to ravage and ruin in a lust-filled dance as their darkest desires are fulfilled.

IT’S NEVER ENOUGH.

The women never return. The four cursed demon kings are never satisfied. When my best friend is chosen as one of their next wives, I can’t leave her to that fate. I alone can end our suffering—but I’ve been hiding, terrified of death.

BECAUSE I AM A LIFEBLOOD.

I’m one of the last true children of the divine. My celestial blood is the key to the kings’ continued immortality and, if prophecy is to be believed, the cure to their curses. As soon as I meet the four achingly sexy monarchs, I can’t deny the intense and immediate attraction—and the pull my magic has on them.

Each of the gorgeous kings will try to take me as his wife. I hope they’re ready to fight for it… and that I survive the claiming.

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EXCERPT:

“There is nothing complicated about this,” Gareth spat as he swiped through the air. Veins bulged along the sides of his neck and his ears were turning red. More telling, though, were the wisps of smoke starting to billow from his nose. “She’s my mate.”

He said it as if that explained everything. As if it were simply fact, and that because of it, I was his and nothing else about this situation mattered.

Except that it was a lie.

“Hollow mate, you mean,” I dared to say. If these men were going to argue about me as though I wasn’t even here, I’d say what I wanted, decorum be damned. These were demon kings and the very enemy of my kind. They didn’t care about me, just my blood. “This bond between us is hollow. I know you know that.”

It was missing pieces. But I wasn’t sure he’d let me clarify that part we’d both felt, too, last night in front of his friends. Friends who were all staring at me a little too closely right now. My brow knit together even tighter as I tried to breathe through the raw, demonic power hitting me every few moments. And I was a lifeblood. How did the human women handle these demon kings for any length of time?

They didn’t. Not all four at once. Maybe not even one for long.

Gareth glanced over his shoulder at me, and the cold, angry look in his eyes cut through everything else in the room. “I should’ve killed you.”

“It probably would’ve worked out better for me.” I hated him. I hated all of them. But those words hurt, and I hated that they did. That this demon king had any intimate power over me at all.

Mordred charged forward another step at Gareth’s words, but then paused when Gareth didn’t follow through.

“Mordred,” Lance warned, a smirk still playing on his full lips. Did he really find this funny?

Mordred’s jaw locked hard. “We agreed on civil. No more threats. From anyone.”

Silence fell upon the room, but it was their demonic power that continued to fill it. Thick and tense, full of a dark rawness I’d never felt before. Except last night with Gareth.

There’d been so many new feelings last night with Gareth. A pull I felt even now, still hollow between him and me, as I stood behind him. Only, unlike last night, my anger was holding the submissive parts of me at bay. Because there was no chance in hell I’d get on my knees and submit to him in front of these demon kings.

I wouldn’t submit to any of them.

Lance’s grin grew as we stood there. “Oh… Oh! Is she the one who broke into your hotel room last night and nearly escaped with all of your little draconic treasures?” His tone was mirthful, teasing, but there was a slight tightness to his jaw that suggested—to me, at least—he wasn’t sure if this was going too far. “Clever, clever girl.”

“Lifeblood,” I corrected him. “Another woman for you four to ravage and ruin.”

“Mate,” Gareth chimed in. “She’s my mate. My lifeblood. And she’s leaving here with me.”

Mordred’s jaw finally unlocked, but only to say, “She just said the connection’s hollow. What if it’s not a real mate bond?”

It’s not, I wanted to say. But I kept my mouth shut.

It seemed clear to Gareth as well as to me that something was wrong with our mate bond. But the possessive, draconic part of him was winning out over any and all logic, and I was starting to get the sense that my time was indeed running short. He’d kill me after all. Someone this not in control wouldn’t have the patience to bleed me slowly over years.

Tristan stepped forward finally, although the look of concentration on his forehead hadn’t lessened. If anything, his brow had creased deeper above his chestnut-brown eyes. “I’m more interested in where you’ve been for the last nearly two hundred years. Lifebloods are supposed to be extinct.”

I raised my chin. They could easily surmise why I’d hidden myself if they thought about it for more than half a second. “I was a child when your Demon Courts killed the rest of my kind. I was hidden away and then orphaned. I stayed hidden out of fear.”

Of death. Of torture. Children were too young to have fears like that. But I’d survived.

“You abandoned your duty,” Gareth snapped.

Lance’s eyebrows lifted and he chuckled a little. “You really don’t like her, do you?”

“It’s mutual,” I said.

At this, Gareth turned to affix his burning gaze on me. His eyes were a dark red that seemed to have actual fires burning within them. “You don’t need to like me. You just need to accept the mate bond.”

“So you can take my blood and body without consent?” I volleyed back. “Or do I not have that anymore, either?” I lifted my bound wrists so I could tap my chin with a silver-painted nail. “I suppose not, considering how many women have likely died at your hands after you’re done using them. That’s why I hid. All of that death.”

Author Bio:

River Starr writes books that help you escape, especially fantasy romance full of magic and supernaturals. Favorite things: coffee, wine, chocolate, and a heavy dose of books to chase away the dark… or invite delicious darkness in.

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