Shifter, Liam Doyle knows Hell. At least he believed he did. The night he feels his mate die, he learns how very wrong he was. Nothing he’d struggled with since Ava’s rejection compares to the emptiness that fills his soul by her death. Lost in his grief, he’s taken by surprise and drugged. When he wakes, everything changes. Nothing is what it seems, and someone is dead set on making him pay.
When Ava Michaels is taken captive, she’s thrust into a dark and terrifying world along with the man she was forced to leave behind. While being near Liam again is heartbreaking, the motive behind her kidnapping is gradually revealed. The more she learns, the more she worries Liam isn’t the man she believed him to be. He has enemies willing to do anything to exact their revenge. Can their love survive a crazy man’s vengeance?
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Excerpt
A citric taste flooded Liam Doyle’s mouth a second before a shot of terror had him jackknifing to a sitting position. He clawed at his throat, and the book he’d been reading crashed to the floor.
Not your reality. Not your reality. Not your reality.
He repeated the mantra he’d used to keep from going deep into Bahrraj, to keep from being paralyzed by her emotions.
The constriction around his chest and throat tightened. A cold sweat broke out over his body as he fought the attack, fought to stay conscious of his surroundings.
Not you. Her.
Desperate to get to his feet, he fumbled with the covers, but tumbled out of bed onto the floor on all fours. Muscles tensed, threatening to lock into immobility as he struggled to escape her invading feelings. Forcing stuttered puffs through his taut lips, he clenched his eyes closed.
Not you. Her.
Ava. His mate.
The awareness of her loosened its grasp on his body and mind. He inhaled, once, twice, then pushed to his feet. Something was wrong. He had to get to her. As he stumbled from the room into the hallway, another blinding wave of terror consumed him and he fell against the wall. Her fear was so powerful, so crushing, he could barely stay on his feet, but at least his muscles were no longer trying to lock. He’d won control over the attack. Now he had to help her.
How could he help her? Goddamn it, he didn’t even know where she was! He staggered the rest of the way into the living room, inhaling painful breaths into his constricted lungs.
Snarling, his beast slammed forward with its teeth bared. As always, Liam’s body failed to respond to the animal’s frenzy, but for the first time since she had rejected him eight months ago, he and his beast felt the same overwhelming emotion—fear for their mate. What was happening? Why was she so fucking terrified? Where was she?
The impotence of the moment made him bellow between fused teeth as he fisted his hands in his hair and pulled. An icy cold filled his veins. Everything froze. His body. His beast. His emotions. Everything. Froze. The terror slowly seeped from within him. A dark shadow crept in, replacing the essence that was Ava that lived in his blood.
His beast roared.
“No!”
This couldn’t be happening.
As her life force drained from him, he dropped to his knees. Tears scorched the back of his eyes. The last flutters of her life ceased to pump in his veins, and he was left with nothing but emptiness.
He searched deep inside for any sign of her, a flicker, a hope someone was trying to breathe life back into her—to give her back to him. The emptiness did not shift, did not even shimmer. It lay inside him. Heavy. Cold. Dead. Even his beast lay unnaturally dormant. No growls or agitated pacing, as if it, too, knew its mate was gone.
Reviews
"From the start, The Awakening: Liam, was exciting and action-packed. This book was original and not just another shapeshifter novel. Your heart will go out to the characters as the story develops. Abby Niles did a wonderful job creating this thrilling tale."--Diane's Lynch Book Reviews
"THE AWAKENING: LIAM is a thrilling roller coaster ride from the very first word. I have Ms. Niles on my "to read" list and look forward to more in this amazing world and wherever else her imagination takes me."-- Fresh Fiction
"The Awakening Series is Dark, Deadly, Dangerous, and full of sexy desire, its highly romantic."--Niccis Book Blog
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