Free Download of THE DEMON OF SYNAR

If you haven't already gotten your copy, or want to recommend the Forced To Serve series to your friends, this is a good time. THE DEMON OF SYNAR (Book 1) is now free at Smashwords, Amazon US, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Kobo (coming soon), and Apple (available via ibooks)

The Prologue and Chapter 1 excerpts are available on this blog (click buy links at top for easiest link to them), but here's another short excerpt you might enjoy. This is from the scene where Ania discovers she carries the Demon of Synar within her.

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Scene excerpt from Chapter 6

From the depths of her, Ania felt the demon offer up several centuries of old memories, and in them she saw a passionate, risk-taking female who had warred until her whole planetary culture had devoted itself to peace. When she had personally seen that the only way to peace was through the practice of good, she had given herself over to it with just as much devotion as she had shown Liam Synar.

She had all but forgotten herself as a young girl not even a century old, forgotten that it had been the warrior who had come first. Then just as clearly, she saw why the demon had chosen to give those memories back to her at this moment. Synar held both their lives in his control, but her intuition was telling her that it didn’t have to be like that.

She felt the demon fluttering in approval, the feeling so familiar that she wondered why she had not connected to it before.

“You may be the master of the Demon of Synar, but you will never be my master. I vow that one day soon I will take back control of the destiny you have exploited for your own purposes. Neither you nor your demon will stop me. This is my new vow to you and replaces all former ones I have ever made,” Ania said harshly. “You should be grateful you are not my enemy. Ai lee na cum silane. Between us now there can be no peace.”

Synar paled at her words, spoken in the ancient tongue that all creatures feared. How did Ania know it so well?

Suddenly, the remnants of Ania’s energy that had remained within him were wrenched away and gone as he stood meeting her angry glare. His mate had just shut him out of her soul and taken back her energy. He did not know exactly what Ania’s words had meant, but the personal distance between them now was worse than any he had created by leaving her alone so long. He felt no compassion from her at all.

Ania turned her back on the male who had done this to her to face another she thought had been a friend. Her illusion of Dorian’s caring was gone as well. It was difficult to choose which hurt worse. It seemed she was to retain the comfort of nothing and no one. Knowing that was truth, she would have killed her physical body by her own hand if the demon would have allowed it.

“You knew Synar did this to me. The demon I carry is capable of bringing death to a whole planet. Despite his insistence that he is the demon’s master, it’s obvious Synar has little understanding of the power, but you know of what I speak, Dorian Zade. Your betrayal hurts me more than even Synar’s. You have betrayed my spiritual trust and a friendship of many centuries,” she said coldly.

“It was not your destiny to die that day,” Dorian said just as coolly in return, his heart saddened by her reaction, but he had already seen how deeply she would be hurt. “Liam’s guilt over you made him a coward in dealing with you afterward. My affection for you both made me one as well, so I remained loyal to Liam in hopes he would find the proper path. I wanted to wait for the will of the creators of all to work this out, which I believe is happening now.”

Ania laughed bitterly and lifted her arms. “Arrogant males are ageless! You both are fools. Raging fires of Helios, what gives you or Synar the right to determine anyone’s destiny for them, Dorian? My life while I lived freely was given over to easing the pain and suffering of all creatures, not in increasing the risk of harm to them.”

“I could not control what was done to you, neither the attack nor Liam’s actions to save you. It was also not my place to make the decision for Liam to tell you,” Dorian said, trying in vain to defend his loyalty.

“Neither you nor Synar will ever know the truth of how much spiritual pain you both have caused me. When I am energetically no more, ask the demon how many tears I fed him. Ask him how much grief I bore to feel his darkness growing like a child within me. Ask him what cost he exacted from me after Synar left me living a lie full of hope for a mate who kept promising to return, but never did,” Ania demanded.

She swung back to Synar, muttering streams of words that had both males calling her name in alarm.

“Ania, stop,” Dorian ordered, watching the Khalsa warrior awaken from her centuries-old sleep. He was more afraid than anyone in the room because the last thing any of them needed was the demon to share that power. “Do not condemn us all with your words. There are many on the ship who do not deserve your wrath.”

“Fine, but now do you see?” she asked. “The demon could use my power to curse and kill as much as his own. Over the centuries I made myself a healer, an instrument of good. Against my will, Synar has made me an instrument of evil again, and now a worse bringer of mass destruction and death. I will not allow my body to be used in such a manner. One way or the other, with or without permission, I will have my death and cease to feed the demon.”

Ania turned and left the room, not waiting to be dismissed from the meeting. Who would stop her? Power rose within her and the demon fluttered in approval.

For the second time in her life, Ania hated herself.