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Synopsis:
*** This is a continuation of Connor and Sha's story. Book 1, Breaking the Nexus, should be read first.***
As two Realms collide, the world descends into chaos.
From
the moment Sha Phoenix dropped into the middle of Detective Connor
Flynn’s murder scene, he had known his life would never be the same.
Following her claim to be a Sorceri from the Mythrian Realm, he had
received a crash course in the impossible as they had struggled to stop a
madman. Unfortunately, despite their efforts to stop the Nexus, a
magical barrier separating the Mythrian and Human Realms, fractured.
Magic and myth are spilling over into the Human Realm, plunging
everything into turmoil.
Is their love strong enough to survive the flames of the phoenix?
When
Sha vanished through a portal in the middle of battle, Connor did not
hesitate to follow the woman he had claimed as his. Now in the Mythrian
Realm, they join forces with the Sentinels, the guardians of the Realms,
to protect the world they love. Will they be able to contain the evil
taking control? Or will they perish in the flames of war?
The Mythrian Series
Warrior Unleashed, #1.5: Amazon • B&N
Excerpt
I’m not dead. The astonished thought circled through Detective Connor
Flynn’s mind as he lay on the ground, pebbles embedding
their shape in his skin as blades of grass raked him, leaving tiny cuts in
their wake.
Part of him marveled at the fact that he hadn’t been vaporized
the instant he’d jumped through the chasm in the Nexus. At the time, it had
seemed like the best option. Hell, it was the only option. The moment Sha Phoenix, the mysterious woman who’d
dropped into his life mere days earlier, disappeared into oblivion, Connor knew
there’d be no turning back. The inexplicable bond between them, the driving
need to just be with her, wouldn’t allow him to sit idly while the woman he’d
come to love vanished without a trace.
There, he’d admitted it to himself. Somehow, in the too few days
they’d known each other, the seeds of love had been sewn and he’d be damned if
he let some supernatural crap steal her from him. A week ago, none of this was
real. Banshees, demons, magic, they were the stuff of fiction. Now, he knew
different. Now, he knew it all existed. At least he was pretty sure it existed.
Otherwise, he’d gone completely insane and was even now sitting in a nice,
padded cell drooling on himself.
Laughter filled his mind. Hate
to tell you this, but you’re not insane. Well, not any more than usual. I can’t
believe you followed me without even knowing what lay on the other side of the
portal.
Relief poured through every fiber of his being at the whisper of
Sha’s voice. I couldn’t let you have all
the fun, he replied.
“If this is your idea of fun, we may need to revisit the subject
of your sanity.”
Connor pried open his eyes, not even realizing he’d kept them
clenched so tight his head had begun to hurt. As his blurry vision cleared, he
kicked himself for not remaining blissfully ignorant to his surroundings.
“You had to open them sometime,keva.” Sha stepped to his side, brushing her fingers down his cheek
in the briefest caress.
“Where are we?” He’d wanted to ask what keva meant, but now was probably not the ideal time for a
linguistics lesson. Figuring out where the hell he’d landed seemed a bit more
important.
She said nothing for several long minutes as she looked over the
precipice on which they stood. Finally, she spoke, the awe-struck words barely
audible over the roaring winds that whipped around them.
“Not where, so much as when. This is not a place, not anymore.
It’s more a ripple of memory, one few have ever witnessed. This, keva, was the birth of the Nexus.”
He stood there for an eternity, transfixed by the fierce battle
waging in the canyon. Though the figures looked like toy soldiers, the song of
steel against steel rang clear in his ears. The cacophony of war cries,
menacing snarls from nightmarish creatures, the moans of the dying locked in
Connor’s memory. A glance at Sha’s rigid body confirmed the tortured souls
below would haunt her as well.
“How can this be the birth of the Nexus? How can we be seeing a
something that happened centuries ago?”
“More like a few thousand years ago,” Sha said, her tone flat.
Her eyes, however, darkened to cobalt, misery swimming in them when she turned
to him. “In my studies, they called this a vistria.
It is said the earth remembers all, can hold secrets deep within itself. Some
can unlock the secrets, but most must wait until the earth decides to reveal a
glimpse. They say each person sees the scene differently, each mind processing
the memory in its own way. The gods must’ve decided it was time to share this
with me. Since you were crazy enough to follow me through the Nexus, our minds
joined, extending the vistria to
you.”
The concept of the earth,
the big planet beneath his feet – assuming Mythria was actually on this planet,
a fact he still wasn’t certain of – sharing memories with them was bizarre.
Granted, tumbling head first into a magic portal wasn’t exactly an everyday
occurrence. He hoped.
“What happens from here?” Connor asked, amazed at how nonchalant
he sounded.
Sha’s gaze had returned to the unfolding scene and she answered
without breaking her unwavering concentration. “Honestly? I don’t know. This is
the first time I’ve been chosen to bear witness to this and I’ve never spoken
directly to anyone who experienced a vistria.
I assume we watch until we’ve seen what the earth wanted to share. I recognize
a good portion from things I learned as a child, but there are differences. I
can only guess at the purpose of showing us this, especially now that the Nexus
crumbles. Maybe to warn of what had been trapped, of what may come?”
A week ago, Connor would never have been able to listen to her
explanation with a straight face. Now, he fell silent watching as chaos reigned
below, as troops fought fearsome, demonic beasts. They would never win, he
realized. The men and women struggling to hold back the advancing forces didn’t
stand a chance. Every time they gained a little ground, waves of blood red
light rippled outward from a black cloaked figure, bringing life to the fallen
demons.
Yet, rather than retreating from the devastating onslaught, the
armor clad warriors continued to fight. Why bother when it was so hopeless? It
was brave, sure, but a fool’s errand when faced with an entity that literally
raised the dead.
About the Author
Lindsay Avalon is a wife, owner of a
devious mini Schnauzer, programmer, and now an author. An avid reader,
her amazing husband never seems to mind the multitude of books scattered
around the house. However, after listening to the words “I have nothing
to read” one too many times, he suggested Lindsay try her hand at
writing her own books.
Since she’d never liked writing in school, she balked at the idea until her sister pestered her to participate in NaNoWriMo. It was then Lindsay realized that it was never writing she hated; it was writing boring essays. Creating worlds of magic, mystery, adventure, and romance became her true calling. In 2012, she embarked on the journey to become a self-published author and to bring her crazy ideas to life.
Since she’d never liked writing in school, she balked at the idea until her sister pestered her to participate in NaNoWriMo. It was then Lindsay realized that it was never writing she hated; it was writing boring essays. Creating worlds of magic, mystery, adventure, and romance became her true calling. In 2012, she embarked on the journey to become a self-published author and to bring her crazy ideas to life.
In
2013, Lindsay decided to ask a fellow author about her publishing
company, Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly. It was a spur of the
moment, impulsive decision, and one which Lindsay is eternally grateful
she made. Though self-publishing was exhilarating, being a part of her
amazing publishing family gives her a bit of structure in her chaotic
existence.
When
she’s not writing or spending time with her husband, she’s hiding out
from devious bears seeking to thwart her writing efforts, pestering her
amazing friends and personal assistant, creating works of art in resin,
and a multitude of other things that capture her attention at the
moment. You can find Lindsay online spreading insanity across Facebook
and interacting with her many lovelies. She loves hearing from her
readers and fellow writers!
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