Thursday, April 17, 2014

Engulfed...


Title: Engulfed (North Wing #1)
Author: Barbara C. Doyle
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance, SciFi, Fantasy
Publisher: Bayou Brew Publishing
Tour Host: Lady Amber's Tours



Synopsis:
Troubled, abandoned and left for dead in the high society of the North Wing, Ebony Falls continues to live her life haunted by her past. Even living in a mansion with a movie star foster mother, she can only think of the night that changed her life forever. 

And it all started with the boy with golden eyes. 

Accepting the task of saving the life of Ebony Falls, Guardian Angel Nicholas descends to the surface to protect the girl from the shadows. Consumed in the desire the Prophecy holds in the Heavens, Nicholas ventures into all new depths that draws his heart to Ebony’s. However, when he can no longer put her at risk of his own selfish desires, he pushes Ebony away and watches as she lands in the arms of his sworn enemy. 

And together, their fates are Engulfed.

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Excerpt: 

“Hiding from your own party?” a voice said from my doorway. My eyes flew over to Cadan. He leaned against the door frame with his shoulder in a sling.  
“Didn’t feel well,” I said. His eyes shone a beautiful red shade and glowed in the darkness of the room. His free hand was stuffed in the pocket of his dark blue jeans. He wore a black button down shirt that accented his toned upper arms, stopping just below his waist.  
He smiled, showing beautiful white teeth. “You don’t have to fight it, you know,” he said looking around my room. 
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, sitting up in bed. I tugged on my hoodie, zipping it up, so nothing showed. Usually, I didn’t let anybody into my room. It was the only place I was not tempted to steal energy. But Cadan didn’t give off any energy.  
Cadan’s eyes traveled to me and locked on my arms. 
“The hunger, Ebony,” he replied. “You don’t have to fight it. It is part of who you are. It will never go away.” He focused on my sleeves. “Why do you cover them?” he asked quietly. 
My body froze. 
How did he know about the hunger? How did he know about my scars? Had he heard about them from people around school?  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said quietly, rubbing my arms.  
Cadan walked into my room and stopped in front of me. My heart jumped into my throat. 
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he whispered, touching his finger to my arm. 
My body shook as my eyes traveled to his hand. His burning hot fingers rubbed my sleeve until it rose past my wrists showing the bottom of my scar. I reached to pull my sleeve back down, but Cadan gently caught my hand in his. 
“You’re ashamed,” he muttered, caressing the exposed skin on my arm. His honey sweet voice made my stomach fill with butterflies as his scorching hot touch made me shudder.  
“Not ashamed,” I answered him in a whisper. “I’m embarrassed.” 
He frowned. “You shouldn’t be,” he replied. He took my hoodie’s zipper in his fingers and slowly pulled it down. My heart raced out of control. 
Why was I letting him undress me? 
I stared at his pale hands as they slid my hoodie off of my shoulder. His thumb gently caressed my bare skin, slowly trailing down my arm until it reached my scars. His touch made my heart fill with foreign pleasure.  
I closed my eyes.  
His touch slipped me deeper into a trance that connected us. When he touched me, I felt his emotions behind his cautious barrier.  
“So beautiful,” he said dangerously close to me. 
Kiss him!  The Whisperers hissed.  
I cracked open my eyes to see Cadan’s lips only an inch from mine. The Whisperers always told me to do things I would never usually do. They seemed eager for me to kiss Cadan, and as close as he was, I easily could have.  
Cadan’s eyes were focused on my scars. His pointer finger slowly traced the marks around my wrist, leaving tiny shocks on every inch of me he touched.  
My breathing quickened as his eyes trailed to mine. 
Startled, I looked into his red eyes. They were mixed with an electric orange and framed with thick black lashes. He blinked once, settling the trance I was stuck in.  
My heart threatened to melt inside of me as it went into overdrive. My lungs shut off. Air in. Air out. Come on, Ebony. Just breathe. I inhaled slowly and shakily exhaled as I studied at his face.  
“You obviously don’t know what beautiful is,” I whispered. 
Make a move, Young Blood! The Whisperers cried. 
I shook my head. “How do you know about the feed? I don’t understand, Cadan…” The feed was something I had never seemed to be able to get out of my head. The hunger was always with me, but I never told anyone. So how did Cadan know? 
“I know a lot about it, sweetness.” He took a daring step forward, pulling me up, so we stood chest to chest. With his free hand, he tangled his fingers in my hair.  
The hunger inside of me flooded my body, but it wasn’t the same hunger I felt when I was around others. It was a new hunger. A new addiction my body wanted to feed on. 
“You should take a step back,” I struggled. “Please? I need…” Air, I pleaded silently. I need air!  
He tipped my head up with two fingers, stroking my jaw as we locked eyes. I bit my lip harder until it stung. If I opened my mouth, I would feed. I couldn’t give in. 
But it hurt too much. 
“You can’t hurt me,” he assured me with a smile on his face. He leaned closer until his lips teased my ear. “You can’t feed on the soulless.” 
I closed my eyes tightly. Cadan combed his fingers through my hair and pressed my head against his chest in comfort. My throat burned so badly I wanted to break down. 
“Ebony?” somebody called in a strained voice from my doorway. 
I pushed myself away from Cadan to see Luke staring at me. His expression was broken as he looked at his step brother. Black shadows radiated off of him—the blackest I’ve ever seen—hatred. 
He clenched his fists and walked out of my room. 
Without hesitating, I slipped my hoodie back on and ran out after him. “Luke, wait!” I pleaded. Luke made his way out the front door, punching the frame. I ran until I caught up to him. I grabbed his arm. 
He turned around with an angry expression on his face. His energy was so strong I felt it against my lips. The hunger burst inside of my body.  
“What?” he snapped. He moved away from me.  
“You don’t understand—” 
He rolled his eyes and spat, “I’m sorry I interrupted whatever the hell was going on. Tell Cadan, I apologize.” 
“You didn’t interrupt anything—” 
“You never let anybody see your arms!” he growled at me. He looked down at my hoodie. “You’ve known me forever, and you never showed me your arms. Are you afraid? Why would you let my step brother see something that will always be a part of you, when you can’t even show me?” 
Tears threatened my eyes as I crossed my arms on my chest trying to remain calm. Luke had never yelled at me.  
“I can’t deal with people seeing them. Cadan…he… I’m not sure what to tell you,” I said in a small voice that was no more than a whisper. “Cadan understands. Even though we’ve only know each other for a little while, he knows that I’m not like other people.” 
“What is a ‘little while’ compared to a lifetime?” he belittled. “Jesus, Ebony you were all over him! His hands…” He clenched his fists tightly and hit the tree next to him. “I only came to this stupid party to be with you. Okay? I didn’t come here to see Cadan get into your pants.” 
I looked up at him with wide eyes. “Cadan was not getting into my pants,” I returned coldly.  “And what happened between Cadan and me wasn’t going to go any further than that.” 
Luke rolled his eyes. “His hands were all over you, Ebony. And you weren’t exactly fighting him off. You looked like you were going to devour him!” 
“What the hell is your deal?” I hissed at him, throwing my hands in the air. “Let it go, Luke! If you don’t simmer down, something might happen that I won’t be proud of!” 
Luke clenched his jaw. “Like what, Ebony? Are you going to hurt me?” His chest rose and fell heavily as he squeezed his fists so tight his whole hand turned white. 
His anger increased until it was about to burst. 
My hunger took over as I stepped into Luke. I pressed my lips to his, letting all of his shadow absorb into me. I felt him start to shake less. The anger subsided as he put his hands on my waist. 
Luke’s anger slowly turned to content. I was too hungry. It was like I had finally found the salvation that I had been starved of for so long. I kept feeding until Luke’s face grew pale. 
My lips parted his to absorb even more energy. My stomach rumbled in praise as the Whisperers laughed at the sight. Luke’s tongue danced against mine, but I was too focused on the feed to feel the unreadable emotion that came with kissing my best friend.  
Another minute passed. And then another, until somebody grabbed my arm and threw me to the ground. I snapped out of the feed and watched Luke fall to his knees in weakness. My hunger disappeared.  
I looked up at Cadan to see him staring at his step brother. “Welcome to the dark side, sweetness,” he murmured right before I blacked out. 

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Author Bio:
Barbara C. Doyle became an Amazon bestselling author at only the age of seventeen.
Growing up in a small town in central New York proved no challenge for the young writer. Taking a risk of sharing her work with the world enabled her first true endeavor into the author life, signing a contract with Bayou Brew Publishing for The North Wing Trilogy, and not long after signing with Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing for The Fearless Trilogy. Currently finishing her senior year in high school, she is preparing for her future endeavors either into the work field or college.
Her ultimate goal is to become an International Bestselling author, and tour the world on endless amounts of book signings, while continuing to write in multiple different genres.

“I just want people to see that they can do anything they set their mind to, no matter how old they are. I was fortunate enough to get an early start on my writing career, and I hope that takes me even farther in life. Hearing that I’m in inspiration to people is success in itself.”

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