Ember

By Matara Eros

Discover Ember by NY Times and #1 Dark Fantasy bestselling author Marata Eros—a riveting tale where alpha supernatural warriors fight for survival. In a world threatened by sexual slavery, rare Mer maidens become crucial to replenishing a dwindling population. As elite Mer Warriors embark on a search, they must navigate a society forgetting the Old Ways.

• "Absolutely fantastic!" ~Theresa H.
• "Loved this!"
• "Cannot wait to read the next one...."
• "This story is... explosive!"

Ember explores love, power, and survival, offering a captivating blend of forbidden desires and supernatural drama. For fans of The Black Dagger Brotherhood and True Blood, this novel takes readers on a journey through a changing world where ancient myths collide with contemporary realities. Join the Mer Warriors as they forge a new path, ensuring the continuation of their race in this thrilling saga by the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Marata Eros.

• Language: English
• Publisher: T. Rose Press LLC
• Release date: May 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9791222405650

Book preview

1

Constantine opened his eyes to a great cavern, a rushing sound in his ears, his head a throbbing mass of pain.

Con had learned the power of observing one's surroundings and it did not fail him now. He carefully tested his equilibrium and sat up, his head swimming with a vertigo that made his vision triple. When that finally settled, he took in a cavernous space and a ceiling made of stone. Spikes of softly colored opaque quartz-like stalactites hung as if suspended in midair.

The rushing sound had been the sea.

At the mouth of the cave the wild and churning water roared and lapped at the entrance in angry turmoil. Night had cloaked the water thoroughly, but to his vampire sight it had the deepest tone of green―black kissed by emerald.

Constantine stood at the mouth of the cave and understood that he had survived the test Desmond had set for him. He was everything and nothing.

A mongrel of many species. Druid enough to respond like a rabid dog on a leash to a pure female, Faction enough for criminal pursuits, and Exotic enough to be a sexual slave to a female who also possessed that blood.

Now his blood had sung the melody of the sea.

A siren's wail.

Con's blood had surfaced like an escaped bubble and burst when it reached its end.

Now Constantine was alone in an obvious intermediary place of the Sirens. They would come.

He would be ready.

The barest scrape on stone had Con turning in a crouched pose, his blood starvation coming to him with a slamming intensity when he saw the delicate feast that had slipped from between two of the stones.

A female of the Mer.

There was not lighting poor enough to mask her ethereal beauty. His eyes began at the roots of her platinum hair, strands of silver-like tinsel twined through the strands. As she moved nearer, he saw that small pearls had been woven into the softly curling tendrils. Nearly white, they shone with the faintest colors of the sea, their watered green and blue iridescence emphasizing her paleness, though it was her eyes that caused Constantine to become utterly still.

They were the flame of a low burning fire, burnt down to the coals of the deepest red, like wine.

Like blood.

Con swallowed against his the thirst. Her gown of the palest blue, like the great glaciers in the north, swirled around her ankles, feet bare.

I am Ember, she said in a throaty voice that had a catch. It was water falling, sheeting against his mind.

His soul.

Constantine shook his head at the sound of the waves gently lapping and got down to what mattered.

Feeding.

Then he would ravage this maiden of the Mer.

The demon of his sadism had been released and found a home.

He moved forward and grabbed the maiden against him and the sound of the sea washed against him.

It was no longer at the entrance of the cave, but suspended above his head in a humanoid shape.

A wall of water with a head, gills and a trident stood looming above Constantine.

Con hadn't known his true lineage. It had been hidden from him. And unknown to him, he had been abused for his uniqueness in an effort to break him.

Constantine was not broken. I break others.

Ducking from the calling card of a trident made of water, he released the maiden with the eyes of fire and threw his hand up instinctively.

The water exploded, the deadly fork becoming droplets that sprayed everything within a ten foot radius and Con straightened. observing what he'd accomplished.

Vampire, a watery voice said from behind him. Do not move or I shall use what I have to spear your worthless hide.

Con didn't listen; in a savage twist he used an elbow to hit the weapon and taking it deeply into the flesh of his bicep, the muscle giving to the metal. His fangs were released from their prison of flesh as he raked them across whatever was closest.

His sharpened fangs found the neck of the one who'd spoken. Constantine gave a satisfied grunt, drinking from his opponent and tearing the trident out of the flesh of his arm with his opposite hand, its barbed ends grabbing chunks out of his skin.

Con was clubbed from behind and his mouth fell away from his meal.

Con hit the rock floor hard.

The leader of the Sirens stood above him. His tunic and matching pants were of the lightest ivory, yet still they contrasted with his skin. He was paler than even Con as the vampire between them.

The female came to stand beside him, her deep blood-red eyes giving Con a look of derision.

This is the mixed-blood? she asked.

He nodded.

Hmmm, she said like Constantine had been a disappointment to her.

Fuck that, Con thought as his head throbbed from an entirely new problem. However, this time he took note of where everyone stood, healing as he leapt to his feet. He used the stone wall at his back and watched as three warriors, each with identical tridents moved to flank Desmond and the female.

Ember. A name that matched her unusual eyes.

Con was aggrieved, he wanted an explanation. He needed to feed. The blood from the Mer Warrior had barely been sufficient. His fangs refused to retract, he was too far gone for that.

He crouched again, hissing. Swinging his dark hair out of his eyes he came at them and Desmond, appearing bored, swung his obsidian gaze to the others.

Hold him.

Con tore at the throat of the first who approached him and Ember used a cup made of alabaster, throwing the contents on the male's wounded throat, the sea mixing with the blood and the wound closed.

I will heal all who you wound. Submit now, Faction, she said in her liquid voice.

Constantine looked at her, his body moving to hers against his will. He grit his teeth. "I will never submit."

I know, she said quietly and threw the remaining sludge at him.

It hit his skin like acid and Constantine howled.

Con simply did not have enough blood in his system to repair this newest affront. He ground his teeth against his screams of pain as the two other warriors of the Mer approached him with caution.

Their reticence was warranted, his arm was still bleeding slowly from the wound inflicted by the barbed sea fork and now he had the concoction that healed the Mer, burning like a cobweb of fire on his flesh.

Still, Con swept his foot up in a stabbing punch that took out the knee of the closest warrior.

Desmond barked out a laugh. He is most resilient, our Con.

Yes, Ember said with distaste. She thought him a wild specimen. Why her brother still worked with any of the Faction was beyond her, she thought as she watched the half-breed incapacitate another Warrior of the Mer.

He had proven himself a vicious fighter.

Of course, there had been the Druid Faction that had saved her, Kier. That one incident kept their indebtedness to that group intact. Now that time was past, thank the Mother. It was a good thing that he now ruled the Druid vampire, he and his queen, Holly. The Faction had taken a great loss of numbers in the Seattle coven and Ember was glad. She shuddered to think of it. Even though her assault had been two decades prior....

Do I bore you sister?

Her face snapped to Desmond. No, I was lost in thought, Ember said as Con felled the last warrior like a mighty tree, kicking the huge Mer in the ribs for good measure.

Constantine faced the two sadistic fucks of the Sirens and said in a deceptively calm voice, Did I pass your litmus test, Desmond?

The Mer frowned. It is Prince Desmond to you.

I bow to no one, obviously, Con said with an absolute certainty.

I like him, Ember decided. He was a raw presence, certainly, but fiercer than most of the Siren guard.

Good. For he is your new guard, Desmond replied cryptically.

Constantine was stunned. He would not guard a female. I take my pleasure from females, I will not be called to protect one. He curled his upper lip into a sneer.

Desmond lifted a muscular shoulder. If you were not Mer, then you would be without use or value. That you do not wish to have this position of honor means the same.

Constantine understood the implication: he would guard Ember or he would be cast out yet again, shunned from another group. Floating on the muddled ocean of his mixed species standing, belonging nowhere.

Without purpose.

If it is that you are afraid...? Ember goaded him, hoping to get underneath his thick skin.

Constantine blurred to her before the lilt in her voice could make it a question. With a tightening of his eyes, Desmond made the sea a drone of pain in Constantine's mind and his hands came to the sides of his head, remembering instantly the pain of the Mother. He remained on his feet through sheer grit alone.

You may have some control of the sea, I do not know how it is possible with what little blood of the Mer you possess, but know this: if you touch my sister with intent to harm, I will let the storm of an unending tide undo you. And when you are revived, a new tide will come to the shores of your mind.

Constantine believed him. He hesitated, the moment swelling like a scene in slow motion.

Then an odd thing occurred.

Ember opened her mouth and called to Constantine, it was a singular note of music that jerked the deepest part of himself to the forefront, and he moved to her like a puppet jerked by its strings.

The purest musical trill lifted, soaring and falling like a thread of silken timbre that caused the fine bones in his body to vibrate subtly. Before Con knew what he was doing his hands came to her face, cupping the smallness between his massive palms.

Her mouth closed softly and those lips, shell pink and soft became a perfect tempting pout.

He is Mer enough, Ember said quietly, her eyes held in his, fire and the deepest brown were mixed together in a shade that was almost black yet not.

Desmond nodded, taking in the Merstruck Con, his eyes dilated and skin flushed.

Desmond approached the entwined pair. He is Druid as well,

Con turned to Desmond and hissed, drawing the small Mer behind his huge warrior's body.

Definitely Druid, Desmond smirked.

And Exotic, Ember added dryly from behind him.

The perfect assassin.

The perfect bodyguard, she agreed.

Constantine did not want to be either. He wished to be included, to belong―and also―have purpose. Con did not like what this female brought to him. He was not accustomed to protecting anything but his own skin. The new reality was disorienting.

Constantine could not protest it anymore. He'd used his body to shield the female when he had but moments before declared that he was a user of their tantalizing flesh and no more.

As it were, Constantine was so much more than the sum of his parts.

And more Mer than he wished to be.

Constantine roamed his new quarters, which even included a bathing area. It looked organic, primitive. The shower itself had a wall of the strange quartz material, the rough-hewn floor was of the same material, but tumbled not polished.

His bed was the most bizarre, it was tub-like with water from the sea that churned and stayed at the host's body temperature.

Ember had shown him his room in the huge compartmentalized caverns that comprised the dwellings of the Mer when they were land bound.

When they had come upon the bed Constantine had asked why there were two bathing areas.

This is where you shall sleep, Ember said in a matter of fact way.

Constantine had been staring at the pulse beating in her throat, his hunger coming alive again.

She laughed when she saw his expression. You will see. Now that you are amongst us, the part of you that is Mer will manifest. If your Mer blood is invigorated by our environment, it will become dominant.

So I will grow the revolting gills? A horrible thought. He looked at her bare throat, free of the rippled airways. You do not have the breathing slits?

She unconsciously touched her throat and shook her head slightly, a slight flare of color giving away an emotion Con thought sat oddly on her. We are not sure why my gills disappear then reappear.

When? Con asked, curious despite his resolve to feign indifference.

Whilst I am in saltwater.

Fresh water doesn't do it?

She shook her head.

What about your eyes....?

She stiffened. We are not sure about that either, however, there is a rumor of some of my kind having the fire eyes....

Fire eyes? Con said, a little humor leaking out around the edges.

She nodded solemnly.

Ember cast those molten eyes down at the ground and Con instantly caught sight of her perfect small toes with webbing, it was not much, but noticeable. The manifestation marked her as Mer but she could pass within human norms if she so chose. Con wondered if she walked amongst the cattle that roamed the land with her blood from the sea.

Desmond has asked that I feed you. She snapped her eyes up to meet his. Before you think that it will make me vulnerable to you, it will not. I am a Siren of royal blood. It will tie you further to me. It will feed you but you will be even more bound to my call.

She gave him choice. Con understood that, yet, in his experience everything bowed to the Thirst.

Constantine fought to rebel but his lust for blood was crushing. And again, he had come to Desmond. For a place to call home.

Now the princess of the Mer came before him offering her blue blood.

His sadistic side, always present, wished to bend her, break her with his cock, his hands pinning those pale wrists above her head while he caused her pain as he beat his fleshen tool into her maiden sex. His prick pressed against the inside of his pants, begging for a release that would not be given.

The call that she'd sent to him, her Siren's wail―had made that blood awaken, and now it warred with his perverse nature.

As he stood there, those opposing natures battled. His heart wished to dominate, his body to protect, and it was at that emotional intersect that Ember pushed her pale and shining hair away from the precious sweet spot he had admired but moments before.

The pulse of the maiden pushed that delectable flesh in a drumbeat of seduction he could no longer deny.

Constantine struck, winding his arms around her slight body and snapping her against him. Rearing back, his fangs pierced her deeply and as her blue blood flooded his mouth, the taste was a cool press on his tongue. He groaned.

The first emotion that reached Con forced his arms around the small maiden that he drank from. Her fragrance was the freshest of breezes across the water, sea mist captured and released for that moment of entwined