Excerpt · Reviews

The Royal Flush by D.N. Simmons – Excerpt/Review

 

BLURB:

The Royal Flush is the third novel in the edgy, action-packed, sexually-charged, Knights of the Darkness Chronicles. In the third installment of this tale, the hunt is on! The coven, Pack and Pride must join forces to stop a group of big game hunters by any means necessary! Hold on to your seat as the Knights take you on yet another wild ride that will not let you go until the last word is read and the book is closed!

Original, sexy and gritty, the Knights of the Darkness Chronicles will suck you in and
take you for a ride you won’t forget!

The Royal Flush

Excerpt From Chapter 4

 

 

Xander completed the introductions and was now ready to begin.

“Please, make yourselves comfortable,” he said as he gestured towards the plush sofa in the huge living room. Both Darian and Natasha settled comfortably on the burgundy sofa and waited for the Alpha to fill them in on whatever was going on.

Xander settle into a chair opposite Natasha and Darian. His wife, Tatiana sat on the armrest next to him. “Two days ago, one of our own turned up missing, Nicole. She left for work but has not returned. As I’m sure you realize her absence over this period of time is a definite cause for concern. We have been searching for her most diligently, but have been unsuccessful,” he said as he held his wife’s hand.

“I see,” Natasha said as she speculated on their situation, coming up with possible scenarios of her own to explain Nicole’s disappearance.

“I had Warren call you because of your abilities. I hate to ask this of you, it’s not really your concern,” Xander said, but Natasha interjected.

“Nonsense, I consider you to be my friends. Anything that I can do to aide you in finding your missing member, I will. I want to help as much as I can; the sooner the better.”

“Thank you, Natasha,” Warren said.

“No problem. Listen, I don’t want to waste another minute. If Warren has told you of my ability, then you must know that it only seems to be effective in my sleep,” Natasha stated.

“Yes, we are aware of that, please any help you can provide is much appreciated,” Tatiana said with a sweet barely-there French accent.

“I’ll do what I can.” Natasha felt elated to have been trusted enough to be brought into their private lives. Xander was a proud Pack leader. She had heard stories of his fierceness and protectiveness from Warren. She correctly assumed that the current situation must have him on edge, to have one of his own missing both angered and worried him.

“I can’t begin to tell you how much we appreciate this,” Xander said in a most dignified manner. He reminded Natasha of Xavier in many ways. He also reminded her of Darian. He appeared to be calm, in spite of the circumstance.

Natasha wondered how hard it was for him to control his emotions. She looked around the room, noticing some of the other people turning to face the entrance of the living room, including Darian. His eyes stared towards the doorway. She watched the doorway looking to see what everyone was waiting for. After a few seconds, she saw Adrian and Nagesa enter the room. Adrian looked angry and annoyed. Nagesa expression was blank which meant the two didn’t have good news. Adrian’s silver gaze lingered on Darian for a few seconds, before shifting to Natasha.

“Hey, Natasha,” Adrian greeted as he walked closer to her. “I’m glad you came.”

Natasha rose from the sofa and gave him a friendly hug. Nagesa nodded, acknowledging Darian and Natasha as he made his way towards Xander. Adrian released her and extended his hand to Darian.

“Nice to see you again.” Adrian eyes roved over Darian’s body conveying both admiration and lust.

Darian smiled. “Likewise.”

“Things going well?” Adrian asked as he gazed into Darian’s forest-green eyes.

“Yes.” Darian released Adrian’s hand. “I didn’t get the chance to express my gratitude the first time we met to tell you how very impressed I was after hearing about your brave actions in Russia.”

“Ah, yes. Hey, don’t mention it. Just doing my job.”

“Well done.”

Adrian gave Darian one last look before turning to face his father.

“Dad, we’ve searched the city high and low, we caught her scent several times, but nothing else, no trail. Do you want us to comb the city again?” he asked.

Xander sat in the chair, his chin resting against his hand as he considered his options. His intense silver eyes settled on Natasha.

“We will let Natasha use her abilities for the time being, we’ll wait until we can find out further information. Natasha, what will you need?”

She blinked twice before answering; she had to gather her senses.

“I… um, I’ll need something personal of hers,” she said.

Warren walked over to her, handing her a woman’s ring. She took the little gold band and examined it. Darian had taught her how to control the connections she made with certain objects. She had been most thankful for that lesson. Before she had learned that ability, many objects would form random connections and she would be bombarded with rampant images from all sorts of people. She opened the mental pathway and felt a connection immediately forming. A small gasp escaped her lips as she closed her eyes. Darian watched her closely making sure she was all right.

A few seconds later, Natasha opened her eyes.

“I can feel that she’s still alive. So this is good news,” she said as she handed the ring back to Warren.

“What else can you feel?” asked Tatiana, not fully understanding the extent of Natasha’s ability.

“Right now, I can’t tell if she’s hurt or anything like that. All I know at this point is that she’s alive. When I touch a certain object, there’s an electric sensation, so to speak. It lets me know that I’ve formed a connection. When I fall asleep, which will be very easy for me to do tonight, I’ll try to focus on any of my visions that will give me some insight on Nicole’s whereabouts.”

“Ah, I understand. So we wait for the time being.” Tatiana looked at her husband, her hand rubbing his as he studied Natasha.

“But I should be able to tell you something by tomorrow,” Natasha replied, hoping to relieve some of their tension.

“Natasha, I really appreciate your coming here to help us tonight. I don’t wish to keep you any longer. Please, do not hesitate to contact me immediately if you discover any new information,” Xander said.

Both Natasha and Darian rose from the sofa.

“Will do,” she said.

“Thank you, Natasha,” Xander said then nodded at Warren, who turn to lead them towards the front door, opening it as he stepped aside. Natasha hugged him.

“Call me as soon as you see something, anytime, it doesn’t matter,” Warren requested.

Natasha nodded as she released him and headed towards her car. Darian shook Warren’s hand before leaving.

Once inside the car and driving along the road, Natasha spoke. “Can you believe that? Man, I hope I can help them.”

“I’m sure that you will be able to help them. The connection was made. Just remember, when you are in your visions pay attention to every detail,” Darian suggested.

Natasha nodded. They rode back to the mansion in silence, both in deep thought. Once they reached the mansion, they entered Darian’s bedroom and undressed.

“I want to sleep with you,” Natasha said softly as she climbed into the bed,

Darian climbed in behind her.

“Are you sure? You don’t have to if you are not ready,” he said.

“I know, but I am ready. I want to be with someone even if it is only temporary,” Natasha said drowsily.

He took her into his embrace, his warm body relaxed her, comforted her. She snuggled closer to him and closed her eyes. A moment later she drifted off to sleep.

Review:

Another great addition to the series and it’s still has thrilling as before.  I did have a couple of problems with this story or I should say, with some characters.  I’ll try to explain it this way:

1.  Natasha…As much I loved her in the first two books, she became a little too “perfect” for me.  Everyone seemed to believe everything that said or did and it got a little annoying for me.  She is a human with physic ability, she is believable but with all the twists and action going on in the book, I would have questioned some things.  And she seemed to be not into Darion in the book either.  It was almost like she was pushing him away in a sense.  Oh and don’t get me started on what she wanted to do at the end of the book.  I truly felt like it was out of character for her.

2.  Darion is soooo in love with Natasha that he seems to lost of his edge and grittiness that I really loved in the first two books.  Everything is for Natasha and while that’s not necessarily a bad thing…it got on my nerves a bit.  He’s a 1600 year old vampire; mean and nasty, too.  I love a hero that will do anything for the heroine but with Natasha it seemed a bit out of character for Darion.

3.  Everyone seems to love one another, too.  It was too neat and perfect for me.  I missed the snarky dialogue and the pushing of each other’s buttons.  Again, it comes down to missing that dark, gritty edge that the first two books had.

 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I truly enjoyed The Royal Flush.   Its still got the twists and turns that I crave and its not your typical paranormal read either.  New characters are introduced like David and Kysten and I can’t wait to read more about them later on.  I also loved how everyone came together to fight in the end.  But for this reader, I didn’t feel it as much as I did before.  Eloise is still a bad ass and she is my favorite character in the series by far.  🙂

I recommend that you read the first two books in the series to introduced to the story, characters and especially the world building.  Ms. Simmons does an outstanding job with the world that she has built for the characters.  It is not to be missed.

 

 

 

BIO:

D. N. Simmons lives in Chicago IL., with a rambunctious German Shepherd
that’s too big for his own good and mischievous kitten that she
affectionately calls “Itty-bitty”. Her hobbies include rollerblading,
billiards, bowling, reading, watching television and going to the movies.
She has been nominated at Love Romances and More, winning honorable
mention for best paranormal book of 2006. She has won “Author of the
Month” at Warrior of Words. She was voted “New Voice of Today” at Romance
Reviews and “Rising Star” at Love Romance and More.

To learn more, and have the opportunity to speak with the author
personally, please visit the official website and forum at
www.dnsimmons.com . D.N. is always interesting in meeting new and
wonderful people.

 

ONLINE LINKS:

Website: http://www.dnsimmons.com

Youtube – http://www.youtube.com/user/dnsimmonsKOTD?feature=watch

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/DNSimmonsKOTD

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000552496587&ref=tn_tnmn

Blog: http://authordnsimmons.blogspot.com/?zx=824e0b32bd268e30
BUY NOW LINK:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Knights-Darkness-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B004W3G0GO/ref=pd_sim_b_2

 

Barnes & Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-royal-flush-d-n-simmons/1111496984?ean=2940012385604

 

All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-theroyalflush-728054-139.html

 

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