Cursed by Destiny (9781101597743)
PRAISE FOR CECY ROBSON
A Cursed Embrace
“This is a fantastic new paranormal series, and I highly recommend Cecy Robson for those looking for steam and sass.”
—USA Today
“Robson’s blend of smart-alecky wit, good old-fashioned romance, and suspenseful episodes of fighting off evil spirits form a paranormal thriller that will make pulses pound and pages turn.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Crisp, amusing storytelling, good pacing, and sassy, sharp characters keep this story interesting. A well-told story with a modern feel, A Cursed Embrace definitely stands out in its genre.”
—Romantic Times
“I freaking LOVE this series. Robson has once again blown me away with the greatness that is her writing.”
—My Guilty Obsession (5 stars)
“A Cursed Embrace is an emotional roller-coaster ride that starts right from the first page with danger and suspense and continues right until the end of the book.”
—Gizmo’s Reviews (5 stars)
“I know I’ve probably said this a million times, but I really do love the Weird Girls series. If you have any interest in kick-ass urban fantasies, then you need to read these!”
—Christy’s Love of Books (5 stars)
“If you have not tried this series, I highly recommend it to you. You will be blown away by the first pages and you’ll be able to discover a world full of creatures of all kinds.”
—Between Dreams and Reality (5 stars)
“A Cursed Embrace is definitely on my list of Best/Favorite Reads of 2013, if not at the top.”
—My Parahangover (5 stars)
“Hang on tight because Cecy Robson will take you for a ride that will rival any monster coasters you’ve ever been on.”
—Talk Supe
“Utterly loved this book. This book was everything that I could have wanted in an urban fantasy. Not for one moment did I want to put this book down.”
—Books of Love
“A Cursed Embrace is action-packed from the very beginning and it proves that the Weird Sisters are a force to be reckoned with in the paranormal genre.”
—Books-n-Kisses
“Cecy Robson delivers yet another amazing installment of her Weird Girls series in A Cursed Embrace!”
—Mad Hatter Reads
Sealed with a Curse
“If you’re looking for fun, adventure, a messy love triangle, and an awesome family, check out Sealed with a Curse.”
—USA Today
“The beginning of a new series that keeps you hooked till the last page!”
—Paranormal Cravings (a must-read special pick)
“Robson skillfully builds a believable world . . . [a] solid page-turning debut.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Be prepared. You aren’t going to want to put the book down—it’s too much fun!”
—Urban Fantasy Reviews
“A new great series, and I really can’t wait to have more now!”
—Between Dreams and Reality
“Pumped with adrenaline . . . beyond entertaining. . . . I can’t wait for book two.”
—Talk Supe
“This is an exciting and refreshing debut, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for this series!”
—My Bookish Ways
“[W]hen it comes to romance, [Celia] has a refreshing innocence that is sure to delight readers.”
—RT Book Reviews
The Weird Girls: A Novella
“Absolutely phenomenal.”
—Nocturnal Readings
“It kept me on the edge of my seat.”
—Urban Fantasy Reader
“Sure to be a great new action-packed urban fantasy series. I can’t wait to hear what other craziness these four sisters will find themselves in.”
—Readers Confessions
“Wonderfully imaginative. . . . I can’t wait to see what happens next to these sisters. Something tells me it’s going to be a wild ride.”
—She-Wolf Reads
The Weird Girls Series by Cecy Robson
The Weird Girls: A Novella
Sealed with a Curse
A Cursed Embrace
A Cursed Moon: A Weird Girls Novella
A WEIRD GIRLS NOVEL
CECY ROBSON
SIGNET ECLIPSE
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014
USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China
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A Penguin Random House Company
First published by Signet Eclipse, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLC
Copyright © Cecy Robson, LLC, 2014
Excerpt from Sealed with a Curse copyright © Cecy Robson, LLC, 2013
Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.
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ISBN 978-1-101-59774-3
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Contents
Cover
Praise
The Weird Girls Series by Cecy Robson
Titlepagr
Copyright page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
READER’S GUIDE TO THE MAGICAL WORLD OF THE WEIRD GIRLS SERIES
Preview of Sealed with a Curse
To my children, my sunshine in the rain and my stars in the sky. Mommy loves you. And to my mother-in-law, Shirley, who always treated me like one of her own.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To have one person help me bring out my creativity and give it life is a tremendous blessing. To have an entire team available leaves me blessed beyond words.
First of all, many thanks to my editor, Elizabeth Bistrow, who not only jumped on the crazy train known as Cecy Robson, but boarded with a smile, and purchased a few extra tickets so Clai
re Zion and the staff of Penguin Random House could ride along. Thank you, everyone, for your participation in the book-birthing process. Another “weird” novel is born!
To the artists and model, I could have never imagined more beautiful covers. Thank you for your talents and collective vision for my world. You are amazing!
To my agent, Nicole Resciniti, who is more family than friend, and the person who fights fang and claw for me. Nic, thank you for always laughing at my jokes—even the bad ones—and for caring with all of your being. I would be lost without your honesty, intelligence, and heart.
To my husband, Jamie: Babe, where would I be without your loving arms, your devilish grin, and your horrifically bad recaps of classic songs? Thank you for lifting me with your words of support and for laughing at me when I really need to be laughed at. I’ll love you forever.
To Pat Cicci, a beautiful woman who gave life to one of my dearest friends, Marifran. I’ll remember her gentle words and kind heart always. She laughed at my silly antics and sarcastic humor, mostly because she enjoyed the happiness that laughter brought her, and because she enjoyed life. Heaven has a new angel, one that will watch over her husband, Frank, her children and her grandchildren, and offer them hope and love in times when they need it most. May God bless her.
To my Weird Girls fans, thank you for your loyalty and for spreading the word about my series. I’ll tell you this much: The best is yet to come!
CHAPTER 1
Master Vampire’s Estate
Tahoe City, California
“Are you ready, Celia?”
Misha’s voice was nothing more than a seductive whisper. It made me breathless. “Yes.”
His gray eyes wandered down my body. “Are you sure you can handle it?”
“Yes.”
“All of it?”
I shot him an exasperated look. “We’re no longer talking about the scrimmage, are we?”
He let out a deep sigh. “No, but perhaps we should continue.”
Misha gave the order in the form of a subtle nod. Ten of his vampires attacked me, the thirst of the hunt shadowing their overly eager faces. It was hard not to rely on my claws. The vamps fought dirty, and they didn’t hold back, but hell, neither did I. My body slid lithely across the hardwood floor of the dojang, just when two vamps tried to tackle me. They slammed into each other—hard, like two boulders colliding.
The moment I kipped up to my feet, three more advanced. I punched, kicked, and maneuvered my way around them. It was grueling and my animal instincts propelled me into overdrive. Yet my innate need to survive and the long months of extensive martial arts training paid off. The overly obnoxious and excessively tanned vampires dropped with a skull-pounding crunch against the hard floor while I continued to hold my own against the rest. It wasn’t easy. Liz, Maria, Edith Anne, and Agnes Concepción were especially vicious. For she-vamps who bounced around in Catholic school uniforms all day, they sure were a mean bunch.
Maria threw back her dark hair, her Brazilian accent thick and dripping with spite. “Did you get an invitation to Aric and Barbara’s wedding, little tigress?”
That was low, even for Maria. “That’s none of your business.” She hadn’t even hit me yet, but I knocked her out with an uppercut to the chin just for being a bitch.
Liz jumped over Maria’s body, pouting her perfectly plump bottom lip as she advanced with all the grace of a starving cheetah. “What’s the matter, Celia? Are you mad that you’re not good enough to marry that werewolf?”
My hackles rose. Liz had hit a raw nerve. “Mention Aric one more time and you’ll be gumming your next meal.”
Liz smiled, peering down her nose at me. “Aric. There. Now what—?”
Liz’s fangs landed somewhere near Misha’s feet. He rolled his eyes. An entranced maid silently appeared and swept the pointy canines into a pan.
Edith Anne crouched into an attack stance. “Damn. You’re an angry little shit.”
I growled at Edith, blocked her strike, and wrenched her arm behind her back. She hissed and snapped her fangs at me. I silenced her with an elbow to her temple. The sickening snap almost made me feel bad. Almost.
Maria stirred as she regained consciousness. I was still ticked at her for mentioning Aric’s wedding, so I knocked her out again with a kick to her face. My sudden bitterness overwhelmed me and made me lash out at two male vamps who’d struggled to their feet.
My foot nailed the first vamp in the jaw, but his pal struck me across the face before I was able to plant both feet. I whirled in the air three times before crashing on my back. Crap. He leapt into the air with his fist reeled back. I rolled away—fast. He grunted upon impact, lodging his hand through the floor. My heel found the back of his neck before he could jerk his arm free. The pop of his vertebrae and limp form told me he wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon.
I panted and spun around, swearing under my breath. The vamp could have easily busted my jaw. I knew it, and so did the next two vamps who rushed me.
I couldn’t heal like weres, but damn it, I was just as strong and just a little faster. And unlike weres, I could shift underground and come up completely unscathed. I spat out some blood and used my resentment against the remaining opponents.
I held Agnes and Edith with my feet pressed against their throats, taking care not to protrude my back claws when they grabbed my ankles and tossed me. I flipped back and landed in a crouch. Maria regained consciousness again, and tackled me from behind. I yelped as fangs dug into my skin, piercing my flesh like sets of scorching needles. The scrimmage ended and the pain receded before I could tear the Prada-worshipping leeches off.
Edith and Agnes visibly shook as Misha laid into them. “Celia belongs to me,” he hissed. “You are never to taste her.”
I frowned. “I’m not yours.”
The vamps ignored me. “I didn’t drink her blood, Master. I swear it,” Edith Anne whimpered.
Agnes cowered at his feet. “Neither did I, Master. Not even a lick.”
I rubbed my face. The Catholic schoolgirls and I weren’t exactly buddies. In fact, we barely tolerated one another. That didn’t mean, though, that I wanted them turned into clumps of dust. I strode to Misha’s side and grasped his elbow, halting his tirade. “Misha, it’s fine. They only bit me. On the shoulder and . . .” I turned to look at my backside. “Damn it, Edith—you bit my ass?”
Edith shuffled back and forth, looking at her feet. “Sorry, Celia. It was an accident.”
Her wicked smile and flirty wink told me otherwise. Misha glared with the might of his master badassness. “Leave now.”
The so-called Prince of Darkness knew how to clear a room. There was a slight breeze and the whole lot of them vanished—as in hauled serious supernatural tail. I tried to leave, too, but Misha grabbed my hand. “Wait. I must heal you.”
The smoldering look Misha gave me told me exactly what he meant. “That’s okay—they’re only puncture wounds. I’ll see Emme tomorrow. She’ll fix me right up.”
Misha closed the distance between us. “They left deep marks. You should not wait to tend to them.”
“Misha . . .”
Chills spread through my body as Misha licked my shoulder to seal the wound. His tongue and breath warmed my skin. Misha had been around for over a hundred and forty years; he’d had plenty of time to learn how to touch a woman. He continued on, even though the bites had closed after the first flick of his taste buds.
I broke his hold and backed away. “Misha, don’t.” Misha was a thrill ride I didn’t want to straddle. My loneliness had become unbearable; every part of me longed to be touched. But it wasn’t his hands my body craved.
Misha’s heated gaze promised me hours of pleasure. “I’m not done yet, kitten.”
My mouth went dry. This was a problem. When it came to fighting, I’d take on anyone, anytime, anywhere. Wh
en it came to males, I changed into the superhero of dorks—a big ol’ “D” blazed across my chest and an army of pocket protector–worshipping fiends bowed at my feet. Any able-bodied female in my situation would have taken control and made Misha beg for pleasure. Where were these able-bodied females when I needed one?
I inched my way back, laughing a little too hysterically for my tastes. “You don’t really want to kiss my butt, do you? What will people think?”
A wicked smile spread slowly across his strong masculine face. As if on cue, a gust appeared despite the closed windows and fanned Misha’s long blond mane in perfect supermodel fashion. “Do I strike you as someone who cares what others think?”
I darted around, searching for the source of the breeze. My brows knitted tight. “Did you just do that on purpose?” The gleam in his “come hither and do naughty things to me” expression confirmed my suspicions. My gulp dissolved my frown. I’d already backed into the bamboo walls.
Misha continued to stalk toward me. His smoldering gray eyes accelerated my pulse, my forlorn female parts screamed to give in, and my hands itched to take my clothes off. Thank God, my mind still functioned reasonably. “Misha, under no circumstances will your tongue or lips touch my backside.”
He placed his palms on either side of my head and regarded me with growing desire. “As you wish.”
My shoulders slumped with relief . . . until I realized I hadn’t been specific enough. Misha grabbed the two fingers of my right hand and placed them in his hot mouth, instantly spiking my body temperature ten degrees. I was so distracted that I didn’t notice him yank my yoga pants down to my ankles. By some lingerie miracle, my thong remained in place. He pulled my delighted fingers out of his mouth and smoothed them over my remaining marks. I swallowed hard while he held my gaze. My body was literally shaking with need. No man had touched me like that since Aric . . .
Aric.
I jumped out of Misha’s grasp, only to land on my face and scramble away like a damn epileptic inchworm.
Misha sighed when I managed to stand and yank up my pants. “Kitten, why must you make things so difficult?”