Excerpt from Project Prometheus: IN HER NAME
I thought I’d share a little bit of my upcoming Project Prometheus novel with you…
In this scene, the mercenary team and the Priestess of Ishtar, Manara, are nearing the ruins of Nineveh. Manara has been under attack by the demon who doesn’t want her to reach the ruins. She’s been unconscious, from the most recent attack….
“Manara!” Matt shook the woman in his arms gently, trying to rouse her. He’d been patrolling the perimeter when he heard her cry out, the fear in her scream shooting bolts of pure terror through him. Trevor patrolled the perimeter now, and Pete crouched near the fire, alert to be of assistance if needed, but his gray gaze trained on the flames to give the couple privacy.
“Manara, wake up,” Matt tried again, fear clutching in his belly. “C’mon, baby.”
She stirred, and relief hit him like a punch in the gut. Matt sank to the cool sand. With a quiet murmur in what he assumed was Sumerian, she turned into his embrace, and he started as her hand came to rest at his waist.
“Sweetheart,” he warned against her ear, so that only she could hear. “We’re not alone.”
Her deep gray eyes blinked open, and her soft, sleepy beauty caused his breath to stall somewhere around his lungs. He wanted to kiss her, to melt away her pain and fear with a kiss. After a long moment, he finally remembered how to breathe. Raising a hand, he stroked her dark head gently. “Are you okay? You screamed in your sleep.”
“Matthew,” she murmured brokenly as she burrowed against him. “It was terrible. The demon…It knows who I am. It knows I am coming.” She clutched his shirtfront in her gloved hands, her eyes filled with terrified tears. “And there is another danger. One I cannot fight; one which wants your life-blood.” Her hands tightened convulsively. “I sensed the bloodlust, and it… it was terrible, Matthew!”
“Shh.” He rocked her, pressing soft kisses to her hair. “Don’t worry about me, sweetheart. I can protect myself.”
She sighed shakily. “I am so weary.”
“Sleep.” He shifted her weight against him so that she lay more comfortably. “I’ll be right here. I promise.”
He watched her eyelids flutter closed, and his throat tightened. She was so beautiful, and so very precious to him. So why did he have the feeling that he was about to deliver her into the hands of death? It was a feeling, and a future, that Matt would gladly sell his soul to prevent.
