~LEXI BLAKE~

Welcome back to UTC, Lexi! STEAL THE NIGHT, the fifth book in the Thieves series will be coming out soon. Could you please tell us a little about the series and this book in particular?

Thieves is an urban fantasy series about a tight knit group of friends who also happen to be vampires, werewolves, a Green Man, a witch and a human who might be something more. They happen to form a little crew and they specialize in procuring arcane and supernatural objects. In other words – they’re thieves. But fate has more in store for this group. Steal the Night is the final book in this cycle and it features the long time coming war between my hero and the corrupt vampire Council.

What is your favorite quality about Zoey Donovan-Quinn, the heroine of the series and why?

Zoey always follows her heart. She has a conscience and a very specific set of rules and she will fight for them even when it hurts. It often makes her very ruthless husbands insane.

What would you say was the biggest challenge with writing this book? How did you overcome it?

I had a baby to deal with when I was writing this series. I like to call these books my 4am books because that’s pretty much when I wrote them. My little girl would wake up and I would feed her and then I sat in the dark and wrote.

What is a fun fact about you that readers don’t know?

I really like coffee mugs. I like the ridiculously big ones with snarky sayings on them. Everywhere I go I try to collect a coffee mug and a magnet for my fridge. More often than not, the coffee mug breaks in transit. I just lost one from New Orleans. **sigh**

Can we expect the same amount if humor and smexy scenes as the last book? 

Absolutely! I think this is actually the sexiest of the five because Daniel and Dev are so much more comfortable with each other so their relationship, much to Zoey’s cheering, moves forward.

Which of the five covers is your fave?! And how much control do you have with them?! 

Steal the Sun is my favorite, but I love them all. I really just gave my cover artist a little break down of what I wanted and she flew with it. I give her all the credit. She made the covers romantic and vibrant and I think they really sell the series as a whole.

RT is always a lot of fun.  What was your favorite thing about it this year?

I love getting to see old friends and meet new people! It’s always exciting. RT is the biggest party of the year and I’m so happy when I get to go. I will say Cover Model Karaoke was a highlight for me. At least once a year I consciously make an idiot of myself and it was pretty spectacular this year!

What can we look forward to next from Lexi Blake?

I have the next in my Masters and Mercenaries series coming out on August 18^th. It’s called A View to a Thrill. I have a novella titled Cherished out this fall and then I start a new cycle of Thieves with a book called Ripper this January. It’s got a new heroine and two new heroes, but it’s set in the same world so expect to see all the old characters, too.

 

 

She was born to be a thief. To save the world, she will have to become a queen…

Zoey Donovan-Quinn is growing restless. After months of searching, her crew hasn’t been able to locate the resting place of the one man who could save Daniel. While they frantically continue their quest, Zoey is still struggling to recover from the devastating losses she suffered in Faery. In the midst of her grief and worry, Louis Marini appears and demands the Blood Stone he forced Zoey to steal. Zoey has no other choice than to hand it over.

When the giant ruby’s true nature is revealed, Zoey discovers she has given their greatest enemy a weapon of unimaginable power. Equipped with the Blood Stone, Marini intends to dominate the supernatural world and, on a more personal note, claim Zoey as his companion.

Desperate and on the run, Zoey, Dev, and Daniel forge an unlikely alliance with an old adversary who claims he can lead them to the wizard who can free Daniel from Marini’s clutches and help him claim his throne. As they race to solve a thousand-year-old mystery and gather their forces for the ultimate battle, Zoey prepares to do what she does best.

If Daniel and Dev are to have any hope of victory, she will have to do the unthinkable… surrender to Louis Marini and steal back the Blood Stone.

Excerpt

 

“You shine so brightly,” Marini whispered. “You should be able to see yourself.” He shook his head as though to bring himself out of his haze. “Go on then, Zoey. I’ve waited long enough. It’s time for you to finish the job. You’ll note I didn’t ask if you were successful. I have complete faith in your abilities. Give me the Blood Stone.”

I didn’t want his praise. I wanted the man gone, and the only way I was going to accomplish that was to give the bastard what he demanded. He’d sealed off all my exit routes and I was left with no choice. I moved to the wall safe and pushed aside the painting that covered it. I likely wasn’t showing him anything he hadn’t already seen for himself. Marini had used Chad to spy on Dev, Daniel, and myself one night and I’d been told he’d poked around in Dev’s office that night. I dialed the code for the safe and it popped open. I felt Marini step in right behind me, crowding me with his big body as he got a good look at what was in the safe. Luckily, Dev had moved anything even vaguely incriminating to a more secure location. Still, I heard Marini’s surprise at the large stash of cash and gleaming guns in the safe.

“Just how wealthy is your new husband?” Marini muttered the question, running his finger along a thick stack of hundred dollar bills. There were several piles of gold coins he had used as currency when we were in Faery as well.

“He does all right.” I reached into the back. I wasn’t about to give Marini a detailed accounting of Dev’s numerous business holdings. His human father had left him a multinational company that produced god knew what. I only knew that it produced cash and Dev took it and turned it into even more cash.

“Yes, I can see that. No wonder Daniel is willing to share. Vampires as young as Daniel usually struggle for money, but he’s found a way around that. It seems the prince has more wealth at his disposal than I could have imagined. And all that wealth would come to you, his wife, should anything happen to him,” Marini said, finally backing off me as I turned and handed him the small velvet bag that contained the Blood Stone.

Marini quickly had it opened and was holding the red stone up to the light to inspect it carefully. His dark eyes were possessive as he stared at it. I closed and locked the safe while he was distracted with the stone.

“It’s been a very long time since I held this stone. I suppose there is only one way to make completely certain.”

The vampire held his left palm open and shoved the pointed tip of the stone into it with a violent force. He grunted as he pierced his own skin with the stone and shoved it in even further. I watched as the stone pulsed slightly and seemed to lose just the slightest bit of its luster.

When I looked up at Marini, his eyes were completely black. He dragged a long breath in and steadied himself. It was like he’d taken a nice hit off a particularly good bong. He smiled as he let his head fall back.

“I had forgotten,” he said more to himself than to me.

“What is it?” I hoped he would tell me the truth since he seemed a little out of it.

“Just a taste of what your husband feels every day,” Marini said enigmatically.

He growled and there was no way to miss what it had done to his fangs. They peeked out from behind his lips. I took a step back. His hand shot out to stop me, and I finally realized just how much danger I was in.

“Yes.” Marini licked his lips. “I can hear your heart beating. You’re terrified. It’ll make your blood even sweeter.”

I managed to twist my arm out of Marini’s hand. “You forget yourself, Mr. Marini. I belong to Daniel.”

I could see plainly that the stone had done something to him. I thought maybe it was bringing out the beast that seemed to reside in every vampire. I could handle Daniel’s beast because Daniel loved me. Marini didn’t love me. Appealing to vampire laws was the only shot I had.

“Do you know who Daniel belongs to, sweet little Zoey?” His voice was slightly slurred and his accent heavier than before.

I shook my head but took a guess. “Marcus. Marcus is his patron.”

“No, companion,” Marini said, his face hard. “The Nex Apparatus is mine. He made his oath to me. He’s my creature.”

I knew that ritual well but hated the thought of Daniel being forced to go through it with Marini. Still, I knew what it meant and what had been promised. “If you’re truly Daniel’s master, then you owe him as much as he owes you. You’re supposed to protect him and everything that belongs to him. I belong to Daniel.”

He snarled my direction. “Don’t seek to tutor me on my duties. You know nothing. I’m the oldest vampire in the world. You’re the brightest companion I’ve ever seen. Why should a seven-year fledgling have you? It rankles, Zoey. Do you know what I was doing seven years after I turned? I was serving my master. I was his creature to do with as he wished. I was his to beat, to ignore, to fuck as he wished. That’s where your Mr. Donovan should be, but no, I have to tread carefully. I have to elevate him and treat him with respect. I’m supposed to respect his claims. You should belong to me. Daniel should have given you to me in hopes I would not crush him. He’s my vassal and he owes me.”

“You’re not his king, Marini,” I spat and very quickly realized my mistake.

Louis Marini got very still. “Does Daniel believe he can take the crown? Does he seek to take what’s mine?”

“What are you talking about?” I had used the exact right word to piss the man off. I had to play as ignorant as possible. My heart thudded in my chest so loudly I wouldn’t be surprised if they could hear it thundering downstairs. I wanted out so badly. “You said he was your vassal.”

But Marini was already pulling that little box out of his coat. He held it up for me. It was the tiny box that haunted my nightmares. “I’m his god, Zoey. I have the power to kill him in an instant and then perhaps I can simply take what should always have been mine.”

STEAL THE LIGHT: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodReads
STEAL THE DAY: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodReads
STEAL THE MOON: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodReads
STEAL THE SUN: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodReads
STEAL THE NIGHT: Amazon | GoodReads
RIPPER: Amazon | GoodReads

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Lexi is giving away a signed copy of one of the Thieves books to a lucky maiden. Winners’ choice of any of the five. International.

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